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The past connected to today and the future
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Obiturary milk glass plate of Miss Martha Richards born 1819, during slavery, died 1906.
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Above four piece alligator desk set refers to the saying, "Alligator Bait......"Oral history" Saying started when slaves became food (bait), for alligators. My additon: As slaves crossed southern swaps in desperate search of freedom.
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Buckner Topsy Turvy 1901 doll. Oral history of the doll….....A slave mother designed this type of doll for her children because slave children were not allowed to play with white dolls. When white people were present slave children always had to play with the black doll. The black doll was the only legal doll black children could play with in America during slave times.
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Slave Gordon
A large majority of early Black American's were enslaved then forced into giving America almost three hundred years of free labor towards the building of America. There is no other ethnic group who gave America this many years of free labor. Historically speaking after Black American's fought in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, Black American's have had to die, fight, get bitten by dogs, clubbed by police, lynched, hosed with fire hoses, walk and sing, to receive almost every democracy given right they currently have in America.
One very important right that came with freedom, which is still powerful, was the right to learn to read, reading was kept from slaves. Slave owners knew reading meant knowledge and knowledge meant power! Slaveholder's wanted slaves powerless. Harsh punishments were placed on slave's if they were caught trying to learn to read . To teach a slave to read was against the law in most states; there were slaves who lost their sight and their lives trying to educate themselves.
Slave holding states kept up bondage fables some included slaves were happy because oppression meant you were fed, given shelter, and clothed. In slaveholder's stories of happy slaves some of the cruelties left out were most slaves were fed from the bottom of the food chain. Their families lived in one room run-down shacks with dirt floors, given one set of clothes and shoes that had to last a year. Two of the most hideous things about being a slave were always left out, being a slave meant you could be sold from your family and you were treated like livestock or sometimes worse than livestock if you were a field slave.
Most slaves were not happy but rather despondent. This is demonstrated by the scares some slave's carried with them for life. Pictures’s like the one of Gordon, see above, shows scares he received after running towards freedom time and time again. There are the stories written and spoken by slaves who ran for freedom then enjoyed some of the fruits of freedom. There are stories told by slaves who were returned to bondage after an unsuccessful undertaking. America still must heal from slavery and the Jim Crow eras.
Two ways American can begin this process is for those writing American history, for learning purposes, begin writing the complete story in history books. Historian's speaking about America’s history must make certain they are truthful and complete when speaking to their audiences. These actions may start up a dialog that America so urgently needs in order to heal from the residue of slavery and other past ugliness. After slavery some freed slaves were expected to continue doing manual labor nevertheless slaves had other ideas like attending school.
One of the first school's black children attended was in the state of Mississippi. Domestic courses for girls and agricultural skills for boys along with reading, writing, and arithmetic (math) was a part of the school's curriculum. Founded in the early 1900's Piney Woods School started with one student under a tree and the founder a black man named Laurence C. Jones. Piney Woods is still located in Piney Woods, Mississippi. Want to know more about Laurence C. Jones read his autobiography, "Piney Woods" and Its Story. Piney Woods is now a charter school and is the largest of the four oldest existing black charter schools in America.
Above is just a tidbit of seldom known history. Collecting Black Americana is one way a person can learn a more inclusive history about Black American's achievements and struggles in America. There are Black Americana museums throughout America where people can visit and view accumulations of some of these artifacts. A visit to some of these museums allows visitors to experience and learn about seldom known contributions to America by Black American's and pride as a Black American can grow from new knowledge of one ancestors. Positive exhibits help people understand America would not be what it is today without the contributions of Black American's. The derogatory and humiliating artifacts illustrate the falsehoods and concepts of Black Americans. If one learns to appreciate and understand strength was required to survive these ugly times in America, the negative images may give people strength needed to survive bad times and appreciate good times in their life's today.
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