Jun 9

Civil War Story

‘To Have a Revolver’

It was an extraordinary moment for George Scott, and perhaps even for the nation. Just weeks after Fort Sumter, this black man, a gun at his side, was preparing to lead thousands of Union soldiers forward into combat — indeed, into the first significant land battle of the Civil War.

This landmark episode, almost completely forgotten today, came more than a year before Congress officially allowed the enlistment of African-American troops, and more than two years before the 54th Massachusetts (the famous “Glory” regiment) would win laurels on the battlefield. As the Civil War began, the idea of arming blacks still seemed highly dangerous, even harebrained, so much so that President Abraham Lincoln refused to consider it. When, just after the attack on Sumter, hundreds of free blacks in Philadelphia had rallied near Independence Hall and offered to form two regiments of colored troops “in whose hearts burns the love of country,” they were ignored by the military authorities.

via @NYTimes

May 30

Memorial Day: The African American Solider - Korean War

Machine gun crew during Korean War. (1950)

(Source: Truman Library)

Feb 18

“There is also the danger in our culture that because a person is called upon to give public statements and is acclaimed by the establishment, such a person gets to the point of believing that he is the movement.”

Ella Baker

Jan 17

“I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nov 20

Fannie Lou Hamer (1917 – 1977)

“Whether you have a Ph.D., or no D, we’re in this bag together. And whether you’re from Morehouse or Nohouse, we’re still in this bag together. Not to fight to try to liberate ourselves from the men — this is another trick to get us fighting among ourselves — but to work together with the black man, then we will have a better chance to just act as human beings, and to be treated as human beings in our sick society.”

Fannie Lou Hamer (1917 – 1977)

Oct 31

“OUR ONLY HOPE IS TO CONTROL THE VOTE.”

MEDGAR W. EVERS

(1925–1963)

Sep 10

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)

“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others… . One ever feels his twoness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warrings ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”

The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

Sep 6

Little Rock 9

“I had played with some of the white kids from the neighborhood,” Thomas said. “I went up to Central High School after school and we played basketball and touch football together. I knew some of the kids.

“Eventually, I ran into them … and they were not at all happy to see me,” Thomas added. “One of them said, ‘Well I don’t mind playing basketball or football with you or anything. You guys are good at sports. Everybody knows that, but you’re just not smart enough to sit next to me in the classroom.’”

Jefferson Thomas

via Cleveland.com

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