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Black Troops Were Welcome in Britain, but Jim Crow Wasn’t: The Race Riot of One Night in June 1943

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Black Troops Were Welcome in Britain, but Jim Crow Wasn’t: The Race Riot of One Night in June 1943

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" The whole incident is typical of the clashes on and around bases in Britain between black and white American troops – 44 between November 1943 and February 1944 alone – where the intrinsic racism in a segregated army led to confrontations. This was especially the case in a foreign setting where the black soldiers saw around them a very different reality from that they faced at home – a non-segregated society where they were welcomed as fellow fighters against fascism, rather than tolerated hod-carriers for the war effort as they were generally treated by the US Army. "

Read the full story here!

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French writer Alexandre Dumas as an African American lieu de mémoire

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French writer Alexandre Dumas as an African American lieu de mémoire

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Despite his popularity, knowledge about Dumas’ black ancestry had been largely unknown in the US among the majority population during the 1830s and 1840s, the years in which he was at the peak of his fame. Many Americans generally assumed that such cultural acclivity was characteristic of ‘whites’...While the knowledge of Dumas’ black ancestry made him controversial among majority Americans... Dumas did not treat the black condition explicitly in his most popular works. Yet many African Americans read The Count of Monte Cristo in particular as an allegory of their own condition and identified with the novel’s themes of justice, emancipation, and hope

Source "https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-global-history/article/creating-a-local-black-identity-in-a-global-context-the-french-writer-alexandre-dumas-as-an-african-american-lieu-de-memoire/4568BB73B2D961984C86546EC4E1D455"

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My Great x 4 Grandfather, Willis Augustus Hodges

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My Great x 4 Grandfather, Willis Augustus Hodges

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(February 12, 1815 – September 24, 1890) was an African-American abolitionist, journalist, and statesman who became prominent in Brooklyn, New York.

Born to free parents in Virginia, Hodges became an outspoken advocate for enslaved African Americans during the Antebellum period, giving aid to the Underground Railroad in the North after a move to New York, and collaborating with such notable figures as William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown and Frederick Douglass.

He published a weekly anti-slavery newspaper, The Ram’s Horn, and became involved in community affairs promoting education for black children.

He often returned to Virginia. In 1867, after the Civil War, he represented Princess Anne County in Richmond at the Virginia Constitutional Convention.

In 1870, he was elected to the county board of supervisors, and he served as the first African American lighthouse keeper of the Cape Henry Lighthouse.

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"We are our history". I've found this postcard sent to me by a friend a couple of years ago. The quote is from James Baldwin, american writer and activist (1924-1987). I found it particularly relevant, thought-provoking and universal. 

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"We are our history". I've found this postcard sent to me by a friend a couple of years ago. The quote is from James Baldwin, american writer and activist (1924-1987). I found it particularly relevant, thought-provoking and universal. 

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Sofronín Martínez (Sofro) was a renowned musician in Cartagena de Indias. He used to play his guitar at La Quemada, the bar inspired by the movie recorded in that location that featured Marlon Brando. He also performed at emblematic places in the city like Club Cartagena, Club De Pesca and Hotel Caribe.  Sofro was, without a doubt, an iconic character of Cartagena's musical scene and the Bolero genre.
He left 5 albums and hundreds of live concert recordings.  You may listen to one of his albums here.
Sources:
https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/CMS-14880140
https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-884417

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Dorothy Height felt the sting of racism at an early age. She was accepted to New York’s Barnard College in 1929 but learned there wasn’t a spot for her because the school had already filled its quota of two Black students per year. Instead she enrolled at NYU and earned a master’s in educational psychology.

She fought tirelessly for desegregation, affordable housing, criminal justice reform and other causes. By the 1960s, Height had become one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s key advisers.  She was the only woman activist on the speakers’ platform during King’s “I Have a Dream’’ speech.

Historians say her contributions to the civil rights movement were overlooked at the time because of her sex. But by the time of her death in 2010, Height had taken her place among the movement’s towering figures.

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You may not know their names. But these courageous Black Americans changed history.

