The Unhidden Minute

Maggie Lena Walker (July 15, 1864 – December 15, 1934) was a Black American businesswoman and teacher. In 1903 she was the first Black woman to charter a bank and serve as its president in the United States. As a financial leader, Walker achieved successes by creating opportunities to make tangible improvements in the way of life for Black Americans. Disabled by paralysis and a user of a wheelchair later in life, Walker also became an advocate for people with disabilities. Walker was a member of the Independent Order of St. Luke’s, a Black American benevolent organization that helped the sick and elderly in Richmond, Virginia. She encouraged Black Americans in Richmond to harness their economic power by establishing their own institutions and personal wealth.  The Penny Savings Bank opened in 1903. As an institution dedicated to the creation of Black wealth and financial independence Walker taught financial literacy and encouraged children to save their money by distributing thousands of “piggy banks”.  While other banks collapsed during the Great Depression St. Luke’s Penny Saving Bank survived. The bank eventually consolidated with two other large banks and moved to downtown Richmond. It is still in operation today.

Walker's restored and furnished home in the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia was designated in 1975 as a National Historic Site, now operated by the National Park Service.

https://www.nps.gov/mawa/index.htm

The Joy Trip Project celebrates Women’s History Month. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American history.

#unhiddenblackhistory #NationalParkService #yourparkstory #NationalGeographic #unhiddenminute

Before the turn of the 20th Century, a group of 20 Black Soldiers in the United States Army were tasked with taking part in a unique experiment to see if the horse could be replaced by the bicycle. Known collectively as the Buffalo Soldier Bicycle Corps, this unit of the 25th infantry, stationed at Fort Missoula Montana, demonstrated its effectiveness during maneuvers and patrols, covering greater distances than traditional cavalry units and proving the practicality of bicycles in military operations. Their missions included reconnaissance, mail delivery, and even participating in a 1,900-mile expedition from Missoula to St. Louis, Missouri in the summer of 1896.

The Buffalo Soldier Bicycle Corps left an enduring legacy as pioneers in the use of bicycles for military purposes. Their service challenged racial stereotypes and exemplified the value of fully integrating the U.S. military. The Buffalo Soldiers' contributions have been recognized and celebrated as an essential chapter in the history of Black Americans in the armed forces, highlighting their dedication, skill, and perseverance in the face of adversity.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-twenty-fifth-infantry-bicycle-corps.htm

The Joy Trip Project celebrates the enduring legacy of Black American History. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American historical figures, events and cultural contributions.

#unhiddenblackhistory #NationalParkService #yourparkstory #NationalGeographic #unhiddenminute

Shortly after the end of the American Civil War, the United States Congress formally approved the formation of six segregated regiments of Black soldiers in the U.S. Army. These regiments were the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry. These regiments played a significant role in the western frontier, where they were tasked with various duties, including protecting settlers, maintaining law and order, and participating in military campaigns against Native American tribes resisting westward expansion. Given the most deadly and dangerous assignments these soldiers faced severe racial discrimination, often receiving substandard resources and logistical support compared to their white counterparts. Despite the odds stacked against them, these regiments served with distinction and valor. It is believed that these Black soldiers earned the respect of the Native tribes they fought, who honored them with the spirit name of a creature they revered. Because of the color of their skin and hair that resembled the wooly texture of buffalo fur, they became known throughout the west as The Buffalo Soldiers.

The Joy Trip Project celebrates the enduring legacy of Black American History. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American historical figures, events and cultural contributions.

#unhiddenblackhistory #NationalParkService #yourparkstory #NationalGeographic #unhiddenminute

Become a paid subscriber to the Unhidden Minute Podcast for one year and receive a copy The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors 10th Anniversary Edition by James Edward Mills.

The United States presidential election of 1876 was a pivotal moment in American history. The two major candidates were Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. The election results were contested by allegations of fraud, disputed electoral votes, and political maneuvering.

Though Tilden won the popular vote but both candidates claimed victory in several key states. The dispute over electoral votes in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina created a political crisis, as both parties accused each other of manipulating the results.

To resolve the deadlock, a special Electoral Commission was established to ultimately award the disputed electoral votes to Hayes in a decision known as the "Compromise of 1877." As part of the deal, Hayes, a Republican, agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, effectively ending the era of Reconstruction. Without protection from physical violence and voter intimidation Black Americans would see the gradual erosion of their newly won civil rights and mark the beginning of the Jim Crow Era.

The Joy Trip Project celebrates the enduring legacy of American History. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of American historical figures, events and cultural contributions.

Become a paid subscriber to the Unhidden Minute Podcast for one year and receive a copy The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors 10th Anniversary Edition by James Edward Mills.

Not long after the end of the Civil War, during the era of Reconstruction seven Black men were elected to the United States Congress. These senators and representatives were sent by their constituents to Washington D.C. between 1870 and 1871 to enact legislation on behalf a nation that now included 4.3 million newly emancipated formerly enslaved U.S. Citizens. Their names were Hiram Rhodes Revels of North Carolina, Benjamin Sterling Turner of Alabama, Josiah Thomas Walls of Florida, Joseph Hayne Rainey, Robert Brown Elliot and Robert Carlos De Large of South Carolina and Jefferson Franklin Long of Georgia.

Among the laws they passed during the 41st and 42nd U.S. Congress was the Yellowstone Act of 1872. This legislation signed by President Ulysses S. Grant for the first time set aside a track of land for the benefit and enjoyment of the people and created our first National Park.

The Joy Trip Project celebrates the enduring legacy of Black American History. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American historical figures, events and cultural contributions.

