#Africans and African Descendants Community Hub

[fatherlandglobal]

Concept of The FATHERLAND

FATHERLAND reveals how a group of people is bound geographically, culturally, linguistically, religiously, and economically in the challenging world for Africans and African Descendants. Fatherland sees itself as a voice for the African communities, serving all interests.

[dankusner]

JUNETEENTH

Freedom, remembrance integral to holiday

Juneteenth in Dallas offers celebrations, lessons, historian says

Despite its recent designation as a federal holiday, Juneteenth has a long history with Black Texans.

As municipalities, businesses and nonprofits offer a host of events, local historian Ed Gray said it’s important to remember why these celebrations are happening in the first place.

“We have traditionally in Dallas … whitewashed history to exclude Black people,” Gray, 62, said.

Now in its 159th year of celebration, Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, commemorates the day some of the last enslaved people in Texas were freed.

Union Army Major Gen. Gordon Granger read an order from the federal government officially proclaiming all enslaved people free.

The June 19, 1865, order marked the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on Jan. 1, 1863.

Juneteenth celebrations in Dallas over the past few years have included parties, community service, history sessions sponsored by Remembering Black Dallas, among others, and the annual walk of Opal Lee, the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.”

For Gray, a member of two nonprofits that seek to document and preserve the city’s Black history, the holiday is just as much about celebrating freedom as it is about the continuous fight toward equality.

Brutal legacy

In Dallas, the holiday marking freedom is tainted by a brutal local history.

Texas is the state with the third-highest number of lynchings in the country, with records noting 339 extrajudicial lynchings of Black people in the state from 1885 to 1942, according to the Texas State Historical Association.

For African Americans historically, Gray said, “true judicial hearings [happened] on the streets.”

In 1910, a Black man named Allen Brooks was lynched in Dallas after being accused of raping a young white girl.

On the day he was set for trial, a white mob threw him from a second-story window at the Dallas County Courthouse and dragged him for six blocks to Akard and Main streets where he was hung from the Elks Arch telephone pole, Gray said.

The cross streets of Brooks’ lynching is now the site of Pegasus Park, a 23-acre life sciences campus and biotech hub.

“In the 1920s and ’30s, the largest Klan chapter in the United States of America was in Dallas, Texas,” he said. “The second largest being in Fort Worth.”

The Dallas chapter of the KKK had 13,000 members at its height in the early 1920s — the largest membership in the U.S. per capita.

Gray noted that there was also a large Klan chapter in Oak Cliff, a neighborhood that is now predominantly Black.

The site of Brooks’ lynching blended in with the rest of the downtown landscape for 111 years until the nonprofit organizations Remembering Black Dallas and Dallas County Justice Initiative placed a historical marker at the location.

Remembering Black Dallas was founded in 2015 by the late Dr. George Keaton, a local historian and co-founder of the Dallas County Justice Initiative along with Gray.

“One of the most touching moments I’ve ever had was when I found one of the descendants of Allen Brooks and brought her to the site of where her great-grandfather was lynched,” Gray said.

“She did not know her great-grandfather was lynched until she read about it in a book, and the only picture she has of her great-grandfather’s being hung.”

For Gray, the importance of the Dallas County Justice Initiative is “to make sure that people don’t forget our past, so we don’t be doomed to repeat it.”

Opportunity, exposure

Juneteenth was not recognized as a federal holiday until 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.

Gray noted that the federal government’s recognition of the holiday came one year after George Floyd was murdered by a white police officer, leading to the large-scale mobilization of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

“From my time in Dallas,” said Gray, who’s lived his whole life in the city, “Juneteenth has always been the Black holiday for Black freedom, and it’s been always celebrated in the community … it’s not a new thing.

“It’s become new because America has embraced it as a new holiday.”

Gray said that Juneteenth is perceived as a Black holiday but that America will truly begin to lean into its celebration “when they can find a way … to make a commercial aspect.”

Some have welcomed the opportunity and exposure Juneteenth could bring to Black businesses and issues, but Gray warned of the dangers potential marketization poses to the preservation of Black joy in celebrating the holiday.

He lamented the possibility of the holiday becomes “sanitized.”

“And that’s what’s going to end up happening with Juneteenth,” Gray said. “America will cross over to Juneteenth, and will take the spiritual aspect out of it for African Americans, and some people will not even care.”

This Juneteenth, Gray hopes that Dallas residents will engage with their local Black history and familiarize themselves with the legacy of the holiday, and why it matters to North Texas’ Black community.

“Juneteenth should be just like what they say about Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday: Not a day off, but a day on,” he said. “We can’t rest on the fact that someone read a proclamation in Galveston Bay without looking forward to the future and realizing that … what has happened before in the past can happen now in a different way.”

■ In Wednesday’s editions, the site of Allen Brooks’ lynching in downtown Dallas in 1910 was misidentified. The site is now known as Pegasus Plaza.

What Is Juneteenth?

Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed.

The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday.

On June 17, 2021, it officially became a federal holiday.

Juneteenth 2024 will occur on Wednesday, June 19.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Court House two months earlier in Virginia, but slavery had remained relatively unaffected in Texas—until U.S. General Gordon Granger stood on Texas soil and read General Orders No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” The Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, had established that all enslaved people in Confederate states in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

But in reality, the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t instantly free any enslaved people.

The proclamation only applied to places under Confederate control and not to slave-holding border states or rebel areas already under Union control.

However, as Northern troops advanced into the Confederate South, many enslaved people fled behind Union lines. Juneteenth and Slavery in Texas

In Texas, slavery had continued as the state experienced no large-scale fighting or significant presence of Union troops.

Many enslavers from outside the Lone Star State had moved there, as they viewed it as a safe haven for slavery.

After the war came to a close in the spring of 1865, General Granger’s arrival in Galveston that June signaled freedom for Texas’s 250,000 enslaved people.

Although emancipation didn’t happen overnight for everyone—in some cases, enslavers withheld the information until after harvest season—celebrations broke out among newly freed Black people, and Juneteenth was born.

That December, slavery in America was formally abolished with the adoption of the 13th Amendment.

The year following 1865, freedmen in Texas organized the first of what became the annual celebration of "Jubilee Day" on June 19.

In the ensuing decades, Juneteenth commemorations featured music, barbecues, prayer services and other activities, and as Black people migrated from Texas to other parts of the country the Juneteenth tradition spread.

Red velvet cake

7 Juneteenth Foods and Traditions

From eating red foods to promoting activism, Juneteenth traditions pay tribute to the liberation of America’s enslaved. Read more a

In 1979, Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth an official holiday; several others followed suit over the years.

In June 2021, Congress passed a resolution establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday; President Biden signed it into law on June 17, 2021.

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, “all slaves are free.”

This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.

DALLAS ‘We give them a voice’

Victims of racial violence memorialized at Martyrs Park

Two black sheets hung in the hot sun Saturday at Martyrs Park in downtown Dallas. City leaders, volunteers and other attendees sat for the reveal of two long-awaited markers memorializing victims of racial violence.

The two shiny gray and black Texas Historical Commission Markers, each towering over the heads of attendees who wanted to take a closer look at them, tell the stories of four Black people who were lynched in the mid-1800s.

The park serves as a “memorial to the men and to the inhumane legacy of slavery in Dallas,” one sign says.

“We do have some bad history in the city,” Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins told dozens gathered there Saturday. “But what are we going to do about it? How are we going to write the history of Dallas?”

The markers are only the latest step in an effort to raise awareness of racial violence and injustice that took place in the city.

One marker honors Jane Elkins, the first documented enslaved person purchased in Dallas County and the first woman legally hanged in the state.

The other marker honors three men — Patrick Jennings, Cato Miller and the Rev. Samuel Smith — who were lynched at the site.

Their names are etched into a sundial-inspired steel sculpture — “Shadow Lines” — which the city in March dedicated to the four and all other local victims of lynching and racial violence between 1853 and 1920.

Local historian and activist Ed Gray said that it is important to remember and share the stories of those who “meant nothing to American society” in the past.

Gray is president of the Dallas County Justice Initiative and on the board of directors for Remembering Black Dallas, two nonprofits he said led the effort.

“We give them a life,” Gray said. “We give them a voice when someone else made sure their voices were not heard.”

Adjacent to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza and the grassy knoll, the park, established in 1991, is less than an acre in size.

Cars from the Triple Underpass and the access ramp to Interstate 35E whizzed by as speakers, including Mayor Eric Johnson, gave their remarks Saturday.

Johnson said he felt the markers both honored the past and showed “how far our city has come.”

“We as a city must not sidestep the difficult parts of our history,” Johnson said. “We should recognize those difficult parts and we should confront those difficult parts head-on.”

Gray said the markers would have lost their impact if placed anywhere else.

In addition to the three men who were killed at the site, he said enslaved people in Dallas County were often whipped there.

The lynchings defined the area in the 1860s, he said, much like President John F. Kennedy’s assassination did a century later.

“We want people to realize that’s holy and sacred ground,” he said.

“It’s just as holy and sacred as the ‘X’ that people marked on the street, that marks the spot where President Kennedy lost his life.” Confronting history

Elkins was hanged in 1853 after being convicted of killing her white owner, Andrew Wisdom.

The marker honoring Elkins says that she was tried before an all-white, male jury.

She wasn’t allowed to testify and was without representation during her trial.

The marker states that years later, in 1880, a Galveston Daily News article found that she had been the first person to report Wisdom’s death.

Though she had accused another person of committing the crime, Elkins became the sole and primary suspect.

“Her body was not her own,” the Rev. Sheron Patterson said Saturday. “Her actions were not her own.”

Jennings, Miller and Smith were hanged on newly built gallows in 1860 after being falsely accused in connection with a fire downtown.

The marker reads that a committee of 100 white men ordered that all slaves in Dallas be whipped.

Gray said Smith had political power and influence in his community as a minister.

Miller was highly respected by other Black men and women at the Overton Plantation in Dallas County.

“He was enslaved but he ran things on the plantation,” Gray said of Miller. “When you have a Black man who is running things that sends the message to other African American men and women that they too can run things. They too can be important. They too can be respected.”

In recent years, other markers addressing racial violence have also been dedicated in the city.

The Dallas County Justice Initiative worked for years to meet the requirements of the Equal Justice Initiative — which has the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala. — and secure two markers in Dallas for Allen Brooks and William Allen Taylor.

The marker for Brooks, who was abducted, killed and hanged downtown in front of a large crowd in 1910, was dedicated at Pegasus Plaza in November 2021.

The marker for Taylor, who was lynched in 1884 near the Trinity River, was dedicated last November at Trinity Overlook Park.

Both of their names are on the sculpture in Martyrs Park.

“This is one of those portions of history that can’t be, for lack of a better word, whitewashed and forgotten,” Gray said.

‘Hope’ for the city

The smell of fresh mulch wafted at the unveiling Saturday as visitors appeared to take notice of landscaping improvements at the park.

The land used to be filled with vines, shrubs and weeds, said Trent Williams, former senior program manager for Dallas Park and Recreation.

In the past year, the parks department has led efforts to clear the space to make room for the memorial and historical markers, he said. New trees and shrubs were planted.

City Council members showed interest in a memorial to victims of racial violence in 2018, amid ongoing debate over the removal of Confederate statues.