Published February 1, 2021

Every Black History Month, we tend to celebrate the same cast of historic figures. They are the civil rights leaders and abolitionists whose faces we see plastered on calendars and postage stamps. They resurface each February when the nation commemorates African Americans who have transformed America.

They deserve all their accolades. But this month we are focusing instead on 28 seminal Black figures - one for each day of February - who don't often make the history books.

Each transformed America in a profound way. Many don't fit the conventional definition of a hero. Some were foul-tempered, weighed down by personal demons, and misunderstood by their contemporaries.

One was a mystic, another was a spy who posed as a slave, and another was a brilliant but troubled poet dubbed the "Godfather of Rap." Few were household names. All of them were pioneers.

It's time for these American heroes to get their due.

She spent her life fighting sexism and racism

Dorothy Height was often the only woman in the room. She made it her life's work to change that, fighting battles against both sexism and racism to become, as President Obama called her, the "godmother" of the civil rights movement.

Height felt the sting of racism at an early age. She was accepted to New York's Barnard College in 1929 but learned there wasn't a spot for her because the school had already filled its quota of two Black students per year.

Instead she enrolled at NYU and earned a master's in educational psychology. This led to a career as a social worker in New York and Washington, where she helped lead the YWCA and the United Christian Youth Movement.

In 1958, Height became president of the National Council of Negro Women, a position she held for more than 40 years. In that role she fought tirelessly for desegregation, affordable housing, criminal justice reform and other causes.

By the 1960s, Height had become one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s key advisers. Historians say that as an organizer of the March on Washington, she was the only woman activist on the speakers' platform during King's "I Have a Dream'' speech.

Historians say her contributions to the civil rights movement were overlooked at the time because of her sex. But by the time of her death in 2010, Height had taken her place among the movement's towering figures.

"She was truly a pioneer, and she must be remembered as one of those brave and courageous souls that never gave up," Rep. John Lewis once said. "She was a feminist and a major spokesperson for the rights of women long before there was a women's movement."

His inventions made the world safer

The son of two former slaves, Garrett Morgan had little more than a grade-school education.

But that didn't stop the Ohio man from becoming an inventor with a rare gift for designing machines that saved people's lives - including an early version of the traffic light.

As a teenager Morgan got a job repairing sewing machines, which led him to his first invention - a revamped sewing machine - and his first entrepreneurial venture: his own repair business.

Soon he was inventing other products, including a hair-straightener for African Americans. In 1916, he patented a "safety hood," a personal breathing device that protected miners and firefighters from smoke and harmful gases. It became the precursor of the gas masks used by soldiers during WWI.

To avoid racist resistance to his product, Morgan hired a white actor to pose as the inventor while he wore the hood during presentations to potential buyers.

Later, after witnessing a car and buggy crash, Morgan was inspired to create a traffic light that had three signals: "stop," "go," and "stop in all directions," to allow pedestrians to safely cross the street.

It also had a warning light - now today's yellow light - to warn drivers they would soon have to stop. His traffic light was patented in 1923 and Morgan eventually sold its design for $40,000 to General Electric.

His legacy can be seen today at intersections across the country and the world.

Coming Up

Feb. 3

A fearless cyclist who set world records

Feb. 4

He spied on the British army as a double agent

Feb. 5

Her beating helped galvanize the civil rights movement

Credits

Editor: Brandon Griggs

Editorial oversight: Saeed Ahmed and John Blake

Contributors: Simret Aklilu, Leah Asmelash, John Blake, Nicole Chavez, Alaa Elassar, Faith Karimi, Harmeet Kaur, Amir Vera and Sydney Walton

Photo editor: Clint Alwahab

Design and development: Priya Krishnakumar, Alberto Mier and Ivory Sherman

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Dorothy Height: Black History Month profile

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Published February 1, 2021 Every Black History Month, we tend to celebrate the same cast of historic figures. They are the civil rights leaders and abolitionists whose faces we see plastered on calendars and postage stamps. They resurface each February when the nation commemorates African Americans who have transformed America.

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Stevie Wonder is not just the first African American musician to win a Grammy for Album of the year but he is also the only one to win that title with 3 consecutive albums. Can we say, " Living Legend?"

