#a antebellum poem

[specialagentartemis]

Public Domain Black History Books

For the day Frederick Douglass celebrated as his birthday (February 14, Douglass Day, and the reason February is Black History Month), here's a selection of historical books by Black authors covering various aspects of Black history (mostly in the US) that you can download For Free, Legally And Easily!

Slave Narratives

This comprised a hugely influential genre of Black writing throughout the 1800s - memoirs of people born (or kidnapped) into slavery, their experiences, and their escapes. These were often published to fuel the abolitionist movement against slavery in the 1820s-1860s and are graphic and uncompromising about the horrors of slavery, the redemptive power of literacy, and the importance of abolitionist support.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - 1845 - one of the most iconic autobiographies of the 1800s, covering his early life when he was enslaved in Maryland, and his escape to Massachusetts where he became a leading figure in the abolition movement.

Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft - 1860 - the memoir of a married couple's escape from slavery in Georgia, to Philadelphia and eventually to England. Ellen Craft was half-white, the child of her enslaver, but she could pass as white, and she posed as her husband William's owner to get them both out of the slave states. Harrowing, tense, and eminently readable - I honestly think Part 1 should be assigned reading in every American high school in the antebellum unit.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs writing under the name Linda Brent - 1861 - writing specifically to reach white women and arguing for the need for sisterhood and solidarity between white and Black women, Jacobs writes of her childhood in slavery and how terrible it was for women and mothers even under supposedly "nice" masters including supposedly "nice" white women.

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup - 1853 - Born a free Black man in New York, Northup was kidnapped into slavery as an adult and sold south to Louisiana. This memoir of the brutality he endured was the basis of the 2013 Oscar-winning movie.

Early 1900s Black Life and Philosophy

Slavery is of course not the only aspect of Black history, and writers in the late 1800s and early 1900s had their own concerns, experiences, and perspectives on what it meant to be Black.

Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington - 1901 - an autobiography of one of the most prominent African-American leaders and educators in the late 1800s/early 1900s, about his experiences both learning and teaching, and the power and importance of equal education. Race relations in the Reconstruction era Southern US are a major concern, and his hope that education and equal dignity could lead to mutual respect has... a long way to go still.

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois - 1903 - an iconic work of sociology and advocacy about the African-American experience as a people, class, and community. We read selections from this in Anthropology Theory but I think it should be more widely read than just assigned in college classes.

Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W.E.B. Du Bois - 1920 - collected essays and poems on race, religion, gender, politics, and society.

A Negro Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew Henson - 1908 - Black history doesn't have to be about racism. Matthew Henson was a sailor and explorer and was the longtime companion and expedition partner of Robert Peary. This is his adventure-memoir of the expedition that reached the North Pole. (Though his descriptions of the Indigenous Greenlandic Inuit people are... really paternalistic in uncomfortable ways even when he's trying to be supportive.)

Poetry

Standard Ebooks also compiles poetry collections, and here are some by Black authors.

Langston Hughes - 1920s - probably the most famous poet of the Harlem Renaissance.

James Weldon Johnson - early 1900s through 1920s - tends to be in a more traditionalist style than Hughes, and he preferred the term for the 1920s proliferation of African-American art "the flowering of Negro literature."

Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis - 1830s - a Black abolitionist poet, this is more of a chapbook of her work that was published in newspapers than a full book collection. There are very common early-1800s poetry themes of love, family, religion, and nostalgia, but overwhelmingly her topic was abolition and anti-slavery, appealing to a shared womanhood.

Science Fiction

This is Black history to me - Samuel Delany's first published novel, The Jewels of Aptor, a sci-fi adventure from the early 60s that encapsulates a lot of early 60s thoughts and anxieties. New agey religion, forgotten technology mistaken for magic, psychic powers, nuclear war, post-nuclear society that feels more like a fantasy kingdom than a sci-fi world until they sail for the island that still has all the high tech that no one really knows how to use... it's a quick and entertaining read.

[transgenderer]

the twilight zone is actually based on a series of antebellum poems, of the same name. the walt whitman poem is named after the original twilight zone poem, on which the much later tv episode is based

[kemetic-dreams]

Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War, Dunbar began writing stories and verse when he was a child. He published his first poems at the age of 16 in a Dayton newspaper, and served as president of his high school's literary society.

Dunbar's popularity increased rapidly after his work was praised by William Dean Howells, a leading editor associated with Harper's Weekly. Dunbar became one of the first African-American writers to establish an international reputation. In addition to his poems, short stories, and novels, he also wrote the lyrics for the musical comedy In Dahomey (1903), the first all-African-American musical produced on Broadway in New York. The musical later toured in the United States and the United Kingdom. Suffering from tuberculosis, which then had no cure, Dunbar died in Dayton, Ohio, at the age of 33.

Much of Dunbar's more popular work in his lifetime was written in the "Negro dialect" associated with the antebellum South, though he also used the Midwestern regional dialect of James Whitcomb Riley. Dunbar also wrote in conventional English in other poetry and novels and is considered the first important African American sonnet writer. Since the late 20th century, scholars have become more interested in these other works.

[deehollowaywrites]

2024 in writing

Another rotation in the books, somehow! From a publishing perspective, I didn't have the most interesting year--but as I look back on 2024, I'm finding I did have an interesting year in writing.

For one thing, I took two workshops with Lindsay Merbaum, an author I admire and an excellent workshop facilitator. I recommend checking out the Study Coven for some truly cool themed classes coming up; the syllabi for Smutty Study and Witches III were full of fun and provocative reading, and the work itself yielded two short stories, plus multiple poems and journal entries. I put together a collection of weird short stories and did intensive research on spots to submit it, a project that's still ongoing and will get fresh attention in the new year.

I also drafted a novella that's "in-universe" to Little Nothing, the first brand-new long-form project I'd completed in years. It's true what they say: every book is a different writing experience. Every book teaches you how to write all over again. More news on this front to come, I hope!

In 2024, I prioritized listening to the muse, whether it drew me to trying out new poetic forms, writing fanfic of my own work, or keeping myself to clipped word counts. As autumn ended, I found that this follow-your-bliss practice had made me energized to take up a more disciplined practice of write-and-submit. As we approach the darkest parts of the year, I'm excited to write to intriguing prompts and not overthink things before submitting... and start work on a shelved manuscript.

Throughout the year, I did put published work into the world. I continued to write for horror media website DIS/MEMBER, revisiting the Exorcist TV series, interviewing cool authors, and reviewing a few movies. In 2025 I'll take on the role of Lit Editor for DIS/MEMBER, and we've got some cool new stuff lined up (think cover reveals, indie publisher spotlights, and more). I also published the third volume of what's become my Halloween tradition, a zine with a weird theme; this year, hallowzine vol. 3 was all about the hybrid and alien femininities of Ex Machina, Blade Runner 2049, Annihilation, and Under the Skin.

Most significantly, the two pieces of fiction I published were with magazines local to me and available only in print. Castle Jackal Magazine is full of horror art and writing, while Paper Moon's editions so far have focused on poetry and short fiction. I've always prioritized magazines with digital distribution, in order to theoretically reach the most readers. But in recent years I've begun to think that maybe what I really want is to reach the right readers. Hyper-local zines, music, and art are thick on the ground in my area, and I'm lucky to be connected with people making cool stuff. One of my favorite writing-related instances in 2024 was a zinefest at which I sold almost everything I brought, from print copies of my DIY zines and collections to Little Nothing, embroidered patches, and my partner's block prints. Speaking of Little Nothing, my publisher also made public a previously-subscribers-only Patreon post with a little dip into the world of limerunners and antebellum Florida!

Also in the hyper-local realm, I joined an in-person writing group. This is a new experience for me, and it's been a great one. Each of the participating writers is at a different point in their writing practice, has different goals for writing and publishing, and writes different in genres and formats. Yet what I value is that everyone seems to approach the group with the same level of seriousness. I've enjoyed engaging with the short fiction, poetry, and memoir pieces these writers bring, and practicing paying true attention to others' work. I also get to facilitate a teen writing club for my work; seeing the joy the teens take in their projects, and the skill they've already developed, is a real delight in my life.

Finally, in 2025 I'm venturing back into the world of newsletters. I'm growing weary (and wary) of my reliance on social media, when those platforms are increasingly unstable and untrustworthy. In order to cultivate engagement, stretch my essay muscles, and deliver news outside Meta's scope, I'll be trying out bimonthly letters--you can sign up now! My old newsletter, Readers Up, is now also archived on Buttondown.

Happy writing and happy reading, friends. I'll see you in the new year.

