#Buffalo General American Freedmen | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

domtrejon · 1 year ago

Text

full circle moment. this way (a) houston group show // the direction of study + research development = home improvement

celebrating the legacy of houstons freedmen's town // the historic 4th ward neighborhood that was first known as the residence of the native descendants of freed slaves who put all of their belongings into building a lively thriving community. over the decades it has been redeveloped in terms of gentrification decreasing the number of property owned // operated by these freed descendants : sparking a rise of displacement.

this exhibition highlights the generations of native houstonians connected to this community either through spirit or blood in works of preserving the heritage that still remains via multidisciplinary expressions // insightful examinations from 12 houston based african american artists.

i need to acknowledge the divine creator in my involvement in this collaboration with the contemporary × the conservancy ! i thank jehovah god for the series of events that has lead us to this expression of the message. locally we get a glimpse at the global struggle thats happening all across the world to indigenous communities .

in my personal research i been expanding my consciousness : seeking solutions studying industries // ideologies outside of the classroom to prepare for this exhibition. in terms of discovery i could come off as a knowledgeable guy whos’ too smart for his own good // the mister “kNOw” it all type of behavior gets my kind killed so the quest of knowledge has taught me i don’t need to kNOw everything .

i rather “YES” it ! leading us to the “YESAGE” era. a philosophy . a mentality . a cultural construct . the meaning behind nothing actually meaning something while YESTHING doesn’t mean anything @ all [ until now ] year of the yes !

as i digger deeper into the rabbit hole i realized that i don’t “kNOw” who supplied the education or who defines the value that we that view on this grand scale of intelligence . in fact all my information has been strategically feed // curated to me to make me believe everything is “make” belief.

a conversation with casey helped me identify the enemy on a socio - political economic standpoint. the synagogue of satan has agents on every corner promoting self destruction. on my renaissance x revelation // powerpoint presentation i see the other side :

the real estate agents

the international bankers

design is to divide us

who monopolize the commodities who produce the conditions to monetize off our mission of being spiritual beings having a human experience ?

ask yourself : is it about what’s right or what’s required ??? to clarify more of what im articulating : i appreciated every aspect of assembling this abstract adaptation of the historic 4th ward map. placing the structures on the surface of the foundation put me in the shoes of the city developers // the instruments of division // the so called enemy which opened my eyes to me being on the same side of a different spectrum curating the conditions of our communities. the new albums is gaining access to the factories x the family + the farms again .

to the solution seekers : stumbling across esoteric territory i advise you to utilize your abilities to service god & his children // continue to seek the kingdom & everything will be added onto you. i challenge you to engage further into the lives we still have access to by being aware of what going on inside yourself + outside in your community.

the sculpture “35 & beyond” is symbolic by displaying the direction of the historical present reality of the 4th ward neighborhood. houstons freedmen’s town is located less than 3 miles away from the museum district in what we call today allen parkway // buffalo bayou . whenever you are available to check out the area give it a go to expand your perspective.

thank you to the team @camh + @hftc for crafting a cohesive cultural exhibition.

the public opening was dearly delightful

thank you to all the artists for your introspection

thank you to all the preparators for the installation

thank you to all the attendees showing solidarity

thank you to all who listen to me give a brief explanation of what the work means.

thank you to mich for the mentorship + the guidance provided throughout the production process of this sculpture.

to anyone curious on how to learn more on this subject matter get in touch with choronda johnson to schedule a tour of houstons freedmen town to experience a guided walkthrough from a native descendant.

this way (a) houston group show on view until march 2024

i am open for interviews // any dialogue regarding questions about the work

@ publicrelationsmediabroadcast

article : [artist meets activist] @ dömtrejon 23

new age civilization // ownership // identity !

no more taunting the new jock #

#publicrelations #magenta #domtrejon

0 notes

metanoiyed-archive · 4 years ago

Text

CURRENT EVENTS - updated 9/23/2021

Ecology/Environmental Activism/Environmental Racism

Oil Project Threatens Russia's Arctic Indigenous Communities

Climate change is affecting mothers and unborn children in the Brazilian rainforest.

We Need to Indigenize Land Conservation.

Ecological Degradation of the Dust-Bowl and other countries: They Knew, by fatehbaz.

Environmentalism, Racism, and Veganism by fandomsandfeminism with contribution from apathetic-at-my-best.

White-Washed Hope: Infographic on Climate Change and Environmentalism.

Decolonizing ecology.

Post by 01030104 about ecofascism.

Dam Removal Win in Washington posted by pacificnorthwestcore.

Returning Native Land is Protecting Nature

StopLine3.org / riceislifecarrd / stopline3: link tree

Indigenous Resistance Has Cut US & Canada's Annual Emissisions

Mushroom Beehives Could Save Honeybees.

Sign this petition to protect Pololu Valley in Hawai'i.

Graphene sucks out Uranium From Contaminated Water

“Blackness & The Bomb”: Nuclear Power and Environmental Racism

Wasp PSA by Symbolone

WATER HUNTERS: Water Conservation video by IBRIDO

Private Space Travel is Irredeemable by lesbianboboberens.

