BAVUAL The African Heritage Magazine Summer 2022

SPECIAL ISSUE SUMMER 2022 $10

Defining a New American Diversity

Black Patriots A 252-Year Story

Play Ball!

How Jackie Robinson & the Negro League Changed the Game

Race And The American Dream

ISSN 2769-9110

9 772769 911002

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Frederick Douglass

PRO AND CON

Do We End Reefer Madness?

CONTENTS

PRO AND CON Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

ON THE COVER Painting, One Armed Soldier, by John Lautermilch represents the war-weary African American patriot after more than two centuries of fighting. Used with permission.

MY TAKE/THE DRIFT

52

RACISM IN HOUSING

56

Feature Article

6

Where Do We Go From Here?/ Time to Repeal the Second Amendment

BUILDING HISTORY

8

15 Pioneering Black Architects

TRUE GRIT

13

Christian Smalls, Amazon Union Activist

FAMOUS SUMMERS

14

Years of Change: 1961-1967

Photo credit: Corbis-Bettmann

DESTINATIONS

64

Going Uptown to Harlem

THE TIMES

22

Brittney Griner, Political Pawn

BLACK PATRIOTS: A 252-YEAR STORY (COVER)

26

Defining A New American Diversity

Photo courtesy: Library of Congress

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Photo credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

3

EDUCATE YOURSELF

74

On Being Black and LGBTQIA+

THE CULTURE

THE HUSTLE

92

Robert F. Smith, Billionaire Moneyman

80

Jackie Robinson + 75/Negro League Baseball at 102

Photo credit: Keystone/Getty Images

BLACK HISTORY QUIZ

86

JUST THE FACTS

94

Black America

Sports Feats

BAVUAL EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

88

Frederick Douglass on the Record

ROLL OF HONOR

96

Summer Lights

BENEDICTION Ubuntu

98

Editor and Publisher Editorial Muses Executive Editor Contributing Editors

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MY TAKE From the Editor and Publisher

Coming to America, or Why I Am Strongly Pro-Immigrant This Independence Summer #246, I am reminded of my own immigrant heritage, though I actually embrace two cultures—my mother, Queenie, from rural Virginia, is descended from enslaved Africans.

In 1915, my grandmother Lillian Odessa Birkett (who coincidentally had the same last name), a 21-year-old seamstress and the daughter of a white missionary from the UK and his Bajan wife, arrived at Ellis Island in New York Harbor after making the long boat trip from St. George’s parish, Barbados, in the British West Indies. The following year, her future husband, Alexander Prince Birkett, a 33-year-old carpenter also from Barbados who did construction jobs all over the world (including on the Panama Canal), arrived, same place. They would meet, wed and raise 12 children, the third of whom was my father, Earl. My grandfather earned a living as a landlord in Harlem and a missionary travelling the world for a Christian church called the Brethren.

He was a great benefactor in Harlem in his time, and my grandmother was known for her gentleness and generosity. (Her godson is Charles Rangel, the longtime former New York congressman from Harlem.) When my father needed capital to start his

manufacturing company, it was my grandfather who provided the funding. Out of all the countries in the world that they both could have chosen to emigrate to, England would have been the logical choice (I’d sound funny with a British accent though), but they chose America.

In my mind, what is the best part about the United States of America? It is not the multitude of ways to make obscene wealth or establish a position of comfort and respect, the outrageous bling, the seemingly endless varieties of physical land, its gargantuan military, or its enduring though very shaky democracy. The main reason I chose Jersey City, N.J., as my home is because I love to be around the most diverse coupling of peoples in the entire country, perhaps the world.

No offense to my native Long Island, but here I am good friends with individuals from every race, religion, background and most nationalities. My own personal care assistant, Khai (I am disabled, but more on that another time), is a Vietnamese immigrant who treats me like family. I am proud that, a short distance from my house, there is a Statue of Liberty with its inscription, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” That’s how I like to view America.

So it pains me when I hear people—including, of all people, blacks—complain about immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants from South of the Border, as if they were freeloaders soaking up precious jobs and resources. I won’t dwell on the fact that Jesus was an illegal immigrant, or that we are all squatting on land previously occupied by indigenous peoples who arrived many millennia before us, I will just say that my favorite restaurant is Italian, my doctor is Pakistani, and my neighborhood looks like the U.N. I like it like that.

At my father’s factory in TriBeCa, maybe Easter 1963: Earl, grandfather Alexander, brother William, grandmother Lillian, sister Erlanda

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THE DRIFT

America Needs to Repeal the Second Amendment After 231 years, most of us are aware of what is written in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The amount of needless bloodshed bequeathed to America through the centuries from this one outdated and ill-advised sentence is incalculable. The slaughter of enslaved Africans and native tribes, the numerous wars, the senseless Western gun fights, the assassination of presidents and other public figures, the settling of family and workplace disputes, the fight over turf, the desire to prove one’s manhood, and the final solution to depression are all attributable to this one tragic sentence and its continued enforcement by a misguided Supreme Court.

America is awash in guns— approximately 400 million, nearly all of them owned by its 330 million inhabitants. They range in size and impact from single-shot handguns, shotguns and rifles to automatic weapons that parcel out bullets like falling water. Many of the bullets have the lethality to pierce the most secure body armor and turn human flesh into a red, bloody, unidentifiable pile of goo.

The sale and use of guns in the United States has reached levels of absurdity unprecedented in the modern world and all of human history, to the point where everyone is in danger of instant annihilation: men, women, black, white, yellow and brown, rich and poor, urban, suburban and rural, Republicans, Democrats and Independents. Handguns mainly kill black kids. [See “Guns and the Black Male” in BAVUAL’s Preview Issue, Fall 2021] It is now easier to get a gun than a driver license.

And with each senseless murder,

the solution is either to reload and escalate arms or offer up prayers.

It’s madness.

Conservatives who are responsible for this gun culture love to quote the Bible at us, so I have two Bible quotes for them as I offer my solution out of this mess.

The first, from Job 38:11: and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?

So, Stop. Repeal the Second Amendment, and then amend it if you still want the right to own guns—the Constitution has already been amended 27 times, so make gun control number 28. Maybe not be as draconian as Australia, which has banned all guns outright—after

all, America did try Prohibition for 14 years, and that was a disaster.

However, guns are not needed in modern civilization, and definitely not AR-15s and other weapons of war. You want to shoot something, play a video game or Laser Tag or use a BB gun, not a lethal weapon.

Which brings me to my second Bible verse, from 1 Corinthians 13:11: When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.

You are not a baby, and a gun is not a toy. Time to grow up and put your toys away. If not, they should be taken from you.

Graphic credit: bradyunited.org

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BUILDING HISTORY Designs for Living

15 Renowned Black Architects Shaped the American Landscape

By Stephen G. Hall, Ph.D.

These 15 men and women are the African counterpoint to Frank Lloyd Wright, I.M. Pei and Le Corbusier, the troika of modern architecture, and their influence and beautiful designs can be seen in our homes, our workplaces, our schools, our churches, our entertainment venues, our communities. Many have been trained—and continue to be trained—at Tuskegee University’s (formerly Tuskegee Institute) prestigious architectural department. Architecture and building trade skills were nurtured in slavery and blossomed after the Civil War, when architecture became a key profession for black professionals. Sadly, much of their early work has been lost or destroyed. The structures that remain are a testament to their creative genius.

Robert Robinson Taylor (1868–1942) Key Design: Tuskegee Institute, Alabama Career Highlights: Probably the first academically trained and credentialed black architect in America. Helped Booker T. Washington establish Tuskegee Institute. Honored with a stamp by the U.S. Postal Service.

The Oaks, Booker T. Washington’s home at the Tuskegee Institute, was designed

by Robert R. Taylor and built in 1899.

Photo courtesy: Library of Congress

8

Wallace Augustus Rayfield (c. 1873–1941) Key Design: 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Ala. Career Highlights: The second professionally educated black architect in the United States, right behind his colleague Taylor.

Created the Architectural and Mechanical Drawing Department at Tuskegee. Designed many famous homes and churches in Birmingham.

16th Street Baptist Church Photo credit: Andrew Fong/Flickr

BAVUAL:

The African Heritage Magazine

| Summer 2022

William Sidney Pittman (1875–1958) Key Design: Negro Building, Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition, Virginia Career Highlights: Considered the first black architect to receive a federal contract—the Negro Building at the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition in Virginia in 1907—and the first black architect to practice in the state of Texas. He received commissions to design several important buildings in Washington, D.C.

Martin Luther King Memorial Photo credit: Getty Images

Negro Building, Jamestown Exposition. Image from 1911 Photo courtesy: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library.

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Moses McKissack III (1879–1952) Key Designs: National Museum of African American History and Culture; MLK Memorial, both in Washington, D.C. Career Highlights: In 1905, McKissack established one of the earliest black architectural firms in the United States in Nashville, Tenn. In 1922, his brother Calvin, also an architect, partnered with him to form McKissack & McKissack. Building on the family legacy, the firm is still active and has worked on thousands of facilities.

The first major commission for McKissack’s firm was the Carnegie Library at Fisk University, built in 1908. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Photo credit: Michael Ventura/Alamy

Julian Abele (1881–1950) Key Design: Duke University, Durham, N.C. Career Highlights: The first black graduate of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in 1902, Abele spent his entire career at the Philadelphia firm of the Gilded Age architect Horace Trumbauer.

Celebrated posthumously for his groundbreaking designs—considered works of art, actually—for Duke University.

Duke University Photo credit: Duke Today Staff

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Clarence W. ‘Cap’ Wigington (1883–1967) Key Design: Wigington Pavilion, Harriet Island, Minn.

Career Highlights: The first registered black architect in Minnesota and the first black municipal architect in the United States. As St. Paul’s staff architect, he designed schools, fire stations, park structures, municipal buildings, and other important landmarks that still stand in St. Paul.

Wigington Pavilion

John Edmonston Brent (1889–1962) Key Design: Michigan Avenue YMCA, Buffalo, N.Y. Career Highlights: The first black professional architect in Buffalo.

His father, Calvin Brent, was the son of an enslaved person and was himself the first black architect in Washington, D.C., where John was born. His design, Buffalo’s Michigan Avenue YMCA, became a cultural center for the black community in the city.

Michigan Avenue YMCA

Louis Arnett Stuart Bellinger (1891–1946)

Vertner Woodson Tandy (1885–1949) Key Design: Villa Lewaro, the Madam C.J. Walker Estate, Irvington, N.Y. Career Highlights: The first registered black architect in New York State, one of the first black architects to belong to the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and the first black man to pass the military commissioning examination. Tandy designed landmark homes for some of the wealthiest residents of Harlem. Co-founder at Cornell University of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, 1906, which “supplied voice and vision to the struggle of African Americans and people of color around the world.”

Key Design: Grand Lodge for the Knights of Pythias (later New Granada Theatre), Pittsburgh, Pa. Career Highlights: Designed key buildings in Pittsburgh for more than a quarter of a century.

Unfortunately, only a handful of his buildings have survived, and all have been altered.

Grand Lodge for the Knights of Pythias (later New Granada Theatre) Villa Lewaro Photo courtesy: David Bohl

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Paul Revere Williams (1894–1980) Key Design: LAX Theme Building, Los Angeles International Airport, California Career Highlights: Designed major buildings in Southern California, including over 2,000 homes in the hills throughout Los Angeles.

Created many of the most beautiful residences in Hollywood.

Norma Merrick Sklarek (c. 1928–2012) Key Design: The Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood, Calif.

Career Highlights: The first black woman to become a licensed architect in both New York (1954) and California (1962) and the first black woman to become a member and fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Worked with and oversaw a design team headed by the Argentine architect César Pelli.

As an architectural manager, she specialized in big, complicated projects. Black female architects continue to turn to Sklarek as an inspiration and role model.

LAX Theme Building

Albert Irvin Cassell (1895–1969)

Key Designs: Several HBCU campus buildings Career Highlights: Shaped many academic sites in the United States, among them for Howard University in Washington D.C., Morgan State University in Baltimore, and Virginia Union University in Richmond. Designed and built civic structures for the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Pacific Design Center serves the design, entertainment and arts communities.

Robert Traynham Coles (1929 -2020) Key Design: Frank D. Reeves Center of Municipal Affairs, Washington, D.C. Career Highlights: Noted for designing buildings on a grand scale, including the Frank D. Reeves Center of Municipal Affairs, the Ambulatory Care Project for Harlem Hospital, the Frank E. Merriweather, Jr., Branch Library, the Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Athletic Sports Pavilion in Buffalo, and the Alumni Arena at the University at Buffalo. Founded in 1963, Coles’ architecture firm ranks as one of the oldest in the Northeast owned by a black American.

Howard University Founders Library

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Frank D. Reeves Center of Municipal Affairs Photo credit: Michael Stanaland

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J. Max Bond Jr. (1935–2009)

Harvey Bernard Gantt (b. 1943)

Key Design: 9/11 Memorial & Museum, New York City Career Highlights: While he was a student at Harvard, racists burned a cross outside his dormitory.

Concerned, a white professor at the university advised Bond to abandon his dream of becoming an architect. Years later, in an interview for The Washington Post, he recalled his professor saying, “There have never been any famous, prominent black architects. ... You’d be wise to choose another profession.”

[Note: The professor was wrong, as this article proves otherwise.] Interned for black architect Paul Williams. In 1958, he received a Fulbright scholarship to study in Paris and went on to live in Ghana for four years. Newly independent from Britain, the African nation was welcoming to young, black talent—much more gracious than the cold shoulders of American architectural firms in the early 1960s. Remains an inspiration to generations of minority architects.

Key Design: “Soul City,” N.C. Career Highlights: Fused a love of urban planning with the policy decisions of an elected official. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Clemson University in 1965 after a federal court sided with him, allowing him to integrate the school as its first black student. From 1970 to 1971, Gantt developed plans for “Soul City” (including “Soul Tech I”), a North Carolina multicultural mixed-use planned community; the project was the brainchild of civil rights leader Floyd B. McKissick. Rose in North Carolina politics to become a city council member, the first black mayor of Charlotte, and an unsuccessful Democratic U.S. Senate candidate against incumbent Republican Jesse Helms.

9/11 Memorial & Museum

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TRUE GRIT

Christian Smalls Amazon Union Activist

By Stephen G. Hall, Ph.D. If you are in the mood for a David vs.

Goliath story, look no further than an unemployed black male warehouse worker challenging Jeff Bezos, the second-richest man in the world, creator of the online retail colossus Amazon.com. Not only that, he beat him.

His name is Christian Smalls, and he is the embodiment of True Grit.

Chris Smalls’ improbable journey begins in Hackensack, N.J., where he was born in the late 1980s and raised by a single mother, a hospital administrator. A prolific athlete at Hackensack High School, Smalls had hoped to play in the NBA until a hit-and-run car accident ended that dream. Next, he tried rapping, even toured with Meek Mill, before he had to give it up to find steady work to raise his kids. He worked several jobs for Big-Box retailers and FedEx, mainly in the warehouse, before landing at Amazon in 2015 as a picker, where he made his rendezvous with destiny.

Amazon is right behind Walmart as the largest private employer in the U.S., with 1.6 million workers on the payroll. Like Walmart, the online retail website is notorious for altering the business and geographic landscape of America. Many a momand-pop store has succumbed to these two behemoths, unable to compete with their rock-bottom pricing and near-endless inventory. Neither corporation has been an especially friendly place to work. Amazon in particular has been known for its unpleasant work environment in its numerous warehouses, where safety and health issues and discrimination based on race, sex, age and caregiving are said to run rampant. Both companies have crushed all previous attempts to unionize.

Such was the environment that faced Chris Smalls, who by 2018 had risen to an assistant manager at Amazon’s new JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, N.Y. Though he was

Bavual.com

personally satisfied with his job at first, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, which caught many business establishments off guard, created a perfect storm that would engulf Smalls—and re-energize the U.S. labor movement.

On March 30, Smalls staged a walkout at Amazon JFK8 to protest what he deemed was a lack of proper safety protocols around the deadly coronavirus. Senior management responded by immediately firing Smalls, citing as the reason his violation of the company’s policy to socially distance during a required, paid quarantine. However, Smalls had been exposed to COVID-19 on March 11 but was not notified or required to quarantine until March 28, after the incubation period had ended. For this reason, Smalls and the state of New York subsequently sued Amazon for unlawful termination. (Smalls’ suit was dismissed and is currently in appeal; New York’s suit is still pending.)

Smalls’ next move beyond the courts would make him a modernday badass. After his termination, Smalls founded a worker-activist group called The Congress of Essential Workers (TCOEW), which helped to organize a nationwide May Day strike at several major corporations, including Amazon, Target and Walmart. In April 2021, Smalls launched an accompanying labor group, the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), citing job security, living wages, paid time off and

medical leave as its goals. Amazon had always been resistant to union organizing, making it especially difficult due to its constant surveillance by security cameras in the warehouse. Said Smalls: “Who wants to be surveilled all day? It’s not prison. It’s work.”

Undaunted, Smalls began his assault on Amazon’s union-busting tactics and to promote the benefits of belonging to the union, such as the extra $11,000 in annual pay that unionized workers receive over nonunionized employees, on average.

To gather signatures for a union authorization vote, Smalls set up a tent alongside a public transit stop near JFK8 with a sign that read, “Sign Your Authorization Cards Here.” On January 26, 2022, the ALU announced they had reached enough signatures to petition a vote with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Try as it might, Amazon’s scare tactics against its employees failed. On April 1, the workers at JFK8 voted 2,654– 2,131 in favor of the union. Smalls told a crowd that “We did whatever it took to connect with these workers. … I hope that everybody’s paying attention now because a lot of people doubted us.”

In May 2022, Smalls met President Joe Biden at the White House. Biden told him, “I like you.

You’re my kind of trouble. … Let’s not stop.”

Smalls was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2022.

We agree.

13

FAMOUS SUMMERS

YEARS OF CHANGE 1961-1967

By Lorraine Jones

The push for desegregation and civil rights became a nonstop priority for the black community during the 1960s. Youth participation in civil rights efforts became prevalent during this decade as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) emerged and strove to desegregate public facilities and register black voters. While many African Americans began to embrace their African heritage and develop a sense of black culture and identity, many others became exhausted with the harsh treatment and unattainable standards they faced from white society.

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Commonly referred to as the March on Washington, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, on August 28, 1963, brought over 200,00 people to the nation’s capitol to protest racial discrimination and show support for civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress.

Photo credit: Getty Images

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During the spring of 1961, student activists launched the Freedom Rides to challenge segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.

