Mass incarceration would perhaps better labeled: Hyper Incarceration. "Mass" is not exactly accurate because the targets are identified by class and race, namely African-Americans, not random members of society. Prison is the "New Ghetto", the mental institutions of last resort, social hygiene at it's most evil and viscous manipulation. (Daedalus, Spring 2010) Some people that the civil war ended when it "ended". History is proving that it was, in fact, just the beginning of a brutal and unjust struggle. This great "land of the free" is one of the most desegregating farces of all time. We can just throw up our hands or we can take positive action.

Here's a good place to start: http://www.ProvidenceBTB.org

native americans in places like the frontier of the South before Florida became part of the US, Lots of escaped slaves had successfully fled to Florida, and been assimilated into the floridian native american community and grown prosperous. Also the story of the Buffalo Soldiers, who fought on the side of the Union in the Civil War and refused to hurt Indians.

there is really an amazing body of history there and very few people know much about it.

-the worst example of privatization disasters- between the 1930s and 1970s, a holding company set up by general motors, national City Lines, covertly bought up and intentionally neglected and then destroyed hundreds of urban mass transit systems, electric trolley systems, in order to force people to buy cars. This was a huge mistake. the towns that managed to resist it and keep their trolleys now are quite substantially more prosperous than those that lost them. The loss of ability to get around for people who could not afford cars was a huge factor in the creation of an underclass.

the trolleys were popular and energy efficient, even by today's measures. They made communities walkable.

national City Lines was also a notoriously racist company. the bus that Rosa parks was riding when she refused to give up her seat and go stand in the back was run by National City Lines.

Its possible the racism was a calculated ploy to attempt to decrease ridership so that the bus lines could be abandoned.

This loss of what was previously the best public transit system in the world also led directly to our current dependence on cheap oil, numerous wars, and an unimaginably large number of unnecessary deaths.

... the PP is a great jump off point.

File this one under "I learned something new today." It's the first I heard of African Americans having a role in the founding of memorial day.

"What we now know as Memorial Day began as 'Decoration Day' in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Civil War. It was a tradition initiated by former slaves to celebrate emancipation and commemorate those who died for that cause.

These days, Memorial Day is arranged as a day 'without politics'--a general patriotic celebration of all soldiers and veterans, regardless of the nature of the wars in which they participated. This is the opposite of how the day emerged, with explicitly partisan motivations, to celebrate those who fought for justice and liberation. The concept that the population must 'remember the sacrifice' of U.S. service members, without a critical reflection on the wars themselves, did not emerge by accident. ..."

continued:
http://www.dominionofnewyork.com/2012/05/27/the-african-american-roots-of-memorial-day/#.T8QpYtX2ZLc

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002738510

I never knew that either! That is fascinating stuff.

This past memorial day a friend of mine was telling me this story, and it was like I'd never heard of it, lol...

Last edited Sat Aug 15, 2015, 06:29 PM - Edit history (2)

The festival is held every year at the Stephen Foster Park and Campgrounds. That year, The Sea Island Singers performed under a very large chickee in the middle of the woods. It was such a memorable event and I was glad to find this recording from that day.

https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/241520


Historic video of The Sea Island Singers. The video begins at the one minute mark and is interrupted a few times with commercials from the early 60s.

While the Great War raged in Europe for three long years, America steadfastly clung to neutrality. It was not until April 2, 1917, that President Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany. "The world," he said, "must be made safe for democracy." Quickly, Americans swung into action to raise, equip, and ship the American Expeditionary Force to the trenches of Europe. Under the powers granted to it by the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8) "to raise and support Armies," Congress passed the Selective Service Act of 1917. Among the first regiments to arrive in France, and among the most highly decorated when it returned, was the 369th Infantry (formerly the 15th Regiment New York Guard), more gallantly known as the "Harlem Hellfighters." The 369th was an all-black regiment under the command of mostly white officers including their commander, Colonel William Hayward.

... on my way home from work today. It was absolutely chilling and beautiful

Who Were the Harlem Hellfighters? | The African Americans: Many ...
www.pbs.org/.../who-were-the-harlem-hellfi...‎
Public Broadcasting Service

“Up the wide avenue they swung. Their smiles outshone the golden sunlight. In every line proud chests expanded beneath the medals valor had won. The impassioned cheering of the crowds massed along the way drowned the blaring cadence of their former jazz band. The old 15th was on parade and New York turned out to tender its dark-skinned heroes a New York welcome.”

