Black Research Central

Empowering People of African Descent and People of Color all over the World with in-depth research on our contributions to humanity in the fields of History, Science, and Art.

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Martin Luther King and Zen Buddhist Peace Activist Thich Nhat Hanh

Photo by Dana Gluckstein (via Lion’s Roar)

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (1926 - ), now 92, is a world renowned monk, spiritual leader, and poet. In the 1960s, Thich spearheaded one of the greatest nonviolent resistance movements of the 20th Century against the Civil War in Vietnam.

Photo by Parallax Press (via Lion’s Roar)

Thich Nhat Hanh first wrote to Dr. King in 1965. Martin Luther King took notice of the movement and spoke out against the Vietnam War at Nhat Hanh's urging.

They met a year later in 1966, during one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s trips to the US to call for peace.

Thich Nhat Hanh composed the phrase “Man is not our Enemy” in his 1966 letter to Dr King entitled “In Search of the Enemy of Man”. “Our enemies are not man”, he wrote, but “intolerance, fanaticism, dictatorship, cupidity, hatred and discrimination which lie within the heart of man. I believe with all my being that the struggle for equality and freedom you lead in Birmingham, Alabama… is not aimed at the whites but only at intolerance, hatred and discrimination. These are real enemies of man — not man himself. In our unfortunate fatherland we are trying to yield desperately: do not kill man, even in man’s name. Please kill the real enemies of man which are present everywhere, in our very hearts and minds.”

In January 1967, Dr King nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize.

"I know Thich Nhat Hanh, and am privileged to call him my friend… [He is] an apostle of peace and non-violence… He has traveled the world, counseling statesmen, religious leaders, scholars and writers, and enlisting their support. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity."

They met for a second, and last, time at the Pacem in Terris (“Peace in the World”) Conference in Geneva, May 28-31, 1967. A few days later, on April 4th, 1967 on Dr King’s return to the US, he gave his famous speech at the Riverside Church in New York, coming out publicly against the Vietnam War.

Thich Nhat Hanh remarked on the life of Dr. King:

"The moment I met Martin Luther King, Jr., I knew I was in the presence of a holy person. Not just his good work, but his very being was a source of great inspiration for me… On the altar in my hermitage in France are images of Buddha and Jesus, and every time I light incense, I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors… In Vietnam, we refer to Dr. King as a “Bodhisattva”, an enlightened being devoted to serving humanity…"

There are now over seven thousand Vietnamese Americans living in Mississippi, the first generations attracted by the subtropical climate and opportunity to work on the water, and with a deep affinity to the Civil Rights Movement leaders who helped oppose (and subsequently end) the Vietnam War.

Here is Thich Nhat Hanh on the Oprah Winfrey Network in 2013:

Credit:

Plum Village

https://plumvillage.org/press-releases/thich-nhat-hanh-and-martin-luther-kings-dream-comes-true-in-mississsippi/

Peace is the Way Films

http://www.peaceisthewayfilms.com/

[blackresearchcentral]

Blind Tom (1849-1908) - A Musical Genius

Tom, The Blind Negro Boy Pianist, Only 10 Years Old

1860

Published by Horace Waters, American, 1845 - 1949

Source: The Columbus Museum

http://columbusmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/65B3999F-ED18-442F-B4BD-105893291758

http://columbusmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/3A436838-E702-4DB0-847C-263880565314

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture has a such artifact in their collection which served as the portrait cover for some of Tom’s sheet music.

Thomas Green Bethune was born his mother Charity Wiggin’s 12th (or 14th) of 18 children on May 25, 1849 (according to one source) on the “Solitude” plantation of a General James N. Bethune northeast of Columbus, Georgia.

However, when Charity was sold to Bethune at a slave auction in 1850, Tom was actually gifted with her for “nothing” on account of his blindness. 

His father Domingo Wiggins was also purchased at auction and worked in the fields on the plantation. Tom’s parents were married at the time.

Tom was actually fortunate to survive into adulthood as Deirdre O'Connell shares the following in her book The Ballad of Blind Tom , Slave Pianist: America's Lost Musical Genius:

Many disabled infants born into slavery were killed by their masters with as little thought as a practical farmer might give to drowning a runt or shooting a horse with a shattered leg.

O'Connell also notes that some disabled children of slaves survived only because their owners believed they could be sold to freak shows at a profit, as in the 1852 case of conjoined twins sold for $10,000 in North Carolina.

In his 1866 textbook on mental deficiency Idiocy: and its Treatment by the Physiological Method, French Physician Edward Sequin wrote his observations of the boy:

He is from birth nearly absolutely blind, not seeing enough to direct his walk. He appears first, in his unwritten legend, at the age of fifteen months, standing up by supporting his hands on the knees of his young master, and following with the movements of his body the modulations of the flute with which the lad was whiling away the blank hours of a Georgia plantation.

Till 5 or 6 years old he could not speak, scarce walk, and gave no other signs of intelligence than this everlasting thirst for music but at 4 years already, if taken out from the corner where he lay dejected, and seated at the piano, he would play beautiful tunes; his little hands having already taken possession of the keys, and his wonderful ear of any combination of notes they had once heard.

People flocked for miles to hear him, till the Southern insurrection put a stop to his success...

He is led by the hand or sleeve before an audience, and begins by presenting himself in the third person, and in a few words thrown away, rather than spoken, saying, “Blind Tom will play this or that piece for you,” etc., after which he begins the piano.

One newspaper account reported:

His memory is so accurate that he can repeat, without the loss of a syllable, a discourse of 15 minutes length, of which he does not understand a word. Songs, too, in French or German, after a single hearing, he renders not only literally in words, but in notes, style and expression.

An article n the Ledger-Enquirer Sunday Magazine by S. Louise Bing in 1965 states:

"He was a human mockingbird. The sound of the cornsheller delighted him; any sound in fact, and he could reproduce these sounds faithfully . . . When about 7, Tom began to compose on the piano his own melodies. A part of the house had a low roof and when it rained - the sound of raindrops there was very distinct. Here, Tom loved to hover and listen. "The result was 'Rain Storm' which became a great favorite." (to future audiences)

When Tom was about at the age of 8, Bethune decided to hire him out to Perry Oliver’s freak show. Tom was a sensation.

This led to a tour of not only Southern cities, but major Northern ones as well, such as New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. During this time, Tom was separated from his family and performed four shows every day in hundreds of cities across the nation.

Blind Tom at age 10 in Frank Leslie’s Weekly, March 3, 1860

At age 11 in 1860, Tom played at the White House before President James Buchanan - the first black performer to do so.

As related by Dr. Trefferet of the Wisconsin Medical Society:

Several musicians, who felt Tom had tricked the public and the President, tested him at his hotel the following day. They played two completely new compositions. The first, 13 pages in length, Tom repeated from beginning to end without effort or error, and the second, 20 pages in length, he also played to perfection.

In 1862 Tom performed an even more amazing feat. He was asked to play secondo while the composer of a 14 page original piece played treble. This meant he had to improvise the entire secondo part in step with the musician’s execution of the first part. Never having heard the piece before, Tom sat beside the composer and played the first note to the last in secondo part. Following that, he “fairly shoved the man from his seat and proceeded to play the treble with more brilliancy and power that its composer.” A report of that event concludes “to play secondo to music never heard or seen infers the comprehension of the full drift of the symphony in its current—a capacity to create, in short.”

He was referred to in the press as “the greatest pianist of the age whose skills surpassed Mozart.”

The widespread success in these places persuaded Bethune to take Tom to Europe, where, for more than three years, he appeared in concerts in England, France and Scotland. Tom was 16 when he went on a world tour in 1866 to display his talents. Most notably, he traveled to England, Scotland, France, and Canada. He is even known to have played before royalty (whomever that might be).

While in Paris, he had surgery on his eyes, but it did very little for him, helping him to only dimly distinguish objects.

He returned to the United States and continued to play for packed venues. 

Sequin outlined that Tom’s vocabulary was less than 100 words, but his musical repertoire was over 7000 pieces.

In Philadelphia, a panel of 16 prominent musicians signed this statement about Blind Tom:

“Whether in his improvisations of performances of compositions by Gottschalk, Verdi, and others, in fact in every form of musical examination-and the experiments are too numerous to mention-he showed a capacity ranking him among the most wonderful phenomena in musical history.”

This information was quoted in part from an article on page S-15 of the Ledger- Enquirer dated Sunday, April 23, 1978.

The Following Contains Excerpts From The Book

The Marvelous Musical Prodigy, Blind Tom, The Negro Boy Pianist, Whose Performances at the Great St. James and Egyptian Halls, London, and Salle Hertz, Paris, Have Created Such a Profound Sensation

Published in 1867 by  Sun Book and Job Printing Establishment and made available in digital form online by The American Printing House for the Blind, Inc., M.C. Migel Library

(This text has been faithfully and painstakingly transcribed here with slight differences in punctuation and in spacing alone. Italics are exactly as they originally appear. More can be found here.)

TESTIMONIALS ON BLIND TOM

[From the Commercial] 

Pittsburgh, April 6th, 1866

In compliance with the request of the manager of ‘Blind Tom,’ who states that doubt is sometimes expressed in regard to the early, development of ‘Blind Tom's’ wonderful ‘musical talent,’ I would state that, in the year 1853, at which time I was residing in Columbus, Georgia, this boy (at that time about four years of age) was brought to my notice under the following circumstances: - While engaged in looking over some music, in company with a Professor of Music, in a music store, this boy was brought in by Mr. James N. Bethune (an old and respected citizen of that place), who stated that he believed this child to possess extraordinary talent. From the appearance of the boy, the Professor was somewhat skeptical, but determined to give him a chance.

I lifted him to his seat at the piano; he played several pieces. The Professor then performed a piece of his own composition, not at that time published. To my surprise 'Tom' played it immediately after him, demonstrating at once, possession of wonderful and mysterious knowledge of music. At that time he was entirely blind, apparently idiotic, and displayed the same restlessness of body as at present. Upon expressing my astonishment at his evident genius, the Professor shrugged his shoulders, and said, ‘mere imitation; no progressive talent.’ I expressed my conviction to him that, if the boy lived, he would become the musical wonder of the world.

Removing from that section, I saw no more of 'Tom' until April 6, 1866. He remembered the incident, and played for me the same piece, composed by the Professor, which he performed at that time, thirteen years before.

- GEORGE A. KELLY

Pittsburgh, Pa

LETTER FROM I. MOSCHELES

In justice to Blind Tom, I have much pleasure in stating that I think him marvelously gifted by nature. I happened to be present at a performance - of his at Southsea, and at the request of the Manager, began to test his abilities by extemporising a short rhythmical piece which he imitated to perfection, thus proving beyond all doubt that he did not impose on the public by preparation. I then went so far as to play him that part of my ‘Recollections of Ireland’, in which the three melodies are blended, and even that he imitated with most of its intricacies and changes.

Having tested his powers of analyzing chords, and found them all that I could desire, I next put my hands on the keys at random, and was surprised to hear him name every note of such flagrant discord. Tom's technical acquirements are very remarkable, and his entertainment full of interest for the musician and amateur.

I. MOSCHELES

Southsea, September 11th, 1866

N. B. - I. Moscheles was the preceptor of Mendelssohn and Thalberg. 

Carte-de-visite of Thomas Wiggins, also known as Blind Tom,  Full length portrait of Blind Tom; young man seated holding up sheet of (music?) paper in right hand; "Rain Storm" in large block lettering near top

ca. 1865/1870

Photographer: Washington L. Germon (1821 - 1877)  

W.L. Germon's Temple of Art, 914 Arch St., Philadelphia (PA)

Tom is holding a version of his first composition at the age of 5.

Source:

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University

Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American collection

http://discover.odai.yale.edu/ydc/Record/3520809

http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3520810

A similar artifact can be found in the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Yet another one is in the Collection of the Columbus Museum.

“BLIND TOM'S” CONCERTS

Pianoforte and Music Warehouse, 1 and 2 High Street, Montrose, Scotland

Permit me to call your attention to the concerts of Blind Tom," a negro boy pianist, of extraordinary and unaccountable musical powers. On Friday and Saturday last I had the pleasure of hearing him play in the Assembly Hall, and I cannot refrain, especially as I have no professional connection with him, from informing such of the musical public of Montrose and its vicinity, as have not already heard him, that the performances of this blind negro are so wonderful that no one possessed of musical taste should lose an opportunity of listening to them. 

I may say, without the slightest exaggeration, that Tom's execution of all kinds of music— from the most classical works of Beethoven, Bach, Mendelssohn, and others, down to the simplest plantation melody of “the Sunny South" is unsurpassed by that of the best professional performers of the day.

Blind Tom's last appearance in Montrose will be this evening, in the Assembly Hall, at eight o'clock, when he will again play classical selections from - Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Bach, Mozart, &c. His pianoforte solos will be taken from the compositions of Thalberg, Liszt, Chopin and others. He will also sing various songs from popular operas, and ballads from Moore and Bums, as well as some of his own composition. 

As a proof of his extraordinary musical gifts, Blind Tom invites any member of the audience to play any piece of music unknown to him, and he. after a first hearing, re-plays it with the most perfect accuracy, however intricate or elaborate in harmony. He can also analyse any chord or discord struck on the- instrument, if he is within hearing, naming almost as rapidly as they are struck, each individual note. As an additional proof of his remarkable powers of imitation, he gives recitations in Greek, Latin, German, French, as well as imitations of the Scotch bagpipe, the musical box, the hurdy-gurdy, the Scotch fiddler, the American stump orator, comic speakers, and, in short, any sound he may hear. 

I am, your most obedient servant, JOHN LAW. December 31, 1866

"Blind Tom" Wiggins

ca. 1865

Photographer: W.L. Germon

Source: Columbus Museum

http://columbusmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/9DCD3E30-5E23-45E2-B4D5-824126094076

OPINIONS OF THE ENGLISH AND AMERICAN PRESS

AMERICAN

[From the Philadelphia Inquirer, 27th December, 1865] 

Blind Tom. — One peculiarity about this extraordinary genius is, that although uncouth as he appears, seemingly holding all national attributes in obedience, he has the power to draw around him the elite of the city. Men of intellect, men of mind, all go to see Tom— not to witness his antics, not to listen to his imitations, but to be astonished, confounded, and amazed, at the effect he produces on the piano. His notes are so thrilling, and his execution so perfect and so startling as to amuse every listener. The piano itself seems gifted, and sends forth in reverberation, praises, as it were, to Blind Tom. There is music in all things, but Blind Tom is the Temple wherein music dwells. He is a sort of doorkeeper besides, and when he opens the portals, music seems to issue forth to wake the soul to ecstasy.

[From the Public Ledger, September 27th, 1868

Musical Genius — Blind Tom. — At first view such a phenomenon as Blind Tom might seem one of the most humiliating facts to the musical world that can possibly be conceived. Here is a blind, half-witted black boy, who cannot speak, in private, without stuttering, who cannot remain quiet for five minutes, whether on or off the stage, but must keep tumbling and jumping, or rather spinning round and over, hardly like a human being at all ; and yet this half-idiot looking boy has powers as a musical performer, such probably as no one has ever attained by any amount of art or practice. Many Professors of Music of great eminence have been ready, after listening to him, to declare that they would never touch the piano again. What he has done in public in the way of playing the most difficult pieces after hearing them but once, and with a perfection that years of practice could not usually apply, are known to all the lovers of music in this city. 

The secret of this wonderful power is the most perfect ear for the harmonies of sound ever observed— ‘only this, and nothing more’. To him everything is music. Discords do not seem to disturb him, but his ear catches every harmony, and his whole being seems entranced and controlled by it. Let him stand with his back to a piano, and any number of chords be struck, and he will instantly tell every note sounded, showing that he has been able to discriminate, and his memory to retain distinctly and perfectly each sound. The Phrenologists say that memory is in proportion to clearness and strength of the impression produced at first, and this must be the case with him. From two years old this remarkable power of sound over him has been noticed. He has been blind from birth, and it would seem here, as often observed before, that, by a compensative law of our being, in proportion as one sense is defective, the expenditure of vital energy thus saved is absorbed by some other sense. Probably all our sensations are the result of vibrations, and the pulsations of light that usually enter and give all their exquisite pleasure through the eye-ball, are in his case compensated for by the pulsations of sound, which strike on an ear possessed of nerves of double delicacy and vital energy from the absorption and concentration of two senses in one. 

