In 1831, Nat Turner started what is considered the most deadly slave revolt in the history of the United States , the Nat Turner Rebellion. The Nat Turner Rebellion which sparked the events leading to civil war.
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Around early 1828, he was convinced that he “was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty”. A solar eclipse and an unusual atmospheric event and is what inspired Nat Turner to start his insurrection, which began on August 21, 1831.
Nat Turner believed God was showing him a sign by putting a black man hand over the Sun. Its been known for thousands of years solar eclipse give off energy.
On August 21, he began the rebellion with a few trusted fellow enslaved men. The rebels traveled from house to house, freeing enslaved people and killing their White owners.
Turner’s rebellion was suppressed within two days and he was captured October 30. On November 5, he was convicted and sentenced to death and was hanged November 11, 1831.
The state executed 56 other Black men suspected of being involved in the uprising and another 200 Black people, most of whom had nothing to do with the uprising, were beaten, tortured, and murdered by angry White mobs.
The Virginia General Assembly passed new laws making it unlawful to teach enslaved or free Black or Mulatto (mixed) people to read or write and restricting Black people from holding religious meetings without the presence of a licensed White minister.
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A sundown or sunset town was a town, city, or neighborhood in the US that excluded non-whites after dark.
The term sundown came from the signs that were posted stating that people of color had to leave the town by sundown.
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In most cases, signs were placed at the town's borders which read: “Stranger/Negro, Don't Let the Sun Set On You Here." The exclusion was official town policy or through restrictive covenants agreed to by the real estate agents of the community.
The policy was usually enforced through intimidation. This intimidation could occur in a number of ways, including harassment by police officers or neighbors and in some circumstances violence.
31 years ago today, Latasha Harlins,15, was fatally shot by a Korean shop owner, Soon Ja Du, over a bottle of orange juice.
On March 16, 1991 Latasha Harlin’s short life came to a violent end in the midst of racial tensions in Los Angeles, California, and became a major spark for the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.
By the late 1980s, racial tensions were high in South Los Angeles, and especially between Korean storeowners and African American residents of the city.
The Shelley family, 1945. J.D. Shelley purchased a home in St. Louis, Missouri at 4600 Labadie Avenue 63115. At the time of purchase, they were unaware of the restrictive covenant preventing "people of the Negro or Mongolian Race" from occupying the property thus getting sued.
Louis Kraemer, a neighbor who lived ten blocks away, sued to prevent the Shelleys from gaining possession of the property. But J.D. wouldn't take it. He took it to the supreme court.
The supreme court held that the 14th amendment guarantees individual rights, & that equal protection of the law is not achieved by the imposition of inequalities.
Most people have heard or used the term UNCLE TOM when we refer to a sell-out, but did you know that the inference is totally wrong.
The real Uncle Tom was a hero, Josiah Henson, was an abolitionist who helped slaves escape among other great things.
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Josiah Henson was born into slavery in 1789 in Charles County, Maryland. Growing up he watched his father receive beatings for standing up to his slave owner and also witnessed his father's ear being severed as part of the punishment and also his father being sold off.
Upon the death of his owner, Henson was also separated from his family in an estate sale. He remained on his new owner's farm in Montgomery County, Maryland, until he was an adult. As he aged he rose to become a trusted enslaved and supervised other enslaved people on the farm.
Sarah Breedlove known as Madam C.J Walker was the first black woman to become a self-made millionaire. She developed a successful line of beauty and hair products for black women.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe is credited as the Godmother of Rock ‘N’ Roll. Before Elvis, Johnny Cash or Little Richard, there was Sister Tharpe- A Black woman who forged her own sound in a male dominated industry.
She does not get the credit she deserves.
A Boston monument to Phyllis Wheatley. In 1773 she became the first black woman to publish a book.
Her poems captured the realities of slavery for the enslaved, before covering themes such as rebellion and revolution.
During the 1940s it was rare for a black person to have control over large amounts of land.
In 1944, a group of white men brutally lynched Rev. Isaac Simmons, a Black minister & farmer, so they could steal his land in Amite County, Mississippi which was over 270 acres
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In the 1940s, Simmons controlled approxmately 270 acres or more of debt-free land, some of which had been owned by the family since 1887. He and other relatives farmed the property and lived on it in relative peace.
In 1941, rumors about oil spread across Southwest Mississippi, and a few white men, thinking there might be oil on it, began to make claims on the Simmons land.