There was controversy when work started on the project to place the markers, said Beverly Davis, vice president of Remembering Black Dallas, at the event.

“Some people said, ‘Why would you want to bring to light something negative, that would make Dallas look bad,’” she said.

Davis said George Keaton Jr., the founder of Remembering Black Dallas, would always say: “This is not Black history. This is our shared history. This is American history.”

Keaton worked until his death in 2022 to put the idea of preserving history into action.

At the unveiling, several speakers credited Keaton and his impact. Community organizations and city officials, along with Gray, have continued his work.

“This was a monumental task to get it done,” Gray said of Martyrs Park and the two new historical markers.

Gray commended the work of former City Manager T.C. Broadnax and interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, who he said helped to remove “roadblocks” to make the memorial and historical markers possible.

Tolbert, who spoke at the unveiling, told attendees to “hold onto our hope” and continue working to “dismantle the barriers that have divided us” and set people back in the city.

“My hope for this city and for those of you who are here this morning is that as we come back to this place to visit, that we are reminded that these markers are an opportunity for us to really cultivate the soul’s appreciation,” Tolbert said. “For truth. For honor. For respect and for dignity for these individuals.”

[thorntonkrell-blog-blog]

Charm is a product of gratitude, humility, guilt and forgiveness.

Fortunately for the Riv, I have a lot to be humble about, I've made more than my share of mistakes and I'm increasingly grateful for the lessons I have garnered from my times of humiliation and shame.

In the spirit of Riversend, I have some suggestions.

For a moment everyday be grateful.

For a moment everyday be humble.

For a moment everyday be forgiving.

If the moments stretch to minutes or hours that's fine but it's the moment that begins the minute or more; the moment and the dedication.

The result is charm.

Take Savannah for instance.

Savannah's history is intertwined and blemished with the legacy of slavery, as the city was a major hub for the transatlantic slave trade and relied heavily on enslaved labor in its economy. Individuals and families who prospered in Savannah, particularly those of European descent, may have felt gratitude for their success and prosperity, which was often built on the exploitation of enslaved people. This gratitude could be seen in their lifestyles, investments, and contributions to the city's development.

Conversely, the history of Savannah is also marked by the profound injustice of slavery and its enduring impact on African American communities. Those who benefited from slavery, whether directly as slave owners or indirectly through economic ties, may have experienced feelings of guilt or complicity in perpetuating a system of oppression and exploitation. This guilt could manifest in various ways, such as efforts to rationalize or justify slavery, or attempts to distance oneself from its legacy.

In the post-Civil War era and beyond, Savannah, like much of the South, has grappled with the legacy of slavery and its implications for race relations and social justice. Efforts at reconciliation and reflection have included initiatives to preserve and interpret the city's African American heritage, such as the establishment of historic sites and museums dedicated to telling the stories of enslaved people and their descendants. These efforts reflect a recognition of the need to confront the injustices of the past and work towards a more equitable future while attempting to self-forgive the shadows of the past.

The result is charm fostered by humility.

Gratitude, particularly for survival, prosperity, or the kindness of others, can contribute to an individual's charm. People who express genuine gratitude tend to be more engaging, appreciative, and empathetic, qualities that are often associated with charm. In Savannah's context, individuals who acknowledge and appreciate the city's rich history, cultural diversity, and community resilience may exude a charm that is rooted in a deep sense of gratitude for their surroundings and heritage.

Guilt, especially when it stems from historical injustices like slavery, can motivate individuals to adopt charming behaviors as a form of compensation or reconciliation. Those who feel a sense of guilt for the city's past may strive to cultivate charm as a way of fostering positive relationships, promoting understanding, and bridging divides within the community. This may involve acts of kindness, generosity, and inclusivity aimed at addressing historical wrongs and promoting social cohesion.

Efforts to reconcile Savannah's complex history, including its legacy of slavery, can contribute to a collective charm that reflects a commitment to understanding, empathy, and mutual respect. Charm, in this context, becomes a tool for healing wounds, fostering dialogue, and building bridges across cultural and racial divides.

AAAyuh, charm is a good thing. Charm can be developed and enriched. Riversend strives towards charming community. It takes a few dedicated moments everyday.

Or a pilgrimage to Savannah.

[rhetoricandlogic]

Zafrir Grossman’s review of Lavie Tidhar’s new book, Central Station, scheduled to come out this May.

As the Israeli band Teapacks (Also known as Tippex) beautifully described in its song, “A different state” from 1995, the old central station of Tel Aviv was indeed a different state, a fascinating and indescribable combination of spices, vendors of shoes and car radios of dubious origins (partly stolen partly salvaged by fearless pirates), a cinema with even more dubious movies and tedious and long waits in roofless platforms during the summer and winter. For this intrepid Haifa dweller writer, who had to board on buses from broken platforms during the 1980s, the memories are not extremely pleasant, and this is why I was overjoyed when in 1993, the new central station was built, a wet dream which included excellent video game arcade, CD shops (with counterfeit CDs created by pirates of a different kind), and a bakery shop with the best cheesecake known to man. But this place too—as seems to be the destiny of any huge transportation hub—gave birth to a brave and new underworld, which emerged in its murky depths. Homeless and vagrants have attached themselves like lichen to the walls of abandoned stores and a community of runaway teenagers found solace in its confines. Immigrant workers from all over Africa and Asia started to flock to it, and the area inside and around the station had gradually started to change its appearance and spirit.

This new spirit also resides in Lavie Tidhar’s new novel “Central Station”. We return to visit Tel Aviv’s new central station, but now it is a station in the remote future. This central station where the new spaceport is established, equipped with the huge elevator which transfers people from the low-orbit Gateway station to Earth. But the world we know is no longer recognizable. The world has continued on and the Internet has become “The conversation”, a network that can be accessed using a node, which is implemented inside a fetus’s body, so each human is connected to it from birth and is never alone. The conflict between Israel and Palestine has ended long ago, and most ideologists chose to practice their Kibbutz dream in the arid wastelands of Mars and leave divided Israel behind. The area surrounding the station is populated with the descendants of the work immigrants who flocked to Israel with hopes of a better future, but found themselves shackled, physically and mentally, to that same central station. Among these people, we can find Miriam Jones, also known as Mama Jones, a descendant of immigrants of Jewish and African origins, who manages the local shebeen for the locals, her brother Achimwene, the book dealer, who purposely disconnected himself from The Conversation and searches for antique paperbacks, Isobel Cho, who prefers to spend most of her time inside the VR game “Guilds of Ashkelon” and exits only at nights to spend time with Motl, her robotnik lover, a semi-human war machine , still remembering its fighting days in the Sinai desert, and Ibrahim, the Alte Zachen man, who rides on his horse-driven cart, from Palestinian neighborhood, Ajami, to the rest of Israeli Tel Aviv territories, even though people are willing to swear that he is doing it for several centuries.

First and foremost, Central Station is an Israeli science fiction book, which is surprising since Lavie Tidhar does not live in Israel for many years. But the spirit of Tel Aviv and its surrounding area is still very familiar in his writing. Central Station is perhaps the most ambitious Israeli science fiction book ever written, and can even be compared to Dan Simmons’s Hyperion Cantos. The book is a series of stories told from the different points of views of multiple characters, from Ibrahim, through Mama Jones, Isobel, Motl, and other surprising characters. Through these various perspectives the readers get to view a fascinating mosaic of a known, but still unfamiliar, world. The world-building is rich and intricate and it seems the novel only scratches the surface. The historical details we receive are sketchy, and although many facts are hinted at in the text, most of the history remains in the fog of time. It is also evident that Lavie continues to explore and reference old and new speculative pulp Israeli novels, as he has already done in the book he has written along with Nir Yaniv in Fictional Murder. He gives one of his characters the name Boris Chong, which is reminiscent of the protagonist of Yoav Avni’s book, Chong Levi’s Fifth, who is also a son of immigrants. He also mentions Israeli vampire novels, such as Vered Tochterman’s Blue Blood and Gal Amir’s Red night (which also receives the title of “The First Israeli Vampire Novel”), which survive the passage of time and are sold for preposterous prices. Other pulp fiction series, such as Patrick Kim – The Karate Man, and Ringo, the dauntless gunfighter from the Wild West, an almost mythical figure in Israel, also get love and recognition. Tidhar already had a literary rendezvous with pulp fiction in previous novels, such as Osama and A Man Lies Dreaming, and seems to enjoy every minute of it.

Central Station is also a novel about identity. While in contemporary Israel, and also in pre-election USA, it seems that extremists get occupy the center of the stage, Central Station shows us a softened and more tolerant point of view. While the meek work immigrants have inherited the area of the central station, Neve Sha’anan, and Jaffa has become one of the most prominent Palestinian cities, moving between the adjacent cities is performed without any difficulty, without borders or fear, and although prejudices and fears still exist, they are now targeted at a different kind of “others” – artificial intelligences which free to evolve in the cyber space, and yet some suspect they are already beginning to probe their into the physical world. The separation between Jews and Arabs no longer exists, and both can sit in Mama Jones’s little shebeen and drink arak, but look crossly from the corner of the eyes on the poor robotniks, sitting in street corners, begging for alms and spare parts, and victims of addiction to a drug, which gives meaning to their existence.

This is not a book for the casual reader, but whomever decides to stick with it, will enjoy it immensely. Its plot would have made Aristotle pull his hair out. It is not linear and requires the reader’s constant concentration. It does not have a single or a couple of protagonists, but a myriad of characters, and there is no major conflict. What it does have is have is fascinating view into a piece of life in a futuristic version of Tel Aviv, as a city which has forgotten its essence in an Earth which is no longer the center of creation, in a universe which in turn contains much more. And maybe the real protagonist of this novel is the central station, a tall monument like the Eiffel Tower, always visible in the corner of one’s eye, but standing tall and ugly like the center of a Ferris wheel, with people around it connected to it like spokes, trying to hide and get away from it, but never really managing to exit its borders and leave the small world they have created, or even to gather up the power of will required to do it. Like a dark reflection of our time, a place which shows the people residing in it that they can “check out” in order to go anywhere they wish, but they can never leave.

[martian-martian-martian]

Why do you headcanon a slave owner as a person of color?

Lmao, awesome question. The briefest answer would be: I don’t!

Or more specifically, I envisioned more like what the TV show has done, were Louis to be rewritten. Although I find the brothel element interesting…

But by headcanon I more meant ‘I always thought that Louis’ arc and the story in general would be enriched and given added depth and layers by him being a person of color’ and also generally I thought a white centered narrative in a famous Black hub of arts and culture and supernatural tradition was a huge waste at best and erasure at worst.

Louis in the books is seemingly implicated to be associated vaguely with different aspects of Creole culture, and even CALLED Creole.

Now, French descended white people CAN be creole, and in the 1700s it was more common, but the largest population today is Haitian-African, and I think it would be really cool to be able to explore that aspect, perhaps in a different decade than one where Black culture was so suffocated by mass chattel slavery. So it’s quite brilliant what the show has done, when you think about it like that.

