I go to bed with something on my mind just about every night.

But the other night, I went to bed thinking of something that was the furthest thing from my mind earlier that day.

My thoughts were toward the people of Haiti, those who survived the devastating earthquake in 2010 and those that didn’t. I thought of them because I attended a film screening showing how the Haitian people were faring since this tragedy.

It was very moving.

What I loved most about this film was that it wasn’t about suffering, devastation or self-pity. Instead, it showed a people with a genuine sense of hope despite the fact that they’d lost everything in a 35-second destructive quake.

Then there were the images of Haiti itself. They were unlike what I’ve seen on TV or the news, where it often looks like a dump yard full of stranded black people. Rather, it was clean, even amidst the rubble. The people were clean and they yearned to work again to support themselves.

Just Like Job

Cathedral Quarter is one of the most symbolic places in the history of Haiti. In fact, the city was founded in that neighborhood in 1749. The location of the Cathedral is also the part of Haiti that was most devastated. After the quake, only the Cathedral’s ruins remain. Even now, many Haitians still return there, clasping the cast iron gate that partially surrounds the Cathedral. The Haitians consider those ruins to represent something above and beyond who they are. They are still hoping and praying to God, trusting in a higher being.

Then, enter into the film the story of Job from the bible, the man who lost everything but never once cursed God.

His story compares to the Haitians losing everything except for their faith in God. Like Job they refuse to abandon their spirituality or blame God for their misfortune.

Reflecting

It’s funny how people miles away from where I live can invade my mind with their personal stories of perseverance.

I’ve only seen the effects of the earthquake there, yet, the story of the Haitian people is touching and moving.

And I’m glad their story is on my mind.

• February 16, 1858 Isaiah Mays, Medal of Honor recipient, was born enslaved in Carters Bridge, Virginia. By May 11, 1889, Mays was serving as a corporal in Company B of the 24th Infantry Regiment. On that day, he was involved in an engagement with robbers and his actions earned him the medal which was awarded February 19, 1890. His citation reads, “Gallantry in the fight between Paymaster Wham’s escort and robbers. Mays walked and crawled 2 miles to a ranch for help.” Mays left the army in 1893, and in 1922 applied for a federal pension, but was denied. Mays died penniless on May 2, 1925 and his grave was marked with only a small stone etched with a number. In 2001, the marker was replaced with an official United States Department of Veterans Affairs headstone. In March, 2009, his remains were disinterred, cremated and placed in an urn. On May 29, 2009, the urn was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

FEBRUARY 2012: The Voices of the Civil War is a five-year film series dedicated to celebrating and commemorating the Civil War over the course of the sesquicentennial. Each month, new episodes will cover pertinent topics that follow the monthly events and issues as they unfolded for African Americans during the Civil War.  Within these episodes there are various primary sources – letters and diaries, newspaper reports, and more - to recount various experiences of blacks during this period. We encourage your feedback and commentary through our Voices of the Civil War web blog.

To see the Introduction or Episode 1 Part 1 videos click here.

The American Civil War was one of the most destructive armed conflicts that the United States has ever fought. But, how did this nation, less than one hundred years old in 1865, arrive at the point of Civil War?

In the conclusion to episode 1, "The Original Sin," we travel back to the signing of the Constitution on September 17, 1787. Here we see disunion already brewing over the issue of slavery. Delegates like James Madison, George Mason, and Benjamin Franklin pontificate on the effects of building a new nation on the backs of tyranny.

Credits

Shot 1-7,9,10,12,13,16,19,20,23,24,28,29,31,34,37,38,40-43: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, [lc-uszc2-2354, LC-DIG-ds-00120, LC-DIG-ppmsca-21740, LC-USP6-2415-A, lc-uszc2-2354, LC-USZ62-2276, LC-DIG-cwpb-05635, LC-USZ62-90258, LC-DIG-cwpb-03711, LC-USZC6-45, rbpe 00103300, LC-USZ62-67819, LC-DIG-ppmsca-31705, LC-USZ62-2770, LC-USZC4-7216, LC-USZ62 – 16960, rbpe 00103300, LC-DIG-ppmsca-05453, LC-USZ62-89701, LC-USZ62-90398, LC-USZC6-48, LC-USZC4-2520, LC-USZC4-528, LC-DIG-cwpb-05635, LC-DIG-ppmsca-21740, LC-DIG-ppmsca-10874]

Shot 8: Courtesy of South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, http://library.sc.edu/socar/

Shot 11,18,36: From the collections of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, (Schneider Collection)

Shot 15,30,39: Courtesy National Archives, [ARC Identifier 1656604; ARC Identifier 1667751, ARC Identifier 301682]  

