Primary Sources, Black History

Black Anti-Fascists

East New York Radio Live, 4th of July Weekend!

Sojourner Truth and all other New York enslaved Blacks were emancipated on The 4th of July, 1827.

In 1799 the New York Legislature passed "An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery" with only token opposition. It provided for gradual manumission. The law freed all children born to slave women after July 4, 1799, but not at once. The males became free at 28, the females at 25. Till then, they would be the property of the mother's slaver. Slaves already in servitude before July 4, 1799, remained slaves for life, though they were reclassified as "indentured servants." The law sidestepped all question of legal and civil rights, thus avoiding the objections that had blocked the earlier bill.

 

The activity of kidnappers and cheats in selling slaves out of the state in spite of the laws was said to have been the impetus for the 1817 statute that gave freedom to New York slaves who had been born before July 4, 1799 -- but not until July 4, 1827. 

"One of the slaves who were freed in New York on July, 1827, the woman who named herself Sojourner Truth was destined to be the most remarkable." -Benjamin Quarles, "Black Abolitionists" pg 121

Officer Throws Female High School Student Across Classroom

A video of a "school resource officer" at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina throwing a female student out of her desk to the ground and across a classroom

Roy Paul is a highly sought after commentator specializing in the areas of education, social and economic justice, and the advancement of African Americans in modern pop culture and politics. Paul made history when he became the youngest African-American to ever be elected to public office in New York State when he was just 19 years old.  He served 5 years as a School Board Member in Middletown, NY.

He contributes political commentary on a number of networks including WABC 7 in New York and is a contributor to NewsGenius.com (part of Rap Genius).

Marlene Rivero portrays York's mother, whose son was the African-American Guide on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The painting is a self portrait as York's Mother Rose.Marlene Rivero developed her character in response to a Need to tell York's Story in 2003. The National Park Service first  saw  the program in Cairo, Illionois, and  it  has been seen by thosands of people between 2003-2006. It received honorable mention at the St louis, Mo. Marlene draws from the notes, songs, Costumes & spoken words she discovered while researching to tell of York's role in the L &  C Exp.

 

York was Clark’s childhood companion. He was enslaved.  He was devoted to William Clark. He was a guide on the expedition.  York had a great time on the expedition. He had, had his own rifle. He got to vote. He was a full member of the expedition. He had a, the Indians loved him.

Smart Hip Hop, CEO/Artist  Larry Lak

Melani N. Douglass is the Community Engagement Manager for Everyman Theatre - host of the Capacity Building Workshop presented by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. She was introduced to Everyman Theatre during her tenure as an Urban Arts Leadership Fellow while obtaining her MFA in Curatorial Practice from the Maryland Institute and College of Art. Douglass is also the founder of the Family Arts Museum - a nomadic, non-collecting institution that focuses on family as fine art, home as curated space and community as gallery. Her exhibition, Love on the Line: Stories of  a Baltimore Worth Living For was name as Best Pop-Up for Baltimore Magazine's 2015 Best of Baltimore list. 

HUD Grant Writing and Capacity Building Training Wed, August 5, 2015

http://www.hud.gov/emarc/index.cfm?fuseaction=emar.registerEvent&eventId=2518&update=N

Melani N. Douglass

Urban Arts Leadership Program Fellow

Education Department

Everyman Theatre

Baltimore, MD 21201

443.615.7055 x7133

www.everymantheatre.org

Twelve Years A Slave, Solomon Northup descendant, Irene Zahos..Call To Action!

Join The Gist of Freedom as we welcome Irene Zahos! Mrs. Zahos is promoting a CALL TO ACTION on behalf of Solomon Northup, her great, great grandfather. The Solomon Northup Legacy is initiating a campaign to have Solomon recognized for his activism role to end slavery. His book, Twelve Years a Slave, was a catalyst that prompted people in the mid 1800's to look at slavery  under the most extreme conditions of humanity and denigration of the human spirit.

www.blackhistoryblog.com www.blackhistoryuniversity.com

Solomon Northup upon his release and rescue from bondage became involved with the Underground Railroad acting as a conductor taking escaped slaves from Vermont into the freedom of Canada. He selflessly believed that "all men were created equal and that they should all; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

 As we look at the 21st century and with Solomon's book having been adapted to the 2013 Academy Award winning film, 12 Years a Slave, a new conversation has become engaged with a CALL TO ACTION giving voice to another hidden aspect of slavery called, human trafficking. The international viewing of the film has encouraged action and some positive results through the work of the UN-ILO. It has also brought American History into the limelight bringing attention to America's Slave History on a plateau that had not been acknowledged before. The National School Boards Association (NSBA) partnered with New Regency, Penguin Books and the filmmakers to distribute copies of the acclaimed film, book and study guide to America's public high schools.

Join The Gist of Freedom, www.blackhistoryblog.com, as we welcome William Lambert's descendant Christina Streety-Napier!

Lambert was a friend of radical abolitionist John Brown and, like the more militant abolitionist leader Henry Highland Garnet, Lambert called for the slaves to rise up against their masters. At times Lambert very publicly helped fugitive slaves escape to Windsor, Canada, which was just across the Detroit River from the city of Detroit. Lambert’s most famous incident occurred in 1847, when he had the owner of fugitive slave Robert Cromwell thrown in jail so that Cromwell could escape to Canada by boat.

Abolitionist and civil rights activist William Lambert was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1817, the son of a manumitted father and a freeborn mother. As a young man Lambert was educated by abolitionist Quakers.

Twenty-three year old Lambert arrived in Detroit, Michigan in 1840 as a cabin boy on a steamboat, and eventually started a profitable tailoring and dry cleaning business. Upon his death Lambert left behind an estate estimated at $100,000. Lambert was also a founder of the St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church and served as one of its wardens.

I

Sermon - The Battle Is Not Yours~ Rev. Hilton Mount Olive Baptist Hackensack NJ

Listen to socio-political analyst Cleo Manago discuss, Two officers shot in Ferguson... Don't Shoot Them Down, Shut Them Down! 

Two cops were shot in front of the Ferguson Police Department early Thursday. The shots were fired just as a small crowd of protesters began to break up after holding a demonstration in the wake of the resignation of the Ferguson police chief, who stepped down Wednesday.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said one officer was shot in the face, just below his right eye, with the bullet lodging behind his ear. The other officer was hit in the shoulder, and the bullet came out his back.

------As the Department of Justice prepares to release its full report into the Ferguson Police Department and Municipal Court System, it is becoming increasingly clear that the entire Ferguson Police Department may be forced to shut down.

Local authorities consistently approached law enforcement not as a means for protecting public safety, but as a way of generating revenue,” Holder said, adding that “racial bias both implicit and explicit” results in the unconstitutional execution of the law.

 

The thing is, though, the last department that Darren Wilson worked for, before he was allowed to transfer to the Ferguson Police Department, was also disbanded over severe issues of racism and corruption.