TL;DR New Orleans of the past and today is an area that is rich in diverse culture, specifically Black Creole culture. While Louis is depicted as a white French Creole, the majority of Creole culture is founded in African and Haitian communities, with incredible history, INCLUDING supernatural belief and tradiiton. I always wondered how the story would change or be enriched if the author leaned into those Creole cultural aspects and depicted Louis as a person of color.

A racial headcanon for a period piece, which is a touchy group of words to even pair together, should be more considered a full AU on its own. Not because different ethnicities are so radically different, but one has to account for the fact that different races were fundimentally experiencing seperate lives on an institutionalized level. A Black character of that era, with his own cultural inheritance, COULD bring an entirely different perspective to vampirism, homosexuality, and other themes in the series.

Wondering about a Black Louis De Pointe Du Lac is not painting the same character a different color, it’s taking the core, personality and character elements of what make Louis who he is, and reimagining them from a different, and, in Anne Rice’s books, largely silence perspective. Black characters are constantly in the background of her work, so it’s taking that perspective and wanting to see it brought to the foreground, in a story that takes place in one of the capitals of American Black music, arts, and culture.

I can’t wait to see how the show, which probably hs a host of historians and sensitivity coordinators on board, handles this new story with a Black Louis!

[kemetic-dreams]

New Names Old Gods: A look at Seeking Rituals in Pentecostal and Gullah Religions

The Case for Structural Ritual Transcendence

Religious rituals and cultural traditions are often not isolated practices. In that I mean, most religious traditions can find root in various cultural and societal practices. In some cases, entire rituals can be survivals from other religions, or blended expressions of culture, tradition, faith, etc. One example of these, are African-American religious traditions. These religious traditions are often described as blended faiths, exhibiting intersectionality between tradition, culture, and religion. Many religious practices in the African-American community are a bricolage of various cultural and religious intersections; a kind of hybrid. Evidence of such can be found in Christian, Islamic, and even Judaist traditions.

In terms of Christianity, most scholars have often pointed to the antebellum south and African slaves as significant evidence of some hybrid practices we see today. This paper does, however, suggest that the antebellum south and slavery gave way for the development of new religious traditions and practices via a blending of Africanisms from slave culture and theological premises taught them from various missionaries visiting slave plantations. This in many ways created new blended religious traditions, of which portions can be seen today. While this paper focuses on the blended Christian practices that extend from this time, there is evidence of other traditions that can in some way find lineage among African-American Slaves. However, we are often limited on an anthropological level to substantiate clearly, and or determine precisely, such progressions and development of that religious history.

Some often struggle to trace a progression from invisible slave institutions like Hush Arbors to visible institutions like Praise Houses, then to the modern African church. However, through analysis of rituals, in particular, the seeking ritual, we can show a historic connection between African-American Slave traditions and modern African-American Christian tradition (IE. The Pentecostal African Church). While the African-American Pentecostal Church and Slave Religious Traditions, such of those of the Gullah People, may differ theologically, there remain rituals among the two that prove a connected history and a structural ritual transcendence. By structural ritual transcendence, I coin the phrase to suggest that there maintains a structural and functional continuity in the performance of like rituals that are, nevertheless, interpreted in significantly different ways. Even if the religious traditions being examined are completely different. To further that point, I present information that suggests that rituals entirely transcend theological premise and can maintain such function.

We will see this among the Gullah Tradition that extended from the seas-islands of the Carolinas and The African-American Pentecostal Church, which at times may be referred to as the African Church. While the African Church and the Gullah Tradition share a common ancestral history, being that most congregants are decedents of former slaves, there are clear theological differences. Despite having no direct lineage, the presence of the seeking ritual in both traditions speaks to a connected history. The seeking ritual in both religious traditions is structurally and functionally similar; and for both traditions, seeking is a rite of passage into a church or community. The ritual involves communication with the divine, validation by a spiritual leader, and testimonial-given by the individual in the ritual. The seeker is separated from the community sent on this seeking ritual then returns to the community for approval.

While this paper does not focus entirely on theological differences, it aims to emphasize the connected history of both traditions as a way to show the origin of the seeking ritual itself. While the ritual survived, the same theological basis of the ritual did not. Thus proving, that rituals can maintain structural continuity regardless of theological convictions. This paper will review and analyze a ritual from both slave traditions and the modern Pentecostal African church. Through reviewing this ritual, we can in some way substantiate two claims. First, that there is a connection between slave traditions and the African church. Secondly, that rituals can transcend theology and maintain similarities both structurally and functionally. Throughout the paper, we will further these points utilizing Arnold Vann Gennep and Victor Turner who provide a theoretical lens in the discussion of rites of passage and more broadly the pre-liminal, liminal, and post-liminal stages of such rituals.

Gullah and Pentecostalism

This paper examines such ritual and or Rite a passage into the Praise House known as “seeking”. We also examine this ritual as presented in the African Church particularly the Pentecostal denominations. As previously articulated, this paper will show a connection between the Gullah faith and Pentecostal church through the category of rituals and through the theoretical lens of liminality, rites of passage, and functionalism. While doing this, we show the link between the Pentecostal church and Gullah Religion. In particular, utilizing the House of God Church, Church of the living. While most present a connected history between the African Church and slave traditions hinged on ancestral and cultural bounds. By showing the seeking ritual as being structured the same and functioning similarly, one can validate a further connection that previously is not entirely accepted.

The Gullah People are slave population or the descended of slaves that were brought to America from various parts of Africa mainly from Angola and Sierra Leone. The Gullah people were brought to be slaves on rice plantations in the low-country of South Carolina, North Carolina, and the parts of Georgie. These rice plantations were entirely on sea-islands which were distant from the mainland. This unique characteristic gave the Gullah slaves a limited freedom that becomes a microcosm for various institutions. One of which being the Praise House. Slaves often met for various purpose in the antebellum south. These meetings were done in secret as to not alert plantation owners of their gathering. These meetings become a silent institution known as Hush Arbors. The Hush Arbors to the Gullah morphed into a visible institution known as Praise Houses. The limited supervision from overseers on the sea-islands provide the slaves to meet together and thus form institutions with religious and social impact.

While Hush Arbors were a silent institution for social organization and organizing, some slaves were able to have more public means of gathering and even self-governing. In the Sea Islands of the Carolinas and Georgie, Praise Houses became a cornerstone of life on the plantation. In these parts, the Gullah People were slaves who lived on plantation Sea Islands separate from the mainland. While yet slaves, the Gullah People experienced less observation and even given the opportunity to worship and gather in such Praise Houses. These churches became to function as not only the center of religious life but also a social and judicial hub. Praise Houses were used to create social rules and enforce these rules when disputes arose. It is here, in the Praise Houses, you see the birth of the Gullah Religions, which blended Christianity and Africanism, often to create newfound faiths and various new traditions. Praise Houses were essential to life and thus admission into such was in a way admission into full integration into Gullah traditions. The same can be found in churches today; particularly the House of God Church-Keith Dominion.

The House of God, Church of the Living God, The Pillar and Ground of the Truth Inc. was founded in 1903 by Bishop Mary Magdalena-Lewis Tate. She is noted as being the first African-American Bishop in the world. This particular organization was founded in Nashville, TN with various dioceses (jurisdictions) in numerous parts of the country; even including Rochester, NY. This church is one of the earliest African-American Pentecostal churches and also has deep roots of origin in the south. However, to both the Gullah and the African-American Pentecostals seeking is vital to each of the religions. We will examine the theological premises in subsequent sections, however, it is important to note the structural and functional similarities of both seeking rituals.

Structural Ritual Transcendence While both rituals differ ideologically, the functionality of the two are the same. Both rituals serve as rites of passage. In the House of God Church, like most services similar to the Gullah Tradition in Praise House, include huge levels of charisma and energetic liturgy. Sermons tend to be very spiritual and speak to the coming of Christ like many mainstream Christian denominations. The tenets of the Pentecostal church are fundamentally the same as other Christian denominations, but differs in the sense that Salvation is through the acceptance of Christ and the endowing the Holy Spirit. In order to be a part of the church or the body of Christ, you have to be full of the Holy Ghost and produce certain signs like Speaking in Tongues, Shouting, etc. For some Pentecostal churches this rite of passage, is done through prayer with various degrees and styles. Due to the charismatic nature of the Pentecostal Church, this ritual is done with extended periods of prayer, trances like conditions, communication with the divine, visions, etc. This is similar to the Gullah, in that, admission into the Praise House was not inherent through attendance, one must go through the seeking ritual. To this end we can look at the rituals in light of Arnold Vann Gennep and Victor Turner.

Arnold Van Gennep suggests rites of passage as having three main phases in its structure. Separation (Pre-liminal), Transition (Liminal), and Incorporation (Post-Liminal) respectively. For the Seeking tradition the Pre-Liminal and the Post-Liminal are socking similar. The liminal stage given its nature presents a difficulty to see overarching trends as in each ritual the experience is based heavily on individual experience. Victor Turner recapitulates the nuances of liminality in his writings. For Victor Turner, the Liminal stage is a phase where the person is “betwixt and between”. Victor writes,

“The attributes of liminality or of liminal personae (“threshold people”) are necessarily ambiguous, singe this condition and these persons elude or slip through the network of classifications that normally locate states and positions in cultural space… As such, their ambiguous and indeterminate attributes are expressed by a rich variety of symbols in the many societies that ritualize social and cultural transitions. Thus, liminality is frequently likened to death, to. being in the womb, to invisibility, to darkness, to bisexuality, to the wilderness, and to an eclipse of the sun or moon.”

The Pre-Liminal stages of seeking both derive from to be included in a community. For the Gullah, the seeking ritual was blended from early Methodist in the slave quarters (hush-arbors) asking African slaves if they would “seek” Jesus after hearing sermons. This in time blended with Africanism that created a process required for admission into the Praise Houses. In the Pre-Liminal stage of seeking to Gullah, they are sent into the wilderness and physically separated from the community and guided in part by a “spiritual parent”. This is also evident in the Pentecostal African Church. Where by a person looking to join the church would have to come to an altar and be guided by the clergyperson to begin the seeking. Coming to the altar or being sent to the wilderness show a separation and even a belief that one most go to a particular place for the ritual to work; axis mundi.

The Liminal stage of seeking is this important and in the Pentecostal church and the Gullah tradition it is heavily important. In actuality, while liminal stage is experienced difference between the Gullah and Pentecostal church is has the same function and even substantiate Victor Turners view of the liminal stage. What occurs in the liminal stage to the seeker determines admission into the community. The Post-Liminal stage in contingent on the experience and even communal validation of the liminal stage. In the Gullah Tradition, the seeker experiences various stages of interaction with the divine and ancestors. Communication with Ancestors is a vital component, as the ancestors are consider guides to the seeker. They the seeker through personal development and conviction. This can be considered similar to processes of repentance for the seeking ritual in the Pentecostal African Church. In the liminal stages, the seeker in the African church also has this communication with the divine and in this individualistic manner goes through repentance and spiritual conviction. The seeker is expected to be “godly sorry” for their sin and after this repentance one can be empowered with the Holy Spirit. Both the Gullah and African Church share this structural essence of spiritual nuance. For the Gullah people, the liminal stage is the wilderness and the for the Pentecostals the Liminal stage is being “born-again” through seeking for the Holy Spirit on the altar. Such symbols are articulate as clear liminal imagery according to Victor Turner.

