John Morton Finney was a Buffalo soldier who fought in World War 1, earned 11 degrees and practiced law until he was 106 years old.
He was believed to be the longest practicing attorney in the United States. John Morton-Finney (June 25, 1889 January 28, 1998) was an American civil rights activist, lawyer, and educator who earned 11 academic degrees, including 5 law degrees. He spent most of his career as an educator and lawyer after serving from 1911 to 1914 in the U.S. Army as a member of the 24th Infantry Regiment, better known as the Buffalo soldiers, and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I.
Morton-Finney taught languages at Fisk University in Tennessee and at Lincoln University in Missouri, before moving to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he taught in the Indianapolis Public Schools for forty-seven years. Morton-Finney was a member of the original faculty at Indianapolis's Crisps Attucks High School when it opened in 1927 and later became head of its foreign language department. He also taught at Shortridge High School and at other IPS schools. Morton-Finney was admitted as a member of the Bar of the Indiana Supreme Court in 1935, as a member of the Bar of the U.S. District Court in 1941 and was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972.
FROM LUSH GREEN TO A DESERT
THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MOORS.
The Maji Maji Rebellion.
Battle of Nsamankow - the battle where the head of the British Governor was severed by the Asantes and the skull used as drinking cup
Scottsboro Boys were 9 black teenagers falsely accused in 1931 of raping 2 white women on a train and an all white jury found them guilty.
Scottsboro Boys were 9 black teenagers falsely accused in 1931 of raping 2 white women on a train and an all-white jury found them guilty. They collectively served more than 100 years in prison. The right of blacks to serve on juries was established by their case. On March 25, 1931, nine African American teenagers were accused of raping two white women, Victoria and Ruby, aboard a Southern Railroad freight train in northern Alabama. Haywood Patterson, Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Willie Roberson, Andy Wright, Ozzie Powell, Eugene Williams, Charley Weems and Roy Wright were searching for work when a racially-charged fight broke out between passengers.
The fight is said to have started when a young white man stepped on the hand of one of the Scottsboro Boys. The young white men who were fighting were forced to exit the train. Enraged, they conjured a story of how the black men were at fault for the incident.By the time the train reached Paint Rock, Alabama, the Boys were met with an angry mob & charged with assault. Victoria and Ruby, who were also in the train, faced charges of vagrancy & illegal sexual activity. In order to avoid the charges, they falsely accused the Boys of rape.The original cases were tried in Scottsboro, Alabama. Only four of the young African American men knew each other prior to the incident on the freight train, but as the trials drew increasing regional and national attention they became known as the Scottsboro Boys.
On April 9, 1931, eight of the nine young men were convicted and sentenced to death. The judge granted Roy Wright, the youngest of the group, a mistrial because of age despite the recommendation of the all-white jury.After this initial verdict, protests emerged in the north, leading to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the convictions in 1932, in Powell v. State of Alabama. The Supreme Court demanded a retrial on the grounds that the young men did not have adequate legal representation.A series of retrials and reconvictions followed, the Boys collectively served more than 100 years in prison.
19 year old Frank Embree was tortured, castrated, skinned and then lynched in front of a cheering crowd, for a crime he didn’t commit in 1899.
Though published photographs clearly depicted the faces of his assailants, no one was ever arrested. On the morning of July 22, 1899, a white mob abducted Frank from officers transporting him to stand trial. He had been arrested roughly a month earlier, accused of assaulting a young white girl. Though he was scheduled to stand trial on July 22, he was lynched instead when the town’s residents grew impatient and decided to take “justice” into their own hands.
60 years ago today, The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C.
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. It took place in Washington, D.C.Martin Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech advocating racial harmony during the march.The march was organized by a group of civil rights, labor, and religious organizations, under the theme "jobs, and freedom."
August 30, 1800: Gabriel Prosser postpones a planned slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia, but is arrested before he can make it happen.
Gabriel, today commonly known as Gabriel Prosser, was a literate enslaved blacksmith who planned a large slave rebellion in the Richmond area in the summer of 1800. Information regarding the revolt was leaked prior to its execution, and he and 25 followers were taken captive and hanged in punishment. In reaction, Virginia and other state legislatures passed restrictions on free blacks, as well as prohibiting the education, assembly, and hiring out of slaves, to restrict their chances to learn and to plan similar rebellions. In 2002 the City of Richmond passed a resolution in honor of Gabriel on the 202nd anniversary of the rebellion. In 2007 Governor Tim Kaine gave Gabriel and his followers an informal pardon, in recognition that his cause, "the end of slavery and the furtherance of equality for all people has prevailed in the light of history."
Gabriel planned the revolt during the spring and summer of 1800. On August 30, 1800, Gabriel intended to lead slaves into Richmond, but the rebellion was postponed because of rain. The slaves' owners had suspicion of the uprising, and two slaves told their owner, Mosby Sheppard, about the plans. He warned Virginia's Governor, James Monroe, who called out the state militia. Gabriel escaped downriver to Norfolk, but he was spotted and betrayed there by another slave for the reward offered by the state.