Photos courtesy: Birmingham Public Library Archives

1961: Freedom Rides After the 1960 Boynton v. Virginia decision overturned the conviction of an African American law student for being in a “whites only” bus terminal restaurant, a group of six white and seven African American civil rights activists took part in bus trips, known as Freedom Rides, through the South to protest segregated bus terminals. The group attempted to use “whitesonly” restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations in various Southern states such as Alabama and South Carolina. On their journey from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans, the activists endured arrests by police officers and immense violence from white protestors, sparking international attention.

In May 1961, in Rock Hill, S.C., John Lewis, a black Freedom Rider and member of SNCC, and other activists were viciously attacked as they attempted to enter a whites-only waiting area. Then, when the Freedom Riders stopped in Anniston, Ala., on May 14, the group was met by 200 white protesters. The mob pursued the bus in motor vehicles, and when its tires blew out, someone threw a bomb into the bus igniting the vehicle. Once the Freedom Riders escaped the flames, they were brutally beaten by the mob. Such harsh treatment garnered national and international attention influencing hundreds to join the cause.

After a summer of Freedom Rides, the Kennedy administration pushed for the Interstate Commerce Commission to issue regulations prohibiting segregation in interstate transit terminals in the fall.

James Meredith between U.S. Marshal James McShane (left) and Justice Department’s John Doar, University of Mississippi, October 1, 1962 Photo credit: Marion Trikosko, Courtesy: U.S. Library of Congress

1962: Ole Miss Integration In October 1962, James Meredith, a U.S. military veteran, became the first African American student to attend the University of Mississippi, officially integrating the school. In preparation

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for the enrollment, President John F. Kennedy ordered federal marshals to Oxford in anticipation of the protests and uproar.

On Sept. 29, Mississippi governor and segregationist Ross Barnett advocated for supporters to block Meredith’s entry to the campus in a speech at an Ole Miss football game. The next day when Meredith arrived, he was greeted by 500 federal marshals assigned for his protection. After a riot by approximately 2,000 to 3,000 protesters erupted, Kennedy called in the Mississippi National Guard and Memphis Army troops led by Brig. Gen. Charles Billingslea. As Southern segregationists fought state and federal forces on campus to prevent integration of the school, two men were killed and more than 300 people were injured. Ultimately, the riot was suppressed by the 30,000 soldiers stationed on campus.

The following day, Meredith attended his first class at Ole Miss, an American history course, as he made history himself. Many historians consider this event the last battle of the Civil War. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington, 1963.

1963: March on Washington In the aftermath of the violent attacks on civil rights activists in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and A. Philip Randolph, a civil rights activist who founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the nation's first major black labor union, executed a mass protest in the nation’s capital. A quarter of a million supporters assembled near the Lincoln Memorial to demand an end to segregation as well as fair wages and economic justice, voting rights, and many other long-awaited civil rights protections for African Americans.

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Photo credit: Corbis

People of all ages participated in the March on Washington.

Photo credit: Corbis

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The march harnessed and utilized the power of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to bring racial equity. It included speeches from NAACP president Roy Wilkins, John Lewis, civil rights veteran Daisy Lee Bates, actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, and King, whose historic “I Have a Dream” speech became one of the most famous orations in American history. This demonstration also featured musical performances from artists such as Marian Anderson, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Mahalia Jackson (who goaded King into ad-libbing the “I have a dream” refrain in his address).

The magnitude of this protest influenced President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The momentum the march created contributed to the war on poverty and implementing Medicare and Medicaid, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

1964: Civil Rights Act, Mississippi Murders On June 21, 1964, James Chaney,

Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman disappeared near the town of Philadelphia, Miss.

Schwerner and Chaney worked for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and Goodman was an activist who volunteered to work on voter registration, education, and civil rights as part of the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project.

The three men had gone to Neshoba County to investigate the burning of Mt. Zion Church, a former CORE Freedom School, which had been burned after church members were beaten by the Ku Klux Klan.

Later, while driving through Philadelphia back toward their headquarters in Meridian, the men were arrested and held by the Philadelphia sheriff’s deputy, who later aided Klan members in their torture and murder. While in search of the missing men, investigators uncovered the bodies of eight other African Americans: Herbert Oarsby, a 14-year-old

who was wearing a CORE T-shirt; 19-year-olds Henry Hezekiah Dee and Eddie Moore; and five unidentified men. Although U.S. Sen. James Eastland of Mississippi told President Lyndon Johnson he believed the disappearances were a publicity stunt, eventually Johnson ordered the FBI to assist local law-enforcement officers in the search for the missing men.

On August 4, 1964, their bodies were discovered buried on the secluded property of a Klansman. Nineteen men were indicted on federal charges, and seven of them were convicted of violating the victims' civil rights. The case was reopened decades later, and in 2005 Edgar

This Civil Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal.

Photo courtesy: U.S. Library of Congress

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Ray Killen, a 1960s Ku Klux Klan leader and Baptist minister, was convicted on manslaughter charges. A witness testified that Killen went to Meridian to round up carloads of Klansmen to ambush Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman. Their disappearance sparked national outrage and helped spur passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

1965: Watts Riot During the 1960s, much anger boiled over from the black community’s longstanding grievances and growing discontentment with high unemployment rates, substandard housing, and inadequate schools. On August 11, 1965, a young African American motorist, Marquette Frye, was pulled over by a white police officer for suspicion of driving while intoxicated. A group of onlookers at the scene of his arrest escalated tensions between officers and the crowd resulting in violence. After the news broke of Frye’s arrest, violence on an even larger scale emerged in Watts, a deeply impoverished predominantly black neighborhood in the South Central Los Angeles area.

This series of riots and chaos lasted for six days, claiming the lives of 34—23 of whom were killed by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers or National Guard troops. In addition, approximately1,032 people were injured and 4,000 were arrested. After the riots, city officials and leaders neglected the issues and failed to improve the social and economic conditions for African Americans living in Watts. The LAPD also began the first implementation of a paramilitary unit, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), to combat urban violence.

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The Watts Riots broke out August 11, 1965, in the predominantly black neighborhood of Watts in Los Angeles. It lasted for six days, resulting in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries and 4,000 arrests. It involved an estimated 34,000 people and ended in the destruction of 1,000 buildings, totaling $40 million in damages.

Photos credit: Getty Images

1966: Black Power Movement Begins With Stokely Carmichael Speech After the shooting of James Meredith during his one-man "March Against Fear," Stokely Carmichael and others sought to complete the march in his honor and Carmichael was later arrested because of it. Once released, Carmichael made a speech calling for black Americans to reject the existing ideals of a society that restrict their full potential.

"We have to stop being ashamed

of being black!" Carmichael exclaimed. He told his audience that black is strong, resourceful and beautiful.

Carmichael, the youngest person to be imprisoned for his participation in Freedom Rides, is also known for coining the black nationalism slogan “Black Power” during this speech. The mantra caught the nation’s attention, with various people interpreting it differently. Many white Americans assumed that “Black Power” automatically meant antiwhite, associated it with violence,

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Stokely Carmichael originated the black nationalism rallying slogan, “Black Power.”

Photo credit: AP

and condemned it as a motto for racism or the beginning of a race war. Even Martin Luther King Jr. urged Carmichael to drop the phrase, but he refused because its encouragement of cultural, political and economic self-determination resonated with blacks who were constantly measured by arbitrarily set white European standards.

After Carmichael’s speech gained national attention, the U.S. House of Representatives struck the “Open Housing” clause from the 1966 Civil Rights Act, and the bill was later defeated entirely. This clause banned discrimination in the sale, lease and financing of housing and in the furnishing of real estate brokerage services. This response was largely a result of realtors and homeowners lobbying against the bill for economic reasons. (The Fair Housing Act banning such practices passed Congress and became a law in 1968.)

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The Detroit Riot was the bloodiest of the urban riots in the United States during the “Long, Hot Summer of 1967.”

A shop owner stands guard in front of his shop with his gun and his “Soul Brother” sign.

1967: Newark and Detroit Riots In the 1960s, riots erupted across America in urban communities motivated by disputes between African Americans and white police officers that escalated

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and ignited violence. In 1967 in Newark, N.J., two white police officers brutally beat John Smith, a black cab driver who allegedly drove around a police car. Smith was interrogated, arrested and severely beaten by the arresting

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Armed conflict in the streets of Newark, N.J., 1967 Photo credit: New York Times

officers before he was taken to the precinct. Once word got out of the horrific incident, thousands of residents rioted and looted local businesses. Violence spread from the predominantly black neighborhoods of Newark's Central Ward to downtown Newark, prompting the New Jersey State Police and within 48 hours National Guard troops to intervene, thus furthering the violence.

This civil unrest continued for six days and resulted in 26 deaths; an estimated 725 people were injured, and nearly 1,500 people were arrested.

Just days after the Newark riots ended, more black outrage emerged in Detroit, which was a simmering cauldron of racial tension following decades of institutional racism and segregation. During a police raid on an unlicensed bar in a predominantly African American area in the Virginia Park neighborhood, officers arrested all patrons in attendance, including 82 African Americans. As a crowd of onlookers gathered, bottles were thrown and a riot erupted. Approximately 17,000 local officers and national law-enforcement officials, including the National Guard and U.S. Army paratroopers, were ordered to quell the unrest. The city endured five days of bloody chaos; 43 people were killed in the unrest, mostly African American men at the hands of law enforcement.

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Wounded by gunshot, Joe Bass Jr., 12, lies on a Newark street.

LIFE cover, July 28, 1967

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THE TIMES Russia’s Political Prisoner Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner, who has played in Russia like many other WNBA stars, tries to power her way past Chicago Sky forward Candace Parker during a game in 2021.

Photo credit: Ralph Freso/AP

Just Another Pawn in the Game

By Kristen Jones Since basketball star Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia in February 2022 on drug charges, the world has waited with bated breath for nearly six months to see what would happen to her.

We’re still not certain.

In August 2022, Griner went from a WNBA “Dunk Champion” to a Russian prisoner for possessing 0.702 grams of cannabis oil in cartridges. And while that may not seem like much to a lot of people, according to officials in Russia, it is “a

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significant amount” of drugs and warranted the nine-year jail sentence that she received.

Born in 1990, the Texas native has been in the spotlight a lot in her lifetime, having attended Baylor University where she set records for being the only NCAA player to score 2,000 points and have 500 blocks in her career.

The three-time All-American was also named the AP Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 2012.

Moreover, Griner is one of only 11

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women to win an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA championship, a FIBA World Cup gold medal and a WNBA championship.

While some argue that the star player is being used as a political pawn in the Russia-Ukraine War to punish the United States for siding with Ukraine against Russia, right wingers in the U.S. argue that Griner’s punishment fits the crime, saying that she “carried illegal drugs into Russia” and deserves her sentence. They also claim that her support for

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Griner paraded around in custody in Russia, a pawn in Putin’s war against Ukraine Photo credit: AP

President Joe Biden has put her in more hot water than she would be in if former President Donald Trump were still in the White House and that he would not have let her remain in captivity this long.

Although it is hard to believe that someone who has won two Olympic gold medals for the U.S. would find herself in this situation in the first place, the use of African Americans as pawns for political agendas is nothing new.

The Prisoner and the Presidential Candidate On December 4, 1983, for example, in response to two U.S. F-14 aircraft having been fired upon the previous day, 10 A-6 Intruders of the VA-85 Black Falcons along with others participated in a bombing raid over Beirut, Lebanon, leading to an international crisis. During the mission, a U.S. aircraft was hit by a Syrian missile, and its pilot was killed. The other crew

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member, Navy bombardiernavigator Lt. Robert Goodman, an African American, was injured and captured by Syrian soldiers.

He would be held prisoner in Damascus for a month and used by the Syrians to try to end U.S reconnaissance flights over Lebanon and force all U.S. troops to leave the war-torn country.

In January 1984, Jesse Jackson, a black candidate for the Democratic nomination for president that year, negotiated Goodman’s release from Syria after the U.S. government failed to do so. Many marveled at how Jackson was able to accomplish this feat with no ties to the Syrian government. Jackson had, however, previously visited other countries in efforts to foster positive relationships, and his close ties to Africa is believed to have helped him free the prisoner.

On January 4, U.S. President Ronald Reagan welcomed Goodman at the White House hours after he and Jackson arrived back in the U.S. Reagan

said Goodman “exemplified qualities of leadership and loyalty” and that Jackson’s “mission of mercy” had “earned our gratitude and our admiration.” In turn, Jackson praised Reagan for sending a letter to Syrian President Hafez al-Assad calling for cooperation in bringing peace to Lebanon.

While Jackson’s efforts were praised by some, they were criticized by others as a political stunt. Some argued that the Syrians had used Goodman and Jackson to embarrass Reagan and weaken support for the U.S. role in Lebanon, while others saw Jackson’s success as proof of his leadership capabilities.

Regardless, after his capture, Goodman became a pawn of international players and was simply a piece in their larger political game. (Following his return to the U.S., Goodman remained in active service. In 1995, he retired with the rank of commander and subsequently became a business owner in Colorado Springs, Colo.)

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Losing or Winning the Game?

While Goodman’s experience ultimately had a happy ending, we still don’t know the final outcome of Griner’s case? Many people, including her wife, Cherelle Griner, have been vocal about the injustice they believe Griner is suffering.

Long before this incident, Griner faced many challenges, including being bullied as a youth for being different. Also, after she came out as gay to her family, she was rejected and ended up leaving home at a young age. The first openly gay player to receive a Nike endorsement deal, Griner has also faced a lot of unwanted scrutiny over the years. But this is different.

Although she has overcome many obstacles and helped her teams win championships, the Russian legal system and prosecutorial team may be the toughest team she has ever faced.

According to her defense, Russia’s shaky justice system has failed her in several ways. Although the Russian constitution guarantees everyone the right to use their native language and to choose their language of communication, this right was not afforded to Griner, according to one of her lawyers, who said that a translator showed Griner some papers and told her that they meant “basically, you’re guilty.” Her detention at the airport is also argued to be unconstitutional because she was given documents and told to sign them, even though she didn’t understand them. Moreover, Griner said her rights were not explained to her and that no lawyer was present.

Although Griner has stated that she had no intent in possessing the cannabis oil and that she made an honest mistake, that did not sway the court from sentencing her to nine years.

While her defense team still has

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TOP: Captured Navy Lt. Robert Goodman, whose release from Syrian captivity was deftly negotiated by thenpresidential candidate Jesse Jackson, was a political football in 1983 and 1984. Photo credit: Ira Schwarz/AP BOTTOM: Will Griner be traded for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout? Time will tell. Photo credit: DEA 10 days from her sentencing to appeal the court’s decision, once again the world is waiting to see what the outcome will be.

Unfortunately, the current political climate heavily influences the judgment of both governments and individuals regarding Griner’s guilt or innocence and the justice or injustice of her sentence. Like Goodman, Griner is caught up in an international chess game much larger than herself and far beyond her control. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and NBA Commissioner Adam

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Silver have expressed their thoughts on the case, and they aren’t alone. President Biden has joined the fight for a potential prisoner exchange for convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, and if he is able to pull it off, she could come home a free woman soon. Otherwise…

At press time, Griner’s trade for Bout, which might include other imprisoned Americans such as Paul Whelan, was still being negotiated between the U.S. State Department and the Russian government.

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In August 1863, the Colored Ladies of Baltimore presented this hand-painted, hand-sewn silk flag to the 4th Regiment of United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.).

It is one of only 25 U.S.C.T. flags known to survive today. The silk flag was carried in the 1864 Battle of New Market Heights, outside of Richmond, Va. Photo courtesy: Maryland Center for History and Culture, 2004.22

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Black Patriots

A 252Year Story A Photo Essay

By Lorraine Jones

Bavual.com Photo credit: Charles Teenie Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art

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African Americans of Troop C, 9th U.S. Cavalry, with Capt. Taylor, leading the charge.

July 1, 1898, Battle of San Juan Hill

In our society, it seems as if African American history is simply the missing pages of American history that many simply want to ignore, rewrite or erase. This is especially true when it comes to black patriotism.

Although they were enslaved and have been treated unjustly in the United States for hundreds of years, black Americans have time and time again put their lives on the line to preserve the American Experiment. While African American soldiers have distinguished themselves in battle on numerous occasions, have been at the forefront of numerous U.S. victories, and have been among the most courageous veterans, they are seldom referred to or treated as heroes. Much of American history hasn’t reflected the nation’s purported core values of equality and justice for all citizens. That contradiction is one reason many activists such as the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneel during the national anthem to protest the treatment of the black community.

In a speech in 1852, Frederick Douglass once asked, “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” This question still holds

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relevance today. With all the modern injustice and systemic racism that African Americans face, it makes you wonder what

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patriotism should mean to the black American. Throughout history, black soldiers and veterans have returned home

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from war to find the same socioeconomic inequities and racist violence that they faced before enlisting. Despite the ultimate sacrifices they make when they put their lives on the line for their nation, black veterans still struggle to get hired for well-paying jobs, encounter segregation, and endure targeted brutality once they return home to U.S. soil.

Soldiers are often viewed as black first and veterans second.

Despite all their advancements, the awards and ribbons on their chest, and achieving the highest ranks in the military and in political life, African Americans are still treated as if they have something to prove.

Black patriots are continuously defending and serving a country that in turn denies them their basic rights as citizens.

Black soldiers have historically been an asset to the U.S. military since they were officially allowed to participate in the Civil War in 1863 after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

Douglass, one of the most notable abolitionists, had urged President Abraham Lincoln to free the slaves and arm all black people willing to fight. Lincoln’s decisions to do so helped lead to the overall Union victory in the war.

Regardless of their eagerness to serve, black Americans have systematically been denied their rights as citizens and as veterans.

In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill of Rights, social legislation intended to avert mass unemployment among returning veterans and a postwar depression by offering veterans unemployment insurance, tuition assistance, job placement, and guaranteed loans for homes, farms or businesses.

This influenced many African Americans to enlist with the hopes that it would propel black

servicemen into the middle class.

But because the bill was race neutral, discrimination toward African Americans found its way through loopholes in the legislation. The bill’s benefits such as owning a home or property that would’ve helped establish generational wealth for veterans’ families weren’t given to 1.2 million African Americans who served, denying them the opportunity to create economic security and causing the wealth gap between whites and African Americans to increase. Black Americans enlisted with the hopes of achieving racial equality through their commitment to military service but instead were met with physical violence and social and political disparities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

It is not a simple feat to be an African American patriot in a country that has enslaved your ancestors, continuously reminds you that you are a secondclass citizen, and perpetuates a system of racial inequality to this day, yet, through it all, we have still risen. Black patriotism continues to remain unwavering.

