Negro Americans In The American Revolution

Negro Americans Revolution

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Crispus Attucks: Classics Illustrated

Crispus Attucks

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Jackie Ormes

Voted one of the top ten books of 2008 in the Village Voice The audio comes from an npr broadcast of 7/31/08

It's 1937, and young Torchy Brown is about to board a train that will whisk her away from her small, Southern town to the Big Apple. Suddenly, a sign with two arrows catches her eye. One arrow points to the colored section of the train. The other arrow points to the white section. She jumps back, contemplating what she should do. Torchy, who's black, clever and mischievous, decides to pretend she can't read — and boards the whites-only car.
Scenes like that were splashed regularly across the comics pages of the Pittsburgh Courier, an African-American newspaper read from coast to coast. The cartoonist behind the playful, often politically charged comics: Jackie Ormes.
Ormes, who died in 1985, was the first black woman to have a career as a cartoonist. She produced comic strips for the Courier from the 1930s to the 1950s, tackling subjects such as politics, foreign policy, racism and even environmental justice. Torchy Brown was one of Ormes' most beloved characters. She was smart. She was classy. And she frequently rebelled against the prescribed social order.
Torchy also differed greatly from the usual depictions of blacks prior to the civil rights movement.
Nationally syndicated black cartoonist Barbara Brandon-Croft says that Ormes' characters and stories were real — at a time when blacks were typically portrayed in a derogatory fashion.
"Black women were always fat," she says. "Had bandannas on their heads, you know. Had large lips. Were always porters. We were servants. Think of Gone With The Wind, you know. We didn't speak clear English."
The characters of Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger — another Ormes comic — ran counter to that stereotype. Ginger was an attractive, college-educated woman, drawn in a pinup-girl style. Her younger sister, Patty-Jo, was sharp and opinionated.
Nancy Goldstein, author of the new book,Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist, emphasizes that Ormes did a service to the black community by creating role models with her characters.
Readers saw that if Ginger could graduate from college and if Torchy could challenge the era's racist status quo, they were capable of doing the same.
Ormes "was giving voice to what was in the hearts and minds of so many people: [the desire] to move forward and make progress," says Goldstein.
While Ormes was an inspiration for people in her time, today she is largely forgotten, save by older readers and black cartoonists.
But people like Goldstein and Brandon-Croft are trying to preserve her memory. They see that Ormes' cartoons present a realistic slice of history from a rarely heard perspective, one that should not be lost.

Catherine Street Eel Market

from 11/30/07 from pseudo-intellectualism

The cartoon images from the slide show come from Patrick Reynold's great collection
of New York City history called the Big Apple Almanac There was once an active eel market on Catherine Slip in the 1800's. Black citizens engaged in a form of minstrelsy to earn a living and perhaps a free meal. The slide show is padded with an excerpt from an 1889 nytimes article about the area:

A Rodgers and Hart work:

Hawks and crows do lots of things,
but the canary only sings.
She is a courtesan on wings-
So I've heard.
Eagles and storks are twice as strong.
All the canary knows is song.
But the canary gets along-
Guilded bird!
REFRAIN
Sing for your supper,
And you'll get breakfast.
Songbirds always eat
If their song is sweet to hear.
Sing for your luncheon,
And you'll get dinner.
Dine with wine of choice,
If romance is in your voice.
I heard from a wise canary
Trilling makes a fellow willing,
So, little swallow, swallow now.
Now is the time to
Sing for your supper,
And you'll get breakfast.
Songbirds are not dumb,
They don't buy a crumb
Of bread,
It's said.
So sing and you'll be fed.

Black Jack Blood And Honor 2

I found Alex Simmons' web site and it mentioned a NYC Kids' Comic Book Convention occurring on March 29, 2008 at Bronx Community College. looks like a worthwhile event.
I took the images from the site and made them into a slide show. No sound
from Alex's site

