Black History Thread

[MJJChichi]

Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as "Negro History Week" and later as "Black History Month." What you might not know is that black history had barely begun to be studied-or even documented-when the tradition originated. Although blacks have been in America at least as far back as colonial times, it was not until the 20th century that they gained a respectable presence in the history books.

We owe the celebration of Black History Month, and more importantly, the study of black history, to Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Born to parents who were former slaves, he spent his childhood working in the Kentucky coal mines and enrolled in high school at age twenty. He graduated within two years and later went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. The scholar was disturbed to find in his studies that history books largely ignored the black American population-and when blacks did figure into the picture, it was generally in ways that reflected the inferior social position they were assigned at the time.

Woodson, always one to act on his ambitions, decided to take on the challenge of writing black Americans into the nation's history. He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) in 1915, and a year later founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History. In 1926, he launched Negro History Week as an initiative to bring national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history.
Woodson chose the second week of February for Negro History Week because it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the black American population, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. However, February has much more than Douglass and Lincoln to show for its significance in black American history.

The first African slaves arrive in Virginia in 1619

Expansion of the plantation system was made possible only with the use of slave labor (first recognized in law in 1662), and tens of thousands of Africans were being imported every year by the end of the century. Small, independent cultivators, unable to compete with the plantation-slave system, formed the nucleus of a poor white class that drifted southward or pioneered to the west.

In 1787, Slavery is made illegal in the Northwest Territory. The U.S Constitution states that Congress may not ban the slave trade until 1808.

In 1793, Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin greatly increases the demand for slave labor. A federal fugitive slave law is enacted, providing for the return slaves who had escaped and crossed state lines.

In 1800, Gabriel Prosser, an enslaved African-American blacksmith, organizes a slave revolt intending to march on Richmond, Virginia. The conspiracy is uncovered, and Prosser and a number of the rebels are hanged. Virginia's slave laws are consequently tightened.

In 1808, Congress bans the importation of slaves from Africa.

In 1820, The Missouri Compromise bans slavery north of the southern boundary of Missouri.

In 1822, Denmark Vesey, an enslaved African-American carpenter who had purchased his freedom, plans a slave revolt with the intent to lay siege on Charleston, South Carolina. The plot is discovered, and Vesey and 34 coconspirators are hanged.

In 1831, Nat Turner, an enslaved African-American preacher, leads the most significant slave uprising in American history. He and his band of followers launch a short, bloody, rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. The militia quells the rebellion, and Turner is eventually hanged. As a consequence, Virginia institutes much stricter slave laws.
William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing the Liberator, a weekly paper that advocates the complete abolition of slavery. He becomes one of the most famous figures in the abolitionist movement.

In 1846, The Wilmot Proviso, introduced by Democratic representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, attempts to ban slavery in territory gained in the Mexican War. The proviso is blocked by Southerners, but continues to enflame the debate over slavery.
Frederick Douglass launches his abolitionist newspaper.

In 1849, Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and becomes one of the most effective and celebrated leaders of the Underground Railroad.

In 1850, The continuing debate whether territory gained in the Mexican War should be open to slavery is decided in the Compromise of 1850: California is admitted as a free state, Utah and New Mexico territories are left to be decided by popular sovereignty, and the slave trade in Washington, DC, is prohibited. It also establishes a much stricter fugitive slave law than the original, passed in 1793.

In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin is published. It becomes one of the most influential works to stir anti-slavery sentiments.

In 1854, Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The legislation repeals the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and renews tensions between anti- and proslavery factions.

In 1857, The Dred Scott case holds that Congress does not have the right to ban slavery in states and, furthermore, that slaves are not citizens.

In 1859,John Brown and 21 followers capture the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va. (now W. Va.), in an attempt to launch a slave revolt.

In 1861, The Confederacy is founded when the deep South secedes, and the Civil War begins.

In 1863, President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring "that all persons held as slaves" within the Confederate states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

In 1865, Congress establishes the Freedmen's Bureau to protect the rights of newly emancipated blacks (March).
The Civil War ends (April 9).
Lincoln is assassinated (April 14).
The Ku Klux Klan is formed in Tennessee by ex-Confederates (May).
Slavery in the United States is effectively ended when 250,000 slaves in Texas finally receive the news that the Civil War had ended two months earlier (June 19).
Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, prohibiting slavery (Dec. 6).

In 1866, Black codes are passed by Southern states, drastically restricting the rights of newly freed slaves.

In 1867, A series of Reconstruction acts are passed, carving the former Confederacy into five military districts and guaranteeing the civil rights of freed slaves.

In 1868, Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, defining citizenship. Individuals born or naturalized in the United States are American citizens, including those born as slaves. This nullifies the Dred Scott Case (1857), which had ruled that blacks were not citizens.

In 1869, Howard University's law school becomes the country's first black law school.

In 1870, Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving blacks the right to vote.
Hiram Revels of Mississippi is elected the country's first African-American senator. During Reconstruction, sixteen blacks served in Congress and about 600 served in states legislatures.

In 1877, Reconstruction ends in the South. Federal attempts to provide some basic civil rights for African Americans quickly erode.

In 1879, The Black Exodus takes place, in which tens of thousands of African Americans migrated from southern states to Kansas.

In 1881, Spelman College, the first college for black women in the U.S., is founded by Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles.
Booker T. Washington founds the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama. The school becomes one of the leading schools of higher learning for African Americans, and stresses the practical application of knowledge. In 1896, George Washington Carver begins teaching there as director of the department of agricultural research, gaining an international reputation for his agricultural advances.

In 1882, The American Colonization Society, founded by Presbyterian minister Robert Finley, establishes the colony of Monrovia (which would eventually become the country of Liberia) in western Africa. The society contends that the immigration of blacks to Africa is an answer to the problem of slavery as well as to what it feels is the incompatibility of the races. Over the course of the next forty years, about 12,000 slaves are voluntarily relocated.

In 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson: This landmark Supreme Court decision holds that racial segregation is constitutional, paving the way for the repressive Jim Crow laws in the South.

[MJJChichi]

fugitive slave laws

fugitive slave laws, in U.S. history, the federal acts of 1793 and 1850 providing for the return between states of escaped black slaves. Similar laws existing in both North and South in colonial days applied also to white indentured servants and to Native American slaves. As slavery was abolished in the Northern states, the 1793 law was loosely enforced, to the great irritation of the South, and as abolitionist sentiment developed, organized efforts to circumvent the law took form in the Underground Railroad (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0850012.html). Many Northern states also passed personal-liberty laws that allowed fugitives a jury trial, and others passed laws forbidding state officials to help capture alleged fugitive slaves or to lodge them in state jails. As a concession to the South a second and more rigorous fugitive slave law was passed as part of the Compromise of 1850 (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0813116.html). By it “all good citizens” were “commanded to aid and assist [federal marshals and their deputies] in the prompt and efficient execution of this law,” and heavy penalties were imposed upon anyone who assisted slaves to escape from bondage. When apprehended, an alleged fugitive was taken before a federal court or commissioner. He was denied a jury trial and his testimony was not admitted, while the statement of the master claiming ownership, even though absent, was taken as the main evidence. The law was so weighted against the fugitives that many Northerners, formerly unconcerned, were now aroused to opposition. New personal-liberty laws contradicting the legislation of 1850 (and described, with some reason, by Southerners as equivalent to South Carolina's notorious ordinance of nullification) were passed in most of the Northern states. Abolitionists fearlessly defied the 1850 act, often mobbing federal officials in attempts to rescue fugitives. In Boston, for instance, the “good citizens,” including some of the foremost Brahmins, stormed the federal courthouse, but failed to free the escaped Virginia slave Anthony Burns; moreover, it was thought expedient to have 1,100 soldiers guard him when he was marched aboard ship for his return to bondage. In Lancaster co., Pa., a riot broke out when a federal official ordered Quaker bystanders to help catch a runaway; the Quakers were prosecuted, but not convicted. Other notable fugitive-slave cases arose in Northern courts, and the trials further stirred up public opinion both North and South. The whole dispute, combined with the question of the extension of slavery into the territories, served to set the two sections at each other's throats. The actions of Northern states in nullifying the fugitive slave laws or rendering “useless any attempt to execute them” were cited (Dec. 24, 1860) by South Carolina as one cause for secession. Both acts were finally repealed by Congress on June 28, 1864.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

Gabriel Prosser
slave revolt leader
Born: c. 1775
Birthplace: Henrico County, Virginia

An educated slave, Prosser worked as a blacksmith. Inspired by the successful Haitian slave revolt, Prosser planned an insurrection to capture Richmond and massacre whites, except Methodists, Quakers, Frenchmen, and the poor, whom he regarded as sympathetic to blacks. He intended to make himself king of a new black nation. On Aug. 30, 1800, Prosser assembled a number of slaves outside Richmond. However, heavy rains washed out bridges and roads, while an informer told authorities about the revolt. The militia captured several dozen slaves. Prosser was finally caught on board a ship in Norfolk and was hanged in Richmond. As a result of the planned revolt, Virginia's slave laws were tightened and abolitionist societies were forced to go underground.
Died: 1800

[MJJChichi]

Missouri Compromise

Missouri Compromise, 1820–21, measures passed by the U.S. Congress to end the first of a series of crises concerning the extension of slavery.
By 1818, Missouri Territory had gained sufficient population to warrant its admission into the Union as a state. Its settlers came largely from the South, and it was expected that Missouri would be a slave state. To a statehood bill brought before the House of Representatives, James Tallmadge of New York proposed an amendment that would forbid importation of slaves and would bring about the ultimate emancipation of all slaves born in Missouri. This amendment passed the House (Feb., 1819), but not the Senate. The bitterness of the debates sharply emphasized the sectional division of the United States.
In Jan., 1820, a bill to admit Maine as a state passed the House. The admission of Alabama as a slave state in 1819 had brought the slave states and free states to equal representation in the Senate, and it was seen that by pairing Maine (certain to be a free state) and Missouri, this equality would be maintained. The two bills were joined as one in the Senate, with the clause forbidding slavery in Missouri replaced by a measure prohibiting slavery in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north of 36°30'N lat. (the southern boundary of Missouri). The House rejected this compromise bill, but after a conference committee of members of both houses was appointed, the bills were treated separately, and in Mar., 1820, Maine was made a state and Missouri was authorized to adopt a constitution having no restrictions on slavery.
A provision in the Missouri constitution barring the immigration of free blacks to the state was objectionable to many Northern Congressmen, and necessitated another congressional compromise. Not until the Missouri legislature pledged that nothing in its constitution would be interpreted to abridge the rights of citizens of the United States was the charter approved and Missouri admitted to the Union (Aug., 1821). Henry Clay (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0812477.html), as speaker of the House, did much to secure passage of the compromise—so much, in fact, that he is generally regarded as its author, even though Senator Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois was far more responsible for the first bill. The 36°30' proviso held until 1854, when the Kansas-Nebraska Act (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0827030.html) repealed the Missouri Compromise.
See studies by G. Moore (1953, repr. 1967) and R. H. Brown (1964).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed

[MJJChichi]

Vesey, Denmark, 1767?–1822, African-American leader. After many years as a slave he won (1800) $1,500 in a lottery and purchased his freedom. Intelligent and energetic, he acquired considerable wealth and influence in South Carolina. Using church meetings as a cover, he supposedly planned (1822) a slave insurrection with the intention of taking over Charleston, killing whites, and, if necessary, fleeing to Haiti. Accused by informers, Vesey was hanged along with 34 slaves. Some historians now doubt that Vesey's conspiracy ever occurred.
See H. Aptheker, American Slave Revolts (1943); J. Lofton, Insurrection in South Carolina (1964); R. S. Starobin, ed., Denmark Vesey (1970); D. R. Egerton, He Shall Go Out Free (1999); D. Robertson, Denmark Vesey (1999).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

Turner, Nat, 1800–1831, American slave, leader of the Southampton Insurrection (1831), b. Southampton co., Va. Deeply religious from childhood, Turner was a natural preacher and possessed some influence among local slaves. Apparently believing himself divinely appointed to lead fellow slaves to freedom, he plotted a revolt with a band of approximately 60 followers. After killing the family of Turner's owner, the band ravaged the neighborhood, in two days killing a total of 55 white people, mostly women and children. The revolt was soon crushed, however, and 13 slaves and three free blacks were hanged immediately. Turner himself escaped to the woods, but was captured six weeks later and hanged. Dozens more blacks were also killed in retaliation. The abortive uprising, by far the bloodiest and most serious in the history of slavery in the United States, led to more stringent slave laws in the South and to an end of the organized abolition movement there. Over the years, Turner became a figure of controversy, seen by some as a vicious fanatic and by others as a hero of black resistence.
See studies by H. Aptheker (1943 and 1968), E. Foner (1971), J. Duff and P. Mitchell, ed. (1971), K. S. Greenberg, ed. (2003), and S. French (2004); C. Burnett, dir., Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property (documentary film, 2004).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed

[MJJChichi]

Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805–79, American abolitionist, b. Newburyport, Mass. He supplemented his limited schooling with newspaper work and in 1829 went to Baltimore to aid Benjamin Lundy (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0830622.html) in publishing the Genius of Universal Emancipation. This led (1830) to his imprisonment for seven weeks for libel. On Jan. 1, 1831, he published the first number of the Liberator, a paper that he continued for 35 years (to Dec. 29, 1865), until after the Thirteenth Amendment had been adopted. In the Liberator, Garrison took an uncompromising stand for immediate and complete abolition of slavery. Though its circulation was never over 3,000, the paper became famous for its startling and quotable language. Garrison relied wholly upon moral persuasion, believing in the use of neither force nor the ballot to gain his end. His language antagonized many. In 1835 he was physically attacked in Boston by a mob composed of seemingly respectable people, and thereby won a valuable convert to his cause in Wendell Phillips (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0838801.html). Garrison opposed the work of the American Colonization Society (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0803668.html) in his Thoughts on African Colonization (1832). He was active in organizing (1831) the New England Anti-Slavery Society and (1833) the American Anti-Slavery Society, of which he was president (1843–65). Garrison also crusaded for other reforms that he united with abolitionism, notably woman suffrage and prohibition. He went so far as to advocate Northern secession from the Union because the Constitution, which Garrison characterized as “a covenant with death and an agreement with Hell,” permitted slavery. He burned the Constitution publicly at an abolitionist meeting in Framingham, Mass., on July 4, 1854, and opposed the Civil War until Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0817229.html). Garrison's preeminence in the antislavery cause has been characterized as a “New England myth,” some arguing that while Garrison attracted attention, the effective fight against slavery was carried on by lesser known, more realistic men (see abolitionists (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0802190.html)). Garrison, a difficult personality, was not himself a good organizer.
See his letters, ed. by W. M. Merrill (1971); William Lloyd Garrison … His Life Told by His Children (4 vol., 1885–89, repr. 1969); biographies by W. M. Merrill (1963), J. L. Thomas (1963), A. H. Grimké (1891, repr. 1969); study by A. S. Kraditor (1969); H. Mayer, All On Fire (1998).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed

[MJJChichi]

Douglass, Frederick (dŭg'lus) [key (http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/ce6pron.html)], c.1817–1895, American abolitionist, b. near Easton, Md. The son of a black slave, Harriet Bailey, and an unknown white father, he took the name of Douglass (from Scott's hero in The Lady of the Lake) after his second, and successful, attempt to escape from slavery in 1838. At New Bedford, Mass., he found work as a day laborer. An extemporaneous speech before a meeting at Nantucket of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1841 was so effective that he was made one of its agents. Douglass, who had learned to read and write while in the service of a kind mistress in Baltimore, published his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 1845. Fearing capture as a fugitive slave, he spent several years in England and Ireland and returned in 1847, after English friends had purchased his freedom. At Rochester, N.Y., he established the North Star and edited it for 17 years in the abolitionist cause. Unlike William L. Garrison (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0820261.html), he favored the use of political methods and thus became a follower of James G. Birney (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0807665.html). In the Civil War he helped organize two regiments of Massachusetts African Americans and urged other blacks to join the Union ranks. During Reconstruction he continued to urge civil rights for African Americans. He was secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission (1871), marshal of the District of Columbia (1877–81), recorder of deeds for the same district (1881–86), and minister to Haiti (1889–91). Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1962) is a revised edition of his autobiography, which has also been published as My Bondage and My Freedom.
See also biographies by B. T. Washington (1907), P. Foner (1964), B. Quarles (1968), A. Bontemps (1971), and W. McFreely (1991); E. Fuller, A Star Pointed North (1946); P. S. Foner, ed., Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass (4 vol., 1950–55).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed

[MJJChichi]

Wilmot Proviso, 1846, amendment to a bill put before the U.S. House of Representatives during the Mexican War; it provided an appropriation of $2 million to enable President Polk to negotiate a territorial settlement with Mexico. David Wilmot (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0852371.html) introduced an amendment to the bill stipulating that none of the territory acquired in the Mexican War should be open to slavery. The amended bill was passed in the House, but the Senate adjourned without voting on it. In the next session of Congress (1847), a new bill providing for a $3-million appropriation was introduced, and Wilmot again proposed an antislavery amendment to it. The amended bill passed the House, but the Senate drew up its own bill, which excluded the proviso. The Wilmot Proviso created great bitterness between North and South and helped crystallize the conflict over the extension of slavery. In the election of 1848 the terms of the Wilmot Proviso, a definite challenge to proslavery groups, were ignored by the Whig and Democratic parties but were adopted by the Free-Soil party (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0819616.html). Later the Republican party also favored excluding slavery from new territories.
See C. W. Morrison, Democratic Politics and Sectionalism (1967).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed

[MJJChichi]

Tubman, Harriet, c.1820–1913, American abolitionist, b. Dorchester co., Md. Born into slavery, she escaped to Phildelphia in 1849, and subsequently became one of the most successful “conductors” on the Underground Railroad (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0850012.html). Returning to the South more than a dozen times, she is generally credited with leading more than 300 slaves (including her parents and brother) to freedom, sometimes forcing the timid ahead with a loaded revolver. She became a speaker on the anti-slavery lecture circuit and a friend of the principal abolitionists, and John Brown (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0809136.html) almost certainly confided his Harpers Ferry plan to her. During the Civil War, Tubman attached herself to the Union forces in coastal South Carolina, serving as a nurse, cook, laundress, scout, and spy, and in 1863 she played an important part in a raid that resulted in the freeing of more than 700 slaves. At Auburn, N.Y., her home for many years after the war, the Cayuga co. courthouse contains a tablet in her honor.
See biographies by S. Bradford (1869, new ed. 1961), E. Conrad (1942), C. Clinton (2004), J. M. Humez (2004), and K. C. Larson (2004).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed

[MJJChichi]

Underground Railroad, in U.S. history, loosely organized system for helping fugitive slaves escape to Canada or to areas of safety in free states. It was run by local groups of Northern abolitionists (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0802190.html), both white and free blacks. The metaphor first appeared in print in the early 1840s, and other railroad terminology was soon added. The escaping slaves were called passengers; the homes where they were sheltered, stations; and those who guided them, conductors. This nomenclature, along with the numerous, somewhat glorified, personal reminiscences written by conductors in the postwar period, created the impression that the Underground Railroad was a highly systematized, national, secret organization that accomplished prodigious feats in stealing slaves away from the South. In fact, most of the help given to fugitive slaves on their varied routes north was spontaneously offered and came not only from abolitionists or self-styled members of the Underground Railroad, but from anyone moved to sympathy by the plight of the runaway slave before his eyes. The major part played by free blacks, of both North and South, and by slaves on plantations along the way in helping fugitives escape to freedom was underestimated in nearly all early accounts of the railroad. Moreover, the resourcefulness and daring of the fleeing slaves themselves, who were usually helped only after the most dangerous part of their journey (i.e., the Southern part) was over, were probably more important factors in the success of their escape than many conductors readily admitted. In some localities, like Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Wilmington, Del., and Newport, Ind. (site of the activities of Levi Coffin (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0812793.html)), energetic organizers did manage to loosely systematize the work; Quakers were particularly prominent as conductors, and among the free blacks the exploits of Harriet Tubman (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0849622.html) stand out. In all cases, however, it is extremely difficult to separate fact from legend, especially since relatively few enslaved blacks, probably no more than a few thousand a year between 1840 and 1860, escaped successfully. Far from being kept secret, details of escapes on the Underground Railroad were highly publicized and exaggerated in both the North and the South, although for different reasons. The abolitionists used the Underground Railroad as a propaganda device to dramatize the evils of slavery; Southern slaveholders publicized it to illustrate Northern infidelity to the fugitive slave laws (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0819828.html). The effect of this publicity, with its repeated tellings and exaggerations of slave escapes, was to create an Underground Railroad legend that correctly represented a humanitarian ideal of the pre–Civil War period, but that strayed far from reality. The pioneer study is W. H. Siebert, The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom (1898, repr. 1968); for an extensively revised account, see Larry Gara, The Liberty Line (1961).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed

[MJJChichi]

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811–96, American novelist and humanitarian, b. Litchfield, Conn. With her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, she stirred the conscience of Americans concerning slavery and thereby influenced the course of American history. The daughter of Lyman Beecher (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0806734.html), pastor of the Congregational Church in Litchfield, and the sister of Henry Ward Beecher (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0806733.html), Harriet grew up in an atmosphere of New England Congregational piety and, like all the Beechers, early developed an interest in theology and in schemes for improving humanity. In 1824 she went to Hartford, at first to study, later to teach in her sister Catherine's school. When her father became head of Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, she moved to that city with him and there began teaching again and writing. In 1836 she married Professor Calvin Ellis Stowe.
Cincinnati, a border city, was at the time torn with abolitionist conflicts. Harriet's brothers were violently opposed to slavery, and she had seen its effects in Kentucky and had aided a runaway slave. However, it was not until the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act (1850) that she was moved to write on the subject. Uncle Tom's Cabin, first published serially (1851–52) in an abolitionist paper, the National Era, was not intended as abolitionist propaganda, nor was it directed against the South, although slaveholders condemned the book as unfair; indeed, it presented some of the favorable aspects of slavery, but it also crystallized the sentiments of the North. In one year over 300,000 copies were sold, and its dramatization by G. L. Aiken had a long run. The book was translated into many foreign languages, and when Mrs. Stowe visited Europe in 1853 numerous honors were bestowed on her.
Her second novel of slavery, Dred (1856), while better constructed and more accurate, failed to recapture the warm characterization of the first. During the 1850s she worked vigorously for the antislavery effort, although she never allied herself with the abolitionists, whom she considered extremists. The mother of six children, she was constantly harassed by financial worries, for despite the great popularity of her books her earnings were never large, and she and her husband were unbusinesslike and overly generous. Interested in other reform movements, such as temperance and woman suffrage, she also wrote religious poems and articles for religious magazines and housekeeping manuals. Her works are generally given to sermonizing, but in The Minister's Wooing (1859) and Old Town Folks (1869) she captures the New England of her childhood.
At her best, Stowe combined literary realism with evangelical fervor. A prolific writer whose works fill 16 volumes, she was chiefly popular because she so aptly expressed the sentiments of the 19th-century middle class. Her works reflect the great issues and events of her century: slavery, women's position in society, the decline of Calvinism, the rise of industry and consumerism, and the birth of a great national literature.
See her life and letters, ed. by A. Fields (1897, repr. 1970); biographies by her son C. E. Stowe (1889, repr. 1967), R. F. Wilson (1941, repr. 1970), and J. D. Hedrick (1994); studies by J. R. Adams (1963, rev. ed. 1989) and M. Reynolds (1985).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed

[MJJChichi]

Kansas-Nebraska Act, bill that became law on May 30, 1854, by which the U.S. Congress established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. By 1854 the organization of the vast Platte and Kansas river countries W of Iowa and Missouri was overdue. As an isolated issue territorial organization of this area was no problem. It was, however, irrevocably bound to the bitter sectional controversy over the extension of slavery into the territories and was further complicated by conflict over the location of the projected transcontinental railroad (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0849261.html). Under no circumstances did proslavery Congressmen want a free territory (Kansas) W of Missouri. Because the West was expanding rapidly, territorial organization, despite these difficulties, could no longer be postponed. Four attempts to organize a single territory for this area had already been defeated in Congress, largely because of Southern opposition to the Missouri Compromise (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0833427.html). Although the last of these attempts to organize the area had nearly been successful, Stephen A. Douglas (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0815980.html), chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories, decided to offer territorial legislation making concessions to the South. Douglas's motives have remained largely a matter of speculation. Various historians have emphasized Douglas's desire for the Presidency, his wish to cement the bonds of the Democratic party, his interest in expansion and railroad building, or his desire to activate the unimpressive Pierce administration. The bill he reported in Jan., 1854, contained the provision that the question of slavery should be left to the decision of the territorial settlers themselves. This was the famous principle that Douglas now called popular sovereignty (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0839723.html), though actually it had been enunciated four years earlier in the Compromise of 1850 (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0813116.html). In its final form Douglas's bill provided for the creation of two new territories—Kansas and Nebraska—instead of one. The obvious inference—at least to Missourians—was that the first would be slave, the second free. The Kansas-Nebraska Act flatly contradicted the provisions of the Missouri Compromise (under which slavery would have been barred from both territories); indeed, an amendment was added specifically repealing that compromise. This aspect of the bill in particular enraged the antislavery forces, but after three months of bitter debate in Congress, Douglas, backed by President Pierce and the Southerners, saw it adopted. Its effects were anything but reassuring to those who had hoped for a peaceful solution. The popular sovereignty provision caused both proslavery and antislavery forces to marshal strength and exert full pressure to determine the “popular” decision in Kansas in their own favor, using groups such as the Emigrant Aid Company (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0817253.html). The result was the tragedy of “bleeding” Kansas. Northerners and Southerners were aroused to such passions that sectional division reached a point that precluded reconciliation. A new political organization, the Republican party (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0841571.html), was founded by opponents of the bill, and the United States was propelled toward the Civil War.
See P. O. Ray, The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise (1909, repr. 1965).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

Dred Scott Case, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1856–57. It involved the then bitterly contested issue of the status of slavery in the federal territories. In 1834, Dred Scott, a black slave, personal servant to Dr. John Emerson, a U.S. army surgeon, was taken by his master from Missouri, a slave state, to Illinois, a free state, and thence to Fort Snelling (now in Minnesota) in Wisconsin Territory, where slavery was prohibited by the Missouri Compromise (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0833427.html). There he married before returning with Dr. Emerson to Missouri in 1838. After Emerson's death, Scott sued (1846) Emerson's widow for freedom for himself and his family (he had two children) on the ground that residence in a free state and then in a free territory had ended his bondage. He won his suit before a lower court in St. Louis, but the Missouri supreme court reversed the decision (thus reversing its own precedents). Scott's lawyers then maneuvered the case into the federal courts. Since J. F. A. Sanford, Mrs. Emerson's brother, was the legal administrator of her property and a resident of New York, the federal court accepted jurisdiction for the case on the basis of diversity of state citizenship. After a federal district court decided against Scott, the case came on appeal to the Supreme Court. In Feb., 1857, the court decided in conference to avoid completely the question of the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise and to rule against Scott on the ground that under Missouri law as now interpreted by the supreme court of that state he remained a slave despite his previous residence in free territory. However, when it became known that two antislavery justices, John McLean and Benjamin R. Curtis, planned to write dissenting opinions vigorously upholding the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise (which had, in fact, been voided by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854), the court's Southern members, constituting the majority, decided to consider the whole question of federal power over slavery in the territories. They decided in the case of Scott v. Sandford (the name was misspelled in the formal reports) that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the territories, and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0847779.html) delivered the court's opinion that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. Three of the justices also held that a black “whose ancestors were … sold as slaves” was not entitled to the rights of a federal citizen and therefore had no standing in court. The court's verdict further inflamed the sectional controversy between North and South and was roundly denounced by the growing antislavery group in the North.
See V. C. Hopkins, Dred Scott's Case (1951, repr. 1967); S. I. Kutler, ed., The Dred Scott Decision (1967); F. B. Latham, The Dred Scott Decision (1968).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

Emancipation Proclamation, in U.S. history, the executive order abolishing slavery in the Confederate States of America.

The proclamation did not reflect Lincoln's desired solution for the slavery problem. He continued to favor gradual emancipation, to be undertaken voluntarily by the states, with federal compensation to slaveholders, a plan he considered eminently just in view of the common responsibility of North and South for the existence of slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was chiefly a declaration of policy, which, it was hoped, would serve as an opening wedge in depleting the South's great manpower reserve in slaves and, equally important, would enhance the Union cause in the eyes of Europeans, especially the British.
At home it was duly hailed by the radical abolitionists, but it cost Lincoln the support of many conservatives and undoubtedly figured in the Republican setback in the congressional elections of 1862. This was more than offset by the boost it gave the Union abroad, where, on the whole, it was warmly received; in combination with subsequent Union victories, it ended all hopes of the Confederacy for recognition from Britain and France. Doubts as to its constitutionality were later removed by the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment.

On Jan. 1, 1863, the formal and definite Emancipation Proclamation was issued. The President, by virtue of his powers as commander in chief, declared free all those slaves residing in territory in rebellion against the federal government “as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion.” Congress, in effect, had done as much in its confiscation acts of Aug., 1861, and July, 1862, but its legislation did not have the popular appeal of the Emancipation Proclamation—despite the great limitations of the proclamation, which did not affect slaves in those states that had remained loyal to the Union or in territory of the Confederacy that had been reconquered. These were freed in other ways (see slavery (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/bus/A0845517.html)). Nor did the proclamation have any immediate effect in the vast area over which the Confederacy retained control. Confederate leaders, however, feared that it would serve as an incitement to insurrection and denounced it.

[MJJChichi]

Freedmen's Bureau, in U.S. history, a federal agency, formed to aid and protect the newly freed blacks in the South after the Civil War. Established by an act of Mar. 3, 1865, under the name “bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands,” it was to function for one year after the close of the war. A bill extending its life indefinitely and greatly increasing its powers was vetoed (Feb. 19, 1866) by President Andrew Johnson, who viewed the legislation as an unwarranted (and unconstitutional) continuation of war powers in peacetime. The veto marked the beginning of the President's long and unsuccessful fight with the radical Republican Congress over Reconstruction (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0841309.html). In slightly different form, the bill was passed over Johnson's veto on July 16, 1866. Organized under the War Dept., with Gen. Oliver O. Howard (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0824340.html) as its commissioner, and thus backed by military force, the bureau was one of the most powerful instruments of Reconstruction. Howard divided the ex-slave states, including the border slave states that had remained in the Union, into 10 districts, each headed by an assistant commissioner. The bureau's work consisted chiefly of five kinds of activity—relief work for both blacks and whites in war-stricken areas, regulation of black labor under the new conditions, administration of justice in cases concerning the blacks, management of abandoned and confiscated property, and support of education for blacks. In its relief and educational activities the bureau compiled an excellent record, which, however, was too often marred by unprincipled agents, both military and civilian, in the local offices. Its efforts toward establishing the freed blacks as landowners were nil. To a great degree the bureau operated as a political machine, organizing the black vote for the Republican party; its political activities made it thoroughly hated in the South. When, under the congressional plan of Reconstruction, new state governments based on black suffrage were organized in the South (with many agents holding various offices), the work of the Freedmen's Bureau was discontinued (July 1, 1869). Its educational activities, however, were carried on for another three years.
See P. S. Peirce, The Freedmen's Bureau (1904); L. J. Webster, The Operation of the Freedmen's Bureau in South Carolina (1916, repr. 1970); G. R. Bentley, A History of the Freedmen's Bureau (1955, repr. 1970); M. Abbott, The Freedmen's Bureau in South Carolina (1967).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

Amendment XIII

(The proposed amendment was sent to the states Feb. 1, 1865, by the Thirty-eighth Congress. It was ratified Dec. 6, 1865.)
Section 1


[Slavery prohibited.]
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2


[Congress given power to enforce this article.]
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

[MJJChichi]

black codes, in U.S. history, series of statutes passed by the ex-Confederate states, 1865–66, dealing with the status of the newly freed slaves. They varied greatly from state to state as to their harshness and restrictiveness. Although the codes granted certain basic civil rights to blacks (the right to marry, to own personal property, and to sue in court), they also provided for the segregation of public facilities and placed severe restrictions on the freedman's status as a free laborer, his right to own real estate, and his right to testify in court. Although some Northern states had black codes before the Civil War, this did not prevent many northerners from interpreting the codes as an attempt by the South to reenslave blacks. The Freedmen's Bureau (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0819595.html) prevented enforcement of the codes, which were later repealed by the radical Republican state governments.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed

[MJJChichi]

Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0812362.html), the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by the invading Union forces was enormous, and the old social and economic order founded on slavery had collapsed completely, with nothing to replace it. The 11 Confederate states somehow had to be restored to their positions in the Union and provided with loyal governments, and the role of the emancipated slaves in Southern society had to be defined.

The Reconstruction Acts

On Mar. 2, 1867, Congress enacted the Reconstruction Act, which, supplemented later by three related acts, divided the South (except Tennessee) into five military districts in which the authority of the army commander was supreme. Johnson continued to oppose congressional policy, and when he insisted on the removal of the radical Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0846515.html), in defiance of the Tenure of Office Act (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0848191.html), the House impeached him (Feb., 1868). The radicals in the Senate fell one vote short of convicting him (May), but by this time Johnson's program had been effectively scuttled.
Under the terms of the Reconstruction Acts, new state constitutions were written in the South. By Aug., 1868, six states (Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida) had been readmitted to the Union, having ratified the Fourteenth Amendment as required by the first Reconstruction Act. The four remaining unreconstructed states—Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia—were readmitted in 1870 after ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment as well as the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed the black man's right to vote.

[MJJChichi]

Amendment XIV

(The proposed amendment was sent to the states June 16, 1866, by the Thirty-ninth Congress. It was ratified July 9, 1868.)
Section 1


[Citizenship defined; privileges of citizens.]
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2


[Apportionment of Representatives.]
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3


[Disqualification for office; removal of disability.]
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4


[Public debt not to be questioned; payment of debts and claims incurred in aid of rebellion forbidden.]
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5


[Congress given power to enforce this article.]
The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

[MJJChichi]

Howard University, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; with federal support. It was founded in 1867 by Gen. Oliver O. Howard (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0824340.html) of the Freedmen's Bureau, to provide education for newly emancipated slaves. A normal and preparatory department was opened the same year. In 1868 the collegiate department and the departments of law, pharmacy, and medicine were opened, followed by the theological (1871), dentistry (1882), music (1883), and engineering and architecture (1910) departments. The university also has schools of fine arts, nursing, business and public administration, and social work. The Founders Library houses the Moorland-Spingarn and Channing Pollock collections on African-American literature and history, which date back to the 16th cent. Although predominantly a black university, the school has been open since its founding to all qualified students.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

Amendment XV

(The proposed amendment was sent to the states Feb. 27, 1869, by the Fortieth Congress. It was ratified Feb. 3, 1870.)
Section 1


[Right of certain citizens to vote established.]
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Section 2


[Congress given power to enforce this article.]
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

[MJJChichi]

Hiram Revels
Senator from Mississippi; first African American senator
Born: September 27, 1827
Birthplace: Fayetteville, N.C.

Born a free black, Revels worked as a barber and as a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. During the Civil War he helped recruit two regiments of African American troops in Maryland and served as the chaplain of a black regiment. After the war he moved to Natchez, Miss., where he was elected an alderman (1868) and a state senator (1870). In 1870 Revels was elected as the first African American member of the United States Senate. A few senators objected, arguing that Revels had not been a U.S. citizen for the nine years, a requirement for serving in the Senate--African Americans had only technically become citizens four years earlier, after the passage of the 1866 Civil Rights Act. But this ploy to keep him out of the Senate failed--the Senate voted 48 to 8 in favor of Revels. Revels served as senator from Feb. 25, 1870, to March 4, 1871. (His term was an abbreviated one because he was elected to complete the term vacated ten years earlier by Jefferson Davis, who left the Senate to become the president of the Confederacy.) After the Senate, Revels served as the president of a black college and returned to the ministry.
Died: Jan. 16, 1901

[MJJChichi]

Atlanta University Center

Atlanta University Center, at Atlanta, Ga.; coeducational. The largest consortium of historically African-American educational institutions in the country, it was organized in 1929 when three schools—Atlanta Univ. (chartered 1867), Morehouse College (1867), and Spelman College (1881)—became affiliated in a university plan. Atlanta Univ. was to be devoted exclusively to graduate education, with the other two colleges providing undergraduate programs. Later Clark College (chartered 1877), Interdenominational Theological Center (1958), Morehouse School of Medicine (1982), and Morris Brown College (1885) also joined the university center's affiliation agreement. In 1988 Clark College and Atlanta Univ. merged to form Clark Atlanta Univ., which is still part of the university center.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

Tuskegee University, at Tuskegee, Ala.; coeducational; chartered and opened 1881 by Booker T. Washington (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0851531.html) as Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. It became Tuskegee Institute in 1937 and adopted its present name in 1985. One of the first important schools to provide adequate education for African Americans, it has since its beginning stressed the practical application of learning. George Washington Carver (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0810661.html) taught and conducted his famous experiments there. The Carver Foundation and Tuskegee's Agricultural Research and Experiment Station continue to do research in the natural sciences. There are schools of arts and sciences, agriculture and home economics, business, education, engineering and architecture, nursing and allied health professions, and veterinary medicine. The library contains the Washington Collection and Archives, one of the country's most comprehensive collections on Africa and African-American history.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

Washington, Booker Taliaferro, 1856–1915, American educator, b. Franklin co., Va. His mother was a mulatto slave on a plantation, his father a white man. After the Civil War, he worked in salt furnaces and coal mines in Malden, W.Va., and attended school part time, until he was able to enter the Hampton Institute (Va.). A friend of the principal paid his tuition, and he worked as a janitor to earn his room and board. After three years (1872–75) at Hampton he taught at a school for African-American children in Malden, then studied at Wayland Seminary, Washington, D.C. Appointed (1879) an instructor at Hampton Institute (now Hampton Univ. (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0822586.html)), he was given charge of the training of 75 Native Americans, under the guidance of Gen. S. C. Armstrong (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0804778.html). He later developed the night school. In 1881 he was chosen to organize a normal and industrial school for African Americans at Tuskegee, Ala. Under his direction, Tuskegee Institute (see Tuskegee Univ. (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0849781.html)) became one of the leading African-American educational institutions in America. Its programs emphasized industrial training as a means to self-respect and economic independence for black people.
Washington gave many lectures in the interests of his work, both in the United States and in Europe, and he was counted among the ablest public speakers of his time. In 1895 at Atlanta, Ga., Washington made a highly controversial speech on the place of the African American in American life. In it he maintained that it was foolish for blacks to agitate for social equality before they had attained economic equality. His speech pleased many whites and gained financial support for his school, but his position was denounced by many African-American leaders, among them W. E. B. Du Bois (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0816204.html). Washington was the organizer (1900) of the National Negro Business League, a group committed to black economic independence. He received honorary degrees from Dartmouth and Harvard. Among his many published works are his autobiography, Up From Slavery (1901, repr. 1963), The Future of the American Negro (1899), Tuskegee and Its People (1905, repr. 1969), Life of Frederick Douglass (1907, repr. 1968), The Story of the Negro (1909, repr. 1969), and My Larger Education (1911).
Bibliography

See biographies by E. J. Scott and L. B. Stowe (1916, repr. 1972), B. Mathews (1948, repr. 1969), S. R. Spencer, Jr. (1955), A. Bontemps (1972), and L. R. Harlan (1972); studies by H. Hawkins, ed. (1962) and E. L. Thornborough, ed. (1969).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

Carver, George Washington, 1864?–1943, American agricultural chemist, b. Diamond, Mo., grad. Iowa State College (now Iowa State Univ.; B.S., 1894; M.A. 1896). Born a slave, he later, as a free man, earned his college degree. In 1896 he joined the staff of Tuskegee Institute as director of the department of agricultural research, retaining that post the rest of his life. His work won him international repute. Carver's efforts to improve the economy of the South (he dedicated himself especially to bettering the position of African Americans) included the teaching of soil improvement and of diversification of crops. He discovered hundreds of uses for the peanut, the sweet potato, and the soybean and thus stimulated the culture of these crops. He devised many products from cotton waste and extracted blue, purple, and red pigments from local clay. From 1935 he was a collaborator of the Bureau of Plant Industry. Carver contributed his life savings to a foundation for research at Tuskegee. In 1953 his birthplace was made a national monument.
See biographies by R. Holt (rev. ed. 1966) and L. Elliott (1966).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

American Colonization Society, organized Dec., 1816–Jan., 1817, at Washington, D.C., to transport free blacks from the United States and settle them in Africa. The freeing of many slaves, principally by idealists, created a serious problem in that no sound provisions were made for establishing them in society on an equal basis with white Americans anywhere in the United States. Robert Finley (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0818706.html), principal founder of the colonization society, found much support among prominent men, notably Henry Clay (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0812477.html). Money was raised—with some indirect help from the federal government when (1819) Congress appropriated $100,000 for returning to Africa blacks illegally brought to the United States. In 1821 an agent, Eli Ayres, and Lt. R. F. Stockton of the U.S. Navy purchased land in Africa, where subsequently Jehudi Ashmun (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0804996.html) and Ralph R. Gurley laid the foundations of Liberia (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0829671.html). The colonization movement came under the bitter attack of the abolitionists, who charged that in the South it strengthened slavery by removing the free blacks. The blacks themselves were not enthusiastic about abandoning their native land for the African coast. The colonization society, with its associated state organizations, declined after 1840. More than 11,000 blacks were transported to Liberia before 1860. From 1865 until its dissolution in 1912, the society was a sort of trustee for Liberia.
See P. J. Staudenraus, The African Colonization Movement (1961); W. L. Garrison, Thoughts on African Colonization (1832, repr. 1968).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

Plessy v. Ferguson, case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896. The court upheld an 1890 Louisiana statute mandating racially segregated but equal railroad carriages, ruling that the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution dealt with political and not social equality. The case arose from resentment among black and Creole residents of New Orleans and was supported by the railroad companies, who felt it unnecessary to pay the cost of separate cars. Justice Henry Billings Brown wrote the majority opinion, stating that “separate but equal” laws did not imply the inferiority of one race to another. Justice John Harlan (1833–1911) dissented, arguing that the U.S. Constitution was color-blind. The decision provided constitutional sanction for the adoption throughout the South of a comprehensive series of Jim Crow laws (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0826301.html), which were maintained until overruled in 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans. (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0809176.html) It had particular relevance to education, with Justice Brown drawing parallels between race segregation on trains and in educational facilities.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

[MJJChichi]

...1900's...

[L.J]

Why We Need Black History Month - All Year Around
From "Ghana Review" Vol 1. No. 6
Friday 27 January 1995
N.B. Posted with permission of GHANA REVIEW.

Having lived in Canada for many years now, I have come to know the month of February as Black History Month. In fact, since 1926, February has been designated as Black History month in North America.

During one of the Black History Month celebrations here in Edmonton, I engaged in a chat with a gentleman who had come to find out what it was all about. During our conversation he kept asking me why do Black people need a month to celebrate their history? He wanted to know what is Black history? And if there is any history of African people at all to talk or read about.

I must say I was not surprised at his queries. I cannot remember the number of times I have heard or read somewhere that, as Africans we have not contributed anything substantial to history. In fact, to many Westerners we have no history at all. This statement by a Columbia University professor is very typical: "Over the past 5,000 years," he noted, "the history of black Africa is blank. The black African had no written language; no numerals; no calendar, or system of measurement. He did not devise a plough or wheel, nor did he domesticate an animal; he built nothing more complex than a mud hut or thatched stockade. The African had no external trade except in slaves of his own race, in ivory, and (on the West Coast) in palm oil and mahogany."

And of course, there is the much quoted pronouncement by the eminent Oxford University historian, Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper who said that: "Perhaps in the future there will be some African history to teach. But at the present there is none; there is only the history of Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness ... and darkness is not the subject of history".

Or what about the view expressed by the British scholar of Africa, Margery Perham, who wrote that: "Until the very recent penetration of Europe the greater part of the [African] continent was without the wheel, the plough or the transport animal; without stone houses or clothes except skins; without writing and so without history."

In his book, Progress and Evolution of Man in Africa, Dr. L. S. B. Leakey wrote that: "In every country that one visits and where one is drawn into a conversation about Africa, the question is regularly asked by people who should know better: "But what has Africa contributed to world progress?"

What I have found troubling though is how many of us in the Black or African communities still believe some of these statements. I have encountered Blacks who are completely ignorant or have less knowledge about African history - despite the many fine books on African history and the rise of the Afrocentric movement in North America.

African-American historian John Hope Franklin was right when he told an interviewer that: "[Blacks] can never expect the public schools to teach us as much about our history as we want to know. We can urge them, we can press them to teach more, but I think that much of this lies with us."

As someone interested in Black education, I find it a tragedy that many Black and African children grow up today convinced of their own inferiority. The educational process largely ignores the contributions of Blacks to world civilization and is full of negative perceptions of Blacks and their culture. The school system in North America has continually perpetuated the historical myths and stereotypes about the African past.

