Black and Education: Recent Episodes
Danita Smith
Stories about Black History delves into the human side of the experiences we have had throughout America and the world.
Fannie Lou Hamer was a remarkable woman. Let's explore her early beginnings in life, her days fighting to register to vote, her time being beaten in jail and her famous speech during the Democratic National Convention, in 1964.
In the first year of his reign (after the reign of his aunt, Hatshepsut, 1479 - 1458 BC), King Thutmose III began a twenty-year effort to regain control of areas that had been won under his father and predecessors. The records of his efforts are carved in monuments in the Temple of Amen at Karnak.
About 700 years before Christ, B.C., the land of Kemet (Egypt) was ruled by Nubian Kings along with the land of Kush. Kashta and Piye (Piankhy), father and son kings of Kush, helped to create a united country that consisted of Kush (in today’s Sudan) and, first Upper Kemet, then all of Kemet.In particular King Piankhy established rule and set up governance of this new kingdom, from his home base in Napata in today’s Sudan.
Ida B. Wells wrote about several incidences in Georgia, in 1899. This is an excerpt of the murders of several men, who were tied together in a warehouse, awaiting trial the next morning on the accusation of arson.“That the awful story of their slaughter may not be considered overdrawn, the following description is taken from the columns of the Atlanta Journal, as it was written by Royal Daniel, a staff correspondent. The story of the lynching thus told is as follows :
Selina and Thornton Gray should be best know for what they did for their family, not for anything they did for Robert E. Lee or George Washington’s legacy.
What was Granville T. Woods famous for? What did he invent and where can his impact be felt today?
Who were the Moors? The Iberian peninsula, what is today Spain and Portugal, was inhabited in some way for well over 700 years by Islamic people we call the Moors.
John Parker was born in 1827 in Norfolk, VA. He was enslaved and was sold at the age of 8, from Virginia to Mobile, AL. Imagine what is was like for an…
“Economic justice reached its awful climax in 1919 in the final answer to two appeals made by working men, both groups seeking through peaceful appeal to win better wage and working conditions; both presenting their grievances through chosen representatives, one to be rewarded by the President of the United States with patient hearing and final success, the other to suffer massacre at the hands of the mob and the death penalty by courts of law.”
Adam Daniel Williams was a catalyst for his grandson's actions and laid the foundation for him in many ways.
Who was Phillis Wheatley? Where was she born? How did she get the name Phillis? All this and more are covered in this episode.
Elias Camp Morris was a fierce leader of the National Baptist Convention for 27 years. He helped to bring that organization to further prominence through his leadership, publishing efforts and strong support for educational institutions, including some colleges that are still around today.
September 14, 1924, the American Baptist College opened its doors. Like some other historically Black colleges, the American Baptist College got its start from a religious organization.
Allen University was founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in 1870. It’s hard for me to think of another institution (outside of the Federal Government) that has supported and established more institutions of higher learning than the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
It cannot be overstated that the AME Church had a lasting and phenomenal impact on the lives of many Black Americans. It was the first independent African-American religious denomination.
Alcorn State University was founded in 1871. It offered higher education to areas where none might not have been available to many people in rural Mississippi, but its greatest testament is shared by those who graced its halls, namely Hiram Revels and Medgar Evers.
Albany State University was founded in 1903 with rich traditions and a long history, its stories are best told through the experiences of the people who lived them.
Alabama State University was active in several ways at the end of the Civil War, when it was founded, and at the dawn of the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Alabama A&M University offers educational opportunities to students seeking to kickoff their careers.
W. C. Handy was born in Florence, Alabama. He was born William Christopher Handy on November 16, 1873 to Elizabeth Brewer and Charles Barnard Handy.
Brethren, arise, arise! Strike for your lives and liberties. Now is the day and the hour. Let every slave throughout the land do this, and the days of slavery are numbered. You…
Sir if this is founded in truth, I apprehend you will readily embrace every opportunity to eradicate that train of absurd and false ideas and opinions which so generally prevails with respect to us, and that your Sentiments are concurrent with mine, which are that one universal Father hath given being to us all, and that he hath not only made us all of one flesh, but that he hath also without partiality afforded us all the Same Sensations, and endued us all with the same…
When I think about Sally Hemings and her mother, Elizabeth Hemings, I think about the words “Me too!”
Dr. Olivia J. Hooker was a clinical psychologist, a professor of psychology, one of the first African-American women to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard and a survivor of the Tulsa race massacre in 1921.
For the few Blacks who were able to get homes, their homes “may have” risen in value, but so much of the money surrounding the housing industry was going to white people who were profiting off of a segregated area.