The Post-Liminal Stage of Incorporation is key. In this part with see distinct similarity between the Gullah and the Pentecostal African Church. Particularly, in terms of communal validation and acceptance. During the liminal process the seeker is physically disconnected from the certain parts of their community. In the Gullah this is being sent to the Wilderness and in the African Church this is coming to the Altar. In the Post-Liminal when the seeking is incorporated into the community we see the requirement of communal validation. In the Gullah, the seeker has to stand before the elders of the Praise House and describe what occurred and what message was told them from the ancestors or God. This has to be approved by the Elders as a genuine experience and one may even be asked question as to ascertain such validity. This is exactly duplicated in the Pentecostal African Church. After the clergy has observed certain “signs” the seeker has gone through the proper processes. The seeker is picked up from the Altar placed in front of the church to “testify” as to what occurred. The elders of the church listen and to validate that the seeker has received the Holy Spirit. In both instances of the Gullah and Pentecostal Church, going through seeking ritual is not enough. The Communal Validation is unique structural component particularly in a church environment. For a church to use terminology of seeking, to use the ritual functionality as a rite of passage, and to include structural component unique to the Gullah Tradition, overwhelmingly validates a claim that both tradition extend from a connected history.

Furthermore, the in each ritual the theological premise is fundamentally different. The Gullah place huge importance on communication with ancestors and placement of ritual in the wilderness. While theologically, Pentecostals place huge importance on personal repentance and receiving of the Holy Spirit. Even the role of Ritual is slightly different on a theological term. While both use the seeking ritual as rite of passage and forms of admission. To not go through the ritual to the Gullahs means no admission into the Praise House and thus the community. However, to not go through seeking in the Pentecostal Church would mean one has not obtained the Holy Spirit and thus will not enter Heaven. It is a matter of salvation to the Pentecostal that is not entirely, if at all, evident in the Gullah Tradition. The evidence in this paper exhibit clear that rituals in fact can transcend theology and maintain a structural and even functional continuity.

The Seeking Practice to the Gullah

​Seeking is an essential part of Gullah traditions and particularly the Praise House. The role of this ritual serves as rite of passage and functions as the tool for admission into the Praise House and ultimately the Gullah Community. It is important to note that the spiritual aspect of Seeking presents some difference of experience interns of what the ritual means to every person. However, this notation is no different than any other religion. For many religions, iconography or symbols can mean a host of things for people. Yet, if one should analyze the seeking ritual in terms of Victor Turner or Arnold Vann Gennep you can see a structural continuity both in the Gullah traditions and in the Pentecostal church.

​Seeking in the slave religion of Gullah was ritual that proceeded full-emersion baptism which is another key to admission into community. Seeking symbolized the death of the old person and the birth of a new person. The origins and the nomenclature of seeking actually came from Methodist ministers who after preaching would ask slaves if there were anyone who would “seek Jesus”. However, over time this ritual began to blend with Africanism to create the Gullah Seeking tradition. The ritual was a solitary and individualistic ritual into the wilderness that was led by a spiritual leader called a “Spiritual Parent”. The ritual included prolonged prayer and meditation. During this process, the seeker would go into a trance and speak with natural objects, ancestors, and God. Often these are done via dreams and other visions. The seekers would then have to return to the community and give an account of what happened. This would have to then be reviewed by the elders of the community and be confirmed as a genuine spiritual experience. The ritual involves much ideology and activity related to ancestors and being spiritually guided. This is depended not on a ritualistic format but speaks greatly to the liminality Victor Turner speaks of.

​What is very interesting is the theological premise of the ritual. While simplistic in structure you see a unique paralleled in Pentecostal in the way the ritual happens. Essentially, the ritual is about a seeker that goes on a trip into the wilderness, has a dream, comes back, tells that dream, and if the elders agree the seeker, is accepted. However, the theological culture aspects of this ritual provide resemblance of seeking in the Pentecostal churches. For the Gullah People, being blended provides the language of Christianity but the belief of survivals from African religions; or with no real basis at all. By that I mean, they maintained the language of Christianity but associated them with things other than typical Christian thought. Jesus could have been God but also If asked who Jesus was it could have been a slave master or plantation worker.

The Seeking Practice to the House of God There are numerous comparisons among the Pentecostal experience of seeking and the Gullah Faith traditions. It is important to note that this ritual can be called various things in the Pentecostal church i.e. tarrying, seeking for the Holy Ghost, Laboring at the Altar, or simply praying. However, I utilize The House of God Church — Keith Dominion as our case study for various reasons. First, there is no direct link between the Gullah Tradition and this particular church. This is important because it eliminates any rebuttal which might suggest that the reason the seeking ritual has survived is due to a direct link. The House of God Church, Church of the Living, was founded in 1903 by an African-American woman in Greenville, Alabama and Nashville, Tennessee. The Gullah Tradition, while certainly significant to African-American, we see no real influence wide spread. We see connectivity to Africanism present in slave populations and persons of African descent. Therefore, while I am not asserting that the Pentecostal Church derives from the Gullah Faith, I am suggesting that both the Gullah faith and the African-American Pentecostal Church extend from a complex process of slave trying to grapple with Christianity and some survivals from African culture.

Secondly, I use The House of God Church Inc. — Keith Dominion because it is a mainstream denomination that uses similar nomenclature and ritualistic structure of the Gullah People. Terms like seeking, seekers, vison, are used in explaining the ritual theologically. And the ritual’s structure mirrors- in many ways- the Gullah practice. While, our paper does not provide scholarship toward just what both the Pentecostal and Gullah church extend from, our paper does capitulate an argument that ritual can transcend theology and maintain its structure.

The Seeking Tradition in the House of God Church is structurally similar because it focus on a few aspects similar to the Gullah Tradition. The “preacher” serving a dual role as a “spiritual parent” and “Elder” like in the Gullah Tradition. The individualistic characteristic of the process. The experience of the seekers in both tradition including a communication with the divine, and visionary experiences. Also, the affirmation aspect of the seeking process which provides admission into the church or community is duplicated in both traditions. The setting of the seeking process is important to note. In most services, after the preaching, the Elder or Clergyperson of the church would do what is called an “Altar Call”. Two types of things can happen during this time. One, a person can simply go up for individual prayer or for corporate prayer. However, if one desires to be filled with the Holy Spirit the clergyperson would begin the seeking ritual. This is important because one must note that the seeking practice in the Pentecostal Church is not just a general prayer. It is initiated under special conditions like in the Gullah Tradition. Also, like in the Gullah Tradition, the Preacher at the beginning of the seeking tradition become a spiritual parent. While observing this ritual at a local parish of the House of God Church Inc., The preacher acting a coach and guide began to instruct the seeker to close their eyes, focus on Jesus, picture him on the cross. They are often instructed to get in a praying position and begin to “seek” the lord and cry out to him, confessing their sins. When asked many seekers experience seeing Jesus and having dialogue with him. In this trance state, you see many parallels to the Gullah People which experience seeing ancestors, angels, and various persons. In fact, these vision have a principle of guiding the seekers; the same is evident in this Pentecostal Tradition. During, this time the preacher is also singing and clapping. Other who have already gone through the process and are members of the church create a circle around the seeker and begin to clap and sing spiritual songs, hymns, etc. The theological premise to this is that the strong of the church should support this seeker and also stand as a physical shield against spirits (the devil) that will come to distract the seeker while he/she is seeking the lord. The preacher watching attentively at the movement of the seeker and the sincerity of the seeker would then instruct the seeker to begin “calling” on the name of Jesus. During this process of seeking, it is called tarrying (calling on the name of Jesus), this is done by saying the names Jesus repeatedly. This is said to keep your mind focused on Jesus.

After the seeker has gone through the process of seeking, and certain actions has occurred like dancing, or speaking in tongues, or personal affirmation. The seeker is then picked up off the altar or if stand is escorted to the front bench of the church or a chair by the preacher. At this point, the preacher ask the seeker certain questions as to ascertain if the Seeker had been truly filled with the Holy Spirit. They would ask things like “How do you feel?”; “What happened to you at the altar?”; “Do you believe God touched you tonight?”. This is very similar to the structure of the Gullah Tradition, where testimony is given before the Praise House and questions asked to confirm if the seeker had in fact been through the process successfully. The same happens in the Pentecostal church, while the seeker is talking, the preacher listens and makes suggestions as to if the seeker should return to the altar the next time or if this is sufficient. If the seeker has proven to be filled with the Gift of the Holy Spirit the church rejoices, like in the Gullah Tradition, and extends the “Right Hand of Fellowship”. In the Pentecostal church, one often cannot hold any church position unless that are filled if the Holy Spirit and thus they would have had to go through some sort of seeking process.

A Connected History

For much of the history of African people America, the “African Church” has played a pivotal role in their history. Insomuch, that the “African Church” worked as epicenters of religious, social, and communal activity. In the height of the civil rights movement and even in Post-Antebellum America the African Church was often used as a location for organizing meetings and gathering support for various social justice activities. In many instances, Pastors and African-American preachers used the pulpit as an unfiltered platform to oppose racism and oppressive policies in the country. The institutionalized African church, also provided an opportunity where by which African-Americans could theorize and form new theological belief that centered around a God who would one day liberate them from their oppression. Organizations like the National Baptist Association, The African Methodist Episcopal Church, The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, The House of God-Church of the Living God, are examples of these institutions.

While, the Affrican Church various ways extends from old slave institutions like Hush Arbors and Praise House, it is important to note, that in no way am I suggesting a social morality exclusive to the Christian faith. However, it is heavily documented the theological persuasion of many slave being rooted in Christianity. Thus, the Hush Arbors and Praise houses of the Sea Islands in the Carolinas are examples of institutions that held greater significance in the community. While these institutions served as religious bodies they also functioned as hubs into the greater scheme of community. Thus admission into these institutions served as admission into the wider community. Such can be exhibited in the African-American  Church. Rituals like “seeking” serve a dual function of being both a religious and societal rite of passage. While there is no clear line to show historical progression anthropologically through examining the rituals of each religion we are able to show a historical connection. The Structural Ritual Transcendence of seeking further validates the second argument of this paper; that of connection between two distinct religious traditions.

[hadarmarkin]

Mediterranean Medley: The Jewish Community of Tunisia

Tunisia is currently making global headlines. A decade ago the Tunisian protest for democracy sparked the “Arab Spring”, which led to vast political shifts in the Middle East. Now, its citizens are fighting to retain their past achievements and curb the ruler's authoritarian pursuits.

The recent events in this small country on the southern shore of the Mediterranean also provide an opportunity to discuss its Jewish community, a community small in numbers yet incredibly diverse in terms of socio-economic status and cultural orientation. This entry is therefore dedicated to exploring the complex history of the community, including the particularly tragic chapter of the Nazi occupation during the Second World War. As always fiction and culinary elements will be weaved into the discussion.

(Tunisia on the map: between Africa and Europe)

Berber, Italian and French Mix

The Jewish community of Tunisia settled mostly in the coastal areas in the cities of Tunis, Sousse, Sfax, Bizerte and Monastir. There were also several rural Berber communities, in which Jews lived a semi-nomadic life.

