The Gist of Freedom Preserving American History through Black Literature . . .

DNC Attendee Cydonie Brown and Gen Z Host Henry Gist IV recap the exhilarating Democratic Convention! DJ Cassidy curated an electrifying playlist for each state during the roll call, energizing the crowd. The speakers, performers, house band, and DJ kept the audience cheering, bouncing, moving, and dancing—there was never a dull moment. The lineup of speakers reflected America's rich diversity. Speeches were heartfelt, motivational, hilarious, and memorable, with many quotes going viral. The momentum from Kamala Harris's presidential campaign launch continued to build over all four nights, culminating in her powerful speech. Notable speakers included Tennessee State Representative Justin J. Pearson, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, forme President Barack Obama &  Michelle Obama, They  delivered stirring messages of hope and unity. Gen Z voices such as Maxwell Frost, Malala Yousafzai, Emma González, Jerome Foster II, and Jalen Thompson brought fresh energy and perspectives to the event. Their combined voices ignited the crowd and underscored the importance of this election, making the convention a truly unforgettable experience.

Shonda Rhimes'  documentary Black Barbie Premieres on Netflix on Juneteenth; Wednesday June 19th 2024! Join. Shellie Gaines and Black doll creator Karen Byrd discuss her dolls, their hairstyles and her company Black Girls United.

Join Sherrie Tolliver as she shares her mother's artifacts and stories from her involvement in The Black Women's Club Movement.  Jane Edna Hunter  (1882-1971) –  Activist With the help of other women and $1,500, Jane Edna Hunter  opened the Working Girls Home Association, a boarding home for 10 women on East 40th, north of Central Avenue. The purpose of this voluntary association was to build a safe residence for the homeless, unprotected, newly arriving African American women and working women like herself. The purpose of the Department was to build a national network of Phyllis Wheatley Associations to house self-supporting, self-respecting African American women and girls and  provide a meeting place for club women. Hunter acquired a 2-story building and the name changed to the Phillis Wheatley Association, in honor of the late 18th-century Boston slavery survivor considered the first African American poet. The number of residents soon strained the capacity of the 23-room house. By 1919 the association purchased a 3-story building and An adjoining building,   The PWA was one of the first institutions designed to meet the needs of African American  social services  in Cleveland. Hunter wrote an autobiography, “A Nickel and a Prayer,” in 1940.

Congratulating Harvard for appointing a Black President! Tamara Lanier is suing Harvard for perpetuating a eugenics racist experiement involving horrific dehumanizing nude images of her enslaved ancestors. Although enslaved Papa Renty was a self-taught literate patriarch Harvard purports his intelligence was equal to a 5 month old fetus. With unshakable faith and hope he educated his family and distant kindred. Once free Renty's descendants overcame insurmountable challenges and accomplished miraculous success. Tamara Lanier and her stark resemblance to her Papa Renty is living proof of his level of intelligence and resilience. Renty's children established and self-governed their very own towns. Books and movies continue to document Renty's inspirational legacy. In spite of the voluminous wealth of documentation. Harvard refuses to acknowledge these facts because Renty and Tamara's spiritual and physical bond are diametrically opposed to the images and the racist pseudo science they perpetrated.  In 2016, President Obama signed the Holocaust Expropriation Art Recovery Act - HEAR Act; introduced, 2016 by Senators Cronyn, Cruz, Schumer, and Blumenthal. “ Nations and civil society groups expressed a renewed interest in addressing the restitution of art lost in the Holocaust. The United States led these efforts. In 1998, 43 nations met and addressed the restitution of art lost in the Holocaust. They unanimously approved the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, which declared that Holocaust victims & their heirs "should come forward and make known their claims to art that was confiscated restituted".  

Before there was Sesame Street or Sesame Place, there was Coney Island,  “Granville's Island”!  Granville T. Woods Known as the “Black Thomas Edison” was an engineer who invented and patented the electric roller coaster, which he introduced in the summer of 1909 at Coney Island. He developed dozens of innovative mass transit improvements.    ****** Join David Head  Edison sued Woods charging that he (Edison) was the first to invent the multiplex telegraph. After a costly court battle, Woods won the case. But even after losing to Woods, Edison remained so impressed with him that he offered the Black genius a partnership in one of his companies Woods was inducted into the Coney Island Hall of Fame, and an adja­cent street was renamed Granville T. Woods Way.Woods was inducted into the Coney Island Hall of Fame, and an adja­cent street was renamed Granville T. Woods Way.  List of BLACK RESORTS 1. Highland Beach, Maryland 2. Gulfside Assembly, Waveland, Mississippi 3. American Beach, Florida 4. Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts 5. Idlewild, Michigan . 6. Freeman Beach, Wilmington, North Carolina 7. Sag Harbor, New York 8. Bruce's Beach, near Los Angeles, California 9. Buckroe Beach, Bay Shore and Mark Haven, Virginia 10. Gullah Sea Islands, Coast of Georgia and South Carolina The Idlewild Club House, Idlewild, Mich., September 1938.     ********* #sesamePlace #GranvilleTwoods  #GranvilleTWoodsPlace #GranvilleIsland's #coneyisland  

Join The Gist of Freedom as we welcome Miss Penny Beckham, the volunteer director of The Plate of Love Soup Kitchen located at State Tabernacle Church of God in Christ in Buffalo.    Beckham recalled many times seeing one of the victims of the massacre, Deacon Hayward Patterson take soup kitchen patrons aside while they waited for their food and give them needed encouragement. "If you were down, he'd always say something to encourage you or lift your spirits," she said. "He was one of those people who'd build you up. Even if you didn't think you did much, he'd make you feel like you did." ******* Coordinator ...Missionary Laura Beckham Chefs: Jeffrey Peace & Terry Wideman Soup Kitchen Hours of operation: Saturday, 10am-12noon Wednesday, 12noon State Tabernacle, in the spirit of love, serves dozens in the community and those in need of a hot meal. The number of people served continues to grow and include not only individuals but entire families. It is set apart from many other soup kitchens in that we offer breakfast meal on Saturday when most other serve lunch. State Tabernacle partners with WNY food bank and generous donors to bring this much needed service to a community with high unemployment, low income families and a growing homeless population. We are expanding. Various individuals, ministries or auxiliary of the church assist in operation of the soup kitchen. Volunteers are Welcome  

Join Kimberly L. Simmons as she lectures on the Detroit River Project and the Vigilance Cmmittee.  