“They went from there across the railroad into what is known as Darktown and Brooklyn; they had sent a committee to remove all the white women and their children down town, where they had prepared a guard to keep them secure. They marched through the streets protected by these military and citizen regulators, perfectly safe.”
Once the supporters of white supremacy in New Hanover County (Wilmington, NC) gained the desired victories on election day, November 8, 1898, they were not finished. There were other offices in the city they wanted such as mayor of the city, chief of police and aldermen—even though those positions were not on the ballot or up for change.
“There is little doubt that if a Republican ticket is brought out for county offices, the situation here will become more serious than ever. The Democrats, have carried out their part of the arrangement with the Governor by changing their candidates for the lower House of Legislature, and they are furious over the talk of a Negro county ticket.”
I, for one, am unsatisfied with the hope of an ultimate “political” solution sometime in the indefinite future while, in the meantime, countless children unjustifiably receive inferior educations that "may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.”
In the creation of this healthier public sentiment, the Afro-American can do for himself what no one else can do for him. The world looks on with wonder that we have conceded so much and remain law-abiding under such great outrage and provocation.
To Northern capital and Afro-American labor the South owes its rehabilitation. If labor is withdrawn
Breonna Taylor was in her apartment at about 12:40 am on March 13, 2020. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was with her. They had already turned in for the night and were in bed watching a movie, when Breonna fell asleep.
According to Kenneth Walker, they suddenly heard a loud bang at the door. They didn’t know who it was and thought it might be some kind of intruder at that time of night. Breonna yelled, “Who is it?” They heard no reply.
I was born by a golden river and in the shadow of two great hills, five years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The house was quaint, with clap boards running up and down, neatly trimmed, and there were five rooms, a tiny porch, a rosy front yard, and unbelievably
The bloodiest week which New Orleans has know since the massacre of the Italians in 1892 was ushered in Monday, July 24, by the inexcusable and unprovoked assault upon two colored men by police officers of New Orleans. Fortified by the assurance born of long experience in the New Orleans service, three policemen, Sergeant Aucoin, Officer Mora and Officer Cantrelle, observing two colored
On Saturday, the 8th of February, I went to the Washington depot at 1 o’clock, waited until two, and purchased a ticket to go and return; I left the office and started to go to the car; on the platform there was a man who said, “Take the rear car.” I made no reply, but went in and took my seat in what they call the white people’s car; the cars left here at 2 o’clock, and I was about to return in the 3 o’clock
I now come to that part of my life during which I planned, and finally succeeded in making, my escape from slavery. But before narrating any of the peculiar circumstances, I deem it proper to make known my intention not to state all the facts connected with the transaction. My reasons for pursuing this course may be understood from the following: First, were I to give a minute statement of all the facts, it is not only possible, but quite probable, that others would thereby be involved in the most
Mr. Covey seemed now to think he had me, and could do what he pleased; but at this moment—from whence came the spirit I don't know—I resolved to fight; and, suiting my action to the resolution, I seized Covey hard by the throat; and as I did so, I rose. He held on to me, and I to him.
Bad as all slaveholders are, we seldom meet one destitute of every element of character commanding respect. My master was one of this rare sort. I do not know of one single noble act ever performed by him. The leading trait in his character was meanness; and if there were any other element in his nature, it was made subject to this. He was mean; and, like most other mean men, he lacked the ability to conceal his meanness. Captain Auld was not born a slaveholder. He had been a poor man, master only of a Bay craft. He came into possession of all his slaves by marriage; and of all men,
He died while on a visit to see his daughter at Hillsborough. Cut off thus unexpectedly, he left no will as to the disposal of his property. It was therefore necessary to have a valuation of the property, that it might be equally divided between Mrs. Lucretia and Master Andrew. I was immediately sent for, to be valued with the other property. Here again my feelings rose up in detestation of slavery. I had now a new conception of my degraded condition. Prior to this, I had become, if not insensible to my lot, at least partly so.
… ]I was compelled to resort to various stratagems. I had no regular teacher. My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by any one else. It is due, however, to my mistress to say of her, that she did not adopt this course of treatment immediately. She at first lacked the depravity indispensable to shutting me up in mental darkness. It was at least necessary for her to have some training in the exercise of irresponsible power, to make her equal to the task of treating me as though I were a brute.
