LABBX Heritage Literary Project

W.E.B. DuBois: Double Consciousness

2011-09-22T01:24:00.000-07:00

W.E.B. DuBois is the author of The Souls of Black Folk published in 1903. The poem, "Double Consciousness" is from the book and is still relevant today.

If you're interested in Mr. DuBois and the legacy he left behind, please click here.

Richard Wright

2011-09-22T00:36:00.000-07:00

He is best known for the powerful novel, Native Son and also Black Boy, Uncle Tom's Children and The Outsider. Author Richard Wright was much more than that as the following video clips will show you.

We should add the entire story is not complete until you've read these links:

Wikipedia -Richard Wright

Richard Wright's Life

Video: Slave Narrative One: Olaudah Equiano

2011-05-05T00:31:00.000-07:00

This is a very powerful slave narrative from Olaudah Equiano, 1789.

Courtesy:YouTube.

Inside Black Book Clubs, NPR 2007

2011-03-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

This is from NPR's series on the 'Black Literary Imagination' with a focus on Black book clubs.

The Black Literary Imagination from NPR (2007), Becoming a Writer

2011-03-23T01:11:00.000-07:00

In this NPR archived series of the 'Black Literary Imagination', this segment reveals what it takes to be a writer and what it takes to be successful in the art.

The Black Literary Imagination from NPR (2007), Social Consciousness

2011-03-23T00:56:00.000-07:00

This is another in the past NPR series of the 'Black Literary Imagination' from 2007. This segment discusses social consciousness in our literature. The guests such as Colin Channer, Ishmael Reed, Joyce Carol Thomas go into detail why using the power of the pen in social matters in a powerful tool.

The Black Literary Imagination from NPR (2007)

2011-03-23T00:47:00.000-07:00

The following article comes from the archives of NPR in their series of examining the Black Literary Imagination. In the first segment,Ted Mason, a professor at Kenyon College and Jerry Ward, Jr., a professor at Dillard University, discuss the past of Black literature, where it stands in the present day and what authors and writers must do to maintain the art in the future.

Untitled

2011-03-04T02:18:00.000-08:00

Jupiter Hammon: First Published Poet

2011-02-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

We continue (not conclude) honoring our literary legends. One of the first black poets was a gentleman named Jupiter Hammon who has the distinction of being the first published African-American in 1760 when one of his poems appeared in print. He lived until 1806. The resources below give a good detail of his life and a bit of a criticism of the man’s views, if not only his work. I will leave it up to you to decide and finishing it off, is Mr. Hammon’s poem recited in the video below.

Though assertions that Phillis Wheatley was America’s first published African-American poet continue to surface, that assertion has been discredited for many years. In fact, a slave by the name of Jupiter Hammon is credited with that title.

http://poetry.about.com/od/18thcpoets/a/hammon.htm

Jupiter Hammon (October 17, 1711 – before 1806) was a Black poet who became the first African-American published writer in America when a poem appeared in print in 1760. He was a slave his entire life, and the date of his death is unknown. He was living in 1790 at the age of 79, and died by 1806. Hammon was a devout Christian, and is considered one of the founders of African American literature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Hammon

Black Writers of America: A Comprehensive Anthology;

His poetry reflects a strong influence of Methodism and the Wesleyan Revival that swept America in the middle of the eighteenth century. This is particularly evident in the hymnal qualities of his verse. In fact, because all of his poetizing is on religious themes, some critics have speculated that Hammon may have been a preacher first and a poet only secondarily.

A strong religious bent is evident in the poem to Phillis Wheatley when, overwhelmed by religious fervor, the poet expresses joy that

God’s tender mercy brought thee here;
Tossed o’er the raging main

Could it be that Jupiter Hammon, Black man of God and a slave, really did not know how far removed “God’s tender mercy” was from a slave ship? Or could it be that he was so removed from worldly woe and attuned to anticipated heavenly joy that slavery, one of the world’s major woes, no longer existed for him? Slavery was of this earth, and Jupiter Hammon longed for salvation on high. Indeed, in “An Evening Thought” the word “salvation” occurs on every stanza, giving some hint of the absorption in Christian otherworldliness that can render a man forgetful of his earthly state.

But his religious fervor seriously impaired his poetry. There is in Jupiter Hammon’s verse none of the felicity of thought and verbal imagery found in Phillis Wheatley’s poetry. Her subject matter is of broader range, and her classical training disciplined her to take a more balanced view of Man, God, and Nature.

Jupiter Hammon’s last published work was his “Address to the Negroes of the State of New York.” His brief comments on slavery in this address serve to confirm the view that, for him, slavery was an endurable and acceptable institution. Better to accept enslavement on earth and receive a Christian crown in the Hereafter than lose one’s soul fighting against slavery. Thus he urged acceptance of the slavery system, although he did express regret that the Black veterans of the Revolutionary War were not rewarded for patriotic efforts with freedom from bondage.

In the final analysis, Jupiter Hammon’s religion was an opiate that dulled him to the world’s evil ways. Instead of giving him a revolutionary social vision, it filled him with penitential cries. And his poetry is esthetically anemic and almost stifling in its repetitive religiosity.

Note: Although the editors of the anthology seem harsh of Mr. Hammon’s life and point of view, the following poems are for you to decide whether the points were made.

AN EVENING THOUGHT: SALVATION BY CHRIST WITH PENETENTIAL CRIES

Salvation comes by Christ alone,

The only Son of God;

Redemption now to every one,

That loves his holy Word.

Dear Jesus, give thy spirit now,

Thy grace to every Nation,

That han’t the Lord to whom we bow

The Author of Salvation.

Dear Jesus, unto Thee we cry,

Give us the Preparation;

Turn not away thy tender Eye;

We seek thy true Salvation.

Lord, hear our penitential Cry;

Salvation from above;

It is the Lord that doth supply,

With his Redeeming Love.

Dear Jesus, by thy precious Blood,

The World Redemption have:

Salvation now comes from the Lord,

He being thy captive slave.

Dear Jesus, let the nations cry,

And all the people say,

Salvation comes from Christ on high,

Haste on Tribunal Day.

We cry as Sinners to the Lord,

Salvation to obtain;

It is firmly fixed, his holy Word,

Ye shall not cry in vain.

Lord, Turn our dark benighted Souls;

Give us a true Motion,

And let the Hearts of all the World,

Make Christ their Salvation.

Lord, unto whom now shall we go,

Or seek a safe abode?

Thou hast the Word, Salvation Too:

The only Son of God.

“Ho! every one that hunger hath,

Or pineth after me,

Salvation be thy leading Staff,

To set the Sinner free.”

Dear Jesus, unto Thee we fly;

Depart, depart from Sin,

Salvation doth at length supply,

The glory of our King.

Come, ye Blessed of the Lord,

Salvation greatly given;

o, turn your hearts, accept the Word,

Your souls are fit for Heaven.

Dear Jesus, we now turn to thee,

Salvation to obtain;

Our Hearts and Souls do meet again,

To magnify thy Name.

Come, holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,

The Object of our Care;

Salvation doth increase our Love;

Our hearts hath felt thy fear.

Now Glory be to God on High,

Salvation high and low;

And thus the Soul on Christ rely,

To Heaven surely go.

Come, Blessed Jesus, Heavenly Dove

Accept Repentance here;

Salvation give, with tender Love;

Let us with Angels share.

AN ADDRESS TO MISS PHILLIS WHEATLEY, ETHIOPIAN POETESS

An address to Miss Phillis Wheatly, Ethiopian Poetess, in Boston, who came from Africa at eight years of age, and soon became acquainted with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

O, come, you pious youth! adore

The wisdom of thy God,

In bringing thee from distant shore,

To learn His holy word,

Thou mightst been left behind,

Amidst a dark abode;

God’s tender mercy still combined,

Thou hast the holy word.

Fair Wisdom’s ways are paths of peace,

And they that walk therein,

Shall reap the joys that never cease,

And Christ shall be their King.

God’s tender mercy brought thee here;

Tossed o’er the raging main;

In Christian faith thou hast a share,

Worth all the gold of Spain.

While thousands tossed by the sea,

And others settled down,

God’s tender mercy set thee free

From dangers that come down.

That thou a pattern still might be,

To youth of Boston town,

The blessed Jesus set thee free

From every sinful wound.

The blessed Jesus, who came down,

Unveiled his sacred face,

To cleanse the soul of every wound

And give repenting grace.

That we poor sinners may obtain

The pardon of our sin,

Dear Blessed Jesus, now constrain

And bring us flocking in.

Come, you, Phillis, now aspire,

And seek the living God,

So step by step thou mayst go higher

Till perfect in the word.

While thousands moved to distant shore,

And others left behind,

The blessed Jesus still adore;

Implant this in thy mind.

Thou has left the heathen shore;

Through mercy of the Lord,

Among the heathen live no more;

Come magnify thy God.

I pray the living God may be,

The shepherd of thy soul;

His tender mercies still are free,

His mysteries to unfold.

Thou, Phillis, when thou hunger hast,

Or pantest for thy God,

Jesus Christ is thy relief

Thou hast the holy word.

The bounteous mercies of the Lord

Are hid beyond the sky,

And holy souls that have His word

Shall taste them when they die.

These bounteous mercies are from God,

The merits of His Son;

The humble soul that loves His word

He chooses for his own.

Come, dear Phillis, be advised

To drink Samaria’s flood;

There is nothing more that shall suffice

But Christ’s redeeming blood.

While thousands muse with earthly toys,

And range about the street,

Dear Phillis, seek for Heaven’s joys,

Where we do hope to meet.

When God shall send his summons down

And number saints together,

Blessed angels chant (triumphant sound),

Come live with me forever.

The humble soul shall fly to God,

And leave the things of time,

Start forth as ‘twere at the first word,

To taste things more divine.

Behold! the soul shall waft away,

Whene’er we come to die,

And leave its cottage made of clay,

In twinkling of an eye.

Now glory be to the Most High,

United praises given,

By all on earth, incessantly,

And all the host of heaven.

(P.S. we’ll have more from our legends in March. See you then.)

The Next Generation: Lift Every Voice and Sing

2011-02-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

All this month, we here at the Project have posted James Wheldon Johnson’s ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’. Now you may know it as the Negro National Anthem, but we argue it’s also a song that we now will never replace the Star Spangled Banner, but the goals of this tune to ‘let us march on till victory is won’ reflects the pain, heartaches and struggles our ancestors and if we’re old enough, our parents and grandparents had to face. Most passed on before they had the opportunity to witness their labors were not in vain. This generation and all others after it must continue the good fight as tribute to those who have left us, but also left a legacy that impacts our way of life even to this day.

The following clips are of young people singing this song from their hearts. It is our hope at the Project it will also inspire them to do wonderful and substantive achievements in their lives as well. Take care.

Excerpts from The Emergence of African American Literary Traditions

2011-02-21T09:47:00.000-08:00

All month long we have profiled some, but not all, of our legends of literature. From the pen of author Phyllis M. Belt-Beyan comes a book that from the preview pages shows once again, our passion for literature. Please take a moment to glance through the pages and hopefully buy this title to find out how our ancestors establish their own legacy through the written and spoken word.

The Balm in Gilead, Inc: Lift Every Voice and Sing

2011-02-21T09:45:00.000-08:00

This week's selection of Lift Every Voice and Sing (known as the Negro National Anthem) is sung by The Balm in Gilead, Inc. Enjoy!

Alexandre Dumas: His tales come to life

2011-02-15T02:02:00.000-08:00

In the last post, mention was made of French author Alexandre Dumas's life and literary works. You are invited to read the post before this. However, this entry reflects on his work in cinema. There have been over 200 motion pictures regarding Mr. Dumas's romantic novels but here are a few clips to show over time, these timeless classics remain with us no matter which generation is around.

As authors, don't we wish our novels and stories can be THIS good? :) Hopefully, we'll appreciate The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo just as those individuals or each race and creed have over the centuries in print.

By the way, a new Three Musketeers movie will be on screens near you later this year.

Take care.

Alexandre Dumas: A True Literary Legend

2011-02-15T01:40:00.000-08:00

Most people over the age of 35 may not be familiar with this famous French author. His works have inspired other writers such as Jules Verne, Juan Gomez-Jurado, Robert E. Howard and Stephen King. But if you’ve read The Count of Monte Cristo or The Three Musketeers, then you’ve certainly heard of Alexandre Dumas.

Born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie on July 24, 1802, Dumas was a historian, correspondent, playwright, novelist and magazine writer. His birthplace was “in the village of Villers-Cotterêts, just outside of Paris, France, the third child born to Marie Louise Labouret, daughter of an inn keeper, and Thomas Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie (1762-1806) a military General under Napoléon. Alexandres' grandfather, the Marquis Alexandre Davy de La Pailleterie (1710-1786) married a slave he fell in love with in San Domingo (now Haiti) named Marie Louise Césette Dumas (d.1772). Thomas took her last name when he himself enlisted with the French army. After a falling out with Napoléon due to his criticism of the Egypt campaign, and a long imprisonment which left him in poor health, Thomas returned returned home a broken man with no pension. After his death the family was left in dire financial straits. Alexandre's mother set her best efforts to providing an education for her son although he proved to be less than enthusiastic about it. He attended Abbé Grégoire's school before finding employment with a local notary to help support the family.”
(Source: http://www.online-literature.com/dumas/)

Dumas’s widely known works The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers are only a couple of this great man’s respected works. For those of you not aware of The Count of Monte Cristo, it is an adventure novel written in 1844 detailed as: “a huge literary and financial success for Dumas père. Through protagonist Edmond Dantès the reader is taken along his journey of a wrongful trial, his search for justice, revenge, and ultimately riches, forgiveness, and love.” (Source: http://www.online-literature.com/dumas/)

The Three Musketeers began as a serial in a newspaper, is a story about a gentleman named D’ Artagnan who wishes to become a musketeer like his friends Aramis, Porthos and Athos. To clarify, a musketeer is basically “an early modern type of infantry soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern armies, particularly in Europe.” (Wikipedia). Along the way, D’Artagnan has adventures while learning what it means to be “all for one, one for all”, a constant motto he and his musketeers would cry out.

Of course, the issue of race was a part of Dumas’s life and one he could not escape from. He wrote Georges in 1843, a novel that “addressed some of the issues of race and the effects of colonialism. All his life he referred to himself as a negro.” In the novel plot itself, it “concerns the life of Georges, the son of a wealthy mulatto plantation owner named Munier, in the Île de France (modern day Mauritius). While part-black, Georges appears to be very light-skinned, if not white. As a child, Georges witnesses an attempt by the British to gain control of the island. Because George's father is a mulatto, the other plantation owners refuse to fight alongside him. Instead, George's father leads the blacks and delivers a crushing blow against the invading forces. Refusing to acknowledge that a man of colour saved them, M. Malmedie and the other white plantation owners ignore the accomplishment.” The novel also deals with identity crisis, slavery and other issues of that time.

Dumas had a response for a gentleman who challenged his mixed race background: "My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a Negro, and my great-grandfather a monkey. You see, Sir, my family starts where yours ends." Even then, Dumas found respect difficult. “Although his books were revered by his contemporaries, he was often mocked for his colour. “In caricatures or in sketches he was always presented with big lips, with Afro hair, as a sort of monster.” “ (Source: http://www.africaresource.com : Alexandre Dumas the Black-Frenchman: France Attempt to Steal Black History Creates Row)

Dumas passed away on December 5, 1870. Again, the measure of his works are still being felt today. Not only are his works translated in hundreds of languages, but over 200 motion pictures as well. In recent years, French President Jacques Chirac acknowledged the racism in Dumas’s lifetime proclaiming, “a wrong had now been righted with Alexandre Dumas enshrined alongside fellow authors Victor Hugo and Voltaire. “ The statement following a ceremony on November 2002 where his buried remains had been exhumed and “in a televised ceremony, his new coffin, draped in a blue-velvet cloth and flanked by four men costumed as the Musketeers: Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan, was transported in a solemn procession to the Panthéon of Paris, the great mausoleum where French luminaries are interred.”

Perhaps it can be mentioned that Alexandre Dumas, although not recognized today or as often, is one of our cherished literary legends who by the power of his pen used his gift to create tales for generations. However, it is that struggle of his claimed heritage that will always be debated even in the 21st Century. Case in point: the controversy surrounding French actor Gerard Depardieu portraying the author in a movie entitled L’Autre Dumas, which has received the ire of “Non-white celebrities, some Dumas experts and black organisations are angry because they say that the producers missed a chance to celebrate France’s ethnic diversity and remind the world of the writer’s part black origins. “There is a mechanism of permanent discrimination by silence,” said Jacques Martial, a black actor who made his name playing a television police detective. Patrick Lozès, President of the Council of Black Associations (CRAN) wondered: “In 150 years time, could the role of Barack Obama be played in a film by a white actor with a fuzzy wig? Can Martin Luther King be played by a white?””

More details on the movie and the harsh reaction to Depardieu in this link. Also in this BBC article, more criticism found here.

It is understandable while Dumas may be a national literary legend to the French, it is part of the same issue President Chirac admitted during the ceremony and one which Dumas addressed himself. While this may be discussed at a later date, it would behoove all of us to know that Dumas was proud of his heritage and we in the present time, should recognize that. While Mr. Depardieu certainly had his right to play Dumas the man, the reality and problems Dumas faced back in the 18th Century are still constant even now in America. Unless that is properly addressed and discussed, we’ll always have this debate. Always. Judging by the pictures and drawings of Mr. Dumas, it is believed we can all come up with our own conclusions which ethnicity he shared.

