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In a year of firsts, Connecticut has added its name to the list. This week, the state of Connecticut has announced that all high schools will be required to offer courses on Latino, Puerto Rican and Black history. High schools will have the option to offer these courses in the 2021-2022 academic year, but the schools will be required to offer these history courses beginning in the fall of 2022.

"Identities matter, especially when 27% of our students identify as Hispanic or Latino and 13% identify as Black or African American," Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona said.

"This curriculum acknowledges that by connecting the story of people of color in the U.S. to the larger story of American history. The fact is that more inclusive, culturally relevant content in classrooms leads to greater student engagement and better outcomes for all. This law passed due in large part to the strong advocacy of students from around the state and the legislative leadership of State Representative Bobby Gibson and State Senator Doug McCrory. I thank Ingrid Canady, the SERC team, and all of our partners who contributed to and drove us to this historic moment."

Connecticut is home to some of the country's most prestigious prep schools such as Choate Rosemary Hall, the Salisbury School, Greenwich Country Day School, the Hotchkiss School and the Taft School. While these changes may be new to some top public schools and prep schools, New London's C.B. Jennings Dual Language Elementary in Norwich has been teaching their students about different cultures for some time now. Taking a step further, schools in Norwich are looking to add courses in Middle School that will prepare students for the new courses offered in high school

"It's great to see a standard practice as opposed to relying on teachers' enthusiasm and passion for exposing children to Black and Latino studies," Norwich Assistant Superintendent of Schools Tamara Gloster said.

"We're looking to encompass and expand upon that through studying Cesar Chavez and his leadership as it relates to civil rights and how that impacts on other countries."

Ultimately, Dr. Cardona believes that the passing of Public Act 19-12 will help students learn and others feel see in a way that they may not have before.

"For me, I recall taking in college a course on Latino studies and it just made me feel seen," Cardona said.

"What we want to do is provide that opportunity for all students to learn about the contributions of Latinos and African Americans in a way that they see that they do add to the fabric of our country."
Photo Credit: Getty Images

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Connecticut Becomes First State To Require Courses On Black History | BIN: Black Information Network

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In a year of firsts, Connecticut has added its name to the list. This week, the state of Connecticut has announced that all high schools will be required to offer courses on Latino, Puerto Rican and Black history.

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Mayor's Office on African American Affairs

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The Commission on African American Affairs was established on March 14, 2012, in response to the 2010 Census to address the low indicators of economic, health, housing in African American communities. The Mayor's Office on African American Affairs was established on February 17, 2018 through DC ACT 22-219 to monitor the delivery of services and to make policy recommendations to the District government.

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February is Black History Month, and we're taking the opportunity to highlight several California Humanities grant-funded events you can attend across California, from films to exhibits, radio broadcasts to performances, library celebrations, and more.

At the Museum of the African Diaspora, enjoy film screenings every Wednesday this month as a part of Black is Beautiful: The Black Power & Jazz Film Series. On February 19, see ABBEY LINCOLN IS, about the jazz singer, songwriter, and movie actress Abbey Lincoln who lived her life in a way that demanded respect-as an artist and as a Black woman. Independent curator Ashara Ekundayo and music scholar Angela M. Wellman will introduce the film and lead a post-screening discussion. Then, on February 26, watch MR. SOUL! about the groundbreaking public affairs and entertainment program on public TV hosted by the Visionary Ellis Haizlip that combined talk and performance with poets from the Black Arts Movement such as Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez, activists like Stokely Carmichael and musical artists such as LaBelle and Ashford and Simpson. Filmmaker Melissa Haizlip will introduce the film and lead a post-screening discussion.

SAN FRANCISCO-Film Screening & Discussion: ABBEY LINCOLN IS

SAN FRANCISCO-Film Screening & Discussion: MR. SOUL!

Funded in part by California Humanities' California Documentary Project grant program, Romeo is Bleeding follows Donté Clark, a young poet growing up in Richmond, California, as he works with students to rewrite and stage an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet set in the streets of Richmond. Join a special fundraising event for California Humanities on February 12 with a screening of this film, featuring Donté Clark as a special guest speaker.

Catch another California Humanities-supported documentary on February 1 as a part of the de Young Museum's Free Saturdays celebration of the exhibition, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983. Join directors Abby Ginzberg and Frank Dawson for a screening of their film AGENTS OF CHANGE, the untold story of the racial inequities on college campuses during the late 60s that led to protests for more relevant and inclusive education. The striking similarities between this pivotal time and our current day confirms how much work still remains to be done.

Black Gold in Siskiyou and Shasta County

In the mountains of Northern California, in Shasta and Siskiyou Counties, one of the largest gold mining events of the 19th century occurred. Within a few years of the first discovery of gold, miners had arrived from all corners of the globe. Among those arriving in the west were a significant number of African Americans. In fact by 1852 over 2,000 men of African American descent were in the California gold fields. However, today little is ever mentioned about the free and enslaved black men and women who lived in the northern California wilderness by pick and shovel. On January 31, the Turtle Bay Museum in Redding unveils their new exhibit, Voices of the Golden Ghosts, focused on the life of African Americans involved in gold mining in the 1850s in Northern California, specifically Siskiyou County. The exhibit includes video interviews with historians and participants. A week later, on February 9, in Weed, an event combining storytelling, theatrical performance, and lecture will reconstruct the lives of these African Americans. Then, on February 20, tune into Jefferson Public Radio for a special interview and discussion of African American miners in the Siskiyous border of California and Oregon in the 1850s. Voices of the Golden Ghosts director Mark and Chelsea Rose of Southern Oregon University's Anthropology Department will join the hosts to talk about their theatrical piece and museum exhibit around this history.

REDDING-Exhibit: Voices of the Golden Ghosts

JPR-Radio Broadcast: Underground History

New Afro-Latino Exhibit Opening in Los Angeles

In the first exhibition of its kind in a major institution, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes in downtown Los Angeles explores the history and contemporary experiences of Afrolatinidad in the area through art, photographs, and personal objects. In the exhibition, visitors enter a recreated Afro-Latinx home and understand how this vibrant yet underrepresented community is central to Los Angeles culture. On February 22, join LA Plaza as they celebrate the opening with small bites, a live DJ, and a Afro-Peruvian dance performance.

LOS ANGELES-Opening reception: afroLAtinidad: mi casa, my city

Celebrating Neighborhood African American History in West Oakland

Join Commons Archive for a special Thursday evening 'after-hours' at North Oakland's Golden Gate Library on February 13. Hear historian and writer Susan Anderson talk about the East Bay Negro Historical Society, their impact on the Golden Gate Branch and the African American Museum and Library at Oakland, as well as their legacy in Oakland. Experience the Golden Gate Library Local Collection, a new place-based reference series, in specially designed reading chairs crafted from repurposed library furniture. Explore neighborhood stories in larger than life photo and text prints installed on library windows, hallways and even the elevator. Contribute your neighborhood memory to the project's growing collection of community stories. Enjoy local music from the library's collection curated by The MERCER Brotherhood. Leo Mercer, a displaced North Oakland neighbor and rap-activist, will share an audio collage created from performances of the Golden Gate Library Summer Jazz Concert series along with local music and neighbor stories.

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Black History in California - California Humanities

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February is Black History Month, and we're taking the opportunity to highlight several California Humanities grant-funded events you can attend across California, from films to exhibits, radio broadcasts to performances, library celebrations, and more. At the Museum of the African Diaspora, enjoy film screenings every Wednesday this month as a part of Black is Beautiful: The Black Power & Jazz Film Series.

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To the editor: I am a parent to a fifth-grader at a Burbank public school. Since my daughter has been in this district, she has learned almost nothing about African American history. This is not how a student is supposed to receive a well-balanced education. (" Seven things Californians can do right now to fight structural racism," editorial, June 4)

As we all know, education is one of the most important functions in a society. It is important for children to know about the history of this country and how it affects what's happening today.

African American history is just as important as any other part of this country's history. It is more than just Black History Month or something that covers a few civil rights leaders, and it needs to be more thoroughly incorporated into our curriculum year-round, regardless of the percentage of people of color in a district.
Africa Turner, Burbank
..

To the editor: Your editorial says we should fight racism with education - but what kind of education?

As budget cuts loom for education, and schools have to decide where and what to cut, let me make the case for music and art education. Traditionally, when education budgets have to be cut, music and art teachers are the first to go. But the arts are what humanize us and civilize us.

What has driven our state curriculum guidelines has been what we choose to test. We don't test how to be a decent, caring human being. We don't test knowledge of how to deal with bullying, racism or abuse of power. We don't test the knowledge of what music and art teach us about our shared humanity.

The time has come to reorder our priorities. How and what we teach needs to be reevaluated. If we don't spend our money on the best kind of education, we will be doomed to spend it responding to law enforcement abuses and protests.
Diana Wolff, Rancho Palos Verdes The writer is a professor emerita of education at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

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Letters to the Editor: Students need African American history in school. Today's unrest proves it

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To the editor: I am a parent to a fifth-grader at a Burbank public school. Since my daughter has been in this district, she has learned almost nothing about African American history. This is not how a student is supposed to receive a well-balanced education.

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California Commission for the Preservation of African-American History, Culture, and Institutions
not specifically about education

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A proposal to establish a task force to study and prepare recommendations for how to give reparations to African Americans passed the California Assembly on Thursday.

The bill advanced with a 56-5 vote as protests nationwide over police brutality re-energized the movement for racial justice and activists pressed for sweeping reforms. It is a top priority for California's Legislative Black Caucus.

If the bill passes the Senate and is signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, eight people with backgrounds in racial justice reforms would lead a study into who would be eligible for compensation and how it should be awarded.

APP: Download the new CBS Sacramento News app for iOS and Android

Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a Democrat from San Diego who wrote the bill, said the study would reiterate California's history of abetting slavery, even as it joined the union as a "free state" in 1850.

"The discriminatory practices of the past echo into the everyday lives of today's Californians," said Weber, who leads the Legislative Black Caucus.

The panel would start meeting no later than June 2021

Congress last June held the first hearing on reparations in over a decade about a bill to study providing compensation to atone for the country's history of slavery. But the legislation did not make it to a vote.

The federal government has given reparations before. After 120,000 Japanese Americans were held at internment camps during World War II, the U.S. government apologized and in 1988 paid $20,000 to each surviving victim.

"We seem to recognize that justice requires that those who have been treated unjustly need the means to make themselves whole again," Weber said.

Another priority of California's Legislative Black Caucus passed Wednesday when lawmakers approved a proposal to repeal California's affirmative action ban, passed the Assembly. Voters will decide on the measure in November if the Senate approves the bill by June 25.

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African American Reparation Bill Passes California Assembly

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A proposal to establish a task force to study and prepare recommendations for how to give reparations to African Americans passed the California Assembly on Thursday. The bill advanced with a 56-5 vote as protests nationwide over police brutality re-energized the movement for racial justice and activists pressed for sweeping reforms. It is a top priority for California's Legislative Black Caucus.

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When Mariah Toennies was temporarily on crutches and sitting out of gym class, she said she was able to speak with her teacher at Nolensville High School a little more than usual. During one conversation her teacher learned Toennies was adopted by a white family, and that her birth father was black. Toennies said her teacher then asked if that meant she was "from the ghetto."

"I felt like the racism experienced by teens in our community is because of a lack of awareness and a level of ignorance and not knowing the history," Toennies said.

The African American history course description states that students will learn about the "contributions of African Americans from the early 1600s through the contemporary United States," including before, during and after the Civil War. Lessons on the Jim Crow era and the Harlem Renaissance are also listed. However, the state also writes that "the standards are what students should know... the standards do not dictate how a teacher should teach them."

That individual teachers must determine how to communicate sensitive subjects is part of the problem, according to a Tennessee historian, writer and curriculum creator. Carey created Tennessee History for Kids in 2004, a nonprofit that provides print and digital educational material for Tennessee students. The organization sells history for $2 and offers webinars.

"As someone who makes his living doing this, I don't know what's being taught. Some schools use what I do and students are informed," Carey said. "It varies wildly."

Carey also said teachers aren't given enough training or instruction about teaching the history of slavery, the Civil War and African American history, but still shoulder the blame when they make mistakes.

In February, a student teacher at Waverly Belmont was fired after giving a controversial slavery assignment to a fourth grade class. In November 2019, another Metro Public Schools teacher was placed on leave after an assignment about the "n-word." A recent submission to Dearest WCS -which has shared 310 anonymous accounts of racism and prejudice in Williamson County schools since July 1-said a class assignment asked students to imagine what their expectations of slaves would be if their families had owned them.

"Teachers are afraid because no matter what they do someone is going to get in trouble," Carey said. "Our hearts should all go out to the teachers. The truth of the matter is they're kind of thrown out there and they're supposed to teach this. School systems owe it to teachers to help them out on the subject."

Inadequacies in Black history education span multiple generations and ethnicities in Tennessee. In an anonymous online survey of 343 current and previous Tennessee students, 84% said they did not feel their education about slavery and Black history was adequate, and 72% said their education on those subjects was not anti-racist despite a majority of respondents identifying as white.

Of those surveyed, 71% attended public schools. When asked how many had BIPOC or Black teachers, 23% reported they had never had a teacher of color, and 17% reported they had only one.

"It felt like Black people only existed during slavery and the Civil Rights era. And Native Americans stopped existing after the Trail of Tears," one respondent wrote when asked what they would change about their education.

"None of our assignments reflect a deeper understanding of the plight of BIPOC in our country," another wrote.

The lack of proper racial history education has lasting negative effects on people after they leave school, according to Gicola Lane, a community organizer who advocated for Nashville's police community oversight board. Lane, whose uncle was shot and killed by Metro police, said the school-to-prison pipeline is propped up by inaccurate or inadequate education. Lane said she knows several people who began to get in trouble in high school and are still incarcerated.

Like Toennies, Lane said that during her public school education she did not learn much about her own ancestral heritage and found it damaging. In public school, textbooks were often falling apart or students had to share. Lane said it wasn't until she attended a historically black university (HBCU) that she began to be more interested in history class.

"Oftentimes, as black people, we don't know our roots," Lane said. "I didn't see myself in the history books I was provided in school. But once I went to an HBCU I started finding my people within history. That made me way more interested."

In at least some schools, educators are working to improve their knowledge and learn how to better teach students. Toennies said she spoke with her principal at Nolensville High School and was pleased to learn he had been educating himself on Black history.

"I actually went to my school with other students of color and we had a sit-down conversation with my principal, Bill Harlan, on how we can unify our school and one of the main topics was the education piece of it," Toennies said. "We have the full support of our community and it was a beneficial conversation."

Teachers are afraid because no matter what they do, someone is going to get in trouble. School systems owe it to teachers to help them out on the subject. - Bill Carey, historian

Fernandez Le Blanc said she had an entirely different experience in school after moving from a private Tennessee school to a school in the Domincan Republic, where her father is from. Before opening the Nashville Sudbury School-which is currently on hiatus-she taught in the public education system. She experienced the same kind of fear Carey said teachers face daily.

"I closed the door and I didn't teach the curriculum," Fernandez Le Blanc said. "A lot of people live in fear, and teachers live in fear. They make no money."

"Stop sugarcoating it. They're not fragile," Fernandez Le Blanc said. "I am giving my children this freedom so they can pass it down and we can potentially in 250 years be in a different place, and it be for the better."

"I'm proud of Nolensville as a community," Toennies said. "I don't want anyone to think that I hate the public school system. I just want there to be a deeper education on the racial history of America and how we can be sensitive, and aware of the things that we say, so that we don't contribute to systemic racism."

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Students work to better Black history and slavery education in TN - Tennessee Lookout

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When Mariah Toennies was temporarily on crutches and sitting out of gym class, she said she was able to speak with her teacher at Nolensville High School a little more than usual. During one conversation her teacher learned Toennies was adopted by a white family, and that her birth father was black.

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(a) The course of instruction in all public schools should include, at some appropriate grade level or levels, as determined by the local board of education, courses and content designed to educate children in black history and culture and the contribution of black people to the history and development of this country and of the world. The general assembly finds that the goal of curriculum shall include the history, heritage, culture, experience and ultimate destiny of all social, ethnic, gender and national groups and individuals, and that such are represented as interdependent, interactive and complementary. The state board of education shall include multicultural diversity when developing frameworks and curricula to be taught at appropriate grade levels kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12).

(b) The commissioner of education shall annually advise all school district boards of education of this section.

(c) The study materials used in the course of instruction authorized by this section shall follow the state board of education's guidelines concerning pornography.

Disclaimer: These codes may not be the most recent version. Tennessee may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.

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2015 Tennessee Code :: Title 49 - Education :: Chapter 6 - Elementary and Secondary Education :: Part 10 - Curriculum Generally :: § 49-6-1006 - Black history and culture.

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(a) The course of instruction in all public schools should include, at some appropriate grade level or levels, as determined by the local board of education, courses and content designed to educate children in black history and culture and the contribution of black people to the history and development of this country and of the world.

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Tennessee offers the chance to learn about the struggles and triumphs of African Americans who helped to shape and build our country:

Dunbar Carver Museum is located on the site of the former Carver High School, and tells the stories of African American life in Haywood County through events associated with the more than a century-old existence of the Dunbar-Haywood County Training Center-Carver High School.

Experience the story of Stax Records, one of the most famous recording studios in the world, through interactive exhibitions and artifacts. The museum shares how creative individuals came together to write, record and produce some of the best soul music in Memphis, regardless of skin color or background. The hall of records where the walls are lined floor-to-ceiling with albums and singles released by Stax gives guests a tangible view of the large impact Stax had on the world's music.

This museum is one of the most extensive in African American history. From cultural and scientific achievements to postal stamps through the years that have honored African Americans like Ralph Bunche and Martin Luther King, Jr., visitors can see the vast ways African Americans have influenced political and social culture.

The house, purchased by ex-slave Harvey McLemore in 1880, was a model of community development in Hard Bargain, the first African American middle class neighborhood in Franklin that consisted of carpenters, teachers, masons and farmers. The house now serves as a museum that promotes cultural and historical preservation, celebrating the rich African American heritage of Franklin and Williamson County.

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Places in Tennessee to Explore African American History

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Tennessee offers the chance to learn about the struggles and triumphs of African Americans who helped to shape and build our country: Dunbar Carver Museum is located on the site of the former Carver High School, and tells the stories of African American life in Haywood County through events associated with the more than a century-old existence of the Dunbar-Haywood County Training Center-Carver High School.

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NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - A student-teacher at Waverly Belmont has been fired after giving a controversial assignment to a fourth grade class. The lesson was related to Black History Month and the instruction to the assignment began with "Let's make a slave."

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Student-teacher fired after controversial Black History Month assignment | News Break

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NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - A student-teacher at Waverly Belmont has been fired after giving a controversial assignment to a fourth grade class. The lesson was related to Black History Month and the instruction to the assignment began with "Let's make a slave."

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---Nineteen Africans are shipped to , on Dutch ships, as indentured servants.The Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese all send African slaves to work in both North and South America during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

Feb. 2Eight years after the settlement of Boston, a ship named Desire arrives in Boston with its first African slaves.

authorize slavery through legislation as part of the 1641 Body of Liberties.They will be followed by Connecticut (1650), Virginia (1661), Maryland (1663), New York and New Jersey (1664), South Carolina (1682), Rhode Island & Pennsylvania (1700), North Carolina (1715), and Georgia (1750).

for sugar, tobacco, and liquor; these products are then taken to New England to be sold for lumber (including masts for the ships) and manufactured goods. Newport, Rhode Island, and Salem, Massachusetts, will become major ports during this period, which marks the beginning of the extensive introduction of African slaves into the British West Indies to work on the sugar plantations. In some respects it can be considered the first industrial revolution, in which profits result directly from the use of cheap labor.[ Hunt]

---The Barbados Slave Code establishes a legal base for in , denying slaves even the basic rights

guaranteed under English common law, including the right to life, and allows the slaves' owners to treat their slaves as they wish, without fear of reprisal. Thus the West Indies begins the process of making slavery both African and brutal by statute.[ Hunt]

---From 1660 to about 1710, slavery converts slowly to the West Indies model. At first the distinction between slavery

and indentured servitude are imprecise.As the planter class develops, though, slavery is considered essential in establishing such cash crops as rice in South Carolina. Within 50 years, Charles Town (Charleston), South Carolina, will become the largest mainland slave market.[ Berlin]

---As the English take control of , slaves make up about 20% of the population of the city. [ Berlin]

---King Philip's War begins as population growth and new leadership in the New England colonies create tensions between the settlers and the Native Americans over territory and resources.This exceptionally violent year-long war will decimate both sides, destroy land and property, and result in the end of traditional ways of life in the native communities - hundreds of natives are forced into servitude or sold into slavery in the West Indies, a common practice until around 1720. [ Hunt]

---By the third decade of the 18lavery is well established in the th century, a system of organized agricultural s Chesapeake region.Virginia's slave population will grow from 3,000 in 1680 to 27,000 by 1720.

--- South Carolina adopts the provisions of the Barbados Slave Code and creates a basic outline for slavery in British

North American colonies.
1712
June 20 is founded.It is the only colony that ever specifically attempts to make slavery illegal. Its founder James

Sept. 9Slaves revolt in : 25 whites are killed before the revolt is suppressed.

Friends to give up their slaves.

Mar. 5Runaway slave Crispus Attucks is the first person killed in the Boston Massacre.

June 28Quakers open a school for black students in Philadelphia .William Penn holds monthly meetings for blacks, advocating emancipation. n.emancipation.

Jan. 6Massachusetts slaves petition the state legislature for their freedom.

Sept. 1 The first The first book published by an African American is a volume of poetry by Phyllis Wheatley.

AprilThe first abolitionist society in the United States is organized inPhiladelphia.

Nov. 16Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, issues the first large-scale emancipation of slaves in American history (when he offers freedom to Virginia's slaves if they will agree to aid the British cause by serving in the Army.Within a month, Dunmore raises 800 soldiers, more than doubling his troops.

Dec. 14In the the Virginia House of Burgesses declares Dunmore's Proclamation "encouragement to a general insurrection" and threatens all rebelling slaves with a death sentence.

July 4A section denouncing the slave trade in an early draft of the Declaration of Independencefails to be approved

by the Continental Congress on July 1, when both Northern and Southern slave-holding delegates object; it does not appear in the final draft, adopted on this date.

July 8A is published. [ Although calling itself a state, Vermont will not be admitted to statehood until March 4, 1791 - it is more of an independent republic at this time], and becomes the first American colony to abolish slavery; a number of others will follow over the next ten years. However, many of the state emancipation laws specify only gradual abolition, beginning with the second or third generation after the law takes effect.Slaves are listed in the Pennsylvania census through 1850. [ Hunt]

---Around 5,000 African American soldiers participate in the American Revolutionary War.

Dec. Robert, James Robertson's black servant, is among the small party of explorers who select the site in Middle Tennessee. By 1800 nearly half the population of the settlement (154 of 345) are African Americans - all but three of them are slaves.[TN Goodstein]

Clause, the three-fifths clause, and a clause prohibiting the abolition of the African slave trade before 1808.[ Foner, Forever Free]

are uncomfortable with the idea of forming independent (not merely segregated) congre-gations.A.M.E. Founder Richard Allen chooses Methodism as the basis for his church because it emphasizes "the plain and simple gospel," as well as a strong commitment to education and self-help. When this group unites with churches in other cities in 1816, Richard Allen is elected the first bishop of the A.M.E. Church. African Americans are creating their own national institutions long before slavery comes to an end. [ Hunt]

---TN The population of the Tennessee Territory is 35,691; of those, 3,417 (9.6 percent) residents are black.

Jan. 16 Robert "Black Bob" Renfro, still a slave, is licensed by TN Davidson County "to sell Liquor and Victuals" in his own

slave labor in the cotton fields.

Of Nashville's 345 inhabitants, 154 are black. [ourteen of them are free; by 1810 there are 130 free xxxxxxxxxxxxxxblacks in Nashville. [ Goodstein] Only f Lovett]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxTe nnessee General Assembly. (Early Tennessee legislatures often sanctioned the voluntary manumission of slaves by their xxxxxxxxxxxxxowners.) [ Ellis]

AprilToussaint L'Ouverture, leader of the Haitian slave rebellion, is tricked by Napoleon into leaving Haiti and dies in a

Nov. 28Rochambeau surrenders

U.S. after January 1, 1808, slave shipments to America will continue largely unchallenged until 1859.