Join Kimberly L. Simmons as she lectures on the Detroit River Project and the Vigilance Cmmittee.  

The Life of Black Abolitionist Mary Ann Shadd as told by her descendant Scholar Irene Moore Davis! A ceremony unveiling the statue of Mary Ann Shadd took place Thursday, May 12, 2022, at Windsor University in Canada.  Sculpted by local artist Donna Mayne. Watch it on the University of Windsor'sYouTube channel. Shadd a black abolitionist was one of the first Black female newspaper publishers and female journalists in Canada. Shadd founded The Provincial Freeman in 1853.  Shadd also helped her cousin, Osborne Perry Anderson pen the book “Sole Survivor, A Voice From Harper's Ferry” which is an account of his extraordinary and courageous role in John Brown's Harper's Ferry Raid! The event was live-streamed from the University of Windsor's downtown campus for the greater community.

Buffalo Massacre Dr. Manisha Sinha's Monthly  Black History University Recap! ****** In honor of one of the ten victims, Ms. Pearly Young we ask that you donate food to your local food bank. Mrs. Young ran a food pantry and every saturday, for 25 years she donated food. *********** R.I.P #BuffaloSaints~ NY state abolished slavery in 1827, but Black people remained in danger of enslavement & kidnappings. In 1835, to fight back, Black abolitionist David Ruggles helped to found the N.Y. Committee of Vigilance an hybrid of the Black Panther Party & The NAACP. Black New Yorkers remained in danger of enslavement or re-enslavement through widespread kidnappings. Black sailors would go missing from ports. Children would disappear on their way home from school. In 1835, to fight back against the onslaught of oppression, Black abolitionist and businessman David Ruggles helped to found the New York Committee of Vigilance (NYCV), a multi-racial organization a hybrid of the Black Panther Party and The NAACP, would defend Black New Yorkers from predatory whites.  Jamila Brathwaite, authored “The Black Vigilance Movement in Nineteenth Century New York City,” writes, Ruggles fearlessly boarded ships in the New York harbor in search of Black captives or for signs of participants in the illegal slave trade. He published a list bounty hunters kidnappers and the free black traitors who aided them. His work would not have been possible without the efforts of the Black community and leaders like William Wells Brown, a promenient Black Aboltitionist from Buffalo. Brown along with unnamed black people passed along intelligence, fed, clothed, and sheltered fugitives. They also noted suspicious activities and people. Ruggles' bookstore on Lespenard Street. It is the first known Black-owned bookstore in the United States.    

Listen to Grady Lewis's in depth interview on the Gist of Freedom. Grady bought a drink for the mass shooter, in the Buffalo area shooting, one day before the allegedl gunman from Conklin, NY opened fire and live streamed the shooting of ten Black People at the supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood. ******* A Saint who cared for people in the community was one of the victims of the Buffalo mass shooting. Pearly Young, 77, ran a food pantry in the Central Park neighborhood for 25 years, feeding people every Saturday. Young was killed Saturday while shopping for groceries. She loved singing and dancing. ****** New Zealand took 3 days to ban assault rifles after the mass shooting that inspired the Buffalo shooter. ******* Lewis said he and the shooter discussed "theories" like Time Machines, Critical Race Theory (CRT) and  black holes just hours before the alleged shooter opened fire in the parking lot, which left 10 people dead and three wounded. “I'm wondering, could I have talked to him and said, ‘Hey, we're all one," Lewis told ABC News. He came back here to the same spot where I bought him something to drink and shot people that looked like me and would've shot me if I was standing near.” ******* In 1835, to fight back against the onslaught of oppression, Black abolitionist and businessman David Ruggles helped to found the The New York Community of Vigilance (NYCV), a multi-racial organization that would defend Black New Yorkers from predatory whites. Jamila Shabazz Brathwaite authored “The Black Vigilance Movement in Nineteenth Century New York City,” 

Listen to Grady Lewis's in depth interview on the Gist of Freedom. Grady bought a drink for the mass shooter, in the Buffalo area shooting, one day before the allegedl gunman from Conklin, NY opened fire and live streamed the shooting of ten Black People at the supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood. ******* A Saint who cared for people in the community was one of the victims of the Buffalo mass shooting. Pearly Young, 77, ran a food pantry in the Central Park neighborhood for 25 years, feeding people every Saturday. Young was killed Saturday while shopping for groceries. She loved singing and dancing. ****** New Zealand took 3 days to ban assault rifles after the mass shooting that inspired the Buffalo shooter. ******* Lewis said he and the shooter discussed "theories" like Time Machines, Critical Race Theory (CRT) and  black holes just hours before the alleged shooter opened fire in the parking lot, which left 10 people dead and three wounded. “I'm wondering, could I have talked to him and said, ‘Hey, we're all one," Lewis told ABC News. He came back here to the same spot where I bought him something to drink and shot people that looked like me and would've shot me if I was standing near.” ******* In 1835, to fight back against the onslaught of oppression, Black abolitionist and businessman David Ruggles helped to found the The New York Community of Vigilance (NYCV), a multi-racial organization that would defend Black New Yorkers from predatory whites. Jamila Shabazz Brathwaite authored “The Black Vigilance Movement in Nineteenth Century New York City,” 