Mr. Dumas had a son who also became a successful author. Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824-1895) was also a dramatist and the writer of The Lady of the Camellias (Camille) (1848) and L'affaire Clemenceau (The Clemenceau Case) (1867). It’s good to know Alexandre Dumas, fils carried on the literary legacy like his father.

Alexandre Dumas left an impressive body of work, the following links will prove that. While we celebrate our American literary forefathers, we should also recognize the achievements through print of our famous writers of long ago as well. Whether it be Dumas or Douglass (who lived during this time), each of them dealt with the problems that arose because of their race, yet continued to produce great works for all of us to enjoy and be entertained.

Let’s remember that it’s “all for one, one for all.”

Wikipedia Dumas entry

KnowledgeRush.com

The meaning of "All for One, One for All"

Wikipedia entry on Alexandre Dumas, fils

Detailed Dumas biography

CNN Black History Month mention

Amazon: Alexandre Dumas

Acappela: Lift Every Voice and Sing

2011-02-15T01:37:00.000-08:00

This week performing 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' is the group Acappella with their sweet, spiritual version of the song. This is certainly worth watching, hope you agree. Enjoy!

Anansi: The Original Spider Man!

2011-02-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

Most of the content on this blog focuses on Black writers in America. Yet, it would be remiss of us if we did not feature tales from other parts of the world, specifically Africa.

African folktales are defined as ‘the storytelling and oral history of African American culture.’ In America we have Br'er Rabbit, a folktale legend in the American South. We’ll discuss him later in the blog. For now, we turn our attention to Anansi who is known as:

“a cunning and intelligent spider, and is one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore. He is also known as Ananse, Kwaku Ananse, and Anancy; and in the Southern United States he has evolved into Aunt Nancy. He is a spider, but often acts and appears as a man. The story of Anansi is akin to the tricksters Coyote, Raven or Iktomi found in many Native American cultures.” (Wikipedia)

When I was a child, I read the Anansi tales in an old Negro anthology and I laughed at the situations he wound up in, but taking a closer look at these tales, the one constant that has stuck with me is that Anansi used his wits and wisdom to get through a particular situation or conflict. Although he was less than perfect, the lesson I gathered from the folktales is Anansi always found a way out of trouble, no matter how deep he found himself in.

I don’t know whether our children have heard of Anansi the Spider-Man instead of that costumed guy who has three plus movies and a long comic book history to his name. Although African folktales were best recited by word of mouth, there were enough tales that revealed the human nature in all of us. The trickster protagonist in the folktales is usually an animal, and I believe that works best when presenting a tale about the human condition. The following stories about Anansi reveal that.

If you take a trip around the internet, there are an abundance of Anansi tales to share. While the samples below are brief, I invite you to visit the following websites and witness for yourself the wit and wisdom of this ‘spider-man’ in action:

ALL STORIES ARE ANANSI'S
(http://anansi-web.com)

In the beginning, all tales and stories belonged to Nyame, the Sky God. But Kwaku Anansi, the spider, yearned to be the owner of all the stories known in the world, and he went to Nyame and offered to buy them.

The Sky God said: "I am willing to sell the stories, but the price is high. Many people have come to me offering to buy, but the price was too high for them. Rich and powerful families have not been able to pay. Do you think you can do it?"

Anansi replied to the Sky God: "I can do it. What is the price?"

"My price is three things," the Sky God said. "I must first have Mmoboro, the hornets. I must then have Onini, the great python. I must then have Osebo, the leopard. For these thing I will sell you the right to tell all the stories."

Anansi said: "I will bring them."

He went home and made his plans. He first cut a gourd from a vine and made a small hole in it. He took a large bowl and filled it with water. He went to the tree where the hornets lived. He poured some of the water over himself, so that he was dripping. He threw some water over the hornets, so that they too were dripping. Then he put the bowl on his head, as thought to protect himself from a storm, and called out to the hornets: "Are you foolish people? Why do you stay in the rain that is falling?"

The hornets answered: "Where shall we go?"

"Go here, in this dry gourd," Anansi told them.

The hornets thanked him and flew into the gourd through the small hole. When the last of them had entered, Anansi plugged the hole with a ball of grass, saying: "Oh, yes, but you are really foolish people!"

He took his gourd full of hornets to Nyame, the Sky God. The Sky God accepted them. He said: "There are two more things."

Anansi returned to the forest and cut a long bamboo pole and some strong vines. Then he walked toward the house of Onini, the python, talking to himself. He seemed to be talking about an argument with his wife. He said: "My wife is wrong. I say he is longer and stronger. My wife says he is shorter and weaker. I give him more respect. She gives him less respect. Is she right or am I right? I am right, he is longer. I am right, he is stronger."

When Onini, the python, heard Anansi talking to himself, he said: "Why are you arguing this way with yourself?"

The spider replied: "Ah, I have had a dispute with my wife. She says you are shorter and weaker than this bamboo pole. I say you are longer and stronger."

Onini said: "It's useless and silly to argue when you can find out the truth. Bring the pole and we will measure."

So Anansi laid the pole on the ground, and the python came and stretched himself out beside it.

"You seem a little short," Anansi said.

The python stretched further.

"A little more," Anansi said.

"I can stretch no more," Onini said.

"When you stretch at one end, you get shorter at the other end," Anansi said. "Let me tie you at the front so you don't slip."

He tied Onini's head to the pole. Then he went to the other end and tied the tail to the pole. He wrapped the vine all around Onini, until the python couldn't move.

"Onini," Anansi said, "it turns out that my wife was right and I was wrong. You are shorter than the pole and weaker. My opinion wasn't as good as my wife's. But you were even more foolish than I, and you are now my prisoner."

Anansi carried the python to Nyame, the Sky God, who said: "There is one thing more."

Osebo, the leopard, was next. Anansi went into the forest and dug a deep pit where the leopard liked to walk. He covered it with small branches and leaves and put dust on it, so that it was impossible to tell where the pit was. Anansi went away and hid. When Osebo came prowling in the black of night, he stepped into the trap Anansi had prepared and fell to the bottom. Anansi heard the sound of the leopard falling and he said: "Ah, Osebo, you are half-foolish!"

When morning came, Anansi went to the pit and saw the leopard there.

"Osebo," he asked, "what are you doing in this hole?"

"I have fallen into a trap," Osebo said. "Help me out."

"I would gladly help you," Anansi said. "But I'm sure that if I bring you out, I will have no thanks for it. You will get hungry, and later on you will be wanting to eat me and my children."

"I promise it won't happen!" Osebo said.

"Very well. Since you promise it, I will take you out," Anansi said.

He bent a tall green tree toward the ground, so that it's top was over the pit, and he tied it that way. Then he tied a rope to the top of the tree and dropped the other end of it into the pit.

"Tie this to your tail," he said.

Osebo tied the rope to his tail.

"Is it well tied?" Anansi asked.

"Yes, it is well tied," the leopard said.

"In that case," Anansi said, "you are not merely half-foolish, you are all-foolish."

And he took his knife and cut the other rope, the one that held the tree bowed to the ground. The tree straightened up with a snap, pulling Osebo out of the hole. He hung in the air head downward, twisting and turning. As he twisted and turned, he got so dizzy that Anansi had no trouble tying the leopard's feet with vines.

Anansi took the dizzy leopard, all tied up, to Nyame, the Sky God, saying: "Here is the third thing. Now I have paid the price."

Nyame said to him: "Kwaku Anansi, great warriors and chiefs have tried, but they have been unable to do it. You have done it. Therefore, I will give you the stories. From this day onward, all stories belong to you. Whenever a man tells a story, he must acknowledge that it is Anansi's tale."

And that is why, in parts of Africa, the people love to tell, and love to hear, the stories they call "spider stories." And now, you have heard one too.

ANANSI AND THE PHANTOM FOOD
(http://www.motherlandnigeria.com)

Author: unknown
It was the dry season. Anansi's people were starving. He told his people that he was going to find food. He left and walked many miles, until at last he saw smoke from a distant village.

When he got there the town was full of cassava--just cassava! One cassava asked, "Would you like us roasted, fried, or boiled? Anansi told them that it didn't matter, so they roasted themselves.

The spider was just sitting down to eat when he saw a column of smoke on the horizon. He asked, "My people, who lives at that far place?" One cassava told him that plantains (bananas) live there. The spider started to leave but the cassavas didn't want him to go. Anansi left anyway.

When he reached the village, the plantains approached him. They all asked if he wanted them roasted, fried, or boiled. He told them it didn't matter because he was so hungry that he would eat them anyway at all. Anansi just sat down to eat when he saw smoke rising from a town near the horizon. He asked who lived there, and the plantains said that the rice lived there. The spider started to leave but the plantains urged him to stay. It was too late, but Anansi left anyway.

Anansi came to the village with the rice. The rice asked if he wanted them roasted, fried, or boiled. He responded with the usual answer. The rice boiled themselves so that he could eat them. Anansi was just beginning to eat when he saw a smoke cloud rising not know who lived there. Anansi took off toward the town thinking that it might be something better than rice.

Anansi walked for a long time. When he finally got to the place, he stopped and rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe it! It was his own village! Anansi fainted.

When he woke up his wife gave him a bowl of fish bone soup. He told her his story, but she didn't believe him. No one ever believed him because no one was ever able to go to those villages.

There are more websites with links of stories to perhaps read to your kids or to view yourself.

A fable involving Anansi:

Jamaica Anansi Stories:

Something for the kids

Sorry Peter Parker, you weren’t the first:

One more website

Hopefully this list will inspire your curiosity!

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
Los Angeles Black Book Expo

Kim Weston: Lift Every Voice and Sing

2011-02-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

In 1972, Kim Weston performed the 'Negro National Anthem' song of Lift Every Voice and Sing during Wattstax inside the Los Angeles Coliseum. Scenes from entire concert is available on DVD and a few highlights are available via YouTube. Wattstax was an important event in not only L.A. history, but Black history. Seven years prior, Watts went up in flames in a riot or rebellion (I urge you to take your pick). The concert promoted racial identity, pride, and a fun filled day to enjoy. Sadly, those days are gone as if you see the entire film, you'll understand. However, it is a blessing to watch this rendition of the anthem from Ms. Weston and to hear the power and range in her voice.

Bookstore of the week: Eso Won

2011-02-05T21:54:00.000-08:00

We're going to try a new feature on the blog every week featuring a bookstore that services the community and helps to keep our literary legacy alive.

The first is Eso Won Books located in the Leimert Park area of Los Angeles, CA. They are the oldest and well-known bookstore in the community and has no shortage of esteemed authors and guests. Louis Gossett, Jr, Pam Grier and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson have made appearances in the past year.

This video displays what you may find in Eso Won and where you can find it if you happen to live on the West coast. It is one of our treasures in the neighborhood and we hope you support it whenever you can.

Archive: We Wear The Crown

2011-02-04T09:47:00.001-08:00

This appeared on Thoughts On A String: 1/11/2006

Growing up on the Southside of Los Angeles, there are only a few conscious-filled songs I remember from the hip-hop nation. Songs like "The Message", "Survival" and "Beat Street" from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "19" (not exactly a hip-hop song, but if you've ever listened to it, very informative), "Self Destruction" and "We're All In The Same Gang". However, there is one tune older than the ones just mentioned. The title is a dead giveaway, but back in 1983 New York radio DJ Gary Byrd along with Steve Wonder came out with a song entitled, The Crown. Unlike most of our rap songs today in the 21st Century that speak on the influences of money, power and fast women and cars, The Crown was a song that encouraged those of us of African decent to be proud of our heritage, claiming the right to wear The Crown. As the Chorus sings:

You wear the crown

I wear the crown

so proud to say

that we all wear the crown

the crown!

I enjoy listening to this song (and still have it as part of my collection) because it's different from the normal "'bang bang', there goes my enemy" messages our young people have been hypnotized by record companies, a few rappers and we, the public who enjoy listening to those types of records. I always stress alternatives and The Crown is a song that emphasizes on the positive, telling our kids to always strive for the best no matter what they do in life, whether it's sports, or being a leader or even writing "like Langston Hughes or Our Miss Brooks“.

Think about it for a minute, our children growing up in these meaner streets today need to be told straight out they are precious, that they have something to live for and although we're all children of God, royalty in the fact we're blessed with minds that can create pyramids, make advances in science and given the proper tools, build companies that are consistent and prosperous such as the John Johnson empire, just to name a few. However, the dominant society would rather our children not hear those messages. It's content to reinforce the notion our kids are good for sports, music and if you can't cut it, then a life of crime. This is the 21st Century, it is time to say enough of this! Our children deserve a much, much, much better way of life than our first generation after the Civil Rights Movement have.

I wear the crown

you wear the crown

so proud to say

that we all wear the crown

the crown

Today political pundits make it a mental crime for our children to research their unique heritage, one that contributed to world and American history. These pundits will never understand that for all the negativity our kids face day to day in neighborhoods they don't live in nor care about, children thirst for the positive, curious, and interested in other facets of history besides our own American story. Thank the Lord for the internet. Many websites have been created so they (and you) can look in to the African, and Americans of African decent and smile at the joys of what their ancestors have done, and cry at the injustices inflicted by a racist multitude.

I wear the crown

you wear the crown

so proud to say

that we all wear the crown

the crown

In Mr. Byrd's song, many inaccuracies are challenged. Remember Inhotep from the "Mummy" movies? Well, that's not the real Inhotep as described in history, nor as written before, the pyramids were created by aliens from outer space, and Mr. Byrd will have you know that even if you're not of African decent, you still wear the crown. In case you need some proof, here it is:

And don't let nobody confuse the fact

you don't wear the crown just because you're black

everybody in the world has a crown and place

that becomes their culture and their face

Would you rather let our children be influenced by positive messages of respect, education and self-pride or allow them to feel as if they're nothing in this world which gets colder by the day? Should we continue to say they're nothing but gangstas, thugs, high-balling G's? Maybe Destiny's Child is looking for a soldier, but I'm certain a lot of women, young and old, want a man who wears the crown of success, no matter what his station is in life. So what should we do? I'm hoping we do the right thing and tell our children how great they are, and if we do, continue. Then show them why and not wait until February.

You wear the crown

I wear the crown

so proud to say

that we all wear the crown

Get down!

Excerpts from The Emergence of African American Literacy Traditions

2011-02-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

In the Passion of Literature series, most of the focus was on the Southern states. However, Phyllis M. Belt-Beyan, the author of "The Emergence of African American Literacy Traditions: Family and Community Efforts in the Nineteenth Century" expands that and presents an overall view of the traditions of early black literary societies,families and institutions invisible and visible. Below are excerpts from her book which can be found on Amazon and other retail bookstores. This particular excerpt focuses on the community.

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Emergence-African-American-Literacy-Traditions/dp/0897897994/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

Google books link: http://books.google.com/books?id=fH21sS4W6-EC&lpg=PP1&ots=GyGQfKpqKy&dq=Phyllis%20M.%20Belt-Beyan&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Excerpts from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

2011-02-02T08:37:00.000-08:00

In the Passion of Literature series, we mentioned slave narratives as part of our literary legacy. Today we introduce one of the greatest authors and orators in our history. Frederick Douglass was born a slave but his contributions as an author, activist and abolitionist are widely known in the black community and entire world. Yet, for some strange reason, he is barely mentioned or quoted by political pundits in the 21st Century? Is it a coincidence, or a conscious effort to keep hidden his many accomplishments that conflict with the messages of these pundits? You decide. To help the reader understand why Mr. Douglass is so important to our history, the following link is provided for you. In the meantime, we have chosen excerpts from his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. We hope something is gained from the words of this outstanding historical legend.

NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AN AMERICAN SLAVE

Chapter I:
"I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest- time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege. I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it. He deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of a restless spirit. The nearest estimate I can give makes me now between twenty-seven and twenty- eight years of age. I come to this, from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old."

Chapter II:
"I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs. I was myself within the circle; so that I neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear. They told a tale of woe which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they were tones loud, long, and deep; they breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains. The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness. I have frequently found myself in tears while hearing them. The mere recurrence to those songs, even now, afflicts me; and while I am writing these lines, an expression of feeling has already found its way down my cheek. To those songs I trace my first glimmering conception of the dehumanizing character of slavery. I can never get rid of that conception. Those songs still follow me, to deepen my hatred of slavery, and quicken my sympathies for my brethren in bonds. If any one wishes to be impressed with the soul-killing effects of slavery, let him go to Colonel Lloyd's plantation, and, on allowance-day, place himself in the deep pine woods, and there let him, in silence, analyze the sounds that shall pass through the chambers of his soul,--and if he is not thus impressed, it will only be because "there is no flesh in his obdurate heart."

"I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness. It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake. Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears. At least, such is my experience. I have often sung to drown my sorrow, but seldom to express my happiness. Crying for joy, and singing for joy, were alike uncommon to me while in the jaws of slavery. The singing of a man cast away upon a desolate island might be as appropriately considered as evidence of contentment and happiness, as the singing of a slave; the songs of the one and of the other are prompted by the same emotion."

