Month: February 2020

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FREDERICK AUGUSTUS WASHINGTON BAILEY

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Frederick Augustus Washington BaileyPortrait of Frederick Douglass / Public domain

Approximately, two hundred and two years ago Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born into slavery in the state of Maryland.

In turn— as a slave, he didn’t know the exact month, day, and year of birth— due to the fact, people of color were considered property.

Simply put, he spent his entire life not knowing his actual birthday. So—he chose February 14th, 1818. At the same time laws prevented those born into slavery, from learning how to read or write.

Nevertheless—that didn’t stop him, none whatsoever! Because over time he taught himself to read.

In Short…

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, (aka Frederick Douglas) wasn’t thrilled about being beat down for going against his master rules; so he decided to become a run away slave.

By and large being a fugitive slave—with no family, friends, or a place where he could feel free didn’t stop him. Simultaneously—He went from being a former slave—to becoming a prominent Abolitionist, speaker, author, and publisher.

That’s what I call resilience.

Facts —about Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey

  1. Started an anti -slavery news paper.

The North Star, later Frederick Douglass’ Paper, anti-slavery newspaper published by African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

The North Star, soon developed into one of the most influential African American anti-slavery publications of the pre-Civil War era.

The name of the newspaper paid homage to the fact that escaping slaves used the North Star in the night sky to guide them to freedom.

WRITTEN BY: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Equally important is the fact that:

2. He wrote several autobiographies:

  • He described his experiences as a slave in his 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
  • My Bondage and My Freedom
  • Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, which covers events during and after the Civil War.

The Women’s Right Movement

Eventually —Frederick Douglass became so famous within the women’s rights movement, in 1872 he was nominated as running mate, and Vice President Candidate of the United States at the Equal Rights Party convention.

Meanwhile—in 1888, he received one vote from the Kentucky Delegation at the Republican Convention in Chicago.

As a result —he became the first African American to be nominated as a U.S. presidential candidate for a major political party.

Not to mention, becoming the first African American to be listed on a presidential election ballot.

 

Without question—Frederick Douglass is a prime example of how to overcome obstacles; a man that had a desire to learn, a longing to be a free man and the guts to take actions.

“I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”

Frederick Douglass

African American History Facts

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The wisdom of Chinese Proverbs

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Chinese proverbs

The wisdom of Chinese Proverbs —-is my place to go; because they are implemental in supplying me with the mental fuel, which prompts me to keep moving, and thinking with positivity. Not to mention slowing down the tornado spinning around in the negativity just waiting to smash everything.

A little Soul stirring inspiration

 “If your mind is strong, all difficult things will become easy; if your mind is weak, all easy things will become difficult.” Chinese Proverb

“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” Chinese Proverb

A wise man makes his own decisions; an ignorant man follows the public opinion.” – Chinese Proverb

 “A man should choose is own friends. There are plenty of acquaintances in the world; but very few real friends.” – Chinese Proverbs

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The Case that Changed Illegal Marriages

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Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving Photo ban on interracial marriages
Mildred Jeter and Richard LovingPhoto: Getty Images

Ban on interracial marriages—During the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, the growing number of interracial marriages (also known as miscegenation) between Blacks and whites led to the passage of this new law.

The first anti-miscegenation law enacted was in the colony of Maryland in 1664 and additional colonies quickly followed suit. These marriages were prohibited and penalties included the enslavement, exile or imprisonment of the white perpetrators.

These laws grew and evolved over the years and attempts were even made to modify the Constitution to ban interracial marriage in all states.

It would take three hundred years for this law to be overturned.

In 1967, Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter, a Black woman, were married in the District of Columbia.

Mildred and Richard Loving had been married just a few weeks when, in the early morning hours of July 11, 1958, Sheriff Garnett Brooks and two deputies, acting on an anonymous tip that the Lovings were in violation of Virginia law, stormed into the couple’s bedroom.

When the sheriff demanded to know who Mildred was to Richard, she offered up the answer: “I’m his wife.” When Richard gestured to the couple’s marriage certificate hanging on the wall, the sheriff coldly stated the document held no power in their locale.

Virginia law in fact forbade black and white citizens from marrying outside of the state and then returning to live within the state. 

Richard ended up spending a night in jail, with the pregnant Mildred spending several more nights there. The couple eventually pleaded guilty to violating the Virginia law.

