Respect where it's due: BM/WW IR in History

Webmaster, every effort must be made to preserve this outstanding thread. I wish there was movies made of each of the stories here. Untold stories of magnificent dimensions in the human spirit.

 

Wow. And I thought Quincy was my idol because we both love music so much.

Props.:smt023

 

Attaining Respect Continues.....



Interracial couples on the rise, face challenges

From the North Texas Daily 2/27/2008; From Heather Wilson

In 1967 the United States had laws prohibiting interracial marriages, but four decades later, research shows that interracial dating is on the rise whether the country is ready for it or not.

Studies conducted at Cornell University in 2002 showed that during the '90s, 14 percent of 18 and 19 year olds were, or had been,

in an interracial relationship. By the year 2000, the statistics had risen to 20 percent for the same demographic. Researchers noted a similar trend among 34 and 35 year olds.

DeMarquis Hayes of the educational psychology faculty said he has noticed the trend among students on campus as well as an increased acceptance of it.

"Based on observation alone, younger people have become more receptive of interracial dating," Hayes said.

He also noted that the South, which has a longer history of racism, is catching onto this trend later than other regions of the U.S.

It is not uncommon to see interracial couples walking hand-in-hand on campus or around the Denton community, and although evidence proves interracial dating is on the rise, many say they still face the disapproval of strangers, friends and family members.

Among these students are Kimberly Whalen, a white female and senior from Okinawa, Japan, and her boyfriend Kartey Agbottah, a black male, Irving junior and starting corner back for the NT football team.

"I come from a military family who lived mostly overseas and has a wide acceptance of all nationalities," Whalen said. "When I relocated to NT, that's when I realized that although you see mixed couples everywhere, people still are not as accepting as they could be."

She said that, in her opinion, interracial relationships are more challenging for females than for males.

Whalen has been the victim of staring and judgmental slurs by others and said it is most common for her to hear people asking why her boyfriend is with her, how he could ever fall for a "white girl" and that he could do much better.

"One black girl bumped into me once while I was with my boyfriend and told me that she's 'tired of seeing white girls taking our men,'" Whalen said.

She said that while these judgmental comments were painful, they have strengthened their relationship in the long run.

Arlington junior Tyamesheia Young, a black female who has been dating an Asian male for the past two years, said she disagrees with black females who are judgmental of interracial relationships.

She has encountered similar situations with women of both black and Asian descent.

"Everywhere me and my boyfriend used to go, there were always Asian women turning their noses up at us and black girls would even have the nerve to stare," Young said. "But, surprisingly enough, the worst judgment came from the one person I least expected - his mother."

Young said the color of her skin kept her boyfriend's mother from accepting her from the start.

"Every time I would try to have a conversation with his mother she would look the other way or just ignore me altogether," Young said.

The ridicule did not stop there.

His extended family, whom she never had a chance to meet, expressed their disapproval of her via telephone long before she knew they existed.

"It saddens me to remember my boyfriend telling me that his grandfather, who is now deceased, went to his grave ashamed of his grandson all because of the color of my skin," she said.

Terrell junior Gabriel Winzer has had slightly different experiences.

"I have a view that relationships alone are hard work," he said. "Then you include the interracial factor which gives it a 'times two' effect - this being due to the looks, slurs and comments that I receive all the time as a black male."

His social circle alone is enough to put a strain on their relationship.

Winzer spends most of his time with his Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers playing intramural sports, volunteering on campus and taking part in various social activities.

For the past year and a half he has maintained a relationship with a white student who spends the majority of her time working or in class.

In spite of their differences he is determined to make the relationship work.

"I feel that if you are passionate about something you will not let anything stop you," Winzer said.

Though he has applied this theory to every aspect of his life, this is the first time he has had to apply it to his significant other.

Young believes dating interracially is a learning experience, and said one will never know how people will react to them until they fall in love with someone of a different race.

She said she values strength in relationships and believes in persevering in spite of what others may think.

Despite their visible differences and the stress brought on by society's opinions and cultural differences, these couples say the love they share is what keeps them going.

 

Mr. Woods and Ms Nicolson applied for a wedding license 3 times before they were grated one to be married in 1949.

 

I read about that couple years back. It is the first time I had seen a photo of them.

 

Is it genetic?

I often wonder if my decidly skewed preference for Black Men came in my genetic makeup? Or, is it natural selection? All I know is that I can appreciate men of all races but Black Men just win out every time.

 

That might be part of it.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090525105435.htm

 

Hi Silvercosma.:smt057

All of a sudden love reappears here and now.


it's Geor'ge Dossou a special writter writting right thing on the Rail. Thin and real scene on my way on Life; I look like a being who's been naturally given endowment, or creation.
Endowment has been re -created. I had an accident I have been re-created , IMHO Wise LOVE.
Love is always re- created , for creation never dies.
That were people make love; I mean to lovers ,to re- create

Love is creation.

