Primary Sources, Black History

Smart Hip Hop, CEO/Artist Larry Lak

Tonight at 8pm learn more about William Lambert on The Gist of Freedom as we resume our reading of William Katz's book Breaking The Chains, Chapter 12 "Black Militias" William Lambert created the “African American Mysteries; the Order of the Men of Oppression,” a complicated set of rituals that protected the very existence of the Underground Railroad. Lambert was a friend and confidant of well known abolitionist John Brown, who Lambert insisted was a sane and reasonable man who voluntarily sacrificed himself to fan the flames of liberty. Blackburn, Thornton and Ruth (or Lucie) The Blackburns successfully and bravely escaped slavery from Louisville, KY. They had been settled in Detroit, Michigan, for two years when, in 1833, Kentucky slave hunters captured and arrested the couple. The Blackburns were jailed but allowed visitors, which provided the opportunity for Ruth to exchange her clothes - and her incarceration - with Mrs. George French; Ruth escaped to Canada. The day before Thornton was to be returned to Kentucky, the African American community rose up in protest. While the commotion was going on, Sleepy Polly and Daddy Walker helped Thornton to escape to Canada. The commotion turned into a two day riot and the sheriff was killed. It was the first race riot in Detroit, and afterward the first Riot Commission was formed in the U.S. Once in Canada, Thornton designed, built, and operated Toronto's first horse-drawn carriage hackney cab and cab company.

Closing Arguments: On Zimmerman & Cochran v. Fuhrman

Oberlin College In 1835 became the first predominately white collegiate institution to admit African American male students and two years later it opened its doors to all women, becoming the first coeducational college in the country. In 1862, Mary J Patterson earned a B.A. becoming the first African American woman to earn a degree from an American college. Other black women had graduated earlier but did not receive the collegiate degree (BA). As part of the Underground Railroad, Oberlin’s intricate network of back road routes and safe houses, the college and town provided refuge for fugitive slaves bound for Canada. In 1858, students, faculty, and residents of Oberlin and nearby Wellington, Ohio rescued a runaway slave John Price from U.S. marshals, and transported him to freedom in Canada. One year later three African American residents of the town of Oberlin, Shields Green, Lewis Sheridan Leary, and John Anthony Copeland, participated in John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry. Unfortunately recently, Classes were canceled after a report of someone wearing what looked like a Ku Klux Klan-type hooded robe on campus. A police report has also detailed the defacement of Black History Month posters with the N-word, a "whites only" sign written above a water fountain, a swastika drawn on a science center window and a student knocked to the ground by a person making a derogatory comment about ethnicity. Two students are being investigated for possible involvement in the graffiti. The students have responded by organizing rallies of solidarity to show their disdain for the cowards who committed the racists acts! Click and Listen to Kimberly Simmons, a descendant of Abolitionists Oberlin Graduates as she speaks on these disturbing incidents from a historical perspective with The Gist of Freedom host Preston Washington www.BlogTalkRadio.com/BlackHistory

Join The Gist of Freedom at The UNESCO ST Florida Conference - Live on Location Dr. Dunn, author "The Beast In Florida" Presentations: Descendants of Rosewood Survivors and Victims. Topics: The Rosewood Massacre- Self sustaining and Thriving African American town, Raided by Racist Murderers Harry T. Moore and Harriet T. Moore, NAACP's First Civil Rights activist Couple Murdered. In 1951 after celebrating Christmas Day, civil rights activist Harry T. Moore and his wife Harriette retired to bed in their white frame house tucked inside a small orange grove in Mims, Florida. Ten minutes later, a bomb shattered their house, their lives and any notions that the south's post-war transition to racial equality would be a smooth one. Harry Moore died on the way to the hospital; his wife died nine days later. As we celebrate and Congratulate America on their re-election of President Obama- we must never forget the historic significance of the struggle and to honor our legacy by making a pledge to our God and Country to uphold it's tenets, "I Am My brothers' keeper", From Attucks to Obama, the record shows our contributions to this nation's humanitarian social transformation is rooted in our abiltity to humbly turn from our wicked ways in prayer, first and to then, courageously and successfully petition the government for relief. We owe it to the brave freedom fighters to remain vigilant, in every election, from the PTA school board to the Presidency. Thereby doing our part to ensure the wrong side of history will never be forgotten or repeated, i.e, Gang & Gun Violence, Trayvon Matin, Jim Crow, Lynchings and Slavery.