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. #BlackHistoryMonth
A THREAD!
The Stono Rebellion, the largest slave rebellion in South Carolina, 1739.
On September 9th 1739 Jemmy aka Cato and 20 core group of warriors, who had been stolen from Kongo region of Central Africa.
The group gathered near the Stono River in a region that is now Hollywood, SC about 20mins from Charleston. The rebellion was planned to take place on a Sunday due to most of the white men in the town being at church.
this coupled with a malaria outbreak which resulted in less white people on the streets, created the perfected conditions from a planned uprising. The goal was to fight their way to Spanish controlled Florida where enslaved folk were guaranteed freedom.
This was the region where Gullah Wars aka Seminole Wars were fought from 1817-1858. The Stono Rebellion was the 1st documented mass attempt of Gullah-Geechee people to push into the Florida territory.
The group marched down the main road of St.Paul's Parish killing slavers and their families as well as ransacking homes and businesses. They also recruited the further down the road they went.
Around 10 miles into the march the numbers swelled from about 20 to around 60-100 Africans fighting for their freedom.
Their march tallied up to 2 shopkeepers killed with ammo, guns, and provisions being expropriated, 6 plantations being burned down, and almost 30 whites dead.
The 1st half of a letter penned by then Lieutenant Governor William Bull detailed the damage he saw "I beg leave to lay before your Lordships an account of our Affairs, first in regard to the Desertion of our Negroes.... On the 9th of September last at Night a great Number of
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How did enslaved Africans learn how to read and write while education was banned for them?
The most forbidden weapon for them was knowledge. They were legally allowed in 1863 and only the Bible.
A THREAD
South Carolina became the first place to prohibit slave education in 1740, specifically banned from learning how to write after the Stono rebellion (one of the largest slave uprisings in colonial America) led by a Literate Enslaved African Man.
To them, an enslaved african who knew how to read/write could passes or spread messages or even worse, they could read abolitionist literature and teach it to others.
On this day in 1992, Dr. Mae Jemison became the first Black American woman to travel to space aboard the space shuttle Endeavour in 1992, working on experiments including bone cell research.
A highlight of black people who have helped make space exploration possible.
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Guion “Guy” Bluford was the first Black man in space as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle 'Challenger' in 1983. Of 10,000 applicants to the NASA space program, Guion S. Bluford was one of 35 chosen to join the new space shuttle team in January 1978.
Benjamin Banneker, apart from making the first functioning wooden clock in the US 🕰️, was an astronomer who was widely known for his astronomical ephemerides & almanacs in which he used calculations to accurately predict events like solar eclipses, planetary conjunctions, etc. He also helped survey and design Washington D.C.
She refused to move to the back of a bus 9 months before Rosa Parks, the NAACP did not want to use her to represent them because she was 15 & pregnant.
Other women who refused to give up their seats before Rosa Parks
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A century before Rosa Parks, there was Elizabeth Jennings
In 1854, she refused to get off of a streetcar that only allowed white passengers.
She was arrested. She sued (and won), and her case led to the eventual desegregation of NYC's public transit.
In 1944, Irene Morgan refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Greyhound bus in Gloucester County, VA. She was charged with violating Virginia Jim Crow laws. In 1946, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in her favor, striking down Virginia’s law in Morgan v. Virginia case.
Did you know Sesame Street was originally created for black and brown inner city kids?
A THREAD
Children usually spend a lot of time watching a lot tv and technically it was sort of a babysitter. It was even worse for inner city children whose parents spent endless hours at work, thus their kids were usually exposed to long hours of mindless programs.
Lloyd Morrisett, regarded as the father of Sesame Street and vice-president of the Carnegie Corporation with a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Yale University developed
a special interest in children's education.
Happy birthday to activist and chairman of the Black Panther Party Fred Hampton.
He was assassinated by Chicago police and the FBI at just 21 years old.
William O'Neal, an FBI informant, infiltrated the Black Panthers and set up Fred Hampton for $300.
A THREAD
In Illinois, where Fred Hampton was born, the police constantly harassed black people. Access to social goods too was made difficult, if not curtailed, in the areas with heavy black populations.
The party, a creation of Huey Newton and fellow student Bobby Seale, insisted on black nationalist response to racial discrimination. The party’s Illinois chapter was opened in 1967 and Hampton joined in 1968, aged just 20.
61 years ago today, The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C.
A THREAD
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. It took place in Washington, D.C.
Martin Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech advocating racial harmony during the march.