Nina Simone was an artist that presented herself from the bottom of her soul. In my opinion the following clip is a presentation as opposed to a performance. What we see here are Nina's "feelings" coming to life on stage. The few other clips that I have seen from that time at the Montreux Jazz Festival were equally compelling each in their own right.
I'm not going to fill up with the clips from that show here but if you're interested, go to youtube and enter "NINA SIMONE live at Montreux,1976" in the search box. I promise you won't be dissappointed, unless someone takes these clips off youtube.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Finding Black Heritage
I just "Discovered" a web site called DISCOVER BLACK HERITAGE. I believe it's going to become one of my favorite web sites, not only does it contain tons of information regarding the Black experience in America. It is also well written, well illustrated and easy to navigate. This web site is geared towards travellers, in that they feature different regional attractions all across the country as well as some international spots, the topics including;
The graphics and and photos are wholesome and upbeat and in my opinion are suitable for the use with even younger students. Another plus is the fact that so many businesses as well as artistic and cultural institutions catering to the interests of Black people are being promoted. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Their URL is posted below.
http://discoverblackheritage.com
>
- Black Colleges
- Exhibitions
- Festivals
- Good Eats
- Heritage Tours
- Museums
- News
- Readings
- Sites
The graphics and and photos are wholesome and upbeat and in my opinion are suitable for the use with even younger students. Another plus is the fact that so many businesses as well as artistic and cultural institutions catering to the interests of Black people are being promoted. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Their URL is posted below.
http://discoverblackheritage.com
>
Thursday, December 15, 2011
A Heart to Heart to the Black Man from Djehuty Ma'at-Ra
I happened to come across this video on a site that I want to review in a while but in the meantime our brother Djehuty
Ma'at-Ra has a few words I feel we could all give a listen to.
Djehuty
Ma'at-Ra
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu Speaks on Cradle to Prison Pipeline
Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu
Author, Lecturer, Teacher, Preacher, Educator and Scholar. Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu, educated at Morgan State, Illinois State, and Union Graduate School has been a guest speaker at most universities throughout the U.S. I want to post a sampling of his work via Youtube in the hope that you will look into more of his inspiring body of work.
Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys
"Too Important to Fail" Teaser 3 - Jawanza Kunjufu, PhD
State of Emergency
Jawanza Kunjufu
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Bernie Sanders Proposes to Amend The Constitution
I agree with the Senator. It's time for people to make a stand.
A corporation is NOT a Person, if it is then we are all corporations.
A corporation is NOT a Person, if it is then we are all corporations.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Black Grassroots Politics In Action - Economic Justice
My wish is to see these folks hook up, along with everyone in between and let's get a serious movement going.
New Jersey
Remembering Rosa Parks with 365 Consecutive Days of Protest for Economic Justice
Detroit
DETROIT GROUP CALLS FOR GENERAL STRIKE, MAKE BANKS AND CORPORATIONS PAY
New Jersey
Remembering Rosa Parks with 365 Consecutive Days of Protest for Economic Justice
Detroit
DETROIT GROUP CALLS FOR GENERAL STRIKE, MAKE BANKS AND CORPORATIONS PAY
Sunday, November 27, 2011
"Oscar Grant's killer back on trial" on the @colorofchange blog
Well who'd a thought it?
Who knows how many other people he brutalized under the guise of a public servant. The man is a public menace, who wouldn't hesitate to shoot an unarmed incapacitated man in the back. Apparently he had no qualms about beating another man who was out-numbered as well. I think it's pretty safe to assess that he and his ilk are cowards that have no business being in a position where they are able to abuse their authority and the system does itself a disservice by not taking those who do abuse that position, to task. There will come a time when the karmic chickens come home to roost and those who did try to do right by the job will suffer along with the rest."Oscar Grant's killer back on trial" on the @colorofchange blog
Who knows how many other people he brutalized under the guise of a public servant. The man is a public menace, who wouldn't hesitate to shoot an unarmed incapacitated man in the back. Apparently he had no qualms about beating another man who was out-numbered as well. I think it's pretty safe to assess that he and his ilk are cowards that have no business being in a position where they are able to abuse their authority and the system does itself a disservice by not taking those who do abuse that position, to task. There will come a time when the karmic chickens come home to roost and those who did try to do right by the job will suffer along with the rest."Oscar Grant's killer back on trial" on the @colorofchange blog
Monday, November 7, 2011
Occupy The Hood calls youth of African descent to improve their world
Occupy The Hood calls youth of African descent to improve their world
For young people of African descent, Occupy The Hood is this generation’s civil rights movement.
Launching Occupy Wall Street took only three days. How long will it take us to Occupy The Hood?
Click to see my recent updates on Occupy The Hood
Launching Occupy Wall Street took only three days. How long will it take us to Occupy The Hood?
Click to see my recent updates on Occupy The Hood
Friday, November 4, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Rap Sessions-Hip Hop & Race Urbana College... Sept 2009 w/ Oliver Wang &...
Brother Daveyd Rides Again.
FROM NOTHING TO SOMETHING: YOUNG BLACK MEN WITH A MESSAGE
When I saw the following video, I knew that something special was going on. I spend a lot of time scouring the net, for signs that we are ready to use the mediums that are coming available but I don't usually find anything that gets me worked up.
Updated Video follows
The young Brothers at FN2S have it going on. They are presenting quality productions (content wise) without the need for a Hollywood Studio. I don't doubt that some day the opportunity will present itself. I only hope that when it comes it won't come as an an attempt to tone them down. In the mean time we need to do all we can to see that their efforts are distributed as far and wide as we can get them.
Click Here to See More of These Inspiring Videos
Updated Video follows
The young Brothers at FN2S have it going on. They are presenting quality productions (content wise) without the need for a Hollywood Studio. I don't doubt that some day the opportunity will present itself. I only hope that when it comes it won't come as an an attempt to tone them down. In the mean time we need to do all we can to see that their efforts are distributed as far and wide as we can get them.
Click Here to See More of These Inspiring Videos
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
“Treat Us Right – Not White” – NAPFE History Revealed
One cannot discuss the struggle for African-American compensated employment in the United States without studying the circumstances that led to the founding of the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees (NAPFE). Paul Nehru Tennassee has made this scholarship easier with his book “History of the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees 1913-1945: Treat Us Right Not White
“, a compelling documentation of the union’s story.
This is an inspiring interview you'll really get a lot out of viewing it.
“Treat Us Right – Not White” – NAPFE History Revealed
“, a compelling documentation of the union’s story.This is an inspiring interview you'll really get a lot out of viewing it.
“Treat Us Right – Not White” – NAPFE History Revealed
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Walter Turner of Africa Today interview with Abdul Alkalimat
Professor Turner has been presenting Africa Today a weekly program about and for the people of the African diaspora for several years on KPFA and as a podcast on the internet. The listener will always learn something useful from these interviews.
Abdul Alkalimat is the producer of the web site "Malcolm X : A Research Site" at www.brothermalcolm.net. He has undertaken to digitize the info he finds from various sources in the American African community. Don't miss either of these important web sites. You'll probably find that you will be spending a lot of time at both of them.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
LIBYA: Rebels execute black immigrants while forces kidnap others
Where there's smoke there's fire. This is an older article but it still needs to be looked at.
SOMALILANDPRESS
ADDIS ABABA — While much of the world’s attention is focusing on crude oil prices and the Libyan pipelines in the east of the country– human right groups say rebels are committing crimes against humanity.