[noelcollection]

An American Voice

Since the events of 2020, we have attempted to be more active and reach out to LSU Shreveport campus. This action of outreach is meant to help student, faculty, and campus personnel be aware of a rare and unique resource that is available to them, and any visiting persons to the campus. We have just started our 2024 J.S. Noel Collection Pop-up Exhibits, we aim to highlight a vary small section of the James Smith Noel Collection that might interest various research. This time we focused on one person, Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in June in 1872 after the United States’ Civil War, his parents were former slaves. He was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio; and started writing from a young age. He wrote is first poem at the age of 6 and read it aloud at the age of nine for a local church congregation, “An Easter Ode.” Dunbar was 16 when he published two poems in the Dayton’s newspaper The Herald; “Our Martyred Soldiers” and “On the River” in 1888. A few years later he would write and edit Dayton’s first weekly African-American newspaper, The Tattler. Paul L. Dunbar worked with two brothers that were his high-school acquaintances to print the paper that lasted six weeks. Those brothers were Wilbur and Orville Wright, the fathers of American aviation. Dunbar was the only African-American student at Central High School in Dayton.

Dunbar’s parents had been slaves in Kentucky, following the emancipation, his mother moved to Ohio, and his father escaped before the Civil War ended. Joshua Dunbar went to Massachusetts and volunteered with the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. His parents, Matilda and Joshua, were married on Christmas Eve and Paul L. Dunbar arrived six months later. His parents had a troubled union, they separated after the birth on Paul’s sister; but his father would pass away in August in 1885 when Paul was only 13 years old. His mother played a key role in his education, she hoped her son would become a minister. He was elected president of his high school’s literary society which lead to him to become editor of the school newspaper and debate club member.

Paul Laurence Dunbar finished school in 1891 and took a job as an elevator operator to earn money for college where he hoped to study law. Dunbar had continued to write and soon a collection of poems he wanted to publish. He revisited the Wright brothers, but they no longer had a printing faculty and lead his to the United Brethren Publishing House in 1893. Oak and Ivy was soon published and he busied himself selling copies as he operated the elevator. The book contained two sections, Oak with its traditional verse; and Ivy was written in dialect.

His literary talents were recognized and Attorney Charles A. Thatcher offered to pay for college; however, his interest in law had shift to his writing. Dunbar had been encouraged by the sell of his poetry, and Thatcher helped by arranging for Dunbar to do readings in a nearby city. Psychiatrist Henry A. Tobey also took an interest and assisted in distributing Dunbar’s first book. The two contained to support Dunbar through the publication of his second collection of verse, Major and Minors, in 1896. While he was consistent at publishing, he was a reckless spender resulting in debt. He was a traditional struggling artist as he tried to support himself and his mother.

There was hope in the summer of 1896 when his second book received a positive review in Harper’s Weekly, William Dean Howells brought national attention to his poems; calling them ��honest thinking and true feeling” and praising his dialectic poems. There was a growing appreciation for folk culture and black dialect. His popular works were written in the “Negro dialect” that is commonly associated with the antebellum South; though he also wrote in the Midwestern dialect that he grew-up hearing. Dunbar would write in various styles, including conversational English in poetry and novels. He is considered to be the first important African American sonnet writer. His use of the “Black dialect” in writing has been criticized as pan-handling to readers.

Dunbar was a diverse writer, he experimented with poetry, short stories, novels, plays, and a musical. He even ventured beyond the lens of the lives of African Americans and attempted to explore the struggles of a white minister. The Uncalled, Dunbar’s first novel, held similar names and themes of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and was not well favored. It was with his venture into novel writing that he dared to cross the “color line” with his first novel which focused solely on white society. He continued to try to capture white culture but the critics found them lacking.

He moved past novel writing and began to work with two composers, Dunbar wrote the lyrics for the first musical that would be preformed by an all African-American cast on Broadway; In Dahomey. Beyond his writing career, Dunbar was also active the early civil rights movements happening in 1897. He married after a trip to the United Kingdom in 1898, Alice Ruth Moore was also a poet and teacher from New Orleans. She also published a collection of short stories, and they wrote companion poems together. There was a play in 2001 based on their relationship.

Dunbar had taken a traditional job with the Library of Congress in D.C. and with his wife in tow they moved there. However, with his wife’s urging, he left his job to focus on his writings and his public readings. This also allowed him to attend Howard University for a time. However, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1900 and his doctors suggested that drinking whisky would alleviate the symptoms. They also moved to the cold dry mountains of Colorado for his health. This resulted in trouble in Paul and Alice’s marriage, they separated in 1902 but never formally divorced.

Dunbar returned to his hometown of Dayton, Ohio in 1904 to be with his mother, his health continued to decline and depression consumed his mind. Paul Laurence Dunbar died from tuberculosis at age 33 on February 9, 1906 and was interred in Dayton.

Dunbar did not become one of the forgotten poets of literature, his use of dialect in his poetry allowed for his works to remain relevant and important in poetic criticism. We of the James Smith Noel Collection at LSU Shreveport are proud to retain and maintain a small collection of his works and show case their importance.

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this week (#173):

3 by young Chinese prodigy Gu Xiaogang:

🍿 Even though Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains is his first (and only) feature so far, it feels so mature, as if an old master put it out after a long and successful career.

It's an slow epic saga (2.5 long hours) of a large family struggling during four seasons through life's ups and down in this provincial city. It's a metaphor for a classic scroll painting from the 14 century, and apparently only the first chapter in an upcoming trilogy. A tremendous, slow-moving achievement told in magnificent style, and half a dozen transcendental set pieces. 10/10 - Best experience of the week!

I was steeped in that Chinese mentality and culture, that of practicality, resourcefulness, tradition and hope, for nearly a decade, and I miss it. 💯 score on Rotten Tomatoes.

🍿 The Sail of Cinema (2020), a beautiful mood piece which can be used as a perfect introduction to his work. Bonus points for use of 'Moonlight Sonata'. 10/10.

🍿 As Spring Comes Along (2024), a short art poem about a couple who hasn't seen each other for a long time.

🍿

Menashe (2017) is one of the few films in Yiddish that I've seen (Not too many of them, eh?). A24 indie production from 2017 about a Hasidic widower, struggling to keep his 10-year-old son with him, within the restrictive ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn.

I dislike all religions equally (Well, some more than others...) but this is an uncritically and authentic beautiful piece of film making. Especially since the 'hero' is an unlikely ordinary man and he's not going to change. 8/10.

🍿

The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry, my first film from Jordan. An enigmatic, nearly wordless story of a young woman who travels to the desolate outskirts of Aqaba in search of Ismail who had disappeared without explanation. 6/10.

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10 more selections from the US National Film Registry, all seen for the first time:

🍿 Newark Athlete is the earliest film in the collection; a 12 second silent short from 1891, produced at The Edison Studio.

[ Also, The "Phonautograms" recordings by Edouard-Leon Stott de Martinville, the earliest known sound recording from 1853!]

🍿 The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight, a 1897 documentary of a championship prizefight boxing match, which took place in Nevada. At over 100 minutes, it was the world's first (and longest) feature film. But only 19 minutes survived today.

🍿 The classic The Great Train Robbery (1903), my first film by Edwin S. Porter, director of over 250 silent films. A "sensationalized Headliner", which included a separate close-up shot of the outlaw leader shooting directly at the camera. My r/todayilearned post: After retiring from the movies, the actor who played the lead robber, (Photo Above) became a milkman. 9/10.

🍿 First viewing of Gone with the wind was not what I expected! I knew it was a bloated confederacy 'Lost Cause' fanfiction and a revisionist myth-making, glorifying slavery and the fantasy of the antebellum South. But I also thought it was the 'greatest love story of all time', and that was harder to get. Scarlett O'Hara grew to become a strong woman with fierce survival skills, but she was so flawed; Vain, selfish, conniving and unscrupulous. Her lover and third husband, Clark Gable, was no hero either. Their tragic on-again off-again love story was a 4 hour long soap opera. The gorgeous cinematography and massive production were breath-taking though. 4/10.

🍿 All the King's Men, a fictionalized and badly-dramatized story about the corruption of power. A veiled story about populist Louisiana governor Huey Long, how he rose from humble ideological beginnings to become a power-hungry despot. 4/10.

My first film by Robert Rossen, who was blacklisted for being a communist sympathizer, but who later "named" 57 of his friends to Joseph McCarthy's HUAC. I need to watch 'The Hustler'!

🍿 "There are plenty of warm rolls in the bakery; stop pressing your nose against the window!"

Pillow Talk, a frothy romantic comedy with Rock Hudson and Doris Day. A charming story about two neighbors who have to share a party-line, a phone technology that is now all but forgotten. Like Ted Gioia, I love Doris Day's jazz singing, so in spite of the out-dated genre politics, I found this light-hearted movie lovely and enjoyable.

🍿 Saul Bass was world-famous for his astounding graphic designs and inventive title sequences. But he also directed a few films, one of which, Why Man Creates, won the 1968 Oscar for Short Documentary. It's a whimsical plaything, with Bass's geometrical genius and good-nature foolery on display. Strong whiff of Terry Gilliam wildness and style. George Lucas was an un-credited second unit cameramen on the film. 🍿 Quasi at the Quackadero, a home-made 'Yellow submarine' inspired psychedelic short, about 2 ducks and a robot at an amusement park. Made by a 'Sesame Street' animator, it's like Max Fleischer on acid. M'eh. [*Female Director*].