(The beautiful coast)

The origin of the Jewish community is disputable. Members of the community claim the first settlers migrated from Jerusalem after the destruction of the second temple in 70 CE. Several scholars, however, ascertain that the community originated from the conversion of either Phoenicians or Berber tribes.

Origin aside, archeologists indicate a viable Jewish presence beginning in the fourth century CE. Evidence also shows connection between Tunisian Jews and Jewries in Persia, Israel and Iraq. The Bagdadi community and its Talmudic centers, in particular, was a source of inspiration fueling the local Torah learning, and overall intellectual life.

In the fifteenth century, Andalusian Jews found refuge in Tunisia while escaping the Spanish Inquisition. Their influence is notable in architecture, culture, and clearly cuisine. Another wave of Jewish immigrants arrived to Tunisia from the Italian port city Livorno during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Livornese Jews, mostly Portuguse Marrano descendants, built maritime trade between North African hubs to European Mediterranean port cities.  In 1741, the Livornese community (also called “Grana”) asked for autonomy on the pretext of having a different liturgy. Followed by this act, two separate communities- native and Livornese- were formed. The two sub-communities had their own rabbis, synagogues, cemeteries and philanthropies. The Livornese section, which actually encompassed all European Jews whether they came from Italy, France, Gibraltar or Malta- prided themselves as superior. They refrained from intermarrige with the native Jews, refused to speak Judeo-Spanish and continued speaking Italian. Some of the Livornese became rich bankers and merchants, but many were weavers, tailors, shoemakers, and even lived in poverty relying  on charities.

In the cities, since Medieval times, the indegenous Tunisian Jews, lived in the margins of the Muslim areas and the Souks, in quaters named Haras. The Haras became overpopulated starting in the second half of the nineteenth century with poor sanitary conditions, and no running water nor electricity. The residents of the Hara were mostly craftsmen- tailors, potters, leatherworkers and silversmiths. Those who could afford it, left the Hara to settle in the European quarters built by the French.

(The Hara of Tunis, image #1)

(The Hara of Tunis, image #2)

The French Colonization, starting in the late nineteenth century, created a new elite of Francophones. The upper Jewish class eagerly fostered French as their mother tongue, named their children in French names and sent their children to schools in Paris. The few, who managed to obtain key posts in the new colonial governments, were granted French citizenship, but the majority including some of the wealthiest families remained with the status of subjects.

(The French Quarter of Tunis)

Despite the strong French influence, Tunisia continued to be fairly diverse as a port country luring people from different parts of the Mediterranean basin. Thus, the Jewish population (unlike their brothers in neighboring Algeria) lived in a multicultural environment, in which Greeks, Maltese, Italians and of course Arabs co-existed and influenced one another.

A Boy in a Ruthless City: The Nazi Occupation through the Eyes of an Adolecent

The cosmopolitan climate described above was the setting of Albert Memmi’s (1920-2020) semi-autobiographical novel, The Pillar of Salt. In the book, Memmi, a distinguished philosopher known for his work on Colonial Studies, disguised himself as Alexandre Mordekhai Bennillouche, a poor Jewish boy growing up in the Hara of the capital, Tunis.

( Albert Memmi)

Bennillouche (or Memmi) begins his account in describing his happy childhood as an age of innocence and unawareness to his poverty and inferior status as a “native Jew”. Gradually, the protagonist discovers the world around him. He excels at school, but suffers from anti-Jewish violence from Chirsitan and Muslim peers.  Given  his academic performance, he is given a stipend to study in one of the city’s top schools, where he is introduced to the upper circles of the Jewish community and the general European society. This exposure causes a rift in the relationship with his parents, who resent his education wishing for him to continue the family leather business. Although deeply ashamed of his parents - their meager existence and traditional views- Bennillouche is quickly disillusioned from the enchantment of the elite. Being a critical thinker, he spots its insincerity and snobbery, yet he is forced to hide his contempt  as he is dependent on their funds for his schooling.

(The capital- Tunis)

The six month Nazi occupation of Tunisia  (November 1942- May 1943) reaffirms Bennillouche’s beliefs about the hypocrisy of the elite. During the short- yet traumatic - German presence, Tunisian Jews were subject to constant harassment from the occupiers and general population, and were under the imminent threat of being deported to the death camps in Europe. Yet, the degree of Jewish misery varied based on socio-economic belonging. When the Germans issued a decree for Jewish forced labor, the wealthy ones of the community paid ransom to exempt  themselves and their dear ones. Impoverished men- however- were destined to greater hardship.

(Jews assigned for forced labor)

Benillouche (and Memmi himself) was one of the unfortunate people.  Despite being friendly with people in high places, and holding a prestigious teaching position, he was deported to a concentration camp in the Saharan desert. There, he suffered from the brutality of the guards, the senseless work, and above all the merciless sun. However, camp was also a place of revelation. The hardship created a sense of comradery between Benillouche and his fellow inmates, of whom he shared similar upbringing. He was even reunited with some old friends, and enjoyed conversing with them in his childhood dialect of Judeo- Arabic, which he neglected in favor of French. In addition, the camp helped him to rediscover and reconnect to his Jewish roots, as he was asked to lead Shabbat prayers as the camp’s intellectual figure.

By the time the camp was released by the Allies, Bennilouche was a more grounded man. He still continued to march according to his original trajectory in the academic world but with a wiser outlook on life.

Topped with Harissa: A Quick Peek to Jewish-Tunisian Cuisine

Even while estranged from his family traditions, Bennilouche always maintained a fondness for his mom’s traditional Tunisian cooking. In fact, he recounts nostalgically the smells of Shabbat dishes cooking slowly in the tiny kitchen of his childhood home. When he matures, he recognizes the power of food as a source of comfort and festivity in a household that is poor and filthy. One of the dishes he highlights is Bkeila (also pronounced Pkeila) - a hearty spinach and beans stew served vegetarian or with beef. Below is Yotam Ottolenghi’s take on it from his latest cookbook  Flavor.

Bkeila, Potato and Butter bean Stew - Adapted from Flavor

(See my notes below to simplify the cooking process)

4 cups (80 gram), roughly chopped cilantro

1 ½ cups (30 gram) parsley

14 cups (600 gram) spinach

½ cup (120 ml) olive oil

1 onion (150 gram), finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, crushed

2 green chiles, finely chopped and seeded

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp ground coriander

¾ tsp ground cinnamon

1 ½ tsp superfine sugar

2 lemons: juice to get 2 tbsp and cut the remainder into wedges

1 qt/ 1L vegetable/ chicken stock

Table salt

1 Ib 2 oz/ 500 gram waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 ¼ inch pieces

1 Ib 9 oz/ 700 gram jar or can of butter beans, drained

1.In batches, put cilantro, parsley and spinach in a food processor until finely chopped. Set aside.

(Massive amounts of greens)

2.Put 5 tbsp of olive oil into a large heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat. Add the onion and fry until soft and golden, mixing occasionally (about 8 minutes). Add garlic, chillies and all the spices and cook for another 6 minutes, stirring often.

3.Increase the heat to high and add the chopped herbs and spinach to the pot along with the remaining 3 tbsp olive oil. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the spinach turns a dark green. The spinach should turn a little fried brown but not burn. Stir in the sugar, lemon juice, stalk and 2 tsp salt. Scrape the bottom of the pot if needed. Bring to a simmer, then decrease heat to medium and add the potatoes. Cook until they are soft for about 20-25 minutes and then add the butter beans and cook 5 minutes longer.*

(Butter beans to break the deep green)

4.Divide into bowls and serve with lemon wedges.**

* As this dish was traditionally slow cooked using a slow cooker pot or a pressure cooker could easily do the trick. If using these- do the following:  Skip step 1. Saute the onions, garlic, chilli and species as instructed in step 2. Then add the rinsed spinach and herbs. Mix them well with the onions and spices in the bottom. Once the spinach begins to melt, mash them using a hand blender and then add the ingredients described in step 3 (beside the butter beans). Then let it slowly cook until everything softens. In the end, add the butter beans and press on the “stay warm” button.

(loading the pot with spinach)

** I served it with bulgur to soak up the liquids a bit (rice, farro or any other grain will work as well). I also added hard boiled eggs for additional protein.

(Healthy and heart)

In addition to the Bkeila- The Tunisian Shabbat table will not be complete without the famous couscous. The process of making it  from scratch without a food processor was quite laborious, but the result - whether served sweet with nuts and spices, or savory with meat stew or fish - was considered a delicacy.

The proximity to the Mediterranean shore brought fish dishes to the Jewish- Tunisian repertoire. Fish is mostly eaten fried or cooked as fish balls or oven roasted served with red hot sauce. Meat is also often served spicy, and often chunks of hot merguez sausage are added to stews or shakshuka.

Generally speaking, Tunisian Jews are fond of hot flavors, and their cuisine is potentially the spiciest in the diaspora (perhaps only second to the Yemeni). Harissa paste, now increasingly popular around the world - is liberally used to spice up any dish. This fiery red pepper condiment is added - for example-  to the famous Tunisian fricassee, one of Israel's most popular street foods. Click here for a recipe for this tuna loaded sandwich, and here to learn more broadly about Tunisian cuisine.

(Tunisian Sandwich with some Harissa)

[bywandandsword]

My grandma came over this morning and we started talking about her parents and I started asking about the sort of French they spoke, cause there’s Standard Louisiana French (basically standard French with an accent, if you’re in a French school around here, this is the language you learn), Cajun French (which is descended from Acadian French), and Creole French (a creole dialect that combined a French dialect of Northern France with strong African and Native language influences, since the people who spoke it were typically mixed race or lived in highly interracial communities)

Grandma wasn’t that helpful, cause to her, “they just spoke French”, so I started doing some research. From what I gather, most people in Pointe Coupee, where my family is from, spoke Creole French, which makes sense considering Pointe Coupee was a huge creole hub and it’s likely my family spoke that dialect too. I think this hypothesis it given credence considering my great grandpa spoke a different dialect of French than my great grandma, primarily because his family, while not cajun themselves, lived in heavily cajun area and picked up that dialect. So I started researching and I found both the perfect book on the subject (it’s academic so getting that is gonna wait until cause that price tho) and freaking SO MUCH about Louisiana creole communities on jstor and I’m just in a research hole right now, it’s so cool!

[fatherlandglobal]

Africans and African Descendants Community Hub - Fatherland

Fatherland promote and protect African Art, Culture, Faith, Tourism, and African Tradition around the World and also creating global economic opportunities for the African and African Descendants. Fatherland sees itself as a voice for the African communities, serving all interests.

[hadarmarkin]

The Sephardic Communities in Jerusalem - The Invisible Walls of the City

Diaspora is defined as the dispersion of the Jews beyond Israel or as Jews living outside Israel. Accordingly, this blog has thus far explored the life of Sephardic communities in various countries in the Mediterranean Basin and in the Middle East. This post, however, is a special one as it is dedicated to a group of Sephardic communities that have been residing in Israel for over 500 years. These Sephardic communities left their diasporic homes towards the ancient homeland starting in the 16th century, but still to this day operate within their old and somewhat isolated diasporic mode of speaking their own dialect, resolving conflicts in community structures, and marrying among themselves. As the holy capital, the city of Jerusalem became a hub for those types of Sephardic communities, and for that reason, it is the focus of this blog post.