Blind Tom is not, however, the senseless being that most imagine him, but rather like one completely guided and governed by this one sense alone. As a lad, the song of a bird would lead him to wander off into the woods, and then the "sound of the flute would bring him to those who went in search of him. His great desire now is to go to Europe in the spring, and have a brass band. But his ear finds music in all sounds. As a lad, his mother beating the other children, and all her harsh words and their cries would be to him a source of exquisite pleasure, the whole sounds being reproduced, the scolding, the beating, and the crying, by his Imitative power, and remembered word for word, and note for note. As the snake which charms the bird with its eye is itself charmed by the power of sound, so is he under the same sort of control of this most wonderfully developed sense. It would, perhaps, be worth trying whether the same tension and perfection of the nerves of the ear could not be temporarily produced by the use of the Indian extract of hemp. 

Perhaps a proper study of the case of this lad might show to what extent all (though in less degree) might be educated through music. It is certainly this alone that can be most easily developed; probably the highest and best emotions might be thus permanently excited within him, while the desire for those pleasures leads him to put forth intellectual efforts that nothing else can. It was thus he taught himself the piano, from hearing the young ladies of Mr. Bethune's family play their music — a power that first developed Itself, to Mr. Bethune's astonishment, at midnight, one night when, the house and piano having been left open, he crept into the parlor (then being quite a child) and awoke the family by playing their most difficult pieces. By degrees he was called in, as a curiosity, to play when white visitors came to the plantation; and at last the sound of carriage-wheels always brought him to the house. His clappings at his own performances, and glee at each now feat, now show the simplicity of his name. But his performances in music show how the highest results of art and study are most easily reached by this lad in his one-sided culture and development — that of the ear alone. It is with him a sort of inspiration. The science of music he will probably never be able to master. But we must remember that the art of it preceded the science in Egypt, in Palestine, in Greece, and in Rome, by long ages. Indeed, it was the music of the Hebrews, and then of the Christian Church, that gave birth to scientific music, and alone developed it, until that of the opera gave rise to a distinct branch of the culture. This reacted powerfully on sacred music itself. Blind Tom at present likes operatic music best. Though he loves the organ somewhat, he probably seldom goes near any church, where, indeed, his presence would soon disturb any congregation.

[From the Albany (N. Y.) Argus, January, 1866.]

"Blind Tom”, the Negro Pianist.— We yesterday were so fortunate as to attend a seance given by “Blind Tom”, the negro pianist, at Hidley's music room. As an exhibition of incomprehensible genius, excelling in its simplest, manifestations the triumphs of severe art, we never saw the performances of this prodigy equaled.

A wild, uncouth figure, angular at all points which should be curved, and curved at all points that should present acute lines — loose-jointed, close-wooled, thick-lipped, sprawl-footed, with forehead almost covered with kinky locks, eye-balls prominent and distended, and an idiotic, staring expression of countenance — in short, a regular specimen of the African in his unadulterated and barbarous condition, before be has been elevated by the influence of social surroundings or Caucasian infusion.

Such is Blind Tom as he first strikes the eye and impresses the mind of the observer. You ask the genial Georgia gentleman who accompanies him what history he has, and when you learn that he was born a slave on a plantation, and brought up a chattel, you feel that he is just about what other “niggers” might be, who were “developed” under the same circumstances. But a street car with a tinkling bell passes up the street. Instantaneously a new sort of intelligence flashes over the black face. The attention is fixed, and mind seems really awaking from the ashes of idiocy. “What note is that, Tom?” “C sharp," is the reply, without a second's pause. You test the sound at a piano, and find the lad correct. He has reached by lightning process of intuition what you can determine only with scientific aids. Or without giving any premonition of your design, you walk to a piano, and strike a dozen or twenty notes of the most difficult and intricate combinations, rapidly as possible. "What notes are those, Tom?" asks the agent, and with voluble rapidity, the transformed idiot repeats them, each by name, without a single error. You seat the ungainly figure at a piano-stool. He is to be tested now in his perception of music. All negroes have a love for melody, and acquire wonderful proficiency in rendering it; but the negro does not understand classical music. Does he not?

Try this one. Here is a classical production— the “ Sonata Pathetique”  of Beethoven, covering eight or ten pages, and ask any young lady who fancies she has graduated at the piano, whether it is difficult or not. “We will have this Sonata, Tom,” says the musical director to his loose-fingered, thick-lipped protege, and instantly the wonderful process of interpretation begins. This blind boy, who never saw a note of music in his life, plays you the entire work, while musical critics follow him with eyes and ears, and he makes no mistake—not one false register, or slur, or discord, or omission.

Most wonderful, truly; but wonderful simply as a feat of prodigious memory, thoroughly disciplined— proving nothing of instinctive apprehension. No, but let your Albany Professor sit down at the piano and improvise. He does so; a difficult conception, which he himself could not render twice, and which it would take you twenty-four hours to commit. Meanwhile, Tom grows most strangely / antic. He throws himself into grotesque shapes, like an automaton at a fantocini show. He claws the air with his hands, whistles through his teeth, capers about and see-saws up and down. The professor has finished, and with a mumbling remark, “That is jest as ea-sy!” Tom seats himself, and imitates the improvisation, note by note, perfectly; then gives his own idea of it, and accompanies that with variations. So, tested with a dozen pieces, he renders them at once upon hearing them. This is proof of intuition.

Now test the power of analysis. Three pianos are opened; at two of them persons present hammer away, with the design of producing the most perfect discord imaginable; at the third piano the professor makes a run of twenty notes. The confusion ceases and Tom repeats in a moment each of the twenty notes sounded. Still another test. Tom takes the stool himself. With his right hand he plays “Yankee Doodle” in B flat. With his left hand he- performs “Fisher's Horn-pipe” in C. At the same time he sings “Tramp, Tramp,” in another key-maintaining three distinct processes in that discord, and apparently without any effort whatever.

“Most marvelous,” you say, “but can he express as well as he perceives?" The gentlemanly director will let you see. He asks Tom to render “Home, Sweet Home”, by Thalberg, You know that of all productions in the current repertoire, there are none which have finer or more difficult shades than this. Blind Tom proceeds, and were you to close your eyes you could not tell but Thalberg himself was at the instrument, so perfect and so exquisite is the conception and the touch. Then you have renderings in imitation from Chopin, from Gottschalk, from Vieuxtemps, from anybody you will mention who has been deemed a master of the art. And you turn away convinced—surfeited with marvels, satisfied that you have witnessed one of the most incomprehensible facts of the time.

Some curious metaphysical questions grow out of these remarkable demonstrations. What is this boy? A negro— belonging to an unintellectual race; himself an idiot. But what is intellect and what is idiocy? Can he be an idiot with whom those achievements are most ordinary which in others are pronounced the grandest evidences of masterly genius? And what is it to be “developed”? Where is the narrow dividing line that separates the philosopher from the fool? Here is a monstrosity— a gorgon with angel's wings; a sunflower with the blush of a mignionette and the fragrance of a mountain rose. There is no law by which to measure and determine such exhibitions as this.

Meanwhile, we only state what we saw in all its astonishing features, and leave our readers to determine for themselves whether the Chinese transmigration theory is correct—whether the soul of some unfortunate defunct musician, misbehaving on earth, has been banished into the awkward and angular body of Blind Tom.

"Blind Tom" Wiggins

1866

Photographer: Adolphe Nadin

Source: Columbus Museum

http://columbusmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/F174E0FD-2D9F-4F8E-BB26-385118838815

ENGLISH

[From the London Times, August 18th, 1866]

St. James' Hall.— For some time past the wonder-seekers of London have been amused by a series of performances, vocal and on the pianoforte, by a negro boy called Blind Tom. The boy, who is not only blind, but completely and unmistakably idiotic, executes difficult music with a facility that under the circumstances is remarkable, and goes through several feats which rather indicate mnemonic and imitative powers than a genius for music, properly so called.

Thus, while he plays one air with his right hand he accompanies it by another air in another key with his left, and sings a third air in a third key at the same time, thus giving a specimen of a school of harmony which is peculiar to himself. He has, moreover, been taught to associate the notes on the piano with the letters of the entire alphabet, so that when one of the spectators, at the request of the exhibitor, holds up an object, and the exhibitor strikes on the instrument the notes corresponding to the letters that compose the name of that object, Tom boldly declares whether his talent has been tested by (say) a hat, a half-crown piece, or a fan. Another exploit is the execution on the piano of a tune heard for the first time only a moment before. Even while he is displaying his peculiar gifts, the appearance of utter idiocy remains; his face goes into curious contortions when his notes become more than commonly expressive, and by clapping his own hands he responds to the applause of the audience. There is no reason to believe or even to conjecture anything like imposition in the performance of Blind Tom, whom we would class not so much with musicians as with the many persons who, otherwise idiotic, achieve astounding feats in the way of arithmetical calculation. However, class him as we may, it is an historical fact that lie has drawn audiences large enough to crowd even the great room of St. James’ Hall.

[From the Manchester Guardian, Sept. 23th]

We were quite prepared from the metropolitan press to find in Blind Tom some extraordinary qualities, fortified as their statements were by the testimony of I. Moscheles, who tested the alleged powers of this nigger youth at Southsea, and publicly expressed his opinion that Tom was “marvelously gifted by nature.”

After hearing him last night at the Theatre Royal we can most consciously endorse this opinion; but to give in writing anything like an accurate description of him is utterly impossible. The fingers fly over the keyboard, and he seems like one possessed. Did not Shakespeare conceive this being when he describes Caliban being touched with the magical sounds heard in Prosperous Island? His first performance was a march vigorously given, and displaying great strength of hand, indicated by running octaves with both hands with great rapidity. Thalberg's “Sweet Home” followed, then Thalberg's “Lily Dale,” for the left hand alone, and two songs, one of which was “Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep”, in which he gives the low G with considerable power. Then followed some tests as to his power of analysing chords. Is all this mere instructive imitation and memory, or not? Behind that strange visage, and underneath that imperfectly-organized brain, what is going on? We dare not speculate. He is evidently a freak of nature, but he must be heard and seen to be in any degree comprehended.

[From the Glasgow Day Herald, January 2, 1867]

“Blind Tom”, the wonderful negro boy pianist, made his debut in Glasgow yesterday, when he gave three of his entertainments, or rather musical exhibitions, in the Merchants' Hall— two during the day, and one in the evening. He is, without doubt, an extraordinary lad Born blind, though he is now able to distinguish light from darkness, and having a defect in some of his mental faculties, though what that defect is, it is very difficult to say. 

Nature seems to have made up for these deficiencies by endowing him with a marvelously acute ear and a retentive memory. It is not uncommon to find blind people with their other senses much more highly developed and much more susceptible of impression than in people possessing all their faculties; but in no case have we ever heard or known of one with auditory nerves so fine or with memory so powerful as "Blind Tom."

Mozart, when a mere child, was noted for the delicacy of his ear, and for his ability to produce music on a first hearing; but Burney, in his “History of Music,” records no instance at all coming up to this negro boy, for his attainment in phonetics and his power of retention and reproduction of sound. 

We don't think it is possible for Tom to be a great composer, though his guardian and tutor, Dr. Howard, is hopeful that he will, in spite of his mental weakness. We believe, however, he has already produced some very remarkable pieces; but his forte appears to rest more in imitation and reproduction, and certainly his powers of this description constitute him an extraordinary prodigy. The public, go often “taken in” by would-be prodigious wonders of creation, are naturally suspicious when any phenomenon of this kind is presented to them; but the thorough genuineness of Tom's performances at once disarms ail suspicion.

He plays first a number of difficult passages from the best composers; and then any one is invited to come forward and perform any piece he likes, the more difficult the more acceptable, and if original, still more preferable. Tom immediately sits down at the piano and produces verbatim et literatim the whole of what he has just heard. To show that it is not at all necessary that he should be acquainted with any piece beforehand to reproduce it, he invites any one to strike-a number of notes simultaneously with the hand or with both hands, and immediately, as we heard him do yesterday, he repeats at length, and without the slightest hesitation, the whole of the letters, with all their inflections, representing the notes.

Nor are his wondrous powers confined to the piano, on which he can produce imitations of various instruments and play two different tunes—one in common time and a second in triple—while he sings a third; but he can with the voice produce, with the utmost accuracy any note which his audience may suggest. Yesterday afternoon for instance, he was asked to sing B flat, F sharp, and the upper A, a very difficult combination, and beginning with the latter, he at once satisfied his auditors of his success. One very funny feat he executed, which, as much as anything else, showed what he could do.

When at Aberdeen, as Dr. Howard explained, Tom heard in a large ante-room adjoining the hall where he was, a teacher of dancing tuning his fiddle, the strings of which, apparently, had been rather difficult to get tightened up to proper tune. Tom had but to listen, and he retained every sound which the dancing-master produced. Tom's imitation on the piano—first of the striking of the violin-strings with the fingers for some time, after the manner of violinists, then seeing if they corded well, again touching up the strings, anon giving a little bit of a polka, and once more adjusting the strings, and so on, all exactly as he heard it— was as amusing as it was astonishing. 

No one with an ear for music should miss the opportunity of going to hear him ere he leaves.

[From the Dundee Advertiser]

Blind Tom. — This extraordinary musical prodigy gave two performances in Dundee yesterday, and on each occasion the powers displayed by him were so marvelous as to verge upon the miraculous. Our readers must not suppose that his proficiency is merely of an ordinary kind, or that his notoriety is another species of Barnumism.

The letter we published yesterday from a private friend, in whose opinions we place the greatest confidence, shows that it is not so; and we believe the opinions of all who yesterday heard him will be found to be those of astonishment and admiration.

History affords no parallel to Blind Tom.

His ability would be marvelous even if he had his eyesight; but, as we have before remarked, when it is considered that he is blind, it is beyond measure strange. Unless one sees or hears him play he is unable properly to understand the extent of his ability.

Test him how you may, he never fails.

His memory is as miraculous as his musical powers; and he plays over a piece he has never heard before with almost infallible exactitude. Yesterday, several gentlemen went to the platform, and played over pieces; and during the time they were so occupied it was amusing to witness Tom's contortions of his body and his movements generally. He swayed himself about; his eyeballs rolled; his fingers twitched involuntarily; and he seemed like one possessed; and on being allowed to seat himself at the piano, he repeated from memory the various pieces which had been played to him. In the evening, Mr. Hirst played over a number of pieces of the most difficult character, all of which Tom produced with fidelity.

On inquiry we find that his proficiency is a natural gift. From his earliest infancy he betrayed the utmost interest in musical sounds of every kind— the cries of animals, the moaning of the wind, the rushing of waters, and the like; and when he was allowed to go out in the fields, if he heard a bird sing, he rushed off towards it with frantic delight.

We publish a letter we received the other day from an intimate friend in another town-a gentleman of great musical taste, and no little executive ability— who is well qualified to give an opinion on such matters. He says:

“I presume you have not heard Blind Tom play? If not, you never heard a better performer. Like most people, of course, I was inclined to regard this wonderful prodigy as a wonderful humbug; but I assure you, that, so far from this being the case, or anything like it, Tom is as genuine an artist, and possesses as much (and, for anything I can tell, a great deal more) musical talent or power either as regards the execution of the compositions of others or of his own for either Thalberg, Halle, Madame Goddard, or anybody else you ever listened to.

I write merely to disabuse your mind of the common impression which we are all apt to form of these singular geniuses, and very strongly recommend you not only to hear him play, but privately test him (as I have done) in any way you like. Improvise to him as difficult, or elaborate, or out- of-the-way piece as you please, and he will instantly reproduce it.

Now, this is no common gift; and therefore you and I, and all who know anything of music, should use our best efforts to let the public know that, so far from there being anything in the nature of clap-trap about Tom, he is, in fact, a musical gem of the first water.

Of course, I have nothing to do with him, but I have been so highly pleased with his performances, that I thought it might be as well to let you know beforehand (in case you have not already heard him) what my own real impression is of him.”

He not only repeats every piece he hears from memory, but he improvises and composes; and he last night sung a song of music of his own composition—" Mother dear Mother, I Still Think of Thee "—of great merit for its simple sweetness and pathos. As he cannot possibly remain longer in Dundee than tonight, we would earnestly urge upon all who can afford it, the absolute duty of seeing and hearing this wonderful blind negro boy. He is only seventeen, but no man of any age could surpass him for executive ability, as his testimonials from such men as Moscheles, Halle, &c., prove.

He performs two or three different melodies at the same time, and plays with his back to the piano with apparently as much ability as in the ordinary position.

We would especially recommend all who are interested in anthropology, phrenology, and psychology, to see and hear him for themselves. His ability is a singular confutation of the theories of Hunt and Blake about the inferiority of the negro; for we may challenge any white man to compete with him in perfect safety.

His parallel is not to be found the world over, nor in any time of which the records are known.