...We're specifically inviting teachers, librarians, and more to show them how our chosen field works and how it can support literacy and other academic goals. Don't think we're throwing fun out the window! Children and young adults can expect a full-blown all-age event! Tons of fun with no gore, extreme violence, nudity, or vulgarity. So join us for an exciting and unequaled comic con experience! This was limiting in my eyes so I took my hobby of writing to a new level and began to pen monologues for me to perform in auditions. This lead to writing monologues and scenes for some of my fellow actors (white and black), which slowly began to take over more and more of my creative interest. I continued to write as I pursued acting, voice over work, and directing. I wrote articles, short stories, one-act plays (most of which will never see the light of day again), interviews, and song lyrics. The quality of these varied -- I was learning and that is a long active labor. The volume of work varied, but I can tell you I filled notebooks and eventually ran through a lot of typewriter ribbon. (I know some of your are saying, "What is typewriter ribbon?" Ah, to live a long life.)
What is important is that I was able to do all of this because I had never been taught I couldn't. There is something to be said for not making the word "impossible" a mantra in your vocabulary. In other words, don't overwork it. Believing I could, I did. After that it was a lot of hard work and practice, successes and failures. I carry this experience with me into my workshops. Each time I meet a new gaggle of young people, no matter what I am told about them, I wait to see what they tell me about themselves. No matter what their academic skills, artistic style or influence, ethnicity, or cultural background -- I wait and watch to discover what they can do and how badly they want to improve at it. I do not try to clone artist to reach the same level of style or interest, or genre. Instead I seek to help them speak their own minds through their art, or the love of it. Sometimes that love is fuel purely by curiosity or a desire for fun.

Black Jack Blood And Honor

Two summers ago my daughter had a summer assignment to read December 6th by Martin Cruz, which was all about American and Japanese relations prior to World War II. To help explain it I turned to such movies as Tora, Tora, Tora and Blood on The Sun. Of course, there was a great deal of anti-Japanese propaganda in those, but she was aware of that.
I also looked for a graphic novel account. I was lucky to find the above book.
I scanned some of it and did my own voice-over, foolishly thinking I could sell it to her teachers in the fall. Actually I never tried, since my daughter was afraid I might embarrass her. Anyway I rediscovered it and tried to modify it for this google video format. Not very viewable, but I think one can appreciate how this could be a motivating way to teach history. Here's a review of this wonderful work, which I bought at Forbidden Planet on Broadway 13th Street in Manhattan. Now it only seems to be available on ebay
from ybfree.com

If you are reading this article, I ask you to stop, stand, and give a round of applause to Blackjack’s creator Alex Simmons. Not since Will Eisner’s Last Day in Vietnam, have I read an American comic so entertaining and socially profound. Alex Simmons has given me hope that there is still a chance for American Comics to be innovative and progressive. Blackjack is not your atypical spandex clad superhero; rather he is a superbly trained martial artist. However, do not expect the stereotypical 70s Black Exploitation Kung-Fu Afro trippin brother. Blackjack is a world-renowned bodyguard who uses intelligence, common sense, and conventional hand weapons to protect his clients.
Blackjack: Blood and Honor, is the second collection of stories about a Black American bodyguard set during the 1930s. Blood and Honor takes place in 1935 Japan. Aaron Day the name of our man of distinguished valor has been hired to protect a Japanese Public Official, named Oshio Masato. Masato views on Japan's aggression in Asia has marked for death. Joining Day, is his servant, who is more of a slave, a Chinese man named Tim Cheng. The relationship between Cheng and Day is strenuous to say the least, especially since, Day won Cheng in a card game. This tensions builds as other actors enter, and Day must decipher who are his enemies, friends, or both. Yet, what stood out most in this story was that this was the first time I read a comic where people of color dominate and decide the course of events.
For some, the very plot details that move this story might seem uncomfortable or unbelievable, but that is what makes Simmons a genius. Simmons weaves in the awkward racial and prejudice issues that most mainstream comics glaze over in easy moral fashion. He speaks to the fact that there were rich, educated Black Americans, who held capital, which may have included human capital. Day was not just dipped in chocolate, he is a three dimensional character, who is forced to deal with the demons and issues instilled in him by his father and American Society.
But this sequential piece is not blatantly about racial issues, rather, it weaves them intricately into an intense action and drama. Those familiar with the classic films of the Golden Era of Hollywood will appreciate how Simmons and company take you into this time period from Harlem to Tokyo: you are there in the clothing, gunfire, the romance, reliving the political mindset of the time. There is plenty of blood, guns, bombs, and even a dirty journalist, with the best information in town, to fit any action lover’s lust.
Blackjack is the hero prototype of the 21st Century. The series has even been optioned for the silver screen, by Catch 23 Entertainment. Currently Michael Jai White, from the film Exit Wounds is in talks to star as Day. And to tell you the truth, I cannot wait! Simmons takes on the character in a way you will not realize until the end. Blackjack: Blood and Honor, simply is a much-welcomed view on historical perspectives quietly kept under wraps.