Jan. 8-10 slaves revolt in two parishes near New Orleans .The largest slave revolt in the United States, it is

July 27Federal troops are sent to destroy a Maroon (runaway-slave) settlement in Apalachicola Bay, Florida.About 300 Maroons, supported by about 20 Native Americans, hold off the troops from a tightly-constructed fort until a lucky shot from a U.S. cannon hits the Maroons' powder supply.Most ofthe people in the fort are killed in the resulting explosion; the forty survivors are sent back to Georgia to be sold at auction.

Dec. 21The American Colonization Society is established in Washington, D.C. Its upper-class, white male membership -- which

includes James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster - consists of both philanthropists and slave owners who, for reasons ranging from altruism to fear, want to enable blacks to return to Africa. They eventually gain Congressional support and provide ships for the purpose; the first settlement (1820) in what is now Liberia will grow slowly, as the settlers struggle against yellow fever and armed resistance from natives.

---Richard Allen's hosts the first general mass meeting of blacks to protest the deportation

Mar. 6The Missouri Compromise settles the issue of slavery in the areas obtained by the Louisiana Purchase. joins the Union as a slave state, while balances it as a . All remaining sections of the Louisiana Territory lying north of 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude are to be free. (This limitation will later be overturned by the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act and by the 1857 Dred Scott case.)The act provides that any fugitive slave "escaping into any...state or territory of theUnited States...may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labour or service" - but, as will be reiterated in the (1865), even in the free territories, "slavery and involuntary servitude ... in the punishment of crimes" is not prohibited.

---The legislature passes a resolution to amend the state constitution to permit slavery. Anti-slavery activists fight the proposal. They will be successful when the amendment fails in the 1824 election.

May 30Denmark Vesey, a carpenter and former slave who bought his own freedom in 1800, designs one of the most complex slave plots in history, involving thousands of African Americans in the Charleston,South Carolina, area.On this date, the plot is revealed by a "house slave," and Vesey and more than 130 others are arrested; 37 are eventually hanged.

Mar. 16 Freedom's Journal is published in New York City .It is the first of about 40 black newspapers that will appear

In the intense debate that follows, one legislator declares slavery "the greatest curse that God is His wrath ever inflicted upon a people." In the climate of fear created by the Nat Turner rebellion, and facing the growing belief that slavery may be a hindrance to economic development, the legislature earnestly debates a gradual emancipation statute. xxxxxxxxxxxxx [The arguments expressed during the Virginia slavery debate...profoundly [shape] the development of future justifications for slavery. Faced with an opportunity tto abolish slavery in Virginia, what [results] instead [is] the xxxxxxxxxxxxx ideological cornerstone of the Southern Confederacy."[ Hunt] " Curtis]

neither nullification nor secession, is his confrontational response to South Carolina's action.The President's tough stand on the issue demonstrates his confidence in his strong bipartisan support from both sides of the North-South divide.[ Hunt]

Antislavery groups petition to abolish slavery, but the convention denies their appeals, instead adding language to require the approval of slave owners before passing any statutes related to emancipation.

--- TN Approximate birth year of Davidson County Representative , born a slave in North Carolina to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxunknown parents.

lists 16,542 Cherokee and 1,592 slaves xxxxxxxxxxxxxx(not identified by race).

---"Free Frank" McWorter becomes the first African American to found a town when he records the plat of New Philadelphia, Illinois.

President (1837-1841).

Sept. 3Twenty-year-old Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery in Baltimore.

July 2Slaves, led by Joseph Cinqué, revolt against the crew of the slave ship Amistad. When they are captured by the U.S.

Apr. 6Although the Constitution does not provide for the Vice President to succeed to the Presidency in the event of the President's death, John Tyler defies a power grab by the cabinet and has himself sworn in as President (1841-1845).[ Winik]

--- The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a lower court's decision that the Amistad mutineers are the victims of kidnapping and thus within their rights to secure their freedom in any way possible.Through private donations, the 35 surviving Africans are able to secure passage back to Africa.

---Captured Africans on the slave ship Creole, traveling from to Louisiana, overpower the crew and sail the ship

Methodist Episcopal Church has opposed slavery. When a Georgia bishop becomes a slave owner by marriage, the

Mar. 4 Tennessean James K. Polk is inaugurated as the nation's 11TN th President (1845-1849).

May 23Frederick Douglass publishes his biography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. He is 27 years old.

on the terms of the Missouri Compromise.Wisconsin's admission as a free state on May 29, 1848, is seen as the balance for Texas. Mexico, never having recognized Texas independence, declares war on the United States.

May 13The U.S. Congress declares war on .Since is a slave state, Northerners and Whigs generally oppose the war, while Southerners and Democrats tend to support it.The U.S. desire to annex California should be considered a major cause of the war.[ Hunt]

---The is amended to a bill providing for negotiation of a settlement with Mexico.A challenge to pro-slavery groups, the Proviso bans slavery in any of the territory acquired in the Mexican war.Although the amended bill is passed by the House in 1846 and 1847, the Southern-dominated Senate blocks it.The effect of the debate over the Proviso is to intensify the conflict between the North and the South over slavery. The escalating controversy will lead to Southern secession. The political debate has shifted subtly from abolitionism to free soil. [ Hunt]

---The Free Soil Movement is organized in the United States .Supporters of the Wilmot Proviso, its members are

abolitionists who are extremely antagonistic toward the extension of slavery into the territories.Fairly successful as a third party, it sends two Senators and 14 Representatives to the 31 st Congress.Its membership includes many northern Whigs and Democrats who are opposed to slavery.By about 1854 most Free-Soilers have merged with the Republican party.

Feb. 2The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican War. must yield nearly half of its territory to the in exchange for $15,000,000.That territory includes California and the territory of New Mexico, which includes the present-day , , , and parts of , , , , and .(The 1853 Gadsden Purchase will add the lower portions of the present-day Arizona and New Mexico.) Congress begins the battle over slavery in the new territories.

plantation of BoswelL Baker Degraffenreid in the northern part of the county.

Mar. 5Zachary Taylor, a Whig, a cousin of James Madison, and a hero of the Mexican War, is elected 12 th President of the U.S.

will return to the South nineteen times, bringing out more than 300 slaves.

---As Congress debates the status of slavery in the territory acquired from Mexico, a number of proposals remain on the table: one is the , which would ban all slavery in that territory; another is a measure, sanctioned by President Zachary Taylor, to extend the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific.Senator Stephen A. Douglas is identified with "Popular Sovereignty," which eventually emerges as part of the Compromise of 1850.This plan will permit territorial governments to make their own determinations about slavery.[ Hunt]

July 4Falling ill with gastroenteritis after a 4 th of July celebration, President Zachary Taylor becomes the second President to die in office.

July 10Millard Fillmore is inaugurated the nation's 13 th President (1850-1853).

force to relinquish about one-third of its territory in exchange for $10,000,000 from the U.S. Government;

abolish the sale of slaves (although not the institution of slavery) in the District of Columbia; and

Nov. TN Although the Compromise of 1850 reduces the Southern passion for establishing regional unity against the North, fifty

June 5Harriet Beecher Stowe sells Uncle Tom's Cabin to the National Era for $300. Despite the paper's small circulation,

the story is widely read as copies pass from hand to hand.After the last (40 th) installment (April 1852), it appears in book form, selling half a million copies by 1857.Neither slavery nor the Fugitive Slave Law ever recovers its legitimacy.

--- TN Birth year of Shelby County Representative , born near Fisherville, Tennessee. His mother, who was

born in Virginia, is the slave of Jean Field Sanford. Researchers are certain William Feilds and (above) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxwere cousins, perhaps even first cousins.

marks the end of Whig party influence in the country. The emerging Republican party, which will take shape over the

Nov. 21 TN Birth date of Hamilton County Representative , born in Lawrenceville, Georgia. His father,

Mar. 4Franklin Pierce is inaugurated the nation's 14 th President (1853-1857).

---William Wells Brown publishes Clotel, the first novel by a black author. The book is published in London while Brown

is still technically a slave.He will later write The Escape, the first African American play.

decide for themselves whether to allow slavery in their territories, the bill essentially repeals the 1820 Missouri xxxxxxxxxxxxxxCompromise (which has permitted slavery north of latitude 36 30') and opens the Northern territory to slavery. The xxxxxxxxxxxxxxKansas-Nebraska Act will also corrupthe the westward movement: Americans have come tp believe that the

electoral fraud (see 1857 timeline entries on the Lecompton Constitution ), and the dream of Jacksonian America is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxcrumbling. [ Hunt]

Northern and Northwestern states after the Kansas-Nebraska Act is approved by Congress. Loyal to the precepts of the Missouri Compromise, it attracts Free-Soilers and others opposed to slavery and becomes powerful nationally when John C. Frémont ("Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Frémont!") is nominated for President in 1856. Four years later Abraham Lincoln will become the first Republican elected to that office.The power of the new party is not so much in an anti-slavery agenda (the party never moves beyond the idea of preventing slavery's expansion into the west) as in its effectiveness in creating a cross-sectional alliance between New England, the mid-Atlantic states, and the old Northwest.For the first time in American politics, there is a "politicized North."[ Hunt]

NovemberAlthough Democrat James Buchanan wins the popular Presidential voteand survives the electoral college tally, Republican xxxxxxxxxxxxxxcandidate John C. Frémont comes within two states of defeating him.It is clear that the Republican party has become a xxxxxxxxxxxxxxpolitical force to contend with.

Mar. 4James Buchanan is inaugurated the nation's 15 th President (1857-1861).

MarchThe Supreme Court rules, in Dred Scott v Sanford , that an African American cannot be considered a citizen of the

Oct. 19A Constitutional Convention meets in Lecompton, capital city of the Kansas Territory, to draft a state constitution.Pro-slave delegates push through the Lecompton Constitution protecting slavery.

December voters, in an election marked by violence and fraud, ratify the Lecompton Constitution, as free-staters stay

--- TN Approximate birth year of Haywood County Representative , born into slavery in Madison
County.
Jan. 4Kansas voters, given an opportunity to reconsider the Lecompton Constitution after voting irregularities are charged in the earlier referendum, decisively reject it by a vote of 10,226 to 138!

---The Clothilde, the last ship to carry slaves to the United States , arrives in Mobile Bay, Alabama, with an illegal

--- TN A group of African Americans in establishes the Collins Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, the first

suffer less damage than other railroads and will be positioned to expand quickly after the war.

--- Tennessee's slaves are valued at $114 million. [TN Slaves now constitute one-fourth of Tennessee's population and about 15% of the national population. Hunt]

---Approximately 300,000 free blacks are living in Southern states, primarily in Virginia, Kentucky, and South Carolina.

represented by John C. Breckinridge and Stephen A. Douglas; the Whig candidate, John Bell, carries , , and ; and Abraham Lincoln represents the Republicans.Lincoln's victory is determined by the electoral college. [ Hunt] Although he earns less than 40% of the popular vote nationwide, he wins 180 electoral votes to Breckenridge's 72, Bell's 39, and Douglas's 12.The failure of the political system to hold the country together sets the stage for inevitable civil conflict.

secede from the Union. This move, foreshadowed by the demands of the Fire-Eaters (led by Edmund Ruffin, William Yancey, and others) during the Nashville Convention of 1850, has intensified in the face of growing Southern opposition to Jacksonian politics and to Northern abolition and feminist movements.But the issue comes to a head with the Lincoln's election, which, to the South, represents a complete breakdown of the political system. [ Hunt]

Apr. 12Confederate batteries fire on in Charleston, South Carolina, in the first engagement of the Civil War.

Unified by their response to this attack on their flag, Republicans and Democrats in the Northern tier of states suddenly form what would previously have been an unattainable coalition and come together as Unionists, instantly uniting against this "treason by force." [ Hunt]

earnest, but nobody expects the conflict to last more than a few months.

and proclaims they can no longer be returned to their owners. [ Foner, Forever Free]

June 28 TN The Tennessee General Assembly authorizes a draft of free black men into the Confederate army. Most free black men

Aug. 6 signs the First Confiscation Act, authorizing Union seizure of rebel property and ordering Union officers not to
1862
Feb. 21Nathaniel Gordon, a slave trader from , is hanged in New York City for piracy. Harper's Weekly (March 8)

comments, "For forty years the slave-trade has been pronounced piracy by law, and to engage in it has been a capital

offense. But the sympathy of the Government and its officials has been so often on the side of the criminal, and it seemed so absurd to hang a man for doing at sea that which, in half the Union, is done daily without censure on land, that no one has ever been punished under the Act. The Administration of Mr. Lincoln has turned over a new leaf in this respect. Henceforth the slave-trade will be abandoned to the British and their friends."

Congress adopts an article of war forbidding members of the army and navy to return fugitive slaves to their owners.

"colonization" of freed slaves outside the U.S. [ Foner, Forever Free]

July 2 TN allocates federal land or its monetary value to various states for the teaching of "agricultural and mechanical" subjects and military training to students.After the Civil War Tennessee will designate East Tennessee University (renamed the University of Tennessee in 1879) as a land-grant institution.

July 17 Congress passes two acts that change the status of slaves and anticipate the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Militia Act authorizes the employment of "persons of African descent" in "any military or naval service for which they may be found competent," and grants freedom to those slaves and their families.In other words, Lincoln can now use black soldiers in the Union Army.
By the end of the war in April 1865, a reported 180,000 African Americans will have served in the U.S. Army.

all slaves, it provides aforewarning to owners that the rebellion must end by January 1 or the Proclamation will be signed.It takes a surprisingly conciliatory tone, offering aid to states that make provisions for gradual emancipation and referring once again to Congress's April 16 appropriation for colonizingfreed slaves somewhere outside the borders of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxthe United States.

over a three-month period by Union soldiers and hundreds of black workers - free and slave - who have been conscripted into service in what is probably the first large-scale use of contraband labor in Tennessee during the war. With insufficient food, shelter, and clothing, many of these workers will die; most are never paid.Regrettably, the construction of Fort Negley becomes a model for future projects, as Union officers, lacking laborers, impress black men into service and work them in merciless conditions. [ Hunt]

On the last day of 1862 Union General William S. Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland challenges General

Jan. 1President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation .It frees all slaves in regions under Confederate

control and authorizes the enlistment of black soldiers.It is important to recognize that it does not outlaw slavery in all areas of the country.Tennessee, which is under Union control (and whose constitution will be among the first to ban slavery); Southern Louisiana, which has remained loyal to the Union; and the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri are exempt from the Emancipation Proclamation, even though slavery exists in its cruelest forms in all six states.[ See ]

Appalachians during the Civil War with the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. Rosecrans' repulse of two

Confederate attacks and the subsequent Confederate withdrawal as Union reinforcements arrive goes a long way toward xxxxxxxrestoring Union morale:Lincoln later writes: "I can never forget you gave us a hard-earned victory, which had there been xxxxxxxa defeat instead, the nation could scarcely have lived over."

although they can purchase their exemption by paying $300 or by sending a substitute.Only 46,347 of the 776,892 men receiving draft notices will actually don a uniform. [ Lapham]

MayAuthority is granted for the formation of a U.S. Bureau of Colored Troops.Andrew Johnson, military governor of the occupation forces, drags his feet about initiating the troops, feeling, among other things, that contraband labor is too essential to pillage for soldiers. [ Hunt]

Summer Nashville has become a surprisingly dynamic city: it provides medical care, maintenance, and supplies for the war effort and the railroads; it attracts refugees, both black and white (including multitudes fleeing Confederate occupation in East Tennessee, and a huge number of contraband workers and their families); and it supplies food, rest, and recreation for military personnel, including "a licensed and medically regulated prostitution district."[TN Hunt]

toll on Southern forces. Many people mistakenly assume the war is nearly over. However, the South is more resilient

and the Union less sound than people assume.

July 18The 54 th Massachusetts Volunteers, an all-black unit, attack Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. Nearly half

to their owners. 's response is immediate and harsh; captured USCT soldiers are to be treated as prisoners of

war, and not as escaped slaves. [ Foner, Forever Free]

Tennessee, and the state will see more than 5,000 casualties. George Luther Stearns, Assistant Adjutant General for the Recruitment of Colored Troops, is put in charge of recruiting in Tennessee.A fervent abolitionist, Stearns, John Brown's largest financial backer, even owned the rifles Brown used at Harper's Ferry.He recruited the Union's first African American regiment, the 54 th Massachusetts, and will later be a leader in establishing the Freedmen's Bureau.

Dec. 8President Lincoln announces the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction , pardoning Confederates who

A state can begin the process of rejoining the Union as soon as 10% of a Confederate state's voters make the pledge. This fairly loose oath, pledging Union loyalty from the moment the oath is taken, angers black leaders, Southern Unionists, and Congressional Republicans. Lincoln seems xxxxxxxxxxxxxxmore interested in disrupting the Confederacy than actually implementing Reconstruction. [ pledge loyalty to the Union and agree to accept emancipation. Hunt]

JanuaryRadical Republicans are hostile to 's policies, fearing that they do not provide sufficient protection for ex-slaves, that the 10% amnesty plan is not strict enough, and that Southern states should demonstrate more significant efforts to eradicate the slave system before being allowed back into the Union. Consequently, Congress refuses to recognize the govern-ments of Southern states, or to seat their elected representatives. Instead, legislators begin to work on their own Reconstruction plan, which will emerge in July as the . Congress now understands the Confederacy to be the face of a deeply rooted cultural system antagonistic to the principles of a "free labor" society.Many fear that returning home rule to such a system amounts to accepting secession state by state and opening the door for such malicious local legislation as the Black Codes that eventually emerge.

Mar. 1Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes the first black woman to receive a medical degree, graduating from the .Following the Civil War she will work with the Freedmen's Bureau providing medical assistance to former slaves.Her Book of Medical Discourses, published in 1883, is one of the earliest medical publications by any African American.

few months.Note that these are four of the six states that were exempted from the Emancipation Proclamation.[ See .]

the application of the Emancipation Proclamation to Tennessee.

Oct. 4The National Colored Men's Convention meets in Syracuse, New York, chaired by Frederick Douglass.

---Beginning of the New Orleans Tribune, in all probability the first African American daily newspaper.

Vice President, but he and Lincoln barely know each other.

approximately one-third of all black soldiers enrolled in the military will lose their lives in the Civil War.

--- TN Four Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company Bank branches will operate in Tennessee (in Chattanooga, Columbia, Memphis, and Nashville) between 1865 and

Jan. William Scott begins publication of TN The Colored Tennessean, the first black newspaper in Nashville.

Jan. 31U.S. Congress approves the abolition of slavery and involuntary servitude, sending the 13th Amendment to the states

Mar. 3A joint resolution of Congress frees the wives and children of soldiers, regardless of their owners' loyalty, [ Berlin]

---The U.S. Congress establishes the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (to be known as the

Confederate Army; however, this uncharacteristic move by the Confederate Congress comes too late to prepare any

black troops for battle. Some scholars believe that as many as 65,000 African Americans may have served the Confederate Army in some fashion: the Confederacy impressed and leased slaves extensively to work on fortifications and other projects; individual slaves sometimes accompanied their masters (usually officers) into war as personal servants; and a few (perhaps including Tennessee legislator

Apr. 26Confederate General Joe Johnston meets with General William T. Sherman in North Carolina to negotiate a

and Kirby-Smith in ) still know nothing of these events, the Confederacy's loss of both Lee's and 's armies means that the Civil War has effectively ended.

owners (anyone with taxable property over $20,000) and former Confederate military leaders until their individual petitions for amnesty are approved; the federal government also now requires all states to ratify the 13th Amendment. The most surprising edict among the otherwise strict requirements is that only 10% of the voting population of any Southern state must take a loyalty oath in order for readmission to the Union. Johnson also intends that each state convention declare secession null and void and repudiate the debt each Confederate state has acquired in the war.Unfortunately, the state conventions and leadership will openly defy or circumvent him, thus cutting off their best ally in Washington, since Johnson might have been a useful mediator between the former Confederate states and the congressional Republicans.As a Democrat in a Republican administration that has no respect for him, he is ineffectual against the political realities of 1865-66, even though he has proved himself an anti-secessionist and a convert to the cause of emancipation in Tennessee. [ Hunt]

JuneSouthern white men excluded from the general amnesty may begin their appeals for individual pardons on this date.

slaves in isolated areas of Texas.

AugustSouthern states open Constitutional Conventions to renounce secession, disavow the Southern debt, and ratify the

men alone must manage theSouth."He issues a controversial order to return appropriated land to its former owners, even lands granted to freedmen by Sherman's January 16

Nov. 25Issuance of Mississippi's first " ."Other states also pass laws imposing restrictions on black citizens:

Representatives from Southern states (all but Mississippi have consented to the presidential requirements for readmission to the Union) are denied their seats in the 39 th Congress when the Clerk refuses to include their names in the roll call.

, abolishing slavery, is ratified.

, which will survive in spite of Congressional efforts and will create a deliberately unequal application of civil law.

June 13Congress approves the

Thus the state will be exempt from the intensifying conflict between Congress and other former Confederate states.

Johnson's undignified and spiteful responses to the hostile crowds cost him the support of many Northerners, as well

as the respect of Grant.

organize demonstrations at the General Assembly. Leaders of the movement include , Nelson G. Merry, Samuel and Peter Lowery, and others.

Jan. 8Overriding President Johnson's veto, Congress grants the black citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote.

Mar. TN The Tennessee General Assembly passes an act to reorganize public schools in the state, with provisions for black and white children to be taught in separate schools. The act reestablishes the office of state superintendent of education, and specifies funding and county supervision of the system.

who have refused to ratify the 14, and permit black adult males to participate in the process for the first time. [ th Amendment, passes four Military Reconstruction Acts dividing the South into five military districts - existing state and local governments are placed under authority of military commanders until they meet and adopt new state constitutions, ratify the14th Amendment Hunt]

Second Reconstruction Act (also passed over Johnson's veto) instructs military commanders to register voters

April TN Formal political restructuring of the Ku Klux Klan in Nashville, to oppose black equality and Republican leadership. It lists its purposes as

Second: To protect & defend the Constitution of the United States

Aug. 22 TN is founded - the first black college in .[Note: there will be no African American students

Sept. TN is chartered in .Its roots are in a school for freedmen, sponsored by northern Methodist Episcopal missionaries, which opened in the last year of the Civil War. In 1876 Meharry Medical School

will become part of .In the 1880s the school will add the departments of law, industrial art, dentistry, and pharmacy.In 1900 the school will change its name to .Meharry will become a separate institution in 1915.

OctoberVoter registration is completed in the ten Southern states subject to the Reconstruction Acts.

--- is elected to the first of five one-year terms in the North Carolina legislature, serving from 1868-1871.

Dec. TN First reports of Ku Klux Klan night-riding surface in Middle Tennessee.

Dec. 10 TN , modeled after Tolbert Fanning's Franklin College, is established on the

June 22Arkansas is the 2 nd state readmitted to the Union, 2 years after Tennessee.

July 4 TN Ku Klux Klan members make a public show of their organization's strength with parades and confrontations throughout .

July 9Rev. Francis L. Cardozo (1837-1903) is elected Secretary of State in South Carolina, the first black cabinet member.In 1865 Cardozo, who was educated in Scotland and New England, founded the Avery Institute ofCharleston, the first secondary school for black children.

July 28 TN is finally ratified by enough states to become law. [, July 1866, was the third state to ratify.]

mobilize within a matter of days, insists the Klan is not motivated by racial hatred but threatens only "radicals" - carpetbaggers, spies, and "scalawags."

SeptemberThe Georgia State Legislature expels its newly elected black legislators. The Atlanta Constitution supports the move,

Sept. Between 1868 and 1870, TN Greene E Evans is admitted to Fisk University, where he pays his way by hauling gravel,

Sept. 10 TN Tennessee enacts an "anti-Klan" law with penalties for "prowling" by night, in or out of disguise, "for the purpose of disturbing the peace, or alarming the peaceable citizens"; for advising resistance to the law; or for threatening or intimidating a voter.'s new militia law authorizes the governor to send the state guard into any county where at least 10 "Union men" pledge that the law cannot be enforced or citizens protected without military assistance.

them Confederate veterans and prominent citizens.

