In politics and history, there really is nothing new under the sun. This especially holds true for the Republican party who loves to replay their greatest hits. Many don’t know that “Make America Great Again” was not some novel idea originated by the Trump campaign, it was first used as a campaign slogan for the […]
African American history
Las Vegas is just like Mississippi
When a person thinks of segregation in U.S. history, most think of it existing only in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee (aka the southern states.) When a person thinks of 1950s era Las Vegas, they think of the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin,) the Mob and the glitz and glamour of […]
The Wall Street Journal for slave owners
Today, we have magazines for all topics, including sports, business, fashion and music. One can even subscribe to a magazine about porta-potties! Magazines existed In the United States in the 1800s and you could subscribe to one that was of utmost importance to southern plantation owners. This magazine dealt with slave upkeep, among other things. […]
An ode to Paul Robeson
From the 1920s to the 1940s, Paul Robeson made himself into a world renowned actor and singer. He was one of the primary stars of the Harlem Renaissance era. Around the mid-1940s, Robeson started getting involved in political activism. He started believing trade unionism was crucial to civil rights. Robeson became an outspoken advocate for […]
Reparations before Reparations; The Ex-Slave Pension Fund Plan
With the end of the Civil War and the passage of the 13th Amendment by Congress, the question became how to fairly compensate former African American slaves for all of their years of hard labor and servitude. Most people are familiar with the 40 Acres and a mule plan that crashed and burned before ever […]
Wait, there was an Aunt Jemima restaurant chain?
Earlier this year they announced that the Aunt Jemima pancake mix/ syrup brand changed its name to Pearl Milling Company. Aunt Jemima is a brand name that drips of a racial stereotype. Many know the infamous brand, but did you know the brand spawned a restaurant chain in the 1950s and 1960s? In 1888, Chris […]
The Black General Motors
Charles “Rich” Richard Patterson (C.R.), was born a slave in 1833 on a Virginia plantation. It’s unclear how he left the plantation, but he ended up in Greenfield, Ohio, where an Underground Railroad station existed. C.R. learned blacksmithing in Greenfield. He later worked as a foreperson for a carriage making company named J.P. Lowe & […]
Who was the real Betty Boop?
Esther Lee Jones, also known as Baby Esther or Lil Esther, was a child entertainer from Chicago, Illinois in the 1920s. She was a trained scat singer, dancer and acrobat. Esther’s career began when she won first prize in a Charleston contest at six. A theatre manager named Lou Bolton saw her performance and took […]
The Coup d’Etat of Wilmington
In the aftermath of the Civil War, Wilmington North Carolina was the most progressive city in the south. By 1896, nearly 126,000 Black men in Wilmington were registered voters. The city had a flourishing Black middle class of doctors, lawyers, educators, barbers, restaurant owners, public health workers, police officers and firefighter. Black Republicans held multiple […]
The high cost to vote: The Ocoee Massacre
Florida, as well as the rest of the southern United States, had been controlled by southern white democrats since the end of the Reconstruction era. The Ku Klux Klan also had a revival in the early 1900s, establishing many new chapters in Florida starting in 1915. When you add together these two factors, Florida was […]