🍿 Before Stonewell, an informative 1994 documentary about how gay people existed before the Stonewall riots. Fascinating, even if you knew much of it. Oppression, hatred, uprising. [*Female Director*].

🍿 Scratch and Crow was a symbolic, non-narrative word-less art-short by an indie artist, Helen Hill, who was murdered at 36 in New Orleans. [*Female Director*].

🍿

4 Documentaries:

🍿 City of Gold, my first atmospheric documentary by Canadian Colin Low. A pleasant nostalgic trip back to the small Yukon town of Dawson City, which for one summer in 1895 was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush. Its slow panning style, overlapped with soothing narration, inspired Ken Burns to develop his famous 'Ken Burns Effect'. Winner of the 1957 Cannes Festival, and nominated for an Oscar. 9/10.

🍿 A day in Tokyo was created in 1968 by the Japan National Tourism Organization to promote tourism in the rebuilt city. It captured the time, 23 years after it's destruction, when it was ready to take its place as the primer metropolis of the world. It tells of its history from the Edo period until then, (but it doesn't mention the war).

🍿 "He articulated what the rest of us wanted to say, but couldn't say..."

When Martin Scorsese kicks the bucket, sometime in the near future, his obituaries will lead with 'Taxi Driver' and 'Raging Bull'. But besides his 27 features, his World Cinema Project, acting in commercials, producing, etc, he also directed 17 documentaries, including 5 excellent music docs, all about "our" sounds and times, and "our" heroes.

No direction home: Bob Dylan (2005) is centered on a lengthy interview Scorsese did with the 'bard' about his early years, leading up to his 1966 bike accident. Re-Watch ♻️. Here's my 2003 "Grow-a-brain" Bob Dylan link-blog.

🍿 Related: Joan Baez: I am a noise is her recent biography, embarking on her career-ending tour at 79, while reflecting back to a full life of peaks and traumas. I loved her music deeply all my life (her, as well as her beautiful sister Mimi!), and she always meant so much to me.

And of course, I will always remember the time on June 11, 1984, when I met her walking down the street, and she kissed me on the mouth... [*Female Director*].

🍿

"Would you like to come in for a cup of tea - or perhaps something stronger?..."

Return to Glennascaul (1951) is a spooky Irish ghost story, framed and narrated by Orson Welles, as he picks up a stranded motorist on a dark and (not) stormy night on his way to Dublin...

🍿

Re-watch: Laurel and Hardy classic The Music Box, (1932). These two numbskulls never learn. 9/10. ♻️

🍿

2 by Argentinian Mario Soffici:

🍿 Italian-born Soffici directed some of the highest rated Argentinian films of the classic era.

His Rosaura at 10 O'Clock (1958) is a strange crime drama with a story that changes so much, that it's hard to know what is true and what fiction. It takes place at a boarding house, where a shy painter starts getting perfumed love letters, and the nosy owner who meddles in his affairs. It turn out to be nearly like 'Rashomon', where everybody has their own story. There's one violent scene where a pimp beats up a woman brutally and unexpectedly.

🍿 For many decades, Prisoners of the Land (1939) was considered as the "Greatest Argentinian movie". It's a tragic revenge story about peasants fighting a cruel plantation owner in the jungles of 1915, a drunk doctor and his beautiful daughter. Very John Huston and South American Herzog-like in sweaty, feudal nightmares of whip lashing and booze.

🍿

Another film from Argentina, Viruta, is a high-production home movie made by a woman named Otilia Shifres. Her grandparents emigrated to Buenos Aires from Grodno, a small town in Poland, at the turn of the 20th century. In the film she searches for and constructs a family tree of the relatives that were left behind, going all the way to 1770. It's impressively slick for an amateur feature-length project.

The only reason I came across this personal documentary is because my own father, Eli, (who died in 2016 in Israel at the age of 90) is one of the relatives whom she discovers, and my two sisters even make an appearance in the film (at 56:00) telling her about our side of the family! [*Female Director*].

🍿

"Why don't you study a blank piece of paper for a while, and improve your mind?..."

Ready, willing and able (1937), a second-rate Broadway-style song-and dance musical, trying to emulate the finesse of better talents (like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers). But this un-charismatic movie is the one which introduced the Johnny Mercer song 'Too Marvelous for Words', and it ended with The fantastic Typewriter Dance, an over-the-top Busby Berkeley style number.

🍿

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013), my first film with the cringey wanker character of Alan Partridge. It opens with the Philip Glass Koyaanisqatsi theme, which was nice, but the pompous, misogynistic radio host asshole didn't resonate with me. 3/10.

🍿

Throw-back to the Adora Art project:  

Adora as Bob Dylan and with Suze Rotolo.

Adora with my sister, Dafna.

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here)

[d1vin34ngel]

Hola chic@s quería darles la bienvenida a mi blog y decirles que pueden hacerme preguntas además síganme en mi otra cuenta se llama: strawberrydreamhobi o también ᖭི(ˊᗜˋ*)ᖫྀ/ Hello guys, I wanted to welcome you to my blog and tell you that you can ask me questions :) also follow me on my other account is called: strawberrydreamhobi or also ᖭི(ˊᗜˋ*)ᖫྀ /Olá pessoal, gostaria de dar as boas-vindas ao meu blog e dizer que podem me fazer perguntas, também me sigam na minha outra conta, chamada: Strawberrydreamhobi ou também ᖭི(ˊᗜˋ*)ᖫྀ

She/Ella/Ela

SOY M3NOR tengo 14/ I'M M1NOR I have 14 / SOU 1SOU MAIS J0V3M, TENHO 14 ANOS

Nací un precioso día 7 de febrero / Nasci no dia 7 de fevereiro/ I was born on February 7

Famdom : Heartz <//3

Perguntas abertas / Open-ended questions / Preguntas abiertas

Venezuelan girl <3

Personality: INFP-T-- INFP-A

Favorite series that changed my life xd: Criminal minds, Law and Order, Yellowjacket, American horror story, Insatiable, Queen screams, Marry my husband, Sultán Suleimán, South Park and Moral orel

Favorite Movies / películas favoritas / Filmes Favorito : Pearl, The purge, Suicidal virgins, Family Honeymoon, Maxxxine, American Psycho, Mean girls, Crueless, Virgin at 40, Midsommar, The Color Purple, Antebellum, Us, The woman king, Harriet, The Truman Show, Don't mess with Zohan, The Favorite,Once upon a time in Hollywood, Tin y Tina, Thirteen, Ricky Stanicky, Uptown girls, Beauty and the Beast, Snowhite,Diary of a Wimpy kid,Wonka, Willie Wonka,La sociedad de la nieve, The lobster, The other lamb, Get out, Vaselina

Favorite actors and actresses : Adam Sandler, Drew barrymore, Florence pugn,Jennifer Aniston, Jlo, George cloney,Morgan Freeman, Millie Bobby Brown, Emma Stone, Salma Hayek, Eugenio Derbez, Ryan Gosling, Anya Taylor Joy, Mia Goth, Robert de Niro, Julia Roberts, Leonardo Dicaprio, Ryan Reynolds, Robin Williams, John Travolta, Jackie Chan, Jim carrey

Singers Favorites : Mitski, Ariana Grande, Bo Burhnam, IU, Sulli, Mon laferte, The Weekend, Shakira, Fuerza regida, Karol G,Launfey, Lana del rey, Whitney Houston, Adele, Marina the Diamonds, Billie Eilish, Queen, Kiss, Elton John, Madonna, Michael Jackson +plus all my favorite Kpop groups

Hobbies: Read, write poems and stories, listen to music, sing, dance, and collect stones

I don't accept anyone :

⊗I don't sh/ed/gore promoters

⊗racists blogs

⊗ creators of p0rn blogs

⊗ I don't want rude people or terrifying men/p3d0phil3s/haters of kpop or the coquette aesthetic

⊗I don't want homophobes either

⊗Nor are religious extremists Or haters of Jehovah's Witnesses (we are good people)

⊗Nazi blogs

⊗ Blogs That Support Obesity

⊗ Blogs That Believe That The Neurodigital And LGBT Community Are A Famdom

⊗ Fetish blogs with humiliation, domination, or incest

⊗ Blogs that mistreat animals or are zoophilic (they are the worst thing there is)

if so, I wish they would not interact with me, thank you <3

I agree to:

🌸Agere blogs

🌸Blogs that support the neurodiversity and LGBTA+ community

🌸Pro Recovery of sh and ed blogs

🌸Any blog coquette, aesthetic, Y2k, Femcel, hysteria female and cute

🌸Children's blogs (I hear them too)

🌸Blogs That Support Healthy Positive Body

🌸Kpop fan Blogs

🌸Anime Fan Blogs

🌸Pro-Life Blogs and Abortion

🌸Black matters blogs

🌸Blogs sanrio fan

🌸Friendly blogs

🌸Animal Loving Blogs

🌸 Disney fan blogs

♡ 𝐖e are 𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳

[lkkuntuoasare]

NOT ONLY IN FEBRUARY (POEM)

We don't need the government to tell U.S. that only in February

The birth month of, Frederick Douglas, one of greatest abolitionists, in memory

That it will reluctantly and hesitantly teach U.S. a watered-down version of our glorious Black History.