Shot 21: White House Historical Association (White House Collection)

Shot 22: Florida Center for Instructional Technology, http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/

Shot 25: Courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society, http://www.vahistorical.org/

Shot 32,35: Courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol

Shot 33: © Courtesy of the Board of Regents of Gunston Hall

• February 15, 1946 Bruce Scott Gordon, former president of the NAACP, was born in Camden, New Jersey. Gordon earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Gettysburg College in 1968 and his Master of Business Administration degree in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1988. After earning his undergraduate degree, Gordon joined Bell of Pennsylvania as a management trainee and rose to head of the Retail Markets Division at Verizon at the time of his retirement in 2003. Black Enterprise magazine named him Executive of the Year in 1998. In June, 2005, Gordon was named president of the NAACP, a position he held until his resignation in March, 2007. Gordon is currently a diversity consultant and serves on several boards, including CBS Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Tyco International, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. In 2007, the American Advertising Federation inducted him into the Advertising Hall of Fame.

• February 14, 1760 Richard Allen, minister, educator, and the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was born enslaved in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Allen taught himself to read and write and in 1777 bought his freedom and that of his brother. Allen joined the Methodist Society at an early age and was qualified as a preacher in 1784. In 1786, he began to preach at St. George’s United Methodist Church. However due to the church’s segregationist policies, in 1787 he and Absalom Jones led the black members out of the church to form the Free African Society, a non-denominational mutual aid society. Also in 1787, Allen purchased a lot that became the site of Bethel AME Church in 1794. That lot is now the site of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and is the oldest parcel of real estate in the United States continuously owned by black people. In 1816, Allen founded the independent denomination of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first fully independent black denomination in the United States, and was elected its first bishop. From 1797 to his death on March 26, 1831, Allen operated a station on the Underground Railroad for individuals escaping slavery. Allen published his autobiography, “The Life Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen: To Which Is Annexed the Rise and Progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States,” in 1800. “Richard Allen: Apostle of Freedom” was published in 1935. Allen’s name is enshrined in the Ring of Genealogy at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan.

• February 13, 1818 Absalom Jones, abolitionist and clergyman, died. Jones was born enslaved on November 6, 1746 in Delaware. By 1785, he had bought his and his family’s freedom. Together with Richard Allen, Jones was one of the first African Americans licensed to preach by the Methodist Church. In 1787, they founded the Free African Society, conceived as a non-denominational mutual aid society to help newly freed enslaved people in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1792, Jones founded the African Church of Philadelphia which opened its doors on July 17, 1794 as the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, the first black church in Philadelphia. Jones was ordained as the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church in 1804. Jones is listed on the Episcopal calendar of saints and blessed under the date of his decease.

• February 12, 1865 Henry Highland Garnet became the first black minister to preach to the United States House of Representatives when he spoke about the end of slavery. Garnet was born enslaved on December 23, 1815 near New Market, Maryland. In 1824, his family escaped to freedom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They subsequently moved to New York City where from 1826 to 1833 he attended the African Free School and the Phoenix High School for Colored Youth. Garnet went on to graduate with honors in 1839 from Oneida Theological Institute of Whitesboro. He later joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and frequently spoke at abolitionist conferences. He delivered one of his most famous speeches, “Call to Rebellion,” in August, 1843 to the National Negro Convention. In that speech, he called for the enslaved to act for themselves to achieve total emancipation. By 1849, Garnet began to support emigration of blacks to Mexico, Liberia, or the West Indies and he founded the African Civilization Society. After the Civil War, Garnet was appointed president of Avery College in 1868 and in 1881 he was appointed U.S. Minister to Liberia. Garnet died February 13, 1882 and Henry Highland Garnet School for Success in Harlem, New York and the HHG Elementary School in Chestertown, Maryland are named in his honor. His biographies include “Henry Highland Garnet: A Voice of Black Radicalism in the Nineteenth Century” (1977) and “Rise Now and Fly to Arms: The Life of Henry Highland Garnet” (1995).

• February 11, 1783 Jerena Lee, considered the first female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Cape May, New Jersey. In her early 20’s, Lee was converted, sanctified, and called to preach. However, her first request for approval was denied. A few years later, Bishop Richard Allen granted her official church approval to preach. Lee preached throughout New England, Canada, and Ohio. She recounted her experiences in her autobiography “The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee, a Coloured Lady” (1836), the first to be published in the United States by an African American woman. Nothing is known of her life or death after 1857.