Here is a sample of what was written on one of his concert flyers:

PROGRAMME

SPECIAL NOTICE:

Blind Tom can only play what he hears or improvises. Until about two years ago a list of pieces that Tom had heard was kept, numbering nearly 2,000.

Unfortunately this catalogue was lost. Since that period he has heard perhaps 3,000 pieces, and his repertoire now numbers upwards of 5,000, entirely at his memory's disposal From this extensive store Tom will introduce selections from Beethoven, Bach, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Thalberg, Gottschalh, and others ; and also give his marvelous and amusing Imitations, Recitations, Anecdotes &c.. &c

Blind Tom, who played before the crown heads of Europe

ca. 1875

engraving

From the collection of Bill Walton 

So what of Tom’s life?

How was he treated by his society amidst all of this greatness they clearly saw in him?

Blind Tom and his dog, Paderewski

Northern writer Rebecca Harding Davis reported in the Atlantic Monthly that there was a childishness about Tom that required coaxing and promises of cake and candy before he would perform.

She further quipped:

Some beautiful caged spirit, one could not but know, struggled for breath under that brutal form and idiotic brain.

Off For His Daily Drive With Mr. Lerche

Renowned author Mark Twain attended many of Tom’s performances whenever he could. In 1969, after attending three concerts in a row, he wrote for the San Francisco Alta California newspaper:    

"He lorded it over the emotions of his audience like an autocrat. He swept them like a storm, with his battle-pieces; he lulled them to rest again with melodies as tender as those we hear in dreams; he gladdened them with others that rippled through the charmed air as happily and cheerily as the riot the linnets make in California woods; and now and then he threw in queer imitations of the tuning of discordant harps and fiddles, and the groaning and wheezing of bag-pipes, that sent the rapt silence into tempests of laughter. And every time the audience applauded when a piece was finished, this happy innocent joined in and clapped his hands, too, and with vigorous emphasis."

He ended his article this way:

"Some archangel, cast out of upper Heaven like another Satan, inhabits this coarse casket; and he comforts himself and makes his prison beautiful with thoughts and dreams and memories of another time... It is not Blind Tom that does these wonderful things and plays this wonderful music--it is the other party."

You can read more of his impressions on Blind Tom here and here.

Pianist "Blind Tom" Thomas Wiggins and his owner General Bethune, taken before 1884

As the Civil War raged on, Blind Tom traveled with his master in the deep south to raise funds for the Confederate soldiers and their families. Bethune had two sons fighting for the Confederate cause. The conversations he heard about the conflict inspired Tom to compose the song “Battle of Manassas” in 1861.

Tom's most famous piece, depicting an aural soundscape of a Civil War battle with patriotic favorites from the North and South

ca. 1884

Creator:  S. Brainard's Sons Company

Source: Columbus Museum

http://columbusmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/EBDBDE0E-7C41-45D2-B66A-956431811890

As the southern rebellion was nearing its end, Tom improvised another battle tune “When This Cruel War is Over”. Perhaps this demonstrated his truest feelings about the Civil War at that moment in time.

After the war, Wiggins' parents, who were basically illiterate, signed a five-year indenture agreement for James Bethune. In some places, it is mentioned that this was actually done in 1864 while they were still enslaved.

According to Researcher Barbara Schmidt:

Foreseeing that the South would soon fall to Union domination, General Bethune arranged for Domingo and Charity to sign a contract giving him management of Tom until he reached the age of twenty-one. Tom would receive food, shelter, musical instruction and an allowance of $20 a month. The surviving parents were to receive $500 a year plus food and shelter. Bethune would retain over ninety percent of the remaining profits from Tom's performances-- conservative estimates place that amount at $18,000 a year. After the War's end, Tom, who never knew he was free because he had never actually known he was a Negro slave, was launched upon another tour...

By 1879, Tom's concerts and sales of his sheet music were making Bethune around $20,000 every year, equivalent to more than $280,000 today. Tom, his mother, and the rest of his family actually received nothing.  

During this time, a black entertainment promoter tried unsuccessfully to claim Tom from his “owner”.

Author Deirdre O'Connell has this to say:

Tom had no concept of money and was exploited, deceived, manipulated and robbed blind by his white masters and guardians. Emancipation failed to deliver him from the shackles of slavery. His master’s son – John Bethune - assumed the role of guardian and manager. In 1872, Tom was adjudged insane and the vast sums of money he earned (the equivalent of $5 million dollars today) was squandered on Bethune’s extravagant lifestyle. Then in 1884, Bethune was killed in a railroad accident. [By this time, it is estimated that Tom had earned over $750,000 for the Bethune family.]

At the time of his death John Bethune was embroiled in a bitter divorce. When his estranged wife, Eliza Bethune, discovered she was cut out of the will, she tracked down Tom’s impoverished mother and persuaded her to mount a legal challenge in New York. It took three years of legal wrangling, but in 1887, victory was theirs and ‘The Last American Slave’ – as the press dubbed Tom – was set free.

But Tom’s so-called ‘emancipation’ was little more than a sham. Once Charity naively handed Tom’s guardianship over to the Bethune’s widow, she was unceremoniously dumped and sent back to Georgia, never to see her son again.

Blind Tom’s final years were shrouded in secrecy and paranoia. It was widely believed he died in The Johnstown Flood of 1889, America’s biggest man-made disaster to date. In fact, he was in one of three places: touring the backwaters of North America, holed up in a New York apartment on the lower east side or listening to the ocean’s roar at Eliza Bethune’s country hideaway in wilds of New Jersey (purchased at his expense). In 1903 he made a brief comeback on the vaudeville stage.

In 1908, at the age of sixty, Blind Tom died of a stroke and was buried in an unmarked paupers grave in Brooklyn’s Evergreen Cemetery. Twenty years later, the daughter of his former master, Fanny Bethune, began efforts to disinter his body into the Bethune family plot in Georgia. A Columbus resident insisted he carried out her request as best he could, Jim Crow laws forcing him to re-bury Tom at a nearby plantation. The Evergreen Cemetery, however, had documents to prove that the body was never removed. Today, two plaques – one in Columbus Georgia, the other in Brooklyn - mark his burial place: a fitting end to the enigma of Blind Tom.

Mother, Dear Mother, I Still Think of Thee

ca. 1870

Creator:  W.P. Howard (one of Tom’s piano teachers) Source: Columbus Museum

http://columbusmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/D714C278-D0EB-4CF0-AFB0-323566192520

He was 59 when he passed away after 4 years of suffering from paralysis.

The account in the Ladies’ Journal says that apparently, a woman identified Tom as one of the victims of the Johnstown Flood and that individual was buried in Pennsylvania with an inscription identifying the person as such. That same article states that the author met with Tom after this time as “proof” that the inscription was wrong.

This writer also asserts that most people didn’t even know his real name and at the time they were writing in 1898, ‘the impression that he is dead is a pretty general one’ and yet ‘Blind Tom has never been ill a day in his life and is now enjoying an existence more full of comforts and happiness than fall to the lot of most mortals.”

He was living in what was describes as a ‘picturesque two-and-a-half-story wooden house with a broad veranda’ on the banks of the Shrewsbury River with an A. J. Lerche, who accompanied him as his guardian. Albert J. Lerche, a lawyer, was the husband of John Bethune’s widow after his death.

At this point in his life, it was noted he ‘never drinks, swears, nor shows any vicious inclinations.’

He is scrupulously neat, and most regular and methodical in his habits. He rises at seven, has breakfast at nine, dinner at half-past one, and supper at six. He goes to bed at a little after nine. He has an attendant who looks after him at mealtime, as he has to have his meat cut for him. He finds his napkin and tucks that in around his neck himself. He has a good appetite although by no means is he a heavy eater. He is fond of fruit—watermelons preferred—likes all kinds of pie except mince, and is very fond of sugar. He never drinks coffee. He is sensitive to cold. Sometimes when he feels a strong breeze blowing on him he will say: "Tom's in a draft. He may catch cold and die. Wouldn't that be terrible?" He has this artless fear of death, yet he has composed a funeral march for himself, in which there is one movement so cheerfujly bright as to be almost pathetic. This march was played at the funeral of his master, John G. Bethune ...

Tom is of a religious turn of mind. He will play only sacred music on Sunday. He says the Lord's * Prayer in his room aloud, and is fond of reciting passages from the Holy Scriptures, being especially fond of Saint Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians...

One pleasure which has a healthy side to it, and is in keeping with Blind Tom's cleanliness, is his daily bath in the Shrewsbury. In warm weather when the tidelis favorable, he dons his bathing suit, walks down to the shore from the house and ducks and paddles about and splashes in the water. He can take a few strokes, but he labors under the pleasing illusion that he is a peerless, longdistance swimmer. At first he did not take very kindly to this agreeable diversion, possibly because he felt unfamiliar with anything in the water, but he has come to be very fond of his bath, enjoying it hugely.   

This ‘big, fleshy negro’ (listen to how stupid that sounds when you read it out loud) was 48 and his 'withered, wrinkled mammy’ was 85.

The headline for an obituary in the New York Times on June 15, 1908 read “BLIND TOM, PIANIST, DIES OF A STROKE - Old Negro with Strange Mastery of Music Ends His Days in Hoboken - A CHILD ALL HIS LIFE”

About half of the mixed gathering at his funeral, discussing his appearance, denied that the body in the casket was his.

Thomas Wiggins is memorialized with two tombstones, one in Brooklyn's Evergreen Cemetery and one in Midland, Georgia, near the land where he first began to play.

A historical marker near his supposed grave said that Wiggins was born in 1843.

As recorded in 1965, it read:

"BLIND TOM "

200 feet east is the grave of THOMAS WIGGINS, (1843-1908). As  "Blind Tom", he trilled audiences, and in Europe with his remarkable musical performances. Born a slave, his native genius let him reproduce perfectly on the piano any sound he heard, including classical compositions and the songs of birds. His owners, the Bethune family, discovered his rich gift when they heard exquisite music in their home near Columbus and found the little blind boy at the piano. He reached the zenith of his fame on European tours during which he played before royalty.

A newspaper clipping from page S-15 of the Ledger- Enquirer dated Sunday, April 23, 1978

According to the volume 15 of the Ladies’ Home Journal published in 1898, Tom is playing ‘Something That The Birds And Wind Told Him’ in this Photograph by A. J. Lerche.

Only about 100 people in recorded medical history had “savant syndrome.” Another well-known individual who had talents comparable to Blind Tom was Leslie Lemke. You can read about him here.

"Blind Tom" Wiggins' mark verified by his mother

ca. 1898

Source: Columbus Museum

http://columbusmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/E71ADDF3-0872-4D5F-A623-965018335811

References:

http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/wiggins12644gph.txt

http://www.blindtom.org/#/who-was-blind-tom/

https://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/professional/savant-syndrome/profiles-and-videos/profiles/blind-tom-a-19th-century-marvelous-musician/

http://www.twainquotes.com/archangels.html

http://nmaahc.tumblr.com/post/124184323625/five-you-should-know-african-americans

You can find sheet music for Blind Tom’s compositions here:

http://www.blindtom.org/sheet-music/

[blackresearchcentral]

Franky Mwangi (1970 - )

Franky (sometimes spelled Frankie) Mwangi is an actor from Kenya. He traveled to the UK to study drama at the Birmingham College of Speech and Drama on a student visa.

Topping out at a height of 4 feet, Franky was able to score a number of roles that he wouldn't have had otherwise. When he applied in a global audition for the part of Smiley, one of Snow White's 7 dwarfs, in a production by Kent producer Chris Yates for the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, he won. However, his success was short lived. He never got to start since his visa expired.

It would not be long before he was back on the scene of action pursuing his Hollywood dreams.

In 2001, Franky appeared in an episode of the TV Series The Armando Iannucci Shows, which aired in the UK on September 13th.The title of that episode was “Mortality.”

That same year, he played a goblin in the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

The following scenes show Rubeus Hagrid taking Harry Potter on his first trip to Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Hagrid was the half-giant and half-human wizard grounds keeper for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You can see a piece of concept art representing this scene here. Some of the digital work that went into the production can also be seen here.

According to Harry Potter Wikia:

In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the interior of the Australia House in London was used for the Gringotts grand entrance hall.

Franky was, no doubt, involved in this scene as he signed his autograph on a postcard with a still of this scene after a fan representing the site Harry Potter Autographs sent a letter to the Ethnics Artist Agency in London requesting one.

Next, he would go on to play the role of an "African Child from Mission" in the 2003 film Tears of the Sun starring Bruce Willis.

The next year, Franky played a slave boy in the film Hidalgo, released in 2004.

His last official credit is the 2007 TV mini-series Afrika, mon amour (Africa, my love). It is not known which episodes he appeared in.

We will always remember Franky for one of his earliest roles.

In the photo above, he is playing the role of the Ethiopian Prince Alemaneyhu in the play "Abyssinia" hosted by the British Afrocentric theater company tiata fahodzi during a national tour in 2001. The play was also presented at the Southwark Playhouse in London.

Here is a synopsis from the company’s website:

This powerful story focused on the eighteen year old Prince Alemayehu of Ethiopia and his surrogate relationship with this country’s longest reigning monarch, Victoria.

It examined how the young prince’s presence in England up to the time of his demise has contributed to the grand design of this country. His short life in England had such a profound effect on the ageing queen Victoria, that she instructed Parliament to lay his remains within the castle grounds. This was a huge exception to the rule, as the prince of Abyssinia remains the only non-monarch buried at Windsor, amongst the ten previous kings and queen of the country.

One of our members who attended the performance gave us this review:

Franky played a sad/disturbed Prince which was in character to the Prince's feeling of isolation in royal circles. 

They made it clear that Franky was a good actor. However, they did not answer as to whether or not the actor who played Queen Victoria seemed to care very much about the prince’s feelings.

This photo was autographed for Johnny and Angela, employees of the Huddersfield Central Lodge Hotel in England, thanking them for their hospitality during his stay therein 2004. You can see more photos of a young Franky at the hotel here.

Mwangi is no longer a child. Today, he is a grown 47-year-old man who is married with children of his own. Apparently, he even has his own website out there somewhere.

(P.S.: don't look for him)

[blackresearchcentral]

Malcolm X on the Power of Black Collectivism

The following is an excerpt from Malcolm X's speech "The Ballot and The Bullet" delivered on April 12, 1964 at King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan.  

In this speech, the minister and human rights activist submits a charge to the 'Black' people of the United States of America with his blueprint on their future political and economic survival. While his lecture on Black Nationalism is most relevant to the time he spoke these words, much of his theory on how to achieve and maintain a successful community remains applicable in a 21st Century world that is still not conducive to 'Black' collective progress.

He starts with a discussion on the necessity of Black political representation in communities where ‘Black’ people represent a majority of the population.

The political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that the Black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community. The -- The time -- The time when White people can come in our community and get us to vote for them so that they can be our political leaders and tell us what to do and what not to do is long gone. By the same token, the time when that same White man, knowing that your eyes are too far open, can send another Negro into the community and get you and me to support him so he can use him to lead us astray -- those days are long gone too.

The political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that if you and I are going to live in a Black community -- and that’s where we’re going to live, 'cause as soon as you move into one of their -- soon as you move out of the Black community into their community, it’s mixed for a period of time, but they’re gone and you’re right there all by yourself again. We must -- We must understand the politics of our community and we must know what politics is supposed to produce. We must know what part politics play in our lives. And until we become politically mature we will always be mislead, lead astray, or deceived or maneuvered into supporting someone politically who doesn’t have the good of our community at heart.

So the political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we will have to carry on a program, a political program, of re-education to open our people's eyes, make us become more politically conscious, politically mature, and then we will -- whenever we get ready to cast our ballot, that ballot will be -- will be cast for a man of the community who has the good of the community at heart.

Malcolm goes on to discuss how ‘Black’ people should also understand financial literacy and apply it to empower themselves to support each other in their communities.

The economic philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we should own and operate and control the economy of our community. You would never -- You can’t open up a Black store in a White community. White men won’t even patronize you. And he’s not wrong. He’s got sense enough to look out for himself. You the one who don’t have sense enough to look out for yourself.

The White man -- The White man is too intelligent to let someone else come and gain control of the economy of his community. But you will let anybody come in and take control of the economy of your community, control the housing, control the education, control the jobs, control the businesses, under the pretext that you want to integrate. No, you're out of your mind.

The political -- The economic philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that we have to become involved in a program of re-education to educate our people into the importance of knowing that when you spend your dollar out of the community in which you live, the community in which you spend your money becomes richer and richer; the community out which you take your money becomes poorer and poorer.