So began the three-page spread the New York Tribune ran Feb. 18, 1919, a day after 3,000 veterans of the 369th Infantry (formerly the 15th New York (Colored) Regiment) paraded up from Fifth Avenue at 23rd Street to 145th and Lenox. One of the few black combat regiments in World War I, they’d earned the prestigious Croix de Guerre from the French army under which they’d served for six months of “brave and bitter fighting.” Their nickname they’d received from their German foes: “Hellfighters,” the Harlem Hellfighters.

I did find this fascinating piece "A Quick History of Black Canadians"

I didn't know much of what is covered in this piece and found it very interesting:

http://www.blackhistorysociety.ca/news.php/news/30

Lots of similarities to the AA experience.

Thanks, Spaz. I'd love to see other global contributions to this thread. Black history is world history, after all.

It would be fascinating to see how black history is recognized in other countries.

It's been called the greatest July 4 speech in American history. It's also one of the best speeches in world history.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6937658

ORATION, DELIVERED IN CORINTHIAN HALL, ROCHESTER, BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS, JULY 5TH, 1852.

Published by Request
ROCHESTER: PRINTED BY LEE, MANN & CO., AMERICAN BUILDING.
1852.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS ESQ.:

Link to the speech: http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=2945

Thanks, lmd!

Excellent thread.

of the AA forum. I think it's a wonderful idea.

In addition to being an excellent educational tool here, it can also be kind of a tribute to another exceptional DUer, BrewmanJax, who started all of this way back in 2006. I miss that guy so much but I fully understand why he is no longer posting on DU.

Last I saw, he was on DemocratsforProgress and probably doing amazing stuff there as well.

DU and the wonderful people who leave because of the hostility and mean spiritedness of certain members.

I know of one in particular who left in 2009 and started her very own successful website.. she isn't Black but she was treated badly for posting pics of our Democratic President on DU!



Oh this is from her website now! http://theobamadiary.com/2015/07/04/fourth-of-july-at-the-white-house/

assassination! There is a new show on our CBC channel called Canadian Connections and in it's first show it covered the amazing story of Dr. Anderson Ruffin Abbott, the first black doctor in Canada in 1861. He went back to the US in 1863 to serve the Union Army. What happened after was extraordinary for the times, imo!

"In February 1863, during the American Civil War, he applied for a commission as an assistant surgeon in the Union army. His offer was evidently not accepted. In April Abbott, who was conscious of the risks faced by blacks in the military, reapplied, this time to be a “medical cadet” in a coloured regiment. He was finally taken on as a civilian surgeon under contract. Between June 1863 and August 1865 he served in Washington, D.C., first at the Contraband Hospital (Camp Baker) and then at the Freedman’s Hospital; subsequently he had charge of a hospital in Arlington, across the Potomac from Washington. Abbott received numerous commendations and became popular in Washington society. Among the select group who stood vigil over the dying President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, he was later presented by Mary Todd Lincoln with a shawl her husband had worn to his first inauguration."

http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/abbott_anderson_ruffin_14E.html

What I find appalling is this has been a hidden history because Dr. Abbott was a black man. Had he been a white man with the same amazing connections this would have been in our history books in a large way.
I am very glad this amazing man has finally gotten some recognition, not enough by any means but hopefully the beginning of a more accurate historical telling of the rich history of the black community in Canada.

I am glad you liked my find, I was blown away by it for sure. Thanks for the compliment about my 'gems'. I love history and am now discovering Canada's black history and it's due to reading/listening to all of you in the AA group, it has been a wonderful, sometimes heartrending education.

It was your invitation for me to come visit that set me on my journey and it really has been a journey of self-discovery and a whole new way of looking at so many things.

Most people don't know about that. I forget his name.

I knew nothing about him until your post, thank you for bringing it up! Here is an article I found about him:

"Daniel Hale Williams Performed Nation's First Open Heart Surgery In Chicago 119 Years Ago

In 1893, exactly 119 years ago Monday, Chicago surgeon Daniel Hale Williams performed the first successful open-heart surgery, in what would become both a significant medical advancement, and a huge step in the fight for equality, since Williams was one of the nation's few black cardiologists at the time.