Harriet Tubman Escapes

Part 2 in the Bentley Boyd comic series on Harriet Tubman. Here she crosses the river from Maryland to freedom in Pennsylvania The online archives are here
The book collections are well worth the price. I've gotten several. Here's the link to amazon.
It's tough coming up with soundtracks. Here I used Old Man river song by Paul Robeson

There's an old man called the Mississippi
That's the old man that I'd like to be
What does he care if the world has troubles
What does he care if the land ain't free
Ol' man river,
Dat ol' man river
He mus'know sumpin'
But don't say nuthin',
He jes'keeps rollin'
He keeps on rollin' along.
He don' plant taters/tators,
He don't plant cotton,
An' dem dat plants'em
is soon forgotten,
But ol'man river,
He jes keeps rollin'along.
You an'me, we sweat an' strain,
Body all achin' an' racket wid pain,
Tote dat barge!
Lif' dat bale!
Git a little drunk
An' you land in jail.
Ah gits weary
An' sick of tryin'
Ah'm tired of livin'
An' skeered of dyin',
But ol' man river,
He jes'keeps rolling' along.

Harriet Tubman's Dizzy Spells

Part of a series of comics from a great collection from Bentley Boyd that was originally done for Virginia school districts. The online archives are here
The book collections are well worth the price. I've gotten several. Here's the link to amazon.
Soundtrack, Swing Low Sweet Chariot song by Paul Robeson

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home;
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home.
I looked over Jordan,
And WHAT did I see,
Comin' for to carry me home,
A band of angels comin' after me,
Comin' for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home;
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home.
If you get there before I do,
Comin' for to carry me home,
Tell all my friends I'm comin' too,
Comin' for to carry me home.

The Emancipation Proclamation

There's hardly any Lincoln content on youtube. Here's a cartoon strip that mentions Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. It's part of the great collection from Bentley Boyd that was originally done for the . The online archives are here. The book collections are well worth the price. I've gotten several. Here's the link to amazon. I used Joan Baez as the soundtrack. Remember her! The last slide is the signature of Lincoln on the proclamation.

Frederick Douglass: Graphic Nobel Biography

I found this graphic novel shunted aside in a 5th grade class library. I asked the teacher if the kids' liked it. She said she wasn't using it because it didn't fit in with the tc workshop reading/writing schedule! I scanned part of it and returned it.
I enlarged the panels so that they're visible in the google player. I also displayed some panels without the dialogue as a template for possible ideas for literacy activities (create your own dialogue, rewrite the old dialogue with synonyms, etc)
I found an audio about Frederick Douglass on the Voice of America site. The transcript:

VOICE ONE:
I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today we tell about Frederick Douglass. He was born a slave, but later became one of America’s greatest leaders. He was an activist, a writer, a powerful speaker and an advisor to President Abraham Lincoln.VOICE ONE:
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass suffered severe physical and mental abuse during his many years as a slave. He dreamed of one day learning to read and being free. He believed knowledge would lead the way to freedom. Douglass wrote several books about his life as a slave. In eighteen forty-five he wrote "Narrative of the Life of FrederickDouglass, An American Slave." It became an immediate best seller and remains popular today.
VOICE TWO:
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born around eighteen eighteen in Tuckahoe, Maryland, near the Chesapeake Bay. Many slaves lived on large farms owned by white people. Each plantation was like a small village owned by one family who lived in a large house on the property.
Frederick and his mother, Harriet Bailey, were slaves on a huge plantation owned by Colonel Edward Lloyd. Their slave owner was a white man named Captain Aaron Anthony. Frederick knew very little about his father, except that he was a white man. Many believed Captain Anthony was his father.
Frederick did not know his mother well. Harriet Bailey was sent to work on another plantation when Frederick was very young. She was able to visit him only a few times. She died when Frederick was about seven years old.
VOICE ONE:
Frederick then lived with his grandparents, Betsey and Isaac Bailey. He said that his grandparents had a loving home and were respected by other slaves in the area. Because of this, he did not realize at first that someone owned him and the others---that they were slaves.
It was not unusual for African-American families to be separated, often never seeing each other again. Slaves were not treated as human beings. Slave owners bought and traded them as if they were animals or property. Frederick had to leave his grandparents’ home when he was six years old. He later wrote about that day. He said being forced to leave was one of the most painful experiences in his life. He said he began to understand the evil and oppressive system of slavery.
VOICE TWO:
In eighteen twenty-six, Frederick was sent to work for Hugh Auld, in Baltimore, Maryland. Mister Auld’s wife, Sophia, was very kind to Frederick. She treated him as if he were a member of her family. Missus Auld soon began to teach Frederick to read. Her husband became extremely angry and ordered her to stop immediately. Slaves were denied education. Mister Auld said if slaves could read they would rebel and run away.
Sophia Auld stopped teaching Frederick to read. But he learned to read from white boys he met in the city. The boys also told Frederick he had the right to be free.
VOICE ONE:
Mister Auld sent Frederick to work for a poor farmer, Edward Covey, who beat him often. In eighteen thirty-six, Frederick made an attempt to escape. But he failed and was arrested. He was sent back to the home of Hugh and Sophia Auld home in Baltimore.
He met and fell in love with a free black woman named Anna Murray. Miz Murray had a job cleaning other people’s homes. She gave Frederick money to help him escape by getting on a train to New York City.
VOICE THREE:
"My free life began on the third of September, eighteen thirty-eight. On the morning of the fourth of that month, I found myself in the big city of New York, a free man. For the moment the dreams of my youth and the hopes of my manhood where completely fulfilled. The bonds that held me to “old master” were broken. No man now had the right to call me his slave or try to control me."
VOICE TWO:
When Frederick Bailey reached New York he changed his name to Frederick Douglass to hide his identity from slave capturers. Anna Murray joined him and they were married. They settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts and had five children.
Frederick Douglass became one of the most important leaders of the abolitionist movement to end slavery in the United States.
In eighteen forty-one, he attended the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society meeting in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Douglass was unexpectedly asked to give a speech to describe his experiences as a slave. He had not prepared a speech but he spoke to the huge gathering of people anyway. Most of the supporters were white. He spoke with great emotion in a deep and powerful voice. The crowd praised him.
VOICE ONE:
After that speech, The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society asked Douglass to travel to cities throughout the North. He continued to tell about his cruel and oppressive life as a slave. He told how slave owners beat slaves everyday. How slaves were given very little food to eat. How they worked all day in the fields during dangerously hot weather. How they slept on cold floors and had very little clothing.
Many who heard his story challenged its truthfulness. They refused to believe that Frederick Douglass was ever a slave. Instead, they thought he was an educated man who created the entire story.
In eighteen forty-four, Douglass began writing his life’s story. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave" was published the following year. He later published expanded versions of his book.
VOICE TWO:
Frederick Douglass wrote his first book partly to prove that he had lived through the horrible situations he described in his speeches. He was asked to speak at the Independence Day celebration in Rochester, New York in eighteen fifty-two. He noted the differences of how blacks and whites considered Independence Day.
VOICE THREE:
”The purpose of this celebration is the Fourth of July. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom… This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may celebrate. I must mourn…What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him more than all other days in the year, the horrible discrimination and punishment to which he is the everyday victim…There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States at this very hour."
VOICE ONE:
In eighteen sixty-one the American Civil War began. Frederick Douglass and many others saw slavery as the cause of the war. Douglass wanted blacks to be permitted to join the Union Army. However, Northern whites, including President Abraham Lincoln, were against it. They said black soldiers would harm the spirit of white soldiers. They believed black soldiers were not intelligent.
Two years later, blacks were permitted to join the Union Army, but they were not treated as soldiers. Although they showed bravery they were given less important jobs. Douglass met with President Lincoln in Washington to discuss the issue. Douglass urge that black soldiers be treated equal to white soldiers. Although President Lincoln agreed, he said there could be no immediate change.
VOICE TWO:
In eighteen sixty-five, the Civil War ended. The Union forces had defeated the South. A few months later President Lincoln was killed. And later that year, slavery was ended.
Frederick Douglass went on to hold several positions in the government, including United States Marshall of the District of Columbia. He never stopped his efforts to gain equality for all people. Historians say Douglass gave two thousand speeches and wrote thousands of articles and letters. His work as an activist also included women’s rights. On February twentieth, eighteen ninety-five, he gave a speech at the National Council of Women. Later that day, he returned to his home in Washington and died of heart failure at the age of seventy-eight.
Frederick Douglass ended his "book My Bondage, My Freedom" with these words:
VOICE THREE:
"I shall labor in the future as I have labored in the past, to work for the honorable, social, religious, and intellectual position of the free colored people; while Heaven lends me ability, to use my voice, my pen or my vote to support the great and most important work of the complete and unconditional freedom of my entire race."