Milestones 4
February 2021
Honoring African American history By Alicia M. Colombo Black History Month was first proposed by black educators and the Black United Students at Ohio’s Kent State University in February 1969, and the first Black History Month celebration took place at the university a year later, from Jan. 2 to Feb. 28, 1970. Six years later, President Gerald Ford first officially recognized Black History Month, during the celebration of the United States Bicentennial by urging Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accom-
plishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Black History Month has since been celebrated annually in educational institutions, arts/cultural centers and African American communities across the U.S., as well as in Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The observance began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. The importance of studying and remembering Black history has just as much significance in 2021 as it did in 1969. The tragic,
senseless deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other African Americans led to outrage and garnered much-needed public attention and support for the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. The new year has already seen many positive historic moments for African Americans. On Jan. 20, Kamala Harris became the first Black woman Vice President of the United States and Raphael Warnock became the first Black senator in Georgia. The first National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman recited “The Hill We Climb” at the presidential inau-
guration. Far too many barriers have been in place for far too long for a country founded in 1776. Let this serve as a strong reminder that African American history is still being written, every day, and it needs to be studied and honored by all Americans, every month – not just in February. We have many more hills to climb in our quest for racial equality.
Diaries of Black women in the Civil War By Constance Garcia-Barrio Films and books abound about the U.S. Civil War, yet, few sources present the lives of Black women during those years, except for mentioning Harriet Tubman’s work as a Union spy. However, Philadelphia holds a treasured place in Emilie Davis’ book “Civil War, the Diaries of a Free Black Woman in Philadelphia, 1863-1865.” The diaries spotlight the life of a local Black woman in those turbulent days. Davis was a lively young woman when the Civil War began, who wrote short entries in three pocket-sized diaries, each no bigger than a cellphone. Judith Giesberg, 54, a professor of history at Villanova University, edited, transcribed and annotated the diaries. “Emilie Davis’ … diary entries allow readers to experience the … painful uncertainties of the Civil War as events unfolded, such as the Union’s emancipation policy (and) 1863 Confederate invasion of south-central Pennsylvania,” Giesberg said. Giesberg’s edition preserves Davis’ original spelling and lack of punctuation. “To day has bin a memorable day and i thank
forms, prices soared. The conflict sometimes changed life’s r, the ree a W l daily rhythms. “… i v i C ies of a F r n a i i Today is set apart as D Woman k c a l a national fast day,” B delphia, Phila 865 Davis wrote April 1863-1 30, 1863. “Both Presidents Lincoln and (Jefferson) Davis proclaimed several ‘National Fast Days’ during the war to pray for clemency and forgiveness iStock from God for the God i have been sperd to see it,” written sins of war,” Giesberg said. on January 1, 1863. Davis, who missed few A battle seemed to loom on Philadelbig events, joined other African Americans phia’s doorstep in June 1863, when Genin crowded Black churches to cheer on the eral Lee, desperate to take the fight out of stroke of midnight, when the Emancipa- war-weary Virginia, invaded Pennsylvania. tion Proclamation became official. “… Refugees are comin from all the towns A seamstress skilled enough to make this side of Harrisburg the greates excitewedding gowns, Davis noted the war’s ef- ment Prevails. I am all most sick worrin fects on cloth prices. “… I went out shop- about father (who lived in Harrisburg),” ping … muslins (a kind of cotton) are Davis wrote on June 29-30, just before the frightfully Dear …,” she wrote February Battle of Gettysburg. “Emilie was right to 19, 1863. Due to the South’s disrupted cot- worry about her father because rebel solton production and the cloth’s use in uni- diers kidnapped hundreds of free Blacks
and sold them into slavery,” Giesberg said. In 1863, Pennsylvania began recruiting Black soldiers, known as United States Colored Troops. Many of them trained at Camp William Penn, 13 miles north of the city in Chelten Hills, now Cheltenham. “… This morning Jenie and I went up Chestnut St. to see the colored soldiers they went away to day,” Davis reported on February 10, 1864. Philadelphians rejoiced when Richmond fell on April 2, 1865. “… The city is wild with excitement,” Emilie wrote April 4, 1865. “… Flags are flying everywhere.” Just 11 days later, news of Lincoln’s assassination crushed many Philadelphians. “The city is in deep mourning,” Davis wrote. People mobbed Broad Street and stood on rooftops April 23, 1865, to watch Lincoln’s funeral cortege inch down Broad Street, then turn east to Independence Hall, where the body would lie in state. Davis tried to glimpse Lincoln that day, but was crowded out. She succeeded the next day. “… I got to see him after waiting tow (two) hours and a half it was certainly a sight worth seeing …”
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