Giving Mountains Their Names Back

Amid Climate Related Concerns of Displacement, Tribes say the US is Ignoring Climate Threats

No Warming, No War: Climate Militarism PDF

Lake Uru Uru is More Plastic Than Water by solarpunkfairy

Mountain Valley Pipeline Defenders / Fight Continues Against Mountain Valley Pipeline (2019) / MVP would Desecrate Native American Grounds (2019)• Fight Brewing Over Damage to Aquifer by Mountain Valley Pipeline (2021) / Protestors Arrested After Rally Against MVP (2021) / Send a Letter to the Virginia Attorney General • MVP sues landowners to gain access for pipeline (2017)

Environmental Racism & Nuclear Testing by bihet-dragonize with additions from baepsaebot, nonbinarymerbabe & betweenparallels

Phytoremediation by lunefrog, contribution by pastrypuppy about gardening and how to use native plants.

Indigenous Sovereignty / Abolition / Settler Colonialism / Land Back

Japan’s Indigenous Ainu community don’t want a theme park – they want their rights.

“The Anglo American mining company destroys forests, rivers and indigenous peoples. We are inside [our territory] and will continue to be. Anglo American—Get Out! Demarcation Now! The people will go on resisting", say Munduruku leaders including [twitter @Alkorap1] in a meeting they held.

Resources put together by head-smashed-in-buffalo-thighs and effectiveresistance on settler colonialism and land back.

Connection between TERFs/radfems and colonialism, by wetpinkorthodoxy and contribution by clatterbane.

Atheism and Settler-Colonial Denial (Don’t Be An Asshole, Basically) by neechees with contributions from konowiw and azu303.

From allthecanadianpolitics: “When Victorians used to dig up Indigenous bones for fun.” With an unnerving addition by normal-horoscopes.

From neeches, cottagecore discourse; how it fetishizes the idea of Native land.

Imperialism Resources put together by lgbtmazight.

Quote by Corrina Gould from hexenmeisterer.

Support the Sovereign Likhts’amisyu and their own land back movement! Donate to their GFM.

Donate and help protect & support the waters and lands of the Sápmi. There is an ongoing struggle right now with the government over their land.

Donate and share this land back movement, Camp Mni Luzahan.

Donate to Survival International, an organization dedicated to educating about tribal peoples and their right to their lands. They have a general action-list link you can check out here, too.

Obligatory COVID Reading:

Kids are not only able to be spreaders, but are often symptomless.

Children more likely to spread COVID-19.

Other Resources & Neat Things

How to use Shinigami Eyes by technogenic-mess

Sci-Hub and Other Resources by elinaline

How to download music by aesthonaut

LGBTQ+ On a more happy note, have some trans musicians who are redefining pop music.

Donate to help provide to & save the Gully Queens of Jamaica, a group made for and by Black Trans Women in Jamaica.

Donate to this organization, the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) who work to protect and support trans and intersex people who are going through and out of the legal system (especially POC.)

Donate to this organization the Trans Women of Color Collective!

Donate to the Trans Housing Coalition!

People to follow:

[*keep in mind these are my personal recommendations and individuals are not spokespeople, they are people. be respectful. also i ran out of link space so some of them dont have links but are found on social media.]

Giniw Collective Instagram/Twitter

HonortheEarth Instagram/Twitter

Resist Line 3 Instagram/Twitter

Niitsítapi Water Protectors Instagram/Twitter

Lakota Law Project

mmiwhoismissing Instagram • Link Tree

yintah_access Instagram • Link Tree

wetsuweten_checkpoint Instagram • Link Tree

melaninmvskoke Instagram • Twitter • Link Tree

campmigizi Instagram

IndigenousRising Instagram • Link Tree

Fairycreek Blockade Instagram

Rainforest Flying Squad Instagram • Link Tree

nowhitesaviors Instagram • Link Tree

seedingsovereignty Instagram • Twitter • Link Tree

Choctaw Freedmen Twitter • Link Tree

Intersapphic Tumblr

olowan-waphiya Tumblr

uzizitkah Tumblr

ar-menias Tumblr

mishiikenhkwe Tumblr • Twitter

NativeNews Tumblr

akajustmerry Tumblr

conjuringsigns Twitter

Artists/Shops/Authors

Directory of Native beadwork/art shops put together by uzizitkah/mathosapa beads (here)

Mishiikenhkwe (artist/shop)

JohnnieJae (artist/shop)

niibidoon (artist/shop)

Shop Palestine

The Spirit Trail (music)

mathosapabeads (artist/shop)

The Heritage Center (gift shop)

Akwaeke Emezi

Mount Pleasant Library Friends

Jamie Nole (Artist/Shop)

#that seems good #environmentalism #imperialism #anti-imperialism #colonialism #farmers protest#ecology #decolonizing ecology #decolonization #long post #so i finally made that post of resources i wanted to make

101 notes · View notes

blackkudos · 5 years ago

Text

Allen Allensworth

Allen Allensworth (7 April 1842 – 14 September 1914), born into slavery in Kentucky, escaped during the American Civil War and became a Union soldier; later he became a Baptist minister and educator, and was appointed as a chaplain in the United States Army. He was the first African American to reach the rank of lieutenant colonel. He planted numerous churches, and in 1908 founded Allensworth, California, the only town in the state to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans.