• February 10, 1854 Joseph Charles Price, founder and first president of Livingston College, was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Price graduated as class valedictorian from Lincoln University in 1879 and was appointed to the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s delegation to the World Ecumenical Conference in London, England. In London, Price amazed audiences with his powerful speaking and was called “The World’s Orator” by the British press. Over the next year, Price raised $10,000 and returned to North Carolina in 1882 to open Livingston College. Price served as president of the college until his death on October 25, 1893. In 1890, he was elected president of the National Protective Association and that same year was voted one of the “Ten Greatest Negroes Who Ever Lived.” His biography, “Joseph Charles Price, Educator and Race Leader,” was published in 1943. In 1967, a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker was dedicated in his honor in Elizabeth City.

• February 9, 1906 Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet, died. Dunbar was born June 27, 1872 in Dayton, Ohio. He wrote his first poem at the age of six and gave his first public recital at nine. Dunbar served as the editor of the school newspaper, class president, and president of the school literary society at his all-white high school. Dunbar’s first book of poetry, “Oak and Ivy,” was published in 1892 and his second book, “Majors and Minors” (1895), brought him national fame. During his life, Dunbar wrote 12 books of poetry, four books of short stories, five novels, and a play. He also wrote the lyrics for “In Dahomey” which, in 1903, was the first musical written and performed entirely by African Americans. In 1975, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor. A number of places are named in his honor, including schools and libraries in various cities and Dunbar Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. Several biographies have been published about Dunbar, including “Paul Lawrence Dunbar: Poet of His People” (1936) and “Oak and Ivy: A Biography of Paul Lawrence Dunbar” (1971).

Leah Johnson offers her take on the film Red Tails which is the story of the Tuskegee Airmen.

“Blacks lack intelligence, are cowardly under combat conditions and will never have what it takes to fly aircraft of any type”. – 1925 Army War College Study.

And with that quote, the film Red Tails begins.

I leaned over to my dad in the theatre and said “I love it already.” I hadn’t seen one combat scene and I was already all in.

The Tuskegee airmen story is not new to me. My grandpa often talks about them. He’s practically obsessed with them. So, the foundation and respect for these men was already there.

But, the day I saw Red Tails my respect for them grew even more.

I like their story simply because the odds were against them. They hadn’t even proven themselves yet and people were already waiting for them to fail.

Stepping up to the plate when there are strikes against you is never easy. I think it takes an extraordinary amount of mental toughness to tune out the negative vibes and perform as if your enemies were on your team.

That’s what they did. And they were successful.

They took the racism they faced and shoved it aside.  They proved their flying capabilities so well that U.S. bombers began requesting to be accompanied by the Red Tails on their missions.

If nothing else, I’ve learned from their example the importance of believing in myself. No matter how grim things look or how many people are waiting on me to fail, I have to believe in me.

I’ll probably never fly a plane in my life. But thanks in large part to these airmen, I’m reminded that success against all odds begins with believing you can beat the odds.

For more information and showtimes visit redtails2012.com.

• February 8, 1831 Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler, the first African American woman to become a physician in the United States, was born in Delaware. In 1852, Crumpler moved to Charleston, Massachusetts where she worked as a nurse for eight years. In 1864, she earned a medical degree from the New England Female Medical College, making her the first African American woman in the United States to earn that degree and the only African American to graduate from that college. After the end of the Civil War in 1865, Crumpler moved to Richmond, Virginia where she joined other black physicians caring for formerly enslaved people who otherwise had no access to medical care. Crumpler authored “A Book of Medical Discourses” in 1883 and died March 9, 1895.

• February 7, 1887 James Herbert “Eubie” Blake, composer, lyricist, and pianist, was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Blake began taking music lessons at the age of 7 and at 15 was playing piano in a bordello. In 1912, he began playing in vaudeville and shortly after World War I joined forces with Noble Sissle as the Dixie Duo. After vaudeville, the pair created “Shuffle Along” which premiered on Broadway in 1921 and became the first hit Broadway musical written by and about African Americans. It also introduced the hit songs “I’m Just Wild About Harry” and “Love Will Find a Way.” By 1975, Blake had been awarded honorary doctorates by a number of institutions, including Rutgers, the New England Conservatory, Pratt Institute, and Dartmouth. The 1978 Broadway musical “Eubie” featured the works of Blake. In 1981, Blake received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan and in 1983 he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. Blake died February 12, 1983 and in 1995 the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor. In 1998, the James Hubert Blake High School opened in Silver Springs, Maryland. In 2006, the album “The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake” (1969) was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry as a recording of “cultural, historical, or aesthetical significance.” Blake’s biography, “Eubie Blake,” was published in 1979. “Reminiscing With Sissle and Blake” (2000) recounts the lives and music of Blake and Sissle.

