Primary Sources, Black History

Chet Whye, Charles Rangel's Campaign Consultant, Talks about The Victory w/ Roy Paul

"Rangel defeated his main challenger Adriano Espaillat by fewer than 2,000 votes in Tuesday's Democratic primary for the 13th Congressional District.

Campaign consultant Chet Whyte says voters did not abandon the congressman who has represented Harlem for more than 40 years."

The Associated Press..

Campaign Diretor: Harlem4Obama, Exec Dir:The HARLEM4 Center for CHANGE,

"Chet Whye, the leader of Harlem for Obama, has hosted Gillibrand and Rep. Charles Rangel at separate press events and town hall meetings, and has converted the Harlem for Obama headquarters into an advocacy non-profit called “Harlem4.”

HARLEM4 is a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization dedicated to providing a forum to generate bold new ideas and policy proposals for the great Village of Harlem in particular and urban America in general. Chet Whye is the founder and executive director.

Vicente Guerrero, Mexico’s first black president

Texas President Sam Houston lamented  that " two valuable negro boys for which I had paid in cash $2100 previous to my visit to Nashville, ran away last spring to Mexico. Thus you can see I am in bad luck." Just two and a half months after Mexico abolished slavery, officials were uneasy about the numbers of new Americans settling within Mexico and they attempted to curb the number of newcomers.

In 1830, Mexico decreed that foreigners could not cross the border without obtaining a passport issued by Mexican agents.Texans did not respect the MEXICAN border in their pursuits of Freed Blacks. In 1855, Captain James Callahan of the Texas Rangers entered Mexico in an attempt to recapture self-emancipated Africans.

Callahan insisted that the purpose of his excursion was to pursue Indians rather than recapture fugitive slaves. The Mexican government with the help of Native Americans, however, forced him to retreat and withdraw without any Freed Blacks.

Consequently, Mexico remained a place of amnesty.  Thousands of self emancipated Africans lived in Mexico by 1850.

Just two and a half months after Mexico abolished Finding the Mexican government uncooperative, Texas slaveowners took measures to stop escapes as well as to reclaim runaways.

 In 1850, they pressured the federal government to set up border patrols but with few troops assigned to patrol this vast frontier, this was not very successful.(21) Slaveowners also offered rewards of $200-$600 for the recapturing of fugitives.

Frederick Douglass -

"For my part, I would not care if, tomorrow, I should hear of the death of every man who engaged in that bloody war in Mexico, and that every man had met the fate he went there to perpetrate upon unoffending Mexicans...There are three millions of slaves in this land, I should welcome the intelligence tomorrow, should it come!

Vicente Guerrero, Mexico’s first black president

Texas President Sam Houston lamented  that " two valuable negro boys for which I had paid in cash $2100 previous to my visit to Nashville, ran away last spring to Mexico. Thus you can see I am in bad luck." Just two and a half months after Mexico abolished slavery, officials were uneasy about the numbers of new Americans settling within Mexico and they attempted to curb the number of newcomers.

In 1830, Mexico decreed that foreigners could not cross the border without obtaining a passport issued by Mexican agents.Texans did not respect the MEXICAN border in their pursuits of Freed Blacks. In 1855, Captain James Callahan of the Texas Rangers entered Mexico in an attempt to recapture self-emancipated Africans.

Callahan insisted that the purpose of his excursion was to pursue Indians rather than recapture fugitive slaves. The Mexican government with the help of Native Americans, however, forced him to retreat and withdraw without any Freed Blacks.

Consequently, Mexico remained a place of amnesty.  Thousands of self emancipated Africans lived in Mexico by 1850.

Just two and a half months after Mexico abolished Finding the Mexican government uncooperative, Texas slaveowners took measures to stop escapes as well as to reclaim runaways.

 In 1850, they pressured the federal government to set up border patrols but with few troops assigned to patrol this vast frontier, this was not very successful.  Slaveowners also offered rewards of $200-$600 for the recapturing of fugitives.

Frederick Douglass -

"For my part, I would not care if, tomorrow, I should hear of the death of every man who engaged in that bloody war in Mexico, and that every man had met the fate he went there to perpetrate upon unoffending Mexicans...There are three millions of slaves in this land, I should welcome the intelligence tomorrow, should it come!

Peter Gist Still the long lost enslaved brother of the Father of The Underground Railroad,  William Still. After 40 years Peter is reunited with his mother Charity Still!

Samuel Gist was a resident of Great Britain and Virginia. In his will, Gist insisted his daughter free all the slaves she owned on the Gould Hill Plantation in Virginia. She complied and establish 6 free Gist Settlements throughout Ohio. Many of the descendants of the enslaved Gist settlers still live on the settlement.

Samuel Gist was orphaned.  In 1739,  he was shipped to Virginia where he was indentured. 

Sequoyah (George Gist) created the Cherokee alphabet, the syllabary.

Secessionist South Carolina Governor – William Henry Gist, 1858-1860 The first to secede

NAACP-Riverside Branch’s 2014 Freedom Fund Celebration & Listen tonight to Ida B. Wells' Speech read by Ruby Dee!**

 The event recognizes those who have made significant contributions in the community. NAACP Riverside will host its 2014 Freedom Fund Celebration on Wednesday, May 14, 2014 from 5:00-9:30 p.m. 