During the American Civil War, he escaped by joining the 44th Illinois Volunteers and later served two years in the navy. After being ordained as a minister, he worked as a teacher, studied theology and led several churches. In 1880 and 1884, he served as the only black delegate from Kentucky in the Republican National Conventions. In 1886, he gained an appointment as a military chaplain to a unit of Buffalo Soldiers in the West and served in the US Army for 20 years, retiring in 1906.

In addition to his work in developing churches, he was notable for founding the township of Allensworth, California in 1908; it was intended as an all-black community. Although environmental conditions inhibited its success as a farming community and the residents abandoned it after a few generations, much of the former town has been preserved as the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. It marks the founders' dream and the thriving community that developed for some time.

Biography

Early life and education

Born into slavery in Louisville, Kentucky in 1842, Allensworth was the youngest of thirteen children of Phyllis (c. 1782 - 1878) and Levi Allensworth. Over the years, their family was scattered: his sister Lila escaped with her intended husband to Canada by the Underground Railroad; and the older boys William, George, Frank, Levi and Major were sold downriver to plantations in the Deep South, which continued to buy enslaved workers from the Upper South to develop the cotton industry. Mary Jane was his only sibling who grew up in Kentucky and married there; she purchased her freedom in 1849, gaining stability.

His mother was held by A.P. and Bett Starbird. The mistress assigned Allen as a young slave to her son Thomas. When the Starbird boy started school, Allen began to learn from him, although it was illegal. After his father died when Allen was young, his mother chose to be sold as a cook to a neighbor, the attorney Nat Wolfe. When the Starbirds found Allen was learning to read, they separated him from their son and placed him with another family, the Talbots. Mrs. Talbot, a Quaker, was kind to Allen and continued to teach him to read and write; she also took him to a Sunday school for slave children. When Bett Starbird discovered this, she took Allen back. In 1854 she made arrangements with her husband's partner John Smith to send the boy to his brother Pat's plantation down the Mississippi River in Henderson, Kentucky, to put an end to his learning. On the steamboat, the boy was placed in the care of a slave steward rather than being chained with other slaves below deck. They were being transported for sale to downriver markets.

Hebe Smith, Allen's new mistress, assigned him to be a houseboy; she prohibited him from continuing his studies, and whipped him for trying to do so. Also working in the household was a white orphan boy Eddie; the two boys became friends and helped each other. Suffering on the farm from a cruel overseer, in 1855 at age 13, Allen planned to escape to Canada. He spent two weeks hiding at a neighboring farm before returning to the Smiths for punishment. Later he ran away again. The Smiths and Starbirds agreed to sell him on the auction block in Henderson.

Allensworth was sold again in Memphis, Tennessee and shipped to New Orleans. There he was bought by Fred Scruggs, who taught him to work as an exercise boy and jockey in Jefferson, Louisiana. Unlike others, his new master was pleased to learn that the boy could read; he assigned him to race his best horse.

Civil War and freedom

In early 1861 the Civil War loomed, but horse racing continued. Scruggs took Allen and his horses upriver for the fall meet in Louisville. Allensworth hoped to see his mother Phyllis again, as he had learned that her last master, a Rev. Bayliss, had freed her after she cared for his dying wife. He found that she had recently gone to New Orleans with a Union man to look for her sons. (She found Major in prison.) Waiting for her return, Allensworth was reunited with his sister Mary Jane, who had married and had a son. She had purchased her freedom in 1849. When Phyllis Starbird returned to Louisville, she and Allen were reunited.

While working nearby on a farm where Scruggs' deputy had placed him, Allensworth met soldiers from the 44th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a Union unit encamped near Louisville. When he told them of wanting freedom, they invited him to join the Hospital Corps. In disguise, he marched with the unit past his old master through Louisville and off to war. After serving as a civilian nursing aide for some time, he was invited to accompany Dr. A. J. Gordon, one of the surgeons, to his home in Georgetown, Ohio. There Allensworth dined with Gordon's family, was given a room of his own, and felt he first walked as a free man. With the war continuing, in 1863 Allensworth enlisted in the US Navy, where he earned his first pay as a free man. He was soon promoted to Captain's steward and clerk, and served on the gunboats Queen City and Tawah for two years.

Postwar years

Allensworth first returned to Kentucky to work and study. In 1868 he joined his brother William in St. Louis, where they operated two restaurants. Within a short time, they received a favorable offer and sold them out; Allensworth returned to Louisville. He worked while putting himself through the Ely Normal School, one of several new schools in the South established by the American Missionary Association. During Reconstruction, Allensworth taught at schools for freedmen and their children operated by the Freedmen's Bureau. Inspired by his own teaching, he began attending courses at the Nashville Institute, later known as the Roger Williams University, but did not graduate. The school later gave him an honorary Master of Arts.