Black History University Monthly Recap, April 2022  with Dr. Manisha Sinha! Easter, Black Abolitionists, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. In a rare occurrence on Good Friday, April 14, 2022 Christianity, Islam and Judaism was observed: Good Friday,Ramadan, and Passover. Passover, Easter, Ramadan 2022 fall simultaneously In a rare conjunction, three major holidays of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam How Survivors of Slavery escaped with the help of the people of faith.Slavery Survivors conversion Society propagation of the gospel.John Wesley MethodistGeorge FoxAME church Bishop Richard AllenLawsuit against the AMEs Hush HarborsWatch NightGeorge Leile founder of The African First Baptist 1773  Politics Corey Booker & Kentanji Brown   

Black History University Monthly Recap w/ Dr.Sinha! March 2022 Black Abolitionism During Queen Charlotte's Reign,  America's Last Queen Who is also of African Descent. 1. James Somerset (c. 1741 – after 1772) was an African man and the plaintiff in a pivotal court case that was widely reported as outlawing slavery in Britain 2.   Judge Mansfield raised his Black niece as his daughter, ruled against slavers in Somerset's Case, and Zong Case. 3. Famous Official paintings by abolitionist Allan Ramsay proudly features Queen Charlotte's African Features in her Coronation Portrait, he also painted a popular image of Judge Mansfield's black and white daughter playing together carefree. 4. Sojourner Truth sues and wins her son's freedom. 5. Bishop Richard Allen founder of Mutual Aid Society and African Methodist Episcopal Church  6. Black Loyalist Harry Wahington successfully eludes capture from Geo. Washington leads a revolution in Africa after serving in the Revolutionary War. 7. Phyllis Wheatley pens a poem a tribute to Christopher Snieder, a child killed leading up to the Revolutionary War, although Crispus Attucks is credited for being the first martyr.  8. Black Revolutionary Era Authors: Lucy Prince and Lemuel Hayes Queen Charlotte, Queen City Charlotte N.C.,  Harriet Dred, wife Dred Scott Sojourner  Truth Sued For her son's freedom    

The Russian Invasion of Ukraine with history Professor Dr. Manisha Sinha! The Global display of support for Ukraine, prayers and protests.

Stephanie Gilbert discusses the importance of identifying, documenting, preserving, and sharing artifacts from the history of African American families. The Fugitive Slavery AdsMary Church Terrell's Inscribed Book "A Colored Woman in a White World" Rescuing the Family's Underground Memoir The Coin Collection Mary Church Terrell's Story Mary Church Terrell was born to slavery surviors. Her father owned several successful businesses, and was one of the first Black millionaires in the South. Church Terrell attended Oberlin College, in 1888,  She studied  in France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany.  She married Robert Terrell an African American federal judge.  In 1892, Church Terrell's childhood friend Thomas Moss was lynched. She along with her journalist friend Ida B. Wells, became one of the first people to speak out publicly about lynching. In 1894, Terrell founded the Colored Women's League with Anna Julia Cooper. The League merged with other organizations to form the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) in 1896, Terrell served on the Washington, D.C. school board for over a decade, beginning in 1895, and became the first Black woman to serve on a board of education in the United States.  Terrell was also a founding member of the (NAACP) in 1909. She marched for voting rights  at the 1913 Suffrage Parade, and helped to organize the 1922 Silent March, to pressure Congress to pass anti-lynching legislation.  In 1925, Mary Church Terrell began writing her memoir, A Colored Woman in a White World, which she was unable to sell to publishers, and self-published in 1940. 

Black History Monthly Recap with Professor Manisha Sinha on Black History University! Topics of Discussion 1~Seneca Village, eminent domain and Central Park 2~ NY orders Depositions for Trump and two Trump children  3~ Mardi Gras is March 1st,   NEW ORLEANS—In the early 1780s, Juan Maló escaped from a plantation fifty miles upriver from New Orleans. Spain had acquired the colony from France two decades earlier, and Spanish authorities designated Maló maroon, a fugitive slave. Eluding capture, he traveled about 100 miles south of the city into a sprawling marshland area—what is today St. Bernard Parish. Little is known of his origins, but enslaved people idolized him as “San Maló”—St. Maló in official documents—after he established a maroon compound writes Gwendolyn Midlo Hall in Africans in Colonial Louisiana.        

From 1968 through 1983, Shindana Toys designed and manufactured dolls that looked like real black people. Their motto was: Dolls Made by a Dream. Shindana, which means competitor in Swahili, trained and employed doll makers and became the nation's largest manufacturer of black dolls and games. Operation Bootstrap (OB) was formed in 1965 by two African American gentlemen. In an attempt to build the community, provide job training, and jobs for community residents, Louis Smith and Robert Hall are said to have organized OB with a $1,000 loan from an AA businessman. ********* My name is Louis Shelton Smith III, my Father Louis S Smith II, was co-founder of Operation Bootstrap along with his partner Robert Hall. He "talked" the owners of Mattel, out of $200,000, to start Shindana Toys, because he thought Black kids needed a positive self image. The 1st doll they made, Baby Nancy, was selected for admission to the Toy Hall Of Fame last year. Oh, the stories I could tell you!!!!! ****

