Black Aviators

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT NOW?

I’m so pleased that 119 pilots and 211 ground crew of Tuskegee Airmen are invited to the swearing in of the 44th President of the United States. Barack Obama alluded to the men in his book, Audacity of Hope. Because the men are in there 80s and 90s many of them will probably not be in attendance.

SCOPE NOTE
Black Aviators impacted the history of aviation in this country during World War II. In fact, it was during this tour the all-black force worked hard to garner accolades. Helping them make history by demonstrated their genuine competence was wife of the president, Eleanor Roosevelt. Opposition to their contribution was significant. It was in the 1970s that they were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

Black Aviator: The Story of William J. Powell by William J. Powell, Von Hardesty
Black Flight: Breaking Barriers to Blacks in Aviation by Roger Albert Forsyth
Flying free : America’s first Black aviators by Philip S. Hart
Into the Tiger’s Jaw: America’s First Black Marine Aviator: The Autobiography of LT. General Frank E. Petersen by Frank E. Petersen, J. Alfred Phelps
The Tuskegee Airmen by Philip Brooks.
The Tuskegee Airmen : African-American Pilots Of World War II by Sarah E. DeCapua

JOURNAL(S)

All blood runs red. (black aviator Gene Bullard) (Legacy: A Supplement to American Heritage) Jamie H. Cockfield American Heritage, Feb-March 1995 v46 n1 pS7(6)
Chief Anderson; when the skies were unfriendly, this pioneer aviator opened the blue yonder to blacks. (Charles Alfred Anderson) Pope Brock. People Weekly, Nov 28, 1988 v30 n22 p149(5)

REFERENCE

African American Almanac. 9th ed.
Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage, Second Edition. (Tuskegee Airmen)

DOCUMENTARIES
Black aviators: flying free / producer, Andrew Rothstein ; produced by CBS News Productions for the History Channel
Flyers in search of a dream by Philip Hart; WGBH Educational Foundation.

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCH(ES)
black aviators
blacks + aviation
african american + air pilots
tuskegee airmen

RELEVANT WEBSITE(S)
http://www.nasm.si.edu/blackwings/
http://www.blackwings.com/

ORGANIZATION
Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.
PO Box 9166
Arlington, VA 22219-1166
(703) 286-7653

RELATED POST(S)

African American in WWII, Black WACs

Freedmen’s Bureau

SCOPE NOTE
The Black Seminole Scouts evolved from a union between black slaves and the Seminole Indians of Florida. Slaves as fugitives sought the Seminole Indians’ encampments for refuge away from slave raiders. The Seminole often adopted the slaves into their tribes which led to an alliance, interracial marriages and the birth of a new ethnic group, the Seminole Indians. Because the blacks assisted the Indians Seminoles in fighting a common enemy in the Seminole Wars, they were well suited for the task the U.S. military offered them. Black Seminole Scouts served to protect American borders. This group evolved in the 1800’s, but their descendents still preserve their heritage in Brackettsville, Texas. Look for information on both black slaves and Seminole Indians.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)
Bury Me Not In The Land Of Slaves
Freedmen’s Bureau and Black Texas
The Trouble They Seen

REFERENCE MATERIAL(S)

Africana

PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
Freedmen’s Bureau Online

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCHES

freedmen’s bureau
slaves + reconstruction

KEY FIGURES

Union Army General Oliver O. Howard

RELEVANT WEBSITES
http://www.slavenorth.com/nyemancip.htm

RELATED POSTS
Freedmen’s Schools

Freedmen’s Schools

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT NOW?
The first family, The Obamas have made decisions about where Malia and Sasha will go to school. I really wasn’t surprised by the choice school, Sidwell Friends. America will remember the name as the school where Chelsea Clinton attended and was yearbook editor. The choice is also a very sharp contrasts of where African Americans would send their children after they were no longer enslaved. As a newly freed people, we were obsessed with education. Grown men walked around with spellers for the chance of any moment of spare time. Later the Rosenwald Schools would emerge. My own mother attend one in Kilgore, Texas. So, one more generation sends their children to school with high hopes. We’ve known for many children that a good education is the way up and out. OTHER RELATED POST that I will create today is Freedmen’s Bureau.