Chapter III:
"It is partly in consequence of such facts, that slaves, when inquired of as to their condition and the character of their masters, almost universally say they are contented, and that their masters are kind. The slaveholders have been known to send in spies among their slaves, to ascertain their views and feelings in regard to their condition. The frequency of this has had the effect to establish among the slaves the maxim, that a still tongue makes a wise head. They suppress the truth rather than take the consequences of telling it, and in so doing prove themselves a part of the human family. If they have any thing to say of their masters, it is generally in their masters' favor, especially when speaking to an untried man. I have been frequently asked, when a slave, if I had a kind master, and do not remember ever to have given a negative answer; nor did I, in pursuing this course, consider myself as uttering what was absolutely false; for I always measured the kindness of my master by the standard of kindness set up among slaveholders around us. Moreover, slaves are like other people, and imbibe prejudices quite common to others. They think their own better than that of others. Many, under the influence of this prejudice, think their own masters are better than the masters of other slaves; and this, too, in some cases, when the very reverse is true. Indeed, it is not uncommon for slaves even to fall out and quarrel among themselves about the relative goodness of their masters, each contending for the superior goodness of his own over that of the others. At the very same time, they mutually execrate their masters when viewed separately. It was so on our plantation. When Colonel Lloyd's slaves met the slaves of Jacob Jepson, they seldom parted without a quarrel about their masters; Colonel Lloyd's slaves contending that he was the richest, and Mr. Jepson's slaves that he was the smartest, and most of a man. Colonel Lloyd's slaves would boast his ability to buy and sell Jacob Jepson. Mr. Jepson's slaves would boast his ability to whip Colonel Lloyd. These quarrels would almost always end in a fight between the parties, and those that whipped were supposed to have gained the point at issue. They seemed to think that the greatness of their masters was transferable to themselves. It was considered as being bad enough to be a slave; but to be a poor man's slave was deemed a disgrace indeed!"

Chapter IV:
"I speak advisedly when I say this,--that killing a slave, or any colored person, in Talbot county, Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by the courts or the community. Mr. Thomas Lanman, of St. Michael's, killed two slaves, one of whom he killed with a hatchet, by knocking his brains out. He used to boast of the commission of the awful and bloody deed. I have heard him do so laughingly, saying, among other things, that he was the only benefactor of his country in the company, and that when others would do as much as he had done, we should be relieved of "the d----d niggers." "

Chapter V:
"The ties that ordinarily bind children to their homes were all suspended in my case. I found no severe trial in my departure. My home was charmless; it was not home to me; on parting from it, I could not feel that I was leaving any thing which I could have enjoyed by staying. My mother was dead, my grandmother lived far off, so that I seldom saw her. I had two sisters and one brother, that lived in the same house with me; but the early separation of us from our mother had well nigh blotted the fact of our relationship from our memories. I looked for home elsewhere, and was confident of finding none which I should relish less than the one which I was leaving. If, however, I found in my new home hardship, hunger, whipping, and nakedness, I had the consolation that I should not have escaped any one of them by staying. Having already had more than a taste of them in the house of my old master, and having endured them there, I very naturally inferred my ability to endure them elsewhere, and especially at Baltimore; for I had something of the feeling about Baltimore that is expressed in the proverb, that "being hanged in England is preferable to dying a natural death in Ireland." I had the strongest desire to see Baltimore. Cousin Tom, though not fluent in speech, had inspired me with that desire by his eloquent description of the place. I could never point out any thing at the Great House, no matter how beautiful or powerful, but that he had seen something at Baltimore far exceeding, both in beauty and strength, the object which I pointed out to him. Even the Great House itself, with all its pictures, was far inferior to many buildings in Baltimore. So strong was my desire, that I thought a gratification of it would fully compensate for whatever loss of comforts I should sustain by the exchange. I left without a regret, and with the highest hopes of future happiness. "

Chapter VI:
"Very soon after I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. To use his own words, further, he said, "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master--to do as he is told to do. Learning would ~spoil~ the best nigger in the world. Now," said he, "if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy." These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty--to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I the least expected it. Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master. Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read. The very decided manner with which he spoke, and strove to impress his wife with the evil consequences of giving me instruction, served to convince me that he was deeply sensible of the truths he was uttering. It gave me the best assurance that I might rely with the utmost confidence on the results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read. What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved, that I most hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn. In learning to read, I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both."

Chapter VII:
"I was now about twelve years old, and the thought of being ~a slave for life~ began to bear heavily upon my heart. Just about this time, I got hold of a book entitled "The Columbian Orator." Every opportunity I got, I used to read this book. Among much of other interesting matter, I found in it a dialogue between a master and his slave. The slave was represented as having run away from his master three times. The dialogue represented the conversation which took place between them, when the slave was retaken the third time. In this dialogue, the whole argument in behalf of slavery was brought forward by the master, all of which was disposed of by the slave. The slave was made to say some very smart as well as impressive things in reply to his master-- things which had the desired though unexpected effect; for the conversation resulted in the voluntary emancipation of the slave on the part of the master.

"In the same book, I met with one of Sheridan's mighty speeches on and in behalf of Catholic emancipation. These were choice documents to me. I read them over and over again with unabated interest. They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance. The moral which I gained from the dialogue was the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder. What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights. The reading of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought forward to sustain slavery; but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery. I loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men. As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish. As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me. There was no getting rid of it. It was pressed upon me by every object within sight or hearing, animate or inanimate. The silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal wakefulness. Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever. It was heard in every sound, and seen in every thing. It was ever present to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition. I saw nothing without seeing it, I heard nothing without hearing it, and felt nothing without feeling it. It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm. "

Chapter VIII:
"Very soon after my return to Baltimore, my mistress, Lucretia, died, leaving her husband and one child, Amanda; and in a very short time after her death, Master Andrew died. Now all the property of my old master, slaves included, was in the hands of strangers,--strangers who had had nothing to do with accumulating it. Not a slave was left free. All remained slaves, from the youngest to the oldest. If any one thing in my experience, more than another, served to deepen my conviction of the infernal character of slavery, and to fill me with unutterable loathing of slaveholders, it was their base ingratitude to my poor old grandmother. She had served my old master faithfully from youth to old age. She had been the source of all his wealth; she had peopled his plantation with slaves; she had become a great grandmother in his service. She had rocked him in infancy, attended him in childhood, served him through life, and at his death wiped from his icy brow the cold death-sweat, and closed his eyes forever. She was nevertheless left a slave--a slave for life--a slave in the hands of strangers; and in their hands she saw her children, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren, divided, like so many sheep, without being gratified with the small privilege of a single word, as to their or her own destiny. And, to cap the climax of their base ingratitude and fiendish barbarity, my grandmother, who was now very old, having outlived my old master and all his children, having seen the beginning and end of all of them, and her present owners finding she was of but little value, her frame already racked with the pains of old age, and complete helplessness fast stealing over her once active limbs, they took her to the woods, built her a little hut, put up a little mud-chimney, and then made her welcome to the privilege of supporting herself there in perfect loneliness; thus virtually turning her out to die! If my poor old grandmother now lives, she lives to suffer in utter loneliness; she lives to remember and mourn over the loss of children, the loss of grandchildren, and the loss of great- grandchildren."

Chapter XI:
"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 embarrassing difficulties. Secondly, such a statement would most undoubtedly induce greater vigilance on the part of slaveholders than has existed heretofore among them; which would, of course, be the means of guarding a door whereby some dear brother bondman might escape his galling chains. I deeply regret the necessity that impels me to suppress any thing of importance connected with my experience in slavery. It would afford me great pleasure indeed, as well as materially add to the interest of my narrative, were I at liberty to gratify a curiosity, which I know exists in the minds of many, by an accurate statement of all the facts pertaining to my most fortunate escape. But I must deprive myself of this pleasure, and the curious of the gratification which such a statement would afford. I would allow myself to suffer under the greatest imputations which evil-minded men might suggest, rather than exculpate myself, and thereby run the hazard of closing the slightest avenue by which a brother slave might clear himself of the chains and fetters of slavery. "

We invite you to read the narrative on this website, although it is our wish you actually buy this book available at your retail bookstores. Excellent read, and provides a lot of food for thought on our mindset at the present time.

Metropolitian Baptist Church performing Lift Every Voice and Sing

2011-02-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

From You Tube: the Metropolitan Baptist Church performs 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' as their morning hymn in January 2009 as part of their Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Enjoy.

The Passion of Carter G. Woodson

2011-02-01T08:28:00.000-08:00

I’m sure the question has been asked in the past, ‘Is Black History Month still relevant in the 21^st Century?’ I would say yes it is. Not only is it still relevant, but needed to dispel the fresh new myths along with a few old tall tales emerging once again on the contributions – or lack thereof – of black people in this country. Carter G. Woodson, known as the ‘Father of Black History’ would assert that now, more than ever, this month is important to ‘jump start’ our children and those young at heart to learn more about the accomplishments and breakthroughs of our ancestors.

To understand why Mr. Woodson was so passionate about our race and the remembrance of our achievements, it should be noted that although he did not gain a formal education until the age of 20, as a youth “he possessed an unquenchable thirst for learning” In fact Lerone Bennett, Jr., former senior editor of Ebony magazine, drove this point home in his article “Carter G. Woodson, Father of Black History”

Like so many of his contemporaries, he was denied education, partly because there were few black schools, partly because his father needed his hands in the fields. But unlike many of his playmates, he created an inviolate place within. More than this, deeper than this, he perceived early, as pioneer black educators Mary McLeod Bethune and Benjamin E. Mays and others perceived in similar circumstances, that the key to his dungeon was education. And he decided early that he was willing to do almost anything to get that key.

If you read our Passion of Literature series, you’d recognize the slaves understood education were the ‘Keys to the Kingdom’ as far as enlightenment and knowledge. As the son of slaves, Mr. Woodson knew that all too well as Mr. Bennett continues:

Driven by this need, young Carter, aided by two uncles, taught himself the ABCs between backbreaking hours in the field. Then, accompanied by his brother, he moved in 1892 to Huntington, West Virginia, which had one of those rarities of the time, a high school for black students. To get money to finance his education, he went to work in the coal mines, braving falling rocks, accidental explosions and poisonous gases. He was injured one day by falling slate, but he never turned back.

"Nothing could stop Carter," a cousin, John Riddle, said. "He didn't stay in the mines long. He was always interested in getting an education."

It was this drive that allowed Mr. Woodson to achieve the following as he “was the founder of Associated Publishers, founder and editor of the Negro History Bulletin, and the author of more than thirty books. Probably Woodson's best known book is The Mis-Education of the Negro, originally published in 1933 and still relevant today. In the Mis-Education of the Negro Dr. Woodson stated that:

“When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his 'proper place' and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.””

As a side note, I have to say there is not enough time to do the history of this great man justice. The following links and video at the conclusion of this article I hope will provide just that.

Mr. Woodson understood a people whose accomplishments are never realized, have no sense of pride in themselves and dreams are limited to what they could achieve. His quote explains that, “If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.”

The power of words was paramount in Mr. Woodson’s view. He believed in the effect they can have on an entire race. He also knew through that same power, it can be used to edify the masses into much greater heights. So often society’s message is to reinforce the notion that we are worthless, other nationalities for some reason are smarter than we and outside of our artistic and athletic prowess, blacks haven’t offered much in terms of historic reference. Mr. Woodson saw through that racial smokescreen and established the month to clarify once and for all, the facts that blacks had done our share besides picking cotton and shucking and jiving.

However, the goal to inform wasn’t simply for black pride, as Mr. Woodson explains:

"Besides building self-esteem among blacks, (Black History Week) would help eliminate prejudice among whites," Woodson concluded.”

All you have to do is listen to the political ramblings of a few individuals and entities in recent weeks to indicate as long as falsehoods are tossed about in the American consciousness, they will flourish and left unchallenged, denies all that our ancestors have done. This lack of historical knowledge also cripples the full respect of other cultures and nationalities towards their Negro brethren. I strongly object to the notion this month be done away merely for the sake of convenience. When Frederick Douglass and others are recognized for their great works, perhaps the conversation to phase out the celebration can begin, but not before.

So when did it turn from a week to a month? Here are a few dates from the websites researched.

In the 1960s what was once only a week of recognizing the outstanding achievements of Americans of African heritage to science, literature, and the arts became transformed into "Black History Month." (Source: http://www.africawithin.com/bios/carter_woodson.htm)

By the 1970s, Negro History Week had expanded to become Black History Month. (Source: http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/woodson.html)

One thing is for sure.

"This was perhaps his proudest accomplishment. "No other single thing," he said, "has done so much to dramatize the achievement of persons of African blood.""

Again, we thank Mr. Woodson, for having the vision to help us remember the greatness of our ancestors. We can do no less than to celebrate our accomplishments every day – and be proud.

REFERENCES

You can find out more about the ‘Father of Black History’ by clicking on the following (I should note the quotes and source material for this article are gathered from these websites):

http://www.america.gov/st/diversity-english/2005/June/20080207153802liameruoy0.1187708.html#ixzz1ChHnZVBz

http://www.asalh.org/woodsonbiosketch.html

http://www.freemaninstitute.com/woodson.htm

http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/woodson.html

The following video celebrates his life (link only):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkBEjJH1j5U

Ray Charles: Lift Every Voice

2011-02-01T00:08:00.001-08:00

Good morning!

Welcome as we begin a month that will reveal the literary best of our ancestors and forefathers of the written word. But first.....

Lift Every Voice and Sing from Ray Charles, circa 1972.

In case you don't know the history of this song, perhaps this link will help you out! This link has the lyrics to the song so please feel free to sing along!

Take care!

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
L.A. Black Book Expo

The Passion of Literature: Literacy is Liberty

2010-12-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

Perhaps no greater example of why these series of the passion of literature among the slaves, our ancestors to those of us who are called Black or African-American should be found in the following words I’m about to write to you on this page.

This is who we are, and will continue to do so until we no longer exist.

Let me explain; I come from a lineage of contemporary writers, authors, poets, publishers and proud distributors of literary works to the next generation and for those who don’t possess the means to purchase a digital reader or the latest technological fad involving an e-reader. We are the ones who refuse to believe outright assumptions that ‘Black people don’t read’ or ‘if you want to keep anything from Black people, put it in a book’. We believe that the answers we seek are within those words printed in black ink on white paper nestled between two covers bound together by a spine. We believe literacy is affordable to all, while illiteracy should belong to no one. That is who we are, and this is what we continue to be.

By now you’ve read about the struggles and triumphs of slaves gaining the ability to read and write and how powerful those skills are once they’re fully used in a positive way. Much is true in this 21st Century with a multitude of authors, writers, and poets putting those same abilities to work. The black authors who range from bestselling to new can all give a bit of gratitude to their literate ancestors, those who wrote to expose the real truth about slavery and those who had that desire to read a book or write what was on their heart. Even the former slaves who didn’t possess those abilities but were able to articulate them to the Works Progress Administration, should be admired as well for their candor in describing an institution that should NEVER be romanticized in any form, whether or not it’s gone with the wind.

I’ve run into authors who have written about their native lands, just as I’ve met scribes whose native lands are the streets of South Los Angeles, Harlem, Chicago, you name it. There are writers who come from tropical islands opening minds to the experiences of African-Americans living there to a person challenged with living a life-threatening disease. These authors are no different than Douglass, William Box Brown, William and Ellen Craft. However, the writers of the 21st Century realize their power just as their literary forefathers did. There is power in words to encourage, inspire, entertain, and bridge the gaps closer between readers and those who write books.

Even more – the site where you’ve read these Passion of Literature series, a blog – only shows the digital advantages our ancestors never had but the multitude is utilizing. Videos that can be recorded via YouTube, Vimeo, etc, can display images Henry ‘Box” Brown would have used to hold up a bigger Mirror of Slavery for all to see. However, with all of these tools at our disposal, challenges still remain even those tremendous strides have been made.

As of 2010, the larger chain brick and mortar bookstores such as Borders and Barnes and Noble are on the decline, more importantly, independent bookstores are closing down their stores yearly. Especially in the African-American community where readers can find books that speak on their experiences, these too are fading. There are a good number left and perhaps in following years the losses won’t be as bad, but for now, the scene is bleak out there.

I would agree the economic climate has a lot to do with the downturn in bookstore sales, what about the passion of reading books? Our ancestors as noted many times here craved and desired knowledge. They understood what reading and writing meant to them and the power it held. Literacy means liberty, it’s freedom, it’s a sense of feeling empowered, opening up doors you never thought existed. For example, over the years of networking and interviewing authors, I've discovered are titles to help improve your financial situation, become a better parent, transform your thinking to improve your health, how to get in touch with your spirit through the Word, and so on. That’s not even including the various genres or ‘Lits’ of fiction that reveal truths about ourselves whether we prefer they been seen or not.

Although our ancestors had speaking engagements discussing their various titles, the current community book festivals and discussion forums serve the same purpose. These events need to have higher degrees of turnout because in truth, most of the titles you find at these festivals won’t be found at the larger chain bookstores. Most of the titles are self-published and according to the policy of the chains, not fit to rest on their shelves. So book signings and literary fairs are the only alternatives right now for these authors keeping the literary tradition alive. If this series has done one thing, I hope it has proven that indeed African-Americans are and have always been a literary people. When we’re given the tools of reading and writing, we’ve shown time and time again across the centuries our stories and tales are relevant and helps ease the tension of the one issue no one dares touch in this ‘post-racial’ society. As I’ve mentioned before, books provide a non-threatening atmosphere for people to read, learn and judge for themselves outside the numerous media chambers as former talk show host Richard Bey once said, ‘melds with your mind’.

For example, the wife and I were in Hawaii celebrating our anniversary and reading books inside one of the big retail stores when I picked up and bought The Great Escapes: Four Slave Narratives by Daphne A. Brooks when the Caucasian clerk behind the counter noticed the book and told me she planned to read it as well. So we do have readers interested in our history, we just have to make sure we keep the fire burning bright to become the best authors and writers we can be. I’ll make this one last point: a more literate society is a better society for all. Based on the number of people from all races who attended writing workshops I’ve taught in the last five years, that idea certainly holds true.