Black History Monthly Recap with Professor Manisha Sinha on Black History University.com, powered by The Gist of Freedom!  -Reconstruction Black Senators & HBCUs  -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King & Voting Rights, Sanitation Strike, Poor People's Campaign -Louisiana Black Delegation, led by E. Arnold Bertonneau and Jean-Baptiste Roudanez, visit President Lincoln to discuss voting rights! Dr. James Edward Shepard founded North Carolina College for Blacks in Durham, North Carolina.  He used a section of land on the edge of Durham, to establish the National Religious Training School. The school served as an institution “for the colored race” and initially held classes for ministers and teachers.   In 1898 Shepard along with John Merrick established North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company in Durham.  Eventually, Shepard founded Farmers and Mechanics Bank in Durham as well. Images: Ida B Well Barbie doll, John Brown Cave, Nat Turner Cave, Rosenwald School, Howard law students  

Christmas & Abolitionism With Professor Sinha on Black History University, powered by The Gist Of Freedom.  The story of “The Christmas Escape 1854" begins on Christmas Eve, when Tubman arrived on Poplar Neck to lead her brothers Ben, Robert, and Henry Ross to freedom. They were scheduled to be sold on the auction block the day after Christmas. ~ Artist Mark Priest  Gerrit Smith, who spoke before the Vigilance Association of New York, relayed this advice, "When you are escaping take all along your route, in the free as well as the enslaved states, so long as it is absolutely essential to your escape; the horse, the boat, the food, the clothing you require, and feel no compunction for the justifiable appropriation than does the drowning man for possessing himself a plank that floats his way."  Henrietta Buckmaster "Let My People Go" --------- According to William Still, this was Harriet Tubman's last trip south. WILMINGTON, 12th mo., 1st, 1860. RESPECTED FRIEND, WILLIAM STILL:— I write to let thee know that Harriet Tubman is again in these parts. She arrived last evening from one of her trips of mercy to God's poor, bringing two men with her as far as New Castle [Delaware]. I agreed to pay a man last evening, to pilot them on their way to Chester county; the wife of one of the men, with two or three children, was left some thirty miles below, and  I gave Harriet ten dollars, to hire a man with carriage, to take them to Chester county. She said a man had offered [his services] for that sum...... Thy Friend, THOMAS GARRETT. N.B. We hope all will be in Chester county to-morrow.

Black History Monthly Review with University of Conneticut Prof. Manisha Sinha on Black History University powered by The Gist of Freedom! Black Japanese Generals celebrating their victory over Russia in 1907.  They are of Ainu ancestry. The Ainu were the Africoid/ African descent people who settled ancient Japan.   It is often told in history about how Japan defeated Russia in a  brilliant naval / military campaign at Port Arthur.  1. The Jacob Blake  shooting Protest, Kenosha Verdict, Abolitionists Elijah Lovejoy 2. Election Day,Primary Elections, Black Men Voted during the War; Abolitionist Gerritt Smith  @12 minutes 3. Veterans Day Grand Army of The Republic GAR, Integrated Veteran Organization;      Gen Powell, Buffalo Soldiers @14 minute 4. D-Day Pearl Harbor Afro- Japanese soldiers @19 minutes  5.Thanksgiving~ Abraham Lincoln @22 minutes 6. President Biden Bill Back America Bill Passes ~ @24 minute 7. January 6th failed Coup, leader arrested for contempt @27 minute  8. Black Exodusters, Pioneers in the Midwest, Stage Coach Mary@30 minute    The Botched Boley Robbery V. The Harder They Fall..... Boley Was The Black Town That Couldn't Be Robbed, by Betty DeRamus ON NOVEMBER 23, 1932, three members of “Pretty Boy” Floyd's Depression-era gang made the worst mistake of their lives. They tried to rob the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Boley, Oklahoma, an all-black town of proud-walking pioneers.  UP TO that point, the Floyd gang had been robbing an average of a bank a week, usually without any resistance. But Boley's bank was the state's first nationally chartered black-owned bank, and residents had vowed it would never be robbed. As the gang would soon discover, folks in Boley meant what they said.

Professor Sinha, Black History University  1. Christopher Columbus; Commemorate 17th Century Black abolitionist De Silva Mendoca 2. Cori Bush Protest Homelessness Abolitionist  3. Congressman Quincy Adams, anti-slavery abolitionists, gag rule 4. President Obama's Presidential Library Grounding Breaking, Chicago Founder, Jean Baptiste Pointe DaSable 5. Dismal Swamp and Florida Young man captures Alligator in Trash can, Cuffeytown  6. The Banning of author  Toni Morrison, Critical Race Theory ******** Abolitionist De Silva Mendonca African American's involvement in the abolition of slavery is often confined to sporadic cases namely those of 'shipboard revolts', 'maroon communities', and 'household revolts',ignoring, the highly-organised, international-scale legal liberation headed by Mendonça in the Vatican on the 6th of March 1684. The court case presented by Mendonça on the abolition of slavery included different organizations, brotherhoods of Black people, and interest groups of 'men', 'women' and 'young people' of African descent in Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Africa.