Black people’s steady belief in democracy and civil liberties in the face of adversity shows true patriotism.

ABOVE: On the evening of March 5, 1770, British troops fired into a crowd of angry American colonists in Boston. Five colonists were killed including Crispus Attucks. The event, which became known as the Boston Massacre, helped fuel the outrage against British rule—and spurred on the American Revolution.

BELOW: Crispus Attucks is referred to as the first casualty of the American Revolution. Attucks has been celebrated not just as one of the first martyrs in what became the fight for American independence, but also as a symbol of African Americans’ struggle for freedom and equality.

Photos credit: Bettmann/Getty Images

American Revolution (1770-1781) Present at the Birth of a Nation Crispus Attucks, a man of African and Native American descent, is referred to as the first casualty of the American Revolution. As the first American to die during the confrontation between British troops and colonists at the Boston

Massacre in 1770, Attucks is now used to symbolize African American patriotism, sacrifice, and citizenship, but that wasn’t how he was originally treated.

During the trial of the British soldiers who killed him, the defense attorney, John Adams, vilified Attucks as a disreputable outsider “to whose mad behavior ... the dreadful carnage of that night is chiefly to be ascribed.”

Others during that time referred to Attucks and the other massacre victims as patriotic martyrs and symbols of British abuses but did not acknowledge his race.

food and equipment, were overlooked for promotions, and were given inferior medical care.

They endured the abuse of racist surgeons and lost countless lives to unequal hospital facilities.

As a result, nine times as many African American troops died of disease such as pneumonia, dysentery, typhoid fever and malaria than on the battlefield.

These soldiers participated in the war effort at great risk.

The Confederate government threatened to execute or sell into slavery any black Union soldiers who were captured.

Civil War (1861-1865) The Fight for Freedom and Survival

Medal of Honor Recipients*

Black soldiers first became prevalent in 1863 when the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, an all-black regiment of the Union Army, was activated. The infantry consisted of more than 1,000 soldiers, many of whom were former slaves. Although African Americans were given false promises of equal treatment, they were instead relegated to separate regiments commanded by white officers, received less pay than white soldiers, got inferior benefits, were given lower-quality

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Aaron Anderson, Navy, at Mattox Creek, Va., 1865 Bruce Anderson, Army, Second Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C., 1865 William H. Barnes, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864 Powhatan Beaty, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864 Robert Blake, Navy, off Legareville in the Stono River, Johns Island, S.C., 1863 James H. Bronson, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864 William H. Brown, Navy, Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala., 1864

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William Harvey Carney, Army, Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala., 1864 Decatur Dorsey, Army, Battle of the Crater, Petersburg, Va., 1864 Thomas English, Navy, Aboard USS New Ironsides, First and Second Battles of Fort Fisher, N.C., 1865 Christian Fleetwood, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864 James Daniel Gardner, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864 James H. Harris, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864 Thomas R. Hawkins, Army, Battle of Deep Bottom, Va., 1864 Alfred B. Hilton, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864 Milton M. Holland, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864 Miles James, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864 Alexander Kelly, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864 John Henry Lawson, Navy, Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala., 1864 James Mifflin, Navy, Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala., 1864 Joachim Pease, Navy, off Cherbourg, France, 1864

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American Plains Indians referred to the black cavalry troops as “Buffalo Soldiers” because of their dark, curly hair, which resembled a buffalo’s coat and because of their fierce nature of fighting. The nickname soon became synonymous with all African American regiments formed in 1866.

ABOVE: The Redoubtable Sergeant by Don Stivers RIGHT: 2nd Lieutenant 9th Calvary by Bobb Vann Robert Pinn, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864 Edward Ratcliff, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864

ABOVE: African American soldiers in quarantine at Camp Wikoff, Montauk, after the Spanish-American War. Many were recovering from battle wounds, yellow fever, malaria and typhoid.

Andrew Jackson Smith, Army, Battle of Honey Hill, S.C., 1864 Charles Veale, Army, Battle of Chaffin’s Farm, Va., 1864

Indian Wars/Spanish-American War (1866-1911) Patriotism, Adventure, Imperialism Following the Civil War, six all-black cavalry and infantry regiments were established after Congress passed the Army Reorganization Act in 1866. Many Native Americans who fought them in the Indian Wars referred to black soldiers as “Buffalo Soldiers” because of their dark, curly hair, which resembled

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a buffalo’s coat and because of their fierceness in battle. This name became synonymous with all African American regiments formed in 1866.

The primary purpose of the Buffalo Soldiers was to help build infrastructure, protect white settlers, and fight the Native Americans on the U.S.’s Western frontier. In addition to their military obligations, these soldiers served as some of the first caretakers of the national parks.

In 1898, Buffalo Soldiers also participated in the Battle of San

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Juan Hill in Cuba alongside Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, some of whom were black, enabling the U.S. to win the war. Five of them earned the Medal of Honor for their heroism.

African Americans’ involvement in U.S. wars became controversial in the black community, however, as Jim Crow laws in the U.S. deprived blacks of their rights and allowed institutional discrimination and race-based violence to terrorize African Americans, especially in the South.

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Medal of Honor Recipients

Isaiah Mays, Army, Cedar Springs, Ariz., 1889

Moses Williams, Army, Cuchillo Negro Mountains, N.M., 1875

Thomas Boyne, Army, Mimbres Mountains and near Ojo Caliente, N.M., 1879

William McBryar, Army, Salt River, north of Globe, Ariz., 1890

William Othello Wilson, Army, Sioux Campaign, 1890

Benjamin Brown, Army, Arizona, 1889

Adam Paine, Army, Canyon Blanco, Staked Plains, Texas (Red River War), 1874

John Denny, Army, Las Animas Canyon, N.M., 1879 Pompey Factor, Army, Pecos River, Texas, 1875 Clinton Greaves, Army, Florida Mountains, Luna County, N.M., 1877 Henry Johnson, Army, Milk River, Colo., 1879 George Jordan, Army, Fort Tularosa and Carrizo Canyon, N.M., 1881

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Brent Woods, Army, Gavilan Canyon, N.M., 1881 Edward Baker Jr., Army, at Santiago, Cuba, 1898

Isaac Payne, Army, Pecos River, Texas, 1875

Dennis Bell, Army, Battle of Tayacoba, Cuba, 1898

Thomas Shaw, Army, Carrizo Canyon, Cuchillo Negro Mountains, N.M., 1881

Fitz Lee, Army, Battle of Tayacoba, Cuba, 1898

Emanuel Stance, Army, Kickapoo Springs, Texas, 1870

Robert Penn, Navy, On board the USS Iowa off Santiago de Cuba, 1898

Augustus Walley, Army, Cuchillo Negro Mountains, N.M., 1881

William H. Thompkins, Battle of Tayacoba, Cuba, 1898

John Ward, Army, Pecos River, Texas, 1875

George H. Wanton, Battle of Tayacoba, Cuba, 1898

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Service in France, where black soldiers were treated with the respect they were unaccustomed to at home, gave these men a new sense of purpose and self-respect when they returned to the U.S.

World War I (1917-1918) Bravery Abroad, Segregation at Home Although more than 380,000 African Americans served in the Army during World War I, they faced relentless hostility from the moment they arrived for training. The absence of respect was apparent as white men refused to salute black officers and black officers were often barred from the officers’ clubs and quarters. Countless Southern citizens protested black soldiers inhabiting training camps, influencing the United States

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War Department to decree that no more than one-fourth of the trainees in any Army camp in the U.S. could be African American.

The War Department frequently overlooked discrimination against black soldiers and rarely interceded. While serving abroad in countries such as Germany and England, however, these soldiers saw blacks intermingling with whites and experiencing a lot more freedom. To subdue any unrealistic expectations of social equality by these African American servicemen, mobs of whites engaged in unspeakable violence toward them once they returned home.

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Medal of Honor Recipients Freddie Stowers, Army, at Hill 188, Champagne Marne Sector, France, 1918 Henry Johnson, Army, at Argonne Forest, Champagne Marne Sector, France, 1918

During World War I, thousands of African Americans joined the fight to defend their country. These heroes risked their lives for a country that refused to admit that they deserved the same equal opportunities and rights as their fellow white soldiers. Today we honor one of these heroes, Cpl. Freddie Stowers.

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African Americans, members of 369th Colored Infantry, wave from a troop ship as they arrive back in New York City. The regiment was nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters and the Black Rattlers. c. 1919

Portrait of Cpl. Stowers generated by Army forensics from photos of his mother and sisters.

Henry Johnson, War Hero: While standing guard one night in May 1918, Johnson left four Germans dead and injured at least 20 others, who retreated, saving his regiment.

Image credit: South Carolina Military Museum

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Photo credit: Touchstone Pictures

World War II (1941-1945) The War Against Racism and Fascism At the age of 19, Doris Miller joined the U.S. Navy in 1939 as a mess attendant, one of the only occupational specialties available to black men. In January 1940, Miller was stationed at Pearl Harbor on the USS West Virginia (BB 48) battleship. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy launched an aircraft attack on the US fleet. When the first explosion erupted, Miller went to the main deck where he aided in moving the wounded captain, Mervyn Sharp Bennion. He also manned an antiaircraft gun and opened fire on Japanese planes until he ran out of ammunition.

Miller was one of the last three soldiers to leave the USS West Virginia, repeatedly stopping to pull sailors from the burning water. Miller and other crew

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members swam almost 400 yards to shore, evading the ship’s flames and strafing from Japanese planes. Miller’s selflessness in the face of danger allowed him to become the first black American to be awarded the Navy Cross for his courage in battle.

Medal of Honor Recipients Vernon Baker, Army, near Viareggio, Italy, 1945 Edward A. Carter Jr., Army, near Speyer, Germany, 1945 John R. Fox, Army, the vicinity of Sommocolonia, Italy, 1944** Willy F. James Jr., Army, near Lippoldsberg, Germany, 1945 Ruben Rivers, Army, at Guebling, France, 1944 Charles L. Thomas, Army, near Climbach, France, 1944 George Watson, Army, at Porlock Harbor, New Guinea, 1943**

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Photo credit: National Archives

Doris “Dorie” Miller (played by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the film Pearl Harbor seen above), one of the heroes of Pearl Harbor, was awarded the Navy Cross but has been denied the Medal of Honor to this day. He later died in another battle during the war in 1943.

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Tuskegee Airmen Segregated Guardians of the Air War

Edward Gleed, Tuskegee airman, in front of his P-51D Mustang in Italy in March 1945

In the 1940s, the first African American soldiers to successfully complete their training and enter the U.S. Army Air Corps, the Tuskegee Airmen, faced quotas, exclusion and racial discrimination based on the persistent negative connotations associated with blacks in the nation. Political pressure from the black press, civil rights groups, historically black colleges and universities, and others paved the way for their formation. . .Although in the 1940s, many Army Air Corps officials did not believe that African Americans were intellectually capable of becoming adequate military pilots, nearly 1,000 African American aviators were produced. The intensity of the racial prejudice in the South influenced the military to locate the training of the airmen at Moton Field. The success of Tuskegee Airmen

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Tuskegee Airmen photo illustration by Clay Kraby

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these men proved that African Americans, when given the opportunity, could become successful military leaders and pilots.

Red Ball Express Keeping the Vital Supply Chain Moving In 1944, during WWII, when Allied forces landed on Normandy Beach in France, they were in dire need of a way to transport supplies to the advancing soldiers. The Red Ball Express, a massive fleet of nearly 23,000 American truck drivers and cargo loaders who transported ammunition, gasoline and medical supplies to battlefronts, became a vital asset for survival.

Army officials consistently assigned black troops to service and supply roles because they believed blacks lacked the intelligence and skill needed to fight in combat. Nearly 75 percent of all Red Ball Express drivers were black soldiers, many of whom saw their service as a way to demonstrate the capabilities of their race. The name Red Ball derived from a railway tradition in which railmen marked priority cars with a red dot. The Red Ball Express gave the U.S. Army a strategic advantage over the German infantry and enabled it to become the most mobile and mechanized force in the war.

Cold War (1946-1991) Cloak-and-Dagger Patriotism Red Ball Express photos credit: U.S. Army

Not all black patriots saw glory on the field of battle. Through the decades, such patriots as Mary Bowser and Harriet Tubman during the Civil War and Ralph Bunche in the World War II Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), have

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distinguished themselves with their behind-the-scenes derringdo as spies and covert operatives.

Their work during the Cold War has remained hidden to this day due to its sensitive nature.

Some are honored only with a star on the Memorial Wall at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. One such star belongs to Wilbur Greene. During the Vietnam War, Greene, a military veteran, joined the Deputy Directorate for Plans (today the National Clandestine Service), where he helped organize and train Special Guerilla Units (SGUs) comprised of Hmong soldiers. He and other “assistant military attachés” lived with the SGUs from safe houses and went out into the field with them for combat operations.

They waged fierce warfare in Southeast Asia. During his second tour, Greene was made chief of paramilitary operations.

He died there of complications from a medical procedure.

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James McEachin, then-82, was one of six Korean War veterans riding on “Freedom Is Not Free,” the Pentagon’s float in the Tournament of Roses Parade in 2013. “I think it’s a magnificent gesture and it cures a lot of ills,” said McEachin, who returned from his tour to indifference and discrimination. Photo credit: AP

Korean War (1950-1953) The “Integrated War” In 1948, President Harry S. Truman ordered desegregation of the Armed Services and equality of treatment and opportunity without regard to race, color,

religion or national origin, solidifying the Korean War as the first integrated war in U.S. history.

During World War II, the U.S. Army established its first black paratroopers in 1944. The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, often referred to as the Triple Nickles, was the first all-black

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Actor James McEachin was a decorated Korean War hero, shown then (standing at right) and now.

Wounded Korean War soldier

The Korean War was the first integrated war in U.S. history.

Susan Rice Photo credit: Annie Leibovitz for Vogue

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African American soldiers with the 24th Infantry on July 18, 1950, in Korea

paratrooper unit in U.S. history.

(One of its members was Howard R. Taylor, uncle of BAVUAL’s editor and publisher, Earl A. Birkett.) The name derived from its numerical designation, and this infantry served in more airborne units, in peace and in war, than any other parachute group in U.S. history. Major James C. Queen, another 555 paratrooper, became the first

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African American inductee into the Ranger Hall of Fame for his leadership during the Korean War and dedication to fighting forest fires.

Medal of Honor Recipients Cornelius H. Charlton, Army, near Chipo-ri, Korea, 1951 William Henry Thompson, Army, near Haman, Korea, 1950

For the first time since the Spanish-American War, black Korean War troops experienced the horrors of war as foot soldiers in a foreign land.

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25th Infantry Division soldier Milton Cook spraying tree line with M60 fire during Operation Cedar Falls in 1967.

Photo credit: Joe M. Cary/NARA

Vietnam War (1961-1973) Little Triumph, Much Tragedy

Photo credit: C.J. Ellis

The Vietnam War demonstrated a shift in African American soldiers’ capabilities.

Once blacks began to transition from low-level occupations such as mess hall attendant to combat roles, African Americans faced a significantly higher chance of being on the frontline and suffering higher casualty rates.

Despite making up only 11 percent of the civilian population,

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Medal of Honor Recipients James Anderson Jr., Marine Corps, at Cam Lo, Vietnam, 1967** Webster Anderson, Army, at Tam Kậ, Vietnam, 1967 Eugene Ashley Jr., Army, Battle of Lang Vei, Vietnam, 1968 Oscar P. Austin, Marine Corps, at Da Nang, Vietnam, 1969** William Maud Bryant, Army, at Long Khánh Province, Vietnam, 1969 John Canley, Marine Corps, at Huậ, 1968 Rodney M. Davis, Marine Corps, at Quậng Nam Province, Vietnam, 1967** Robert H. Jenkins Jr., Marine Corps, at Fire Support Base Argonne, DMZ, Vietnam, 1969** Lawrence Joel, Army, in Vietnam, 1965 Dwight H. Johnson, Army, at Dak To, Kon Tum Province, Vietnam, 1968 Ralph H. Johnson, Marine Corps, on Hill 146, Quan Duc Valley, Vietnam, 1968** Garfield M. Langhorn, Army, Plei Djereng, Pleiku Province, Vietnam, 1969** Matthew Leonard, Army, at Suoi Da, Vietnam, 1967 Donald Russell Long, Army, in Vietnam, 1966** Melvin Morris, Army, at Chi Lăng, Vietnam, 1969 Milton L. Olive, III, Army, at Phu Cuong, Vietnam, 1965** Riley L. Pitts, Army, at Ap Dong, Vietnam, 1967 Charles Calvin Rogers, Army, in Fishhook region (near the Cambodian border), Vietnam, 1968 black men accounted for 16.3 percent of the draft and 23 percent of combat troops in 1967. An estimated 20.1 percent of black Vietnam War veterans experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) upon returning home compared to13.7 percent of their white counterparts.

Prominent figures such as Muhammad Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out against the war, and King called it “a white man’s war, a black man’s fight.”

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Ruppert L. Sargent, Army, at Hậu Nghậa Province, Vietnam, 1967** Clarence Sasser, Army, at Ding Tuong Province, Vietnam, 1968 Clifford Chester Sims, Army, at Huậ, Vietnam, 1968** John E. Warren Jr., at Tây Ninh Province, Vietnam, 1969

The black Vietnam soldier did what was asked of him, despite the unpopularity of the war at home and the atrocities he witnessed. Many still live with PTSD and the reality that they were largely an oppressed people fighting other oppressed people defending their homeland.

The typical black soldier was a lower- or working-class teen male from an inner-city or rural town who joined the service out of a sense of duty and adventure or who was drafted or forced to join to escape jail or limited opportunities back home.

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Men, women and children marching down a street in Harlem, N.Y., in the Harlem Peace March on April 15, 1967 Photo credit: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Arnika Dawkins and the Arnika Dawkins Gallery

Dan Bullock (1953-1969) reportedly the youngest American killed in Vietnam Photo credit: Franklin McArthur

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Photo credit: Chuck Boyd

Jimi Hendrix, rock legend and Vietnam-era vet (paratrooper in the elite 101st Airborne)

Black soldiers in Vietnam fought alongside their white compatriots and formed lasting bonds, despite having to deal with racial prejudice in the service and inequality and racism at home.

Photo credit: U.S. Marine Corps

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Extreme bravery in battle in Vietnam was often rewarded with racial prejudice. Army Staff Sgt. Melvin Morris waited 45 years to be awarded a Medal of Honor for actions he took in 1969.