A Peculiar City

As a sacred place for the three monotheistic religions, Jerusalem attracts people from a wide array of origins to settle in it. A short walk in the city streets reveals how incredibly diverse and complex it is. Every neighborhood encompasses a different world of language, culture, and worship. Sometimes within a distance of a few houses, the scenery changes dramatically: Arabic replaces Hebrew or Yiddish and affluent residences transform into low-income housing. It is not a rare sight, for instance, to witness an old Palestinian shepherd letting his sheep graze in the front lawn of an urban neighborhood. Being so hard to define or explain, no wonder that the late Amos Oz, one of Israel’s most renowned authors, called the city “one of the most peculiar places on earth.”

Unfortunately, as well reflected in global news, the relationships between the various ethnic and religious groups in the city are far from being harmonious. Clashes minor or major occur daily, fueling the already heated climate. The late Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, a longtime resident of Jerusalem, repeatedly lamented about the friction in his poems. Below is a passage from his poem “Jerusalem,” which beautifully captures the city’s animosity:

On a roof in the Old City

Laundry hanging in the late afternoon sunlight:

The white sheet of a woman who is my enemy,

The towel of a man who is my enemy,

To wipe off the sweat of his brow.

(Above- the different communities in the Old City)

Even within the Jewish context, there are invisible walls dividing the numerous religious sects and various ethnic groups, which exist beyond the obvious separation from the ultra-orthodox sector. The Sephardic community, as previously mentioned, is an umbrella name for multiple groups that are separated from each other linguistically and culturally, as they originated from various parts of the world, such as Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Yemen, Iran, and more. Although these communities have maintained friendly relationships on the surface, there is a strong sense of segregation between the communities, each keeping its gates closed for outsiders. Even the formation of the State of Israel that unified everyone under the idea of one nation could not dissolve these firm barriers.  

This post will look into these communities and specifically showcase two distinct groups: the Ladino speaking community and the Bucharian (Uzbek) neighborhood,  through art and culinary.

Ladino Speaking Communities: Jewish, Latin, and Balkan Mixed Together

The 16th century marked major shifts in Jewish demography. In the wake of the expulsion from Spain (1492) and the forced conversion in Portugal (1497), Jews wandered eastwards around the Mediterranean basin. About 200,000 Jews found refuge in the Muslim-ruled Ottoman Empire, which at the time, extended from the Balkan regions of Europe to the vast lands of the Fertile Crescent. As a result, cities, which had little-to-no Jewish population, such as  Constantinople and Salonika, became significant centers both demographically and spiritually.

A sizable group of deportees also arrived to the land of Israel, then a province in the Ottoman Empire, and settled mostly in Jerusalem. Since the expulsion created an acute theological crisis, many sought resort in apocalyptic beliefs. Jerusalem was, therefore, the ultimate destination for those who connected their plight with the arrival of the Messiah.

In addition, to those who came directly to Jerusalem, a constant flow of Jews migrated towards Jerusalem from the Balkans and present day Turkey throughout the late 15th and 16th centuries. Therefore, by the mid-16th century, the number of Jews in the city doubled. New Sephardic synagogues were established inside the walls of the Old City, and these attracted well-known rabbis and scholars, such as Rabbi Ovadia Bertenura and Rabbi Solomon Sirili.

Little by little, the immigrants from Spain and the Ottoman Empire evolved into a community known as the Old Sephardic community in Jerusalem. This community prided itself for being Sephardim Tehorim–Pure Sephardic– direct descendants of the glorious community from Spain, which generated some of the greatest Jewish philosophers and poets. Being extremely connected to their heritage, the community zealously maintained the religious practices and language called Ladino, a blend of medieval Spanish with some Turkish and Arab words, written in Hebrew script.

(Above- a Sephardic family in the mid 19th century)

The Ladino speaking community, also known as the Spanyolitim, saw itself as the elite of the Jewish society in Israel. They negotiated with the Ottoman officials and the Muslim populaition in the country. Many of them were merchants, who traveled to other cities in the Ottoman empire - mainly Beirut and Damascus-  to import goods. Given their socio-economic status and their attempt to keep their lineage unmixed, the Spanyolitim refrain from marrying outside their community. Marital relationship with the Ashkenazi community was banned, and even engaging with other groups within the Sephardic community  (such as the Mograbim,the North African Sephardim) was unacceptable. Wedding celebrations, as well as other communal gatherings, took place in the four Sephardic synagogues in the Old City.

(Above- Yochanan Ben Zakai Sephardic synagogue in 1927)

The thread of keeping a tight and pure community is in the center of the novel the Beauty Queen of Jerusalem by Sarit Yishai Levi. The story takes place in the late 19th century and early 20th century and it centers the Armosa family  - an archetypical old Sephardic family: well to do with a prominent ancestry. The older son, the handsome Gabriel, is the promise and pride of the family. However, much to his parents' dismay, Gabriel falls in love with an Ashkenazi Ultra-Orthodox woman and attempts to elope with her.

At this point, the story very much resembles a famous Jerusalem’s love tale between Itamar Ben Avi and Leah Abushdid occurring in the mid 19th century.  Ben Avi, the grandson of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the father of modern Hebrew, was madly in love with Abushadid, a member of a distinguished Sephardic family. After years of persistent courting, Abushadid’s family finally gave its consent to the Shidduch, and the couple -at least as told- had a long and happy marriage. This love story became material for songs and novels in Israeli culture, but more so paved the way for “mixed” marriages.

Unfortunately, in the book The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, the end is far from being happy as Gabriel’s plan to escape ends in a fiasco: the death of his father from shame and grief. Guilt stricken, Gabriel returns to his mother’s house. Furious, his mother decides to teach Gabriel a lesson: a bad Sephardic Shidduch is better than a love based arrangement with someone “who is not one of us.” Accordingly, she forces him to marry the poor and unattractive, yet Sephardic, Rosa. From this point on, the motif of community pressure and unhappy marriage keeps echoing as the plot develops.

The novel walks the reader through some of the historical landmarks happening in the Sephardic community at the time. The first eminent one is the process of relocating outside of the Old City, known in Jewish history as “leaving the walls.” Given the poor sanitary conditions in the Old City, the Armosa family, like many other Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and non-Jewish families, moves outside of the Old City into a new neighborhood. The then new and today famous and classic neighborhoods, such as Yemin Moshe, Mishkenot Shaananim, and Ohel Moshe played an important role in shaping the unique landscape of modern Jerusalem as well as speeding social changes, westernization, and modernity among these old communities.  Another important development described in the book was the loss of supremacy to the Ashkenazi Jews, given the massive immigration waves from Eastern Europe throughout the early to mid 20th century. At the beginning of the book, Gabriel is portrayed as a strong,  business savvy, and revered young man, but as the novel prolongs his health and businesses deteriorate, and he is incapable to find his place in Mandatory Jerusalem, where Ashkenazi Zionist activists set the tone.   The analogy created through Gabriel’s character tells the sad story of many other Sephardic notable men, who were pushed aside and disregarded by Ashkenazi dominated Zionist leadership.

Beyond tragic love stories and unfortunate historical development, The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem is a celebration of Sephardic culture and especially food. Dishes mentioned in the book, such as Sofrito and Avikas con Aroz (bean stew with rice) brings the reader back to Medieval Spain. But Sephardic Jerusalem food has more than a Spanish accent. Inevitably, Sephardic cooks incorporate ingredients used in the local Palestinian cuisine such as fresh sheep milk cheeses, garbanzo beans (used for hummus and other dishes), and lentils, into their home kitchen. Emulating their Muslim neighbors, they served their bitter coffee with overly sweet pastries and even added tamarind sauce to various dishes to obtain the sweet-sour flavor that is so prominent among the Spanyolitim. Another component in the Sephardic Jerusalem cuisine is the Balkan-Turkish influence brought by the Sephardic Jews, who lived in other regions of the Ottoman Empire before settling in Jerusalem. Dishes, such as Burekas filled with feta cheese, spinach, and Stoletch–rice pudding with dried fruit– are examples of the Balkan impact.

Perhaps the most important characteristic of Sephardic cuisine is resourcefulness. Living in a city that underwent numerous conquests, destruction, natural disasters, and famine,  the Spanyolitim learned the hard way how to source and prepare a wholesome meal with the local flora. In fact, it is said that during the siege on Jerusalem in 1948, in which the city suffered from great deficits, Sephardic women made bread, patties, and even omelets from Mallow, a local wild plant. Okra is another example of a vegetable popular among Spanyolit cooks as it is local, versatile, and nutritious. The traditional Sephardic way of cooking okra with acidic tomato sauce helps to diminish its texture, and highlights its nutritional value and flavor. Ironically, after years of having a bad reputation as a “grandma food,” Israeli chefs and dieticians are now embracing this vegetable and the Sephardic way of cooking it.

Okra in Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

3 cups of fresh or frozen okra

1 onion shredded in food processor

2 big tomatoes crushed

1 clove of garlic sliced

3 tbsp of olive oil

1.5 tbsp of sugar

2 tsp of pepper

Salt

½ cup of water

Juice from ½ a lemon

Making

Trim the edges of the okra

Warm the oil in the pan and add the onion, garlic and tomatoes. Once boiled, lower the heat and cover the pan.

Add the okra and the rest of the ingredients (except the lemon). Cook until softened but not mushy. 

Squeeze some lemon before serving.

Serve warm with rice or any other grain.

Uzbekistan

The Uzbeki community –known in Israeli as the Buchari community– in Jerusalem might be a tiny fragment of the overall population but it is a notable one. The Bucharim arrived in Jerusalem in several immigration waves from 1890 to 1914. The Russian conquest of Uzbekistan stimulated many to leave and because the community was observant by nature, Jerusalem was a natural choice for  resettlement.

Originally, the first Buchari immigrants opted to buy land in the Old City. However, the harsh living conditions behind the walls in addition to their needs as a young and culturally and linguistically unique community drove the Bucharim out to search for their own space. In 1894, after several years of community fundraising, a lot was purchased northwest of the Old City. The new immigrants initially named their new space Rechovot (meaning streets in Hebrew) but it was soon known by all as Shchunat Ha’Bucharim or the Buchari Quarter. Eager to replicate their old community life, the Bucharim hurried to establish communal facilities, such as a senior living home, orphanage, and several synagogues, including the Mosayof synagogue named after the community spiritual leader Rabbi Shlomo Mosayof. In addition, a Talmud Torah school teaching in both Hebrew and Parsi was founded to solve the language barrier problems that young Buchari boys were experiencing when visiting schools in other communities.  Unlike other new Jewish neighborhoods at the time that were built simply and in a haste, much thought and funds were put into the urban planning and architecture in the Buchari Quarter. Given the generosity of the wealthy members, the facades of the buildings were embellished with Jewish Stars and other decorations, trees were planted on the side of the roads, and empty lots were allocated for farming. Considered then exotic within the Jerusalem landscape, the quarter attracted visitors from within and outside of Jerusalem to admire its beauty and to explore its vivid community life.