Author and Professor Manisha Sinha's Monthly Recap and Black Historic Perspective! October is Black History Month in the U.K. And Miss Ireland is Black! Join us today at www.blackhistoryUniversity.com    

The  United States Capitol 1866 Blacks and Whites Celebrate the Passage of Civil Rights Amendment 1866 The Capitol: A Great America, in the Making! An 1866 illustration from Harper's Weekly shows white women, White Union soldiers and African Americans celebrating new legislation in the Galleries of the House of Representatives in the Capitol. The 14th Amendment, that gave former enslaved people and landless white men full citizenship. (Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives) Join World Renowned Historian and Professor, Manisha Sinha as she lectures on the History of The U.S.Capitol;  Georgia's Black Reconstruction Legislators: Aaron A. Bradley; The Caning Of Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of Congress: John Brown, Bleedy Kansas, Border Ruffians... Join www.BlackHistoryUniversity as we welcome Manisha Sinha for another brilliant lecture on The United States Capitol during the Reconstruction Era. Topics: Abolitionists 1. Georgia Reconstruction Legislators: Aaron A. Bradley 2. Senator Charles Sumner 3. John Brown: Sumner, Border Ruffians 4. The Capitol Celebration during the Passage of the 1866 Civil Rights Amendment. Manisha Sinha Chair in American History University of Connecticut Department of History        

Christmas, Celebrity Bible Readings, Blair Underwood

Join The Gist of Freedom as Shellie Gaines welcomes WETV's Vice President,,Ashley McFarlin Buie! Ashley M. Buie, founder of Bird's Eye Entertainment, Inc., continues to set the entertainment world on fire. Buie has catapulted her career from Production Assistant to Executive Producer to Network Executive. She has worked on a multitude of television shows with some of today's top television networks including: BravoTV, Discovery, Oxygen, CNN, MTV, CMT, The Travel Channel, and VH1. Ashley shares an inspiring story of how she used her recovery from a debilitating brain disease to author a faith based books. You can watch the interview here: https://youtu.be/MuYM2Wc6p-A

The Gist of Freedom is honored to welcome Michelle Daniels! The 2020 Presidential Election is historic and Michelle explains the controversies surrounding the swing state's delayed results.  YouTube Link https://youtu.be/zdjAsom71V0    

Oblate Sisters of Providence Black Nuns at Saint Francis Academy in Baltimore. Listening now to Filmmaker Gloria Victoria Rolando Casamayor discuss her upcoming documentary about the Oblate Sisters. Gloria's mom an Afro-Cuban attended a school established by the Sisters in Cuba! www.BlackHistoryUniversity.com  Elizabeth Clarisse Lange, who became later known as Mother Mary Lange, was born circa 1784, For ten years, she ran a free school for Haitian refugee children in her own home together with her friend and fellow refugee Marie Magdaline Balas. The Oblate Sisters  continued Mother Mary's mission. They started Saint Francis Academy, a school for African American children. They provided a home for orphans, purchased the freedom for the enslaved and educated them.

Professor Manisha  Sinha Examines America's Loss: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Landmark Civil Rights Events.

Free Afrcan Society's Black Nurses and the 1793 Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic In 1793, Philadelphia was as large and as cosmopolitan a city as could be found in the new United States. Until 1800, Philadelphia served as the U.S. capitol. The city was also home to a substantial number of people of color. The yellow fever outbreak that began that summer led to an outcry for help to the Black Benevolent Societies.. As the disease spread, so too did panic. Some 20,000 residents fled the city. Deaths became so frequent that the College of Physicians asked city officials to stop tolling bells for the dead because the constant ringing was so oppressive. With the exodus of so many able-bodied people, care for the sick and dying was limited at best. In desperation, civic leaders — including Declaration of Independence signatory Benjamin Rush, M.D., then a professor at the Institutes of Medicine — approached the city's black community for help. Like many people of the time, he believed that black people had some special immunity to the virus. The leaders of Philadelphia's Free African Society, a mutual aid organization founded in 1787 by ministers Absalom Jones and Richard Allen in partnership with black abolitionists like William Gray, willingly agreed to provide that help, often asking little or no pay. Jones and Allen, who had some medical training, also played an active role in treating the sick, sometimes working directly with Rush. By their own account, they cared for “upwards of 800 people.” ** Image: Black Cross Nurses https://youtu.be/9r4KJMsaD3s

Jamaal Brown Presents A Series on Statutes and Monuments: Manna From Heaven. Tonight The Gist of Freedom along with host, Jamaal Brown  honors Slavery Survivor Warriors, Freedom Fighters Who Sacrificed their Lives at www.BlackHistoryUniversity.com. List of Topics and Warriors Allensworth Fort Leavenworth Grand army of republic GAR Dr. James Peck USCT Doctors united states Colored Troops Robert Smalls Mary Elizabeth Bowser Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman bridge Harriet Tubman combahee John Brown's 6 Black men John copeland vigilance committee shields green lewis leary Osborne Anderson Galveston Texas Military chaplain USCT chaplain The Lincoln Brigade Salaria Kea  

The Roots of Labor Day:  May Day versus Labor Day.. Labor Day is a national holiday dedicated to American workers.In the 19th century, the industrial revolution reached its peak, and many Americans had to work 12 hours a day seven days a week. Even small children worked in factories and died striking in the Silk Mills located in  Paterson New Jersey. Almost none of the employers provided their employees with sick leave, paid leave or medical benefits. When workers began to unionize, they began to protest against difficult and unsafe working conditions and demand more substantial benefits from employers. Both Labor Day and International Workers' Day, which is celebrated on May 1, are established in honor of the  american workers. In May 1886, a demonstration of workers who spoke for the 8 hour work day took place at Haymarket Square in Chicago. An explosion occurred during the protest, killing seven policemen and four civilians.  After the events at Haymarket Square a powerful anti-union movement appeared. Over the years, May Day has become increasingly associated with left-wing radicals.  Topics: Pullman Brothers Strike, A. Phillip Ranolph: Sanitation Workers Martin Luther King: Caulkers Isaac Myers; Paterson Mill Boys 1835: Newsie boys; Paul Robeson Internationalist. https://www.forumdaily.com/en/den-truda-neskolko-faktov-o-prazdnike-znamenuyushhem-okonchanie-leta/

