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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Inventions that wouldnt exist without Black Women. #WomensHistoryMonth
—THREAD—
Valerie Thomas, NASA physicist, invented 3D Movies
In 1977, she developed the illusion transmitter, the 1st mechanism that allowed images to be viewed in 3D using concave mirrors & light rays.
Dr. Shirley Jackson research paved the way for numerous developments in telecommunication including the Touch-Tone Telephone, the Portable Fax, Caller ID & Call Waiting.
She was the first black woman to ever earn a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Mary Beatrice Kenner changed the world of feminine care with the invention of the sanitary belt, the forerunner of sanitary pads.
Her creation was considered to be the first form of modern menstruation protection.
On this day in 1959, 69 black boys were padlocked in their dormitory at school and it was then set on fire.
21 burnt to death while 48 managed to escape.
A THREAD.
On March 5th, 1959, 69 African American boys, ages 13 to 17, were padlocked in their dormitory for the night at the Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville. Around 4 a.m., a fire mysteriously ignited, forcing the boys to fight and claw their way out of the burning building.
The old, run-down, & low-funded facility, just 15 minutes south of Little Rock, housed 69 teens from ages 13-17. Most were either homeless or incarcerated for petty crimes such as doing pranks. 48 boys managed to escape the fire.
Cathay had to pose as a MALE to be enlisted as a union soldier, becoming the only documented Black woman to serve as a Buffalo Soldier.
A THREAD
Cathay was born and enslaved in 1850 in Jackson County, Missouri. In September 1861 Union troops impressed Cathay and she joined the Army to work as a cook and washerwoman for Union Army officers.
On November 15th, 1866 Williams disguised herself as a man and enlisted as William Cathey, serving in Company A of the 38th Infantry, a newly-formed all-black U.S. Army Regiment, one of its earliest recruits.
In 1847, Missouri banned education for black people.
John Berry Meachum went ahead and equipped a steamboat with a library, desks, chairs and opened a 'Floating Freedom School'.
A THREAD!
John Berry Meachum was born into slavery in Virginia in 1789 but by the age of 21 he had earned enough money doing carpentry work to purchase his own freedom and then his father’s.
Meachum was a married man, but before he could save up enough to buy his wife’s freedom she was moved to St. Louis. He followed her here and eventually managed to purchase her freedom as well.
Before Florence Nightingale we had Mary Seacole!! A woman who did more to advance the cause of nursing - and race relations - than almost any other individual.
Mary Seacole (1805–1881) was a pioneering Jamaican nurse, healer, and businesswoman whose contributions during the Crimean War have long been overlooked. After being rejected by British military and nursing authorities, she used her own resources to travel to the war zone, where she established the “British Hotel” near Balaclava.
The British Hotel was not a traditional hospital, but it provided food, supplies, shelter, and hands-on medical care to wounded and sick soldiers. Seacole was known for going directly onto the battlefield to tend to injured troops, earning deep respect and admiration from the men she cared for.
Florence Nightingale did not support Seacole’s work and declined to include her among her nurses. While Nightingale and some of her supporters viewed Seacole’s establishment critically—often dismissing it as overly commercial—there is no solid evidence that Nightingale directly called it a brothel. These tensions reflected racial, class, and ideological differences about who was considered “legitimate” within the emerging nursing profession.