TOP Photo credit: AP BOTTOM Photo credit: Getty Images

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Early 21st century black patriot soldiers

Gulf War aka Operation Desert Storm (1991) Patriotism Meets Diversity and Hi-Tech Controversy arose surrounding the disproportionate representation of black servicemen and women among the troops assigned to Operation Desert Storm. Blacks made up 30 percent of the ground units, which were thought to be most vulnerable to heavy casualties in the war. Resentment and anger brewed in the black community, which feared that their community would pay disproportionately for a war that many of them did not support. Martin Luther King III urged blacks not to fight, but the economic status for many left them little choice but to enlist.

“I think a great majority of black Americans are concerned with the Persian Gulf because so many young black men and women are there in many cases because of economic necessity,” said John Lewis.

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The Gulf War, America’s shortest war (100 hours) and the first war of the all-volunteer Army, gave the black soldier new opportunities to serve in military leadership and to operate sophisticated weaponry.

Iraq War (2003-2011) Patriots Fighting a Controversial Commuter War Cultural ignorance permeated through the Iraq War, which is generally agreed to be a misguided effort to avenge the airplane attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. During the war, the Bush administration

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shifted resources and protection away from African American communities and vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which was intended to restore civil rights laws that ban discrimination in employment. This sent a message to millions of Americans struggling to support themselves and their families that it was OK for their bosses to discriminate against them.

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Army Capt. Aishah Mujahid Photo credit: CNN

Afghanistan (2001-2021) America’s Longest War Systematic discrimination against African Americans was rampant in the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan. Despite the oversaturation of blacks in the U.S. Army, African Americans made up only two of 41 senior ranking military officers. Due to an archaic belief that blacks are unintelligent and require stern punishment, blacks were also more likely to be punished more harshly and more frequently.

As a result, black personnel were 71 percent more likely to be court-martialed and receive non-judicial punishment. In addition, 25 percent of black soldiers faced severe food insecurity and lacked basic sustenance for their families due to inadequate income, minority status, homelessness and a high incidence of mental illness. The war on poverty took a backseat to the war in Afghanistan as the U.S. spent $2 trillion on military expenses. Approximately 27

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For the first time, black women were allowed in combat roles in Desert Storm. Later, during the Iraq War, Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson became the first African American female prisoner of war in 2003 when she was captured and held by forces loyal to Saddam Hussein. Three weeks later, she and other captives were freed by the U.S. Marines.

Photo credit: Cpl. Michael Leitenberger/U.S. Marine Corps

percent of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffered from food insecurity, with black, Latinx and other veterans of color experiencing the highest rates of hunger.

Medal of Honor Recipient

Alwyn Cashe, Army, for action in Iraq, 2005

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Benjamin O. Davis Sr., America’s first black general, was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1940. A brigadier, Davis’ authority was limited to segregated units in World War II.

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. (son of Davis Sr.) became the first African American general in the U.S. Air Force in 1954. He was also commander of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II.

Justin Jackson was the former deputy director of the National Clandestine Service of the CIA, and at the time of his retirement, he was the highest-ranking black American at the agency. Though tight-lipped about his career, he spent 16 years overseas— primarily in Europe and Latin American—working undercover. After 9/11, he was one of the principals who helped the agency shift its posture from one of post-Cold-War ambiguity to that of the spear tip in fighting the war on terror. Since retirement, he has pushed for greater diversity at the agency, working on (among other things) the diversity report that led to changes at the company.

Great Warriors of the Past and Present Daniel “Chappie” James Jr., the U.S. Air Force’s first four-star general, got his fourth star in 1975. He flew combat missions during the Korean War and Vietnam War and received the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, two Air Force Distinguished Service Medals, two Legions of Merit, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Meritorious Service Medal, and 14 Air Medals.

President Jimmy Carter appointed the first black secretary of the Army, Clifford L. Alexander Jr., who served from 1977 to 1981. Prior to his historic appointment, he served presidents from Kennedy to Nixon in high-level positions.

Lloyd Austin, the first black U.S. secretary of defense and sixth in line to the presidency, was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021. Austin, the former commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and vice chief of staff of the Army, was the last commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq.

Photo credit: Getty Images

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One of the most courageous U.S. soldiers was James Anderson Jr., who in 1968 became the first African American Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery in battle. Anderson was killed a year earlier while on active duty when he grabbed a live enemy grenade using his body to absorb the blast and saved his fellow soldiers from severe injuries or death.

Daniel James Jr., a U.S. vet who trained pilots of the all-black 99th Pursuit Squadron during World War II and served in Korea and Vietnam, set a precedent for black excellence in the military when he became the first African American four-star general in 1975.

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Medal of Honor Recipients, Noncombat Daniel Atkins, Navy, aboard ship at sea, 1898 John Davis, Navy, at Toulon, France, 1881 Alphonse Girandy, Navy, aboard ship at sea, 1901 John Johnson, Navy, near Greytown, Nicaragua, 1872

William Johnson, Navy, at Navy Yard, Mare Island, Calif., 1879 Joseph B. Noil, Navy, at Norfolk, Va., 1872 John Smith, Navy, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1880 Robert Augustus Sweeney, Navy, at Hampton Roads, Va., 1881, and Brooklyn Navy Yard, 1883 *It took almost half a century for the U.S. Army to recognize the patriotism of black American soldiers, airmen,

and Marines during the war. The first recipient, Sgt. William H. Carney, a member of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, was awarded the Medal of Honor at Fort Wagner on May 23, 1900. This award, which dates back to the Civil War, has only been awarded to 92 black servicemembers out of the 3,500 total soldiers that received it.

Robert Augustus Sweeney is one of 19 men and the only African American to receive two Medals of Honor. **died in battle

Thank You for Your Service

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PRO AND CON

Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

By Earl A. Birkett

How did marijuana become Public Enemy No. 1? Like most things in America, the problem is rooted in racism and xenophobia.

In 2022, after three years of intensive effort, the possession and sale of recreational marijuana—aka ganja, demon weed, grass, pot, Mary Jane, bud and herb, the defiler of our nation’s youth in the 1930s film Reefer Madness, and the “official” drug of creativity, relaxation and rebellion—was finally made legal in my adopted state of New Jersey when Gov. Phil Murphy signed the legislative bills into law. As someone who grew up in New York under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller’s draconian drug laws, where being caught with a joint could send you to a state maximum-security prison for life (if it’s three convictions), this comes as welcome news. I have never been a consumer (well, once, briefly), but everyone I know was (is?) and I consider it about as harmful as alcohol, tobacco or red meat, all legal for eons.

Marijuana: A Brief History Marijuana (actually spelled “marihuana”), which is derived from the cannabis plant, one of the oldest crops known to humans, has a pedigree that goes back 5,000 years. Many cultures in Africa, India, China and Assyria have benefitted from the plant’s medicinal, spiritual and

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recreational properties. It can be ingested in several ways—directly eaten, mixed with other foods (called “edibles”), or brewed in teas—but it is most commonly smoked. It can be rolled up in paper “joints” or tobacco wraps (“blunts”) or consumed through pipes, water bongs (the method I tried) or vaporizers and vape pens. The “hit” you get from weed

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is produced by the compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

Though the effects can vary from person to person, the most common effects include: Euphoria Relaxation An altered perception of time Increased appetite Heightened sensory perception

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Some people may experience adverse effects, especially in higher doses. Such adverse effects include: Fear Distrust Panic Anxiety Psychotic symptoms Aside from the rather annoying (to me) smell, I have never experienced these effects.

In fact, I have experienced no effects at all. But that’s just me.

Marijuana, of course, also has its medicinal uses. The plant has been used in holy anointing oils and as a cure for glaucoma and general inflammation by ancient Egyptians. The Chinese have used cannabis as a popular medicine since 2,900 BCE. In 1,000 BCE, the Indians created a drink called bhang—a mixture of marijuana, milk and other ingredients—and used it as an anti-phlegmatic and anesthetic. This drink is still used in India today. Cannabis was considered a cure by ancient Indians for everything from leprosy and dysentery to fever and insomnia, as well as a means to improve judgment and cognition and even to prolong life. The plant is also connected spiritually to the Hindu god Shiva and to Rastafarians in Ethiopia and Jamaica. Greek, Arab, Roman and Anglo-Saxon cultures have also found reasons to get high. Claims range from suppressing sexual desire to treating gout, arthritis, generalized pain and syphilis.

Americans today love their “hash” (pot- and heroin-laced) brownies.

in 1619 to require farmers to grow it. Hemp was even used as legal tender. George Washington grew it. Marijuana was a key ingredient in medicine to treat opium withdrawal and other ailments.

Hashish candy was advertised in Vanity Fair.

So, to quote Vito Corleone, “How did we ever let things get so far?” How did marijuana become Public Enemy No. 1? Like most things in America, the problem is rooted in racism and xenophobia.

In the 1910s, the U.S. was engaged in a rather comical “war” against Mexican bandidos led by Pancho Villa. At the same time, Mexican immigrants began to introduce the plant for recreational use

north of the border; the gringos, then (as now) afraid of all things Mexican—including the familiar refrain, especially heard during the Great Depression, that Mexicans were “stealing” American jobs—clutched their pearls and labeled cannabis the “Mexican Menace.” Political posturing followed as 26 states speedily passed laws prohibiting marijuana.

One man is largely responsible for demonizing marijuana: the narrow-minded racist, Harry J. Anslinger. He was the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics—today it is called the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)—from

The 85-Year Case Against Marijuana Cannabis, to borrow a phrase, “is as American as apple pie.” It dates back to colonial times, when hemp was grown like any other crop to make clothing, rope and sails. A law in Virginia was passed

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Harry J. Anslinger’s ridiculous and false quotes below about cannabis remain the backbone of federal drug policy as well as in many states and localities ever since: Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.​ Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.​ There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.​​ You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.​ Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality and death.

The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.​ No one knows, when he places a marijuana cigarette to his lips, whether he will become a joyous reveller in a musical heaven, a mad insensate, a calm philosopher, or a murderer.

If the hideous monster Frankenstein came face to face with marijuana, he would drop dead of fright.

Some people will fly into a delirious rage, and they are temporarily irresponsible and may commit violent crimes. Other people will laugh uncontrollably. It is impossible to say what the effect will be on any individual.

Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing.​ It is dangerous to the mind and body, and particularly dangerous to the criminal type, because it releases all of the inhibitions.

The use of cannabis, whether smoked or ingested in its various form, undoubtedly gives rise to a form of addiction, which has serious social consequences (abandonment of work, propensity to theft and crime, disappearance of reproductive power).

I do not think there is such a thing as not being able to cure an addict.

Marihuana addicts must go to a federal narcotic farm.

The addict pays anywhere from 10 to 25 cents per cigarette. It will be sold by the cigarette. In illicit traffic the bulk price would be around $20 per pound. Legitimately, the bulk is around $2 per pound.

They found some marihuana growing in one of the prisons. We heard of that. There was a seizure made in the Colorado State Reformatory for boys not long ago.

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Most African Americans are in prison for marijuana-related offenses.

1930 until 1962. He also was one of the biggest supporters of Prohibition. Presaging such influential organs as Fox News, Anslinger, with the help of the powerful newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst and the Hollywood propaganda film Reefer Madness (1936), was able to convince Americans of all stripes that the drug was evil and the purview of low-born and criminal-minded blacks and Latinos. In 1952, marijuana was declared illegal by the federal government and strict, jailable offenses were imposed, gradually ratcheted up through the years to draconian sentencing, such as New York’s infamous “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” drug law, where possession of a joint could send you to prison for life.

Although the medical profession as far back as 1944* declared cannabis to be merely a mild intoxicant, weed was nevertheless falsely painted as a “gateway” to other more dangerous drugs and a stimulant for crime. Political conservatives like Anslinger were especially incensed when in the 1960s pot became wildly popular among the hippie counterculture, college students and other youth.

They launched a costly and ineffective War on Drugs under Presidents Nixon, Reagan and George H.W. Bush; a key feature in the Reagan years was an anti-drug campaign in schools, “Just Say No,” which produced more derision than results.

Gradually, states and localities would see the folly and decriminalize cannabis. Oregon, Maine and Alaska in the 1970s were the first; today, medicinal use is legal in 41 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and decriminalized for recreational purposes in 23 of those states. (My own city, Jersey City, is now a safe-use zone). It won’t be long before the Feds bow to the inevitable and make weed legal. Buy those cannabis stocks now.

The Case For Marijuana The growing consensus for legalizing marijuana is boiled down to 10 points as outlined by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP.org), the No. 1 organization in the U.S. dedicated to legalizing cannabis:

Summer 2022

reported knowing a student who sells cannabis at school—while under 1 percent know a peer who sells alcohol. Regulated cannabis businesses check IDs and aren’t allowed to sell to or employ minors.

7. Cannabis prohibition breeds violence. As was the case during alcohol prohibition, driving this lucrative market underground results in violence. Both buyers and sellers are vulnerable to assault.

CBD is increasingly accepted for its medicinal benefits. rapes, 31 percent of robberies, and 14 percent of burglaries by making an arrest. Data published in Police Quarterly showed a higher percentage of some crimes were solved after legalization in both Colorado and Washington.

Black musicians from Louis Armstrong to Snoop Dogg have found inspiration from smoking weed.

1. A country that values liberty should not be punishing adults for using cannabis. Cannabis is far safer than alcohol, tobacco and many medications. In a nation dedicated to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the government should not be tearing families apart over a plant that is safer than alcohol.

2. Prohibition wastes public resources, while legalizing and taxing cannabis brings in muchneeded revenue. An estimate by the Congressional Research Service projected that replacing cannabis prohibition with taxation and regulation could yield $6.8 billion in excise taxes alone. In Washington State, taxes on cannabis sales brought in $600 million in 2020.

3. Arresting cannabis offenders prevents police from focusing on real crime. In 2019, the FBI reported 663,367 cannabis arrests and citations—more arrests than for all violent crimes combined.

Meanwhile, FBI data showed that police only cleared 33 percent of

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4. Prohibition sends an incredible number of Americans through the criminal justice system, ruining countless lives. According to the FBI, there have been more than 15 million cannabis arrests in the U.S. since 1995. While cannabis consumers who were not convicted have gone on to become the U.S. president and a Supreme Court justice, a criminal conviction can stand in the way of securing a job, getting housing, or receiving a professional license, student loan, food assistance, driver’s license or firearms permit.

5. Cannabis laws are disproportionately enforced.

According to the ACLU, black individuals are more than 3.5 times as likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white individuals nationwide, despite similar rates of use.

6. Replacing prohibition with regulation creates barriers to teens accessing cannabis. A 2012 survey by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found that 40 percent of high schoolers

8. Only regulation allows for control. Prohibition guarantees that cannabis will not be tested for purity and potency, creating the risk of contamination by dangerous pesticides, molds, bacteria or even lacing.

9. Prohibition is bad for the environment. Illicit cannabis growers sometimes use banned pesticides, divert waterways, and leave hazardous waste in state and national parks. Regulated cannabis businesses are monitored to ensure compliance with zoning and environmental laws.

10. Cannabis is safer than alcohol. Researchers have consistently concluded that cannabis is less toxic than alcohol, it has less potential for addiction, and it is less likely to contribute to serious medical problems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that every year more than 50,000 Americans die from the health impacts of chronic alcohol consumption, with 2,200 additional deaths from acute overdose. Cannabis has not been shown to increase mortality, and there has never been a verified cannabis overdose death in history. It makes no sense for the law to steer consumers to the more dangerous substance. * T he New York Academy of Medicine published a report stating that marijuana was only a mild intoxicant.

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How Race Has Shaped The American Dream

By Stephen G. Hall, Ph.D.

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Homeownership has always been the gold standard for Americans. While presented as a normative outcome following the completion of school or landing a dream job, it has been elusive for African Americans. This elusive nature is closely related to structural barriers of race and discrimination that are deeply rooted in a long history that can be traced back to the 19th century and that evolved and intensified in the 20th century.

These realities have left us with the problematic legacy we have inherited today—a legacy of racial discrimination that has destroyed the dreams of many individuals and deflated the wealth potential of generations of African Americans.

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The Roots of the Disparity At the nation’s inception, landownership was always a limited right. White settlers appropriated Native American land in a wholesale manner.

As the colonies formed and the nation established its territorial integrity throughout the first half of the 19th century, access to land and housing was limited for African Americans.

Discrimination was common in land sales and housing on racial, ethnic and religious grounds.

Governmental enforcements were uncommon at that time.

African Americans received no protections because they were enslaved throughout the South and not recognized as citizens in the free states.

These arrangements did not change much for African Americans in the post-Civil War period with the advent of freedom. Entrenched systems of segregation and discrimination were actualized in sharecropping and tenancy arrangements, which replicated the landuse policies of the antebellum period. They discouraged landownership and often tied black workers to the land as tenants rather than owners.

These arrangements led to the consolidation of large amounts of land for white landowners and the marginalization of Africans Americans.

Government’s Role in Segregating Housing The broad outlines of the 20th century system of housing discrimination began to take shape within the first three decades of the century. One of the first forms this new order took was the realignment of residential patterns. The growth of the modern city occurred

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Prior to World War II, most races lived together in cities.

Wartime defense production led to increased mobility for African Americans.

Photo credit: E. F. Joseph/Anthony Potter Collection/Getty Images

during the Gilded Age (c. 18651895). Overcrowding and poor housing conditions and choices led to the growth of residential suburbs on the outskirts of cities. Black ownership was discouraged, and, in some neighborhoods, single-family homes were built. This limited the number and types of people in these communities. Private property owners discriminated against black buyers and often

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maintained either explicitly or implicitly segregated neighborhoods.

The Great Depression changed America’s housing landscape.

Much of this was due to the efforts of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The purpose of this agency was to regulate the U.S. housing market.

The FHA’s responsibilities included insuring home mortgages, facilitating bank

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Many black men prospered as Pullman train car porters, which further enhanced mobility.

Photo credit: A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum

Development of housing projects during the New Deal era transformed black urban life and culture.

Photo credit: St Louis Landmark Association

lending, and allowing prospective homeowners to purchase homes securely and inexpensively. The catch was that loans were only extended to new construction in stable communities, which became code for white communities. The designation of stable communities was solely within the purview of local real estate boards, and these boards often used color-coded maps, which largely designated black

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communities as dangerous and unstable. This practice is commonly known as redlining.

The practice was codified in the FHA’s Underwriting Manual, which explicitly stated that “incompatible racial groups should not be permitted to live in the same communities.” This meant that loans to African Americans would not be insured.