The commonwealth of Virginia asserted that its ban on interracial marriages were in place to avoid a host of resulting sociological ills, and that the law was not in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

On June 12, 1967, the high court agreed unanimously in favor of the Lovings, striking down Virginia’s law and thus allowing the couple to return home while also ending the ban on interracial marriages in other states.

The court held that Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statute violated both the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the opinion for the court, stating marriage is a basic civil right and to deny this right on a basis of race is “directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment” and deprives all citizens “liberty without due process of law.”

—Biography.com Editor

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First Black Woman Aviator in America

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In 1915, at 23 years old, Coleman moved to Chicago, where she lived with her brothers and worked as a manicurist. Not long after her move to Chicago, she began listening to and reading stories of World War I pilots, which sparked her interest in aviation.

first African American avaitor
Bessie Coleman Photo: A+E Networks

First Black Woman Aviator—Bessie Coleman

In 1922, a time of both gender and racial discrimination, Coleman broke barriers and became the world’s first black woman to earn a pilot’s license. Because flying schools in the United States denied her entry, she took it upon herself to learn French and move to France to achieve her goal. After only seven months, Coleman earned her license from France’s well known Caudron Brother’s School of Aviation. 

Though she wanted to start a flying school for African Americans when she returned to the U.S., Coleman specialized in stunt flying and parachuting and earned a living barnstorming and performing aerial tricks. In 1922, she became the first African American woman in America to make a public flight.—biography.com

First black woman aviator
Photo: National Air and Space Museum (Great Images in NASA Description) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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African American History Facts

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February is African American history month; and to honor some of the lesser known history makers— whose names are not as well-known as many others or not known at all. For instance, Martin Luther King, Jr, George Washington Carver, Sojourner Truth, and Rosa Parks.

First —Ida B. Wells  (Oct. 26, 1892)

Portrait of American journalist, suffragist and Progressive activist Ida Wells Barnett (1862 - 1931), 1890s. African American history facts
African American history facts

Ida B. Wells was an African American journalist, abolitionist and feminist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s. She went on to found and become integral in groups striving for African American justice.

Early Life, Family and Education

Born a slave in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on July 16, 1862, Wells was the oldest daughter of James and Lizzie Wells. The Wells family, as well as the rest of the slaves of the Confederate states, were decreed free by the Union thanks to the Emancipation Proclamation about six months after Ida’s birth.

-biography.com

Second —The National Memorial For Peace and Justice opened its doors this April, and in it are 4,400 names of victims lost to the lynching that Wells protested in 1892.

African American history from Biography.com

Third—Ella Baker Makes a Plea for Black Lives (Aug. 6, 1964)

A photograph of Ella Baker as NAACP Hatfield representative, behind a desk with paperwork, Sept. 18, 1941. African American history facts

A photograph of Ella Baker as NAACP Hatfield representative, behind a desk with paperwork, Sept. 18, 1941. Afro Newspaper/Gado/Getty Images

In August 1964, civil rights activist Ella Baker stated, “Until the killing of black men, black mothers’ sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother’s son — we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.”

African American history fact—Keynote address

Baker delivered those words during a keynote address in Jackson, Miss., just days after the discovery of the bodies of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner — three civil rights activists murdered earlier that summer.

Voter Education Project

Baker had helped organize the Voter Education Project and “Freedom Summer,” which brought volunteers like Goodman and Schwerner to Mississippi to register voters. (Chaney was from there; he was black and they were white.)

After the three men went missing that June while investigating the burning of a black church, the case made national headlines as federal investigators searched for them.

But while combing through the area, search teams discovered other bodies too — murdered black Mississippians whose lives had not been considered important enough to warrant a federal investigation.

Fourth —First Senator: Hiram Rhodes Revels was the first African American ever elected to the U.S. Senate. He represented the state of Mississippi from February 1870 to March 1871. —biography.com

Fifth—Oscar Winner: In 1940, Hattie McDaniel was the first African American performer to win an Academy Award—the film industry’s highest honor for her portrayal of a loyal slave governess in Gone With the Wind. —biography.com

Finally,

First Woman Representative: Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to the House of Representatives. She was elected in 1968 and represented the state of New York.

She broke ground again four years later in 1972 when she was the first major party African American candidate and the first female candidate for president of the United States.—history.com