Allensworth became involved with the Baptist Church in Louisville and attended the Fifth Street Baptist Church led by Henry Adams. He was ordained in 1871 by the Baptists as a preacher. In the 1870s, Allensworth went to Tennessee to study theology. During this time he also served as a preacher in Franklin, Tennessee, south of Nashville.

In 1875, Allensworth started working as a teacher in Georgetown, Kentucky. He also served as the financial agent of the General Association of the Colored Baptists in Kentucky. They had joined together to support the founding of a religious school for black teachers and preachers. Allensworth was among the founders of The State University, helped guarantee the salary of the president in the early years, and served on the Board of Trustees.

He returned to Louisville when called to be pastor of the Harney Street Baptist Church, which he reorganized, attracting many new members. They renamed it Centennial Baptist Church; it was selected as a model by the American Baptist Home Mission Society of America. Within a few years, Allensworth had increased the congregation nearly fivefold, and it built a new church.

Marriage and family

In 1877 he married Josephine Leavell (1855–1938), also born in Kentucky; they had met while studying at Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tennessee. She was an accomplished pianist, organist and music teacher. They had two daughters together, Eva and Nella.

The year of his marriage, Allensworth invited his mother to live with him and Josephine. They had several months together before she died in 1878 at the age of 96.

Post-Reconstruction era

Allensworth was called to the State Street Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He also gave public lectures. That fall, he went to Boston to give a series of lectures, after studying public speaking in Philadelphia.

On his return, he met people from the American Baptist Publication Society in Philadelphia, who appointed him as Sunday School Missionary for the state of Kentucky. He had always worked to build up the Sunday Schools at his churches, and this gave him the chance to continue to work on education around the state. The Colored Baptist State Sunday School Convention of Kentucky appointed him to the position of State Sunday School Superintendent.

With his leadership positions and public speaking, Allensworth became increasingly interested in politics. In 1880 and 1884, he was selected as Kentucky's only black delegate to the Republican National Conventions.

Military career as chaplain

In 1886, when he was 44, Allensworth gained support by both southern and northern politicians for appointment as a chaplain in the US Army; his appointment was confirmed by the Senate, as necessary at the time, and approved by the president. He was one of the few black chaplains in the US Army and was assigned to the 24th Infantry Regiment, known as the Buffalo Soldiers. His family accompanied him on assignments in the West, ranging from Fort Bayard, New Mexico Territory to Fort Supply, Indian Territory, and Fort Harrison, near Helena, Montana. His wife played organ in the fort chapels.

At Fort Bayard, Allensworth wrote Outline of Course of Study, and the Rules Governing Post Schools of Ft. Bayard, N.M.. The Army adapted these for use as the standard manual on the education of enlisted personnel.

By the time of his retirement in 1906, Allensworth had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, the first African American to gain that rank.

Allensworth, California

After the army, Allensworth and his family settled in Los Angeles. He was inspired by the idea of establishing a self-sufficient, all-black California community where African Americans could live free of the racial discrimination that pervaded post-Reconstruction America. His dream was to build a community where black people might live and create "sentiment favorable to intellectual and industrial liberty."

In 1908, he founded Allensworth in Tulare county, about thirty miles north of Bakersfield, in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. The black settlers of Allensworth built homes, laid out streets, and put up public buildings. They established a church, and organized an orchestra, a glee club, and a brass band.

The Allensworth colony became a member of the county school district and the regional library system and a voting precinct. Residents elected the first African-American Justice of the Peace in post-Mexican California. In 1914, the California Eagle reported that the Allensworth community consisted of 900 acres (360 ha) of deeded land worth more than US$112,500.

Allensworth soon developed as a town, not just a colony. Among the social and educational organizations that flourished during its golden age were the Campfire Girls, the Owl Club, the Girls' Glee Club, and the Children's Savings Association, for the town's younger residents, while adults participated in the Sewing Circle, the Whist Club, the Debating Society, and the Theater Club. Col. Allensworth was an admirer of the African-American educator Booker T. Washington, who was the founding president and longtime leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Allensworth dreamed that his new community could be self-sufficient and become known as the "Tuskegee of the West".

The Girls' Glee Club was modeled after the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University, who had toured internationally. They were the community's pride and joy. All the streets in the town were named after notable African Americans and/or white abolitionists, such as Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionist and author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

The dry and dusty soil made farming difficult. The drinking water became contaminated by arsenic as the water level fell.

The year 1914 also brought a number of setbacks to the town. First, much of the town's economic base was lost when the Santa Fe Railroad moved its rail stop from Allensworth to Alpaugh. In September, during a trip to Monrovia, California, Colonel Allensworth was crossing the street when he was struck and killed by a motorcycle. The town refuses to die. The downtown area is now preserved as Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park where thousands of visitors come from all over California to take part in the special events held at the park during the year. The area outside the state park is also still inhabited.