My new mistress proved to be all she appeared when I first met her at the door,—a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings. She had never had a slave under her control previously to myself, and prior to her marriage she had been dependent upon her own industry for a living. She was by trade a weaver; and by constant application to her business, she had been in a good degree preserved from the blighting
As to my own treatment while I lived on Colonel Lloyd's plantation, it was very similar to that of the other slave children. I was not old enough to work in the field, and there being little else than field work to do, I had a great deal of leisure time. The most I had to do was to drive up the cows at evening, keep the fowls out of the garden, keep the front yard clean, and run of errands for my old master's daughter, Mrs. Lucretia Auld. The most of my leisure time I spent in helping Master Daniel Lloyd in finding his birds, after he had shot them. My connection with Master Daniel was of some advantage to me
…Mr. Austin Gore, a man possessing, in an eminent degree, all those traits of character indispensable to what is called a first-rate overseer. Mr. Gore had served Colonel Lloyd, in the capacity of overseer, upon one of the out-farms, and had shown himself worthy of the high station of overseer upon the home or Great House Farm.
He was just the man for such a place, and it was just the place for such a man.
Colonel Lloyd kept a large and finely cultivated garden, which afforded almost constant employment for four men, besides the chief gardener, (Mr. M'Durmond.) This garden was probably the greatest attraction of the place. During the summer months, people came from far and near—from Baltimore, Easton, and Annapolis—to see it. It abounded in fruits of almost every description, from the hardy apple of the north to the delicate orange of the south. This garden was not the least source of trouble…
The men and women slaves received, as their monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork, or its equivalent in fish, and one bushel of corn meal. Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers, like the shirts, one jacket, one pair of trousers for winter, made of coarse negro cloth, one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes; the whole of which could not have cost more than seven dollars.
My mother was named Harriet Bailey. She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsey Bailey, both colored, and quite dark. My mother was of a darker complexion than either my grandmother or grandfather.
In December of 1863, Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction which gave really an olive branch to Confederate states that wished to rejoin the Union, even though the Civil War wasn’t quite over, yet. This proclamation allowed for the consideration of readmission to take place if ten percent of a state’s voters took an oath of loyalty to the Union and if other conditions were met, namely the abolition of slavery and respect for the laws of the United States.
On May 30, 1921 a young man named Dick Rowland, who was about 19 years old, got on an elevator in the Drexel Building, on South Main St.
He entered the elevator and, in some way, came in contact with Sarah Page, who was the elevator’s operator. She was about 17 years old. Sarah let out a scream and a clerk in a nearby store heard her yell, Dick Rowland ran from the scene, and the store clerk called the police.
Ernest Everett Just was a renown scientist who made important discoveries about the biology of a cell's surface.
If there were a few words that could sum up Mrs. Fanny Jackson-Coppin they would be, “excellence in education.” Mrs. Jackson-Coppin spent decades as an educator and as a principal, at a time when women, especially women of color, weren’t given many opportunities to lead. She stepped into leadership roles and was rarely challenged due to the remarkable commitment and professionalism she displayed.
Daniel Howard, a twenty-year-old African-American man, attended a political rally on September 19, 1868. He was one of hundreds of African Americans to attend this rally.
You see, earlier that month Democrats (along with some Republicans) in the state’s legislature moved to remove ALL African-American lawmakers from office that had been recently elected, earlier that year. They contended that African Americans were not given the express right to hold office and they, therefore, voted to unseat them.
James Armistead was born in the 1700s. He was enslaved by a man named William Armistead in Virginia.
Virginia would turn out to be an important stage for what would effectively be the last major conflict of the Revolutionary War.
James Weldon Johnson was born on June 17, 1871 to Helen and James Johnson. His mother was a school teacher and his father...a waiter. Both of his parents stressed the importance of education to their children.
In July of 1826 Sojourner Truth simply walked away from slavery, with her youngest child. She didn't run...she didn't go very far...she simply decided she wasn't going to be a slave anymore.
Some years earlier the New York state legislature passed two laws, gradually emancipating slaves. The laws essentially provided that all adult slaves would be set free on July 4, 1827 and any child, born after a certain date, to an enslaved mother, would have to work for the mother's owner until the age of 21—at which time the child would also be free.
"Fellow-Citizens—Pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings, resulting from your independence to us?
William Henry Johnson was born in Winston Salem, North Carolina in 1892. While still a teenager, Johnson moved to New York...he was an industrious young man and found work as a soda mixer, in a coal yard, as a chauffeur, and eventually as a redcap porter in Albany’s train station.
In April of 1917 the United States declared war on Germany and, just two months later, William Henry Johnson volunteered to serve his country—he enlisted on June 5, 1917.
In June of 1775, Revolutionary forces got word of a British plan to capture high areas around Boston in an effort to squash the Colonial uprising. Colonial forces, made up of about 1,000 men from Connecticut and Massachusetts marched to an area on the Charlestown peninsula to lay claim to this area before British troops could get there.
