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. #InternationalWomensDay
A THREAD!
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
Harriet Tubman, the woman who escaped slavery then fought and freed hundreds of slaves.
She reminded us that bravery and refusal to accept injustice can change history.
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
A statue of La Mûlatresse Solitude, who in 1802, helpled lead a slave revolt while EIGHT Months pregnant in Guadeloupe.
She became a martyr and symbol for all women and mothers who against all odds defended the ideals of freedom and equality.
Queen Nanny Of The Maroons: Ashanti Woman who Fought And Freed Over 1,000 Enslaved Africans In Jamaica.
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
Daisy Bates, civil rights activist and newspaper publisher. Through her newspaper, Bates documented the battle to end segregation in Arkansas
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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.
A THREAD
Uncle Tom was a man:
—who refused to beat black women.
—who refused to tell on other slaves.
—who would put cotton in other slaves’ bags at night, so that they wouldn’t get beat!
—who helped 100 slaves get free long before the underground railroad.
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.
In 1862, congress allowed the enlistment of African Americans into the U.S. military. Those who served and loved the country that did not love them back.
Military History of African Americans.
A THREAD
Black Americans participated in every American war from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the Civil War, the Spanish–American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.
Thousands of black troops, made up of both free men and enslaved, fought in the continental war. They were promised freedom for fighting but those promises were often broken.
On this day in 1969, the Historic ‘Wyoming Black 14’ Protests Began.
14 black football players at the University of Wyoming were kicked off the team for trying to protest against Brigham Young University because of the Mormon Church ban on Black men in the priesthood
THREAD!
The players protested playing a game with Brigham Young University (BYU) because of the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS ban on black men holding the priesthood in the church, and other racial restrictions. Mormons believe black people are cursed with the mark of Cain.
The Wyoming Cowboys had won three consecutive Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championships, and they were considered as the best football team to ever play for the university in 1969
When the Zulu People of South Africa 🇿🇦 defeated the British 🇬🇧
—A THREAD—
In 1879, the British army invaded the independent & previously friendly Zulu kingdom, which had been founded by the formidable Nguni warrior Shaka Zulu in 1818.
Shaka had been the first proper king in South Africa, in that he managed to unite almost 800 Eastern Nguni–Bantu clans under his rule, displacing the rest.
He was also the first to establish a proper army, which he divided into regiments called impis armed with assegais and iklwas – the former a traditional long-poled spear to use from a distance, the latter a remodelled short-poled version which was lethal in hand-to-hand combat.
In Louisiana, black women were put in cells with male prisoners and some became pregnant
All children born in the penitentiary became property of the state
At 10 years they would be auctioned off. The proceeds were used to fund schools for white kids
THREAD
Before the Civil War, most prisoners in the South were white. The punishment of enslaved African Americans was generally left up to their owners. Louisiana, however, did imprison enslaved people for "serious" crimes, generally involving acts of rebellion against the slave system.
A number of these imprisoned slaves were women. Penitentiary records show a number of women imprisoned for "assaulting a white," arson, or attempting to poison someone, most likely their enslavers.
Africa is portrayed as a continent without history before slavery and colonialism. African History isn't known by many people compared to the history of Europe, Americas, and Asia.
Some of the world's great civilisations such as Mali flourished in Africa.
A THREAD!
In the early periods(1500s), Africans participated in extensive international trading networks and intrans-oceanic travel.
"Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter" (African Proverb)
THE MALI EMPIRE
Founded by King Sundiata Keita, and also known as the richest civilisation in
West Africa. It boasted excellent law & order, agriculture and mining, the largest library in Africa, and the richest man in history: Mansa Musa!