And because these Negroes, who have been mislead, misguided, are breaking their necks to take their money and spend it with The Man, The Man is becoming richer and richer, and you’re becoming poorer and poorer.

And then what happens? The community in which you live becomes a slum. It becomes a ghetto. The conditions become run down. And then you have the audacity to -- to complain about poor housing in a run-down community. Why you run it down yourself when you take your dollar out.

And you and I are in a double-trap, because not only do we lose by taking our money someplace else and spending it, when we try and spend it in our own community we’re trapped because we haven’t had sense enough to set up stores and control the businesses of our community.

The man who’s controlling the stores in our community is a man who doesn’t look like we do. He’s a man who doesn’t even live in the community. So you and I, even when we try and spend our money in the block where we live or the area where we live, we’re spending it with a man who, when the sun goes down, takes that basket full of money in another part of the town.

So we’re trapped, trapped, double-trapped, triple-trapped. Anywhere we go we find that we’re trapped. And every kind of solution that someone comes up with is just another trap. But the political and economic philosophy of Black Nationalism -- the economic philosophy of Black Nationalism shows our people the importance of setting up these little stores and developing them and expanding them into larger operations.

Woolworth [a retail company that ceased operations in 1997] didn’t start out big like they are today. They started out with a dime store and expanded and expanded and then expanded until today, they’re are all over the country and all over the world, and they’re getting some of everybody’s money.

Now this is what you and I -- General Motors [is] the same way. They didn’t start out like it is. It started out just a little rat race type operation. And it expanded and it expanded until today it's where it is right now. And you and I have to make a start and the best place to start is right in the community where we live.

So our people not only have to be re-educated to the importance of supporting Black business, but the Black man himself has to be made aware of the importance of going into business. And once you and I go into business, we own and operate at least the businesses in our community. What we will be doing is developing a situation wherein we will actually be able to create employment for the people in the community.

And once you can create some -- some employment in the community where you live it will eliminate the necessity of you and me having to act ignorantly and disgracefully, boycotting and picketing some [White person and their business] some place else trying to beg him for a job."

A transcript of this speech is available here.

Malcolm X presented another version of this speech at Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland, Ohio on April 3, 1964.

Again, Malcolm touches on the way that politics and economics in a successful community go hand in hand.

The Black Nationalists, those whose philosophy is Black Nationalism, in bringing about this new interpretation of the entire meaning of Civil Rights, look upon it as meaning, as Brother Lomax has pointed out, equality of opportunity. Well, we're justified in seeking Civil Rights, if it means equality of opportunity, because all we're doing there is trying to collect for our investment. Our mothers and fathers invested sweat and blood. Three hundred and ten years we worked in this country without a dime in return -- I mean without a dime in return. You let the White man walk around here talking about how rich this country is, but you never stop to think how it got rich so quick. It got rich because you made it rich.

You take the people who are in this audience right now. They're poor. We're all poor as individuals. Our weekly salary individually amounts to hardly anything. But if you take the salary of everyone in here collectively, it'll fill up a whole lot of baskets. It's a lot of wealth. If you can collect the wages of just these people right here for a year, you'll be rich -- richer than rich. When you look at it like that, think how rich Uncle Sam had to become, not with this handful, but millions of Black people. Your and my mother and father, who didn't work an eight-hour shift, but worked from "can't see" in the morning until "can't see" at night, and worked for nothing, making the white man rich, making Uncle Sam rich. This is our investment. This is our contribution, our blood.

...

The political philosophy of Black Nationalism means that the Black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community; no more. The Black man in the Black community has to be re-educated into the science of politics so he will know what politics is supposed to bring him in return.

Don't be throwing out any ballots. A ballot is like a bullet. You don't throw your ballots until you see a target, and if that target is not within your reach, keep your ballot in your pocket.

...

The political philosophy of Black Nationalism is...being taught everywhere. Black people are fed up with the dillydallying, pussyfooting, compromising approach that we've been using toward getting our freedom.

We want freedom now, but we're not going to get it saying "We Shall Overcome." We've got to fight until we overcome.

The economic philosophy of Black Nationalism is pure and simple. It only means that we should control the economy of our community.

Why should White people be running all the stores in our community?

Why should White people be running the banks of our community?

Why should the economy of our community be in the hands of the White man? Why?

If a Black man can't move his store into a White community, you tell me why a White man should move his store into a Black community.

The philosophy of Black Nationalism involves a re-education program in the Black community in regards to economics. Our people have to be made to see that any time you take your dollar out of your community and spend it in a community where you don't live, the community where you live will get poorer and poorer, and the community where you spend your money will get richer and richer.

Then you wonder why where you live is always a ghetto or a slum area. And where you and I are concerned, not only do we lose it when we spend it out of the community, but the White man has got all our stores in the community tied up; so that though we spend it in the community, at sundown the man who runs the store takes it over across town somewhere. He's got us in a vise.

So the economic philosophy of Black Nationalism means in every church, in every civic organization, in every fraternal order, it's time now for our people to become conscious of the importance of controlling the economy of our community.

If we own the stores, if we operate the businesses, if we try and establish some industry in our own community, then we're developing to the position where we are creating employment for our own kind. Once you gain control of the economy of your own community, then you don't have to picket and boycott and beg some [White person and their business] downtown for a job in his business.

,,.

A segregated district or community is a community in which people live, but outsiders control the politics and the economy of that community. They never refer to the White section as a segregated community. It's the all-Negro section that's a segregated community. Why?

The White man controls his own school, his own bank, his own economy, his own politics, his own everything, his own community; but he also controls yours. When you're under someone else's control, you're segregated. They'll always give you the lowest or the worst that there is to offer, but it doesn't mean you're segregated just because you have your own.

You've got to control your own. Just like the White man has control of his, you need to control yours.

A complete audio recording of the first speech and a transcript of the second one is available here.

Image:

Malcolm X holds up money collected at a “Freedom Rally” June 25, 1961 sponsored by the Nation of Islam at Washington, D.C.’s Uline Arena at the 1100 block of 3rd Street NE

 Photo by Richard Saunders/Getty Images

[blackresearchcentral]

Eugene Burkins (1876-1929?)

The Inventor of the “Burkins Automatic Machine Gun”

Eugene Burkins was born in St. Louis, Missouri (or Louisiana). Apart from learning how to read and write, Burkins had no formal education. He started out from humble beginnings. He was a shoe shiner in Chicago.

He had no prior experience making or using guns. He had never seen the field of battle or donned a military uniform. And yet, he was able to learn rather quickly how to develop an improved form of military hardware that would be considered the zenith of war technology to rival that of the most seasoned craftsmen in all the world. 

(Source: “Evidence of Progress Among the Colored People”, 1902)

So how did he do it?

In G. F. Richings’ book “Evidences of Progress Among Colored People” published in 1902, he explains:

He began first to make a careful study of the picture that appeared in the papers, showing the guns on the "Battleship Maine." Mr. Burkins saw in what way he could improve the machine-gun by increasing its rapid-firing capacity, and along that line he began to work His first model was mostly made with a pocket-knife. 

Burkins shares his purpose for his invention in his application: 

My invention relates to breech-loading cannon; and my object is to provide a construction particularly adapted to handling heavy ammunition so as to attain a much greater rapidity of fire than heretofore in guns of a caliber larger than are employed in the ordinary machine-guns, the same being more fully described hereinafter and illustrated in the accompanying drawings...

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the breech portion of a cannon, upon which is mounted the mechanism in which my invention is embodied, the front portion of the cannon being shown broken away, and also a large portion of the right side of the case of the ammunition-magazine is shown broken away to illustrate a vertically-arranged series of rubber covered rollers mounted to revolve on bearings at each end within the magazine-casing and adapted to convey the ammunition downwardly, as is particularly described hereinafter.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 1.

Figs. 3 and 4 are-respectively front and rear elevations to illustrate the mechanism for operating and supporting the breech block.

Fig. 5 is an axial vertical section of the breech portion of the barrel of a cannon and of two rings mounted thereon for supporting the breech-loading mechanism. The breech-block is also shown in axial vertical section; but the cartridge-carrier has one side broken away to illustrate position of superimposed breech-block when the gun is in the closed'position. The cartridge-magazine is shown in section on a vertical plane coincident with the axial centers of the cartridges shown therein in elevation. 

Fig. 6 [not shown here] is a vertical axial section similar to what is shown in Fig. 5, except that in Fig. 6 the breech is at the extreme open position just after having extracted and thrown out the discharged cartridg'eshell, which is shown in a falling position in broken lines...

You can read the rest of the specifications here.

Illustration of launching of USS Maine at Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York. Printed in Harper's Review in 1890 (Source: New York Times via Wikipedia)

Construction on the USS Maine started on October 17, 1888. It was one of the very first U.S. naval battleships. The ship was launched on November 18, 1889. 

The U.S.S. Maine, 1897, Detroit Publishing Company (Source: Library of Congress)

Panoramic photograph taken on the 13th anniversary of the destruction of the U.S.S. Maine, Havana Harbor, February 15, 1911 (Source: Library of Congress)

Its saga on the seas would come to an end on February 15, 1898, when a fire on board the ship triggered an explosion, killing 266 out of 354 total American crew members while docked in Havana, Cuba.

"Maine" wreck, Havana Harbor, W. to Custom House (with tower, on right), Cuba, photo by Underwood & Underwood, c1903 (Source: Library of Congress)

Wreck of the Maine, Havana Harbor, Cuba, March 1899 (Source: Library of Congress)

Six-inch gun on the U.S.S. Newark. The USS Maine mounted six of these. Photo by Edward H. Hart, Detroit Publishing Company, between 1891 and 1901 (Source: Library of Congress)

Teaching Columia Men on the Wasp to Shoot, August 20, 1916

Students unable to leave on the Maine (BB-10) for the training cruise will be put on the battleship at sea from the converted yacht Wasp, aboard which they are learning to handle the 3-inch pieces.

(Source: New-York Tribune, Library of Congress via NavSource Naval History)

Gun Practice - 5" gun crew of the Maine (BB-10), circa 1917-18, Photo by Navy Dept., Bureau of Construction & Repair (Source: U.S. National Archives via NavSource Naval History)

Burkins filed his application with the patent office on June 10, 1899. It is likely that what he saw was a preview of the plans for the ship being advertised in a newspaper article. If it was the original U.S.S. Maine that inspired his journey of innovation, then it is safe to assume that it took him 10 years to develop the Burkins gun.

“The Old and The New Battleship Maine” Virginian-Pilot, February 17, 1899 (Source: Library of Virginia via NavSource Naval History)

The Saint Paul Globe, February 5, 1899 (Sources: Minnesota Historical Society, Library of Congress via NavSource Naval History)

“The New Battleship Maine” From an illustration in Leslie's Weekly, December 1, 1898 (Source: The National Tribune, Library of Congress via NavSource Naval History)

This description appeared in the Virginian-Pilot on February 17, 1899:

The new battleship Maine, the keel of which has just been laid, is to have a speed of l8 knots. She will be a ship of 15,500 tons displacement and in her main battery will carry four 12 inch guns and twelve 6 inch guns. These figures give a partial idea of the superiority of the new Maine over the old one. Among other things the new Maine will probably have underwater torpedo tubes, the first ever put in any ship in the American navy.

All the guns of the Maine, except the big 12 inch ones in the turrets, will be of the rapid fire pattern. Her secondary battery will be exceptionally strong. She will be 368 feet on the water line, 27 feet beam and will have a draft of 24 feet 7 inches when she has full supplies of stores and ammunition and 2,000 tons of coal on board. The wonderful Krupperized armor has proven so good that the Maine will have 12 inch plates of it put on her instead of the 16.5 inch Harveyized armor originally planned for.

This new battleship came with its own set of problems - not meeting speed expectations, an undisciplined crew,

The battleship Maine (BB-10) strikes the water for the first time, July 28, 1901 (Source:  New-York Tribune, Library of Congress via NavSource Naval History)  

“President Reviews Mighty Fleet; Low Clouds and Fog Mar Beauty of Spectacle” The Washington Times, September 3, 1906 (Source: Library of Congress via NavSource Naval History)

Battleships and navy guns were a big deal at this time. One of the justifications for the Spanish-American War was that the United States needed to strengthen its presence in the Caribbean against the threat of other world powers such as their long-standing rival Great Britain. In addition, the United States felt they had economic interests to secure in Cuba. Some former United States citizens had fled to Cuba after the Confederate rebellion was crushed during the American Civil War. (Some of these people brought their slaves with them.)

After the United States decided to assist the people of Cuba in their fight against the Spanish government in their country, the U.S. sought to control the island’s foreign policy, exploiting an advantage in extending their own political power in the world.

Soon, there were fears that the western United States was open to a possible attack from Spain. Therefore, the United States sought to claim the Philippines as well, but first, they would have to fight both the Spanish and later, the militant Filipino population known as the Moros between 1899 and 1902.

Amidst all of these factors, the United States Navy had been preparing for the worst.

The following is an excerpt from Indiana Senator Albert J. Beveridge’s speech “March of the Flag,” which he delivered during an Indiana Republican Meeting Indianapolis, Indiana on September 16, 1898:

“Hawaii is ours; Porto Rico is to be ours; at the prayer of her people Cuba finally will be ours; in the islands of the East, even to the gates of Asia, coaling stations are to be ours at the very least; the flag of a liberal government is to float over the Philippines, and may it be the banner that Taylor unfurled in Texas and Fremont carried to the coast.

The Opposition tells us that we ought not to govern a people without their consent. I answer, The rule of liberty that all just government derives its authority from the consent of the governed, applies only to those who are capable of self­ government. We govern the Indians without their consent, we govern our territories without their consent, we govern our children without their consent. How do they know what our government would be without their consent?”...

The ocean does not separate us from lands of our duty and desire - the oceans join us, rivers never to be dredged, canals never to be re paired. Steam joins us; electricity joins us-the very elements are in league with our destiny. Cuba not contiguous? Porto Rico not contiguous! Hawaii and the Philippines no contiguous! The oceans make them contiguous. And our navy will make them contiguous.

1914 portrait of Albert Beveridge (1862-1927) (Source: Library of Congress)

He continues:

...So Hawaii furnishes us a naval base in the heart of the Pacific; the Ladrones another, a voyage further on; Manila another, at the gates of Asia - Asia, Asia, to the trade of whose hundreds of millions American merchants, American manufacturers, American farmers, have as good a right as those of Germany or France or Russia or England; Asia, whose commerce with England alone, amounts to billions of dollars every year; Asia, to whom Germany looks to take the surplus of her factories and foundries and mills; Asia, whose doors shall not be shut against American trade. Within two decades the bulk of Oriental commerce will be ours, - the richest commerce in the world. In the light of that golden future, our chain of new-won stations rise like ocean sentinels from the night of waters, - Porto Rico, a nobler Gibraltar; the Isthmian canal, a greater Suez; Hawaii, the Ladrones, the Philippines, commanding the Pacific!

Ah! as our commerce spreads, the flag of liberty will circle the globe, and the highways of the ocean - carrying trade of all mankind, be guarded by the guns of the republic. And, as their thunders salute the flag, benighted peoples will know that the voice of Liberty is speaking, at last, for them; that civilization is dawning, at last, for them - Liberty and Civilization, those children of Christ's gospel, who follow and never precede, the preparing march of commerce! It is the tide of God is great purposes made manifest in the instincts of our race, whose present phase is our personal profit, but whose far-off end is the redemption of the world and the Christianization of mankind. And he who throws himself before that current is like him who, with puny arm, tries to turn the gulf stream from its course, or stay, by idle incantations, the blessed processes of the sun...

Fellow Americans, we are God is chosen people... His power directed Dewey in the East and delivered the Spanish fleet into our hands on the eve of Libertyís natal day, as he delivered the elder Armada into the hands of our English sires two centuries ago.

For President Theodore Roosevelt, who was himself a committed imperialist,a display of America’s military might was not complete without both battleships and the boom of the big cannons.

It is therefore not unreasonable to assume that Burkin’s weapon, given the circumstances, would likely have been used as a weapon of war to further the objectives of U.S. Imperialism.

An Imposing Spectacle: Birds-eye View Showing Position of Fleet in Naval Review at Oyster Bay, September 4, 1906 (Source: Salt Lake Herald, University of Utah, Marriott Library via NavSource Naval History)

On September 3, 1906, as the new battleship Maine along with 93 other battleships, destroyers, and cruisers in three long columns sailed past the president and a crowd of thousands gathered off the coast of Long Island, they all gave a twenty-one-gun salute. The 46 powerful “Big Fighters” numbered 1, 178 six, eight, or thirteen-inch guns.