Colonial leaders hoped to fortify an area called Bunker Hill. So on the night of June 16, 1775, Revolutionary forces marched to the Charlestown peninsula to set up a fortified area, in anticipation of the British advancement.
Biddy Mason was born, enslaved, in Hancock, Georgia in 1818. Her owner, Robert Smith, later moved to Mississippi where he became acquainted with the Mormon religion. The mid-1800s were a tumultuous time in American politics and 1850 was an important year, in many ways.
Unbeknownst to Biddy Mason, decisions being made about California and Utah were about to have a significant impact on her life.
George Thomas Downing was born in 1819, in New York City. His father was the well-known businessman, Thomas Downing. Thomas Downing moved to New York, in the early 1800s, and eventually opened up what would become a very successful business—a restaurant called the Oyster House
In 1919 more than 20 different racially violent events took place throughout the United States, from May of 1919 to October of 1919. The events were so violent that this time span became known as the “Red Summer.”
NOTE: THE CONTENT OF THIS POST IS VERY GRAPHIC.
In the 1800s to early 1900s, there lived a man named Charles “Buddy” Bolden, whose impact on jazz has become legendary.
He was born in 1877 and lived in New Orleans. He became the leader of a band that is recognized as being the first band to play what became known as jazz music.
In some ways the beginnings of the African Methodist Episcopal Church can be found in the life of Richard Allen, but this is really a much larger story about people who chose to stand up and worship in a way that was seated in freedom and rooted in independence.
Benjamin Banneker was born on November 9, 1731 in what is today Baltimore County, Maryland.
According to accounts his grandmother, Molly Welsh, was a white English woman who was sent to the American colonies as an indentured servant.
After serving her indentured time, she was able to obtain her own property—which was a remarkable thing for a woman to do in the late 1600s. She then purchased enslaved people to work her land...she ended up buying two human beings—one of whom was said to be the son of an African king, whose name was Bannaka.
Charles Burleigh Purvis was born in 1842 in Philadelphia, PA. His father was the well-known abolitionist, Robert Purvis, and his mother was Harriet Forten. She was the daughter of the well-known African-American activist and businessman, James Forten. Yes, Charles Purvis was Jame Forten’s grandson.
Some 200,000 African Americans served in the Civil War as soldiers and sailors, but not much is known about the many men and women who provided intelligence to the Union, during the war. Mary Touvestre was one such person.
Mary Touvestre was a free (formerly enslaved) housekeeper of a Confederate engineer, during the Civil War. Before the war, the U.S. Navy had a significant naval base in Norfolk, VA. When the war began, the military ordered the destruction of ships in that base, so that they wouldn't fall into enemy hands.
On January 21, 1861 Jefferson Davis rose on the Senate floor to explain why the state of Mississippi decided to secede from the Union—it would be his last speech as a U.S. Senator. After sharing some thoughts about nullification and secession and expressing his support for secession, even if a northern state decided to do so, he went on to explain:
“It has been a conviction of pressing necessity, it has been a belief that we are to be deprived in the Union of the rights which our fathers bequeathed to us, which has brought Mississippi into her present decision.
She has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created free and equal, and this made the basis
Many times we tend to see people the way they are when they are at the height of their fame, but you never know what a person went through to get where they are...and in Frederick Douglass's case, what he went through to get into a position to help others. In 1834, on January 1st, Frederick made his way to the home of the man who was supposed to “break” him. Edward Covey was a small man who believed in harsh treatment, as a way of making sure enslaved people would be, forever, obedient.
In the summer of 1835 Arthur Bowen was on his way home in the evening, when he reached the front door of his owner’s residence. Bowen was about eighteen years old and he was owned by Anna Thornton, who was the widow of William Thornton—the first Architect of the Capitol. Dr. William Thornton was born in the British West Indies and his proposed design for the U.S. Capitol was accepted by George Washington, in 1793. He was awarded $500 and a lot in the city of Washington for his work. He moved to the city in 1794 and George Washington appointed him to a position as one of the city’s commissioners. Thomas Jefferson, later, appointed him head of the Patent Office, in 1802.
Dr. Percy Julian was an American chemist whose work should be remembered. I never knew about him growing up, but his contributions should be taught to children.
There have been only 10 African Americans to serve in the U.S. Senate throughout the entire history of the U.S. Congress. Meet those individuals and find out a little more about them here.
What caused Harriet Tubman to fight back? What political actions supported the existence of slavery? This book explores the life of Harriet Tubman and some of the religious, political and social supports that made slavery exist for so long.