I was almost moved to tears to read in a recent Canadian newspaper report about a Black student who until enrolling in a Black-oriented remedial school never knew or read a book by a Black author. There have been reports about how studies in Black history have been an "eye-opener for [Black] students" in Canadian high schools.

One account noted that students are not taught any African or Black history in regular classes. As one student put it: "They have always taken Canadian history, prime ministers, kings, queens. Maybe some US history. But they've never taken anything African". Or as another student said at a high school in Toronto: "History, Canadian history, English or anything else, was always about white people."

In a Windsor high school where a history course in African history has just began, teachers observed how Black students are "amazed and are absolutely intrigued about what they learn about the African past." Similarly, the introduction of Black history in a Toronto high school in 1993 +is part of an initiative to engage more black students in academics, to hook in kids who come from educational jurisdictions outside Canada.

Their vital interest in the course would be the means to develop their learning skills+researching, communicating, reading. " Already, teachers in Canadian schools have noticed what one called +signs of a newly informed dissent." One teacher observed that: "A few weeks ago, one of my students, stood up in his Grade 11 English class and asked why there weren+t any black writers on the reading list." And "through the influence of the black history course, a number of "high-risk" students are taking on more academically demanding courses and faring well."

I have always believed what African American historian John Henrik Clarke said a long time ago that, to control a people you must first control what they think about themselves and how they regard their history and culture. And when your conqueror makes you ashamed of your culture and your history, he needs no prison walls and no chains to hold you.

The chains on your mind are more than enough. Over time, many of us Africans have been injected with inferiority complexes, humiliation and cultural degradation as a result of the lack of knowledge of ourselves and our past. We have become caricatures and an inferior subset of the human race in the body of Western thought. Teacher, historian and educational psychologist, Asa Hilliard has said many times that no groups other than Native Americans and African Americans, in the history of the United States have undergone more defamation of character through distortion, omission, suppression of information, and genocide.

African American historian Carter Woodson has written about how "the thought of the inferiority of the Negro is drilled into him in almost every class he enters and in almost every book he studies .... To handicap a student by teaching him that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst form of lynching. It kills one's aspirations and dooms him to vagabondage and crime".

This degradation of African peoples goes on till this day. Just witness the recent publication of Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's "The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American life", a book that assigns genetically inferior intelligence to African peoples everywhere.

It is enough of a tragedy for colonialists and white racists to degrade Africans in this manner, but this tragedy is compounded when as Africans we join in the mockery. Therefore, to me, there can be no freedom until there is freedom of the mind. I always remember the lyric by the late Bob Marley which says: "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds."

This brings me back to why there is a Black History Month in North America. Why is it important to know our history? Carter Woodson, who is credited with founding Black History Month was the premier Black historian to put forward the idea of African history as a form of Black cultural empowerment and emancipation.

In his view, the knowledge and dissemination of African history would, "besides building self-esteem among blacks, help eliminate prejudice among whites." He aimed both "to inculcate in the mind of the youth of African blood an appreciation of what their race has thought and felt and done" and to publicize the facts of the Black among whites, so that "the Negro may enjoy a larger share of the privileges of democracy as a result of the recognition of his worth."

In a speech at Hampton Institute in 1921 Woodson addressed the issue head on: "We have a wonderful history behind us. ... If you are unable to demonstrate to the world that you have this record, the world will say to you, 'You are not worthy to enjoy the blessings of democracy or anything else'. They will say to you, +Who are you, anyway? Your ancestors have never controlled empires or kingdoms and most of your race have contributed little or nothing to science and philosophy and mathematics."

So far as you know, they have not; but if you will read the history of Africa, the history of your ancestors' people of whom you should feel proud+you will realize that they have a history that is worth while. They have traditions...of which you can boast and upon which you can base a claim for a right to a share in the blessings of democracy.

Let us, then, study...this history...with the understanding that we are not, after all, an inferior people. ... We are going back to that beautiful history and it is going to inspire us to greater achievements. It is not going to be long before we can sing the story to the outside world as to convince it of the value of our history...and we are going to be recognized as men.

In his 1933 classic work, The Miseducation of the Negro, Woodson showed the fundamental problems concerning the education of the African person. He noted how Blacks have been educated away from their own culture and traditions and how as African peoples we have attached ourselves to European culture often to the detriment of our own heritage.

Who would believe for example that, the music department of Fisk University, a traditionally Black university, concentrated on classical European music to the exclusion of the music that expressed the Black experience in America, and Black history and sociology courses were rare and exceptional until after World War 1? Or that French textbooks on African history taught to African children on the African continent, even to this day, would treat French colonialism in Africa as an unqualified blessing and joy for the African?

If education is ever to be substantive and meaningful within the context of North American and world history, Woodson argued, it must first address the African+s historical experiences, both in Africa and the Diaspora. "No nation, no race," observed Dr. Charles Finch of the Morehouse School of Medicine "can face the future unless it knows what it is capable of. This is the function of history."

Thus, as James Walker notes in his book, A History of Blacks in Canada: "...the study of black history can give blacks a sense of the positive achievements of their people, and provide self-confidence and self-pride which are essential to any program of assertiveness." Cornell University Professor Martin Bernal, author of Black Athena, has acknowledged that: "Eurocentric history as taught in schools and universities has had a very large ego-boosting, if not therapeutic, purpose for whites. ... It's in a way normal for the idea that Blacks should have some confidence building in their pedagogy."

There is a Swahili adage which says: "You are what you make of yourself, and not what others make you." In fact, a positive identity or enhanced self-concept is critical for the academic, social, and personal success of Black students everywhere. And this is where Black history becomes important.

Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah has written about the need for "a re-awakening [of] consciousness among Africans and peoples of African descent of the bonds that unite us - our historical past, our culture, our common experience and our aspirations."

And the late Afro-Guyanese historian, Walter Rodney made the same point when he wrote that: "What we need is confidence in ourselves, so that as Africans we can be conscious, united, independent and creative. A knowledge of African achievements in art, education, religion, politics, agriculture, medicine, science and the mining of metals can help us gain the necessary confidence which has been removed by slavery and colonialism."

So if they say as Africans we don't have a history, we should be able to point out the fallacy in such ignorant statements by referring to works by distinguished African historians such as Cheikh Anta Diop, Chancellor Williams, Walter Rodney, Adu Boahen, John Jackson, Yosef Ben-Jochannan, John Hope Franklin, Leronne Bennett Jr., John Henrik Clarke, J. F. Ade Ajayi and many more. Thanks to their works, we've come to know that when we talk about African history, we are also talking about African astronomy, African mathematics, African metallurgy, African medicine, African engineering and so on.

And thanks to the great contribution by the late African historian, Cheikh Anta Diop, we now know that the history that we need to recover includes that Egyptian science and technology which laid the foundation for the development of Europe. The use of historical knowledge must be a weapon in our struggle for complete liberation.

An overall view of ancient African civilizations and ancient African cultures is required to get rid of all myths about the African past, which continues to linger in the minds of Black and African peoples everywhere. And that is what Black History Month is all about. Remember the African saying: "Know your history and you will always be wise."

Henry Martey Codjoe
A Policy Consultant
with the Alberta Department of Education, Canada.

January 1995

*Forthcoming in African Link, Volume 5, No. 1 (February 1995) under the title, "A Commentary on Black History Month in North America." This is also a modified version of an article, "On the Importance of History in Black and African Development," in Caribbean Source, Volume 2, No. 7 (February 1993).

[L.J]

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James Johnson
Photo - 1917 publicity photo on Carolina Shout album, Biograph records
On Dec. 3, an opera lost for more than 60 years returned to the stage. "De Organizer," by jazz pianist James P. Johnson and poet Langston Hughes, had one performance at Carnegie Hall in 1940 and then it disappeared. But, the vocal music was discovered five years ago and a painstaking reconstruction of the orchestral score made the performance possible.

James P. Johnson was an important figure in American music. He's called the father of stride piano, a style of playing distinguished by the striding movement of the left hand which walks back and forth, playing a note in the bass followed by a chord in the middle register. He taught Fats Waller and Willie "The Lion" Smith. Hao Huang, a music professor at Scripps College who specializes in jazz, says James P. Johnson's influence was widespread.

Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, they all listened to his piano rolls, and especially in their early work, you can hear a very strong influence. He was such an important musician of the time.

James P. Johnson was also an accomplished composer of popular music. In fact, he wrote the Charleston, a melody that ended up defining an era.

What many jazz buffs don't know is that, beginning in the 1920s, Mr. Johnson started to write symphonic music as well. Among his concert works was a one-act opera called "De Organizer" that he wrote with poet Langston Hughes.

The opera has been lost since its premiere in New York, and musicologists have been looking for it ever since. Colorado Symphony conductor Marin Alsop says not only was it written by two of the leading African-American artists of the time, it was also based on a political theme: labor organization.

"I mean, it's not just an opera; it has all these other, wonderful social dimensions to it," he said. "And that's why, of course, we were extremely curious about the piece and anxious to try to find some scholarship and some history on it."

Apart from Langston Hughes' complete libretto, only one piece survived from the opera, "The Hungry Blues." Mr. Johnson recorded that tune with a studio band in 1939, one year before the Carnegie Hall performance. Ms. Alsop says, based on that one piece, musicians have often said "De Organizer" could be Johnson's greatest achievement in concert music.

Maestra Alsop is one of dozens of musicians who have searched for this score. The hunt ended in 1997, when some of Eva Jessye's papers were unpacked at the University of Michigan. Ms. Jessye directed the choir for the original Broadway production of "Porgy and Bess" in 1935. She also led the chorus for "De Organizer"'s Carnegie Hall debut. No one realized, though, that the lost opera was among the papers she'd bequeathed to the school until music professor James Dapogny happened to see a small book casually resting inside a glass display case.

"I don't think the people who put it on display knew that it represented this legendary lost work of art," Mr. Dapogny said.

Professor Dapogny says his knees buckled when he saw it, and he was overwhelmed when he finally held the music in his hands. The good news was every sung note was there. The bad news? There were no instrumental parts, not even music for rehearsal piano. So, Professor Dapogny called Barry Glover, James P. Johnson's grandson, to ask if he had any information about the missing music. Mr. Glover says he was excited when he heard the score had been found.

"Stunned is putting it mildly. I was almost beside myself, because I had stumbled on the limited amount of material that we had on 'De Organizer' a couple years prior to that," he said.

The sketches Barry Glover found covered just over 25 percent of the music in the entire opera. After collecting these and as much other material as he could, James Dapogny started reconstructing the orchestral score, including 80 measures that were completely missing. When more musical sketches turned up later, he found that the harmonies he had written almost exactly matched James P. Johnson's originals. "You know, harmonically, it's not much of a mystery. But when I found the sketch...I sort of had the harmonies right, but the textures were wrong. And of course, there's no way to guess at those," he said.

Professor Dapogny worked on the opera for several years before taking it to the University of Michigan's music department to start arranging a performance.

The plot for "De Organizer" is very simple. A group of sharecroppers gather in a cabin, awaiting the arrival of a union organizer. They commiserate about their troubles, until at last, like a mythic hero, 'de organizer' enters and starts urging them to form a union.

Susan Duffy, author of the book The Political Plays of Langston Hughes, says the Organizer's speech is similar to a sermon, and the opera itself resembles a religious service.

"By the end of the play, you have the sense that it's designed to have the audience on their feet singing, 'Fight, fight, we've organized a union here tonight,'" she said.

Ms. Duffy said the opera is a great example of Langston Hughes' "blues" poetry, strongly influenced by rhythmic figures and musical phrases. The rebirth of "De Organizer," she says, will give scholars a chance to reexamine the poet's theatrical work.

"I think his stature as an American poet and social critic is certainly undeniable and well deserved, but he remains virtually unknown as a dramatist of any kind of literary importance in the American theatre," she said. "And I think in examining his plays, the ones that I examined were very powerful."

Langston Hughes was deeply involved with the radical left during the 1930's and had written a number of political plays. That may be why James P. Johnson approached him about collaborating on "De Organizer."

Musicologist Hao Huang says Mr. Johnson probably thought Langston Hughes, who was closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance, would bring a tone of seriousness to the project.

"I think that he was trying to cross over into the concert halls, to bring black music out of the sporting houses and nightclubs into concert halls," he said. "And I think that fits very much into the whole Harlem Renaissance ideal of the New Negro as someone who's going to create a new high culture for black people."

Although the finished piece is not exactly what the audience heard in Carnegie Hall in 1940, James Dapogny says it's pretty close, and James P. Johnson's music is beautiful.

"Of course the nightmare I have in mind is that somebody will turn up the score and find out that I did it completely wrong," he said. "And honestly... I mean, I may be overstating this... but honestly, I think if James P. Johnson heard what I wrote, he'd be perfectly happy with it."

"De Organizer" was performed for the first time in more than 60 years with University of Michigan students onstage at Orchestra Hall in Detroit. James Dapogny says he's already received a number of calls from other conductors, hoping to perform the work in other venues throughout the United States.

[L.J]

The youth culture called Hip Hop began in the urban ghetto but has influenced music, art and fashion worldwide. A new book looks at the origins and development of the movement.

Hip Hop is gritty, sometimes offensive and occasionally violent. It is a kind of dancing, style of art, and way of talking and dressing that started in New York about 30 years ago. The term "Hip Hop" was used by New York Dance club discjockeys.

It is best known through its music, which includes the scratching and sampling by deejays in early Hip Hop clubs, and the spoken form of music known as "rap."

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Cover of the book
(Photo courtesy HarperCollins)
Music journalist Kevin Powell has documented Hip Hop, with photographer Ernie Paniccioli, in a book called Who Shot Ya? Three Decades of Hiphop Photography. "I always say that Hip Hop is making something out of nothing," he said. "It was created in New York City by poor blacks and poor Latino young people, who were living through a fiscal crisis in New York City in the 1970s, when there weren't a lot of recreational programs. So these young people literally took what they had, spray paint, magic markers, cardboard, turntables, the record collection from their families, and created this incredible culture."

The writer says Hip Hop began on the edges of American culture, but has moved to its center. "Hip Hop is American popular culture today," said Kevin Powell. "It affects the language, when you hear people saying things like "don't diss [disrespect] me" that's hip hop vernacular. When you see fashion trends, be it Tommy Hilfiger or other high fashion companies incorporating Hip Hop fashions, the baggy look, into their shows. Hip Hop is everywhere."

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Ernie Paniccioli
(Photo courtesy HarperCollins)
Modern rappers include Eminem, a white singer born in Kansas and raised in suburban Detroit, who embraced Hip Hop's earthy style and helped popularize it. Kevin Powell says that, as a musical form and fashion, Hip Hop has influenced youngsters nearly everywhere. "It's about young people who have felt disempowered or invisible, trying to become empowered and very visible," he said. "And even though it was created many years ago, specifically by the black and Latino communities, it's embraced by young white people, young Asian people, young Native Americans. You can go to Europe, you can go to Japan, Africa, all over the globe. It is today's rock and roll."

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Kevin Powell
(VOA photo - B. Skopal)
Hip Hop has its dark side. It lyrics document - some say glamorize crime, drugs and violence. The culture has also had its share of real-life violence. The rap star Tupac Shakur was shot and killed in Las Vegas in 1996, and the rapper Notorious B.I.G. was killed in Los Angeles six months later.

Kevin Powell says the violence in the music only reflects the violence of real life. "When you live in a ghetto environment, there's going to be violence, there's going to be sexism, there's going to be guns, there's going to be people going to prisons and coming out of prisons," said Kevin Powell. "And all of that stuff is going to be reflected in the culture."

Mr. Powell was attracted to Hip Hop as a youngster. Now in his 30s, he still likes the music and culture. He believes Hip Hop will always have an attraction because of its "edginess." "I also feel we may get to a point where Hip Hop is just like the blues or jazz, where it may not be the popular culture or the popular music of the day, but there's always be a loyal following, an underground following," he said. "Like I'll be that 60 or 70 year old man at a hip hop club saying, 'I remember back in 2002, that was great.' "

Who Shot Ya? Three Decades of HipHop Photography is published by Amistad, a division of HarperCollins.

[L.J]

The National Endowment for the Arts recently presented its 2003 American Jazz Masters Fellowship Awards to three artists for their contributions to jazz, artistic excellence and impact on the music field.

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AP
Elvin Jones
(1997 photo)
John Coltrane's favorite drummer Elvin Jones comes from a renowned family of jazz musicians. His brother, pianist Hank Jones, was named an American Jazz Master in 1989. His other brother, Thad, was an accomplished trumpeter.

Born and raised in Pontiac, Michigan, Elvin Jones discovered be-bop when he moved to New York at age 29. His improvisational style was a perfect fit for groups led by Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and J.J. Johnson. His appearances on such Coltrane classics as A Love Supreme, and My Favorite Things in the 1960s, brought Jones international acclaim. Now 75, Jones performs and tours with his own group, Jazz Machine.

Abbey Lincoln, 72, is the first vocalist to win an American Jazz Master Award since Anita O'Day in 1997. Inspired by Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, Lincoln began performing in high school in her native Chicago. Much of her success as a soloist comes from her acclaimed musical collaborations. In addition to having saxophone veteran Benny Carter play on her first album, Lincoln appeared alongside Thelonious Monk, Stan Getz, Max Roach and Miles Davis. Often described as a "modern cultural storyteller," Lincoln incorporates her work as a teacher, poet and actress into her music.

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AP
Jazz pianist Marian McPartland and saxophonist Jimmy Heath pose at the Avatar recording studio
Like drummer Elvin Jones, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath was born into a prominent musical family. His older brother bassist Percy Heath was awarded an American Jazz Master Fellowship in 2002, and his younger brother Albert is a drummer living and working in Los Angeles. At 76, Jimmy Heath says "Between us we've got over 150 years of experience, and we are the elders of the surviving families of this music." Heath worked with such be-bop pioneers as Dizzy Gillespie and Gil Evans, wrote more than 100 compositions, and served as the Director of Jazz Studies at Queens College in New York.

The National Endowment of the Arts' 2003 American Jazz Masters Fellowship Awards were presented on January 10 at the 30th Annual International Association for Jazz Education Conference in Toronto, Canada. A panel of experts selected the winners from a pool of nominations submitted by the national jazz community and the public. Elvin Jones, Abbey Lincoln and Jimmy Heath each received a one-time fellowship of $20,000.

[L.J]

Rap music is heard in every corner of the world these days, and the so-called "hip hop" culture it spawned has traveled with it. But rap's roots are in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, where it is still alive, well and in a permanent state of evolution.

Rapper's Delight is commonly thought of as the "first" rap song and it is the work of The Sugar Hill Gang. The group got its name from Sugar Hill, a section of New York City's Harlem, which lays claim to the title, "Birthplace of Hip Hop".

But how that baby has grown. Kevin Powell, hip hop historian and editor of a book called, Who Shot Ya? Three Decades of Hip Hop Photography, says that hip hop culture, of which rap music is the cornerstone, is "the dominant youth culture on the planet".

"If you go to Germany, you'll see that cats have taken the influences of, say, a Chuck D from Public Enemy and put it on their take of what's going on in German society since the Berlin Wall came down," explains Mr. Powell. "France is the second largest selling market for rap music on the planet. A lot of people don't realize that, but that's incredible. You see a mixture of French and Arab and African traditions creating this rap music that is indigenous to that community there."

Mr. Powell says the other elements of hip hop culture fashion and dance have accompanied rap music on its ascent to "world domination." Baggy trousers, basketball shoes, and "doo-rags" tight, nylon skull-caps are sported by young people in New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, Africa. Kids break-dance in the Dominican Republic and Japan.

Rap music has changed dramatically in the 30 years since it first rose from the hot streets of Harlem. Although it began as pure entertainment, rap tracks were soon infused with politics that were as complicated as the tracks' arrangements of beats and samples.

Rap has also come under increasing criticism from parents' groups and politicians for its lyrics, which can often be both excessively violent and sexually-graphic.

Kevin Powell says the uproar is just the latest chapter in a long history of tension between artistic innovation and what he calls, "the status quo." He says critics attacked blues, jazz, and rock and roll with the same fervor.

"If you go back and listen to the records of an Ethel Waters, or a Bessie Smith, or a Robert Johnson, you're going to hear violence, you'll hear sex, you'll hear coded language for sex and violence, you'll hear happiness, you'll hear rage, and you'll definitely hear those things manifested in hip hop, no question," says Mr. Powell.

On the streets of Harlem today, young rappers are unconcerned with the critics, or even with the wild popularity hip hop has attained. They just want to maintain rap music's role as the voice of what Mr. Powell calls "the disempowered".

Every Thursday in Harlem, Tiffanydenise hosts an event called "A Hip Hop Affair". Neighborhood poets and rappers come by and demonstrate their handiwork. She says that, while the shows are entertaining, they have a definite purpose.

"I'm dismayed at the commercialism of hip hop. It's not what the kids are doing on the street. But a lot of them are trying to imitate that because that's the only way they'll be able to get into the industry," she says. "But there are a host of underground artists that are just phenomenal that don't get the respect they deserve. So, I wanted a venue that would showcase that talent and would teach the young people coming up in hip hop the things that I know. "

When people from major recording labels approach young performers at "A Hip Hop Affair", the artists have been known to turn away. Tiffanydenise says they have little interest in major label record deals which might impinge on the integrity of their music.

A rapper by the name of "Harlem 1-2-5" frequently performs at "A Hip Hop Affair." Like Tiffanydenise, he is distressed at the direction hip hop's popularity has taken it.

He says that young people are misinterpreting the message of fallen rap heroes like Tupac Shakur, whose songs about the desperate and deadly life on the street are condemnations of that life, not endorsements.

"It's unfortunate because now you have young people who are growing up in two-parent homes, that are affluent or at least doing well, and they have no reason at all to be committing crimes or to be embracing a hard life. But they're doing so because they think it's fashionable," says the rapper.

"Harlem 1-2-5" is an educator by day. He incorporates the poetry of rap music in his lesson plans, alongside the work of William Shakespeare, and the black American poets Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen.

"Symantix" is another performer at "A Hip Hop Affair." While "Harlem 1-2-5" is concerned with children idolizing "thugs", her concern is the depiction of women in rap music. She addresses the subject in her songs and hopes that more female voices will pepper the hip hop landscape.

"When you listen to the radio, you hear a lot of misogynistic lyrics. You hear a lot of women being talked about badly, or whatever the case may be," she says. " If you don't have the woman's perspective, then you are going to think that this is what hip hop is made of. And, if the women that are encouraged to get in it are degrading themselves, then this is another problem. You need balance."

Creating rap music and hip hop culture was not enough for Harlem. Its messengers are struggling to both preserve and re-invent the message, and that is very much a work in progress.

[L.J]

Over the past 50 years, the Mitchell-Ruff Duo has played a lot of schools, and pianist Dwike Mitchell says he's suffered through a lot of insulting instruments. But before a performance at the Moses Brown School, he sat off stage and shook his head sadly at the tinny electronic keyboard he'd been given for the show. Minutes later, though, Mr. Mitchell and his partner, bassist and French-horn player Willie Ruff, took the makeshift stage with the same poise they'd display at a Greenwich Village club or a Parisian concert hall.

"The piece you just heard was the newest blues you ever heard, because we just made it up a moment ago," announced Mr. Ruff. "And we call it the Providence Independent Schools Stomp, Breakdown Roll-over and Boogie." In addition to being a touring jazz musician, Willie Ruff is a lecturer and music instructor at Yale University. He started his talk for the high school students with a history lesson, about a violent slave rebellion in South Carolina in 1739.

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Willie Ruff
"And this entire insurrection had been organized without recourse to speech. It had been organized by the 'talking drum.' The drum that speaks. Language-carryin' device," he explained. " And law was made against the 'talking drum.' It was prohibited. Africans, African slaves could no longer play drums that spoke."

Willie Ruff and Dwike Mitchell started their musical dialogue together in a segregated Air Force band in 1947. After leaving the military, they both went off to study classical music before hooking up again in the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. A few years later, they struck out on their own, as a duo. Pianist Dwike Mitchell says the music they made reflected the political struggles engulfing black America in the 1950s and '60s.

"As far as struggling is concerned, as far as the jazz struggle, it had the same emotional impact on us as Go Down Moses. ... I really don't think we cared whether we were being received," Mr. Mitchell said. "We just believed in ourselves and believed in the music we were playing, and that was so strong within us, I think if no one had listened, I think I still would have played the same thing that I played."

The duo has played with many of the 20th century's jazz legends, and for one of its civil rights legends. When he was an up-and-coming young minister, Martin Luther King Junior sometimes visited the small New York piano bar where the Mitchell-Ruff duo used to perform. But at the high school gym, the jazzmen didn't want to tell war stories. They wanted to make their point with music. And one of their favorite ways to do that is to invite someone from the audience up to the stage to play a melody.

"Like this one by Mozart, performed by a shy girl named Katherine Meckel, who was all but shoved toward the stage by her friends. And then, the musicians sat down and showed the audience how to improvise a tune," he said.

Afterwards, even though there hadn't been all that much talk of history, students and teachers alike made the connections. Senior Marcus Ricci was another young musician who volunteered to play on the stage.

"These guys have been playing since, what the '50s? And I think it's great to see how far they've come and how much they've accomplished," he said. "They were talking about having talking drums taken away, and having to express themselves through different forms, and I think a lot of it's about expression, about getting your message across. They're expressing themselves through music. I really liked how they would get into it and yell and grunt and I thought it was great and I think that's their way of getting their message across and getting heard."

Teachers and administrators had hoped the connection between creative expression and civil rights would come through, and they weren't disappointed.

"I really wanted them to get a sense of both the intellect and the emotion involved in this very important part of American music," said Joan Countryman, headmistress of the Lincoln School for Girls, one of the four private schools that attended the show. A 1960s civil rights leader herself, Ms. Countryman organized the Mitchell-Ruff Duo performance.

"What Willie and Dwike do with the music is explain how it fits into context of American history. Part of the story of jazz is related to slavery, emancipation, the whole history of African-Americans in this country," she said. "And what a wonderful thing for kids to hear music in connection with that and start to make sense of that."

Dwike Mitchell and Willie Ruff never said it, but everyone there seemed to get it. The soundtrack of liberation can be what we think of as struggle or protest music, but it doesn't have to be. It can also be the music of pure joy the music of two partners evangelizing what they love - plucking, growling, shouting…and rocking a flimsy fake piano.

[L.J]

The Apollo Theatre in the Harlem neighborhood is one of New York City's top tourist attractions. But many visitors only see it as they pass by on tour buses. A visit inside the cultural and historic landmark is worth the extra steps. But do not expect to remain a passive spectator.


Drop me off in Harlem.
Any place in Harlem.
There's someone waiting there
who makes it seem like heaven
up in Harlem.
I don't want your Dixie,
you can have your Dixie.
There's no one down in Dixie
who can take me away
from my own Harlem.
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Harlem Song
A new multimedia production, entitled Harlem Song, celebrates the cultural history of Harlem, and highlights significant historical moments by means of theatre, song, and dance. An award-winning Broadway director and producer conceived the theatrical revue, but if you want to see the show you will have to go to Harlem's Apollo Theatre.

The Apollo Theatre in the heart of Harlem at 125th Street in Manhattan was a hallmark of black entertainment for decades. But in 1975, it went bankrupt and closed down. Subsequent efforts to get the Apollo back on its feet failed, and it was not until the late 1990's that a team of managers, lawyers, and savvy business leaders took over to try and restore the theatre to its former glory.

The non-profit Apollo Foundation wants to bring the best programming it can to the Harlem community. The foundation raising funds and is working on a multi-million-dollar renovation.

President of the foundation, Derek Johnson, said he wants to rebuild the theatre's international image. "The Apollo," he said, "is not just a Harlem-based facility, and it is not just an icon of New York and American culture. The Apollo is really a world-renowned, global icon, and it represents a brand that is equally ubiquitous on the world stage."

When it opened in 1914, the Apollo was used for vaudeville, and burlesque acts played to white audiences only. But a new owner in 1934 began presenting black entertainers to mixed audiences. This led the way to the theatre's recognition as a leading African-American cultural institution.

The Apollo helped pave the road for innovative musical forms from jazz to gospel to blues to hip-hop, and has been a launching pad for legendary artists such as Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and The Jackson Five.

In recent years, the Dance Theatre of Harlem has appeared at the Apollo. The group's founder, Arthur Mitchell, said the Apollo has a special appeal to performers.

Mr. Mitchell said, "The Apollo itself is one of the greatest theatres that still exists today where performers get a chance to come out and show what they can do. That interaction you have with the audience is something that is very very special."

That interaction is particularly lively on Wednesday evenings when the Apollo hosts "Amateur Night." At this show, the crowd has a say in the performance, but if you are the performer, make sure you are not easily offended.

"Amateur Night at the Apollo" has been a tradition since 1934, lending the stage to budding artists who aspire to be among the next generation of Apollo legends. Some do not get beyond the first verse of a song, and others get a hearty round of applause.

But in both cases, the host assures the audience, and the performers, that it is all in good fun, and there are rules. Children never get booed, for example, and everyone gets a fair try.

The "Amateur Night" host said, "We give every contestant a fair chance until they prove us different. We are all Americans so that means everybody gets a fair chance. So I do not want just 'cause somebody comes out here and they don't have on the type of clothes you like, you start booing."

The Apollo is the best known showcase in Harlem, and certainly one of the most entertaining. As part of the renovations, the theatre is getting a new facade, additional seats, upgraded lighting and new audio and video equipment.

With new dance, music, and theatrical events planned for the coming years, the Apollo is expected to be high on the list of New York City attractions, for visitors and residents alike. And they will even be thanked for their visit.

[L.J]

Harlem
The Harlem section of New York has had its share of problems. But even in its darkest days, its reputation as the center of African American culture has made it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city. One of the best ways to experience Harlem is to take an organized walking tour. James Donahower recently did just that and, as part of VOA's ongoing "Harlem Series."

The first stop on the "Harlem Heritage Tour" is the legendary Apollo Theater.

The careers of Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, and Michael Jackson, were all born at the Apollo, and tour-goers are given an opportunity to take the stage in a mock version of the theater's legendary "Amateur Night".


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The Apollo is under reconstruction, as is much of Harlem nowadays. The neighborhood surrounding the key stops on the Harlem Heritage tour, the Abyssinian Baptist Church, the mosque where black activist Malcolm X preached, the home of the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton is rapidly changing. Nationally known companies like Starbucks and Disney have recently opened shops in Harlem, which just a decade ago was often overlooked as an investment opportunity.

Harlem Heritage Tours director Neal Shoemaker includes these major retailers in his tour, with something of a sardonic twist.

"So Harlem is changing quite a bit when you get Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse coming to your neighborhood," he explained. "The thing about that, is that when Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse come to Harlem, the price of the real estate goes up quite a bit. Nowadays, who knows if blacks will be able to stay because of the high cost of doing business here?"

Like Mr. Shoemaker, Michael Henry Adams weaves social commentary into his private walking tours of Harlem. He is the author of Harlem Lost and Found, a book that celebrates Harlem's rich architectural history. He compares Harlem to other U.S. cities and neighborhoods.

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"If you look at a place like Georgetown, or Charleston, or Savannah, communities which were in the 1930s primarily black communities, which had been abandoned by whites, the great architectural treasures of those cities were preserved, in essence, by poor black people who lived in rooming houses that were made from these grand old places. Well, that's essentially the situation in Harlem," he said.

As buildings are restored and real estate prices skyrocket, people like Neal Shoemaker and Michael Henry Adams worry that Harlem's storied past will be sacrificed to its future. Mr. Adams says he fears Harlem will become a largely white community on the road to saving its "built environment", something he finds especially ironic considering that Harlem is the African American cultural capitol.

Mr. Adams fights daily battles to preserve Harlem landmarks from being trampled by the march of progress. He remembers seeing some chairs and tables piled on the sidewalk outside the now crumbling Renaissance Ballroom and Casino, where Harlemites celebrated birthdays and weddings in the 1920s. He later came across the furniture on sale downtown.

"The chairs for about $50 each, and the tables for about $250 each. It isn't that great an amount of money, but these were tables were Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston and Countee Cullen and all of these luminaries had sat," he explained. " And they were just thrown in the trash. It's just shocking."

For many people on the tours, the sights and the social history are absorbed with equal relish. Renee Watson Johnson came from Los Angeles with a group of young dancing, acting, and singing students.

"Most of them have never been to New York, and we wanted them to come the city where culture started. We grew up in Harlem, and we wanted to give them the New York experience," he said. " We thought it was important for them to take this Harlem Heritage Tour to find out where a lot of the artists came from in New York, and the influence they've had on people around the world. "

Ms. Johnson says that Harlem looks to her much as it did when she was a child a vast improvement over the "war-zone" she says she saw when she visited 10 years ago.

Her students seem similarly appreciative of the Harlem Heritage tour and its themes. Jacqueline Whatley is making her first trip to New York.

"I didn't know so much about the black culture in Harlem before. I know more about it now, and I definitely feel a closer connection to black people in general all over the world," she said.

Both Neal Shoemaker's and Michael Henry Adams' tours are popular, and booked up well in advance. Mr. Adams playfully suggests that all interested parties should book now, before all signs of Harlem's rich cultural and architectural past disappear.

[L.J]

Alabama has begun embracing a painful part of its past. During the 1960s, the southern state was the site of some of the most infamous events of the Civil Rights Movement: the deadly explosion at Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, Governor George Wallace's "Stand in the School House Door" to prevent integration at the University of Alabama, and the mob attacks against Freedom Riders. Now, as Butler Cain reports, the state is putting its history on display to teach others the lessons Alabama has so painfully learned.


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Birmingham, Alabama has changed dramatically over the past four decades. Once known as a stronghold of segregation, it now ranks among the nation's most integrated metropolitan areas. African Americans hold most of the city's top elected positions, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is known internationally for its honest depiction of one of America's pivotal historic periods.

That's a source of pride for the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, an Alabama native and one of the top leaders of the Civil Rights movement. "Well, there's no city in the world that I love better than Birmingham. I guess that's because of what happened here, what you, how you went through the worst and are happy to see some of the things better than they were," he said. "But you hope that people don't stop on this line 'cause this isn't the finishing line," he laughed.


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Reverend Shuttlesworth now resides in Cincinnati but came back to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to give his perspective to a group of journalists on the "Ride to Freedom" tour, organized by Alabama's Tourism Bureau. Described as a chance to see where the Civil Rights movement began, state officials escorted about a dozen reporters from all over the country to sites that made national headlines 40 years ago.

They began their statewide tour in Birmingham. Kalin Thomas, a reporter for Soul of America.com, a black travel website, said she's been to the Institute four or five times. She always stops at the video display of Martin Luther King Junior's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C.

"And so I always watch it over and over because it's just amazing that, you know, so many people showed up for an event like that, and that after his death, we are seeing some of the things that he dreamed would happen in this country. And even though, you know, we still have a ways to go in terms of race relations, we have come so far from those times, and it's really amazing to see, back then, what people were going through at the time.

In another part of the museum, Steve Goode, senior writer at Insight Magazine, stood and stared at an exhibit featuring a broken stained glass window. It came from Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church after it was bombed in 1963. Four girls died in that blast. Not until 1977, 14 years later, was one of the bombers convicted. A second suspect was convicted in 2001, and a third person was convicted last year. Mr. Goode said the broken window brought back a flood of memories from his days as a Civil Rights activist in North Carolina.

"It's deeply moving because I knew about all that was happening in Birmingham. I was aware of what was happening in the South. And the deaths of those four young girls was one of the great tragedies of the time. It brought back the memories of the anger and the bitterness that one felt. The helplessness," Mr. Goode said.

Alabama is openly recognizing those emotions. Instead of trying to bury the past, the state Bureau of Tourism and Travel is hoping the Ride to Freedom tour will give journalists an even greater sense of the change that has occurred here. Assistant director Frances Smiley says she hopes, in turn, reporters will take that message to the rest of the nation.

"We have to get people here to tell the story. And we're hoping to continue this effort in telling the story so people will come here, see, touch, feel and enjoy, because we are a new Alabama. And I believe that anything that ever happens in America that's going to change the way we live, that deal with racial equality, it's going to happen in Alabama. Alabama is the chosen state of racial equality. It's going to happen here," Ms. Smiley said.

Later that day, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth joined the group for an informal discussion about how the lessons of the Civil Rights movement can be applied today. He said everything occurs according to God's timing, and everyone should "always be on the improvement."

"We have to remain committed to what we ought to be about: brotherhood, the beloved community, as Martin used to like to say, and making sure that what happens relates to what ought to be in the future," he said.

After lunch and a tour of the 16th Street Baptist Church, the "Ride to Freedom" tour left Birmingham for its next stop: Selma, where reporters toured the National Voting Rights Museum and marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In 1965, on what became known as Bloody Sunday, state and local police used clubs and tear gas to break up a peaceful protest march at the bridge.

The journalists wrapped up their visit to the birthplace of the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery, the state capital, where it all began in 1954, when Rosa Parks, tired after a day of work, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. That act and the events that followed are commemorated in the Rosa Parks Library and Museum.

Frances Smiley of the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel said the world needs to know what happened here, and she says the state is ready to tell its story.

[L.J]

More than 300 singers from the Washington area, as well as a dance troupe from West Africa, gathered recently to perform in the Choral Arts Society of Washington's 15th annual Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For one night only, the sold out concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts featured traditional music as well as the world premier of a new work; all part of a long-standing Washington tradition celebrating the birthday and legacy of the slain civil rights leader who promoted peace through non-violence.

"This is a humanitarian event. It's an event that celebrates things that tie all of us together. And nothing says it better, everyone being the same, than music. Nothing says it better, " explains Norman Scribner, founder and director of the Choral Arts Society of Washington, one of the major symphonic choruses in the country.

"The tradition of the concert for Martin Luther King's birthday is that his legacy is so incredibly potent, it really arches over the span of the 20th century," he says. "He didn't live over the entire 20th century. But when you think of what happened in that century, we began to understand that all different factions around the country had to live together not only had to but should live together and could rejoice and take joy in that. And this man has come out of the 20th century experience as being the primary spokesman for this cause."


In addition to the individual performances by several Washington area choirs, Mr. Scribner says he is excited about how they all come together to sing the world premier of a specially commissioned work. This year, It is an a cappella piece entitled Truth Pressed to Earth (Shall Rise) by Ysaye M. Barnwell, composer and singer in the internationally-acclaimed a cappella group, Sweet Honey in the Rock.

"And it's all from the writings of Martin Luther King," explains Mr. Scribner. "She went into a thorough investigation of all of his words with the idea of trying to find out which of his words would be relevant to today's world. Had he lived, which of the things that the said back, prior to 1968 when he was killed, would he be saying now? And she's made a fabulous text selection and made a fabulous musical selection which will go into the standard repertory, I'm sure and tonight it's being sung for the very first time."

In addition to Ysaye Barnwell's new work, the Choral Arts Society's Tribute to Martin Luther King included a newsreel of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech. There was dancing by the KanKouran West African Dance Company; and choral director Norman Scribner also invited the audience to participate in some traditional spiritual songs. Mr. Scribner, the son of a Methodist minister, says the Martin Luther King Birthday Concert strikes a personal chord with him.

"And I do view everything in life through a spiritual lens and this concert is as close to spiritual things as you can get," he says. "We do big settings of the Christian Mass, the Latin Mass and the story of the Passion Story of Christ and Handel's Messiah. And all these wonderful big religious works. But in the message of Martin Luther King, you're talking about something that effects everyone at the most basic grassroots level. And for me, I get very emotionally wrapped up in it. I get emotionally wrapped up with other music as well, but this one I just can't resist. It's a visceral thing every year I cry at the end, every single solitary year."

Norman Scribner, music director of the Choral Arts Society of Washington, spoke at the Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

[L.J]

"Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. Say that I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things in life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say. If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody he is traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain."
~ Rev Martin Luther King Jr

[L.J]

Lionel Hampton
It was a week of moving musical tributes at the 35th Annual Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, Idaho last month. The most moving tribute was paid to the 93-year-old "King of Vibraphone" Lionel Hampton, whose appearance on the festival's closing night earned a much-deserved standing ovation.

Hundreds of musicians, ranging from members of high school and college bands to international recording stars, descended upon the University of Idaho to be a part of the four-day festival named after jazz's guiding light, Lionel Hampton.

Surrounded by his 17-piece big band, Lionel Hampton was all smiles as he tapped in time to "Flying Home" on his silver and gold plated vibraphone. Even when he wasn't center stage, "Hamp" still managed to be the center of everyone's attention.

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Trumpeter Clark Terry recalled the good times playing in Lionel Hampton's Orchestra more than 50 years ago. "It was a great, great experience for me," he said, "such a beautiful feeling. He was always so inspiring and encouraging and motivating. He was always full of zest, vim and vigor, and he played so good. He always played good. I don't know if he ever thought about the possibility of playing bad. I don't think it ever crossed his mind."

Clark Terry was part of a special guest concert featuring The Ray Brown Trio, The Roy Hargrove Quintet, saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman, and a Festival Quartet consisting of pianist Mulgrew Miller, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, bassist John Clayton and drummer Lewis Nash. The Quartet also accompanied trumpeter Claudio Roditi and trombonists Slide Hampton and Jay Ashby in a special tribute to legendary trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.

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The Condoli brothers
Another famed trumpeter Conte Condoli was remembered in a concert featuring Conte's brother Pete on trumpet, Bud Shank on saxophone, Bill Watrous on trombone, and the Festival Quartet.

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Jerry Mulligan
A tribute to the late baritone sax great Gerry Mulligan featured three of today's leading baritone saxophonists: Ronnie Cuber, Howard Johnson and Claire Daly. Daly said she was one of the lucky few to see Gerry Mulligan's final performance.

"I saw his last gig," she said. "It was on the [cruise ship] Norway on one of those jazz cruises, and it was very moving. It was a beautiful concert and there was literally not a dry eye in the house. He'd been sick and everyone knew that he'd been sick and he just played beautifully."

"Flamingo" was performed by Ronnie Cuber, one of three members of the Baritone Sax Band paying tribute to Gerry Mulligan at the 35th Annual Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.

In addition to the all-star concerts, performers spent their daytime hours giving clinics and workshops on the University of Idaho campus. More than 12,000 student musicians from 13 states, came to the festival to compete for scholarships and musical instruments as well as a chance to play on the festival stage.

Fifteen-year-old piano sensation Eldar Djangirov, winner of last year's student piano competition, returned this year as a headliner. Eldar said the biggest challenge to being a professional jazz musician is finding the time to tour. "It's kind of hard because I have school and tests and homework and practicing," he said. I practice everyday so I really don't have much time [to play concerts] as I would like for example."

From his self-titled debut album, Kansas City pianist Eldar Djangirov played Thelonious Monk's "Well You Needn't."

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Jane Monheit
Also making a return visit to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival was vocalist Jane Monheit who dazzled the crowd with selections from the songbooks of Harold Arlen, Jimmy McHugh and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Monheit said it takes a lifetime to learn to sing the classics. "When I was younger," she said, "I was so focused on picking things that were difficult and proving to everyone my knowledge of the harmony and that sort of thing. And now that I'm a little bit older I understand what these songs are really about."

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Mr. Hampton speaks at the opening dedication of the Lionel Hampton School of Music
This year, the Lionel Hampton School of Music awarded five scholarships to students majoring in Music Education and Instrumental Performance. Hampton himself was the recipient of the Distinguished Idahoan Award for his contribution to the preservation of jazz.

The outlook is bright for the Lionel Hampton Center, also located at the University, which plans to expand its International Jazz Collections, education and performance facilities and future Lionel Hampton Jazz Festivals.

[L.J]

Ernie Andrews
Gone are the great soul crooners of yesteryear - Johnny Hartman, Billy Eckstein, Al Hibbler, Joe Williams and others. Now meet 74-year-old Ernie Andrews, one of the last of the big band jazz singers.

Andrews was discovered in 1945, by songwriter Joe Greene who penned Andrews' biggest hit "Soothe Me." He went on to work with some of the best in jazz, including Cannonball Adderly, Harry James and Benny Carter. Today, audiences of all ages come to hear Andrews sing such concert favorites as "Satin Doll" and "Ol' Man River."

Andrews' first exposure to music was gospel in his mother's Baptist church in his native Philadelphia. He took up drums, and continued singing when his family moved to Los Angeles, California in his early teens.

One of his fondest memories is singing at the Lincoln Theatre on Central Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Andrews remembers when that area was a thriving entertainment center. "Central Avenue was like the 52nd Street of New York," he said. "But it was just Central Avenue and naturally being in California it was spread out more than New York. In New York on 52nd Street you could see Duke Ellington on this side of the street, Count Basie on the other side, Erroll Garner on the other side of the street. Within two or three blocks you could go to five places. But Los Angeles was a bit spread out."

Levine: "So it was like a little oasis in the middle of everything."

Andrews: "Yes. You could go from 5th and Central all the out to 120th Street and you'd find sporadic places [nightclubs]. There were a couple of blocks there where they had [clubs] Alabam and The Last Word and the Memo Club and the after hours places. You could go into Lovejoys and find Art Tatum [playing] all night long - just sitting there [at the piano] all night long."

Levine: "That was back in the days when a song was well-crafted."

Andrews: "Oh yeah. And a story was a story. To present a story to the people and [make it] something that they can relate to."