• February 6, 1872 Turner Byrd, Jr. of Williamsville, Michigan received patent number 123,328 for an improved harness rein holder. Byrd would later receive patent number 124,790 on March 19, 1872 for an improved apparatus for detaching horses from carriages, patent number 126,181 on April 30, 1872 for an improved neck-yoke for wagons, and patent number 157,370 on December 1, 1874 for an improvement in railcar couplings. Not much else is known of his life.

• February 5, 1858 Henry Beard Delany, the second African American bishop elected in the United States, was born enslaved in Saint Mary’s, Georgia. Delany graduated in theology from Saint Augustine’s School (now college) in 1885. After graduating, he joined the faculty of the school where he taught until 1908. Delany joined Ambrose Episcopal Church and steadily rose in the Episcopal Church hierarchy, becoming a deacon in 1889, a priest in 1892, an archdeacon in 1908, and a bishop in 1918, the first African American bishop elected in North Carolina. He was also active in promoting education among North Carolina’s African American community, helping to organize schools for blacks throughout the state. He also worked to bring educational opportunities to black prisoners in local jails. Although not formally trained as an architect, in 1895 Delany designed Saint Augustine’s chapel, the only surviving 19th century building on campus. In 1911, Shaw University awarded Delany an honorary doctorate of divinity degree. Delany died April 14, 1928. He was the father of Sadie and Bessie Delany who in 1993 published their joint autobiography “Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years.”

• February 4, 1901 Jefferson Franklin Long, the first African American from Georgia elected to the United States House of Representatives, died. Long was born enslaved on March 3, 1836 near Knoxville, Georgia. By 1867, he was a prominent member of the Republican Party, traveling throughout the South urging formerly enslaved people to register to vote. Partially as a result of his efforts, 37 African Americans were elected to the Georgia constitutional convention of 1867 and 32 were elected to the state legislature. Long advocated for public education, higher wages, and better terms for sharecroppers. He also helped organize the Union Brotherhood Lodge, a Black mutual aid society, in Macon, Georgia. Long was elected to fill a vacancy and was seated in December, 1870. He served in Congress until March, 1871. On February 1, 1871, he became the first African American to speak on the floor of the United States House of Representatives when he spoke against the Amnesty Bill which exempted former Confederate politicians from swearing allegiance to the Constitution. Despite his efforts, the bill passed. Long did not seek re-election, but did serve as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1880. After serving in Congress, Long resumed business as a merchant tailor in Macon, Georgia where he died.

• February 3, 1879 Charles W. Follis, also known as “The Black Cyclone” and the first African American professional football player, was born in Cloverdale, Virginia, but raised in Wooster, Ohio. Follis played baseball and football for Wooster High School and after graduating in 1901 entered Wooster College. In 1904, he signed a contract with the Shelby Blues, making him the first African American contracted to play professional football. Follis’ professional football career was short lived due to a career-ending injury suffered on Thanksgiving Day, 1906. He went on to a briefly successful professional baseball career before he died on April 5, 1910. Follis Field, the football field/outdoor track facility at Wooster High School, was dedicated in his honor in 1998.

• February 2, 1827 John P. Parker, abolitionist and businessman, was born enslaved in Norfolk, Virginia. Parker was purchased by a physician who taught him to read and write and in 1845 he was able to purchase his freedom for $1,800. Soon after, he began his career as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. It is estimated that he assisted in removing 1,000 enslaved people from bondage. In 1854, Parker built a foundry in Ripley, Ohio which at its peak employed 25 people. Parker died January 30, 1900 and today there is the John P. Parker Historical Society in Ripley and the John P. Parker School in Cincinnati, Ohio. His autobiography, “His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad,” was published in 1996.

Black History Month is here again, and The Wright Museum welcomes you to Rejoice, Relive, and Reconnect during our most popular month of the year with new exhibits and exciting programming.  Just last month, a reporter from the Chicago Tribune contacted us regarding a story for their national audience offering activities and projects families can do to celebrate Black History Month, as recommended by some of the nation’s finest museums.  We were only too pleased to contribute.  Here are a few of the suggestions we provided:

• February 1, 1810 Charles Lenox Redmond, orator, abolitionist, and military organizer, was born in Salem, Massachusetts. Redmond began his activism against slavery as an orator while in his twenties. In 1838, the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society chose him as one of its agents and in 1840 he went to the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England. Redmond had a reputation as an eloquent lecturer and is report to have been the first black public speaker on abolition. During the Civil War, Redmond recruited black soldiers in Massachusetts for the Union Army. After the war, he worked in the Boston Customs House and as a street lamp inspector. Redmond died December 22, 1873.