Tickets are $75 per person or $750 per table. Tickets can be purchased online at www.naacp-riverside.org.

Ms. Waudieur “Woodie” E. Rucker-Hughes is an outstanding community leader, dubbed “Women we Admire” by Riverside Magazine, who has served for over 12 years as the President of the NAACP Riverside Chapter. She is also the Area Director for the Southern Region on behalf of the California State Conference NAACP. She holds a Master of Arts Degree in Educational Administration from University of Redlands. She received her undergraduate degree from D.C. Teachers College, with a major in History, and a minor in Geography. 

For information, email [email protected] and visit www.facebook.com/RiversideNAACP.

Louise Dente, Cultural Caravan TV, Producer and Founder

Irene Northrup-Zahos, is the great, great granddaughter of Solomon Northup, the author of 'Twelve Years a Slave'. She is related to Solomon via his son, Alonzo; Alonzo's son, John Henry ('Zip') Northrup, Solomon's grandson and my grandfather; John Henry's son, my father, John Calvin Northrup. She has written the essay, 'Absent From the Table', which can be accessed via www.twelveyearsaslave.org which is a website that Frank Eakin has.  She has  been hesitant in pursuing contact with media outlets being guarded of her family's (Solomon's) responsibility and the legacy of her 2x great grandfather. The primary reason for this hesitancy is obvious when someone views her from upfront as I she is White! Her immediate family is of diverse ancestry and lineage.

“THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD”

Written by Leslie Gist & William Beasley 

The play has been a dream of Leslie’s for quite some time and now it is coming to fruition. Ms. Sherry Jackson, past foreman of The National Park Service asked Leslie to write a play about the Underground Railroad in a manner that kids could relate to. The theme is that kids in an Underground Railroad Safe House are going on a journey. This reading pulls the audience in as it covers two eras: the past and the present. 

Mrs. Gist is working with Harlem Actors. For this rendition, the actors will be seated on the stage in their street clothes, and reading the script. While this is not a full blown production, it is a prelude to what is next. 

The Saturday Academy is honored that Mrs. Gist asked our John Wesley family and friends to be the first audience. You are encouraged to come out with our kids and youth, use your imagination, digest some of our history in an alternative manner, and look forward to the next chapter. 

Leslie continues to inspire us with all that she does.  As author and historian, her book – “The Gist of Freedom is Still Faith” is a must read. She has been a friend and staunch supporter of the Saturday Academy since 2010. 

Our guests have a three to four hour trip as they are traveling from New Jersey and New York. 

Please RSVP by 10 January 2014 

Actors Justin W. White,  Fredric Michaels, Winter -Lee Holland and Niambi Steele

Point of contact: Betty Brooks, [email protected]

Tonight at 8pm learn more about William Lambert on The Gist of Freedom as we resume our reading of William Katz's book Breaking The Chains, Chapter 12 "Black Militias" 

William Lambert created the “African American Mysteries; the Order of the Men of Oppression,” a complicated set of rituals that protected the very existence of the Underground Railroad.

Lambert was a friend and confidant of well known abolitionist John Brown, who Lambert insisted was a sane and reasonable man who voluntarily sacrificed himself to fan the flames of liberty.

Blackburn, Thornton and Ruth (or Lucie) 

The Blackburns successfully and bravely escaped slavery from Louisville, KY. They had been settled in Detroit, Michigan, for two years when, in 1833, Kentucky slave hunters captured and arrested the couple. The Blackburns were jailed but allowed visitors, which provided the opportunity for Ruth to exchange her clothes - and her incarceration - with Mrs. George French; Ruth escaped to Canada. The day before Thornton was to be returned to Kentucky, the African American community rose up in protest. While the commotion was going on, Sleepy Polly and Daddy Walker helped Thornton to escape to Canada. The commotion turned into a two day riot and the sheriff was killed. It was the first race riot in Detroit, and afterward the first Riot Commission was formed in the U.S. Once in Canada, Thornton designed, built, and operated Toronto's first horse-drawn carriage hackney cab and cab company.

Black Whalers,  with genealogist Earl Depass!

Whaling: Opportunities for African Americans 

Four Whalers of African Descent

The whaling industry, created several black abolitionists, entrepreneurs & philanthropists!

Whaling Centered until the 1870s in New Bedford, employed a large number of African Americans. This was in part due to the Quaker tradition of tolerance in the New Bedford area, but more importantly, to the large demand for manpower in an expanding industry requiring unusually large crews.

Some black seamen in the business were Americans, from the Northeast and the South, some were from the West Indies, and a significant group was from the Cape Verde Islands off the African coast. Whatever their origin, black seamen found acceptance as hard workers and skilled mariners in an industry that was physically demanding, dirty, and often financially unrewarding.

When the center of the industry moved to San Francisco in the 1870s, African Americans continued to form a large percentage of the crews. The whaling business was no doubt the largest employer of African Americans seamen on the West Coast until it ended shortly before World War I.