African-American Enters The Scene

On December 21 Black History....

In 1988, The term, "African American" was coined as Jesse Jackson urges its use.

Let's look at the history of the term:

Afro-American was first used as an adjective in 1853 in a publication in Windsor, Ontario, Voice of the Fugitive. The OED2 lists examples of Afro-American and Aframerican from 1890, 1898, 1910, 1934, 1939, and 1944, the last being a use of Aframerican from an article by H.L. Mencken.

African-American was first used as a noun in 1855 and as an adjective in 1858. The OED2 gives cites for one or the other use from 1858, 1885, 1890, 1925, 1962, 1969, 1973, 1979, and later.
(source:  http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=260015)

In 1987, Dr. Johnny Duncan published a Black History Calender in which he also used the term African-American in which he included the poem he wrote, "I Can."  Dr. Duncan was written in an effort to rename Black people in America.  According to Dr. Duncan, Rev. Jackson became familiar with the term through his calendar and poem that was given to him by Coretta Scott King.


http://www.archive.org/details/DrJohnnyDuncanInterviewafr-i-canAmer-i-can (listen to interview with Johnny Duncan here)http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?authorid=139244

180 years after Nat...

On this day in black history...

In 1831, Nat Turner was hanged on November 11 for leading the deadliest slave rebellion in North American history. As a result of the rebellion, 55 whites and 100-200 blacks were killed and legislation was passed forbidding the education of blacks as well as any religious gatherings without white supervision.

180 years later, we can be thankful that we do not have to fight for our freedom...at least not on the level of physical violence. We are no longer considered as the property of any other person. We have access to the highest levels of education in the world. We worship as we please and in many cases in segregated congregations in all faiths with no "supervision."

Many would argue that we still have to fight for our freedoms; however we no longer need to fight with weapons against individuals. Now our power lies in our ability to live our lives in freedom, build our families with love and strengthen our kids with education and encouragement to validate their potential within.

Back to the Land of the Free

On February 6 in Black History...

In 1820, the first organized group of emigrating freed slaves departed on on February 6, The Elizabeth from New York to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. The enterprise was organized by the American Colonization Society, founded in 1816 by educator Robert Finley (1772-1817) with the mission of returning freed American slaves to Africa. Finley had taught in Charleston, S.C., a slave-importing port. In 1819, Congress had authorized the return of freed black slaves. The lawmakers appropriated $100,000, a large sum at the time, to be used in returning displaced Africans who had been brought to the United States illegally after the abolishment of the slave trade in 1808. With congressional approval, the American Colonization Society in 1821 founded the colony of Liberia, which means Land of the Free, located south of Sierra Leone, as a permanent homeland for freed U.S. slaves.