Nov. 3 TN U. S. Grant is elected President.Southern black men, voting in their first national election, cast 700,000 votes for the Republican ticket.Many of the less wealthy white voters also vote Republican, reflecting the growing class conflict between poor farmers and wealthy plantation owners.East Tennessee, a stronghold of Unionism during the war, is already strongly Republican; the high Republican vote in West Tennessee, where most black voters live, reflects a combination of black & white voting power.

---Tennessee is the first state to replace a bi-racial Republican state government with an all-white Democratic government, followed by , TN North Carolina, and in 1870.DeWitt Senter ensures his victory in the governor's race by advocating the registration of ex-Confederate voters.

Winter The Freedmen's Bureau reports that there are now nearly 3,000 schools in the South, serving over 150,000 black students. [TN Integration of schools will come much more slowly: it is not until May 1957 that Bobby Cain, a student

at Clinton High School, Clinton, Anderson County, Tennessee, will become the first African American to graduate from a state-supported integrated public high school in the South.]

Feb. 26Congress approves the

Mar. 4U.S. Grant is inaugurated the nation's eighteenth President (1869-1877).

---By the end of the . Congress, two African Americans will have been seated: Robert Brown Elliott and Joseph

--- Following a private meeting with President Grant, TN Nathan Bedford Forrestissues a document disbanding the Ku Klux Klan, stating that it is "being perverted from its original honorable and patriotic purposes, becoming injurious instead of subservient to the public peace."Forrest's actions may be motivated, at least in part, by hopes of avoiding punish-ment for the illegal activities of an organization that is largely out of control.The Klan has been extremely violent for years under his leadership, and he disbands it only when it comes under intense criticism (and when its work is essentially done - many blacks and Republicans have already been frightened away from the polls).Whatever Forrest's motives, Klan violence most assuredly does not end with his declaration.

Apr. 6President Grant appoints Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett minister to .Bassett is the first black American diplomat and the first black American Presidential appointment.For many years thereafter, both Democratic and Republican administrations will appoint African Americans as ministers to both and .

Nov. 16 TN Tennessee rejects the , and does not join other statesin post-ratifying it until 1997.It will be the last state to ratify.

--- Although blacks comprise one-third of Middle Tennessee's population, only six percent of black families own their own land.In TN West Tennessee, where African Americans are 40% of the population, most are laborers or sharecroppers.

--- Most of the members remaining in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, leave (with the denomination's blessing) to form the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church (today's Christian Methodist Episcopal Church ).

Feb. 17 TN The 15th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified by 29 of the 37 states, guaranteeing the right of African American

Feb. 25Hiram Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn in as the first black member of the United States Senate.Ironically, Revels is elected to fill the position vacated by Jefferson Davis nearly 10 years earlier.Revels serves only through , the remainder of Davis's vacated term.

May 31President Grant signs the . These "Force Acts" make the bribing, intimidation, or racial discrimination of votersfederal crimes.They also authorize the use of federal troops against the KKK, outlawing conspiracies to prevent the exercise of constitutional rights.Three such laws are passed between May 1870 and April 1871.All are declared unconstitutional in United States v. Cruikshank (1876)

Mar. 4During the 42 nd U.S. Congress, there are five black members in the House of Representatives: Benjamin S. Turner of

Apr. 20The Ku Klux Klan Act becomes law, allowing President Grant to suspend habeas corpus in enforcing the

the eleven students on the tour is baritone , who will be elected to the General Assembly ten years later.DirectorGeorge White has planned a route in keeping with the Underground Railroad: over the next eighteen months, beginning in Cincinnati, the group will visit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., giving hundreds of performances, and raising $40,000 for Fisk University.Although the Singers perform many types of music, it is their performance of Negro spirituals that awakens an interest in this genre of music and becomes the distinctive signature of the group.

Klux Klan in SC to disperse and surrender arms, he quickly sends in federal troops to suppress the Klan.

--- The TN Memphis Weekly Planet becomes West Tennessee's first African American newspaper.

Feb. 27Charlotte Ray (daughter of Charles Bennett Ray, who has been editor of the Colored American, an important early

New York newspaper, and is also pastor of the Bethesda Congregation Church) graduates from Harvard University.

She is the first African American woman lawyer in the United States and the first woman admitted to the bar in the

May 22President Grant signs the Amnesty Act, restoring full civil rights to all white Southern men except about 500 former

opponent Horace Greeley.

Jan. 6 takes his seat as the first African American member of the Tennessee State Legislature in the 38TN th xxxxxxxxxxxxxxGeneral Assembly, 1873-1875. He is appointed to the committees on Immigration, Military Affairs, and Tippling

first reading but does not receive a second - the legislature adjourns one week later.

Frederick Douglass, speaking in Nashville, urges black Tennesseans to stay and fight for racial justice rather than to
1874
---TN Knoxville College opens during this year as a normal school sponsored by the United Presbyterian Church of North

Mar. 1The Forty-Fourth Congress, which has six black members and is still under the control of the Republicans, passes the Civil Rights Act of 1875

places of entertainment.The Bill receives Senate approval before the end of the month and is signed into law ( ) .

Mar. 23 TN of the Acts of Tennessee 1875 orders the establishment of a state normal school or schools, the creation of a State Board of Education, and the requirement that separate schools "for white and colored pupils" should be established.

July 31 TN Andrew Johnson dies of a stroke and is buried in Greeneville, Tennessee.

--- TN from University of South Carolina Law School and is admitted to the South Carolina bar.

Apr. 5 The Colored National Convention meets in the House Chamber of the Tennessee General Assembly. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia are represented. Tennessee delegates are W. Sumner, Abram Smith, Edward Shaw, and James C. Napier. Former Louisiana Governor Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback and Senator H.S. Smith of Alabama deliver speeches considered the "high point of the convention." The Convention's efforts to choose and endorse a Presidential candidate are unsuccessful, although Edward Shaw, Memphis wharf master, speaks out strongly against the Grant administration.[TN Walker]

--- TN elected as magistrate of the Ninth Civil District, Tipton County.

---By this year about 2,000 African American men have held/are holding public office, "ranging from member of

Congress to justice of the peace."In spite of prohibitions against educating slaves, "83 percent of the black officials [are] able to read and write."Twelve percent of them are lawyersor school teachers. [ Foner]

is elected a magistrate in Davidson County. He will servie until 1882.

Mar. 5 Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated the nation's nineteenth President (1877-1881).He quickly withdraws federal troops from the South, and ends federal support for the remaining Reconstruction governments.TN This agreement officially ends Reconstruction .The South begins the process of codifying and enforcing segregation.Although Tennessee will elect a number of black politicians over the next few years, the last African American state legislator will end his term in 1893, and no other will be seated until 1964.Violations of black civil rights will not again be addressed on a national scale until after World War II.

Mar. 15 The Nation reports that "the great body of the Republican party is ... opposed to the continuance at the South of the policy of military interference and coercion as pursued by General Grant."

June 14Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African American to graduate from West Point.

--- TN appointed assistant attorney general of Memphis.

--- TN East Tennessee University, one of the earliest land-grant colleges, is renamed the University of Tennessee.

from taking the test.

--- During 1881, despite the black representatives in the House, the 42TN nd Tennessee Legislature passes the first "Jim Crow" law in the South, requiring the segregation of the races on railroad cars.By 1900 all Southern states will have segregated their transportation systems, a move sanctioned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896 with the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.Future laws will be passed that discriminate against African Americans regarding public school attendance, housing, and the use of public facilities such as restaurants, theaters, and hotels.In 1967, when the Court rules miscegenation laws unconstitutional, 16 states will still have laws prohibiting interracial marriage.It will be November 2000 before Alabama, the last hold-out, repeals its law - although 40% of the electorate votes to keep it!

, a Republican, represents Tipton County in the 42 nd and 43 rd General Assemblies, 1881-1885. He is appointed to the committees on Immigration, New Counties and County Lines, and Tippling and Tippling Houses.

is a Republican from Shelby County,serving in the 42 nd General Assembly from 1881 to xxxxxxxxxxxxxx1883.He is appointed to the committees on Education and Common Schools, Judiciary, Privileges and Elections, and Public Roads.

--- opens a law office in Chattanooga and becomes a partner in a newspaper, TN The Independent Age,

arrangements for persons of color who may be entitles to admission." It passes its first reading and is referred to the

Judiciary Committee; after passing its second reading, it is referred to the Committee on Education and Common Schools, where it is tabled.

Chapter 131 of an act passed ."It passes its first reading and is referred to the Judiciary Committee, where it is tabled.

Feb. 25 TN by Isaac F. Norris), relating to labor contracts,passes its third reading by a vote of 38-25.

Mar. 10 TN , to eliminate discrimination against blacks in jury selection for circuit and criminal courts. The bill passes its second reading March 29 but is apparently tabled before being brought to a vote.

Republicans join Democrats in voting against it.

Mar. 24 TN taken up as a special order.A number of amendments are offered; Cassels' attempt to call the

previous question on the passage of the bill fails for lack of a second; a motion to table the bill and all amendments prevails.

Mar. 30 TN , saying that "authorizes railroad companies and their employes, unjustly, cruelly, wantonly, without just cause of provocation, and in violation of the common law and the laws of the general government, to oppress and

Mar. 30 TN House Bill No. 682 , concerning discrimination against railroad passengers (referring to , Acts of Tennessee, 1875).The bill passes its first and second readings (March 30 and March 31), but is subsequently tabled.

Mar. 30 , admitting black students into the school for the blind and the school for the deaf and dumb, passes

by a vote of 59-1 and becomes law.

Apr. 7 permitting "separate but equal" facilities for African Americans on trains.This bill requires railroad companies either to partition off a portion of a first-class car for black passengers who have paid first-class fare, or to provide separate cars for blacks.Having passed the Senate 18-1, it passes the House 50-2.TN The Tennessee House of Representatives passes a "compromise" bill, Norris and Sykes vote against the bill; Boyd is absent; Cassels abstains.Thirteen other Southern states will follow Tennessee's lead and segregate public carriers over the next few years.

wounded but clinging to life as doctors attempt to save him.

Nov. 30 TN is listed in the State School Board minutes as a recipient of a Peabody Scholarship to attend

Charles Spencer Smith founds the Sunday School Union of the A.M.E. Church at 206 Public Square, Nashville. The

publishing house is the first and only steam printing establishment owned and managed by an African American.

---The Supreme Court rules in United States vs. Harris that the Klan Act (see May 31, 1870) is partially unconstitutional,

asserting that Congress's power under the 14 th Amendment does not apply to private conspiracies.

---A flood of civil rights cases strikes down the federal Civil Rights Act of 1875. Congress may no longer legislate on

--- , a Republican, is elected to the 43TN rd (as well as, later, the 44th and 45th) General Assembly,

--- TN is elected to represent Fayette County as a Republican in the 43rd and 44th General Assemblies,

Common Schools, Federal Relations, and Public Printing. Although there are twice as many black residents in Fayette xxxxxxxxxxxxxxCounty as white, the county will send only two African American representatives to Nashville: 1883-1884) Rivers
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx and (1887-1888) .

a second House term representing Tipton County. He is appointed to the committee on

Feb. 15 TN has been made the special order for the session, having been passed over three times earlier.

McElweereduces the appropriation to black students, but the House votes to table the bill; however, they prove willing to approve the committee's bill on the same subject and appropriate $3,300 per year for normal school xxxxxxxxxxxxxxscholarships for African American students, making each scholarship worth $50.

Feb. 20 TN , To repeal part of the Act relating to inn-keepers, common carriers,

Mar. 24 W. A. Milliken offers an amendment to Boyd's voting against it, and and TN House Bill No. 663, requiring railroad companies to provide separate cars for different passengers.It passes by a vote of 56-19, with Howard McElwee Boyd (both deeply opposed to the separate-but-equal provision) abstaining.

Oct. 15The Supreme Court declares the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, finding that the 14th Amendment forbids

--- is her first lawyer. [TN Goings] Wells will soon replace him for being too accommodating to the railroad lawyers.

local and national elections. The largest delegations are from Shelby County, with 62 delegates; Davidson, 52; and Haywood, 48. Thomas F. Cassels, serving as chairman, shares his concerns that many current state laws violate the constitutional rights of black Tennesseans.James C. Napier, the keynote speaker, stresses the need for political unity among black voters.

delegates (the other is General George Maney) to the Chicago Presidential Convention, which nominates James G. Blaine.

--- TN challenges his loss in the Senate election for Tipton and Fayette counties, claiming fraud when the

to seat his opponent.

--- is elected to represent Shelby County in the 44TN th General Assembly from 1885-1886.A Republican, Feilds is a school teacher and principal in the District of Shelby County.He is appointed to the committees on Federal Relations, Internal Improvement, and Public Roads.

--- TN , serving a second term in the legislature representing Haywood County, receives the Republican nomination for Speaker of the House.Though the nomination is largely symbolic in the Democratic-controlled legislature, McElwee receives 32 votes.He serves on the committee on Banks.

--- is listed in the TN Biographical Directory of the Tennessee General Assembly, Volume II, 1861-
1901
Jan. 15 TN introduces To make school attendance compulsory.It passes its first reading and is referred to the Committee on Education and Common Schools.

Jan. 19 TN William C. Hodge ntroduces , to repeal of the Acts of 1875 .It passes its first reading, and then, on 29 January, its second reading.

Jan. 19 TN , To amend the road law. It passes first reading and is referred to the

legislation authorizing the appointment of an Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction, responsible for the education of African American students.

second readings, but then is referred to the Judiciary Committee, where it dies.

Mar. 4Grover Cleveland becomes the nation's 21 st President (1885-1889).

--- TN receives a law degree from Central Tennessee College in Nashville.

911 th and 10 th graders; new courses for th graders will be added in the 1887-1888 school year.Ten years later (1897-1898 school year) the high school department at Meigs is transferred to Pearl High School, from which the first class will graduate on 2 June 1898.

--- TN , the only Democrat among the African American legislators, is elected to represent Fayette

county in the 45 th General Assembly from 1887-1888.He is appointed to the committees on Agriculture and Federal Relations.

--- , a Republican, begins his legislative term, representing Hamilton County in the 45TN Styles Linton Hutchins th General Assembly from 1887-1888.He is appointed to the committees on Education and Common Schools, and New Counties and County Lines.

Jan. 12 TN introduces , to repeal a section of the Chattanooga charter making poll taxes a requirement for voting in city elections.It passes its second reading a week later.

Feb. 22 TN , to prevent mob violence, having been delayed for several days, is at last made the special order for

Mar. 23 TN to amend the charter of Chattanooga to eliminate poll taxes, passes on third reading.The ease of the bill's passage suggests that whites have not yet realized the effectiveness of the poll tax as a method of restricting black voters from exercising their rights.

dies of "a congestive chill" (probably malaria) in Richmond, Texas, and may have been buried

--- TN attends the Republican National Convention in Chicago as one of two delegates representing Tennessee. serves as a Republican Presidential elector.

in the state by passing four restrictive bills sponsored by Senators Myers, Dortch, and Lea, as well as reinstating a poll tax urged by Governor Robert L. Taylor. [See entry titled "Disfranchising Laws" in Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture: http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=380 .]This is the first legislative session in nearly ten years in which no African American representative is seated.

Mar. 4Benjamin Harrison becomes the nation's 22 nd President (1889-1893).

Bill No. 456, making the item"Colored Normal Department" call for "$3,300 per annum instead of $2,500 per annum,

as the bill now provides."

---The American Baptist Publication Society no longer publishes the writings of African American ministers because

his victory "a triumph of ... white supremacy." His words are generally more inflammatory than his policies -- he makes

an effort to curb lynching in his state, while also advocating segregation and disfranchisement of black voters.

Violent uprisings continue until 1895, when the General Assembly ends the practice of convict leasing.

March After Ida B. Wells speaks out in TN The Memphis Free Speech against a recent lynching, a white mob burns the

publishes the first national medical journal for black physicians, The Medical and Surgical Observer.He is 21 years old.He will later found the University of West Tennessee, earn a law degree, serve as Dean of the School of Nurse Training of Terrill Memorial Hospital in Memphis, and become the ninth recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the National Medical Association .

Working as an emigration agent for a railroad company, Isaac F. Norris moves his family to the newly opened xxxxxxxxxxxxxOklahoma Territory, where he will continue to be active in politics..

running from 1893-1897.

--- TN David F. Rivers takes a position as pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kansas. By 1900 he

Sept. 18Booker T. Washington delivers the "Atlanta Compromise" address at the Atlanta Cotton States Exposition. He asserts

that the "Negro problem" will be resolved if the South abides by a policy of gradualism and accommodation. Much of

Samuel L. McElwee and James Napier are named to the original committee of the Negro Department of the

Tennessee Centennial.Both will withdraw before the Exposition opens on . [ Couto ]

American-owned publishing company.

MayThe U.S. Supreme Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, upholds Louisiana statute requiring "separate but equal"

---TN xxxx Jesse M. H. Graham is elected as a Republican representing Montgomery County in the 50th General Assembly.

He arrives in Nashville to find his seat contested on the first day of session.Although he is provisionally seated on , his election is subject to investigation by the Committee on Elections.The committee decides on 20 January that neither Graham nor the challenger is entitled to the seat (Graham, because he does not have the required three-year legal residence).The House passes a resolution declaring Graham's seat vacant by a vote of 76-0, with 23 not voting.

the economy after a 20- year period of economic depression.

African Americans win Congressional Medals of Honor for their valor.

Apr. 25Announcing their judgment in the case of Williams v. Mississippi, the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Mississippi

Death of former Representative William A. Feilds, a member of the Shelby County Court, whose surviving members

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Nineteen Africans are shipped to , on Dutch ships, as indentured servants.The Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese all send African slaves to work in both North and South America during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Feb. 2Eight years after the settlement of Boston, a ship named Desire arrives in Boston with its first African slaves.

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Commission in the Works? Black History Task Force 2019, no records of it.

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Commission in the Works? Black History Task Force 2019, no records of it.

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Public schools have come a long way in trying to incorporate the full breadth and significance of the African-American experience in their U.S. history curriculum. But many teachers, students and state and local education officials agree: There's still more to be done.

With a long-awaited update to the state's history and social science curriculum framework on the horizon, local districts now have the opportunity to take a big step forward. According to initial feedback from school administrators and teachers, the new standards appear to be more inclusive of African-American history.

But obstacles also remain in the way: a lack of professional development opportunities for teachers, limited funding to hire more humanities instructors, and competing curricular priorities all play a role in restricting just how deep history classes are able to get into the subject, experts said.

Even so, some professionals in the field still believe it's ultimately a matter of will on the part of school officials and the communities they serve to improve, especially as the state further opens the window allowing African-American history to be a bigger part of schools' curricula.

"There is an opportunity to do better than we've done," said Ousmane Power-Greene, a history professor at Clark University who has worked extensively with educators and adult students on the topic of African-American history. "It's a new moment, with new possibilities and new expectations, and it needs to be made a priority."

A fresh look at history

A lot has happened in the field of history since the state last updated its history and social-science curriculum frameworks 15 years ago, both in terms of scholarship and pedagogy, said David Buchanan, who works in the state education department's Office of Literacy and Humanities. History education today is trying to move past the old tradition of "teaching kids about names, dates and facts, and nothing deeper," he said, as well as focus more on the histories of native peoples around the world.

"Right from the early grades up to high school," he said, the state's new standards try to "bring in different perspectives, particularly bolstering the content around African-American history."

The revised framework includes more primary source documents to paint a more complete picture of African-American experiences in early American history, for instance. The fifth-grade curricular standards include a reference to the 1754 slave census in Massachusetts, for instance, while U.S. History 1 at the high school level suggests covering "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano," an 18th-century African slave who bought his own freedom and wrote a book about his experience.

In general, the updated guidelines also seek to introduce more parts of African-American history in earlier grades, Mr. Buchanan said; the fifth-grade standards, for example, now cover the civil rights movement. The high school curriculum framework, meanwhile, delves deeper into issues like the creation of the METCO program in Massachusetts and Boston's busing desegregation.

In addition, the new standards' increased emphasis on civics has led to the creation of a new eighth-grade course that will cover a number of landmark court cases and constitutional amendments relevant to civil rights, according to Mr. Buchanan.

Lastly, developers of the new framework "tried to broaden the array of historical figures from African-American communities," he said, "so that African-American history isn't just about Martin Luther King Jr. and Harriet Tubman."

"I think there's a particularly solid feeling among educators, including our panel (that developed the new standards), that there's more to be done to teach this content well," he said. "And that's what we've tried to do with our revisions."

Some educators and students, meanwhile, feel that current history curriculums are shortchanging the subject.

"I do know they try to incorporate it into the curriculum, however, I don't think they're doing enough," said Morufat Bello, a sophomore at Clark University, where she belongs to the campus Black Student Union, and former student at Worcester's Claremont Academy, who found classes often focused too much on well-known parts of African-American history when they did cover the topic. "I wish they would go more in-depth."

Asked if she felt represented in her history classes, Ms. Bello, originally from Nigeria, said, "Not really."

"I think they have a good understanding and appreciation, and are more sensitive to these topics," Daryl Robichaud, the history department head at Leominster High School, said of this current generation of students. "They know what's going on."

There can be negative consequences if the history of African-Americans is not adequately taught to them. A recent report from the Southern Poverty Law Center that makes the case the country's schools are largely failing to teach the history of slavery, for example, found that 8 percent of high school seniors surveyed did not know slavery was the main cause of the Civil War.

"Understanding American slavery is vital to understanding racial inequality today," Hasan Kwame Jeffries, a history professor at Ohio State University, writes in a preface to the report, titled "Teaching Hard History." "Our narrow understanding of the institution, however, prevents us from seeing this long legacy and leads policymakers to try to fix people instead of addressing the historically rooted causes of their problems."

'The interest is there'

Updating the state's curriculum framework is only part of the equation, however, according to Mr. Power-Greene, who said there is "no question" the state's standards make plenty of room for African-American history already. The fact that many schools don't spend enough time on the subject, he said, can be blamed on other factors as well, chiefly a lack of training for teachers.

"The interest is there. The question then ... is where's the investment, in terms of time?" he said, referring specifically to the dedication of professional development time to African-American history. "Many (teachers) haven't taken even an intro course to have the confidence to put together a curriculum."

"It's not easy for teachers to admit" they don't have the knowledge to teach the subject, he added, "especially white teachers," who in Worcester make up around 85 percent of the district's total teaching force.

The SPLC's report found, for instance, that while 90 percent of teachers surveyed claimed they felt comfortable discussing slavery in their classes, their responses to open-ended questions revealed "profound unease around the topic."

Worcester school officials said a lack of teachers in general is another issue. The district has only one high school history class, an elective course offered at Claremont Academy, dedicated specifically to African-American history. Adding more, they said, would require additional instructors that the underfunded school system currently can't afford.

There's also the overarching responsibility of adhering to the entire state curriculum framework, not just the African-American history component, to think of, those same officials said. Some teachers said they feel there just isn't enough time to get to everything; even Kathleen Moylan, a history teacher who previously taught Claremont's African-American history course, said she usually could only get to the civil rights era by the end of the class.

"I never got done everything I wanted to get done," she said, adding her general philosophy is to go in-depth in a few areas, rather than skim the surface of many.

In addition to that, if part of the thinking for spending more time on African-American history is to make African-American students feel more represented, the same thinking also must apply to the district's other students of color, including the district's largest population, Latinos.

"We want to make sure everyone's background is being highlighted," said Colleen Kelly, a history and social science liaison at the Worcester schools. "I think our approach to teaching history in general has changed as the student demographics have changed."

Rethinking how to tell history

Yet Ms. Kelly and other educators in the region say they are actively working more African-American history into their curriculum - especially more local African-American history. New this year, for instance, 11th-graders at several Worcester high schools are visiting the Worcester Art Museum to see the William Bullard exhibit, which features hundreds of photos of African-American families who lived in the area around the turn of the 20th century.

In addition to showcasing Worcester's own African-American history, the field trips address another recent objective of the district's history curriculum, officials said: to highlight the ordinary lives and experiences of African-Americans throughout history, instead of just focusing on the more celebrated stories.

Mr. Power-Greene calls that sort of effort "moving beyond the hero narrative" that has pervaded African-American history education. "We like to grab onto examples of individual achievement, without any of the historical context," he said.