In east Libya, African hunt began as towns and cities began fall under the control of Libyan rebels, mobs and gangs. They started to detain, insult, rape and even executing black immigrants, students and refugees.
In the past two weeks, more than 100 Africans from various Sub-Sahara states are believed to have been killed by Libyan rebels and their supporters.
According to Somali refugees in Libya, at least five Somalis from Somaliland and Somalia were executed in Tripoli and Benghazi by anti-Gaddafi mobs. Dozens of refugees and immigrants workers from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Nigeria, Chad, Mali and Niger have been killed, some of them were led into the desert and stabbed to death. Black Libyan men receiving medical care in hospitals in Benghazi were reportedly abducted by armed rebels. They are part of more than 200 African immigrants held in secret locations by the rebels.
In many disputes involving Libyan residents and black Africans, the Libyans are turning in the Africans as mercenaries.
Thousands more Africans caught up in this mercenary hysteria are terrified. Some barricaded themselves in their homes, while others hid in the desert. Insulted, threatened, beaten, chased and robbed. Their only crime was being black and therefore treated as “mercenaries” of Gaddafi.
While the airing of Gaddafi’s so called “black mercenaries” by Western media has ignited the issue, some say an xenophobic attitude towards these refugees and labourers has existed for years. They say the current attacks are racially motivated because the rebels have released many actual Libyan mercenaries and soldiers under a tribal agreement. They believe many Arabs felt their Libyan leader was abandoning them for black Africans ever since he became a “pan-Africanist”. Many immigrants were regularly victims of racism.
In many situations, Gaddafi and his inner circle preferred black Africans and Libyans from the south over Libyans from the east. Now the angry mobs using the revolutionary movement across Arabia and North Africa are hunting down black people.
read more
SOMALILANDPRESS
ADDIS ABABA — While much of the world’s attention is focusing on crude oil prices and the Libyan pipelines in the east of the country– human right groups say rebels are committing crimes against humanity.
In east Libya, African hunt began as towns and cities began fall under the control of Libyan rebels, mobs and gangs. They started to detain, insult, rape and even executing black immigrants, students and refugees.
In the past two weeks, more than 100 Africans from various Sub-Sahara states are believed to have been killed by Libyan rebels and their supporters.
According to Somali refugees in Libya, at least five Somalis from Somaliland and Somalia were executed in Tripoli and Benghazi by anti-Gaddafi mobs. Dozens of refugees and immigrants workers from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Nigeria, Chad, Mali and Niger have been killed, some of them were led into the desert and stabbed to death. Black Libyan men receiving medical care in hospitals in Benghazi were reportedly abducted by armed rebels. They are part of more than 200 African immigrants held in secret locations by the rebels.
In many disputes involving Libyan residents and black Africans, the Libyans are turning in the Africans as mercenaries.
Thousands more Africans caught up in this mercenary hysteria are terrified. Some barricaded themselves in their homes, while others hid in the desert. Insulted, threatened, beaten, chased and robbed. Their only crime was being black and therefore treated as “mercenaries” of Gaddafi.
While the airing of Gaddafi’s so called “black mercenaries” by Western media has ignited the issue, some say an xenophobic attitude towards these refugees and labourers has existed for years. They say the current attacks are racially motivated because the rebels have released many actual Libyan mercenaries and soldiers under a tribal agreement. They believe many Arabs felt their Libyan leader was abandoning them for black Africans ever since he became a “pan-Africanist”. Many immigrants were regularly victims of racism.
In many situations, Gaddafi and his inner circle preferred black Africans and Libyans from the south over Libyans from the east. Now the angry mobs using the revolutionary movement across Arabia and North Africa are hunting down black people.
read more
Monday, October 10, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Black life is cheap in Libya
Justice Malala | 19 September, 2011 00:04
They are killing black people in Libya. They are killing them in the street, they are killing them in hospitals, they are killing them in transit camps, they are killing them in their houses.
They are not killing any old African. They are killing black Africans, the dark, sub-Saharan Africans. Skin tone, the darkness of one's skin, has become for many blacks in Libya the difference between prison and freedom, death and life.
The rebels who gunned for the toppling of the dictator Muammar Gaddafi have for the past six months been killing anyone who looks dark. Given that there are between a million and two million black Africans in Libya, a slow and under-reported massacre is unfolding in that country.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
October is Black History Month in the UK
The African Princess:Sarah Forbes Bonetta
At the age of five, Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies, born into a royal West African dynasty, was taken to England and presented to Queen Victoria as a "gift" from one royal family to another. A unique and admired figure in history, she spent her life between the British royal household and her homeland in Africa.
In his journal Captain Forbes gave an account of his mission with relation to Miss Bonetta.
"I have only to add a few particulars about my extraordinary present The African child". In a former portion of this journal I have mentioned the Okeadon war; one of the captives of this dreadful slave-hunt was this interesting girl.
It is usual to reserve the best born for the high behest of royalty and the immolation on the tombs of the diseased nobility. For one of these ends she had been detained at court for two years: proving, by her not having been sold to slave dealer, that she was of a good family.
"I have only to add a few particulars about my extraordinary present The African child". In a former portion of this journal I have mentioned the Okeadon war; one of the captives of this dreadful slave-hunt was this interesting girl.
It is usual to reserve the best born for the high behest of royalty and the immolation on the tombs of the diseased nobility. For one of these ends she had been detained at court for two years: proving, by her not having been sold to slave dealer, that she was of a good family.
So extraordinary a present would have been at least burden, had I not the conviction that, in consideration of the nature of the service I had performed, the government would consider her as the property of the crown.
To refuse, would have been to have signed her death warrant which, probably, would have been carried into execution forthwith. Immediately on arriving...
Of her own history she was only a confused idea. Her parents were decapitated; her brother and sisters she knows not what their fate might have been .
For her age supposed to be eight years. She is a perfect genius; she now speaks English well, and has a great talent for music. She has won the affections, with but few exceptions, of all who have known her, she is far in advance of any white child of her age, in aptness of learning, and strength of mind and affection."
For more features, accounts and info see bhm The Guide To Black History Month
To refuse, would have been to have signed her death warrant which, probably, would have been carried into execution forthwith. Immediately on arriving...
Of her own history she was only a confused idea. Her parents were decapitated; her brother and sisters she knows not what their fate might have been .
For her age supposed to be eight years. She is a perfect genius; she now speaks English well, and has a great talent for music. She has won the affections, with but few exceptions, of all who have known her, she is far in advance of any white child of her age, in aptness of learning, and strength of mind and affection."
For more features, accounts and info see bhm The Guide To Black History Month
Friday, September 23, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
MaD 2011 Talk - Emmanuel JAL: A boy Soldier's Story/ Music for Positive...