Jamaal Brown's series on Statutes and Monuments continues as we cross reference modern day activism and abolitionists of the past with today's professional athletes who are currently boycotting America's countless and senseless cop shootings of unarmed Black Men. Abolitionists: Chris Webber, Stephon Marbury, Paul Robeson, Kenny "The Jet" Smith, Satchel Paige, Randy Moss, Naomi Osaka, Muhammad Ali, Collin Kapernick, Craig Hodges, "Tommie Smith and John Carlos". As reported by CNN: The Milwaukee Bucks were a driving force behind the boycotting of NBA Playoff games on Wednesday following Blake's shooting in Wisconsin.Blake was shot in the back 7 times at point blank range in the presence of his young children. Milwaukee versus the Orlando Magic was the first game boycotted on Wednesday, and every other team followed in support of the movement. The boycotting also reached other leagues as well. Various NFL teams canceled training camp on Thursday. The WNBA also opted to boycott games. The NHL decided to not play games on Thursday or Friday. Jacob Blake, who remains hospitalized after sustaining multiple injuries, is now handcuffed to his bed, his family said. Blake's uncle told CNN on Thursday that Blake's father visited the Wauwatosa, Wisconsin hospital where his son is recovering from at least one surgery. He was "heartbroken" to see that his son was handcuffed. "This is an insult to injury," Justin Blake, the uncle of the victim, said. "He is paralyzed and can't walk and they have him cuffed to the bed. Why?"

Join host Jamaal Brown, as he continues his series on Statutes and Monuments.  Jamaal features voting rights icons, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ocavious Cato, Sojourner Truth, Amelia Boynton Robinson, Sojourner Truth and Coretta Scott King. He also recognizes black sculptors such as Vinnie Bagwell.

Tonight, historian Jamaal Brown will be discussing Cleopatra's Needle, a monument that once stood in front of a powerful Egyptian temple, which now stands in New York's Central Park. Discover, What is it, Where it Came From, Who Created It, and how it got into the hands of the NY Metropolitan Museum. How do the Monuments of Antiquity, and the monuments dedicated to the confederacy relate to the Biblical Tower of Babel?   Exodus 16:32 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.'”      

Alexander Hamilton"s Ethnicity and Abolitionism has been scrutinized since the Hit Broadway Play. We share these clips from 2004, July 12th a Discussion at the 200th Memorial of Hamilton's duel. Author Ron Chernow was asked to address Hamilton's ethicity by Harlem's very own QUEEN MOTHER DR. DELAUISE BLAKELY. Clip number two is a Abraham Lincoln's Speech on the framers of the Constitution and Their Votes on Slavery, read by Actor Sam Waterson. Clip number three is an excellent presentation on Hamilton's duel by Yale Professor Joanne Freeman.   This is an excellent time for you to visit a few of the Historic sites associated with Hamilton. Prep School for Princeton Theology School, 42 Broad Street, Elizabeth, New Jersey Paterson Great Falls, Hamilton's Industrial Revolution Model City Powered By The Falls, 72 McBride Ave, Paterson, NJ 07501 The Dueling Grounds Weehaken, NJ General Charles Lee, Fort Lee NJ  Hamilton's Home Museum in Harlem 414 West 141 Street, New York African Free School (co-founder ) 135-137 Mulberry Street Black Abolitionists, Prominent World Renowned  Alums of The African Free school  Henry Highland Garnet  185 Bleeker Street, NYC &  Dr james McCune Smith  93 West Broadway NYC Erasmus High School, Hamilton and Aaron Burr were co-founders of America's First Public High School  899-925 Flatbush Avenue; Brooklyn Trinity Church, Burial Ground ~ 74 Trinity Place at Wall street and Broadway

Reparations for Slaveholders - Victims of The Emancipation Proclamation, Slave Revolts, Fraud  ~Emancipation Act, 1862, Paid Slavers in DC $300 per person The Race and Slavery Petitions Project offers data on race and slavery extracted from documents and processed over a period of eighteen years.  The Woes of The Planter, Pleas for Relief: Slavers Purchased enslaved Black people represented as happy ignorant & meek, instead they were of "Bad Character". They were highly skilled, could read & write and often forged free papers, procured money,  higher themselves out, escaped and stabbed the said petitioners. This show is produced with the mission to debunk the myth that all white people owned plantations and enslaved people. That slavery was a turnkey operation, a franchise of sorts, Instead it was business run by folks we witness today,  foreign flim flam artists and their agents who failed to keep and support their false get rich quick promises made to the impoverished poor landless white men.  These dabblers of slavery were not warned that the folks they attempted to break the Spirits of  and enslaved were constantly, 24 hours 7 days of week in prayer and seeking freedom.  Chattel slavery was being resisted on every level from countless forces, within their home and abroad with abolitionsts from every end of the earth. The Black people they tried to enslaved embodied the courage and faith like no other, while still in chains they signed and filed their own petitions seeking liberty and dignity.  

The New Jersey Amistad Commission Executive Director Stephanie James New Jersey schools incorporate African American history into their K-12 social studies curricula and appropriate content areas. This legislation created the Amistad Commission, a 23-member body charged with ensuring that African American historical content, contributions and experiences are taught in the state's classrooms on a daily basis, and infused into all district curricula, lessons, testing, and presentations. The NJAC has become a national model for the revision of social studies education. New Jersey was first in the nation to pass such legislation.  Topics: The history of the Anti- Lynching Movement Ida B.Wells published a study of lynching and travelled to England twice in the mid-1890s lecturing and lobbying against the bloody American scourge of lynching. Paul Robeson and Albert Einstein  Einstein and Robeson also worked together on the American Crusade to End Lynching,The 20-year friendship between Einstein and Robeson is scheduled to be memorialized in A movie starring  Danny Glover slated to play Robeson and Ben Kingsley as Einstein PAUL Robeson and the United Nations We Charge Genocide: The Crime of Government Against the Negro People is a paper accusing the United States government of genocide based on the UN Genocide Convention. This paper was written presented to the United Nations at meetings in Paris in December 1951. SILENT PROTEST PARADE  NAACP's Silent Protest Parade, held on July 28, 1917. On July 28, nearly 10,000 black men, women, and children wordlessly paraded down New York's Fifth Avenue. 