Thomas Doughton, a senior lecturer at Holy Cross' Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies and member-at-large on the executive committee of the Worcester NAACP, meanwhile, said modern African-American history scholarship has also sought to focus more on "the bigger diaspora of African peoples" in history and the unique "blended heritages" of many African-American people and communities, as well as giving African-Americans more agency in their own history.

On that last point, he said, older history tended to describe "thing happen(ing) to African-American people, as if they were passive agents." It's important to show, oppositely, "how African-American people have been agents in producing their own experiences," he added.

Kayla Avellino, a history teacher at South High Community School who took her class to view the Bullard exhibit recently, said she participated in a special training workshop, made possible by the Worcester Education Development Foundation, over the summer to prepare for the program.

"I've had students ask me, 'Why don't we focus more on African-American history?' " she said. "When this opportunity came up, I jumped on it."

Ms. Avellino believes a key component to teaching African-American history is knowing how and where to look for those sorts of supplemental resources. "The textbooks just don't do it justice, unfortunately," she said.

She and other teachers also said it's important to incorporate current events into their African-American history curriculum, particularly recent news items that connect directly to the issues their courses cover, such as last year's debate about tearing down old Confederate statues.

"There's always something happening in the news we can weave into the conversation," said Ms. Moylan, who added it's critical to make sure African-American history in general is not treated as if it's a separate part of the curriculum. "It can't just be, 'Here's our unit on slaves.' "

Promising new direction

The district's curriculum leaders, meanwhile, are carefully looking over the state's proposed history standards update to see how the subject needs to be treated in the near future. The state is in the middle of a public comment period on the revisions; the state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is tentatively slated to vote whether to adopt them in June.

"From what we've seen, there's a lot of inclusion in general," said Magdalena Ganias, Worcester's director of curriculum and professional learning. "We're very excited by that."

Mr. Robichaud, in a recent experiment, said he counted the times "African-American" was mentioned in both the current standards and proposed replacement: he counted eight in the 2003 framework, and 43 in the latest version.

"It's a pretty ambitious document," he said. "I think we do a very good job (teaching African-American history already), but I think the new framework is giving us a much larger platform on which to speak about these events."

But while Ms. Kelly said the state's curriculum framework is "somewhat prescriptive" in nature, Mr. Buchanan said the education department's intent is not to force districts into a specific curriculum.

"We see it as more of a guideline ... the intention is for them (districts) to have some flexibility," he said, adding how schools teach African-American history "is really a local decision."

That decision doesn't just rest with educators, Mr. Power-Greene believes. "At some point, it does go back to the parents," he said, to advocate for what they want to see their children learn in school. "It starts with families in our community being aware there are new standards, and getting teachers and administrators to make sure they are up on this."

Scott O'Connell can be reached at Scott.O'Connell@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @ScottOConnellTG

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State curriculum framework update opens door for more African-American history in schools

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Public schools have come a long way in trying to incorporate the full breadth and significance of the African-American experience in their U.S. history curriculum. But many teachers, students and state and local education officials agree: There's still more to be done.With a long-awaited update to the state's history and social science curriculum framework on the horizon, local districts now have the opportunity to take a big step forward.

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It 's Time To Teach Black History To All Students

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For too long, Black History has been an afterthought in mainstream education, granted only a glimmer of sunlight during February, Black History Month. That is because white America collectively is comfortable only with the fraction of history where it can claim some level of partnership, such as the nonviolent, multiracial struggle for civil rights.

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Resources for teaching about black history

Massachusetts Teachers Association Login

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

Brown vs. Board of Education

Trial of Anthony Burns

Few incidents galvanized the anti-slavery movement in Massachusetts and the nation like the 1854 trial of fugitive slave Anthony Burns.

The Civil Rights Movement

A collection of videos curated by the Choices Program at Brown University.

More Educator Resources

Each year, the American Library Association honors black authors and illustrators with the Coretta Scott King Awards. Past winners are listed online.

The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords:An online study guide produced by PBS includes sample lessons, a quiz, and transcripts of interviews with prominent black journalists.

Boston African American National Historic Site :Take a virtual tour of Boston's Black Heritage Trail or link to online biographies, timelines and resources on local Black history. Topics on this site, hosted by the National Park Service, include the Underground Railroad, Blacks in the Civil War, and School Desegregation.

African American Odyssey: A directory to the resources of the Library of Congress related to African American history in the U.S. including an African American Pamphlet collection, slave narratives, and materials on Jackie Robinson and gospel music.

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Resources for teaching about black history

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Resources for teaching about black history Massachusetts Teachers Association Login Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) Brown vs. Board of Education Trial of Anthony Burns Few incidents galvanized the anti-slavery movement in Massachusetts and the nation like the 1854 trial of fugitive slave Anthony Burns.

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SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - 45 Days of Action-Shreveport is calling for the Caddo School Board to ensure black history is taught as part of all the American history courses in the parish's public schools.

"If you only see history from one lens, then it's hard to get the whole picture of who you are as a person, as a community, as a society," said Ebony Mitchell, of 45 Days of Action-Shreveport. "So we want black history to not only be black history, but American history."

Representatives of the organization, for which Monday was Day 15 of its 45 days of action, say they are focusing on issued related to education and social justice this week.

"Shreveport is 56.4% black and the educational curriculum should represent history in a way that represents this reality. Black history is much more than slavery! There are pioneers, doctors, lawyers, architects, astronauts, engineers and many, many more. Our children will perish for a lack of knowledge. This history incorporated into ALL history courses will help combat the systemic disparities in the educational system. We must educate all students of the contributions of black Americans."

PJ Brown-Coleman, of 45 Days of Action-Shreveport, said: "If these kids in these impoverished neighborhoods could understand and correlate why they are in the circumstances they are in, that's vitally important.

"Growing up, a lot of kids think 'Well, my mom just doesn't make enough money. Why don't we live in a house like this? Why don't we have a car like this?'

"When you can understand that the trauma that has been done to your family is systemic, it's not because your mommy isn't trying enough, it's because the system that she is in was built around slavery, if we want to be honest," Brown-Coleman continued. "So when you get to understand redlining, the different components to HUD, public housing or vouchers, you can correlate to why you are where you are and understand that it's not your fault, it's not your mommy's fault and it's not even your grandmother's fault.

Caddo School District, when asked for comment on 45 Days of Action-Shreveport's petition to have black history taught in all American history courses in parish schools, issued the following statement:

"History is important," said Omari Ho-Sang, of 45 Days of Action-Shreveport. "Black history is vital. Not only to black folk, black children, but everybody. This is everybody's history."

Copyright 2020 KSLA. All rights reserved.

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Activists push for black history to be taught in all American history classes in Caddo public schools

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SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - 45 Days of Action-Shreveport is calling for the Caddo School Board to ensure black history is taught as part of all the American history courses in the parish's public schools.

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From segregation to civil rights and celebrities to sermons, Louisiana Public Broadcasting's long-running series Folks (1981-1990) covered it all. Now 210 episodes of the minority affairs series are available for streaming. There is no cost to watch the programs, which featured an in-depth look at a wide variety of social issues that impacted minority communities in Louisiana in the 1980s.

While Folks principally highlighted issues related to African Americans, it also featured stories on other minority groups including women, Native Americans, people with disabilities, and senior citizens. The look may be "historic" but some of the harder-hitting issues covered in 1980s Louisiana still resonate today: unemployment, domestic violence, child abuse, and substance abuse.

The series also features profiles of African-American trailblazers as well as stories highlighting the arts and culture of the time. Browse through profiles on 1984 presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, journalist Ed Bradley, authors Alex Haley and James Baldwin, actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, and jazz great Dizzy Gillespie.

This series as well as thousands of hours of other historically significant video, are available through the Louisiana Digital Media Archive, the online home of the Louisiana Public Broadcasting Digital Collection and the Louisiana State Archives Multimedia Collection. The ever expanding site contains a combined catalog of thousands of hours of media recorded in Louisiana in the late 20th and early 21st centuries and it's all freely available for streaming.

The 210 episodes of Folks can be accessed at http://www.lpb.org/folks.

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Louisiana's African-American History now available online

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From segregation to civil rights and celebrities to sermons, Louisiana Public Broadcasting's long-running series Folks (1981-1990) covered it all. Now 210 episodes of the minority affairs series are available for streaming. There is no cost to watch the programs, which featured an in-depth look at a wide variety of social issues that impacted minority communities in Louisiana in the 1980s.

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Congo Square

In her important book Congo Square: African Roots in New Orleans, historian Freddi Williams Evans has documented the history of Congo Square, a site in New Orleans where records from the early 1700s document that freed and enslaved Africans gathered to share and perpetuate traditional African cultural practices. Today that square still exists, just outside the French Quarter in Louis Armstrong Park, and black musicians and other culture workers continue to gather there.
Captions by Jordan Flaherty
Plessy v. Ferguson

In 1892 a group of New Orleans' black community leaders called the Citizens Committee decided to engage in direct action against the state's "white only" railcars. Homer Plessy, a member of the group, was arrested for defying the law, an action that eventually led to the (ultimately unsuccessful) U.S. Supreme Court challenge Plessy v. Ferguson. A monument to Homer Plessy's brave action has been erected by the train tracks where Plessy boarded, just a few blocks from the French Quarter.

St. Augustine Memorial

Tomb of the Unknown Slave, a memorial built at St. Augustine Church. Located in the heart of the Treme neighborhood, St. Augustine was built by free Africans in the 1840s.

Treme Villa

The New Orleans African American Museum is housed in the Treme Villa, built in 1828-29. The museum hosts art shows, community events, cultural presentations and more.

Lower 9th Ward

The Lower 9th Ward levees broke open in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, destroying a historic black community. While the levees have been rebuilt, the neighborhood near the levee break still remains mostly empty. One exception is a series of homes built by Brad Pitt's organization, Make It Right.

New Orleans City Hall

On Oct. 31, 1963, civil rights activist the Rev. Avery Alexander led a group of protesters to the "white only" cafeteria in the City Hall. He was dragged out by police. In 1978 civil rights activist Ernest "Dutch" Morial, a frequent ally of Alexander's, was elected the first black mayor of New Orleans.

Backstreet Cultural Museum

Just a few blocks from Congo Square, the Backstreet Cultural Museum pays tribute to Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, and other important African-American cultural institutions in New Orleans.

White-Supremacist Monument

Just blocks away from the hotels where most tourists stay, the city has a monument built to celebrate white supremacists. The city's first and second black mayors both tried to have the monument removed but were blocked by the City Council and by state "historic preservation" officials. One look at that monument, which commemorates a massacre carried out by members of the Crescent City White League in 1874, reminds us how important it is to learn from history.

Jena, La.

On Sept. 20, 2007, 50,000 protesters came to Jena and marched to "Free the Jena Six." Today those six high school students, who were facing a lifetime in prison for beating a white student, are now either in college or on their way.

River Road African American Museum

The River Road African American Museum, close to Baton Rouge, is dedicated to documenting black history in the region.

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In her important book Congo Square: African Roots in New Orleans, historian Freddi Williams Evans has documented the history of Congo Square, a site in New Orleans where records from the early 1700s document that freed and enslaved Africans gathered to share and perpetuate traditional African cultural practices.

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Louisiana Official Travel and Tourism Information

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A cotton plantation founded by a former slave. The daughter of freed slaves who created a hair-care empire. A New Orleans boy who went from singing on street corners to headlining at Carnegie Hall. These are just a few of the fascinating stories you'll hear as you join us to celebrate the cultural contributions of African-Americans from Louisiana .

Since 1976, February has been designated as African-American History Month. But in Louisiana, we pay tribute to this heritage year-round in places like Melrose, where former slave Marie-Therese Coin-Coin and her family founded what is now known as Melrose Plantation. And at the Hermione Museum in Tallulah, where an exhibit tells the story of Madam C.J. Walker, considered the country's first female self-made millionaire after developing a line of hair-care products.

And that musician? Well, he just happened to become the one and only Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, who helped popularize jazz. Each year, Satchmo SummerFest, a three-day festival in New Orleans, celebrates his life and music.

You can learn more about these Louisiana natives and others as you travel Louisiana's African-American Heritage Trail. Stop in Grambling, a town settled by newly freed slaves. Today, it's home to Grambling State University and the Eddie G. Robinson Museum, honoring the legendary football coach. Learn more about the history of black Creoles at the Creole Heritage Folklife Center in Opelousas.

Tour the River Road African-American Museum in Donaldsonville, which details what life was like for African-Americans living along the Mississippi River. Nearby, visit Evergreen Plantation in Wallace. It features well-preserved slave quarters and tours emphasizing the importance of slave labor in plantation life.

From political barrier breakers and brave soldiers to literary leaders and gospel queens, African-Americans have made a tremendous impact on Louisiana history and culture. Join us as we celebrate their many achievements.

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Louisiana Honors Its African-American Heritage

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A cotton plantation founded by a former slave. The daughter of freed slaves who created a hair-care empire. A New Orleans boy who went from singing on street corners to headlining at Carnegie Hall. These are just a few of the fascinating stories you'll hear as you join us to celebrate the cultural contributions of African-Americans from Louisiana .

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Louisiana Official Travel and Tourism Information

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Walk the streets where jazz was born. Learn about America's first black governor. Hear how enslaved blacks fled the plantations to fight for the Union army. And how one man's refusal to move from his seat on a train led to a long struggle against segregation and the eventual triumph of the Civil Rights movement.

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SDLRC - 2020 House Commemoration 8009 - SD Legislature Recognizing February as Black History Month and South Dakota's rich history of African American achievements.

ENTITLED A LEGISLATIVE COMMEMORATION, Recognizing February as Black History Month and South Dakota's rich history of African American achievements.

WHEREAS, Black History Month was first established in 1926 as Negro History Week by historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and reestablished in 1976 as Black History Month by President Gerald Ford; and

WHEREAS, the 2020 theme for Black History Month is "African Americans and the Vote," which recognizes the sesquicentennial of the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) and the right of black men to the ballot after the Civil War; and

WHEREAS, the mission of the South Dakota African American History Museum, founded in 2009 in Sioux Falls, is to foster greater appreciation for the perseverance of African Americans in South Dakota through educational exhibits, community events, outreach, and historical documentation and preservation; and

WHEREAS, the first African American who laid foot in South Dakota was York, who participated in the Lewis and Clark expedition; and

WHEREAS, Sarah "Aunt Sally" Campbell was the first African American woman to own property and an independent business in South Dakota, when she discovered gold in the Black Hills and subsequently owned a half dozen mining claims and became a successful entrepreneur; and

WHEREAS, the Blair Family and others met in Yankton in 1906 and established the Northwestern Homestead Movement, which sought to relocate African Americans from Southern states to homesteads in South Dakota and the Upper Midwest; and

WHEREAS, Cleveland Abbott was born in Yankton, graduated from high school in Watertown with sixteen varsity letters, graduated from South Dakota State College, now South Dakota State University, with fourteen varsity letters, was a football head coach at Tuskegee University for thirty-two seasons, served in World War I, and coached the first two African American gold medal winners; and

WHEREAS, Leonard "Bud" Williams served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, served as Director of Student Activities at the Mitchell Vocational Institute, as a Mitchell city council member, and as mayor of Mitchell; and

WHEREAS, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., graced Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with his presence in January of 1961; and

WHEREAS, Kenny Anderson, Sr., was the first and, so far only, black city commissioner for the city of Sioux Falls and has a park and community center in the city named for him; and

WHEREAS, Emma Armstrong, who lived to be 102, lived in Sioux Falls since 1945, touched the lives of many of the people mentioned here, including Porter Williams, Kenny Anderson, Bud Williams, and Martin Luther King, Jr., among many others and dedicated her life to community service:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT COMMEMORATED, by the Ninety-Fifth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, that the Legislature commends and recognizes the deep history of African Americans in our great state and honors them throughout the month of February, Black History Month, and the rest of the year.

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SDLRC - 2020 House Commemoration 8009 - Enrolled

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We have listed several facts regrading African American involvement in South Dakota history. We wish to commend African Americans who served as trail blazers in South Dakota. February is Black History month and what better way then to honor these individuals with this Commemoration.

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The African American History Museum at the Washington Pavilion recognizes the struggles, contributions and great leadership of the African American community in South Dakota.

Located on the 1st floor of the Washington Pavilion.

South Dakota African American History Museum

301 S. Main Ave.
Sioux Falls, SD 57104

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South Dakota African American History Museum

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The African American History Museum at the Washington Pavilion recognizes the struggles, contributions and great leadership of the African American community in South Dakota. Located on the 1st floor of the Washington Pavilion. 301 S. Main Ave.Sioux Falls, SD 57104

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Black History Matters in South Dakota | Laura Renée Chandler | TEDxSiouxFalls

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Georgia Senate Study Committee ON African American 

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Georgia Senate Study Committee ON African American 

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3 Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station

Rodanthe See on map

The Pea Island Life-Saving Station, the only U.S. Life-Saving Service station with a crew of African-Americans, performed many heroics. Their 1896 rescue of all nine passengers on the 3-masted schooner E.S. Newman during a hurricane earned them a posthumous Gold Lifesaving Medal in 1996. Their efforts are honored at the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station, one of the most complete, historic stations of its kind in the United States. It's open seasonally from April through November.

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10 Places to Explore African-American History in North Carolina

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Rodanthe See on map The Pea Island Life-Saving Station, the only U.S. Life-Saving Service station with a crew of African-Americans, performed many heroics. Their 1896 rescue of all nine passengers on the 3-masted schooner E.S. Newman during a hurricane earned them a posthumous Gold Lifesaving Medal in 1996.

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Featured Events Celebrating Black History Month in 2020

February. Historic Edenton. Walking Tours. The tours will be on an alternating schedule (Feb. 1 - Harriet Jacobs/Feb. 9 - From Civil War to Civil Rights) offered at 3 p.m. leaving from the Visitor Center. Space is limited; reservations required. Cost is $2.50. Call (252) 482-2637.

Feb. 1. Museum of the Cape Fear, Fayetteville. Dancing Stories. April Turner presents valuable life lessons through stories and also teaches dances that symbolize West African traditions and culture. Her presentations has become a local tradition and favorite. 2 p.m. Free.

Feb. 5. Museum of the Albemarle, Elizabeth City. History for Lunch: Harlem Renaissance Centennial. Marvin T. Jones, Jones and Associates Washington, D.C., will discuss the connection of local communities Winton, Cofield and Ahoskie to the Harlem Renaissance and other comments. 12:15-1 p.m.

Feb 7. Museum of the Albemarle, Elizabeth City. Elementary School Day. Black History Month. Atumpan - The Talking Drums will perform, and students will explore history, literature, musical, performing and visual arts through hands-on activities including dancing and poetry writing. Elizabeth City State University's planetarium staff will present a mobile program 9 a.m. - 1p.m.

Feb. 11. N.C. Maritime Museum, Beaufort. Screening of the documentary, "Rescue Men: The Pea Island Lifesavers". The documentary chronicles the true story of Station 17, the only African American crew serving in the U.S. Lifesaving Service, the predecessor to the U.S. Coast Guard. 2 p.m. Free.

Feb. 15. N.C. Aquarium, Roanoke Island. Freedmen, Surfmen, Heroes. The presentation of the story of the first all-black lifesaving station and the precursor to the U.S. Coast Guard. Noon and 2 p.m. Included with admission.

Feb. 18. N.C. Maritime Museum, Southport. Dr. Virginia Littlefield presents, "I Am Only One, but I Am One: Southern African American Schoolteachers and the Struggle of Freedom". Highlights advancements on the social, political, economic and educational battlefields. Limited space; reservation required. Call (910) 477-5151. 7 p.m. Free.

Feb. 22. Museum of the Albemarle, Elizabeth City. Middle and High School Day Harlem Renaissance Centennial Celebration. An immersion experience into art, literature, music and a tour of the "Temperance and Bootlegging: A Nation Under Prohibition" exhibit. An examination of how Prohibition helped the development of jazz and broke racial barriers. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Grades 6-12.

Feb. 22. Museum of the Albemarle, Elizabeth City. Harlem Renaissance Centennial Celebration. Learn about impacts of the Harlem Renaissance on the 21st century and explore other events. Tour "Temperance and Bootlegging: A Nation Under Prohibition," and settings, like period clothing and photos at a "speakeasy piano bar" circa the 1920s. Enjoy refreshments and children's activities. 10 a.m-2 p.m. Free.

Feb. 22. Museum of the Albemarle, Elizabeth City. Harlem Renaissance Centennial: Evening of Entertainment. A new video, "Underground Railroad in Northeast North Carolina" premieres. Afterward enjoy an evening of 1920s style music, dance, art and poetry and a reception. 6:30 p.m. reception, 7:30 p.m. video. Free.

Feb. 22. Somerset Place State Historic Site, Creswell. Slavery to Freedom in Washington County. Friday tours at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday panel discussion at 1 p.m. Program cost $5.

Jan. 25. N.C. Museum of History, Raleigh. African American Cultural Celebration. Join the statewide kickoff to Black History Month. Named a Top 20 Event by the Southeast Tourism Society, the19th annual day-long African American Cultural Celebration features scores of musicians, storytellers, dancers, chefs, historians, playwrights, authors, artists, reenactors and more. 10:30 a.m. Free.

Feb. 1, 8, 15. Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum, Sedalia. Palmer Personalities. During special tours, visitors will meet actor portraying notable personalities from the school's history, including Dr. Brown's family. 10 a.m, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. $3.

Feb. 5. N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh. The Story of Sankofa Farms. Kamal Bell, the owner of the farm, discusses how he turn 12 acres of land in Cedar Grove, North Carolina into a place where teen can learn how to grown their own food while developing import life skills. Noon. Free.

Feb. 8, 22. N.C. Museum of History, Raleigh. African American History Highlights Tour. Docent-led tours through exhibits highlight the contributions of African Americans to North Carolina.1:30 p.m. Free.

Feb. 9. N.C. Museum of History, Raleigh. Music of the Carolina: Jalessa Cade. A program of African American gospel music by Dunn (Harnett County) native and independent recording artist Jalessa Cade. She has a music ministry and has been a contestant in multiple artist showcases and soon will release her debut single "You Are." 3 p.m. Free

Feb. 12. N.C. Museum of History, Raleigh. History á la Carte. History Meets Virtual Reality . Derek Ham, N.C. State University, will discuss his interest in game-based learning -- in particular his creation and design of Learning Lab 360's "I Am a Man" interactive virtual reality experience that presents the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike and the last days of Rev. Martin Luther King. Bring lunch, beverages provided. Noon - 1 p.m. Free.

Feb. 12. N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh. A Tale of Two Ships. Angela Thorpe, director of the N.C. African American Historical Commission, discusses Blackbeard's flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, and its earlier life as the slave ship La Concorde. Noon. Free.

Feb. 19. N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh. Warren County North Carolina - Birth of the Environmental Justice Movement. Dollie Burwell, Bill Kearney and Wayne Moseley discuss their role as community members in the Warren County PCB Landfill protests, which is recognized as the beginning of the environmental justice movement in the United States. Noon. Free.

Feb. 20. Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum, Sedalia. Race, Gender and Jim Crow Lecture Series. Dr. Virginia Summey will explore the life of Elreta Alexander, the first African American woman to graduate from Columbia Law School and to practice law in North Carolina. Learn how she navigated race and gender and turned them into a career as a pioneering attorney and judge. 6:30 p.m. Free.

Feb. 26. N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh. Masters of Our Own Destiny - Black Farmers. Melody Hunter-Pillion, PhD student, uses the oral histories of North Carolina's African American farmers and fishermen to tell the story of how these families have shaped North Carolina and how they are dealing with heritage depletion, land loss and climate change. Noon. Free.

February 22, 29. N.C. State Capitol, Raleigh. Pure Life Theater at the historic Royal Bakery Building. Black History Month Read-in. The N.C. African American Heritage Commission and the N.C. State Capitol in partnership with the State Library of N.C. will present the new book "My NC from A to Z." Celebrate with readings by authors, musicians, poets, scholars, orators, and more! 1 - 4 p.m. Free.

Feb. 1, 15, 29. Reed Gold Mine, Midland. Black Gold, Slavery and Reed Gold Mine. Saturday tours focused on the site and the mine that tell stories of African American miners at Reed Gold Mine in the region. 1 p.m. $2.14 for ages eight and older.