For five years, young Emmanuel Jal fought as a child soldier in the Sudan. Rescued by an aid worker, he's become an international hip-hop star and an activist for kids in war zones.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Justice Thomas, Who Thinks Federal Child Labor Laws Are Unconstitutional, Complains About Judicial Activism
Justice Thomas, Who Thinks Federal Child Labor Laws Are Unconstitutional, Complains About Judicial Activism: pAt a speech to Nebraska law students, Justice Clarence Thomas made a surprising claim — that the Supreme Court has been too activist and should stop second-guessing elected leaders: [Thomas] told the group that the court is being asked to play too big of a role in the nation’s governance. Currently, he said too many [...]/p
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Stop Sept 21 Execution of Troy Davis! Campaign
Stop Sept 21 Execution of Troy Davis! Campaign
Atlanta Progressive News
(APN) ATLANTA -- Troy Davis, the Georgia man whose death row case has drawn international attention, has again been scheduled for execution for September 21, 2011, but advocates hope to convince the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant last-minute clemency. Davis was convicted of shooting a police officer, Mark MacPhail, in Savannah in 1989, but since then, seven of nine witnesses have recanted their testimony against Davis, and two other witnesses have implicated another individual as the murderer. Read more....
| If in fact Troy Davis is Innocent, an Innocent man will be executed. |
Atlanta Progressive News
(APN) ATLANTA -- Troy Davis, the Georgia man whose death row case has drawn international attention, has again been scheduled for execution for September 21, 2011, but advocates hope to convince the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant last-minute clemency. Davis was convicted of shooting a police officer, Mark MacPhail, in Savannah in 1989, but since then, seven of nine witnesses have recanted their testimony against Davis, and two other witnesses have implicated another individual as the murderer. Read more....
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Bill Strickland- A win, win, win, win, win win, win situation - for America
Bill Strickland makes change with a slide show | Video on TED.com
Now that the tears are out of my eyes and I can type, I have to say, that this talk is a "Must See", watch it A.S.A.P. and then forward a link to a friend. This man has engaged a cross section of Americans in order to help us find our own solutions to our problems, by attacking the problems at the public, corporate and the the private levels. As opposed to dictating top-down solutions and bailing out corporate entities that are too big to fail. The focus must be placed on collectives, such as have been created by the likes of Mr. Strickland and those who have aligned themselves with him, in which Americans have already taken the initiative to begin the reconstruction of the the cultural, educational and the economic infrastructure. Not only is Mr. Strickland's model bold and innovative but it appears to be coming about with a high degree of self financing, without major funding from the government. As he points out, if the government would like to get involved, they could start by getting discount on the monies being spent on the prison system, since education costs about 35% or so, less and has the added benefit of creating an America that will be more competetive in the world marketplace.
This is such and amazing example of Americans working together to solve our problems that I would go as far as to declare it to be revolutionary. Bill Strickland has pieced together a collection of multi-cultural, multi-generational, public, private, corporate, retail and manufacturing interests- all cooperating in a way that is mutually beneficial and as an added bonus the country as a whole is being strengthened. I would call that a win, win, win, win, win win, win situation.
I'm glad to know that President Obama has selected Bill Strickland for the newly formed White House Council for Community Solutions. Let's try to make sure that they have the opportunity and our support to implement some of these solutions.
 |
| Bill Strickland |
Bayview Hunters Point Center for Arts and Technology |
I'm glad to know that President Obama has selected Bill Strickland for the newly formed White House Council for Community Solutions. Let's try to make sure that they have the opportunity and our support to implement some of these solutions.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Newton Aduaka | Video on TED.com
Newton Aduaka tells the story of Ezra | Video on TED.com
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
U.S., NATO GUILTY OF WAR CRIMES IN LIBYA, SAYS CYNTHIA MCKINNEY
I read this in The Voice of Detroit. What do you think?
U.S., NATO GUILTY OF WAR CRIMES IN LIBYA, SAYS CYNTHIA MCKINNEY
Do they know something we don't know?
Thursday, September 1, 2011
OBAMA APPOINTS MONSANTO'S VICE PRESIDENT AS SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE COMMISSIONER AT THE FDA
OBAMA APPOINTS MONSANTO'S VICE PRESIDENT AS SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE COMMISSIONER AT THE FDA
"Michael Taylor has been appointed senior advisor to the commissioner of the FDA. This is the same man that was in charge of FDA policy when GMO's were allowed into the US food supply without undergoing a single test to determine their safety. He "had been Monsanto's attorney before becoming policy chief at the FDA [and then] he became Monsanto's Vice President and chief lobbyist. This month [he] became the senior advisor to the commissioner of the FDA. He is now America's food safety czar. This is no joke."
Jeffrey Smith The leading consumer advocate promoting healthier, non-GMO choices Posted on 9:40 pm July 23, 2009
The person who may be responsible for more food-related illness and death than anyone in history has just been made the US food safety czar. This is no joke.
Here’s the back story.
When FDA scientists were asked to weigh in on what was to become the most radical and potentially dangerous change in our food supply—the introduction of genetically modified (GM) foods—secret documents now reveal that the experts were very concerned. Memo after memo described toxins, new diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and hard-to-detect allergens. They were adamant that the technology carried “serious health hazards,” and required careful, long-term research, including human studies, before any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could be safely released into the food supply.
But the biotech industry had rigged the game so that neither science nor scientists would stand in their way. They had placed their own man in charge of FDA policy and he wasn’t going to be swayed by feeble arguments related to food safety. No, he was going to do what corporations had done for decades to get past these types of pesky concerns. He was going to lie.
Dangerous Food Safety Lies
When the FDA was constructing their GMO policy in 1991-2, their scientists were clear that gene-sliced foods were significantly different and could lead to “different risks” than conventional foods. But official policy declared the opposite, claiming that the FDA knew nothing of significant differences, and declared GMOs substantially equivalent.
This fiction became the rationale for allowing GM foods on the market without any required safety studies whatsoever! The determination of whether GM foods were safe to eat was placed entirely in the hands of the companies that made them—companies like Monsanto, which told us that the PCBs, DDT, and Agent Orange were safe.
Read more.....
Jeffrey Smith The leading consumer advocate promoting healthier, non-GMO choices Posted on 9:40 pm July 23, 2009
Here's the full story:
You're Appointing Who? Please Obama, Say It's Not So!
The person who may be responsible for more food-related illness and death than anyone in history has just been made the US food safety czar. This is no joke.
Here’s the back story.
When FDA scientists were asked to weigh in on what was to become the most radical and potentially dangerous change in our food supply—the introduction of genetically modified (GM) foods—secret documents now reveal that the experts were very concerned. Memo after memo described toxins, new diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and hard-to-detect allergens. They were adamant that the technology carried “serious health hazards,” and required careful, long-term research, including human studies, before any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could be safely released into the food supply.
But the biotech industry had rigged the game so that neither science nor scientists would stand in their way. They had placed their own man in charge of FDA policy and he wasn’t going to be swayed by feeble arguments related to food safety. No, he was going to do what corporations had done for decades to get past these types of pesky concerns. He was going to lie.
Dangerous Food Safety Lies
When the FDA was constructing their GMO policy in 1991-2, their scientists were clear that gene-sliced foods were significantly different and could lead to “different risks” than conventional foods. But official policy declared the opposite, claiming that the FDA knew nothing of significant differences, and declared GMOs substantially equivalent.
This fiction became the rationale for allowing GM foods on the market without any required safety studies whatsoever! The determination of whether GM foods were safe to eat was placed entirely in the hands of the companies that made them—companies like Monsanto, which told us that the PCBs, DDT, and Agent Orange were safe.
Read more.....
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Gathering of Hearts Poverty Tour-Lambert, Ms
The people of Lambert, MS speak out. Povety is not diminishing in the United States
and we need some to help guide the people to overcome their circumstances.
The politicians of today appear to have no interest in the poor at all. This has to
be the fastest growing demographic in the nation yet the power structure feels that it
has the luxury to ignore this group.