Speaking as a black man, an author of African descent, there’s no greater gift we can give to our world, community, and family than to constantly keep the Passion of Literature burning in our hearts for not only this generation and the next, but for those who follow. We owe it to our ancestors, we owe it to ourselves.

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
Los Angeles Black Book Expo

Note: This blog is meant to do just that. Please bookmark us as we continue to showcase our literary icons on this site. Thank you for your support.

The Passion of Literature: The Power Of The Pen

2010-12-10T09:45:00.001-08:00

As we reach the last few entries of the Passion of Literature series, it's important to note the contributions made by our ancestors great and small, who used the power of the pen to explain in our own words what the institution of slavery really meant to them and their inspiration to use the ability to read and write - as you know were outlawed- to achieve those ends.

Former slaves who used the aforementioned power of the pen:

Phyllis Wheatley - poet
Harriet E. Wilson - first female African-American novelist (Wikipedia)
Colonel Allen Allensworth - built the township of same name
Booker T. Washington - founder of Tuskegee
Sojourner Truth - women's right activist and author

SLAVE NARRATIVES
(a partial list)

Frederick Douglass
Olaudah Equiano
William Wells Brown
Henry Box Brown
Harriet A. Jacobs
Ellen and William Craft
Booker T. Washington
Henry Clay Bruce
Josiah Henson
John Thompson
Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Venture Smith

The rest from Wikipedia provides a reading list for curious minds:

- A Narrative of the Most remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert 'Ukawsaw Gronniosaw', an African Prince, by Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, Bath, England: 1772
- The Interesting Narrative and the life of 'Olaudah Equiano' or Gustavus Vassa, the African, by Olaudah Equiano, London: 1789
- A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a native of Africa: But resident Above Sixty Years in the United State of America, by Venture Smith, New London: 1798
-The Blind African Slave, Or Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace, by Jeffrey Brace as told to Benjamin F. Prentiss, Esq., St. Albans, Vermont: 1810; edited and with an introduction by Kari J. Winter, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004, ISBN 0-299-20140-6)

Tales to inspire the abolitionist struggle
Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave, New York 1825
The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave, London 1831
Slavery in the United States: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Charles Ball, A Black Man, Lewistown 1836
A Narrative of Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper from American Slavery, London 1837
A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Boston 1845
Narratives of the Sufferings of Lewis and Milton Clarke, Sons of a Soldier of the revolution, during a Captivity of more than Twenty years among the Slaveholders of Kentucky, Boston 1846
Narrative of William Wells Brown, a fugitive Slave, Boston 1847
The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself (1849), Boston 1849
Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave, New York 1849

Slave narrative published in 1871
The Life of James Mars, A Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut, Hartford 1864
From the Darkness Cometh the Light, or, Struggles for Freedom, by Lucy Delaney 1892
The Freedman's Story by William Parker, published in The Atlantic Monthly 1866

North African slave narratives
The History of the Long Captivity and Adventures of Thomas Pellow, In South Barbary, 1740
A Curious, Historical and Entertaining Narrative of the Captivity and almost unheard of Sufferings and Cruel treatment of Mr Robert White, 1790
A Journal of the Captivity and Suffering of John Foss; Several Years a Prisoner in Algiers 1798
History of the Captivity and Sufferings of Mrs Marian Martin who was six years a slave in Algiers,

More autobiographies, biographies written by and about slaves, plus fictionalized slave narratives at: Documenting the American South (http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/alpha.htm l)

Let's not forget the 2,300 ex-slaves interviewed by the Works Projects Administration for their Born In Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers Project, 1936-1938. The website is here on this link:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html and the actual document is on file at this website address: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mesn&fileName=001/mesn001.db&recNum=0

At the moment, I recently picked up The Great Escapes: Four Slave Narratives by Daphne A. Brooks. It's available at Barnes and Noble and other bookstores. It's a great read featuring four of the writers above and I strongly suggest you read it.

I wish I had more time to compile a more detailed, comprehensive list of former slaves who didn't remain in their condition, but rather yearn to be free and work towards accomplishing something worthwhile with their freedom, even helping other slaves escape so that they too, could enjoy the experiences of living an abundant life outside of the plantation. Based on accurate historical accounts and from what you've read up to this point, slave life wasn't a content, happy life for those under captivity no matter how much it's romanticized by cinema or literature of the past. The correct literature, slave narratives, point out the fact most slaves risked their lives to flee their conditions. The narratives reveal truths a select few prefer not to be seen in our country's history but they must and should be told for the benefit of all. Yes, it is painful and inspires emotion, but just take a moment and examine the flip side of this argument clearly and objectively.

Men like Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown articulated the plight of their past experiences. The constant fear, the beatings, families being ripped away, all in vivid and stark detail. Then look to see men like Colonel Allensworth or Booker T. Washington create schools and towns with a vision to help their own kind, creating legacies for the future.

I should add a theory that the slave narratives opened the door for the next generation of authors, writers and poets who would come to be part of the Harlem Renaissance. Just a theory, but I believe the authors above inspired the various writers involved in that great movement of the 1920's.

I would attest Black people have always been a literate people and the examples shown throughout this series will hopefully shed some light on that. Granted, the subject of slavery isn't easy for anyone to discuss, but it has to be talked about now and in a mature, reasonable manner from all sides. I'm grateful for those of you on this blog and others where this series is being posted who have hopefully taken the time to read and judge for yourself if the words written are true. It is my hope that we as Blacks, African-Americans, or whatever we'll call ourselves next begin to take our literary past very seriously and pen works that will hope to inspire, entertain and educate. Ah, but one can only dream, correct?

In fact, that is what's happening now. Next time, I'll explain why. Take care.

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
Los Angeles Black Book Expo

The Passion of Literature: Finding Our Own Voice

2010-12-10T08:38:00.001-08:00

So far in this series, we have looked at what literacy meant to the slaves who risked life and limbs to acquire the ability to read and write. We even looked at the laws prohibiting this practice, as we noted the influences it had on notable former slaves who opened their eyes and protested the very system they were under. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the slaves were now all free with an uncertain future ahead of them. While a good number of former slaves recounted their experience through narratives, other blacks used their power of literacy to create what is called the Black Press.

According to this quote in The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords (the Too Long Have Others Spoken For Us page) the passion was there:

"After the Civil war, there was an enormous burst of energy, a desire to communicate, a desire to connect, with black people establishing newspapers in any town, even tiny ones. It was their first opportunity to use the written word without fear of reprisal."
-Phyl Garland- Journalist

From the same website, 1827 was the year the Black Press originated. Much like the blogs and websites today in which African-American feel the need of an outlet to express their wants and desires for an equally balanced society, their ancestors had their own reason for creating their own venues of expression:

a group of African American New Yorkers, no longer able to tolerate constant denigration of the black population in the pages of the mainstream press, pooled their resources to found Freedom's Journal. John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish, the editors of Freedom's Journal, proclaimed in their first issue that black Americans would now have a means by which to "plead our own cause"; they would no longer have to depend on white abolitionists to speak for them in the white press. Freedom's Journal ceased publication after only two years, but broke new ground both as an experiment in black entrepreneurship and as the inaugural instrument for public expression by African Americans where none had existed before.

In past entries, we discovered although abolitionists were key in the role of ending slavery, their methods of introducing a less articulate slave instead of one who could plead his or her own case with intellectual clarity was their way of advancing their agenda. Furthermore, it denied slaves who possessed the ability to state their own case why the institution should end - not allowing them to speak with their own voice. The black press was a vehicle for slaves and freedmen alike to share their thoughts, their views, their feelings thereby displaying to the readers these were men and women with articulation, intellect and a deep concern of not let their voices be silenced. So when the Civil War ended, the black press took a more active role in politics.

From the The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords page:

After the Civil War ended in 1865, emancipation from slavery sparked a new wave of black newspapers -- and whole new reasons for them to exist. Prior to emancipation, the black press could not publish or circulate its papers in the slave states of the South. Further, under slavery, African Americans had been barred from learning to read. With their newfound access to education, African Americans strove to achieve literacy. They embraced the newspapers as a sign of their freedom, and as a source of information about their people and their communities. The black press of the Reconstruction era dedicated itself to building communities of free black men and women in both the North and South.

According to Allen W. Jones in The Black Press in the 'New' South, the Republican Party gained support from the black press due to the party's platform of racial equality. Even attacks on Negroes or blacks were mentioned. Cities which gained newspapers were New Orleans, Nashville, Charleston, Augusta, and Baltimore circa 1864, 1865. Mr. Jones goes on to explain:

While these early black newspapers were short-lived, others began publication during the Reconstruction era in an effort to achieve certain political ends, promote harmony, and good will between whites and blacks, instruct and educate the race, and defend the newly acquired rights of black Americans. (footnote included in link)

Among the former Confederate states:
Louisiana had the first black newspaper in the South, L'Union, and the first black daily in the nation, the New Orleans Tribune. Working along with other groups and institutions,

the free black press strove to give voice to and unite the desires of Louisiana African Americans.

L'Union was founded in 1862 and circulated as a biweekly and triweekly. Published primarily in French, the paper ran a few issues in English beginning in 1863. Dr. Louis Charles Roudanez was L'Union's primary financier and Paul Tre'vigne its editor. Both men were prominent leaders in Louisiana's civil rights movement, and under their direction, the paper primarily spoke for Louisiana's established community of free people of color, although also for slaves and newly freed blacks. The paper suspended publication on July 19, 1864.

The New Orleans Tribune was the successor to L'Union when it folded, with Louis Charles Roudanez and Paul Tre'vigne again at the helm. The Tribune served as a voice for both free and freed African Americans in Louisiana, reflecting the changing attitudes of civil rights leaders.

(Source: http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab11.htm)

The black press was no different than any forms of media back in the 1860's or today. News that impacted freed slaves were not mentioned in the mainstream, nor tales of brutality on blacks mentioned. It was up to a print form of media by writers who felt the need to expose information to a people who would otherwise wouldn't be aware lest they were told. Even the overtones of equality and peace just mentioned were a far cry from the imagined fears of dominance over a certain race of people which sadly, some hold in 2010. The black press existed for one reason only; to voice concerns and information that would not appear anywhere else. The Freedman's Journal wouldn't have existed had the regular press covered stories and news affecting both slaves and free blacks. So it goes on today in our 21st Century lives, but that's getting too far ahead of ourselves.

When Reconstruction ended in 1876 thanks to then President Rutherford B. Hayes, he:

removed protections that had been extended to newly freed slaves, unleashing a torrent of violence against African Americans. Between 1876 and 1919, at least 3,000 black men were murdered by white lynch mobs. The Southern white press failed to condemn racist violence and even encouraged the hatred that fueled the mobs. In response, black reporters made a public record of crimes against African Americans that went unprosecuted and unreported by the mainstream press, in order to inform their readers about these new dangers. The black press also attempted to stem the tide false accusations levied against black men by whites to justify the actions of the lynch mobs. These efforts were not without risk. Ida B. Wells, editor of the Memphis Free Speech, traveled throughout the South to report on lynching. When a mob attacked her paper's office, Wells realized that her life was in danger. Left with little choice but to flee the South, she headed north and continued her career as a writer for the New York Age.

Silence is golden, a popular phrase we were told as children. However, silence by the mainstream press at the end of the Reconstruction era and the degree of violence towards blacks, was deadly.

Literacy is a powerful tool when used to better one's life, inform the masses and help spread information to various places. When information is withheld or the opposite is encouraged with the use of the written or spoken word, it can be destructive. As we painfully see much too often in our modern society, this is very much true. Just read any newspaper, blog or a news show, and you will find a plethora of examples. Again, the black press was needed in the days of slavery, Reconstruction and after to better lend a voice for slaves, freed blacks and their children to speak their own thoughts and own minds rather than having someone else for or against their causes speak for them. Unfortunately, it goes on today. It doesn't matter who sits in the White House or not.

What is interesting is that slave narratives were popular among whites. I theorize the non-threatening nature of sitting down and reading a book is what drove the interest among them, and that's fine. Books should always provide a warm atmosphere to read and expand the mind. We can all learn from each other that we are just the same though we have different experiences culturally.

Next time, I'll have that list of slave narratives, along with those former slaves who used the power of literacy. In the meantime, here are links such as the Extended Bibliography for the Black Press and others. Take care.

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
Los Angeles Black Book Expo

The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords:
http://newsreel.org/guides/blackpress/toolong.htm

Reconstruction: A state divided
http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab11.htm

Allen Jones: The Black Press in the 'New' South
http://www.jstor.org/pss/2717034

The Passion of Literature: The Necessity of Invention

2010-11-28T01:24:00.000-08:00

For those of us who like the author shares the color of black and is called an African-American, our ancestors born in slavery told us their stories via their narratives. Those who didn’t possess the ability to read nor write but willing to share their experiences for future generations did so with the help of abolitionists - whites and blacks whose main goal to was eliminate slavery - and a few influential people who contributed in making sure the unfortunate saga of slavery had a true and untainted voice.

In the past, Frederick Douglass was mentioned along with others who wrote their own slave narratives, but there were others as this quote from PBS.com bears out:

Anti-slavery writings were significant in the abolitionists' fight against slavery. Using books, newspapers, pamphlets, poetry, published sermons, and other forms of literature, abolitionists spread their message. David Walker's Appeal, William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator, and Frederick Douglass' The North Star were among the most important abolitionist writings. And then there were the slave narratives -- personal accounts of what it was like to live in bondage. These would give northerers their closest look at slavery and provide an undeniable counter to the pro-slavery arguments and idyllic pictures of slavery described by slaveholders.

In addition to publishing their narratives, former slaves became anti-slavery lecturers and went on tour. They told their stories to audiences throughout the North and in Europe. Frederick Douglass was the most famous, but he was joined by others such as Sojourner Truth and William Wells Brown. Others, such as Ellen and William Craft -- a couple who had escaped together using ingenious disguises -- lectured but did not create a written narrative. For white audiences who had perhaps never seen an African American man or woman, the effects of these articulate people telling their stories was electrifying and won many to the abolitionist cause.

As in the case of Phyllis Allensworth who insisted her son Allen was just as good as her master’s son in learning how to read or write, many of these former slaves when given this ability, were equal to their white brethren in making significant contributions to a fledgling country called America.

For example, the efforts of Black scientists and inventors have been largely overlooked by the mainstream, but these individuals who were either self taught like Benjamin Banneker, the well-known astronomer and mathematician who published the following:

the Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanac and Ephemeris, which contained tide tables, future eclipses, and medicinal formulas. It is believed to be the first scientific book published by an African American.

Not only did Banneker proved his scientific knowledge, he did a lot more:

A staunch opponent of slavery, Banneker sent a copy of his first almanac to then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson to counter Jefferson's belief in the intellectual inferiority of blacks.

(Read more: Benjamin Banneker — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0775682.html)

George Washington Carver, unlike Banneker, went to school to achieve his education attending:

Simpson College before transferring to Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now Iowa State University), from which he earned a B.S. degree in agricultural science, and an M.S. degree in 1896.

Mr. Carver, as we know (or for those who don’t know) created:

300 peanut-based products, including milk, cheese, flour, ink, dyes, wood stains, soap, and cosmetics. In addition he developed 118 sweet potato-based products, including vinegar, molasses, rubber, ink, and postage stamp glue. Had he not gained the ability to read and write, plus attend a school with higher education, these beneficial products which we in the 21st Century continue to use, would not be possible.

(Read more: George Washington Carver — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0775683.html)

There are a number of Black scientists and inventors who helped produce creations that many of us use today, but lack of knowledge has prevented the multitude from discovering the identities of the originators. There would have been a lot more as the following shows us:

(Source: http://web.com.na/forums/namibia/politics/30706?iview=collapsed&ppage=1)

Unlike black slaves, free blacks prior to the Civil War were entitled to receive patents for their inventions. Though, again, because blacks lacked educational and vocational opportunities, few had the necessary skills or experience to develop their inventive ideas or patent them.

The troubling aspect of the role of slave inventors is that the society they lived in had the mindset of Jefferson, that they were inferior and possessed no intellect. However, because of the law, the slaves faced this fact:

Many of the contributions to American History by African Americans have been obscured by slavery attitudes and Jim Crow mentalities. During slavery, most slaves were denied formal education. In the aftermath of various slave rebellions, many laws were passed in the South prohibiting slave literacy. Many 17th and 18th century black scientists and inventors went unrecognized, since they were considered property somewhere on the scale of cattle. Therefore, they could not enter into contract with their owners or the U.S. Government. Jo Anderson, one of Cyrus McCormick's slaves, who is believed to have played a major role in inventing the grain harvester, which McCormick gained the credit and fame.

(Source: http://www.faiththatworks.com/id13.html)

I wrote a poem in my book The Voices of South Central entitled ‘How Can?”. The theme of the poem deals with the topic of assuming the slaves (and free blacks) were somehow categorized with the same stereotypical labels many of my race often hear and see today. I wonder, if Jo Anderson had taken credit for the invention of the grain harvester, would that then imply slaves were not as slothful or dim-witted as the amusing artifacts gathered from slavery and Jim Crow days would lead us to believe?

Again, while there are many black inventors and scientists that can be easily looked up via a web search, there are more, nameless and forever lost in history:

Most slave inventors were nameless, such as the slave owned by the Confederate President Jefferson Davis who designed the ship propeller used by the Confederate navy.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American#Cultural_influence_in_the_United_States)

We move on.