Called "the father of black surgery,", according to TMW Media, which makes educational videos for use in schools. (See their video about Williams' history above.)"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/09/daniel-hale-williams-perf_n_1659949.html

"Williams' name is absent from many medical history books". A deliberate decision which is all too common and absolutely appalling.

books. Dr. Williams is well known but it's always good to have a reminder.

Thanks for your contribution.

There was a time when racist violence had its center in the South. But as the Negro people spread to the north, east and west seeking to escape the southern hell, the violence, impelled in the first instance by economic motives, followed them, its cause also economic. Once most of the violence against Negroes occurred in the countryside, but that was before the Negro emigrations of the twenties and thirties. Now there is not a great American city from New York to Cleveland or Detroit, from Washington, the nation’s capital, to Chicago, from Memphis to Atlanta or Birmingham, form New Orleans to Los Angeles, that is not disgraced by the wanton killing of innocent Negroes. It is no longer a sectional phenomenon.

Once the classic method of lynching was the rope. Now it is the policeman’s bullet. To many an American the police are the government, certainly its most visible representative. We submit that the evidence suggests that the killing of Negroes has become police policy in the United States and that police policy is the most practical expression of government policy.

Our evidence is admittedly incomplete. It is our hope that the United Nations will complete it. Much of the evidence, particularly of violence, was gained from the files of Negro newspapers, from the labor press, from the annual reports of Negro societies and established Negro year books. A list is appended.

But by far the majority of Negro murders are never recorded, never known except to the perpetrators and the bereaved survivors of the victim. Negro men and women leave their homes and are never seen alive again. Sometimes weeks later their bodies, or bodies thought to be their and often horribly mutilated, are found in the woods or washed up on the shore of a river or lake. This is a well known pattern of American culture. In many sections of the country police do not even bother to record the murder of Negroes. Most white newspapers have a policy of not publishing anything concerning murders of Negroes or assaults upon them. These unrecorded deaths are the rule rather than the exception—thus our evidence, though voluminous, is scanty when compared to the actuality.

That is an absolutely magnificent contribution to this thread.

As an addendum to your post, I have been taking alot of courses on the UN lately and everyone that is remotely interested in the UN, international diplomacy or black American history must familiarize themselves with this gentleman:

Ralph Bunche

More proof that black women's bodies have never actually belonged to us. Glad that her family will get some form of compensation.

It's not that this guy died--it's how he lived. A remarkable man, a remarkable life:




Dr. Beny J. Primm, left, with Mayor John V. Lindsay of New York, center, and Dr. Bertram S. Brown, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, in an undated photo. As mayor, Mr. Lindsay secured money used by Dr. Primm to open a methadone clinic in Brooklyn in 1969.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/nyregion/dr-beny-primm-pioneer-in-aids-prevention-dies-at-87.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-2&action=click&contentCollection=Health&_r=0

Thanks for your contribution to this awesome thread, MAD.

I bet the Africa Before Slavery exhibit will be one hell of an experience.

There wasn't much but a write-up at the site. BUT I'm so glad this thread is Black History That Doesn't Make It Into History Books because there's so much that could be included here about Africa Before Slavery!!!

One story that touched my heart is knowing what Timbucto means, Bouctou's well, named for Bouctou, a Taureg woman, who, legend has it, discovered this well around which the whole city sprang along the trans-Saharan trade route.

So many stories before and during the enslavement of our people that I'm going to enjoy posting here.

Thanks, Number23 for maintaining this thread

We have stuff posted from black Canada, the Caribbean and I'd love to see alot more articles/pieces from Africa. I have no doubt that Africa is an area that ALL of us could learn a hell of a lot more about.

So if you ever come across some pieces about the Motherland (particularly your family's home country ) they would be welcome additions to this thread.

It's a shame they don't have a larger marketing budget.

Thanks for posting.

I am a white 70 year old retiree. When I was young, I used the N word like everybody I knew. But as I grew up, I stopped using it. I didn't stop because I found the word itself offensive (words are just sounds we make) but because I saw it hurt people who I respected and who were good friends.

The above paragraph is to let you know my own perspective. What I want to write about is some history from Howard Zinn, in "The peoples History of the United States". (I am quoting the title from memory and it may not be exact.) Zinn was one of the most respected historians of the last century. I am writing this because I know that the working poor (whatever your color) have little time or energy to do much research. I have the time and I want to make use of it because I am tired of seeing a country I once loved becoming something to feel ashamed of.