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Girl Talk
In support of his latest album, Girl Talk, Andrews will be appearing with his quartet in Baltimore, Maryland on April 28, followed by a concert at the DeSalva Museum in Chicago, Illinois in late May.

[L.J]

Legendary jazz bassist Ray Brown, who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Frank Sinatra, and his late ex-wife Ella Fitzgerald has died. He was 75.

Mr. Brown launched his career during the Golden Age of Jazz back in 1945, when he was asked to join Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. That break touched off an illustrious career that spanned almost six decades.

Early on, Mr. Brown became a founding member of the Oscar Peterson trio. He subsequently joined the group, Jazz at the Philharmonic, playing major clubs and concert halls throughout the world.

In the late 1960s, he composed Gravy Waltz, which won a Grammy music award and became the theme song to the Steve Allen Show.

Mr. Brown died in his sleep Tuesday in the central U.S. state of Indiana, where he was wrapping up an American music tour. He is survived by his wife and one son.

[L.J]

Dignitaries, friends and mourners have packed a Harlem, New York church to remember jazz legend Lionel Hampton, who died from heart failure last week at the age of 94.

Jazz musicians played somber music while marching through the streets of Harlem Saturday, as a white glass carriage carried Hampton's casket to the church. Former U.S. President George Bush read a message from his son, President Bush, at the service.

Hampton, a jazz drummer and bandleader, became the first musician to popularize the vibraphone - an amplified xylophone. Hampton performed at the White House for numerous presidents and was honored by former U.S. President Bill Clinton as "the first musician to make a vibraphone sing and swing."

[L.J]

For 75 years, the Schomburg Center in the Harlem section of New York City has been collecting, preserving and providing access to resources documenting the experience of peoples of African descent throughout the world.

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Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
Photo Courtesy Schomburg Center for Research of Black Culture
In 1926, when Puerto Rican born Black scholar Arturo Alfonso Schomburg gave his personal collection of books, pictures and manuscripts on black culture to the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library in Harlem, he laid the foundation for the institution that would one day bear his name. Although he became curator of the Library's Division of Negro Literature, History, and Prints in 1932, it was not until two years after his death in 1940 that it became the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

The Schomburg expansive collection of art objects, audio and video material, letters, photos and periodicals documents the black experience in the United States, in Africa, and throughout the world. The Center's Assistant Director, Roberta Yancy, says that because that experience has been so fraught with hardship and oppression, a visit to the Schomburg tends to be more than just another trip to a museum.

"We're touching on topics that haven't always been available for people in schools as they've been growing up," she explains. "It's going into black history and culture with a kind of depth that often creates a very emotional experience for people as they're visiting because they're able to really grasp things in a way that they, perhaps, have not been able to before."

The Schomburg's collection includes everything from ancient African tribal masks and photographs of African Americans as slaves before and during the U.S. Civil War, to classic jazz recordings and the speeches of civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Duke Ellington
It is no accident that the Schomburg Center is situated in the heart of Harlem, often called the capitol of African-American culture. Harlem was home to jazz greats Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, poet Langston Hughes, and civil rights activist Malcolm X, to name a few. And, according to Howard Dodson, the Director of the Schomburg, the Harlem community is as closely tied to the Center as the Center is to it.

"For a lot of people, simply having the knowledge that the Schomburg Center is here, and the history and heritage preserved here, is enough for them," he says. "So they, in times of crisis when the library was having funding problems or other kinds of things, people would turn out en masse to defend and protect it. Not because they were going to be here using the library every day, but because they believed it was a critical part of the cultural and historical landscape of this community."

During Mr. Dodson's nearly two decades as head of the Schomburg, the Center has more than doubled its collection. Today, it contains more than five million items. But for Mr. Dodson, the collection itself would be meaningless without an audience.

"One of the challenges is to get the information out of the stacks and off the shelves, and into the minds and muscles of the people," Mr. Dodson says. "And I would like to think that I've played some role in doing just that, getting the information that we've been collecting for over 75 years more accessible to not just a national but to an international population."

Mr. Dodson says the Center is using the Internet to widen its audience. One of the Center's next major projects, he says, is a federally-funded website on the African-American migratory experience, documenting the process by which blacks arrived in the United States and spread throughout the country. The site is expected to be online sometime in early 2004.

Visitors to the Schomburg Center are impressed. Elma, a grandmother from the Queens section of New York City, has come before and says she will come again.

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Francina Ndimande, Mabhoko, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
Photo by Margaret Courtney-Clarke
"I like to know about my people. I like to refresh my mind so I can tell my grandchildren more about it," she says. "It's very interesting for the youth of today to know more about their ancestors. This is not taught in the home, but they can come here and read about it and see pictures and relate to it."

The Center is putting on a big exhibition on "The Art of African Women: Empowering Traditions," and it is spending a lot of money on TV and print ads to attract the widest audience.

[L.J]

Frederick Douglass was one of the foremost leaders of the abolitionist movement, which fought to end slavery within the United States in the decades prior to the Civil War.
A brilliant speaker, Douglass was asked by the American Anti-Slavery Society to engage in a tour of lectures, and so became recognized as one of America's first great black speakers. He won world fame when his autobiography was publicized in 1845. Two years later he bagan publishing an antislavery paper called the North Star.

Douglass served as an adviser to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and fought for the adoption of constitutional amendments that guaranteed voting rights and other civil liberties for blacks. Douglass provided a powerful voice for human rights during this period of American history and is still revered today for his contributions against racial injustice.

[L.J]

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When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man nearly 50 years ago on December 1, 1955, she was tired and weary from a long day of work.
At least that's how the event has been retold countless times and recorded in our history books. But, there's a misconception here that does not do justice to the woman whose act of courage began turning the wheels of the civil rights movement on that fateful day.
Rosa Parks was physically tired, but no more than you or I after a long day's work. In fact, under other circumstances, she would have probably given up her seat willingly to a child or elderly person. But this time Parks was tired of the treatment she and other African Americans received every day of their lives, what with the racism, segregation, and Jim Crow laws of the time.
"Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it," writes Parks in her recent book, Quiet Strength, (ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1994). "I kept thinking about my mother and my grandparents, and how strong they were. I knew there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others."
The rest of Parks' story is American history...her arrest and trial, a 381-day Montgomery bus boycott, and, finally, the Supreme Court's ruling in November 1956 that segregation on transportation is unconstitutional.
But Parks' personal history has been lost in the retelling. Prior to her arrest, Mrs. Parks had a firm and quiet strength to change things that were unjust. She served as secretary of the NAACP and later Adviser to the NAACP Youth Council, and tried to register to vote on several occasions when it was still nearly impossible to do so. She had run-ins with bus drivers and was evicted from buses. Parks recalls the humiliation: "I didn't want to pay my fare and then go around the back door, because many times, even if you did that, you might not get on the bus at all. They'd probably shut the door, drive off, and leave you standing there."
Forty years later, despite some tremendous gains, Parks feels, "we still have a long way to go in improving the race relations in this country."
Rosa Parks-who celebrates her 83rd birthday this month-spends most of her year in Detroit but winters in Los Angeles. Her day is filled with reading mail,-"from students, politicians, and just regular people"-preparing meals, going to church, and visiting people in hospitals. She is still active in fighting racial injustices, now standing up for what she believes in and sharing her message with others. She and other members of the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development have a special program called Pathways to Freedom, for young people age 11-18. Children in the program travel across the country tracing the Underground Railroad, visiting the scenes of critical events in the civil rights movement and learning aspects of America's history.
Says Elaine Steele, Parks' close friend and cofounder of the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development, "Mrs. Parks is a role model that these students look up to, and they feel very honored and privileged to be in her company. And she's very gracious to accompany the students to these activities."
February, Black History Month, seemed a relevant time to evaluate youth and their sense of history. But Parks thinks bigger and broader. "We don't have enough young people who are concerned and who are exposed to the civil rights movement, and I would like to see more exposure and get their interest," she says, pausing to reflect, "but I think it should just be history, period, and not thinking in terms of only Black History Month."
Parks is quiet, soft-spoken, and diplomatic. But she is firm in her belief that enough people will have the courage and dedication to make this country better than it is. "And this young man that's taking over the NAACP, Kweisi Mfume, I admire him a great deal," she adds. About Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Black Muslims, she says, "Well, I don't know him personally, but I think it was great that he spearheaded the million man march."
Parks has met many renowned leaders and has traveled throughout the world receiving honors and awards for her efforts toward racial harmony. She is appreciative and honored by them but exhibits little emotion over whom she has met or what she has done. Her response to being called "the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement" is modest. "If people think of me in that way, I just accept the honor and appreciate it," she says. In Quiet Strength, however, Parks is careful to explain that she did not change things alone. "Four decades later I am still uncomfortable with the credit given to me for starting the bus boycott. I would like [people] to know I was not the only person involved. I was just one of many who fought for freedom."
In August 1994, Parks was attacked in her home by a young man who wanted money from her. Of the event, she writes, "I pray for this young man and the conditions in our country that have made him this way. Despite the violence and crime in our society, we should not let fear overwhelm us. We must remain strong."
Parks' belief in God and her religious convictions are at the core of everything she does. It is the overriding theme in her book and the message she hopes to impart: "I'd like for [readers] to know that I had a very spiritual background and that I believe in church and my faith and that has helped to give me the strength and courage to live as I did."

[L.J]

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MARY ANN SHADD (1823-1893)
Daughter of a black agent in the Wilmington underground, the Quaker-educated teacher moved to Canada, where as a writer and editor she preached permanent emigration from the States.

Portrait and text excerpted from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC July 1984

[L.J]

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WILLIAM STILL (1821-1902)
Indefatigable worker in the Philadelphia underground, Still kept rare day-to-day records, which were published in 1872. A successful coal merchant, he continued to campaign against discrimination.

Portrait and text excerpted from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC July 1984

[L.J]

BLACK HIStory Timeline
1500s-1750
Slaves Arrive in America

Most black Americans trace their original roots to an area in western Africa. During the early 1500's, black slaves from western Africa were brought to European colonies in the Americas. From the 1500's to the mid-1800's, Europeans shipped about 12 million black slaves from Africa to the Western Hemisphere.

The first black African slaves in America arrived during the early 1600's, when slavery based on race became a way of life in all 13 colonies (settlements in America that were founded by Great Britain). Virginia made slavery legal in colonial America in 1661. By 1750, about 200,000 slaves lived in the colonies.
1700's1770
Quakers, led by Anthony Bennezet, opened a school for Blacks in Philadelphia.1773
Slaves Petition for Freedom
Massachusetts slaves petitioned the state legislature for freedom. A bill was drawn and passed by the Mass. legislature. But the governor witheld approval and the measure never became law.1775
Alarmed by impact of the Dunmore proclamation, Washington reversed himself and authorized the enlistment of free Blacks.
Lord Dunmore, deposed royal governor of Virginia, issued proclamation which promised freedom to male slaves who joined the British army.
Prince Hall founded Africa Lodge No. 1. It was the first Black Lodge of Free Masons in the United States.
Blacks soldiers fought at Battle of Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill. Among the heroes of the battle were Peter Salem and Salem Poor.
A free slave, Peter Salem, a private in Captain Simon Edgel's company at the battle of Bunker Hill, was the first military hero of the War of Independence against British rule. On June 17, 1775, at a crucial moment in the battle, when British major John Pitcairn, had rallied the disorganized British troops and prepared a counterattack, Salem, shot the major through the head just after he yelled "The day is Ours." Peter Salem, a former slave who had gained his freedom upon enlisted in the militia, had battled Pitcairn, and his forces earlier at Lexington and was glad to have dispatched the hated major as he did. Now leaderless, the British lost their nerve and the battle. Afterward, Salem's fellow soldiers took up a collection for him. He was also honored by a visit to meet George Washington and by a monument placed over his grave in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1882.1776
Declaration of Independence adopted. A section denouncing the slave trade was deleted.1777
George Washington reverses previous policy and allows the recruitment of black soldiers. some 5,000 participate in the Revolutionary War.1780
Lemuel Haynes, Revolutionary War veteran, licensed to preaching to the Congregational Church. After the winter of Valley Forge, Black slaves and free men were welcomed into the American Army. There were Black soldiers in the Revolutionary army from all of the original thirteen colonies. Most of the estimated five thousand Black soldiers fought in integrated units. Blacks soldiers were in the front lines in most of the big battles of the war. They were at White Plains, Stillwater, Bennington, Bemis Heights, Saratoga, Stony Points, Trenton, Princeton, Eutaw, S.C., and Yorktown. Blacks were critical factors in the battles of Rhode Island, Long Island, Red Bank, Savannah, Monmouth and Fort Griswold. There were Black fifers and drummers in some units.1800's
1800-1865
A Movement to End Slavery
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Harriet Tubman was the most famous leader of the "Underground Railroad." (Photo: Library of Congress)

By the early 1800's, most Northern states had taken steps to end, or abolish, slavery. During the mid-1800s, abolitionists began to enter politics and use their homes to help black slaves escape the South to enjoy freedom in the North. This was called the "Underground Railroad" even though it wasn't underground and didn't involve any trains. Hiding places were known as "stations" and people who helped were called "conductors." Harriet Tubman, a runaway slave herself, was one of the most famous conductors, helping about 300 blacks escape to freedom.

Abolitionists won their biggest victory when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. This famous proclamation declared the slaves free in many parts of the South. In 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery entirely.
1865-1872
Road to Freedom

To help the slaves freed by the 13th Amendment, Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau in 1865 to help former slaves resettle into life. Despite its accomplishments, the Freedmen's Bureau did not solve the serious economic problems of black Americans. Most continued to live in poverty. They also suffered from racist threats and laws limiting their freedom and civil rights.

In 1865 and 1866, many Southern state governments passed laws that became known as the black codes. Some of these codes did not allow black people to own land. Others established a nightly curfew and some allowed states to jail black individuals for not having a job. The black codes shocked a powerful group of northern congressmen called the Radical Republicans. They worked hard to pass the 14th Amendment, which gave citizenship to black Americans. It also guaranteed that all federal and state laws would apply equally to everyone, regardless of color.1811
Charles Deslandes leads slave revolt in Louisiana1812
Although the U.S. Army did not enlist African Americans after the Revolutionary War, the U.S. Navy continued to use African Americans as seamen because of the perennial shortage of white sailors. The African American presence in the navy placed them at the center of the naval incident that led to the War of 1812. In 1807 the British frigate Leopard shelled the USS Chesapeake to locate four escaped British sailors. When the Chesapeake yielded and the British boarded the American ship, they took into custody four sailors, three of whom are William Ware, Daniel Martin, and John Strachan were African Americans previously impressed by the British. Although it was obvious that these men were Americans, the British refused to return them for four years, inciting American public opinion and leading President Thomas Jefferson to close American harbors to British ship. The U.S. could not go to war then because it lacked a serious navy, but the seeds of resentment were sown, and in June 1812 the United States declared war on Britain, citing the impressments of American citizens as a principal reason for going to war.1821
African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) Church formally organized at meeting in New York City.1822
Denmark Vesey gained his freedom in Charleston, South Carolina. Warning that God helps those who helps themselves, Vesey laid the plans for a massive slave revolt and enlisted the aid of over 9,000 slaves. Using information cells which only allowed certain amounts of information to limited amounts of people, Vesey organized a complex plot. Given its goals, the revolt would have been impressive had the conspirators not been given away by a fellow slave. Under arrest, in the face of continued threats, promises, and torture, only one of the condemned men ever gave away information. One of the leaders, a slave known as Peter Poyas, told his men, "Do not open your lips. Die silent as you shall see me do." Vesey and his co-conspirators were hanged on July 2, 1822, the freedom they sought finally at hand1832
Joseph Haynes Rainey, first African American representative in the U.S. House of Representatives where he will serve five terms, born
Augustus Jackson invented ice cream but does not receive a patent.1833
Prudence Crandall
Prudence Crandall, a liberal white woman, arrested for conducting an academy for Black females in Canterbury, Connecticut. The academy was later closed.1834
George Monroe was on of 2 Black men who carried mail on the famous Pony express. Monroe had the honor of driving Presidents Grant and Hayes along the dangerous S-curves of the Wanona trail into Yosemite Valley. Badger Pass in Yosemite National Park was named in his honor. 1834-18861836
Educator and first Black woman college graduate in the US, Fannie M Jackson was born, 18361839
Cinque, origially Senghbe, the son of a Mende king, along with several other Africans, is kidnapped and sold into slavery in Cuba. Cinque and his companions will later carry out the famous successful revolt upon the slave ship Amistad.1848
William and Ellen Craft escaped from slavery in Georgia. Mrs. Craft impersonated a slave holder and her husband, William, assumed the role of her servant in one of the most dramatic of the slave escapes
Frederick Douglass attends the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY. He speaks in defense of its organizer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton1853
William Wells Brown published Clotel, the first novel by a Black American.1858
Charles Chesnutt, one of the first African-Americans to gain a national audience, is born in Cleveland Ohio.1859
On this date Henry Ossawa Tanner was born in Pittsburgh, PA. His most noteable painting "The Banjo Lesson" was painted in 1893.
Died May 25, 19371862
Slavery is abolished in U.S. territories1864
Congress passed bill equalizing pay, arms, equipment and medical services of Black troops.
Grant outwitted Lee by shifting campaign from Cold Harbor to Petersburg. Surprise attack by Gen. W.F. ("Baldy") Smith succeeded but Smith hesitated and permitted rebels to reinforce their lines. Gen. Charles J. Paine's division spear-headed the attack, knocking mile-wide hole in Petersburg defense and capturing 200 of 300 rebels captured that day.
Infamous duel between the USS Kearsage and the CSS Alabama off Cherbourg, France, a brave Black sailor, Joachim Pease, displayed "marked coolness" and won a Congressional Medal of Honor.
Siege of Petersburg and Richmond began. Thirty-two Black infantry regiments and Black cavalry regiments were involved in siege. Black troops were especially prominent in following engagements: Deep Bottom, August 14-16; Darbytown Road, October 13; Fair Oaks, October 27-28; Hatcher's Run, October 27-28.1865
Shaw University was founded
Although the Emancipation Proclamation was issued
in 1863, slavery continued in Texas until
June 19, 1865, when word reached Galveston, Texas
that all slaves in Texas were free. One third of
the people in Texas were slaves at that time.
Juneteenth was celebrated annually with picnics
and barbecues at public emancipation grounds,
some of which are used to this day. Juneteenth
became a legal state holiday in 1980. 1867
Madame C J Walker, the first Black millionare, made wealthy by inventing black hair care products was born.1868
North Carolina legislature (21 Blacks, 149 whites) met in Raleigh.
Louisiana legislature met in New Orleans. The temporary chairman of the house was a Black representative, R.H. Isabelle. Oscar J. Dunn presided over the senate. Seven of the thirty-six senators were Black. Thirty-five of the 101 representatives were Black.
Congress readmitted North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Florida on condition "that the constitutions of said states shall never be amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens or the United States of the right to vote in said states who are entitled to vote by the constitutions thereof herein recognized."
Congress readmitted state of Arkansas on condition that it would never change its constitution to disenfranchise Blacks.
Maj. Gen. E.R.S. Canby removed the mayor and aldermen of Columbia, S.C., and made new appointments, including three Blacks: C.M. Wilder, Joseph franchise Blacks.1869
James Lynch elected secretary of state in Mississippi election.1871
Author, lyricist, poet and educator James Weldon Johnson, also the first Black executive of the NAACP, is born in Jacksonville, Florida.
Ku Klux Klan trials began in federal court in Oxford, Mississippi. Many whites, including doctors, lawyers, ministers and college professors, were arrested and jailed in the anti-Klan campaign. Of the 930 indicted in Mississippi, 243 were tried and found guilty. Some 1180 were indicted in South Carolina and 1849 were indicted in North Carolina. 1872
Poet Paul Laurence Dunbar born in Dayton, Ohio.
Mr. Paul Laurence Dunbar is one of the most popular
African-American poets of all time. His dialect poems
and humor in his works were often under appreciated due to the English standards
which were set at the time. His book was finally given
attention in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" in 1921 by James
Weldon Johnson. Among his numerous collections of poems are "Oak and Ivory" (1893) and "Majors and Minors" (1896). His birth in
1872 and his death in 1906 gave him enough time to give impact upon
the poetic world, and an impression of the true art of poetry.1873
Blacks won three state offices in Mississippi election: Alexander K. Davis, Lieutenant governor; James Hill, secretary of state; T.W. Cardozo, superintendent of education. Blacks won 55 of the 115 seats in the house and 9 out of 37 seats in the senate, 42 per cent of the total number1874
Stephen A Swails was reelected president pro tem of the senate
Freedmen's Bank closed. Black depositors had some $3 Million in the bank, which had an imposing headquarters in Washington and branches in various cities President Frederick Douglass said later that the Freedmen's Bank had been "the Black man's cow and the white man's milk."1875
Alabama A&M College, Knoxville College and Lane College established.
The father of Black history, Carter G Woodson was born, 1875
Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and civil rights leader, born in Mayesville, South Carolina.1876
Isaiah Dorman dies at the battle of Little Bighorn under the leadership of Colonel George Custer1877
The elevator as well as safety devices for elevators where invented
by Alexander Miles, Patent # 371,207
Henry O. Flipper received degree at West Point and became the first Black graduate1884
John R. Lynch, former congressman from Mississippi, elected temporary chairman of Republican convention and became first Black to preside over deliberations of a national political party.1885
Samuel David Ferguson consecrated bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church and named bishop of Liberia. He was the first Black American with full membership in the House of Bishops.1887
Mound Bayou, an all African American town in Mississippi is founded by Isaiah Montgomery1889
Pioneer in surgery, Dr Daniel Hale Williams, founds Provident Hospital in Chicago, IL1890
August 12th Mississippi Constitutional Convention began the systematic exclusion of Blacks from political life of South.
Approved on November 1, The Mississippi Plan, used literacy and "understanding" tests to disenfranchise black American citizens. Similar statutes were adopted by South Carolina (1895), Louisiana (1898), North Carolina (1900), Alabama (1901), Virginia (1901), Georgia (1908), and Oklahoma (1910). Southern states later used "White primaries" and other devices to exclude Black voters.
George Dixon, born July 29, 1870 in Africville, (Halifax), Nova Scotia; becomes the first Black to hold a WORLD title in boxing.

George beat Nunc Wallace in the Pelican Club in England & recieved $4,250.00 - he was the only Black in the Club!1891
Granville T Woods puts patents the electric railway1896
Julia Terry Hammonds invented the apparatus for holding yarn skiens.1897
Butler,R.A. patents Train alarm
JL Love puts patents on the pencil sharpener
Langston University and Voorhees College founded
Jun 15,1897 Patent #157,370
William Frank Powell, New Jersey educator, named minister to Haiti.1898
American troops drove Spanish forces from Cuba
American troops, including Tenth Cavalry, drove Spanish forces from entrenched positions at La Guasimas, Cuba.1899
L.C. Bailey granted patent # 620,286 for the folding bed
W.H. Richardson patents baby buggy.

[L.J]

1900's
1905-1909
The NAACP is Formed

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W.E.B. Dubois was considered one of the most important scholars of his time. (Photo: Herbert Orth–TimePix)

In 1905, the Niagara Movement was founded by a group of black scholars and teachers led by W.E.B. Du Bois. The scholars met in Niagara Falls, Ontario, to pass resolutions, or formal statements, demanding full equality. In 1909, a group of black and white citizens in New York City committed to social justice founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Du Bois's Niagara Movement merged with the NAACP. The NAACP's goals were to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority citizens. The group also worked to eliminate racial discrimination. Today, the NAACP is the nation's largest and most well known civil rights organization.
1920s
The Harlem Renaissance
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Louis Armstrong helped define the art of jazz music during the 1920s. (Photo:Archive Photos)

During the 1920s, many black artists, poets, writers and musicians moved to Harlem, a section of New York City, where they became well-known for their writing, art and music. Today, this period in history is called the Harlem Renaissance. During this time, black artists were able to open the publics' eyes about being black in America. It was called a renaissance, or rebirth, because African Americans took their pain and suffering and successfully turned it into art.

Langston Hughes, a poet whose writing expressed the experience of working class African Americans, was considered the "Poet Laureate of Harlem." Other famous artists from this period include world-famous entertainer Josephine Baker, blues singer Bessie Smith, and jazz artists Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. The creative work of the Harlem Renaissance artists remains very popular and admired today.
1954-1956
Fighting for Civil Rights
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Linda Brown (front) sits in a segregated classroom. (Photo: Carl Iwasaki)

...in Schools
During the 1950s, black leaders began to use marches, demonstrations and the courts to defeat racist laws. Their efforts are known as the civil rights movement. The most famous court case of the civil rights movement began in 1950 when 7-year-old Linda Brown of Topeka, Kansas, was denied access to a school that was just four blocks from her home because she was black. Linda's father went to court and on May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation (or separating races) in public schools violates the Constitution.

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Rosa Parks is fingerprinted in February 1956. (Photo: Gene Herrick–AP)

...on Buses
Another important civil rights milestone happened on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama. On that day, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress who also worked for the NAACP, was asked to give up her bus seat to a white person. She refused and was arrested by police. Black leaders urged black people to boycott, or refuse to use, the buses in Montgomery. A young preacher named Martin Luther King Jr. led the peaceful boycott. Though originally scheduled for only one day, the boycott lasted 382 days. People walked many miles to work or home to avoid using the buses and the bus companies lost around $3,000 each day. The U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled that Montgomery could no longer have a segregated public transportation system because it violated the Constitution.
Early 1960s-1965
Malcolm X Makes His Mark
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Malcolm X speaks during a Black Muslim rally in New York City. (Photo: AP)

During the early 1960s, Malcolm X gained recognition as the spokesman for the Nation of Islam, a group of Black Muslims who supported the idea of creating a separate black nation. Malcolm X spoke out forcefully against the unfair treatment of black Americans and encouraged them to use "any means necessary," including the use of violence, to achieve equality.
In 1964, Malcolm X traveled to the Islamic holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Inspired by his pilgrimage, or journey to a sacred place, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam and changed his views, choosing a more peaceful route to accomplish his goals. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was shot and killed in New York City by Black Muslims who didn't agree with his new ideas. Today, he remains a hero to many people of all colors and races.
1963-1965
March on Washington
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Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. (Photo: AP)

On August 28, 1963, the civil rights movement reached its height of attention and impact with a huge March in Washington, D.C. The March on Washington attracted more than 200,000 marchers to the Lincoln Memorial. At the march, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. In it, he said: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Those words remain famous to this day.

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President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law as Martin Luther King Jr. looks on. (Photo: LBJ Library and Museum)

After the march, King and other civil rights leaders met with President John F. Kennedy and Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson in the White House. In 1964, following the assassination of President Kennedy, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. The law guaranteed equal rights for black Americans in employment, voting, and the use of public facilities. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act ended racist laws that required black voters to pay a special tax or take a reading test before voting. The new law increased black voter registration throughout the South, especially in Mississippi.
1968
Martin Luther King Jr. is Killed
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Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife, Coretta Scott King, and their daughter, Bernice, mourn his loss. (Photo: Moneta J. Sweet, Jr.–AP)

In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr., who many believe was the most important leader of the civil rights movement, was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 39. A week of rioting in at least 125 cities across the nation followed King's death.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed into law a bill declaring Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday. It was first observed in 1986. Every year, on the third Monday in January, the nation honors King's memory and spirit and the great strides he made toward equality for all Americans.
1972
Taking Affirmative Action
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Arthur A. Fletcher, the Assistant Secretary of Labor in 1972, is considered the "Father of Affirmative Action" for helping create the new laws. (Photo: Stan Wayman–TimePix)

In 1972, Congress passed two important laws that helped expand job opportunities to black workers. Called affirmative action laws, they required governments and public institutions to hire more minorities, including black and female workers, because of past discrimination against these minorities as a group. Since the laws were passed, there has been a huge increase in the number of minorities in all areas of employment. Nearly 20 years later, supporters believe affirmative action is still needed to make sure all people have the same access to jobs and other opportunities. Others say that affirmative action laws are no longer necessary because of equality that has already been achieved nationwide.
1983
Jesse Jackson Runs for President
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Jesse Jackson campaigns with a group of kids in 1984. (Photo: Bruce W. Talamon–People)

In 1983, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a famous civil rights leader, announced his plan to run for President. Jackson ran in 1984 and 1988, and received 6.7 million votes in the 1988 presidential primary election, putting him solidly in third place. Jackson's two campaigns were important because they showed the key role black people play in national politics. Today, Jackson remains the nation's most well known black political leader. A group he founded in 1984 called the Rainbow Coalition today remains active in promoting civil rights for all minorities.
Black participation in politics didn't start with Jackson. In 1870, 113 years before Jackson's run for the President, Hiram Revels of Mississippi was elected the nation's first black U.S. Senator. Revels was a pastor and defied the law by allowing slaves to worship in his church. He also started a school to teach black children to read and write. In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the country's first black congresswoman. Today, many black leaders hold important positions in government, including our new Secretary of State, Colin Powell, who has been put in charge of U.S. relations with other countries.
1995
The Million Man March
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Black men gather for the Million Man March on October 16, 1995. (Photo: Doug Mills–AP)

On October 16, 1995, the Nation of Islam and its controversial leader, Louis Farrakhan, organized the Million Man March. About 400,000 people, mostly black men and boys, participated in the march. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, poet Maya Angelou and Rosa Parks, the mother of the civil rights movement, made speeches at the march. They spoke about the unfairness still faced by black men in this country. They also urged black men to be leaders in their communities and to work together to improve life for all black Americans. The march was repeated in years that followed, changing its name to the Million Family March and including women.

[L.J]

1900
Casey Jones is written
on April 30, 1900, one of America's classic folk tunes "Casey Jones" was written by Wallace Saunders an Afro-American
African-American painter Henry O. Tanner was one of the 6,916 American exhibitors at the Paris Expoition which closed its gates on this day. Tanner won a silver medal for his entry

Actor and singer, Ethel Waters was born 1901
Writer, Zora Neale Hurston was born 1903
On February 3, 1903; Jackson became the first Negro Heavyweight Champion 1904
Birthday of gospel singer Willie Mae Ford Smith in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Smith appeared in the film "Say Amen Somebody." 1907
Cab Calloway, bandleader and first jazz singer to sell a million records is born in Rochester,NY 1909
April 6th 1909
Matthew Henson reached the North Pole. Traveling with the Admiral Peary Expedition, Henson, with his exceptional navigational skills managed to reach the North Pole almost 45 minutes before Peary and the rest of the men.
Wilma Glodean Ruduolph Ward was born in Clarksville, Tennessee. Winner of three gold medals in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Ward was named Athlete of the Year in 1960 and 1961. 1910
Activist, WEB Dubois, begins publication of the NAACP monthly magazine, Crisis 1911
NAACP incorporated in New York 1912
Herbert Mills, of the original Mills Brothers Quartet, was born in Piqua, Ohio. The highly successful quartet was known for its smooth harmony.
Katherine Dunham
ANTHROPOLOGIST, CHOREOGRAPHER & DANCER
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
June 22, 1912 -
Katherine earned a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Chicago. Her research in
Afro-American dance, particularly the Caribbean culture, led her to form a company of black dancers.
This company performed throughout the United States and Europe. One of her best works was the
Broadway musical Cabin in the Sky. In the late 1960's, she became the director of Southern Illinois
University's Performing Arts Training Center. Later, she established her own dance school and museum
in East St. Louis, Illinois. 1913
Black Americans celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Emancipation Proclamation. Major celebrations were held at Jackson, Mississippi, New Orleans and Nashville. Three states--Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey--appropriated money for official celebrations of the event.
Rosa Parks (born Roas Louise McCauley) was born
Black Americans celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Emancipation Proclamation. Major celebrations were held at Jackson, Mississippi, New Orleans and Nashville. Three states--Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey--appropriated money for official celebrations of the event. 1914
Fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, founded at Howard University
U.S. signed treaty of commerce with Ethiopia 1915
Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, dies. He worked in the Underground Railroad and with Frederick Douglass. He was also a clothing retailer, the publisher of the first African American newspaper in California, Mirror of the Times, the first African American elected municipal judge, and a U.S. consul to Madagascar
U.S. Supreme Court (Guinn v United States) said "grandfather clauses" in the Oklahoma and Maryland constitutions violated the Fifteenth Amendment. 1917
April 6th 1917
America entered World War I. President Wilson, who had just inaugurated a policy of segregation in government agencies, told Congress that "the world must be made safe for democracy." 1918
April 2nd 1918
Charles White Born April 2, 1918. Renowned African-Americccan artist born in Chicago, IL; died October 3, 1979. Charles White began his professional career by painting murals for the WPA during the Depression. He was influenced by Mexiccan muralists Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siquieros. Among his most notable creations are: J'Accuse(1966), a series of charcoal drawings depicting a variety of African-Americans from all ages and walks of life; the Wanted posters(c. 1969), a series of paintings based on old runaway slave posters; and Homage to Langston Hughes(1971)
John H Johnson, publisher of "Ebony Magazine" and "Jet" was born
December 12, 1918 jazz singer, Joe Williams is born
John H. Johnson, Editor and Publisher of JET and Ebony magazines, founder of Johnson Publishing Company, the most successful African American publishing company in the U.S., owner of Fashion Fair cosmetics, and the first African American owned radio station in Chicago, born 1919
In Cairo, Georgia on this date baseball great Jackie Robinson was born. The fifth African American to play major league baseball with a white team, Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, ending five decades of segregated baseball. At the time of his retirement in October 1972, Robinson is believed to have been the most respected of all baseball players. 1921
Spingarn Medal awarded to actor Charles S. Gilpin for his performance in the title role of Emperor Jones.
Bessie Coleman attended the "...Ecole d'Aviation des
Freres Caudron at Le Crotoy in Somme for a 10
month flight training course.
Flying a French Nieuport Type 82, Bessie finished
the course three months early and obtained her
Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI)
license on June 15, 1921--the first U.S. woman of
any race to do so directly..." 1923
Runnin' Wild opened at Colonial Theater, Broadway. Miller and Lyles Productions introduced the Charleston to New York and the world.
Marcus Garvey sentenced to five years in prison after his conviction on charges of using the mail to defraud. Garvey said the charges were political. 1925
December 08, 1925, Entertainer, Sammy Davis Jr was born
Emmett W. Chappelle was born in Phoenix, Arizona on October 25, 1925. He received a Bachelor of Science in 1950 from
the University of California, In 1954 Chappelle received a Master of Science from the University of Washington. From
1950-1953 Mr. Chappelle was appointed an Instructor in Biochemistry at the Meharry Medical College. Between 1955 and
1958 Chappelle served as a Research Associate at Stanford University; later, Emmett Chappelle was appointed Scientist and
Biochemist for the Research Institute of Advanced Studies at Stanford University, from 1958-1963. Between 1963 and 1966
he worked as a Biochemist for Hazelton Laboratories, then as Exobiologist (1966-1970) and Astrochemist (1970-1973).
Chappelle served as a Biochemist for the division of Research Center for Space Exploration. Beginning in 1977, Edward
Chappelle began working with Goddard Space Flight Center as a Remote Sensing Scientist 1926
December 11, 1926, Blues singer Willlie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, born
Mordecai W. Johnson became the first Black president of Howard University. 1928
Maya Angelou was born
Eartha Kitt, 71,singer, born,SC Jan. 16
Flamboyant blues singer, "the Godfather of Soul," James Brown is born in Pulaski, Tennessee. 1929
Martin Luther King Jr. born in Atlanta. He was first given the name of Michael Luther King Jr. The name was formally changed to Martin at a later date. 1930
Ras Tafari was proclaimed Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. 1931
April 6th 1931
First Scottsboro trial began in Scottsboro, Alabama. Trial of nine Black youths accused of raping two white women on a freight train became a cause celebré. 1932
April 2nd 1932
World famous African American cowboy Willie "Bill" Pickett died in Ponca, Oklahoma, hospital of injuries sustained after he was kicked in the head by a horse on the Miller's Brothers' Fabulous 101 Ranch. 1933
Quincy Jones, Music Impresario, Born March 14, 1933 in Chicago’s South Side.
He first fell in love with music when he was in elementary school. He settled on the trumpet after trying nearly all the instruments in his school band.
At the age of 18 he won a scholarship to Berkley College of Music in Boston.
In his prosperous career he wrote charts for musicians such as Ray Charles and Duke Ellington, composed 33 film scores for major motion pictures and also wrote theme music for television.
He is the most nominated Grammy artist with a total of 76 nominations and 26 awards. He also received an Emmy award, 7 Oscar nominations and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts an Sciences Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Throughout his career his ongoing concern was to foster appreciation of African-American music and culture. 1934
William Levi Dawson's Symphony No. 1, Negro Folk Symphony, was the firsty symphony on black folk themes by a black composer to be performed by a major orchestra
W.E.B. Du Bois resigned from his position at the NAACP in a disagreement over policy and racial strategy. 1935
Mary McLeod Bethune awarded Spingarn Medal for her work as founder-president of Bethune Cookman College and her national leadership.
Joe Louis defeated Primo Carnera at Yankee Stadium 1936
in Houston, Texas. Jordan was elected to the Texas Senate in 1966, becoming the first female African-American to do so. In 1972, she was elected president pro-tempore of the Texas Senate - the first African-American elected to preside over a legislative body anywhere in the country. When Jordan was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972 she became the first African-American woman to represent a previously Confederate state in Congress.
Jordan died of pneumonia on January 17, 1996 at the Austin Diagnostic Medical Center
Mary McLeod Bethune, founder-president of Bethune-Cookman College, named director of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration. She was the first Black woman to receive a major appointment from the federal government. She educator held the post until January 1, 1944. 1937
April 6th 1937
Actor Billy Dee Williams, known in such works as "Mahogany" and two "Star Wars" sequels, was born in New York city.
April 5, 1937 Colin Luther Powell was born
Joe Louis defeated James J. Braddock for heavyweight boxing Championship.
Journalist Robert Clyve Maynard, owner, editor and publisher of "The Oakland Tribune," was born in the borough of Brooklyn, NY.
Joe Louis defeated James J. Braddock for heavyweight boxing Championship. 1938
James Weldon Johnson died of injuries received in an automobile accident near his summer home in Wiscosset, Maine. 1939
April 2nd 1939
Marvin Gaye is born in Washington, D.C. He will sign with Motown in 1962 and begin a 22-year career that includes hits "Pride and Joy," duets with Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell, as well as best-selling albums exploring his social consciousness (What's Going On) and sexuality (Let's Get It On, Midnight Love).
The Ethel Waters Show, a variety special appears on NBC. It is the first time an African American appears on television
F.M. Jones patents ticket dispenser
Jones, F. M.
Ticket Dispensing Machine
June 27, 1939
Patent No. 2163754 1940
Lady Bo, Bo Diddley's original girl guitar player and the first female guitarist in history to be hired by a major rock & roll musician, is born Peggy Jones in New York, NY, USA.
In 1940, Wilma Glodean Rudolph was born in Clarksville, Tennessee. She became the first American woman to win 3 gold medals. 1941
World War II
President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 8802 banning racial and religious discrimination in all war-related industries and government programs.
Dorie Miller, a messman, downs three Japanese planes in the attack of Pearl Harbor
President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 which forbade racial and religious discrimination in war industries, government training programs and government industries. Randolph called off scheduled march.
President Roosevelt conferred with A. Philip Randolph and other leaders of the March on Washington movement and urged them to call off a scheduled demonstration. Randolph refused.
Tuskegee scientist George Washington Carver was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the U of R(University of Rochester.)
John Edgar Wideman, Rhodes scholar, writer, born
Activist and 1988 candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Rev Jesse Jackson, born, 1942
Richard Parsons, CEO of Dime Savings Bank, the first African American CEO of a large non minority U.S. savings institution, born.
Bernard W. Robinson, Harvard Medical student, made ensign in U.S. Naval Reserve and became first Black to win a commission in the U.S. Navy. 1943
Theater Guild presentation of Othello opened at Shubert Theater with Paul Robeson in title role. Production ran for 296 performances and set record for Shakespearean drama on Broadway.
Faye Wattleton, a registered nurse and New York activist, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Wattleton served as president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America from 1978 to 1992.
Race riot, Beaumont, Texas. Two killed.
Whites began a riot in Detroit after it was rumored a black man had killed a white woman and her infant. A similar rumor, alleging the victims were white and the perpetrator white, soon found its way into the black community. In truth, no one had been killed. An estimated 25 blacks and 9 whites died in the riots.
National Congress of Racial Equality organized. 1944
Smith v. Allwright
Supreme Court (Smith v. Allwright) said "white primaries" that excluded Blacks were unconstitutional.
April 3, 1944. The US Supreme Court, in an 8-1 ruling declared that Blacks could not be barred form voting in the Texas Democratic primaries.
Former heavyweight boxing champion Joseph "Smoking Joe" Frazier was born in Beaufort, South Carolina. Frazier was a 1964 Olympic gold medalist who won the heavyweight championship in 1968 1945
Col. B.O. Davis Jr. Named commander of Godman Field (Ky.) and became the first Black to head an Army Air Force base in the United States. 1946
Reginald Martinez Jackson, Born May 18, 1946 is born in Wyncote, Pa. He will be better known as Reggie Jackson, star baseball player for the Oakland A's and New York Yankees. He will set or tie seven World Series records.
Andre Watts, classical pianist, born
Marla Gibbs, television personality, born 1948
Carl Weathers, 51, actor (Rocky), (In the Heat of the Night), born New Orleans, LA, Jan 14
Actress Phylicia Rashad was born in Houston, Texas. 1949
January 22, 1949 - James Robert Gladden becomes first African American certified in
orthopedic surgery.
Congressman William L. Dawson elected chairman of House Expenditures Committee. He was the first Black to head a standing committee of Congress.
CORE chapter pressed sit-in campaign designed to end segregation in downtown facilities in St. Louis. 1950
Death of Carter G. Woodson (74), "father of Black history," Washington, D.C.
Dr.Ralph J.Bunche is the first african american to be awarded
the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 1952
Dr. Harold D. West is named President of Meharry Medical College 1951
Ballerina, Janet Collins, becomes the first Black dancer to appear with the Metropolitan Opera Company 1953
Bus Boycott began Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Albert W. Dent, president of Dillard University, elected president of National Health Council. 1954
B.O. Davis Jr. became the first Black general in the U.S. Air Force. 1956
Physician Bernard A. Harris, Jr was born in Temple, Texas.
After completing his residency training in 1985 at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Harris then completed a National Research Council Fellowship at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. While at Ames he conducted research in the field of musculoskeletal physiology, and disuse osteoporosis, completing his fellowship in 1987. He then joined NASA Johnson Space Center as a clinical scientist and flight surgeon.
Selected by NASA in January 1990, Dr. Harris became an astronaut in July 1991. He served as the crew representative for Shuttle Software in the Astronaut Office Operations Development Branch. A veteran of two space flights, Dr. Harris has logged more than 438 hours in space.
Jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown dies in an auto accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Founder of the Brown-Roach Quintet with Max Roach two years earlier, Brown had built a reputation as one of the finest jazz trumpeters of his day as a major proponent of hard bop. 1957
Tuskegee boycott began. Blacks boycotted city stores in protest against act of state legislature which deprived them of municipal votes by placing their homes outside city limits.
birth of Anita Baker
Anita Baker was being hailed as the voice of the 90s after working her way up the ladder during the late 70s and early 80s. The granddaughter of a minister, she had a religious upbringing which included church music and gospel singing. After vocal duties with local bands she joined the semi-professional Chapter 8 in 1979 and was the vocalist on their minor US chart hit, 'I Just Wanna Be Your Girl', the following year. Several years later she left the band and was working in an office when she persuaded the Beverly Glen label to record and release her debut album in 1983. The Songstress brought her to wider notice and after disagreements with Beverly Glen she chose to sign with Elektra Records. Her second album was partly funded by Baker herself, who also acted as executive producer, with former Chapter 8 colleague Michael Powell assisting with writing and production. Rapture, a wonderfully mature and emotional album, saw Baker hailed as 'a female Luther Vandross' and she began to win R&B awards with 'Sweet Love', 'Caught Up In The Rapture' and 'Giving You The Best That I Got'. In 1987 she appeared on the Winans' 'Ain't No Need To Worry' and in 1990 duetted with former Shalamar
singer Howard Hewlett. 1958
Musician, Michael Jackson was born, 1958
Supreme Court reversed decision of lower court which had confirmed $100,000 contempt fine imposed by Alabama on NAACP for refusing to divulge membership. 1959
John Brown dies (was hung) in Charleston, Virginia
Abandonment of school system
Prince Edward County, Va., Board of Supervisors abandoned school system to prevent integration.