In 2004, Pennsylvania native Mary Groce was going through a box of family papers with her cousin Aileen when she found a sheet of old letterhead for an “Emory C. Malick, Licensee: Pilot No. 105.” Included on the letterhead was a photograph of a handsome young man in a Curtiss pusher-type airplane. Hubert Fauntleroy Julian, nicknamed the Black Eagle, was born in Trinidad on January 5th, 1897. In 1922, when he was 25 years old, he flew over parades in support of Marcus Garvey. He subsequently took flying lessons from Air Service, Inc., and purchased a plane to fly to Africa. After flying to Roosevelt airfield, when he attempted to depart in July 1924, the plane crashed and burned. He survived and spent the next month in a Long Island hospital. In 1929, he did succeed in a Trans-Atlantic flight two years later than Charles Lindberg. --------- Here's the link to Pilot Fauntleroy Julian's Film Lying Lips __________ In 1930 after flying to Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie granted him Ethiopian citizenship and made him a Colonel. One year later, in 1931, he became the first black man to fly coast to coast over the American continent and also broke the world record for endurance flying with a non-stop non-refueling flight of 84 hours and 33 minutes. In 1935, Julian commanded the small Ethiopian Air Force  during the Italian invasion of that country by Benito Mussolini's Army. Four years later Julian produced the classic melodrama, Lying Lips, which starred Robert Earl Jones, father of James Earl Jones. In 1965, in collaboration with John Bulloch, he wrote the 200-page autobiography, Black Eagle.  Black Aviators, Hubert Fauntleroy, William Powell, Bessie Coleman, John C. Robinson Coleman Young, George Washington, 

Dissicussion with COVID Survivor,  Dr. Ishmael Griffin, MD and Therapist Bonnie Harrison! The Hart Island Mass Gravesite was originally the home of Almshouses, charitable homes for the aged, orphaned and widows, this practice was adopted from the colonial era.  Harriet Tubman likewise donated her property in Auburn New York, for the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged.  Matthew 6:1-6  (KJV Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven...:That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. **** Victims of various pandemics – tuberculosis, the Spanish Flu, and AIDS – have been buried in secrecy, and sometimes in shame. The city refused to release the names of those buried there, until Melinda Hunt,  sued to obtain them. "So, all of the sudden in 2008, I had 50,000 burial records," Hunt said. She created the Hart Island Project, an online memorial.  

A'Lelia Bundles talks with The Gist of Freedom, guest host Shellie Gaines about her great great Grandmother Madam C.J.Walker, her book Self Made and the Netflix series Self Made which was inspired by her book.    Octavia Spencer has her hands in many projects, the Academy Award-winning actress is starred as the trailblazing Madam C.J. Walker in an autobiographical limited series for Netflix.  The hair care mogul broke barriers as America's first Black self-made millionaire. Spencer revealed that LeBron James, who is producing the series via his SpringHill Entertainment, helped her with her Netflix deal. “I have to say, when I was negotiating my deal for ‘Madam C.J.,' LeBron James had to intervene,” Spencer said. “So we need all our male counterparts to be in the fight with us.”    

Celebrating Easter and honoring medical professionals from the past, the present and the future! Musical selections commemorating the Clark Sisters' Movie premiering April 11, 2020 on Lifetime! Valerie Jarrett's father, Dr. James Bowman, Jr., was a groundbreaking pathologist and geneticist.  His first day as a resident at St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago, where he was told that he couldn't enter the front door. He decided it was time to break the rules."And so, the first day of work, he showed up and he walked in the front door. And the next day, when he showed up for work, all of the black staff that worked in the hospital - were waiting by the front door and they walked in with him. And so he, in a sense, integrated the front door of the hospital." ~Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett, a viral immunologist working with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is taking the lead to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus. ~An obstetrician, gynecologist and surgeon, Dr. Matilda Evans cared for her patients in her home until she established Taylor Lane Hospital, one the first black hospitals in the state, in 1901.  ~Dr. May Chinn, her work in cancer research helped in the development of the Pap smear, a test for early detection of cervical cancer. Queen Liliʻuokalani - last ruler of Hawaii founded the Kapiolani Maternity Hospital for native Hawaiian mothers. Today it is called the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children

Join The Gist of Freedom ~Corona Virus Epidemic from an Emergency Doctor's Perspective | Dr. Ishmael Griffin, a Harvard Educated, Board Certified Emergency Physician, has practiced over 20 years in level 1 and 2 emergency departments. Currently works in NYC. Dr. Griffin was also led  a delegation of Pre-Med Students to study in Cuba for nearly two decades.  You can listen to The Gist of Freedom at www.BlackhistoryUniversity.com ********** This show is in honor of: The Black Nurses and the 1793 Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic In 1793, Philadelphia was as large and as cosmopolitan a city as could be found in the new United States. Until 1800, Philadelphia served as the U.S. capitol. The city was also home to a substantial number of people of color. The yellow fever outbreak that began that summer led to an outcry for help to the Black Benevolent Societies.. As the disease spread, so too did panic. Some 20,000 residents fled the city. With the exodus  care for the sick  was limited. In desperation, civic leaders — including Declaration of Independence signatory Benjamin Rush, M.D., then a professor at the Institutes of Medicine — approached the city's black community for help.  The leaders of Philadelphia's Free African Society, a mutual aid organization founded in 1787 by ministers Absalom Jones and Richard Allen agreed to provide that help. They too had some medical training, and played an active role. They cared for “upwards of 800 people.” **** Image: Black Cross Nurses 1920  

Join  WWW.BlackHistoryUniversity.com and Historian Byron Saunders as we discuss the History of The US OPEN STADIUMS, Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong!

