Black History

Black Bombardier Ned Hector at Brandywine

June 30, 2022 by John Conway Leave a Comment

In February of 1777, with the American colonies engaged in a seemingly hopeless war with the world’s foremost military power, Edward “Ned” Hector enlisted in a state militia unit known as Proctor’s Third Pennsylvania Artillery, where he was assigned duties as a bombardier, one of the three rear positions on the cannon.

This fact, in and of itself, would not seem significant, but Ned Hector was African American, one of perhaps 5,000 African Americans who fought with the Continental Army in the War for Independence. [Read more…] about Black Bombardier Ned Hector at Brandywine

Educating Black Children at the Williamsburg Bray School

June 29, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In a town as old as Williamsburg, Virginia, which was established in 1638, it’s often the case that historic buildings with interesting pasts stand unnoticed and in plain sight.

Such was the case for the building that once housed Williamsburg’s Bray School. A school founded by a group of Anglican clergymen with the express purpose of educating Black children in the ways of the Anglican faith. It was an education that included reading, possibly writing, and the Book of Common Prayer. [Read more…] about Educating Black Children at the Williamsburg Bray School

Wilhelm Grosz: The Red Sails of Forced Migration

June 16, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

One of the top-grossing American films of 1940 was the western Santa Fe Trail, the seventh Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland collaboration. The story concerns John Brown’s campaign against slavery just before the outbreak of the Civil War. Starting out on an acting career, young Ronald Reagan appeared in the story line as George Armstrong Custer. [Read more…] about Wilhelm Grosz: The Red Sails of Forced Migration

Schenectady Black History & Barber John Wendell

June 14, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

In the early 19th century, Schenectady played host to a distinctly American process through which hundreds of Black people gained their freedom. Although Schenectady County had a small enclave of free African Americans into the late colonial period, the overwhelming majority of Black Schenectadians were enslaved.

As New York State legislation gradually abolished the institution of slavery by 1827, many Black Schenectadians had to confront a new reality in which they were legally independent, but by no means legally equal.

One of these people was John Wendell [Jr.] whose birth remains shrouded in mystery. [Read more…] about Schenectady Black History & Barber John Wendell

Black Musician Francis Johnson at Saratoga, 1822-1843

June 12, 2022 by David Fiske Leave a Comment

Solomon Northup, the free black man who was kidnapped from Saratoga Springs and sold into slavery (as portrayed in the film 12 Years a Slave), was known locally as a good fiddler. Northup probably mostly played at dances, and there is no evidence that he played at any of Saratoga’s posh hotels.

But as a black musician, Northup probably could have found acceptance in such venues, because the way had been paved by Francis “Frank” Johnson. Johnson, a black resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, performed with his band during many summers at the best hotels in Saratoga. [Read more…] about Black Musician Francis Johnson at Saratoga, 1822-1843

Hubert Harrison: Tribune of the People

June 7, 2022 by Sean Ahern 1 Comment

Over the past two decades there has been an upsurge of interest in the life and work of Hubert H. Harrison. As a leading socialist and subsequent proponent of what he termed the mass-based “Race First” approach to organizing, Harrison exercised a direct, seminal influence on his contemporaries including A. Philip Randolph, W. A. Domingo, Marcus Garvey, Richard B Moore, Chandler Owen, Arturo Schomburg, Cyril Briggs, Claude McKay, James Weldon Johnson, Hodge Kirnon, J. A. Rogers and William Monroe Trotter.

As W. A. Domingo, childhood friend of Garvey and first editor of the Negro World would later explain, “Garvey like the rest of us followed Hubert Harrison.” [Read more…] about Hubert Harrison: Tribune of the People

The 1883 Civil Rights Cases, the 14th Amendment, and Jim Crow New York

May 31, 2022 by Alan J. Singer 1 Comment

The United States Supreme Court is now poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. In a draft opinion, Justice Samuel Alito described the 1973 7-2 Court decision as an over-extended application of the federal government’s 14th Amendment responsibility to protect the right of citizens to due process and equal protection of the law. He argued “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”

The Supreme Court took a similar position on the 14th Amendment in the 1883 Civil Rights Cases when an earlier conservative majority declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, effectively ending the post-Civil War Reconstruction era and ushering in 100 years of state and local Jim Crow segregation laws.

In the Civil Rights Cases, the Supreme Court consolidated four challenged to the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act. One of the cases, U.S. v. Singleton, involved the refusal by a New York theater to admit an African American patron who had purchased a ticket. [Read more…] about The 1883 Civil Rights Cases, the 14th Amendment, and Jim Crow New York

Jazz, Mussolini and Italian Fascism

May 30, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

On February 4th, 2006, La Repubblica reported the funeral in Rome of Romano Mussolini. His death had been made public by former actress and politician Alessandro Mussolini, Romano’s daughter out of his first marriage to Maria Scicolone (the younger sister of Sophia Loren) on the website of her neo-Fascist party Alternativa Sociale.

The church service began with Gershwin’s “Summertime” and ended with “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Outside the church hundreds of mourners paid their respect with Fascist salutes.

Fascism, jazz and black gospel mentioned in the same context and a service that had started with a classic tune by a composer of Ukrainian-Jewish ancestry. What brought this contradictory intertwining about? [Read more…] about Jazz, Mussolini and Italian Fascism

Mayken van Angola’s Life Under New Netherland Slavery

May 24, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

On December 28th, 1662, a woman named Mayken van Angola pursued freedom in New Amsterdam. She did not stand alone. Two other women — Susanna and Lucretia — stood with her and together, they petitioned the colonial government for their freedom. It was granted with the caveat that they must clean the Director General Petrus Stuyvesant’s house once a week as a condition of that freedom. [Read more…] about Mayken van Angola’s Life Under New Netherland Slavery

Free People of Color in Early America

May 18, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World Podcast, Warren Milteer Jr., an Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the author of North Carolina’s Free People of Color, 1715-1885 ((LSU Press, 2020) and Beyond Slavery’s Shadow: Free People of Color in the South (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2021), joins Liz to explore the lives and experiences of free people of color, men and women who ranked somewhere in the middle or middle bottom of early American society. [Read more…] about Free People of Color in Early America