[L.J]

1960
Poet Langston Hughes presented Spingarn Medal and cited as "the poet laureate of the Negro race."
Harry Belafonte wins an Emmy for his variety special Tonight with Harry Belafonte. It is the first Emmy awarded to an African American.
Lionel Richie, born 1961
Eddie Murphy, 38, comedian Born Brooklyn, NY, April 3, 1961.
Ernie Davis became the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy. 1962
April 3, 1962. In retaliation against a Black Boycott of downtown stores, the Birmingham,AL, City Commission voted not to pay the city's $45,000 share of a $100,000 county program which supplied surplus food to the needy. More than 90 percent of the recipients of aid were Black. When the NAACP protested the Comission decision's, Birmingham Mayor Arthur J Hanes dismissed their complaint as a"typical reaction from New York Socialist radiccals"
Sit-in demonstrations and passive resistance movement began in Cairo, Illinois. Demonstrations against segregation in swimming pool, skating rink and other facilities continued for several months. 1963
Martin Luther King Jr. opened anti-segregation campaign in Birmingham. More than two thousand demonstrators, including King, were arrested before the campaign ended.
Singer Dinah Washington dies in Detriot, Dec 14, 1963
Floyd Patterson is defeated by Sony Liston and loses his world heavyweight title
Medgar W. Evers (37), NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, assassinated in front of his Jackson home by a segregationist.
Three thousand Black students boycotted Boston public schools as protest against de facto segregation.
Michael Jeffrey Jordon, 36, Basketball player, former minor league baseball player, Born New York, New York, February 17, 1963 1964
Organization for Afro-American Unity founded in New York by Malcolm X.
Civil Rights workers disappear and are later found murdered near Philadelphia, Miss.
Nobel Peace Prize awarded (December 10) to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at ceremonies in Oslo, Norway. He was the third Black and the youngest person to receive the award 1965
Jimmie Lee Jackson, civil rights activist, died of injuries reportedly inflicted by officers in Marion, Alabama.
Arthur Ashe leads UCLA to NCAA tennis championship
mass meeting held in Norfolk (Va.) and demanded equal rights and ballots. Other equal rights meetings and conventions were held in Petersburg, Va., June 6; Vicksburg, Miss., June 19; Alexandria, Va., August 3; Nashville, Tenn., August 7-11; Raleigh, N.C., September 29-October 3; Richmond, September 18; Jackson, Miss., October 7. 1966
Constance Baker Motley - becomes the first
african american woman to be appointed to a
federal judgeship
Robert C. Weaver became the first black Cabinet
member as he was appointed Secretary of Housing
and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson
Floyd B. McKissick, North Carolina attorney, named national director of Congress of Racial Equality
Edward W Brooke was elected the first Black US senator (R-Mass) in eighty five years
James Meredith wounded by white sniper as he walked along U.S. Highway 51 near Hernando, Mississippi, on second day of 220-mile voter registration march from Memphis to Jackson. March was continued on June 7 by Martin Luther King Jr., Floyd McKissick, Stokely Carmichael and other civil rights workers. It ended on June 26 with rally of some thirty thousand at Mississippi state capitol. During the three-week march, Carmichael launched the Black Power movement.
Samuel Nabrit is the first African American to serve on the Atomic Energy Commission
Janet Jackson
SINGER
Birthplace: Gary, Indiana
May 16, 1966 - 1967
More than one thousand persons attended the first Black Power Conference in Newark, New Jersey.
1967. Speaking before the Overseas Press Club in New York City, Revered Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, announced his opposition to the Vietnam War
Race riot, Cairo, Illinois. National Guard mobilized
Martin Luther King was denied freedom of speech!
When martin Luther King came to chicago in the late 60's, no church would let him speak, but one! All the others said he was a radial preacher.
Friendship Baptist Church on Chicago's westside allowed Rev. L. King to speak about civil rights!Rev Shelvin J. Hall showed no fear and allowed King to speak!
I know because it's in all of our church's history books.I attend Friendship Baptist Church.
Race riot, Buffalo, New York. Two hundred arrested
Muhammad Ali convicted in Houston, Texas, in federal courts for violating Selective Service Act by refusing induction into the armed services. He was fined $10,000 and sentenced to five years in prison. Ali, an opponent of the Vietnam War, had refused to report for service on grounds that he was a Muslim minister. 1968
I've Been To The Mountaintop
In 1968, on this date, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his final address at Bishop Charles J. Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee.
April 4 1968, Independence Day in the Republic of Senegal.
Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. In the following week riots occurred in at least 125 places throughout the country.
Ellen Holly becomes the first African American on daytime television as Carla on One Life to Live.
JOHN Singleton,31,director,screenwriter(Boyz N the Hood),born Los Angeles, Ca, Jan 6, 1968.
Supreme Court banned racial discrimination in sale and rental of housing.
Lincoln Alexander becomes the first black member of the Canadian Parliament
Resurrection City closed. More than one hundred residents were arrested when they refused to leave site. Other residents, including Ralph Abernathy, were arrested during demonstration at Capitol. National Guard was mobilized later in the day to stop disturbances.
Fifty thousand demonstrators participated in Solidarity Day March of Poor People's Campaign. Marchers walked from Washington Monument to Lincoln Monument, where they were addressed by Vice-president Humphrey, presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, Coretta Scott King and Ralph Abernathy. 1969
U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the suspension of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. from the House of Representatives was unconstitutional.
State troopers ordered to Cairo, Ill., to quell racial disturbances.
Former tennis pro MaliVai Washington was born on June 20, 1969 in Glen Cove, New York.
musician Sean "P. Diddy" Combs is born 1970
United States population: 293,200,000. Black population: 22,600,000 (11.1 per cent). Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, President-Emeritus, Morehouse College, named president of Atlanta Board of Education.
Cheryl Adrienne Brown wins the Miss Iowa pageant and becomes the first African American to compete in the Miss America beauty pageant.
Race riot, Miami, Florida.
Mayor of Newark
Kenneth A Gibson elected mayor of Newark.
Richard Nixon signed bill extending Voting Rights Act of 1965 to 1975.
NAACP chairman Stephen Gill Spottswood told the NAACP convention that the Nixon administration was "anti-Negro" and was pressing "a calculated Policy" inimical to "the needs and aspirations of the large majority" of citizens.
Muhammad Ali, (born Cassius Clay) stands before the Supreme Court regarding his refusal of induction into the US Army during the Vietnam War(Clay v- United States). He is asked "How can you be a pacifist opposed to the idea of war?"

One of Ali's responses goes as follows, "I am not going ten thousand miles from here to help murder and kill and burn poor people simply to help continue the domination of white slave masters over the darker people."
Charles Rangel defeated Adam Clayton Powell in Democratic primary in Harlem, ending the political career of one of the major political symbols of the post-World War II period. 1971
Twelve Black congressman boycotted Richard Nixon's State of the Union message because of his "consistent refusal" to respond to the petitions of Black Americans.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr., former executive director of the United Negro College Fund, appointed executive director of the National Urban League.
U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned the draft evasion conviction of Muhammad Ali.
Mayor declared a state of emergency in Columbus, Ga., racial disturbance. 1972
Gospel music legend Mahalia Jackson dies
in Evergreen Park,ILL.
Frank Wills, Washington security guard, foiled break-in at offices of Democratic National Committee in first event of the Watergate conspiracy.
NAACP annual report said the unemployment of "urban Blacks in 1971 was worse than at anytime since the great depression of the thirties." The report also said that more school desegregation occurred in 1971 than in any other year since the 1954 school decision.
U.S. Supreme Court ruled the five-four decision that the death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment which violated the Eighth Amendment. At the time of the ruling, Blacks and members of other minority groups constituted 483 of the 60 persons awaiting execution
The rules committee of the Democratic National Convention approved the nomination of Yvonne Brathwaite Burke as co-chair person of the convention.
student to U of California Medical
U.S. Supreme Court ordered the University of California Medical School at Davis to admit Allan P. Bakke in so-called reverse discrimination suit.
Patricia Roberts Harris, the first African American U.S. Ambassador is named permanent chairman of the Democratic National Convention. She will later be appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services and Secretary of Housing and Urban development 1973
Joseph Lowze named auxillary Bishop of Missippii
O.J. Simpson set an NFL record of 2003 rushing yards in one season 1974
Michael Jackson introduces the Robot to the World on the "Mike Douglas Show" and proves why he is a REAL "Dancing Machine"

Nearly 30 years ago, 15-year-old Michael Jackson and his brothers of the Jackson 5 performed at the "Mike Douglas Show" to sing their #1 R&B smash, "Dancing Machine". Then, on one of the most memorable moments in music HIStory, the curly-'Fro sporting teenager Michael stopped his brothers and EVERYONE in music by storm when he introduced the Robot to the world. A few weeks after Jackson's step into music HIStory, every Black kid all across America were putting the Robot as part of their dance routine. Believe it or not, Michael Jackson had changed EVERYTHING! He is a TRUE Funkster![LIST]1975
Spingarn Medal presented to Henry ("Hank") Aaron "for his memorable home-run record which stands as a landmark" and for his sportsmanship. 1976
April 5th 1976
FBI documents, released in response to a freedom of information suit, revealed that the government mounted an intensive campaign against civil rights organizations in the sixties. In a letter dated August 25, 1967, the FBI said the government operation, called COINTELPRO, was designed "to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralize the activities of Black nationalists, hate-type groups, their leadership, spokesmen, membership and supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence and civil disorders." A later telegram specifically named the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as organizations having "radical and violence prone leaders, members and followers." 1977
April 5th 1977
Gertrude Downing invented the corner cleaner attachment. 1979
Richard Arrington elected mayor of Birmingham.
Dr. Walter Massey named director of the Argonne national Laboratory
U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Weber v. Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation that employers and unions can establish voluntary programs, including the use of quotas, to aid minorities in employment.
Michael Jackson proves all the skeptics wrong with the release of his first solo album with Epic Records, Off The Wall. Peaking at #1 on the Billboard R&B Album Charts and #3 on the Billboard Top 200, it will sell more than 16 million copies worldwide and with the hits, "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" (#1 Pop/R&B), "Rock With You" (#1 Pop/R&B), "Off The Wall" (#10 Pop/#5 R&B), "She's Out of My Life" (#10 Pop/#43 R&B) and "Girlfriend" (#41 U.K. Pop), Jackson became the first solo artist to have more than 4 Top 10 singles off one album and the first artist in the U.K. to spawn 5 successive Top 75 singles. The album blazes trail for all solo artists to this day. 1980
Wally "Famous" Amos's signature panama hat and embroidered shirt are donated to the National Museum of American History's Business Americana collection. It is the first memorabilia added to the collection by An African American entrepreneur and recognizes the achievement of Amos who built his company from a mom and pop enterprise to a $ 250 million cookie manufacturing business.
Tennis great Venus Williams' birthday
[list]1983

May 16th, 1983
-----------------------------------

Michael Jackson makes music history with "Beat It"

Just a few months after
2001
Achieve Power in Government
http://a740.g.akamai.net/f/740/606/1d/image.pathfinder.com/TFK/media/specials/graphics/010201_bhm/timeline/large13.jpg
In 2001, two black Americans were asked to assume roles among the most powerful people in the World. Dr. Condoleezza Rice became the first-ever black (and woman!) Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor; and Colin L. Powell became the first black Secretary of State.
Rice grew up in Alabama during a time when segregation and racism were rampant. She has said that she felt she had to be "twice as good" to succeed. She went to college at the age of 15, served on former President George Bush’s National Security Council, and became the youngest, first female, and first non-white provost at Stanford University. She gives a lot of credit to her parents for her successes. "My parents had me absolutely convinced that, well, you may not be able to have a hamburger at Woolworth's but you can be President of the United States."

Colin L. Powell grew up in a poor area of New York City, but was determined to work his way out of it. A professional soldier for 35 years, Powell became the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1989. The chairman is the principal military adviser to the president, and is the nation's most prestigious military position.

Secretary Powell was also the founder of America’s Promise - The Alliance for Youth, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to motivating young people from every part of American life. "America’s Promise is pulling together the might of this nation to strengthen the character and competence of youth. And it’s working," Powell said.

[L.J]

Washington, Nancy Beardsley

Listen to Nancy Beardsley's report (RealAudio) (http://www.voanews.com/mediastore/beardsley_mulatto_america_06feb03.ram)
Beardsley report - Download 937k (RealAudio) (http://www.voanews.com/mediastore/beardsley_mulatto_america_06feb03.rm)

The word "Mulatto" is usually used to describe a person of mixed black and white ancestry. But writer Stephan Talty expands the meaning of the term in his new book, Mulatto America: At the Crossroads of Black and White Culture.

http://www.voanews.com/mediastore/multatto_america_book_150.jpg
African American hip hop was the music of Stephan Talty's youth. He grew up the son of Irish immigrants, in an all white neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. But he says black culture was always a big part of his life.

"I was a fan of early hip hop, had black sports heroes, read black writers," he explains. "So I really felt if I had been affected by this kind of invisible influence, there had to be more people out there, both black and white, like me."

There turned out to be so many people that Stephan Talty says he could have written several volumes on the subject. Instead, he's written a single book, Mulatto America, that explores key points in the exchange of black and white values, ideas and art forms. One of the earliest exchanges came in the eighteenth century, when white evangelists began converting black American slaves to Christianity.

"You had British preachers coming over giving these huge rallies, 30,000 people and upwards, and in the crowd would be mixed crowds of poor whites, slaves and slave masters," he explains. " It was one of the first times people could meet as equals in the society. And the churches that arose out of those revivals were probably more bi-racial than they are in the South today."

Stephan Talty says those first black American Christians put their own interpretations on Biblical texts. They were especially drawn to the story of how Moses led the captive Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.

"Whites often emphasized 'Obey your master,' those kinds of verses. The slaves, who had themselves been kidnapped into the western world, looked at the story of the Israelites and saw themselves in that narrative. So it was a way for them to find justice and freedom coming to them," Mr. Talty says.

The American Civil War ended slavery, but also led to a new gulf between blacks and whites. In the decades following the war, Stephan Talty says laws enforcing racial segregation went into effect throughout the American South. But the two cultures again intersected at the start of the twentieth century, when black intellectuals embraced Shakespeare and other European writers and thinkers from the past.

"I think it was exemplified in someone like W.E.B. DuBois, this scholar who went to Harvard and later to a university in Germany. And what he found in Europe was an ideal of where white culture could go," he says. " And his whole generation really saw white culture in that way, that if only blacks could perform in classical music or could write novels of their own, then that would prove their humanity."

Instead, African Americans created pioneering new art forms of their, with music leading the way. Stephan Talty says black jazz musicians forged a sound and style that quickly jumped over racial boundaries.

"It was actually an art form that drew from a lot of sources, Caribbean, European, but it was definitely originated by blacks," explains Mr. Talty. " And whites immediately upon hearing it wanted in. So you had white musicians and serious fans coming to black clubs, not only emulating the notes they heard and creating it in their own way, but also seeing black culture at its core. It was really kind of a counterculture. It said that those things which are valued in mainstream America - at the time it was things like money making and respectability - are not the things we value. We value a passionate response to life. We value sexual honesty, and we value improvisation. And I think especially for young people that was an appealing message."

And that began a process of musical borrowing that continued throughout the twentieth century, including everyone from white rock and roll stars to black Gospel artists to a new generation of hip hop musicians.

http://www.voanews.com/mediastore/eminem_promo_closeup_150.jpg
Eminem
"If you think about someone like Eminem, I think 25 years ago a poor white kid coming out of Detroit probably would have gone into heavy metal automatically. But Eminem felt he had lived a life that encouraged him to feel rage and defiance and that hip hop was a way to express it," he notes. " So hip hop has become global - you have hip hoppers and break dancers in Japan and Russia."

Stephan Talty says the twentieth century was an era of firsts for black Americans, the first black sports heroes, the first black movie stars, the first black literary prize winners. And he believes the making of "Mulatto America" has reached the point where it's almost past history. He says a new process is now under way.

"I think 30 years from now somebody will write a book called Mestizo America, because the number of Hispanics and their power is rising so rapidly," he says. " And I think that's a good thing because when you have a mixed popular culture, this old polarity between black and white will be broken down more and more."

Mulatto America is published by HarperCollins, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, New York 10022-5299.

[L.J]

As a nation, we have come a long way. Do we have a ways to go still? Unfortunately, yes we do. This is a month to celebrate the strides we have taken, as a people, to better the lives of one another.
Celebrate the ones who have taken us this far. People who lived through the hardest fought battles of The Equal Rights movement. Persons who sacrificed and endured for the betterment of an entire people. Giving of themselves without question, simply because it was the right thing to do.

Give praise, keeping their accomplishments and memories alive. Most importantly, remember to follow their lead.

One day, one race, one people

Articles, facts and pictures contributed by

VOAnews.com
AOL
Time.com
http://www.history.rochester.edu
University of Rochester
Strong Museum
http://www.thekingcenter.org

[L.J]

Beating The Odds: Dr. Ben Carson

By Marian Wright Edelman
Date posted: 01/05/01
http://www.imgmag.net/images/soitd/4192400.jpg

A recent television special on the Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore gave many of us an opportunity to see the dramatic life-saving work that goes on in that hospital every day. One of the heroes featured on the show was the gifted Black surgeon Dr. Ben Carson, director of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery and professor of neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery, and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Carson is world-famous for his skill in performing complicated surgeries on children with brain and spinal cord injuries as well as other conditions. He first gained world-wide recognition in 1987 when he became the first surgeon ever to successfully separate Siamese twins joined at the back of the head. Both twins survived following a procedure that took five months to plan and 22 hours to perform.

Incredible as it now seems, Dr. Carson had a childhood just like many of the young people the Children's Defense Fund celebrates for overcoming adversity and beating the odds.

Dr. Carson grew up poor in inner-city Detroit and Boston. After his parents divorced when he was eight, he and his brother were raised by his mother, who was one of 24 children and got married at the age of 13. Dr. Carson was such a poor student in elementary school that his fifth-grade classmates nicknamed him "Dummy," and he even got into a fight over whether he was just the "dumbest kid in the class" or the "dumbest person in the world." At that point in his life he was totally unmotivated with failing grades, low self-esteem, and a terrible temper by measures, a child in danger of being left behind.

Fortunately, Dr. Carson had two things working in his favor. One was his strong faith in God that continues to sustain him. The other was a mother who was involved in his life and believed in him--a mother who prayed for the wisdom to go beyond her own third-grade education in order to instill in her sons an enthusiasm for learning. Her prayers led her to a plan that worked: Mrs. Carson began sending the boys to the public library every day instead of letting them watch television and making them each turn in two book reports to her every week.

Dr. Carson recalls that at first he and his brother thought this was certified child abuse. But as he began to read, his entire world opened up. Dr. Carson started realizing that through books he could go anywhere and do anything. He became interested in learning and in aspiring to something more than the factory job and nice car that most of his classmates wanted. By the seventh grade he was at the top of his class, and his love of reading and learning and commitment to excellence and doing his best were fully ingrained.

As he says now, "When I was in the fifth grade I thought I was stupid, so I conducted myself like a stupid person and achieved like a stupid person. When I was is the seventh grade I thought I was smart; I conducted myself like a smart person and achieved like a smart person. What does that say about human potential?" It was not until years later that Dr. Carson realized his mother had not even been able to read the book reports that had turned his life around.

Eventually he received a scholarship to Yale University and went on to medical school at the University of Michigan. By age 33 he had earned his current position as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Carson has received more than 20 honorary degrees, 60 national citations of merit, and numerous honors and awards. His commitment to helping young people goes far beyond the miracles he is able to perform in an operating room. He frequently speaks to groups of young people. He is president and co-founder of the Carson Scholars Fund which recognizes young people of all backgrounds for exceptional academic and humanitarian accomplishments.

He has also written three best-selling books about his life: ìGifted Hands,î ìThink Big,î and ìThe Big Picture.î All three stress faith in God, belief in yourself, and commitment to excellence--values he first learned from his mother.

And what about his mother? Not only did Mrs. Sonya Carson turn around her sons' lives, but she eventually taught herself to read, earned her G.E.D., and graduated from college. In 1994 she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree, making her Dr. Carson too. Dr. Ben Carson was once exactly the kind of youth that too many of us are tempted to give up on and write off. Yet now, he is one of the most respected doctors in the world.

How many potential Dr. Carsons are there in our neighborhoods and communities right now? And how many of us are doing as much as Mrs. Carson did to let our children know that we believe in them until they can learn to believe in themselves and to set them on the path of following Dr. Carson's example?

Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children's Defense Fund and a working committee member of the Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC), whose mission-and motto--is to Leave No Child Behind.î

CLICK TO ARTICLE (http://www.njournalg.com/editorial/2001/01/beating_the_odds.html)

[L.J]

Vital Statistics:

Name: Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr.

Born: 1951

Birthplace: Detroit

Family: Married to Candy Rustin Carson since 1975. Three sons, Murray, B.J. and Rhoeyce

Education: B.A. in psychology from Yale University, 1973. Medical degree, University of Michigan School of Medicine, 1977. Neurosurgery residency program, Johns Hopkins University.

Career: In 1984, he was named the youngest-ever director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, at the age of 33. He still works there today. He is also professor of neurosurgery, plastic surgery, oncology, and pediatrics. As a surgeon, he first received world-wide attention when he became the first surgeon ever to successfully separate twins joined at the back of the head in 1987. In 1997, he lead a team of South African doctors in the first successful separation of twins joined at the tops of the head.

Achievements: More than 20 honorary degrees, 60 national citations of merit. President of the Carson Scholars Fund, which recognizes children in grades K-12 for exceptional academic accomplishments. Member of the board of directors of the Kellogg Company, Costco Whole Corporation,Yale Corporation, the governing body of Yale University, and America's Promise.

Books: "Gifted Hands," "Think Big," "The Big Picture"

[L.J]

Chronology of Achievements
of African Americans in Medicine

1721

Onesimus, an enslaved African, describes to Cotton Mather the African method of inoculation against smallpox. The technique, later used to protect American Revolutionary War soldiers, is perfected in the 1790’s by British doctor Edward Jenner’s use of a less virulent organism.

1837

Dr. James McCune Smith graduates from the University of Glasgow, becoming the first African American to earn a medical degree.

1862

Washington, D.C.: Freedmen’s Hospital is established and is the only Federally-funded health care facility for Negroes in the nation.

1864

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first Negro female to earn a medical degree, graduates from New England Female Medical College, Boston.

1867

Robert Tanner Freeman is one of the first six graduates in dental medicine from Harvard University, thus becoming the first African American to receive an education in dentistry and a dental degree from an American medical school. (Freeman was born in 1847 to slave parents in North Carolina.)

1868

Washington, D.C.: Howard University, established for the purpose of educating Negro doctors, opens to both Negro and White students, including women.

1878

Dr. James Francis Shober earns his M.D. from Howard University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C. Dr. Shober later becomes the first known Negro physician with a medical degree to practice in North Carolina.

1879

Mary Eliza Mahoney becomes the first African-American professional nurse, graduating from the New England Hospital for Women and Children (Now Dimock Community Health Center), Boston.

1881

Atlanta, Georgia: The first school of record for Negro student nurses is established at Spelman College.

1891

Chicago, Illinois: Dr. Daniel Hale Williams establishes the Provident Hospital and Training School for Nurses, the first Black-owned and first interracial hospital in the United States. Dr. George Cleveland Hall, who helped organize the hospital, is made Surgeon-in-Chief. Dr. Austin Maurice Curtis, Sr., a Raleigh, North Carolina native, becomes the hospital’s first intern.

1893

Provident Hospital, Chicago: Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performs the first successful operation on a human heart. (The patient, victim of a chest stab wound, survived and lived a normal life for twenty years after the operation.)

1895

Atlanta, Georgia: The National Medical Association is founded, since Negroes are barred from other established medical groups.

1895

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Dr. Nathan Francis Mossell founds the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School for Nurses.

1901

Durham, North Carolina: Dr. Aaron McDuffie Moore convinces Washington Duke to donate money for the construction of Lincoln Hospital.

1908

The National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) is established. (NACGN was dissolved in 1951, when its members voted to merge with the American Nurses Association.)

1917

Camp Upton, New York: Dr. Louis T. Wright develops a better technique (intradermal injection) for vaccinating soldiers against smallpox.

1927

Boston, Massachusetts: Dr. William Augustus Hinton develops the Hinton Test for diagnosing syphilis. (He later develops an improved version, the Hinton-Davies Test, in 1931.)

1936

Dr. William Augustus Hinton’s book, Syphilis and Its Treatment, is the first medical textbook written by an African American to be published.

1938

February: Sara Delaney’s article entitled "Bibliotherapy in a Hospital" is published in Opportunity magazine. (Delaney, chief librarian at the U.S. Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama, was one of the pioneers in the use of selected reading to aid in the treatment of patients.)

1940

January, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York: Dr. Charles R. Drew presents his thesis called "Banked Blood," which covers two years of blood research, including the discovery that plasma could replace whole blood transfusions.

1954

Dr. Peter Murray Marshall becomes the president of the New York County Medical Society, becoming the first African American to lead a unit of the American Medical Association.

1967

Dr. Jane C. Wright, pioneer in chemotherapy research and daughter of Dr. Lewis T. Wright, is appointed an associate dean and professor of surgery at New York Medical College. At the time, the position as a dean is the highest post ever attained by an African-American woman in medical administration.

1987

Baltimore, Maryland: Dr. Ben Carson, neurosurgeon, leads a seventy-member surgical team at Johns Hopkins Hospital to separate Siamese twins joined at the cranium.

1992

August: Dr. Mae C. Jemison, the first Black female astronaut in NASA history, becomes the first Black woman in space, as part of SPACELAB J, a successful joint U.S. and Japanese science mission.

1993

Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Athens: Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee becomes Dean and is the first African-American woman to head a United States medical school.

1993

Dr. Joycelyn Elders is the first African American to be appointed as U.S. Surgeon General.

1997

November 19, Des Moines, Iowa: Drs. Paula Mahone and Karen Drake are members of a team of forty specialists involved in the delivery of the McCaughey septuplets at Iowa Methodist Medical Center.

1998

February 13: Dr. David Satcher is sworn in as both the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) and the Surgeon General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

[L.J]

Songs of significance
Black music carves its niche in American society

By Greg Botelho
CNN New York Bureau

(CNN) -- The music has echoed in Harlem, New York's renowned black community, for more than 100 years.

The riffs resonate in the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles, Pittsburgh's Hill District and other urban forges of African-American culture. The sounds also came up and spread out of the rural Deep South. It even reverberates in young pockets of largely white suburbia, where rap impresario Dr. Dre is sometimes better known than Dr. Phil and Donald Rumsfeld.

http://www.angelfire.com/amiga2/soitd/cnn.franklin.jpg
Aretha Franklin was one of several black musicians
to gain mainstream success in the 1960s.

It's heard in trendy music stores, clubs or on the street. It's blaring from passing cars and resonating from churches.

To take the pulse of African-American life and to gauge black Americans' impact on U.S. culture, many experts advise: Listen to black music.

For blacks, music is "functional ... not something you go to for a release, but something that you participate in," says Craig Werner, an African-American studies professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

"Music is part and parcel of every act of African-American life," adds Portia Maultsby, director of the Archives of African-American Music and Culture at Indiana University, Bloomington. "It serves as a unifying force, but also as a communication vehicle and one of resistance."

The messages inherent in black music reflect the troubling history of African Americans -- beset by discrimination, degradation and socioeconomic struggles.

"The black experience is a counterpoint to the white experience, and music has always been on the cutting edge of that --- from spirituals to jazz to blues to hip hop," says Bill Ferris, former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities now at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

"This is the music of the disenfranchised. Music is the way blacks express their feelings."

The depth, vitality and creativity that have long characterized black music have also helped bridge longstanding racial divides, appealing to white Americans looking for something profound, energizing and entertaining.

"[Rap and hip hop today] come across ... the same way that jazz was embraced by the [Lost] Generation -- F. Scott Fitzgerald and others -- who were trying to rebel against their own white cultures," says Ferris. " represents a fresh new sound."
Music with a message

Paced by an instrument known as the "talking drum," Africans told stories, relayed messages and expressed emotion through song and dance. That still defines African-American music today.

"Music is the beginning of language to all humans," says Ferris. "African Americans' music, in particular, harks back to a common sort of ancestry. It is a global kind of language: You don't need to understand English to understand blues or jazz."

Despite certain similarities, black music is remarkably diverse, ranging from jazz, folk songs and soothing soul melodies to hard-core gangsta rap.

"Within each variation, people are able to put a particular spin on the process that's reflective of the differences," says Maultsby. "But it all begins with certain kinds of shared assumptions."

http://www.angelfire.com/amiga2/soitd/cnn.thriller.jpg
[B]Michael Jackson's "Thriller" became the best-selling
album of all time following its 1982 release.

Black music has long had social and political overtones, as first and perhaps best heard in slave-era spirituals like "Go Down, Moses" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." That spirit lives on tunes such as Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" about lynchings, Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" about the Vietnam War and Public Enemy's rebellious anthem "Fight the Power."

"The problems of the nation that are reflected in black music don't seem to be changing," says Ferris. "The music is going to evolve, and it will still be with us many years from now."
'A fresh connection to life'

From jazz legend Benny Goodman to rap phenomenon Eminem, white musicians often have looked to black artists for inspiration.

In some cases, African Americans' music was "ripped off, stolen without recompense -- an extension of their exploitation in society," says Ferris. But many other white artists, such as Bruce Springsteen and the Beatles, frequently and fervently credit their black musical forefathers.

"Any music can be learned from and adapted from other artists, and whites have been widely influenced by black music, from Pat Boone singing Fats Domino to Elvis Presley singing 'Hound Dog', a Big Momma Thornton song he heard on the radio," says Ferris.

In recent decades, black music has been recognized for what it is and its role as the force behind much of American music, in part because white artists have thrust African-American musical legends into the limelight. Werner recalls catching his first glimpse of James Brown when the father of soul opened for white rock band The Byrds, and later seeing B.B. King perform at a Rolling Stones' concert.

http://www.angelfire.com/amiga2/soitd/cnn.rundmc.jpg
Run-DMC, shown here on their self-titled debut
album, helped bring rap into the mainstream.

Given the exposure, countless African-American artists have connected with white audiences, gaining critical acclaim and reaping the financial rewards. And while an R&B sensation such as Ashanti or a rapper like Nelly might play differently in a mostly white suburb than a largely black urban neighborhood, the most important thing is that these and other black artists are being played most everywhere, experts say.

" don't hear quite the same music, they don't respond quite the same way, but boy, they're in the same conversation, and that wasn't the case previously," says Werner.

Over the years, African-American music has voiced powerful emotions and messages, bringing people together while forcing them to think about themselves and their society. More simply, it has also been a source of joy and spirit for both blacks and whites.

"Dance and music is the ultimate celebration," says Ferris. "It's a way of celebrate our past experiences, and it's always pushing us to new levels of experience... Every generation of Americans can relate to black music and dance as a fresh new connection to life."

[B]From Facts Box:

Michael Jackson

http://www.angelfire.com/amiga2/soitd/cnn-jackson.jpg

While reports of child molestation, cosmetic surgeries and eccentricity have sullied his image of late, none changes the fact that for more than two decades Michael Jackson was one of the most powerful, popular and influential figures in American music. He got an early start as lead singer of The Jackson Five, whose first four singles topped the pop charts. Jackson cemented his place in history as a solo artist with his 1982 album "Thriller," which racked up an unprecedented seven Top 10 hits in becoming the one of the best-selling albums of all time with more than 25 million sales. His 1987 album, "Bad," became the first to produce five No. 1 hits.

Note: If you go to the site the "Fact Box" has several artists; including Michael.

CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/24/sprj.bhm.music/index.html)

[L.J]

http://www.galegroup.com/images/free_resources/bhm/bio/carver.jpg
George Washington Carver
(1864-1943)

George Washington Carver devoted his life to research projects connected primarily with southern agriculture. The products he derived from the peanut and the soybean revolutionized the economy of the South by liberating it from an excessive dependence on cotton.

Born a slave on January 5, 1864 in Diamond Grove, Missouri, Carver was only an infant when he and his mother were abducted from his owner's plantation by a band of slave raiders. His mother was sold and shipped away, but Carver was ransomed by his master in exchange for a race horse.

While working as a farm hand, Carver managed to obtain a high school education. He was admitted as the first black student of Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa. He then attended Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) where, while working as the school janitor, he received a degree in agricultural science in 1894. Two years later he received a master's degree from the same school and became the first African American to serve on its faculty. Within a short time his fame spread, and Booker T. Washington offered him a post at Tuskegee.

Carver revolutionized the southern agricultural economy by showing that 300 products could be derived from the peanut. By 1938, peanuts had become a $200 million industry and a chief product of Alabama. Carver also demonstrated that 100 different products could be derived from the sweet potato.

Although he did hold three patents, Carver never patented most of the many discoveries he made while at Tuskegee, saying "God gave them to me, how can I sell them to someone else?" In 1938 he donated over $30,000 of his life's savings to the George Washington Carver Foundation and willed the rest of his estate to the organization so his work might be carried on after his death. He died on January 5, 1943.

George Washington Carver
National Monument
Located in Diamond, MO
IN BRIEF
George Washington Carver's boyhood home consists of rolling hills, woodlands, and prairies. The 210 acre park has a 3/4 mile nature trail, museum, and an interactive exhibit area for students. The cultural setting includes the 1881 Historic Moses Carver house and the Carver cemetery.


DESIGNATIONS
National Monument - July 14, 1943

He was responsible for the invention in 1927 of a process for producing paints and stains from soybeans, for which three separate patents were issued.
U.S. 1,522,176 Cosmetics and Producing the Same. January 6, 1925.
George W. Carver. Tuskegee, Alabama.
U.S. 1,541,478 Paint and Stain and Producing the Same June 9, 1925.
George W. Carver. Tuskegee, Alabama.
U.S. 1,632,365 Producing Paints and Stains. June 14, 1927.
George W. Carver. Tuskegee, Alabama.George Washington Carver was honored by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in July 14, 1943 dedicating $30,000 for a national monument to be dedicated to his accomplishments. The area of Carver's childhood near Diamond Grove, Missouri has been preserved as a park, with a bust of the agricultural researcher, instructor, and chemical investigator. This park was the first designated national monument to an African American in the United States. George Washington Carver was bestowed an honorary doctorate from Simpson College in 1928. He was made a member of the Royal Society of Arts in London, England. He received the Spingarn Medal in 1923, which is given every year by the National Association for the Advancement of colored People. The Spingarn Medal is awarded to the black person who has made the greatest contribution to the advancement of his race. Carver died of anemia at Tuskegee Institute on January 5, 1943 and was buried on campus beside Booker T. Washington.

Some of the synthetic products developed by Dr. Carver: *

Adhesives
Axle Grease
Bleach
Buttermilk
Cheese
Chili Sauce
Cream
Creosote
Dyes
Flour
Fuel Briquettes
Ink
Instant Coffee
Insulating Board
Linoleum
Mayonnaise
Meal
Meat Tenderizer
Metal Polish
Milk Flakes
Mucilage
Paper
Rubbing Oils
Salve
Soil Conditioner
Shampoo
Shoe Polish
Shaving Cream
Sugar
Synthetic Marble
Synthetic Rubber
Talcum Powder
Vanishing Cream
Wood Stains
Wood Filler
Worcestershire Sauce

* Source: Hattie Carwell. Blacks in Science: Astrophysicist to Zoologist.

George Washington Carver captured the imagination of the American people. The romance of his life story and the eccentricities of his personality led to his metamorphosis into a kind of folk saint both in his lifetime and after. he was readily appropriated by many diverse groups as a symbol of myriad causes, To Southern businessmen Carver was an incarnation of the New South philosophy. Religious leaders embraced the scientist's proclaimed reliance upon God as an inspirational source in an age of materialism. Those struggling through the depression saw Carver as a living Horatio Alger whose story offered to those who tried hard enough. To people concerned with race relations Carver's career was either proof of the ability and intelligence of Afro-Americans of an indication that slavery and segregation could not have been too bad if they produced a Carver. And to the general public puzzled by technology that was changing the world with frightening speed, Carver made science seem more human and understandable. Thus, segments of his life and personality were often highlighted and embellished in order to prove a point. The public image that emerged was a kindly old "wizard," hardly offensive to any believer in the American dream.
Separating the real George Washington Carver from the symbolic portrayals of his life are difficult. Reality and mythology became blurred even within Carver's own mind, and his life did have mythic qualities. yet Carver was more than a folk saint; he was a real person, with all the complexities and contradictions inherent in human nature, and these were exaggerated by the fact that he was black in a white America. In the end he won international fame for his efforts to find commercial uses for Southern resources and was proclaimed one the of the world's greatest chemists. For a variety of reasons both the value of his discoveries and the significance of his role in revolutionizing the Southern economy were considerably inflated."

Although it is well known that Dr.George Washington Carver did not invent the peanut,it is not as well known of the many products that have come from the peanut due to the work of this great African-american inventor and scientist.Listed below are some of the many products that have been producted from the peanut.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The symbol P. means Peanut




BEVERAGES Breakfast Food #3 P. Sausage

Blackberry Punch Breakfast Food #4 P. Surprise

Evaporated P. Bev Breakfast Food #5 P. Tofu Sauce

Cherry Punch Bisque Powder P. Wafers

Normal P. Bev Buttermilk Pickle

P. Lemon Punch Butter from P. Milk Salad Oil

P. Koumiss Bev Caramel Salted P.

P. Orange Punch#1 Cheese Cream Shredded P.

P. Punch #2 Cheese Nut Sage Sub. for Asparagus

Plum Punch Cheese Pimento Sweet Pickle

Cosmetics Cheese Sandwich Vinegar

All-purpose Cream Cheese Tutti Frutti White Pepper

Antiseptic Soap Chili Sauce Worcestershire Sauce

Baby Massage Cream Chocolate Coated P.

Face Bleach and Chop Suey Sauce Medicine

Tan Remover Cocoa Castoria Substitute

Face CReam Cooking Oil Emulsion for Bronchitis

Face Lotion Cream Candy Goiter Treatment

Face Ointment Cream from Milk Iron Tonic

Face Powder Crystalized P. Laxatives

Fat Producing Cream Curds Medicine similar to milk

Glycerine Dehydrated Milk Flakes Oil, Emulsified with Mercury

Hand Lotion Dry Coffee for venereal disease (2)

Hair and Scalp Exaporated Milk Rubbing Oil

P. Oil Shampoo Flavoring Paste Tannic Acid

Pomade for Scalp Golden Nuts Quinine

Pomade for Skin Instant Coffee

Shampoo Lard Compound General Products

Shaving CReam Malted Substitutes Axle Grease

Tetter and Dandruff Mayonnaise Charcoal from shells

Cure

Toilet Soap Meal Subtitutes Cleanser for hands

Vanishing Cream Milk (32) Coke ( from hulls )

Dyes,Paints,

and Stains Mock Chicken Diesel fuel

Dyes for cloth (30) Mock Goose Fuel Bricketts

Dyes for Leather (19) Mock Mear Gas

Paints Mock Osyter Gasoline

Special Peanut Dye Mock Veal Cutlet Glue

Wood Stains Oleomargarine Illuminating Oil

Stock Foods Pancake Flour Insecticide

Hen Food for Laying P. Bar #1 Insulating Boards (18)

(P. Hearts) P.Brittle Nitroglycerine

Molasses Feed P.Bisque Flour Paper(colored)from skins

P. Hay Meal P. Butter, regular Paper (Kraft) from vines

P.Hull Bran P. Cake #1 and #2 Paper (White)from vines

P. Hull Stock Food P. Dainties Printers Ink

P. Meal P. Flakes Plastics

P. Stock Food #1and #2 P. Flour (11) Rubber

Bar Candy P. Hearts Shoe and Leather Blacking

Breakfast Food #1 Peanut Kisses Soap Stock

Breakfast Food #2 P. Meat Loaf Sizing for Walls

Household Products P. and Pop Corn Bars Soap Stock

Laundry Soap P. Relish #1 Soil Conditioner

Sweeping Compound P. Relish #2 Wall Boards

Washing Powder

Wood Filler

[L.J]

The Oaks - Home of Booker T. Washington


In 1899 Booker T. Washington was already famous. Eighteen years had passed since he had begun his life's work establishing Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. Under Washington's leadership, the Institute was well on the way to achieving national and international recognition. Four years had passed since he delivered the Cotton States and International Exposition speech propelling him into the national limelight. Washington was 43 years old and had endured the sadness of burying two wives, Fannie Smith and Olivia Davidson, and the joy of the birth of three children, Portia, Booker T. Jr., and Ernest Davidson. He had taken as his third wife Margaret Murray. The pattern of his life was established. Tuskegee Institute was never far from his thoughts. Speeches, travel, writing, and dedications of one new building after another were commonplace events. Yet in 1899, Washington did something he had never done before - he built a house. Since home reveals much about its occupants we can carefully read between the lines and perhaps see another side of the man and his family.

THE OAKS


The Oaks, as the home became known, was appropriately built of Institute bricks made by students and faculty. It was adjacent to the campus but on property owned by Washington. In Up From Slavery he tells us that he was able to spend only an average of six months out of each year in his Tuskegee home. This time was special and refreshing, a time when he could "get the most solid rest and recreation." A parlor and dining room were on the first floor and after the evening meal the family would often read or take turns telling stories. Washington wrote, "to me there is nothing on earth equal to that." Sadly he also admits that "the thing in my life which brings me the keenest regret is that my work keeps me for so much of the time away from my family, where of all places in the world, I delight to be."

The restored interior of the Oaks hints at the broad interests of the Washington family. Above the gilded picture molding of three rooms on the first floor are murals, which were painted in 1908 by European artist E. W. Borman. The theme of the murals is reflective of European countryside and seashore, perhaps reminiscent of the Washington's train trip through Europe when the Oaks was under construction. The musician in the family was Portia, an accomplished pianist. Mr. Washington often requested Portia to play after dinner or for the many visitors to the home. Leisure items seen in the parlor, such as dominoes, table games and a stereopticon provide a glimpse of activities enjoyed by Booker Jr. and Ernest Davidson Washington.

In the den on the second floor, functional furniture, built by Institute students decorate the rear of the room, while eloquent hand-carved furniture of the Orient flavors other sections of the room. Booker T. Washington's certificate from Hampton Institute, along with a photo of the graduating class of 1875, compliments one wall of the study. Photos of two United States Presidents, Board of Trustees members, the King and Queen of Denmark, Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, and others accent the remaining walls.

It is obvious that Washington's ties to the South were strong. The South was where he was born and educated; it was the place he called home. When ill in New York City, he insisted upon dying in the South, clinging to life until he reached the Oaks. There on November 14, 1915 his earthly journey up from slavery ended. Three days later he was buried in the campus cemetery.

As you leave the Oaks stop and take a good look at the house. Think about what Washington said: "The actual sight of a first class house that a Negro has built is ten times more potent than pages of discussion about a house that he ought to build, or perhaps could build."

The Oaks was restored in 1980 by the National Park Service. Tours of the Oaks begin at the George Washington Carver Museum and are provided by National Park Rangers every hour, 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., seven days a week.

[L.J]

George Washington Carver Museum
The Early Museum - 1938 to 1977


For more than forty years Dr. George Washington Carver labored at Tuskegee Institute. He never ceased efforts to improve the living conditions and surroundings of rural and farm people - particularly those who lived in the South - and to extract from nature through scientific research those elements and resources which could be made useful for the benefit of mankind. Many honors came to him during his lifetime, but none gave him more genuine pleasure and satisfaction than his own museum. It was always his wish that everything he did would be available to the public for the general good of all.

The George Washington Carver Museum was authorized by the trustees of Tuskegee Institute in 1938 at the request of President Frederick D. Patterson. The Museum, formerly the school laundry, housed Dr. Carver's extensive collections of native plants, minerals, birds and vegetables; his products from the peanut, sweet potato and clays; and his numerous paintings, drawings, and textile art. The Museum was formally dedicated by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford in 1941. In January 1943 Dr. Carver died and was laid to rest in the Campus Cemetery.

In 1947 a fire caused great loss in the Museum. Fortunately, many of Dr. Carver's products were not seriously damaged. However only a few of his paintings were saved, those mostly damaged by smoke and water. When the building was renovated in 1951, it was enlarged to include a basement exhibit area. With a total area of 13,000 square feet, it became a general repository for historic and modern treasures donated to Tuskegee Institute or removed from campus buildings. The Museum also held an extensive collection of African crafts and artifacts. Over 300 bound volumes and rare pamphlets of south, central and west coast Africa, and more than 1000 photographs of life in Ghana and Nigeria were included.

The Museum Today - 1977 to Present


Tuskegee Institute National Historic site was authorized in 1974 and established on November 13, 1977. The George Washington Carver Museum, along with the Booker T. Washington home "The Oaks," was then deeded to the people of the United States.

Both the Museum and the Oaks were closed to the public in February 1980 to undergo restoration and refurbishing. Restoration was the focus for the Museum's exterior. The building's interior was gutted and rebuilt to house exhibits, artifact storage space, staff offices, an auditorium where audiovisual programs are conducted, and an elevator for disabled persons.

The main exhibit area of the Museum is divided into two sections. One section focuses on the comprehensive career of Dr. Carver. Within this area is some of his laboratory equipment, including salvaged parts of discarded equipment with which he set up his first laboratory. Dr. Carver had begun his research with only one true piece of scientific equipment: a microscope. Also included are samples of peanut and sweet potato products. The exhibits of his paintings, embroidery and needlework interpret the artistic talents of Dr. Carver. On display are plaques, medals and artistic work created in tribute to Dr. Carver.

The second section of the Museum leads the visitor through the growth and development of Tuskegee Institute, founded in 1881, to the present day Tuskegee University. Through photographs and artifacts, the exhibits outline the school's accomplishments through extension work and the compilation of statistics on Black life are interpreted.