Circa 1907 photograph of US Navy battleships of the Maine, Virginia & Connecticut -classes & other units of the Atlantic fleet at a Naval Review off Old Point Comfort, Photo by William H. Rau, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Source: Library of Congress, National Museum of the U.S. Navy via NavSource Naval History)  

The press called it “the finest fleet that the United States has ever assembled” and “America’s Greatest Marine Pageant”.

U.S.S. Dolphin from Photographic History of the Spanish-American War, page 192 (Source: Library of Congress)

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was on board the Dolphin nearby with other guests. Prior to the blasts of gunfire, a band played the Star-Spangled Banner and a flag was raised to the top of the pole on the naval yacht Mayflower, where the president was having lunch with government officials and military officers.

“By George, that is good,” the president could be heard shouting above the noise, followed by his infectious laughter.

Watching from the deck, Roosevelt proudly declared

“Any man who fails to be inspired by such a sight as this is a mighty poor American. Every American who sees it ought to be a better American.”

“The Great Naval Review At Oyster Bay: The Flagship Maine Saluting”, September 3 & 4, 1906 (Source:  New-York Tribune, Library of Congress via NavSource Naval History)

“Party On The Mayflower”

You can see a diagram showing the inner workings of a battleship gun here.

The Spanish-American War of 1898 ended with the Treaty of Paris, which secured Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico as territories of the United States.

You can just imagine from these pictures the creativity of this brother Burkins who truly believed that he could tackle a project of such magnitude during such a time of widespread controversy and then set out to work.

Portrait of Henry Baker from his book “The Colored Inventor: a Record of Fifty Years” published by the Crisis Publishing Company in 1913 (Source: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture/New York Public Library)

Henry Edwin Baker, Jr. (1857-1928) was the third African American to enter the United States Naval Academy in 1875. He was appointed "copyist" in the United States Patent Office starting in 1877 and was later promoted to serve as an assistant patent examiner.

It was in this position that he would chronicle the history of African-American inventors.

In a 1902 essay titled “The Negro As An Inventor” for Daniel Wallace Culp’s “Twentieth Century Negro Literature; Or, A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating to the American Negro,” he wrote the following:

The official records of the United States Patent Office, with a single exception, give no hint whatever that of the thousands of mechanical inventions for which patents are granted annually by the government, any patent has ever been granted to a Negro. The single exception was the name of Henry Blair of Maryland, to whom the public records refer as "a colored man," stating that he was granted a patent for a corn harvester in 1834 and another patent for a similar invention in 1836.

It is altogether safe to assume that this Henry Blair was a "free person of color," as the language of those days would have phrased it; for the government seemed committed to the theory that "a slave could not take out a patent for his invention." And this dictum gave rise to some rather embarrassing situations on more occasions than one. For instance, in 1857, a Negro slave, living with his master in the state of Mississippi, perfected a valuable invention which his master sought to have protected by a patent. Now, in law, a patent is a contract between the government and the inventor or his assignees. The slave, although the inventor, could not under the law be a party to a contract, and therefore could not secure the patent himself. His master applied for the patent, but was refused on the ground that inasmuch as he was not the inventor and could not be the assignee of a slave, he could not properly make the required oath. The master was not satisfied with this interpretation of the law by the Commissioner of Patents, and at once appealed from the latter's decision to the Secretary of the Interior, who, in 1858, referred the case to the Attorney-General of the United States. This latter official, who was Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, confirmed the decision of the Commissioner of Patent, and neither master nor slave was ever able to get a patent for the slave's invention. This case reported on page 171 of volume 9, of "Opinions of Attorneys-General, United States."

Another instance of a similar character occurred a few years later, in 1862, when a slave belonging to Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, invented a propeller for vessels. He constructed an excellent model of his invention, displaying remarkable mechanical skill in wood and metal working. He was not able to get his invention patented, but the merits of his invention were commented upon approvingly by a number of influential Southern newspapers, and his propeller was finally put in use by the Confederate navy.

He continues with the story of Eugene Burkins.

Another invention by a young colored man which has attracted considerable attention is the rapid-fire gun by Mr. Eugene Burkins, of Chicago. This gun has been examined by officers of the War and Navy Departments, and has been pronounced a valuable contribution to the scientific equipments for military and naval warfare.

The following description of Mr. Burkins' gun appeared in Howard's American Magazine some months ago:

"A brief description of the gun is not exactly out of place, although the Scientific American and other technical journals have long since given it to the world. It is an improvement upon all that has yet been done in the way of ordnance, and the principles involved in its construction can be applied to any size of gun, from a one-inch barker to a thirty-six-inch thunderer. The model as it now stands weighs 475 pounds, measures four inches at breech, and is constructed of the finest of gun brass at a cost of $3,500. There is a magazine at the breech in which a large number of heavy shells can be held in reserve, and in the action of the gun these slip down to their places and are fired at the rate of fourteen a minute, an improvement on the Maxim gun of four shots. The gun is elevated upon a revolving turret with electrical connections, enabling the gunner to direct the action of the machine with a touch of his finger. Firing, reloading and ejection of shells are all effected by electricity, and a child could conduct the work of manning the gun as easily as anyone."

Portrait of Admiral Dewey in The San Francisco Call, September 14, 1903 (Source: University of California, Riverside via NavSource Naval History)

Admiral George Dewey (1837-1917) is quoted in Baker’s biographical account as saying that it was

"by far the best machine-gun ever made." 

G. F. Richings continues with more details:

It shoots seven times more a minute than the Gatling gun, and will doubtless take the place of other machine-guns. Several foreign countries have offered large sums for the right to manufacture it for their navies; but Mr. Burkins and Mr. Madden, his partner, proposed to control the manufacturing interest in this country.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a Eugene Burkins was born in 1877 who would have been 33 in 1910. There is an entry in the 1900 census that identifies a Eugene Burkins living in Cook County, Illinois. A death certificate exists for a Eugene Burkins who died in 1929.

However, there is even more information available which is directly linked to Burkin’s name and success...

The following article appears in The Inter Ocean [Chicago, Illinois] dated Sunday, April 8, 1900:

NEGRO LAD INVENTS NEW GUN Eugene Burkin of Chicago Constructs a Rapid-Fire Machine Weapon Eugene Burkin, a colored boy of l9 years, who lives over on Chicago's great [West] Side, is the inventor of a rapid-fire machine gun which he claims is the most effective weapon of its kind in the world, and is destined to throw the inventions [of] Maxim and Nordenfeldt, now in general use in the armaments of the world, into the scrap heap. Several experts who have seen the model of Burkin's gun pronounce it a marvel of ingenuity and a terrible weapon. The boy is said to have refused an offer of $50,000 for his invention through motives or patriotism, he being desirous that the United States government should have the first opportunity to test and purchase the weapon. Burkin is a source of pride to the colored population of Chicago, who are jubilant that one or their race should develop the creative power. The boy has never had any mechanical training, yet all the work on his model has been his own. The first idea of the weapon came to him during the Spanish-American war, when the magnificent work of the American gunners directed his thoughts to guns and their improvement. He constructed his first model of wood, his only tool being a jackknife. The lack of funds then threatened to put a stop to the young inventor's work, but he finally obtained enough money to go into an ironworks on the West Side, which gave him the use or its tools and machinery for $5 a day. Here he constructed the model, which he sent to the patent [office] at Washington, which has already allowed seventeen of his claims on the weapon. Prominent men of the colored race are using their influence to induce the War Department at Washington to conduct a series of tests with the gun. It has been christened the "Maine."

Rapid-fire guns had been around for a long time. There was clearly a sort of arms race going on.

While the Burkins gun had evidently exceeded the rate of fire for other guns of its time, the manufacturers of these other guns rolled out modified designs with multiple barrels, increasing the potential firepower 10-fold and beyond.

This might be one of the reasons that the Burkins gun did not see as much action on the field of battle. It is difficult to find much information on its usage or any surviving models.

Here is what the other guns named in comparison to the Burkins gun looked like:

Nordenfeldt Machine Gun by the  Nordenfelt Company

Inventor: Swedish engineer Heldge Palmcrantz

Nordenfelt Single-Barrel Machine Gun (Source: ibiblio)

This gun weighed only 13 pounds, and could be fired by the average soldier at a rate of 180 shots a minute.  

Here is a handbook.

Sailor operating 10-barrel Nordenfelt rifle-calibre machine gun, with right hand on lever, circa 1880s-1890s (Source: Contemporary Ordnance manual found on Steve Johnson's CyberHeritage website via Wikipedia)

Woodcut depicting Royal Navygunners in action with Nordenfelt 1-inch 4-barrel anti-torpedo boat gun on shipboard mounting. The gun captain, left, is operating the training handwheel, c. 1890s (Source: Contemporary Ordnance manual found on Steve Johnson's CyberHeritage website via Wikipedia)

Nordenfelt Machine Gun, Cal. .45, Five-Barrel Model. Mounted in Top of a Fighting Ship to Sweep the Decks of the Enemy (Source: ibiblio)

Nordenfelt Machine Gun, Cal. .45, with Gun Carriage Convertible to Tripod Mount (Source: ibiblio)

This model had a rated speed of 1,200 shots per minute with shorter bursts.

Maxim Machine Gun by the Maxim Gun Company

Inventor: American-born British inventor Hiram Maxim  (1840-1916)

When Maxim built his first working model in 1884, he found it could fire 666 rounds of ammunition in under a minute.

In one demonstration, Hiram Maxim chopped down a tree with one of his guns.

Hiram Maxim sits with the first portable, fully automatic machine gun, which he invented, and a Dundonald gun carriage, pre-1914 (Source: Imperial War Museums)

CPO demonstrating a Maxim-Nordenfeldt 1-pdr Mark 6 aboard USS Hist about 1898 (Source: U.S. Naval Historical Center via NavWeaps)

Gatling Machine Gun by the  Miles Greenwood & Company, McWhinny, Rindge & Company, Cooper Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, and finally the Gatling Gun Company under Colt's Patent Fire Arms Company

Inventor: American inventor Richard Gatling (1818-1903)

A Section View Showing the Action of Gatling's First Model Gun (Source: ibiblio)

Gatling Gun, Model 1883, Ten-Barrel, Cal. .45, with Accles Feed Drum (Source: ibilbio)

An experimental 1877 Gatling Gun on a tripod with Lucien F. Bruce's 1881 patent feed system (Source: Connecticut State Library)

Dr Richard Gatling, with a Colt ‘Bulldog’ Gatling Model 1893 (Source: Connecticut State Library via Flickr)

Gatling put issued a public challenge for anyone to prove their gun’s superiority to his. It appeared in an English publication in September 1881 and read as follows:

Recently many articles have appeared in the press claiming superior advantages for . . . other machine guns over the Gatling system. In order to test the question which is the better gun, the undersigned offers to fire his gun (the Gatling) against any other gun on the following wagers, viz:

First--£100 that the Gatling can fire more shots in a given time, say one minute, than any other gun in the world.

Second--£100 that the Gatling can give more hits on a target, firing, say one minute, at a range of 800 or 1000 yards, than any other gun.

The winning party to contribute the wagers won to charitable objects.

The time and place for the trials to be mutually agreed upon. Trials of the above character will do more to determine the efficiency of the guns than newspaper articles ever so cleverly written.

(Signed) R. J. Gatling Of Hartford, Conn., U.S.A.

U.S. Navy soldiers useing the Gatling gun in the ‘fighting top’ of a man-of war ship (Source: Small Arms Defense Journal)

Gatlings at Baiquiri, Cuba Just before starting for the front in the Spanish-American War (Source: ibiblio)

War Department Letter Attesting Capabilities of Gatling Mechanism (Source: ibiblio)

Henry Baker stated that slavery had been a barrier for African-American inventors. Chances are that if Burkins had been born during his parents’ generation, he would not have received the credit he was due for his hard work and it would have likely ended up being used for the purposes of the U.S. government or a government fighting against the United States while someone else got credit or no one at all. Either way, it would have been an unsatisfactory outcome for Burkins. Surely, his invention would not have carried on his name as we are aware of it today.

At the end of the 19th Century, the United States Patent Office sought to document information regarding patents submitted by “colored inventors.” They received from the public 400 claims of such patents that were granted and about another 400 more cases in which the person attempted to submit a patent upon completion of their invention but abandoned the application process altogether for one reason or another. 

Summarizing 2 attempts by the patent office as of 1913, Baker wrote:

“...something over 1,200 instances have been gathered as representing patents granted to colored inventors, but so far only about 800 of these have been verified as definitely belonging to that class.”

Most often, African-American inventors did not have the means to hire a patent lawyer and submit a patent application.

Even Burkins could not have done it alone. He had to wait a full year after he submitted his patent application to receive approval. First, he needed help funding the construction of the gun and later on, he would need assistance with the manufacturing process once it was ready.

He received financial support from a number of prominent black citizens. One of the major backers of this effort was Major John C. Buckner, an Illinois Internal Revenue Collector and strong advocate of black empowerment.

Another wealthy man in Chicago, Martin B. Madden, furnished over $3,000 towards the perfection of Burkin’s model. Burkins became an entrepreneur when they started the Burkins-Madden Gun Company together in Chicago.

The company, which specialized in “manufacturing and dealing in firearms and ammunition”, was incorporated with a capital of $50,000.

Five years later, Burkins patented a new and improved Bottle Seal involving the use of cement, a cork, and a stopper.

This invention has relation to non-refillable bottles, and has for its object the provision of novel means whereby if the bottle be opened after having been originally filled the integrity of the bottle as an original package will be destroyed, thus preventing its fraudulent reuse and indicating to the purchaser that the bottle has been refilled. 

In carrying out my invention I provide a bottle and a cap of glass, metal, composition, or other suitable material not too hard to break adapted to be fitted over the top of and securely fastened to the neck of the bottle and of such form and construction that in order to remove the cork from the bottle the cap must be broken off, a portion thereof remaining immovably fixed on the neck of the bottle and serving to show at a glance that the bottle has been opened after having been once filled...

The collar E of the cap screws down upon the threaded exterior of the neck A of the bottle and is intended to remain in fixed position thereupon, and in order to retain it in position a layer of cement G is inter posed between the thread on the neck and the thread on the inside of the collar, so that when the cap is screwed down upon the neck and the cement is allowed to dry it will be impossible to unscrew the cap from the bottle...

After the upper part of the cap has been broken 05 the collar'E and a portion of the legs F will remain upon the neck of the bottle and will indicate that the bottle has been opened and prevent the bottle from being used again as an original package, the integrity of the same as a whole, considering the cap as an essential portion of the bottle, having been destroyed by breaking off the cap.   

His final patent was the new and improved Milk Dipper in 1906.

which when opened will allow the milk to discharge from the bottom of the dipping-cup and which will automatically close when released, thereby shutting oil. the discharge of milk from the cup.

By this time, Burkins and his mother Francis had moved to St. Louis, Missouri. 

In 1910, Burkins was self-employed as chauffeur and he owned a restaurant. 

Henry Baker used Burkin’s story last in his essay on black inventors. He concluded his work with the following statement...

These inventions show how completely in error are those who constantly assert that the Negro has made no lasting contribution to the civilization of the age, and they prove conclusively that under favorable environment he is capable of performing his whole duty in the work of mankind whether it be tilling the earth with his hoe or advancing the world by his thought.

We may never know for sure if Eugene Burkins was an Imperialist at heart or one who took the side of the Anti-Imperialist League against the use of weapons like that of his own making towards destructive uses in foreign lands.

We don’t know if Mr. Burkins was okay with depriving other people of their personal rights to self-determination in favor of U.S. nationalism and western civilization.

What we do know is that a black man in the United States of America got to work and when he was done, he chose to honor his national heritage.

Did he ever make his nation proud?

Did he ever have any regrets about his work?

What we do know is that the one they wanted to fail was successful...and regardless of what they thought about him, his aim was high and he gave it his best shot.

Credit:

Nasir Muhammad of Black Mecca of the South Tours

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212105345086331&set=a.1195255318978.2030464.1156290208&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/220368201489554/photos/a.220372264822481.1073741828.220368201489554/609517145907989/?type=3&theater

J. D. Thomas of Words From Us

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10217146943532868&set=p.10217146943532868&type=3&theater&ifg=1

Michael Mohl of NavSource Naval History

http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/10a.htm

http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/00a.htm

Larry Jewell and Patrick Clancey of the HyperWar Foundation

https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/MG/I/MG-2.html

[blackresearchcentral]

The Black Panther Party's Black Community Survival Conferences

Sickle Cell Anemia Testing (Photo by Bob Fitch)

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was a revolutionary black nationalist organization founded in 1966. 

In 1972, the Black Panther Party held three conferences for the black community in Oakland, California.