The only history books about Black folks in which the joke of a Governor, Ron Desantis, would approve of, is a history that's "anti-woke".

Like the Rage Against The Machine song-Bulls On Parade:

"They don't gotta burn the books, they just remove em"

Not just because the books make their "snowflake" children feel guilty, about the harsh realities of slavery, Black Codes, Jim Crow, red lining , and for-white-profit and black-agony penitentiaries, where like cattle, inmates are kept behind barb wire fences and are kept in check by armed sentries

The books are removed to control the minds of the youth and future policy makers for another century.

Forgot about black history lessons that will inspire the adolescences

No true stories of how Harriet Tubman , like a black woman Moses, spread justice through treacherous enemy lines, like it was the red sea and freed her fellow woman and man from white brutality, chains , whips , and rapes of Antebellum southern slavery, Or how she became a union spy who risked her life behind crimson soaked bloody earth to bring clandestine information to the union to help save northern army lives.

I'm sorry, but in American public pre-schools to universities, in deeply and devilishly red states run by makers of political policies like "anti-woke" lady Arkansas Governor, Sarah Huckabee, in class your babies, young men and ladies will never learn about great men like Pan-Africanist and black freedom fighter, Marcus Mosiah Garvey .

No information on Egypt's 25th Dynasty, that's when in 744 BC Nubian King, Piye, conquered Egypt, and reunited the two African lands of splendid gold jewelry and granite stone pyramids into one Nile Valley Monarchy .

No revolutionary history from the year 1804, that's when a bunch of poorly treated and trained, self-freed maroons, brought black doom and apocalyptic misery upon the Napoleon's Imperial navy and Army in Haiti

This defeat forced the Empire of France to sell its remaining remaining 15 states in "louisiana purchase" territories for for a meager 15 million dollar fee

Creating much of the land in the country of the land of the free that you currently see from sea to shining sea.

At an "anti-woke" elementary, high school, or university, they might let you hear about MLK's "I Have A Dream", but you never hear that that the dream was also anti-Vietnam war or that the dream included reparations for the descendants of the blacks who suffered the world’s worst froms of brutality, lynchings, Jim Crow and slavery.

No student research paper inquiries on how in 1999, in a court in Tennessee, the King family won civilly against Jowers, and several U.S. government agencies, for their part in the Dr.King assassination conspiracy.

If we leave it to the Alt-Right, Matt Walsh and the Ben Shapiro types to rewrite black history, it will read and only in February:

Blacks were put in Antebellum slavery due to their mental inferiority, and kept in modern slavery (mass incarceration) due to their criminality.

No mention of systematic white supremacy, mis-education, and over-policing and poverty.

#Poetry #BlackHistory

[mediaevalmusereads]

The Overstory. By Richard Powers. Norton, 2018.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Genre: literary fiction

Series: N/A

Summary: The Overstory is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of - and paean to - the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours—vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.

***Full review below***

CONTENT WARNINGS: suicide, violence, blood, bodily harm

OVERVIEW: I saw some minor buzz about this book some years ago, but I haven't managed to pick it up until now. I wasn't really clear on what it was about, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if I do even after reading it. Overall, I found The Overstory to be deeply moving, full of gorgeous prose and characters that will stick in my mind for a while. The reasons for a 4 star reading will be more apparent below, but suffice it to say, I think this novel is a must-read for nature lovers as well as anyone who is worried about trees and climate change.

WRITING: Powers' prose reads like a poem. It's mindful of its cadence and deploys figurative language in an affective way. I particularly liked the way the prose conveyed a deep love and appreciation for the natural world. The way Powers describes trees is absolutely stunning, and I can see the way he emphasizes things like connection and harmony.

But with this luscious prose comes a pace that is at times perfect and at others, tedious. Perhaps this pacing is on purpose because Powers continually emphasizes the way time is "perceived" by trees, but as a human reader, there were moments that I think were drawn out too long.

PLOT: The plot of this book follows 9 characters from childhood to adulthood. Each of them has a particular relationship with trees and the natural world; one is a professor studying tree communication, one is a video game developer/coder (who creates a popular game based on hoarding resources), and several others get swept up in the timber wars of the 1980s and 1990s.

Part of what made this story so engaging was the way each character interacted with trees and how their lives changed as a result. I loved reading about the love for trees and the feeling of belonging in nature, and I was wholly sympathetic to the characters' causes.

If I had any criticism, I would say that by the end of the book, the story gets to be a little bleak. Some may argue the end is appropriate, and that's fine. I don't think it should have necessarily ended with sunshine, rainbows, and false reassurances. But personally, my climate anxiety is so bad that the end of this book had me a tad depressed and not at all motivated to fight for a better world.

TL; DR: The Overstory is a lyrical novel filled with a deep affection for trees and nature. Told through the life stories of 9 protagonists, this book leaves a deep impression on those open to be awestruck (and heartbroken) by the natural world.

CHARACTERS: Because this book follows so many characters, I'm only going to speak about them in broad terms.

Personally, I found all of the protagonists deeply interesting. Not only did they have unique and distinct origins, but they also had a variety of jobs and ways of interacting with the world that it truly felt like no two were similar. I also appreciated that they were complex and flawed, with some of them having traits that wouldn't be all that admirable in real life. It made each character feel multi-dimensional and fully realized, so it was quite easy for me to remember and keep track of them all.

I'm not sure if I have any criticism, and even the ideas I do have, I'm not sure if they would be valid. For example, two of Powers' characters are POC, which is great, but I was surprised neither was Indigenous, as that perspective would have been interesting in the context of this story. But at the same time, I'm not sure I would have appreciated Powers parroting the viewpoint(s) of an Indigenous peoples, so maybe it's best he didn't.

[ausetkmt]

William Lambert | Central Michigan University

An African American Leader of Detroit's Anti-Slavery Movement.

By Evelyn Leasher

Before the Civil War Detroit had a small but active African American population. One of the most active African American men of the time was William Lambert, who in addition to his public activities, ran a thriving tailoring and dry cleaning business. Lambert's name is prominent in many accounts of activities involving African Americans in Detroit from his arrival in 1840 to his death in 1890. He worked with the Underground Railroad, he organized an African American secret order, he led the Detroit Vigilant Committee, he was a deacon in his church, and he worked to bring publicly supported education to the African American children of Detroit. Lambert corresponded with many of the anti-slavery leaders of his day. He was a personal friend of John Brown and participated in the Chatham meeting in which John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry was planned.

In 1886 Lambert was interviewed by a reporter on the Detroit Tribune about his activities before the Civil War in Detroit. The resulting newspaper article is an important source of information about antebellum Detroit and African American activities there. That interview is the focus of this website. The newspaper article is reprinted in full with links to the various references made by Lambert wherever they could be found. For example, when talking to the reporter Lambert pulled from his desk a copy of Walker's Appeal for Freedom. There is a link to the Walker website which gives the full text of the Appeal, a publication banned in the South, which is full of references to the evils of slavery and which calls for the elimination of that portion of the population who refuse to grant slaves the right to be human. That Lambert was in possession of this document is important information which helps to understand his work.

Lambert also mentions an important co-worker in Detroit, George De Baptiste. In the article De Baptiste is repeatedly called Le Baptiste, but there is no doubt about the identity of the person. De Baptiste and Lambert worked together for many years on all aspects of anti-slavery work. When De Baptiste died newspapers carried lengthy obituaries which gave details of his life and his work on the Underground Railroad. There are links to these obituaries which give an idea of the scope of De Baptiste's work and the dangers he faced in pursuing his anti-slavery goals.

Lambert's detailed description of a secret African American organization which worked to free slaves is one of the few references to this organization. The elaborate ritual he describes and the secrecy of the work speak to the need to keep its existence hidden. There may be many reasons for this secrecy but one of the reasons may have been the danger involved in working to free slaves, especially after the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law was enacted.

Lambert's interview was conducted in 1886, many years after the events he was recalling. There are some statements which could not be verified or which were slightly wrong. For example, he and the reporter mention an article in Century magazine about John Brown by Col. Green of the United States Marine Corp. There is an article by Col. Green but it was not in Century magazine. A link to Col. Green's article is provided. The reporter also mentioned a poem by Richard Realf which has not been discovered, but information about Richard Realf is included. Another problem is in the estimate of the number of people who were helped by the Underground Railroad. Although it is not possible to give accurate figures of Underground Railroad work these figures do not appear to be realistic in comparison with the actual number of slaves in the United States.

The Underground Railroad has been written about and studied at great length. However, there is relatively little mention of the involvement of African Americans in the work. Lambert's interview makes clear that in Detroit African Americans were actively involved. They were organized and they were efficient and they were militant. They knew what they were doing and they were willing to take risks to free their fellow human beings from slavery and discrimination. Lambert is an example of a man who saw a wrong and did his best to remedy it.