Returning visitors from the 1940's through the 1970's will note a smaller number of artifacts on display. it has not been necessary to exhibit several hundred extra items in order to provide a comprehensive interpretive experience. Items not on display are stored in a controlled environment. Ownership of a large selection of African artifacts formerly displayed in the Museum was retained by Tuskegee University.

The Museum is open from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. daily. Questions and comments are welcomed and assistance is cheerfully rendered.

OTHER SITES IN THE AREA


While in the Tuskegee area, visit historic Moton Field, where the Tuskegee Airmen trained, and the General Daniel "Chappie" James Center.

Tuskegee is located 38 miles east of Montgomery, Alabama and approximately 130 miles southwest of Atlanta, Exit 38 off Interstate 85.

[L.J]

WORDS OF WISDOM:
"It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success." - George Washington Carver

[L.J]

Creative and imaginative as well as independent at an early age, Woodson taught himself by reading avidly in his spare time. As a result of his innate intelligence, personal accomplishments, and dedication to learning, he was able to complete high school. In 1903 he graduated with honors from Berea College, a unique college in the slave state of Kentucky. Founded in 1855, Berea introduced integrated education in the 19th century and thus permitted the enrollment of African Americans. Yet Kentucky had profited from the slave market and the psychology of its people could not accept racially-integrated classrooms. One year after Woodson's graduation the "Day Law" was passed, which prevented white and African American students from being in the same classroom or school community together. Integrated schooling became illegal. The pernicious "Day Law" was actually enforced for nearly half a century, a fact that was not lost on Woodson in his writings about the social customs and laws that served as obstacles to the progress of "the Negro race." He recorded these events as he pursued his interests in the study of African American history.

In 1907 and 1908, respectively, Woodson earned an undergraduate degree and his M.A. from the University of Chicago. Just four years after completing graduate training at the University of Chicago, he was awarded the doctorate from Harvard. This educational background in the country's leading universities challenged Woodson's creative imagination. He became increasingly interested in documenting for the permanent historical record the talents and accomplishments of the sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters of slaves.

[L.J]

PROMOTING AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY
In 1916, during the height of World War I, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, which Woodson had founded, issued the Journal of Negro History. This would become one of his most significant scholarly contributions for recording the backgrounds, experiences, and writings of Americans of African ancestry. He served as the sponsor and editor of the Journal of Negro History for many years. This important medium became a significant milestone in promoting the history and contributions of African Americans to the culture. African Americans themselves became aware of their own influence in the intellectual sphere and in the whole society.

In addition to establishing and publishing the Journal of Negro History, while Woodson was dean of West Virginia Collegiate Institute he served as president of Associated Publishers. The primary purpose of this innovative outlet was to publish and distribute writings by and about African Americans. When Woodson left West Virginia to continue his research, he involved himself more deeply in the work of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. It remains today as a monument to his dedication and foresight.

The broad spectrum of the life of Africans in America was of central interest to Woodson. He studied all facets of their experiences and rich cultural contributions. These included myths, patterns of migration, roles as wage earners, entrance into medicine, work in rural America, inventions and writings, and their unique history. In 1926, during the zenith of the Harlem Renaissance, he launched a movement to observe "Negro History Week." Woodson felt that an annual celebration of the achievements of the African American should occur during the month of February, since both the gifted abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln were born in that month. In the 1960s what was once only a week of recognizing the outstanding achievements of Americans of African heritage to science, literature, and the arts became transformed into "Black History Month."

[L.J]

THE WRITINGS OF WOODSON
Carter G. Woodson was one of the country's prominent historians and a prolific writer. From the moment he received the doctorate from Harvard, he initiated a career in publishing. In 1915 he wrote The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861, in which he concentrated on both the obstacles and the progress characterizing the schooling of the descendants of slaves. Three years later he published A Century of Negro Migration. This was introduced in 1918, as World War I was coming to a close. The examination of patterns of migration was followed by The Negro in Our History, published in 1922. This work has been defined as "the first textbook of its kind."

Among Woodson's basic writings are those that describe patterns of migration and family composition. For example, under the auspices of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History he prepared two important documents--one on slave holding and the other on heads of families: Free Negro Owners of Slaves in the United States in 1830, together with Absentee Ownership of Slaves in the United States in 1830 (1924) and Free Negro Heads of Families in the United States in 1830 together with A Brief Treatment of The Free Negro (1925).

African Americans who had entered the professions of medicine and law during the eras of Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction were of particular interest to Woodson. In 1934 Negro Universities Press published his documentation of The Negro professional man and the community, with special emphasis on the physician and the lawyer. Perhaps his most important work, and the one for which he is widely known in the late 20th century, is The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933, reprinted 1990). Woodson is remembered as a leading historian who promoted the rich intellectual and creative legacy of the African American.

[L.J]

African-American Mosaic

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Colonization

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The roots of the colonization movement date back to various plans first proposed in the eighteenth century. From the start, colonization of free blacks in Africa was an issue on which both whites and blacks were divided. Some blacks supported emigration because they thought that black Americans would never receive justice in the United States. Others believed African-Americans should remain in the United States to fight against slavery and for full legal rights as American citizens. Some whites saw colonization as a way of ridding the nation of blacks, while others believed black Americans would be happier in Africa, where they could live free of racial discrimination. Still others believed black American colonists could play a central role in Christianizing and civilizing Africa.

The American Colonization Society (ACS) was formed in 1817 to send free African-Americans to Africa as an alternative to emancipation in the United States. In 1822, the society established on the west coast of Africa a colony that in 1847 became the independent nation of Liberia. By 1867, the society had sent more than 13,000 emigrants.

Beginning in the 1830s, the society was harshly attacked by abolitionists, who tried to discredit colonization as a slaveholder's scheme. And, after the Civil War, when many blacks wanted to go to Liberia, financial support for colonization had waned. During its later years the society focussed on educational and missionary efforts in Liberia rather than emigration.

In 1913 and at its dissolution in 1964, the society donated its records to the Library of Congress. The material contains a wealth of information about the foundation of the society, its role in establishing Liberia, efforts to manage and defend the colony, fund-raising, recruitment of settlers, and the way in which black settlers built and led the new nation.

Moreover, opportunities exist for additional research on the collection. For example, map study could reveal new data about settlement patterns, land ownership, and community development in Liberia. Work on the photographs could lead to identification of more of the individuals, locations, and events depicted. From passenger lists and land grants, researchers could glean new knowledge about Liberian genealogy. And, although the early history of the society has been well presented in publications, the post- Civil War period has not been thoroughly examined.

[L.J]

Beginnings of the American Colonization Society
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/images/memoir0.jpg
A Black Colonizationist Paul Cuffee (1759-1817), a successful Quaker shipowner of African- American and Native American ancestry, advocated settling freed American slaves in Africa. He gained support from the British government, free black leaders in the United States, and members of Congress for a plan to take emigrants to the British colony of Sierra Leone. Cuffee intended to make one voyage per year, taking settlers and bringing back valuable cargoes. In 1816, at his own expense, Captain Cuffee took thirty-eight American blacks to Freetown, Sierra Leone, but his death in 1817 ended further ventures.
However, Cuffee had reached a large audience with his pro-colonization arguments and laid the groundwork for later organizations such as the American Colonization Society.

Memoir of Captain Paul Cuffee, A Man of Colour: To Which is Subjoined The Epistle of the Society of Sierra Leone in African & etc., title page York: W. Alexander, 1812 [1817] Rare Book and Special Collections Division (1)

[L.J]

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/images/afintel0.jpg
In July 1820, the ACS published The African Intelligencer, edited by Jehudi Ashmun (1794-1828), a young teacher who hoped to become a missionary to Africa. Its thirty-two pages contained articles on the slave trade, African geography, the expedition of the Elizabeth (the ship that carried the first group of colonists to Liberia), and the ACS constitution. Upset by the expense and the lack of public support for the journal, ACS managers canceled the monthly journal after one issue.
Ashmun went to Africa in 1822, where he became an early leader of the Liberian colony before dying from a fever in 1828. This copy belonged to William Thornton, architect of the United States Capitol and a supporter of colonization.

The African Intelligencer, vol. 1, no. 1, July 1820, title page Journal Rare Book and Special Collections Division (2)
Life-Membership Certificate for ACS Selling life memberships was a standard fund-raising practice of benevolent societies such as the American Colonization Society. At thirty dollars each, the memberships were a popular gift for ministers. In 1825, one of the agents who sold the certificates in New England estimated that "not less than $50,000 have in this way been poured into the treasury of the Lord." This certificate bears a facsimile signature of Henry Clay, a founder of the ACS and its strong advocate in Congress. Clay succeeded former president James Madison as president of the society, serving from 1836 to 1849.
[Life Membership Certificate for American Colonization Society], ca. 1840 Certificate American Colonization Society Papers Manuscript Division (3)

Jehudi Ashmun envisioned an American empire in Africa. During 1825 and 1826, Ashmun took steps to lease, annex, or buy tribal lands along the coast and on major rivers leading inland. Like his predecessor Lt. Robert Stockton, who in 1821 persuaded African King Peter to sell Cape Montserado (or Mesurado) by pointing a pistol at his head, Ashmun was prepared to use force to extend the colony's territory. His aggressive actions quickly increased Liberia's power over its neighbors. In this treaty of May 1825, King Peter and other native kings agreed to sell land in return for 500 bars of tobacco, three barrels of rum, five casks of powder, five umbrellas, ten iron posts, and ten pairs of shoes, among other items.
[Treaty between American Colonization Society and African Kings], May 11, 1825 Holograph American Colonization Society Collection Manuscript Division (4)

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Second ACS Journal In March 1825, the ACS began a quarterly, The African Repository and Colonial Journal, edited by Ralph Randolph Gurley (1797-1872), who headed the Society until 1844. Conceived as the society's propaganda organ, the journal promoted both colonization and Liberia. Among the items printed were articles about Africa, letters of praise, official dispatches stressing the prosperity and steady growth of the colony, information about emigrants, and lists of donors. This issue shows the first Liberian settlement at Cape Montserado (or Mesurado), which became the capital city, Monrovia.
The African Repository and Colonial Journal, vol. 1, no. 4, June 1825, p. 129 Journal Rare Book and Special Collections Division (5)


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Virginia Legislature Supports ACS For many years the ACS tried to persuade the United States Congress to appropriate funds to send colonists to Liberia. Although Henry Clay led the campaign, it failed. The society did, however, succeed in its appeals to some state legislatures. In 1850, Virginia set aside $30,000 annually for five years to aid and support emigration. In its Thirty-Fourth Annual Report, the society acclaimed the news as "a great Moral demonstration of the propriety and necessity of state action!" During the 1850s, the society also received several thousand dollars from the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Maryland legislatures.
[Act by State of Virginia making appropriations for removal of free persons of color to Liberia], 1850 American Colonization Society Papers Manuscript Division (7)

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Information for Emigrants During the 1830s, William Lloyd Garrison's violent condemnations of colonization as a slaveholder's plot to perpetuate slavery created deep hostility between abolitionists and colonizationists. Intended to encourage emigration and answer anti-colonization propaganda, the ACS pamphlet answers questions about household items needed in Liberia, climate, education, health conditions, and other concerns about the new country. Citing abolitionist charges that colonizationists merely wanted "to get clear of the colored people of the United States from their political and social disadvantages . . . to place them in a country where they may enjoy the benefits of free government . . . and to spread civilization, sound morals, and true religion throughout Africa."
Information About Going to Liberia: Things Which Every Emigrant Ought to Know. . ., title page Washington: American Colonization Society, 1848 Rare Book and Special Collections Division (8)

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Map of Liberia By the 1840s, Liberia had become a financial burden on the ACS. In addition, Liberia faced political threats, chiefly from Britain, because it was neither a sovereign power nor a bona fide colony of any sovereign nation. Because the United States refused to claim sovereignty over Liberia, in 1846 the ACS ordered the Liberians to proclaim their independence. This map of the newly independent country shows the dates that the various territories were acquired. Settlements were located primarily along the coast and the many rivers leading inland. Inset maps highlight important areas of the country.
Republic of Liberia. Drawn under superintendence of Com. Lynch, USN, 1853 Map Geography and Map Division (9)

[L.J]

Gordon Parks

A highly influential figure in black cinema, Parks had a number of jobs before he became interested in photography. He worked for the Farm Security Administration during World War 2 and later became a staff photographer for "Life" magazine, a position he held for some twenty years. In 1969, Parks became the first black director to helm a major studio film when he directed, wrote, and composed the score for The Learning Tree (1969), a beautifully realized adaptation of his autobiographical novel about growing up in Kansas. His next film, Shaft (1971), starred Richard Roundtree as the unflappable detective John Shaft; tough, sexy and violent, it was a sleeper hit with black and white audiences alike, and provided a black hero at a time when there were few to be found onscreen. Parks then directed the sequel Shaft's Big Score! (1972), the comedy-drama The Super Cops (1974), and the fine (but little-seen) musical biography Leadbelly (1976). After spending some years on nonfilm projects, Parks returned to directing with the American Playhouse production The Odyssey of Solomon Northrup (1984) and Moments Without Proper Names (1986, from his own book). He has written a number of books, and was a founder of "Essence" magazine. His son Gordon Parks, Jr. (who died in 1979), worked as a cameraman on The Learning Tree and directed three films, including Superfly (1972).

Trivia Snippets
Father of Gordon Parks Jr.

Once was a piano player in a Minnesota bordello.

Spent the years 1948-1968 as a photographer and reporter for Life Magazine.

Grandfather of Gordon Parks III

Co-founder of Essence Magazine

Considered one of the contributors (along with Melvin Van Peebles) to the blaxploitation genre - Sweet Sweetback's Baaadassss Song (1971) and Shaft (1971) were the first films that started a genre.

First African American film director that directed a film for a major studio (Warner Brothers) - Learning Tree, The (1969)

Godfather to Quibilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X (1920 - 1965)

His life story was told in a TV documentary co-produced by Denzel Washington: Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks (2000) (TV).

Half Past Autumn:
The Art of Gordon Parks is organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. This exhibition and related programs are made possible by Ford Motor Company and Time Warner Inc. Additional support has been provided by the Glen Eagles Foundation, Cone-Laumont Editions, Ltd., Lamount Labs and Time Life Photo Laboratories. The local presentation of this exhibition is underwritten in part by the corporate sponsorship of NationsBank, a grant from the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Inc., and a grant from the Palmer Foundation.

THE FIRST complete retrospective exhibition of the works of renowned American artist Gordon Parks opens at the Norton Museum of Art on October 30, 1999. Parks is an American Renaissance man who has mastered many media to express an uplifting and influential message of hope in the face of adversity. This exhibition is organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and co-curated by Philip Brookman, curator of photography and media arts at the Corcoran, and Deborah Willis, collections coordinator at the Center for African-American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution.
Although the 87 year-old Parks is best known as a photojournalist, this retrospective brings together for the first time his photographs with his works as a filmmaker, novelist, poet and musician. Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks begins in the present with several of his most recent images and then, like a cinematic flashback, propels visitors into the past through Parks's early photographs of Kansas that represent his childhood.
The exhibition features 219 photographs, with significant works from each of Parks's major series from 1940 through 1997, combined with his books, music, film and poetry. The result is, in the artist's words, a "tone-poem" that impressionistically tells his own story.
Born in Fort Scott, Kansas in 1912, Gordon Parks was the youngest of 15 children. After his mother died when he was 16, Parks left Kansas for Minneapolis and supported himself by working as a piano player, busboy, basketball player and Civilian Conservation Corpsman. At the age of 25, Parks began to seriously consider photography. While working as a waiter on the Northern Pacific Railroad, he read voraciously, wrote music and through reading the magazines of the day, was introduced to pictures made by social documentary photographers for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Farm Security Administration (FSA) Historical Section. The photographers he studied were Ben Shahn, Jack Delano, Carl Mydans, Dorothea Lange, John Vachon, and Walker Evans. "They were photographing poverty, and I knew poverty so well," Parks recalls.

http://www.norton.org/exhibit/archive/autumn/ethelbg.jpg
© Gordon Parks
Ethel Shariff in Chicago, 1957
gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Artist
Parks recalls finding a magazine left behind by a passenger on the train which contained a portfolio of photographs of migrant workers and the terrible conditions in which they lived. So moved was Parks by those photographs that he went out and bought his first camera, a Voightlander Brilliant, at a pawnshop for $7.50. He states that this first purchase was "not much of a camera, but a great name to toss around. I had bought what was to become my weapon against poverty and racism."
In late 1941 Parks became the first photographer to receive a fellowship from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation and chose to work with Roy Stryker at the Farm Services Administration (FSA), a government agency designed to call attention to the plight of the needy during the Depression and to create an historical record of social and cultural conditions across the country. He joined FSA in January, 1942, moving his family to Washington, DC, where he encountered a city divided by race and class. Over the next two years, Parks received extensive training as a photojournalist under Stryker's direction. "It's not enough to take one's picture and label it bigot," Stryker told Parks. "You have to get at the source of their bigotry. And that's not easy. The camera becomes a powerful weapon when put to good use." One of the first photos Parks took during that period is now considered his signature imageÑ American Gothic.
"So it happened that, in one of the government's most sacred strongholds, I set up my camera for my first professional photograph," recalls Parks. "On the wall was a huge American Flag hanging from the ceiling to the floor. I asked [the charwoman, Ella Watson,] to stand before it, placed the mop in one hand; a broom in the other, then instructed her to look into the lens." Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks takes an extensive look at these haunting images from the FSA.
In 1943 the FSA was dissolved for political reasons, but Roy Stryker arranged for Parks to move with him to the Office of War Information (OWI), where Parks was assigned as war correspondent to the 332nd Fighter Group, the first black air corps. He photographed the training program for the corps, but was refused permission to accompany the 332nd fighter group to Europe, denying publicity to African-American participation in the war. He then followed Stryker to the Standard Oil (New Jersey) Photography Project, which allowed some of the best photographers of the time to photograph in small towns and industrial centers throughout the United States. Some of Parks's most striking and influential work was made during this time, including: Dinner Time at Mr. Hercules Brown's Home, Somerville, Maine, 1944; Grease Plant Worker, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1946; Car Loaded with Furniture on Highway, 1945, and Ferry Commuters, Staten Island, NY, 1946. Parks has lent vintage prints of some of these rarely seen images to the exhibition, sharing them publicly for the first time.

http://www.norton.org/exhibit/archive/autumn/gothicbg.jpg

© Gordon Parks
American Gothic, Washington, D.C., 1942
gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Artist
In 1944 Parks began to search for a job shooting fashion photos. Despite racist attitudes of the day, Vogue editor Alexander Liberman hired Parks to shoot a collection of evening gowns. Following that first assignment, Parks photographed fashion for Vogue for the next few years. During this time Parks published his first two books, Flash Photography (1947) and Camera Portraits: Techniques and Principles of Documentary Portraiture (1948).
Parks found fashion photography interesting and rewarding, but also wanted to use his talent as a photojournalist. In 1948 he approached Life magazine and asked for a job photographing the gang wars in Harlem as well as fashions in Paris. He was hired to do both. "Suddenly for me," remembers Parks, "two extremely diverse worlds were about to converge - one of crime, the other of high fashion." In what was to become his trademark style, Parks chose to focus his story on Harlem gangs - concentrating on an individual and the small group around him. 16-year-old Red Jackson was leader of the Midtowners, one of the toughest gangs in New York City. Parks was able to engage his trust, and his photographs show the complexity of their relationship. In one very famous photograph, Red Jackson, Harlem Gang Leader, (with Cigarette), 1948, Jackson is caught in a moment of reflection as he looks out a broken tenement window. In another, Red Jackson and Herbie Levy study wounds on face of slain gang member Maurice Gaines, 1948, Jackson and a fellow gang member stare at the body of a friend in his coffin, victim of a gang "rumble." Through these extra-ordinary images, Parks displays not just the violence of the gangs, but the complex humanity of its players, and victims. He is able to go beyond the stereotypical images that most Americans of the time had about Harlem and its underbelly to reveal something poignant and universal about its people.
In 1950 he moved to Paris as a European correspondent, photographing in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal for several years. Parks was given great access to the stars, gained their trust and was able to shoot beautiful and touching portraits of them. The exhibition includes his portraits of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossolini during their famous tryst on the island of Stromboli, as well as portraits of Alberto Giacometti, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, Gloria Vanderbilt, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and others.

http://www.norton.org/exhibit/archive/autumn/boybg.jpg


© Gordon Parks
Boy at Carnival, Brazil, 1962
Ilfochrome print
Courtesy of Artist
One series of photographs included in the exhibition that perhaps best illustrates his ability to move between such different realms for the sake of his work was shot in Estoril, Portugal, in 1950. He depicted deposed monarchs and wealthy diners, juxtaposed with images of poor children begging for food. Here, the meaning of his photographs stems from the visual dialogue between rich and poor, rather than from one or the other.
In 1956 Parks ventured into the deep South where he photographed an eloquent story about segregation in the United States. Working in a small town near Birmingham, Alabama, in the same year as the Montgomery bus boycott, he documented the effects of segregation on one family. These images, such as Willy Causey and Family, Shady Grove, Alabama, focus on all aspects of everyday life for three generations of the Causey family. Following publication of these pictures in Life, the Causey family was forced to leave home as the civil rights movement was just gaining momentum. The following year Parks followed the police in Chicago for a major story about crime.
One of the most poignant and successful projects Parks completed for Life was about Flavio Da Silva, a young boy he met in the slums of Brazil. In 1961 he was assigned to photograph poverty against the backdrop of cosmopolitan Rio de Janeiro. Like his essays about Harlem Gangs and segregation, he focused on the impact of his theme on individuals. He photographed Flavio, his parents, brothers and sisters, living together in a one-room shack in the midst of extreme poverty. Parks photographed and wrote about the family's reliance on their son and his deteriorating health, detailing a story which has become a classic example of photojournalism. When this story was published, readers contributed money to help with Flavio's medical care. Eventually, he was brought to the United States for treatment, and other money contributed was used to buy a new home for his family and help educate him and his siblings.

http://www.norton.org/exhibit/archive/autumn/ellabg.jpg

© Gordon Parks
Ella Watson and Her Granchildren, Washington, D.C., 1942
gelatin silver print
Courtesy of Artist
By the 1960s Parks was one of the most influential photojournalists of his time. Along with many other projects he continued his work about civil rights in the United States. In 1963 he also published the autobiographical novel The Learning Tree. Life commissioned Parks to create a series of photographs that evoked personal memories of his childhood, based on this book. These images were published in the magazine with his memoir, "How It Feels to Be Black," an emotional essay that brought together his personal and social concerns. The same year he documented the Black Muslims, including Malcolm X, in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, detailing the development of education and self-reliance in this emerging religious and social movement. When Life printed Parks's passionate close-up of a crying girl's face on the cover of a 1967 issue about poverty in the U.S., he again connected readers to the real-life emotions of one family. For this assignment he photographed the Fontennelle family at home in a Harlem welfare office, evoking their personal struggles and the children's perseverance.
Parks began to manipulate color photographs in 1958. The following year Life published a series that were made to accompany poems that he selected. These works evoke the rhythmic visual imagery found in the poetry. His experiments include multiple exposures, collage and painting on pictures. He has continued this process through the present, and has evolved a lyrical style that fluctuates between realism and abstraction. This exhibit highlights early work from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s, including his famous Leopard, Brazil, 1962, and Chimney Tops, Paris, 1964 and fashions, landscapes and nudes from the mid-1960s through the 1980s. Parks's most recent works, made in the 1990s are abstract landscapes, photographed in the studio using combinations of shells, flowers, paintings and complex lighting. These are printed with the aid of computer imaging as Iris-jet prints. More than twenty of these new works are included.

http://www.norton.org/exhibit/archive/autumn/storebg.jpg

© Gordon Parks
Department Store, Birmingham, Alabama, 1956
Ilfochrome print
Courtesy of Artist
In addition to The Learning Tree, Parks has written three other books about his life: A Choice of Weapons; To Smile in Autumn; and Voices in the Mirror. In addition, Parks published several volumes of poetry combined with his photographs, including Gordon Parks: A Poet and His Camera; Gordon Parks: Whispers of Intimate Things; Gordon Parks: In Love, Moments Without Proper Names; Arias of Silence; and Glimpses Toward Infinity. His films include Flavio, Diary of a Harlem Family; The Learning Tree; Shaft; Shaft's Big Score; Super Cops; Leadbelly; Solomon Northrup's Odyssey; and Martin. Parks's musical compositions of classical, blues, and popular music - including a symphony, sonatas, concertos, and a ballet - have been performed internationally.
The Norton Museum of Art is pleased to be a part of the much-anticipated exhibition Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks. Parks's art expresses the lessons of his early life and imparts these to future generations. This exhibition unlocks the door to this uncommon and uncompromising vision.

Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (202) 639-1703

The Norton Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. General admission is $6 for adults, $2 for students ages 13-21 and Free for members and children under 13. Visit the Norton Museum Store. For membership information and a schedule of educational programs, please call the Museum at (561) 832-5196.

For press inquiries, please contact the Museum Press Office at (561) 832-5196, extension 135 or 136.

[L.J]

ONLINE FOCUS: NEWSHOUR Transcript
Phil Ponce examines the life and art of Gordon Parks, Life photographer, film director, composer and digital art pioneer.

PHIL PONCE: The people of Fort Scott, Kansas, their images have stayed with Gordon Parks all his life. It was among the people of this prairie town that Parks grew up as the youngest in a family of fifteen children, amid poverty and discrimination. Now, at age 85, Parks can see the full length of his journey from poverty to a life rich in experience and range: photographer, poet, author, film maker, and composer. In the first museum survey of Parks’ multi-faceted career Washington’s Corcoran Gallery of Art is showing more than 200 of his images, mainly from his work as one of America’s leading photojournalists. The exhibition is called "Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks." I talked to Parks at the Corcoran about his early influences.


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Humble yet nurturing roots.

GORDON PARKS, Photographer: My mother died by the time I was 15, and already she’d imparted enough of herself to carry me for the rest of my life--when I needed it most after I hit the big world out there, you know, and my father was sort of a wonderful dirt farmer who farmed mostly dirt, had enough food for his children, to eat. So we had a rather meager existence.

PHIL PONCE: I’ve heard you say that your mother was the biggest influence in your life and in your work.

GORDON PARKS: She taught me what was right and what was wrong. She would not tolerate any sort of prejudice against another person because of their color. You know, I can feel her looking at me when I do something wrong--even today--even though she died when I was 15. I have a picture on my mantel in my home and my father’s picture, next to each other. And I look at them before I make a decision.

Parks' "choice of weapons": the camera


PHIL PONCE: A key decision--to use a camera as what Parks called his choice of weapons. Beginning in 1942, he helped document the lives of America’s poor--its workers--its urban and country dwellers--as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration, a Depression era government agency. That’s when he took what would become perhaps his best-known picture. It was of a cleaning woman who worked in his office building. Her name was Ella Watson.

GORDON PARKS: That was my first day in Washington, D.C., in 1942. I had experienced a kind of bigotry and discrimination here that I never expected to experience. And I photographed her after everyone had left the building. At first, I asked her about her life, what it was like, and so disastrous that I felt that I must photograph this woman in a way that would make me feel or make the public feel about what Washington, D.C. was in 1942. So I put her before the American flag with a broom in one hand and a mop in another. And I said, "American Gothic"--that’s how I felt at the moment. I didn’t care about what anybody else felt. That’s what I felt about America and Ella Watson’s position inside America.

PHIL PONCE: You were once given the advice that a great photographer is often somebody who is a good person, who cares about other people. So you do wind up caring, or, in some cases, loving the people you photograph?

"The photographer begins to feel big and bloated and so big he can’t walk through one of these doors because he gets a good byline; he gets notices all over the world and so forth; but they’re really--the important people are the people he photographs. They are what make him."


GORDON PARKS: Yes. I usually wind up liking them or understanding them better, even though they may have an evil content. The subject matter is so much more important than the photographer. The photographer begins to feel big and bloated and so big he can’t walk through one of these doors because he gets a good byline; he gets notices all over the world and so forth; but they’re really--the important people are the people he photographs. They are what make him.
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PHIL PONCE: It was at Life Magazine that Parks began to gain a national reputation. He was the magazine’s first African-American photographer and used the technique in which he would focus a series on one person to tell a broader story about humanity, itself--like a 1948 life and death story on the violence of gang wars in Harlem through the eyes of Red Jackson, a 16-year-old gang leader. By gaining Jackson’s trust and spending time with him, Parks was able to capture lives rarely portrayed in American media.

Or his 1961 series on the slums of Brazil from the vantage point of Flavio DaSilva, a 12-year-old boy in Rio who, though sick with tuberculosis, helped support his family--Parks, in effect, adopted Flavio, brought him to the United States to be cured, and still calls him in Brazil to this day. Parks personally helped many of his subjects long after he took their pictures.

A lasting love between Parks and his subjects.


GORDON PARKS: You have to stay with them; you have to be a part of them. In fact, in stories like that I have gone to live with a family for about a week or so without even taking my camera so that they begin to accept me as a person, as a big brother, or uncle, or, you know, something of that sort, so that they have confidence in me, and I have love for them. And it’s a lasting love.

PHIL PONCE: But these images are also part of Parks’ vision. The man who shot life’s ugly side also captured the side that has to do with elegance, beauty, and glamour--as a leading fashion photographer in Paris.

GORDON PARKS: Well, there’s nothing wrong with photographing a very beautiful woman, right, and clothes, beautiful clothes, and so forth and so on, and affording me trips to London and Paris and all over the globe, you know, photographing these gorgeous gowns and fabulous women. You get a certain kind of joy out of that.

PHIL PONCE: Returning from Paris in the 1960's, Parks again chronicled the pain and anger at this nation’s poorest; the burgeoning civil rights movement; and the rise of the Black Muslim movement. In portraiture, Parks also captured some of the leading figures of the day: Writer Langston Hughes; jazz great Duke Ellington, actresses Ingrid Bergman and later Barbra Streisand; boxing champion Muhammad Ali. In his 50's Parks’ artistic evolution took him in a new direction: films. He was a pioneer African American film director, beginning with "The Learning Tree," based on his autobiographical novel about growing up in Kansas.

ACTRESS: No matter if you go or stay think of Cherokee Flats like that till the day you die; that it be a learning tree.

From photography to film, music and digital art.

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PHIL PONCE: He made 10 other films, including the popular 1971 film "Shaft," an attempt, he said, to give blacks a positive role model, in this case a charismatic detective. Parks, who learned piano from his mother, also went on to compose a symphony, sonatas, concertos, and a ballet on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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GORDON PARKS: It all comes together now for me, strangely. I’ve never before the last five years, I’ve never tried to necessarily tie them together. It just happens that I suppose if I felt that one thing failed me, I’d have something else to go on.

PHIL PONCE: These are some of Parks’ latest works. He makes them using computers, photographs, paintings, sculpture, and found objects.

GORDON PARKS: You know, the camera is not meant just to show misery. You can show beauty with it; you can do a lot of things. You can show--with a camera you can show things that you like about the universe, things that you hate about the universe. It’s capable of doing both. And I think that after nearly 85 years upon this planet that I have a right after working so hard at showing the desolation and the poverty, to show something beautiful for somebody as well. It’s all there, and you’ve only done half the job if you don’t do that. You’ve not really completed a task.

PHIL PONCE: How do you explain the fact that you’ve had really such a remarkable life?

"I’m just about ready to start, and winter is entering. Half past autumn has arrived."


GORDON PARKS: My life to me is like sort of a disjointed dream. I can’t explain it to you. Things have happened to me--incredible. It’s so disjointed. But all I know, it was a constant effort, a constant feeling that I must not fail, and I still have that. And now, I feel at 85, I really feel that I’m just ready to start. There’s another horizon out there, one more horizon that you have to make for yourself and let other people discover it, and someone else will take it further on, you know. You discover it. Somebody else takes it on. But I do feel a little teeny right now that I’m just about ready to start, and winter is entering. Half past autumn has arrived.

[L.J]

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in a mud hut in a village near Umtata in Transkei South Africa on July 18, 1918. His father was the Tribal Chief of Thembuland and after his father 's death, the young Rolihlahla became the Paramount Chief's ward to be groomed to assume high office. However, influenced by the cases that came before the Chief's court, he was determined to become a lawyer. After hearing the elders' stories of his ancestor's valor during the wars of resistance in defense of their fatherland, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people.

After receiving a primary education at a local mission school, Nelson Mandela was sent to Healdtown, a reputable Wesleyan secondary school where he matriculated. After leaving school he then enrolled at an all black college, the University College of Fort Hare for a Bachelor of Arts Degree where he soon displayed his leadership qualities. After being elected to the Student's Representative Council, Mandela started to live up to his Xhosa name Rolihlahla, meaning "stirring up trouble", and joined a student boycott which resulted in his suspension from the college.

[L.J]

After suspension from college, Mandela went to Johannesburg where he completed his BA by correspondence, took articles of clerkship and commenced study for his LLB. While studying in Johannesburg he entered politics in earnest by joining the African National Congress in 1942. At the height of World War II a small group of young Africans, members of the African National Congress, banded together under the leadership of Anton Lembede. Among them was William Nkomo, Walter Sisulu, Oliver R. Tambo, Ashby P. Mda and Nelson Mandela. These young people set themselves the formidable task of transforming the ANC into a mass movement, deriving its strength and motivation from the unlettered millions of working people in the towns and countryside, the peasants in the rural areas and the professionals. Their chief contention was that the political tactics of the 'old guard' leadership of the ANC, reared in the tradition of constitutionals and polite petitioning of the government of the day, were proving inadequate for the tasks of national emancipation. In opposition to the 'old guard', Lembede and his colleagues espoused a radical African Nationalism grounded in the principle of national self-determination. In September 1944 they came together to found the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL).

Mandela soon impressed his peers by his disciplined work and consistent effort; he soon rose through the ranks of the organization and was elected to the Secretaryship of theYouth League in 1947. By painstaking work, campaigning at the grassroots and through its mouthpiece Inyaniso' (Truth) the ANCYL was able to canvass support for its policies amongst ANC membership. Spurred on by the victory of the National Party which won the 1948 all-White elections on the platform of Apartheid, at the 1949 annual conference, the Program of Action, inspired by the Youth League, which advocated the weapons of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-co-operation was accepted as official ANC policy.

A sub-committee of the ANCYL, which comprised of David Bopape, Ashby Mda, Nelson Mandela, James Njongwe, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo, had drawn up the Program of Action. To ensure its implementation the membership replaced older leaders with a number of younger men. Walter Sisulu, a founding member of the Youth League was elected Secretary-General. The conservative Dr A.B. Xuma lost the presidency to Dr J.S. Moroka, a man with a reputation for greater militancy. The following year, 1950, at the national conference Mandela was elected to the NEC.

The ANCYL program was aimed at the attainment of full citizenship and direct parliamentary representation for all South Africans. In the policy documents of which Mandela was an important co-author, the ANCYL paid special attention to the redistribution of the land, trade union rights, education and culture. The ANCYL also wanted free and compulsory education for all children, as well as mass education for adults. When the ANC launched its Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws in 1952, Mandela was elected the national Volunteer-in-Chief. The Defiance Campaign was conceived as a mass civil disobedience campaign that would snowball from a core of selected volunteers to involve more and more ordinary people, culminating in mass defiance. Fulfilling his responsibility as Volunteer-in-Chief, Mandela traveled the country organizing resistance to discriminatory legislation. Mandela was later charged and brought to trial for his role in the campaign. But the court found that Mandela and his co-accused had consistently advised their followers to adopt a peaceful course of action and to avoid all violence. But for his part in the Defiance Campaign, Mandela was convicted of contravening the Suppression of communism Act and was given a suspended prison sentence. Shortly after the campaign ended, he was also prohibited from attending gatherings and confined to Johannesburg for six months. Mandela continued his campaign and was promoted to become president of the ANC's Transval organization. However the government again acted to stop him. He was arrested along with 155 other ANC members in 1956 and charged with treason and promoting communism. The trial was to last 5 years. The ANC was in the dock and the government was determined to prove that it was a communist and revolutionary organization. It was during this trial, which Mandela dominated with his skill as a speaker and breadth of vision that he emerged as the ANC's most valued leader. He was eventually acquitted, but he knew his freedom was short-lived.

[L.J]

In 1952 during the period when Mandela was restricted, he wrote the attorneys admission examination and was admitted to the profession. He opened a practice in Johannesburg, in partnership with his friend Oliver Tambo; it was the country's first black law partnership. Of their law practice, Oliver Tambo, ANC National Chairman at the time of his death in April 1993, has written:

To reach our desks each morning Nelson and I ran the gauntlet of patient queues of people overflowing from the chairs in the waiting room into the corridors... To be landless (in South Africa) can be a crime, and weekly we interviewed the delegations of peasants who came to tell us how many generations their families had worked a little piece of land from which they were now being ejected... To live in the wrong area can be a crime... Our buff office files carried thousands of these stories and if, when we started our law partnership, we had not been rebels against apartheid, our experiences in our offices would have remedied the deficiency. We had risen to professional status in our community, but every case in court, every visit to the prisons to interview clients, reminded us of the humiliation and suffering burning into our people.

However their professional status did not earn Mandela and Tambo any personal immunity from the brutal apartheid laws. They fell foul to the land segregation legislation, and the authorities demanded that they move their practice from the city to the back of beyond, as Mandela later put it, miles away from where clients could reach us during working hours. This was tantamount to asking us to abandon our legal practice, to give up the legal service of our people... No attorney worth his salt would easily agree to do that said Mandela and the partnership resolved to defy the law. Also the government was not alone in trying to frustrate Mandela' s legal practice. On the grounds of his conviction under the Suppression of Communism Act, the Transvaal Law Society petitioned the Supreme Court to strike him off the roll of attorneys. The petition was refused with Mr. Justice Ramsbottom finding that Mandela had been moved by a desire to serve his black fellow citizens and nothing he had done showed him to be unworthy to remain in the ranks of an honorable profession.

[L.J]

During the early fifties Mandela played an important part in leading the resistance to the Western Areas and in the introduction of Bantu Education. He also played a significant role in popularizing the Freedom Charter that was adopted by the Congress of the People in 1955.

In the late fifties, Mandela's attention turned to the struggles against the exploitation of labor, the pass laws, the nascent Bantustan policy, and the segregation of the open universities. Mandela arrived at the conclusion very early on that the Bantustan policy was a political swindle and an economic absurdity. He predicted with dismal prescience, that in the future there will be a grim program of mass evictions, political persecutions, and police terror. On the segregation of the universities, Mandela observed that the friendship and inter-racial harmony that is forged through the admixture and association of various racial groups at the mixed universities constitute a direct threat to the policy of apartheid and baasskap, and that it was to remove that threat that the open universities were being closed to black students.

During the whole of the fifties, Mandela was the victim of various forms of repression. He was banned, arrested and imprisoned. For much of the latter half of the decade, he was one of the accused in the mammoth Treason Trial, at great cost to his legal practice and his political work. Forced to live apart from his family, moving from place to place to evade detection by the governments' Ubiquitous informers and police spies, Mandela had to adopt a number of disguises. Sometimes dressed as a common laborer, at other times as a chauffeur, his successful evasion of the police earned him the title of the Black Pimpernel. It was during this time that he, together with other leaders of the ANC constituted a new specialized section of the liberation movement, Umkhonto we Sizwe, as an armed nucleus with a view to preparing for armed struggle. At the Rivonia trial, Mandela explained : "At the beginning of June 1961, after long and anxious assessment of the South African situation, I and some colleagues came to the conclusion that as violence in this country was inevitable, it would be wrong and unrealistic for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force."



In 1962 Mandela left the country unlawfully and traveled abroad for several months. In Ethiopia he addressed the Conference of the Pan African Freedom Movement of East and Central Africa, and was warmly received by senior political leaders in several countries. During this trip Mandela, anticipating an intensification of the armed struggle, began to arrange guerrilla training for members of Umkhonto we Sizwe. Not long after his return to South Africa Mandela was arrested and charged with illegal exit from the country, and incitement to strike. Since he considered the prosecution a trial of the aspirations of the African people, Mandela decided to conduct his own defense. He applied for the recusal of the magistrate, on the grounds that in such a prosecution a judiciary controlled entirely by whites was an interested party and therefore could not be impartial. And also on the grounds that he owed no duty to obey the laws of a white parliament, in which he was not represented. Mandela prefaced this challenge with the affirmation: I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man. Mandela was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment. While serving his sentence he was charged, in the Rivonia Trial, with sabotage.

[L.J]

Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment and started his prison years in the notorious Robben Island Prison, a maximum security prison on a small island 7Km off the coast near Cape Town. In April 1984 he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town and in December 1988 he was moved to the Victor Verster Prison near Paarl from where he was eventually released. While in prison, Mandela flatly rejected offers made by his jailers for remission of sentence in exchange for accepting the bantustan policy by recognizing the independence of the Transkei and agreeing to settle there. Again in the eighties Mandela rejected an offer of release on condition that he renounce violence. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Only free men can negotiate, he said.

During his years in prison, Mandela 's reputation grew steadily. He was widely accepted as the most significant black leader in South Africa and became a potent symbol of resistance as the anti-apartheid movement gathered strength. He consistently refused to compromise his political position to obtain his

[L.J]

Nelson Mandela was released from prison on 11 February 1990, and he plunged wholeheartedly into his life's work, striving to attain the goals he and others had set out almost four decades earlier. Today Mandela has honorary degrees from more than 50 international universities and is chancellor of the University of the North.

1991:
In 1991, at the first national conference of the ANC held inside South Africa after being banned for decades. Nelson Mandela was elected President of the ANC while his lifelong friend and colleague, Oliver Tambo, became the organization's National Chairperson.

1993:
In a life that symbolizes the triumph of the human spirit over man 's inhumanity to man, Nelson Mandela accepted the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of all South Africans who suffered and sacrificed so much to bring peace to their land.

1994:
In 1994 Mandela and the ANC started their campaign for the first all-race elections that the country ever had. In April, when the elections occurred, the ANC won a majority and Mandela was appointed president, the first black president ever in South Africa!

1995:

Nelson Mandela wants to make his country a symbol of reconciliation. Even though he has struggled long to achieve liberation from a white community, which rejected blacks, he wanted to include whites in the government. In 1995, these efforts culminated when a new South African constitution was approved. The new constitution banned all discrimination against minorities in the country, including whites.

[L.J]

Awards and Recognitions Worldwide Nelson Mandela has never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he has never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration, in South Africa and throughout the world, to all who are oppressed and deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation. Mandela personifies struggle and today he is still leading the fight against apartheid with extraordinary resilience and vigor after spending nearly 3 decades of his life behind bars. He has sacrificed his private life and his youth for his people, and remains South Africa's best known and loved hero. All in all I think Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time. He is an international hero and is revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality.

[L.J]

Marcus Garvey(1887-1940)

Black Nationalist, Pan-Africanist; The father of contemporary Black Nationalism.

Born in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, on August 17, 1887, Marcus Garvey was the youngest of 11 children. Garvey moved to Kingston at the age of 14, found work in a printshop, and became acquainted with the abysmal living conditions of the laboring class. He quickly involved himself in social reform, participating in the first Printers' Union strike in Jamaica in 1907 and in setting up the newspaper The Watchman. Leaving the island to earn money to finance his projects, he visited Central and South America, amassing evidence that black people everywhere were victims of discrimination. He visited the Panama Canal Zone and saw the conditions under which the West Indians lived and worked. He went to Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia and Venezuala. Everywhere, blacks were experiencing great hardships.

Garvey returned to Jamaica distressed at the situation in Central America, and appealed to Jamaica's colonial government to help improve the plight of West Indian workers in Central America. His appeal fell on deaf ears. Garvey also began to lay the groundwork of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, to which he was to devote his life. Undaunted by lack of enthusiasm for his plans, Garvey left for England in 1912 in search of additional financial backing. While there, he met a Sudanese-Egyptian journalist, Duse Mohammed Ali. While working for Ali's publication African Times and Oriental Review, Garvey began to study the history of Africa, particularly, the exploitation of black peoples by colonial powers. He read Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery, which advocated black self-help.

In 1914 Garvey organized the Universal Negro Improvement Association and its coordinating body, the African Communities League. In 1920 the organization held its first convention in New York. The convention opened with a parade down Harlem's Lenox Avenue. That evening, before a crowd of 25,000, Garvey outlined his plan to build an African nation-state. In New York City his ideas attracted popular support, and thousands enrolled in the UNIA. He began publishing the newspaper The Negro World and toured the United States preaching black nationalism to popular audiences. His efforts were successful, and soon, the association boasted over 1,100 branches in more than 40 countries. Most of these branches were located in the United States, which had become the UNIA's base of operations. There were, however, offices in several Caribbean countries, Cuba having the most. Branches also existed in places such as Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Namibia and South Africa. He also launched some ambitious business ventures, notably the Black Star Shipping Line.

In the years following the organization's first convention, the UNIA began to decline in popularity. With the Black Star Line in serious financial difficulties, Garvey promoted two new business organizations — the African Communities League and the Negro Factories Corporation. He also tried to salvage his colonization scheme by sending a delegation to appeal to the League of Nations for transfer to the UNIA of the African colonies taken from Germany during World War I.