SCOPE NOTE

Upon the emancipation of enslaved Africans and their descendents, Washington, D. C. became the likely destination of the newly-freed people. Washington created a coping mechanicism, the Freedmen’s Bureau to act as an emergency facility. From that effort, the Freedmen schools were established all over the South the educate form slaves and their children. The populoar belief in the Bureau was through education, the emancipated would becomeempowered to mold their own lives and re-invent themselves. The written account of these schools depict small, one-room schools that served as churches on Sundays and a classroom otherwise. Much of what can be learned of these colorful schools is offered through the diaries and narrarives of the staff who ran them.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

The Fire of Liberty in their Hearts: the Diary of Jacob E. Yoder of the Freedmen’s Bureau School, Lynchburg, Virgian, 1866-1870 by Jacob E. Yoder
The Freedmen’s Bureau Schools of Natchitoches Parish, Lousisiana, 1865-1868 by Susan E. Dollar
Sarah Jane Foster, Teacher of the Freedmen: A Diary and Letter by Wayne E. Reilly (Editor)
Autobiography of James L. Smith; including also, reminiscences of slave life, recollections of the war, education of freedmen, causes of the exodus, etc. by James Lindsay Smith
Reading, Writing and Reconstruction by Robert Charles Morris
His Truth is Marching On: African-Americans Who Taught the Freedmen for the American Missionary Association 1861-1877 (Studies in African American History by Clara Merritt Deboer)
Soldiers of Light and Love: Northern Teachers and Georgia Blacks, 1865-1873 by JacquelineJones

REFERENCE MATERIAL(S)

Encyclopedia of African American Heritage, 2nd edition

PRIMARY SOURCES

Semi-annual report on schools for freedmen: number 1-10, January 1866-July 1870
The Freedman’s Spelling Book:
The Freedmen’s second reader;
The Freedman’s third reader

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCHES

slaves + education
reconstruction + education
antebellum + education
slaves + quaker schools

KEY FIGURES

Charlotte Forten Grimke

RELEVANT WEBSITES
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-634

RELATED POSTS

Freedmen’s Bureau

Nineteenth-Century Black Republicans

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT NOW?

An African-American, radio talk show host attracted a lot of attention recently by pleading and begging Republican presidental candidate, John McCain to defeat opponent Barack Obama. He aggravated his predicament with appearance on CNN. He didn’t seem to be a worthy to face a guest CNN critic and opted to walk off the show in the middle of verbal sparks. Certainly his critic came to play. But this got me thinking about the African Americans who are gravitate to the Republican National Party. It also got me going about the history of this alliance.

SCOPE NOTE

It seems that the Republican Party was founded 1850’s by a group of anti-slavery activists. This group wanted the U.S. government to grant western lands to settlers for free. They also believed, of course, in abolishing slavery, free speech and women’s suffrage. These were early stances the Republican Party. What may have origins of the relationship between enslaved Africans and Republicans was that fight to abolish slavery, give blacks equal rights and then the vote. These views put more than a few Republican politicians at risk. Indeed many blacks who elected to any offices in state legislatures were Repubicans. The very first was elected to Congress in 1869. The trend shifted 1935 when the first black Democrat finally was elected to Congress.

PUBLISHED MATERIALS

Black Puritan, Black Republican : The Life and Thought of Lemuel Haynes, 1753-1833 by John Saillant
From the Deck to the Sea: Blacks and the Republican Party by Matthew Rees

JOURNALS

Black Republicans in the Virginia tobacco fields, 1867-70. Jeff R. Kerr-Ritchie. The Journal of Negro History, Wntr 2001 v86 i1 p12(18 )
The Trial of Democracy: Black Suffrage and Northern Republicans, 1860-1910. (Review) John David Smith. Southern Cultures, Spring 1999 v5 i1 p83(1)

POSSIBLE KEYWORDS SEARCHES

early + black republicans
nineteenth-century + black republicans
blacks + voting + reconstruction

