Witness the final insult that birthed the AME Church: “You must leave this section now.” “Wait until the prayer is over and I will go,” softly replied the Black man, kneeling in prayer. “No, you must go now or I will call for aid and force you away,” warned the trustee. Hearing the commotion, Black Methodist preacher Richard Allen, a former slave, opened his eyes to see his friend, Absalom Jones, being forced from his knees. For Richard Allen, this was the last straw. He could no longer serve in a church that did not welcome his people as equals.” This pivotal moment, as described on the website Christianity.com, cemented the necessity for a church where Black congregants were truly seen as equals. An additional insult was that the Black members agreed to build the church balcony where they were relegated to worship. Not exactly in keeping with the Gospel teachings!
Browsing: Lost Black History
Rucker Park has been a cornerstone of Black basketball history, a legendary proving ground for both amateur and professional talent. Credit Walt “Clyde” Frazier, the swag God himself, who draped himself in mink coats and fedoras, flossing before the word was even in our lexicon. Young hustlers like Pee Wee Kirkland would step out of his Rolls Royce Silver Shadow just to run the court, competing to be the flyest “Cat” in the game. Rucker Park fundamentally shaped the game’s “Swag” and culture through the lens of the Hip-Hop tidal wave.
“The Sport of Kings” gained its moniker because of the British royalty and aristocrats’ love of thoroughbred racing. When horse racing came to America, an unexpected phenomenon was discovered. Over the course of generations, slaves groomed the horses, performing tasks like cleaning, feeding, exercising, brushing, clipping, and hoof care. Cheryl Brown annotated in Black History & Politics, “Because of the amount of time Blacks spent with the horses, Black riders had a superior connection with the horses compared to the White riders and trainers of their horses.”
Following the culturally rich Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, Chicago fostered its own vibrant gumbo of writers, painters, and a golden age of jazz/gospel. World War I’s labor demands lessened racial barriers. Visionary Robert Sengstacke Abbott, founder and editor of the influential Chicago Defender, recognized this opportunity and encouraged Southern Blacks—sharecroppers and their descendants—to move North. The used Pullman porters to distribute thousands of copies throughout the South, advertising jobs and a more tolerant racial climate.
Eleven Black women belong to the elite sorority of Oscar winners, including Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg, Mo’Nique, Jennifer Hudson, and Regina King. This group of extraordinary actresses owes a debt to Fredi Washington, who paved the way for Black women in Hollywood. In 1921, amidst the burgeoning Harlem Renaissance, Fredi, a recent arrival from Savannah, joined the “Happy Honeysuckles” of Shuffle Along, Broadway’s first Black-led show. To become a “Honeysuckle,” one had to pass the discriminatory “Brown paper bag test.” Josephine Baker barely passed and endured teasing for her ebony complexion. Fredi stood up for her, and they became lifelong friends.
The Alexandria, Virginia Library Sit-In is another example of “Lost Black History” that is not taught in schools. Britannica, in a common misconception, cites the beginning of the sit-in movement as 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina, stating, “…sit-in movement, nonviolent movement of the U.S. civil rights era that began in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960.” In fact, Black America’s first orchestrated sit-in was the 1939 Alexandria library boycott.
Dashing and debonair, Hubert Fauntleroy Julian, the “Black Eagle,” was born in Trinidad in 1897. That was 90 years after Britain had abolished slavery, and Hubert came from a well-to-do family, which sent him to school in England. World War I caused the family to move him to safety in Montreal.
Madam C.J. Walker’s meteoric, trailblazing business sojourn, employing nearly 40,000, is nothing short of phenomenal, especially considering the repressive era of American history in which it occurred—a time when slavery had just been outlawed and women lacked voting rights. Yet, her exploits are barely mentioned in schools.
Before the Civil War in 1789, famed Quaker Moses Brown initiated reparations, as documented in Brown University’s Slavery and Justice report. Callie House, known as the “Matriarch for Reparations,” spearheaded Black demands for restitution. Callie was born in 1861, and basically grew up free. She raised five kids as a widowed washerwoman living in Nashville. An 1891 pamphlet, Freedmen’s Pension Bill: A Plea for American Freedmen, sparked Callie’s lifelong reparations advocacy.
Edmonia Lewis is inarguably the most renowned mixed-race artist in American history. Her father was a free West Indian and her mother was part Chippewa and an artist in her own right. Edmonia’s groundbreaking sculpture was the gargantuan 3,000-pound work, The Death of Cleopatra. She devoted four years of her life to this marvel. This led her to Rome to rid the shackles of being a creative Black and a woman in the Reconstruction Era.