Monday, August 22, 2011
The Poverty Tour
Mission Statement
I personally feel like we owe it to ourselves to follow the progress
of this tour, in order to see what others have to say about their
condition. I believe it's actually something that President Obama
should have done early on in his presdency to let the poor know
that they would not be simply swept under the bus.
We'll remember that before he even officially took office, his first
action along with George Bush, was to bail out the banks and the
wall street brokers and the and the large automotive
corporations.
I knew then, that had they simply bailed out the middle class
and the poor, the funds would have simply trickled up to the
banks and corporations and they would have made out as they
always do. With all his talk of "change" he never tried to engage
the people in these "top down" solutions. So now as usual in
America, it's up to the poor to drag themselves out of their
situation. It's about time someone put some effort into
publicizing the plight of the poor and encouraging us to take
steps to come together and resolve the problems. All too often,
people forget that a chain can never be stronger than it's
weakest link.
click here tosee the Poverty Tour web site
Thursday, August 4, 2011
intransigent Me: Black History Month: Canada Lee
intransigent Me: Black History Month: Canada Lee: "Canada Lee (born Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata on March 3, 1907) was one of the greatest actors of his generation. No one who witnessed..."
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Sharon Song Byrd's "Open Letter to Al Sharpton"
August 2, 2011
Sharon Song Byrd
*Dear Mr. Sharpton,
As the head of National Action Network (“NAN”), and as an advocate for women and people’s rights, I would like to first say that I am appalled at your recent position concerning Tony Wafford, and allowing him to “take a leave of absence,” rather than making him to step down from his position and resign from NAN.
Tony Wafford, your West Coast Chair of the NAN violated my civil rights in the workplace, by not only sexually harassing me, but added insult to injury by verbally and physically attacking me in the workplace. After seeing hand surgeons and a hand therapist, the report indicated the blow caused inoperable nerve damage to my appendage where I am left with an affliction of pain that I must bear for the rest of my life. I had witnesses to the mistreatment I experienced, and filed a Sexual Harassment and Battery lawsuit against Tony Wafford. My physicians have provided court declarations as to the severity of the injuries to my hand as well.
Mr. Sharpton, I did what the law and justice system tells every law-abiding citizen to do when wronged. My case was heard and fought in Los Angeles Superior Court before a 12-member jury. On November 1, 2010 at the conclusion of a nine-day (9) trial, a jury returned with a verdict in my favor, calling it “Intentional Tort” Battery, while continuously being sexually harassed by Tony Wafford, while working at the Palms Residential Care Facility office.
As the head of National Action Network, I find it ironic that you have publicly gone to bat for many, many others cases of injustice, i.e., Don Imus, the Duke Lacrosse team, Tawana Brawley and many others, too numerous to count on the behalf of African American women. However, someone who now has a close affiliation with you, is now being given preferential treatment.
The National Black Women’s Network, The South Central L.A. Progressive Movement and Sistahs of the Black Liberation Movement threatened to Boycott NAN unless your organization makes Tony Wafford step down and resign.
You have made several public statements, which are inaccurate. Media strategies and sly attacks will not blind-side this case, whether you were aware of it or not.
To clarify a few matters, on July 14th you issued a public statement to EURweb.com stating that the status of my employment with the NAN was “that I was not an employee of NAN.” This was incorrect. I worked full-time and directly with Wafford and reported to him directly, while at the Palms, from 2004 through 2007. In 2006, when you crowned Wafford as the President of the NAN LA Chapter I was then hired by Wafford and worked directly for him, for both Palms and NAN. LA Chapter President of NAN, Rev. K. W. Tulloss knew of this, and Tony Wafford solidified my position in writing.
It was also mentioned recently by you, issued via email to reporters stated that “I filed a worker’s comp claim and was denied while working at the Palms.” This also is incorrect.
Mr. Sharpton, I ask you once again, will you do what is right and what you have enforced for others in the past for their injustice, or will you continue to turn a blind eye, and think this will go away? I leave you with your very own slogan and words, “No Justice, No Peace.”
In Closing, on Monday, July 18th, at the continuation of the non-economic damages trial, Tony Wafford had to be reminded by the Judge that a jury verdict had in fact found him guilty.
Mr. Sharpton as the head of NAN organization and someone who is associated with and employs Tony Wafford, I and every African American woman expect you to stand up for what is right, by firing him, and put your personal friendship aside. If not you will continue to send a message that it is ok for people that (you know) to sexually harass, mistreat, or abuse someone in the workplace.
Sincerely,
Sharon Song Byrd
Sharon Song Byrd
*Dear Mr. Sharpton,
As the head of National Action Network (“NAN”), and as an advocate for women and people’s rights, I would like to first say that I am appalled at your recent position concerning Tony Wafford, and allowing him to “take a leave of absence,” rather than making him to step down from his position and resign from NAN.
| Ms. Song Byrd |
Tony Wafford, your West Coast Chair of the NAN violated my civil rights in the workplace, by not only sexually harassing me, but added insult to injury by verbally and physically attacking me in the workplace. After seeing hand surgeons and a hand therapist, the report indicated the blow caused inoperable nerve damage to my appendage where I am left with an affliction of pain that I must bear for the rest of my life. I had witnesses to the mistreatment I experienced, and filed a Sexual Harassment and Battery lawsuit against Tony Wafford. My physicians have provided court declarations as to the severity of the injuries to my hand as well.
Mr. Sharpton, I did what the law and justice system tells every law-abiding citizen to do when wronged. My case was heard and fought in Los Angeles Superior Court before a 12-member jury. On November 1, 2010 at the conclusion of a nine-day (9) trial, a jury returned with a verdict in my favor, calling it “Intentional Tort” Battery, while continuously being sexually harassed by Tony Wafford, while working at the Palms Residential Care Facility office.
As the head of National Action Network, I find it ironic that you have publicly gone to bat for many, many others cases of injustice, i.e., Don Imus, the Duke Lacrosse team, Tawana Brawley and many others, too numerous to count on the behalf of African American women. However, someone who now has a close affiliation with you, is now being given preferential treatment.
The National Black Women’s Network, The South Central L.A. Progressive Movement and Sistahs of the Black Liberation Movement threatened to Boycott NAN unless your organization makes Tony Wafford step down and resign.
You have made several public statements, which are inaccurate. Media strategies and sly attacks will not blind-side this case, whether you were aware of it or not.
To clarify a few matters, on July 14th you issued a public statement to EURweb.com stating that the status of my employment with the NAN was “that I was not an employee of NAN.” This was incorrect. I worked full-time and directly with Wafford and reported to him directly, while at the Palms, from 2004 through 2007. In 2006, when you crowned Wafford as the President of the NAN LA Chapter I was then hired by Wafford and worked directly for him, for both Palms and NAN. LA Chapter President of NAN, Rev. K. W. Tulloss knew of this, and Tony Wafford solidified my position in writing.
It was also mentioned recently by you, issued via email to reporters stated that “I filed a worker’s comp claim and was denied while working at the Palms.” This also is incorrect.
Mr. Sharpton, I ask you once again, will you do what is right and what you have enforced for others in the past for their injustice, or will you continue to turn a blind eye, and think this will go away? I leave you with your very own slogan and words, “No Justice, No Peace.”
In Closing, on Monday, July 18th, at the continuation of the non-economic damages trial, Tony Wafford had to be reminded by the Judge that a jury verdict had in fact found him guilty.