In the photo gallery of my website, www.charleslchatmon.com, there is a collection of past inventions of black inventors and scientists which have been overlooked by the mainstream, but thanks to the efforts of one gentleman named Oran Z and his Black Inventors Museum, these creations come to life and a living testament to the power of literacy. When one has the ability to read, write and create - all of us benefit. That’s something hopefully we all can agree on. In fact, the video below displays many of the inventions which for some of you reading this, may be an eye opener.

I had planned a different entry labeling all the former slaves who benefited from literacy and that will come in time. However, our struggle throughout the centuries wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging those who proved what Phyllis Allensworth told her son who went on to establish the only black township on the West coast after his last name; Allensworth.

now, my son, what is good for 'Little Marse' Tommy is good for you.

Mrs. Allensworth was absolutely correct. With his creation of a town, her son Colonel Allensworth proved her right.

After the Civil War, freed slaves now had a life to claim as their own without the unjust law of the particular institution affecting their lives, their families. For the first time, freedom had been earned. But what about the role of literacy in this new Reconstruction phase? For the former slaves who could read and write and now possessed a free new life, what to do? The answer for these individuals was simple and in our next entry, we will find out what happens when these freed blacks found the footing to control their own voice. See you next time.

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
Los Angeles Black Book Expo

Links:
Black Inventors Museum at African Marketplace
Black Inventors from the 1800's to 2000's
The Black Inventors Museum on Tour

The Passion of Literature: Defining the (Slave) Narrative

2010-11-18T07:53:00.000-08:00

From Thoughts On A String

Note: Bold parts = mine

A textbook produced by the Virginia Education Department caused an uproar recently with the assertion of blacks fighting on behalf of the Confederacy, the legion of Southern and other states which broke away from the Union because of one issue they saw fit not to part with.

Slavery.

The huge error resulted in the education department’s approval of the textbook without doing their proper homework. This article from Salon.com’s report says:

Had they seen the text before it was shipped out to schools, historians would have asked her to take it out. ??The argument that many thousands of slaves willingly fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War has zero support in mainstream academic circles -- for the simple reason that it is not supported by the documentary record. There is evidence that a very few African-Americans joined the Confederate ranks by choice; the overwhelming majority were servants and laborers.

There are more websites which shoot this historical fallacy down. However, it is becoming apparent in the 21st Century, there are few minds who act the same as movie directors and producers in Hollywood, make sure our the stories of America’s past have a happy ending. Skip over the facts that past is heart-wrenching, even frustrating, but to these individuals, image is all that matters.

So what were these narratives? What did they reveal in plain sight the evils of slavery? Some examples:

Slave narratives are defined as “Narratives of slavery recounted the personal experiences of ante-bellum African Americans who had escaped from slavery and found their way to safety in the North. An essential part of the anti-slavery movement, these narratives drew on Biblical allusion and imagery, the rhetoric of abolitionism, the traditions of the captivity narrative, and the spiritual autobiography in appealing to their (often white) audiences. Some of these narratives bore a "frame" or preface attesting to their authenticity and to the sufferings described within.”
(Source: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/slave.htm)

The slave narratives provided the most powerful voices contradicting the slaveholders' favorable claims concerning slavery. By their very existence, the narratives demonstrated that African Americans were people with mastery of language and the ability to write their own history. The narratives told of the horrors of family separation, the sexual abuse of black women, and the inhuman workload. They told of free blacks being kidnapped and sold into slavery. They described the frequency and brutality of flogging and the severe living conditions of slave life. They also told exciting tales of escape, heroism, betrayal, and tragedy. The narratives captivated readers, portraying the fugitives as sympathetic, fascinating characters.

Some former slaves, such as Douglass and Brown, wrote their narratives themselves. But many were illiterate, and so dictated their stories to abolitionists.

(Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2958.html)

As we’ve seen so far in this series, literacy among the slaves who had the skill of reading and writing kept them in high esteem in the eyes of those who were not as literate as they. The basic skills of reading and writing granted these captives a power they did not have before, something although their masters tried, could not take away even by force or intimidation by law.

Earlier, we found out Frederick Douglass is one example of a former slave who recounted his life in captivity. There are others who have share their own narratives to help their readers understand the trials and tribulations of being a slave. For example, John Thompson was a fugitive who in 1856 published his personal experience while seeking freedom. The title, The Life of John Thompson, a Fugitive Slave; Containing His History of Twenty-five Years in Bondage, and His Providential Escape. Written by Himself is from his own words. No altering of details to make it sanitized and favorable to his masters, Mr. Thompson described in detail his feelings of bondage, the desire to become free, all by his own hand. However, just as in the Virginia textbook case, Thompson and other Negro writers had to combat the perception slaves were content with their lives.

So much of the information disseminated about slavery in the nineteenth century reflected the proslavery agenda of white historians, journalists, and chroniclers. Both northern and southern white writers published accounts that depicted slaves as content, well-kept, and happy with their roles as lifelong servants to white families. John Thompson cites the Reverend Nehemiah Adams's famous 1854 A South-Side View of Slavery as a typical example of an attempt by a white writer to paint "slavery in such glowingly beautiful colors" (Thompson, p. 441). One of the most significant contributions of the slave narrative genre is that it gives the victimized and oppressed a space to tell their own stories and to forcefully contradict prevailing myths that African Americans were satisfied with their status as perpetual servants.
(Source: http://www.enotes.com/american-history-literature-cc/slave-narrative s)

Other authors of slave narratives of note; Solomon Bayley, who penned “A Narrative of Some Remarkable Incidents, in the Life of Solomon Bayley, Formerly a Slave” (1825),
Harriet Jacobs with Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), Solomon Northup and his narrative written in 1853, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, William Wells Brown in 1860 wrote Narrative.

Even for former slaves who weren’t able to write about their own past involvement in that particular institution, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an agency born of the New Deal of the 1930’s, interviewed “over 2,300 former slaves from across the American South”, with a bit of irony here. Artists who were part of the Harlem Renaissance such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston worked for the WPA. The reason why it’s ironic because it was due to the efforts of the slave narratives and a passion to create positive images in art and literacy, did these efforts come full circle in recording what former slaves went through in their past.

Perhaps it’s the continued myths of perception of a society who believes in the fallacies that slaves were ‘less than’ because of their condition, but they did persist in terms of how the narratives were written:

Prevailing nineteenth-century cultural sentiment argued that the enslaved person did not have the higher reasoning and intellectual skills capable of producing a sustained piece of literature. Thus, the existence of a multitude of authentic first-person slave narratives helped to shatter racist cultural and pseudo-scientific conventions.

I selected those words in bold to illustrate what I’m sure a multitude who holds on to that belief, judge black writers by. Even in the 21st Century, this attitude prevails among literary circles when it comes to again, someone who shares my same skin color. That is an unfortunate and short sighted view particularly with the slaves. It’s a shame that these authors of the narratives had to ‘authenticate’ their works, but this was the reality:

Because of widespread disbelief that those deemed mentally inferior could in fact produce detailed analyses of their lives, many slave narratives contain documents, prefaces, supporting letters, or introductions written by prominent white citizens. These sources were intended to authenticate the extraordinary fact that not only were some slaves and former slaves literate but also the horrific stories they revealed about slavery in their narratives were true.
(Source:http://bad.eserver.org/issues/2004/69/schiller.html)

Even sadder:

For a nation that believed slavery was a benign institution, slave narrators' tales of rape, murder, and brutality were almost impossible to believe unless a "trustworthy" authority could vouch for the writer's veracity. In addition to verifying a particular person's life story, these supporting documents by prominent whites were instrumental in increasing the marketability and sale of these slave narratives, as is the case in Frederick Douglass's (1818–1895) 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Both William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879) and Wendell Phillips (1811–1884), two of the most famous abolitionists, provide their stamp of approval for Douglass's best-selling narrative. Douglass's fame as a writer and an orator is directly related to his (sometimes troubled) relationship with these two men.

It’s what is what I call the ‘approval method’. A slave narrative wouldn’t look ‘authentic’ unless an Abolitionist or influential person validates for the author. What angers me inside is the fact these are not fairy tales, these are not made up stories of slaves ‘content’ with their status. These narratives provided stark detail on the brutal treatment of masters, overseers, etc. Yet, because these are slaves sharing their hearts with a readership that is not unlike their masters, these narratives wouldn’t be ‘validated’ unless a person far removed from the whips, chains, separation of family at a slave auction, maimed for whatever reason - that person far removed from the pain of slavery - was the one deemed to confirm the suffering of a people in the South was all real. Perhaps my anger is justified by the following:

To return to the slave narratives, they are in themselves very revealing of the scepticism directed toward the literate slave both in their own time and in our histories of them. When first put into print, each had to verified and authorised by a host of white authorities before it could be accepted as truthful, a process which did not end with publication, but which has continued to the present day as historians have repeated history in a perpetual challenge to the authority of the slave narrator. For example, Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in The Life of A Slave Girl was only finally and definitively 'proven' to be a work of autobiography rather than fiction in 1981, 120 years after it was first published. What free white person has had to wait so long for the authorisation of their autobiography?

While it’s easier to point a finger at a textbook that erroneously depicts slaves fighting for a faction that sought to keep them enslaved, the withholding of historical accounts through the eyes of slaves, is a bigger shame to future generations who deserve to know the actual truth, and the shame in not admitting the power of literacy the narrators had in describing their history. I believe Abolitionists had great intentions, their mission to end the institution of slavery should be applauded. Yet, because of those intentions….well…I will let this speak for itself:

For instance, while the highly literate Frederick Douglass' narrative might have been a bestseller, American abolitionists preferred to employ his talents as a lecturer, and in general, although their constituency was the literate middle-classes, they nonetheless favoured the spoken over the written word. This is clear from their reluctance to promote fugitive slaves' writings — although over fifty slave narratives were published between 1831 and 1861, Garrison's Liberator reviewed only six of them — whilst when it came to lectures they preferred their fugitive-slave/lecturer to be unschooled and artless. For instance, Lydia Maria Child commented that she found the testimony of Lewis Clarke, (an illiterate fugitive slave who spoke at a number of abolitionist meetings in the same period as Douglass), particularly compelling because he was clearly uneducated and unsophisticated:
(Source: http://bad.eserver.org/issues/2004/69/schiller.htm l)

The rest of the article reveals the goal of the Abolitionists was to present an illiterate slave instead of well-written literate slaves in order to prove their case. Or as in this quote: “Thus slaves become objects to be freed, just as they were objects to be enslaved.”

If anything, what the past entries in this series has shown is that slaves had a passion for reading and writing, though outlawed in many states across the South. Knowledge and education were key for the slaves who saw them as a way out of their condition and like Douglass, had his mind expand to infinite possibilities. Of course, in 1800’s America in the South, they were limited but the power of literature was realistic for slaves to obtain. The disappointing challenges as posted above by those steadfastly against slaves gaining literary skills as well as the anti-slavery crowd who diluted the power of the written word among slaves, show the struggles of maintaining a literary legacy Blacks or African-Americans can be proud of, while our stories and struggles still by and large, wait for approval by a select group to speak for us.

This one quote says it best: “Who speaks for the slave? It must surely be the slave.”

In spite of all this, there are a number of slave narratives either out in print or in the process of being released. What about the slaves themselves? Besides the ones already mentioned, what did their passion of literature enable them to do? We already know about Mr. Douglass and Colonel Allensworth, but what about the rest? What can we in our convenient 21st Century lifestyle learn about their struggles, their triumphs? What can we learn from them?

The answers await in our next entry as we learn who benefited from literacy.

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
Los Angeles Black Book Expo

The Passion of Literature: Literacy Tests - Separate and Unequal

2010-11-16T11:42:00.000-08:00

From Thoughts On A String

Whether it is fair or not, the famous Black educator Booker T. Washington will be judged for the words he spoke at the 1895 Atlanta Exposition with his famous 'Compromise' speech: "in all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." I won’t go into the full background of that speech only to say that in doing further research, I believe that it’s not purely what this great man said (which a year later led to Plessy V. Ferguson and the rise of Separate But Equal and Jim Crow), but his belief in what direction blacks or Negroes should go in. A direction constantly under debate in 2010:

In this same speech, Washington declared that African Americans must take responsibility for their own advancement, and urged vocational training over academic studies believing that the masses would earn a living by using their hands. He also favored both literacy tests and property qualifications for voting privileges thinking that this would encourage African American to obtain an education and wealth. (bold mine)
(Source: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/bookert.html)

It’s ironic that the same passion for literacy the freed slaves had would be used against them. By the time Washington makes this speech and rises in stature, Frederick Douglass is ill and in the same year, dies of a heart attack. It’s ironic because for all that Douglass fought for, taking advantage of the same privileges of reading and writing both he and Washington had, to see it denied in one speech, a speech that affect even the generation of the 21st Century.

But we're jumping way too far ahead. Let’s back up thirty years earlier to find out where Negroes ended up at that point in 1895.

After slavery had officially ended, scores of Blacks in slave states faced an uncertain future. They were promised forty acres and a mule and while the descendants of those slaves are still waiting in 2010, there were a few slaves who used the power of literacy to move ahead in what is called as the Reconstruction Era.

Due to the slave codes and laws forbidding slaves to read and write, by the time they were free, most freedmen (as they were called) didn’t have the education to build a new foundation for their families. Slaves were conditioned not to look towards the future as this quote from blogger Sorn Jessen illustrates that:

As Nedd Cobb says in All God’s Dangers when he speaks of the cultural legacies of slavery handed down from his father, “My daddy was blindfolded didn’t look to the future, just throwin’ his money in a dead hogs ass and takin shit.”

The intervention of the federal government and Freedman’s Bureau (among other groups) helped to raise the literacy level of freed blacks during the Reconstruction period.

As noted, the literacy rates for blacks rose steadily:
(From Illiteracy in America - Past, Present, and Future by Jennifer Sachwitz)

In addition to population size, ethnic groups also played an important role in explaining the background of America's education trends. For example, blacks in the late 1800's were more than 75% illiterate, but after the Civil War the school aged individuals who replaced them had more educational opportunities.

Illiteracy among former slaves decreased during this period:

Before the emancipation of slaves in the U.S. there were few opportunities for minority education with the exception of some northern schools. However, after the Civil War this changed and "enrollment rates for blacks rose rapidly from 10% in 1870 to 34% in 1880."

Again, from Jessen’s blog:
http://sjessen.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/the-legacies-of-reconstruction /

Over 4,000 freedman’s schools were created with 9,300 teachers. By 1870 black literacy increased from 7 to 15 percent. In 1880 it was 30 percent, and by the end of the century black literacy rates was comparable with southern white literacy.

The freed slaves chose not to wait for Superman. They wanted to take their own destinies in their hands, literally. The passion for literacy among the slaves helped to gain that physical and intellectual freedom they so desired. If there is one thing we can ‘sell’ our children on, it’s the fact a healthy pursuit of education and knowledge will not only give them the power of choice in whatever field they choose, but they will have a foundation that will help them live their lives more abundantly.

This link from PBS.org gives greater details on the mindset and attitudes of the time regarding freed slaves and the steps taken to educate them: Q&A: Schools and Education During Reconstruction. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/schools/sf_postwar.html#f)

For the white southerners in power, freed men and women gaining in literacy was a threat. As much of a threat as it had been when slavery thrived. Yale professor David Blight documents this rising fear in a lecture:

And there were in some ways nothing more threatening, to white Southerners--actually there were two things most threatening to white Southerners, around which this Southern counter-revolution will be forged. One was the black school, black literacy, education, the potential of mobility, and the education particularly of a black political leadership class.

Left without an institution that subjugated an entire race of people, the only thing left legally (the newly formed Ku Klux Klan in Blight’s view, took another route) that politicians could use were laws. Enter poll taxes, grandfather clauses and literacy tests.

Literacy tests were legal weapons to curtail the growing black literate influence in the South as documented here:

In 1890, Southern states began to adopt explicit literacy tests to disenfranchise voters. This had a large differential racial impact, since 40-60% of blacks were illiterate, compared to 8-18% of whites. Poor, illiterate whites opposed the tests, realizing that they too would be disenfranchised. To placate them, Southern states adopted an "understanding clause" or a "grandfather clause," which entitled voters who could not pass the literacy test to vote, provided they could demonstrate their understanding of the meaning of a passage in the constitution to the satisfaction of the registrar, or were or were descended from someone eligible to vote in 1867, the year before blacks attained the franchise. Discriminatory administration ensured that blacks would not be eligible to vote through the understanding clause. However, illiterate whites also felt the impact of the literacy tests, since some of the understanding and grandfather clauses expired after a few years, and some whites were reluctant to expose their illiteracy by publicly resorting to them.
(Source: http://www.umich.edu/~lawrace/disenfranchise1.htm)

So what were these tests anyway? What did they consist of?

From the Civil Rights Movement Veterans website, a detail of one such state’s requirements:

In the rural counties where most folk lived, you had to go down to the courthouse to register. The Registrars Office was only open two or three days each month for a couple of hours, usually in the morning or afternoon. You had to take off work — with or without your employer's permission — to register. And if a white employer gave such permission, or failed to fire Black who tried to vote, he could be driven out of business by economic retaliation from the Citizens Council.

(Side note: think about this story - in 2010)

On the occasional registration day, the county Sheriff and his deputies made it their business to hang around the courthouse to discourage "undesirables" from trying to register. This meant that Black women and men had to run a gauntlet of intimidation, insults, threats, and sometimes arrest on phony charges, just to get to the Registration Office. Once in the Registrars Office they faced hatred, harassment, and humiliation from clerks and officials.