Zinn writes about the very first black people in the Americas. This was as much as 100 years before the land was an independent country. Some black people came of their own volition and most came in the Dutch slave ships. They were met by a population of poor white people who were indentured servants (white slaves) and a few white plantation owners.

The plantation owners used both black and white men as field hands in those early days, but a problem arose. There are records showing that blacks and whites were marrying pretty frequently and they were having children. There is evidence that the two groups partied together, played together, and grieved together. And they scared the plantation owners badly enough to soil themselves.

So the plantation owners did what greedy cowards usually do (and are still doing). They set about splitting the two groups up and sowing the seeds of fear and hatred between them. They began by giving small parcels of land to "pure" white people and then told them that the black people wanted to steal their land and rape their women. (If you are an American Indian, some of this may sound familiar.).

The plantation owners still abused these white people and laughed at them behind their backs, (the phrase "poor white trash" comes to mind), but when they were talking to the poor whites, face to face they told them about how superior all white people were to the "black skinned savages". Of course the poor whites believed them. Sadly, when you are poor and have nothing else, somebody to feel superior to is like a crust to a hungry man.

The strategy worked. Before long there were no more white people marrying black people. The poor whites didn't associate with the black slaves. The plantation owners were safe for almost 200 years. They continued to work up hatred between the two groups and sided with the poor whites against black people. They did other things like offer large rewards for catching black slaves who escaped and bringing them back. Many times they made examples of the slaves who were returned and Zinn offers documented evidence of "punishments" which turned my stomach.

I am going to make a special request to any black people reading this posting. I am not offering this as a defense of white prejudice. I am offering it in the same spirit as Howard Zinn. Healing has to start with the truth and this is the best estimate of the truth available. Like most fear and hatred between groups of people, this was engineered by a class of greedy men to protect their property. To white people reading this, try to recognize racial hostility for what it is. And to the Mexicans and any other oppressed group reading this try to understand what I believe is really going on. From those early days, the same kind of men have been using the same kind of tactics. It is time for everyone to tell the bastards to kiss our a**ses. As long as skin color has a place in the working class struggle, the rich bastards are sure to come out on top. When it ceases to matter, the rich will soil themselves again.

Last edited Tue Jan 26, 2016, 08:46 PM - Edit history (1)

By Bilge Ebiri for Vulture:

This year’s Sundance Film Festival was filled with movies about the love of movies: The drama smash Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and the documentary The Wolfpack both featured characters whose lives centered around a fascination with classic films, and who strove to re-create those films in their own way. But no film demonstrated the power of cinema more resonantly than Sembene!, directed by Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman, which screened as part of the world-documentary competition.

The Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene (1923–2007), often called the father of African cinema, had a seismic career. He effectively created an African film industry out of nothing: In 1963, with a used 16mm camera and leftover film stock sent by friends from Europe, he made a short called Borom Sarret (The Wagon Driver), considered the first African movie made by a black African. Until the independence of French West Africa in 1960, French colonial authorities had made it illegal for Africans to make films of their own, so countries like Senegal had no film equipment, no professional actors, and no funding; Sembene used friends and family to put the film together. “Any time I hear an American independent talking about his war story in getting a film made, I have to smile to myself and think of Ousmane Sembene,” says co-director Silverman.

In 1966, Sembene made La Noire de … (Black Girl), the first feature film ever released by a sub-Saharan African director; it was awarded France’s prestigious Prix Jean Vigo and put him on the map, making him a mainstay on the festival circuit. From there, his profile rose. With the politically charged epics Xala (1975), Ceddo (1977), and Camp de Thiaroye (1987), he created some of the most beautiful films of all time, courting both controversy and acclaim and ensuring that African cinema had a place on the world stage. Ceddo was so inflammatory it was banned in some African countries for its depiction of strife between Muslims and Christians. Thiaroye, about a colonial-era massacre of African troops by the French, was banned in France but won six awards at the 1987 Venice Film Festival. Sembene’s devastating final film, Moolade, about female genital mutilation, won the Un Certain Regard award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Sembene! documents the filmmaker’s eventful life — he grew up in a family of fishermen on the shores of the Casamance River in rural Senegal, living a life of what he termed “daily vagrancy.” Kicked out of school for insubordination, uninterested in fishing and wanting to see the world, he stowed away to France. He was working as a dockworker in Marseilles in the 1950s when he wrote his first novels, out of a desire to see the Africa that he knew depicted in literature. When he turned to cinema in the 1960s, it became a vital link for him between the oral cultures of his youth and the timely political issues of his day. His films often start off in simple, fablelike ways, but they proceed to ask complex questions about identity and tribal, spiritual, and political allegiance. These are serious films about serious subjects, but thanks to Sembene's poetic style of storytelling, they hover between realism, ritual, and myth. They are, all of them, utterly intoxicating.