These "survival conferences" were organized with the goal of promoting the development of grassroots institutions to help an under-served population meet their own needs outside the municipal, state or federal systems.

During the first event from March 29-31, the Panthers conducted a voter registration drive, led drills for “panther cubs”, tested people for sickle cell anemia, and had free grocery distributions for thousands in attendance.

Free Grocery Distribution at the first survival coference (Photo by Bob Fitch)

The next conference on May 13, 1972 championed the support of a new local political platform - with co-founder and chairman Bobby Seale for mayor of Oakland and fellow member Elaine Brown for Sixth District city council seat, who ran their campaigns on a "Community Survival Ticket".

Black Panther Party Newspaper, May 12, 1973 - Vol IX No. 30 (Source: It’s About Time BPP Archive)

(Source: It’s About Time BPP Archive)

Top: Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown on the campaign trail, 1972 

Bottom: Sickle cell anemia testing during Bobby Seale’s campaign for mayor of Oakland, California, 1972

(Photos by Steven Shames)

When the curtains were drawn open at the second conference, 1,500 bags of groceries were revealed all laid out on the stage. These were distributed by the Black Panther Party during this Black Community Survival Conference at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center (also known as the Oakland Auditorium). (Source: East Bay Times)

“Let it shine, let it shine! Let the power of the people shine!” (”Elaine Brown - Councilwoman”, “Bobby for Mayor”, “Re-elect Ron Dellums”, and “Shirley Chisholm for President” can also be seen here)

“I’ve lived through some hard times here in the ‘land of plenty’, with the U.S. government talking about a sale for this and a charge for that, while we the people starve!” (“Bobby Seale for Mayor of Oakland, “Endorsed by the People”, “Vote for Survival”)

“Last night I dreamt all my friends came over to see my new room and play in my yard. But I sleep in the kitchen with my sisters and thee are rats in the lot out back.” (The ad in the back says “Large Luxury Homes With A View - the three and four-bedroom houses with ? and family rooms range from $75,000 to $?”. The poster the boy holds reads “People’s Free Co-operative Housing Now!”, “Bobby Seale for Mayor of Oakland” “Elaine Brown for Councilwoman.”)

Flyers for Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown's political campaigns by Emory Douglas (via Its About Time BPP Archive)  

You can see some primary documents relating to the campaigns here and here.

The final conference would be held on June 24, 1972 at De Fremery Park, which was known to the Panthers and locals as "Lil Bobby Hutton" Park in honor of their first official member Bobby Hutton.

Two women with free bags of food at the People’s Free Food Program, Palo Alto, California, 1972 (Photo by Steven Shames)

You can see how people felt about these services. This is from  (Source: Billy X. Jennings/It’s About Time BPP Archive)

Although a single project on this scale was never done before, serving the community was nothing new for the Panthers.

Members of the Black Panther Party stand behind tables and distribute free hot dogs to the public in New Haven, Connecticut in the late 1960s (Photo by  David Fenton/Getty Images via HuffPost)

This was just one of many proactive community initiatives of the organization. Party members continued to serve in other capacities such as police patrols, providing free clothing and shoes to people in need, providing free and relevant education at their elementary school (Oakland Community School, formerly the Intercommunal Youth Institute), providing free breakfast for children, providing transportation by bus for people to visit incarcerated friends and family, providing escorts for senior citizens to their medical appointments, providing an emergency ambulance service, establishing free health clinics (dental, blood testing, etc), establishing legal clinics, and much more.

Free clothing distribution in New Haven, Connecticut, 1969

Leonard Colar helping a woman with her shopping as part of the Black Panthers’ Senior Escort Program, 1973

Black Panther children in a classroom at the Intercommunal Youth Institute, the Black Panther school, Oakland, California, 1971

(Photos by Steven Shames)

The Black Panthers began their breakfast program  at St. Augustine's Church in January 1969, feeding poor and inner-city children. By the end of the year, their local project took on 10,000 children all over the country. They were soon serving full meals to 20,000 children on a daily basis.

“It is my belief that we black people need gas and electricity on cold and dark days; doctors and medicine in times of sickness; breakfast, lunch, and dinner in times of hunger.” (Revolutionary Art by Emory Douglas via Its About Time BPP Archive)  

The program was so effective that Jesse Andrews, California state treasurer, went so far as to say the Panthers were feeding more children than the United States Government.

J. Edgar Hoover in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 1967 (Photo by Yoichi R. Okamoto via LBJ Presidential Library/University of Texas at Austin)

In 1969, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who sought to dismantle the organization through a massive counterintelligence operation, boomed his frustrations outright:

“The BCP (Breakfast for Children Program) promotes at least tacit support for the Black Panther Party among naive individuals and, what is more distressing, it provides the BPP with a ready audience composed of highly impressionable youths. Consequently, the BCP represents the best and most influential activity going for the BPP and, as such, is potentially the greatest threat to efforts by authorities to neutralize the BPP and destroy what it stands for. “

Black Panther Party Newspaper, Vol XII No. 25 - 1/15/75 (Source: It’s About Time BPP Archive)

Police in Oakland, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Chicago spread lies to manipulate public opinion, conducted raids, harassed participants and children, and outright destroyed food and packaging in attempts to disrupt the party’s progress.

The media had their own take on Panther activities as well running articles with mixed perspectives on what the breakfast program meant for the Panthers and the communities they served. 

Lionel Wilson speaks before the Oakland Chamber of Commerce in 1977 (Photo Credit:  Oakland Public Library)

As a result of the voter registration drive of 1972, thousands of black voters were registered. When Bobby Seale ran for mayor the next year after his release from prison (time served for his radical protests of the 1968 Democratic National Convention), he came in second to the incumbent mayor John Reading out of a total of nine candidates. In 1977, Lionel Wilson was elected the first black mayor of Oakland, California - thanks in part to the work of the Black Panthers.

Long after the activism of the Black Panther Party ended with the dismantling of the group in 1982, their services continued in other forms.

Inspired by the actions of the Black Panthers, the United States Department of Agriculture revisited and permanently implemented the School Breakfast Program for children in 1975, which had begun as a two-year pilot program the same year the Black Panther Party was established. It currently feeds over 13 million students across the nation every day.

A Black Panther Party member speaking to children at breakfast (Photo by Steven Shames)

In addition to this, more than half (53%) of the infants born in the U.S. participate in the USDA's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which was another Black Panther initiative.

You can learn more about these social programs here and here.

The survival programs of the Black Panther Party are also detailed from their own perspective and through primary resources here.

Promotion featured in a Bay Sunday news broadcast (CBS5 KPIX-TV) on the legacy of the Black Panther Party as seen in the video below

Even the Black Panther’s Sickle Cell Anemia Program was not immune to sabotage attempts by U.S. intelligence agencies. Here is the cover of their paper’s May 7, 1972 issue.  (Source: It’s About Time BPP Archive)

Black Panther Party alumnae carried on the mission of the Black Panthers in their own ways, especially in regards to health.  

Ericka Huggins joined by her Black Panther friend and husband John Huggins at a “Free Huey” rally (John Huggins was gunned down by a member of the black nationalist US Organization at UCLA in 1969, part of a strategic operation by the FBI)

Ericka Huggins initially joined the Black Panther Party after seeing a photograph of Huey Newton on a hospital gurney bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to the stomach as an Oakland police officer stood over him laughing.

The catalyst then for her interest was an emotional concern related to health.

A newspaper account of the story by the Associated Press...the media’s perspective

In his book Revolutionary Suicide, Huey describes how police officers handcuffed him to a trolley and beat him after he had been critically wounded in a shootout with police. When he spat blood on them, they covered his face with a towel, and beat him some more. Huey wrote that a young man, Dr. Finch, committed suicide after Huey's first trial.

In later years, former members Angela Davis and Jonina Abron became involved in the National Black Women’s Health Project.

Seated with her fellow colleagues in 1989, Abron stated in an interview:

“You know, one of the points in the Black Panther Party’s program was ‘We demand decent healthcare for black people and I see my own involvement in the Black women’s health project as, you know, part of that continuum. I’m still, you know, in my own way trying to work on that particular part of the problem.”

The point she referenced was introduced on March 29, 1972 by Huey Newton to the official cannon of the Ten Point Program as a revised point number 6 - no doubt a result of the burgeoning health politics evident in the planning of the first survival conference. This demand for “COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE” read in full:

“We believe that the government must provide, free of charge , for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventative medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide ourselves with proper medical attention and care.”

Clearly, the Black Panther Party was at times rife with controversy but they are still known for the positive impact they made on the communities they served.

Read more about the party's contributions to healthcare in the book Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination.

(Source: It’s About Time BPP Archive)

The Black Community Survival Conferences were not limited to the location of the Black Panther’s center of influence in California. There is evidence that survival conferences were held in other cities across the United States as these flyers for programs in Houston, Texas and in Detroit, Michigan confirm.

So...how do black communities across the nation survive in the conditions of the 21st Century? What lessons can we apply to our current struggles across the globe? Like the Panthers did in their time, we, too must answer these questions for ourselves.

‘I Gerald Ford am the 38th Puppet of the United States.’

‘They tell me there ain’t no jobs - what’s a person to do in order to survive?’, “For Temporary Work Lineup Here” (”Bobby Seale for Mayor of Oakland”)

“Food Conspiracy - [ME. conspiren; L. conspirare, to breathe together, agree in thought, unite] 1. any substance taken into and assimilated by a plant or animal to keep it alive and enable it to grow. 2. a plan agreed upon, the group taking part in such a plan; hence, 3. when high prices threaten the community, the poor unite, cut costs, in order to survive.” (’Things ain’t good until we the people get together for survival.’)

Revolutionary Art by Emory Douglas (via Its About Time BPP Archive)  

A clipping from the Black Panther Party’s newspaper (Credit to BPP Archivist Billy X. Jennings)

As Bobby Seale once stated...

“If there are no concrete programs to pull the people together...,to unify them, then we are doing nothing.”

After all is said and done in the course of our history, with many of the same persistent challenges facing us today, one question remains...

[fyblackwomenart]

Artist: Dusan Trajkovic

[blackresearchcentral]

#BlackArt #BlackScience

[blackresearchcentral]

A Second Grade Girl Receives A Poliomyelitis Vaccination 

1954

Laurel, Mississippi

Jonas Salk wearing tie and lab coat, ca. 1954-1955,  Municipal Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Source: University of Pittsburgh Libraries)

Dr. Jonas Edward Salk (1914-1995) was an American medical researcher and virologist. He discovered and developed one of the first successful polio vaccines.

What is Polio?

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. It has been around since ancient times. The virus attacks the nervous system first entering the body through the mouth, and then spreading to the brain and spinal cord, leading to paralysis, disability and even death. The symptoms – pain and weakness, fatigue and muscle loss – can strike at any time from 15 to 50 years after the initial infection.

In the post-war United States, annual polio epidemics were increasingly devastating. The 1952 U.S. epidemic was the worst outbreak in the nation's history. Of nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 people died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis, with most of its victims being children.

Victims of this disease often used a machine called an iron lung.

An Emerson iron lung. The patient lies within the chamber, which when sealed provides an effectively oscillating atmospheric pressure. This particular machine was donated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Museum by the family of poliomyelitis patient Barton Hebert of Covington, Louisiana, who had used the device from the late 1950s until his death in 2003. (Source: CDC)

What is the “Iron Lung”?

An iron lung or negative pressure ventilator enabled a person to breathe as they had lost normal muscle control and the work of breathing had become too strenuous for them. This apparatus created lower pressure around the thorax, which caused the rib cage to expand and draw air into the lungs.

Polio causes the body to lose muscle control, including the diaphragm (the cone shaped muscle at the bottom of the rib-cage). Since the diaphragm uses pressure to regulate the oxygen intake (by expanding and decreasing pressure in the lungs, causing air to flow in), this machine regulates the pressure increasing it and decreasing artificially in order to make breathing possible.

This device was used throughout the 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century to provide ventilatory assistance. The full-body “tank ventilator” was first described by the Scottish physician John Dalziel in 1838. This early contraption consisted of an air-tight box, with the patient maintained in the sitting position. Negative pressure was established by manually pumping air into and out of the box. The device was equipped with a pressure gauge to monitor the extent of negative pressure established in the device. A number of other groups developed similar types of negative-pressure ventilators that were operated manually.

Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Sauerbruch (Source: German Federal Archives)

In 1904, German surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1875-1951) designed a chamber large enough so that the he could perform surgery while also in the chamber.

The patient's lower body was encased in a flexible sack so that positive pressure could be applied to this part of the body, preventing blood from accumulating in the abdomen and lower extremities, causing what was referred to as “tank shock. 

In 1908, Austrian biologist Karl Landsteiner (1868-1948) along with Austrian physician Erwin Popper (1879-1955), identified polio as a virus. He would later join the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York and study human blood groups (for which he won a Nobel Prize in 1930).

Polio treatment, Montgomery, Alabama, 1953 (Source: John G. Zimmerman Archive)

The first modern machine was invented by Philip Drinker and Louis Agassiz Shaw, of the Harvard School of Public Health in 1927, originally for treatment of coal gas poisoning. The machine was powered by an electric motor with two vacuum cleaners. The pump changed the pressure inside a rectangular, airtight metal box, pulling air in and out of the lungs.

The first clinical use of the Drinker respirator on a human was on October 12, 1928, at the Boston Children's Hospital. The subject was an eight-year-old girl who was nearly dead as a result of respiratory failure due to polio. Her dramatic recovery, within less than a minute of being placed in the chamber, helped popularize the new device.

  The hospital itself developed a larger version that could accommodate 4 children simultaneously and allow a nurse to care for the patients from inside the chamber.

Multi-person negative-pressure ventilator at Boston Children's Hospital, 1950s (Source: Children's Hospital Boston Archives via The Journal Respiratory Care)

American inventor John Haven Emerson illustrating how his Iron Lung works at the Waldorf-Astoria Poliomyelitis Exhibition in New York in 1948 (Photo Credit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Image)   

John Emerson (1906-1997) refined Drinker’s device and cut the cost nearly in half.

Inside the tank respirator, the patient lay on a bed (sometimes called a “cookie tray”) that could slide in and out of the cylinder as needed. The side of the tank had portal windows so attendants could reach in and adjust limbs, sheets, or hot packs.

This blue iron lung is the first one made by John Emerson's company. He tested it by spending the night in it. It was first used in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1931 to save the life of a priest with polio. (Source: Post-Polio Health International via Smithsonian Institution) 

Paul Alexander is one of the last few remaining polio survivors that depend on iron lungs. 

You can read more testimonials here and here.

In the 1930s, an iron lung cost about $1,500—the average price of a home.  In 1959, there were 1,200 people using tank respirators in the United States; in 2004, there were 39.

Joan Headley of Post-Polio Health International stated to CNN that as of May 28, 2008 there were approximately 30 patients in the USA still using an iron lung, but the actual figure may be much higher.

The Trial

President Roosevelt in his wheelchair on the porch at Top Cottage in Hyde Park, NY with Ruthie Bie and Fala. February 1941. This photograph was taken by his friend, Margaret "Daisy" Suckley. Ruthie Bie (later Bautista), then three years old, was the daughter of the property caretakers. (Source:  FDR Presidential Library & Museum/Getty Images)

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the most widely-recognized victim of the disease (although the public was generally not aware during his time in office), was diagnosed with polio in 1921 at the age of 39. He was left paralyzed from the waist down and forced to use leg braces and a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Poliomyelitis epidemic patients at Ranchos Los Amigos Hospital, California, 1953 (Source: The Journal Respiratory Care)

In 1938, during his second term in office, Roosevelt established the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (known as March of Dimes Foundation since 2007). The very next year, The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis began mass distribution of tank respirators.

In 1947, Jonas Salk accepted an appointment to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In 1948, he undertook a project funded by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to determine the number of different types of polio virus. Salk saw an opportunity to extend this project towards developing a vaccine against polio, and, together with the skilled research team he assembled, devoted himself to this work for the next seven years. Salk's vaccine, against the "common wisdom" of the day, used killed viruses instead of live ones.

Salk detailed his process in a university publication. He used formaldehyde to inactivate poliovirus. Formaldehyde chemically freezes the virus, effectively stopping its reproduction.

Jonas Salk tested 161 children and presented his results to the Immunization Committee of the foundation on January 23, 1953. The children had shown no ill effects and the levels of polio antibodies in their blood had risen. Salk’s work seemed promising to Roosevelt's law partner Basil O’Connor, and to Thomas Rivers, the dean of the foundation’s scientific advisers and almost immediately afterwards, they proceeded with plans for a nationwide trial. 