The Alabama Application Form and oaths you had to take were four pages long. It was designed to intimidate and threaten. You had to swear that your answers to every single question were true under penalty of perjury. And you knew that the information you entered on the form would be passed on to the Citizens Council and KKK.

Many counties used what they called the "voucher system." This meant that you had to have someone who was already a registered voter "vouch" for you — under oath and penalty of perjury — that you met the residence qualification to vote. In some counties this "supporting witness" had to accompany you to the registrars office, in others they were interviewed elsewhere. Some counties limited the number of new applicants a registered voter could vouch for in a given year to two or three. Since no white voter would dare vouch for a Black applicant, in counties where only a handful of African-Americans were already registered only a few more each year could be added to the rolls. And in counties were no African-Americans were registered, none ever could because they had no one to vouch for them.

(Side note - Voter intimidation as of 2010)

More information can be found on this website, scroll down to see the rest: http://www.crmvet.org/info/lithome.htm

Parts “B” and “C” of a literacy test [ http://www.crmvet.org/info/litques.htm]

The following website also features one of the various Literacy Tests used by other states over the years:
http://kpearson.project.tcnj.edu/interactive/imm_files/test.html

You can actually print one yourself on your computer: http://www.iowa.gov/government/crc/docs/Literacy%20Test.doc

Try and see if you can answer those questions. Don’t worry if you can’t, most freed men and women couldn’t either.

In this research covering slavery and literacy among them, I’m amused to find parallels from the 1800’s to the 2000’s. Although Black people such as I are reaping the benefits and advantages of the passion of literacy pursued by our ancestors, recent data has shown we as a people are losing our hold on that passion - especially our young men. It’s as much our fault as anyone else’s. The Powers That Be are always going to write laws, enforce them, and sell their rationale to an unsuspecting public or electorate. If you wear this colored skin, expect that….always. What disappoints me is the mindset adopted by our generation to treat literacy as something that is not ‘cool’ or ‘dope’. Or we dismiss it as being too ‘proper’ or ‘white’ amongst ourselves. I would argue the slaves in captivity would strongly disagree. Slave narratives are a part of written and oral history used to describe the struggles, the pain and the triumphs of our race. The late great Rosa Parks said it best:

“We must double and redouble our efforts to try to say to our youth, to try to give them an inspiration, an incentive and the will to study our heritage and to know what it means to be black in America today.”

Although she meant her quote when it came to black legality and history, I would like to offer slave narratives as part of that history. In the next entry, we’ll go over what these narratives were and their impact on our generation today.

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
Los Angeles Black Book Expo

The Passion of Literature: Rule of Law

2010-11-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

From Thoughts On A String

The following entry has heavy references to support the argument I’m about to post.

If you live long enough in the Black community, you’ll often hear terms such as ‘product’ and ‘hand to hand’. I’m doing some editing/proofreading work on a manuscript now and I came across these terms used for drug dealing on the street. However, you can learn the same terms (and more) by watching fine episodes of shows such as The Wire. The terms apply to this entry because just as certain drugs are considered unlawful in these modern times, so was literacy among the slaves.

To slave owners like Frederick Douglass’s Mr. Hugh Auld, the rational behind not allowing slaves to learn how to read is summed up in Mr. Douglass’s recollection of Auld’s reaction discovering his wife Sophia had secretly taught Mr. Douglass how to read:

Hugh Auld believed that if a slave knew how to read and write that it would make him unfit for a slave. A slave that could read and write would no longer obey his master without question or thought, or even worse could forge papers that said he was free and thus escape to a northern state where slavery was outlawed. Hugh Auld then instructed Sophia to stop the lessons at once!
(Source: http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/douglass/part1.html)

This grand fear wasn’t limited to just Mr. Auld. Although slaves were allowed to read the Bible by certain owners, anything outside of the Good Book was a threat to the structure of the slave system as lawmakers knew it. While the Bible was never refused for slaves to read, as it teaches us how to live a quality spiritual life, the ancestors were not allowed the same opportunity when it came to periodicals as the one Frederick Douglass read, the Columbian Orator. It’s described as: “a collection of political essays, poems, and dialogues, was widely used in American schoolrooms in the first quarter of the nineteenth century to teach reading and speaking.” (Wikipedia)

What the Columbian Orator represented to slaves like Douglass, a pathway to educate himself, learning the English language and comprehending his situation better. The collection to lawmakers and slave owners was a clear threat to their institution of slavery. As mentioned in the Wikipedia entry, it “became a symbol not only of human rights, but also of the power of eloquence and articulation.”

As mentioned last time, literacy to the slaves meant it was ‘Keys to the Kingdom’ and slave owners knew it. Coupled with a growing Abolitionist movement to end the practice of slavery, laws against reading were the only thing that could keep slaves from gaining the knowledge needed for empowerment. Mr. Douglass never knew he was a slave until he began to read and expand his mind in the pages of the Columbian Orator. Needless to say, lawmakers were fearful of that fact as well.

From LegacyMuseum.org under “The Slave-Holding Era”.

As anti-slavery sentiment grew, Virginia and other southern states began to pass laws against educating slaves. Slaves who could read abolitionist tracts were dangerous. So were those who could forge passes to ease escape. In 1831, Virginia law made it illegal for any African American, slave or free, to learn to read, and all meetings for the purpose of educating African Americans were declared unlawful. Owners often whipped slaves who tried to write even their own names.

By 1848, it was against the law for free blacks to send their children North to be educated. But many African Americans remained determined to teach themselves, as well as others, to read and write.

In 1831, a Virginia law made it illegal for African Americans, whether enslaved or free, to learn to read. The fear of an uprising prompted whites to discourage all activities, including literacy, that might enable blacks to organize. Literacy among slaves threatened the institution of slavery. (bold mine)

In Their Own Words: Slave Narratives
(Source: http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/abolitionism/narratives.htm)

For slaves and their teachers, the exercise of reading and writing was a dangerous and illegal one. In most southern states, anyone caught teaching a slave to read would be fined, imprisoned, or whipped. The slaves themselves often suffered severe punishment for the crime of literacy, from savage beatings to the amputation of fingers and toes.

(Source: http://mgagnon.myweb.uga.edu/students/Walthour.htm)
However, the laws varied from state to state. Most of them grew out of fears that if slaves could read and write, they could forge passes, read abolitionist pamphlets, or revolt. In South Carolina and Georgia local ordinances were passed that made it illegal to sell writing materials to slave. North Carolina allowed instruction in "arithmetical calculations", but prohibited reading and writing. In Virginia, it was illegal for blacks to meet for the purpose of reading and writing, but their owners could legally instruct them in private.

Lawmakers’ worst nightmares were realized when the Nat Turner rebellion occurred, stoking this fear even more.

From the Waco History Project:
http://wacohistoryproject.org/Slavery/slaveryaspects.htm

“They said they told them if they caught them writing, they would cut their finger off, and if they caught them reading they would cut their tongue out. They wanted to read and write, but they were scared, you know?” he said.

“In law generally, it was illegal to teach slaves to read or write," says Campbell. Some did anyway. After the Nat Turner rebellion, it was harder to teach reading and writing. The owners were afraid that it would permit them to read abolitionist literature and it might also lead to slave rebellion.”

Turner, a slave and preacher in Virginia, led a revolt involving 60 to 70 slaves who killed about 60 whites. He and about 20 slaves were hanged.

Without a doubt, fear was (and still is) a great motivator in the outlawing of literacy for the slaves. The words posted above (bold text mine) explains the true reason why slave codes and laws were enacted. The more literate the slaves became, the less power slave owners and their overseers had over them. Escape entered the minds of the slave more, thereby depleting the work force of plantations and other businesses in the South. Books were the ‘products’ ruled unlawful and punishable.

(Side note: would that be great if that was the only ‘product’ our young people pushed today instead of a society that looks the other way encouraging them to profit in illegal substances? Ah, but I digress)

In the first part of this series, I alluded to the 1830-31 North Carolina statues making it a crime for slaves to read, and the punishments described. Here are a few ‘slave codes’ passed in the state of Alabama two years later:

(Source: Wisegeek; http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-slave-codes.htm)

* Alabama, 1833, section 31 - "Any person or persons who attempt to teach any free person of color, or slave, to spell, read, or write, shall, upon conviction thereof by indictment, be fined in a sum not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars."
* Alabama, 1833, section 32 - "Any free person of color who shall write for any slave a pass or free paper, on conviction thereof, shall receive for every such offense, thirty-nine lashes on the bare back, and leave the state of Alabama within thirty days thereafter..."
* Alabama, 1833, section 33 - "Any slave who shall write for any other slave, any pass or free-paper, upon conviction, shall receive, on his or her back, fifty lashes for the first offence, and one hundred lashes for every offence thereafter..."

There is so much more that deserves to be covered, but it wouldn’t be fair unless the owners who did teach their slaves to read either by secret or in states where the laws weren’t enforced harshly, to abolitionists who fought against denying slaves their literary rights, are also acknowledge in providing education to everyone deserved it and this particular moment in our nation’s history - kept silent in recent years, now being altered to provide a ‘favorable’ view of this subject - is telling. It is a blessing to have records of former slaves who were willing to recount their painful history and remind us that they too, are human and not illiterate by choice. There were higher political and social forces at work keeping them at bay. That will be covered soon. Even after the slaves were freed, they were still denied the best of living their lives and submitted to literacy tests just to earn the right to vote. These same tests continued throughout the Jim Crow era which displayed the hypocrisy of the ‘Separate But Equal’ era.

In fact, the next entry will attempt to explain how as far as literacy goes, slaves and their freed children were separate, but not equal. See you next time.

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
Los Angeles Black Book Expo

The Passion of Literature: Keys to the Kingdom

2010-11-16T09:04:00.000-08:00

From Thoughts On A String

Back in the days when I attended secondary schools, there was a perception that being literate meant you were ‘too good for anybody’ or a ‘square’. It wasn’t considered cool if you possessed excellent reading and writing skills along with the ability to speak well. In our community, the code word is ‘proper’ meaning someone who was given that tag sounded white. The irony of this is that our ancestors would have given anything just to be educated, whereas it’s something we’ve taken for granted in our advanced times. We in the Black community have always had this power at our fingertips, because our ancestors fought and won the right to read and write for us today.

The status of an educated slave wasn’t different from the pedestal we place entertainers and persons of special interest today. From the article on PBS.com “The Slave Experience: Education, Arts, & Culture” : “Like black musicians and singers, slaves who could read and write were considered esteemed members of the slave community.” The ancestors with literate skills weren’t looked down upon but rather respected. They possessed knowledge beneficial to our cause and they were considered assets, rather than representatives of the fear of believing “thinking they’re better than us.” Despite the laws prohibiting slaves to read, there was a push in parts of the South among select groups to encourage them to do so.

The same PBS article mentions that in South Carolina in 1743 a school where slaves could attend were founded by Anglican ministers in the instruction of Christian education and religion. On several plantations, “plantations the pursuit of education became a communal effort -- slaves learned from parents, spouses, family members, and fellow slaves and some were even personally instructed by their masters or hired tutors. Slaveholders were motivated by Christian convictions to enable Bible-reading among slaves and even established informal plantation schools on occasion in part because of slaveholders' practical need for literate slaves to perform tasks such as record-keeping.”

For the Northern states, “where black education was not forbidden, African-Americans had greater access to formal schooling and were more likely to have basic reading and writing skills than Southern blacks.”

More evidence found in “Education and subversion in the antebellum era”

Even on plantations, the regular practice of hiring out slaves helped spread literacy. As seen in Frederick Douglass's own narrative, it was common for the literate to share their learning. As a result of the constant flux, few if any plantations would fail to have at least a few literate slaves.

African-American preachers would often attempt to teach some of the slaves to read in secret, but there were very few opportunities for concentrated periods of instruction. Through spirituals, stories, and other forms of oral literacy preachers, abolitionists, and other community leaders imparted valuable political, cultural, and religious information.

The ability to read and write meant everything our ancestors. Not only did it give them hope of continuing to dream of freedom but also provided them with a voice, “they spoke their minds, passions, and emotions through songs, stories, and the written word.”

A question I would like to ask is why in modern times we fail to recognize and empathize that if the ability to read and write well was important for our ancestors, it can’t be the same for us today? The previous blog entry revealed hard truths about the struggles young Black males are facing today, even benefiting entities willing to profit in their literary demise? I grant the slaves understood that gaining the ability to read and write meant to them as a collective. You see, it meant power or simply, a way to be empowered through literacy.

According to the PBS article “Q&A: Schools and Education During Reconstruction”, it was asked whether or not the ability to read meant the end of slavery. The response came in the form of the Freedman’s Bureau during the Civil War: [bold words, mine]

“The Freedmen's Bureau puts money into creating schools. But most of the schools that spring up are actually created by blacks themselves. They pool their resources -- which are very meager at this time -- to hire a teacher, to find a building, to build a building, to use an abandoned building -- to create schools. And at these schools, everybody is going. It's not just schoolchildren. Adults, elderly people are seeking education. This is one of the critical definitions of freedom for black people, is the ability to get an education.”

A second question was asked whether or not former slaves needed to read to gain political power. The response: “For many black people in the South, to learn how to read and how to figure and how to somehow move in a world of letters, was a revolutionary act, because it now gave them the skills and the tools whereby they could combat the racism that had oppressed them for centuries.”

Still think it’s ‘proper’ to learn how to read and write? You bet it is. I don’t know how celebrating illiteracy entered our mindset or why is it considered a crime among our broader community to possess these valuable skills to advance our social causes. Our ancestors knew, they believed all too well what it meant to them and the zeal they had can be summed up in this quote from the same article: “They embraced education like nothing else.” Why can’t we in the 21st Century do the same? Why can’t we celebrate and honor the best of literacy among us instead of denying the power it grants us by merely uttering statements such as “I don’t read” or books are ‘boring’?

Slaves were motivated to read. Why? "They believed that an education was the ‘Key to the Kingdom’.”" (http://mgagnon.myweb.uga.edu/students/Walthour.htm).

I leave you with two examples.

In an earlier blog, I wrote about Frederick Douglass and his experience with the Aulds, especially the fear his owner Hugh Auld told his wife about slaves who possessed the ability to read. When Mr. Douglass learned of this new ability, he discovered the following: “Not quite 13 years old but enlightened with new ideas that both tormented and inspired him. Frederick began to detest slavery.” Mr. Douglass began to hate the condition he would have never learned about if he didn’t read and expand his mind. Only when he became conscious of the world around him at a young age, did he empower himself to do something about it. That’s what I hope our young men eventually find out before they wind up behind bars in a jail cell. The hood is not their universe, and the ’game’ they are merely part of, they don’t have to take part in anymore if they choose to do so.

The former Black township of Allensworth, California was founded by Colonel Allen Allensworth who was “Born into slavery in Louisville, Kentucky, Allensworth educated himself illegally; he ran off and joined the army, eventually becoming one of the Army's first Black chaplains. He obtained a teacher's certificate, and was stationed at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.”

The reason why he built Allensworth:

His dream was to build a community where black people might live and create "sentiment favorable to intellectual and industrial liberty." That dream came to fruition in 1908 with the establishment of Allensworth in Tulare county, about thirty miles north of Bakersfield, in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. The black settlers of Allensworth built homes, laid out streets, and put up public buildings. They established a church, and organized an orchestra, a glee club, and a brass band.

So with a dream like this, obviously it took an amount of proper education and literary skills to make this great achievement come true. This wouldn’t have happened without the support of his mother Phyllis who was a source of inspiration to read and write. The following passage reveals:

Instinctively his mother knew the advantages of education, so she said to Allen one day, "My son, Miss Bett is sending 'Little Marse' Tommy to school to get a learning; now, my son, what is good for 'Little Marse' Tommy is good for you. Your mother can't send you to no school, where you can learn to read and write and figure, so you must ask your 'Marse' Tom to play school with you every day when he comes home; then you can learn to read and write like him."

It was her firm belief that “Deep down in her heart she felt that in some way God would redeem her son from the thralldom of slavery; that, somehow, he would, if even partly educated, win his freedom.”

Frederick Douglass and Colonel Allensworth are two examples of former slaves using the ability to read and write to contribute to not only Black history, but American history. While it’s fashionable to dismiss the importance of reading and writing among our young people (and a number of adults), one thing that we should always keep in mind and remember when it comes to the power of literacy: “For many slaves, the ability to read and write meant freedom—if not actual, physical freedom, then intellectual freedom—to maintain relationships amongst family members separated by the slave trade.”

We can debate what we should read, but one thing I hope we all agree on is that we MUST READ. The stakes are too high for our children and our future. Even past laws forbidding this practice knew what it meant for the institution of slavery in general.

I'll cover that next time. Take care.

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
Los Angeles Black Book Expo

The Passion of Literature: Why It's So Important

2010-11-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

From Thoughts On A String

Perhaps this topic is more appropriate for a certain month when the accomplishments and history of my kind is best suited for. I decided to wait no longer to write about what is a passionate subject on my heart which is literacy. You see, I’ve been reading a bit of disturbing news and I’d like to share that with you.

According to an article in The Root’s website, a report by the Council of the Great City Schools reveals the truth that young Black males…. “continue to perform lower than their peers throughout the country on almost every indicator.”