Allensworth is the only California community to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans. The founders were dedicated to improving the economic and social status of African Americans. Uncontrollable circumstances, including a drop in the area's water table, resulted in the town's decline.

Legacy and honors

The state has preserved the site and is gradually restoring its buildings. The most important building is the school house, which the community prized as representing the future of its children. In use until 1972, it is furnished as it would have been on a school day in 1915. The park arranges special events to celebrate the former community's history, and the park's visitor center features a film about the site. An annual re-dedication ceremony reaffirms the vision of the original pioneers.

Col. Allensworth's residence is preserved and furnished in the 1912-period style. It contains items from his life in the military service and the ministry. A small display of farm equipment is a reminder of the Allensworth economic base.

A public monument, designed by Ron Husband, has been funded by the City of Monrovia, California.

Death

Allen Allensworth died at the age of 72, on September 14, 1914. He was killed by a motorcyclist in Monrovia, California.

#04/07 #09/14

5 notes · View notes

houstonvote · 4 years ago

Text

Juneteenth, 20 minutes prodcast on Radio France Internationale.

The link for the podcast: https://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/grand-reportage/20210618-m%C3%A9moire-et-r%C3%A9parations-de-l-esclavage-%C3%A9ternels-d%C3%A9fis-pour-le-texas

the Full Script, translated in english:

June 19th is now the 11th national holiday in the United States this date commemorates June 19th 1865, when 2000 Union soldiers arrived in the last Confederate city in the country.

General Gordon Granger announced the immediate liberation of the slaves, and the effective end of slavery in the United States. This city was Galveston, Texas.

This great port of the triangular trade is today a seaside resort, a touristic and historical attraction and a place of memory on the outskirts of one of the great black cities of the country, Houston...For 156 years, Galveston and Houston have commemorated the anniversary of the end of slavery, but also the long way to heal the wounds.

Memory and reparations of slaver: the eternal challenges for Texas,

Thomas HARMS, RFI

-----

"This building used to be here (showing a picture). This was General Gordon Granger's headquarters. We're standing in the exact spot where General Order Number 3 was issued. " (Tommie Boudreaux)

Tommie Boudreaux is the city historian for Galveston. The Emancipation Act signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 freed the slaves, but it took 2 1/2 years of fighting for the news to reach Texas. And that Union troops led by General Gordon Granger finally arrived in Galveston... where he had his general order number 3 read: " (…) all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves..."

"As far as we know he was standing around here when the announcement was made. Of course the merchants of the town came out in number to attend. He had 2,000 men with him, which was already unusual, and that made what he was going to say all the more important. He also had black soldiers with him.” (Tommie Boudreaux)

In his order, General Granger made it clear what the slave owners had to do, for example, that the slaves could stay and work for them for a wage. In Galveston, this order was not applied until much later...

"In order not to lose their heritage, they found legal loopholes and ways to keep the new free men in bondage. You had to work to pay off all the debts accumulated during the years of slavery. So a lot of them left Galveston. And because there was a lot of virgin land in Texas, they had that opportunity (..) When you think of slavery, you think of working in the fields from sunrise to sunset. Galveston was different, the soil didn't allow for farming so the slaves worked at the ports, on the docks, loading the ships, cleaning the holds... they were craftsmen, blacksmiths, the women were nannies, and did most of the domestic work..."(Tommie Boudreaux)

The place of the historic declaration of June 19, 1865, Juneteenth in English, is today a parking lot. But since March, artists have painted a Mural of more than 450m2 on the adjacent building.

"This is History that you see, when scrolling from left to right. We see the boats, and the Africans who are forcibly embarked. We see Harriet Tubman who helped many slaves to escape. In the middle you see Abraham Lincoln breaking the chains. Above him you see the Union soldiers, some of whom are African-American. Then you see General Granger signing General Order number 3. We also see the African Americans who left Galveston to settle further north. This wall is interactive, with your phone you can zoom in on a part of the drawing to see a video that tells the episode represented." (Tommie Boudreaux)

Sam Collins, co-chair of the juneteenth legacy committee, is at the origin of the mural project. The idea came to him a few days after George Floyd's death in May 2020. He contacted the owner of the building and the parking lot who was excited by the idea.

"This design, which has been called “absolute equality”, is part of the Junetenth legacy project. It was created by artist Reginald Adams and his team (the Creatives). Every year Juneteenth is an important event. There was a lot of talk about it last year (during the protests after George Floyd's death), but this History has always been important to the Galveston community, to Texas and to the United States. " (Sam Collins )

But Galveston past resurfaced in 2019, when a man, Donald Neely, walked through the city between two sheriffs on horseback. The hands tied behind his back and pulled by a rope, as were the slaves captured by the slave patrol. The video went viral around the world.