KEY FIGURES

Hiriam Rhodes Revels
Blanche Kelso Bruce

RELEVANT WEBSITES

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_org_republican.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/activism/sf_rights.htm
http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock200502180737.asp

Black WACs (Women Army Corps)

SCOPE NOTE

Although segregated in their military accomodations and limited advancement in ranks, a few thousand black women joined black male counterparts to serve their country and made history in their efforts. Many black WACs served in Europe, Cuba and Northern Africa.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

One Woman’s Army by Charity Adams Earley
To Serve My Country, To serve My Race by Brenda L. Moore
When the Nation was in Need: Blacks in the Women’s Army Corps During World War II by Martha S. Putney

REFERENCE MATERIAL(S)

African American Almanac, 9th ed

RELEVANT WEBSITES
http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/AMC_WW2.HTM
http://www.buffalo.edu/reporter/vol27n17/n2.html
http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/heroes/bowie.html
http://www.usca.edu/aasc/earley.htm
http://www.womensmemorial.org/Education/BBH1998.html#4

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCHES

african americans + women army corps
african americans + women auxiliary army corps 6888th postal battalion
black women + world war II, 1939-1945

KEY FIGURES
Charity Adams Earley
Sherian G. Cadoria
Dovey Mae Roundtree

ORGANIZATION(S)

US Army Women’s Museum
2100 “A” Avenue
Fort Lee, VA 23801
804-734-4327

RELATED POSTS

African Americans in WWII

African Americans in WWII

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT NOW?
Spike Lee’s new movie, Miracle of St. Anne has just been released. It’s about African American soldiers in World War II. It is a subject close to my heart as I remember my grandmother’s brothers who served in the war. A few of my favorite family oral histories swirl around their participation. So, I’ll be very interested to see what Mr. Lee does with this subject matter. OTHER RELATED POST that I will create today is Black WACSs.

SCOPE NOTE
Over one million African-Americans served in World War II. They served in segregated units. The branches of the military that blacks served in were the Marines and the Army. They were treated very badly during their service years and ill treated even when they returned.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

African Americans in the Military by Catherine Reef
We Were There : Voices of African American Veterans, from World War II to the War in Ira
Yvonne Latty, Ron Tarver

REFERENCE MATERIAL(S)

African American Almanac. 9th ed
Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage, Second Edition
Encyclopedia of American Military History
World Almanac & Book of Facts

RELEVANT WEBSITES
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/aframerwar/index.html
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/mohb.htm
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/prs-tpic/af-amer/afa-wwii.htm
http://www.africanamericans.com/MilitaryChronology4.htm
http://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/ww2-pictures/

MULTIMEDIA
Pictures of American Americans during WWII

DOCUMENTARY

African Americans in WWII (OnDeck Home Entertainment)
The Tuskegee Airmen (HBO Video)

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCHES

african american + world war II
african americans + soldiers
american americans + military

RELATED POSTS

Blacks WACs Women Army Corps

Washington-DuBois: The Great DuBois

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT NOW?
OTHER RELATED POSTS that I will create today are: The Niagara Movement and African-American Intellectuals.

SCOPE NOTE

On the issue of advance of black people in the nineteenth century, Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois couldn’t be further apart. One believe that success

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

W. E. B. Dubois Negro Leader in a Time of Crisis By Francis L. Broderick
The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. DuBois

JOURNAL(S)

Between W.E.B. DuBois and B.T. Washington Moseley-Braun, Carol Ebony Nov 1995 v51 n1 p58(2)

PRIMARY DOCUMENTS

http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/dubois.htm

RELEVANT WEBSITE(S)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/etc/road.html
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA03/faturoti/harlem/collage/washington.html
http://www.nbufront.org/html/MastersMuseums/JHClarke/EdRealityAfricanWorld/EdWorldPart7.html
http://web.missouri.edu/~materert/e226/wash.html

KEY FIGURE(S)

W.E.B. DuBois
Booker.T. Washington

RELATED POST(S)