(Above- The Davidof family, one of the most prominent families in the Buchari community, a portrait from the early 1920′s)

Today, Shchunat Ha’Bucharim is still a popular destination and several of the sites are protected by the Israeli Council of Historic Preservation. However, given various demographic and political shifts, the original Buchari population shrank and because of this, many of the structures suffer from neglect. As the quarter borders with Jerusalem’s Ultra-Orthodox residential complex, there is an increasing “invasion” of young Haredi families who cannot find housing in their overpopulated neighborhoods. The growing Ultra-Orthodox presence also impacts the moderate religious nature of the Buchari community, as shown in the Israeli film, The Women’s Balcony.

(Above- a street sign in the quarter)

(Above- an example of the Buchari’s quarter unique architecture- the Davidof “Palace”)

The Women’s Balcony (directed by Shlomit Nehama and Emil Ben-Shimon, 2016) is the story of the small but devoted community of the Mosayof synagogue. The men in the community compose a loyal Minyan, and take care of the synagogue maintenance. However, their wives are the burning candle, and the real power behind the joyous life cycle, holiday celebrations, and the community aid. One day, this peaceful life is disrupted. The synagogue ceiling collapses during a Bar Mitzvah ceremony, where the rabbi is badly injured and the structure itself requires serious work. Puzzled by this accident, the men in the community accept the authority of a young charismatic rabbi as their new spiritual leader. The new rabbi is indeed very knowledgeable and committed to repairing the damage, but his religious views are far more radical and do not match the community’s long tradition of religious moderation. The women are the first ones to be affected by his strict agenda. They are excluded from worship and are blamed for being overly permissive when it comes to modesty and Jewish laws. Caring deeply about their community, the women decided to fight back. For more on their struggle, watch the movie on Amazon prime video.

(Above- a scene from the movie)

Although food is not the focal point of the movie, many of the scenes  take place in Shuk Machne’ Yehuda, a traditional Middle Eastern Marketplace that is a destination for pre-Shabbat shopping as well as culinary tourism. Zion, one of the characters in the movie, is the owner of a spice store in the Shuck, and is also famous for making delicious fruit salads using fruit from the nearby stands. And indeed, as the movie portrays, the Buchari cuisine very much relies on the use of local and fresh produce as well as aromatic seasonings.  Given Uzbekistan’s location in central Asia on the  Silk Road, the Buchari food incorporates Russian, Turkish, and Iranian influences. The result is a cuisine that has bold flavors and rich seasonings. Lamb is the favorite meat, and its fat alongside some herbs and leafy green vegetables are highly used to flavor foods. Accordingly, the traditional dishes are Manto- meat dumplings with vegetables and Legman soup made with noodles, lamb and fresh veggies. Similar to the Iranian cuisine rice is the wide-used grain. Bachash, the traditional rice, has many variations from a green one with cilantro, dill, and spinach to a simple white version with thin noodles (or orzo in this case) at the bottom. The movie shows a quick glimpse of a basic white Bachash, and therefore this is the recipe I chose to highlight.

The recipe for Bachash is taken from the book Jerusalem. Palestinian chef Sami Tamimi and Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi pay homage to their hometown while curating a plethora of recipes from Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities. Their seminal groundwork into the Jerusalem cuisine truly helps with understanding the different influences and flavors that make Jerusalem a synonymous name for unique yet comforting food. The beautiful photos, as well as the interesting historical and cultural segments, make this book a nice possession even if not used for cooking.

Unlike many dishes in this book (or in other Ottolenghi’s books), this rice recipe is extremelya to make and does not require any speciality ingredients. My rice recipes are usually taken from the Persian cuisine, which requires longer cooking time and prep. When I made this dish, I was pleasantly surprised how incredibly quick and easy was the process without compromising the texture and flavor.  

White Bachash

Ingdientes:

1 ⅓ cup basmati rice

1 tbsp ghee (or butter)

1 tbsp sunflower oil

2 ½ cup chicken/ veggie stock

1 tsp salt

½ cup orzo*

Process:

Rinse rice and soak it for 30 minutes in cold water. Drain and rinse again.

Melt butter and oil on medium heat in the pot.

Add orzo and fry for  3-4 minutes or until orzo turns dark golden.

Add the stock , bring to a boil, and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the drained rice and salt, bring to a gentle boil, stir once or twice, cover the pan, and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Try not to uncover the pan- keeping it closed helps the rice to steam properly.

Turn off the heat, remove the lid, and cover the pot quickly with a clean kitchen towel. Place the lid back on top of the towel, and leave for 10 minutes.

Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

* I used GF chickpea flour orzo, which I think added a nice flavor to the rice.

[sheynkayt]

Charles Harris, better known as Teenie “One Shot” Harris, was a Pittsburgh-based photographer who captured tens of thousands of images of Pittsburgh’s African American community during the Golden Age of the Hill District.

Teenie Harris earned the nickname “One Shot” because it was believed he was so good at photography he only needed one shot to get the perfect picture. Others believe he could only afford to take one shot because photography equipment was expensive. Whatever the case may be, his photographs give a glimpse into the rich past of Pittsburgh’s African American community.

Harris’ photos were not discovered until several decades ago. He signed a contract with a curator to exhibit his photos in museums across the city; however, because he could not understand the contract, he did not realize he signed over all the rights to his photography. His photographs were reclaimed by his descendants after prints, negatives, and slides were discovered in boxes in a photography studio. Today, his photographs are kept by the Carnegie Museum of Art and displayed in a yearly exhibition. He is considered the greatest photojournalist in Pittsburgh history and his images are paramount to the understanding of the city’s past.

During the Great Migration, thousands of African Americans settled in Pittsburgh in the Hill District neighborhood. This area became the central hub of Black life in the city: businesses, bars, clubs, and restaurants flourished from the 1920s-1960s. Famous jazz musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington played in bars on Centre Avenue, and on this street is where Teenie Harris opened his photography studio. He documented the daily lives of Black residents, showcasing their fashion, hairstyles, nightlife, and culture.

The Golden Age of the Hill District ended in the 1960s when Pittsburgh mayor David L. Lawrence implemented the first urban renewal project. The Penguins needed a new hockey arena because the previous one was falling apart, and in an attempt to redevelop the neighborhood, the Civic Arena was built in the Lower Hill. As a result, hundreds of families were displaced; where the Civic Arena was built once stood rows and rows of houses and businesses. Today it is a parking lot. Not only were Black families displaced, Jewish, Polish, and Italian immigrants were forced to move as well. Jews moved to Squirrel Hill, the Poles moved to Polish Hill, and the Italians moved to Bloomfield. Because of the racist housing market, displaced Black families could only move to the Hazelwood and Homewood neighborhoods. These were primarily white areas, and when Black families moved in, the white families moved out, causing a decrease in property values. With the loss of their businesses and livelihoods, Black families were now forced into a life of poverty.

The effects of the urban renewal project were devastating to the Hill District. Most of the business owners had to move, shops closed, and the sense of community was eliminated. Black business owners carried a sense of pride to serve their community, and those who remained in the area struggled to make ends meet because business was not as good as it was. What was once a lively, rich neighborhood became poverty-stricken and ultimately forgotten about by the city. David L. Lawrence promised to revitalize the neighborhood after the Civic Arena was built, but this promise was never fulfilled. Today, the Hill District is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh and has been a food desert since the 70s.

Through the work of Teenie Harris, this history is not forgotten. You can see all of his photos on the Carnegie Museum of Art Teenie Harris Archive.

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Best and worst U.S. airports (LI) Newark Liberty Airport is America’s worst airport. That’s according to Airhelp’s 2019 annual rankings, which placed the New Jersey hub 116th out of 132 in the world. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport fared best at 34th. Taking out the top spots--based on on-time performance, service quality and food and shopping options--were Doha’s Hamad International Airport, Tokyo International Airport and Athens International Airport. The report notes the biggest issue airports face is congestion: in 2018, international tourist arrivals increased 6%, to 1.4 billion.

Tit-for-tat tariffs (Washington Post) The United States and China traded blows on Monday in the latest escalation of their tariff war. In Beijing, the Chinese government announced plans to impose tariffs on $60 billion worth of American products in retaliation for U.S. tariffs that President Trump increased on Friday. Trump, meanwhile, began the process of expanding U.S. tariffs to cover all $540 billion in Chinese imports--a potentially seismic jolt to the global economy that is expected to raise prices for everyday products such as cell phones, sunglasses, cameras and televisions.

Differing approaches on the student debt crisis (Bloomberg) Experts warn of an economic (and suicide) crisis triggered by $1.6 trillion in U.S. student debt. Democrats have proposed forgiveness programs; The Trump administration is going the other way, intensifying collection efforts by garnishing wages, claiming tax refunds and even seizing disability payments.

White House Reviews Military Plans Against Iran: New York Times (Reuters) The top U.S. defense official has presented an updated military plan to President Donald Trump’s administration that envisions sending up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East should Iran attack American forces or accelerate work on nuclear weapons, the New York Times reported on Monday.

Pompeo crashes Brussels meeting of E.U. diplomats but changes few minds on Iran (Washington Post) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo crashed a meeting of European foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday to push for a united transatlantic front against Tehran and its nuclear program. But he failed to bend attitudes among leaders who fear the United States and Iran are inching toward war. Pompeo’s last-minute decision to visit the E.U. capital, announced as he boarded a plane from the United States, set up a confrontation between the U.S. secretary and European diplomats who have been scrambling to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. At least one, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, said he feared that unintentional escalation from the United States and Iran could spark a conflict--an unusually bold statement that appeared to assign equal culpability to Washington and Tehran.

Transatlantic defense tensions (Foreign Policy) The United States, especially under Trump, has repeatedly badgered Europe to increase defense spending. But now that Europe is taking concrete steps to boost a pan-European defense industry, Washington is reportedly howling mad, according to Spanish daily El Pais. The Pentagon sent an angry letter to officials in Brussels, the paper says, arguing that two new defense initiatives--the European Defence Fund and Permanent Structured Cooperation--could cut out U.S. defense firms and erode decades of close cooperation between the United States and other NATO allies.

3 Killed in Shootout in Mexico City Market Neighborhood (AP) Mexico City authorities are investigating the shooting deaths of three men in the Tepito neighborhood, which is known for its expansive street market and counterfeit goods trade.

Argentine Military Scrambles After Bomb Threat Against Presidential Palace (Reuters) Argentina’s military and federal police scrambled to deal with a bomb threat made against the presidential palace in Buenos Aires while President Mauricio Macri was there on Monday, just hours after a man was arrested trying to enter the building with a gun, an official with the presidential press team said.

Sweden to reopen rape case against WikiLeaks’ Assange (AP) Swedish prosecutors said Monday they are reopening a rape case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and will seek his extradition from Britain.

French Authorities Seize Half-Tonne of Cocaine at Dunkirk (Reuters) French authorities seized half a tonne of cocaine worth around 40 million euros ($44.9 million) in the northern port of Dunkirk last month, Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a statement on Tuesday.

Merkel Fan Accidentally Grounds Chancellor’s Plane (AP) Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government plane has been grounded by an excited fan who jumped out of her van to take a photo of it at Dortmund airport but forgot to put the parking brake on, and the vehicle rolled slowly into the nose of the jet.