Redlining had a devastating impact on black communities

and homeownership. It not only excluded blacks from desirable housing stock, but it segregated them to neighborhoods that were undervalued, devalued and marginalized. It impacted not only securing loans through the FHA but later through Fannie Mae and largely excluded blacks from the low-interest borrowing available through the post-World War II GI Bill. This situation also contributed to the housing gap between black and white families. White property appreciation outstripped that of African Americans. It also gave whites access to benefits and advantages in communities in which public investment and improvement were common. For blacks, the opposite was true.

Black communities were often segregated and lacked access to services and improvement.

The GI Bill, an incentive legislative act for WWII veterans, worked in similar ways. While it guaranteed increased opportunities for homeownership to white veterans, it did not offer the same guarantees to black veterans.

Mortgages were not provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs but were instead made by private lending companies, which discriminated through redlining. The best example of this practice was Levittown, widely touted as the archetype of middle-class living. Located in Pennsylvania (there were similar problems in another Levittown in Long Island, N.Y.), it provided affordable homes to white veterans. Black veterans, however, could not live there. The FHA supported this decision by authorizing loans only to white buyers and enforcing racially restricted deeds.

Another important outgrowth of the 1930s was the emergence of public housing projects. Because

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Levittown, Pa., 1957: Sad, Inspiring Case of the Myers Family The dream of most families, black and white, in the first two decades following the end of World War II was to own a home. Prefabricated Cape Cods and split-level houses dotted America’s landscape outside its major cities on land once occupied by farms; it was the beginning of Suburbia. The pioneer in this field was developer William Levitt, whose company sold matchbox-like homes to returning servicemen William and Daisy that were built within a month using assemblyMyers at home, 1957 line techniques and cost a mere $2,000. His two great developments were both called Levittown, one on Long Island, outside of New York City, and the other in Bucks County, Pa., in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Levitt’s two little slices of suburban Eden, however, contained a huge thorn: racism. Though he claimed not to be racist himself, Levitt was disinclined to sell to blacks for one alleged reason: A clause in the FHA loans he used to finance his developments forbade home sales to anyone other than those of “the Caucasian race,” a then-common clause in many sales and rental agreements and deed covenants.

At the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement, such practices were beginning to be challenged, as they were in 1957 when a black couple, William and Daisy Myers, bought a home from a Jewish family in the Dogwood Hollow section of Pennsylvania’s Levittown, the first in the neighborhood to do so. The nightmare for them began almost immediately and lasted for nine days; it consisted of threats, harassment, cross burnings and property damage, despite the support of some of their white neighbors. State and local authorities were unable to stop the harassment, and even after a court prohibited the assembly of more than three people in the proximity of their home, the rioting continued for weeks. Even after the arrests of rioters and an injunction, the Myers, with the support of some of their white neighbors, persevered for three more months, refusing to back down and move away. The furor eventually died down, and the Myers eventually did move in 1961—though not for reasons of race. Their cause attracted nationwide attention and no doubt inspired other black families to integrate white neighborhoods (among them the parents of the editor and publisher of BAVUAL).

A crowd of racists gathers outside the Myers’ house.

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large numbers of whites were losing their homes due to the massive unemployment during the Depression, the government began a program to build houses for working-class white families.

Housing projects were built in the cities, but most were for whites and very few were for blacks.

Eventually, the white projects began to have large vacancies while waiting lists grew for the few black projects. The government then moved to allow blacks into the white projects. These housing units gradually switched from housing for working-class whites to housing for poor blacks. They also became subsidized.

As the government turned to massive underwriting and subsidies for suburban housing, in urban areas the solution became large concentrations of subsidized rental housing. These programs became part of urban renewal projects, which displaced black communities by essentially running new highways and commercial centers through black communities. This practice was facilitated by the Federal Highway Act (1956), which made highway construction largely the purview of state and federal governments. One of the most jarring of these “urban removal projects” involved Lincoln Center in New York City. This relocation involved over 7,000 families and 800 businesses in a neighborhood comprised of blacks, Puerto Ricans and Asians to make way for the renowned music and cultural house. Similar situations occurred in Detroit in the 8 Mile and Paradise Valley communities.

This process had the effect of destroying black communities while furthering the ability of whites to expand farther into the suburbs. One of the best statistics that sums up the problematic nature of American housing discrimination is that only 1

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percent of the mortgages were issued to African Americans between 1930 and 1960.

Moves to Correct Discrimination This dismal history of housing exclusion was finally addressed with federal legislation, known as the Fair Housing Act, which was passed in 1968 at the urging of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Its passage occurred just one week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The law had several provisions designed to prevent housing discrimination. It imposed federal enforcement mechanisms that included outlawing the refusal to sell or rent a dwelling on the basis of race or religion; discrimination in making home lending decisions; advertising the sale or rental of a dwelling indicating preference; and coercing, threatening or intimidating, or interfering with a person’s enjoyment or use of the property based on race. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was

The postwar suburban housing boom at first did not benefit blacks, who were often locked out from buying due to exclusionary deed covenants.

Blockbusting, which exploited both white sellers and black buyers, led to “white flight” and changed the suburban landscape in the 1960s.

Derogatory signs popped up on many suburban lawns.

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Many throughfares in black neighborhoods, despite being named after Martin Luther King Jr., are usually the most blighted and fail to live up to the civil rights leader’s ideal of social justice. Photo credit: Patrick Semansky/AP

LEFT: Before RIGHT: After gentrification

empowered to enforce the law.

The Fair Housing Act was followed up by the Community Reinvestment Act in 1977, which prohibited discrimination in lending and imposed an obligation on banks to serve all communities. However, abuse still occurred, and black communities were flooded with subprime loans at the turn of the millennium, which led to record foreclosures during the Great Recession of 2007-09.

More recent protections include the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This agency, which has had limited enforcement powers, was created to make sure banks, lenders and financial companies treat consumers fairly. Reformers are calling on the CFPB to use the full power of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to make sure underwriting systems do not contribute to

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Through redlining, as displayed in this map, blacks were often restricted to less-desirable neighborhoods.

Advertisements and newspaper articles (facing page, top) even featured these restrictions.

TOP INSET: White professionals filled the void left by neglected urban properties by turning decaying properties into showplaces through gentrification.

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The Trumps: The Face of Racism in Housing

discrimination in lending. One of the central concerns is the use of credit scores to make lending decisions. Minority scores tend to be lower due to reliance on unregulated or unscrupulous lenders. Lower scores generally lead to a higher chance of rejection or higher interest rates. Advocates are suggesting new ways of determining credit worthiness including the use of utility and rental payments.

The Future Is Mixed These discriminatory practices have real implications for today.

Black income is only 60 percent that of whites, and African American wealth is about 5 percent of white wealth. For most families, equity is gained through their homes. Because blacks were prohibited from buying homes from the 1930s up through the 1960s, they enjoy little of the wealth of white families. Housing discrimination has been closely linked to the desire of white landowners, realtors and speculators to get rich in the housing market. Blacks have largely been excluded from the wealth potential of these markets and have suffered exclusion and marginalization, which has led to unfair taxation in poor communities, inadequate housing, segregated communities with few services, limited growth potential and deflated income prospects.

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Donald and Fred Trump, c. 1970s

In his 93 years on Earth, Frederick Christ Trump, the self-made real estate mogul from Queens, New York City, was not exactly a paragon of civic virtue. The son of a German immigrant who ran a brothel in Alaska, Fred Trump (whose family name was originally Drumpf) was arrested for participating in a Ku Klux Klan march in his hometown of Queens in 1927.

This setback did not prevent him from a spectacularly successful career of buying, selling, developing and managing residential properties in New York’s Outer Boroughs; at one time, his firm, the Fred Trump Organization, controlled 27,000 apartments and made Trump himself a millionaire some 250-300 times over.

Despite his good fortune, there was a darker side to Fred Trump. The first red flag was a U.S. Senate banking committee investigation back in the 1950s into possible abuse of loans from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), a federal agency that financed many of his housing projects for low-income tenants but which led to Trump amassing windfall profits—not exactly the purpose of the loans.

Even more egregious—and ominous for its implications for the racial atmosphere in America in 2022—was the notorious incident that began in 1972. Minority applicants to Trump’s apartments had complained to the New York City Commission on Human Rights and the Urban League, saying that they had been turned away. In response, both sent test applicants to apply for these apartments and indeed found that the white applicants were accepted while the black applicants were either rejected or turned away, allegedly at the behest of Trump and the president of his company, 26-year-old Donald J. Trump, Fred’s son. In October 1973, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department filed suit against the Trumps for violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Their lawyer, Roy Cohn, countersued the government for $100 million, claiming false accusations. A subsequent investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation contained some devastating revelations: prospective black tenants were told the rent was double the actual amount; realtors told of a code system instituted by the Trumps and employed to weed out “lowlifes,” such as blacks, among others; black applicants were falsely told outright that there were no vacancies; and the very few black tenants were encouraged—even paid—to leave Trump properties.

Fred Trump’s bottom line edict was don’t rent to blacks.

The case was finally settled in 1975 when the Trump Organization agreed to a consent decree that prohibited the two moguls from “discriminating against any person in the ... sale or rental of a dwelling” and “required Trump to advertise vacancies in minority papers … and list vacancies on a preferential basis with the Urban League’s Open Housing Center.” It ordered the Trumps to “thoroughly acquaint themselves personally on a detailed basis with ... the Fair Housing Act of 1968.” Fred and Donald claimed a partial victory in that the decree did not require them “to accept persons on welfare as tenants.”

Nonetheless, the case represented a landmark for the rights of black and minority applicants.

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DESTINATIONS

GOING UPTOWN TO

HARLEM

By Kristen Jones

Located in the Upper Manhattan district of New York, Harlem encompasses many avenues of rich, cultural history including 125th Street (co-named Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) Lenox Avenue (co-named Malcolm X Boulevard), Frederick Douglass Boulevard and East 96th Street.

Before Dutch settlers from Europe arrived in the 17th century and named the area Haarlem after a city in the Netherlands, it was inhabited by Native Americans that the Dutch called “Manhattoes” or “Manhattans.” They resided in the area on a semi-nomadic basis and began farming the flatlands until 1637 when settlements began popping up. The new Dutch colony grew to include Jewish and Italian residents in the 19th century and began booming with African Americans in the 1920s and 1930s during the Great Migration of blacks from the South.

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Harlem is known for its beautiful brownstones.

With the onset of World War I in 1914, many foreign immigrants set sail for their homelands, leaving employment opportunities available in the war industries in the North.

Blacks migrated in record numbers from the South to Northern cities in search of opportunities and increased wages. They also continued to pour into Harlem from lower Manhattan and the Caribbean.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem was the focus of the Harlem Renaissance,

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an outpouring of artistic work without precedent in the American black community.

Though Harlem musicians and writers are particularly well remembered, the community has also hosted numerous actors and theater companies, including the New Heritage Repertory Theatre, the National Black Theatre, the Lafayette Players, the Harlem Suitcase Theatre, The Negro Playwrights, the American Negro Theatre and the Rose McClendon Players. In 1936, Orson Welles produced his black Macbeth at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem.

Grand theaters from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were torn down or converted to churches.

Harlem lacked a permanent performance space until the creation of the Gatehouse Theater in a vacant building on 135th Street in 2006.

The pressure of high rent, unemployment and racist practices culminated in Harlem riots in 1935 and 1943, but in the 1960’s, figures like Malcolm X, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Queen Mother Moore and Preston Wilcox used Harlem as a launch pad for political, social, and economic empowerment activities.

From 1968 until 2007, the community was home to the Boys Choir of Harlem, a touring choir and education program for young boys, most of whom are black.

The Girls Choir of Harlem was founded in 1989 and closed with the Boys Choir.

Harlem is also home to the largest African American Day Parade, which celebrates the culture of the African diaspora in America. The parade was started in 1969 with Congressman Adam

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TOP LEFT: An elegant Harlem apartment building TOP RIGHT: Harlem’s Malcolm Shabazz Mosque (formerly Mosque No. 7), where its namesake Malcolm X preached.

CENTER LEFT: Abyssinian Baptist Church, the oldest black church in New York City, was founded in 1808.

Harlem is home to many historic churches and synagogues.

CENTER RIGHT: Columbia University, the storied Ivy League institution, has been a Harlem resident since its founding in 1754.

INSET: Carver Federal Savings Bank, one of the few thriving black-owned banks, is headquarted in Harlem.

BOTTOM: Beautiful and historic Hotel Theresa in Harlem

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ABOVE FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Writer and NAACP co-founder W.E.B. Du Bois figured prominently in the Harlem Renaissance.

Photo credit: C.M. Battey

Pan-African Marcus Garvey, Harlemite Photo credit: Bettmann

Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (DNY), chairman of the powerful Education and Labor Committee, transformed America by spearheading LBJ’s landmark Great Society legislation through Congress.

Langston Hughes was a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance.

Photo credit: Carl Van Vechten/Beinecke Library/Yale

BOTTOM: Harlem’s Billie Holiday was the sultry voice of jazz in the 1940s and ’50s.

Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

Clayton Powell Jr. as the grand marshal of the first celebration.

Also, in the late 1960s, Arthur Mitchell, a former dancer with the New York City Ballet, cofounded the Dance Theatre of Harlem as a school and company of classical ballet and theater training. The company has toured nationally and internationally, and generations of theater artists have gotten a start at the school.

By the 2010s, some residents were fighting back against the powerful waves of gentrification in the area, and in 2013, residents staged a sidewalk sit-in to protest a five-day-a-week farmers market that would shut down Macombs Place at 150th Street.

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A Few Places to Visit in Harlem While there are many art museums in the city, El Museo del Barrio’s special attention to underrepresented artists of color sets it apart. Founded in 1969, the institution’s holdings span more than 800 years, making it the country’s ‘preeminent forum and resource for Caribbean, Latino and Latin American art. Some genres of work in the 6,500-object permanent collection, such as 20th-century Nuyorican fine prints and contemporary art from New York-based Latino artists, are unique to the museum.

There’s also the Studio Museum in Harlem, which is

dedicated to showing the works of African Americans, members of the African diaspora, and artists from the African continent. This museum offers a collection of vibrant and inspiring art of the 19th and 20th centuries. More than 2,600 pieces—including paintings, drawings, sculptures, watercolors, photographs, videos and mixed-media installations credited to more than 400 artists—are displayed throughout the museum, along with the permanent archival collection of work from renowned Harlem Renaissance photographer James Van Der Zee. Harlem Renaissance leader Langston Hughes lived in East Harlem from 1947 to 1967, and

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his 1869-built brownstone at Fifth Avenue and 127th Street is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

For visitors with music on their mind, Bill’s Place, which was opened in 2006 by musician Bill Saxton, offers visitors a trip back in time to the Harlem Renaissance with its cozy, elbowtouching speakeasy space. Saxton, a world-renowned saxophonist, leads the Harlem All-Stars on Friday and Saturday nights. Over the years, legendary performers such as Billie Holiday, Fats Waller and Willie ”The Lion” Smith have graced this parlor.

When it comes to clothing, Harlem Haberdashery, a familyrun boutique, offers an exclusive collection of designs. The

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TOP: Fashionable pubs add to Harlem’s vibrant night life.

CENTER LEFT: Amateur Night At the Apollo Theater. You were either a hit or “Sandman” Sims swept you off the stage if you stunk. Six generations of musical and comedy legends got their start there. Among its alumni: Sammy Davis Jr., the Jackson 5, Richard Pryor, Lauryn Hll , Mary J. Blige and dozens more.

CENTER RIGHT: 125th Street (co-named Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard), is often considered the longtime heart of Harlem.

BOTTOM: Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, is one of the preeminent libraries on African American and African history and culture.

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boutique is the retail extension of 5001 Flavors, a custom clothing company that began more than 25 years ago. Its style favors colorful three-piece suits, allwhite ensembles and oversized hats. Celebrities, including DJ Khaled, The Notorious B.I.G., JAY-Z and LeBron James, have all worn pieces from 5001 Flavors.

The shop, which celebrates the spirit of Harlem in the 1970s and ’80s, isn’t just for celebrities, offering ready-to-wear options in men’s and women’s styles.

There are also many restaurants in Harlem to tantalize visitors’ tastebuds. The Red Rooster, for example, takes its name from a speakeasy on 138th Street that closed down in the 1980s. The restaurant boasts a delicious menu filled with soul food staples such as chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits, and a short rib that is named in honor of former President Barack Obama, who dined at the restaurant in 2011. Ginny’s Supper Club, Red Rooster’s own speakeasy, is located in the basement and hosts DJs and musicians live throughout the week.

For close to 60 years, the restaurant Sylvia’s has also been a staple of the neighborhood, thanks to its Southern comfort food. The menu has all the classics covered, from fried chicken and waffles and barbecue short ribs, to catfish and peach cobbler. And visitors can even enjoy singers performing during weekly events including the packed Gospel Brunch Sundays and Live Music Wednesdays. A popular spot among politicians, Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have all dined there.

In 2021, Uptown Night Market was founded to celebrate cuisine, community and culture. It is

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Harlem River Lift Bridge Photo credit: Jag9889

Scenic Harlem River Photo credit: Matthew Bisanz

Harlem River Drive along Manhattan’s Hudson River takes drivers to the George Washington Bridge and points north.

Photo credit: Hardesty Hanover

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The radio “voice” of Harlem was once owned by Harlem lawyer and politician Percy Sutton.

The world-renowned Harlem Globetrotters, often imitated, never surpassed

The New York Amsterdam News (named after Amsterdam Avenue in Harlem) has been publishing weekly since 1909.

Harlem Fashion Week has become a popular annual tradition. Photo credit: SHOT

Like many inner cities, Harlem fell victim to post1960s urban neglect, only recently reversed through gentrification.

Bookstores remain popular cultural centers.

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Photo credit: Sameli

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One of the world’s great metropolitan centers began life as a small farm north of New York City.

The Grange, the historic home in Harlem’s Hamilton Heights, situated in St. Nicholas Park, was the home of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, a major landowner. Photo credit: National Parks of New York Harbor one of the largest night markets in Manhattan, and its main attractions include musical performances, arts and crafts shows, and food.

For those who want to enjoy more of the outdoors, Central Park is easily accessible from both East and West Harlem, though the former grants visitors a direct path to one of the park’s bestkept secrets. By opening the iron gate, made in Paris in 1894, on Fifth Avenue and 104th Street, visitors can be transported to Italy, France and England by way of the Central Park Conservatory Gardens. The attraction’s three gardens—Italian (tiered hedges and a 12-foot-high jet fountain), French (including Walter Schott’s romantic Three Dancing Maidens sculpture) and English (shrubs and perennial plants)— bring a piece of Europe to the U.S. Also, for more than 40 years, art enthusiasts have been making a pilgrimage to New York City’s Graffiti Hall of Fame, located in East Harlem. Local Ray “Sting Ray” Rodriguez created the attraction in 1980, before street art had become a respected form, as a safe space for Harlem artists to hone their craft. Today, the open-air hall of fame, the concrete walls of Jackie Robinson Educational Complex’s schoolyard, are covered in tags.