At the end of the website there is a short bibliography for further reading. This is by no means a complete Underground Railroad or Detroit bibliography. This reading list stresses material which might help in understanding the antebellum Detroit scene. Of particular interest is the article by Katherine DePre Lumpkin in which Lumpkin uses this same Lambert article to discuss Detroit and the secret organization Lambert describes.

Detroit Tribute January 17, 1887, Page 2 FREEDOMS'S RAILWAY Reminiscences of the Brave Old Days of the Famous Underground Line Historic Scenes Recalled Detroit the Center of Operations that Freed Thousands of Slaves

The western underground railway paid no dividends, aspired to no monopoly, and never had a general meeting of its directors. Its objective termini were Canada and Freedom, and its trade was derived from the slave plantations of the south, its patrons were people of color, and its promoters and managers had their headquarters in Detroit. Some of them still live and all of them recall the days of the underground road with the hearty satisfaction that comes from a good work accomplished.

Among those living here, well known and highly respected, is William Lambert, age, say, 70; occupation, tailor and philanthropist; son of a slave father and free mother; a man of education, wide reading, rare argumentative power; the founder of the colored episcopal church of this city, and the leader of his race in this state. He is the warm, personal friend of Frederick Douglass, was intimate with the Rev. Highland Garnet, worked hand in hand with J. Theodore Holly, now bishop of Hayti; was the trusted counselor of Gerrit Smith, William Lloyd Garrison, and Wendell Philips, and had something more than a passing acquaintance with John Brown. Under such circumstance it is no wonder that William Lambert was chosen as active manager of the underground railway service. His energy was unflagging and his executive qualities of the highest order. Associated with him was George DeBaptiste, also colored, and like Lambert, possessing good executive ability. The pictures of both these men are worth turning to as presenting faces and heads whose phrenological development would attract attention were they Caucausian instead of negro. LeBaptiste is dead, but Lambert still lives, his mind and eye undimmed and his enthusiasm for the advancement of his race sparkling as brightly as ever. He told the greater part of this story which follows, but the charm of its narration is lost in the writing, for Lambert's modulated voice, his graceful gesticulation and the carefully chosen and accurately pronounced words with which he clothed his teeming ideas can only be suggested here. Nearly 40,000 slaves were made free by crossing them into Canada over Detroit and St. Clair rivers between the years 1829 and 1862, when the last one was ferried over. In the last twenty years of that time $120,000 were collected and expended to bring slaves from the south to Canada, by way of Detroit. There escaped to Canada in all the estimated number of 50,000 slaves. A few of these were not travelers on the underground road, but they were a small minority. The larger number were brought from Florida and Louisiana and from the border states. They were never left unprotected in their journeys, and the hardships they underwent to secure liberty were not only shared with them by their conductors, but repeated time after time by the hundred or so of men who cheerfully assumed this arduous duty.

Taking up Mr. Lambert's story of personal reminiscences he begins with 1829, at which time a band of desperadoes, something in general character like the James' Boys, were the terror of the southwestern states. McKinseyites they were called, and in number were some sixty or seventy. They robbed and pillaged wherever they could with safety, and these people were the first southern agents of the underground railway system of Detroit. "It was a long time," said Mr. Lambert, "before we could make up our minds to make use of these scoundrels, but we at last concluded that the end justified the means. Indeed we went further than that before we got through our work, and held that the effort to secure liberty justified any means to overcome obstacles that intervened to defeat it. These men would, with the permission of the slave himself, steal him away from the owner who had a title to him, and then sell him. From this second bondage they would steal him again and deliver him to us on the line of the Ohio river. They got their profit out of the sale, although they had to commit two thefts to do it. There were no steam railways in those days. We traveled at night, or if in daytime with peddling wagons. We had at one time more than sixty tin peddling wagons with false bottoms, large enough to hold three men, traveling through the south. Our association with the McKinseyites was from the very necessities of the case of short life. They were sure to be caught sooner or later, and at last some more daring robbery than usual brought some of them to prison and dispersed the rest. We then began the organization of a more thorough system and we arranged passwords and grips, and a ritual, but we were always suspicious of the white man, and so those we admitted we put to severe tests, and we had one ritual for them alone and a chapter to test them in. To the privileges of the rest of the order they were not admitted."

"Mr. Lambert," said the reporter, "there is among the poems of Richard Realf one that hints at the existence of the order whose ritual was filled with a marvelous imagry."

"Oh, you have seen that, have you?" and the old gentleman's eyes sparkled. "Well, I wrote that ritual and you shall see it."

He took from a desk where "Walker's Appeal for Freedom," and the letters of Mr. John Brown, Lloyd Garrison, and Wendell Phillips, and  Lucretia Mott were carefully preserved, two books bound in sheep, and of the pattern called memoranda books in the trade. In Lambert's own handwriting was the ritual, the names of the degrees, the test words, grips, description of emblems and lessons. It is impossible to give full space to them here. The order of using them was composed of nearly 1,000,000 free Negroes in the United States and Canada. Of their literary merit it can only be said that they rank with the best of all the orders, and as to the poetry and imagry so richly used, Mr. Realf, who was a white member of the order, had made no exaggeration. The title of the order was the "African-American Mysteries; the Order of the Men of Oppression." In the first chapter the degrees were captives, redeemed and chosen. A branch of the first degree was that of confidence which was used on the underground road. It could be bestowed by any one of those in or above the degree of chosen. It was from this degree that the agents sent to the south were selected. The oath administered ran thus:

I. A.B., do most solemnly and religiously swear and unreservedly vow that I never will confer the degree of confidence on any person, black or white, male or female, unless I am sure they are trustworthy. And should I violate this solemn covenant may my personal interests and domestic peace be blasted and I personally be denounced as a traitor.

This was a mild oath compared with those called for in passing to other degrees. To complete the confidence ritual, however, which was the one actively used by the underground railway managers: Word - "Leprous." Password - "Cross over" - spoken thus: Question -Cross? Answer - Over. First lecture: Q. Have you ever been on the railroad? A. I have been a short distance. Q. Where did you start from? A. The depot. Q. Where did you stop? A. At a place called Safety. Q. Have you a brother there? I think I know him. A. I know you now. You traveled on the road.

This conversation was the test. It was taught to every fugitive, and the sign was pulling the knuckle of the right forefinger over the knuckle of the same finger on the left hand. The answer was to reverse the fingers as described. It is an interesting feature of this history to remember that nearly 40,000 slaves used this test, and it was on the lips of every Quaker in America, the latter for the first and only time foregoing the use of "thee" and "thou" in order to make the test more certain.

The Grand charter lodge had its rooms on Jefferson avenue, between Bates and Randolph, about where No. 202 now is. When the applicant for the degree of captive was brought up for examination he was detained without while asked what it was he sought. "Deliverance," was the answer. "How does he expect to get it?" "By his own efforts." "Has he faith?" "He has hope."

He was clad in rough and ragged garments, his head was bowed. His eyes blindfolded and an iron chain put about his neck. When his examination was over his eyes were unbound and he was admitted to the fellowship of the degree of captive. When he passed to that of the redeemed the chain and fetters were stricken off, although before that, when his eyes were unbound and he was a captive, he found about him all the members of the lodge present, each of them with a whip in his hand. In this way the organization maintained its typical character. After passing to chosen there were yet five degrees, that of rulers, judges and princes, chevaliers of Ethiopia, sterling black knight and knight of St. Domingo. To pass into these was no small task upon the memory and studiousness of the aspirant. The last one has a ritual of great length dealing with the principles of freedom and the authorities on revolution; revolt, rebellion, government - in short a digest of the best authorities. It is of no little credit to the mental capacity of the colored race in that day when free schools were closed to them in most of the states that over 60,000 took the highest degree. It was when the highest ranks were reached that the full intention of the order were first learned. The general plan was freedom, and it is only in the presence of such records as these that the strength of the colored race in organization for their manumission becomes known.

It is from this body that John Brown took on his task of raiding Harper's Ferry. The history of the Chatham Convention (pdf), presided over by Elder W. C. Monroe of Windsor, and one of whose prominent members was Mr. Lambert, has been told in Redpath's history of John Brown (Roberts & Co., Boston, 1860) and it is gone into at some length by Mr. Farmer (pdf) in his excellent history of Detroit. In both of these it is shown that John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry was planned here, and much of the money used was subscribed here.

It was on some of the personal qualities of John Brown that the reporter opened the interview with Lambert which may run steadily along from this point. "Have you read the last contribution to the history of John Brown episode published in the Century, from the pen of Col. Green of the United States marine corps?" "Yes, I saw that, and he most unjustly says what so many have equally erroneously declared, that John Brown (pdf) was crazy. I knew him well, as the many letters you see here from him and this one from his wife of his execution will show. He was sane and reasonable, but he knew that what was necessary was to make a beginning. It was out of the circumstances of the case destined to be a failure of itself, but it opened the way. John Brown told me himself that he could not expect to escape martyrdom. 'But I shall have made the flame that will give the unquenchable light of liberty to the world,' he said, standing erect and pointing to heaven as he spoke. That was what he did."