"I don't think the police intended to hurt, it was more a lack of sensitivity and cultural reference that lead them to make him walk like that in the street. But it is also because of a lack of historical knowledge. That's why it's so important to have art projects like this one, to teach history to citizens and law enforcement. I'm sure none of them had seen a slave militia or someone pulling a tied slave on the street before. Maybe if they had been taught this in school or high school, they would have thought twice about doing this to someone. You have to teach the full story and tell what happened here. We all live in this house America that was built on a cracked foundation. We need to repair that foundation. It is my job to tell that story, the artists to paint it. It's all part of the repair work to make America better. " (Sam Collins )

At 1 hour drive from Galveston we arrive in Houston. The Buffalo Soldier Museum is located In an old army building, It traces the history of black soldiers in the United States... including those who accompanied General Granger, as Captain Paul Matthews, the founder of the museum, tells us.

"When General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston to read his declaration, he had 300 black troops with him to enforce the law. Many of these African American soldiers remained in Texas after the Civil War. So part of the maneuver was to free the slaves but also to enroll them in the army. Look at what the ardent defender of slavery Howell Cobb wrote in 1865: "The day you make soldiers of them, speaking of Negroes, is the beginning of the end of the revolution. If slaves make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong. " (Captain Matthews)

In 1865, many former slaves made the journey from Galveston to Houston, more than 2 days by foot or boat. They landed in Freedmen's Town, a town created by freed slaves some twenty years earlier. Catherine Roberts is a historian and co-founder of the Rutherford Yates Museum, which traces the history of the original inhabitants of Freedmen's Town.

"The 40 blocks of Freedmen's Town housing listed on the National Historic Register are the only evidence of urban settlement by former slaves in Texas. Because of Jim Crow laws, former slaves could only buy land in very few places. They were allowed to settle on a swamp, along the Buffalo Bayou River which is always flooded. Because they were the first inhabitants, archaeologists consider Freedmen's Town a treasure because everything found in the land was left by newly freed slaves, so we know how they lived and how they built this community on a swamp. " (Catherine Roberts)

When they were taken to Africa and made slaves, the most expensive were the ones with skills. Those who knew how to work metal, mastered basketry or pottery.

"When they were able to get their own land, they knew how to do just about everything, because they had built up their skills on the plantations. There were 13 blacksmiths living here, 34 brick makers, masons and carpenters of quality. There was also a fairly diverse population. Jewish families moved in right after slavery in the 1800s, as they were also subject to segregation laws (Jim Crow). They were limited in where they could go, where they could live and own land. That's why you have a Jewish cemetery at the end of the street. (…) The inhabitants had to protect their children from strangers coming into the neighborhood, so when you look at this model you see that they relied on an African tradition of a central courtyard in the heart of the block of houses. Each porch faced the street and between the houses was a central courtyard where livestock was stored, gardening was done, and children could play safely. "(Catherine Roberts)

Of these original wooden houses, painted white, few have been preserved. Since 1985, 500 of them have been torn down or burned to make way for expensive middle-class homes in this central Houston neighborhood.Charonda Johnson is a neighborhood activist who was nominated mayor of the community.

"This was my childhood home. My family has been in Freedmen's Town for five generations. I used to play in the Gregory School when it was abandoned. The Gregory School was the first school for black children. It opened in 1872. How did my grandmother get here? My mother told me, everybody knew to come here. It was a kind of Mecca. The word was passed around that people were free here. Some people walked from Galveston, but most came by boat on Buffalo Bayou. We are not upset that people are moving into our community today. We just want everyone to know that this is a historic place where our ancestors came from and it deserves respect. "(Charonda Johnson )

Charonda organizes tours of Freedmen's town and fights to keep the developers from destroying the history of these houses and cobblestone streets. She is supported by the city council, which has helped create the Freedmen's Town Conservation Center... an NGO headed by Zion Escobar, who has just gotten Freedmen's Town officially designated as a historic district, the first in Houston...

"When you look at a map of the area...You see Galveston, where the Juneteenth Emancipation Proclamation was read. All that green space there is plantations. So people went north from there by trade routes, and some by boat. You take a whole region, concentrate all its population looking for economic opportunities, take them to Freedmen's town and you get a black Wall street, which was bigger than Tulsa's. But nobody knows that. It's this chapter of American history: this is what happens in the aftermath of the end of slavery! That's why we're trying to get Freedmen's Town designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Because nowhere in the United States can you find so many houses that date back to the history before the Civil War (..)"Here you can see the big picture, and realize that there were thriving businesses. This gentleman owned a brick factory, a drug store, and he was a writer. This one was the first black lawyer in Houston... We need to stand up for ourselves, we need to stand up for this space, politically and legally, or else anyone would just set it on fire and think they can take it over. "( Zion Escobar)

Freedmen's Town was quickly enclosed, a highway was even built in the middle of it. The descendants of the former slaves therefore left for other parts of Houston, notably towards the 3rd Ward. Carl Davis presides over the " Houston Society for Change ", which is very active in this district.