Frederick Douglass was born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in Talbot County, Maryland. His mother’s name was Harriet and she was forced to leave her children, by the man who owned them. She was hired out to neighboring farms and her children would stay with her mother, until they were several years old.
Four young men from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College changed their world when they decided to stand up for their own rights.
Their names were Ezell Blair, Jr., Franklin McCain, David Richmond, and Joseph McNeil. They were freshmen at North Carolina A&T in the fall of 1959 and they became friends when they met that year. One of the things that they had in common was that they shared a disdain for the inequalities that surrounded them.
In 1781 a slave ship, named the Zong (based out of Liverpool, England), was on a horrible trip to get human beings—to sell them in Jamaica. The ship made it to Africa, along the coast of present-day Ghana, and then to Sao Tome (or St. Thomas, an island near present day Gabon and Equatorial Guinea). Luke Collingwood was the captain of the ship and he decided to go with a “tight” packing method.
Michelle Howard was born in the year 1960 and graduated from high school in Aurora, Colorado. She went on to the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland and graduated from there in 1982.
She would go on to become the first female graduate of the United States Naval Academy to earn the title of admiral.
Fannie Lou Hamer was born on October 6, 1917 in Montgomery County, Mississippi to Jim and Ella Townsend.
She worked on a farm as a sharecropper for 18 years and her parents, too, were sharecroppers.
Thurgood Marshall was born on July 2nd in Baltimore, Maryland in 1908. His father was a porter or waiter for a railroad company and his mother was an elementary school teacher. They were very involved in teaching their children and, reportedly, Thurgood’s father would take him down to the courthouse in Baltimore just to view court proceedings. His mother, being a schoolteacher, oversaw her children's development and made sure they got good educational foundations in school.
Charles Henry Langston was born in 1817 in Louisa County, VA. His mother’s name was Lucy Jane Langston and his father was a slaveowner named Robert Quarles. Robert Quarles had served in the Revolutionary War and was, as we have said, a slaveowner. He had a baby with Lucy Langston and, after the child was born, he freed both Lucy and their baby. The two, later on, had three additional children:
In May of 1902 the Peace of Vereeniging was signed between Boer forces and the British (putting an end to a set of wars between the two sides). After a few years, the former Boer republics joined with the British territories and, in May of 1910, they formed the Union of South Africa.
The African National Congress was then created, just two years later, in 1912 to respond to the white-run government. Ironically, eight years after this formation, in 1918, Nelson Mandela was also born.
The government began to, immediately, codify its suppression of black South Africans. In 1913 the Natives Land Act was passed which set aside about 13% of South Africa's land for the "Native population." It prohibited blacks from buying, renting, or using land anywhere outside of the areas that were set aside for them.
Katherine Johnson was born on August 26, 1918 in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia and, by now, you may know that she grew up to be an integral part of the nation's space program as a valuable mathematician in NASA. You may not know about the connection she shares with some members of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
(See our website for articles and pictures). Charles Young was a Buffalo Soldier, a pioneer in many ways, and one of the most celebrated African-American military men, at the time of his death.
We have to examine our past to determine the impact of current drug policy in order to ensure that these results don't just happen again--while we stand by and watch. Since the 1980s no single issue has struck at the heart of the struggles of Black America quite like the "War on Drugs" has. Let me first state that the majority of black, white and Hispanic people in America do not use illicit drugs and if they do, they do so AT THE SAME RATES— this has been the case for decades.
Garrett Morgan was born around 1877 in Paris, Kentucky. He did not receive a formal education beyond a several-year period of time when he was living with his parents. He later hired a tutor, for himself, after he left his parents' home.
In September of 1900 Ida B. Wells stopped the project she was working on to report on the outrageous actions that took place in New Orleans in July of that year. Robert Charles was an African-American man who had an encounter with police, while sitting on the steps of a building with his friend, one night. In that encounter shots were fired and Charles wounded one of the police officers. Over the ensuing days, Charles would shoot and kill several police officers during shoot outs and citizens of New Orleans would join with police in an unprecedented manhunt.
Many people did the work that helped make the country function--people who were not given the respect and remembrance they were due.
Paul Jennings was born in 1799...enslaved to James and Dolley Madison, in Virginia.
In 1808 James Madison was elected President of the United States and Paul Jennings, still a boy, moved to the White House with Dolley and James Madison.
One of the most famous challenges to slavery took place at the home of an African-American man named, William Parker. On September 11, 1851, Edward Gorsuch showed up at Parker’s home. Gorsuch was seeking several escaped men whom he believed were being sheltered at Parker’s house.