Mr. Sharpton as the head of NAN organization and someone who is associated with and employs Tony Wafford, I and every African American woman expect you to stand up for what is right, by firing him, and put your personal friendship aside. If not you will continue to send a message that it is ok for people that (you know) to sexually harass, mistreat, or abuse someone in the workplace.
Sincerely,
Sharon Song Byrd
Monday, August 1, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Nunca Mas (Never Again), documentary on Colombia's internally displaced ...
Let's don't forget our brothers and sisters struggling in Colombia. Take the time to be aware of what's going on with our people around the world as a matter of fact. I think we'll see a pattern if we open our eyes.
Una Casa Sola Se Vence
Una Casa Sola Se Vence
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Ghana: The witches of Gambaga
Is a documentary film about the more than 1,000 women accused of witchcraft in northern Ghana living as refugees, where they have to pay for protection from the chief who runs the refuge.
Listen to an interview with Yaba Badoe and Amin Amama the film's producers on
Africa Today - April 25, 2011 with Walter Taylor
You can click to visit The witches of Gambaga website. at witchesofgambaga(dot)com
Listen to an interview with Yaba Badoe and Amin Amama the film's producers on
Africa Today - April 25, 2011 with Walter Taylor
You can click to visit The witches of Gambaga website. at witchesofgambaga(dot)com
Sunday, May 8, 2011
YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICANS AGAINST MEDIA STEREOTYPES
YAAAMS
YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICANS AGAINST MEDIA STEREOTYPES
If you think the media is mis or under-representing African Americans then you should visit this website frequently, bookmark this website, participate in the dialog via the contents section and share it with your friends and family.
YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICANS AGAINST MEDIA STEREOTYPES
If you think the media is mis or under-representing African Americans then you should visit this website frequently, bookmark this website, participate in the dialog via the contents section and share it with your friends and family.
Osama Bin Laden's Nubian Concubine, sets the record straight
In the aftermath of September 11th Kola Boof raised more than eyebrows with the assertion that she and Osama Bin Laden were once lovers. Check out her side of the story, it's a different take from the that of the media, to be sure.
by Kola Boof
In 2002 when the London Guardian newspaper outed my forced sexual relationship with terrorist Osama Bin Laden, the American media initially had no problem with revelations that Somi kept an Egyptian-Sudanese mistress in Morocco in 1996. My birth name, Naima Bint Harith, summoned visions of an Arab-raised aristocrat who they assumed would look like Cher. When they found out I was not only Black—but looked fully Black—and that I’d been adopted and raised by Black Americans in the United States and returned as an adult to North Africa as a model-actress, they immediately announced that I was less attractive than Prince Charles’ mistress Camilla Parker Bowles or President Clinton’s mistress Monica Lewinsky and that it couldn’t possibly be true.
Though I was featured in a two-part interview with MSNBC where I was billed as “Former Mistress of Osama Bin Laden,” and not alleged-former mistress, and was allowed to tell my story in my own words—Peter Bergen, supposedly the world’s preeminent Bin Laden expert, insisted I was making up the story and other American experts claimed that the billionaire “bin ladin” family had an upper class etiquette that would not allow an “overtly religious non-sexual” Arab Muslim Osama to have a Black mistress (yet two of Somi’s twenty-five children are black and his Syrian grandmother would be considered a Black woman in the United States). Connie Chung and her producers at CNN asked my lawyer point blank, “Why would a man of Bin Laden’s wealth and stature have a Black mistress?”
"Still, I am glad that I will not end up like impregnated twelve year old slave Sally Hemmings and so many other Black concubines—raped and erased beneath hundreds of years only to resurface with their dehumanization portrayed as a love story in a television mini-series. Rarely do African women victimized on African soil get to write their own truth. I, Kola Boof, stand by mine."
Read complete Article from The Atlanta Post.
by Kola Boof
In 2002 when the London Guardian newspaper outed my forced sexual relationship with terrorist Osama Bin Laden, the American media initially had no problem with revelations that Somi kept an Egyptian-Sudanese mistress in Morocco in 1996. My birth name, Naima Bint Harith, summoned visions of an Arab-raised aristocrat who they assumed would look like Cher. When they found out I was not only Black—but looked fully Black—and that I’d been adopted and raised by Black Americans in the United States and returned as an adult to North Africa as a model-actress, they immediately announced that I was less attractive than Prince Charles’ mistress Camilla Parker Bowles or President Clinton’s mistress Monica Lewinsky and that it couldn’t possibly be true.
Though I was featured in a two-part interview with MSNBC where I was billed as “Former Mistress of Osama Bin Laden,” and not alleged-former mistress, and was allowed to tell my story in my own words—Peter Bergen, supposedly the world’s preeminent Bin Laden expert, insisted I was making up the story and other American experts claimed that the billionaire “bin ladin” family had an upper class etiquette that would not allow an “overtly religious non-sexual” Arab Muslim Osama to have a Black mistress (yet two of Somi’s twenty-five children are black and his Syrian grandmother would be considered a Black woman in the United States). Connie Chung and her producers at CNN asked my lawyer point blank, “Why would a man of Bin Laden’s wealth and stature have a Black mistress?”"Still, I am glad that I will not end up like impregnated twelve year old slave Sally Hemmings and so many other Black concubines—raped and erased beneath hundreds of years only to resurface with their dehumanization portrayed as a love story in a television mini-series. Rarely do African women victimized on African soil get to write their own truth. I, Kola Boof, stand by mine."
Read complete Article from The Atlanta Post.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
People want to see Osama Bin Laden Death Photo
"I have wondered where the photos have been. I just assumed the photos would get plastered everywhere," said Abigail Carter, whose husband, Arron, was killed in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. When she heard that bin Laden was dead Sunday, the news brought a feeling of numbness.
"That photo [of Saddam Hussein] became iconic. It was sort of the face of defeat," she said. "It's been kind of strange, the burial at sea, the very fast DNA. ... I's just been sort of, did this really happen or was this all concocted somehow? It would be reassuring in some sense if the photos were released."
Now Public
Osama bin Laden Is Dead
Osama bin Laden Is Dead
President Obama addressed the nation on Sunday, May 1, and indeed confirmed the news that Osama bin Laden, one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, has been killed.
This is the result of a US action in Pakistan, and he was killed by US personnel. (White House live stream: Osama bin Laden dead)
The United States has bin Laden's body in their possession, and they will confirm that he is dead. (Transcript: Obama Speech on Osama bin Laden's Death)
Osama bin Laden Dead May 1 2011: Obama Confirms Bin Laden Death
This result is something that has been the target of many military actions over the years, but President Obama has confirmed that Osama bin Laden is now dead.
Now the burden of proof will be very important, as the US will likely have to show the body at the very least.Aljazeera English
Taliban demand proof
The Taliban in Afghanistan said on Tuesday that they questioned whether bin Laden was actually dead.
"As the Americans did not provide any acceptable evidence to back up their claim, and as the other aides close to Osama bin Laden have not confirmed or denied the death ... the Islamic Emirate considers any assertion premature," Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said.
The United Nations' top human rights official called on the US on Tuesday to give the UN details about bin Laden's killing and said that all counter-terrorism operations must respect international law.
"This was a complex operation and it would be helpful if we knew the precise facts surrounding his killing," Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement to the Reuters news agency.
( read more at Aljazeera English)
Monday, May 2, 2011
IS OSAMA BIN LADEN REALLY DEAD???
Is Osama really dead. If so WHEN and HOW did he die?