Vaccine bottles and 5-cc syringe used by Jonas Salk in the 1954 clinical trials (Source: March of Dimes via Smithsonian Institution)

The 1954 field trial conducted to test the Salk vaccine was, according to historian William L. O'Neill, "the most elaborate program of its kind in history, involving 20,000 physicians and public health officers, 64,000 school personnel, and 220,000 volunteers."

1,829,916 school children in the United States, Canada, and Finland took part in the trials -  623, 972 were injected with vaccine, about 750,000 received placebo (a solution made to look like vaccine, but containing no virus), and another 430,000 participated as “observed” controls.

Polio Pioneer card given to each child, along with a piece of candy, 1954 (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

The foundation's target was students in grades 1, 2 and 3 (ages 6 - 9) in the 272 counties with the highest incidence of the disease. Parental consent was obtained and the children were delivered through state and local health departments and schools.

The students from Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia received the first doses of the new vaccine.

According to an article in the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion Ledger dated January 19, 1954, 10 counties total were selected in the state of Mississippi.

The child shown here would have been one of many second-grade children from Jones County. (Ouch! That looks a little painful)

All children receiving vaccine or placebo had to have three intramuscular injections over a five-week period.

Some of the thousands of children who received free vaccine in the weeks following the announcement, waiting in segregated lines in North Carolina for free Salk polio vaccinations - Imagine That! (Source: Memphis Commercial Appeal via Smithsonian Institution)

You can see some of the children who received the vaccine in Miami, Florida here.

Pregnant women also received the vaccine, and later older children and young adults.

The results showed good statistical evidence that Jonas Salk’s preparation was 80-90% effective in preventing paralytic poliomyelitis. The vaccination was declared safe and effective. It was licensed on April 12, 1955.

“Polio pioneers”—some of the many children who took part in trials of poliomyelitis vaccine (Source: PubMed/NLM/NIH)

Up until this time, polio was considered  a public health crisis - one of the most pressing problems in the modern world.

An global rush for vaccinations soon followed, with countries including Sweden, Denmark, Norway, West Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Belgium planning to begin polio immunization campaigns using Salk's vaccine.    

Salk campaigned for mandatory vaccination, claiming that public health should be considered a "moral commitment." His sole focus had been to develop a safe and effective vaccine as rapidly as possible, with no interest in personal profit. When asked who owned the patent to it, Salk said, "Well, the people I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"

Further Testing

Albert B. Sabin, MD (Photo Credit: Post-Polio Health International)

Within a decade after it was adopted, Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was replaced by a live-virus vaccine developed by his rival Polish American researcher Albert Bruce Sabin (1906-1993) at his home in Washington, D.C. 

Oral polio vaccine used in the early 1960s, and sugar cubes (2004 vintage) on which the drops would be placed before feeding the vaccine to children (Source: Smithsonian Institution)  

Sabin’s version was cheaper and easier to administer. All it took was a drop of suspension.

To provide his weakened virus required passing it through a succession of animals—rats, mice, or monkeys.

Although a Sabine vaccine trial was conducted on 180,000 school children in Cincinnati, Sabin actually had to go overseas in the late 1950s to find people for his clinical trials because the Salk vaccine was so widely used in the United States. His trials took place in the Belgian Congo and, on a massive scale, in the Soviet Union. 

There are three strains of poliovirus: Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3. Type 1 is the most virulent and common. Both the Salk and Sabin vaccines are “trivalent” meaning that they are active against all three virus types. Type 2 poliovirus has not been detected anywhere in the world since 1999.

These scientific breakthroughs were not without a share of controversy.

In 1961, Sabin had a dispute with the U.S. government over the high price of his vaccine according to an article published in the Cleveland Press.

 According to the Smithsonian, scientists  tested their work on prisoners, institutionalized children, and tens of thousands of monkeys, as well as on themselves and their family members. More than 100,000 monkeys were killed in the course of developing the polio vaccines and one rhesus monkey, when killed, supplied sixty-five doses of vaccine.

Administering the oral poliovirus vaccine Courtesy of WHO/Pasteur Meriuex (via Post-Polio Health International)

Polio Today

In recent years, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that polio cases have decreased by more than 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 cases then, to 1,352 reported cases in 2010.  As a result of the global effort to eradicate the disease, only three countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan) remain polio-endemic as of February 2012, down from more than 125 in 1988.

1 in 125 polio survivors are known to experience post-polio syndrome (PPS) in which the symptoms of the disease return over time, including loss of muscle function and fatigue.

From an article on Poliomyelitis in Hygeia, 1948 (Source: Pinterest)

Of course, this caption is incorrect. There is NO cure for polio. It can only be prevented through vaccination.

Despite the and setbacks, the challenge to advance scientific knowledge and to meet public health needs is still on today.

The viral side of this war may have claimed a few hard-fought battles. But the human race is resilient and our will to survive is even more contagious. If there is anything we can learn from history and science, it is that we can always set our mind over all matter because when it comes down to it, it is the power of the mind that matters most.

Sources:

Mississippi Department of Archives and History

http://www.mdah.ms.gov/arrec/digital_archives/moncrief/image.php?display=item&item=832

World Health Organization (WHO)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

National Library of Medicine (NLM)

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1114166/#B1

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/25/magazine/once-again-a-man-with-a-mission.html?pagewanted=all

Smithsonian National Museum of American History Behring Center

http://amhistory.si.edu/polio/howpolio/ironlung.htm

Post-Polio Health International http://www.polioplace.org/people/albert-b-sabin-md

Understanding Mechanical Ventilation: A Practical Handbook

by Ashfaq Hasan   

Springer Science & Business Media, Feb 1, 2010

[blackresearchcentral]

Those ‘Black Confederates’ We Hear About

Black People in the American Civil War

by Admin Om

Black men were not officially allowed to serve as soldiers for the 'Confederate States of America' until very late in the Civil War, specifically through a bill passed by the Confederate Congress on March 13, 1865. Even then, freedom was not guaranteed to those who did fight on the Confederate side as it had been for the nearly 200,000 who became soldiers in the Union army.

Prior to this, blacks in the 'Confederacy' served in other roles such as hard laborers, camp servants, or body servants (slaves who were often brought into battle by those who claimed their ownership). Until January 1, 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln declared in the Emancipation Proclamation that "[free and newly freed] persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States," blacks on the Union side also served in those roles outside of battle.

These are the stories of a few of the black men who served with the Confederate army...

Members of the 57th Georgia Infantry, Company H - From Left To Right: First Lieutenant Archibald C. McKinley, Captain John Richard Bonner, Scott (enslaved by McKinley), and Second Lieutenant William S. Stetson

Scott

Scott was 37 years old when his 17-year-old slave master joined the army to defend the cause of the Confederacy. He left his wife and children behind. During the war, Scott would build his master's fires, wash his master's clothes, and serve him food (he was a cook).

When Scott heard false reports of his master's death, he cried bitterly as he went searching for his master. Union soldiers, seeing him, laughed and taunted him along the way.

Scott stayed by his master's side from the time of enlistment to the end of the war. Upon hearing news of his beloved servant's death in battle, his master wrote of Scott: "Poor fellow, he was one of the few niggers who was a friend of the whites." After the war, Scott received a house and 20 acres of land from his master's father. Scott's former slave master recorded that for the rest of Scott's life, "he was cultivating the land industriously."

You can view the company roster here.

Marlboro Jones, enslaved by Confederate captain Randal F. Jones of the 7th Georgia Cavalry

Marlboro[ugh]

Marlboro Jones was a 'manservant' of a Confederate captain. In June 1864, the captain was mortally wounded and his slave brought him back home.

Silas Chandler (right), enslaved by Confederate sergeant A.M. Chandler (left) of the 44th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, Company F

Silas

Silas knew nothing but slavery his entire life. He served his master's family since the time of his birth. They would hire him out around the local community. Just prior to the war, Silas entered into a slave marriage with a woman named Lucy, whose mother Polly was a mulatto house slave and whose father was an unidentified slave owner. She was the product of an "illegitimate relationship.”

Out of 36 other plantation slaves, Silas was sent by his master's mother to join him in defending the cause of the Confederacy. When his master was wounded in the leg, Silas joined him at the makeshift hospital where he was taken. The surgeons decided the leg could not be saved and were determined to amputate it. However, Silas refused to allow them to carry out their operation. To this, his master's family was grateful. At the time, Silas was 26 years old while his master was 19.

According to a descendant of the family, Silas "managed to hoist his master into a convenient boxcar." Silas later joined the war again to defend the cause of the Confederacy with his master's brother, who would be his new master for the remainder of the war. During this time, he would join his master in defending the president of the ‘Confederate States of America’ and his entourage as they fled federal forces. Three days after their escort was disbanded, they both surrendered as did the Confederate president. After the Civil War, Silas continued his profession as a talented carpenter, notably working to build a Baptist church with other freedmen. Silas, along with 1,739 men of color, received a state pension for his service through a program that began in 1888. He passed away in 1919 at the age of 82.

Learn more about the history behind this photograph here and here.

Burrell (right), enslaved by Confederate sergeant John Wallace Comer (left) of the 57th Alabama Infantry Regiment

Burrell

Burrell's master was the brother of the governor in his state. He was just one of about 60 slaves on the plantation. At 16, he joined his master in defending the Confederate cause. In one battle, when his master was injured, Burrell braved enemy fire to drag him to safety. He then brought his master to a boat and rowed him about 260 miles to his mother, so that he could recover. His master would remark in a letter that his slave was too valuable for him to sell.

But Burell's slave master also had this to say of his dear partner: "Burrell was not really a soldier. He was still a ‘Negro'." After the war, the formerly enslaved Burrell got a stipend from the state for his service.

John Terrill (right), enslaved by J. B. White (left) of the 6th Tennessee Cavalry, Company D - John served as an escort on the staff of Brigadier-General James Ronald Chalmers.

John

John accompanied his master, a Confederate brigadier general in defense of the Confederate cause. Years after the Civil War, he became a doctor for the local black community.

Not all black civilians living in Confederate territory were excited about defending the way of life in the south. 

William Makepeace Thayer (1820-1898), a Congressional Clergyman, recalls a conversation with such a slave:

“'Tom, they tell me that you won’t fight if you do enlist; and that you love your masters so much, that, the moment you meet them on the battlefield, you will throw down your own arms, and rush into theirs. Is that so?’ Straightening up with a new sparkle in his eyes, Tom answered, ‘Lieutenant, I know dey says dese tings; but dey lies. Our masters may talk now all dey choose; but one ting’s sartin, ­­dey don’t dare to try us. Jess put de guns into our hans, and you’ll soon see dat we not only know how to shoot, but who to shoot. My master wouldn’t be wuff much ef I was a soldier.'"

When analyzing the ‘patriotism’ of blacks throughout the Civil War towards the so-called Confederate States of America, the relationship between masters and slaves in the Antebellum South, cannot be undermined or ignored. The significance of this social dynamic that existed in the southern states between the white men and black men is such that any discussion on Black Confederates without taking this into consideration is devoid of any real context. The question of whether or not Black Confederates existed is not so much a question of if the rebelling states had any black men within their ranks, but rather, a question of whether or not any of the men pictured above were in a situation that was any different from the child pictured below.

This photo by Confederate photographer A.J. Riddle from the collection of David Wynn Vaughan was on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. in April 2013.

Read More about it here.

So...Were There ‘Black Confederates’?

Yes. They Existed, Sure.

There were reports of black regiments as well.

Even while Frederick Douglass wrote about the Battle of First Manassas in the August 1861 issue of his newspaper, Douglass’ Monthly that there were “real soldiers”, he also wrote of them what he believed was the only reasonable explanation for their presence...

...among rebels were black troops, no doubt pressed into service by their tyrant masters.

According to The Root:

They made up less than 1% of the 800,000 black men of military age (17-50) living in the Confederate states, based on 1860 U.S. census figures, and less than 1% of at least 750,000 Confederate soldiers.

But while some chose to be soldiers (if not pushed into doing so), did Black People ever choose to become Black Confederates?

Here, we see the undeniable truth. All the debating in the world cannot replace the answer that this photo clearly presents before the eyes. For many, it was very clear they had no option.

What were some of the factors that might have led to a decision for assisting in the Confederate efforts?

Can we find some of those factors in the face of the unknown body servant standing behind the Confederate captain?

Did regular black boys and black men somehow sign up to be someone’s slave just to be part of the resistance against “oppressive federal infringements” on the free rights of southerners? Was this assigned role somehow the ticket to being a soldier in the Confederate army if you were black or is there more here?

There is no escaping this fact: Scott, Marlboro, Silas, Burrell, and John all stood in the place of that young unknown body servant. They had as much of a choice in lifting a gun to their shoulders in the presence of their masters as that child did. They helped whenever they could around the house, on the plantation, at camp, and in the field. But there was always someone they could never help wherever they went and no matter how far they would have gone in their service for the cause of white supremacy: they could never help themselves. 

They could not help themselves to the first fruits of their own wealth as they toiled to secure the wealth of their white masters. They could not help their own families to safety while they were out there risking life and limb for their white masters and their families. They could not even be men. How then could they be warriors?

For some time, this was also the case for the blacks in Lincoln’s army.

Federal Soldier With His Young Black Servant

Blacks were servants for both the federal army and for the army of the rebelling states during the Civil War. The difference is that in 1863, while the Confederates were still bringing slaves into battle with them, the Union was bringing trained and paid soldiers into battle with them. For over 2 years in the Union army, black men were allowed to be enlistees and officers. For less than a month in the Confederate army, black men were allowed the privilege of identifying themselves among the rank and file. Imagine all the stories you could tell about your week-long experience in battle.

About 90,000 black men who were formerly enslaved in their own country joined the Civil War as soldiers on the Union side. The other half of the black volunteers were free and in total, these men comprised 10% of the army of the United States who saw a mutual enemy in the fighting force of the Confederacy.

To ask if black slaves proudly joined a war against themselves is to ask if black people enjoyed living as slaves. An analysis of 1930s slave narratives reveals that only 3% of interviewed slaves professed a “genuine affection” of their master.

To ask if free blacks who contributed to the Confederacy did so with a conscience that was also free towards people who had none is to ask if black people would have been willing to trade their freedom at any time in their lives for an eternity in slavery for no reason at all. While there is evidence of some free, especially wealthy blacks who did, indeed, support the Confederacy, their community reputation was just as important (if not more essential) to their survival as their property interests.

To ask whether black people would have proudly supported a regime that sought to relegate them to the bottom of society forever while maintaining the supremacy of everyone else is to ask if black people were stupid. 

And to put it simply, to claim today that any sane black person actually lived and died for the Confederate States of America, knowing full well that the Confederate States of America was a bad deal for black people, is the same as to claim that you desire our ignorance and we deserve yours.

Sources:

The History Network

http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/black-civil-war-soldiers

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/confederacy-approves-black-soldiers

Encyclopedia Virginia

https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/media_player?mets_filename=evm00002110mets.xml

https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Black_Confederates

http://blog.encyclopediavirginia.org/2011/10/feedback-hey-i-know-that-guy/

Civil War Talk

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/three-officers-and-slave-57th-georgia-infantry.123184/

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/confederate-officers-j-w-comer-and-his-servant-burrell.127567/

Georgia College Library Special Collections

(via Flickr)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gcsuspecialcollections/6426944753

The Journal of Archibald C. McKinley

by Archibald Carlisle McKinley

University of Georgia Press, 1991

back cover

(via Google Books)

Hell's Broke Loose in Georgia: Survival in a Civil War Regiment

by Scott Walker

University of Georgia Press, Jul 1, 2007

page 32, 82-83, and 93

(via Google Books)

The Library of Congress

https://www.loc.gov/item/2014647512/

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/SoldierbiosChandler.html

New York Times Opinionator

https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/a-slaves-service-in-the-confederate-army/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Museum and White House of the Confederacy

Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 260 newsletter (2006)  

A Youth's History of the Rebellion: From the battle of Murfreesboro' to the massacre at Fort Pillow

J. Miller, 1865

page 111

(via Google Books)

Williamson County Historical Society

https://battleoffranklin.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/john-terrill/

Heritage Auctions

https://historical.ha.com/itm/photography/cdvs/absolutely-one-of-the-most-moving-civil-war-images-we-ve-ever-cataloged-carte-de-visite-of-a-federal-soldier-with-his-young/a/6083-52018.s

[blackresearchcentral]

"After climbing a great mountain, one only thinks that there are many other mountains to climb"

- Nelson Mandela​

by Latuff2​ a.k.a. Carlos Latuff​ Carlos Latuff (Cartoon Artist from Brazil) Published for Opera Mundi​ as a tribute to the life of the South African leader (1918 - 2013) https://latuffcartoons.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/cartoon-operamundi-remember-nelson-mandela-apartheid-southafrica/

[blackresearchcentral]

Young Slave During the Civil War Reduced to Such Poverty He Is Wearing Only Rags

c. 1862-1863

The Library of Congress, where this portrait can be located today, describes the fellow in this photo as simply a “Raggedy African American” and does not have the image officially on display online.