"Emancipation Park is the site that 4 former slaves were able to purchase together in 1872, 7 years after 1865. They wanted a place where they could celebrate their Freedom as a family. The community leaders pooled their resources, $800 to buy these 10 acres of land. It was the first public park in Texas. The 1872 celebration was a huge success, everyone came as a family, they had been enslaved for so many years. When they were able to celebrate that they were free it was a feeling of fulfillment. They wanted a place where they could come together and be one. Today, if there is a tragedy in the country, Emancipation Park is the focal point, the place where you can share your feelings or express your protests because we consider this place holy ground. It is a sacred place for us African-Americans. " ( Carl Davis)

On the ground, a group of young women paint "Be the change". Emancipation park is not only the symbol of Juneteenth, but also the symbol of recent struggles against systemic racism and police violence. George Floyd, whose murder by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020 generated a huge wave of protest in the United States is indeed from this neighborhood of 3rd Ward. His face is represented on several murals.

"We find these paintings on the walls of several buildings of Third Ward. There is one in front of Jack Yates High School, where George Floyd studied. I helped create it: it's a Black Lives Matter mural, which takes up the demand for social equity that has been going on around the country. But we added a coat of arms, with on one side the lion, mascot of the school, and on the other side George Floyd's soccer jersey...with his number, 88, his name, his birth and death dates. We want these children growing up in this African American high school to see, every morning, that "Black lives matter," that their lives matter. That's the message that should give them hope. " (Carl Davis)

A few steps from Emancipation Park, we come across 7 restored houses of the first descendants of slaves. Today they host artists for creations related to the current events of the neighborhood... Eureka Gilkey directs the Row House Project organization which promotes art and development of 3rd Ward.

"The 7 artists who created the Row House Project were inspired by Dr. John Biggers who founded the art studies department at Texas Southern University, Houston's Black University. He studied and worked on the architecture of these slave houses, which are called "shotgun houses". Most people think that the name comes from the shotgun, because an urban legend says that when a slave tries to escape, the owner can shoot the house and hit all the inhabitants. But in fact these houses are the result of the architectural ingenuity of the slaves. Inside, you find a central column, a bit like a chimney, with a hole inside. This allows air to circulate and keep the house cool in the summer and warm in the cooler months. The word comes from the Yoruba "Shogun", which means "the house of god", but it has been distorted by dialects and time...” Juneteenth will always be at the heart of the work we do here, especially because of the geographical proximity of the "Row houses" to Emancipation Park. But it's also important to know that the Row house project has been at the forefront of social justice issues for many years. One of our creations a few years ago was titled: "Breaking the Concrete: Artists, Activists and Instigators" and one of the installations highlighted police violence and the need for police reform. " (Eureka Gilkey)

Marked by slavery and its memory, the Houston area has become, since Emancipation, one of the spearheads of the struggle for perfect equality, "absolute equality" written as early as 1865. Max Krochmal is Professor of History and Chair of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Texas Christian University.

"There was a fierce struggle in Houston for civil rights. African-Americans fought for decades before the struggles of the 1960s, and they continue to do so today. African-Americans continue to come to Houston because it is recognized that it is an easier city for them to live in than other cities. It's not the slave plantation city it used to be..." (Max Krochmal)

It is not a coincidence then that it is thanks to the mobilization in Galveston and Houston, that since 1979, June 19th is a holiday in Texas...( and that Juneteenth is now a holiday everywhere in the United States.) It's no coincidence either that it's Houston's congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee in Washington who is trying to get a vote on the creation of a reparations commission for the descendants of slaves.. Because here in Houston, instead of the term African Americans, we prefer an acronym, ADOS, African Descendant of Slaves.

Descendant d’esclaves africains… (in French)

Thomas Harms, Houston, RFI

0 notes

racingtoaredlight · 7 years ago

Text

On This Day...

On this day in 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, abolishing racial discrimination and segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces. The order, in essence, required the U.S. military to end its practice of maintaining separate units of white and black soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines and for all military installations to be fully integrated. The roots of this order can be traced back a strategy memo prepared for Truman in November 1947 by aide Clarke Clifford to guide the president in the 1948 election. In the memo, Clifford argued that the Democratic Party was weak on civil rights and that Truman should take any steps necessary to sure up the support of black voters for his reelection campaign. While perhaps a political expedient, Truman also recognized desegregation of the troops as the right thing to do and in the long-term best interest of the U.S. military.

African-Americans have been inextricably a part of the U.S. military throughout the nation’s history, indeed the roots of black soldiers and sailors trace back to the early days of the Revolution, when the United States existed only as colonies in open rebellion. Early on, both Patriots and Loyalists sought to recruit black soldiers to their cause. Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation in 1775 granting freedom to any slaves who fought for the Loyalists. Those slaves which flocked to the British cause in Virginia were organized into Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment. The unit saw action throughout the Revolution, especially in the southern colonies. After the Treaty of Paris in 1783 ended the war and provided for British recognition of American independence, Dunmore’s veterans and other Black Loyalists fled to Canada, Britain, and Africa. On the Patriot side, some 9,000 black soldiers and sailors are estimated to have served the cause of independence; the 1st Rhode Island Regiment was a mixed-race unit that, at its maximum strength, included 225 slaves and freedmen.

