Black Press

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT NOW?

For years, african americans have lamented their relationship with the press. It seemed that the press took every opportunity and delight to show blacks in the worse possible light. The press was negative even when it thought it was being kind. That approach is sustained even today by many media outlets. That is why many African-Americans are puzzled by the Congressional Black Caucus is persistent in its push for African-American presidential candidate to appear on the Fox network. OTHER RELATED POST that I will created today is Freedom Journal.

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Some of the earliest black newspapers appeared right after the emancipation functioning as a tool to reunite families torn during slavery. They became more important as African-Americans struggled to reinvent themselves and other forms of the press refused to recognize that. The Freedom Jounal was the first black-owned newspaper. The Chicago Defender has the distinction of the longest-running black-owned daily newspaper. Several black newspapers around the country are still found to be relevant therefor sustainable.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

A History of the Black Press by Armistead S. Pride, Clint, C., II Wilson
Origins of the Black Press: New York, 1827-1847 by Bernell Tripp
The Social Impact of the Black Press by Warren H. Brown
Black Press nd the Struggle for Civil Rights by Carl Senna
The Black Press, USA by Roland E. Wolseley

REFERENCE
African-American Almanac
Extant Collections of Early Black Newspapers: A Reserch Guide to the Blac k Press, 1880-1915 by
Georgetta Merritt Campbell

DOCUMENTARY

Black Press: Soldiers without words

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCH(ES)

African American Newspapers

RELEVANT WEBSITE(S)
http://www.blacknews.com/directory/black_african_american_newspapers.shtml

KEY FIGURES

John B. Russwurm
Robert C. Maynard
John H. Johnson

ORGANIZATION

National Newspaper Publishers Association
3200 13th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20010
(202)588-8764

RELATED POST(S)

FREEDOM JOURNAL

Freedom Journal

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PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

Black Americans of Achievement: John Russwurm by Janice Borzendowski John Brown Russwurm; the story of Freedom’s journal, freedom’s journey by Mary Sagarin
Antebellum Black newspapers : indices to New York Freedom’s journal (1827-1829), The Rights of all (1829), The Weekly advocate (1837), and The Colored American (1837-1841) by Donald M. Jacobs ed

JOURNAL(S)

The history of Freedom’s Journal: a study in empowerment and community. Jacqueline Bacon. The Journal of African American History Wntr 2003 v88 i1 p1
Origins of the black press. The Quill Jan-Feb 2006 v94 i1 p7(1)
A profile: John Brown Russwurm. Blackfax; Fall96, Vol. 8 Issue 33, p7

REFERENCE

African American Almanac
African American Reference Library: African American Almanac (UXL)

PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
Digitized copies of the completed volumes of the Freedom’s Journal available at the following links.
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/aanp/freedom/volume1.asp
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/aanp/freedom/volume2.asp

DOCUMENTARY

The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCH(ES)

freedom’s journal
first + black + newspaper
black + antebellum + newspaper

RELEVANT WEBSITE(S)

KEY FIGURE(S)

John B. Russwurm
Samuel C. Cornish

RELATED POST(S)

Black Press

Fort Pillow Massacre

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Historians have described this as one of the ugliest marks on American history. What makes it worse is military officers condoned the heinous attack on black Federal troops in Fort Pillow, Tennessee. It was in April 1965 during the Civil War. The cause of the ugliness. Confederate soldiers were angered by the Union’s use of black soldiers. Some of the captured soldiers were burned alive. Worse there were women and children were among the slaughtered. Other black Civil War soldiers cried out “Remember Fort Pillow” before going into battle.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

River Run Red : The Fort Pillow Massacre in the American Civil War by Andrew Ward
Fort Pillow, A Civil War Massacre, And Public Memory by John Cimprich

REFERENCE MATERIAL(S)

Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage, Second Edition
Encyclopedia of Battles in North America: 1517 to 1916
Encyclopedia of American History: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1856 to 1869, vol. 5.
Encyclopedia of American Military History

PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
Fort Pillow Massacre Congress United States Congress Joint Select Committee on the Conduct of the War April 21, 1864 (actual testimony about event)

Buried Alive appeared in Harper’s Weekly May 7, 1864 (personal account of black surviving soldier who was buried alive by Confederates in Fort Pillow Massacre. http://www.civilwarliterature.com/3BlacksAsPrincipalChars/BuriedAlive/BuriedAliveText.htm

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCHES

Fort Pillow Massacre

KEY FIGURES

Daniel Tyler (black survivor of Fort Pillow attack)
Confederate General, Nathan B. Forrest

RELEVANT WEBSITES
http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/CW_FP.HTM
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWpillow.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/articles/fort_pillow.html
http://www.millikensbend.org/events/fort-pillow-massacre/fort-pillow-8-003.htm

RELATED POSTS

• Brownsville Affair
• Red Summer

Red Summer

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT TODAY?