"When did you meet Brown first?"

"Here in Detroit. I was expecting a train from the south and we were waiting for it at the lodge on Jefferson avenue. This was our custom. The fugitives were brought in from the country from Wayne and Ann Arbor so as to arrive at night. They would be brought to the vicinity of the lodge, when we would go and test them, and all those with them. Some twenty or thirty came on the night I speak of, and I went down to test them. Among others to whom I applied the test was a tall, smoothly-shaven man. When he had answered correctly I cried out: "Are you John Brown? You are: I know it, brother." "Yes, brother, I am John Brown." From that moment he and I were the firmest friends. He stopped with me at my house, then in the western part of the city, and became a conductor on the underground railway. He brought to Detroit more than 200 fugitives. Here are the books. If you care to go over them you will see the reports that give the dates and names, and from whence they came. He penetrated every part of the south, and visited every colored man that it was possible to get at, who had intelligence to grasp the idea of freedom, and yet made no boast of it. He was indefatigable in these respects. He was always on time, and his personal courage, tested a thousand times, was beyond dispute.

"When we had received the people at the lodge we then took them to the rendezvous, which was the house of J.C. Reynolds, an employe of the company then constructing the Michigan Central railway. He had been sent by Levi Coffin of Cincinnati, who was the head of the underground railway in the west. His residence was at the foot of Eighth street, just opposite the place where the first elevator was subsequently built. The house has long since been torn down. We would fetch the fugitives there, shipping them into the house by dark one by one. There they found food and warmth, and when, as frequently happened, they were ragged and thinly clad, we gave them clothing. Our boats were concealed under the docks, and before daylight we would have everyone over. We never lost a man by capture at this point, so careful were we, and we took over as high as 1,600 in one year. Some times we were closely watched and other rendezvous were used. Ald. Finney, Luther Beecher, McChubb and Farmer Underwood could tell you lots about these details. Finney's Barn used to be filled with them some times. It stood opposite the hotel property which bears Finney's name. Well, one night we had reason to believe we were watched.

Two persons were skulking about and we turned upon them. Brown seized them both and dropped them over the pier head first into the water. He had scarcely done so when he threw off his coat and plunged in after them and brought them safely to land. They would have certainly been drowned had he not interfered to save them. Once in Indiana, near Indianapolis, he was driving a covered wagon with nine fugitives concealed under some old furniture. He was pursued by some slave-hunters who had got on the trail in some way, and although they were armed and fired at him he boldly faced the crowd and drove them away, and brought his charge through in safety.

But those incidents of Brown were the recurring ones to every conductor, of whom we had as many as a hundred employed. It was recalled by all the old underground railroad people who are living. He wore a belt of seven revolvers and he used them when necessary with deadly aim. He engaged in the business of a conductor rather from the necessity of his nature for excitement than for any other reason. Over the revolvers he wore at all times a loose-fitting overcoat, with wide openings for the pockets cut high up, but no pockets. Into the holes he thrust his hands and drew his weapons unperceived and fired with telling effect through the cloth of his coat. I used to make those coats for him, and I knew how often they were marked by bullet holes and burned by exploding powder.

That fellow used to go down into any one of the states and get an engagement as driver and overseer and then get a train load and fetch them in safety every time. He brought over 1,500 to Detroit. At last he became so well known and had to run such risks that he was sent to the east, where he worked on the Philadelphia branch very successfully. It would be a picture if you could only have seen it, never to be forgotten, if you could have witnessed many of the scenes of families reuniting and of freemen reaching Canada. For any labor, or cost, or danger, that was our ample reward. I guess most of the incidents that happened in Detroit are pretty well known. After we got to Michigan we didn't have a regular route, but we did have others. We used to work up the Wabash river to Ft. Wayne, and then cross into Washtenaw county, where Ann Arbor is, you know.

There we had lots of friends and help. Then if the hue and cry had been sharply raised we would keep our people in concealment and get them over the ferry when we could. They used to lay in barns and all sorts of retreats and doubtless underwent many hardships, which at times caused them almost to regret their flight, but we got them through all right at last. Girls we often brought as boys, and women disguised as men, and men as women were frequent arrivals. When railways began to be built we used to pack them in boxes, and send them by express. We got thirty or forty through in that way, but the danger to their lives by reason of lack of careful handling and fear of suffocation made that means dangerous."

"In making some preliminary inquiries I heard of one Lovett who had three or four negroes who used to go south with him and allow themselves to be sold and share the proceeds after escaping with the underground railroad. Do you know him?"

"There was such a man from St. Clair. I do not remember that Lovett was the name. It was all very disgraceful, indeed. His accomplices were not permitted on the underground railroad after they were discovered, you may be sure. The man, whatever his name was, finally died in prison - was captured in Tennessee and, after being locked up in Brownsville jail, was removed to Jackson to prevent his being mobbed."

"Well, the story is that the underground railroad people gave the information that secured his arrest."

"That may be so. You see we could not stand upon hair-splitting questions of right and wrong when the main objective of our intention was threatened. I am not aware that we did anything more serious than Lovett's own acts themselves to imperil his safety."

"But what was the most important thing happening in Detroit in connection with your railroad on society?"

"Well, I suppose it was the one that led to fugitive slave law being introduced by Benton of Missouri in the United States senate. Benton, strangely enough, as perhaps you know, was the father of Mrs. John C. Fremont, the wife of the first candidate of the republican party for president. They eloped together. Well, there was a slave escaped from Arkansas some time in 1840 and we got him into Indiana among some abolitionists, who said he would be safe there. They taught him to read and so on and he came to Detroit. His name was Robert Cromwell. After awhile he went to Flint and opened a barber shop there. Now, one of the greatest difficulties we had was to keep fugitives from writing home and giving their addresses, or otherwise betraying their whereabouts.

Cromwell thought he'd be cunning, so he wrote to his old master, dating his letter at Montreal, and telling what he was doing and so on, and asking his master, whose name was John Dun, to send him his sister, and he would send him $100. But he posted his letter at Flint, and it went forward with the post stamp of the same date as that within. Dun knew that no one could come to Flint from Montreal in one day, so he came to St. Louis and looked up a Flint newspaper in the exchanges of the St. Louis Republican, and there found Robert Cromwell's advertisement, "next door to the hotel" that was described and named in Robert's letter.

About this time Robert began to think he had done a foolish thing, and becoming frightened hurried down to see me. He concluded to come to Detroit for a while and leave his shop in charge of some man. This he did, and then opened a little restaurant at the corner of Brush and Larned streets. His mother came to Flint and soon traced him here, but the slave law then was the one of 1790. It authorized the master to seize his slave and bring him before the judge of the United States court, who would make the necessary order to bring him back. Judge Ross Wilkins, of sainted memory, was then judge of this circuit, and the United States courthouse was the First national bank building at the corner of Jefferson and Griswold.

Dun knew that to get any warrant or summons would be to put Cromwell on his guard and he consulted with the United States district attorney, at that time John Norvell, who told him he could seize his slave and bring him before Judge Wilkins, who would then have to make the order, but it would be impossible to do this in the streets, the man must be enticed to the court-house.

Accordingly an officer, who was appropriately named Bender, went to Cromwell and told him to come to the United States court to give testimony as to the character of certain houses in the vicinity of his shop, Cromwell wanted to know what the United States court had to do with the character of the houses. Bender, said he knew nothing, had recently come there, and so on. Then the officer produced an unsigned subpoena. Cromwell laughed at this, and the officer then went away and returned to say that the judge had ordered him to fetch him. On this Cromwell went.

Dun stood just inside the door of the building, and as soon as Cromwell entered he pushed it to and attempted to seize his former slave. Cromwell dashed for the window and tried to escape, giving the alarm. This was heard above and its nature suspected by Judge Wilkins, who at once fled from the court, it is said, to the attic. Anyway he disappeared.

George Ball was the clerk of the court. He yelled down to Cromwell not to allow himself to be fetched up - for God's sake not to come up. By this time George Le Baptiste, myself, and a score of others, among them George Rogers, a lawyer, were on the ground, but we could not get into the court-house - the door was closed. Ball, however, came to the upper window and threw us out a key to come in by another door, and in two minutes we had Cromwell free from Dun and rushed him down to the foot of Shelby street, into a skiff, and into Canada.

While this was done Dun was detained on the steps, the crowd growing momentarily larger and more threatening, a number of Irish among them crying out, "Where's the man stealer?" "Let us at him." When I came back Jefferson avenue was filled with people.

There stood Dun on the steps, towering over every one about him, and looking for a means of escape. All at once Dun make a dash. He thrust the crowd aside like chaff blown from a fanning-mill, and tore down Jefferson avenue, where a friendly door opened for him and closed to shut out the crowd. Just at this time the passage of a state law had been secured making it a penal offense "to inveigle or kidnap any fugitive slave to return him to slavery." Mark the wording.