much more here: http://www.vulture.com/2015/02/how-ousmane-sembene-invented-african-cinema.html

Sembene! trailer:

Thanks so much, lmd.

Fantastic article I read in Smithsonian Magazine that I was pleased to see was on-line so I can share it. The author traces the footsteps of slaves forced to march from Virginia to Louisiana but also looks at it from a president perspective of the African Americans fighting for recognition of these events at the same time whites are trying to bury them. Its quite a long article. Set a side a good hour at least!

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/slavery-trail-of-tears-180956968/

When Delores McQuinn was growing up, her father told her a story about a search for the family’s roots. He said his father knew the name of the people who had enslaved their family in Virginia, knew where they lived—in the same house and on the same land—in Hanover County, among the rumpled hills north of Richmond.

“My grandfather went to the folks who had owned our family and asked, ‘Do you have any documentation about our history during the slave days? We would like to see it, if possible.’ The man at the door, who I have to assume was from the slaveholding side, said, ‘Sure, we’ll give it to you.’

“The man went into his house and came back out with some papers in his hands. Now, whether the papers were trivial or actual plantation records, who knows? But he stood in the door, in front of my grandfather, and lit a match to the papers. ‘You want your history?’ he said. ‘Here it is.’ Watching the things burn. ‘Take the ashes and get off my land.’

~snip~

Per your request ...

******************
A targeted group that has received scant attention ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/what-happened-to-black-germans-under-the-nazis-a6839216.html

of African descent really added to it.

corner the market on racism. Most early settlers in the Americas (both North and South) were descendants of western European peoples. An overwhelming belief in the superiority of European peoples was part of their make-up, I am sorry to say, and that belief came to the New World intact. Interestingly, however, those of Latin heritage, e.g., French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese nationalities seem to have assimilated more rapidly - both with the native populations and later, with the "forced immigrants" (i.e., slaves) from Africa.

After first enslaving the native peoples with limited success and often destroying their cultures (e.g., Aztec, Incas, etc.) as well, the early settlers began importing slaves from Africa. Africans were generally deemed to be better workers. Africans also seem to be more successfully integrated among the Central and South American populations today. That likely has a lot to do with the fact that there were far fewer Anglo-Saxons in those areas.

There is something about the Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon mindsets that have made those nationalities among the most racist in the New World - and per the Nazi Reich especially, also in the Old. I trace much of my own heritage to such, but like to hope that I am much more enlightened and humane here in the 21st century.

But when I see legal policies that specifically denote that children of certain races cannot attend public -- TAX FUNDED -- schools or that people of certain races cannot live or work in certain areas, that definitely has the stench of American apartheid on it.

Take a look at this monster


His name is King Leopold II of Belgium.

He “owned” the Congo during his reign as the constitutional monarch of Belgium. After several failed colonial attempts in Asia and Africa, he settled on the Congo. He “bought” it and enslaved its people, turning the entire country into his own personal slave plantation. He disguised his business transactions as “philanthropic” and “scientific” efforts under the banner of the International African Society. He used their enslaved labor to extract Congolese resources and services. His reign was enforced through work camps, body mutilations, torture, executions, and his own private army.

Most of us aren’t taught about him in school. We don’t hear about him in the media. He’s not part of the widely-repeated narrative of oppression (which includes things like the Holocaust during World War II). He’s part of a long history of colonialism, imperialism, slavery, and genocide in Africa that would clash with the social construction of a white supremacist narrative in our schools. It doesn’t fit neatly into school curriculums in a capitalist society. Making overtly racist remarks is (sometimes) frowned upon in ‘polite’ society; but it’s quite fine not to talk about genocide in Africa perpetrated by European capitalist monarchs.1

