In Honor of Black History Month

Throughout our history it is no secret that the views on race and racism have long been a big issue and topic of controversy. Primarily amongst the black members of our communities. The unfathomable war of racism still rages on to this day, as unfortunate as that fact is. But coming to the end of black history month in 2021, I'd like to show some recognition and love to some of the most beautifully brave, determined, strong, intelligent, talented, compassionate, inspirational and influential souls the world has ever had the pleasure of knowing. As much as I would like to list them all, that would be impossible. So I created a time line going by birth year or year of a relevant event. These are some of the ones that stand out to me. Let’s dive in!

So starting my time line all the way back in 1692, with the spotlight on a woman named Tituba. That name may sound familiar to you if you ever had to read “The Crucible” in high school. This is because Tituba was actually the first woman to be accuse of being a witch and using witchcraft when The Salem Witch Trials began in 1692. Tituba was enslaved and owned by the Reverend Samuel Paris. Her official origins are unknown, but it’s suspected that she was a south american native that sailed with Samuel Paris from Barbados to New England. Tituba played a pivotal role in the Salem witch trials when she confessed to the witchcraft she was accused of. But not before pointing the wicked finger at both Sara Good and Sara Osborne for also being witches.

Next we have a man named Kunta Kinte, said to have been born in 1750 to a muslim family in the Mandinka village of Jufureh, in the Gambia. As his story in the tale of “Roots” goes, one day Kunta Kinte was out looking for wood to make a drum for his brother. He was caught by four men, bound and blindfolded, and taken prisoner. He along with many others made the agonizing four month middle passage voyage across the sea to america. Once in america he was immediately thrown into a life of slavery. Sold to a man named John Waller who renamed him Toby, he became a slave to the plantation owner. He rejected his new name and attempted many escapes to no avail. During his time on the plantation, Kunta married a woman by the name of Bell Waller. They had a daughter named Kizzy, or Keisa in mandinka, which in his native language means “To stay put”, to protect her from being sold away. But, in her teens Kizzy was sold to a man named Thomas Lea who immediately took advantage of the young girl, fathering her only child George. It is said that Kizzy one day returned to the old plantation finding no sign of her parents. Learning later that her mother had been sold off years before, and that her father Kunta had died of a broken heart.

Now, the story of Kunta Kinte in the 1976 novel “Roots” by author Alex Haley that tells of his life is largely culminated around fiction and folk tales. It is said by the author that Kunta Kinte was based off of one of his ancestors. He is said to be the sixth or seventh generation descended from Kunta Kinte. He got his information for the book from a lot of villagers that claimed to know the Kinte tribe and had heard tales of a man named Kunta who went out for wood one day and never returned, along with many others that went missing at the time. But the problem was, that he eventually was just hearing his own stories circulating back to him because he had told so many people of the tale. So how much of it is actual fact is unknown. Even still, Kunta’s story remains a huge part of the history of slavery. Real or not real, Kunta Kinte remains a respected historical black figure. At least in my eyes.

Ok, so everyone knows the story of The Lewis and Clark expedition with Sacagawea right? But did you know that among them was an african american man called York. York was thought to have been born in the 1770’s, and died sometime before 1832.

The Lewis and Clark expedition took place from August 31, 1803, to September 25, 1806. It was also known as the corpse of discovery expedition, it was an expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the united states. This was the result of The Louisiana Purchase. This expedition was lead by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark. They were accompanied by explorer Sacagawea, a Lemhi Shoshone woman who was only 16 at the time, as well as many others. Among the company was the explorer York. An enslaved bodyguard of William Clark given to him by his father. York was the only african american on The Lewis and Clark expedition. He was also the first african american to have crossed north america to reach the pacific. The cause of his death is ultimately unknown, but it is believed by most historians that he died from cholera in St. Louis.

This next person is one of my personal favorites. In march of 1822 there was born a woman by the name of Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman was an american abolitionist and political activist. She was born in Dorchester County, Maryland into slavery in 1822 as Araminta Ross, known as ‘Minty” on her plantation. She and her family plead for their freedom from their master Edward Brodess, so she could be free like her husband John Tubman and they could start a family. They were denied their request. As a result of this denial, Minty made the decision to run. She was successful in escaping the plantation and sought out help and refuge from the Reverend Green, an african american reverend living among the others enslaved. He gave her prayer and blessings along with the directions she needed to get to freedom. The church later became a safe house for fleeing slaves. Eventually, she was cornered on a bridge by those who were hunting her including the son of her master, Gideon Brodess. This is where her bravery truly shines through. She made the decision that she would never go back to slavery. So to the shock of everyone she jumped from the bridge to the rushing water of the river below. With no sign of her in the water or on the riverbanks, her hunters believed her dead. Miraculously, she survived the falls and being dragged down the river. She then made the 90 mile journey on foot, from the eastern shore of Maryland to Philadelphia to freedom. She took on her new “freedom name” of Harriet Tubman, Harriet being her mother’s name and Tubman was her husband John’s last name. It was there in Philadelphia that she joined the secret network known as The Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad was formed in the late 1700’s, and was used by enslaved african americans to escape into free states and into Canada. Using a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the early to mid 19th century, it was estimated that by 1850, 100,000 enslaved people had escaped using this network. The Underground Railroad ran north and continued to grow until the start of The Civil War. Harriet Tubman herself used this network to rescue many enslaved people including her own family. On her first mission back she was to get her husband John and bring him back with her. Only to learn when she got there that he had believed she was dead and had since remarried and was expecting a child. She was heartbroken, but it didn’t sway her cause. She instead took others back with her in his place. In some 13 missions she recused approximately 70 enslaved, all under the cover name “Moses” until she was discovered.

Once The Civil War had begun she became an ally to the union army serving as a scout and a spy. Tubman also served as a nurse in Port Royal. She prepared remedies from local plants and aided soldiers suffering from dysentery. She also tended to men with smallpox, although she somehow never contracted the disease herself. This only fueled her already ongoing reputation of being blessed by god. In her later years, Tubman became an activist in the movement for women’s suffrage. Harriet Tubman was at first receiving government rations for her work. But it was thought by many of the others that were newly freed that she was getting special treatment. So she chose to give up her right to government supplies and made money selling her own pies and root beer that she made in her free time. She ended up remarrying to a man named Nelson Davis, having one child. They lived happily and free until she died on March 10, 1913 at the age of 91.

An equally admirable woman by the name of Frances Harper was born on September 24, 1825. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was an african american woman born free in Baltimore, Maryland. She was an abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and a writer. She accomplished many things in her life time. Frances Harper was one of the first african american women to be published in the united states. Publishing her first book of poetry at age 20 in the year 1845. In 1850 she taught Domestic Science at Union Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. Then in 1851 she began writing anti-slavery literature, while living with a clerk from the Pennsylvania Abolition Society by the name of William Still. In 1853 Harper joined the American Anti-Slavery Society, thus began her career as a political activist. She published her collection “Poems on miscellaneous subjects” in 1854. This made her the most popular african american poet at the time before Paul Lawrence Dunbar, another african american poet. In 1859 she published her short story “Two Officers” in the Anglo-African. Her story made literary history as the first short story to be published by a black woman. She founded and supported several national organizations, becoming the superintendent of the colored section of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1886. Sshe went on to help found the National Association of Colored Women in 1896, serving as it’s vice president. Frances Harper later died on February 22, 1911 at the age of 85. She died nine years before women gained the right to vote.

Clara Belle Williams, born in 1885. This is a woman who over her lifetime showed us that some people are truly meant to shine and that, no matter what it is, you can do it! She taught us never to let others tell you that you can’t do something, that you never let others define your abilities. She showed us that your endurance, dreams and education can be limitless. Because your belief in yourself is the greatest strength you can have.

Born, Clara Belle Drisdale in Plum, Texas on October 29, 1885. In her early years, she pursued her education on scholarship a the Prairie View Normal and Independent College, graduating as valedictorian in 1905. In 1910 she studied at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. She later married a man in 1917 by the name of Jasper Williams. Together they had 3 sons, Jasper Jr, James and Charles. All 3 of her sons became doctors, Clara Belle worked as a receptionist for her sons’ practices in her later years.

Now known as Clara Belle Williams, she went on to become the first african american graduate of New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now known as New Mexico State University). She enrolled in the school in the year1928. While at the school, her professors would not let her into the lecture halls. She wasn’t taking no for an answer. So she took her notes and attended her classes in the hallways, earning her diploma with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English in 1937, at the age of 51. She continued her studies, with graduate classes into the 1950’s during this time, she taught at Lincoln High School in Las Cruces. This was after the institution had removed the previous rule allowing the districts to segregate in the 1920’s. She later taught at Brooker T. Washington School in Las Cruces after it’s opening in the 1930’s. She was a teacher there for over twenty years.

In 1961, the New Mexico State University named one of it’s campus streets after Williams. In 1977, the National Education Association teachers Hall of Fame gained a new member, Mrs. Clara Belle Williams. She was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws degree by the New Mexico State University. The school also issued an official apology for the treatment she received while attending the school. Williams died on July 3, 1994 at the age of 108, 3 months before turning 109 years old. Then in 2005 the University’s English department building was renamed the Clara Belle Williams Hall. The New Mexico State University offers a scholarship for undergraduates in her memory.

If you’ve ever searched for proof that what we put into this world can still have an impact even after we’re gone, look to a woman named Zora Neale Hurston. An advocate for the fact that rules were meant to be broken.

Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama. She was an author, anthropologist and a film maker. She was the fifth of eight children of John Hurston and Lucy Ann Hurston. All of her grandparents were born into slavery. She moved to Eatonville, Florida in 1894 with her family. This is the town that she in fact used for many of her stories settings. Eatonville, Florida is now the site of the “Zora Festival”, held every year there in her honor. Eatonville was one of the first all black towns to be incorporated into the united states, to which her father later became Mayor. In 1916, Zora was employed as a maid. In the following year 1917, the then 26 year old attended Morgan College, the high school division of Morgan State University by lying about her birth year being 1901 in order to qualify for the free high school education. This was a historically black college in Balitmore, Marylan. Zora was introduced to an anthropological life while attending college. One of her main goals became wanting to prove similarities between ethnicities. She attended Howard University in 1918, a historically black college in Washington D.C., becoming one of the first initiates into the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. A sorority founded by and for black women. She took many course while at the college including Spanish, English, Greek, and Public Speaking, earning her associates degree in 1920. She published a short story in 1921 titled “John Redding goes to sea”, inducting her into the Alain Locke’s Literary Club as an official member.

The Barnard College of Columbia University offered her a scholarship in 1925, from which she graduated with her B.A. in anthropology in 1928, when she was 37. This was a women’s college, and at her time of attending she was the schools only black student. She went on to write fiction about issues in the black community, becoming a central figure of the Harlem Rennaissance. Her anthropologies “The New Negro” and “Fire!!” were published during this time. Hurston wrote and published her work on african american folklore in north florida “Mules and Men” in 1935, after moving back to florida. She continued her work publishing her first 3 novels in the following years, “Jonah’s Gourd Vine”(1934), “Their eyes were watching god”(1937), and “Moses, man of the mountain”(1939). Also published during this time was “Tell My Horse: Voodoo and life in Haiti and Jamaica”(1938). This documented her research on rituals done in Jamaica and Haiti.

For decades her novels went unrecognized, until an author by the name of Alice Walker published an article titled “In search of Zora Neale Hurston” in march of 1975, interest was revived. Published posthumously after her death was her manuscript “Every tongue got to confess”, a collection of folktales gathered in the 1920’s. It was published in 2001 after being discovered in the Smithsonian archives. As well as her non fiction book “Barracoon: The story of the last “Black Cargo”, was published in 2018. Zora Neale Hurston died on January 28, 1960.

Next is a man who was never afraid to let his true colors shine. He took steps that no one else was willing to take to achieve his vision for our future, Mr. Bayard Rustin. Bayard Rustin was born on March 17, 1912 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He was an american leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. He was raised by his maternal grandparents, growing up he believed his biological mother was his older sister. When he was young and started experiencing uncertainty towards his sexuality, he mentioned to his grandmother that he preferred to spend time with males rather than females. To which she responded, “I suppose that’s what you need to do”.

In 1932, Bayard enrolled in Wilberforce University in Ohio, but was later expelled in 1936 after organizing a strike. While at the school he was active in many campus organizations, including the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He later attended Cheyney State Teachers College. In 2013, a posthumous degree of “Doctor of Human Letters” was awarded in his honor. In the year 1948, Rustin traveled to India to learn techniques of nonviolent civil resistance from leaders of Gandhian Movement. In 1951, he also founded the committee to support south african resistance. Later becoming known as the american committee on africa.

In 1953, Rustin was arrested for sexual conduct with another man in a parked car in Pasadena, California. He served 60 days in jail. This was the first time that his homosexuality had gone public. This greatly affected his jobs and relationships going forward. In 1956 he worked as an advisor to Minister Martin Luther King Jr. Of the Baptist church on Gandhian tactics. Bayard Rustin died on August 24, 1987 at the age of 75 in New York City.

Someone who demonstrated to us that no matter what you go through, or how hard your journey is, that you can still come out on top is James Baldwin. James Arthur Baldwin was born on August 2, 1924 in Harlem, New York. He was an american author, novelist, playwright, and activist. At the age of only 10 years old, he was victim to an instance of racial harassment by two police officers who teased him and abused him in New York. Due to struggles in his home life, James spent most of his time alone in libraries in his early years. It was there that he would discover his passion for writing as a young boy, writing his first article titled “Harlem - Then and Now” in 1937, at the age of 13. All of his teachers would say that he was gifted, his article was then published in his school’s magazine, The Douglas Pilot.

Baldwin’s step father later died, just before his 19th birthday. His funeral was held on Baldwin’s birthday, also marking the day of the Harlem Riot of 1943. He later wrote about this event in his essay titled, “Notes of a Native Son”. In regards to his years attending school and expanding his education he gave this quote, “I knew I was black, of course, but I also knew I was smart. I didn’t know how I would use my mind, or even if I could, but that was the only thing I had to use.”(-James Baldwin). He attended P.S. 24, in Harlem. While there, he wrote the school’s song, which was used until the school’s closing. His first novel titled “Go Tell it on the mountain”, was published in 1953. Followed by his first collection of essays two years later in 1955. He then published his second novel titled “Giovanni’s Room”, in 1956. This novel was the spark of great controversy at the time it was published, due to it’s homoerotic content. Crushing everyone’s expectations that, he himself being black, would only write about african american experiences. His novel “Giovanni’s Room” has Predominantly white characters. His third novel titled “Another Country”, was published in 1962. His collection was joined by his fourth novel titled “Tell me how long the train’s been gone” 6 years later, in 1968. Both his third and fourth novels included white and black characters, as well as characters with heterosexual, gay and bisexual relationships. He went on to relate his own experiences in the 1960’s in his book-length essay titled “No name in the street”, published in 1972. These written experiences include the assassinations of three of his personal friends, Medgar Evers, Malcom X, and Martin Luther King Jr. James Baldwin went on to publish many more works and did a great many more things. He died on December 1, 1987, when he was 63 years old.

Lastly, I'd like to end my timeline with one of my current inspirations in today’s world. Kitty Phetla is a South African ballet dancer born in Soweto in 1983. She started dancing while still in primary school. With her mentor Martin Schonberg, she trained in ballet, spanish dancing, contemporary dance, and afro-fushion. She attended his Ballet Theatre Afrikan until 2002, leaving to join the Joburg Ballet. Touring Russia with Anna Pavlova’s famous solo “The Dying Swan”, she became the first black ballerina to perform the role in Russia. Traditionally, the dance is to be performed by a dancer in a pink tutu and tights. Kitty Phetla made it her mission to change that, performing her take on the dance while wearing a black tutu and tights. She noted that “the biggest day of her life” so far was when she presented her iconic performance of this solo to Nelson Mandela and the Dutch Royal Family, in Amsterdam in 2002.

In 2017, she performed a rain dance in South Africa, during the Western Cape drought. She had stated, “It was during the Western Cape drought and I performed the rain dance in the middle of Thewaterkloof Dam, whose main reservoir was dry.”. The dance was inspired by Queen Modjadi, The Rain Queen of the Balobedu. About a week after her dance was performed at the reservoir, it started to rain in the western cape. Kitty Phetla is currently 38 years old.

There are many other honorable people to be remembered in our history, and in honor of Black History Month. I hope you enjoyed my list!