Here are some hard facts:

"It really starts early, as this report indicates," she continued. "If young children are not being read to and communicated with at a level that encourages them to be inquisitive and to learn, they are behind from the beginning. So many urban kids are going to under resourced school systems with teachers who have not received all the training they need. It’s all so interrelated. There is a quiet crisis going on in our communities across the nation. If we don’t get this one right, it doesn’t bode well for us as a people."

"In readiness to learn, black children were twice as likely to live in a household where no parent had fulltime or year-round employment in 2008. And in 2007, one out of every three black children lived in poverty compared with one out of every 10 white children.

"In black male achievement at the national level, first-time analysis of the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) reveals that on the 2009 fourth grade reading assessment only 12 percent of black male students nationally and 11 percent of those living in large central cities performed at or above proficient levels, compared with 38 percent of white males nationwide.

"In eighth grade, only 9 percent of black males across the country and 8 percent living in large cities performed at or above the proficient level in reading, compared with 33 percent of white males nationwide. Math results were similar in both grades.

"Moreover, the average African American fourth and eighth grade male who is not poor does no better in reading and math on NAEP than white males who are poor, and black males without disabilities do no better than white males with disabilities.

The article in its entirety, is found here. Obviously, we must make it a point to empathize to our young men that “writing and speaking” are two skills needed to move ahead in this world.

Also, this article on Black America Web shows who’s ready in case our young men continue to falter via a faulty educational system and a system in the home to enjoy literacy. For everyone who scoffs at our book festivals in the community, these two examples should show without a doubt why it is paramount to get our children educated as fast as possible and to indulge in the joy of reading and writing. As the article written by Tonyaa Weathersbee says,

If black boys don’t learn, that situation will only worsen – because the jobs of the future are for the highly skilled. That means more research scientists and engineers, nurses, teachers and health-care technicians.

All of those jobs require that people know how to read.

In an earlier blog entry “Frederick Douglass was Mr. Auld's Worst Nightmare”, I described the fearful words from Frederick Douglass’s former slave owner Hugh Auld which explained the basis why it was illegal for slaves to read and write:

Frederick asked his mistress to teach him to read and she readily consented. He soon learned the alphabet and a few simple words. Sophia Auld was very excited about Fredericks progress and told her husband what she had done. Hugh Auld became furious at this because it was unlawful to teach a slave to read. Hugh Auld believed that if a slave knew how to read and write that it would make him unfit for a slave. A slave that could read and write would no longer obey his master without question or thought, or even worse could forge papers that said he was free and thus escape to a northern state where slavery was outlawed. Hugh Auld then instructed Sophia to stop the lessons at once!

The rest of the entry is here. On that page, I didn’t reference a website. Here it is.

Mr. Auld’s reaction prompted me to search for the laws forbidding slaves to read. The following are a few put in place by the states listed such as North Carolina.

Be it enacted by the General Asembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, that any free person who shall hereafter teach or attempt to teach any slave within this State to read or write, the use of figures excepted, Shall be liable to indictment in any court of record in the State having jurisdiction thereof, and upon conviction shall at the discretion of the court if a white man or woman be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned and if a free person of colour shall be whipped at the discretion of the court not exceeding thirty nine lashes nor less than twenty lashes.

Literacy among the slaves was viewed as dangerous indeed. In the next few entries, I will write the passion our ancestors had even facing torture in their quest for knowledge and why in our 21st Century, it’s a tragic mistake not to continue the same level of commitment to literacy as they had, and what we can do about it.

The Keys to the Kingdom are literally in our hands, and if we fail to show our young people why literacy is important, shame on us. We can’t blame this on anyone but ourselves.

Part 2 coming soon!

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
Los Angeles Black Book Expo

A Is for American: Exerpts

2010-10-31T02:39:00.001-07:00

The following is from A Is for American: Letters and Other Characters in the Newly United States by Jill Lepore. The following link has direct passages from the book. I encourage you to read beginning at page 126 as it deals with literacy and its role in our past history.

You can purchase a copy at:
Amazon

Random House

Barnes and Noble

Excerpt: At A Slave Auction

2010-10-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

(Note: the following is material based on a book, The Story of America – by John Garraty)

From the book:

No aspect of slavery brought home the inhumanity of it more than the slave auction. Slaves waited as buyers looked them over, deciding their fate and often that of their familes. Josiah Henson recalled:

“The crowd collected round the stand (auctioneer’s platform), the huddling group of Negroes, the examination of muscle, teeth, the exhibition of agility, the look of the auctioneer, the agony of my mother – I can shut my eyes and see them all.

“My brothers and sisters were bid off first, and one by one, while my mother, paralyzed by grief, held me by the hand. Her turn came, and she was bought by Issac Riley of Montgomery County. Then I was offered to the assembled purchasers. My mother, half distracted with the thought of parting forever from all her children pushed through the crowd, while the bidding for me was going on, to the spot where Riley was standing. She fell at his feet, and clung to his knees, entreating (begging) him in tones that a mother could only command, to buy her baby as well as herself, and to spare to her one, at least, of her little ones. Will it, can it be believed that this man, thus appealed to, was capable not merely of turning a deaf ear to her supplication (request) but of disengaging himself from her with such violent blows and kicks, as to reduce her to the necessity of creeping out of his reach, and mingling the groan of bodily suffering with the sob of a breaking heart? As she crawled away from the brutal man I heard her sob out, “Oh Lord Jesus, how long, how long shall I suffer this way!” I must have been then five and six years old.”

Passage borrowed from Truth Stranger Than Fiction, Father Henson’s story of His Own Life by Josiah Henson.

LINKS
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: The Slave Auction

David Walker's Appeal: A sampling

2010-03-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

David Walker born in 1785, is known for his Appeal, which a portion is featured here.

He was born of a slave father and free mother. Although he was legally ‘free’, the conditions in the South were he lived where many of his brethren were enslaved forced a move to Boston where he gained the ability to read and write. Walker also was a well known figure in the black community in the city, joining the Massachusetts General Colored Association and an agent for Samuel E. Cornish’s newspaper Rights For All.

Here are the first few pages of the Appeal, with a link to view the rest of the piece at your leisure.

David Walker's Appeal
(Under the original)
Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Colored Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America (Boston, Massachusetts, September 28, 1829).

By David Walker revised and published in Boston, Massachusetts by David Walker in 1830

It will be recollected, that I, in the first edition of my "Appeal," (see my Preamble in first edition, First page. See Also 2d edition, Article 1, page 9) promised to demonstrate in the course of which, viz. in the course of my Appeal, to the satisfaction of the most incredulous mind, that we Coloured People of these United States, are, the most wretched, degraded and abject set of beings that over lived since the world began, down to the present day, and, that, the white Christians of America, who hold us in slavery, (or, more properly speaking, pretenders to Christianity,) treat us more cruel and barbarous than any Heathen nation did any people whom it had subjected, or reduced to the same condition, that the Americans (who are, notwithstanding, looking for the Millennial day) have us. All I ask is, for a candid and careful perusal of this the third and last edition of my Appeal, where the world may see that we, the Blacks or Coloured People, are treated more cruel by the white Christians of America, than devils themselves ever treated a set of men, women and children on this earth.

It is expected that all coloured men, women and children, who are not too deceitful, abject, and servile to resist the cruelties and murders inflicted upon us by the white slave holders, our enemies by nature.
of every nation, language and tongue under heaven, will try to procure a copy of this Appeal and read it, or get someone to read it to them, for it is designed more particularly for them. Let them remember, that though our cruel oppressors and murderers, may (if possible) treat us more cruel, as Pharaoh did the children of Israel, yet the God of the Ethiopians, has been pleased to hear our moans in consequence of oppression; and the day of our redemption from abject wretchedness draweth near, when we shall be enabled, in the most extended sense of the word, to stretch forth our hands to the LORD our GOD, but there must be a willingness on our part, for GOD to do these things for us, for we may be assured that he will not take us by the hairs of our head against our will and desire, and drag us from our very, mean, low and abject condition.

Preamble
My dearly beloved Brethren and Fellow Citizens.
Having travelled over a considerable portion of these United States, and having, in the course of my travels, taken the most accurate observations of things as they exist--the result of my observations has warranted the full and unshaken conviction, that we, (coloured people of these United States,) are the most degraded, wretched, and abject set of beings that ever lived since the world began; and I pray God that none like us ever may live again until time shall be no more. They tell us of the Israelites in Egypt, the Helots in Sparta, and of the Roman Slaves, which last were made up from almost every nation under heaven, whose sufferings under those ancient and heathen nations, were, in comparison with ours, under this enlightened and Christian nation, no more than a cypher--or, in other words, those heathen nations of antiquity, had but little more among them than the name and form of slavery; while wretchedness and endless miseries were reserved, apparently in a phial, to be poured out upon our fathers, ourselves and our children, by Christian Americans!

These positions I shall endeavour, by the help of the Lord, to demonstrate in the course of this appeal, to the satisfaction of the most incredulous mind--and may God Almighty, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, open your hearts to understand and believe the truth.

The causes, my brethren, which produce our wretchedness and miseries, are so very numerous and aggravating, that I believe the pen only of a Josephus or a Plutarch, can well enumerate and explain them. Upon subjects, then, of such incomprehensible magnitude, so impenetrable, and so
notorious, I shall be obliged to omit a large class of, and content myself with giving you an exposition of a few of those, which do indeed rage to such an alarming pitch, that they cannot but be a perpetual source of terror and dismay to every reflecting mind.

I am fully aware, in making this appeal to my much afflicted and suffering brethren, that I shall not only be assailed by those whose greatest earthly desires are, to keep us in abject ignorance and wretchedness, and who are of the firm conviction that Heaven has designed us and our children to be slaves and beasts of burden to them and their children. I say, I do not only expect to be held up to the public as an ignorant, impudent and restless disturber of the public peace, by such avaricious creatures, as well as a mover of insubordination--and perhaps put in prison or to death, for giving a superficial exposition of our miseries, and exposing tyrants. But I am persuaded, that many of my brethren, particularly those who are ignorantly in league with slave-holders or tyrants, who acquire their daily bread by the blood and sweat of their more ignorant brethren--and not a few of those too, who are too ignorant to see an inch beyond their noses, will rise up and call me cursed--Yea, the jealous ones among us will perhaps use more abject subtlety, by affirming that this work is not worth perusing, that we are well situated, and there is no use in trying to better our condition, for we cannot.

I will ask one question here.--Can our condition be any worse?--Can it be more mean and abject? If there are any changes, will they not be for the better, though they may appear for the worst at first? Can they get us any lower? Where can they get us? They are afraid to treat us worse, for they know well, the day they do it they are gone. But against all accusations which may or can be preferred against me, I appeal to Heaven for my motive in writing--who knows that my object is, if possible, to awaken in the breasts of my afflicted, degraded and slumbering brethren, a spirit of inquiry and investigation respecting our miseries and wretchedness in this REPUBLICAN LAND OF LIBERTY! ! ! ! ! !

The sources from which our miseries are derived, and on which I shall comment, I shall not combine in one, but shall put them under distinct heads and expose them in their turn; in doing which, keeping truth on my side, and not departing from the strictest rules of morality, I shall endeavour to penetrate, search out, and lay them open for your inspection. If you cannot or will not profit by them, I shall have done my duty to you, my country and my God.

And as the inhuman system of slavery, is the source from which most of our miseries proceed, I shall begin with that curse to nations, which has spread terror and devastation through so many nations of antiquity, and which is raging to such a pitch at the present day in Spain and in Portugal. It had one tug in England, in France, and in the United States of America; yet the inhabitants thereof, do not learn wisdom, and erase it entirely from their dwellings and from all with whom they have to do. The fact is, the labour of slaves comes so cheap to the avaricious usurpers, and is (as they think) of such great utility to the country where it exists, that those who are actuated by sordid avarice only, overlook the evils, which will as sure as the Lord lives, follow after the good. In fact, they are so happy to keep in ignorance and degradation, and to receive the homage and the labour of the slaves, they forget that God rules in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, having his ears continually open to the cries, tears and groans of his oppressed people; and being a just and holy Being will at one day appear fully in behalf of the oppressed, and arrest the progress of the avaricious oppressors; for although the destruction of the oppressors God may not effect by the oppressed, yet the Lord our God will bring other destructions upon them--for not infrequently will he cause them to rise up one against another, to be split and divided, and to oppress each other, and sometimes to open hostilities with sword in hand.

Some may ask, what is the matter with this united and happy people?--Some say it is the cause of political usurpers, tyrants, oppressors, &c. But has not the Lord an oppressed and suffering people among them? Does the Lord condescend to hear their cries and see their tears in consequence of oppression? Will he let the oppressors rest comfortably and happy always? Will he not cause the very children of the oppressors to rise up against them, and of times put them to death? "God works in many ways his wonders to perform."

The Appeal continues here. Courtesy of the Journal of Pan-African Studies.

Negro National Anthem: Lift Every Voice and Sing

2010-02-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

The Negro National Anthem: Lift Every Voice and Sing

By James Weldon Johnson & John Rosamond Johnson

Lift every voice and sing,

'Til earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on 'til victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chast'ning rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

'Til now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who has by Thy might

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

May we forever stand,

True to our God,

True to our native land.

Although Wikipedia mentions the history of the song, it should be noted in this one section of the description:

The poem was later set to music by Mr. Johnson's brother, John, in 1905. Singing this song quickly became a way for African Americans to demonstrate their patriotism and hope for the future. In calling for earth and heaven to "ring with the harmonies of Liberty," they could speak out subtly against racism and Jim Crow laws—and especially the huge number of lynchings accompanying the rise of the Ku Klux Klan at the turn of the century. In 1919, the NAACP adopted the song as "The Negro National Anthem." By the 1920s, copies of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" could be found in black churches across the country, often pasted into the hymnals.

I leave you with this:

Phillis Wheatley: To His Excellency General Washington

2010-02-05T09:51:00.000-08:00

Ms. Wheatley's bio via wikipedia:
Phillis Wheatley (1753 – December 5, 1784) was the first African American poet and the first African-American woman whose writings were published. Born in Gambia, Senegal, she was enslaved at age seven. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and helped encourage her poetry.

Phillis Wheatley: To His Excellency General Washington

[The following LETTER and VERSES, were written by the famous Phillis Wheatley, The African Poetess, and presented to his Excellency Gen. Washington.]

SIR.
I Have taken the freedom to address your Excellency in the enclosed poem, and entreat your acceptance, though I am not insensible to its inaccuracies. Your being appointed by the Grand Continental Congress to be Generalissimo of the armies of North America, together with the fame of your virtues, excite sensations not easy to suppress. Your generosity, therefore, I presume, will pardon the attempt. Wishing your Excellency all possible success in the great cause you are so generously engaged in, I am

Your Excellency’s most obedient humble servant,

Phillis Wheatley
Providence, Oct 26, 1775.
His Excellency Gen. Washington.

Celestial choir! Enthroned in realms of light,
Columbia’s scenes of glorious toils I write
While freedom’s cause her anxious breast alarms,
She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
See mother earth her offspring’s fate bemoan,
And nations gaze at scenes before unknown!
See the bright beams of heaven’s revolving light
Involved in sorrows and the veil of night!
The goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,
Olive and laurel binds her golden hair:
Wherever shines this native of the skies,
Unnumbered charms and recent graces rise.
Muse! Bow propitious while my pen relates
How pour her armies through a thousand gates,
As when Eolus heaven’s fair face deforms,
Enwrapped in tempest and a night of storms;
Astonished oceans feels the wind uproar,
The refluent surges beat the sounding shore;
Or thick as leaves in Autumn’s golden reign,
Such, and so many, moves the warrior’s train.
In bright array they seek the work of war,
Where high unfurl’d the ensign waves in air.
Shall I to Washington their praise recite?
Enough thou knowest them in the fields of fight.
Thee, first in peace and honours, - we demand
The grace and glory of thy martial band.
Fam’d for thy valour, for thy virtues more,
Hear every tongue thy guardian aid implore!
One Century scarce perform’d its destined round,
When Gallic powers Columbia’s fury found;
And so may you, whoever dares disgrace
The land of freedom’s heaven-defended race!
Fix’d are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia’s arm prevails.
Anon Britannia droops the pensive head,
While round increase the rising hills of dead.
Ah! cruel blindness to Columbia’s state!
Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,
Thy every action let the goddess glide.
A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,
With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! be thine.

Note to Phillis Wheatley’s Letter and Poem to George Washington

[General Washington’s reply to Phillis Wheatley’s poem was as follows.]

Cambridge, Mass.
February 28, 1776

Miss Phillis, Your favor of the 26th of October did not reach my hands, till the middle of December. Time enough, you will say, to have given an answer ere this. Granted. But a variety of important occurances, continually interposing to distract the mind and withdraw the attention, I hope will apologize for the delay, and plead my excuse for the seeming but not real neglect. I thank you most sincerely for your polite notice of me, in the elegant lines you enclosed; and however underserving I may be of such encomium and panegyric, the style and manner exhibits a striking proof of your poetical talents; in honor of which, and as a tribute justly due to you, I would have published the poem, had I not been apprehensive, that, while I only meant to give the world this new instance of your genius, I might have incurred the imputation of vanity. This, and nothing else, determined me not to give it place in the public prints.
If you should ever come to Cambridge, or near headquarters, I shall be happy to see a person so favored by the Muses, and to whom nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations. I am, with great respect,

Your obedient humble servant,

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

(source: Black Writers of America: A Comprehensive Anthology - Barksdale/Kinnamon)

For more of Ms. Wheatley's poems, click on this link:
http://www.poemhunter.com/phillis-wheatley/

Snippets from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African

2010-02-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

Note: excerpts are taken from the following site: The Life of Olaudah Equiano

Born in Benin in the late 18th century, Equiano was enslaved as a young boy and passed through a variety of experiences, many of them horrible; but he managed to acquire enough learning and independence to become a major voice advocating an end to slavery. His Narrative, written in English in 1789, immediately became a sensation, and has remained a classic source for our knowledge about the European slave trade from the point of view of the slave.