Well, Elder Monroe whose picture you have there and who died in Africa on the St. Paul Loando river, where he had gone to establish a colony of episcopalians, took the lead in this affair and we demanded Dun's arrest under the law. It was hours before the officers fetched him out and brought him to Justice O'Byrne's office at the corner of Woodward and Jefferson avenues. We colored people demanded admittance, which was refused us, and we appealed to Mayor Van Dyke (pdf). We told him that Dun was from Maryland, and the United States court had jurisdiction. Our law point was bad, but we were many in number and resolute.

The mayor made us a speech and then declared we should be admitted. It was decided to postpone the hearing until 9 o'clock the next day, and when a bankrupt merchant was offered as bail Elder Monroe objected. The judge threatened to put us out, and we asked him to begin.

Then John Norvell offered himself as bail, but Monroe remembered that a mortgage sale of his property had recently been published, and objected to him. What would have happened I cannot say had not Dun cried out that he wanted no bail, that he preferred to go to jail. The mayor begged that no disgrace be brought upon the city by mob law.

The state law should be enforced, he declared, and proposed that we form in a double line in the street, allow Dun to be brought down and to pass to the jail, then on the site of the public library, where we could see him enter and be assured that he would be kept. We agreed to this, and the colored people kept their word, but the Irish population had not so agreed, and the danger to Dun's life was very great.

Just as we got to the jail a rush was made but it was stayed. Well Dun lay in jail till the next term - three months - and being afraid of the mob let his trial go over, and lay in jail six months more. He was rich, and had big lawyers come up from St. Louis, but it was no use, and we would have sent him to state prison had it not been that the law read, "to return to slavery." He had inveigled and attempted to kidnap, but there were not able to prove that he did it to return him to slavery.

"Well, when the United States senate met, Senator Benton introduced a fugitive slave bill with a speech in which his wonderful faculty for invective was turned upon Michigan. The history of the case he recited and charged Michigan (pdf) with being the resort of a nigger mob. Gen. Cass, United States senator from Michigan, then replied; and defended the state and its colored citizens in a way that set our hearts beating with joy.

But afterwards, when we thought we had him ready to swallow, and came to him to lead the petition to the state legislature to strike out the distinctive words "white and colored" in the state laws and constitution, he evaded us. So we went in to defeat his presidential aspirations, and we did. That is the story of the inception of the fugitive slave law.

"Well, our work went forward here just thirty-three years. It was a great one, and I am satisfied with my share of it. I have told more of it to you than I ever did to any one before. Indeed, I am quite hoarse with talking."

The old gentleman rose, indicating thereby that he had talked himself out for one sitting, and, giving me a courteous good night, added that, some other day, he would like to tell about the Bulwer-Clayton Treaty at length. F.H.P.

FIFTY YEARS A DETROITER

WILLIAM LAMBERT, THE REPRESENTATIVE NEGRO OF THIS VICINITY

Fifty years ago last Wednesday William Lambert, the veteran negro citizen of Detroit, reached this city to remain here permanently. He had been here three years before, but he remained but a few weeks. His first visit to Detroit was as cabin boy on a steamboat. Mr. Lambert was born free at Trenton, N.J., his father having been a slave who had bought his own freedom. In those days all negro children who received education in the common school branches, received it at the hands of Quakers and other philanthropic white people, and young Lambert was one who was so favored. After the historical Watt Tyler massacre the feeling against all people having African blood in their veins was so strong that it was very uncomfortable for them to live in counties bordering the southern states and so many of them moved into Canada.

Young Lambert, about this time, accepted an invitation to accompany his schoolmaster, also a negro, on a visit to Canada. Reaching Buffalo, the teacher changed his mind and left the boy at that city while he took a run over to Toronto. The boy passed his leisure by haunting the wharves, and when the teacher returned to Buffalo he learned that Will Lambert had shipped aboard a steamboat. Upon reaching Detroit Lambert had had enough of sailing and so stopped off. He had no shoes or stockings, no coat and no hat, but he had a good constitution and could read, write and cipher quite well. More than that he had energy, self-confidence and ambition.

Three years after reaching Detroit to remain here permanently, he was the secretary of the first state convention of colored citizens of Michigan ever held and the following winter he made an able argument before the judiciary committee of the State Legislature in support of a resolution - adopted at the convention named - and of a petition signed by Judge Wilkens and forty other leading citizens of Michigan asking that the word "white" be stricken from the State Consitution.

From that time to the time of John Brown he was an indefatigable worker in the cause of anti-slavery and it was at his house in this city that many meetings were held by John Brown and his followers, Mr. Lambert being one of them. The subject of this sketch, now over 70 years old, is full of thrilling reminiscences of the underground railway, and reels them off with great gusto. He is also well to do in a worldly sense, a member of the Episcopal Church, of many years standing, and one of the wardens of the St. Mathew's Church. A thorough believer in the inherent abilities of the negro race, he does not air his views except upon invitation, and then he argues clearly, forcibly and fairly, and greatly to the credit of that race of which he is so marked and able a representative.

Detroit Tribune, May 1, 1890.

Detroit Free Press, April 29, 1890

TOOK HIS LIFE

WILLIAM LAMBERT, THE WELL-KNOWN COLORED CITIZEN, COMMITS SUICIDE.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE DECEASED, WHO HAD LIVED HERE FIFTY-TWO YEARS

About 4:30 yesterday morning the dead body of the venerable William Lambert, Detroit's most prominent and distinguished colored citizen, was found hanging by a clothes line suspended from a rafter in the woodshed in the rear of his cozy home, 497 Larned street east. Sunday morning and evening Mr. Lambert attended service at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, of which he was a warden and prominent member, returning the evening about 9 o'clock. His wife soon retired for the night, but Mr. Lambert, in pursuance of a custom that he has observed for some time, sat down in a favorite rocking chair near a base-burner stove, in the family sitting-room, and alternately dosed and meditated. When his son, Cromwell, returned home about 11 o'clock his father was in his accustomed place by the stove, and the young man supposing that he would soon go to bed, went on upstairs to his own room.

At 4 o'clock yesterday morning Mrs. Lambert awoke, and discovering that her husband was not in the room, immediately aroused her sons, Cromwell and Benjamin, who made a careful search of the premises, with the startling result before stated. Benjamin, who first found his father hanging in the shed, at once cut the body down and sent for Dr. Lyster, who soon responded. The physician soon satisfied himself that there was no possible hope of resuscitating Mr. Lambert, as life had apparently been extinct for two or three hours at least. Coroner Brown was summoned and viewed the remains.

For the last three months the members of Mr. Lambert's family have observed with much concern that a change was gradually coming over him. He seemed to be losing his mental grasp, and developed a well-defined tendency to wander almost dazed, and it ws with considerable difficulty that he could be made to appreciate his surroundings. Dr. Eaton, who was consulted, said that he had incipient softening of the brain, and ought not to be permitted to be left alone at all. About two months ago he left the house in the night and was found early the next morning at his place of business, 273 Jefferson avenue. The probabilities are that while sitting by the fire Sunday night, he became unusually despondent, and the impulse to take his own life became so strong he could not resist it. The clothes line with which the suicidal act was consummated was doubled four times around Mr. Lambert's neck, and from the position in which he was found, it is believed that he stood on the partition of a coal bin until he had fastened the line to the ring in the rafter, and then jumped off.

William Lambert was well and favorably known in Detroit, where he has resided fifty-two years. He was born in Trenton, N.J., a little more than seventy-one years ago. At an early age he was taken in hand by a schoolmaster named Abner Francis, under whose tutelage he received a good education. In 1832 young Lambert accompanied Mr. Francis as far west as Buffalo, where they separated. Lambert shipping as a cabin boy on a vessel. During that season he made his first visit to Detroit. He returned east after a brief experience on the lakes, and remained there until 1838, when he took up his permanent residence in Detroit. He opened a small tailor shop at the corner of Brush and Larned and there carried on business in a modest, unpretentious way for a number of years. Subsequently he moved to 273 Jefferson avenue, where he has since remained.

During the operation of the fugitive slave law Mr. Lambert was one of the principal conductors of the underground railway, and through his efforts many a poor, despairing, hunted slave was helped across the border into Canada. He was a conspicuous figure in the Chatham convention that met in May, 1858, where John Brown and a score or so of the faithful met in conference. About that time Fred Douglass lectured in Detroit, and a meeting was held here at which that distinguished orator, Elder Monroe, George DeBaptiste, Isaac [ ], and Mr. Lambert were prominent figures. At these conferences Brown advanced his ideas and presented his plans, which were opposed by Douglass, but approved of by Lambert. At the Chatham conference a provisional constitution for the United States and a declaration of independence that John Brown had prepared, were adopted. The chief end aimed at in this constitution was the emancipation of all slaves, dissolution of the union was not asked for, nor anything subversive of good government advocated.