Mark Twain wrote a satire about Leopold called “King Leopold’s Soliloquy; A Defense of His Congo Rule”, where he mocked the King’s defense of his reign of terror, largely through Leopold’s own words. It’s an easy read at 49 pages and Mark Twain is a popular author in American public schools. But like most political authors, we will often read some of their least political writings or read them without learning why the author wrote them in the first place. Orwell’s Animal Farm, for example, serves to reinforce American anti-socialist propaganda about how egalitarian societies are doomed to turn into their dystopian opposites. But Orwell was an anti-capitalist revolutionary of a different kind—a supporter of working class democracy from below—and that is never pointed out. We can read about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, but “King Leopold’s Soliloquy” isn’t on the reading list. This isn’t by accident. Reading lists are created by boards of education in order to prepare students to follow orders and endure boredom. From the point of view of the Department of Education, Africans have no history.

Leopold was just one of thousands of things that helped construct white supremacy as both an ideological narrative and material reality. I don’t pretend that he was the source of all evil in the Congo. He had generals, and foot soldiers, and managers who did his bidding and enforced his laws. He was at the head of a system. But that doesn’t negate the need to talk about the individuals who are symbolic of the system. But we don’t even get that. And since it isn’t talked about, what capitalism did to Africa, all the privileges that rich white people gained from the Congolese genocide, remain hidden. The victims of imperialism are made, like they usually are, invisible.

Photos of Leopold's genocide are too hideous to include here and not for the faint of heart.

http://www.walkingbutterfly.com/2010/12/22/when-you-kill-ten-million-africans-you-arent-called-hitler/

Such an INCREDIBLE contribution. And particularly timely given the events from earlier this week.

That means a lot to me!

I was in Belgium for a month back in the late '80s. The Belgians were the warmest, most down to Earth people I met in Europe, not that I've visted every country to be really fair. Years later, future husband turns out to be 1/2 Belgian. It was husband who clued me to the never-mentioned reign of Leopold.

So as soon as I thought, why attack Belgium, I remembered Leo and felt let's mourn the milions upon millions of Congolese victims and plunder of the country's riches, well into the 1940s, that eventually made Belgium the 2nd richest European country. I mourn all of the dead innocents.

There's this interview from Last Year, after the Paris attack, of Vincent Kompany, star footballer born of a Belgian mom and Congolese dad, and outspoken critic of the government.

"When I was a kid in my neighborhood there was nobody that supported Belgium," Kompany told CNN. It was impossible and unthinkable because there was nothing they could relate to." http://us.flash24.news/sport/paris-attacks-belgium-must-heal-divisions-says-vincent-kompany/

Kompany said Belgian politicians had failed to recognize the potential problems because of their lack of interaction with the local communities.

“There’s a sense of me that really believes that it was predictable, really predictable,” Belgium’s national captain, who grew up in a troubled Brussels neighborhood, told CNN’s Amanda Davies.

“I think it was inevitable, because I only used to see politicians in our neighborhoods once every six years when they needed to come for votes,” he said.

“But I have really struggled to see a real concern, a genuine desire to be a part of making those neighborhoods.”

However, if Belgium is fighting for the hearts and minds of the disenfranchised, Kompany fears the battle is being lost.

“The reason why it hurt me so much is because they’re not people of a religious faction, they’re people that have been able to fall off the grid and people have been able to indoctrinate them,” the 29-year-old said. http://wgno.com/2015/11/26/paris-attacks-politicians-failed-the-people-of-brussels-says-vincent-kompany/

I can only imagine King Leo is part of the ever-present history that fuels radicalization of disenfranchized Arabs and Africans who've been in Belgium for generations.

The people of central Africa are still dealing with the consequences of that unbelievably brutal oppression.

I've read several accounts that though Hutu and Tutsi existed together since time immemorial, the almost non-existent division between the two was intensified by pure fantasy, when the Belgian colonizers just up and decided that the Tutsi were closer to white- measuring heads, noses, height and whatnot- and therefore the natural leaders. Once upon a time, from what I've read, since the people were intermixed, Hutu and Tuti became signifiers of proximity to the king's court.