Feb. 22. President James K. Polk, Pineville. Local Learning Series: Charlotte's West End, Presented by John C. Smith University. Archivist Branon Lunsford will discuss Charlotte's Historic West End, a National Endowment for the Humanities funded project, which aims to tell the story of a vibrant African American community with photographs, documents and oral histories. 10:30 a.m - noon. Free.

Feb. 29. N.C. Horne Creek Farm, Pinnacle. How Deep Did Their Roots Run. At the turn-of-the 20th century, the land which now makes up Horne Creek Farm was owned by two families: the Hausers and the Sawyers. In celebration of Black History Month, Sawyers' family descendant Jerry Ward will do a presentation on his family's roots and a tour of the Hauser and Sawyers cemeteries. 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Free.

Feb. 29. Town Creek Indian Mound, Mt. Gilead. Town Creek Under the Stars: Follow the Drinking Gourd. Learn how the Little Dipper has been viewed by various cultures over time and its role in the Underground Railroad. 6 - 9 p.m. Preregistration required. Free.

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Explore African American History and Culture

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Featured Events Celebrating Black History Month in 2020 February. Historic Edenton. Walking Tours. The tours will be on an alternating schedule (Feb. 1 - Harriet Jacobs/Feb. 9 - From Civil War to Civil Rights) offered at 3 p.m. leaving from the Visitor Center. Space is limited; reservations required. Cost is $2.50.

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The North Carolina African American Heritage Commission and the Office of Archives and History this month released a new children's book, "My N.C. from A to Z," that celebrates and creates connections to North Carolina's rich African American heritage.

"My N.C. from A to Z," written by Michelle Lanier and illustrated by Dare Coulter, is a colorful, sturdy board book that parents will want to share with their children. Studies show that children who are read to at least three times a week by a family member are almost twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading compared to children who are read to less than three times a week.

Each letter of the alphabet represents African American people and places rooted in North Carolina that have provided positive and indelible influences in arts, culture, and social justice worldwide. The book features people and topics such as:

B is for Black Wall Street. Black Wall Street is a term that describes historic Parrish Street, a four-block area in downtown Durham, N.C., where African American enterprise thrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

C is for Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, a pioneer in education and race relations, was born on a farm near Henderson, N.C. She established an elite boarding school, the Palmer Memorial Institute, in rural Sedalia, N.C. that prioritized liberal education, leadership and civic engagement. The school expanded in size and achieved statewide and national recognition. Dr. Brown was a vocal, national advocate for women's and civil rights.

F is for Freedom Hill. Freedom Hill (also sometimes known as Liberty Hill) is among the oldest towns in the United States chartered by free African Americans in 1865 and incorporated as Princeville, N.C. in 1885. Princeville was named after Turner Prince, a carpenter and community leader who had been born enslaved in North Carolina in 1843 and was one of Freedom Hill's earliest residents.

L is for Longleaf Pine. Free, enslaved, and freedom-seeking African Americans harvested raw turpentine from North Carolina's long leaf pine forests by cutting deep "V" shapes into tree trunks that are sometimes still visible today. The processed turpentine, tar and pitch created from these harvests made North Carolina the largest producer of naval stores in the U.S. in the mid-19 th century.

T is for Thomas Day. Thomas Day was a respected craftsman, furniture maker, entrepreneur, and free African American from Milton, N.C., from 1801-1861. His furniture today is highly regarded and collected.

To learn more about the book please visit https://aahc.nc.gov/resources/my-nc-z. The book may be ordered from UNC Press at https://uncpress.org/book/9780865264991/my-n-c-from-a-z/.

Michelle Lanier, the author, is a scholar, oral historian, filmmaker, museum professional, and folklorist. Her deep roots, in what she calls Afro-Carolina, inspired Lanier to successfully advocate for legislation creating the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission, which she led as its founding executive director. In 2018 Lanier became the first African American director of North Carolina's Division of State Historic Sites in the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Lanier also has a passion for teaching, particularly at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, where she has served as a faculty member for two decades.

Dare Coulter, the illustrator, is an award-winning artist. She specializes in public art, specifically monumental sculptures and large murals. She has also illustrated the children's books "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" and "You are My Sunshine" that align with her mission of positive imagery of people of color. See more of Coulter's work at www.darecoulter.com.

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N.C. African American Heritage Commission and Office of Archives and History Release New Children's Book "My N.C. from A to Z"

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The North Carolina African American Heritage Commission and the Office of Archives and History this month released a new children's book, "My N.C. from A to Z," that celebrates and creates connections to North Carolina's rich African American heritage. "My N.C.

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Green Book Project

Did you know that over 300 businesses in North Carolina were listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book? In fact, there were 327. Over the course of several months, Green Book Project staff will research each of these sites.

Find out more

Professional Advancement

Explore statewide, regional, and national advancement opportunities.

Learn more

NC AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE COMMISSION

The North Carolina General Assembly created the African American Heritage Commission (AAHC) in 2008 to "assist the Secretary of Cultural Resources in the preservation, interpretation, and promotion of African American history, arts, and culture." With this legislation the AAHC has identified African American heritage practitioners, such as curators, docents, and museum directors, as priority service populations. The AAHC was recognized as a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources in 2017, after being housed in the the Office of Archives and History and the North Carolina Arts Council. The commission works across the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to achieve the mission of preserving, protecting, and promoting North Carolina's African American history, art, and culture, for all people.

Green Book Project

Did you know that over 300 businesses in North Carolina were listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book? In fact, there were 327. Over the course of several months, Green Book Project staff will research each of these sites.

Find out more

Professional Advancement

Explore statewide, regional, and national advancement opportunities.

Learn more

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Did you know that over 300 businesses in North Carolina were listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book? In fact, there were 327. Over the course of several months, Green Book Project staff will research each of these sites. Find out more Explore statewide, regional, and national advancement opportunities.

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Mission

To preserve, protect, and promote North Carolina's African American history, arts, and culture for all people.

Vision

To transform and enrich people and communities by sharing North Carolina's African American history, arts, and culture.

History

The North Carolina General Assembly created the African American Heritage Commission (AAHC) in 2008 to "assist the Secretary of Cultural Resources in the preservation, interpretation, and promotion of African American history, arts, and culture." Michelle Lanier, then Curator of Multicultural Initiatives for the Division of State Historic Sites, led the team that created the AAHC. She was named Acting Director of the NC African American Heritage Commission in 2008, which she served in tandem with her Curator role for several years.

In 2011, the AAHC was moved from the NC Office of Archives & History to the NC Arts Council (NCAC) to establish their African American Heritage Development initiative. Here, the AAHC established initiatives like Freedom Roads, and projects like The Gathering Place Project. Michelle Lanier was named Director of the AAHC in 2012.

The AAHC was moved from the NCAC in the summer of 2017 to become a Division of the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Michelle Lanier was named Executive Director of the division. She was joined by Angela Thorpe and Sylvia West, who currently serve as Associate Director and Constituent Affairs Liaison, respectively.

Goals

Sustainability | Develop a plan for financial and leadership sustainability for the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission and its work;

Public Awareness | Foster public awareness through media, publications, and face-to-face contact.

Recognition | Identify people, places, themes, and programs that help shape North Carolina's African American heritage;

Partnerships | Develop partnerships and working relationships at the community, state, and out-of-state levels that support our mission.

The AAHC's guiding value is to be responsive to community needs and voices.

Mission

To preserve, protect, and promote North Carolina's African American history, arts, and culture for all people.

Vision

To transform and enrich people and communities by sharing North Carolina's African American history, arts, and culture.

History

The North Carolina General Assembly created the African American Heritage Commission (AAHC) in 2008 to "assist the Secretary of Cultural Resources in the preservation, interpretation, and promotion of African American history, arts, and culture." Michelle Lanier, then Curator of Multicultural Initiatives for the Division of State Historic Sites, led the team that created the AAHC. She was named Acting Director of the NC African American Heritage Commission in 2008, which she served in tandem with her Curator role for several years.

In 2011, the AAHC was moved from the NC Office of Archives & History to the NC Arts Council (NCAC) to establish their African American Heritage Development initiative. Here, the AAHC established initiatives like Freedom Roads, and projects like The Gathering Place Project. Michelle Lanier was named Director of the AAHC in 2012.

The AAHC was moved from the NCAC in the summer of 2017 to become a Division of the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Michelle Lanier was named Executive Director of the division. She was joined by Angela Thorpe and Sylvia West, who currently serve as Associate Director and Constituent Affairs Liaison, respectively.

Goals

Sustainability | Develop a plan for financial and leadership sustainability for the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission and its work;

Public Awareness | Foster public awareness through media, publications, and face-to-face contact.

Recognition | Identify people, places, themes, and programs that help shape North Carolina's African American heritage;

Partnerships | Develop partnerships and working relationships at the community, state, and out-of-state levels that support our mission.

The AAHC's guiding value is to be responsive to community needs and voices.

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To preserve, protect, and promote North Carolina's African American history, arts, and culture for all people. To transform and enrich people and communities by sharing North Carolina's African American history, arts, and culture. The North Carolina General Assembly created the African American Heritage Commission (AAHC) in 2008 to "assist the Secretary of Cultural Resources in the preservation, interpretation, and promotion of African American history, arts, and culture."

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South Carolina African American Heritage Commission

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South Carolina African American Heritage Commission

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Maine African American History and Culture Commission

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Maine African American History and Culture Commission

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Iowa Commission on the Status of African Americans

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Iowa Commission on the Status of African Americans

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I am a member of the Black Law Students Association at the University of North Dakota because I want to encourage and assist in increasing diversity among legal professionals and within our community.

Black History Month is annually observed in February with the purpose of remembering important African-American people and historical events. The celebration reminds people to reflect on contributors whose achievements often go unnoticed or are overshadowed. Black History Month emphasizes stories of resilience, change and accomplishment. In doing so, it works to combat the ever-present problem of racial discrimination.

A community like ours -- made up of an overwhelming majority of white residents -- is prone to succumb to the "it does not affect us" mindset. However, there are noteworthy ties to black history closer to the community than some may assume.

In the early 1930s, baseball was a popular sport throughout the country but specifically in North Dakota. According to an article from the State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck and other towns throughout the state hired African-American players from other parts of the country where teams were racially segregated. While the African-American players still experienced racism in Bismarck, the town's motive to have a winning team assisted in weakening racial discrimination.

Another notable tie is Judge Ronald Davies. Davies was a judge in Grand Forks before being seated on the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota. Davies is remembered for his role in ordering the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, where he was temporarily assigned in 1957. That ruling, a key moment in the civil rights era, allowed African-American students known as the "Little Rock Nine" to attend a previously all-white school.

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Black History Month needs to be celebrated in N.D.

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I am a member of the Black Law Students Association at the University of North Dakota because I want to encourage and assist in increasing diversity among legal professionals and within our community. Black History Month is annually observed in February with the purpose of remembering important African-American people and historical events.

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February is Black History Month. In North Dakota, the African American population has grown, though historically the numbers were few. But there have been African Americans in the state as long as there have been white people. Early records indicate that the earliest came as slaves of explorers and traders. In fact, the first non-Native born here was an African American baby.

Aside from slaves, others came of their own accord to follow the American dream. One of our most famous North Dakotans was Era Bell Thompson, who became the international editor of Ebony Magazine. She was the daughter of a homesteader near Driscoll who then moved to Bismarck in 1919 to run a secondhand store.

Ironically, blacks had a major advantage over the Scandinavians and the Germans - they spoke English. Some were associated with the steamboat trade from St. Louis, but many came as soldiers. They had fought in the Civil War, serving in regiments that later came out west to provide protection for railroads, homesteaders and gold-seekers.

In July 1891, two companies of African Americans from the 25th Infantry Regiment arrived at Fort Buford on the upper Missouri, quickly followed by a third. The next summer, two companies from the 10th Cavalry joined them, and by 1893, Fort Buford was made up entirely of black enlisted men; the only whites at the fort were commissioned officers. Native Americans called these buffalo soldiers because their hair reminded them of curly buffalo hair.

And there were also African Americans working as cowboys. Twenty-two year old James Williams worked cattle in the Medora area in 1886, and it's told that he was such a good roper that he once lassoed a goose right out of midair. Another well-known black cowboy was John Tyler, a friend to Teddy Roosevelt.

Of those who came to homestead, William Montgomery is noted for his 1000-acre bonanza farm south of Fargo. In the Mouse River area, Frank Taylor was a highly respected horse dealer; he had a ranch near Towner where he specialized in raising and trading Percherons and Belgians.

And in sports, North Dakota had integrated baseball teams in the 1930s, long before Jackie Robinson broke into the majors. Baseball teams all across North Dakota lured some of the best players in the world from the Negro Leagues, including legendary pitcher, Satchel Paige.

In short, African Americans may not have settled here in large numbers, but their contributions have certainly been noteworthy.

Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm

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February is Black History Month. In North Dakota, the African American population has grown, though historically the numbers were few. But there have been African Americans in the state as long as there have been white people. Early records indicate that the earliest came as slaves of explorers and traders.

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“Black history is American history, and this legislation will provide our schools the federal resources they need to take this important step and work to address systemic racism through education and understanding.”

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“Black history is American history, and this legislation will provide our schools the federal resources they need to take this important step and work to address systemic racism through education and understanding.”

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National Commission to Recognize African American History in Schools.

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National Commission to Recognize African American History in Schools.

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1619 commission - National

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), joined her colleagues to introduce legislation to increase awareness and understanding of African American history across our schools through expanded access to programming from the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The 1619 Act would provide federal funding to support African American History educational programs through workshops and professional development activities for educators.

"For far too long, our schools have taught an incomplete picture of American history to our students that has unfortunately contributed to the deeply-rooted racial inequities that exist today. We must do better at educating the next generation on the full history of our country, including the African-American experience, to create the meaningful change we need to move forward," said Senator Baldwin. "Black history is American history, and this legislation will provide our schools the federal resources they need to take this important step and work to address systemic racism through education and understanding."

The 1619 Act was led by Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Bob Casey (D-PA) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV). Cosponsoring this legislation includes Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Krysten Sinema (D-AZ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Mark Warner (D-VA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

"As we search for ways to come together in order to tackle the systemic racism that has stained our society for centuries, reimagining how we teach our students about African American history and culture is a top priority," said Hilary O. Shelton, Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy & Director of the Washington Bureau at NAACP. " Providing more of our educators the opportunity to access the resources needed to impart these lessons on their students is critical to securing any progress we are able to make, and we commend Senator Peters, Senator Casey and Senator Rosen for spearheading this effort.

"For too long, our educational system has withheld students from further exploring the triumphs, horrors and heroes of African American history that are so integral to our nation's story," said Ebonie C. Riley, DC Bureau Chief of the National Action Network. "The 1619 Act would be a first step in ensuring that the next generation of students can immerse themselves in this important historical narrative, and we look forward to continue working with the Senators to ensure it is enacted into law."

"NEA commends Senator Peters, Senator Rosen and Senator Casey for introducing the 1619 Act," said Lily Eskelsen Garcia, President of the National Education Association. "We are happy to see a bill that bolsters and helps public school educators utilize the already amazing materials at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It is vitally important that our students from all backgrounds learn about and understand African-American history and the African-American experience in the United States. That African-American story is rich, amazing, and heart wrenching. It is inextricably intertwined with the origin story of the founding of our country. Knowledge and information about the critical role of African Americans in this country is also a step in helping to end systemic racism. Making sure our educators have the training and information necessary to share is critical and we think this bill will help to make that happen."

Many schools are not required to teach students about African American history and educators can face barriers including a lack of funding to access quality resources, a lack of awareness of where to find resources, or a lack of knowledge of how to develop or incorporate curricula. The 1619 Act would recognize the importance of African American history at the federal level, provide $10 million in funding over a five-year period and expand the National Museum of African American History and Culture's education programming to teachers across the country.

This funding would specifically be available to support high school teachers, middle school teachers, school administrators and prospective teachers engage with quality resources on African American history. This in turn would help allow students in schools across the nation to learn more about African American history as well as teach valuable lessons from the African American experience along with the economic, political, social, cultural and other contributions generations of African American leaders have made to our nation.

The 1619 Act would additionally:

Expand the National Museum of African American History and Culture professional development programs, through activities such as local, regional, and national workshops, teacher trainings with African American history education partners, and engagement with local educational agencies and schools.

Require the museum to create and maintain a centralized website for African American history, where educators can find curriculum materials, best practice and resources.

Prioritize support for schools that currently do not offer African American history education programs;

Organize and promote local, regional and national workshops and teacher trainings with African American history education partners, and;

Encourage individual states' education agencies to work with schools in order to integrate these programs within their course curriculum.

An online version of this release is available here.

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U.S. Sen. Baldwin: Introduces 1619 Act to raise awareness, understanding of African American history in schools

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), joined her colleagues to introduce legislation to increase awareness and understanding of African American history across our schools through expanded access to programming from the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

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Wisconsin lawmakers are locked in a dispute over who qualifies to be honored during February's Black History Month, after a senior Republican suggested a list where the majority of named picks were white.

Republican state senator Scott Allen circulated a resolution recognizing 10 historical figures for celebration. But six of those who'd been active in Wisconsin's Underground Railroad, helping southern slaves escape to freedom turned out to be white.

The choice provoked a backlash from local black lawmakers, who said Allen circumvented the state's legislature's black caucus from choosing how to honor the contributions of black Americans.

"If this was intended to be without controversy, you failed," state senator Lena Taylor wrote to Allen in response. "Thank you Massa Allen for pickin' whose we should honuh suh. We sho ain't capable of thinkin' for ourselves, suh."

Taylor, a black Milwaukee Democrat, asked why a white politician would be leading the selection, which includes six white abolitionists, four black slaves and unnamed members of the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohican Indians.

"The fact that this even needs to be discussed is a reflection of where we are as a society," she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "I wake up every day as a black woman. I'm not exactly sure what it is that Scott Allen believes he knows better than me."

But Allen told the newspaper that the white people named in his resolution "exhibited tremendous courage to fight for just causes" and that his aim is to draw more white people into Black History Month celebrations.

In a memo to lawmakers he wrote that it is important to view African American history "in a way that raises the prominence of that part of our mutual history so that it is the center of our attention" and to "demonstrate our unity by highlighting an aspect of American history."

"When we say that it has nothing to do with us, as European Americans, and that we should not be involved in Black History Month and the celebration of Black History Month, we're missing the larger point," he told the newspaper.

This is the third year in succession that Republican state lawmakers have collided with accusations of cultural appropriation over the celebrations.

Earlier this year, they blocked the black caucus's list of honorees until Democrats agreed to drop Milwaukee-born former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Republican party leaders argued that Kaepernick was too controversial.

In 2018, Allen complained that David Clarke, the controversial, Trump-supporting black Milwaukee sheriff, who once compared the Black Lives Matter movement to the Ku Klux Klan, had been left off the list.

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Politician faces backlash over resolution to recognize whites for Wisconsin's Black History Month | The Milwaukee Independent

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Wisconsin lawmakers are locked in a dispute over who qualifies to be honored during February's Black History Month, after a senior Republican suggested a list where the majority of named picks were white. Republican state senator Scott Allen circulated a resolution recognizing 10 historical figures for celebration.

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AJR8,1,1 1Relating to: proclaiming February 2019 as Black History Month.

AJR8,1,42 Whereas, Black History Month provides a deliberate opportunity to reflect on
3the common humanity underlying all people and to raise awareness and foster
4respect for the heritage and contributions of people of African descent; and

AJR8,1,105 Whereas, this year marks 400 years since the arrival of enslaved Africans in
6Virginia. The existence of Africans in North America can be traced back to 1525, and
7through 1866 the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade is estimated to have ensnared more
8than 12 million African people, with an estimated 10 million surviving the
9unconscionable Middle Passage, landing in North America, the Caribbean, and
10South America; and

AJR8,1,1311 Whereas, Wisconsin history first references African descendants in a speech
12given in 1725 by a chief of the Illinois Indians, in which he said "a negro belonging
13to Monsieur de Boisbriant" at Green Bay; and

AJR8,2,214 Whereas, the United States has recognized black history annually since
15February 12, 1926, first as "Negro History Week" and later as "Black History Month,"
1by noted Harvard scholar and historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson, celebrating the
2ethnic and racial diversity that enriches and strengthens our nation; and

AJR8,2,73 Whereas, both enslaved and free people of African descent have participated in
4every aspect of America's effort to secure, protect, and advance the cause of freedom
5and civil rights and have stories that are an inspiration to all citizens, that reflect
6the triumph of the human spirit and offer the hopes of everyday people to rise above
7both prejudice and circumstance and to build lives of dignity; and

AJR8,2,98 Whereas, people of African descent or African Americans have made
9measurable differences in their respective industries, people such as:

AJR8,3,5 Milele Chikasa Anana - Publisher, UMOJA Magazine, a monthly journal of
2positive, encouraging news about African American people and opportunities in
3Madison, a civil rights activist, business leader, and former city of Madison
4affirmative action officer, and the first African American elected to the Madison
5school board;

AJR8,4,6 Gerard Randall - Executive Director of the Milwaukee Education
2Partnership, former CEO of the Private Industry Council, former member and Vice
3President of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, and currently
4board member of Cardinal Stritch University, the Milwaukee Public Museum, the
5Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership, VISIT Milwaukee, and the
6Wisconsin Arts Board;

AJR8,5,3 Reuben Harpole Jr. - Civil rights activist, community educator, launched the
2Freedom Schools to keep students of color engaged in education during the boycotts
3to protest racial segregation in Milwaukee Public Schools;

AJR8,5,16 Kevin Newell - CEO of Royal Capital Group, prior roles in public finance led
12to an allocation of over $200 million in federal and state resources as the senior
13underwriter and to the deployment of the largest single allocation of federal tax
14credits in U.S. history, and in a separate transaction led the deployment of the first
15pairing of the low-income housing tax credit and new markets tax credit in
16Wisconsin state's history;

AJR8,6,6 1Whereas, while acknowledging the work of these leaders, it is equally critical
2to appreciate, both past and present, the long list of contributions of our fellow
3citizens, Black History Month gives Wisconsinites an occasion to recognize the
4significant influence people of African heritage have made, and continue to make, in
5the areas of medicine, art, politics, human rights, education, sports, and economic
6development; now, therefore, be it

AJR8,6,10 , the senate concurring, That there is created an
8assembly committee, to be known as the task force on black history, which shall
9examine the contributions of African American historical figures to American public,
10cultural, and intellectual life; and, be it further

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Wisconsin Legislature: AJR8: Joint Resolution Text

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AJR8,1,1 1Relating to: proclaiming February 2019 as Black History Month. AJR8,1,42 Whereas, Black History Month provides a deliberate opportunity to reflect on3the common humanity underlying all people and to raise awareness and foster 4respect for the heritage and contributions of people of African descent; and AJR8,1,105 Whereas, this year marks 400 years since the arrival of enslaved Africans in6Virginia.

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Today, Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) joined her colleagues in the legislature to vote on three items, one being a Republican tax bill, the second a resolution declaring March 1, 2019 as National Speech and Debate Education Day, and the third being a resolution proclaiming February, 2019 as Black History Month.

The Black History Month resolution, which honored a variety of individuals from the African-American community for their contributions, was amended by Republicans to remove the name of Colin Kaepernick, who believed he was "too controversial" of a figure to include. Kaepernick, who was born in Wisconsin, has faced criticism for protesting against police brutality by peacefully sitting during the playing of the National Anthem, an act that changed to kneeling after a suggestion from U.S. Army Veteran Nate Boyer.

In response to the Republican's decision to censor this year's Black History Month Resolution, Senator Taylor released the following statement:

"Black History Month is about acknowledging how far we've come, but it's also about how far we've got to go. Republicans like Assembly Speaker Vos and Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald set us back today. The forced censorship of names, selected by African-American legislators, to be included in the annual Black History Month Resolution, was a throwback to an ugly period in this nation's history.

Specifically, they objected to Colin Kaepernick's inclusion. Vos talked about wanting someone to bring us together. That is absolutely rich, considering who's the President. So on one hand they want to silence Kapernick who protested police brutality, while supporting a President that encouraged it.