Mr. Lambert was elected treasurer of the league of liberty that came into existence after the convention adjourned, and in that capacity did much good work. Mr. Lambert was a man of wide information, a student all his life, and possessed the faculty of expressing his ideas and opinions with more than ordinary felicity. He was a contributor for several years to the Voice of the Fugitive, a Canadian publication that did notable service in behalf of the colored race. In this community Mr. Lambert has always held the friendship and respect of the very best people, who saw in him much to honor and esteem. He was an excellent and exemplary citizen in all the walks of life, and his demise will have the best and kindest thoughts of all. All day yesterday his late residence was thronged with friends and acquaintances, who called to tender their sympathies and condolence to the stricken family. Mr. Lambert had accumulated a handsome property, which is estimated at about $75,000. He was a Mason and Odd Fellow of high standing. He is survived by a widow and six children. His oldest son, Touissant, is a letter-carrier; another son is a resident of New Orleans, while his remaining sons, Cromwell and Benjamin W., have been associated with him in business. One daughter, Miss Ella, lives at home, the other is Mrs. Samuel Williams, of this city. The time of the funeral has not yet been definitely fixed.

[the-everqueen]

Hello! I’m interested in any book recs you have 💕

this is going to be some of my favorites, but if you want specific recs, let me know what things you've enjoyed/are looking for and i can tailor a shortlist (open offer):

fiction

mongrels, stephen graham jones - a coming of age story about an Indigenous teen descended from werewolves. jones is mostly known for the only good indians, which is also very good, but this book touched my monster-loving heart.

the sparrow, mary doria russel - a jesuit missionary is the only survivor of the first crew to travel to an alien planet. i read this book for the first time last year and i haven't stopped thinking about it. the sequel children of god made me even crazier (affectionate).

kindred, octavia butler - a black woman gets pulled back in time where she has to repeatedly save her white ancestor in antebellum maryland. time loops! the past as an actor on our present! what are you willing to do in order to survive! i think if you only read one octavia butler book, it should probably be either this one or dawn.

dead astronauts, jeff vandermeer - a trio from the future is traveling through loopholes in spacetime in an attempt to save the universe from latest-possible-stage capitalism. it's weird and experimental and more like a spoken word poem than a novel.

far sector, nk jemisin - this is a graphic novel about a black femme green lantern trying to prevent social collapse on another planet. gerard way wrote the preface. the art is excellent.

nonfiction

queer times, black futures, kara keeling - each chapter looks at an afrofuturist artist/art work to discuss black queer liberation. i read a lot of academic texts, so take this with a grain of salt, but i think keeling is very readable and if you're unfamiliar with the afrofuturist movement, this book provides a great starting point for artists to look into.

scenes of subjection: terror, slavery, and self-making in nineteenth century america, saidiya hartman - i'm not gonna lie to you, this book is dense. but hartman articulates how slavery in america shaped discourse around subjectivity and this discourse lives on. who gets to be recognized as a person, and under what conditions?

go ahead in the rain: notes to a tribe called quest, hanif abdurraqib - this is the Most Readable book in this section. it's part memoir, part music criticism, part archive. short but poetic. hanif is such a generous writer, and you feel his love for the subject. i'm so excited for his book on basketball that comes out next year and i have never seen a basketball game in my life.

poetry

postcolonial love poem, natalie diaz - this book aches like a bruise.

time is a mother, ocean vuong - like critical race theory but as poems. time is a flat circle and a spiral and a loop and a trap. (i actually like night sky with exit wounds better, but this one fits whatever theme i have going on here)

soft science, franny choi - robots are people, too. if you liked janelle monae's album dirty computer, you will like this book.

[witchfulthinking380]

Women in Witchcraft Narratives

Now, on the topic of Nathaniel Hawthorne and his ancestry and how it connects to his writing, I want to discuss how women are portrayed in poems, novels, and short stories about the witch trials. I think I am a pretty good source for this as I am a character in "Young Goodman Brown".

Gender is always a topic of conversation in scholarly writing, especially in current times. Scholars and Critics want to know how Gender played a role in society, what the gender roles were, how were women and men were treated etc etc etc. I think this is interesting because people find it interesting to argue if women were the target of gynocide (the killing of women and girls) during the witch trials but others think that the target was based on the class system. A lot of historians think it is sill to put twenty first century ideals on a seventeenth century event, but I believe it still provides some insight on to why women specifically were targeted, and while men never really had the worry of being accused of witchcraft (Vetere, 121).

Scholars like anthropologist James T. Siegel say that the truth about the trials and witchcraft can be found in the language and writing that surround the event and "the power of words: 'a performative power'" that these writings convey. Stories like "Young Goodman Brown" that show the power of perceived witchcraft, depict witchcraft as a grandiose event. For example, the characters that practice witchcraft or are in contact with the personified devil, all live two separate lives. One is their public life which shows them as good, helpful citizens. The other is their secret life that is influenced by the devil. My character, Goody Cloyse appears as a good woman that is involved in the community, but then later shows up walking with the devil to the ceremony. This shows how 1. woman were perceived to be good hearted and 2. how the puritans really had no idea who was a witch, and were just accusing random people.

Vetere, Lisa M. "The Malefic Unconscious: Gender, genre, and history in early antebellum witchcraft narratives." The Journal of Narrative Theory, vol. 42, no. 2. June 2019, pp 119-148, doi.org/10.1353/jnt.2012.0001.

[hollyspoon]

Another poem cus what even is health this is called Fox:

When you and I were young

Barely six, freshly picked, unsung

Gold and glory, golden stories

Sweet wine on timeless tongues

I prayed with you below these branches

Lay a fox widowed of incandescence

And born the overture of disease by tooth

It met you, dear eidolon, a song I once knew

And when you and I were more

Crowned in laurel, loud as boars

You were rotting beyond the veil

Of rejoicing and resplendence

Of vitality sung as a Jupiter gale

With our wings made of sound, I had said,

The antebellum lust for hereafter,

We shall challenge Fate and crucify its ways,

May our honor reign forever!

But Fate had already subdued you,

And by the time the trees bowed to fall,

And by the time the leaves flushed crimson,

And by the time the roots grew dry and weak,

Your gold and glory, your golden stories

Had surrendered to the winter of disease

Your deathbed was of poisoned haste,

Of breathless sobs caught between grief and rage

And up in the tree, above the fox's tail,

You lay, the blood of the leaves painting you pale

And I sank to my knees, wings of sound lost

In a child's mind, swept by a Jupiter breath

Once I'd been young, unsung, I'd known it all

Yet I'd been wrong, unstrung, and there I said:

Dear Cyprian, darling martyr,

Once you were Summer, just a day before

Yet now you lie a fragment

Of the angel you once were

And with your glittering eyes

Of Bacchus' weeping wine,

You saw the sky, the leaves perched high

No, you said, I have lied

I have been a fragment for quite some time

And when I am gone, when I atone,

You will remember me as gold

And when you are mourning, when you're alone

My wraith will not be cold

And it will grin, guileless, ablaze

Untouched by the ruins of plague

I hated you, and I hate you still

For your lies, your guise of a long life

I thought buried together we would be,

But really you were sworn to die early

From a plague you protected from me

Yet for the dawning of autumn

And the bleeding of leaves

And the graying of foxes

And the ballet of Jupiter

I do not regret my time with you

Nor the foolish elopement we made

Through your lies, your guise of a long life,

You are untouched by the ruins of plague

Dear fox, I am ashamed

[lboogie1906]

Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was a poet, novelist, and playwright of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton to parents who were enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War, he began to write stories and verses as a child and published his first poems at the age of 16 in a Dayton newspaper. He was president of his high school’s literary society.

Much of his more popular work in his lifetime was written in the “Negro dialect” associated with the antebellum South, though he used the Midwestern regional dialect of James Whitcomb Riley. His work was praised by William Dean Howells, a leading editor associated with Harper’s Weekly, and he was one of the first African American writers to establish an international reputation. He wrote the lyrics for the musical comedy In Dahomey (1903), the first all-African American musical produced on Broadway in New York. The musical later toured in the US and the UK.

He wrote in conventional English in other poetry and novels. Since the late 20th century, scholars have become more interested in these other works. He became the first African-American poet to earn national distinction and acceptance. The New York Times called him “a true singer of the people – white or Black.”

After returning from the UK, he married Alice Ruth Moore, on March 6, 1898. She was a teacher and poet from New Orleans whom he had met three years earlier. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[regarderfilmmovie]

Regarder!! film complet ((Antebellum)) en ligne 2020 HD-1080p en fancais

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9 septembre 2020 / 1h 46min / Thriller, Epouvante-horreur De Gerard Bush, Christopher Renz Avec Janelle Monáe, Jena Malone, Kiersey Clemons Nationalité Américain

SYNOPSIS ET DÉTAILS Interdit aux moins de 12 ans L'auteure à succès, Veronica Henley, se retrouve piégée dans un monde effroyable dont elle doit percer le mystère avant qu'il ne soit trop tard.

[obfuscatedsolutions]

Being vulnerable isn't a weakness, but relax your own hearts eagerness.

Once a heart is healed, dont expect that weak spot sealed.

Your time is wasted more, when you force what's there and don't explore.