Black women are routinely erased from public memory and historical narratives of resistance.
Black women powered the civil rights movement, but rarely became its stars. Women like Fannie Lou Hamer, Diane Nash, Myrlie Evers played a critical role.
A THREAD
By the early 70s, women made up the majority of members in the US Black Panther Party
Mae Mallory was an activist during the Civil Rights Movement and a leader in the Black Power movement. Mallory was most-known as an advocate of following desegregation and Black armed self-defense.
Claudia Jones; Journalist and activist. Author of the seminal piece 'Ending the Neglect of Black Women' and original founder of Notting Hill Carnival. Founder of Britain's first major newsletter, the West Indian Gazette.
Sojourner Truth was an evangelist, abolitionist, women’s rights activist and author who was born into slavery before escaping to freedom in 1826. After gaining her freedom, Truth preached about abolitionism and equal rights for all
Daisy Bates, civil rights activist and newspaper publisher. Through her newspaper, Bates documented the battle to end segregation in Arkansas.
Aunt Polly Jackson, was an escaped slave who worked as an agent on the Underground Railroad helping others escape.
She was known for fighting off slave catchers with a butcher knife and a kettle of boiling water.
Althea Jones-Lecointe, scientist, one of the leaders of the British Black Panther movement and advocate for black women and girls. She was referred to as the heart of The Movement.
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On this day in 1896, the U.S Supreme Court delivered its decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, establishing the “separate but equal” doctrine and authorizing discrimination by states.
This marked the formal beginning of Jim Crow Laws.
THREAD
In 1866, a year after the amendment that ‘abolished slavery’ was ratified, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina began to lease out convicts for labor.
This made the business of arresting black people very lucrative, thus hundreds of white men were hired by these states as police officers.
Their primary responsibility being to search out and arrest black peoples who were in violation of ‘Black Codes’
During Jim Crow segregation, a black person could be accused of “reckless eyeballing”, which was a perceived improper look at a white person, presumed to have sexual intent. Mack was convicted of this.
A THREAD!
In Yanceyville, North Carolina, Mack Ingram, a black tenant farmer, was among the last convicted under this framework in 1951.
A 17 year old white woma, Willa Jean Boswell, testified that she was scared when her neighbor Ingram looked at her from an approximate distance of 65ft.
Prosecutors demanded a conviction of assault with intent to rape that was reduced to assault on a female by the Judge, leading to a two year sentence. He was defended by a white Lawyer, Ernest Frederick Upchurch Sr.
On this day in 1985, Philadelphia Police Department dropped a bomb onto a residential home occupied by the MOVE Organization.
The Fire Department let the fire burn out of control, destroying 61 homes over two city blocks. 11 people died including 6 children
THREAD
MOVE short for “The Movement,” and it’s largely unclear when it began; however, some people have reported remembering the group as far back as 1968.
MOVE was a black liberation group that encompassed philosophies of black nationalism, anarcho-primitivism, & animal rights. The group was founded in 1972 by John Africa (Vincent Leaphart), a native of West Philly & veteran of the Korean War.
Enslaved Black people are mostly depicted as very docile and didn't fight back. However, this was not the case and there were numerous slaves rebellion.
A THREAD!
The Stono Rebellion, the largest slave rebellion in South Carolina, on September, 1739.
On September 9th 1739 Jemmy aka Cato and 20 core group of warriors, who had been stolen from Kongo region of Central Africa.
In July of 1963, 15 black girls were arrested for protesting segregation laws at the Martin theatre. Aged 12-15, they were locked in an old, abandoned stockade for 45 days without their parents knowledge. They came to be known as The Leesburg Stockade Girls,
A THREAD
The girls marched from Friendship Baptist Church to the Martin Theater, attempting to buy tickets at the front entrance, defying segregation laws. Police attacked with batons and arrested them, transporting them to a Civil War-era stockade in Leesburg, Georgia, 15 miles away.
The stockade had no beds, a broken toilet, and only hot water from a shower. The girls slept on concrete floors in sweltering heat, ate undercooked burgers, and drank from a single cup. Parents were not informed of their location for weeks, heightening their fear and isolation.