Financial betrayal by trusted aides and a host of legal entanglements (based on charges that he had used the U.S. mail to defraud prospective investors) eventually led to Garvey's imprisonment in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for a five-year term. In 1927 his half-served sentence was commuted, and he was deported to Jamaica by order of President Calvin Coolidge.

Garvey then turned his energies to Jamaican politics, campaigning on a platform of self-government, minimum wage laws, and land and judicial reform. He was soundly defeated at the polls, however, because most of his followers did not have the necessary voting qualifications.

In 1935 Garvey left for England where, in near obscurity, he died on June 10, 1940, in a cottage in West Kensington.

[L.J]

When Marcus Garvey died in 1940 the role of the British Empire was already being challenged by India and the rising expectations of her African colonies. Marcus Garvey's avocation of African redemption and the restoration of the African state's sovereign political entity in world affairs was still a dream without fulfillment.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, the United States would enter, in a formal way, what had been up to that date strictly a European conflict. Marcus Garvey's prophesy about the European scramble to maintain dominance over the whole world was now a reality. The people of Africa and Asia had joined in this conflict but with different hopes, different dreams and many misgivings. Africans throughout the colonial world were mounting campaigns against this system which had robbed them of their nation-ness and their basic human-ness. The discovery and the reconsideration of the teachings of the honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey were being rediscovered and reconsidered by a large number of African people as this world conflict deepened.

In 1945, when World War II was drawing to a close the 5th Pan-African Congress was called in Manchester, England. Some of the conventioneers were: George Padmore, Kwame Nkrumah, W.E.B. Dubois, Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria, and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya. Up to this time the previous Pan-African Congresses had mainly called for improvements in the educational status of the Africans in the colonies so that they would be prepared for self-rule when independence eventually came.

The Pan-African Congress in Manchester was radically different from all of the other congresses. For the first time Africans from Africa, Africans from the Caribbean and Africans from the United States had come together and designed a program for the future independence of Africa. Those who attended the conference were of many political persuasions and different ideologies, yet the teachings of Marcus Garvey were the main ideological basis for the 5th Pan-African Congress in Manchester, England in 1945.

Some of the conveners of this congress would return to Africa in the ensuing years to eventually lead their respective nations toward independence and beyond. In 1947, a Ghanaian student who had studied ten years in the United States, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah returned to Ghana on the invitation of Joseph B. Danquah, his former schoolmaster. Nkrumah would later become Prime Minister. In his fight for the complete independence for the Gold Coast later to be known as Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah acknowledged his political indebtedness to the political teachings of Marcus Garvey.

On September 7, 1957, Ghana became a free self-governing nation, the first member of the British Commonwealth of Nations to become self-governing. Ghana would later develop a Black Star Line patterned after the maritime dreams of Marcus Garvey. My point here is that the African Independence Explosion, which started with the independence of Ghana, was symbolically and figuratively bringing the hopes of Marcus Garvey alive.

In the Caribbean Islands the concept of Federation and Political union of all the islands was now being looked upon as a realizable possibility. Some constitutional reforms and changing attitudes, born of this awareness, were improving the life of the people of these islands.

In the United States the Supreme Court's decision of 1954, outlawing segregation in school systems was greeted with mixed feelings of hope and skepticism by African-Americans. A year after this decision the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Freedom Rides and the demand for equal pay for Black teachers that subsequently became a demand for equal education for all, would become part of the central force that would set the fight for liberation in motion.

The enemies of Africans, the world over were gathering their counter-forces while a large number of them pretended to be sympathetic to the African's cause. Some of these pretenders, both Black and White, were F.B.I. and other agents of the government whose mission it was to frustrate and destroy the Civil Rights Movement. In a different way the same thing was happening in Africa. The coups and counter-coups kept most African states from developing into the strong independent and sovereign states they had hoped to become.

While the Africans had gained control over their state's apparatus, the colonialist's still controlled the economic apparatus of most African states. Africans were discovering to their amazement that a large number of the Africans, who had studied abroad were a detriment to the aims and goals of their nation. None of them had been trained to rule an African state by the use of the best of African traditional forms and strategies. As a result African states, in the main, became imitations of European states and most of their leaders could justifiably be called Europeans with black faces. They came to power without improving the lot of their people and these elitist governments continue until this day.

In most cases what went wrong was that as these leaders failed to learn the lessons of self-reliance and power preparation as advocated by Marcus Garvey and in different ways by Booker T. Washington, W.E.B Dubois, Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. Africa became infiltrated by foreign agents. Africans had forgotten, if they knew at all, that Africa is the world's richest continent, repository of the greatest mineral wealth in the world. They had not asked themselves nor answered the most critical question. If Africa is the world's richest continent, why is it so full of poor people? Marcus Garvey advocated that Africans control the wealth of Africa. He taught that control, control of resources, control of self, control of nation, requires preparation, Garveyism was about total preparation.

There is still no unified force in Africa calling attention to the need for this kind of preparation. This preparation calls for a new kind of education if Africans are to face the reality of their survival.

Africans in the United States must remember that the slave ships brought no West Indians, no Caribbeans, no Jamaicans or Trinidadians or Barbadians to this hemisphere. The slave ships brought only African people and most of us took the semblance of nationality from the places where slave ships dropped us off. In the 500 year process of oppression the Europeans have displaced our God, our culture, and our traditions. They have violated our women to the extent that they have created a bastard race who is confused as to whether to be loyal to its mother's people or its fathers people and for the most part they remain loyal to neither. I do not think African people can succeed in the world until the hear again Marcus Garvey's call: AFRICA FOR THE AFRICANS, THOSE AT HOME AND ABROAD. We must regain our confidence in ourselves as a people and learn again the methods and arts of controlling nations. We must hear again Marcus Garvey calling out to us: UP!UP! YOU MIGHTY RACE! YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH WHAT YOU WILL!

[L.J]

Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World
Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL)(1887-1940)

Drafted and adopted at Convention held in New York, 1920, over which Marcus Garvey presided as Chairman, and at which he was elected Provisional President of Africa.

Preamble

Be it Resolved, That the Negro people of the world, through their chosen representatives in convention assembled in Liberty Hall, in the City of New York and United States of America, from August 1 to August 31, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and twenty, protest against the wrongs and injustices they are suffering at the hands of their white brethren, and state what they deem their fair and just rights, as well as the treatment they propose to demand of all men in the future.

We complain:

I. That nowhere in the world, with few exceptions, are black men accorded equal treatment with white men, although in the same situation and circumstances, but, on the contrary, are discriminated against and denied the common rights due to human beings for no other reason than their race and color.

We are not willingly accepted as guests in the public hotels and inns of the world for no other reason than our race and color.

II. In certain parts of the United States of America our race is denied the right of public trial accorded to other races when accused of crime, but are lynched and burned by mobs, and such brutal and inhuman treatment is even practised upon our women.

III. That European nations have parcelled out among themselves and taken possession of nearly all of the continent of Africa, and the natives are compelled to surrender their lands to aliens and are treated in most instances like slaves.

IV. In the southern portion of the United States of America, although citizens under the Federal Constitution, and in some states almost equal to the whites in population and are qualified land owners and taxpayers, we are, nevertheless, denied all voice in the making and administration of the laws and are taxed without representation by the state governments, and at the same time compelled to do military service in defense of the country.

V. On the public conveyances and common carriers in the Southern portion of the United States we are jim-crowed and compelled to accept separate and inferior accommodations and made to pay the same fare charged for first-class accommodations, and our families are often humiliated and insulted by drunken white men who habitually pass through the jim-crow cars going to the smoking car.

VI. The physicians of our race are denied the right to attend their patients while in the public hospitals of the cities and states where they reside in certain parts of the United States.

Our children are forced to attend inferior separate schools for shorter terms than white children, and the public school funds are unequally divided between the white and colored schools.

VII. We are discriminated against and denied an equal chance to earn wages for the support of our families, and in many instances are refused admission into labor unions, and nearly everywhere are paid smaller wages than white men.

VIII. In Civil Service and departmental offices we are everywhere discriminated against and made to feel that to be a black man in Europe, America and the West Indies is equivalent to being an outcast and a leper among the races of men, no matter what the character and attainments of the black man may be.

IX. In the British and other West Indian Islands and colonies, Negroes are secretly and cunningly discriminated against, and denied those fuller rights in government to which white citizens are appointed, nominated and elected.

X. That our people in those parts are forced to work for lower wages than the average standard of white men and are kept in conditions repugnant to good civilized tastes and customs.

XI. That the many acts of injustice against members of our race before the courts of law in the respective islands and colonies are of such nature as to create disgust and disrespect for the white man's sense of justice.

XII. Against all such inhuman, unchristian and uncivilized treatment we here and now emphatically protest, and invoke the condemnation of all mankind.

In order to encourage our race all over the world and to stimulate it to a higher and grander destiny, we demand and insist on the following Declaration of Rights:

1. Be it known to all men that whereas, all men are created equal and entitled to the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and because of this we, the duly elected representatives of the Negro peoples of the world, invoking the aid of the just and Almighty God do declare all men, women and children of our blood throughout the world free citizens, and do claim them as free citizens of Africa, the Motherland of all Negroes.

2. That we believe in the supreme authority and given to man as a common possession; that there should be an equitable distribution and apportionment of all such things, and in consideration of the fact that as a race we are now deprived of those things that are morally and legally ours, we believe it right that all such things should be acquired and held by whatsoever means possible.

3. That we believe the Negro, like any other race, should be governed by the ethics of civilization, and therefore, should not be deprived of any of those rights or privileges common to other human beings.

4. We declare that Negroes wheresoever they form a community among themselves, should be given the right to elect their own representatives to represent them in legislatures, courts of law, or such institutions as may exercise control over that particular community.

5. We assert that the Negro is entitled to even- handed justice before all courts of law and equity in whatever country he may be found, and when this is denied him on account of his race or color such denial is an insult to the race as a whole and should be resented by the entire body of Negroes.

6. We declare it unfair and prejudicial to the rights of Negroes in communities where they exist in considerable numbers to be tried by a judge and jury composed entirely of an alien race, but in all such cases members of our race are entitled to representation on the jury.

7. We believe that any law or practice that tends to deprive any African of his land or the privileges of free citizenship within his country is unjust and immoral, and no native should respect any such law or practice.

8. We declare taxation without representation unjust and tyrannous, and there should be no obligation on the part of the Negro to obey the levy of a tax by any law-making body from which he is excluded and denied representation on account of his race and color.

9. We believe that any law especially directed against the Negro to his detriment and singling him out because of his race or color is unfair and immoral, and should not be respected.

10. We believe all men entitled to common human respect, and that our race should in no way tolerate any insults that may be interpreted to mean disrespect to our color.

11. We deprecate the use of the term 'nigger' as applied to Negroes, and demand that the word 'Negro' be written with a capital 'N.'

12. We believe that the Negro should adopt every means to protect himself against barbarous practices inflicted upon him because of color.

13. We believe in the freedom of Africa for the Negro people of the world, and by the principle of Europe for the Europeans and Asia for the Asiatics; we also demand Africa for the Africans at home and abroad.

14. We believe in the inherent right of the Negro to possess himself of Africa, and that his possession of same shall not be regarded as an infringement on any claim or purchase made by any race or nation.

15. We strongly condemn the cupidity of those nations of the world who, by open aggression or secret schemes, have seized the territories and inexhaustible natural wealth of Africa, and we place on record our most solemn determination to reclaim the treasures and possession of the vast continent of our forefathers.

16. We believe all men should live in peace one with the other, but when races and nations provoke the ire of other races and nations by attempting to infringe upon their rights, war becomes inevitable, and the attempt in any way to free one's self or protect one's rights or heritage becomes justifiable.

17. Whereas, the lynching, by burning, hanging or any other disgrace to civilization, we therefore declare any country guilty of such atrocities outside the pale of civilization.

18. We protest against the atrocious crime of whipping, flogging and overworking of the native tribes of Africa and Negroes everywhere. These are methods that should be abolished, and all means should be taken to prevent a continuance of such brutal practices.

19. We protest against the atrocious practice of shaving the heads of Africans, especially of African women or individuals of Negro blood, when placed in prison as a punishment for crime by an alien race.

20. We protest against segregated districts, separate public conveyances, industrial discrimination, lynchings and limitations of political privileges of any Negro citizen in any part of the world on account of race, color or creed, and will exert our full influence and power against all such.

21. We protest against any punishment inflicted upon a Negro with severity, as against lighter punishment inflicted upon another of an alien race for like offense, as an act of prejudice and injustice, and should be resented by the entire race.

22. We protest against the system of education in any country where Negroes are denied the same privileges and advantages as other races.

23. We declare it inhuman and unfair to boycott Negroes from industries and labor in any part of the world.

24. We believe in the doctrine of the freedom of the press, and we therefore emphatically protest against the suppression of Negro newspapers and periodicals in various parts of the world, and call upon Negroes everywhere to employ all available means to prevent such suppression.

25. We further demand free speech universally for all men.

26. We hereby protest against the publication of scandalous and inflammatory articles by an alien press tending to create racial strife and the exhibition of picture films showing the Negro as a cannibal.

27. We believe in the self-determination of all peoples.

28. We declare for the freedom of religious worship.

29. With the help of Almighty God, we declare ourselves the sworn protectors of the honor and virtue of our women and children, and pledge our lives for their protection and defense everywhere, and under all circumstances from wrongs and outrages.

30. We demand the right of unlimited and unprejudiced education for ourselves and our posterity forever.

31. We declare that the teaching in any school by alien teachers to our boys and girls, that the alien race is superior to the Negro race, is an insult to the Negro people of the world.

32. Where Negroes form a part of the citizenry of any country, and pass the civil service examination of such country, we declare them entitled to the same consideration as other citizens as to appointments in such civil service.

33. We vigorously protest against the increasingly unfair and unjust treatment accorded Negro travelers on land and sea by the agents and employees of railroad and steamship companies and insist that for equal fare we receive equal privileges with travelers of other races.

34. We declare it unjust for any country, State or nation to enact laws tending to hinder and obstruct the free immigration of Negroes on account of their race and color.

35. That the right of the Negro to travel unmolested throughout the world be not abridged by any person or persons, and all Negroes are called upon to give aid to a fellow Negro when thus molested.

36. We declare that all Negroes are entitled to the same right to travel over the world as other men.

37. We hereby demand that the governments of the world recognize our leader and his representatives chosen by the race to look after the welfare of our people under such governments.

38. We demand complete control of our social institutions without interference by any alien race or races.

39. That the colors, Red, Black and Green, be the colors of the Negro race.

40. Resolved, That the anthem 'Ethiopia, Thou Land of Our Fathers', etc., shall be the anthem of the Negro race.

[L.J]

The Universal Ethiopian Anthem
(Poem by Burrel and Ford.)

I

Ethiopia, thou land of our fathers, Thou land where the gods loved to be, As storm cloud at night suddenly gathers Our armies come rushing to thee. We must in the fight be victorious When swords are thrust outward to gleam; For us will the vict'ry be glorious When led by the Red, Black and Green.

Chorus

Advance, advance to victory, Let Africa be free; Advance to meet the foe With the might Of the Red, the Black and the Green.

II

Ethiopia, the tyrant's falling, Who smote thee upon thy knees, And thy children are lustily calling From over the distant seas. Jehovah, the Great One has heard us, Has noted our sighs and our tears, With His spirit of Love he has stirred us To be One through the coming years. CHORUS -- Advance, advance, etc.

III

O Jehovah, thou God of the ages Grant unto our sons that lead The wisdom Thou gave to Thy sages When Israel was sore in need. Thy voice thro' the dim past has spoken, Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hand, By Thee shall all fetters be broken, And Heav'n bless our dear fatherland. CHORUS -- Advance, advance,

[L.J]

41. We believe that any limited liberty which deprives one of the complete rights and prerogatives of full citizenship is but a modified form of slavery.

42. We declare it an injustice to our people and a serious impediment to the health of the race to deny to competent licensed Negro physicians the right to practise in the public hospitals of the communities in which they reside, for no other reason than their race and color.

43. We call upon the various governments of the world to accept and acknowledge Negro representatives who shall be sent to the said governments to represent the general welfare of the Negro peoples of the world.

44. We deplore and protest against the practice of confining juvenile prisoners in prisons with adults, and we recommend that such youthful prisoners be taught gainful trades under humane supervision.

45. Be it further resolved, that we as a race of people declare the League of Nations null and void as far as the Negro is concerned, in that it seeks to deprive Negroes of their liberty.

46. We demand of all men to do unto us as we would do unto them, in the name of justice; and we cheerfully accord to all men all the rights we claim herein for ourselves.

47. We declare that no Negro shall engage himself in battle for an alien race without first obtaining the consent of the leader of the Negro people of the world, except in a matter of national self-defense.

48. We protest against the practice of drafting Negroes and sending them to war with alien forces without proper training, and demand in all cases that Negro soldiers be given the same training as the aliens.

49. We demand that instructions given Negro children in schools include the subject of 'Negro History', to their benefit.

50. We demand a free and unfettered commercial intercourse with all the Negro people of the world.

51. We declare for the absolute freedom of the seas for all peoples.

52. We demand that our duly accredited representatives be given proper recognition in all leagues, conferences, conventions or courts of international arbitration wherever human rights are discussed.

53. We proclaim the 31st day of August of each year to be an international holiday to be observed by all Negroes.

54. We want all men to know we shall maintain and contend for the freedom and equality of every man, woman and child of our race, with our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

These rights we believe to be justly ours and proper for the protection of the Negro race at large, and because of this belief we, on behalf of the four hundred million Negroes of the world, do pledge herein the sacred blood of the race in defense, and we hereby subscribe our names as a guarantee of the truthfulness and faithfulness hereof in the presence of Almighty God, on the 13th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty.

Marcus Garvey, James D. Brooks, James W. H. Eason, Henrietta Vinton Davis, Lionel Winston Greenidge, Adrion Fitzroy Johnson, Rudolph Ethelbert Brissaac Smith, Charles Augustus Petioni, Thomas H. N. Simon, Richard Hilton Tobitt, George Alexander McGuire, Peter Edward Baston, Reynold R. Felix, Harry Walters Kirby, Sarah Branch, Marie Barrier Houston, George L. O'Brien, F. O. Ogilvie, Arden A. Bryan, Benjamin Dyett, Marie Duchaterlier, John Phillip Hodge, Theophilus H. Saunders, Wilford H. Smith, Gabriel E. Stewart, Arnold Josiah Ford, Lee Crawford, William McCartney, Adina Clem. James, William Musgrave La Motte, John Sydney de Bourg, Arnold S. Cunning, Vernal J. Williams, Frances Wilcome Ellegor, J. Frederick Selkridge, Innis Abel Horsford, Cyril A. Crichlow, Samuel McIntyre, John Thomas Wilkins, Mary Thurston, John G. Befue, William Ware, J. A. Lewis, O. C. Thurston, Venture R. Hamilton, R. H. Hodge, Edward Alfred Taylor, Ellen Wilson, G. W. Wilson, Richard Edward Riley, Nellie Grant Whiting, G. W. Washington, Maldena Miller, Gertrude Davis, James D. Williams, Emily Christmas Kinch, D. D. Lewis, Nettie Clayton, Partheria Hills, Janie Jenkins, John C. Simons, Alphonso A. Jones, Allen Hobbs, Reynold Fitzgerald Austin, James Benjamin Yearwood, Frank O. Raines, Shedrick Williams, John Edward Ivey, Frederick August Toote, Philip Hemmings, F. F. Smith, E. J. Jones, Joseph Josiah Cranston, Frederick Samuel Ricketts, Dugald Augustus Wade, E. E. Nelom, Florida Jenkins, Napoleon J. Francis, Joseph D. Gibson, J. P. Jasper, J. W. Montgomery, David Benjamin, J. Gordon, Harry E. Ford, Carrie M. Ashford, Andrew N. Willis, Lucy Sands, Louise Woodson, George D. Creese, W. A. Wallace, Thomas E. Bagley, James Young, Prince Alfred McConney, John E. Hudson, William Ines, Harry R. Watkins, C. L. Halton, J. T. Bailey, Ira Joseph Touissant Wright, T. H. Golden, Abraham Benjamin Thomas, Richard C. Noble, Walter Green, C. S. Bourne, G. F. Bennett, B. D. Levy, Mary E. Johnson, Lionel Antonio Francis, Carl Roper, E. R. Donawa, Philip Van Putten, I. Brathwaite, Jesse W. Luck, Oliver Kaye, J. W. Hudspeth, C. B. Lovell, William C. Matthews, A. Williams, Ratford E. M. Jack, H. Vinton Plummer, Randolph Phillips, A. I. Bailey, duly elected representatives of the Negro people of the world.

Sworn before me this 15th day of August, 1920.

JOHN G. BAYNE

Notary Public, New York County.
New York County Clerk's No. 378;
New York County Registers No. 12102.
Commission expires March 30, 1922.

Copyright © UNIA-ACL. All Rights Reserved

[L.J]

Malcolm X:
The Epitome of Pride
(Timothy Pernell)

Throughout my early childhood, I didn't really have an understanding as to who I was or what I was and why I was here. One movie changed all of that and that was Spike Lee's Malcolm X. Before I had been hooked to music from Public Enemy and had praised Do The Right Thing, but never did being who I was and still am--a Black kid--become more apparent than with the story on one of the most important figures in the turbulent 1960's. While Dr. King told us to "love our enemy who berate us", Malcolm told us to look within yourself and fight that "enemy". The first half of his life had been as horrible as any young Black man during the times of America. Born to a nationalist minister on May 19th, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm Little lived in front of racism's doorsteps: when he was a tot, his home was burned down by members of the Ku Klux Klan. A couple of years later, in 1931, Malcolm's father died in mysterious circumstances. By the time Malcolm was a teenager, his mother was sent to a mental institution and he was forced to live in foster homes settling in Boston, Detroit and Harlem where the cat known as "Detroit Red" began a 5-year stint as a hustler and thief who often dated White women and used and did drugs such as cocaine. In 1946, 21-year-old Malcolm Little was sentenced to 15 years in jail at Indiana's Folsom Prison where he met with a member of the nationalist group known as the Nation of Islam. Educating young Malcolm on the teachings of Islam and the meanings behind every word in the dictionary, Malcolm was soon accepted as a new member where he questioned the feds and the prison reverend on about the actual history of Jesus (or Allah as the Moslems called it now) and his disciples. Upon his release from prison in 1952, the 27-year-old began what became an underground plan to wake the world up to the cruel reality of racism in America and he sought that the only way to love themselves was to despise the White man and the evil of the White race. Under a leadership by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm preached about anti-oppression and the unity of the Blacks as a whole while planning a revolution to independence as a means to separate themselves from the one man who sent the Black race to America in the first place. No longer known as Red or Malcolm Little, he was now to be known as Brother Minister Malcolm X. He began to build his reputation as a eloquent speaker and sought to rebel against the nature of other Black leaders who thought that they should preach non-violence other than revolt. Brother Malcolm saw it different and sought to not only to change it, but to do the change. One time, in 1958, one of the Moslems was shot at an alley and when Malcolm went to the police station, he ordered to see his fellow brother. Making sure he got fair treatment as did any White patient, he had his fellow Moslems (or followers) and a whole army of angry young Blacks who yelled "We want justice!" The brother known as Brother Johnson got fair treatment as promised. Around this same time, Malcolm began founding mosques and his own newspaper, titled Muhammad Speaks to teach his people on the untruths of a unjust community. While planning to rip open the truth of racism all around Black America, he found love in 1959 with Nurse Betty Saunders. They married that year and bore four children. By 1961, Malcolm X had become a national figure in America, often referred to as a racist and a vile fanatic looking to tear at the very foundation by the non-violent Black leaders of the country with his biggest competition being a much younger minister named Martin Luther King, Jr., with whom he would have a historic meeting with three years later. By 1962, the total number of Moslems in the Nation of Islam had approached 10,000 strong and with his messages of Black pride, unity and thoughts of a "racial explosion", he had now began to speak at national conventions and colleges across the country. But by this point, many of the Moslems thought that Malcolm was being overexposed and should therefore watch it. Around this time, he had learned that the man whom his leadership he had praised--the Honorable Elijah Muhammad--was not the Holy Man that he had presented to Malcolm when he was a thug at prison, that in fact, he was so greedy and so rude that some were told to keep shut if word of Elijah's sinning had been revealed. Malcolm now sought to escape from the one organization he helped make famous and his 1963 interview on the death of President Kennedy about "chickens coming home to roost" more than harm his friendship with most of the Moslems and Elijah indefinitely. The leader of the Moslem Number 7 Mosque was silenced for a period of 90 days. By this point, Malcolm was stunned when death threats over his life began erading around Malcolm's Harlem home frightening Betty. The more Malcolm opened his mouth the more the Moslems whom he had trained began to turn on him. However, some Moslems stayed with Malcolm and he was confident to find his own place to shine and build from the underground up to open the world to racism and the healing of one race. After an permanent leave from the Nation of Islam in May 1964, Malcolm made his legendary pilgrimage to Mecca in Egypt where, as he had done in jail, he was once again reborn and while there, he found that most of the Sunni Muslims there were people of all races who respect their one God and therefore didn't act as if they were better than the other. That sight got Malcolm to change some of his methods--including putting one race on blast. Instead of vilifying the White man and his evil, he made a determined cause to change White people's opinion on not only Black Muslims but Muslims of all people. Acquired with a bright mind, Malcolm began to shy away from what many called, "racist teachings" and worked on not only building a new independence for the Black race but to find love and understanding of all races, including the White race. Meaning Malcolm wanted to represent for the Human race and live in one unison under Allah. Re-christened El-Hajj el-Malik Shabazz, he founded the OAAU and decided to educate to younger Blacks about the importance of loving their Brother and Sister equally and not resorting to violence. Around that time is when his famous "By any means necessary" line came out. Around the same time, Malcolm began to see the evil that had gotten his father in trouble regress on him as his former group, the Black Muslims, began to co-exist with the CIA on destroying...and killing Malcolm. Malcolm's home was bombed, which almost caused him to grab his rifle or anything and go after those who did it. His life, at times, was tested by the Muslims as he recieved threatening letters and phone calls wanting him to perish. Finally, around the early winter of 1965, Malcolm moved to a room in the Hilton Hotel and began questioning his life and no longer sought to say that it was JUST the Nation of Islam going after him. And after he told one of his fellow Brothers not to frisk anybody before he was to preach to a good thousand at the Audabon Ballroom on February 21st, 1965, he might as well have sealed his fate. Knowing that he had done all he could (even though it was brief), the Brother Minister prepared for the worst to happen. Then, at around 1:15 PM, he began to speak to the audience when all of a sudden, one Black guy armed with a pistol opened up and fired at Brother Minister. Shot once, Malcolm was stopped, twice, he fell to the ground, then three men approached the ailing minister and shot him multiple times before an unruly crowd took them out in a mini-riot. When the riot was over, Malcolm Little, a/k/a Detroit Red, b/k/a Malcolm X (or El-Hajj el-Malik Shabazz) was assassinated. The young minister was only 39 years old when he passed away, just 3 months shy of his 40th birthday. The death of Malcolm X shocked the nation and just a few months later, author Alex Haley published the brilliant autobiography of the nationalist leader's life. 1965's The Autobiography of Malcolm X was a national best-seller and became a life lesson for many young inner city Black youth around the streets of New York, Jersey, Detroit and Chicago among others. Ossie Davis delivered his famous eulogy there and soul queen Aretha Franklin sang. In his young life, Malcolm was one of the young few who epitomized Black pride, unity and rebellion. As beautiful as a Bob Marley or Peter Tosh song, as poetic as a Michael Jackson or Marvin Gaye battle cry, Malcolm was the symbol of Black Pride. The symbol of a Rebellion that would showcase among a young group known as the Black Panthers. Nearly 40 years later, we are still looking for our true Black leader. After Marcus Garvey, Malcolm and Martin, we are still lost. If Malcolm opened one door, then we should've opened many doors already but like what happened to Malcolm, we let our ego and pride get in the way of realizing that ever happening. The struggle we continue to have as one race altogether, the misunderstanding of Malcolm's teachings has been overexaggerated for a long time now. He was responding to over 400 years of oppression and cruelty. When I think that we have accomplished a lot, there is STILL some things we haven't accomplished at all. We should be working on it but to no avail nobody wants to listen. You got these Uncle Tom's out here who believe everything the White establishment/media/Hollywood/political community say. Many allowed unjust wars to happen and Presidents who only want war to make them "great leaders" WITHOUT having to go to war. We were told that we should be thankful that changes have been made. We are not thankful 'cause changes are still set to be made. I don't understand our people turning on each other with guns, crude jokes, and street mentalities or slave minds as Brother Malcolm might point out. We don't want our Brothers and Sisters to turn on each other, but we also don't want those who think they are "Holier-than-Thou" and supremacist and prejudiced to overrule us. Many sell each other out and then ask one man, say, Michael Jackson, why he looks so different from when he was a child. They don't talk about his charities or contributions to music or going on blast about the hidden racism and betrayal of many musicians, notably Black musicians who have been giving the shorter end of the stick for years. Yet they think he's bleached himself or he has surgeries or he's just weird. Compared to Malcolm being told by some Uncle Tom's that he was evil, a fanatic, a racist and a freak himself compared to his past life, he was one of the most misunderstood leaders of civil rights in the 1960's as much as Michael is one of the most misunderstood Black entertainers in the new millennium. Instead of turning the other cheek, we should thank a cat like Malcolm for speaking his mind and opening us to who we were as a People and thank Michael for not selling out and acknowledging being a Black man in music and in the world. He wanted to help people of all races as much as Malcolm wanted to help people in America to understand the peace, love, unity, pride and freedom he recieved during his pilgrimage. We need to teach the young Black youth of America and in other parts of the world that 50 Cent is only going to make things worse than better. There are better rappers who talk about the same stuff as Malcolm did. There are better speakers who talk about the misuse of Blacks and other races for police, voting, dating, etc than Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton (who I like). We gotta wake up! At a time when another Bush is President, the biggest artist out is an ignorant mumble-mouth from Southside Jamaica Queens and at a time when we have had a war and have lost our focus, it's time to wake up and realize that we will not sit down to this pain any longer. Malcolm gave us a taste now let's feed it to the rest! In the words of Malcolm, by any means necessary, we will only succeed if we just open our mouth...AND do what we said we were going to do. And when that happens, then we have accomplished what we set out to do. And this is what I've learned from this young shining Black prince from up and above. Thanks, Brother Malcolm! Peace.

Praise Allah and Brother Malcolm! http://www.mjjforum.com/forums/html/emoticons/innocent.gif http://www.mjjforum.com/forums/html/emoticons/cool.gif
Peace be unto you. http://www.mjjforum.com/forums/html/emoticons/flowers.gif

[L.J]

~Martin Luther King Memorial to be a reality~

JUSTICE, DEMOCRACY, HOPE...
The Martin Luther King Jr., Memorial is conceived of as an engaging landscape experience tied to other landscapes and monuments, not as a single object or memorial dominating the site. The composition of the memorial utilizes landscape elements to powerfully convey three fundamental and recurring themes of Dr.King's life: justice,democracy and hope. The circular geometry of the memorial, juxtaposed within the triangular configuration of the site, engages the Tidal Basin and frames views to the water.

The central opening through the arc on the axis of the Jefferson and Lincoln Monuments places this memorial directly in line with larger democratic ideals that form the context for King's words and deeds. The memorial is envisioned as a quiet and receptive space, yet at the same time, powerful and emotionally evocative, reflecting the spirit of the message Dr. King delivered and the role he played in society.

The King Memorial is intended to be personally transformative for visitors, building a sense of commitment to the promise of positive change and active citizenship. Drawing from Dr. King's own rich metaphorical language, the themes of "the Man, the Movement and the Message" are intertwined into a larger experience of place.

http://www.mlkmemorial.org/mlk_contribution.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Members of Congress, Businesses, Celebrities and The Advertising Council Unite Behind Washington, D.C. Memorial to Dr. King.

Washington, DC – Imagine what America would be like if Martin Luther King, Jr. never had a dream. That is what a new public service advertising (PSA) campaign asks with a series of provocative radio, print and television advertisements unveiled today at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. The advertising campaign will help raise support for the Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Memorial which will be built on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

The PSAs are the first phase of the new Build the Dream campaign being launched today by the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation to raise awareness and support for the Memorial.

"These ads illustrate how much progress America has made and underscore how Dr. King's call to non-violent social change made an indelible mark upon the consciousness of a country by opening the door of opportunity for all Americans," said Harry Johnson, president, Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. "The Memorial will educate future generations about the movement Dr. King represented and serve as a beacon for the continued fight against sanctioned injustice and inequality wherever it occurs."

Saatchi & Saatchi developed the campaign pro bono, under the auspices of the Ad Council. The PSAs depict what life in America could have been like without Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership. For example, one of the television PSAs shows Halle Berry walking into a restaurant. She is escorted to the back of the restaurant where other African-Americans are dining. On the wall there is a sign that says, “Colored Section.”

In a second PSA, Al Roker is shown at an empty gym ready to work out. He walks from treadmill to treadmill. After Roker approaches the last treadmill, he walks away in disappointment. The scene concludes with a close-up of the sign on the treadmills that reads, “For White Guests Only.”

Similar to the television PSAs, the print and radio ads contrast modern-day experiences with exclusionary practices of the early 1960s. Saatchi & Saatchi is also working with Yahoo! to build a similar online media campaign, with audio, video and banner advertising throughout the broad Yahoo! network.. All the PSAs encourage people to learn more about the Martin Luther King Memorial by visiting http://www.buildthedream.org (http://www.buildthedream.org/) or calling 1-888-4THE-DREAM.

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the leader of a peaceful movement that transformed America and continues to positively affect our country and the world today. His accomplishments represent the power of one to impact social change,” said Peggy Conlon, President and CEO of The Advertising Council. “I am grateful to the team at Saatchi & Saatchi for their pro bono commitment to this effort and the outstanding PSAs they developed. I’m confident that this advertising will raise widespread public awareness about the memorial and its significance, and inspire all Americans to support its development.”

Other supporters attending today’s event spoke about the significance of the project, including Senator Bill Frist (R-TN), Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), Senator John Warner (R-VA), Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Representative Diane Watson (D-CA).

"Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged every American to live up to the promise of freedom pledged by our forefathers and guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, and through his courageous efforts, he changed our history and the definition of American equality," said Senator Frist. "The Martin Luther King Memorial will keep his legacy alive by educating future generations about his dream of a better America with equal opportunity for all.”

In addition to Congressional support, leaders in the business community participated in the event at the U.S. Capitol, including Rod Gillum, General Motors North America, Guy Vickers, Tommy Hilfiger Foundation, and Peggy Conlon, the Ad Council.

The Martin Luther King National Memorial will be constructed on a four-acre plot situated on the Tidal Basin across from the Jefferson Memorial. The MLK Memorial will be the first memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to commemorate an African-American individual.

About the Washington, DC National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc.

The Washington, DC MLK National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization established by Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and authorized by Congress to raise the funds and build the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. Information about the MLK National Foundation can be found at http://www.buildthedream.org (http://www.buildthedream.org/) or by calling 1-888-4THE-DREAM.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Washington, DC) – Today the site of the future Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial was officially dedicated with approximately 500 people attending the ceremony.
National Memorial Project Foundation President Adrian Wallace was joined by several members of Congress to unveil a bronze memorial marker at the site directly across from the Jefferson Memorial.

"This dedication ceremony brings us one step closer to memorializing the ideals and values that Dr. King and his movement represented," said Wallace.

Many of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity members came to see the unveiling as well as to celebrate, as today marks the fraternity’s 94th anniversary. The memorial is a project of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., of which Dr. King was a member. Rep. Connie Morella, (R-Md.), a longstanding supporter of the fraternity and its mission to develop this memorial said during the ceremony, "this morning, we celebrate the life, the leadership, the faith, and the courage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He richly deserves this honor, for Dr. King dedicated his life to working for equality and justice for all."

Rep. Morella introduced legislation in 1996 that later became law in 1998 that provided for the construction of the memorial in the central monument core of Washington. This legislation passed Congress and President Clinton signed the legislation on July 16, 1998, which became Public Law 105-201.

Other congressional supporters spoke during the ceremony including, Sen. Paul Sarbanes, (D-Md.) and Sen. John Warner, (R-Va.).

"This memorial will serve as the signpost along the road to equality and racial harmony for those who were not alive when Dr. King lived," said Sen. Sarbanes, who spearheaded the legislation to place the memorial on the Mall. "It will also serve as a reminder that the goals toward which he strove must be attained in order for America to remain strong and true to its governing principles."

The ceremony featured prayers to commemorate Dr. King and what he represented. Convocations were offered by Rev. Nathan Baxter of the National Cathedral, Rabbi Floyd Herman of the Har Sinai Congregation in Baltimore, Md. and Rev. Manuel Burdusi of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox in Baltimore.

The winning design for the memorial was selected September 13, 2000. The architectural firm ROMA Design Group of San Francisco, Calif. created the winning design, which was among more than 900 entries judged by an international panel of renowned architects and designers.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial will be constructed on a four-acre site surrounding the Tidal Basin, built in a line-of-sight between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials.

After receiving site approval by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) in December 1999, the Foundation embarked on the search for a design. By May, the Foundation had received more than 900 submissions from architects, landscape architects, students, sculptors and professors representing more than 34 countries. The response was so overwhelming that the Foundation used the MCI Center to accommodate the design judging by the international panel of jurors.

With both a site and design selected, the Washington, DC, Martin Luther King Memorial Project Foundation continues to work with various commissions to ensure that the design meets building specifications. The foundation has until November 12, 2003, to complete a design, raise the money for the memorial and break ground.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A national memorial honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one step closer to becoming reality, as the winning design for the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial was unveiled today at a gala in the nation's capital. The winning submission, created by the architectural firm ROMA Design Group of San Francisco, Calif., was selected from more than 900 entries by an international panel of renowned architects and designers.

"We feel that the design chosen embodies the spirit of this truly great leader and that the memorial will serve as a place of peace, reflection and inspiration," said Adrian L. Wallace, Director and President of the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial will be constructed on a four-acre site on the Tidal Basin, built in a line-of-sight between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. The King Memorial will be the first site on the Mall to commemorate an individual African American and the last memorial erected on the Mall.

After receiving site approval by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) in December 1999, the Foundation embarked on the search for a design. By May, the Foundation had received more than 900 submissions from architects, landscape architects, students, sculptors and professors representing more than 34 countries. The response was so overwhelming that the Foundation used the MCI Center to accommodate the design judging by the international panel of jurors.

"The response to the call for entries made the process of selecting one design one of the greatest challenges of my career as a design professional," said design panel juror Karen Phillips, President and CEO of Abyssinian Development Corporation. "However, the selected design addressed the physical context, site conditions and philosophical symbolism of the location while ensuring that the program elements - "The Man, The Message, The Movement" - were incorporated into a memorial respectful of Dr. King's legacy."

The composition of the memorial uses natural landscape elements - stone, water and trees - to powerfully convey three fundamental and recurring themes of Dr. King's life: democracy, justice and hope. According to Boris Dramov, leader of ROMA's memorial team, one of the ways the design creates an experience that evokes the spirit of "the Man, the Message and the Movement" is through metaphorical references made by Dr. King in his powerful speeches.

"Dr. King often referred to the 'stone of hope' cast out of the 'mountain of despair', so we used rough, hewn stone to create a dark tunnel entrance that emerges into a light, open space with a large smooth stone at the edge of the Tidal Basin," said Dramov.

Dramov has been involved in the redevelopment of the Northeastern Waterfront in San Francisco and the design of Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, which is one of the most successful activity centers within the Los Angeles region.

"This design creates a place for people to congregate to contemplate Dr. King's life," said Randy Hester, Jr., a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and one of the design competition judges. "It emphasizes the importance of people coming together for the civil rights movement, and even today, the importance of coming together as a bigger community."

With both a site and design selected, the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Project Foundation will continue working with various commissions to ensure that the design meets building specifications.

Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger was also present for the unveiling today to reaffirm his company's support for building the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial. In June, his company pledged to make a Memorial contribution of cash and in-kind valued at a minimum of five million dollars over the next three years.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Washington, D.C. — A panel of 11 internationally renowned architects, designers, landscape architects and artists from around the world have narrowed the design competition for the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial of 871 entries from 34 countries down to six finalists.

The response to the design search was overwhelming and the possibilities are endless. In the end the jury panel felt that there were six truly compelling entries worthy of further consideration," said Design Committee Chairman Ed Jackson, Ph.D.

The jurors spent several days examining the pool of entries at the MCI Center this past weekend. After extensive and thorough review of the submissions, the panel identified six designs of exceptional merit and asked the finalists to further develop and resubmit their plans. The panel has agreed to continue deliberations and to reconvene in Washington at a later date to make its final selection.

"Because of the diverse tendencies of the entries and the varying points of view, the jury unanimously decided to give an opportunity for further development of the six entries chosen," said juror Ricardo Legoretta, the American Institute of Architecture's Gold Medal award recipient for 2000, and an architect from Mexico.

"The Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation could not be happier with this process," said Project Chairman John Carter. "It shows the world that Dr. King remains an icon worth remembering and the leader of a cause that has not lost its importance. We are moving forward with this process and are pleased that this is an effort that will honor the Man, the Movement and the Message."

The group has until November 12, 2003, to complete a design, raise money for the memorial and break ground; a timetable has not yet been established for a final decision on the design. For more information on the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, go to http://www.mlkmemorial.org (http://www.mlkmemorial.org/)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ATLANTA, Ga. — The widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mrs. Coretta Scott King, today expressed her family's excitement for a memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to honor her late husband, citing as evidence the record number of registrations submitted to design the memorial. The design competition for the King Memorial has received international attention, with more than 1,600 registrants from 52 countries around the world.

Mrs. King made her remarks during a news conference at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center For Nonviolent Social Change today, following a ceremony marking the 32nd anniversary of the death of the slain civil rights leader.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A prominent site on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. was approved today for a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) is the last of three federal commissions that must approve a site before a design can be considered. The memorial will be the first sited on the mall to commemorate an African-American.

"The approval of the tidal basin site means that the memorial to this great international figure will become a reality," said John Carter, project chairman and vice president of the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Foundation. "This site puts Dr. King in a place of tranquility, vision, historic significance and in a visual line of leaders, between Lincoln and Jefferson.

"Now that we have our site, we can launch a design competition and continue our fundraising efforts," said Carter.

The King Memorial site is a four-acre plot across the tidal basin from the Jefferson Memorial and north of the memorial to President Roosevelt. The approved site creates a visual 'line of leadership' from the Lincoln Memorial, where King gave his famous "I have a dream" speech, to the Jefferson Memorial.

Carter said today's approval was the result of constructive discussions and cooperation with the Commission, as well as tremendous public support. Commission Chairman Harvey Gantt announced the vote on Thursday afternoon.

"I am absolutely delighted and pleased that the commission working with the sponsoring groups, the MLK Foundation and the National Parks Service, were able to come to a positive and meaningful solution," said Gantt. "Now it is our hope that the process can move forward toward a design competition that will result in the development of a memorial that will be a lasting tribute to a great American."

"Only in America can the grandson of former slaves end up on the mall in a prominent position," said Carter. "The prestigious placement of this memorial demonstrates the progress achieved by the very movement that Dr. King led."

Carter said design proposal packages will be distributed worldwide and available through the Internet early next year.

The Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Foundation is a project of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., of which Dr. King was a member. In 1998, the fraternity was authorized by the U.S. Congress to establish a foundation to manage the fund-raising and design of a memorial to Dr. King.

King's widow, Coretta Scott King, has agreed to serve as honorary chairwoman of the project and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young will lead the fund-raising effort. The group has until November 12, 2003 to complete a design, raise the money for the memorial and break ground.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[L.J]

Contribute to the KING CENTER FUND
http://www.mlkmemorial.org/mlk_contribution.html


View Dr. King's 'I have a dream speech'
http://webevents.yahoo.com/mlk/dream

[L.J]

British ask for Ashanti Golden Stool
March 28th 1900
One inspiration of liberation can was Queen Ya Asantewa of the Ashanti. Ironically enough the Ashanti are included
among those African societies who participated in the slave trade. Though they did
not prosper as greatly as groups like the Dahomey, they did manage to keep their
power due to the traffic in human bodies. With the close of the slave trade the
Ashanti, like so many other African societies who had participated in the
trade,found themselves at a disadvantage. Many had invested themselves so fully
in the business of slaving that with its end they were left with no other form of
export. What was worse, slave trading had caused such a drain on resources,
basic demands such as agriculture and cloth manufacturing had been neglected or
completely forgotten altogether. Severely weakened, one by one they found
themselves the new targets of their old European allies. Close to the end of the
19th century, the British attempted to colonize the Gold Coast, now known as
Ghana. This region was inhabited by the pround warrior people known as the
Ashanti. The British began by exiling the Ashanti's King Premph in 1896. When
this did not succeed in breaking the peoples' spirit they demanded the supreme
symbol of the Ashanti people: the Golden Stool. On March 28, 1900, the British
Governor called a meeting of all the kings in and around the Ashanti city of
Kumasi and ordered them to surrender the Golden Stool. Deeply insulted the
Ashanit showed no outward reaction. Silently, they left the meeting and went
home to prepare for war. Nana (Queen-Mother) Yaa Asantewa became the
motivating force behind the Ashanti. When she saw that some of the chiefs were
afraid to make war against the British she stood and made a stirring and stinging
speech. She is quoted as stating, "Is it true that the bravery of the Ashanti is no
more?...if you men of Ashanti will not go forward, then we will. We the women
will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight
till the last of us falls in the battlefields." The speech so moved the chiefs that at
once they swore the Great Oath of Ashanti to fight the British until the Asantehene
King Premph was set free from his exile. Yaa Asantewa moved quickly, cutting
telegraph wires and blocking routes to and from Kumasi where the British had a
fort. For several months the Queen Mother led the Ashanti in battle, keeping the
British pinned down. After sending 1400 soldiers to put down the rebellion, the
British captured Yaa Asantew and other Ashanti leaders; all were exiled. Pictured
is an artist's recreation of Yaa Asantewa, who died in 1923 far from her
homeland, and an actual photograph of the legendary Golden Stool. Her bravery
and name is still remembered by those who refer to one of the last great battles for
Ashanti independence as, Nana Yaa Asantewa's War.