Join the Gist of Freedom and Kimberly Simmons as we welcome Tamara Lanier. Mrs. Lanier will give us an update on her lawsuit against Harvard. Lawsuit by gr-gr-gr-granddaughter  of slavery survivor  blasts Harvard for collecting licensing fees on the photos  of her ancestors which were used in racist research.    “These images were taken under duress, ordered by a Harvard professor bent on proving the inferiority of African-Americans,” said her lawyer Michael Koskoff. “Harvard has no right to keep them, let alone profit from them. It's about time the university accepted responsibility for its shameful history and for the way it has treated Papa Renty and his family.”

Join the Gist of Freedom and Kimberly Simmons as we welcome Tamara Lanier. Mrs. Lanier will give us an update on her lawsuit against Harvard. Lawsuit by gr-gr-gr-granddaughter  of slavery survivor  blasts Harvard for collecting licensing fees on the photos  of her ancestors which were used in racist research.    “These images were taken under duress, ordered by a Harvard professor bent on proving the inferiority of African-Americans,” said her lawyer Michael Koskoff. “Harvard has no right to keep them, let alone profit from them. It's about time the university accepted responsibility for its shameful history and for the way it has treated Papa Renty and his family.”

Alelia Bundles, Madam C.J. Walker's descendant and preserverationist gives The Gist of Freedom an update on Madam C.J. Walker's latest exciting projects. Netflix SeriesMadam C. J. Walker Beauty Culture productsThe Madam Walker Legacy Center Alelia's latest books on 

Speech, Founder of Arrested Development  Lectures on his New Documentaries, The N-Factory and 16 Bars! Arrested Development's Speech  For Speech it's a homecoming replete with memories of growing up in Milwaukee, the son of a business mom and dad, attending parochial and Milwaukee Public schools; of music always being the dominate force in his life, as if he was born to do only that…and succeeding. Speech recalled helping his parents at age eight deliver the Milwaukee Community Journal to the doorsteps of Black community residents. “I've witnessed their struggle to keep it (the newspaper) alive and also their determination to retain a voice for the Black experience. I guess the desire to make a difference is in my blood…and my desire…and that of my family burns deep in the way my wife and I have brought up our children.” Now the Grammy winning songwriter, producer and singer has made a documentary titled, “16 Bars,” that is premiering October 20th at the Oriental Theater. “16 Bars” is about a unique rehabilitation program in Richmond, VA Speech was involved with that allows prisoners to write and record their own songs. Speech spent 10 days working with the inmates to write and record their original music in a makeshift recording studio. It's in that studio the inmates unearth painful elements of their pasts as they create original music. Through their collaboration with Speech, the inmates begin to move forward with their lives. The music of the film serves as a rare testimony to the messy truth behind the criminal justice system's revolving door. “16 Bars”  premiered last October. 

A Lesson on Civics, The 2018 Mideterm Election with Roy Paul... This show is dedicated to Matthias de Sousa Matthias de Sousa, was the only black person to serve in the colonial Maryland legislature. As such he is the first African American to sit in any legislative body in what would become the United States. He also voted and in 1641 he was elected to the Maryland General Assembly, serving until 1642.  Historic St. Mary's City History, “Matthias de Sousa”https://www.hsmcdigshistory.org/research/history/mathias-de-sousa/; Maryland State Archives and Maria A. Day ‘Exploring Maryland's Roots: Library: Case Studies' “Matthias de Sousa” http://mdroots.thinkport.org/library/mathiasdesousa.asp. Contributor: Brenton, Felix University of Sussex (England)

Hundreds of Authors who survived slavery, penned books, newspapers, pamphlets and speeches without using the N-Word, yet today the word is unavoidable! Garrett Fortner III, the Brooklyn Grassroot Publisher and founder of New Word Media has had enough and he's doing something about it! He filed a complaint with the Federal Communication Commission.   Read Books Penned By Slavery Survivors ********** Dave Chappelle's Great Grandfather,  Rev. Wilson David Chappelle survived slavery, became the President of a HBCU and wrote about it in his book!  A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CAREER OF THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM DAVID CHAPPELLE A.M., D.D., LL.D. Some of His Addresses and Sermons. Dave Chappelle supports HBCU,His great-grandfather, Bishop WM. David Chappelle, was a president at Allen University in Columbia, S.C.  Watch Dave's  interview here: http://bit.ly/DaveChapHBCU https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10204585972114645&type=1&l=5b75078b55  

The Gist of Freedom is honored to invite you to a lecture, the vigilant genealogist, Matriach and author Catherine Meehan Blount will discuss her famillies' rich legacy in homesteading!   Carving out a place for themselves: Black settlers' pursuit of dream in late 1800s Nebraska gets new attention! African American Church congregation at DeWitty settlement in Cherry County, Nebraska. Scanned from the book "In Their Own Image" by the Great Plains Black ... CUSTER COUNTY, Neb. — The black homestead families lived here in the late 1800s. These families were part of a wave of black settlers who came to Nebraska and other states after the Civil War, seeking lands offered by the government. They came here to start new lives, to claim land and work for themselves in a country that still didn't know where they fit in. Within a generation or two they moved on, in search of better opportunities for their children. Evidence of their stories is scarce. But in Cherry County, that soon will change. ----- Source: http://bit.ly/Black_Settlers -----