Sri Lankan Gov’t Minister: At Least 1 Muslim Killed in Riots (AP) Mob attacks on Muslim communities in Sri Lanka’s northwest have left one person dead and dozens of shops and mosques destroyed, a government minister said Tuesday, as communal violence worsened in the wake of Easter bombings that killed more than 250 people.

Vietnam to Mobilise Military in Fight Against African Swine Fever (Reuters) Vietnam said it will mobilise its military and police forces to help combat the outbreak of African swine fever that has already resulted in the culling of about 4% of the country’s pig herd.

Newly Appointed Thai Senate Includes Many Soldiers, Police (AP) Thailand’s newly appointed 250-member Senate, which will play a crucial role in selecting the country’s next prime minister, will have more than 100 members of the police and military who have wielded power since a 2014 coup ousted an elected government.

North Korea Says Ship Seizure by U.S. Violates Spirit of Trump-Kim Summit (Reuters) North Korea said on Tuesday the seizure of one of its cargo ships by the United States was an illegal act that violated the spirit of a summit between the two countries’ leaders, and demanded the return of the vessel without delay.

U.N. Investigators Urge Nations to Snap Financial Ties With Myanmar Military (Reuters) The world must cut off financial and other support for Myanmar’s armed forces, a U.N. fact-finding mission said on Tuesday, repeating a call for top generals to be prosecuted for abuses against the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Data Shows Israeli Settlements Boosted After Trump Election (AP) Israel’s government went on a spending binge in its West Bank settlements following the election of President Donald Trump, according to official data obtained by The Associated Press.

Four Die in Sudan Protests as Military Rulers Say Won’t Allow ‘Chaos’ (Reuters) Four people died in Sudan late on Monday in violence that broke out after a political transition deal between the mainstream opposition and military rulers, who said they would not allow the country to descend into “chaos”.

[orbemnews]

100 years ago, this area was known as Black Wall Street. Then it came to a heartbreaking end At the turn of the 20th century, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was more than 35 city blocks of thriving shops, hotels, theaters and more. And all of them were Black-owned. The district was founded by Black men and women — many of whom were descendants of slaves — and it became known as Black Wall Street. Greenwood was home to doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs. For years, it was a beacon for African-Americans looking to escape the discrimination and violence of the Jim Crow South and live a peaceful and safe life. But even in Greenwood, not everyone was safe. Racial tensions and violence with the neighboring White residents in Tulsa boiled over. And, on May 31, 1921, a race massacre ensued, killing hundreds of Greenwood’s residents and leaving the district in ashes. Black Wall Street had been burned to the ground. Laying the foundation The foundations of the Greenwood District and Black Wall Street were built in the 1830s, when African-Americans first migrated to Oklahoma. Many Black people had arrived as slaves to the Native American members of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek and Seminole tribes — who were forced to relocate from the Southeastern US to Oklahoma Territory as a result of President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act. Following the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which called for the abolition of slavery, African-Americans were granted citizenship and allotted plots of land where they could begin their new lives as free men and women. This land allocation led to a boom in all-Black towns, including Greenwood. Between 1865 and 1920, the number of all-black towns and settlements grew to more than 50. Today, only 13 all-black towns exist, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. To help these towns grow and attract new residents, some people took on the role of “boosters,” encouraging the migration of other African-Americans seeking to escape the racial violence of the South. Oklahoma Territory, they would say, was a utopia for opportunity and freedom for Black people. One of these boosters was Edward P. McCabe, a former politician and state auditor of Kansas. McCabe’s dream was to create an all-black state in the Oklahoma Territory that was run by and for Black people. McCabe founded the town of Langston in Oklahoma and a newspaper, the Langston City Herald. He used the publication as a tool to promote his ideas about a black statehood. While McCabe’s dream never materialized, it further fueled the creation of all-black towns in Oklahoma Territory, one of which would become known as Greenwood. The birth of Black Wall Street It all started with 40 acres and a grocery store. Ottawa W. Gurley, better known as O.W. Gurley, was one of Tulsa’s earliest settlers. Gurley, traveled to the oil rich city of Tulsa in 1905 from Arkansas and purchased 40 acres of land, on which he built the People’s Grocery Store and a one-story rooming house. Gurley’s grocery store and rooming house set the stage for the boom in Black entrepreneurial businesses that would follow. Greenwood was soon filled with restaurants, hotels, billiard halls, shoe stores, tailor shops and more. The district’s enterprising residents built their businesses for Black people, who were often barred or treated poorly in the nearby White establishments. Stringent segregation laws had gone into effect after Oklahoma became a state in 1907. This paved the way for Greenwood to become an insular hub for the Black dollar to circulate, historians say. Many of the Black residents earned and spent their money entirely within the confines of Greenwood. The result was one of the most affluent and wealthiest African-American enclaves in the country. Among Greenwood’s most prominent residents was J.B. Stradford. The son of an emancipated slave, Stradford was a lawyer who amassed his fortune through real estate. Among his many properties, he built the opulent Stradford Hotel, complete with 54 rooms and crystal chandeliers, providing a welcoming space for Black visitors. John and Loula Williams built and operated an auto repair garage, a confectionary, and a rooming house. But they were best known for building the famous Williams Dreamland Theatre, which featured silent films and live musical and theatrical revues that regularly attracted Black audiences. Simon Berry started a jitney service that catered to Greenwood’s Black community, who were barred from using White taxi services. He also owned a hotel and started a bus service and, as an experienced aviator, founded his own airline charter. “Greenwood wasn’t just a place, but a state of mind. They had built this place, they had created it. It wasn’t a gift from anyone, it was their own community,” said Scott Ellsworth, a University of Michigan historian and author of “The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice,” who has been working on an effort to discover the unmarked graves of the Tulsa massacre victims.”In Greenwood, everybody knew they were just as good as anyone else.” The faces of Greenwood A dream destroyed But not everything was going well in Greenwood. Tensions between the Black and White residents of Tulsa had started rising. Whites had grown resentful of the Black wealth and success of the residents of Greenwood District, according to Mechelle Brown, director of programs at the Greenwood Cultural Center. On May 31, 1921, everything came to a head. It all started after an elevator encounter between a 17-year-old White woman named Sarah Page and a 19-year-old Black man named Dick Rowland. It was alleged that Rowland had assaulted Page in the elevator, which he denied. But it didn’t matter. News of a Black man’s alleged assault of a White woman spread like wildfire throughout the White community of Tulsa and tempers flared. Black residents rushed to the Tulsa County Courthouse to prevent Rowland’s lynching, while White residents were deputized by the Tulsa Police and handed weapons. A White mob, estimated to include some 10,000 people, descended upon the Greenwood District. Over the next 12 hours, the city of Greenwood experienced an all out assault of arson, shootings and aerial bombings from private planes. By the morning of June 1, 1921, Greenwood had been destroyed. It would eventually be known as the Tulsa race massacre. “The race massacre was a part of American culture and lynching culture of the time. However, the scope and the scale of the violence and destruction was unprecedented,” said Karlos K. Hill, associate professor and chair of the Clara Luper Department of African and African American Studies at the University of Oklahoma and the author of “Beyond the Rope: The Impact of Lynching on Black Culture and Memory.” Buck Colbert Franklin, a lawyer who lived in the Greenwood District at the time, recounted what he witnessed of the massacre in a 10-page manuscript that was found in 2015, “I could see planes circling in mid-air. They grew in number and hummed, darted and dipped low,” he wrote. “I could hear something like hail falling upon the top of my office building. Down East Archer, I saw the old Mid-Way hotel on fire, burning from its top, and then another and another and another building began to burn from their top.” Franklin wrote that he then left his office, locked the door and descended to the foot of the steps. “The side-walks were literally covered with burning turpentine balls. I knew all too well where they came from, and I knew all too well why every burning building first caught from the top,” he continued. “I paused and waited for an opportune time to escape. ‘Where oh where is our splendid fire department with its half dozen stations?’ I asked myself. ‘Is the city in conspiracy with the mob?'” The aftermath All 35 city blocks of the Greenwood District were completely decimated. The Red Cross reported that 1,256 homes and 191 businesses were destroyed and 10,000 black people were left homeless. And it’s believed that as many as 300 people were killed, according to the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum. Survivors were left with nothing after their homes were looted and $2.7 million in insurance claims were denied, according to a 2001 state historical commission report. Another research report out of Harvard University estimated that, in 2020 dollars, total financial losses were between $50 and $100 million. For decades to follow, accounts of what happened in the summer of 1921 would remain largely unknown. But the massacre didn’t mark the end for Greenwood. Black Tulsans rebuilt the community, and by 1942, the Greenwood District was home to more than 200 Black-owned businesses, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. Mabel B. Little, who owned a salon in Greenwood before the massacre, described the rebuilding efforts in her 1990 memoir, “Fire on Mount Zion: My Life and History as a Black Woman in America.” “In the end, we didn’t get hardly any help from the white community. We had to save our own, use what small means we had and cooperate together. … Little by little, we built our businesses back up — beauty shops, our drug stores, grocery stores, our own barbershops, tailor shops, you name it.” But urban renewal and the eventual construction of an interstate highway would lead to another devastating blow to the area. Businesses dwindled and Black families moved further North. Today, only 10 buildings remain in the historic Greenwood District. Tulsa: 100 years later In the 100 years since the Tulsa race massacre, there have been various efforts to rebuild and support Black entrepreneurs in the Greenwood area and address the historical violence that ensued in 1921. In 2018, the search for possible mass graves from the Tulsa race massacre was initiated. There have been at least 10 bodies discovered since the search began. In 2020, a lawsuit was filed by a group of Oklahomans demanding reparations for the 1921 race massacre. The suit is led by a 106-year-old survivor Lessie Benningfield “Mother” Randle, who was a little girl when the massacre took place. The lawsuit is still pending. “Greenwood and North Tulsa Community residents continue to face racially disparate treatment and City-created barriers to basic human needs, including jobs, financial security, education, housing, justice, and health,” the lawsuit alleges. Other efforts underway include a $1 million fundraiser to rebuild Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood Commercial District led by Stevyn Turner and Freeman Culver on behalf of the nonprofit Greenwood Community Development Corporation. According to Turner and Culver, the goal of the fundraiser is to “rebuild the North Tulsa community one business and one job at a time.” Another initiative is Black Tech Street, founded by Tyrance Billingsley II, which seeks to offer education and opportunities to aspiring Black entrepreneurs and innovators in the area. “[Greenwood] … what it did have, and even still has today is an entrepreneurial spirit and resourcefulness. That is what allowed it to grow and become the Black Wall Street of America,” said Hill. “It speaks to Greenwood as a symbol of Black excellence as well as the impressive growth of the community.” CNN’s Allen Kim, Dakin Andone, David Williams, Jamiel Lynch, Sara Sidner and Skylar Mitchell contributed to this reporting. Source link Orbem News #area #Black #heartbreaking #Street #Wall #Years

[2jam4u]

okay on ur dark skinned italian question, i know some sicilian italians who sorta identify as ethnically separate bc they tend to be much darker due to the location of sicily, also bc it’s historically an agricultural hub there’s a lot of descendants of north african slaves n darker italians have traditionally been ragged on by whiter northern italians (classic othering of agriculture based communities) (not saying this is a legit model, but it’s one ive heard lots of darker italians invoke)

interesting fun facts thanks for sharing!