I find it difficult to believe that the US would execute Osama Bin Laden and the proceed to destroy all the evidence ,then, dump the body into the sea. This story has all the elements of a lie. How can all these people who have been doubting that the president was born in the United States even with having seen a birth certificate, believe, with virtually hearsay evidence that Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan and disposed of at sea? I'm even wondering if he wasn't already dead, possibly even before 9/11and now they want to eliminate the possibility of this being disclosed. For me it leaves the unanswered question; Where in the world is Osama Bin Laden?
Friday, April 29, 2011
Gangs in the Americas: State or Community Violence?
Gangs in the Americas: State or Community Violence?
I haven't heard from VoxUnion.com for a while. It's about time.
Jared Ball interviews Luis Cardona the Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator for the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services on the topic of how to best deal with the issues of youth being attracted to street gangs.
- Are politicians purposefully or neglectfully allowing this situation to continue?
- Are the authorities exaggerating the amount of crime attributed to these gangs?
- How can we prevent gang enrollment before it takes place?
- Is the accepted soultion (incarceration) actually exacerbating the problem?
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Jim Crow, Meet Lieutenant Robinson: A 1944 Court-Martial
Excerpt
By John Vernon
If the United States does not win this war, the lot of the Negro is going to be far, far worse than it is today. Yet there is . . . an alarmingly large percentage of Negroes in and out of the Army who do not seem to be vitally concerned about winning the war.
—Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy, Washington, DC, 1942
We are treated like wild animals . . . like we are inhuman. . . . The word Negro is never used here, all they call us are nigger do this, nigger that. Even the officers here are calling us nigger.
—Anonymous black soldiers, Jackson (Mississippi) Air Base, 1942
As Allied troops continued their drive into the heart of Europe a month after the D-day landing in 1944, an incident that would provide a preview of post–World War II events in America was unfolding in Texas.
A young African American Army officer attached to an all-black unit at Camp Hood was subjected to a general court-martial—for resisting usual southern protocol and refusing to move to the back of the bus on the military post when directed by the driver to do so.
Read More
Jim Crow, Meet Lieutenant Robinson: A 1944 Court-Martial
By John Vernon
If the United States does not win this war, the lot of the Negro is going to be far, far worse than it is today. Yet there is . . . an alarmingly large percentage of Negroes in and out of the Army who do not seem to be vitally concerned about winning the war.
—Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy, Washington, DC, 1942
We are treated like wild animals . . . like we are inhuman. . . . The word Negro is never used here, all they call us are nigger do this, nigger that. Even the officers here are calling us nigger.
—Anonymous black soldiers, Jackson (Mississippi) Air Base, 1942
As Allied troops continued their drive into the heart of Europe a month after the D-day landing in 1944, an incident that would provide a preview of post–World War II events in America was unfolding in Texas.
A young African American Army officer attached to an all-black unit at Camp Hood was subjected to a general court-martial—for resisting usual southern protocol and refusing to move to the back of the bus on the military post when directed by the driver to do so.
Read More
Jim Crow, Meet Lieutenant Robinson: A 1944 Court-Martial
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Jackie Robinson Court Martialed
The 761st Tank Battalion was formed in the spring of 1942 and was the first African American tank battalion to see combat in the Second World War. Commanding this battalion was a white Lt. Colonel, Paul L. Bates. As the unit fell under the scrutiny of other white officers who were critical of blacks as soldiers and especially as tankers, Bates pushed the 761st in its quest for excellence.
The 761st was referred to as the ‘bastard’ battalion which meant the battalion, like many other white units, was broken up piecemeal and assigned to infantry divisions for support roles. In 1944, the 761st was assigned to General George S. Patton’s Third Army in France. Patton was generally skeptical of the abilities of black soldiers and he thought African American tankers especially intellectually incapable of handling the challenges of armored warfare. The men of the 761st proved him wrong. In the autumn of 1944, the 761st left from England, where it was held in reserve training, and arrived in France, ready to fight.
The 761st consisted of 760 black men and white officers primarily operating the M-4 Sherman battle tank. Soon after the 761st Tank Battalion landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy they became the first black armored soldiers to see battle. The motto of the 761st, who were also called the Black Panthers, was “Come Out Fighting!” Before the end of the war, they more than lived up to this motto.
During combat operation in World War II, front line troops rarely spent more than a few weeks on the front lines; the Black Panthers had been in combat for over 183 days straight. Before the war was over, the 761st would participate in four major allied campaigns throughout a half dozen countries including France, Germany and Austria, and inflict over 130,000 casualties. The 761st was also highly decorated; earning throughout their six months of combat operations seven Silver Stars for Valor (three posthumously), 246 Purple Hearts and one Congressional Medal of Honor (posthumously). Eight enlisted men received battlefield commissions.
Among the men serving in the 761st was baseball legend Jackie Robinson. Lt. Colonel Bates was so impressed with Robinson and his influence over the men that he appointed Robinson as the official moral officer of the 761st. Robinson would never see combat overseas however. He was court-martialed in August, 1944 after refusing to go to the back of a bus driven by a civilian on the Fort Hood military base in Texas. Robinson was acquitted of all charges, discharged and three years later began playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers.Sources:
Charles W. Sasser, Pattons’ Panthers: the African American 761st Tank Battalion in World War II (New York: Pocket Books, 2004); Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII’s Forgotten Heroes. (New York: Broadway Books, 2004); Ulysses Lee, The Employment of Negro Troops (Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific, 2004).
Contributor(s):
Helm, Matt
University of Washington
Friday, April 15, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
'Open Letter to Lil Wayne' Little Girls Speak Out
Watoto From The Nile is a group of young sisters ages 10, 9, and 5.
According to a brief bio on their website, Watoto From The Nile “have come together to create inspirational music for the whole family but primarily the youth of our communities. They are all still in elementary school and have already grown tired of the stereotypical Disney channel songs that never focus on the plight of Black Children around the world.”
[watoto is Kiswahili for children]
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Have Fun with PRODIGYRLS
Looking for a doll to inspire our young black girls.
Check out PRODIGYRLS
This is not a paid ad. I recently saw yet again an example of the doll test on youtube and then happened upon this website. I thought it would be nice to encourage someone who obviously wants to be part of the solution. Kudos and the best of luck to Dr. Daniela Wiggins Prodigyrls founder.
Friday, March 4, 2011
African-American-Russian Activist Lily Golden has died.
Read the riveting account of Lily Golden in the
Afro - Europe International Blog
March is Women's History Month
Friday, February 18, 2011
Lily Golden, the prominent Russian African-American social activist, scholar and mother of Russian TV-star Yelena Khanga, has died last year on December 6th 2010 at the age of 76, reported Africana.ru.As the daughter of Oliver Golden, an African American expatriate and agrarian activist of the early 1900's, and Bertha Bialek, youngest daughter of Polish American emigres of Jewish descent, Lily Golden has a special place in history.
(Do not miss this fascinating account )
Monday, February 28, 2011
Remembering the Jena 6
Reed (my lips) Walters
By the web prospector
My name is Reed Walters and Aa’m here to say,
y’all forget them nooses, our white boys must play.
Y’all forget the lynchings and beatin’s and rapes.
And lives that were broken, on southern landscapes
It’s in-a-pro-priate behavior you see
For you all to protest up under that tree.
Don’t ch’all forget the words that I spoke,
Now y’all gettin’ too uppity, over a joke.
