Black and Education

Breonna Taylor was in her apartment at about 12:40 am on March 13, 2020. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was with her. They had already turned in for the night and were in bed watching a movie, when Breonna fell asleep. According to Kenneth Walker, they suddenly heard a loud bang at the door. They didn’t know who it was and thought it might be some kind of intruder at that time of night. Breonna ye...

I was born by a golden river and in the shadow of two great hills, five years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The house was quaint, with clap boards running up and down, neatly trimmed, and there were five rooms, a tiny porch, a rosy front yard, and unbelievably

The bloodiest week which New Orleans has know since the massacre of the Italians in 1892 was ushered in Monday, July 24, by the inexcusable and unprovoked assault upon two colored men by police officers of New Orleans. Fortified by the assurance born of long experience in the New Orleans service, three policemen, Sergeant Aucoin, Officer Mora and Officer Cantrelle, observing two colored

On Saturday, the 8th of February, I went to the Washington depot at 1 o’clock, waited until two, and purchased a ticket to go and return; I left the office and started to go to the car; on the platform there was a man who said, “Take the rear car.” I made no reply, but went in and took my seat in what they call the white people’s car; the cars left here at 2 o’clock, and I was about to return in t...

I now come to that part of my life during which I planned, and finally succeeded in making, my escape from slavery. But before narrating any of the peculiar circumstances, I deem it proper to make known my intention not to state all the facts connected with the transaction. My reasons for pursuing this course may be understood from the following: First, were I to give a minute statement of all the...

Mr. Covey seemed now to think he had me, and could do what he pleased; but at this moment—from whence came the spirit I don't know—I resolved to fight; and, suiting my action to the resolution, I seized Covey hard by the throat; and as I did so, I rose. He held on to me, and I to him.

Bad as all slaveholders are, we seldom meet one destitute of every element of character commanding respect. My master was one of this rare sort. I do not know of one single noble act ever performed by him. The leading trait in his character was meanness; and if there were any other element in his nature, it was made subject to this. He was mean; and, like most other mean men, he lacked the ability...

He died while on a visit to see his daughter at Hillsborough. Cut off thus unexpectedly, he left no will as to the disposal of his property. It was therefore necessary to have a valuation of the property, that it might be equally divided between Mrs. Lucretia and Master Andrew. I was immediately sent for, to be valued with the other property. Here again my feelings rose up in detestation of slaver...

… ]I was compelled to resort to various stratagems. I had no regular teacher. My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by any one else. It is due, however, to my mistress to say of her, that she did not adopt this course of treatment immediatel...

My new mistress proved to be all she appeared when I first met her at the door,—a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings. She had never had a slave under her control previously to myself, and prior to her marriage she had been dependent upon her own industry for a living. She was by trade a weaver; and by constant application to her business, she had been in a good degree preserved from th...

As to my own treatment while I lived on Colonel Lloyd's plantation, it was very similar to that of the other slave children. I was not old enough to work in the field, and there being little else than field work to do, I had a great deal of leisure time. The most I had to do was to drive up the cows at evening, keep the fowls out of the garden, keep the front yard clean, and run of errands for my...

…Mr. Austin Gore, a man possessing, in an eminent degree, all those traits of character indispensable to what is called a first-rate overseer. Mr. Gore had served Colonel Lloyd, in the capacity of overseer, upon one of the out-farms, and had shown himself worthy of the high station of overseer upon the home or Great House Farm. He was just the man for such a place, and it was just the place for su...

Colonel Lloyd kept a large and finely cultivated garden, which afforded almost constant employment for four men, besides the chief gardener, (Mr. M'Durmond.) This garden was probably the greatest attraction of the place. During the summer months, people came from far and near—from Baltimore, Easton, and Annapolis—to see it. It abounded in fruits of almost every description, from the hardy apple of...

The men and women slaves received, as their monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork, or its equivalent in fish, and one bushel of corn meal. Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers, like the shirts, one jacket, one pair of trousers for winter, made of coarse negro cloth, one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes; the whole of which could no...

My mother was named Harriet Bailey. She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsey Bailey, both colored, and quite dark. My mother was of a darker complexion than either my grandmother or grandfather.

In December of 1863, Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction which gave really an olive branch to Confederate states that wished to rejoin the Union, even though the Civil War wasn’t quite over, yet.  This proclamation allowed for the consideration of readmission to take place if ten percent of a state’s voters took an oath of loyalty to the Union and if other conditions were m...

On May 30, 1921 a young man named Dick Rowland, who was about 19 years old, got on an elevator in the Drexel Building, on South Main St.   He entered the elevator and, in some way, came in contact with Sarah Page, who was the elevator’s operator.  She was about 17 years old.  Sarah let out a scream and a clerk in a nearby store heard her yell, Dick Rowland ran from the scene, and the store clerk c...

Ernest Everett Just was a renown scientist who made important discoveries about the biology of a cell's surface.

If there were a few words that could sum up Mrs. Fanny Jackson-Coppin they would be, “excellence in education.”  Mrs. Jackson-Coppin spent decades as an educator and as a principal, at a time when women, especially women of color, weren’t given many opportunities to lead.  She stepped into leadership roles and was rarely challenged due to the remarkable commitment and professionalism she displayed...

Daniel Howard, a twenty-year-old African-American man, attended a political rally on September 19, 1868.  He was one of hundreds of African Americans to attend this rally. You see, earlier that month Democrats (along with some Republicans) in the state’s legislature moved to remove ALL African-American lawmakers from office that had been recently elected, earlier that year.  They contended that Af...

James Armistead was born in the 1700s.  He was enslaved by a man named William Armistead in Virginia. Virginia would turn out to be an important stage for what would effectively be the last major conflict of the Revolutionary War.

James Weldon Johnson was born on June 17, 1871 to Helen and James Johnson. His mother was a school teacher and his father...a waiter.  Both of his parents stressed the importance of education to their children.

In July of 1826 Sojourner Truth simply walked away from slavery, with her youngest child.  She didn't run...she didn't go very far...she simply decided she wasn't going to be a slave anymore.  Some years earlier the New York state legislature passed two laws, gradually emancipating slaves.  The laws essentially provided that all adult slaves would be set free on July 4, 1827 and any child, born af...

"Fellow-Citizens—Pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess th...

William Henry Johnson was born in Winston Salem, North Carolina in 1892.  While still a teenager, Johnson moved to New York...he was an industrious young man and found work as a soda mixer, in a coal yard, as a chauffeur, and eventually as a redcap porter in Albany’s train station.  In April of 1917 the United States declared war on Germany and, just two months later, William Henry Johnson volunte...