The Niagara Movement

Exoduster Movement

SCOPE NOTE

west headed for Kansas. Another incentive to leave was the cruel slave owners who often tried to beat and whip former slaves back into the times before freedom. Benjamin “Pap” Singleton seemingly offered a solution. Take advantage of the Homestead Act and take land the government was giving to its citizens for free. The only requirement was to tame the land. The only problem was the offer panned out to very few blacks. More often, they were denied the opportunity and had to make the best of life in a strange land.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

Exodus to Kansas after Reconstruction by Nell Irvin Painter
The Black West by William Loren Katz
In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West 1528-1990 by Quintard Taylor
African Americans on the western frontier edited by Monroe Lee Billington and Roger D. Hardaway

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCHES

exodusters
exoduster movement
blacks + western expansion
blacks + gold rush

DOCUMENTARY

The West , Episode Seven by PBS

RELEVANT WEBSITE
http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/bawmus.htm

RELEVANT ORGANIZATION

Black American West Museum and Heritage Center, 303.292.2566
3091 California Street, Denver, CO 80205

RELATED POSTS

Black Settlements

Black Settlements

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT NOW?
This is particularly disturbing to what was a growing middle class of African-Americans. Released today, a new report, “Foreclosed: State of the Dream 2008,” shows that African-American households are being hit especially hard by the nation’s subprime crisis. Owning a home is central to the American dream. Is the undergirding of a family’s whole financial foundation. It was so important to the African-American families who long ago as homesteaders created Black Settlements. OTHER RELATED POST that I will create today is Exdouster Movement.

SCOPE NOTE

Reacting to the cruelty of former masters, newly-freed slaves left the South in droves. Many answer the called of posters announcing Homestead opportunities out West. The Homestead Act of 1862 promised former slaves a chance of land ownership and independence. An African American, Benjamin Singleton organized the migration of hundreds of blacks to Nicodemus, Kansas where they set up their own black town. Blacks founded their own towns also in Oklahoma, Nebraska and other part of the West. The journey was likened to the children of Israel. Therefore, it was referred to the Exoduster Movement.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

PRIMARY SOURCES

Land Time Forgot: Black Settlement at Nicodemus, Kansas by Thomas Wellington
Acres of Aspirations: The All Black Towns in Oklahoma by Hannibal B. Johnson
America’s Black Towns and Settlements by Morris Turner
Black Towns by Norman L. Crockett

REFERENCE MATERIAL(S)
The Harvard Guide to African-American History

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCHES

black + settlements
black homesteaders
black + towns
black-founded towns
black westerners

KEY FIGURES

Benjamin (Pap) Singleton

RELEVANT WEBSITES

RELATED POSTS
Exoduster Movement

Golden Thirteen

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT NOW?

The increasing discussion of why military recruitment of blacks is down is taking place all over. The discussion stems from the USA Today report back in 2005. If one considers the ill treatment of blacks in the military from Cripus Attucks until now, it’s no real surprise. WWI and WWII veterans including Tuskegee Airmen fought for a country in foreign lands in which their foreign captors treated them better. Shall we talk about Port Chicago. I even remember as a kid black Vietnam veterans seething over discrimination. In spite of those mountainous battles, African Americans have still achieved. I bring to your attention the Golden Thirteen.

SCOPE NOTE

Men who deeply desired to demonstrate excellence in naval services were relegated to lowly duties until bowing to the pressure from civil rights organizations, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt affected the course of sixteen men who were chosen for general duty. Having the opportunity to be groomed for ledership, the secretary of the navy moved on the idea to train 12 black officers and a one warrant officer. The men who passed the rigorous training dubbed themselves the Golden Thirteen became the first officers in the US Navy history.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

The Golden Thirteen: recollections of the first Black naval officers/edited by Paul Stillwell
Integration of the Negro into the United States Navy, 1776-1947

REFERENCE

African American Almanac

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCH(ES)

Golden Thirteen
blacks + US Navy African-Americans + Steward’s Service
african american + sea-going bell hops
african americans + sea services

MULTIMEDIA

African-Americans and the U.S. Navy — The “Golden Thirteen”

RELEVANT WEBSITE(S)
http://toptags.com/aama/bio/groups/gthirteen.htm

KEY FIGURE(S)

William Sylvester White