II. RACIAL CLASSIFICATION AND COLONIALISM
In order to strengthen their control, the Belgian colonists divided Rwanda’s unified population into three distinct groups: Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. In order to do this, the colonists created a strict system of racial classification. Both the Belgians and the Germans, influenced by racist ideas, thought that the Tutsi were a superior group because they were more “white” looking. The colonists believed that the Tutsi were natural rulers, so they put only Tutsis into positions of authority and discriminated against Hutus and Twa. The size of the nose and the color of the eyes were factors that determined whether a person was classified as Hutu, Tutsi or Twa. Even though prior to colonization, the people of the region that became Rwanda lived together, the Belgian colonization put one group above the other https://www.wcl.american.edu/humright/center/rwanda/documents/Jigsaw1_History.pdf

Last edited Sun Mar 27, 2016, 05:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Of course everyone knows about Frederick Douglass and Toussaint but I had no idea about Ms. Harriet. Thanks so much for this.

Congrats for keeping it up! It's an educational resource for all of us!

This such an important story that's so huge and simply left out. Maybe because it involves the Spanish and not necessarily the colonies of the British Empire. Maybe it's because there was a period of time in America's history that there was harmony and freedom to a large extent, diverse with all kinds of people who populate the United States today. Not only that but the story came full circle directly associated with President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act.

You can learn the average shoe size of a typical Nazi but so little about the slave trade!

I think our history is just too freaking fabulous and there's just much too much to make palatable for the dominant culture. Too much communication, trade, discoveries that would leave supremacy in a shambles.

That's why I LOVE this thread. We all have bits and pieces of information we're constantly finding and it's so nice to come here to post.

Thank you

and that so many are contributing.

Yes, thanks be to Brewman_Jaxx for the ongoing thread of excellent finds!

Pioneer and Hero



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_L._Brown

that should be on the greatest page.

The most informative thread I've ever seen on DU. Thank you for this.

One of the many, many reasons why for so long "black" and "wealth" were never mentioned in the same sentence.

One of the most incredible things about this country is how well the pervasive and brutal treatment of people of color has always been under wraps.

...This enlarged his personal powers and involved him directly in the administration of all new government programs. As president of the National Tourist Institute, Castro launched a campaign to revive Cuba’s tourist industry.

During the spring of 1959, Castro contacted former boxing champion Joe Louis through Rowe-Louis-Fischer-Lockhart, Inc., an advertising firm based in New York City. Joe Louis and Billy Rowe, a former columnist with the Pittsburgh Courier, had been long-time friends and partners in this advertising business since 1935. The former heavy weight champion helped Rowe recruit clients, made commercial appearances, and participated in social and promotional events arranged by wealthy businessmen who wanted to bask in the fame and national prominence of the Brown Bomber.

Castro, who witnessed the glory years of Louis’s boxing career as a Cuban youth in the 1930s, also admired Louis’s athletic achievements and his struggle against overwhelming disadvantages as the son of an Alabama sharecropper and great grandson of a slave. The accomplishments of the former boxing champion captured the imagination of African America, elevated the Brown Bomber to the status of the first black hero in white America, and made Joe Louis an international celebrity among colonial subjects who had battled the ravages of American and European imperialism. The Cuban leader also understood that Joe Louis could provide the first serious link with middle-class African Americans. They had tourist dollars to spend but were prohibited by “Jim Crow” restrictions that were standard problems for African American travelers throughout resort venues in the Caribbean. Louis eventually assembled an impressive delegation of seventy-one prominent leaders, personalities, and newspaper editors who were all well-known throughout black America. Noted members of this delegation included: John H. Sengstacke, Sr., publisher and general editor of the Chicago Daily Defender, the largest black owned daily in the world, and co-founder and past president of the National Negro Publishers Association; Attorney Loren Miller, the editor-publisher and legal counsel for the California Eagle; and Carl Murphy, editor and publisher of the Baltimore Afro-American. Other participants represented the Pittsburgh Courier, the New Orleans Louisiana Weekly, the Los Angeles Sentinel, the Ohio Sentinel, the Philadelphia Tribune, Johnson Publications (Ebony Magazine and Jet Magazine), the Cleveland Call Post, True Magazine, and the New York Amsterdam News.

The Joe Louis Commission was given official governmental recognition in Cuba but in the United States the white press viewed this effort as solely another commercial venture by the former boxing champion desperately seeking to satisfy pressing financial obligations. As American-Cuban diplomatic relations rapidly deteriorated in 1960, Louis’s activities in the island were chastised as supportive of a communist inspired regime. The mindset of Cold War policy makers and their anticommunism supporters viewed indigenous challenges to American international supremacy as Communist orchestrated. Ironically, while Louis was attacked, white owned corporations continued to do business with the new revolutionary government.