I don’t want to hear of these nooses you see
And furthermore folks, let’s get rid of this tree
No more talk about nooses, not ever again
If you do do, Ill just finish your life with my pen.
Now you three young hoodlums, that took that mans gun
You’re gonna be punished for spoilin’ his fun
You can’t jus take someones own propty ya see
You must learn your lesson, about that, from me.
A black boy was beat at a party you say?
And just what was he doin’, over that way?
Well never you mind, weren’t no real harm done
I’m sure that the youngsters wuz jus havin’ fun.
Looky here, oh my God, look what you done did.
You done brutally assaulted this poor young white kid
More like murdered or tried to it seems like to me.
(If we still had the nooses, if we still had the tree)
Well we do have the court and I’ve got this here pen
Y’all boys ain’t gon never see daylight again
Thursday, February 24, 2011
HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA FROM 1619 TO 1880.
George Washington Williams
HISTORY
OF THE
NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA
FROM 1619 TO 1880.
NEGROES AS SLAVES, AS SOLDIERS, AND AS CITIZENS;
TOGETHER WITH
A PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATION OF THE UNITY OF THE
HUMAN
FAMILY, AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF AFRICA, AND AN
ACCOUNT OF THE NEGRO GOVERNMENTS OF
SIERRA LEONE AND LIBERIA.
BY
GEORGE W. WILLIAMS,
FIRST COLORED MEMBER OF THE OHIO LEGISLATURE, AND LATE
JUDGE ADVOCATE OF
THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC OF OHIO, ETC.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOLUME I.
1619 TO 1800.
NEW YORK:
G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS,
27 AND 29 WEST 23D STREET.
1883.
TO THE
REV. JUSTIN DEWEY FULTON, D.D.,
OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK;
AND TO THE
HON. CHARLES FOSTER,
GOVERNOR OF OHIO;
WHO, AS CLERGYMAN AND STATESMAN, REPRESENT THE PUREST
PRINCIPLES OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH AND STATE.
To the Illustrious Representative of the Church of
Christ:
WHO, FOR A QUARTER OF A CENTURY, HAS STOOD THE
INTREPID CHAMPION OF DIVINE TRUTH,
AND THE DEFENDER OF HUMANITY: DURING THE DARK DAYS OF SLAVERY,
PLEADING
THE CAUSE OF THE BONDMEN OF THE LAND; DURING THE WAR,
URGING
THE EQUALITY OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS, DURING RECONSTRUCTION,
ENCOURAGING THE FREEDMEN TO NOBLE LIVES THROUGH THE
AGENCY OF THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL, AND EVERMORE
THE ENEMY OF ANY DISTINCTION BASED UPON
RACE, COLOR, OR PREVIOUS CONDITION
OF SERVITUDE.
To the Distinguished Statesman:
WHO, ENDUED WITH THE GENIUS OF COMMON SENSE, TOO
EXALTED TO BE INFLAMED BY
TEMPORARY PARTY OR FACTIONAL STRIFE, AND WHO, AS CONGRESSMAN AND
GOVERNOR,
IN STATE AND NATIONAL POLITICS, HAS PROVEN HIMSELF CAPABLE OF
SACRIFICING PERSONAL INTEREST TO PUBLIC WELFARE;
WHO, IN DEALING WITH THE NEGRO PROBLEM, HAS ASSERTED A
NEW DOCTRINE IN
IGNORING THE CLAIMS OF RACES: AND WHO, AS THE FIRST NORTHERN
GOVERNOR
TO APPOINT A COLORED MAN TO A POSITION OF PUBLIC TRUST,
HAS THEREBY DECLARED THAT NEITHER NATIONALITY NOR
COMPLEXION SHOULD ENHANCE OR IMPAIR THE CLAIMS
OF MEN TO POSITIONS WITHIN THE GIFT OF
THE EXECUTIVE.
TO THESE NOBLE MEN THIS WORK IS DEDICATED,
WITH SENTIMENTS OF HIGH ESTEEM AND PERSONAL REGARD, BY
THEIR
FRIEND AND HUMBLE SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
at Avondale, O. It being the one-hundredth birthday of the American
Republic, I determined to prepare an oration on the American
Negro. I at once began an investigation of the records of the
nation to secure material for the oration. I was surprised and
delighted to find that the historical memorials of the Negro were so
abundant, and so creditable to him. I pronounced my oration on the
Fourth of July, 1876; and the warm and generous manner in which it
was received, both by those who listened to it and by others who
subsequently read it in pamphlet form, encouraged me to devote what
leisure time I might have to a further study of the subject.
I found that the library of the Historical and Philosophical
Society of Ohio, and the great Americana of Mr. Robert Clarke
containing about eight thousand titles, both in Cincinnati, offered
peculiar advantages to a student of American history. For two years I
spent what time I could spare from professional cares in studying the
whole problem of the African slave-trade; the founding of the British
colonies in North America; the slave problem in the colonies; the
rupture between the colonies and the British Government; the war of
the Revolution; the political structure of the Continental government
and Confederation; the slavery question in local and national
legislation; and then traced the slavery and anti-slavery question
down to the Rebellion. I became convinced that a history of the
Colored people in America was required, because of the ample
historically trustworthy material at hand; because the Colored people
themselves had been the most vexatious problem in North America, from
the time of its discovery down to the present day; because that in
every attempt upon the life of the nation, whether by foes from
without or within, the Colored people had always displayed a
matchless patriotism and an incomparable heroism in the cause of
Americans; and because such a history [pg vi] would give the world more
correct ideas of the Colored people, and incite the latter to greater
effort in the struggle of citizenship and manhood. The single reason
that there was no history of the Negro race would have been a
sufficient reason for writing one.
The labor incident upon the several public positions held by me
precluded an earlier completion of this task; and, finding it
absolutely impossible to write while discharging public duties or
practising law, I retired from the public service several years ago,
and since that time have devoted all my energies to this work. It is
now nearly seven years since I began this wonderful task.
I have been possessed of a painful sense of the vastness of my
work from first to last. I regret that for the sake of pressing the
work into a single volume, favorable to a speedy sale,—at the
sacrifice of the record of a most remarkable people,—I found my
heart unwilling, and my best judgment protesting.
In the preparation of this work I have consulted over twelve
thousand volumes,—about one thousand of which are referred to
in the footnotes,—and thousands of pamphlets.
After wide and careful reading, extending through three years, I
conceived the present plan of this history. I divided it into nine
parts. Two thoughts led me to prepare the chapters under the head of
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. First, The defenders of slavery
and the traducers of the Negro built their pro-slavery arguments upon
biblical ethnology and the curse of Canaan. I am alive to the fact,
that, while I am a believer in the Holy Bible, it is not the best
authority on ethnology. As far as it goes, it is agreeable to my head
and heart. Whatever science has added I have gladly appropriated. I
make no claim, however, to be a specialist. While the curse of Canaan
is no longer a question of debate, yet nevertheless the folly of the
obsolete theory should be thoroughly understood by the young men of
the Negro race who, though voting now, were not born when Sumter was
fired upon. Second, A growing desire among the enlightened
Negroes in America to learn all that is possible from research
concerning the antiquity of the race,—Africa, its inhabitants,
and the development of the Negro governments of Sierra Leone and
Liberia, led me to furnish something to meet a felt need. If the
Negro slave desired his native land before the Rebellion, will not
the free, intelligent, and reflective American Negro turn to Africa
with its problems of geography [pg vii] and missions, now that he
can contribute something towards the improvement of the condition of
humanity? Editors and writers everywhere throughout the world should
spell the word Negro with a capital N; and when referring to the race
as Colored people employ a capital C. I trust this will be
observed.