Description of his early life.

Our tillage is exercised in a large plain or common, some hours walk from our dwellings, and all the neighbors resort thither in a body. They use no beasts or husbandry, and their only instruments are hoes, axes, shovels, and beaks, or pointed iron to dig with. Sometimes we are visited by locusts, which come in large clouds so as to darken the air and destroy our harvest. This however happens rarely, but when it does a famine is produced by it. I remember an instance or two wherein this happened. This common is often the theater of war and therefore when our people go out to till their land they not only go in a body but generally take their arms with them for fear of a surprise, and when they apprehend an invasion they guard the avenues to their dwellings by driving sticks into the ground, which are so sharp at one end as to pierce the foot and are generally dipped in poison. From what I can recollect of these battles, they appear to have been irruptions of one little state or district on the other to obtain prisoners or booty. Perhaps they were incited to this by those traders who brought the European goods I mentioned amongst us. Such a mode of obtaining slaves in Africa is common, and I believe morc are procured this way and by kidnapping than any other. When a trader wants slaves he applies to a chief for them and tempts him with his wares. It is not extraordinary if on this occasion he yields to the temptation with as little firmness, and accepts the price of his fellow creature's liberty with as little reluctance as the enlightened merchant. Accordingly he falls on his neighbours and a desperate battle ensues. If he prevails and takes prisoners, he gratifies his avarice by selling them; but if his party be vanquished and he falls into the hands of the enemy, he is put to death: for as he has been known to foment their quarrels it is thought dangerous to let him survive, and no ransom can save him, though all other prisoners may be redeemed. We have fire-arms, bows and arrows, broad two-edged swords and javelins: we have shields also which cover a man from head to foot. All are taught the use of these weapons; even our women are warriors and march boldly out to fight along with the men. Our whole district is a kind of militia: on a certain signal given, such as the firing of a gun at night, they all rise in arms and rush upon their enemy. It is perhaps something remarkable that when our people march to the field a red flag or banner is borne before them. I was once a witness to a battle in our common. We had been all at work in it one day as usual, when our people were suddenly attacked. I climbed a tree at some distance, from which I beheld the fight. There were many women as well as men on both sides; among others my mother was there, and armed with a broad sword. After fighting for a considerable time with great fury and after many had been killed, our people obtained the victory and took their enemy's Chief prisoner. Hc was carried off in great triumph, and though he offered a large ransom for his life he was put to death. A virgin of note among our enemies had been slain in the battle, and her arm was exposed in our market-place where our trophies were always exhibited. The spoils were divided according to the merit of the warriors. Those prisoners which were not sold or redeemed we kept as slaves: but how different was their condition from that of the slaves in the West Indies! With us they do no more work than other members of the community, even their master; their food, clothing and lodging were nearly the same as theirs, (except that they were not permitted to eat with those who were freeborn), and there was scarce any other difference between them than a superior degree of importance which the head of a family possesses in our state, and that authority which, as such, he exercises over every part of his household. Some of thcse slaves have even slaves under them as their own property and for their own use.

Enslavement

My father, besides many slaves, had a numerous family of which seven lived to grow up, including myself and a sister who was the only daughter. As I was the youngest of the sons I became, of course, the greatest favourite with my mother and was always with her; and she used to take particular pains to form my mind. I was trained up from my earliest years in the art of war, my daily exercise was shooting and throwing javelins, and my mother adorned me with emblems after the manner of our greatest warriors. In this way I grew up till I was turned the age of 11, when an end was put to my happiness in the following manner. Generally when the grown people in the neighbourhood were gone far in the fields to labour, the children assembled together in some of the neighbours' premises to play, and commonly some of us used to get up a tree to look out for any assailant or kidnapper that might come upon us, for they sometimes took those opportunities of our parents' absence to attack and carry off as many as they could seize. One day, as I was watching at the top of a tree in our yard, I saw one of those people come into the yard of our next neighbour but one to kidnap, there being many stout young people in it. Immediately on this I gave the alarm of the rogue and he was surrounded by the stoutest of them, who entangled him with cords so that he could not escape till some of the grown people came and secured him. But alas! ere long it was my fate to be thus attacked and to be carried off when none of the grown people were nigh. One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as usual and only I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two men and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized us both, and without giving us time to cry out or make resistance they stopped our mouths and ran off with us into the nearest wood. Here they tied our hands and continued to carry us as far as they could till night came on, when we reached a small house where the robbers halted for refreshment and spent the night. We were then unbound but were unable to take any food, and being quite overpowered by fatigue and grief, our only relief was some sleep, which allayed our misfortune for a short time. The next morning we left the house and continued travelling all the day. For a long time we had kept to the woods, but at last we came into a road which I believed I knew. I had now some hopes of being delivered, for we had advanced but a little way before I discovered some people at a distance, on which I began to cry out for their assistance: but my cries had no other effect than to make them tie me faster and stop my mouth, and then they put me into a large sack. They also stopped my sister's mouth and tied her hands and in this manner we proceeded till we were out of the sight of these people. When we went to rest the following night they offered us some victuals, but we refused it, and the only comfort we had was in being in one another's arms all that night and bathing each other with our tears. But alas! we were soon deprived of even the small comfort of weeping together. The next day proved a day of greater sorrow than I had yet experienced, for my sister and I were then separated while we lay clasped in each other's arms. It was in vain that we besought them not to part us; she was torn from me and immediately carried away, while I was left in a state of distraction not to be described. I cried and grieved continually, and for several days I did not eat anything but what they forced into my mouth.

To read the rest, please visit this website to continue the Life of Olaudah Equiano

John Browne Russwurm: The Condition and Prospects of Hayti

2010-02-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

The changes which take place in the affairs of this world show the instability of sublunary things. Empires rise, and fall, flourish, and decay. Knowledge follows revolutions and travels over the globe. Man alone, remains the same being, whether placed under the torrid suns of Africa, or in the more congenial temperate zone. A principle of liberty is implanted in his breast, and all efforts to stifle it are as fruitless as would be the attempt to extinguish the fires of Etna.

It is in the irresistible course of events that all men, who have been deprived of their liberty, shall recover this portion of their indefeasible inheritance. It is in vain to stem the current; degraded man will rise in his native majesty, and claim his rights. They may be withheld from him now, but the day will arrive, when they must be surrendered.

Among the many interesting events of the present day, and illustrative of this, the Revolution in Hayti holds a conspicuous place. The former political condition of Hayti we all doubtless know. After years of sanguinary struggle for freedom and a political existence, the Haytiens on the auspicious day of January first 1804 declared themselves a free and independent nation. Nothing can ever induce them to recede from this declaration. They know all too well by their past misfortunes; by their wounds which are yet bleeding, that security can be expected only from within themselves. Rather would they devote themselves to death than return to their former condition.

Can we conceive of anything which can cheer the desponding spirit, can reanimate and stimulate it to put every thing to the hazard? Liberty can do this. Such were its effects upon the Haytiens – men who in slavery showed neither spirit nor genius; but when Liberty, when once Freedom struck their astonished ears, they became new creatures: stepped forth as men, and showed to the world, that though Slavery may benumb, it cannot entirely destroy our faculties. Such were Touissant L’ Overture [sic], Desalines [sic] and Christophe!

The Haytiens have adopted the republican form of government: and so firmly is it established, that in no country are the rights and privileges of citizens and foreigners more respected, and crimes less frequent. They are a brave and generous people. If cruelties were inflicted during the Revolutionary war, it was owing to the policy pursued by the French commanders, which compelled them to use retaliatory measures.

For who shall expostulate with men who have been hunted with bloodhounds – who have been threatened with an Auto-da-fe’- whose relations and friends have been hung on gibbets before their eyes – have been sunk by hundreds in the sea – and tell them they ought to exercise kindness towards such mortal enemies? Remind me not of moral duties, of meekness and generosity. Show me the man who has exercised them under these trials, and you point to one who is more than human. It is an undisputed fact, that more than sixteen thousand Haytiens perished in the modes above specified. The cruelties by the French on the children of Hayti have exceeded the crimes of Cortez and Pizarro.

Thirty-two years of their Independence so gloriously achieved, have effected wonders. No longer are they the same people. They had faculties, yet were these faculties oppressed under the load of servitude and ignorance. With a countenance erect and fixed upon Heaven, they can now contemplate the works of Divine munificence. Restored to the dignity of man to society, they have acquired a new existence – their powers have been developed: a career of glory and happiness unfolds itself before them.

The Haytien government has arisen in the neighborhood of European settlements. Do the public proceedings and details of its Government bespeak any inferiority? Their state papers are distinguished from those of many European Courts, only by their superior energy and non-exalted sentiments; and while the manners and politics of Boyer emulate those of his Republican neighbours; the court of Christophe had almost as much foppery; almost as many lords and ladies of the bed-chamber; and almost as great a proportion of stars, and ribbons, and gilded chariots, as those of his brother potentates in any part of the world.

(Placed by Divine Providence amid circumstances more favourable, than were their ancestors, the Haytiens can more easily than they, make rapid stides in the career of civilization – they can demonstrate that although the God of nature may have given them a darker complexion, still are men alike sensible to all the miseries of slavery, and to all the blessings of freedom.)

May we not indulge in the pleasing hope, that the Independence of Hayti has laid the foundation of an Empire that will rank with the nations of the earth – that a country, the local situation of which is favourable to trade and commercial enterprise – possessing a free and well regulated government, which encourages the useful and liberal arts: a country containing an enterprising and growing population, which is determined to live free, or die gloriously: will advance rapidly in all the arts of civilization.

We look forward with peculiar satisfaction to the period when like Tyre of old, her vessels shall extend the fame of her riches and glory, to the remotest borders of the globe; - to the time when Hayti treading in the footsteps of her sister republicks, shall, like them, exhibit a picture of rapid and unprecedented advance in population, wealth and intelligence.

John Browne Russwurm Biography
Russwurm.org

Benjamin Banneker: Letter to Thomas Jefferson

2010-02-01T09:37:00.000-08:00

Sir,

I am fully sensible of the greatness of that freedom, which I take with you on the present occasion ; a liberty which seemed to me scarcely allowable, when I reflected on that distinguished and dignified station in which you stand, and the almost general prejudice and prepossession, which is so prevalent in the world against those of my complexion.

I suppose it is a truth too well attested to you, to need a proof here, that we are a race of beings, who have long labored under the abuse and censure of the world ; that we have long been looked upon with an eye of contempt ; and that we have long been considered rather as brutish than human, and scarcely capable of mental endowments.

Sir, I hope I may safely admit, in consequence of that report which hath reached me, that you are a man far less inflexible in sentiments of this nature, than many others ; that you are measurably friendly, and well disposed towards us ; and that you are willing and ready to lend your aid and assistance to our relief, from those many distresses, and numerous calamities, to which we are reduced. Now Sir, if this is founded in truth, I apprehend you will 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 endowed us all with the same faculties ; and that however variable we may be in society or religion, however diversified in situation or color, we are all of the same family, and stand in the same relation to him.

Sir, if these are sentiments of which you are fully persuaded, I hope you cannot but acknowledge, that it is the indispensable duty of those, who maintain for themselves the rights of human nature, and who possess the obligations of Christianity, to extend their power and influence to the relief of every part of the human race, from whatever burden or oppression they may unjustly labor under ; and this, I apprehend, a full conviction of the truth and obligation of these principles should lead all to. Sir, I have long been convinced, that if your love for yourselves, and for those inestimable laws, which preserved to you the rights of human nature, was founded on sincerity, you could not but be solicitous, that every individual, of whatever rank or distinction, might with you equally enjoy the blessings thereof ; neither could you rest satisfied short of the most active effusion of your exertions, in order to their promotion from any state of degradation, to which the unjustifiable cruelty and barbarism of men may have reduced them.

Sir, I freely and cheerfully acknowledge, that I am of the African race, and in that color which is natural to them of the deepest dye ; and it is under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, that I now confess to you, that I am not under that state of tyrannical thralldom, and inhuman captivity, to which too many of my brethren are doomed, but that I have abundantly tasted of the fruition of those blessings, which proceed from that free and unequalled liberty with which you are favored ; and which, I hope, you will willingly allow you have mercifully received, from the immediate hand of that Being, from whom proceeded every good and perfect Gift.

Sir, suffer me to recall to your mind that time, in which the arms and tyranny of the British crown were exerted, with every powerful effort, in order to reduce you to a state of servitude: look back, I entreat you, on the variety of dangers to which you were expose; reflect on that time, in which every human aid appeared unavailable, and in which even hope and fortitude wore the aspect of inability to the conflict, and you cannot but be led to a serious and grateful sense of your miraculous and providential preservation ; you cannot but acknowledge, that the present freedom and tranquility which you enjoy you have mercifully received, and that it is the peculiar blessing of Heaven.

This, Sir, was a time when you clearly saw into the injustice of a state of slavery, and in which you had just apprehensions of the horrors of its condition. It was now that your abhorrence thereof was so excited, that you publicly held forth this true and invaluable doctrine, which is worthy to be recorded and remembered in all succeeding ages : ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'' Here was a time, in which your tender feelings for yourselves had engaged you thus to declare, you were then impressed with proper ideas of the great violation of liberty, and the free possession of those blessings, to which you were entitled by nature ; but, Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privileges, which he hath conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren, under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others, with respect to yourselves.

I suppose that your knowledge of the situation of my brethren, is too extensive to need a recital here ; neither shall I presume to prescribe methods by which they may be relieved, otherwise than by recommending to you and all others, to wean yourselves from those narrow prejudices which you have imbibed with respect to them, and as Job proposed to his friends, ``put your soul in their souls' stead ;'' thus shall your hearts be enlarged with kindness and benevolence towards them ; and thus shall you need neither the direction of myself or others, in what manner to proceed herein. And now, Sir, although my sympathy and affection for my brethren hath caused my enlargement thus far, I ardently hope, that your candor and generosity will plead with you in my behalf, when I make known to you, that it was not originally my design ; but having taken up my pen in order to direct to you, as a present, a copy of an Almanac, which I have calculated for the succeeding year, I was unexpectedly and unavoidably led thereto.

This calculation is the production of my arduous study, in this my advanced stage of life ; for having long had unbounded desires to become acquainted with the secrets of nature, I have had to gratify my curiosity herein, through my own assiduous application to Astronomical Study, in which I need not recount to you the many difficulties and disadvantages, which I have had to encounter.

And although I had almost declined to make my calculation for the ensuing year, in consequence of that time which I had allotted therefore, being taken up at the Federal Territory, by the request of Mr. Andrew Ellicott, yet finding myself under several engagements to Printers of this state, to whom I had communicated my design, on my return to my place of residence, I industriously applied myself thereto, which I hope I have accomplished with correctness and accuracy ; a copy of which I have taken the liberty to direct to you, and which I humbly request you will favorably receive ; and although you may have the opportunity of perusing it after its publication, yet I choose to send it to you in manuscript previous thereto, that thereby you might not only have an earlier inspection, but that you might also view it in my own hand writing.

And now, Sir, I shall conclude, and subscribe myself, with the most profound respect,

Your most obedient humble servant,

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker wikipedia entry

Almanac definition

Greetings

2010-01-21T09:19:00.000-08:00

For some time now, this heritage literary project has been in my mind, waiting for the proper time to become reality. The main purpose for creating this blog was to accomplish a number of things. First; as we embark on a brand new chapter for Black writers in the 21st Century with the ability to present multiple collections of titles in the literary world, we must always revisit the writers who never receive enough credit – even in these times, the issues they faced, dealt with and wrote about still exist. It is not enough to simply wish man’s cruelty of man away based on skin color or privilege. The raw emotions and appeals from our legends are very real and must be displayed every now and then. That is the hope of this journal.

Second, while we have the technology at our disposal to create stories upon stories relating to our current experience, the writers who came before us also ‘kept it real’ in terms of admonishing the oppressive system many of their brethren fell under, while exhorting their same brethren to not accept their condition, that there is more to their lives than pure chattel for an uncaring master who believe under his misguided ‘Devine’ right, to adhere to a law forbidding these precious children of God to at least become in the manner in which they were formed, human.

I do not apologize for posting the selected readings you’re about to witness. However, it is my hope and goal that you will take away from this a sense of where we have been and why we are reminded to tell our children about our past struggles so they will better appreciate it all the more. Hopefully, reading the strength of character from these writers of the past will serve as a source of inspiration that specifically Black men are not the worst of what society believes, but we do possess intelligence and we demand the best from ourselves. We have our own standards to meet up to.

You may believe because this is posted in February that this blog will only last for a mere 28 days and that will be that. I beg to differ. Although the bulk of the postings will be seen this month, it is my intention to leave this up as a reference point for all who wish to peruse its contents for research, etc. The various sites where these essays are posted will be linked if the content is too long.

For those of you reading this with the belief the topics and issues discussed on this blog have nothing to do with you, that is your right. Consider this a history lesson among scribes offering in detail of the life they lived, the mores of society backing that time and solutions to better the human condition, beneficial to us all.

There are a lot of things that I could say, but thank you for your time and I hope these essays and writings will make everyone understand the struggle clearly from the pens of these fine authors.

Take care.

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
L.A. Black Book Expo