Suffrage is the legal term for the right to vote. It is synonymous with women, because for the most part White men had the right to vote. We are not taught in school that Black-women were demonstratively active in the movement. It was a tenuous effort, because of residual racism from the antebellum period. Many of the women did not integrate and had Black only suffrage clubs. Let’s meet some of our prominent nubian advocates.
Browsing: Lost Black History
Dr. Woodson received a bachelor’s degree in 1903 from Berea College in Kentucky. At the University of Chicago, he received a second bachelor’s and a master’s degree in 1908. He earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912—the second Black man, after W.E.B. Du Bois, to do so. From 1903 to 1907, when he was 28 years old, Woodson worked as a teacher in the Philippines. The last year he spent traveling around the world. The Chicago Southsider noted he said, “Don’t be afraid to change your environment.” Dr Woodson was Webster’s definition of an erudite scholar.
By Don Valentine Author Horatio Alger created the “Opus” that hard work and honesty will help overcome obstacles and lead to success.” Wally Amos’ life…
Jim Crow chicanery led to a secret agreement to not sign any more Black players. That void was filled with the nascent Negro League. The Negro League Baseball Museum cited, “Black players formed their own units, ‘barnstorming’ around the country to play anyone who would challenge them.” The movie Bingo Long and the Traveling All Stars was based on those teams. In 1920, an organized league was formed under the helm of Andrew “Rube” Foster—a former player, manager, and owner for the Chicago American Giants.” Rube was a passionate visionary. After the first World War he took advantage of the “Great Migration” to unite an all-Black group of owners to create the Negro National Leaguge. The league had eight teams: The Chicago American Giants, the Chicago Giants, the Cuban Stars (New York), the Dayton Marcos, the Detroit Stars, the Indianapolis ABC’s, the Kansas City Monarchs, and the St. Louis Giants.
We were taught the Greeks led our globe in mathematical tasks. The accurate history is that all of the equations and algorithms for basic math operations were invented in Ishango, Africa. Another myth is that the Great Wall of China was the largest earthworks ever built by man. Guinness Book of World Records annotated, “the Walls of Benin were the world’s largest earthworks carried out prior to the mechanical era.”
One of the results of the northern “Great Migration” was the development of the “New Negro.” When World War One ended it brought home thousands of Black men who had more aplomb than when they left. According to the National Archives, more than 380,000 Black men served in the Army during the war. These Black men experienced respect, class and the novelty of being treated like an equal. The 1920’s saw the resentment of being treated like 3/5ths of man begin to be displayed. Subtle commentary first began in our Black arts and culture. Harlem was the mecca for this Belle Epoque, known as the “Harlem Renaissance” (Renaissance)
Black Peonage
Aunt Jemima was the perfect “Nod and a Wink” to snare the hungry fans of the prewar, antebellum lifestyle. The overweight, dim witted and just happy to feed her master’s family, she had become a rote character of minstrel shows. Britttanica notes, “The name came from a minstrel song dating to 1875 called ‘Old Aunt Jemima,’…” In 1889 one of the founders of the pancake mix heard it. He made a winning gamble on the myth of a loyal servant making flapjacks for her owner’s family. Britannica wrote, “The image was that of what has been called the ‘Mammy’ a popular trope of an enslaved older Black woman who cooked and cleaned for her White owners, apparently quite content with her lot in life. The image did not materially change following Black emancipation: it was represented by a dark-skinned heavyset woman of indeterminate middle age who wore an apron and a bandana as a headscarf. With a broad smile and exaggerated teeth and lips, the ‘Mammy’ figure was a staple of blackface vaudeville, a simpleminded character whose domain was the kitchen.”
Frederick Douglass’s son, Major Charles Redmond Douglas, was long on intellect, but short on temper. He was a retired officer formerly with the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry. That was the first Black regiment established during the Civil War. He and his wife were refused service at a restaurant along the Chesapeake Bay. The disgusting reason was that they do not service colored people. That was paradoxical, because Massassuchetes fought on the Union side.
In an ironic twist of fate, Black women have been at the vanguard for reparations. Heroines like Jenny Slew were on the forefront of our fight. According to Women History Blog.com, “Jenny Slew is believed to have been the first person held as a slave to be granted freedom through trial by jury…” She was born about 1719 as the child of a free white Woman and a Black slave. She lived her life as a free woman until 1762 when she was taken and enslaved by John Whipple Jr.”