Lost Black History

      In the military annals, the mythical unicorn is a Black father-son Generals and it has only happened  once in U.S. history. The first Black Army General Benjamin O. Davis Sr. (Brigadier General 1940) and his son the first Black Air Force General (1998) are unicorns. General Davis Jr., made his father proud by attending West Point in 1932 and graduating in the top 12% in 1936. That made him the fourth Black cadet to graduate from West Point and the first in the 20th century. […]

     Retribution for the heinous treatment of the slaves in the British colony of South Carolina arrived Sunday morning September 9th, 1739. South Carolina became a state in 1776 after the Revolutionary War. The online encyclopedia Black Past.org chronicled the rebellion, “Led by an Angolan named Jemmy, a band of 20 slaves organized a rebellion on the banks of the Stono River. After breaking into Hutchinson’s store the band, now armed with guns, called for their liberty. As they marched, overseers were killed and reluctant slaves were forced to join the company.” […]

  The Bus Boycott in Montgomery began in 1955. It was initiated 9 months prior to the well documented protest by Rosa Parks. A 15 year spunky Claudette Colvin had the temerity to tell the White bus driver she would not relinquish her seat. In an interview with Newsweek she said, “It’s my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. I paid my fare, it’s my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady.” That was a courageous stand by the young sophomore. “I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other—saying, ‘Sit down girl!’ I was glued to my seat.” old  […]

As a point of historical notation, “#The MeToo movement” was not started by White actress Alyssa Milano’s “Me Too” tweet. Forbes magazine wrote, “While activist Tarana Burke originally coined the phrase ‘Me Too’ in 2006, it was the year of the Women’s March in 2017 when actress Alyssa Milano’s ‘Me Too’ tweet started a domino effect…” The followers of American history have seen this refrain many times. Mainstream media ignores the Black participation and credits a White person for the act. Thanks to 197 years of our Black Press telling our story we have more than “His-Story” for veracity. […]

      Lieutenant Colonel Allen Allensworth stands courageously in the vanguard of strong Black leaders. The history books all but ignore his creation of Allensworth. Thankfully the historic African American Registry notes, “The community of Allensworth, just 70 miles south of Fresno, in Tulare county, was the first and only Black owned city in California.” […]

Bessie Coleman, America’s “First Lady of Flight,” was feted by American Airlines to celebrate her 100-year aviation legacy. She was the first Black woman to earn a pilot’s license. American amassed a complete flight crew of all Black women to complete a flight in her memory. The 36 member flight crew included the full gamut of staff — the pilots, cargo team flight attendants and maintenance technicians. […]

Post Civil war industry rose like an economic Phoenix from the ashes of the war. The factories built by the North to defeat the rebels were not shut down, but their production tools were turned to peace time goals.  From the 1870’s into the 1900’s, that inertia fueled the Gilded Age.  Mark Twain’s 1873 book titled “The Gilded Age” was the origin of the name.  […]

      “40 Acres & A Mule’’ (40 Acres) is not just a pithy retort to a mundane question.  It was part of a complex post Civil war plan by the government. It was a two-pronged proposal to effect punitive retribution on the South and constructively integrate 10 million former slaves into the Union.   […]

     The comic “Color Line” was broken on July 31, 1969 with the introduction of Franklin Armstrong to the Peanuts family. Franklin was penned by the courage of Charles Schultz. Placing the first Black character was a big splash into the comic strip pool. The country had endured years of Civil Rights growing pains and it was debatable if it was ready for this subtle but unapologetic step toward integration. […]

  A 1908 race riot in the city of Springfield, Il, was the final tipping point that led to the creation of the N.A.AC.P. The organization’s historical records chronicled the origin: “Appalled at this rampant violence, a group of White liberals that included Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard (both the descendants of famous abolitionists), William English Walling and Dr. Henry Moscowitz issued a call for a meeting to discuss racial justice. […]