I’m in the nation’s capital today having just flown from Dallas to Greensboro and hitting the highways and byways. Don’t ask, but I’m treating my collegiate daughter to a birthday road trip. Cheered when we got to Virginia because we knew our destination, DC was close. No sooner than we catch our breath, check in a hotel, cut on the news we hear about the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Even though Blacksburg, Virginia was not in our path, I couldn’t help remember my great grandfather’s sister who escape disaster during the Red Summer era. Ann Lloyd was a domestic who cleaned the county courthouse and county jails. During the dubiously-famous rioting of Longview Texas, she had the horror of making her way back home in the midst of Red Summer. OTHER RELEVANT POST that I’ll create today are: The Brownsville Affair and Fort Pillow Massacre.

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It was a summer of fear and killing. Cities small and large burst into racial riots this summer and lasted until fall. Racial tensions, inflations and unemployment contributed to a combustible environment. Blacks did organize resistance to combat the attacks. In spite of their efforts , still so many blacks were killed that poet, author James Weldon Johnson coined the name Red Summer.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL
Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919 by William M Tuttle, Jr.

REFERENCENCE MATERIALS
Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage, Second Edition

KEYWORDS SEARCHES

red summer
race riot + summer of 1919
longview, texas + race riot
elaine, arkansas incident

RELEVANT WEBSITES
http://www.africawithin.com/maafa/a_killing_season.htm
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/LL/jcl2.html
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/2/79.02.04.x.html
http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/pdf/hs_es_urban_race_riots.pdf

The Brownsville Affair

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A heartbreaking story of injustice. In 1906, in my home state of Texas, two whites were shot and killed in the town of Brownsville. In spite of overwhelming evidence provided by their white officers the black soldiers of the 25th regiment of the United States army were blamed. No appeal would give them justice. To make matters worse. President Theodore Roosevelt stripped them of any pension. Some of the 20-year soldiers were close to retirement. Only in the 1970’s, the last surviving soldier was able to get his pension, a mere $25,000.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)
The Brownsville Raid by John Weaver
The Brownsville Affair: National Crisis and Black Reaction by Ann Lane
Portrait of a Border City: Brownsville, Texas. by Williams Adams
Black Soldiers in Jim Crow Texas, 1899–1917 by Garner L Christian
The Black Soldier and Officer in the United States Army, 1891–1917 by Marvin Fletcher
The Senator and the Sharecropper’s Son: Exoneration of the Brownsville Soldiers by John D. Weaver

REFERENCE MATERIAL(S)

Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage, Second Edition.
Encyclopedia of American History: The Emergence of Modern America, 1900 to 1928, vol. 7

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCHES
brownsville affair
brownsville riot
brownsville raid of 1906
brownsville, texas + 1906
brownsville riot + theodore roosevelt

KEY FIGURES

Pres. Theodore Roosevelt

DOCUMENTARY

Discharged Without Honor: The Brownsville Raid. History’s Mysteries Series. The History Channel. 2000.

RELEVANT WEBSITES
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/BB/pkb6.html
http://secure.britannica.com/ebi/article-9016730
http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/2860/The_Brownsville_Affair_occurs

RELATED POSTS

• Red Summer
• Fort Pillow Massacre

Early Black Muslims

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT NOW?

I happened to catch a spoof that Jon Stewart did on the controversy brewing in my home state, Texas about a Muslim community purchasing property for the expressed purposes of building a school for their children. They did so in Katy Texas. You may view the piece on the The Daily Show’s website. You may have to search for Loathe Thy Neighbor

To be deliberately offensive, the owner of the adjoining property decided to start pig races much to the cheers of the townspeople. I couldn’t help but shake my head.

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PUBLISHED MATERIAL(S)

African Muslims in Antebellum America by Allan D. Austin
Islam in the African-American Experience by Richard Brent Turner

JOURNAL(S)

“Forgotten Roots: African American Muslims in early America”. (Muslim-American Activism)(Collections and Stories of American Muslims) Matt Horton. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Sept-Oct 2005 v24 i7 p61
African Muslims in Antebellum America. (Review) Sulayman S. Nyang. Journal of American Ethnic History, Fall 1999 v19 i1 p111

REFERENCE

From: Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage, Second Edition.

POSSIBLE KEYWORD SEARCH(ES)

black muslims black muslim + slaves

RELEVANT WEBSITE(S)

http://islam.about.com/library/weekly/aa012601a.htm

Hello world!

Welcome to The Keeper.  I got completely wrapped up since starting this site in making a wonderful transition between providing services to the top magnet school in the country and becoming library media coordinator to a small school district. So, now well over a year later, I’m officially opening my heart to share my thoughts on what it means to serve and advance a challenged learning community in a no-child-left-behind society. After serving at two schools, Talented and Gifted Magnet and Science and Engineering Magnet lauded by Newsweek for being numbers 1 and 2 in the nation, I thought I was well prepared for anything in k-12 education. I was. That experienced prepared me for serving gifted students.  I was at the top of my game in that arena.  I’m in a whole new ball game.  

But, I’ve remained excited each day in my new challenge of serving a predominantly African American students, whose gifts are not always recognized and appreciated.  So, the accolades are few.  The criticism comes in deep waves.  That’s okay.  I’m committed. These kids are my tribe. And it’s going to be greater later. Watch out America, we going to provide some answers how to bridge the gap and reach an academically-challenged population.  And the answers will come from a small suburb in Texas.  If you’re interested in the journey, visit this dialogue from time to time.