That slave did not receive the full reward. Gabriel was returned to Richmond for questioning, but he did not submit. Gabriel, his two brothers, and 23 other slaves were hanged. LEGACY: Gabriel's rebellion served as an important example of slaves' taking action to gain freedom. In 2002 the City of Richmond adopted a resolution to commemorate the 202nd anniversary "of the execution of the patriot and freedom fighter, Gabriel, whose death stands as a symbol for the determination and struggle of slaves to obtain freedom, justice and equality as promised by the fundamental principles of democratic governments of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America."
In the fall of 2006, the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP requested Gov. Tim Kaine to pardon Gabriel in recognition of his contributions to the civil rights struggle of African Americans and all peoples. On August 30, 2007, Governor Kaine informally pardoned Gabriel and his co-conspirators. Kaine said that Gabriel's motivation had been "his devotion to the ideals of the American revolution it was worth risking death to secure liberty." Kaine noted that "Gabriel's cause the end of slavery and the furtherance of equality of all people has prevailed in the light of history" and added that "it is important to acknowledge that history favorably regards Gabriel's cause while consigning legions who sought to keep him and others in chains to be forgotten." The pardon was informal because it was posthumous.
In 1966, The Black Panther Party for Self Defence was founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
Originally founded to fight police racism, they were dedicated to liberating people from white supremacism and also fed the hungry and mentored youth.In the wake of the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, Merritt Junior College students Huey and Bobby founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense on October 15, 1966, in West Oakland, California. Shortening its name to the Black Panther Party.The party sought to set itself apart from black cultural nationalist organizations, such as the Universal Negro Improvement Association & the Nation of Islam, to which it was commonly compared.
James Hemings, brother to Sally Hemings was the first American to train as a chef in France. He was enslaved by Thomas Jefferson at 8.
The Chef de cuisine is the reason macaroni and cheese made it to America. James Hemings was born in 1765 into slavery and lived much of his life enslaved. He was among the many enslaved people who came into Thomas Jefferson's possession through his wife's inheritance. In May 1784, Hemings received a summons to join Jefferson in Philadelphia. From there they travelled to Paris where he was trained in the art of French cooking. At a time when illiteracy was imposed on all African people, he was not only literate but fluent in English and French. James went on to make culinary history. He ran the kitchens of Jefferson’s residence on the Champs-Élysées, overseeing meals served to the notables of Europe. This made him the first American chef to be head cook at an American embassy.
Macaroni & cheese, vanilla ice cream, French fries, crème brulée, meringues, and many other foods were introduced by Hemings, though Jefferson got the credit. James continued his legacy and became one of the nation’s most influential culinary instructors. His transfer of knowledge impacted Black cooks, caterers, and chefs who were instrumental in developing American dining. Hemings life was cut tragically short in 1801 through suicide at 36; a letter addressed to Jefferson said that the cause was “drinking too freely.” Ultimately he left an important legacy in culinary history. He helped to create and define American Cuisine as we know it today!
Henry "Box" Brown, the 19th century enslaved man from Virginia (later a noted abolitionist speaker), escaped to freedom by mailing himself in a wooden crate.
“if you have never been deprived of your liberty, as I was, you cannot realize the power of that hope of freedom.” Henry "Box" Brown escaped to freedom at the age of 33 by arranging to have himself mailed in a wooden crate in 1849 to abolitionists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Brown was hired out by his master in Richmond, Virginia, and worked in a tobacco factory, renting a house where he and his wife lived with their children. Brown had also been paying his wife's master not to sell his family, but the man betrayed Brown, selling pregnant Nancy and their three children to a different slave owner. With the help of James C. A. Smith, a free black man, and a sympathetic white shoemaker named Samuel A. Smith, Brown devised a plan to have himself shipped in a box to a free state by the Adams Express Company, known for its confidentiality and efficiency.
Brown paid $86 (out of his savings of $166) to Samuel Smith. Smith went to Philadelphia to consult with members of Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society on how to accomplish the escape, meeting with minister James Miller McKim, William Still, and Cyrus Burleigh. He corresponded with them to work out the details after returning to Richmond. They advised him to mail the box to the office of Quaker merchant Passmore Williamson, who was active with the Vigilance Committee. To get out of work the day he was to escape, Brown burned his hand to the bone with sulfuric acid. The box that Brown was shipped n was 3ft long by 2ft 8 inches deep by 2ft wide and displayed the words "dry goods" on it. It was lined with baize, a coarse woolen cloth, and he carried only a small portion of water and a few biscuits.
There was a single hole cut for air and it was nailed & tied with straps. Brown later wrote that his uncertain method of travel was worth the risk: "if you have never been deprived of your liberty, as I was, you cannot realize the power of that hope of freedom, which was to me indeed, an anchor to the soul both sure and steadfast." During the trip, which began on March 29, 1849, Brown's box was transported by wagon, railroad, steamboat, wagon again, railroad, ferry, railroad, and finally delivery wagon, being completed in 27 hours. The box was successfully received on March 30th 1849. Just look at me the determination of our ancestors.