The Hall of Fame still welcomes local and far-flung artists, photographers and fans of the medium.

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The Battle of Harlem Heights, September 16, 1776, was Washington’s first victory against the British.

Harlem’s Growth From the 1800s In the 1800s, Harlem was a prosperous rural and isolated village, which seemed worthless after it stopped being fertile due to centuries of use. This caused people to sell large and magnificent estates for paltry sums and sometimes even abandon the land by the mid1800s. However, despite it no longer being useful as farmland, the area continued to retain its picturesque rural charm. As a result, many older and well-off residents of the city moved to Harlem to experience its beauty and escape the crowding in downtown Manhattan.

Harlem was annexed into New York City in 1873, and from 1878-1881, the railroad started reaching 129th street. By 1886, it went even farther, allowing more people access to the area.

Harlem became home to a portion of New York City’s white population that was relatively

well-off. However, it also had a small black population since a few blacks had stayed from the time of slavery. New blacks also moved in with the whites as domestic servants. The black population and the Italian population grew in the area.

Real estate boom and speculation were rampant in the area due to the belief that property values would increase dramatically when the subway line to Harlem was completed.

People were buying property for exorbitant sums and creating large apartment complexes in hopes of renting them since rent in Harlem was expected to be almost four times as much as the rent paid by an average family in the city. The real estate bubble burst in 19041905 when people realized that no one was sure when the subway line would be completed and that too many apartment buildings had been created for the demand. Moreover, even if

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Blacks could perform at Harlem’s glamorous Cotton Club but could only enter at the rear service door.

Photo credit: George Karger/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Cotton Club performer Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train” was about the subway trip uptown to Harlem.

Photo credit: Bettmann/Getty Images

Herbert and Sylvia Woods, the flamboyant owners of Sylvia’s restaurant, a Harlem soul food landmark since 1962.

The world-famous Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater of Harlem Photo credit: Rosalie O’Connor

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there were more demand, the rents were too high for most people to afford. Thus, to avoid losing their investment, some landlords allowed blacks to move into the neighborhoods and pay high rent as was the norm for black tenants in the city.

The renting of houses to blacks led to panic in Harlem, and owners started selling their property at any price; however, few were willing to buy, so the property values depreciated even further.

Although some white landlords resisted renting their apartments to black tenants for a while, they eventually became unable to sustain the economic losses and opened their property to black tenants.

Wealthier blacks moved into the area since the Great Migration had greatly increased the black population of the city. Black churches played a key role in creating black Harlem since they bought the property at depreciated costs and helped many blacks settle there.

After a large black population was settled in the area, it was reasonable and relatively easy for newcomers to settle in the area, and the Great Migration certainly helped increase Harlem’s black population.

Represented by novelists, playwrights, essayists and poets such as Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Toomer and Jessie Fauset; artists such as Aaron Douglas; photographers such as James Van Der Zee; and social scientists and philosophers such as E. Franklin Frazier, Alain Locke and W.E.B. Du Bois, the Harlem Renaissance was national in scope but came to be identified with the emerging African American cultural capital, Harlem.

The vast literary and artistic production of the Harlem Renaissance also led to a number of social gatherings at which the black intelligentsia mingled and exchanged ideas. Many of the most celebrated of these events were held at the home of A’Lelia Walker, daughter of Madam C. J. Walker, who had moved the base of her multimillion-dollar beauty care industry to Harlem in 1913.

Opened in 1914, the Apollo Theater has helped launch the careers of countless singers, rappers and comedians. Over the years, this talent showcase has lent its stage to such musical royalty as James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., Billie Holiday and Lauryn Hill. Even singer Lyfe Jennings took his skills to the famed Apollo Theater, which launched his career as it did for many others. The stage has introduced the world to gospel, jazz, R&B and rap acts that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. To say that the Apollo Theater is an important part of African American culture is an understatement; as strong as the famed oak tree

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that has to be rubbed before performing, it has stood as a pillar of the community. It is estimated that 1.3 million people visit the Apollo every year.

Also fostering Harlem’s growth around the 1920s was a series of political developments. Both the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League established offices in the area. Moreover, by 1920, two major New York black newspapers, the New York Age and the Amsterdam News, moved their printing operations and editorial offices there. A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen had established their offices in Harlem as well and edited and published their newspaper, The Messenger, there beginning in 1917. Nothing, however, caught the attention of Harlemites as quickly as the 1916 arrival of Marcus Garvey, who established the headquarters of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in the district. Garvey’s emphasis on race pride and the creation of black businesses and factories, combined with his appeal to the masses, awakened and galvanized the Harlem community.

Harlem in Recent Decades In the mid-1990s, Harlem was marked by a series of crises revolving around race and economics. In 1994, following complaints by local merchants, police forcibly removed street peddlers selling African artifacts and other wares from 125th Street. Then, in 1995, after the Jewish landlord of a space in a building owned by an African American church announced plans to terminate the sublease of a popular African American record store, violent protests broke out, and an arsonist set the Jewish landlord’s store on

fire and killed several others and himself. Just three years later, in 1998, national attention was again fixed on Harlem when former Nation of Islam activist Khalid Abdul Muhammad announced plans for a Million Youth March. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani refused a permit on the pretext that the city could not afford police protection.

Organizers ultimately won a court order authorizing the march, which drew an estimated 40,000 people.

Despite such crises, Harlem continues to maintain, as it has in every decade of its existence, an

inner energy and spirit.

The heart of New York to many African Americans, Harlem has stood as a staple to the history of musicians and artists whose lives have forever changed the neighborhood and beyond.

Whether visitors are looking for a place where they can unwind and immerse themselves in great music, explore new areas, or take in beautiful artwork, the experience will surely be memorable. A destination trip to Harlem is a trip rich with African American culture and history— one that will no doubt satisfy your mind, soul and spirit.

Cuba’s communist leader Fidel Castro invited black support (and controversy) with his 1960 visit to New York City and his stay at Harlem’s Hotel Theresa.

Photo credit: Getty Images

Malcolm X corner preaching was a familiar scene in the streets of Harlem.

Photo credit: AP

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EDUCATE YOURSELF

ON BEING BLACK AND LGBTQIA+

By Kristen Jones

Being seen as “different” in a country that has little to no tolerance for difference is a hard task in itself. Add to that the fact that you are of a race that is often discriminated against, and you have a difficult situation to deal with on a daily basis.

This is a position that many Americans face being black and identifying as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. Although a scary place to be at times, throughout history African Americans have led the march for equality, while facing disapproval, hatred and sometimes violence and death. Racism combined with the forces of stigma, phobia, discrimination and bias associated with gender and sexuality have too often erased the contributions of people of color.

Before the origin of the acronym “LGBT,” the language used to describe this community was considerably limited. In the 1950s and 1960s, people in this group were often referred to as the “gay community.” It wasn’t until 1969 that Americans’ attitudes and politics regarding sexuality begin to shift. Political movements and events such as the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City

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brought attention throughout the world regarding the injustices toward this community. Over time, people recognized that the term “gay” didn’t encompass all sexual orientations and gender identities. In the 1980s, the LGBT acronym gained popularity and was adopted by many activist organizations by the 1990s. The letters in the term represent different ways that

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people describe their sexuality, preference or identity. L is for those identifying as Lesbian, G is for those identifying as Gay, B is for those identifying as Bisexual, and T is for those identifying as Transgender. Additional designations came later to form the acronym LGBTQIA+ because those letters were not sufficient to define everyone.

Q is for those identifying as

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either Queer (which some consider offensive) or still Questioning their sexuality, I is for those identifying as Intersex, and A is for Asexual or Ally, meaning a person who stands up for and is in alliance with the community. + stands for those who identify with another gender identity or sexual orientation not mentioned in the LGBTQIA acronym.

Fighting for Acceptance and Equality Although not widely supported, many notable African Americans identified as LGBTQIA+ and made lasting impacts on the movement as it is today. Performer Gladys Bentley (aka Barbara “Bobbie” Minton), who began performing in 1923 at the age of 16, went on to be known as one of the best performers in the Harlem Renaissance Era. Her “drag king” act was loved by many after she was hired as a piano man in a speakeasy. A champion for gay rights, she was forced to conform in the 1950s during the McCarthy Era when the rise began for African Americans to be more conservative. She went on to claim in an Ebony article that she was “cured” of her gay “affliction” and became heavily involved inthe church after two alleged brief marriages to men. She passed away in 1960.

Bayard Rustin, an LGBTQIA+ and civil rights activist, spoke out about the discrimination against both the gay and African American communities in the 1960s. He was arrested in 1953 after being caught having sex with a man in a parked car, an offense that caused him to be jailed and need to register as a sex offender. He died in 1987 and was later pardoned for being “unjustly punished” for his sexuality.

Stormé DeLarverie was believed by many to be the “butch” lesbian whose scuffle with police ignited the Stonewall Uprising, spurring the crowd to action. Growing up in New Orleans as a mixedrace child, she went on to be remembered as a gay civil rights icon and entertainer, who performed and hosted at the famed Apollo Theater and Radio City Music Hall. Known as “the Rosa Parks of the gay community,” she was well loved until her death in 2014.

James Baldwin, a famed writer and activist, garnered acclaim across various mediums, including essays, novels, plays and poems. He often wove themes of masculinity, sexuality, race and class into tales that were different from the major political movements toward social change at that time in America. These dynamics are evident in Baldwin’s novel, Giovanni’s Room (Vintage

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Books, 1956), which predated the gay liberation movement.

Baldwin was also a famous and sometimes controversial public figure and orator, especially active during the Civil Rights Movement. He passed away in 1987.

Lorraine Hansberry, a playwright and writer, became the first African American female author to have a play performed on Broadway, in 1959. The play, A Raisin in the Sun, highlighted black Americans living under segregation in Chicago. Her writing often discussed her lesbianism and the oppression of homosexuality. She died of pancreatic cancer in 1965.

Alvin Ailey, a dancer, director, choreographer and activist who was also gay, founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

He created the school to nurture black artists and express the African American experience through dance. He combined theater, modern dance, ballet and jazz, creating amazing moves that are still performed today. He died in 1989; in 2008, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared December 4 “Alvin Ailey Day” in New York City.

Audre Lorde was a writer, radical feminist, womanist, librarian and civil rights activist. As a lesbian mother,

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she confronted and addressed injustices of racism, sexism, classism and homophobia. As a poet, she is known for expressing anger and outrage at the civil and social injustices she observed in life. She died in 1992.

Ernestine Eckstein helped steer the United States lesbian and gay rights movement in the 1960s. In the 1970s, she became involved in the black feminist movement with the organization Black Women Organized for Action.

She passed away in 1992.

Barbara Jordan was an American lawyer, educator, politician and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. A Democrat, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and the first Southern African American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives. Known for her eloquent opening statement at the House Judiciary Committee hearings during Richard Nixon’s impeachment. Jordan was the first LGBTQ+ woman in Congress.

She died from pneumonia in 1996. Her grave rests in the Texas State Cemetery near the “Father of Texas” Stephen F. Austin. She was the first African American to receive this honor and previously advocated for African Americans RuPaul is perhaps the most famous trans performer to be buried in the state cemetery in the world. Photo credit: Mathu Andersen

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when she served in the Texas State Senate.

Marsha P. Johnson was an American gay liberation activist and drag queen. Known as an outspoken advocate for gay rights, Johnson was one of the prominent figures in the Stonewall Uprising. From 1987 through 1992, Johnson was an AIDS activist with ACT UP. Sadly, Johnson’s body was found floating in the Hudson River in 1992. It was ruled a suicide by the NYPD, but controversy followed concerning the cause of death.

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is a trans woman activist and community leader for transgender rights, with a

particular focus on women of color. She has participated in activism for many causes, including the Stonewall Uprising.

Ron Oden is an American politician who in November 2003 was elected as the first gay African American mayor of Palm Springs, Calif., after serving eight years on the city council. Becoming the first black openly gay man to be a mayor of a U.S. city, he served in office from 2003 through 2007.

(In December 2017, the city made history again when Palm Springs elected America’s first all LGBTQ city council.)

Phil Wilson, a prominent African American HIV/AIDS activist, founded the Black AIDS Institute in 1999 and served as its CEO. Andrea Jenkins is an American politician, writer, performance artist, poet and transgender activist. She is known for being the first black openly transgender

vs Homosexuality: Nature or Nurture?

The question of whether homosexuality is inbred or learned (“groomed”) will be debated endlessly. An online blogger, Cole Christiansen, has this to say about the question:

Rapper Lil Nas X does not hide being LGBTQ.

While homosexuality is clearly real and present in the world today and in past societies, there has not been a clear consensus on the root causes of homosexuality. There are many studies and arguments that state it is a natural, biological trait that is developed in people but others have stated that homosexual tendencies have far more to do with environment and upbringing than any other factor. The nature/nurture argument of homosexuality will continue on for years as researchers further investigate this controversy. While it is still strongly contested, both sides have presentable research that must be compared and analyzed. … … the American Psychological Association stated: “There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation.

Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles; most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.” There are many different cases of how people come to know of their sexual orientation.

Some know through their relationships with other people while others find out through their experiences in sexual activity. Research continues to be conducted to better answer the debate over homosexuality being something that a person is born with or it being something that results from experiences in one’s environment/family. Don’t primarily focus on the origins of homosexuality, but instead, find ways to help those struggling with homosexuality. Help others learn to express themselves and be confident in who they truly are.

Photo credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMa

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Author and civil rights activist James Baldwin faced ostracism for his homosexuality.

Photo credit: Dmitri Kasterin

Orlando Jordan, a former American professional wrestler who was the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) 2005 U.S. champion, used his bisexuality as a gimmick in the ring. Photo via Twitter

Photo credit: The Esquerre family

The Community Today

woman elected to public office in the United States. She has served since January 2018 on the Minneapolis City Council and as its president since January 2022.

Willi Ninja was a dancer and choreographer known for appearing in the documentary Paris Is Burning. Known as the godfather of voguing, he was a constant fixture of ball culture

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at Harlem’s drag balls and was inspired to develop a unique style of dance and movement. In 1989, he starred in the music video for Malcolm McLaren’s song “Deep in Vogue,” which sampled “Paris Burning” and brought Ninja’s style to the mainstream. In 1990, Madonna released “Vogue,” bringing further attention to the dancing style.

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There are nearly 1.4 million LGBT black adults in the United States, totaling 12 percent of the LGBT population, the equivalent of the entire population of Dallas.

Black same-sex couples are nearly twice as likely as white same-sex couples to be raising children, a number that is steadily rising.

Healthwise, the overall new HIV diagnoses in the black community decreased nationally by 15 percent between 2010 and 2017, while new diagnoses among black gay and bisexual men increased 42 percent during this period.

Black LGBTQ youth face alarming rates of discrimination on account of both their race and sexual orientation/gender identity. Moreover, they face alarming rates of policing and violence in all aspects of their lives. Across the nation, widespread unsolved murders and unprovoked violence have been occurring within the black community and not being widely

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Bayard Rustin, civil rights and human rights activist, set up the Freedom Rides and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The fact that he was gay was an open secret. Photo credit: AP publicized or investigated.

Oftentimes, the media makes the mistake of “deadnaming” the victims or reporting them as a name they no longer identify with, leading to misinformation on tips to help solve these cases.

Black queer, trans and gender nonconforming people are disproportionately pushed out of school and educational settings, further driving economic disparities. In addition, they experience widespread homelessness and housing insecurity due to pervasive discrimination and structural exclusion in public and private housing and shelters across the country. Black LGBTQ face higher unemployment rates, are more likely to experience economic hardship, and are less likely to have health coverage than the general population. Rates of poverty are especially high among those identifying as nonbinary and trans men.

Today, African American representatives of the LGBTQ

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Actress Angelica Ross, who is transgender, is also founder and CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises, a company that employs transgender people in the tech industry.

Photo credit: Shanna Fisher

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has used his position to pass discriminatory laws against the LGBTQ community in order to boost his political profile. These laws have isolated and endangered the community.

Photo credit: Paul Hennessy/Sopa Images/Lightrocket/Getty Images

community can be seen everywhere from the courthouse to the television and even performing center stage before the world. Lori Lightfoot, RuPaul, Laverne Cox, MJ Rodriguez, Nicco Annan, Billy Porter, Lil Nas X and Da Brat are putting their sexuality on display and are proudly giving inspiration to those who

see themselves in these people.

Being gay and black has never been easy, but the normality is now being discussed. And yet, in a nation that claims to be “indivisible,” it is often dangerous to be different, and some are still allowing one’s sexuality to determine their life or death?

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THE CULTURE Play Ball!

The Players Who Changed the Game Photo credit: Bob Sandberg/Look magazine

Photo credit: Louis Requena/MLB via Getty Images

By Lorraine Jones

Jackie Robinson

Satchel Paige

Hank Aaron

Amidst the Jim Crow laws and prevalence of a segregationist sentiment, an organized effort to showcase African American talent was born. Prior to its integration, the world of baseball was designed to exclude black Americans. In 1867, the National Association of (Amateur) Base Ball Players denied membership to black Americans; in 1876, the professional National League was established by owners with the intention of keeping baseball a white man’s game; and in 1887, white team owners normalized the use of the “gentleman’s agreement” to prevent black players from entering the league.

The Kansas City Monarchs team of 1948. Jackie Robinson played for the storied Negro Leagues franchise before breaking MLB’s color barrier in 1947.

This influenced Hall of Famer Andrew “Rube” Foster to carve out a space for blacks by creating the Negro National League in 1920. When the Negro National League was originally founded, it consisted of eight teams: the Chicago American Giants, Chicago Giants, Cuban Stars, Dayton Marcos, Detroit Stars, Kansas City Monarchs, Indianapolis ABCs and the St. Louis Giants. Almost two decades earlier, Foster had distinguished himself as a prominent player winning 44 games in a row for the Philadelphia Cuban X-Giants in 1902. Despite the success of the team, players and team owners remained at the mercy of the white booking agents who dictated when and where the team could play, manipulated the gate receipts, and passed a meager fraction of the games’ attendance revenues on to the team.