So to those who have asked me why not just remove Kaepernick's name so the others named in the resolution could be honored, my response is simple. It's like asking, why weren't Blacks content to ride at the back of the bus? It's because they always understood, that a white person could demand their seat, even in the section reserved for them. Rosa sat because she was tired. Colin kneeled because he was tired. Frankly, I am tired of other people trying to define the realities, challenges and voices of Black people. "

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Senator Taylor: Taylor Refutes GOP's Censorship of Black History Honorees

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Today, Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) joined her colleagues in the legislature to vote on three items, one being a Republican tax bill, the second a resolution declaring March 1, 2019 as National Speech and Debate Education Day, and the third being a resolution proclaiming February, 2019 as Black History Month.

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Racial diversity is not one of the things for which Wyoming is best known. According to census data, only one-point-five percent of the state's population is African American. Now, a class at the University of Wyoming is documenting the largely untold history of black people in the West. The class is confronting black invisibility-real and perceived.

Kerry Pimblott teaches the Black West class in UW's African American and Diaspora Studies department. She says Wyoming's apparent racial homogeneity disguises a more complex reality. "Part of it for me is to recover the contributions of African Americans and people of African descent to the state of Wyoming, because they've always been here and they've always contributed. Their history has been erased."

Or, perhaps never told at all. A recent ranking by the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance project puts Wyoming and four other states at the bottom for not adequately addressing the history of race and diversity in public schools. That's largely because the state doesn't require students to learn civil rights history.

But for Pimblott, only part of what she calls black invisibility happens in the classroom. "The erasure of black people from the state is both at the historical level, in terms of how we've studied and learned about our history, but it's also the actual erasure by the exclusion of people from the state, through racist policies and practices."

By the 1910's, Pimblott says vigilante justice was in decline, except when it came to African Americans. Wyoming had some of the most lynchings of African Americans per-capita in the country. And discriminatory public policies made Wyoming inhospitable to African Americans: enslavement was a risk in the territory's early years; interracial marriage was illegal until the 1950s. [Correction: Wyoming's Anti Miscegenation Law wasn't repealed until 1965.]

This is not say the West didn't offer opportunities. Life in the Old West was a delicate balance between hardship and reward, and Pimblott says African Americans were a visible part of Wyoming history at every turn: as soldiers, railroad workers, homesteaders, legislators. "Their experience was a complicated one that had opportunities but also had obstacles."

Caanan Hurst and two of his classmates are working on a documentary for the Black West class. They're exploring present day experiences of African Americans at the University of Wyoming. What they've found has been surprising. "Even overt racism, which people think is so done with: I'm hearing stories from a month ago, a year ago, two years ago that are just blatantly racist. And so with this documentary, showing real life stories of people saying 'Yeah, this is what I've experienced here in Wyoming,' that makes it real, that hits close to home with people," says Hurst.

Hurst's classmate Natawsha Mitchell is working on the documentary, too. She's bi-racial. Growing up in a white family in Torrington, she was the only black student in school until her junior year. She didn't sit next to another black student in class until college. And it was in college Mitchell started to realize some of what she had written off as playground teasing was actually racism. "I think as a kid I had never framed it that way because it wasn't talked about that way."

Now that she's equipped to recognize discrimination, Mitchell sees racist attitudes every day. She's one of fewer than 100 black students at UW, and sometimes that attracts attention. One day, a woman approached her in the bookstore "and said, 'I just have to ask, where are you from?' And I said I grew up in Torrington. 'Oh, I just had to ask, because we don't have very many African women on this campus.' And then was just, like, 'Bye.'"

Mitchell says, as an African American, she's been accused of cheating for taking black history classes. She says she goes to the Cowboys' football games and hears the N-word thrown around. "Just yesterday, a lady told me if I was unhappy with the campus climate as a racial minority, I should just go to another school." She says all of this, over time, has a corrosive effect on her self-esteem and how comfortable she feels on campus.

So in the face of this experience, Mitchell says it's been exciting to discover there is black history in seemingly white Wyoming. That's the point of the Black West class. On Tuesday, April 29 Kerry Pimblott's students will display their findings to the public through the documentary film, art, and museum-style exhibits. Challenging Invisibility: Stories of Black Life in the West takes place from 12:15 to 1:15 pm at the Wyoming Union West Ballroom at UW.

Pimblott says, "The goal is to translate to the public here in Wyoming a sense of the centrality of African Americans' contributions, to recover those experiences, and maybe to revise some of the dominant narratives we have about our own sense of space and place in Wyoming."

Her ultimate aim is to offer materials from the class to public school teachers, so the K through 12 curriculum can offer a more complete view of Wyoming's history.

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Challenging Invisibility: UW Class Discovers Black History In The West

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Racial diversity is not one of the things for which Wyoming is best known. According to census data, only one-point-five percent of the state's population is African American. Now, a class at the University of Wyoming is documenting the largely untold history of black people in the West.

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February is Black History Month, a time to observe the achievements of African Americans - from civil rights to science to politics to music and beyond - in U.S. History. Check out the below facts found in excerpts in Presidential remarks, Congressional Records, and Resolutions on to help us remember some of the African Americans who helped shape our country. Click on the links to learn even more about the adversity these heroes overcame and their incredible contributions.

1. December 1 wasn't the first time Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat

According to the Congressional Record on October 26, 2005, in a previous incident, Parks refused to give up her seat, but was ordered off the bus and never arrested. December 1, 1955, was the second time Parks refused to move from her seat, resulting in her arrest and sparking a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery bus system. Read more about the life of Rosa Parks in these documents from govinfo.
2. Pitchers on opposing teams regularly threw fastballs near Jackie Robinson's head

PDF 157 Cong. Rec. H7591 - ROSA PARKS DAY

PDF 151 Cong. Rec. H9366 - HONORING ROSA PARKS

3. Shirley Anita Chisholm was the first Black woman to be elected to Congress

According to the Congressional Record on April 15, 1997, opposing baseball players tried to spike Robinson on the head and pitchers regularly threw balls near his head. Even some of his own teammates asked to be traded when they learned he was being called up from the minors. Read more about the life of Jackie Robinson on govinfo.
4. Dr. George Washington Carver was born to a slave mother and didn't obtain a high school education until his late twenties

PDF 149 Cong. Rec. S2334 - JACKIE ROBINSON

PDF 143 Cong. Rec. H1460 - TRIBUTE TO JACKIE ROBINSON

PDF 154 Cong. Rec. S2986 - JACKIE ROBINSON

PDF 143 Cong. Rec. S3230 - JACKIE ROBINSON

According to a Resolution from 2001, Chisholm was never afraid to speak out on any issue she felt adverse to. An inspiration to all women, she was the first Black woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1968 and was the first Black woman to seek the bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. Read more about Shirley Anita Chisholm on govinfo.

PDF 147 CONG. REC. E1161 - RECOGNIZING CONTRIBUTIONS, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND DEDICATED WORK OF SHIRLEY ANITA CHISHOLM

In his remarks for Dr. George Washington Carver National Recognition Day, President Clinton noted that Carver applied the almost magical possibilities of chemistry to the fields and farms of the South. He created 300 useful products from peanuts and more than 100 from sweet potatoes, spawning numerous industries. He helped save the South's depleted soils. And he liberated the South from its reliance on cotton.

5. Dr. Maya Angelou worked at a hamburger joint before becoming a writer, director, playwright, and poet

7. Dr. Mae Jemison, the first Black woman in space, conducted research from space
A 2014 Congressional Record states that Dr. Maya Angelou rose from the bottom of society, working at a hamburger joint as well as a mechanic's shop where she took paint off cars with her hands. Read more about the life of Dr. Maya Angelou below.
8. Dr. Carter G. Woodson, known as the "Father of Black History" often read to his fellow coal miners who were illiterate

PDF 160 Cong. Rec. E1016 - HONORING DR. MAYA ANGELOU

PDF 142 Cong. Rec. E184 - TRIBUTE TO MAYA ANGELOU

9. Madam C.J. Walker built a factory on land she purchased to manufacture her line of cosmetic products
10. During his lifetime, Percy Julian received more than 100 chemical patents

6. As a 16-year old orphan, Ray Charles used what little money he had to move to Seattle, WA, and form a jazz group

A 2004 Congressional Record states "A young Charles began losing his sight at infancy and was clinically blind by the age of 7. Two years prior his brother had accidentally drowned, and by age 15, Charles lost both parents and had no immediate family. Alone, sad, and orphaned, Ray Charles went to live with friends of his mother, nearly 200 miles away from home, in Jacksonville, FL. Charles lived in Jacksonville for a year developing his talent as a musician before moving to Orlando, supporting himself, a 16-year-old orphan, with only his seemingly dauntless optimism to help him along." Learn more about Ray Charles below.

A 2017 Congressional Record states that she was accepted into NASA's astronaut program in 1987, providing launch support and assistance until her space mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor in September 1992. During her mission, Dr. Jemison conducted scientific experiments on bone cell research and the effects of weightlessness on the human body, which contributed to advancements in our understanding of life sciences. See the link below for more on this remarkable woman.

Dr. Woodson and his older brother Robert Henry Woodson took jobs working in the West Virginia coalfields of Fayette County. Here, Dr. Woodson, who had not yet attended high school, often read to his fellow coal miners who were illiterate, as he also did for his illiterate father. The collection of books and newspapers he accumulated for this task broadened his horizons about the world. Read more about Dr. Woodson below.

PDF 154 Cong. Rec. 2450 - HONORING CARTER G. WOODSON FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH

A 2010 Resolution states that in 1910, Madam C.J. Walker built a factory on land she bought in Indianapolis, Indiana, to manufacture her line of cosmetic products, a historic achievement for a Black businessperson of that time. Walker was committed to employing women in all aspects of her business, training well over 1,000 agents across the Nation and fostering the entry of Black women into the business world.

According to a 2007 Congressional Record, Percy Julian proved himself to be a brilliant chemist. Among his many patents, the most notable are-a foam fire retardant, a treatment for glaucoma and a low-cost process to produce cortisone. His innovative approach to chemistry helped to make essential medicines more accessible to millions. Read more about Percy Julian and his influential son, who helped to make the civil rights laws passed in the Martin Luther King, Jr. era tools for justice, on govinfo.

PDF 154 Cong. Rec. E288 - IN TRIBUTE TO PERCY JULIAN, JR.

These are just a handful of the many African Americans who have made a difference. For more information about the achievements of African Americans in history, explore the many documents on govinfo.

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Black History Month in Federal Documents

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February is Black History Month, a time to observe the achievements of African Americans - from civil rights to science to politics to music and beyond - in U.S. History. Check out the below facts found in excerpts in Presidential remarks, Congressional Records, and Resolutions on to help us remember some of the African Americans who helped shape our country.

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Governor Kelly appointed Dr. Anthony Lewis, Lawrence, to the Kansas African American Affairs Commission.

The commission devises strategies to address the public policy concerns of the African American community through partnerships with state agencies, corporations and foundations. It also assists with programs, grants and research.

"This commission does important work in addressing concerns unique to the African American community in Kansas," Kelly said. "Dr. Lewis is highly qualified to be an important contributor on this commission."

Lewis, Lawrence, is currently the superintendent of Lawrence Public Schools. He received his doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Missouri, and a Master of Education in administration from Alabama State University.

The governor's appointments to the commission are not subject to Senate confirmation.

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Governor announces appointment to Kansas African American Affairs Commission - Governor of the State of Kansas

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Governor Kelly appointed Dr. Anthony Lewis, Lawrence, to the Kansas African American Affairs Commission. The commission devises strategies to address the public policy concerns of the African American community through partnerships with state agencies, corporations and foundations. It also assists with programs, grants and research.

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ATLANTA (September 9, 2019) | The first meeting of the Senate Study Committee on the Educational Development of African American Children in Georgia will be held on Wednesday, September 18, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. in room 450 at the State Capitol.

The Senate Study Committee on the Educational Development of African American Children in Georgia, chaired by Sen. Gail Davenport (D - Jonesboro), was created by the passage of Senate Resolution 468 during the 2019 Legislative Session. As stated in the resolution, the committee is comprised of five members of the Senate who will review educational success in regards to African American youth and consider any needed changes to education in Georgia. The committee must report its findings on or before December 1, 2019.

WHO: Sen. Gail Davenport and Members of the Senate Study Committee on Educational Development of African American Children in Georgia

WHAT: First Study Committee Meeting

WHEN: Wednesday, September 18, 2019
10:00 a.m.

WHERE: Georgia State Capitol - Room 450

206 Washington St SW

Atlanta, GA 30334

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For Immediate Release:
September 9, 2019

Elisabeth Fletcher, Communications Specialist

elisabeth.fletcher@senate.ga.gov
404.656.0028

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First Meeting of the Senate Study Committee on the Educational Development of African American Children in Georgia

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ATLANTA (September 9, 2019) | The first meeting of the Senate Study Committee on the Educational Development of African American Children in Georgia will be held on Wednesday, September 18, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. in room 450 at the State Capitol. The Senate Study Committee on the Educational Development of African American Children in Georgia, chaired by Sen.

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Assembly OKs bill to develop curriculum for teaching African-American history in public schools

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6/17/2014

Assembly OKs bill to develop curriculum for teaching African-American history in public schools

STATE HOUSE - With final passage today in the House, legislation sponsored by Rep. Joseph S. Almeida and Sen. Harold M. Metts to create the 1696 Historical Commission to develop an African-American history curriculum for Rhode Island schools is now headed to the governor.For more information, contact:

Under the legislation ( 2014-H 7490A, 2014-S 2418A), the 1696 Historical Commission would be created to develop a comprehensive African-American history curriculum for Rhode Island public schools from kindergarten through grade 12. The commission's name recognizes the first documented group of enslaved Africans to arrive in Rhode Island, who landed aboard the brig Seaflower in Newport in 1696.

"Black history isn't just something to think about for a month in February. African-Americans are Americans, and our struggles and contributions are an important part of American history. Our goal in creating this commission is to make sure teachers have the tools they need to teach a well-rounded, inclusive view of the people and events - both the honorable ones and the shameful chapters - that brought our country and our state to where it is today. While we can't undo the injustices of the past, teaching our children honest lessons about them will help the adults of tomorrow treat each other with respect and understanding," said Representative Almeida (D-Dist. 12, Providence).

"The stories of African-Americans in Rhode Island are an important, interwoven part of our state and our country's history, and they should be taught as such to our students," said Sen. Harold M. Metts (D-Dist. 6, Providence). "Children need to know Rhode Island history to better appreciate the contributions made by African-Americans. They should learn that Rhode Island shipping merchants were, unfortunately, huge participants in the slave trade, even after slavery was illegal here. They should learn about Christiana Bannister and the 1 st Rhode Island Regiment, which fought in the Revolutionary War as the first black U.S. military regiment. These are things all children should be taught, but it's particularly important that African-American students see that the history of this state isn't just about English settlers or slavery - it's about their ancestors overcoming great suffering and injustice. It's about understanding that they had a history before the middle passage, with kings, universities and a rich culture. With this knowledge, they will be encouraged to be good students and not chastised by peers for being smart and 'acting white.' This history will negate decades of stereotypes on all sides. "

The 15-member commission would include the secretary of state, the education commissioner, the executive director of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission or their designees, and 12 members of the public appointed by the House speaker, the Senate president and the governor. The Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commissions and Rhode Island Department of Education would provide support staff to the commission, under the bill.

The commission would be charged with creating a curriculum that includes a history of people of African heritage, including the history of African peoples before the political conflicts that led to the development of slavery, the passage to America and Rhode Island, the enslavement experience in America and Rhode Island, abolition and the contributions of Africans to America and Rhode Island.

The group would consult with the Department of Education to develop guidelines, and would make recommendations on facilitating the inclusion of these elements of history in teaching in Rhode Island public schools. The legislation requires the commission to prepare its findings and recommendations by January 2015, and sets a goal of funding and implementing the curriculum for the start of the 2016-2017 school year.

"Rhode Island has an opportunity to share the rich, vibrant history of fellow Rhode Islanders of African heritage with the entire state by incorporating the study of African-American history into the public school curriculum in all Rhode Island elementary and secondary schools. This inclusion will become a much-needed opportunity to instill knowledge and self-worth in all of our Rhode Island youth, particularly those of African heritage," said Keith Stokes, who helped to draft the bill. Stokes is a member and leader of many regional and national historic preservation boards and is a frequent national, state and local lecturer on, among other topics, historic preservation and interpretation with expertise in early African- and Jewish-American history.

Said Joyce L. Stevos, president of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, "As one of the incorporators of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society whose mission is to preserve and tell the story of blacks in Rhode Island, I heartily endorse this legislation. Our youth must realize that African-Americans are an integral part of the history of our state and have made many contributions to improve life in Rhode Island and the nation."

Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923

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Assembly OKs bill to develop curriculum for teaching African-American history in public schools

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6/17/2014 Assembly OKs bill to develop curriculum for teaching African-American history in public schools STATE HOUSE - With final passage today in the House, legislation sponsored by Rep. Joseph S. Almeida and Sen. Harold M.

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Introduction to the Guide
Table of Contents

Record Group 000: State Government Documents Collection

Department of Elementary & Secondary Education

Annual Reports of Common/Public Schools, 1845-Present

School Laws of Missouri, 1883-1992

News Releases, 1972-Present

School Improvement & Educational Reform Programs, 1984-Present

Division of Instruction, 1900-Present

Educational Objectives/Special Initiatives, 1944-Present

General Assembly

Journal of the House of Representatives, 1820-Present

Journal of the Senate, 1828-Present

Reports, 1991-2001

Missouri Negro Industrial Commission, 1918-1928

Department of Health

Annual Reports of the Health Commissioner of St. Louis, 1883-1913

Annual Reports of the Hospital & Health Board, Kansas City, 1908-1919

State Center for Health Statistics, 1921-1999

Division of Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, 1963-2000

Department of Higher Education, 1875-Present

Department of Labor & Industrial Relations

Annual Reports: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1880-1951

Annual Reports: Workers Compensation Commission, 1925-1975

Missouri Commission on Human Rights, 1958-2000

Department of Mental Health, 1920-Present

Department of Natural Resources
Division of State Parks, 1964-Present

Department of Public Safety, Office of the Director

Missouri Conference on Juvenile Justice, 1974-1981

Juvenile Justice Review Committee, 1981-1994

Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, 1978-1990

Department of Social Services

Annual Reports, 1946-Present

Annual Reports/Division of Youth Services, 1974-Present

Juvenile Court Statistics, 1946-Present

Record Group 003: Office of the Governor

Record Group 005: Office of the Secretary of State

Record Group 105: Department of Elementary & Secondary Education

Letterpress Copybook, 1871-1872

Annual Reports of the County Superintendent, 1927/28 - 1938/39

High School Reports, 1935/36 - 1947/48

Application for Classification of Schools, 1948-1968

Record Group 106: Department of Higher Education

State Anatomical Board, 1897-1971

Dalton Vocational School, 1919-1961

Record Group 108: Department of Labor & Industrial Relations

Record Group 132: Division of Finance

Bank Charters (inactive), c1860s-Present

Domestic & Foreign Investment Department, 1920-1922

Record Group 133: Office of the Adjutant General of Missouri

Civil War, 1861-1865: United States Colored Troops, Muster Rolls

Civil War, 1861-1865: United States Colored Troops, Service Records

Civil War, 1861-1865: United State Colored Troops

World War II: Report of Separation, 1941-1945

Record Group 213: Department of Corrections

Record Group 214: Department of Corrections

Record Group 217: Department of Corrections

Record Group 225: Department of Corrections

Missouri Training School for Boys (Boonville), Commitment Registers, 1889-1975

Missouri Training School for Boys (Boonville), Sentence & Judgment Papers, 1918-1977

Record Group 226: Department of Corrections

State Industrial Home for Negro Girls, Commitment Papers, 1916-1941

State Industrial Home for Negro Girls, Case History, 1931-1936 (closed)

State Industrial Home for Negro Girls, Record Books, 1938-1945

Record Group 328: Missouri Commission on Human Rights

Publications & Legislation, 1960-1972

Scrapbooks, 1961-1975

Minutes of Commission Meetings, 1963-1979 (access restricted)

Record Group 407: Missouri Opportunity 2000 Commission

Administrative Papers, 1985-1988

Correspondence, 1985-1987

Public Hearings, 1986

Subject Files, 1986-1989

Commission Report, 1987-1988

Miscellaneous Background Materials

Record Group 440: State Survey Commission

Records of the Higher Education Survey, 1929

Records of the Penal & Eleemosynary Institutions, 1929

Records of the Public School Survey, 1929-1930

Record Group 550: Missouri General Assembly

Record Group 552: Missouri General Assembly

Record Group 600: Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, 1804-Present

Record Group 951: U.S. Recorder of Land Titles for Missouri, 1796-1867

Record Group 952: U.S. Surveyor General for Missouri, 1815-1863
Photograph Collections Federal Records on Microfilm

Department of the Army: Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1867

Department of Commerce: Bureau of the Census, Federal Census Schedules, 1830-1920

Missouri County Records on Microfilm Reference & Manuscripts Collections on Microfilm

George Washington Carver Papers

Urban League of St. Louis, Inc., 1910-1985

Kansas City Urban League, 1920-1998

Lincoln University "Clarion," 1944-1993

Photograph Credits
This site contains some historical materials and references that may contain offensive language or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a period or place. Such materials must be viewed in the context of the relevant period. The Missouri State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State, is presenting these items as part of the historical record.

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Missouri Digital Heritage: African American Initiative

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Introduction to the Guide Record Group 000: State Government Documents Collection Department of Elementary & Secondary Education Annual Reports of Common/Public Schools, 1845-Present School Laws of Missouri, 1883-1992 News Releases, 1972-Present School Improvement & Educational Reform Programs, 1984-Present Division of Instruction, 1900-Present Educational Objectives/Special Initiatives, 1944-Present General Assembly Journal of the House of Representatives, 1820-Present Journal of the Senate, 1828-Present Reports, 1991-2001 Missouri Negro Industrial Commission, 1918-1928 Department of Health Annual Reports of the Health Commissioner of St.

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1861

John C. Fremont issued a proclamation immediately emancipating the slaves of pro-Southern Missourians (August 30). The order was revoked by President Abraham Lincoln (September 11).

1862

The First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, including Missouri black soldiers, defeated a guerrilla force at Mound Island in Bates County, Missouri (October 29).

1863

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the seceded states. The proclamation did not affect Missouri's slaveholders (January 1).

1863

Recruiting for the first African American Missouri regiment began at Schofield Barracks in St. Louis (June). Over 300 enlisted in the First Regiment of Missouri Colored Infantry, which became the 62 nd U.S. Regiment of Colored Infantry.

Harpers Weekly. Used with permission of the State Historical Society of Missouri

1863

President Abraham Lincoln ordered that all black men, aged twenty to forty-five, in healthy condition, be allowed to enlist in the armed forces (July 31).

1864

John William "Blind" Boone, an accomplished ragtime musician, was born in Miami, Missouri (May 17).

1865

George Washington Carver was born on a Newton County farm; he later became a nationally recognized scientist (Spring).

1865

On January 11, delegates to the 1865 constitutional convention in St. Louis passed an ordinance abolishing slavery in Missouri; only four delegates voted against it. The ordinance passed three weeks before the United States Congress proposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery.

1865

The Missouri General Assembly passed legislation requiring that all persons held as slaves who cohabited as man and wife be married legally; slave marriages prior to this act were not legally recognized (February 20).

1865

The Western Sanitary Commission, a St. Louis-based relief organization for war refugees, operated a high school for African Americans. The Commission also organized classes for black soldiers at Benton Barracks.

1865

Missouri African American leaders organized the Missouri Equal Rights League (October). Considered Missouri's first black political activist movement, League members fought for legal equality, placing great emphasis on education and voting.

1865

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, was ratified (December 18).

1866

Lincoln Institute (later Lincoln University), founded by African American soldiers, was incorporated as an institution for black students in Missouri (April 16).

1868

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, providing for equal protection of the law to all citizens, was ratified (July 28).

1868

Scott Joplin, the "King of Ragtime" was born in Texas (November 24). As an adult, he moved to Sedalia where he published "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899; he later lived in St. Louis and performed at the 1904 World's Fair.

1868

The federal Freedman's Bureau established the St. Louis branch of the National Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company.