As of last year, there have only been 10 African American artists to win that award.
Michael Jackson - 1984
Lionel Richie - 1985
Quincy Jones - 1991
Natalie Cole - 1992
Whitney Houston - 1994
Lauryn Hill - 1999
Outkast -2004
Ray Charles - 2005
Herbie Hancock - 2008

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American bicycle racer Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor (1878-1932) was the world’s first black sports superstar. He was a world cycling champion in 1899, an American sprint champion in 1900, and set numerous track cycling records. Nicknamed “Major” in his youth in Indianapolis and later known as “the Worcester Whirlwind” after his adopted hometown in Massachusetts, he was the second African-American world champion in any sport (after Canadian-born bantamweight boxer George Dixon of Boston won his title in 1891). In the Jim Crow era of strict racial segregation, Taylor had to fight prejudice just to get on the starting line. He faced closed doors and open hostility with remarkable dignity. In his retirement, he wrote his autobiography, “The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World.”

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During the Transatlantic Slave Trade period, black people who managed to escape slavery in Brazil started to create communities known as Quilombos.
The largest Quilombo in Brazilian history was known as Quilombo dos Palmares or Angola Janga (Little Angola) by the people who lived there.
First records of the place are from the end of the 16th century and it resisted strongly on several threats from authorities for 100 years, having around 20,000 people at its peak. Zumbi dos Palmares was their most famous leader and his name is remembered and celebrated by the Brazilian people nowadays, with a holiday on the 20th of November being dedicated to his memory.

Sources:
https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiab/quilombo-dos-palmares.htm
https://www.dw.com/pt-br/como-20-de-novembro-se-tornou-o-dia-da-consci%C3%AAncia-negra/a-55664979

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Juan José Nieto was not only the first and only Black President in Colombian history (1861), but he was also a novelist and writer of what is considered the first Colombian novel of which there are records: "Ingermina o la hija de Calamar" (1844).
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-45167630

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EXAMPLE: Of the 12.5 million Africans shipped to the New World during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, fewer than 388,000 arrived in the United States.

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EXAMPLE: Of the 12.5 million Africans shipped to the New World during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, fewer than 388,000 arrived in the United States.

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Source: http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/10-black-history-little-known-facts/

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Benkos Biohó, born in Guinea-Bissau and brought to Colombia as a slave, was the founder of San Basilio de Palenque - the first free town for Africans in America. The town is near Cartagena de Indias - a city that was once the main slave market in the Americas. Biohó set the stage for other similar communities to be formed and fought not only for the freedom of enslaved Africans, but for the freedom of the country from the Spanish Empire. His leadership was vital for Cartagena’s independence and for the Colombian independence that followed.
Sources:
https://www.eluniversal.com.co/suplementos/facetas/benkos-bioho-un-heroe-olvidado-14115-GSEU91899
https://www.banrepcultural.org/exposiciones/la-marie-seraphique/una-breve-narracion-de-la-esclavitud

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Did you know that a real man was behind The Ballad of John Henry?

As the story goes, John Henry was hired as a steel driver for the railroad. Later, the railroad company brought in a steam drill to speed up work on the tunnel. It was said that the steam drill could drill faster than any man. The challenge was on, “man against machine.” John Henry was known as the strongest, the fastest, and the most powerful man working on the railroad. He went up against the steam drill to prove that the black worker could drill a hole through the rock farther and faster than the drill could. Using two 10-pound hammers, one in each hand, he pounded the drill so fast and so hard that he drilled a 14-foot hole into the rock. The legend says that the drill was only able to drill nine feet. John Henry beat the steam drill and later died of exhaustion.

The Great Bend Tunnel was completed on September 12, 1872, and remained in service until 1974. The tunnel and the man have been cemented into the annals of time through The Ballad of John Henry. The song tells of a boy born with a "hammer in his hand.” It tells of a man who worked as a steel driver during the construction of the Great Bend Tunnel. It tells us that this man took a hammer in each hand to face down a steam-powered drilling machine. John Henry promised, "If I can't beat this steam drill down, I'll die with this hammer in my hand!" At the Great Bend Tunnel, John Henry became one of the world’s great folk heroes.