[L.J]

John Parker, Underground Railroad Conductor
Born: 1827
Died: January 30, 1900
Birthplace: Norfolk, Virginia

John P. Parker was born in Norfolk, Virginia , the
son of a white father and a slave mother. He was
sold to a slave agent from Richmond, Virginia at
age eight.

Parker worker for two years at a foundry and the
New Orleans docks as a stevedore and purchased his
freedom from his earnings. The price of freedom
for John P.Parker in 1845 was $1800.

In 1845, Parker obtained a pass to travel north to
Indiana, where he was lured by the work offered in
foundries near New Albany or Jefferson, Indiana.
Near Cincinnati, Parker began his career as a
"conductor" on the Underground Railroad. Helping
a local Negro barber, Parker was able to remove
two young girls from Kentucky to freedom in
Indiana and Ohio.

"He devoted his life to forays in Kentucky, to
scouting on both sides of the Ohio River, to
taking care of the helpless slaves who had found
their way to Ohio and could not get across, to
actual fighting for them and against their
pursuing masters."

Parker before the Emanicipation Proclamation, took
an active role in removing an estimated 1000
slaves from bondage. Unlike other abolitionists
Parker remained separate from organized church
groups, which he viewed as an 'enemy of the people.'

[L.J]

Thanks to Speechlesswhisper
SIR JAMES DOUGLAS

James Douglas is a legendary figure in British Columbia, from his fur trade days at Fort St. James to his dual governorship of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. In his official capacities as a Chief Factor with the Hudson's Bay Company and as governor, Douglas earned a reputation for discipline and sternness. Old Square Toes was a most appropriate nickname if the dour, haughty expression we see in his photographs was how he appeared in everyday life.
As important as his public contributions were, Douglas is also of great interest to historians for his personal life. He was born in 1803, the illegitimate son of a Scottish sugar planter and a "free coloured woman", in British Guiana. His mother was probably a descendant of a black, slave woman and a European man stationed in the West Indies. James Douglas lived in the planter and slave society in British Guiana until the age of nine.

In 1812, his father sent him to Scotland to attend school. There he met many of his father's extended family, members of the well-to-do planter and merchant class in Glasgow. But it was the fur trade that attracted young James and so he headed for Canada at age sixteen not to return to Scotland for 45 years.

After several years in the fur trade, Douglas was posted to Fort St James, B.C. This northern outpost became his centre of activities during his first years in British Columbia. At Fort St James, he met Amelia Connolly, the daughter of Irish-born Chief Factor William Connolly and Suzanne, a Cree woman of the Fort Churchill area of Hudson Bay. In the absence of clergy they were married "in the custom of the country" and together had 13 children, of whom only 6 lived to adulthood.

Through the 1830s and '40s the Douglas family resided at Fort Vancouver, then they moved to Fort Victoria. In Victoria they built a large home at James Bay where domestic life was kept quite separate from the routine of the fort.

The marriages of their daughters and the arrival of many grandchildren occupied the home life of Sir James and Lady Amelia through the 1860s. Douglas experienced grave disappointment over his son James, who was a sickly lad and did not do well in school. Each of the children's families add fascinating new stories to the Douglas family history. For example, Cecilia Douglas married Dr J.S. Helmcken through whose reminiscences and descendants we have learned a great deal about the Douglas family and days in early British Columbia.

Upon his retirement in 1864 Sir James took a year-long holiday to Britain and continental Europe where he visited relatives and saw the grand sights. When death came in 1877, Douglas was buried in the large family vault at Ross Bay Cemetery where his bones still lie surrounded by those of other family members.

source: royal British Columbia museum

[L.J]

Scott Joplin
(1868-1917)

Scott Joplin, the "King of Ragtime" music, was born near Linden, Texas on November 24, 1868. He moved with his family to Texarkana at the age of about seven.

Even at this early age, Joplin demonstrated his extraordinary talent for music. Encouraged by his parents, he was already proficient on the banjo, and was beginning to play the piano. By age eleven and under the tutelage of Julius Weiss, he was learning the finer points of harmony and style. As a teenager, he worked as a dance musician.

After several years as an itinerant pianist playing in saloons and brothels throughout the Midwest, he settled in St. Louis about 1890. There he studied and led in the development of a music genre now known as ragtime--a unique blend of European classical styles combined with African American harmony and rhythm.

In 1893, Joplin played in sporting areas adjacent to the Colombian Exposition in Chicago, and the following year moved to Sedalia, Missouri. From there, he toured with his eight-member Texas Medley Quartette as far east as Syracuse, New York. One of his first compositions, The Great Crush Collision, was inspired by a spectacular railroad locomotive crash staged near Waco, Texas in September of 1896 (see Crash at Crush).

In the late 1890s, Joplin worked at the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, which provided the title for his best known composition, the Maple Leaf Rag, published in 1899. This was followed a few years later by The Entertainer, another well known Joplin composition. Over the next fifteen years, Joplin added to his already impressive repertoire, which eventually totaled some sixty compositions. In 1911, Joplin moved to New York City, where he devoted his energies to the production of his operatic work, Treemonisha, the first grand opera composed by an African American. At the time, however, this resulted unsuccessfully.

After suffering deteriorating health due to syphilis that he contracted some years earlier, Joplin died on April 1, 1917 in Manhattan State Hospital.

Although Joplin's music was popular and he received modest royalties during his lifetime, he did not receive recognition as a serious composer for more than fifty years after his death. Then, in 1973, his music was featured in the motion picture, The Sting, which won and Academy Award for its film score. Three years later, in 1976, Joplin's opera Treemonisha won the coveted Pulitzer Prize.

[L.J]

Leontyne Price

Mary Violet Leontyne Price, better known as Leontyne Price, a famous black opera singer, was born in Laurel, Mississippi, on February 10, 1927. She grew up in Laurel, Mississippi, and graduated from Oak Park High School in 1944. At an early age Price had an interest for music. She sang in the choir at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Laurel, Mississippi. Her mother Kate Price, worked as a midwife and also sang in the choir. Her father James Price worked in a sawmill.

Price began taking piano lessons at the age of five years old. She presented her first recital when she was only six years old. Price attended Sandy XXXXXX Elementary where she also learned dancing and acrobatics from her third grade teacher. Price enjoyed performing and many times was the star in school programs. Although she participated in extra activities, Price was an outstanding "A" student. At the age of nine, Price's mother took her to Jackson, Mississippi, to a concert by Marian Anderson. This concer inspired Leontyne.

Price attended Oak Park High School, where she sang first sorprano with the Oak Park Choral group. She played in a numerous of school concerts, church, community programs, and solo recitals, singing and also playing the piano. Price graduated from Oak Park High School in 1944. She graduated with honors and also was presented an award for outstanding ability in music. Price then enrolled at the College of Education and Industrial Arts in Wilberforce, Ohio. At Central State, Price studied music education, with the idea to become a music teacher if becoming a performer failed.

Catherine Van Buren, Leontyne's voice coach encouraged Price to continue her training. With that in mind, Price competed for and won a four-year scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. Price left for New York in 1949 to attend Juilliard School of Music. During the four years at Juilliard, Price studied singing, learned stage presence, acting, and makeup. She appeared in many of Juilliard's operatic productions. During one of her performances she was seen and heard by composer Virgil Thompson. This performance gave her the start to her career. Virgil Thompson asked her to sing the role of St. Cecelia in opera, Four Saints in Three Acts, which was her first appearance as a professional singer. From then on, Price began touring the United States and Europe as a professional singer.

Four Saints in Three Acts was very successful and this helped Leontyne to be signed to sing the role of Bess in the folk opera Porgy and Bess. In 1957 at the San Francisco opera, Price sang in the opera, Dialogues of the Camelites. By accident Price got the chance to play the first role of Aida because the opera singer who was chosen became very ill. Price got her chance to sing at the Metropolitan in 1961. Price's outstanding performance in Verdi's II Trovature at the Met received a standing ovation of forty-two minutes. Price appeared in 118 Metropolitan Operas between 1961 and 1969. In Samuel Barbers opera, Antony and Cleopatra, Price sang and played the role of Cleopatra. " Tickets for this opera sold out; and the tickets were as much as two hundred and fifty dollars".

In 1970, Price cut down on her operatic appearances and concentrated on concert recitals and recording sessions. During Price's career she has won nearly twenty Grammy Awards. Price's retirement form the opera stage came in 1985 with the performance of Aida at the Lincoln Center. Price has also written Aida: A Picture Book for All Ages. Even though Price has retired from the opera stage, she has performed at presidential inaugurations and sung before the Pope. In 1991 she sang at Carnage Hall's hundredth anniversary in New York. Williams says of her, "Leontyne Price had a strong desire to be successful opera singer. This goal , along with her vocal ability and stage personality , has led her to success. her belief in hard work and deep religious faith have helped her through difficult periods. The strength of character she has shown during her career marks her as one of America's great women". Although she is no longer making recordings, BMG has recently released a new boxed set entitled "The Essential Leontyne Price," which includes eleven CD's of Price's greatest recorded performances, including many rarities, from operatic scenes and arias to art songs to spirituals and sacred songs. She has received many awards during her career. Two of the most recent are her induction into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame (1999) and the Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award (2000).

[L.J]

Timeline for Leontyne Price
1927- Mary Violet Leontyne Price was born in Laurel, Mississippi
1933- began playing piano at the age of 5.
1934- at the age of six performed first recital
1944- Graduated from Oak Park High School; enrolled at the College of Education and Industrial Arts in Wilberforce, Ohio
1949- awarded four-year scholarship for the Juilliard School of Music in New York City
1952- first appearance as a professional singer in opera Four Saints in Three Acts
1952- married William Warfield
1954- made concert debut at Town Hall
1955- appeared in her opera debut on NBC-TV
1957- sang in Dialogues of the Carmelites at the San Francisco opera
1958- European opera debut
1960- Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist A Program Of Song
1961- first appearance at the Metropolitan
1963- Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist for Great Scenes from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
1964- Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist for Beriloz: Nuits d' ete
1965- Presidential medal of Freedom
Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal soloist for R. Strauss: Scenes & Arias
1966- Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist for Prima Donna
1967- Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist for Prima Donna,Vol.2
1969- Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist for Barber: Knoxville
1970- cut down on opera performances
1971- Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist for Schumann: Songs
1973- Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist for Puccini Heriones
1974- Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist for R. Strauss
1980- Kennedy Center Honoree
Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist for Verdi
1983- Grammy Award: Best Classical Performance, Vocal Soloist with Marilyn
1985- retired, with performance of Aida
1987- Image Award from Associated Black Charities
1989- Lifetime Achievement Award, National Academy of recording Arts and Sciences
1990- Essence Award
1991- Sung at the hundredth anniversary of Carnegie Hall in New York
1999- Inducted in Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame
2000- Recipient of Mississippi Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award

[L.J]

Floyd B. McKissick
March 9, 1922 - April, 1989



Born in Asheville, North Carolina on March 9, 1922, McKissick did his undergraduate work at Morehouse and North Caroline colleges, and later graduated form the University of North Caroline Law School.



During World War II McKissick served in the European Theater as a sergeant. After the war, he began legal practice in Durham, North Caroline, where he once represented his own daughter in her successful bid to gain admission to a previously all-white public school.

Despite the victory, McKissick later decided that "integration" itself only magnified the perils faced by many black children, McKissick bitterly recalled that his children had been taunted and harassed: "Patches cut out of their hair, pages torn out of books, water thrown on them in the dead of winter, ink down the front of their dresses"-a demoralizing array of constant and relentless pressures designed to crack their composure and destroy their will to learn. The adversity no doubt deepened McKissick’s nascent radicalism and militant zeal.



As a lawyer, McKissick’s most publicized efforts involved a segregated black local in the Tobacco Workers International, an AFL-CIO member. McKissick pressed to have black workers admitted to the skilled scale without loss of their seniority rating. McKissick also successfully defended "sit-in" protestors in the South.



It was at this time the rupture widened between the older, established civil rights groups, dependent for their programming on a coalition of educated blacks and affluent whites liberals, and the younger, more rancorous black militants who turned their backs on most institutional whites support. The militants argued that the civil rights groups did not appreciate the urgency of many problems affecting black urban majorities, particularly in the job area where technology often reduced people to useless ciphers.



When Floyd McKissick replaced James Farmer as head of CORE on January 3, 1966, the organization completed a 180-degree turn that saw it change from an interracial integrationist civil rights agency pledged to uphold nonviolence into a militant and uncompromising advocate of the ideology of black power. McKissick and Roy Innis, who at that time was the head of the Harlem chapter of CORE, were close allies, and when McKissick left CORE in 1968, Innis took over.



After leaving CORE, McKissick launched a plan to build a new community, Soul City, on Warren County North Carolina farmland. McKissick saw Soul City as an integrated community with sufficient industry to support a population of 55,000. For his venture, he received a $14 million bond issue guarantee from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and a loan of $500,000 form the First Pennsylvania Bank.



Soul City, however, ran into difficulties and despite the best offers of McKissick, the project never developed as he had anticipated. Finally, in June 1980, the Soul City Corporation and the federal government reached an agreement that would allow the government to assume control the following January. Under the agreement, the company retained 88 acres of the project, including the site of a mobile home park and a 60,000 square foot building that had served as the project’s headquarters.



The Department of Housing and Urban Development paid off $10 million in loans and agreed to pay an additional $175,000 of the project’s outstanding debts. In exchange, McKissick agreed to drop a lawsuit brought to block HUD from shutting down the project.

[L.J]

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students. The founders, Honorable A. Langston Taylor, Honorable Leonard F. Morse, and Honorable Charles I. Brown, wanted to organize a Greek letter fraternity that would truly exemplify the ideals of brotherhood, scholarship, and service.
The founders deeply wished to create an organization that viewed itself as "a part of" the general community rather than "apart from" the general community. They believed that each potential member should be judged by his own merits rather than his family background or affluence...without regard of race, nationality, skin tone or texture of hair. They wished and wanted their fraternity to exist as part of even a greater brotherhood which would be devoted to the "inclusive we" rather than the "exclusive we".

From its inception, the Founders also conceived Phi Beta Sigma as a mechanism to deliver services to the general community. Rather than gaining skills to be utilized exclusively for themselves and their immediate families, the founders of Phi Beta Sigma held a deep conviction that they should return their newly acquired skills to the communities from which they had come. This deep conviction was mirrored in the Fraternity's motto, "Culture For Service and Service For Humanity".

Today, eighty-seven years later, Phi Beta Sigma has blossomed into an international organization of leaders. No longer a single entity, the Fraternity has now established the Phi Beta Sigma Educational Foundation, the Phi Beta Sigma Housing Foundation, the Phi Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union, and the Phi Beta Sigma Charitable Outreach Foundation. Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., founded in 1920 with the assistance of Phi Beta Sigma, is the sister organization. No other fraternity and sorority is constitutionally bound as Sigma and Zeta. We both enjoy and foster a mutually supportive relationship.

http://www.pbs1914.org/

[L.J]

Denmark Vesey
In 1771, fourteen-year-old Denmark Vesey was transported from St. Thomas to Cape Francais by slave trader Captain Joseph Vesey. Upon a return trip to Cape Francais, Captain Vesey was forced to reclaim Denmark, who his master said was suffering from epileptic fits. Denmark accompanied Captain Vesey on his trading voyages until the Captain retired to Charleston, never again showing signs of epilepsy.

In 1799, Vesey won the lottery and bought his freedom for $600. He could not purchase the freedom of his wife and children, however, and some claimed that this fact motivated his crusade to destroy the institution of slavery.

Vesey joined the newly formed African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1817. He became a "class leader," preaching to a small group in his home during the week. White Charlestonians constantly monitored the African church, disrupting services and arresting members. An angry Vesey began preaching from the Old Testament, particularly Exodus, and taught followers that they were the New Israelites, the chosen people whose enslavement God would punish with death.

In 1822, Vesey and other leaders from the African Church began plotting a rebellion. His chief lieutenant was an East African priest named Gullah Jack, who led conspirators in prayer and rituals and gave them amulets to protect them in battle. Vesey's theology of liberation, combined with Gullah Jack's African mysticism, inspired potential participants, and word of the rebellion grew. Vesey set the date for revolt on July 14, and men from Charleston and surrounding plantations planned to seize Charleston's arsenals and guard houses, kill the Governor, set fire to the city, and kill every white man they saw. But in June, several nervous slaves leaked the plot to their masters, and Charleston authorities began arresting leaders. Vesey was captured on June 22, and he and the conspirators were brought to trial. Despite torture and the threat of execution, the men refused to give up their followers. On July 2nd, Denmark Vesey and five other men were hanged. Gullah Jack was executed several days later, with the total number of executions reaching 35 by August 9th.

In the aftermath of the Vesey rebellion, the African Church was burned down and authorities passed a series of laws further restricting the rights of Charleston slaves. Vesey became a martyr for African-Americans and a symbol for the abolitionist movement, while the increasingly militant politics of white America dragged the country toward Civil War.

In 1815, whites in Charleston discovered that black Methodists had been secretly pooling money to buy freedom for enslaved congregants. Whites moved to restrict black autonomy. They planned to construct a hearse house on top of a black burial ground, a move Charleston blacks saw as a final insult. Over 4,000 black members left white churches in protest, and formed an African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. Denmark Vesey followed them, leaving the segregated Second Presbyterian Church, where slaves were taught the words of St. Paul: "Servants, obey your masters." In the AME Church, Vesey found the freedom to preach his beliefs.

At weekly AME "class meetings" held in his home, Vesey taught a radical new liberation theology. He spoke only from the Old Testament, particularly Exodus, casting his followers as the new Israelites, whom God would lead to freedom. In 1818, white authorities disrupted an AME service attended by free black ministers from Philadelphia and arrested 140 people. Vesey considered leaving Charleston for Africa, but he decided to stay and "see what he could do for his fellow creatures." With a new urgency, he preached that freedom for slaves would be realized, and he began plotting a rebellion.

Following the 1818 raid on the African Church, Vesey enlisted Gullah Jack, a Church member and an Angolan priest and healer, to recruit native Africans to join his rebellion. As a conjurer who could control the supernatural world, Jack was respected among the slaves working on Charleston's plantations. At secret nighttime meetings, Jack led men in prayer, singing and ritual meals that transformed them from powerless slaves to rebels with a common purpose. He prescribed a special diet and gave them crab claws as amulets to protect them in battle. Through Jack, Vesey was able to reach many more recruits.

Like Denmark Vesey, George Wilson was a class leader in the AME Church, but he followed the Christian doctrine of loving one's neighbor, and was devoted to his master. When fellow slave Rolla Bennett told him of the rebellion, Wilson pleaded with him "to let it alone." Five sleepless nights later, on June 14, Wilson told his master of the plot, confirming the confession of another man and leading to the arrest and execution of Rolla Bennett and his conspirators. Although he was granted his freedom as a reward, Wilson eventually lost his sanity and committed suicide.

After the executions of Denmark Vesey and 34 others, Charleston authorities exiled the African Church leaders and razed the building. Although devastated by the destruction of their church, black Charlestonians continued to honor Vesey's revolutionary Old Testament theology in secret. For abolitionists such as David Walker, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Vesey became a symbol of resistance and an inspiration in their writings. White Charleston responded by increasing efforts to convert slaves to New Testament Christianity, and by passing legislation to further restrict the rights of slaves. This increasingly militant path eventually led to the Civil War.

[L.J]

Peter Salem

Peter Salem was born a slave in Framingham. He was freed from being a slave when he joined Edgell’s Minuteman company. In the War of Independence Peter Salem shot British Major Pitcairn at Bunker Hill. He also fought at Concord, and Saratoga. After the war he went from house to house to make baskets. He died in 1816. He is buried at the Old Burying Ground.
http://www.framingham.k12.ma.us/k5/images/P.Salem_close-up.jpg.jpg http://www.framingham.k12.ma.us/k5/images/P._Salem_distance.jpg.jpg
Above is a picture of Peter Salem's gravestone. One is a close up & the other illustrates how Peter Salem's grave is isolated. He was African-American. It was unusual for a former slave to be buried in this graveyard. The stone was put on his grave by the town many years after he died.

[L.J]

Lemuel Haynes was probably the first African American ordained by a mainstream Protestant Church in the United States.

Haynes, the abandoned child of an African father and "a white woman of respectable ancestry," was born in 1753 at West Hartford, Connecticut. Five months later, he was bound to service until the age of 21 to David Rose of Middle Granville, Massachusetts.

With only a rudimentary formal education, Haynes developed a passion for books, especially the Bible and books on theology. As an adolescent, he frequently conducted services at the town parish, sometimes reading sermons of his own.

When his indenture ended in 1774, Haynes enlisted as a "Minuteman" in the local militia. While serving in the militia, he wrote a lengthy ballad-sermon about the April, 1775 Battle of Lexington. In the title of the poem, he refers to himself as "Lemuel a young Mollato who obtained what little knowledge he possesses, by his own Application to Letters." Although the poem emphasized the conflict between slavery and freedom, it did not directly address black slavery.

After the war, Haynes turned down the opportunity to study at Dartmouth College, instead choosing to study Latin and Greek with clergymen in Connecticut. In 1780 he was licensed to preach. He accepted a position with a white congregation in Middle Granville and later married a young white schoolteacher, Elizabeth Babbitt. In 1785, Haynes was officially ordained as a Congregational minister.

Haynes held three pastorships after his ordination. The first was with an all-white congregation in Torrington, Connecticut, where he left after two years due to the active prejudice of several members.

His second call to the pulpit, from a mostly white church in Rutland, Vermont that had a few "poor Africans," lasted for 30 years. During that time, Haynes developed an international reputation as a preacher and writer. In 1804, he received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Middlebury College, the first ever bestowed upon an African American. In 1801, he published a tract called "The Nature and Importance of True Republicanism..." which contained his only public statement on the subject of race or slavery.

Haynes was a lifelong admirer of George Washington and an ardent Federalist. In 1818, conflicts with his congregation, ostensibly over politics and style, led to a parting; there was some speculation, however, that the church's displeasure with Haynes stemmed from racism. Haynes himself was known to say that "he lived with the people of Rutland thirty years, and they were so sagacious that at the end of that time they found out that he was a *#*#*#, and so turned him away."

His last appointment was in Manchester, Vermont, where he counseled two men convicted of murder; they narrowly escaped hanging when the alleged "victim" reappeared. Haynes's writings on the seven-year ordeal became a bestseller for a decade.

For the last eleven years of his life, Haynes ministered to a congregation in upstate New York. He died in 1833, at the age of 80.

Nearly 150 years after his death, a manuscript written by Haynes around 1776 was discovered, in which he boldly stated "That an African... has an undeniable right to his Liberty." The treatise went on to condemn slavery as sin, and pointed out the irony of slaveowners fighting for their own liberty while denying it to others.

[L.J]

The First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia evolved from the very first black Baptist church to be established in America. It owed its formation to the work of three men -- David George, George Liele, and Andrew Bryan -- who were brought together by the American Revolution.

Liele was the first black Baptist in Georgia. In 1773, he was licensed to preach to slaves on plantations along the Savannah River, in Georgia and South Carolina. After his Loyalist master's death in battle in 1778, Liele made his way to British-occupied Savannah. Over the next few years, he built a congregation of black Baptists, slave and free, including David George and Andrew Bryan.

David George was one of eight slaves who were baptized and formed a congregation on a plantation in Silver Bluff, South Carolina. Under George's leadership, their number gradually increased to more than 30. In 1778, when their Patriot master abandoned the plantation under British advance, the whole Silver Bluff group fled to British lines, eventually joining with Liele's, who had preached to them on the plantation

In 1782, Liele baptized Andrew Bryan, born enslaved in 1737, and his wife Hannah. When hundreds of blacks left with the British later that year, Bryan, the only one of the three preachers to remain in Savannah, continued to preach to small groups outside of Savannah.

Although some planters (including Andrew Bryan's owner, Jonathan Bryan) advocated the evangelism of slaves by black preachers, most were fearful of uprisings by slaves who might hear the message of liberation in the Gospels.Despite the harassment, brutal whippings, and imprisonment inflicted upon Bryan and his members, he continued to preach and finally gained permission from the courts to hold services during daylight in a barn on his master's plantation.

In 1788 Bryan was ordained and his church was certified, predating the establishment of a white Baptist church in Savannah by five years; in 1794, Bryan erected a frame structure, naming it the Bryan Street African Baptist Church. By 1800, his congregation had grown to about 700, leading to a reorganization that created the First Baptist Church of Savannah and eventually the Second and Third Baptist Churches.

Fifty of Bryan's adult members could read, having been taught the Bible, the Baptist Confession of Faith, and some religions works; and three could write. The city's first black sabbath school was established at First African Baptist, and a school for Georgia's black children was operated by Henry Francis, who had been ordained by Bryan and was pastor of the first branch of the church.

[L.J]

FANNIE JACKSON COPPIN
1836-1912
Teacher and Moulder of Character

On the fly leaf of "Hints on Teaching," by the subject of this sketch is the following dedication: "This book is inscribed to my beloved Aunt Sarah Orr Clark, who, working at six dollars a month saved one hundred and twenty-five dollars and bought my freedom."

The woman thus redeemed rose from the depth of slavery and became one of the most eminent educators of this country. The hardships of her childhood, the struggles for an education are sad to contemplate but a ray of sunshine here and there brighten the path and lighten the burden. In her short biography, for she was too busy teaching the race to write at length concerning herself, she tells us somewhat of herself. Fanny Jackson was born in Washington, D. C. The children called their grandmother "Mammy." One of Fanny's earliest recollections was when about three years old, she was sent to keep Mammy's company. It was in a little one-room cabin. They used to go up a ladder to the loft where they slept. Mammy was accustomed to make long prayers in which she asked God to bless her "offspring." Only one word was remembered by Fanny and that was offspring, for she wondered what offspring meant. Mammy had six children, three boys and three girls. The father bought his own freedom and then that of four of his children, her Aunt Sarah being one, but Lucy, her mother, remained in slavery.

Sarah went to work at six dollars a month, saved one hundred and twenty-five dollars and bought little Frances. During her babyhood she had two severe burnings. At her christening, a party was given and while the company made merry, she was tied in a chair and left near a stove. At night when they took off her stocking, they found the whole skin from the side of the leg next to the stove peeled off. At another time when her mother was out at work for the day mammy had charge of the baby. When the mother returned mammy exclaimed, "Here, Lucy, take your child, it's the crossest baby I ever saw." When she was undressed at night it was found that a coal of fire from mammy's pipe had fallen into the baby's bosom and burned itself deep into the flesh.
After the aunt saved the one hundred and twenty-five dollars and bought her, she was sent to live with another aunt at New Bedford, Massachusetts. She was put to work at a place where she was allowed to go to school, when not at work. But she could not go on wash days, ironing days, nor cleaning days, which interfered with her progress.

When fourteen years old she decided that she ought to take care of herself. She soon found a permanent place at Newport, Rhode Island, in the family of Mr. George H. Calvert, a great grandson of Lord Baltimore who settled in Baltimore, Maryland. His wife was Elizabeth Stuart, a descendant of Mary, Queen of Scotland. Every other afternoon in the week Fanny was given one hour to take private lessons. Mrs. Calvert taught her many useful things, how to darn, to take care of laces and to sew beautifully. At the end of several years she was prepared to enter the examination for Rhode Island State Normal School, located at Bristol, Rhode Island, under Dana P. Colburn. Here her eyes were opened to the subject of teaching.

Having finished the course of study there she felt she had just begun to learn. She heard of Oberlin College and made up her mind to try to get there. She had learned a little music while at Newport and had mastered the elementary studies of the piano and guitar.

With the assistance of her aunt she found herself at Oberlin College, which was at that time the only college in the United States where colored students were permitted to study. The course of study then was the same as that at Harvard College. The faculty did not forbid a woman to take the gentleman's course, but they did not advise it. There was plenty of Latin and Greek in it and as much mathematics as one could shoulder. Our student took a long breath and prepared for a delightful contest. All went smoothly until she was in her junior year in college. Then one day she was summoned before the faculty. The call seemed ominous! It was a custom in Oberlin that forty students from the junior and senior classes were employed to teach the preparatory classes. It was now time, so the faculty informed her, for the juniors to begin their work and that it was their purpose to give her a class; but if students rebelled against her teaching, they did not intend to force it. Fortunately her training at the Normal School coupled with her own dear love for teaching sustained her; there was a little surprise on the faces of some, but there were no signs of rebellion. The class increased in numbers until it had to be divided and she was given both divisions.
Miss Jackson, speaking of her college life, expressed her lasting gratitude to Bishop Daniel A. Payne, of the African Methodist Church, who gave her a scholarship of nine dollars a year upon her entering Oberlin. She further states that her obligations to the dear people of Oberlin can never be measured in words. When she first went to Oberlin she boarded in the Ladies' Hall. She began to run down in health and was invited to spend a few weeks in the family of Professor H. E. Peck which ended in her staying several years until independence of the Republic of Haiti was recognized under President Lincoln and Professor Peck was sent as first United States Minister to that interesting country; then the family was broken up and she was invited to spend the remainder of the school year in the home of Professor and Mrs. Charles H. Churchill. These two christian homes, where she was regarded as an honored member of the family circle had a great influence upon her life and was a potent factor in forming her character, which was to stand the test of new and strange conditions in her future life. Her life at Oberlin was varied and interesting; at one time at Mrs. Peck's when the girls were sitting on the floor getting out their Greek, Miss Sutherland from Maine suddenly stopped and looking at her said, "Fanny Jackson, were you ever a slave?" "Yes," replied Fanny. The girl from Maine burst into tears. Not another word was spoken, but those tears seemed to wipe out a little that was wrong.
She tells us that she never rose to recite in her classes, but that she felt she had the honor of the whole African race upon her shoulders. At one time when she had won a signal honor in Greek, the Professor in Greek decided to visit the class in Mathematics and see how they were getting along. She had heard it said that the race was good in languages, but stumbled when they came to mathematics. Being always fond of demonstration she was given the very proposition she was well acquainted with and so "went that day with flying colors." French was not in the Oberlin Curriculum, but under private tutelage, she completed a course and graduated with a French essay. She went to Oberlin 1860 and was graduated in August, 1865, after having spent five and a half years. She was elected Class Poet for the Class Day exercises and carried away the kindest remembrances of the dear ones who were her classmates.

When Miss Jackson was within a year of graduation an application came from a Friend's School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a colored woman who could teach Greek and Latin and higher Mathematics. The answer returned was: "We have the woman but you must wait a year for her." The years 1860 and 1865 were of unusual historic importance and activity. In 1860 the immortal Lincoln was elected, and in 1865 the Civil War came to a close but not until freedom for all the slaves in America had been proclaimed and that proclamation made valid by the victorious arm of the Union forces. In September, 1865, Miss Jackson began her work in Philadelphia.
In the year of 1837 the Friends of Philadelphia established a school for the education of colored youth in higher learning, to make a test whether or not the Negro was capable of acquiring any considerable degree of education. For it was one of the strongest arguments in the defense of slavery that the Negro was an inferior creation; formed by the Almighty for just the work he was doing. No doubt they had in mind the remark made by John C. Calhoun, that if there could be found a Negro that could conjugate a Greek verb, he would give up all his preconceived ideas of the inferiority of the Negro. "Well, let's try him and see," said the fair minded Quaker people and for years this institution, known as the Institution for Colored Youth was visited by interested persons from different parts of the United States and Europe.

It was here that Miss Jackson was given the delightful task of teaching her own people and rejoiced to see them mastering Caesar, Virgil, Cicero, Horace, Xenophon's Anabasis, and also taught the New Testament Greek. At one of her examinations, when she asked a titled Englishman to take the class and examine it, he said, "They are more capable of examining me, their proficiency is wonderful." When she began her work at the Institute, Ebenezer Bassett had been Principal for fourteen years. In 1869 Mr. Bassett was appointed United States Minister to Haiti by President U. S. Grant, at which time Miss Jackson was elected Principal and held that important office for nearly forty years. During that long period she wrought many changes to better the condition of the school and pupils.

She instituted normal training with a Preparatory Department to give ample practice in teaching and governing under daily direction and correction. The Academic Department of the Institute had been so splendidly successful in proving that the Negro youth was equally capable with others in mastering a higher education, that no argument was necessary to establish its need, but the broad ground of education by which masses must become self supporting was to this broad minded educator, a matter of painful anxiety.
At the Centennial in 1876, the foreign exhibits of word done in trade schools of Europe, opened the eyes of the directors of public education in America as to the great lack existing in our own system of education. If this deficiency was apparent as it related to the white youth of the country, it was far more so as it related to the colored. Richard Humphrey, the Quaker, who gave the first endowment to found this school stipulated that it should not only teach literary studies, but that a mechanical and industrial department, including agriculture should come within its scope.

Miss Jackson now began an eager and intensively earnest crusade to supply the deficiency in the work of the Institute. With the great thought of bettering the condition of her people she spoke before literary societies, churches in Philadelphia, New York, Washington, anywhere, every where the opportunity presented. The minds of the colored people needed enlightment upon the necessity of Industrial Education. The money was forthcoming, the work advanced and finally in 1879 the Industrial Department was fully established and the following trades were being taught to boys; brick laying, plastering, carpentry, shoemaking, printing, and tailoring. For girls; dressmaking, millinery, type writing, stenography and classes in cooking, including both boys and girls. Stenography and typewriting were also taught the boys as well as the girls. As a means of preparation for this work, which she called an Industrial Crusade she studied Political Economy for two years under Dr. William Elder, who was a disciple of Mr. Henry C. Carey, the eminent writer on the doctrine of Protective Tariff. In the year 1878 the Board of Education of Philadelphia began to consider what they were doing to train their young people in the industrial arts and trades. Before the directors and heads of some of the educational institutions, Miss Jackson was asked to tell what was being done in Philadelphia for the industrial education of the colored youth. She said: You may well understand that I had a tale to tell." She told him that the only place in the city where a colored boy could learn a trade was in the House of Refuge or the Penitentiary, and the sooner he became incorrigible and got into the Refuge, or committed a crime and got into the Penitentiary, the more promising it would be for his industrial fraining.
Such was the argument used in her appeal to the public for funds to start the wheels of industry in Philadelphia. Having taught the trades it now became necessary to find work for those who had learned them which was no easy work. She saw building after building going up and not a single colored hand employed in the construction. Nor was she comforted by what the Irishman said, that all he had to she was to put some brick in a hod and carry them upon do building and there sat a gentleman who did all the work. The said she was determined to know whether this industrial and business ostracism was "in ourselves or in our stars" so from time to time she knocked, shook, and kicked up those closed doors of industry. A cold metallic voice from within replied, "We do not employ colored people." Ours not to make reply, ours not to question why." "Thank Heaven," she said, "we are not obliged to do and die, we naturally prefer to do"--with this heroic motive she established the Woman's Industrial Exchange, where the work on various departments could be exhibited. In 1881 Miss Jackson was married to Reverend Levi J. Coppin, who in 1900, was elected one of the Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and assigned to South Africa. This was most fortunate and came as a culmination to a long and useful life to finish her active life in Africa, the home of the directors of those whose lives she endeavored to direct.

In 1888 as president of the Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the A. M. E. Church, she was elected delegate to the Centenary of Mission held in London England. And so, this woman born in slavery and poverty became the polished, masterful exponent of higher education, and the pioneer of industrial education, antedatting Tuskegee, and other institutions in training the head, the hand and the heart. The message she leaves to those who contend today is to go forward to teach, to uplift, to co-operate for the millions of our fellow beings with a faith firmly fixed in that "Eternal Providence" that in its own good time will "Justify the ways of God to man."

[L.J]

Ellen and William Craft, name of two African American abolitionists who were husband and wife. Ellen Craft (1826-1891) was a light-skinned black who helped her and her husband escape from slavery by passing as white; William Craft (1824-1900) is known for the autobiographical slave narrative that described the couple's dramatic escape.


William and Ellen Craft's self-liberation is one of the most remarkable escapes ever recorded in an African American slave narrative. This is in part due to the brazenness of their plan: the Crafts traveled by public transportation all the way from their home in Georgia to freedom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, even staying in hotels along the way. Their boldness was made possible by the brilliance of their disguise—which employed race, gender, and class passing to conceal Ellen, a black slave woman, as a white slaveholding man.

Ellen was born in Clinton, Georgia, to a biracial slave woman and her master and was so light-skinned that she was often mistaken for a member of her father's white family. This infuriated her mistress and, as a result, at age 11 Ellen was given as a wedding gift to a daughter who lived in Macon. There Ellen met William, whom she married in 1846. Two years later, the Crafts began to devise their escape plan, which involved Ellen posing as a white slaveholder traveling with "his" slave William.

This plan required several levels of deception. Because a white woman would not travel alone with a male slave, Ellen had to pretend to be not only white but a white man. She cut her hair, changed her walk, and wrapped her jaw in bandages to disguise her lack of a beard. To hide her illiteracy, she wrapped her right arm in a sling to have a ready excuse for being unable to sign papers; and she explained all of the bandages by claiming to be an invalid traveling north to receive medical care. In this manner, the Crafts traveled from Georgia to Pennsylvania by train, steamer, and ferry without being discovered. They arrived in Philadelphia on Christmas Day in 1848.

n Philadelphia they were quickly befriended by abolitionists William Wells Brown and William Lloyd Garrison, who recognized the power the Crafts’ story could have as an antislavery tool. The Crafts moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and began traveling as antislavery lecturers. But the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which mandated that fugitive slaves living anywhere in the United States must be returned to their owners, put their freedom in danger (see Fugitive Slave Laws). Because of their celebrity, the Crafts were singled out by slavecatchers as targets. In November 1850 they fled to England, where they had five children, attended an agricultural training school, and continued to work as antislavery activists. Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom, William's autobiography, was published in London in 1860.

In 1868, following the American Civil War, the Crafts returned to the United States with two of their children and settled in Ways Station, Georgia, near Savannah. There they farmed a cotton and rice plantation and attempted to start a school, although financial debts from the plantation and hostility from white neighbors ultimately led to the school's demise. Ellen Craft died in 1891 and, at her request, was buried under her favorite tree on their land. William eventually moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where he died. Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom was reprinted in Arna Bontemps’ 1969 collection Great Slave Narratives. The Crafts' story remains a testimonial to the intelligence, cunning, and courage many African American slaves brought to their determination to be free.

[L.J]

William Wells Brown was born near Lexington, Kentucky, in 1814. His father was George Higgins, a white plantation owner, but his mother was a black slave. His mother had seven children, all with different fathers. William served several slave-masters before escaping in 1834. He adopted the name of his friend, Wells Brown, a Quaker who had helped him obtain his freedom.

Brown became a conductor on the Underground Railroad and worked on a Lake Erie steamer ferrying slaves to freedom in Canada.

In 1843 Brown became a lecturing agent for the New York Anti-Slavery Society. After obtaining a reputation as one of the movement's best orators, Brown was employed by the American Anti-Slavery Society where he worked closely with William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips.

Brown, who settled in Boston, published his autobiography, Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave, in 1847. He obtained a living lecturing on slavery and temperance reform in America and Europe. This inspired his book, Three Years in Europe (1852).

In 1853 Brown published Clotel, a story about Thomas Jefferson's relationship with a slave mistress Sally Hemings. The book is believed to be the first novel to be published by an African-American. Brown also wrote a play, The Escape (1958) and several historical works including The Black Man (1963), The Negro in the American Revolution (1867), The Rising Son (1873) and another volume of autobiography, My Southern Home (1880). William Wells Brown died on the 6th November, 1884, in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

[L.J]

Charles W. Chesnutt, America's first great Black novelist, lived in the distinct political, social and cultural environment that found expression in his literary works. By analyzing the works of a writer, we can gain the general insights of the author's contemporary environment - the world he grows up in and the world he later writes to. Charles W. Chesnutt is not an exception, and his novels reveal the harsh world of prejudice and social indifference in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.


Charles W. Chesnutt was born June 20, 1858, in Cleveland Ohio, the eldest child of Andrew Jackson Chesnutt and Anne Maria Sampson, free blacks from North Carolina. The increasing civil turmoil regarding slavery and coming political unrest forced Charles Chesnutt's parents to move to Ohio, where they remained before the end of Civil War, and came back to Fayetteville, North Carolina with five young children. Charles's father, Andrew Jackson Chesnutt, was a product of union between Waddell Cade, a prosperous slaveholding farmer and Ann Chesnutt, his mistress and later his housekeeper.

Charles's mother also descended from a free mulatto Fayetteville family. Charles Chesnutt's family heritage gave him the features that barely distinguished him from whites, but determined his social status as lower than that of the white Americans.

That Chesnutt's works are centered around social issues, racism in particular, is not accidental and is mainly due to the environment and experiences in Chesnutt's life. He was born two years before the Civil War, grew up in a turbulent sociopolitical atmosphere, and experienced the futile attempts of Reconstruction of Southern states.

After settling in Fayetteville at the age of eight, Charles started working at the grocery shop operated by his father, and attended the school set up by Freedman's Bureau. After the death of his mother, Charles decided to contribute to the family's poor budget by taking position at the school as pupil teacher. Deprived of the opportunity of formal education, Charles continued vigorous self education while teaching in various black educational institutions.

After teaching at black schools of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina, Charles returned to Fayetteville in 1877 to become an assistant principal of the normal school. Here Charles met his colleague and future wife, Susan Perry, daughter of a prosperous barber. They got married in 1878. Being in a new position of a family man, Charles Chesnutt stood before two important decisions: determining the place for him and his family to settle and deciding on his future career. Despite his physical features that gave him close look to whites, Charles Chesnutt's chances of success in impoverished and deeply prejudiced South were minimal. His mixed racial heritage was a burden that would always haunt him in the South. The entry in his personal journal shows Charles's opinion about his place in the society of the South:

"I occupy here a position similar to that of Mahomet's Coffin. I am neither fish, flesh, nor fowl-neither "*#*#*#," white, nor "buckrah." Too "stuck-up" for the colored folks, and, of course, not recognized by the whites."
Belief that the North would provide fair treatment and a place where his endeavors would bare fruit attracted Charles to New York City. But it was not only the prejudice-free atmosphere that prompted his departure to North, but the immense desire to dedicate his career to literary work. Having a thorough realization and good knowledge of pre and post slavery life in the South, Chesnutt felt confident that he was in a position to start a successful literary career concentrating on problems and issues of the South.
After working for six months in New York City, Chesnutt decided to return to his birth city and in 1884, settled in Cleveland with his family. Here he begun working as a stenographer for Nickel Plate Railroad Company and simultaneously started studying law. At that time, his family included two little girls and a baby boy.

His spare time Chesnutt dedicated to writing. His first short story, "Uncle Peter's House," appeared in the Cleveland News and Herald in 1885. Chesnutt's other novels followed, and he became the first African American author to be published in the Atlantic Monthly, one of the major contemporary literary journals. The title of the story that first appeared in the Atlanticwas "The Goophered Grapevine," in which Charles used Uncle Julius as a bridge between the past and the present realms in order to capture the miseries of the slavery and display them to the contemporary reader. "The Goophered Grapevine," as well as other short stories by Chesnutt, included tales about black hoodoo practices and beliefs, and presented slave culture with African elements to white readers.

After the publication of "The Goophered Grapevine," Houghton Mifflin publishing firm showed interest in Chesnutt's works, and organized them into a collection of short stories. In March of 1899, Charles Chesnutt's first book, The Conjure Woman,was published. The stories from The Conjure Woman describe the struggle between ill-natured, cruel slaveholders and witty, clever slaves. Using the magic of conjuration, slaves in "Sis' Becky's Pickaninny," "Mars Jeems's Nightmare," and "Hot-Foot Hannibal" manipulate the will and power of their masters to their own advantage.

The success of his first book prompted Charles W. Chesnutt to publish the second collection of short stories. "The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line" includes nine stories, all of them united under common theme and based on same fundamental social issue - miscegenation in America. The book met a harsher criticism than its predecessor, because many reviewers were bothered by Chesnutt's excessive concentration on issues such as segregation and miscegenation.