1870

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, giving the right to vote to all citizens regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, was ratified (March 30).

1875

The new Missouri Constitution provided for separate school facilities for black and white children. This forced St. Louis school board members to establish Sumner High School for African American students.

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Missouri Digital Heritage: African American Initiative Timeline 3

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1861 John C. Fremont issued a proclamation immediately emancipating the slaves of pro-Southern Missourians (August 30). The order was revoked by President Abraham Lincoln (September 11). 1862 The First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, including Missouri black soldiers, defeated a guerrilla force at Mound Island in Bates County, Missouri (October 29).

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Kentucky Center for African American Heritage

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Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, Louisville, KY. 5,322 likes · 65 talking about this · 10,962 were here. The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage will enhance the public's...

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Georgia Senate Study Committee on African American Students Adopts SEF Funding Recommendations - Southern Education Foundation

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SEF testified before the Georgia State Senate Study Committee on the Development of African American Children within the state. View the data points from the presentation.

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The mission of the Kentucky African American Heritage Commission (KAAHC) is to identify and promote awareness of significant African American influences on the history and culture of Kentucky and to support and encourage the preservation of Kentucky African American heritage and historic sites. The commission has 19 members appointed by the Governor and includes representatives from the state's major universities, state agencies, community preservation organizations and interested citizens. The commission is administratively attached to the Kentucky Heritage Council, with the council providing staff assistance and program oversight.

Some of the commission's ongoing programs include educational forums and a Rosenwald School survey and inventory project.

KAAHC was formally established February 10, 1994 by Executive Order 94-145a to "promote awareness of significant African-American influences within the historical and cultural experiences of Kentucky" (enabling legislation KRS. 171.800).

African American history in Kentucky has roots in the Commonwealth's earliest history, as African Americans accompanied and assisted Daniel Boone on his arrival to the new frontier in 1769. Later, as a border state during the Civil War, Kentucky's unique condition did not lessen the cruelty and pain of slavery. However through hard work, strength and perseverance, African Americans prevailed, and today these experiences have left a lasting legacy of places that Kentuckians take pride in preserving.

The Kentucky Heritage Council and Kentucky African American Heritage Commission are dedicated to preserving buildings and places important to the history of African Americans. Kentucky has an array of sites that tell the story of slavery, the Underground Railroad, Civil War, education and civil rights, and a historically Black college is leading research efforts. Many architecturally significant buildings and museums preserve and promote local African American heritage. KHC has also worked in partnership with organizations across the state to identify remaining Rosenwald Schools in an effort to preserve and rehabilitate them.

Information for educators:
Davis Bottom History Preservation Project website
View the hour-long documentary "Davis Bottom: Rare History, Valuable Lives" online

View lesson sets: Teaching Through Documentary Art: Lessons for Elementary and Middle School Social Studies Teachers or visit http://arch.as.uky.edu/

Commission Members

Arts Community

Angela Crenshaw, Lebanon, Chair

Institutions of Higher Education

Samuel R. Coleman, Jr., Middlesboro
Ronald Moore, Frankfort
Billie Ann Travis, Georgetown

Preservation Community

Citizens at Large

Betty Baker-Clayton, Cadiz
Betty Dobson, Paducah
Natalie Gibson, Lexington
Charisse Gillett, Lexington
Kilen K. Gray, Shelbyville
Cordelia Harbut, Lexington
Walter Malone,Louisville
Carolyn Sundy, Lynch
Wayne B. Tuckson,Louisville
Alicestyne Turley, Richmond
Mary Woolridge,Louisville
Diana W. Woods,Lexington

Dr. M. Christopher Brown II, President, Kentucky State University
Mike Berry, Secretary, Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet
Sarah Cronan, General Counsel, Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet
Craig Potts, Executive Director, Kentucky Heritage Council and State Historic Preservation Officer

African American Heritage Sites around the state include:

Bardstown
St. John AME Church

Covington
Lincoln Grant School

Danville
Willis Russell House
Doram-Sledd House

Frankfort
Greenhill Cemetery
Kentucky State University

Franklin
George Mahin House

Georgetown
Georgetown College Underground Railroad Institute, Georgetown

Jessamine County
Camp Nelson

Lexington
African American Cemetery #2
Cadentown Rosenwald School
Charles Young Park
South Hill Historic District
Uttingertown Union Benevolent Lodge

Louisville
Chickasaw and Cherokee Parks

Lynch
Lynch Colored School

Marshall County
Cherokee State Resort Park

Maysville
National Underground Railroad Museum, Bierbower House

Newport
Southgate Street School

Paducah
Hotel Metropolitan

Princeton
Halleck's Chapel, School and Cemetery

Russellville
Knights of Pythias Hall

Shelby County
Whitney Young Birthplace and Boyhood Home
Lincoln Hall

Stanford
Barrow Cemetery

West Point
Rosenwald School

Winchester
Oliver Street School

Related Links
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Kentucky African American Encyclopedia UGRR Research Institute UGRR Council Kentucky Center for African American Studies
Gallery of Great Kentucky African-Americans

University of Louisville
University of Louisville Theatre Crime and Justice Pan African Studies Ann Braden Institute
University of Kentucky

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Kentucky African American Heritage Commission

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The mission of the Kentucky African American Heritage Commission (KAAHC) is to identify and promote awareness of significant African American influences on the history and culture of Kentucky and to support and encourage the preservation of Kentucky African American heritage and historic sites.

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Georgia Senate Study Committee on African American Students Adopts SEF Funding Recommendations - Southern Education Foundation

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SEF testified before the Georgia State Senate Study Committee on the Development of African American Children within the state. View the data points from the presentation.

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Bill Summary:

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to state government, so as to create the Georgia Commission on African American History and Culture; to provide for duties and objectives; to provide for membership and terms of office; to provide for reporting; to provide for funding; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

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Bill Summary: A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to state government, so as to create the Georgia Commission on African American History and Culture; to provide for duties and objectives; to provide for membership and terms of office; to provide for reporting; to provide for funding; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

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The State of Nevada Council on Black American Affairs (SNCBAA) is an affiliate of the Western Region Council on Black American Affairs (WRCBAA), the National Council on Black American Affairs (NCBAA), and a council of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). SNCBAA is the first of its kind in the State of Nevada working collaboratively with educational, business, and public service institutions with compatible goals to improve educational opportunities for Black American students and professional development opportunities for Black American faculty, staff and administrators.

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State of Nevada Council on Black American Affairs

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The State of Nevada Council on Black American Affairs (SNCBAA) is an official chapter of the Western Region Council on Black American Affairs ( WRCBAA), which is an part of the National Council on Black American Affairs ( NCBAA) and an affiliate of American Association of Community Colleges ( AACC).

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Racial disparities in COVID-19 case counts and national protests against police brutality following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have brought race issues to the forefront of the public consciousness.

As a consequence, organizations like the Montana Historical Society have been prompted to reevaluate what narratives are perpetuated in schools, museums and other educational hubs, as well as how they can make diverse voices more accessible.

The Montana Historical Society is not shying away from this nuanced and long term work. This week, the state museum was awarded a $50,000 grant to produce a short documentary on African American history in Montana. The grant is through the National Trust for Preservation as part of the African American Cultural Heritage fund.

It was one of 27 grants awarded in this week's announcement.

"The idea was to introduce people to the topic of Black history in Montana and lead people to the website," said Kate Hampton, the Montana Historical Society's Community Preservation Coordinator.

While the Montana Historical Society has been working on its African American resources project for the last 16 years by compiling archival collections, photographs and census information, the organization has recently been exploring ways to make this history more accessible to the general public on diverse platforms.

"We have a great platform on our website, the Montana African American Resources website, but we were looking to see how we could make it even better and bring it to an even larger audience," Hampton said.

Hampton hopes to cover the earliest arrival of African Americans in Montana and highlight chronological themes from different eras. She wants to celebrate the myriad of contributions Montana's African American population has made to the culture and community.

But she also looks to "identify and document the hard truths of being a member of a minority community in the state over the past millennia," Hampton said

The documentary currently has funding for a product 10 to 15 minutes in length, and if the Montana Historical Society is approved for supplemental funding from the Greater Montana Foundation, it could run up to 25 minutes.

As such, Hampton acknowledged that the documentary is limited, functioning as a gateway to further primary and secondary resources rather than an end in itself.

"At this point, we presented it as an overview, an introduction to the topic, for now, because that's what we have funding for," Hampton said.

The Montana Historical Society hopes to make the documentary viewable on local broadcasting networks and post it on its YouTube channel and website, complete with links for easy access to extended information on the individuals and events covered.

While they first must undergo a bid process to select a production company, Hampton said it will be "a priority to have black voices and black artists and black people involved."

The documentary does not stand on its own. It is one piece of the Montana Historical Society's Documenting and Sharing Montana's African American Heritage project. Part of this project includes compiling places across Montana associated with African American History in a National Register of Historic Places document so they are both marked and preserved.

They also have commissioned poet Sean Hill, who focuses on African American history and research, to write several poems to be included in the documentary.

Hampton said the documentary is expected to be completed by August 2021, but it is only the beginning of the Montana Historical Society's efforts to make the histories of Montana's marginalized groups more accessible to everyday citizens.

"We are always thrilled to keep learning, and to keep being inclusive," Hampton said.
Audrey Pettit is a rising junior at Barnard College of Columbia University and an intern at the Missoula Current. She welcomes any constructive discourse about her reporting; you can contact her at agp2147@barnard.edu .

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Voices of diversity: Montana Historical Society to produce African American doc ~ Missoula Current

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Racial disparities in COVID-19 case counts and national protests against police brutality following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have brought race issues to the forefront of the public consciousness. As a consequence, organizations like the Montana Historical Society have been prompted to reevaluate what narratives are perpetuated in schools, museums and other educational hubs, as well as how they can make diverse voices more accessible.

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Welcome to the home page for Montana's African American Heritage Resources Project, a gateway to exploring the Montana Historical Society's rich collections that document this understudied aspect of our state's history.

Although African Americans never totaled more than one percent of the state's population, they have been in the place that would become Montana since the earliest days of non-Indian presence and contributed greatly to Montana's culture, economy, and religious life. Each corner of the state has significant stories to tell about the African American experience in the West.

The resources on this website include information about many aspects of Montana's African American history. We invite you to explore the story maps, property inventories, lesson plans, census information, essays, first-person narratives, photographs, manuscript collections, and artifacts that help tell the story of Montana's African American heritage.

Beginning in 2008, the Montana Cultural Trust generously supported the project's initial research and documentation, focusing on an inventory of collections at the Montana Historical Society. In 2015 and 2016, the National Park Service and the Montana History Foundation funded additional research, focusing on historic properties statewide associated with black history. For more information about the project and our generous funders, please see the About page.

Congratulations to Delia Hagen, of Hagen Historical Consulting, recipient of the National Council on Public History's "2018 Excellence in Consulting Award" for her work on the Identifying Montana's African American Heritage Resources Project. Lauded as "the fullest [and] richest account of African American history in Helena and much of the rest of Montana," you can read her comprehensive, award-winning context here.

Photograph Credits: Detail of Edward M. Reinig, "Group portrait of African American women's cultural group staging pageant of many nations at the Galen Building, Helena, Montana," MHS Research Center Photo Archives, #PAc 80-23.M1; Detail of A.B. Coe, "General Wesley Merritt's camp, St. Mary's Lake, Montana, 1894," Kipp, MT, MHS Research Center Photo Archives, #957-994; Detail of "Aunt Milly [sic] Ringold, Once a Slave. R.I.P," MHS Research Center Photo Archives, #944-585; Detail of "Mrs. William Guthrie (top deck at left) and son Georgie on steamboat [DeSmet], bound for Fort Benton, ca. 1874," [African-American workers in right foreground], MHS Research Center Photo Archives, #PAc 74-15.5; The New Age, Butte, Montana, nameplate.

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Montana's African American Heritage Resources

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Welcome to the home page for Montana's African American Heritage Resources Project, a gateway to exploring the Montana Historical Society's rich collections that document this understudied aspect of our state's history.

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On August 24th Governor Ralph Northam signed Executive Order Thirty Nine establishing the Commission on African American History Education. The Governor charged the group with reviewing Virginia's history standards, and the instructional practices, content, and resources currently used to teach African American history in the Commonwealth; and with examining and make recommendations on the professional development supports needed to equip all teachers for culturally competent instruction.
"The history of African Americans in Virginia, and our nation, is difficult, complex, and often untold. We should strive to make sure every Virginia student has a robust understanding of this important history and its continuous influence on our communities today. A review of this content, instructional practices, and resources currently used to teach African American history in the Commonwealth will help ensure that every graduate enters adult life with comprehensive understanding of the African American voices that contribute to the story of our nation and our Commonwealth."
Final Report

The Executive Order tasks the Commission with issuing a report no later than September 1, 2020, with recommendations for improving the student experience, including but not limited to:

Technical edits to and recommendations for enriched standards related to African American history;

Broader considerations for the full history and social studies standards review process; and

Necessary professional development and instructional supports for teachers to ensure culturally competent instruction

Executive Order 39 indicated a July 1 due date for the Commission's report, but the deadline was extended to September 1 due to COVID-19 related delays.
Members of the Commission

Derrick P. Alridge of Charlottesville, Professor of Education and Director of the Center for Race and Public Education in the South, Curry School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia

Rosa S. Atkins of Charlottesville, Superintendent, Charlottesville City Schools

Edward Ayers of Richmond, Professor of the Humanities, University of Richmond

Jarvis E. Bailey of Fredericksburg, High School Administrator, Westmoreland County Public Schools and School Board Member, Fredericksburg City

Maria D. Burgos of Prince William County, Supervisor of Global Learning and Culturally Responsive Instruction, Prince William County Public Schools

Christy S. Coleman of Chesterfield, CEO, American Civil War Museum

Robert N. Corley, III of Chesterfield, Associate Vice-Provost for Academic Affairs and Project Director, The Wallace Foundation's University Principal Preparation Initiative, Virginia State University

Pamela Croom of Hampton, President-Elect, Virginia PTA

Andrew P. Daire of Moseley, Dean of the School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth University

Crystal DeLong of Bedford, Teacher, Liberty High School, Bedford County Public Schools

Beau Dickenson of Harrisonburg, President, Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium and Social Studies Supervisor, Rockingham County Public Schools

Crystal M. Edwards of Lynchburg, Superintendent, Lynchburg City Schools

Anne Marie Evans of Fluvanna County, Director of Education and Outreach-New American History, University of Richmond

Patricia H. Fisher of Portsmouth, Immediate Past Superintendent (Interim), Portsmouth Public Schools (Ret.) and Educational Consultant

Rodney Jordan of Norfolk, Co-Chair, Virginia School Boards Association Task Force on Students and Schools in Challenging Environments and School Board Member, Norfolk City

James F. Lane of Chesterfield, Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction

John K. Lee of Raleigh, Professor, North Carolina State University

Makya Renée Little of Woodbridge, Parent Advocate and Florida A&M University Alumnus

Monica Manns of Henrico, Director of Equity and Diversity, Henrico County Public Schools

Basil Marin of Atlanta, Assistant Principal, Chamblee High School, DeKalb County Schools

Tyrone Nelson of Henrico County, Chairman, Henrico County Board of Supervisors and Pastor, Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church of Richmond

Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander of Chesapeake, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Professor of History, Norfolk State University

The Honorable Atif Qarni of Prince William, Secretary of Education, Commonwealth of Virginia

Gloria Randolph-King of Roanoke, Retired Roanoke City Public Schools Administrator

Alice Reilly of Alexandria, Educator, George Mason University

Rodney Robinson of Richmond, 2019 National Teacher of the Year

Chris Van Tassell of Richmond, Program Coordinator and Educator, Virginia Museum of History & Culture

Vanessa D. Thaxton-Ward of Hampton, Director, Hampton University Museum

Pastor Michelle C. Thomas of Loudoun County, Founder and CEO, Loudoun Freedom Center and President, NAACP Loudoun Branch

Cainan Townsend of Farmville, Director of Education, Robert Russa Moton Museum

Dietra Trent of Halifax, Chief of Staff, George Mason University

Robert C. Watson of Williamsburg, Assistant Professor of History, Hampton University

William E. White of Williamsburg, Visiting Distinguished Scholar, Christopher Newport University

Renita S. Williams of Chesapeake, Secondary Social Studies Instructional Supervisor, Newport News Public Schools

Betty Jean Wolfe of Roanoke, President, Evaluative Design, Inc.

Jonathan C. Zur of Richmond, President and CEO, Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities

Governor Ralph Northam's Commission on African American History Education Seeks Input

The African American History Education Commission is seeking community input during a series of public listening sessions as it examines how to best strengthen the Virginia history standards, as well as African American history education in classrooms across the commonwealth.

The dates and locations of the February public listening sessions are:

Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - Roanoke
Harrison Museum of African American Culture
1 Market Square SE #2,
Roanoke, VA 24011
6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Will include a panel of Educators

Wednesday, February 12, 2020 - Richmond
Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia
122 W Leigh St,
Richmond, VA 23220
6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Will include a panel of Parents and Stakeholder Organizations

Wednesday, March 11, 2020 - Norfolk
Norfolk State University
Nursing and General Education Building
Room 101
700 Park Ave,
Norfolk, VA 23504
6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

POSTPONED - Woodbridge
Woodbridge Middle School
Prince William County Public Schools
2201 York Dr,
Woodbridge, VA 22191
6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

POSTPONED - Danville
J.M Langston High School
Danville Public Schools
228 Cleveland St,
Danville, VA 24541
6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Will include a panel of Students

Listening sessions will begin at 6 p.m. with a moderated panel discussion, facilitated by the members of the Commission. Each panel is intended to hear the unique perspectives of individual, yet representative, stakeholder groups through authentic dialogue.

Panels will be followed by a public comment portion, in which speakers will have three minutes to address the commission. Public commenting is open to all members of the public, regardless of the stakeholder group individuals are associated with.

If you are unable to attend one of the listening sessions above, and wish to provide your insight to the Commission, please use the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZZR8WFN

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Secretary of Education - African American History Education Commission

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On August 24th Governor Ralph Northam signed Executive Order Thirty Nine establishing the Commission on African American History Education. The Governor charged the group with reviewing Virginia's history standards, and the instructional practices, content, and resources currently used to teach African American history in the Commonwealth; and with examining and make recommendations on the professional development supports needed to equip all teachers for culturally competent instruction.

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"The reconciliation process will allow us to look at ourselves with clear eyes, and match our highest ideals of who we want to be with the reality of the ground," said Mayor Elorza. "My sense is that we'll find that we have a long way to go to meet those high ideals. I believe in a fundamental goodness that exists in all of us, and when confronted with the reality of the systematic injustices that our Black community has faced, our broader community will respond to be part of the solution."

Mayor Jorge Elorza today joined 1696 Heritage Group Vice President Keith Stokes, Founder and CEO of Impact RI Janice Falconer, Community Relations Advisor Shawndell Burney-Speaks and community members to announce and sign a community-driven Executive Order committing Providence to a process of truth, reconciliation and municipal reparations for Black, Indigenous People, and People of Color in Providence.

"As a country and a community, we owe a debt to our Black, Indigenous People, and People of Color, and on the local level, we are using this opportunity to correct a wrong," said Mayor Elorza. "Though this does not undo history it is the first step in accepting the role Providence and Rhode Island has held in generations of pain and violence against these residents, healing some of the deepest wounds our country faces today. May this process of truth bring us education and awareness of these wrong-doings and may our reconciliation change the systems that continue to oppress our communities, while reaffirming our commitment to building a brighter, more inclusive future."

According to a press release, through this Executive Order, the City is committed to advancing a social justice process that works in three parts. First, the City will work to identify the Truth by examining the role of the State of Rhode Island and the City of Providence in supporting the institution of slavery, the genocide of Indigenous People, forced assimilation, and seizure of land, among other polices. As part of this first step, local and state laws will be reviewed. This will include a review of all other forms of public and private sector discrimination against people of African or Indigenous heritage and their descendants up to the present day.

Keith Stokes

"Providence can lead the nation on how we present the inclusive history of all Americans through public memorials, public investments and public education," said 1696 Heritage Group Vice President Keith Stokes.

Stokes provided 12 "very simple historic reference points that begin to provide the factual platform of how Africans arrived, survived and thrived in Providence and here in Rhode island."

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These points, said Stokes, form the very basis of truth telling and reconciliation and eventually reparations that the Mayor's vision has brought before us."

These reference points include:

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade from Africa to the New World might well have been the largest and longest maritime migration in history. The reason for this world-wide maritime movement was to obtain African enslaved labor to replace the decimated indigenous labor to harvest the cash crops that would make European kingdoms, countries, and families wealthy beyond imagination.

As Rhode Island became the first American Colony to declare its independence from Great Britain on May 4, 1776, it was also one of the most active slave ports in British North America led by Newport, Bristol, and Providence.

Between 1705 and 1805, Rhode Island merchants in Providence, Newport and Bristol participated in over 900 documented slave voyages to West Africa directly transporting over 100,000 captive Africans back to largely the West Indies and in some cases back to Rhode Island.

"What stands out about the enslavement of African people in the Americas as compared to slavery throughout world history is the unique concept of confining slavery to a single race and that children of enslaved mothers were born into slavery to serve for the remainder of their lives," said Stokes. "This brutal system of inheritable servitude impacted the lives of tens of millions of displaced Africans and dramatically shaped the settlement and formation of the Americas and emerging cities like Providence.

Despite arriving enslaved, Africans would soon become a vital part of the earliest settlement of Providence greatly influencing the city's economic, religious, and civic origins.

Their "Creative Survival" as coined by the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society over 30 years ago, speaks directly to the resiliency of African heritage people then and today.

"So, let me briefly introduce you to the some of the African heritage leaders of early Providence," continued Stokes "remembering [that] Slavery is not Black History. How our African heritage ancestors survived and thrived despite enslavement is Black History."

By 1790, 475 people of African heritage lived in Providence, 427 of them free people and 48 enslaved, the majority living in two census districts on the East Side.

African heritage men and women in early Providence created institutions to serve their community. The Providence Free African Union Society, a mutual aid organization, was organized in 1794, and at least five men who lived on College Hill-London Spear, William Stober, Bonner Brown, Cudge Brown, and Bristol Olney were members.

The Free African Union Society would evolve into the African Union Meeting House and School, built between 1819 and 1821 at the northeast corner of Congdon and Meeting Streets. Known today as the Congdon Street Baptist Church, the first and oldest Black Church in Rhode Island.

In his 1883 memoir, William J. Brown stated that "the area near the intersection of Meeting and Congdon Streets served as one of the town's first African heritage neighborhoods.

One of Providence's earliest African Heritage civil rights leaders is Ichabod Northrup, A leader in in fight to desegregate Rhode Island public schools, Northup lived at 15 Cushing Street through at least 1865.

Leaders like Alfred Niger and George Willis of Providence would represent Rhode Island in the first "American Society of Free Persons of Colour Convention" in 1831 Philadelphia. This convention was held due to the number of race riots breaking out across the Northeast, including two in Providence within the Snowtown and Hardscrabble neighborhoods. Niger and Willis would also co-chair the Providence Committee Against the American Colonization Society.

Today we stand upon the Dexter Training Grounds, given to the City of Providence by Ebenezer Knight Dexter, but how many know that the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery Regiment, the first African heritage regiment from Rhode Island to serve in the Civil War, trained at this very spot. Ironically, where are the statues or memorials to recognize the history of these brave men of color?

"Today, a challenge facing African heritage people in Providence and across America is not only overt racism, but also invisibility," said Stokes. "Far too much Rhode Island and American history is taught, interpreted, and memorialized through the 'owner's class' viewpoint. Confederate memorials and statues that celebrate those that secured fame through racial oppression is not the history of America that the growing majority will tolerate any longer. Rather than only taking statues down and removing state names, we should also be advancing African heritage and history in our public schools and reclaiming public spaces that include memorials that represent all the people."
Stokes recommended this link to the 1696 Heritage Group for more information.
In his press release, Elorza opined that, "Providence and Rhode Island can lead the nation on how we tell the inclusive history of all Americans through public memorials, public investments, and public education. The Truth telling that begins today with the mayor's executive order not only validates our earned African heritage and history in Providence, but most importantly, that as Black Lives Matter, so does Black History Matter."