A digitally colorized Version of this Image can be seen on Shutterstock​‘s website here.

Photographer: George Washington Armstead (1835-1912), Armstead & White Photograph Gallery, Corinth, Mississippi

G.W. Armstead, head-and shoulders portrait, facing front taken between 1850 and 1860 (Source: The Library of Congress)

About the Photographer:

George W. Armstead, from Columbus, Ohio, was very active with a profitable business for a year and a half during the years 1862 and 1863. He operated with partners under the names Armstead & White and Armstead & Taylor.

Armstead started his studio in Corinth during its occupation by Union forces in May 1862 following the seige of that city by soldiers under the command of General Henry Halleck​. The Second Battle of Corinth​ in October 1862 saw a failed effort by Confederates to recapture Corinth.

Armstead made many carte de viste portraits of mainly soldiers in the Union army. He also took some photos of outdoor scenes such as the iconic image of Confederate Colonel William P. Rogers' body among his dead comrades after the battle of Corinth.

After the war, Armstead continued his business in Columbus, Ohio where he was originally from. In 1885, he moved to Nebraska and established another studio "Armstead & Sons" in North Bend.

Portrait of G. W. Armstead and his son George Clarence Armstead, who took over his father’s studio taken c. 1885 (Source: Progressive men of Nebraska; a book of portraits by David Matthew Carr (1864 - ed), published 1902, page 161)

According to writer Francis Trevelyan Miller​ in his 1912 series The Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten Volumes, "George Armstead was a wonderful photographer, rivaling Matthew Brady at his best."

Clothing of Slaves

[From the Narrative and Testimony of Rev. Francis Hawley,Baptist Pastor in Colebrook, Litchfield county, Connecticut, who has resided fourteen years in the slave states, North and South Carolina.]

“The rule, where slaves are hired out, is two suits of clothes per year one pair of shoes, and one blanket; but as it relates to the great body of the slaves, this cannot be called a general rule. On many plantations, the children under ten or twelve years old, go entirely naked—or, if clothed at all, they have nothing more than a shirt. The cloth is of the coarsest kind, far from being durable or warm; and their shoes frequently come to pieces in a few weeks. I have never known any provision made, or time allowed for the washing of clothes.

If they wish to wash, as they have generally but one suit, they go after their day's toil to some stream, build a fire, pull off their clothes and wash them in the stream, and dry them by the fire; and in some instances they wear their clothes until they are worn off, without washing. I have never known an instance of a slaveholder putting himself to any expense, that his slaves might have decent clothes for the Sabbath.

If, by making baskets, brooms, mats, &c. at night or on Sundays, the slaves can get money enough to buy a Sunday suit, very well. I have never known an instance of a slaveholder furnishing his slaves with stockings or mittens. I know that the slaves suffer much, and no doubt many die in consequence of not being well clothed.

American Slavery As It Is by Theodore Dwight Weld​ New York: American Anti-Slavery Society​, 1839

Read Weld's book in its original format here: (via The Internet Archive, Boston Public Library​) https://archive.org/details/americanslaverya1839weld2

Here’s Booker T. Washington​ recalls the clothing he wore as a slave:

One thing I remember more vividly than any other in connection with the days when I was a slave was my dress, or, rather, my lack of dress.

The years when the war (The War of the Rebellion, 1860-65) was in progress between the States were especially trying to the slaves, so far as clothing was concerned. The Southern white people found it extremely hard to get clothing for themselves during that war, and, of course, the slaves underwent no little suffering in this respect.

The only garment that I remember receiving from my owners during the war was a "tow shirt." When I did not wear this shirt I was positively without any garment. In Virginia, the tow shirt was quite an institution during slavery. This shirt was made of the refuse flax that grew in that part of Virginia, and it was a veritable instrument of torture. It was stiff and coarse. Until it had been worn for about six weeks it made one feel as if a thousand needle points were pricking his flesh. I suppose I was about six years old when I was given one of these shirts to wear. After repeated trials the torture was more than my childish flesh could endure and I gave it up in despair.

To this day the sight of a new shirt revives the recollection of the tortures of my first new shirt. In the midst of my despair, in connection with this garment, my brother John, who was about two years older than I, did me a kindness which I shall never forget. He volunteered to wear my new shirt for me until it was "broken in." After he had worn it for several weeks I ventured to wear it myself, but not without pain.

Soon after my shirt experience, when the winter had grown quite cold, I received my first pair of shoes. These shoes had wooden bottoms, and the tops consisted of a coarse kind of leather. I have never felt so proud since of a pair of shoes.

An Autobiography: The Story of My Life and Work Illustrated by Frank Beard (1842-1905) Published 1901 pages 16-17

Read Washington's book in its original format here: (via The Internet Archive, UNC-Chapel Hill Library​) https://archive.org/details/autobiographysto00wash

Sources:

Getty Images​ http://www.gettyimages.com/license/640487221

Find A Grave​ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143014999#view-photo=138116670

Lens of War: Exploring Iconic Photographs of the Civil War, edited by J. Matthew Gallman​ and Gary W. Gallagher​, University of Georgia Press​, Apr 15, 2015

pages 180-181, 183

(via Google Books) https://books.google.com/books?id=BRHUCgAAQBAJ&dq

[blackresearchcentral]

Day of Black Consciousness

The principal symbol of the Afro-Brazilian struggle and resistance in Brazil is Zumbi dos Palmares​. Zumbi​ was born in Alagoas​ in 1655 and died in 1695 on November 20, a date commemorated throughout Brazil as the National Day of Black Consciousness​.

(Source: BRAZZIL - News from Brazil)

In the cartoon, cop says: "Zumbi my ass, hands to the wall, ni**er!"

by Latuff2​ a.k.a. Carlos Latuff​ (Cartoon Artist from Brazil)

https://latuff2.deviantart.com/art/Day-of-Black-Consciousness-144178787

https://latuff2.deviantart.com/art/Black-Conscience-Day-43204479

[blackresearchcentral]

Supper at Emmaus

1530-1540 (Renaissance period​)

Venetian (Italian Artist)

Description:

This Supper at Emmaus is remarkable for the presence of a black Egyptian at Christ's right hand.

After his Resurrection, Christ appeared to two disciples at an inn in the town of Emmaus (Luke 24). Depicted here is the moment just before they realize that the wise stranger who "breaks bread" with them is Christ. The innkeeper stands, while the disciples are identified by walking staffs.

The biblical story does not note other companions. However, here they are joined by a black soldier, an Egyptian as identified by the characteristic red, wooly headdress. He leans toward Christ, apparently passing him a dish. Seated and a soldier, he cannot be a servant. Egyptian soldiers were often in Venice with diplomatic missions.

The man's inclusion conveys the universality of Christ's promise of salvation.

This is thought to be the earliest existing European image of a black African at Christ's right hand.

Source: The Walters Art Museum​

Here are some variations of this scene...

Venetian artist Marco Marziale (1440-1507) painted this work in the year 1506. It can be found today at the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, Italy.

Here is the description:

In this painting, taut physiognomy, distraught colour, and popular theatrically mingles Carpaccio and German art. The breaking of bread by the resurrected, undisclosed Christ renews the sacrament of the Eucharist in the unpretentious but festively decorated tavern. 

Source: Web Gallery of Art

A year later, Marziale created this version. The difference is striking. The moor no longer stands at the table beside Jesus here.

Source: Wikipedia

This painting was created by Paolo Veronese (1528–1588) in 1559.

Description:

After his resurrection, Christ appears several times to his disciples. Here we have a cameo glimpse to the left into the scene of Christ meeting the pilgrims on the road to Emmaus; the episode continues in the foreground of the composition, where during the meal Jesus lifts his eyes to the sky at the moment of blessing the bread. This divine gesture leads to his being recognized by two astonished apostles.

Veronese doesn't limit himself to traditional iconography. He situates the miracle in a palace instead of an inn, before a door with a triangular pediment flanked by fluted columns. Above all, he introduces into the middle of this religious scene a family whose members show little interest in the event. The contrast is all the more marked by the mixing of antique dress with the rich Venetian costumes in the fashion of the period...

This painting, whose patron is unknown, is the artist's first large religious work and a precursor to the scenic effects of The Wedding Feast at Cana. 

Source: Louvre Museum

Here is another description from the Web Gallery of Art:

The magnificent decorative style, developed in the Villa Maser, was taken even further in the 1560s, in a series of large paintings on the common theme of suppers at which Christ was present. Veronese used the stories from the Gospels as an excuse to stage sumptuous feasts in sixteenth-century dress inside grandiose and theatrical architectural perspectives, producing realistic representations of social life at the highest level.

The Supper in Emmaus (Louvre, Paris), the Supper in the House of Simon (Galleria Sabauda, Turin), and the Marriage at Cana (Louvre, Paris) belong to the series.

Here is the Marriage at Cana for a comparison:

Notice the servant next to Jesus. There are others in the work who are ‘black’ but he is not.

Veronese made this one in between 1565 and 1570.

Source: Museum Boijmans

The “Martyrdom of Saint Justina”, another work by Paolo Veronese, can be found at the Uffizi Palace in Florence, Italy. It was created in 1573 and here we can see a moor wearing the same red hat.

You can see the similarity in the hat worn by the figure beside Jesus here in this one by Titian around 1530.

Web Gallery of Art Description:

The painting's first owners were the Maffei family from Verona, where Titian painted an altarpiece for the Cathedral, and its sonorous gravity and the way the colours traverse the spectrum like a progression of organ chords may take its tone from nearby Brescia, especially the art of Moretto. Indeed, Titian may have borrowed the striking orange-yellow of the page's costume from the similarly placed disciple in Moretto's own Supper at Emmaus of around 1526, which originally hung in the Church of St Luke in Brescia and now in the Tosio-Martinengo Museum. The disciple in green leaning back is modeled on the Judas in Leonardo's Last Supper. The realism of the still-life is also somewhat in the Lombard taste and anticipates not only Caravaggio but also the sacramental realism of Zurbaran.

Check out the crest of the Holy Roman Empire on the wall as well.

The work can be found at the Louvre Museum.

This work, called “The Kitchen Maid”, was painted by Diego Velazquez 1617-1618. 

Description:

Regarded as the greatest Spanish artist of his time, Velázquez began his career in his native Seville and later became the leading artist at the court of King Philip IV in Madrid. This painting is widely considered to be Velázquez’s earliest known work. The artist painted Christ appearing to his disciples at Emmaus in the left background. In the foreground he depicted a Moorish servant working in the kitchen. The inversion of the religious and the worldly subjects was inspired by Flemish painters, including Pieter Aertsen.

Source: National Gallery of Ireland

It wasn’t until a cleaning of the painting in 1933 that the depiction of Jesus’ supper at Emmaus on the wall behind the main figure was revealed.

This later “Kitchen Scene” version at the Art Institute of Chicago demonstrates what the painting must have looked like for many years.

Believe it or not, Velazquez himself had a Moorish servant (enslaved assistant).

Juan de Pareja (1610 – 1670) became an artist in his own right, and in 1654 he was freed by Velázquez.

Read all about him from the Metropolitan Museum of Art here:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437869

This painting believed to have been made by Vittore Carpaccio, for Girolamo Priuli, in 1513 and hangs in the San Salvador church in Venice, Italy.

You can see how a moor is depicted wearing a turban here and he replaces the black Egyptian from the very first painting we looked at. Apparently, this one came first and is the oldest of all the paintings we have posted here.

Also available for viewing in black and white:

https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/asset/bib-new-t-resurrection-emmaus/gQEOCWST7N6Hbw

https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/asset/bib-new-t-resurrection-emmaus/OgHjL5Rd0j5FQA

Read about the church and its history here.

Now...if Jesus really were to appear to these artists and their society as he was and as he appeared to his disciples, would THEY even recognize him?

From what the bible says about Jesus, chances are, he would have reappeared to the disciples after his death more so as the humbled servant in the background and not the glowing man of beauty that they would be expecting and as they have created in their own image.

[blackresearchcentral]

You might know that famous quote about history - But do you know the history behind the quote?

"Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”

This quote is often attributed to 18th Century British Statesman Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797). 

Portrait of Burke by Sir Joshua Reynolds c. 1769 at the National Portrait Gallery

However, his quote was actually written in his book Reflections on the Revolution in France and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event, published in 1814 this way:

You will observe, that from magna charta to the Declaration of Right, it has been the uniform policy of our constitution to claim and assert our liberties, as an entailed inheritance derived to us from our forefathers, and to be transmitted to our posterity; as an estate specially belonging to the people of this kingdom without any reference whatever to any other more general or prior right. By this means our constitution preserves an unity in so great a diversity of its parts. We have an inheritable crown; an inheritable peerage; and an house of commons and a people inheriting privileges, franchises, and liberties, from a long line of ancestors.

This policy appears to me to be the result of profound reflection; or rather the happy effect of following nature, which is wisdom without reflection and above it.

A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper and confined views. People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.

Read this document here via The National Library of France (Gallica)

or here via Google Books.

Portrait of Santayana from the 1952 Harvard Alumni Bulletin as seen at NYPL The New York Public Library

Spanish Philosopher George Santayana (1863 - 1952) is given the credit for the original quote with this line from Chapter XII - Flux and Constancy in Human Nature in Volume I of his series The Life of Reason (1905-1906) titled Reason in Common Sense:

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted; it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in whom instinct has learned nothing from experience.

In a second stage men are docile to events, plastic to new habits and suggestions, yet able to graft them on original instincts, which they thus bring to fuller satisfaction. This is the plane of manhood and true progress.

Last comes a stage when retentiveness is exhausted and all that happens is at once forgotten; a vain, because unpractical, repetition of the past takes the place of plasticity and fertile readaptation. In a moving world readaptation is the price of longevity.

The hard shell, far from protecting the vital principle, condemns it to die down slowly and be gradually chilled; immortality in such a case must have been secured earlier, by giving birth to a generation plastic to the contemporary world and able to retain its lessons.

Thus old age is as forgetful as youth, and more incorrigible; it displays the same inattentiveness to conditions; its memory becomes self-repeating and degenerates into an instinctive reaction, like a bird's chirp.

Read the full document here via Project Gutenberg

[blackresearchcentral]

Charge and the Reduction of the Penal Age

by Latuff2​ a.k.a. Carlos Latuff​ (Cartoon Artist from Brazil) https://latuffcartoons.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/charge-sisejufe-geraldoalckmin_-e-a-reducao-da-maioridade-penal/

[blackresearchcentral]

Arms of ye Confederacie

Date of Creation: 1862

Contributor Names: Gwinn Harris Heap, H. H. Tilley

Description:

A small card bearing a vitriolic indictment of the Confederacy. The artist particularly attacks the the institution of slavery, the foundation of Southern economy.

A large shield is flanked by two figures: a planter (left) and a slave. The planter wears spurs and a broad-brimmed hat and smokes a cigar. The slave is clad only in breeches, and his hands are manacled.

Above the shield are two crossed flags, the Confederate flag and one bearing a skull and crossbones and the number 290. Between the flags are a rooster and a streamer with the motto "servitudo esto perpetua."

On the shield are images associated with the South: a mint julep, a bottle of "Old Rye," a pistol and dagger, a whip and manacles, cotton, tobacco, and sugar plants, and slaves hoeing. 

In the background left, dominated by the palmetto tree of South Carolina, three planters, one holding a whip, play cards at a table. Beyond, two men duel with pistols. On the right, a female slave is auctioned as two slave children stand by and a black woman watches from a cabin doorway.

Source:

The Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661644/

https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661644/

The artist Gwinn Harris Heap (1817-1887) was a draftsman, legal indexer, diplomat, and camel agent, born in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Read More about him here:

(via the The Library Company of Philadelphia)

http://lcpdams.librarycompany.org:8881/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=79280&local_base=GEN01

You can see other political cartoon prints relating to the (so-called) Confederate States of America here:

https://www.loc.gov/collections/american-cartoon-prints/?fa=subject%3Apolitical+cartoons%7Clocation%3Aconfederate+states+of+america

[blackresearchcentral]

"I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color." 

- Malcolm X​

by Latuff2​ a.k.a. Carlos Latuff​ (Cartoon Artist from Brazil)

https://latuff2.deviantart.com/art/Malcolm-X-11328828