Financial problems regarding the second book did not discourage Chesnutt from following his lifelong dream of being a full-time author. In march of 1900, Houghton Mifflin accepted Chesnutt's first novel, The House Behind the Cedars for publication. According to the author, the plot of the novel was simple: it is "a story of a colored girl who passed for white." The story brings out a problem that many Chesnutt's contemporary writers and politicians tried to cope with - the issue of racial identity. By introducing racially mixed characters like John and Rena Walden, Chesnutt advocates the right of mixed races to be accepted on equal terms with whites.

After the success of his first novel, Charles used the opportunity to address pressing racial issues in a new novel, The Marrow of Tradition. The novel was published on 27 October 1901, with the expectations of high sales, but to the author's disappointment, turned out to be a financial disaster. The Marrow of Tradition is based on the Wilmington, N.C., race riot of 1898. As the critics noted, the reason of the book's failure to sell was not the poor workmanship or weakness of Chesnutt's writing, but the subject matter and the moral thesis that Northern readers declined to accept.

In order to support his family, Chesnutt was forced to reopen his court reporting business which he closed in 1899. Chesnutt shifted his literary concentration towards essays and short articles regarding racial issues. He also experimented in writing entertaining, non-controversial novels about the high society of the North. The result was "Baxter's Procrustes," his last novel to be published in the Atlantic.

When Chesnutt finally completed a new novel about racial issues, The Colonel's Dream, Houghton Mifflin didn't accept it with previous enthusiasm, and requested much revision and development from the author. After the book was published, critics evaluated it poorly, and declared the novel full of pessimistic mood and unpleasant for reading. The Colonel's Dream gave Chesnutt a final hint that the interest of public didn't coincide with his own, and in order to sell, he had to turn to other forms of literature. In 1906, Chesnutt wrote a play in four acts, "Mrs. Darcy's Daughter," but again failed to find a producer to make it a financial success. At this moment, Charles Chesnutt set his literary carrier aside and got absorbed in social and political activities, devoting his time to preparing speeches and writing articles in defense of his race. Together with prominent black activists, such as Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois, Chesnutt advocated the reform of the racial conditions in the South and better treatment of black population of that region.

Among the clubs, organizations and sororities honored by Charles W. Chesnutt's membership, Chamber of Commerce of Cleveland, the City Club, and the Rowfant Club were most important. Serving on the General Committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Chesnutt was awarded NAACP's Spingarn Medal for his "pioneer work as a literary artist depicting the life and struggle of Americans of Negro descent, and for his long and useful carrier as scholar, worker, and freeman of one of America's greatest cities."

Chesnutt died on 15 November 1932, leaving behind him a rich artistic legacy for twentieth-century African-American literature.

[L.J]

Joachim Pease
A FORGOTTEN MILESTONE
BLACKS IN THE U.S. NAVY

While the Black soldier was proving himself to be of character, the Black sailor went forth to do service for his country. Throughout its history, the Navy has never barred free Blacks from enlisting, and in September 1861 it adopted the policy of recruiting former slaves. This was two years before the Army even allowed Blacks to enlist. Suffering during the entire course of the war from a shortage of men, the Navy encouraged the Blacks to join the service. "Fill up the crews with contrabands obtained from Major-General Dix, as there is not an available sailor in the North." This advice was sent by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles on August 5, 1862, to Commodore Charles Wilkes, Commander of the James River Flotilla. The Mississippi Squadron under Admiral David D. Porter was also suffering a shortage. Admiral Porter wrote to Rear Admiral A.H. Foote on January 3, 1862, "Don't be astonished at the list of .... I send you. I could get no men. They do first-rate." Five months later Rear Admiral S.F. DuPont informed Secretary Welles that the contrabands on board the vessels in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron were "very useful, particularly as there is difficulty in obtaining men in the North ports."
Eager to recruit Black sailors and to have them reenlist, the Navy tended to treat them fairly well. Segregation and discrimination were at a minimum. Blacks were messed and quartered with other crew members. During prisoner exchanges the Black sailor was spared the uncertainty experienced by his Black brother in the Army. Secretary Welles wrote in his diary on October 5, 1864, "No question of color has ever come up in regard to naval exchange."

The Blacks responded in large numbers to the Navy's beckoning, eventually comprising one, quarter of the men sailing in the Union fleet. Although precise figures on black naval personnel is lacking, Secretary of the Navy John D. Long, in a letter written on April 2. 1902, quotes Superintendent of the Naval Records Office as reporting that of the 118,044 enlistments in the Navy during the Civil War, one fourth, or approximately 29,511 were Blacks. Aboard the U.S.S. CAIRO there were 4 Blacks sailors holding the rank of Seaman. The majority of the regular Navy viewed the CAIRO and her sister boats as "experimental," thus the bulk of the crew were volunteers. Of the 175 men aboard the CAIRO only 28 had sailing or naval experience. The 4 black sailors brought such experience with them having served as sailors or boatsmen in the private sector.

The Blacks served aboard Union ships in various positions and ranks including officers. They participated in some of the great naval battles of the Civil War. One such battle took place thousands of miles from home off the coast of France. On Sunday morning June 19, 1864, the Confederate raider ALABAMA steamed out of Cherbourg harbor to meet its doom in an engagement with the USS KEARSARGE. On the KEARSARGE with fifteen Black enlisted men of various ratings.

In this historic duel in which the ALABAMA went down in forty fathoms of water, Seaman Joachim Pease loader of No. 1 gun received the Navy Medal of Honor. Acting Master David H. Sumner wrote of Seaman Pease, "possessing qualities higher than courage or fortitude which fully sustained his reputation as one of the best men in the ship."

The Navy had its roster of Black sailors who did their duties effectively during battle with little recognition. At least forty-nine Union vessels had Black Crewmen who were killed, captured or wounded in action. Black naval casualties numbered an estimated 800; approximately one quarter of navy total of 3,220. To these battle casualties must be listed estimated an 2,000 Black seamen who died of disease. Eight Black sailors received the Navy Medal of Honor for valor.

Much has been written about the Black soldiers display of courage during the Civil War. Yet the Black sailor had been quietly fighting for his country since the Revolutionary War. Because of the long history of Blacks in the Navy, little is written about the Black sailor during the Civil War. It was not due to their lack of participation, but because the U.S. Navy has always been desegregated.

If the Black sailors' quality of work and respect from his fellow sailors could be judged by Civil War photographs, such as the one on display at the Cairo Museum, it would be safe to say the burden of battle was shared equally.

[L.J]

Shaw University, founded in 1865, is the oldest historically black college of the South. Shaw is a private, co-educational, liberal arts university affiliated with the Baptist Church. The University awards degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The primary mission of the University is teaching with the commitment to maintain excellence in research and academic programs that foster intellectual enhancement and technological skills.

Additionally, the University stresses character development, which includes religious, cultural, social, and ethical values. Ultimately, Shaw University endeavors to graduate students with demonstrated competencies in their chosen fields of study.

On December 1, 1865, when Henry Martin Tupper undertook the organization of a theology class as a means of teaching Freedmen to read and interpret the Bible, no one envisioned the end result of this being the establishment of a university. Rapid growth in the size of this class led to the purchase of land in 1866 for the purpose of erecting a building to serve as both church and school. The school was named the "Raleigh Institute," and it functioned as such until 1870, when it was supplanted by the "Shaw Collegiate Institute." In 1875, it was incorporated as the "Shaw University," which name it still bears, with the charter specifying that students were to be admitted without regard to race, creed, or sex. The school does not bear the name of its founder but of Elijah Shaw, the benefactor who provided funds for the first building, Shaw Hall, erected in 1871.

The co-educational emphasis of the institution was noted with the erection of the Estey Seminary (1873), the first dormitory in the United States for "Black Women." Named for its primary benefactor, Jacob Estey, the building was used as a residence hall for women until 1968 and for men from 1968 to 1970. The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The University graduated its first college class in 1878, its first class of medical doctors in 1886, awarded its first law degree in 1890, and its first pharmacy degree in 1893. In 1909, the Normal Department was supplanted by an Education Department, and in 1910, the Preparatory Department became a four-year academy. The professional schools were closed in 1918, but the college, theological department, and academy were continued, the latter existing until 1926. The theological department became a theological seminary in 1933 and continued as part of the University until 1976, when it became an independent institution. Since 1921, Shaw has functioned primarily as a liberal arts college, although it has retained its name as a university.

In 1931, the University elected its first Black president, Dr. William Stuart Nelson, who was president from 1931 to 1936. In 1963, the University elected its first president who is an alumnus of the school, Dr. James E. Cheek. He remained president from December 1963 through June 1969. Dr. Talbert O. Shaw, the current President of Shaw University, has led the institution in its "strides to excellence" since 1987. He and Shaw University was the subject of a March 1994 cover article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, this country's most important journal on colleges and universities. The article focuses on the University's recent history, remarking on the great strides it has made and the momentum it has developed.

Shaw University has two buildings listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. Estey Hall, erected in 1873, was the nation’s first dormitory to house women on a coeducational campus. The Leonard School of Medicine, founded in 1885, was the first four-year medical school to train Black doctors and pharmacists in the South.


World War II Study
Shaw University led a research study to investigate why Black WWII veterans were overlooked for the Medal of Honor. The study concluded that racism was the reason Black soldiers did not receive the top military award. After citing its conclusion, the 272-page Shaw study went on to recommend and name ten soldiers whose military records warranted receipt of the Medal of Honor.

In January 1995 the team’s findings were delivered to Washington, D.C. In April 1996 the University received word that the Pentagon had chosen seven of the ten soldiers recommended in the study to receive the prestigious medal. All of those nominated had received less distinguished awards for their military service. President William Jefferson Clinton awarded the Medals of Honor on January 13, 1997. The Pentagon’s reaction to the $320,585.00 federally funded study marked the third time in history the military has re-evaluated military records to award the Medal of Honor. Only one of the seven nominees, 1st Lt. Vernon Baker of St. Maries, Idaho, was alive to receive the medal. Those who received the Medal of Honor posthumously were: 1st Lt. Charles L. Thomas of Detroit; Pvt. George Watson of Birmingham, Ala.; Staff Sgt. Edward A. Carter Jr. of Los Angeles, CA; 1st Lt. John R. Fox of Boston; Pfc. Willy F. James Jr. of Kansas City, Kan.; and Staff Sgt. Ruben Rivers of Tecumseh, Okla.


CAPE (Center for Alternative Programs in Education)
The Center for Alternative Programs in Education (CAPE) allows students in nine cities across North Carolina the opportunity to pursue an academic degree through flexible course scheduling, independent study, and credit for prior learning experiences. CAPE sites are located in Ahoskie, Asheville, Durham, Fayetteville, High Point, Kannapolis, Raleigh, Rocky Mount/Wilson, and Wilmington.


Intercollegiate Athletics
Shaw University is affiliated with the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II. Shaw University offers a variety of collegiate sports and boasts of being 1995 CIAA Champions in women’s volleyball and 1994 CIAA champions in women’s softball and men’s baseball, and finalists in tennis. The athletic department consists of 10 athletic programs.

Men: Basketball, Baseball, Tennis, Track/Indoor-Outdoor, Cross Country
Women: Basketball, Volleyball, Softball, Track/Indoor-Outdoor, Cross Country


Community Involvement
Shaw University is heavily involved in the community. Community service and outreach programs include a pre-college program sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency for 8th through 12th graders to enhance their skills in mathematics, English, science, and computer science; a community development project sponsored by US Housing and Urban Development to help small businesses; and "Peers as Partners," a program in which Shaw University students enrolled in ethics classes help public school students with peer mediation and conflict resolution.


Extra-Curricular Activities
Organizations and clubs on-campus include The Shaw Players and Company, the Student Government Association, cheerleaders, intramural and extramural sports, sororities, fraternities, gospel and university choirs, the jazz, pep, and concert bands, and COGs (Children of God) represent a wide range of student activities that exist at Shaw University. WSHA radio station, the Honda Quiz Bowl Team, the Shawensis Literary Club, the Student North Carolina Association of Educators, the Pre-Alumni Council, and the Shaw Journal Campus Newspaper are a few of the University’s pre-professional organizations that provide great ways to enhance your classroom activities while enjoying the camaraderie of fellow students.


Interesting Facts
Shaw University has been called the mother of African-American colleges in North Carolina. North Carolina Central, Elizabeth City State, and Fayetteville State Universities were founded by Shaw graduates. The founder of Livingstone College spent his first two college years at Shaw before transferring to Lincoln University, and what is now A&T State University was located on Shaw’s campus during its first year of existence. In addition, the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was an outgrowth of a conference held on the campus of Shaw University in 1960.

The University conducts at least four major assemblies during the school year. All members of the University community are expected to attend these formal gatherings. All are mandatory for freshmen, first year students and seniors matriculating in the Raleigh-Durham area.

a. Fall Convocation recognizes the official opening of the academic year. The University President normally speaks at this occasion.

b. Founder’s Day Convocation celebrates the founding of the University.

c. Honors Convocation recognizes and pays tribute to those persons who have excelled in curricular and extracurricular activities.

d. Spring Convocation affords the University an opportunity to celebrate the second part of the school year.

Homecoming
Homecoming is a festive occasion in which the entire campus becomes involved. It is a time when alumni of Shaw University return to the University to renew old acquaintances and enjoy the festivities of the week. Among the major attractions are the Crowning of Miss Homecoming, the Homecoming Concert, a parade, the traditional basketball game, and a fraternity and sorority “step show.”


Founder's Day
Shaw University was founded in 1865. This founding is celebrated annually with a Founder’s Day Convocation. The speakers chosen for this occasion are persons who have made significant contributions to society.


Coronation of Miss Shaw
The Coronation of Miss Shaw University is characterized by an atmosphere of royalty, splendor, and campus unity.


Religious Emphasis Week
Religious Emphasis Week is a period when the University emphasizes the importance of religion in the growth and development of the human personality. During this week, celebrated clergy and lay persons are invited to campus to participate in interdenominational activities.


Athletic Banquet
The Athletic Banquet is an affair that honors outstanding athletes at the University, and special tributes are made during the Spring Semester.


Cultural & Spiritual Enrichment Seminar (CASES)
CASES at Shaw is a program designed to expose participants to messages by outstanding community leaders. Attendance is mandatory for all freshmen and strongly encouraged for the entire University Community.


Service Awards
Service Awards are presented to members of the campus community in a special program. This is done in appreciation of meritorious and outstanding service beyond the normal or expected call of duty.


Senior Reception
Senior Reception is an annual event for graduating seniors and is hosted by the President of the Senior Class. Graduating seniors and their parents/guardians and friends join the campus community in a special night of celebration, with expressions of appreciation from the seniors to all who have contributed to their success.


Commencement
Students are not allowed to participate in the commencement exercises unless they have been cleared for graduation.


Health Services
Assessment and treatment of minor illness and injury are provided for students on an outpatient basis Monday thru Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. by qualified personnel in the Student Health Center. Referrals are given for specialized consultation off campus for students with other health problems. The Health Center is located on the first floor of the Men’s Residence, which is easily accessible to both on- and off-campus students.


Campus Security/Public Safety
The Department of Public Safety is primarily responsible for the maintenance of a collegial and orderly atmosphere on the campus and is concerned with the safety of the members of the Shaw family.


Automobiles & Campus Parking
Only on-campus residents are permitted to park in the parking areas adjacent to the residence halls. Cars belonging to residents must be registered with the Office of Student Affairs and Public Safety. If the parking lots are full, visitors are not permitted to drive their vehicles on campus.


Shaw University Code of Conduct
The personal conduct of a University student is subject to the moral and legal restraints found in any law-abiding community. The code of conduct is a positive force outlining the responsibility of each member of the Shaw community to uphold the standards and policies of the University plus all other guidelines that pertain to good order and human decency.

The Shaw University Code of Conduct is as follows:

I count it an honor to have been accepted as a member of the Shaw University Family by virtue of my status as a student, employee, alumnus, supporter, or friend. I covenant, therefore, to conduct myself and my activities in such a way as to reflect credit upon myself, my faith community, my sponsor(s) but most especially upon my Alma Mater. Accordingly, I agree:

1. To hold in trust the traditions, practices, and laws that govern this historic University.

2. To respect all property, discouraging vandalism and thefts of any and all things that do not belong to me. Most especially, to respect myself, exhibiting the values, morals, discipline, and cultural matrix upon which Shaw University was founded.

3. To always be accountable for my personal, social and professional conduct.

4. To celebrate diversity. I recognize and therefore affirm the dignity and worth of others who live, work or study in this academic community.

5. To discourage any behavior within myself or among my peers that would jeopardize the integrity or the reputation of this University. I will accordingly report any and all violations to the appropriate authority.

6. To foster an open and caring environment.

AFFILIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Association of Theological Schools
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
Association of American Colleges
National Council For Accreditation of Teacher Education
American Council on Education
National Association of Colleges and Universities
North Carolina Association of Colleges and Universities
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
National Alliance of Business College/Business Cluster Programs
North Carolina Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
The College Fund/UNCF, Incorporated
Council for the Advancement and Support of Education
Cooperating Raleigh Colleges
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
Southern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
North Carolina Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education
National Association of College and University Business Officers
Southern Association of College and University Business Officers
National Association for the Exchange of Industrial Resources
Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce
The College Board
Council for Advisory/Support of Education
The Carolinas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers
National Association of College Deans, Registrars and Admissions Officers
National Association for Foreign Student Affairs
American-Mideast Educational and Training Services, Inc.
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The Association of Higher Education Facilities Managers
Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs
American Kinesiotherapy Association
National Academy of Preprofessional Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders
The Council on Undergraduate Research

ACCREDITATION

Shaw University is the oldest historically Black university in the South. Located in Raleigh, NC, the University was founded in 1865. Two colleges, one school, and ten departments constitute a variety of academic offerings that are geared toward today’s employment market.

The University offers 30 undergraduate majors and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033- 4097: Telephone number 404-679-4501) to award the Associate, Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Three of its academic programs also have national accreditation. The Shaw Divinity School is one of only a handful of divinity schools in the state of North Carolina to earn full accreditation from the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) in the United States. The kinesiotherapy program is accredited by the American Kinesiotherapy Association and the teacher education program is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. The latter program is also approved by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

The Center for Alternative Programs of Education (CAPE) allows adult students in nine cities across North Carolina the opportunity to pursue an academic degree through flexible course scheduling and credit for prior learning experiences. In 1993, under the leadership of President Talbert O. Shaw, the University made courses in ethics and values central to the general education of all its students in order to emphasize its commitment to high personal standards and citizenship in its graduates. This thrust challenges Shaw University students to ask questions about the social ills of the day and seek answers to those questions. Approximately 2,700 students from the United States, the Caribbean, African countries and the Middle East attend Shaw University.

The Shaw University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097: Telephone Number 404-679-4501) to award the associate degree, the bachelor degree, and the master’s degree.

[L.J]

Madame C.J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker)
In 1905 Sarah Breedlove developed a conditioning treatment for straightening hair. Starting with door-to-door sales of her cosmetics, Madame C.J. Walker amassed a fortune. In 1910 she built a factory in Indianapolis to manufacture her line of cosmetics. Before her death in 1919 she was a millionaire, one of the most successful business executives in the early half of the twentieth century.

One of the first American women of any race or rank to become a millionaire through her own efforts was Sarah Breedlove Walker. Sarah Breedlove was born in 1867 to Minerva and Owen Breedlove on the shores of the Mississippi River in northeast Louisiana. Sarah's parents, both ex-slaves, were sharecroppers who lived on the Burney plantation in Delta, Louisiana. "Madam Walker always said in her public speeches that she was 'orphaned at seven.' Her mother died first. Her father remarried and apparently died before she turn eight in December, 1875. Source: Bundles" Because of her impoverished background she had only a limited formal education. She was married to a Mr. McWilliams at fourteen, "to get a home" (as described by Walker herself), and had a daughter, A'Lelia, in 1885. Widowed at twenty in 1887, Sarah and her daughter moved from Vicksburg to St. Louis, Missouri. For eighteen years, from 1887-1905, she supported herself and her daughter by work as a washerwoman.

While in St. Louis in 1905, Walker said she had an idea to begin a cosmetics business. "Madam Walker's treatment did not straighten hair. Her treatment was designed to heal scalp disease through more frequent shampooing. massage and the application of an ointment consisting of petrolatum and a medicinal sulfur. Madam Walker did use a hot comb--which she did NOT invent--in her system, but she was by no means the first person to employ such methods. In fact, Marcel Grateau, a Parisian, was using heated metal hair care implements as early as 1872, and hot combs were available in Sears and Bloomingdale's catalogues in the 1890s, presumably designed for white women."
Source: Bundles


Before this time, African American women who wanted to de-kink their hair had to place it on a flat surface and press it with a flat iron. She invented her hair softener for use with a straightening comb. Mixing her soaps and ointments in washtubs and kitchen utensils, while adapting the existing hairdressing techniques and modifying curling tools. She added the prefix Madame to her name and took to the road, soon demonstrated her excellent marketing skills to sell her hair products door-to-door.
About The Walker System
The elements of the System were a shampoo, a pomade "hair-grower", vigorous brushing, and the application of heated iron combs to the hair. The "method" transformed stubborn, lusterless hair into shining smoothness. The Madame C. J. Walker manufacturing Company employed principally women who, before the years that preceded the national growth of beauty shops in the United States, carried their treatments to the home. Known as "Walker Agents," they became familiar figures throughout the United States and Caribbean where they made their "house calls", always dressed in the characteristic white shirtwaists tucked into long black skirts and carrying the black satchels, containing preparations and combing apparatus necessary for dressing hair. The most important of the preparations demonstrated was Madame C.J. Walker's Hair Grower. Sales of the Pomade and a collection of sixteen other beauty products, many packaged decoratively in tin containers who carried the portrait of Madame Walker, accompanied by heavy advertising in mainly Negro newspapers and magazines and her own frequent instructional tours, made Madame Walker one of the best known African American women in the country by the 1920's. Her fame spread to Europe, where the Walker System coiffure of dancer Josephine Baker so fascinated Parisians in the 1920's that a French company produced a comparable pomade, calling it Baker-Fix. In the United States, the business activity of Madame Walker was emulated by other Negro women, with successful women including Mrs. Annie M. Turnbo Malone (with her "Poro System" and the "Poro Colleges" in St. Louis and Chicago) and Madame Sarah Spencer Washington (with her Apex System headquartered in Atlantic City.)

One editorialist commented in 1919 that it was a "noteworthy fact that the largest and most lucrative business enterprises conducted by colored people in America have been launched by women -- namely Madame Walker and Mrs. Malone." (Stussy) Annie Malone preceded Madam Walker in business. In fact, Madam Walker worked for a short time in 1905 as a Malone sales agent before she started her own business. Bundles
Encouraged by success in St. Louis selling her cosmetic products and method, she moved to Denver, Colorado in July, 1905. Her brother had been dead for some time. She joined her widowed sister-in-law and nieces, who had been in Denver prior to 1900. Bundles Six months later she married a newspaperman, Charles J. Walker. She kept the name even after business differences ended the marriage. Proceeding door-to-door, she demonstrated her method to the women of Denver. Sarah developed what was to become known as The Walker Method or The Walker System She attracted not only clients for her products but agent-operators; she called then "hair culturists," "scalp specialists," and "beauty culturists" rather than "hair straighteners" (a term used by others). With the agent-operators conducting sales, Sarah concentrated her efforts on the instruction of her methods and on the manufacture of the products.

"Madam Walker established her business in Denver in July, 1905. By September 1906 she had left Denver in care of her daughter, Lelia, and begun to travel throughout the South promoting her products" Bundles, giving lectures and demonstrations of her products to homes, clubs, and churches. Her success in the increasing business saw her organize a second office in Pittsburgh in 1908, which her daughter A'Lelia managed.

In 1910 transferred operations from the Denver and Pittsburgh offices to a new headquarters in Indianapolis, where a plant was constructed to serve as center of the Walker enterprises. The company was the Walker College of Hair Culture and Walker Manufacturing Company (note: "The original Mme. C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company was sold by the trustees of the Walker estate in 1985 and is no longer in business. The purchasers of the company name were based at one time in Tuskegee, Alabama. They have since moved their company back to Indianapolis and apparently are a small concern with limited distribution of hair care products." Bundles). In 1906 Walker turned the mail order business to her daughter who used Pittsburgh as headquarters for Walker College, for training "hair culturists".

The Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, of which Madame Walker was president and sole owner, provided employment for some three thousand persons. ["The estimates of the number of people employed by Madam Walker varies widely. In her factory and office there were usually somewhere between fifteen and thirty employees. Her sales force, a multi-level sales operation, had, by her claim, in 1919, more than 20,000 agents." Bundles] Overnight she found herself in business, with assistants, agents, schools, and a manufacturing company. Madame Walker's daughter purchased a townhouse in Harlem in 1913 and Madame Waker moved to New York in 1916.

A generous donor to black charities, Walker encouraged her agents to support black philanthropic work. She made the single largest donation to the successful 1918 effort by the National Association of Colored Women to purchase the home of Frederick Douglass so it could be preserved as a museum. She contributed generously to the National Association of Colored People (NAACP), to homes for the aged in St. Louis and Indianapolis, to needy in Indianapolis (especially during Christmas time), and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) of Indianapolis. She funded scholarships for young women and men [Bundles] at Tuskegee Institute and contributed to Palmer Memorial Institute, a private secondary school for blacks in Sedalia, North Caroline, founded by her close friend Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Walker organized her agents into "Walker Clubs" in 1916, in preparation for her 1917 convention, and gave cash prizes to the clubs that did the largest amount of community philanthropic work. At the annual convention of Walker agents she always gave prizes most to the most generous local affiliate [Bundles].

Note: "While Madam Walker hoped to establish a school for girls in West Africa, and mentioned that desire in her will, the school was never established. There is nothing in her personal or company records showing money expended for such a school." [Bundles
Walker required her agents to sign contracts specifying not only the exclusive use of her company's products and methods, but binding them also to a hygienic regimen which anticipated the practices into state cosmetology laws. In frequent visits and communications to her agents she preached "cleanliness and loveliness" as assets and aids to self-respect and racial advance. An editorial of 1919 in Crisis (the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) judged that Madame Walker had influenced in her lifetime a revolution of "personal habits and appearance of millions of human beings."

Madame Walker constantly made headlines, both with her business and her social activities. Her personal possessions amounted to a value of a million dollars and included extensive real estate holdings. In 1914 she moved to New York and built a $90,000 Indiana limestone townhouse at 108-110 West 136th Street . In its sitting rooms and dining halls, in the years following Sarah Walker's death, her daughter, now Mrs. A'Lelia Walker Robinson Wilson Kennedy, presided over a salon known as "The Dark Tower", where talented Negro authors, musicians, and artists met influential white intellectuals. [The "Dark Tower" was located on one floor of the 136th Street townhouse for about one year from October, 1927 to October, 1928....] Bundles

A "Who's Who" of African American history entered her doors. In attendance were publishers, critics, and potential patrons, who helped to stimulate the "Harlem Renaissance" in the arts during the 1920's. A'Lelia's crowning social event was the glamorous "Million Dollar Wedding" (actually $40,000) of adopted daughter Mae Walker Perry at St. Phillips in New York City. In 1917 Madame Walker built an Italianate neo-Palladian-style country home designed by the first registered black architect in New York Vertner Woodson Tandy at Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. The villa, a $250,000 mansion, was named by noted tenor Enrico Caruso, who combined the initial syllables of A'Lelia Walker Robinson's name. The twenty room mansion was furnished at a price of nearly $100,000 . Walker furnished it with a 24-carat gold-plated piano and phonograph, a $15,000 pipe organ that gently awoke house guests, Hepplewhite furniture, Persian rugs, many huge oil paintings, and two Japanese prayer trees imported at a cost of over $10,000.

Warned by physicians at the Kellogg Clinic at Battle Creek, Michigan, that her hypertension required a reduction of her activities, Madame Walker nevertheless continued her busy schedule. She became ill while in St. Louis and was moved back to New York, where she died on May 25, 1919 of chronic interstitial nephritis, kidney failure and hypertension at the Villa Lewaro estate. Despite her impoverished beginnings, Madame Walker achieved notable business success. Funeral services were conducted at the villa by the pastor of her church, the Mother Zion African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of New York, and she was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. The estate went to A'Lelia Walker Robinson Wilson. A'Lelia Walker closed "Dark Tower", a cafe/salon at her 136th Street townhouse, in 1928. In 1930 she was forced to auction off some of the contents of Villa Lewaro because of the Depression's impact on company sales, the cost of taxes and upkeep, and because she rarely spent time there [Bundles]. Shortly before she died in 1919, Madam Walker pledged $5,000 to the NAACP's anti-lynching campaign. At the time, it was the largest gift the ten year old organization had ever received. Madam Walker's will stipulated that Villa Lewaro should be donated to the NAACP after her daughter's death. But when A'Lelia Walker died in 1931 in the midst of the Depression, the NAACP declined the house because of the upkeep and taxes. Instead, the small proceeds from the sale to Annie Poth were donated to the NAACP. Several generations of the Walker family continue the business she established.

"To make certain the gifts continue, two-thirds of the company stock is owned by five Negro trustees named by Madame Walker for the benefit of certain charities enunciated in the will." The trustees of the estate were (all now deceased): Robert Lee Brokenburr, Willard B. Ransom, Violet D. Reynolds, Faburn E. DeFrantz, and Marion R. Perry (who is also the treasurer of the company). As provided by A'Lelia's will, the remaining third is divided equally between A'Lelia E. Ransom and A'Lelia Mae Perry (the great granddaughter of Madam Walker). "A'Lelia Mae Perry (Bundles), who is now deceased, and A'Lelia E. Ransom did receive shares of stock. That stock was eliminated at the time of the sale of the company in 1985" [Bundles].



To raise money for the organization during the Depression period in the 1930's, the NAACP sold the Villa Lewaro in 1932 to a fraternal organization, the Companions of the Forest in America. In 1950 the building housed the Annie Poth Home for the Aged. In 1976, Villa Lewaro was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Among the other properties left by the manufacturess is a five-story million dollar plant in Indianapolis, The Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company Building. The block-square building also houses a Greek-style theater, lunchroom, drugstore, beauty parlor, and private offices.
The Madam Walker Building, which was completed in 1927 and is a National Historic Landmark, is now called the Madam Walker Theatre Center. The 944-seat theatre features an Egyptian and Moroccan motif. At one time it housed a restaurant, drugstore, the Walker factory, a barber shop and organizational and professional offices. Today it is a cultural arts center and houses a beauty salon and organizational and professional offices.

[L.J]

John Roy Lynch was born on September 10 1847. He was a Black politician.

Born a slave in Concordia Parish, La., Lynch was freed during the American Civil War and settled in Natchez, Miss. There he learned the photography business, attended night school, and in 1869 entered public life as justice of the peace for Natchez county. In November 1869 Lynch was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, and he was reelected in 1871.

Although blacks never were in the majority in the Mississippi legislature, Lynch was chosen speaker of the House in 1872. That same year he was elected to Congress, and he was reelected in 1874. But by 1876 Reconstruction was over, and Lynch was defeated for a third term. In 1880 he ran again and was declared the loser, but he contested the decision and eventually was returned to his congressional seat. In the House he backed civil-rights legislation. Lynch retired to his plantation in Adams county, Mississippi, in 1883. In 1889 he returned to public office when President Benjamin Harrison appointed him fourth auditor of the U.S. Treasury for the Navy Department.

Always active in the Republican Party, Lynch served as a delegate to the national Republican conventions of 1872, 1884, 1888, 1892, and 1900. He was temporary chairman in 1884--the first black to preside over a national convention of a major U.S. political party. In his book The Facts of Reconstruction (1913), Lynch attempted to dispel the erroneous notion that Southern state governments after the Civil War were under the control of Blacks. After the American Civil War John Lynch served in the Mississippi state legislature and U.S. House of Representatives and was prominent in Republican Party affairs of the 1870s and '80s. He died Nov. 2, 1939, Chicago, Ill.

[L.J]

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, a pioneer in open heart surgery was born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Attended formal schooling in Hare's Classical Academy in 1877 and received his M.D. from Chicago Medical College, Northwestern Medical School, in 1883. He helped to found the Provident Hospital and Training School for Nurses.

In 1893 Dr. Daniel Hall Williams performed the first open heart surgery by removing a knife from the heart of a stabbing victim. He sutured a wound to the pericardium (the fluid sac surrounding the myocardium), from which the patient recovered and liv ed for several years afterward. He established a training school for nurses. He was the first Surgeon in Chief to divide the Freemen's Hospital in Washington, D.C. into separate departments to treat specific conditions: Medical, Surgical, Gynecological , Obstetrical, Dermatological, Genito-Urinary, and Throat and Chest. In 1891 he founded the Provident Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago, the oldest free-standing black owned hospital in the United States.

Dr. Williams was the only African-American in a group of 100 charter members of the American College of Surgeons in 1913. He founded and became the first vice-president of the national Medical Association. Dr. Williams was awarded by a bill in the Un ited States Congress in 1970 that issued a commemorative stamp in his honor.

[L.J]

Granville T. Woods
It's hard to believe that a man who was forced to leave school at the age of ten could have patented over thirty-five electrical and mechanical inventions. Yet Granville T. Woods did just that, educating himself outside of school in practical skills for his future.

Born in Columbus, Ohio in April 23, 1856, Woods literally learned his skills on the job. Attending school in Columbus until age 10, he served an apprenticeship in a machine shop and learned the trades of machinist and blacksmith. During his youth he also went to night school and took private lessons. Even though he had to leave formal school at age ten Granville Woods realized that learning and education were essential for developing critical skills, abilities that would allow him to express his creativity with machinery. On the railroad. In 1872 he obtained a job as a fireman on the Danville and Southern railroad in Missouri, eventually becoming an engineer. He invested his spare time in studying electronics. In 1874 Woods moved to Springfield, Illinois worked in a rolling mill. He moved to the East in 1876 and worked part time in a machine shop. He took a mechanical engineering course in an eastern college. In 1878, he became an engineer aboard the Ironsides, a British steamer, and, within two years, he became Chief Engineer of the steamer. Even with this background and all his engineering skill he was unable to get anywhere in these jobs. His travels and experiences led him to settle in Cincinnati, Ohio.

But Granville T. Woods was a great electrician and an inventive genius. His talents could not go unnoticed.
Woods invented fifteen appliances for electric railways. Granville Woods received his first patent in 1884 on an improved steam boiler furnace (U.S. 229,854).

By 1880, he had established his own shop in Cincinnati, Ohio. Woods, along with his brother Lyates, went on to organize the Woods Electrical Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. And, in later years, he succeeded in selling many to his inventions to some of the country's largest corporations. American Bell Telephone Company bought many of his ideas, as did General Electric and the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. In 1888 Granville Woods developed and patented a system for overhead electric conducting lines for railroads, which aided in the development of the overhead railroad system found in contemporary metropolitan cities, such as Chicago, St. Louis, and New York City.

In his early thirties, he became interested in thermal power and steam-driven engines. And, in 1889, he filed his first patent for an improved steam-boiler furnace. In 1892, a complete Electric Railway System (U.S. 463,020) was operated at Coney Island, NY. The railway system had no exposed wires, secondary batteries, or slotted causeway -- all previously necessary for electric railways. In 1887 he patented the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph (U.S. 373,915) , which allowed communications between train stations from moving trains. Train accidents and collisions were causing great concern to both the public and the railways at the time. Woods' invention made it possible for trains to communicate with the station and with other trains so they knew exactly where they were at all times. This invention made train movements quicker and prevented countless accidents and collisions.

The Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph (1887)was designed "for the purpose of averting accidents by keeping each train informed of the whereabouts of the one immediately ahead or following it, in communicating with the stations from moving trains; and in promoting general social and commercial intercourse" (Marr and Ploski). Rail travel was made safer by the invention because it allowed dispatchers to note at a glance the location of any moving trains. Before Woods' telegraph, trains had no assistance in locating the location of any moving train so accidents were frequent. The invention of the Induction Telegraph saved lives by averting both major and minor accidents for railway traffic.
The Induction Telegraph System was the result of the invention used the physics principle of electromagnetic induction. Induction is the effect produced by sending an electrical current through a coil-shaped wire, which generates a magnetic field around the coil. When a wire moves through a magnetic field, a current similar to the current in the coil is induced in the wire. No current is induced in the wire when either the wire stops moving or no current is in the coil. The Woods Induction Telegraph, a large oblong coil, or helix, was suspended from the train. A current was sent through the helix, generating a magnetic field about the train. When the train moved, the magnetic field moved along with it. The movement of the magnetic coil induced a current in stationary wires hung parallel to the track. Therefore, telegraph signals sent through the helix were also sent through the wires to stations and other trains.

Other inventions by Woods
An electric an incubator that was the predecessor to current machines that incubate 50,000 eggs at one time in 1900. And in the next three years he patented a series of advances in the development of air brakes. Other inventions dealt with air brake design in 1902, 1903, and 1905.

Granville T. Woods attained great fame as an electrician, an inventor, and a person. He brought luster to his name and benefited mankind through inventions of exceptional interest to the world of communications and science. He will be remembered as an ingenious American and a prolific inventor. Granville T. Woods died in New York City on January 30, 1910.

Patent Bibliography
A prolific inventor, Granville Woods was awarded more than 60 patents.

Steam Boiler Furnace
Telephone Transmitter
Apparatus for Transmission of Messages by Electricity
Relay Instrument
Polarized Relay
Electro Mechanical Brake
Telephone System and Apparatus
Electro Mechanical Brake Apparatus
Railway Telegraphy
Induction Telegraph System
Overhead Conducting System for Electric Railway
Electro-Motive Railway System
Tunnel Construction for Electric Railway
Galvanic Battery
Railway Telegraphy
Automatic Safety Cut-Out for Electric Circuits
Automatic Safety Cut-Out for Electric Circuits.
Electric Railway System
Electric-Railway Supply System.
Electric Railway Conduit
System of Electrical Distribution
System of Electrical Distribution.
Amusement Apparatus
Incubator.
Automatic Circuit-Breaking Apparatus.
Electric Railway
Electric Railway System
Regulating and Controlling Electrical Translating Devices
Electric Railway
Controlling Electric Motors or Other Electrical Translating Devices.
Controlling Electric Motors or Other Electrical Translating Devices.
Controlling Electric Motors or Other Electrical Translating Devices.
Controlling Electric Motors or Other Electrical Translating Devices.
Electric Railway.
System of Electrical Control.
Motor Controlling Apparatus.
Automatic Air Brake
Electric Railway System
Electric Railway
Railway-Brake Apparatus.
Electric-Railway Apparatus.
Railway-Brake Apparatus.
Safety Apparatus for Railways.
Safety Apparatus for Railways.
Vehicle-Controlling Apparatus.

[L.J]

James Weldon Johnson(17 June 1871-26 June 1938), civil-rights leader, poet, and novelist, was born in Jacksonville, Florida, the son of James Johnson, a resort hotel headwaiter, and Helen Dillet, a schoolteacher. He grew up in a secure, middle-class home in an era, Johnson recalled in Along This Way (1933), when "Jacksonville was known far and wide as a good town for Negroes" because of the jobs provided by its winter resorts. After completing the eighth grade at Stanton Grammar School, the only school open to African Americans in his hometown, Johnson attended the preparatory school and then the college division of Atlanta University, where he developed skills as a writer and a public speaker. Following his graduation in 1894 Johnson returned to his hometown and became principal of Stanton School.

School teaching, however, did not satisfy his ambitions. While continuing as principal Johnson started a short-lived newspaper and then read law in a local attorney's office well enough to pass the exam for admission to the Florida state bar. He also continued to write poetry, a practice he had started in college. In early 1900 he and his brother Rosamond, an accomplished musician, collaborated on "Lift Every Voice and Sing," an anthem commemorating Abraham Lincoln's birthday. African-American groups around the country found the song inspirational, and within fifteen years it had acquired a subtitle: "The Negro National Anthem."

"Lift Every Voice and Sing" was not the only song on which the brothers collaborated. In 1899 the two spent the summer in New York City, where they sold their first popular song, "Louisiana Lize." In 1902 they left Jacksonville to join Bob Cole, a young songwriter they had met early on in New York, in the quickly successful Broadway songwriting team of Cole and Johnson Brothers. Over the next few years Johnson was largely responsible for the lyrics of such hit songs as "Nobody's Lookin' but de Owl and de Moon" (1901), "Under the Bamboo Tree" (1902), and "Congo Love Song" (1903).

In 1906 Johnson's life took another turn when, through the influence of Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt appointed him U.S. consul to Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. In 1909 he moved to a more significant post as consul in Corinto, Nicaragua. A year later he returned to the United States for a brief stay in New York City, where he married Grace Nail, a member of a well-established African-American family. They did not have children. In 1912 revolution broke out in Nicaragua. Johnson's role in aiding U.S. Marines in defeating the rebels drew high praise from Washington. He left the Consular Service in 1913; there would be, he felt, little opportunity for an African American in the newly elected Democratic administration of Woodrow Wilson.

Johnson maintained his literary efforts during this period. Several of his poems (including "Fifty Years," commemorating the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation) appeared in nationally circulated publications. In 1912 he published The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, a novel whose central character, unlike Johnson, was light enough to "pass" as a white man; the book explores the young man's struggles to find his place in American society. Johnson returned to New York City in 1914, and he soon began a weekly column on current affairs for the New York Age, a widely distributed African-American newspaper.

In 1917 Johnson joined the staff of the interracial National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He worked as field secretary, largely responsible for establishing local branches throughout the South and for increasing overall membership from 10,000 to 44,000 by the end of 1918. In 1920 Johnson became the NAACP's first African-American secretary (its chief operating officer), a position he held throughout the 1920s.

Johnson was deeply committed to exposing the injustice and brutality imposed on African Americans throughout the United States, especially in the Jim Crow South. He labored with considerable success to put the NAACP on secure financial ground. He spent much time in Washington unsuccessfully lobbying to have Congress pass the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, legislation that would have made lynching a federal crime. Finally, Johnson was a key figure in making the NAACP a clearinghouse for civil-rights court cases; he collaborated closely with such noted attorneys as Moorfield Storey, Louis Marshall, and Arthur Garfield Hayes in a series of cases defending African-American civil rights and attacking the legal structure of segregation. In all these efforts he worked closely with Walter White, whom he brought into the NAACP as his assistant and who succeeded him as secretary, and W. E. B. Du Bois, the editor of Crisis, the NAACP monthly journal.

Johnson was probably better known in the 1920s for his literary efforts than for his leadership of the NAACP. He played an active role, as an author and as a supporter of young talent, in what has come to be called the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson urged writers and other artists to draw on everyday life in African-American communities for their creative inspiration. He played the role of a father figure to a number of young writers, including Claude McKay and Langston Hughes, whose often blunt prose and poetry drew condemnation from more genteel critics.

His own work during this period included a widely praised anthology, The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922), a volume that helped to give an identity to the "New Negro" movement. His continued interest in the African-American musical tradition found expression in two collections of spirituals that he and Rosamond brought out: The Book of American Negro Spirituals in 1925 and The Second Book of American Negro Spirituals in 1926. A year later Johnson published his poetic interpretation of African-American religion in God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse, a theme he first developed in "O Black and Unknown Bards" (1908). The year 1927 also saw the reissuing of The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Finally, Johnson published Black Manhattan (1930), the first history of African Americans in New York City.

In 1931 Johnson stepped down as secretary of the NAACP (though he remained on the association's board of directors) to become a professor at Fisk University. For the remainder of his life he spent the winter and spring terms in Nashville teaching creative writing and classes in American and African-American literature. The rest of the year the Johnsons largely spent in New York City. He remained active as a writer, publishing Along This Way, his autobiography, in 1933 and Negro Americans, What Now?, a work of social criticism, a year later. Johnson's unexpected death was the result of an automobile accident near Wiscasset, Maine.

Johnson took deserved pride in his accomplishments across a wide variety of careers: teacher, Broadway lyricist, poet, diplomat, novelist, and civil-rights leader. Though he suffered most of the indignities forced on African Americans during the Jim Crow era, Johnson retained his sense of self-worth; he proclaimed forcefully in Negro Americans, What Now? that "My inner life is mine, and I shall defend and maintain its integrity against all the powers of hell." The defense of his "inner life" did not mean withdrawal, but active engagement. Thus Johnson was a key figure, perhaps the key figure, in making the NAACP a truly national organization capable of mounting the attack that eventually led to the dismantling of the system of segregation by law.

Maintaining his "inner life" also led Johnson to write both prose and poetry that has endured over the decades. "Lift Every Voice and Sing," written a century ago, can still be heard at African-American gatherings, and the title phrase appears on the U.S. postage stamp issued in 1988 to honor Johnson. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man has remained in print since its reissue in the 1920s, and it holds a significant place in the history of African-American fiction. Along This Way, also still in print after more than sixty years, is acknowledged as a classic American autobiography. Finally, God's Trombones, Johnson's celebration of the creativity found in African-American religion, has been adapted for the stage several times, most notably by Vinnette Carroll (as Trumpets of the Lord) in 1963.

[L.J]

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American poet to garner national critical acclaim. Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1872, Dunbar penned a large body of dialect poems, standard English poems, essays, nove