Once the collection of Truth is completed, findings will be used to begin the process of Reconciliation. Residents, organizations and institutions will be engaged in discussing these Truths, with the aim of appreciating the resiliency of the Black, Indigenous People and People of Color in Providence and to better understand the ways these injustices continue to impact residents today.

Janice Falconer

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," said Founder and CEO of Impact RI Janice Falconer, reciting Bible passage John 8:32. "When will we know the truth? When will we be set free? No one knows the answer. However, I am very grateful that the Honorable Jorge Elorza, Mayor of this great City, is committed to uncovering the truth and addressing the centuries of institutional and systemic racial bias affecting Black, Indigenous, People of Color."

Falconer is a candidate for the District 13 House seat.

Through the last step of this process, Reparations, the City will take measures to reverse the injuries resulting from the Truth findings and advise what appropriate policies, programs, and projects may be executed based on recommendations that accomplish this mission. These will also work to address local laws and policies that continue negatively impact Black, Indigenous People, and People of Color in Providence.

This process was developed with and crafted by the Mayor's African American Ambassador Group, which meets weekly and serves as a direct line of communication between the community and the Administration. What originally began as a means to ensure equitable access to COVID-19-related care and resources has since expanded, establishing subcommittees focused on recommending strategies to increase equity citywide and most recently developed the Executive Order removing the term "plantations" from all City documents and oath ceremonies.

The announcement was hosted at Dexter Park and Training Grounds, a nine-acre park donated by Ebenezer Knight Dexter for military purposes that played a key role in the Dorr Rebellion, the Civil War and World War I. The 1 4th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, who used these training grounds, was the first Black company from Rhode Island to serve in the Civil War, recruiting at least 1,800 soldiers from Rhode Island and surrounding states such as Connecticut and New York.

Those interested in engaging in the subcommittees of the Mayor's African American Ambassador Group are encouraged to contact Community Relations Advisor Shawndell Burney-Speaks at sburneyspeaks@providenceri.gov.

Mayor Jorge Elorza

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Providence announces Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations process - Uprise RI

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"The reconciliation process will allow us to look at ourselves with clear eyes, and match our highest ideals of who we want to be with the reality of the ground," said Mayor Elorza. "My sense is that we'll find that we have a long way to go to meet those high ideals.

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The 1696 Historical Commission was signed into law on July 1, 2014 and was tasked with developing a comprehensive African American history curriculum for Rhode Island public schools from kindergarten through grade 12. This page includes resources provided by organizations, scholars, and historians throughout Rhode Island to support classroom instruction in African-American history.

The 1696 Historical Commission was formed in 2014 and is comprised of elected officials, educators, and historians dedicated to teaching African American history to students in Rhode Island. The Commission's goal is to teach African American history throughout the school year and throughout different time periods of history. You can find the final report of the Commission here ( Report 1 and Report 2).

This page is meant to serve as a resource to educators. Please explore this page, visit these resources, and utilize the sources that make sense for your curriculum and your classroom. This list will continue to evolve as more sources become available to be added. Thank you for your commitment to teaching our students.

The Rhode Island Historical Society is coordinating the 1696 Historical Task Force and this listing. If you have questions about the material or would like to submit a resource to be added to this list, please contact Samantha Hunter at shunter@rihs.org.

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The 1696 Historical Commission was signed into law on July 1, 2014 and was tasked with developing a comprehensive African American history curriculum for Rhode Island public schools from kindergarten through grade 12. This page includes resources provided by organizations, scholars, and historians throughout Rhode Island to support classroom instruction in African-American history.

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Read Section 57.53 - The Amistad commission; duties and responsibilities, N.Y. Arts & Cult. Aff. Law § 57.53, see flags on bad law, and search Casetext's comprehensive legal database

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Institute of History, Archaeology, and Education

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On September 8, I had the honor of boarding the Amistad docked in Yonkers, New York. The event was a last minute one arranged in part through the African American Westchester 400 (AAW400) and the City of Yonkers. I am a member of that committee. Although the 400 th anniversary of the event is over, the work continues to tell the story of the African contribution to the creating and building of our country, our state, and our county.

What is the status of the anniversary commissions now? Previously I have written about the federal commission which was created ( Slavery Quadricentennial: The 400 Years of African-American History Commission). Not to repeat that post, but there are observations worth noting:

1. When I reviewed the situation in the spring of 2019 of the commission created by law in 2016, the status was dismal. At that point, nothing had been done, deadlines were not being met, and the prospect of funding to organizations to hold programs had not been realized. Not surprisingly, that condition persisted throughout the spring and summer.

2. The events that did occur through the commission operating through the National Park Service tended to be in Virginia at or near the site where the first Africans to the British colonies arrived. There was no national presence. The closest action at the national level probably was the Sunday Magazine section of the New York Times dedicated to 1619. That garnered attention. With the related curriculum materials and articles/podcasts, the New York Times likely is to be the most prominent player in the national arena on the subject of 1619.

Yes, it could have happened through the federal commission but it did not. One wonders if the 250 th anniversary of the American Revolution which also has a federal commission will repeat this scenario.

States also had the opportunity to act. In New York, an act establishing the 400 Years of African History Commission passed the state Assembly and Senate. It has not been signed into law although in theory it still could be signed by Governor at any time even though the legislature is not in session. According to the stipulations, the commission is scheduled to submit a report yesterday on October 1 summarizing its planned activities, funds received and spent, and recommendations.

The mission of the state commission if created was similar to the national commission. It was to promote awareness and education of the African presence in the United States since 1619. Although New York was mentioned by name in the proposed legislation its purview was the entire United States. Funding was to be available for communities, organizations, and research. None of this has happened so far at the state level and now that the anniversary has passed, it remains to be seen if anything will happened. No specific government funding was included anyway.

These developments reminded me of the creation of the Amistad Commission here in New York in 2005.
New York State's Amistad Commission is charged with researching and surveying the extent to which the African slave trade, American slavery and its aftermath and legacy is included in the curricula of New York state schools; and make recommendations to the Governor and Legislature regarding the implementation of education and awareness programs into schools curricula. The Commission will focus on the contributions of African-Americans in building our country, American History including Abolitionists, Civil Rights movements and other developments to create a greater awareness about the nation's involvement in slavery to inspire acknowledgement and informed dialogue.
In 2005, New York's Legislature created an Amistad Commission to review state curriculum regarding how American slavery is taught. All people should know of and remember the human carnage and dehumanizing atrocities committed during this period of American history and consider the vestiges of slavery in this country. It is vital to educate our citizens about our nation's involvement in slavery to nullify the pervasive myth that Northerners, especially New Yorkers were innocent of slavery. The intention is to explore how slavery is interpreted to our students and the public and seek informed, balanced approaches. We will focus on historical content as well as pedagogy on how to teach slavery, with the hope that it be presented with sensitivity in learning environments and will contribute to the principles of justice, and dignity in a civilized society.

New Jersey, Illinois and New York have each created commissions to review how African American history and 250 years of slavery is taught in America's classrooms.

That commission was the subject of a blog The New York State Amistad Commission: Do Black Lives Matter? In 2016 after I learned about it. I was critical of the commission for its inactivity and its focus on the United States as a whole. It seemed to be downplaying the African and therefore slavery presence in this state while seeking to tell the story of slavery in other states, meaning the South. One obvious datum demonstrating its shortcomings was its designation of its co-chair. At the time when I wrote the post, the Commissioner of Education named on the website was no longer in that position. He had left two years earlier. I checked again just now and he is still listed on the site EVEN AFTER HIS SUCCESSOR HAS RESIGNED! Does New York even need a new commission when it already has the dormant Amistad Commission? Or should it finally remove the Amistad Commission from the state website and start over?

I was reminded of the Amistad Commission both by the arrival of the Amistad on September 8 and an announcement I received earlier in the summer from the New Jersey Amistad Commission. As the New York website notes, New Jersey was one of the handful of states which also established such commissions. Apparently it is still going strong as evident by the announcement of this summer program. As you read the notification below please note the references to the THIRTEENTH annual teach institute and the normal TWO regional institutes. In other words, it has been a continuous active presence since its founding at the same time as the New York Amistad Commission.
The New Jersey Amistad Commission is proud to present its Thirteenth Amistad Commission Annual Summer Institute for Teachers to be held August 19-24, 2019. This year, the two regional institutes are combined into one large curriculum development and pedagogy consortium for administrators, and classroom teachers. Our aim is to teach additional methodological and pedagogical techniques using special topics in history, pursuant to our mandate to infuse African American history into the K-12 curriculum (NJ Rev Stat § 52:16A-87-89 (2013)). This summer's Institute is timed to correlate with the international recognition activities commemorating the 400-year anniversary of the first documented arrival "20 odd" captured and enslaved Africans to the Jamestown settlement on August 24, 1619. It is a five (5) day residential program designed to give New Jersey educators unique access to prominent colonial history scholars onsite Historic Jamestowne, Jamestown Settlement, Colonial Williamsburg and Tidewater Virginia. These historic places offer visual and interactive history, unearthed archaeological exhibits and re-enactments that tell a hard story about the beginnings of involuntary servitude in America. The experience is designed to facilitate educators' meaningful study and better understanding of this period in history. The aim of the institute is to make the most of this experience in historic places by supplementing existing methodological and pedagogical techniques, using hands-on or experiential learning, stimulating creativity, reacquainting users with primary and secondary resources, providing lectures, multimedia presentations, teaching strategies, lesson plan writing and alignment of curriculum to New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards (NJCCCS) and Amistad Curriculum. A significant aspect of the professional development curriculum training is enabling educators' experts use of the Amistad web-based multimedia curriculum resource, An Inclusive Journey Through American History (www.njamistadcurriculum.net).
There is no comparison between the success of the New Jersey program in contrast to the complete and total failure of the New York State Amistad Commission. At this point, there is no constructive purpose in trying to approve the current proposal in New York for the 400 year anniversary commission. Instead of focusing on events in Virginia, Texas with the Juneteenth, and the Amistad, we should be focusing on events here in New York. That is why I am working with my local state senator to create the Bicentennial Freedom Commission in recognition of the end of legalized slavery in New York State on July 4, 1827.

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State of New York State History - The Amistad Commissions: New York versus New Jersey - IHARE

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On September 8, I had the honor of boarding the Amistad docked in Yonkers, New York. The event was a last minute one arranged in part through the African American Westchester 400 (AAW400) and the City of Yonkers. I am a member of that committee.

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In 2005, during Governor George Pataki's administration, the New York State Legislature created the Amistad Commission to review the state's curriculum about the slave trade.

"All people should know of and remember the human carnage and dehumanizing atrocities committed during the period of the African slave trade and slavery in America and consider the vestiges of slavery in this country," the Amistad Commission website says. "It is vital to educate our citizens on these events, the legacy of slavery, the sad history of racism in this country, and on the principles of human rights and dignity in a civilized society."

Unfortunately, the Amistad Commission's effort to update the state's slavery curriculum has been a failure.

The legislation authorizing the commission is New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, Article 57B (57.51-57.54). It provides the historical background for the importance of the subject:
1. During the period beginning late in the fifteenth century through the nineteenth century, millions of persons of African origin were enslaved and brought to the Western Hemisphere, including the United States of America; anywhere from between twenty to fifty percent of enslaved Africans died during their journey to the Western Hemisphere; the enslavement of Africans and their descendants was part of a concerted effort of physical and psychological terrorism that deprived groups of people of African descent the opportunity to preserve many of their social, religious, political and other customs; the vestiges of slavery in this country continued with the legalization of second class citizenship status for African-Americans through Jim Crow laws, segregation and other similar practices; the legacy of slavery has pervaded the fabric of our society; and in spite of these events there are endless examples of the triumphs of African-Americans and their significant contributions to the development of this country.
It also calls upon our civic and moral responsibility to remember what happened.
2. All people should know of and remember the human carnage and dehumanizing atrocities committed during the period of the African slave trade and slavery in America and of the vestiges of slavery in this country; and it is in fact vital to educate our citizens on these events, the legacy of slavery, the sad history of racism in this country, and on the principles of human rights and dignity in a civilized society.
And it declares the policy of the State to fulfill this responsibility through the schools.
3. It is the policy of the state of New York that the history of the African slave trade, slavery in America, the depth of their impact in our society, and the triumphs of African-Americans and their significant contributions to the development of this country is the proper concern of all people, particularly students enrolled in the schools of the state of New York.
Finally, it authorizes the establishment of a commission to act to fulfill that policy.
4. It is therefore desirable to create a state-level commission, which shall research and survey the extent to which the African slave trade and slavery in America is included in the curricula of New York state schools, and make recommendations to the legislature and executive regarding the implementation of education and awareness programs in New York concerned with the African slave trade, slavery in America, the vestiges of slavery in this country, and the contributions of African-Americans in building our country. Such recommendations may include, but not be limited to, the development of workshops, institutes, seminars, and other teacher training activities designed to educate teachers on this subject matter; the coordination of events on a regular basis, throughout the state, that provide appropriate memorialization of the events concerning the enslavement of Africans and their descendants in America as well as their struggle for freedom and liberty; (emphasis added) and suggestions for revisions to the curricula and textbooks used to educate the students of New York state to reflect a more adequate inclusion of issues identified by the commission.
Section § 57.52 establishes the unfunded Amistad commission of 19 people with details about the composition, duties, and term of office. The commission includes, as one would hope, the Commissioner of Education; the Department of Education is called upon to provide technical assistance.

Section § 57.53 details the duties and responsibilities. The commission has a very broad mandate and scope truly national in perspective.
1. to survey and catalog the extent and breadth of education concerning the African slave trade, slavery in America, the vestiges of slavery in this country and the contributions of African-Americans to our society presently being incorporated into the curricula and textbooks and taught in the school systems of the state; and, to inventory those African slave trade, American slavery, or relevant African-American history memorials, exhibits and resources which should be incorporated into courses of study at educational institutions and schools throughout the state. 2. to compile a roster of individual volunteers who are willing to share their knowledge and experience in classrooms, seminars and workshops with students and teachers (emphasis added) on the subject of the African slave trade, American slavery and the impact of slavery on our society today, and the contributions of African-Americans to our country; and 3. to prepare reports for the governor and the legislature regarding its findings (emphasis added) and recommendations on facilitating the inclusion of the African slave trade, American slavery studies, African-American history and special programs in the educational system of the state.
On paper, this is clearly a major undertaking.

Turning now to the commission in charge of fulling this mission, one does indeed note the listing of the Commissioner of Education as part of the team - John P. King. He has not been the Commissioner for over a year.

This raises the question of whether or not the Amistad Commission is a viable entity. Surely if it still functioned, the new Commissioner of Education would be listed. It is reasonable to conclude that this Commission is defunct, and has been for years.

The Commission's website has a tab for upcoming meetings. When I first checked it several months ago, none were scheduled. That is still true as of the writing of this post. The Commission does not appear to be functioning and hasn't for a long time.

Need more documentary proof? Under a listing of current exhibitions at the New York State Museum, one finds two that closed in September of 2013: "An Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War" and "I Shall Think of You Often: The Civil War Story of Doctor and Mary Tarbell".

It is apparently necessary to point out that is hasn't been 2013 for several years now. The Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region conference for 2014 is listed, though the 2015 conference is not. This is a website that needs serious work.

However, someone is still adding items to the Amistad Commission website, under the "Resources" tab.

There is a notice for an event for the 2016 Martin Luther King Day holiday.

There is a link titled "African American History of Western New York" - it goes to the Department of Mathematics at the University of Buffalo.

There is a link to the Schomburg Center For Research in Black Culture which does seems appropriate and does work.

Then there is a link to Governor Andrew Cuomo's November 2015 announcement, of a new Path through History website which is of questionable relevance to the purpose of the Amistad Commission.

Several additional conferences, exhibits, and events from 2015 are listed so evidently some effort was made by someone to stay current.

None of these are events created by the Amistad Commission.

So let's return to what was emphasized in the legislation that established the Amistad Commission:
the development of workshops, institutes, seminars, and other teacher training activities designed to educate teachers on this subject matter; the coordination of events on a regular basis, throughout the state, that provide appropriate memorialization of the events concerning the enslavement of Africans and their descendants in America as well as their struggle for freedom and liberty; roster of individual volunteers who are willing to share their knowledge and experience in classrooms, seminars and workshops with students and teachers; prepare reports for the governor and the legislature regarding its findings
While other organizations are active in this subject area, there is no information on the website listing the members of the Amistad Commission; no programs it has developed; no evidence that it functions as a coordinator for any events; and no submitted reports whatsoever.

In other words, there is no Amistad Commission - apparently, there never has been.

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NY Black History Fail: The Amistad Commission - New York Almanack

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In 2005, during Governor George Pataki's administration, the New York State Legislature created the Amistad Commission to review the state's curriculum about the slave trade. "All people should know of and remember the human carnage and dehumanizing atrocities committed during the period of the African slave trade and slavery in America and consider the vestiges [...]

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The Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans (ICSAA) is a state agency that exists to address the needs and concerns of Iowa's African-American citizens. Since it was established by the Iowa Legislature in 1989, the ICSAA has been a division of the Department of Human Rights and serves as an advocate for African-Americans in Iowa.
The ICSAA is composed of seven citizens representing different regions of the state. Each is appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Iowa Senate. The office is administered by the executive officer. The Director of the Department of Human Rights serves ex officio.

Mission

The Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans pursuant to Chapter 216A.142 of the Iowa Code is legislatively mandated to report on the status of Iowans of African-American descent. The Commission, with the support of staff, community leaders, public and private agencies and organizations, will consider, review, and recommend programs, services, policies, legislation and administrative rules that will improve the quality of life for Iowa's African-American population.

Vision

The Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans exists to promote the interests of African-Americans in the State of Iowa and in doing so, fosters the well being of the State's entire citizenry.

In the spirit of equity, inclusion and responsiveness this Commission, in partnership with the broader African-American community shall:

Educate itself and others regarding the needs of the state's African-American citizenry and regarding the issues that significantly impact them.

Inform the broader African-American community, legislative branches of government and the general public of those needs and issues.

Advocate for positive changes in policy, practices and programs that potentially or actually negatively affect African-American Iowans.
Administrative Rule - Status of African-Americans (434) ICSAA - Who We Are, What We Do
Network with organizations and individuals on behalf of the state's African-American population.

Powers and duties Iowa Code 216a.143

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The Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans (ICSAA) is a state agency that exists to address the needs and concerns of Iowa's African-American citizens.

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After this, Rev. Garnet becomes active in the anti-slavery movement. He was involved with the American Anti-Slavery society. He published and distributed a small paper The Clarion, whose objective was "to aid the Negro in all aspects of his emancipation." With William G. Allen, also of Troy, he produced the periodical The National Watchman.

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This article was originally published on Feb. 4, 2013.
More than a decade ago, New Jersey became one of the first states to pass a law calling for school districts to infuse African-American history into their social studies curriculum.

During the past three years, 584 school districts, universities and libraries statewide have linked to the curriculum provided on the Amistad Commission's website, the state says. In Bergen County, 82 districts, colleges and charters have registered to access the curriculum, and in Passaic County that number is 25. And teachers are encouraged to attend training sessions on how to integrate black history into their regular lessons. In the past year, 2,000 teachers have participated.

But William D. Payne, who wrote the Amistad Commission legislation while he was a Democratic assemblyman from Newark, says he's worried that it's mainly African-Americans who are following the law. Based on more than a dozen training sessions that he has attended -- including the annual statewide institute -- and conversations he's had, more than 90 percent of the attendees have been black, he estimates.

"It took four years for it to pass, and now we are in 2013 and it's still being treated like a stepchild," said Payne, a five-term assemblyman until 2008. "There is no commitment by the Department of Education to finally teach the truth of the country."

A spokesman for the Department of Education said the current core curriculum standards for social studies include aspects of the Amistad Commission's model curriculum. Furthermore, state monitors check whether schools are complying with the law during annual visits, said Richard Vespucci, the spokesman. He said local curriculums, lesson plans and other documentation are reviewed during those visits.

"Our experience has been when that documentation has been lacking or when the district is found to be struggling in trying to comply with the law, local school officials will usually reach out to the Amistad Commission before the state monitors do," Vespucci wrote in an email.

As Black History Month gets under way, proponents of the Amistad Act stress that the contributions of black Americans should be discussed year-round to supplement textbooks that traditionally focus on slavery, the Civil War and the civil rights movement.

North Jersey educators who have integrated the Amistad curriculum say their students are getting a truer representation of history.

Ron Romano, district supervisor of social studies for the Northern Valley Regional High School District, said: "A lot of time we get edicts from the state that are impossible to do or don't really have a real purpose. This legislation is perfect, because I think it would do a disservice if we only honor African-Americans one month; this is all part of our culture."

Fredrick Harris, director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University, said the Department of Education should collect data on who is complying with the law for better enforcement.

"Legislators need to know if the state bureaucracy is doing its job, and the state bureaucracy needs to contact school districts to see if they are doing the job," he said.

Payne said that while he welcomes the attendance of black teachers at training sessions, many more districts with different demographics should be participating.

"They just don't see the positive impact it will have for black students and white students alike," he said. "When I was going to school, I got the impression that all the slaves did during the Civil War was stand on the sidelines while these white guys went off to the war to fight for our freedom. The fact is that we fought in the war, too. But you are left with the impression that blacks did nothing, period."
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The Amistad Commission created the Amistad Act, which was signed into law in 2002. The 19-member board (on which Payne still sits) was charged with developing a model curriculum to ensure black history is adequately taught in all facets of American history.

The law was named after the schooner La Amistad, which was taken over in 1839 by the enslaved Africans it was carrying.

Other states that have adopted similar legislation include New York, Illinois, Arkansas, Colorado and Florida, according to the Education Commission of the States, a non-partisan, non-profit organization based in Colorado.

New York, which created its commission in 2005, was slow to implement its law, and that commission did not hold its first meeting for years after its formation, according to news reports.
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North Jersey social studies supervisors and school superintendents said they are implementing the law, even though some of them acknowledged they still depend on Black History Month to concentrate on those studies.

"Our focus in terms of black history is February," said Ridgefield interim Superintendent of Schools Harry Groveman, who joined the district in August. "I think the teachers infuse and talk about and make connections throughout the school year, but I would be hard pressed to give you specifics. You would hope that they do that."

Other school officials said they hadn't sent teachers to learn how to better merge the law's objectives into their lessons.

South Hackensack Schools Superintendent William DeFabiis, whose wife served on the Amistad Commission when it was first formed, said he doesn't remember receiving information about the training sessions. But he said he'd be happy to attend or send staff, and suggested Payne talk to the county superintendents about the law.

"That would be a great forum to get the word out," DeFabiis said. "You would be hearing it right from the person who is passionate about it; that to me would be meaningful."

Over at the Northern Valley Regional High School District, Romano said he and other educators attended training conferences two years in a row after the legislation was passed to better understand the mandates. Since then, inclusion of the African-American experience in lessons is the norm, he said.

"This is taught from September through June," said Romano, whose district serves students from Closter, Harrington Park, Haworth, Demarest, Northvale, Norwood and Old Tappan.

Teachers in Paterson are urged to tap into information found in informational databases about African-Americans to supplement textbooks, said Nick Vancheri, interim principal for School 7. The teachers have database access to also include information about the Hispanic, and Native Indian experience in history and in other subject areas, added Vancheri, who was the district's K-12 social studies supervisor until December.

The district's International High School has a black history course, and younger students communicate with pupils in Ghana to gain a world perspective, he said.

"We really meet the needs of our diverse city with our curriculum, especially with social studies," Vancheri said.

Payne continues to visit local libraries to study the influences of blacks in history. He's quick to drop dozens of facts he has found along the way. Like the one about the black navigator who accompanied Christopher Columbus, or that African-Americans fought on both sides of the Revolutionary War.

"I say that you can't teach social studies without infusing the role and contributions of African-Americans," he said, adding he plans to push for similar federal legislation. "And until that happens, I will continue to try and convince and enlighten the state of New Jersey and other states of the importance of implementing the truthful teachings of the history of this country."

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Archive: Progress inside schools unclear

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This article was originally published on Feb. 4, 2013. More than a decade ago, New Jersey became one of the first states to pass a law calling for school districts to infuse African-American history into their social studies curriculum.