In PART II., SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES, I have striven to give a
succinct account of the establishment and growth of slavery under the
English Crown. It involved almost infinite labor to go to the records
of "the original thirteen colonies." It is proper to
observe that this part is one of great value and interest.
In PART III., THE NEGRO DURING THE REVOLUTION, I found much of an
almost romantic character. Many traditions have been put down, and
many obscure truths elucidated. Some persons may think it irreverent
to tell the truth in the plain, homely manner that characterizes my
narrative; but, while I have nothing to regret in this particular, I
can assure them that I have been actuated by none other spirit than
that of candor. Where I have used documents it was with a desire to
escape the charge of superficiality. If, however, I may be charged
with seeking to escape the labor incident to thorough digestion, I
answer, that, while men with the reputation of Bancroft and Hildreth
could pass unchallenged when disregarding largely the use of
documents and the citation of authorities, I would find myself
challenged by a large number of critics. Moreover I have felt it
would be almost cruel to mutilate some of the very rare old documents
that shed such peerless light upon the subject in hand.
I have brought the first volume down to the close of the
eighteenth century, detailing the great struggle through which the
slavery problem passed. I have given as fair an idea of the debate on
this question, in the convention that framed the Constitution, as
possible. It was then and there that the hydra of slavery struck its
fangs into the Constitution; and, once inoculated with the poison of
the monster, the government was only able to purify itself in the
flames of a great civil war.
The second volume opens with the present century, and closes with
the year 1880. Unable to destroy slavery by constitutional law, the
best thought and effort of this period were directed against the
extension of the evil into the territory beyond the Ohio,
Mississippi, and Missouri rivers. But having placed three-fifths of
the slave population under the Constitution, having pledged the
Constitution to the protection of slave property, [pg viii] it
required an almost superhuman effort to confine the evil to one
section of the country. Like a loathsome disease it spread itself
over the body politic until our nation became the eyesore of the age,
and a byword among the nations of the world. The time came when our
beloved country had to submit to heroic treatment, and the cancer of
slavery was removed by the sword.
In giving an account of the Anti-Slavery Agitation
Movement, I have found myself able to deal briefly with methods
and results only. I have striven to honor all the multifarious
measures adopted to save the Negro and the Nation. I have not
attempted to write a history of the Anti-Slavery Movement. Many noble
men and women have not even been mentioned. It should not be
forgotten that this is a history of the Negro race; and as such I
have not run into the topic discussed by the late Henry Wilson in his
"Rise and Fall of the Slave Power."
In discussing the problem of the rendition of fugitive slaves by
the Union army, I have given the facts with temperate and honest
criticism. And, in recounting the sufferings Negro troops endured as
prisoners of war in the hands of the Rebels, I have avoided any
spirit of bitterness. A great deal of the material on the war I
purchased from the MS. library of Mr. Thomas S. Townsend of New-York
City. The questions of vital, prison, labor, educational, and
financial statistics cannot fail to interest intelligent people of
all races and parties. These statistics are full of comfort and
assurance to the Negro as well as to his friends.
Every cabinet minister of the President wrote me full information
upon all the questions I asked, and promptly too. The refusal of the
general and adjutant-general of the army did not destroy my hope of
getting some information concerning the Negro regiments in the
regular army. I visited the Indian Territory, Kansas, Texas, and New
Mexico, where I have seen the Ninth and Tenth Regiments of cavalry,
and the Twenty-fourth Regiment of infantry. The Twenty-fifth Regiment
of infantry is at Fort Randall, Dakota. These are among the most
effective troops in the regular army. The annual desertions in white
regiments of cavalry vary from ninety-eight to a hundred and
eighteen; while in Negro regiments of cavalry the desertions only
average from six to nine per annum. The Negro regiments are composed
of young men, intelligent, faithful, brave. I heard but one complaint
from the lips of a score of white officers I met, and that was that
the Negroes sometimes struck their horses over the head. [pg ix] Every
distinction in law has disappeared, except in the regular army. Here
Negroes are excluded from the artillery service and engineer's
department. It is wrong, and Congress should place these brave black
soldiers upon the same footing as the white troops.
I have to thank Drs. George H. Moore and S. Austin Allibone, of
the Lenox Library, for the many kind favors shown me while pursuing
my studies in New-York City. And I am under very great obligations to
Dr. Moore for his admirable "History of Early Slavery in
Massachusetts," without which I should have been put to great
inconvenience. To Mr. John Austin Stevens, late editor of "The
Magazine of American History," who, during several months
residence in New-York City, placed his private library and office at
my service, and did every thing in his power to aid my
investigations, I return my sincerest thanks. To the Librarians of
the New-York Historical, Astor, and New-York Society Libraries, I
return thanks for favors shown, and privileges granted. I am
especially grateful to the Hon. Ainsworth R. Spofford, Librarian of
Congress, for the manner in which he facilitated my researches during
my sojourn in Washington. I had the use of many newspapers of the
last century, and of other material to be found only in the
Congressional Library.
To Sir T. Risely Griffith, Colonial Secretary and Treasurer of
Sierra Leone, I am indebted for valuable statistics concerning that
colony.
To the Assistant Librarian of the State Library of Ohio, the
accomplished and efficient Miss Mary C. Harbough, I owe more than to
any other person. Through her unwavering and untiring kindness and
friendship, I have been enabled to use five hundred and seventy-six
volumes from that library, besides newspaper files and Congressional
Records. To Gov. Charles Foster, Chairman of the Board of Library
Commissioners, I offer my profoundest thanks for the intelligent,
active, and practical interest he has taken in the completion of this
work. And to Major Charles Townsend, Secretary of State, I offer
thanks for favors shown me in securing documents. To the Rev. J.L.
Grover and his competent assistant, Mr. Charles H. Bell, of the
Public Library of Columbus, I am indebted for the use of many works.
They cheerfully rendered whatever aid they could, and for their
kindness I return many thanks.
I am obliged to the Rev. Benjamin W. Arnett, Financial Secretary
of the A.M.E. Church of the United States, for the statistics of his
denomination. And to all persons who have sent me newspapers and
pamphlets [pg
x] I desire to return thanks. I am grateful to C.A. Fleetwood,
an efficient clerk in the War Department, for statistics on the
Freedmen's Bank. And, above all and more than all, I return my
profoundest thanks to my heavenly Father for the inspiration, health,
and money by which I have been enabled to complete this great
task.
I have mentioned such Colored men as I thought necessary. To give
a biographical sketch of all the worthy Colored men in the United
States, would require more space than has been occupied in this
work.
Not as the blind panegyrist of my race, nor as the partisan
apologist, but from a love for "the truth of
history," I have striven to record the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth. I have not striven to revive
sectional animosities or race prejudices. I have avoided comment so
far as it was consistent with a clear exposition of the truth. My
whole aim has been to write a thoroughly trustworthy history; and
what I have written, if it have no other merit, is reliable.
I commit this work to the public, white and black, to the friends
and foes of the Negro, in the hope that the obsolete antagonisms
which grew out of the relation of master and slave may speedily sink
as storms beneath the horizon; and that the day will hasten when
there shall be no North, no South, no Black, no White,—but all
be American citizens, with equal duties and equal rights.
New York, November, 1882.
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