Prominent figures in the Negro Leagues implemented changes to the sport that brought longlasting innovation. Willie Wells, a legendary shortstop in the Negro Leagues, is credited as the first professional player of any race to wear protective headgear in a game. After opposing pitcher Bill Byrd knocked Wells unconscious in 1936, Wells modified a construction hard hat to be worn as protective gear in the next game. This type of helmet wasn’t seen in the American League or the Negro Leagues until 1941 when the Brooklyn Dodgers wore hats with protective plate inserts. Bud Fowler, who played on white teams in the late 1800s and early 1900s and was one of the first known black professional baseball players, introduced shin guards when he fashioned wooden slats to protect his shins from the vicious spikes of prejudiced white opponents.

The development of the Negro

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Jackie Robinson opened the door.

Brooklyn Dodgers GM Branch Rickey signed Robinson to the team in 1947, breaking baseball’s color bar.

Photo credit: AP

Leagues became a lucrative enterprise, generating millions in revenue and providing opportunities for black athletes, coaches, managers and team owners for several generations.

From the Civil War to Civil Rights and all points in between and beyond, the game of baseball supports and reflects many aspects of American life, from culture to economics and technological advances. It inspires movements, instills pride, and even heals cities.

Jackie Robinson Opened the Door After 60 years of racial segregation in Major League Baseball, former UCLA athletic star Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier when he integrated Major League Baseball. After a superior performance with the Negro Leagues’ Kansas City Monarchs, Robinson was approached by a scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers, making an impact much greater than baseball.

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Robinson was a three-letter man at UCLA. Photos credit: UCLA newsroom

On July 23, 1962, Jackie Robinson is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Army Lt. Robinson, discharged in 1944 during World War II. Defiance of discrimination led to a courtmartial and acquittal. Photo credit: Getty Images

Jackie Robinson as an ABC broadcaster for Major League Championship Baseball, in 1965

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When Robinson manned first base for the Dodgers on April 15, 1947, he ushered in an irreversible flux of African American talent to this new stage and initiated a gradual momentum for the civil rights movement. This spurred a cascade of advances for minorities in America. The following year, in 1948, President Harry S. Truman abolished racial segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces, and six years later, in 1954, the Supreme Court desegregated public schools in the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Robinson served as a symbol to the world that black

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Americans would no longer accept second-class status. He created a sense of unity through sports. Dodgers fans, regardless of race, were elated about the success of the team. Fellow civil rights figure Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. paid tribute to Robinson’s pioneering achievements when he said, “Back in the days when integration wasn’t fashionable, he underwent the trauma and the humiliation and the loneliness that comes with being a pilgrim walking the lonesome byways toward the high road of freedom.

He was a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides.”

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Satchel Paige (1906-1982): The First Great Star

Mo Vaughn, known as “The Hit Dog” throughout his eight years with the Boston Red Sox, wore No. 42 in honor of Robinson, his hero. By wearing the number again for the Mets from 2002-03, Vaughn was the last black player in MLB history to have 42 as his uniform number.

Robinson went on to become the first African American to win a batting title in 1949 with an average of .342. He also became Major League Baseball’s first official Rookie of the Year in 1947, earned the title of Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1949, and was the first baseball player of any race to be featured on a U.S. postage stamp. Robinson led his team to six league championships and one World Series victory.

Robinson and teammate Dan Bankhead were the first black players to appear in a World Series. Robinson’s achievements were commemorated in 1962 when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Despite his momentous career and success, Robinson was still a minority in a white man’s game. He took the diamond against prejudice, facing the brunt of persistent verbal slander, hostility and physical intimidation from both teammates and opponents. Often, the Dodgers were denied entrance from their usual hotels because they did not serve black people. Many of Robinson’s teammates requested trades or refused to take the field entirely with the new addition to the Dodgers.

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“ Don’t look back.

Something might be gaining on you.”

Born in Mobile, Ala., Satchel Paige was first introduced to baseball when he received pitching lessons while serving out a five-year sentence in a juvenile reform school. Despite this unconventional introduction, Paige was able to hone his remarkable athletic ability at a young age and become a national baseball hero.

Paige began his professional career in the Negro Leagues in the 1920s and swiftly rose to stardom with the Birmingham Black Barons, Baltimore Black Sox, Cleveland Cubs and Homestead Grays, but he made his greatest contributions to the sport and had the most impact on the Negro Leagues with the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Kansas City Monarchs.

When Paige wasn’t traveling with a team, he formed freelance barnstorming teams along with other black players that would play other teams in exhibition games to earn extra income. When Paige was touring with his team, he received consistent racist taunts from spectators. He protested the racism by refusing to play in towns in which he could not get a hotel room or a meal due to his race.

His sensational performance on the field drew white baseball fans to take a second look at the players in the Negro Leagues. After more than 20 years of competition with the Negro Leagues, Paige signed a contract with the Cleveland Indians, his official debut with the Majors in 1948. Paige entered the Majors at the age of 42, the oldest rookie in the history of the league.

Paige and his teammates became the first African American players to win a World Series championship when the Indians took the crown in 1948. In 1971, Paige’s talent was acknowledged when he became the first Negro Leagues star to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

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Best known for hitting the most home runs of any player in baseball history (until Barry Bonds broke his record in 2007), Hank Aaron used his platform to speak out against pervasive racism in Major League Baseball. As he grew in his career, Aaron became a living representation of American racial intolerance as well as triumph and showmanship.

In 1952, Aaron signed a contract with the Negro League Indianapolis Clowns, but didn’t play long before Major League Baseball scouts noticed his talent.

In 1953, Aaron was signed to the Boston Braves of the historically prejudiced South Atlantic League. The new Braves slugger faced relentless abuse from the stands while playing in the South. As fans began to take notice of Aaron, he was flooded with 930,000 pieces of mail, some congratulatory and many others filled with hate and racist aggression. Aaron experienced hate mail, death threats and a kidnap attempt on his daughter. The Braves assigned two Atlanta police officers to oversee the hostility toward Aaron during games.

As he closed in on Babe Ruth’s record, Aaron grew exhausted as he felt he had more than earned the right to be spared the racial hatred he endured on the diamond.

This showman slugger was declared the National League MVP in 1957 while simultaneously helping the Braves beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.

In 1972, Aaron signed the deal of a lifetime, a $600,000

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Photo credit: Getty Images

Hank Aaron (1934-2021): The Man Who Overtook a Legend

contract for three years, the richest contract in baseball history at the time. This exceptional athlete even eclipsed Babe Ruth’s home-run record on April 8, 1974, when he hit his 715th. In 1982, on 406 out of 415 decisions, Aaron was elected to the Hall of Fame. His induction percentage of 97.83 is the ninth highest in history.

In addition to demonstrating his athletic ability, Aaron encouraged a surge of minority advancement when he was named the Braves’ vice president in charge of player development in 1976, a major role in the management of the franchise.

Aaron continued to grow within the industry and become a senior vice president of the Braves while

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developing the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation, an organization that promotes youth development by providing funding that supports their achievements and explores their talent. Aaron’s legacy through Major League Baseball not only encouraged the influx of minorities into baseball but proved minority mobility.

Aaron’s professional career lasted 23 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and the Milwaukee Brewers.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President George W. Bush for his exemplary embodiment of the true spirit of the country in 2002.

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102 Years of Negro League Baseball, 1920-2022 When you are in St. Louis, Mo., you should take the time to visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM), a 10,000-square-foot edifice adjoining the American Jazz Museum. Founded in 1990 by a group of former Negro League baseball players—among them Kansas City Monarchs outfielder Alfred Surratt—the NLBM chronologically charts the progress of the Negro Leagues with informative placards and interactive exhibits. Its walls are lined with pictures of players, owners and officials of Negro League baseball from the Negro National League of 1920 through the Negro American League, which lasted until 1962.

As visitors progress through the exhibit, they move forward in time through the history of black baseball. In one area of the museum, there are lockers set up for some of the legends of the Negro Leagues. One can see game-worn uniforms, cleats, gloves and other artifacts from stars such as Josh Gibson, the “Black Babe Ruth.”

A must-see is the Field of Legends, where you can walk onto a field adorned by nearly lifesize bronze statues of 12 figures from Negro League history: Gibson (crouching behind the plate), one of the most prolific hitters in baseball history, a man who allegedly hit over 80 home runs in one season.

Hall of Famer Buck Leonard, a teammate of Gibson’s with the Homestead Grays, at first base.

At second base is John Henry Lloyd.

Judy Johnson monitors shortstop.

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Ray Dandridge holds down third base.

In the outfield are Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston and Leon Day. On the mound is perhaps the most famous Negro Leaguer of all time, Satchel Paige, who became a rookie in Major League Baseball at age 42 in 1948.

At the plate is Martín Dihigo, the only man to be inducted into the Halls of Fame in three countries: Mexico, Cuba and the United States.

Pitcher of the Year—”Pitchers of the Year” in the NL and AL: Leroy “Satchel” Paige Legacy Award (2000–2005) Wilbur “Bullet” Rogan Legacy Award (2006– present) Larry Doby Legacy Award—”Rookies of the Year” in the NL and AL Hilton Smith Legacy Award—”Relievers of the Year” in the NL and AL

Other statues commemorate Rube Foster, the founder of the first Negro National League, and Buck O’Neil, a former Kansas City Monarch and a member of the board of the museum until his October 6, 2006, death. O’Neil’s Presidential Medal of Freedom—awarded posthumously

by President George W. Bush—was donated in 2012.

Walter “Buck” Leonard Legacy Award—batting champions in the NL and AL

In 2008, Geddy Lee (of the Canadian band Rush), himself an avid baseball fan, donated nearly 200 autographed baseballs to the NLBM. The signatures on these baseballs include names such as Hank Aaron, Cool Papa Bell and Lionel Hampton. At the time, Lee’s gift was one of the largest single donations the NLBM had ever received.

Charles Isham “C.I.” Taylor Legacy Award—”Managers of the Year” in the NL and AL

Josh Gibson Legacy Award—”Home Run” leaders in the NL and AL James “Cool Papa” Bell Legacy Award—”Stolen Base” leaders in the NL and AL

Andrew “Rube” Foster Legacy Award—”Executives of the Year” in the NL and AL John Henry “Pop” Lloyd Legacy Award—in recognition of “Baseball and Community Leadership” Sam Lacy Legacy Award—”Baseball Writer of the Year”

Each year, the museum presents the following awards: Oscar Charleston Legacy Award—”Most Valuable Players” in the National League (NL) and American League (AL)

Jackie Robinson Lifetime Achievement Award—for “Career Excellence in the Face of Adversity” John “Buck” O’Neil Legacy Award—to a local or national corporate/private philanthropist for “Outstanding Support of the NLBM” Hall of Game Award—Former Major League Baseball stars

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BLACK HISTORY SPORTS FEATS

Quiz

Men and women of African descent have been breaking records in the sports world since the very beginning. Measure your knowledge of their amazing feats in our history quiz.

For answers to the quiz, click here or contact eab@bavual.com for a link to YouTube video answers.

PEOPLE

4. Which black bodybuilder has won the most top-tier Olympia titles in the sport?

6. The first black chess Grandmaster hails from which country?

Photo credit: Charlotte Observer

2. Who was the shortest black National Basketball Association (NBA) player?

5. Quinton Jackson is famous for his achievement in which sport?

Photo credit: Mark Humphrey/AP

1. Who is the richest black athlete?

3. How many black hockey players are in the National Hockey League (NHL)?

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PLACES

4. Legendary pro golfer Tiger Woods’ mother Kultida (maiden name Punsawad) was born in which Asian country?

2. Wendell Scott was the first African American to win which major sporting event?

Photo credit: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

1. What was the “Thrilla in Manila”?

3. What 1938 sporting event has been widely regarded as among the most important or historic sports events of all time ?

5. Why was the first professional black baseball team called the Cuban Giants?

2. Which country is third-ranked worldwide in international men’s cricket by the International Cricket Council?

4. Which three sporting events was Arthur Ashe the only black man ever to win?

6. What is the most popular sport in Africa?

EVENTS

Photo credit: Benoit Photo/AP

1. Who was the first black jockey to win the Kentucky Derby?

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6. What tragic event ended the career of ESPN anchor Stuart Scott, the sportscaster who popularized the catchphrase “Boo-yah!”?

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Photo credit: Rich Arden /ESPN

3. Which black college is the winningest football team in history?

5. What annual New York City sporting event did Ted Corbitt help plan?

Exclusive BAVUAL Interview: Frederick Douglass

By Kristen Jones

At a time when African Americans had no voice in America’s destiny, Frederick Douglass (1817 or 1818-1895), former slave and abolitionist, stood for the rights of all people in bondage and epitomized their yearning to be free. Douglass left us 127 years ago but through divine intervention was allowed to return to Earth for an exclusive interview with BAVUAL contributing editor Kristen Jones. Herein is that interview:

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Jones: Thank you, Mr. Douglass, for joining us for this interview and for giving us your insight on the current state of our nation.

As the author of the famous “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” speech in 1852, what thoughts crossed your mind when listening to the famed poet and orator Amanda Gorman as she recited her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the presidential inauguration on January 20, 2021?

Douglass: Well, I can always appreciate when a person of color is chosen to speak in front of America. I feel that she did an excellent job of depicting the thoughts and emotions of many African Americans today. When I wrote my Fourth of July speech, I was highlighting the irony and hypocrisy of the country that we live in, and that irony and hypocrisy remain today. Amanda sought to give us the hope that we so desperately need today, and I believe she inspired many people with her beautiful words.

Jones: Do you feel that it was an important time for her to make this speech, given the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the division in the United States due to the last election?

Douglass: Oh yes. I certainly feel that it was necessary for someone to say SOMETHING. Many African Americans felt the need to express their feelings about the incident that took place. And her words were a perfect combination of strength, determination and hope.

Jones: While we are on the subject, let me also ask you what

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you think about patriotism and black Americans’ right to protest against the government.?

Douglass: I am all for it. I feel that if those in power are doing things that are meant to keep us down, then let’s call them out.

Jones: Yes. Yes, Mr. Douglass.

What are your thoughts on today’s means of communication? Are you a fan of posting to social media or are you more likely to just listen or read?

Douglass: Yes and no. I see more of a presence of blacks on the frontlines of organizing, voting, running for public office, and protesting to try to bring about change and improve life for black Americans, but I also see some blacks falling into the societal norms and beginning to give up on the struggle for black equality as long as they have their own piece of the pie; those are the ones we still need to reach.

Douglass: Well, I am a lover of all forms of expression.

Listening and reading are, of course, essential for acquiring knowledge, and with all the false and dangerous information on the internet and social media today, I would certainly post on various platforms myself. I have always fought to get the truth out, and I would use any means available to do so.

Some have suggested that people my age should simply rest and enjoy the simple pleasures.

While that sounds great, there is simply no time to rest today when there are so many who would undo all of our advances since my time.

Jones: Yes, Mr. Douglass. You yourself have often given others hope through your passionate words. Your speeches have been celebrated throughout the years, and your words remain timeless.

Jones: That is understandable.

I’m sure a lot of our readers would be happy to follow you on social media. Certainly, the hard-won advances you and your colleagues made must not be given up.

Douglass: Thank you. I appreciate you saying that.

Douglass: Thank you.

Jones: Can you identify with today’s black culture? Do you feel it’s something you can be proud of?

Jones: No need. The appreciation is all mine. To say that you are a man of great ideas is an understatement. How do you manage your thoughts in today’s world with so many outlets for the expression and dissemination of ideas?

Douglass: When you say outlets, do you mean the internet? Social media?

Jones: What else do you think you would be doing if you were active among us today?

Douglass: Hmm. One may never know. I could possibly be the next New York Times best-seller. I still find myself wanting to reach as many people as I can and spread knowledge to help them and their families. Books are widely being turned into films or series, so you might have seen Frederick Douglass on the big screen.

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The ability to educate and influence people through video is not something we can ignore.

Movies, television shows and even short videos such as those on TikTok have an emotional impact that is impossible to achieve through other media.

Unfortunately, that power can be used for good or ill. If we want to establish and preserve freedom and equality, we must be masters of all the media.

Jones: Were you able to catch the last awards show on television?

Surely you have a show that you watch or get lost in when you get free time.

Douglass: I actually have been watching old reboots on television.

For some reason, the nostalgia of the programs has me watching consistently. I am amazed at the increased opportunities for people of color and the achievements they have made. I am in awe when I turn on my television and see my people in living color being paid to entertain and do what they love.

It’s an awesome feeling.

Jones: Of course. Have you seen a rise in roles for those actors, or do you still see changes that need to be made? Have you noticed any changes in the way African Americans are being portrayed?

Douglass: Well, as always, change can be either good or bad, and when it’s good, it’s often not good enough. By no means are we where we want to be as far as the number and types of opportunities we have in Hollywood or being recognized for our achievements; however, with each year that passes, I see more

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newcomers and more stars being made than ever before. Compared to my time, it’s revolutionary.

When you think of films like Coming 2 America, Get Out and Space Jam: A New Legacy, you see African Americans being able to bring audiences to the box offices or in front of their television screens and becoming household names. No doubt, our actors are stellar and are making a dramatic impact. I think, however, that we could benefit even more if we had more black screenwriters, directors and producers. That’s how we’ll get more of the authentic black stories and roles we really want and need.

Jones: You mention these pioneering films, but many have also called you a pioneer. What would you say your legacy is?

Douglass: I believe my legacy is one of equality. One where African Americans and women don’t have to be looked upon as less than but are given the equal opportunities that they have long deserved.

Jones: Oh, yes, I’m glad that you also mentioned your struggle for women’s rights. Our readers should know about that work as well.

Where do you see American and the world in the 21st century?

Douglass: I see it as a place that still needs to right the wrongs committed in the past and that is, in some ways, attempting to do so against some strong opposition. I see it as a progressively evolving environment that can spark real change if it’s widely supported.

We cannot rest, however, until the opponents of equality for all are defeated. We defeated them

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to some degree in my time, and I believe that we can do so again.

We have a lot more people today than then who know that race and gender should not be a reason to deny a person his or her rights.

Jones: And what about the political parties? Surely you see the new elections and appointments of people of color as a positive sign?

Douglass: Of course. A black president, vice president, several black members of Congress, black mayors, and a black female Supreme Court justice are certainly steps forward, but we still have far to go. During Reconstruction in my time, we were able to elect some black men to prominent positions in the government, but soon afterward, the opposition found all kinds of violent and underhanded ways to take away our vote and hinder our participation in government for more than a hundred years.

As I’m sure you know, that is happening again, and we must struggle harder and defeat those efforts. It’s not easy, but I always hold on to hope. Without it, we have nothing.

