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.”
Browsing: Lost Black History
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.
The 1964 Freedom Summer was a catalyst for Black men to bear arms against the brutal tactics of Klan members to stop Blacks from voting. The project was designed to draw the nation’s attention to the violence Blacks experienced in Mississippi while exercising their right to vote. Robert Williams in his riveting book Negroes With Guns wrote, “The Deacons for Defense and Justice was an armed African American self-defense group founded in November 1964… On February 21, 1965—the day of Malcolm X’s assassination—the first affiliated chapter was founded in Bogalusa, Louisiana, followed by a total of 20 other chapters in this state, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama.