Monthly Archives: February 2021

So F.E.W. Harper was already a well-known temperance/womens rights/Black rights activist in her own right when Frances Willardpresident of the influential Womans Christian Temperance Unionapproached Harper to become national superintendent of the WCTUs division for Work Among the Colored People. Harper enthusiastically agreed. Rooted in the nonviolent picketing of saloons across the upper Midwest in 1873-74, the WCTU introduced an entire generation of American women to political activism, first in the North, but soon spreading nationwide. Temperance organizations of all stripes had a difficult time establishing chapters in the former Confederacy in the generation after the Civil War, so deep were the North/South political wounds, animosity and mutual suspicions. But between Willards annual tours through the Southern states, and Harpers grassroots activism, the WCTU helped begin to heal those wounds.

Harper was hardly alone in joining the WCTU. Black women saw in the WCTU a chance to build a Christian community that could serve as a model of interracial cooperation on other fronts, claims historian Glenda Gilmore in Gender and Jim Crow. With its Do Everything focus, the WCTU advanced interracial cooperation on anti-lynching laws, educational uplift and anti-illiteracy programs that benefited both Black and white communities. The WCTU represented a place where women might see past skin color to recognize each others humanity. It also gave many women, Black and white, their first taste of political activism. In the words of one Mississippi activist, the WCTU was the generous liberator, the joyous iconoclast, the discoverer, the developer of Southern women.

The Reconstruction South was a hotbed of intersectional activism, long before that term was coined.

Still, the battle for racial equality took place even within the organization. When Black women complained of discrimination from the predominantly white Georgia WCTU, they petitioned Harper for their own, separate chapter, where African American women were free to organize themselves. Harper and Willard agreed. Soon, Black WCTU chapters were organized in states across the South.

Despite such organizational tensions, the WCTUand the temperance movement more generallywere engines of progressive reform, reconciliation and civil liberties: demanding liberation from unjust political and economic subordination. In the 1880s, even as violence and lynchings ended Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era began, prohibitionist rallies made the point of announcing that all were welcome to attend, regardless of color. Black and white temperance speakers shared the same stage and applauded each others accomplishments despite organizational segregation, as Black voters were courted by white politicians. Such interracial bridges were reinforced by religious and class sympathies. Those who took all of Christs teachings seriously recognized both the fundamental precepts of human equality, and the need to uplift downtrodden communities. In all these ways, concludes historian Edward L. Ayers in his Promise of the New South (2007), the prohibitionists forged relatively open and democraticif temporaryracial coalitions.

For most of the American South, prohibition did not come with the ratification of the 18th Amendment in 1919, nor the enactment of the Volstead Act in 1920. It actually came a decade earlier, as from 1907 to 1910, a dry wave of prohibitionism swept from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi to Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina. Nor was prohibition imposed from abovefrom the federal government or whites in the Jim Crow Southbut rather emerged from genuine biracial grassroots cooperation.

If Black temperance is a largely ignored chapter in American history, explaining Southern prohibitionism presents a double conundrum for historians. After all, shouldnt we expect prohibitions triumph in the North, where every city and town could boast of multiple temperance chapters, rather than the South, where activistsincluding the WCTUadmitted difficulty establishing an organizational foothold?

Historians usual answer is to fall back on the same, discredited colonizers discourse about alcohol: chalking-up Southern prohibition to the Ku Klux Klan and white racists, fearful of Black drunkenness, intent on disciplining African Americans.

The Ku Klux Klan marches down Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington D.C. in 1925. | AP Photo

While it makes sense that the KKK and white supremacists would hold fast to a white-supremacist alcohol discourse, that doesnt mean modern historians should, too; especially since it doesnt hold water. For one, the modern KKK emerged in 1915, making it unlikely to have caused prohibition in 1908. Second, the whole point of prohibitionism was to oppose the predatory liquor traffic, which was overwhelmingly in affluent white hands, while its victims were poor whites and poor Blacks alike. If the goal was really to keep African Americans down and ensure white dominance, no better system couldve been devised than the unregulated saloon business that already existed.

Third, by simply blaming the Klan, historians fall into the same trap of disempowering Black activism: portraying African Americans as passive objects, subject to the whims of white actors, rather than legitimate actors in their own right. From the Reconstruction era in the Southand even generations before that in the antebellum NorthBlack churches and temperance activists had clearly, consistently and loudly articulated that liquor was subjugation, and that the route to freedom and community uplift meant reining in the predatory liquor traffic through prohibition.

A better explanation for the dry wave that swept the South from 1907 to 1910 would be to point out that Southern wet forces were far weaker, more dispersed geographically, and far less organized than the well-entrenched brewing and distilling trusts of the North, and were therefore less able to defend against united community activism. Also, in the Democrats one-party South, liquor interests had less opportunity to flex their political muscle by throwing their financial weight behind rival political parties or candidates more willing to defend their interests. At the very least, incorporating political and economic factors rather than just cultural ones gives us a far better sense of those prohibition dynamics across the South, which were quite obvious to the political players of the day.

After Georgia voted itself dry in 1908, journalist Frank Foxcroft of the Atlantic Monthly explained for his predominantly Northern readership that racial dynamics furnishes only a partial explanation of the prohibition movement of the south. It is a noticeable fact that, during the debate in the Georgia legislature upon the pending prohibitory bill, the negro was not once mentioned as a reason for the enactment of prohibition. Instead, he noted that liquor-traffic predations were suffered both by white communities and Black, and were opposed by white communities and Black, and were being roused by the ablest and most far-sighted leaders of Southern opinion, both white and Black.

Read the original here:

The Forgotten History of Black Prohibitionism - POLITICO

In the summer of 1937, as the specter of World War II loomed over Europe, Edith Pretty, a wealthy widow living near Woodbridge, a small town in Suffolk, England, met with the curator of a local museum to discuss excavating three mounds of land on the far side of her estate, Sutton Hoo. (The name is derived from Old English: Sut combined with tun means settlement, and hoh translates to shaped like a heel spur.) After Pretty hired self-taught amateur archaeologist Basil Brown, the dig began the following spring.

Over the next year or so, Brown, who was later joined by archaeologists from the British Museum, struck gold, unearthing the richest medieval burial ever found in Europe. Dating back to the sixth or seventh century A.D., the 1,400-year-old gravebelieved to belong to an Anglo-Saxon kingcontained fragments of an 88-foot-long ship (the original wood structure had deteriorated) and a burial chamber filled with hundreds of opulent treasures. The British Museum, which houses the trove today, deemed the find a spectacular funerary monument on epic scale.

The importance of the Sutton Hoo burial cannot be understated. Not only did the site shed light on life during the early medieval Anglo-Saxon period (roughly 410 to 1066) but it also prompted historians to revise their thinking about the Dark Ages, the era that followed the Roman Empires departure from the British Isles in the early fifth century. Contrary to long-held beliefs that the period was devoid of the arts or cultural richness, the Sutton Hoo artifacts reflected a vibrant, worldly society.

The discovery in 1939 changed our understanding of some of the first chapters of English history, says Sue Brunning, a curator of early medieval European collections who oversees the British Museums Sutton Hoo artifacts. A time that had been seen as being backward was illuminated as cultured and sophisticated. The quality and quantity of the artifacts found inside the burial chamber were of such technical artistry that it changed our understanding of this period.

Given the inherent drama of the excavations at Sutton Hoo, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood offered its own take on the events. The Dig, the new Netflix film starring Carey Mulligan as Pretty and Ralph Fiennes as Brown, is adapted from a 2016 novel of the same name by John Preston, nephew of Peggy Piggott, a junior archaeologist on the Sutton Hoo team. The film follows the excavation, including the stories of the main characters, tensions between them, and romantic involvements. Pretty, who had a young son, has always been fascinated by archaeology and recruits Brown to begin excavating the mounds which they both believe to be Viking burial grounds. When Brown unearths the first fragments of a ship, the excavation proceeds full steam ahead.

Minus a few plot points inserted for the sake of dramatic storytelling (Browns relationship with British Museum archaeologist Charles Phillips wasnt nearly as contentious as portrayed, for instance), the movie mostly adheres to the real story, according to screenwriter Moira Buffini. But Buffini professes that in the script, she did omit Prettys obsession with spiritualism and penchant for speaking to the dead.

Even with its historical discrepancies, the Netflix film does a public service in that it introduces the extraordinary Sutton Hoo story to a new generation of viewers. At the same time, The Dig illuminates the role archaeology plays in unearthing previously unknown narratives.

Buffini, who adapted Jane Eyre for the screen in 2011, conducted extensive research on Sutton Hoo, poring over Browns notebooks, inquest reports and photos and drawing inspiration from each bit of treasure recorded, measured and drawn for posterity.

One is struck by the tenderness Brown felt for all of the artifacts, Buffini says. He spoke of the respect and almost familial love hidden in the artifacts, and how there was incredible culture and craftsmanship outside and beyond the Roman Empire.

Over the course of several excavations in 1938 and 1939, Brown and the archaeological team found 263 objects buried in the central chamber of the enormous Anglo-Saxon ship. Iron rivets, identified as being part of the seafaring vessel, was the first clue that alerted the archaeologist of the huge ship buried on the site, according to Brunning.

As the archaeologists dug deeper, they found themselves stunned by the scale, quality and sheer diversity of the trove. Among the artifacts unearthed were fine feasting vessels, deluxe hanging bowls, silverware from Byzantium, luxurious textiles and gold dress accessories set with Sri Lankan garnets.

The graves burial chamber was laden with weapons and high-quality military equipment. A shield found inside is believed to have been a diplomatic gift from Scandinavia; shoulder clasps appear to be modeled on those worn by Roman emperors, suggesting the armors owner drew from different cultures and power bases to assert his own authority.

The artifacts also included a belt buckle with a triple-lock mechanism, its surface adorned with semi-abstract imagery featuring snakes slithering beneath each other. Brown found gold coins that had been minted in the Aquitaine region of France with an ornate lid adorned in reddish garnet. The purses cover is now considered one of the finest examples of cloisonn, a style in which stones are held by gold strips.

Though metal items survived in Suffolks acidic soil better than organic objects like fabric and wood, the team did find a number of unexpected artifacts, including a well-preserved yellow ladybug.

Every part of the burial site is an important piece of the puzzle, even something as simple as small wooden cups, says Brunning. Most people (who see the collection) tend to walk past them because theyre not shiny. But when we analyze these objects and look at how they are laid out and the type of labor that went into them, they would have taken time to make. So even the smallest, most shriveled objects are important.

Elaborate ship burials filled with treasures were rare in Anglo-Saxon England, particularly toward the latter end of the early medieval period. The wealth of grave goods found at Sutton Hooas well as the positioning of the ship and its contents, which wouldve required a considerable amount of manpower to transportsuggest its onetime inhabitant was of a very high social status, perhaps even royalty, but the individuals identity remains a mystery. (An oft-cited candidate is King Raedwald of East Anglia, who died around 625.) By 1939, notes the British Museum, all that was left of the deceased was a human-shaped gap among the treasures within.

According to Brunning, Raedwald ruled around that time and may have had power over neighboring kingdoms, which would have earned him a good send-off.

The most iconic item to come out of Sutton Hoo is a helmet decorated with images of fighting and dancing warriors and fierce creatures, including a dragon whose wings form the headgears eyebrows and tail its body and mouth. Garnets line the eyebrows, one of which is backed with gold foil reflectors. Found highly corroded and broken into hundreds of fragments, the armor was painstakingly restored by conservators at the British Museum in the early 1970s.

On July 25, 1939, Pretty hosted a reception at the Sutton Hoo site to celebrate the conclusion of the dig. The land next to the excavation site was fashioned into a viewing platform. The British Museums Phillips delivered a short speech about the ship, but was drowned out by the roar of the engine of a Spitfire flying overhead as England prepared for war. Shortly after that, news of the excavations findings started to appear in the press, in part from information leaked by a member of the excavating team. A few days later, the Sutton Hoo artifacts were transported to the British Museum, and after some legal wrangling, they officially became part of the collection as a gift from Pretty.

The public first got a look at the artifacts in a 1940 exhibit, but that opportunity would be short-lived as they were secreted away in the tunnels of the London Underground for safekeeping during the war. After the Allies victory in 1945, the trove was returned to the British Museum where conservation and reconstruction work began.

But analysis of the artifacts generated more questions, and the Sutton Hoo burial ground was re-excavated using advances in science to improve analysis. In 1983, a third excavation of the site led to the discovery of another mound, which contained a warrior and his horse.

Today, the Sutton Hoo artifacts remain on exhibition at the British Museum, where each year, in non-pandemic times, visitors view the extraordinary treasures of an Anglo-Saxon king buried in grandeur 1,400 years ago. More than 80 years after Brown started sifting through the sandy soil of Sutton Hoo, the treasures he unearthed are undiminished. As he wrote in his diary in 1939, Its the find of a lifetime.

More here:

The True History Behind Netflix's 'The Dig' and Sutton Hoo - Smithsonian Magazine

With the signing of Trevor Bauer on Friday, plus the expected return of David Price, the 2021 Dodgers rotation that includes Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler will, on paper, be one of the franchises best ever. How will it compare with great Dodgers rotations of the past?

A good way to compare rotations from different periods in baseball history is to use the ERA+ stat. What that does is compare an ERA to the league average ERA that season and convert it into a number. If a pitcher or team has an ERA+ of 100, then they are exactly the league average. If it is 110, then they are 10% better than average, 90 is 10% worse, and so on.

If you added Trevor Bauer to last seasons Dodgers rotation, their top four starters of Bauer (276), Kershaw (196), Buehler (124) and Dustin May (165) would have an approximate ERA+ of 180. Last season was only 60 games, so that number is more than likely deceptively high. Heres a look at some other top Dodgers rotations, using the ERA+ for the top four starters:

1916 Brooklyn Robins: Jeff Pfeffer (141), Larry Cheney (140), Sherry Smith (115), Rube Marquard (171). The first Dodgers team to advance to the World Series, where they lost to the Boston Red Sox and their star pitcher, Babe Ruth.

1930 Brooklyn Robins: Dazzy Vance (189), Watty Clark (118), Jumbo Elliott (125), Ray Phelps (120). Vance is the most overlooked great pitcher in team history. This team led the National League until August, when it faded to a fourth-place finish.

1955 Brooklyn Dodgers: Don Newcombe (128), Billy Loes (114), Carl Erskine (108), Johnny Podres (103). Won the first World Series title in team history.

1965: Sandy Koufax (160), Don Drysdale (118), Claude Osteen (117), Johnny Podres (95). The last World Series title for the Koufax-Drysdale duo.

1977: Burt Hooton (147), Tommy John (138), Don Sutton (121), Doug Rau (112). You could also go with the 1976 team, which had the same four. The 1977 team advanced to the World Series, where they lost to the New York Yankees.

1985: Orel Hershiser (171), Fernando Valenzuela (141), Bob Welch (150), Jerry Reuss (119). Valenzuela was near the end of his prime, and Hershiser was at the start of his. It resulted in a loss in the NLCS to Jack Clark and the St. Louis Cardinals.

1996: Hideo Nomo (122), Ismael Valdez (117), Ramon Martinez (114), Pedro Astacio (113). Wild-card team lost to Atlanta in the NLDS.

2015: Zack Greinke (222), Clayton Kershaw (173), Mike Bolsinger (102), Brett Anderson (100). Granted, Bolsinger and Anderson arent standouts, but its hard to leave out a rotation featuring two Cy Young candidates.

2019: Hyun-Jin Ryu (179), Rich Hill (169), Clayton Kershaw (137), Walker Buehler (127). Just two seasons ago, and this team lost to Washington in the NLDS.

See the original post here:

A look at the top rotations in Dodgers history - Los Angeles Times

Today is Saturday, Feb. 6, the 37th day of 2021. There are 328 days left in the year.

Todays Highlight in History:

On Feb. 6, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, the United States won official recognition and military support from France with the signing of a Treaty of Alliance in Paris.

In 1756, Americas third vice president, Aaron Burr, was born in Newark, N.J.

In 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1815, the state of New Jersey issued the first American railroad charter to John Stevens, who proposed a rail link between Trenton and New Brunswick. (The line, however, was never built.)

In 1862, during the Civil War, Fort Henry in Tennessee fell to Union forces.

In 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, was born in Tampico, Illinois.

In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the so-called lame duck amendment, was proclaimed in effect by Secretary of State Henry Stimson.

In 1952, Britains King George VI, 56, died at Sandringham House in Norfolk, England; he was succeeded as monarch by his 25-year-old elder daughter, who became Queen Elizabeth II.

See the rest here:

Today in History | National News - Tulsa World

(Reuters) - History has time and again vindicated players who take a stand for social justice, leaders of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) said ahead of Sundays Super Bowl in Tampa, despite being suffering criticism and even abuse from fans.

Colin Kaepernick created a fire storm of controversy in 2016 when he knelt during the pre-game playing of the National Anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice.

The move prompted vitriol from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, who suggested the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback find a country that works better for him.

Kaepernick has been unable to find a job in the NFL since the end of that season.

Im proud of the fact that our players have been on the right side of history, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told reporters on Friday.

Dave Meggyesy, a union leader, was probably the first player to protest during the National Anthem when he was protesting against the Vietnam War, he said of the linebacker, who played for the then-St Louis Cardinals and retired in 1969.

Smith said the tradition carried on when players on the former St Louis Rams took the field making the Hands up, dont shoot gesture after the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.

Colin (Kaepernick) and a number of players took their voices to the sidelines... Im proud of the fact that our players had the courage to do the right thing at a time when they didnt know how they were going to be treated, he said.

The death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis in May, led to widespread protests among athletes across the sports landscape and a push to register voters ahead of Novembers presidential election and Georgias Senate runoffs in January.

Linebacker and NFLPA Vice President Sam Acho said a watershed moment came when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said last year that he wished the league had listened earlier to Kaepernick.

I think that was a big statement. I dont know if ownership was behind him in that statement, from what I understand they were surprised that he said that.

And so, for us as players, whether in communities where there are teams or in other communities where we live, I think that we always have been and we will continue to be serious about making change in our communities.

But all sides believe more work needs to be done.

On Thursday, Goodell said he was not satisfied with this years head coaching hiring cycle, where just one of the leagues vacant positions went to a diverse candidate.

Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles, Additional reporting by Amy Tennery in Tampa; Editing by Ken Ferris

Continued here:

NFL: Protesting players 'on the right side of history,' union says - Reuters

History and Hope: A conversation with Seaside's John Nash

Nash grew up in the segregated south and has lived in Seaside for 66 years

Updated: 4:52 PM PST Feb 5, 2021

John Nash grew up in the segregated south before he moved to Seaside, California, where he's lived for more than six decades. KSBW 8's Alani Letang sat down with Nash to talk about his history and his hope for Black equality in the future. In addition, Nash talked about finding hope in the new Biden-Harris administration, while also putting importance on Black History education and Black equality for the future. The conversation also touched on points of strong Black leadership, Nash specifically highlighting Stacey Abrams in the work she's done with elections in Georgia.John Nash is an 88-year-old man who has lived in Seaside for 66 years."So, Mr. Nash, you are from North Carolina," asked KSBW's Alani Letang. "It's Pelham, North Carolina, it's a farm town. And what we did back there, my parents was a sharecropper, you know what a sharecropper is?" asked Nash. "We raised tobacco. What happened, we didn't own the land, somebody else on the land. And we supplied labor to, you know, to do the tobacco farming. So most of us, all of us really, when we got old enough, we moved away and I went to go into the army. They drafted me. I was drafted in 1952, November the fifth. I'll never forget it. 1952." "It really wasn't that bad because it was a lot of soldiers here and the school wasn't segregated here," Nash said. Letang said, "You look back into history, you've grown up in the 30s, 40s and 50s up until you moved here. And you take a look at segregation, you take a look at the racism that I feel still like this here. I know the history back then, but you lived it. And to me, it doesn't seem that things are very far off from what they are. I still feel that the systemic racism is deeply rooted in that. As a black man, as black people. What do you think we stand now?""Well, we just had a vice president elected for the highest office in the country," Nash started off saying. "We can't sit back and wait. Somebody do it for us. We've got to do it like Abrams did that in Georgia. We got to get out and push. And I think we wouldn't be pushing hard enough because we get little. We got too comfortable. We get a little ways and we get comfortable. OK," Nash said. "And I see that a lot, too, when I see all the protests across the country. I see them right here in our Seaside backyard," Letang added. "And just knowing that we haven't arrived yet. Right. I mean, I don't think we've arrived yet to the point where we can say we are the majority and we're listened to or even the minority and we listen."Nash said, "You just don't suppose to just let it happen, you supposed to fight about it. You got to fight for it. It shouldn't have to, you know, it's America. You supposed everybody's supposed to be, you know, the creed that everybody should be treated alike. But it's not happening. Martin Luther King did a wonderful job. You know, that was in the 60s. For it to come, fifty years later, come back like that, it's awful." "You're taking a step back, not a step forward," Letang noted. Speaking from experience, "There's not a week, or even a month, can pass when I'm not getting an email about my hair, about something else that's discriminating against me," Letang said. "And so I think that when you know, when I still look at from the past and look at now again, I just don't feel that way or that far off. And I always question myself, where do we get to the point where we can scrub that prejudice thought and get to the point where we can understand people, we can love people.""I think we've got to be educated," Nash answered. "It's really going to take time. And just like I said, we need to be educated. And, you know, I was in the army. I retired from the Army. And I learned stuff that I didn't know was happening. They had black soldiers training the people at West Point, how to ride and shoot. I didn't know that until, I don't know when," Nash said. The veteran added, "That wasn't in the history book that I read. That's another thing. A lot of stuff was left out when I was going to school too. It was left out the history books." "It's still left out," Letang responded. Nash said, "Well, yeah, I think I'll think about Biden and Kamala are going to do a lot, a good job." "We need hope and hope in this country," Letang said. "Well, they need help, too, you know, they can't do it alone," Nash said.Alani profiled Mr. Nash's Seaside community back in September, click here.And you can read more about it here: blackpast.org/african-american-history/race-and-color-california-coastal-community-seaside-story/

John Nash grew up in the segregated south before he moved to Seaside, California, where he's lived for more than six decades.

KSBW 8's Alani Letang sat down with Nash to talk about his history and his hope for Black equality in the future. In addition, Nash talked about finding hope in the new Biden-Harris administration, while also putting importance on Black History education and Black equality for the future. The conversation also touched on points of strong Black leadership, Nash specifically highlighting Stacey Abrams in the work she's done with elections in Georgia.

John Nash is an 88-year-old man who has lived in Seaside for 66 years.

"So, Mr. Nash, you are from North Carolina," asked KSBW's Alani Letang.

"It's Pelham, North Carolina, it's a farm town. And what we did back there, my parents was a sharecropper, you know what a sharecropper is?" asked Nash. "We raised tobacco. What happened, we didn't own the land, somebody else on the land. And we supplied labor to, you know, to do the tobacco farming. So most of us, all of us really, when we got old enough, we moved away and I went to go into the army. They drafted me. I was drafted in 1952, November the fifth. I'll never forget it. 1952."

"It really wasn't that bad [in Seaside] because it was a lot of soldiers here and the school wasn't segregated here," Nash said.

Letang said, "You look back into history, you've grown up in the 30s, 40s and 50s up until you moved here. And you take a look at segregation, you take a look at the racism that I feel still like this here. I know the history back then, but you lived it. And to me, it doesn't seem that things are very far off from what they are. I still feel that the systemic racism is deeply rooted in that. As a black man, as black people. What do you think we stand now?"

"Well, we just had a vice president elected for the highest office in the country," Nash started off saying. "We can't sit back and wait. Somebody do it for us. We've got to do it like Abrams did that in Georgia. We got to get out and push. And I think we wouldn't be pushing hard enough because we get little. We got too comfortable. We get a little ways and we get comfortable. OK," Nash said.

"And I see that a lot, too, when I see all the protests across the country. I see them right here in our Seaside backyard," Letang added. "And just knowing that we haven't arrived yet. Right. I mean, I don't think we've arrived yet to the point where we can say we are the majority and we're listened to or even the minority and we listen."

Nash said, "You just don't suppose to just let it happen, you supposed to fight about it. You got to fight for it. It shouldn't have to, you know, it's America. You supposed everybody's supposed to be, you know, the creed that everybody should be treated alike. But it's not happening. Martin Luther King did a wonderful job. You know, that was in the 60s. For it to come, fifty years later, come back like that, it's awful."

"You're taking a step back, not a step forward," Letang noted. Speaking from experience, "There's not a week, or even a month, can pass when I'm not getting an email about my hair, about something else that's discriminating against me," Letang said. "And so I think that when you know, when I still look at from the past and look at now again, I just don't feel that way or that far off. And I always question myself, where do we get to the point where we can scrub that prejudice thought and get to the point where we can understand people, we can love people."

"I think we've got to be educated," Nash answered. "It's really going to take time. And just like I said, we need to be educated. And, you know, I was in the army. I retired from the Army. And I learned stuff that I didn't know was happening. They had black soldiers training the people at West Point, how to ride and shoot. I didn't know that until, I don't know when," Nash said.

The veteran added, "That wasn't in the history book that I read. That's another thing. A lot of stuff was left out when I was going to school too. It was left out the history books."

"It's still left out," Letang responded.

Nash said, "Well, yeah, I think I'll think about Biden and Kamala are going to do a lot, a good job."

"We need hope and hope in this country," Letang said.

"Well, they need help, too, you know, they can't do it alone," Nash said.

Alani profiled Mr. Nash's Seaside community back in September, click here.

And you can read more about it here: blackpast.org/african-american-history/race-and-color-california-coastal-community-seaside-story/

Follow this link:

History and Hope: A conversation with Seaside's John Nash - KSBW Monterey

For centuries, the Ohio River has been a main thoroughfare for travelers and industry, tracing the border of Northern Kentucky on its way from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi.

Travis Brown

But the trip has not always been a smooth one. Sometimes the river would fall to a level so low people could walk across it from Covington to Cincinnati. Other times it would be clogged with large trees or other debris, making it impassable formaritime traffic.

In 1878, Congress authorized the canalization of the Ohio, dredging a six-foot-deep, navigable channel along the length of the river and beginning the construction of anelaborate system of locks and dams.

Travis Brown, in his role as an amateur historian and a volunteer with the Kenton County Historical Society, will explain how these structures and those that followed changed the face of river transportation in Kentucky during the next NKY History Hour at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 10.

To register and participate in the free virtual presentation, presented by Behringer-Crawford Museum, click here. Information on how to connect to the Zoom session will be sent after registration.

Travis Brown is a deputy with the Boone County Sheriffs Office, currently serving as the school resource officer at Ockerman Elementary School in Florence. He retired from the Fort Mitchell Police Department in 2014 after serving with the Kentucky State Police and Fort Wright Police.

He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Louisville, earning a B.A. in police administration. In 2015, he earned an M.P.A. at NKU. Also in 2015, he became an adjunct professor at Xavier Universitys School of Criminal Justice.

Involved in preserving local history, he currently serves as an executive board member of the Kenton County Historical Society.

Hosted by Shane Noem and Tara Johnson-Noem, vice president of the BCM Board of Trustees, NKY History Hour is a weekly offering of Behringer-Crawford Museum focused on Northern Kentucky history, featuring local authors, historians and archaeologists.

NKY History Hour presentations are currently free to the public but may become a BCM members-only benefit in the future. To support NKY History Hour and access many other entertaining and thought- provoking programs for free, join BCM today here.

Originally posted here:

Behringer Crawford's NKY History Hour will feature Travis Brown and Locks and Dams of Ohio River - User-generated content

1880

A total of fifty-five Black Americans reside in San Diego County

These residents were predominantly formerly enslaved people from the South. Sixty percent of this population resided in the backcountry of Julian.

For more information on Black history in San Diego and to participate in Celebrate San Diego: Black History & Heritage at the San Diego History Center, go to sandiegohistory.org/exhibition/celebratesd_blackhistoryheritage/

In honor of Black History Month, the Union-Tribune has partnered with the San Diego History Center to present items each day in February on local Black history.

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1820 - Mayflower of Liberia sailed from New York City with eighty six Blacks. Black population: 1,771,656 (18.4 percent)

1993 - Arthur Ashe died. First African American to win at Wimbledon.

1867 - Robert Tanner Jackson becomes first African American to receive a degree in dentistry.

Source: Alice Tyler Milton, Lawson State Comunity College; for more information: blackhistorysalute.com

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Black History and Heritage - The San Diego Union-Tribune

When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice.

But when the wicked are in power, they groan.

For 20 years or so, our country has been making a slow descent from groan to self-indulgent growl. Both sides of the political fence have seen the growl grow from a distant howl in the wilderness, to the takeoff of a Boeing 747 in your backyard. But from my perspective, these most recent discussions, and comments, are cutting the tie that binds us. As Americans, we could always find some common ground to plant the flag of freedom and love. As Christians, I know we can again.

While preparing this column, I was tempted to write a fluff piece, walking softly into the night. My last column triggered many comments; most were positive, but some questioned both my integrity to God and worthiness to remain a citizen of earth. I was perplexed by a small group of critics who have adopted the corporate motto of silencing the non-conformists. One Christian comment included, You are a divisive, self-righteous, hateful stop pretending you are a Jesus follower.

Even when painful, criticism should be brought before the Lord for self-examination. As I have written many times, it is Jesus who makes me a born-again child of God. There is nothing I can do to make myself righteous. Everything written in this column is done to bring awareness to our changing culture, both its effect on Christians and life as a Christian in America. Also, naturally, to bring Glory to God!

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

We can disagree till the cows come home, but the fact remains, there are people in America who would like to rewrite history and remove God from the marketplace. Ignoring this fact will not make it any less true. Our forefathers came to America to escape tyranny and persecution, but some authoritarians followed, had children, and now they are rising in volume and power. We must be in prayer and speak out against this secular reimagining of America!

Other comments included not mixing religion and politics in the religion section of our newspaper. If you believe that to be true, thats ok, I am not going to curse you, belittle you or dishonor you as a person. Why? Because God tells us to love one another. His Word also says, God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers Matthew 5:11. My concern is not for myself; it is with those who would dismiss the Word of God like a week-old newspaper and make up their own rules for humanity.

And where do we go for truth? Theres a snake-oil salesman on every channel selling his version of the truth. But this I did hear with my own ears from the former director of the CIA. He believes that people like you and me are more dangerous to America than any foreign terrorist we have chased since 9/11. In his mind, nearly half the people in America are dangerous and should be put under surveillance or questioned for their beliefs.

And my source for truth, Gods Holy Word. Woven through His Word are countless stories about God and the government. Here are a few for reflection.

First, how about Moses? God spoke to him through the burning bush. God gave Moses an assignment that was very strategic and very political. Moses, like all of us when called, felt inadequate. Moses agreed to obey God, and the negotiations began. Asking Pharaoh to give up the Israelite slaves, his entire workforce, was an impossible task, but as we have come to see many times over, nothing is impossible with God. After the plagues began to impact the Egyptians, Moses could have been killed by Pharaoh. Talk about religion and politics, wow!

Moses faith seemed to grow through the negotiations, culminating with the parting of the Red Sea.

How about Daniel in Babylon, who prays to God knowing the risk of death for praying? The kings lawyers hated Daniel and contrived a plan to set him up. They were determined to have Daniel killed. Read Daniel 6:13-16 and see their devious ruthlessness.

Then they said to the king, Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day. When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him. Then the men went as a group to King Darius and said to him, Remember, Your Majesty, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.

So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions den. The king said to Daniel, May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!

Daniel still loved the King even knowing his life may come to an end for following God and going against political law. God shut the mouths of the lions long enough for the kings lawyers to replace Daniel in the lions den. The lions had built a big appetite by then.

And then we have Jesus. He battles politics on multiple fronts. The purveyors of the law, the Pharisees, had built a financial empire through the temple. Jesus, in righteous indignation, turns the tables in the temple, infuriating the money-making mechanism of the political machine. In Luke 4:18, Jesus says, The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free ... Finally, the Pharisees invite Rome to solve their political problem. Rome solves political problems by crucifixion.

Be courageous, God is with you. The fields are white and ready for harvest! Now is the time to be bold as a lion, standing firm on the Word of God. Stand for your fellow believers. Pray for one another! If not you, who will it be?

And if you still call me your enemy, consider the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:44: But I say to you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.

Theresa Rowe is the founder of Shaped by Faith, TV and radio host, author and motivational wellness speaker. Website, http://www.shapedbyfaith.com.

Theresa Rowe is the founder of Shaped by Faith, TV and radio host, author and motivational wellness speaker. Website, http://www.shapedbyfaith.com.

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God and government linked in history | Religion And Values | messenger-inquirer.com - messenger-inquirer