During the Civil War, the federal government authorized the creation of black regiments in 1862. Before the end of the war, 186,000 black Americans served in the Union army and navy, including in famous units such as the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. While 131 different regiments of black troops were eventually formed, as a proportion, even more served in the navy. Always more desperate for manpower than the army, the U.S. Navy had accepted black sailors for years prior to the Civil War. Demonstrating that necessity overpowers other beliefs, the Confederate Congress authorized the recruitment and training of black soldiers in April 1865, though the war ended before any of them saw combat.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

With black soldiers having demonstrated their abilities in combat, the U.S. Army organized four new regiments--the 9th and 10th Cavalry, and 24th and 25th Infantry--to serve on the ever expanding western frontier. These units became known collectively as Buffalo Soldiers and served throughout the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During the Indian wars, Lt. Henry O. Flipper, the first African-American to graduate from West Point, became the first black officer to command troops when he commanded a unit within the 10th Cavalry Regiment.

During World War I, two entire infantry divisions of black soldiers, the 92nd and 93rd, were formed and both fought in France. Despite the accomplishments of some individual units, such as the 369th Infantry Regiment which was nicknamed “Harlem’s Hellfighters” by the press, the two divisions received generally negative reports from their white officers and the Army subsequently decided that deploying black soldiers in combat units was not a worthwhile endeavor.

In World War II, the U.S. Army Air Force instituted a flight training program for black pilots at Tuskegee, Alabama. Two large units, the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group, were trained at Tuskegee. The 332nd gained fame in Europe for its record in escorting bombers on their missions into Germany, allegedly never allowing a single U.S. bomber to be shot down by an enemy fighter. Throughout the war, the 332nd was commanded by Benjamin O. Davis Jr., who would later become the first African-American general in the U.S. Air Force. Davis’s father, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., was the first black man promoted to general in the U.S. Army.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Despite these advancements, for much of the war the black pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group were the only African-Americans to regularly see combat. Black soldiers of the U.S. Army were largely forbidden from joining front line units. For much of the war, black soldiers were largely restricted to serving in the U.S. Army Services of Supply. This massive command, which in late 1944 comprised 30 percent of the 3.5 million American servicemen in Europe, was responsible for all services and commands not involved with combat, including medical, dental, veterinarian, religious, judicial and, above all, food and fuel services throughout the continent. While vitally important to the war effort, this decidedly unglamorous command was regularly criticized by combat units, especially for the huge proportion of black soldiers who filled its ranks. During the Battle of the Bulge, however, December 1944-January 1945, black soldiers in SOS widely volunteered for service on the front line when many combat units were surrounded and captured after the surprise German winter offensive. Dozens of all-black rifle platoons were sent into combat to fight as replacements in otherwise all-white formations. Along with the achievements of the 332nd Fighter Group, their actions exposed as a myth the notion that black soldiers were unsuitable for combat.

Given all of this, it is therefore somewhat surprising that it took until July 1948 for the U.S. military to be desegregated. But when one considers that the full force of Jim Crow was still a fact of life for a large part of the country and landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was still sixteen years away, it not only becomes understandable, but also underlines the courage Truman had in signing Executive Order 9981.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

0 notes

reasoningdaily · 1 year ago

Text

https://x.com/CRdaDizz/status/1707784796531773939?t=LAj9s2mfZ3UnVeoHclMj4w&s=09

Look at this Traitor, cutting into the Freedmen Tribe, and their discussions with Marilyn Vann of the Cherokee Tribe. he picked and choose tweets from last year and used them to try to stop the space from happening.

if you see this, make the person disappear from your timeline because they are DANGEROUS TO YOU AND YOURS

#lies #Freedmen #Reparations #Bullshitters #Marilyn Vann #Buffalo general American Freedmen #Traitors #Lies and Games

2 notes · View notes

blackkudos · 8 years ago

Text

Allen Allensworth

During the American Civil War, he escaped by joining the 44th Illinois Volunteers and later served two years in the navy. After being ordained as a minister, he worked as a teacher, studied theology and led several churches. In 1880 and 1884, he served as the only black delegate from Kentucky in the Republican National Conventions. In 1886 he gained an appointment as a military chaplain to a unit of Buffalo Soldiers in the West and served in the US Army for 20 years, retiring in 1906.

Biography

Early life and education

Civil War and freedom

Postwar years

Marriage and family

The year of his marriage, Allensworth invited his mother to live with him and Josephine. They had several months together before she died in 1878 at the age of 96.

Post-Reconstruction era

Military career as chaplain

By the time of his retirement in 1906, Allensworth had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, the first African American to gain that rank.

Allensworth, California

The dry and dusty soil made farming difficult. The drinking water became contaminated by toxins as the water level fell.

Legacy and honors

Death

Allen Allensworth died at the age of 72, on September 14, 1914. He was killed by a motorcyclist in Monrovia, California.

Wikipedia

#Allen Allensworth #04-07 #09-12

6 notes · View notes