Jones: You’re certainly right. Each year has brought about change for African Americans and a steady light of hope that the future can be that much brighter. Thanks again, Mr. Douglass, for letting me into your head to get your take on the shape of the United States of America.

Douglass: You’re welcome. And thanks for having me.

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| Summer 2022

On it.

Ending racial injustice requires all of us to work together and take real action.

What can you do to help?

Educate yourself about the history of American racism, privilege and what it means to be anti-racist. Educate yourself

about the history of American racism, privilege and what it means to be anti-racist.

Commit to actions that challenge injustice and make everyone feel like they belong, such as challenging biased or racist language when you hear it.

Vote in national and local elections to ensure your elected officials share your vision of public safety.

Donate to organizations, campaigns and initiatives who are committed to racial justice.

Let’s come together to take action against racism and fight for racial justice for the Black community.

Visit lovehasnolabels.com/fightforfreedom

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THE HUSTLE

Robert F. Smith, Billionaire Moneyman

By Kristen Jones

Billionaires are a fairly recent phenomenon in human history.

Up until the 1970s, it was still a mark of distinction to be called a millionaire; such a distinction would have given the owner a buying power eight times its worth in today’s world, and the distance between a million dollars and a middleclass income was much closer than it is today. The number of known billionaires, such as Howard Hughes and J. Paul Getty, would swell beginning with Reaganomics in the 1980s and explode in the tech revolution of the new millennium. These changes would attract a new breed of Wall Street investor who understood how to manipulate corporations and markets in order to wildly enrich themselves.

Enter Robert Frederick Smith, a 59-year-old African American investor hailing from Denver, Colo., where he grew up in a middle-class neighborhood. His parents were schoolteachers. As an infant, he attended the March on Washington in August 1963, where

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he heard Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Smith first showed an interest in business in high school when he applied continuously to Bell Labs for an internship program. The company, known for its landmark industrial research and scientific development breakthroughs, had originally told him that the position was only open to those that were in college. By grace or by luck, a student from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was unable to attend and Smith was able to take his place and attend in the summer of 1979. He went on to develop a reliability test for semiconductors.

Smith discovered his passion for enterprise software when he joined Goldman Sachs’ technology team in San Francisco in 1996. He advised Apple on its decision to bring back its co-founder, Steven P. Jobs, as chief executive, helped orchestrate Hewlett-Packard’s spinoff of Agilent, and worked with clients including Microsoft, Yahoo and eBay.

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Photo credit: Carnegie Hall

You may have asked yourself the question, “What would I do if I had a billion dollars?” For nearly all of us, that question will forever remain theoretical. But not for Robert F. Smith. He not only knows what it’s like to have a billion, but $6.7 billion. In an America where even that mind-numbing sum of money pales in comparison to the stratospheric net worth of a Jeff Bezos or an Elon Musk and where the morality of one person possessing such great wealth when most of his fellow countrymen have to persist on savings of $400 or less is being hotly debated, Smith has had to grapple with the power and the responsibility that comes with being a mega-billionaire.

In 2000, Smith founded Vista Equity Partners, a venture capital firm, and he currently serves as its chairman and CEO. He directs Vista’s investment strategy and decisions, firm governance and investor relations. Under his leadership, Vista has exclusively focused on the enterprise software, data and technology-enabled solutions sectors. The firm has acquired more than 110 companies and never lost money on an investment, according to people familiar with its performance. Vista has made Smith the secondwealthiest black person in the world, and the wealthiest black American. He follows a path blazed by the late Reginald Lewis, also a venture capitalist, whose creation of the conglomerate TLC Beatrice International Holdings in the late 1980s made him the first black billionaire. [See “Reginald Lewis, 1942-1993: The First Black Billionaire,” BAVUAL Fall 2021.]

It has been said, “To whom much is given, much is expected.”

The aphorism is not lost on Smith. During his youth, his

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family vacationed at Lincoln Hills, a 300-acre retreat outside Denver frequented by black jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington.

Decades later, Smith returned on a fly-fishing trip and found it in disrepair. He bought the property, restored it, and now uses it to host both underprivileged school children and entertainers such as Maceo Parker, Angie Stone and Jamie Foxx. (Smith and Foxx are friends and spend vacations together riding horses, skeet shooting and fly fishing.)

Around the same time, the charitable Fund II Foundation of which Smith is the founding director and president began to make humongous grants. In 2016 alone, it pledged $27 million to the Susan G. Komen organization to reduce the racial disparity in breast cancer deaths (mortality rates are 40 percent higher for black women than white women), $39 million to preserve such African ­American heritage sites as Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, and $48 million to the United Negro College Fund to support students studying science, technology, engineering and math.

In 2018, Smith was the largest individual donor at the City of Hope Gala, which funds prostate cancer treatment and breast cancer research for black men and women.

That same year, Smith donated $2.5 million to the Prostate Cancer Foundation to advance prostate cancer research among African American men. Also in 2018, Smith donated $1 million to the Cultural Performance Center at the Denny Farrell Riverbank State Park in Harlem, which was later renamed the Robert Frederick Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

The tech investor and philanthropist made headlines in 2019 for paying off the student debt of an entire graduating class at Morehouse College. Smith is one of the co-founders of Lincoln Hills Cares, which offers outdoor experiences and education at Lincoln Hills to inner-city and college-age youth through a number of programs. He is also the chairman of Carnegie Hall, which

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he has been pushing to organize online concerts. “We’ve got to stay connected and alive and excited about who we are,” he says.

Smith has donated $20 million to the National Museum of African American History and Culture and $50 million to Cornell University.

The accolades have followed: Smith received the Reginald F. Lewis Achievement Award, the Ripple of Hope Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Robert Toigo Foundation, the Award of Excellence from the National Association of Investment Companies, and the Columbia University BBSA Distinguished Alumni Award.

In 2015, he generated tabloid headlines by marrying Hope Dworaczyk in epic style at the Hotel Villa Cimbrone on the Amalfi Coast. The New York Post’s Page Six noted that the couple and their son Hendrix, who was 7 months old, “floated down the aisle on a cloud” made by Cirque du Soleil designers.

Hope, a Miss Teen Texas and former model, won $20,000 for the charity Best Buddies when she was a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice.

With both beauty and a heart for others, she has stood by Smith’s side as they have gone on to continue their success. (Hope is his second wife; he had three other children from a previous marriage.)

In Spring 2022, Smith landed in the spotlight as the NFL urged him to buy the Denver Broncos football team to help the league address a racial-equity crisis.

TOP: Smith gives big to HBCU students.

BOTTOM: Smith with wife Hope Dworaczyk at Carnegie Hall Not everything in Smith’s fortunate life has been peaches and cream. He avoided federal prosecution over evading taxes on hundreds of millions of dollars in investment profits by cooperating as a witness against Robert Brockman, a Vista seed investor who was criminally indicted in 2020 in a record-breaking $2 billion tax fraud case. As a result, some have begun to have doubts in his ability to continue to take Vista to heights not yet seen by the business world. Although the scandal looks to be still looming over the company, Smith seems determined to keep performing at his best.

Despite his legal issues, allegations of overseas accounts, and whispers of shady business practices, he has still remained one to look out for. At times, he has been a step ahead of his opponents and always willing to fight for his reputation that has been forming since the days of Dr. King.

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JUST THE FACTS

Black America as of 2015 OFFICIAL NAME United States of America FOUNDED July 4, 1776 GEOGRAPHY 3,531,905 square miles, fourth largest on Earth. Bordered by Canada (north and east), Pacific Ocean (west and middle of the ocean), Atlantic Ocean (east) and Mexico and Gulf of Mexico (south). Part of North America in the Western Hemisphere.

CAPITAL Washington, D.C., which is 25.9% black POLITICAL DIVISIONS 50 states and 6 territories.

Mississippi has the highest percentage of blacks (37%), Montana the lowest (.04%).

POPULATION1 329,484,123, third largest on Earth.

POPULATION BREAKDOWN1 White, 59.7%; Hispanic/Latino, 18.6%; Black (Non-Hispanic), 12.6%; Asian (Non-Hispanic), 5.9%; Multiracial (Non-Hispanic), 2.3%; American Indian/Alaska Native (Non-Hispanic), 0.7% BLACK RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION2 Christian, 79%; Unaffiliated, 18%; Islam, 2%; Other, 1%. Within Christendom, 71% are Protestant and 5% are Catholic. The largest church is the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) $35.351 trillion (2022), first among all nations BLACK ANNUAL INCOME4 Average, $48,761.39 (68.6% of whites); Median, $35,002 (70% of whites); Top 1%, $251,800 (63% of whites) NATIONAL DEBT Approximately $30.494 trillion (July 2022), or $91,601 per person UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (JULY 2022) Black, 5.9% (19.9% among black male teens); white, 3.1% 3

HOMEOWNERSHIP Black, 42.1%; white, 73.3% 1

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION (2019)9 Black, 80%; white, 89%

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POST HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION (2019)9 Associate’s degree - black, 12.4%; white, 52.4%; Bachelor’s degree – black, 10.3%; white, 62.3%; Master’s degree – black 13.4%; white 64.3%; Doctor’s degree – black 9.2%; white 65.7% LIFE EXPECTANCY (2014)8 Black, 75.2 years; white, 78.8 years

BAVUAL:

INFANT MORTALITY (PER 100,000)8 Black, 10.6; white, 4.5 INCARCERATION RATE (% of the prison population)6 Black, 37.5%; white (including Hispanic Americans), 58.7%

The Moorish Chief by Eduard Charlemont , 1878

The African Heritage Magazine

| Summer 2022

Black Population by County as of 2020 (data from www.statisticalatlas.com)

POVERTY RATE5 Black, 19.5%; white, 8.2% BLACK POLITICAL AFFILIATION2 Democrat, 80%; Republican, 11%; Independent/Other, 9% BLACK PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT7 Total, 10%. Highest: community and social service occupations, 20.5%. Lowest: architecture and engineering occupations, 5.9%.

Bavual.com

KEY ISSUES AFFECTING BLACKS Racism, sexism, gender and age discrimination, psychological aftereffects of slavery and segregation, inequality in the justice system, malnutrition and starvation, often substandard public schools, biased testing, employment and housing discrimination, poverty and unequal pay, financial exploitation, lack of access to capital that generates wealth Source: USAFacts.org Source: Pewresearch.org 3 Source: bls.gov 1

4

7

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5

8

Source: dqydj.com Source: statista.com 6 Source: worldatlas.com

Source: dpeaflcio.org Source: cdc.gov 9 Source: nces.ed.gov

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ROLL OF HONOR Recognizing Greatness in Any Endeavor

Summer Lights

By Lorraine Jones

WALTER MOSLEY (b. 1952)

Civil rights activist; USA Brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, this World War II veteran and disc jockey in Philadelphia, Miss., was made chair of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) voter registration campaign in 1954 and later became NAACP state field director. Named “Man of the Year” by the NAACP in 1969, he was also elected mayor of Fayette, Miss., that year, becoming the first black American mayor in the state since Reconstruction. (The white officers on the police force resigned rather than work under a black mayor, making the department all-black.) Evers then outlawed the carrying of firearms within city limits. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1971 and the U.S. Senate in 1978 as an independent candidate, but eventually became a Republican. In 2017, Evers was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame for his contributions to the music industry.

Photo credit: Runner’s World

IDA KEELING (1915-2021) Track and field athlete; USA The centenarian who lived to 106 set a world record in her age group for running 60 meters in 29.86 seconds­— at age 95! She did it at a track meet in New York City’s Manhattan in 2011.

She followed up a year later with another record in the 100-meter dash, this time for America in the USATF Eastern Regional Conference Championships at 51.85.

At the 2014 Gay Games, Keeling set the fastest known time by a 99-year-old woman for the 100-meter dash at 59.80 seconds. On April 30, 2016, Keeling became the first woman in history to complete a 100-meter run at the age of 100. Her time of 1:17.33 was witnessed by a crowd of 44,469 at the 2016 Penn Relays. Born in the Virgin Islands and raised in Harlem, N.Y., Keeling, a widower at 42, raised four children. Her daughter Shelley, herself a world record holder, trained her and convinced her to make her first “mini-run” at age 67. In the book Can’t Nothing Bring Me Down: Chasing Myself in the Race Against Time (Zondervan, 2018), by Ida Keeling and Anita Diggs, Keeling explained the secret to her health and fitness, stating she worked out 2-4 times a week and attended dancing classes. Her diet consisted of greens, fruit and cod liver oil, and she would have Hennessy with her coffee once a week.

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Photo credit: Marcia E. Wilson

Photo credit: Rogelio V. Solis/AP

CHARLES EVERS (1922-2020)

Writer; USA A prolific novelist known for his crime fiction, Mosley was raised in California by working class parents.

His mother was a Russian Jew and his father served in the segregated U.S. Army during World War II. Mosley grew up in a time of great political and civil unrest in California. His active imagination filled the void of growing up an only child in such circumstances. After college, Mosley drifted through several jobs until he began writing at age 34, having been encouraged to take a writing course at New York’s City College. A mentor encouraged him, saying, “You’re black, Jewish, with a poor upbringing; there are riches therein.”

He has penned more than 40 books, often two per year, on a variety of subjects, including mystery, Afrofuturist science fiction and nonfiction politics. His most famous creation, hard-boiled black detective Easy Rawlins, who lives in the Watts section of Los Angeles, was played by Denzel Washington in 1995 in a film adaptation of his first novel Devil in a Blue Dress (Norton, 1990). As a novelist, he has been compared to such mystery legends as Graham Greene, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. He explains his desire to write about “black male heroes,” saying, “Hardly anybody in America has written about black male heroes... . There are black male protagonists and black male supporting characters, but nobody else writes about black male heroes.” Cited by former President Bill Clinton as one of his favorite novelists, Mosley received the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the first black man to receive the honor. He recently received an honorary degree from Knox College. Mosley identifies as both black and Jewish.

BAVUAL:

Do you want to nominate someone for the Roll of Honor?

Tell us your choice. Email us at eab@bavual.com.

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| Summer 2022

IDA E. LEWIS (1934-present) Journalist; USA Lewis, a writer, professor and publisher, graduated from Boston University in 1956 with a degree in public relations and journalism. She was a trailblazer for women and African American women as she was named Essence magazine’s editor-in-chief in 1970 and eventually went on to establish her own magazine Encore (1971-1979), a publication that presented news and world issues from the black perspective. (Encore is a key inspiration for BAVUAL.) When Lewis founded Encore in 1971, she became the first black woman to publish a national magazine. Her staff was made up of prominent writers such as Nikki Giovanni, James Baldwin, and other renowned writers and editors. In 1998, Lewis became the first female editor-in-chief of the NAACP magazine The Crisis. She became a professor at Boston University where in 2005 she founded the Ida E. Lewis Scholarship Fund to support minority students in journalism.

Photo credit: UNC

PAULI MURRAY (1910-1985) Civil rights advocate and feminist; USA Pauli Murray, a writer, activist, feminist, lawyer and Episcopal priest, fought to dismantle the systems that discriminated against all aspects of her identity. In 1940, she was arrested for refusing to sit in the back of a bus in Richmond, Va., in an effort to end segregation on public transit.

She graduated from Howard University in 1944 as class valedictorian. Murray became an integral part of the civil rights and feminist movements, coining the phrase “Jane Crow” to vocalize the impact of gender and racial oppression on black women in America. In 1951, she published States’ Laws on Race and Color, which Thurgood Marshall, head of the legal department at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), referred to as the “Bible’’ for civil rights litigators. In 1977, Murray became the first African American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest.

ABDULRAZAK GURNAH (1948-present) Novelist; Tanzania Gurnah, a Tanzanian novelist, won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature for his work exploring the effects of colonialism on East African identity and the displacement of refugees. He was the first black recipient of this prize since Toni Morrison received it in 1993. Gurnah was a refugee himself, fleeing the violence of Tanzania at the age of 18. He has published 10 novels, two of which were nominated for the Booker Prize: Paradise (Hamish Hamilton) in 1994 and By the Sea (Bloomsbury; The New Press) in 2001. Gurnah’s writing highlights the distinctiveness and hybridity of Afrocentrism. His novels ponder how to commemorate the African perspective and heritage after the deliberate erasure due to colonialism.

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ROBERT ABBOTT (1868 or 1870-1940) Publisher; USA Abbott, a lawyer, businessman and publisher, became one of the first few black self-made millionaires after he founded The Chicago Defender, a prominent black daily (the second published by a black owner) and weekly newspaper. He received a degree from Kent College of Law in 1899 but was unable to establish a law career due to racial discrimination. In 1905, with his initial investment of 25 cents, Abbott went door to door in hopes of selling his four-page booklet to every barbershop, poolroom, drugstore and church in the area. Abbott turned his investment into a national newspaper distributing over 250,000 copies per week in 1929, making The Chicago Defender the highest circulated black-owned newspaper in the U.S. It is still published today as an online newspaper.

GABRIEL PROSSER (c. 1775-1800) Slave rebel; USA Born a slave in Richmond, Va., Prosser is best known for his unsuccessful attempt to lead a slave rebellion alongside Jack Bowler, George Smith, and other fellow slaves in an effort to seize Richmond. Prosser was betrayed by two slaves who warned authorities of the revolt. He fled to Norfolk, Va., to escape the militia, where he was once again betrayed by fellow slaves who claimed the reward for his capture.

Once captured, Prosser was executed for his “crimes.”

ANNA MURRAY DOUGLASS (1813-1882 Early rights advocate; USA Wife of prominent abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Anna Murray enabled her husband to become the influential leader he is known to be.

Born in Maryland in 1813, Murray was the first of her family to be born free. Murray met Douglass in 1838. She saved up enough money to enable Douglass to escape bondage and flee to New York, following herself nearly a week later. After the two married, they settled in New Bedford, Mass., and began work for the abolitionist movement. Murray became Douglass’ support system, raising their five children in his absence as he was fighting to abolish slavery. In addition, she was a stationmaster for the Underground Railroad and helped at least 100 formerly enslaved people on their way to freedom.

Dedicated to the memory of

EARL BIRKETT (1922-2014)

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BENEDICTION

Ubuntu In certain regions of South Africa, when someone does something wrong, he is taken to the center of the village and surrounded by his tribe for two days while they speak of all the good he has done. They believe each person is good, yet sometimes we make mistakes, which is really a cry for help. They unite in this ritual to encourage the person to reconnect with their true nature. The belief is that unity and affirmation have more power to change behavior than shame and punishment.

This is known as Ubuntu— humanity towards others.

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BAVUAL:

The African Heritage Magazine

| Summer 2022

SO CAN YOU.