#unhiddenblackhistory #NationalParkService #yourparkstory #NationalGeographic #unhiddenminute

Become a paid subscriber to the Unhidden Minute Podcast for one year and receive a copy The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors 10th Anniversary Edition by James Edward Mills.

Hiram R. Revels was a Black American politician and minister born free in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1827. Ordained by the African Methodist Episcopal Church he served a teacher of religion in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri and Kansas. Formally educated in theology at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois in 1857 he became the minister of a Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland and was the principal of the local Black high school. During the American Civil War, shortly after Congress authorized the creation of the United States Colored Troops, Revels recruited and organized two regiments of Black Union soldiers in Maryland and Missouri. In 1863, as a member of the U.S. Chaplain Corps, Revels ministered to combatants of the Battle of Vicksburg. During the era of Reconstruction, he relocated to Natchez Mississippi where he was elected alderman in 1868, state representative 1869 and U.S. Senator in 1870. Hiram Revels was the first Black American to serve in either house the of the U.S. Congress.

https://www.nps.gov/people/hiram-rhodes-revels.htm

The Joy Trip Project celebrates the enduring legacy of Black American History. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American historical figures, events and cultural contributions.

#unhiddenblackhistory #NationalParkService #yourparkstory #NationalGeographic #unhiddenminute

Become a paid subscriber to the Unhidden Minute Podcast for one year and receive a copy The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors 10th Anniversary Edition by James Edward Mills.

Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove) was a Black American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and social activist. She is noted as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the Guinness Book of World Records. Though other women might have been the first, their wealth is not as well-documented. Born a free woman two years after the Civil War in Delta, Louisiana in 1867, Sarah Breedlove emerged to be known as Madam C.J. Walker and created a business selling hair care and beauty products specifically for the Black community. By 1917, Walker and her company had trained 20,000 female sales agents who visited homes around the US and the Caribbean offering Walker’s products that were packaged in tin containers carrying Madam C.J.’s image on them. Walker showed Black women how to budget their resources, build their own businesses, and become financially independent. She even organized her agents into what became the National Beauty Culturists and Benevolent Association of Madam C. J. Walker Agents; one of America’s first \ national gatherings of female entrepreneurs.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/-h-our-history-lesson-madam-c-j-walker-african-american-millionaire-philanthropist-activist.htm

The Joy Trip Project celebrates the enduring legacy of Black American History. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American historical figures, events and cultural contributions.

#unhiddenblackhistory #NationalParkService #yourparkstory #NationalGeographic #unhiddenminute

The Pullman Porters (Circa 1865- December 31, 1968) were a group of predominately Black men hired to work as servers on railroad sleeping cars. Shortly after the Civil War, the entrepreneur George Pullman recruited formerly enslaved to provide primary services to passengers on trains traveling across the United States. Called porters the Pullman Company employees carried baggage, shined shoes and maintained the overnight accommodations of travelers. Though they were paid very low wages, the Pullman Porters earned a very good living through the cash they received from wealthy passengers “to insure prompt service” or tips. This steady employment allowed these workers to earn enough money to establish the basis of an emerging Black middle class. On August 25, 1925 more than 500 Pullman Porters gathered in Harlem, New York, to form the first Black American labor union. Organized by A. Philip Randolph the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was formed to demand higher salaries and better working conditions. Under this leadership the Pullman Porters set the stage for the emerging Civil Rights Movement.

https://www.nps.gov/pull/index.htm

The Joy Trip Project celebrates Black History Month. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American history.

Original illustration by Nate Taylor

#unhiddenblackhistory #NationalParkService #yourparkstory #NationalGeographic #unhiddenminute

Become a paid subscriber to the Unhidden Minute Podcast for one year and receive a copy The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors 10th Anniversary Edition by James Edward Mills.

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931)  was a Black American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (the NAACP). Born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Wells was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation during the American Civil War. In the 1880s she moved to Memphis, Tennessee where she worked as a teacher. Wells also co-owned and wrote for the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper. Her reporting covered incidents of racial segregation and inequality. In the 1890s, Wells documented lynching in the United States in articles and through her pamphlet called Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases.   In the year 2020, Wells was posthumously honored with a Pulitzer Prize special citation "[f]or her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching."

https://www.nps.gov/people/idabwells.htm

The Joy Trip Project celebrates Black History Month. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American history.

#unhiddenblackhistory #NationalParkService #yourparkstory #NationalGeographic #unhiddenminute

Become a paid subscriber to the Unhidden Minute Podcast for one year and receive a copy of The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors 10th Anniversary Edition by James Edward Mills.

Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, a racially tolerant and integrated community William Edward Burghardt Du Bois  was a Black American sociologist, socialist, historian, civil rights activist, writer and editor. After completing graduate work at the University of Berlin he attended Harvard University, where he was the first Black American to earn a doctorate.  He became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. Through his scholarly pursuit of higher education Du Bois advocated for the absolute equality and Civil Rights of all Black citizens.  He fought tirelessly against institutional racism, lynching and discrimination in employment. He was a powerful proponent of “organization"--not "apology"--against white oppression. In 1905 Du Bois led a group of prominent social activists to organize for the promotion of Civil Rights in Fort Erie Ontario near Niagara Falls. Called the Niagara Movement, the group met again at Harper’s Ferry West Virginia on the Campus of Storer College in 1906. This organization would evolve under the leadership of Du Bois to become the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( The NAACP) in 1909.

https://www.nps.gov/places/massachusetts-web-du-bois-boyhood-homesite-great-barrington.htm

The Joy Trip Project celebrates Black History Month. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American history.

#unhiddenblackhistory #NationalParkService #yourparkstory #NationalGeographic #unhiddenminute