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Workers digging the Crozet Tunnel

The process of building a tunnel in the 1870s was slow and difficult work. Holes were drilled into the layers of rock using a hand drill and hammer. Holes were then filled with powder and blasted in order to make the rock small enough to remove from the tunnel. The drill was held by a "shaker" who turned it slightly after each blow and gave it a shake to flip the rock dust out of the hole. The "steel driver" swung the hammer as hard and as often as he could, pounding the drill into the rock.

As the story goes, John Henry was hired as a steel driver for the railroad. Later, the railroad company brought in a steam drill to speed up work on the tunnel. It was said that the steam drill could drill faster than any man. The challenge was on, "man against machine." John Henry was known as the strongest, the fastest, and the most powerful man working on the railroad. He went up against the steam drill to prove that the black worker could drill a hole through the rock farther and faster than the drill could. Using two 10-pound hammers, one in each hand, he pounded the drill so fast and so hard that he drilled a 14-foot hole into the rock. The legend says that the drill was only able to drill nine feet. John Henry beat the steam drill and later died of exhaustion.

The Great Bend Tunnel was completed on September 12, 1872, and remained in service until 1974. The tunnel and the man have been cemented into the annals of time through The Ballad of John Henry. The song tells of a boy born with a "hammer in his hand." It tells of a man who worked as a steel driver during the construction of the Great Bend Tunnel. It tells us that this man took a hammer in each hand to face down a steam-powered drilling machine. John Henry promised, " If I can't beat this steam drill down, I'll die with this hammer in my hand!" At the Great Bend Tunnel, John Henry became one of the world's great folk heroes.

Sources
Turner, Charles W., et al. Chessie's Road. Alderson: C&O Historical Society, 1986.

Dixon, Thomas W. Jr. Chesapeake & Ohio Alleghany Subdivision. Alderson: C&O Historical Society, 1985.

Lane, Ron "Great Bend Tunnel." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 13 February 2012. Web. 20 July 2016.
Hampel, Carlene, The Man - Facts, Fiction and Themes, 1998

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The Legend of John Henry: Talcott, WV - New River Gorge National Park and Preserve (U.S. National Park Service)

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The process of building a tunnel in the 1870s was slow and difficult work. Holes were drilled into the layers of rock using a hand drill and hammer. Holes were then filled with powder and blasted in order to make the rock small enough to remove from the tunnel.

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Before there was Rosa Parks, there was Claudette Colvin.

Most people think of Rosa Parks as the first person to refuse to give up their seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. There were actually several women who came before her; one of whom was Claudette Colvin.

It was March 2, 1955, when the fifteen-year-old schoolgirl refused to move to the back of the bus, nine months before Rosa Parks’ stand that launched the Montgomery bus boycott. Claudette had been studying Black leaders like Harriet Tubman in her segregated school, those conversations had led to discussions around the current day Jim Crow laws they were all experiencing. When the bus driver ordered Claudette to get up, she refused, “It felt like Sojourner Truth was on one side pushing me down, and Harriet Tubman was on the other side of me pushing me down. I couldn't get up."

Claudette Colvin’s stand didn’t stop there. Arrested and thrown in jail, she was one of four women who challenged the segregation law in court. If Browder v. Gayle became the court case that successfully overturned bus segregation laws in both Montgomery and Alabama, why has Claudette’s story been largely forgotten? At the time, the NAACP and other Black organizations felt Rosa Parks made a better icon for the movement than a teenager. As an adult with the right look, Rosa Parks was also the secretary of the NAACP, and was both well-known and respected – people would associate her with the middle class and that would attract support for the cause. But the struggle to end segregation was often fought by young people, more than half of which were women.

Source:  http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/10-black-history-little-known-facts/

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EXAMPLE: In the early 1700s, an enslaved African man, who was called Onesimus, introduced inoculation to the United States, which helped save generations from the smallpox disease. 

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EXAMPLE: In the early 1700s, an enslaved African man, who was called Onesimus, introduced inoculation to the United States, which helped save generations from the smallpox disease. 

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Source: https://www.history.com/news/smallpox-vaccine-onesimus-slave-cotton-mather