The Brown Bomber -- fighter and would be DIPLOMAT. That is too cool.

I actually "get" his sex appeal as a young man (I've heard a few older women mention it)...

And I have richly educated because of it. I am grateful to so many contributors.

has to offer.

I am so glad that you enjoyed the thread. You are most welcome, especially if you have some nuggets you'd like to add yourself!

To be honest, I had never heard of the Ethiopian regiment until it was mentioned on Roots v 2.0. From there, it was to the Google.

And, while wondering around the google, I found a bunch of other Black people, places and things that I will be posting ... probably a item a day.

I had forgotten how important this particular thread is.

But I went to click on the original link and got a 404. Does anyone have a link to the original?

I'm not sure if this is the same piece that Brewman was referring to (it has literally been years since I read the piece he was referring to) but it's a great one nonetheless.

Exterminated, not only for being black for having the nerve to be black and self sufficient. Being black and successful.

Thanks so much for adding this to the thread, sheshe.

Muchas gracias

Funny how the witchhunt only ended after "prominent" read: white and rich folks starting getting named.

2nd youngest person in the U.S. to be executed.

My favorites were the Best of DU threads.

Rosewood 1919 and many many more just being revealed for mass consumption.

from the mid 60's to the mid 70's and US History is taught quite different there

Black history is rich with contributions, achievements, and stories that often go unrecognized or underrepresented in mainstream history books. Here are some examples of significant but less commonly covered aspects of Black history:

1. The Green Book and Black Travel
During segregation, Victor Hugo Green published "The Negro Motorist Green Book," a guidebook that provided Black travelers with safe places to stay, eat, and refuel across the U.S. It was crucial for navigating the dangers of traveling during an era of rampant racial discrimination and violence.

2. The Tulsa Race Massacre
In 1921, a white mob attacked the affluent Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as "Black Wall Street." The massacre destroyed homes and businesses, leaving thousands of Black residents displaced and impoverished. The story of the massacre and its aftermath was long overlooked, though it has gained more recognition in recent years.

3. Black Wall Street
Before the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Greenwood District was a thriving Black economic hub with successful businesses, schools, and theaters. It was one of the most prosperous Black communities in the early 20th century, demonstrating the economic power and resilience of Black Americans.

4. The Role of Black Women in the Civil Rights Movement
Figures like Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Diane Nash played crucial roles in the Civil Rights Movement. Their grassroots organizing, leadership, and activism were pivotal but sometimes overshadowed by the more widely recognized leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

5. The Contributions of Black Scientists and Inventors
Black inventors and scientists, such as George Washington Carver (agricultural innovations), Dr. Charles Drew (blood bank pioneer), and Katherine Johnson (mathematician at NASA), have made profound contributions to science and technology, often without the recognition they deserve.

6. The Story of the Buffalo Soldiers
The Buffalo Soldiers were African American soldiers who served in the U.S. Army from the post-Civil War era through the Indian Wars. Their bravery and service in various conflicts helped shape American history, yet their stories are not always included in broader historical narratives.

7. The Harlem Renaissance Beyond Literature
While the Harlem Renaissance is often celebrated for its literary achievements, it was also a vibrant cultural movement that encompassed music, visual arts, and theater. Figures like Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston contributed to a broader cultural revival that impacted American culture significantly.

8. The Black Power Movement
The Black Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, led by groups like the Black Panther Party, sought to address systemic issues of racial inequality and economic injustice. Their focus on community empowerment, self-defense, and social programs was crucial in advancing civil rights, though it is sometimes overshadowed by the more mainstream Civil Rights Movement.

9. The Role of Black Soldiers in World Wars
Black soldiers served with distinction in both World War I and World War II, despite facing segregation and discrimination. Units like the Tuskegee Airmen and the 761st Tank Battalion made significant contributions to the war effort and challenged racial stereotypes.

10. African American Influence on Early Cinema
Before Hollywood's dominance, Black filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux created significant works that addressed racial issues and provided representation. Micheaux's films and contributions were influential in early American cinema but have often been marginalized in discussions of film history.

These stories and contributions are crucial for a comprehensive understanding of American history and highlight the diverse experiences and achievements of Black individuals and communities. Expanding the scope of historical education to include these facets ensures a richer and more accurate portrayal of the past.