So we're here to create with love.
With Love,

 

Robert Smalls

(April 5, 1839–February 23, 1915)

Robert Smalls mother, Lydia, descended of slaves from Guinea, was born on Ashdale Plantation on Ladies’ (now Lady’s) Island, S.C. and worked there as a field hand. While still a child she was brought to Beaufort to work as a house slave by her owner, John K. McKee. Smalls was sired by a white man - perhaps their owner, or Moses Goldsmith, a wealthy Jewish merchant from Charleston. At 49 Lydia bore Robert, her only child, in a slave cabin in the back yard of the McKee house. In Smalls’ interview with the American Freedmen’s Inquiry Commission he stated that he was, relatively speaking, well treated during his time as a house slave.

At 12 Smalls was sent to Charleston to hire himself out for pay. Until he was 18 his owner received all but $1 of Smalls’ pay. He worked in the city as a waiter, lamplighter, stevedore, ship rigger and sailor. At 18, he negotiated his situation with his owner and thereafter retained all but $15 per month of his pay.

On December 24, 1856, Smalls, 17, married Hannah Jones, 32, a slave hotel maid. After their daughter, Elizabeth Lydia, was born Smalls entered a contract with their owner, Samuel Kingman, to buy his wife and child for $800. A son, Robert, Jr., was born in 1861.

Smalls was hired in 1861 as a deckhand on Planter, the transport steamer serving Brigadier General Roswell Ripley, commander of the Second Military District of South Carolina. Smalls later became its pilot. In the early morning hours of May 13, 1862, while the white crew was ashore, Smalls, then 23, commandeered Planter, loaded with armaments for the rebel forts. With his wife, children and 12 other slaves aboard he gave the correct whistle signal as he passed each rebel fort. He then sailed toward Onward, the nearest Union blockading ship.

As Onward prepared to fire on the approaching rebel ship, it raised the white flag of surrender. As Planter came alongside the Union ship, Smalls, elegantly dressed in a white shirt and dress jacket, raised his hat high in the air and shouted, “Good morning, sir! I have brought you some of the old United States’ guns, sir!”
Smalls was escorted to Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont, commander of the blockading squadron, and gave him Charleston newspapers, a rebel naval code book and information on the location of rebel troops. In a May 22, 1862, letter Admiral Du Pont wrote, “. . . The pilot is quite intelligent and gave some valuable information about the abandonment of Stono. . .”

Union press hailed Smalls as a national hero, calling the ship “the first trophy from Fort Sumter” and its crew “the plucky Africans.” A bill passed by Congress and signed by President Lincoln awarded prize money to Smalls and his associates.


Newspaper editorials citing Smalls’ gallantry shattered stereotypes about the capability of blacks. An editorial in the New York Daily Tribune said, “Is he not also a man - and is he not fit for freedom, since he made such a hazardous dash to gain it? . . . Is he not a man and a hero – whose pluck has not been questioned by even The Charleston Courier or The New York Herald? . . . What white man has made a bolder dash, or won a richer prize in the teeth of such perils during the war? . . . Perhaps [blacks are inferior to whites] but they seem to possess good material for improvement. Few white men have a better record than Robert Smalls.”


The report of the Secretary of the Navy in President Lincoln’s report to the 37th Congress states, “Stono River and Mosquito Inlet – From information derived chiefly from the contraband pilot, Robert Smalls, who had escaped from Charleston, Flag-Officer Du Pont, after proper reconnaissance, directed Commander Marchand to cross the bar with several gunboats and occupy Stono. The river was occupied as far up as Legareville, and examinations extended further, to ascertain the position of the enemies’ batteries. The seizure of Stono Inlet and river secured an important base for future operations, and was virtually a turning of the forces in Charleston harbor.”


In August 1862 two Union generals sent Smalls and missionary Mansfield French to Washington, D.C. to meet with Secretary of War Stanton and President Lincoln. Their request to recruit 5000 black troops was soon granted. Charismatic and articulate, Smalls was sent on a speaking tour of New York to raise support for the Union cause. There Smalls was presented an engraved gold medal by “the colored citizens of New York” for his heroism, his love of liberty and his patriotism.


On April 7, 1863, Smalls was pilot of the ironclad Keokuk during a failed Union attack on Fort Sumter. Struck 19 times at or below waterline, Keokuk sank the following morning, moments after the crew was rescued. On December 1, 1863, after an act of bravery under fire, Smalls became the first black captain of a vessel in the service of the United States. Smalls’ daughter, Sarah Voorhees, was born on the same date.

Taught to read and write by tutors, after the war Smalls became a major general in the South Carolina militia and a state legislator. He participated in drafting the constitution of the state in which he had been a slave. He was the most powerful black man in South Carolina for five decades. ​

Robert Smalls served five terms as a U.S. Congressman during Reconstruction. For nearly 20 years he served as U. S. Collector of Customs in Beaufort, S.C., where he lived as owner in the house in which he had been a slave.

Info taken from robertsmalls.org

 

Omar Wasow



Omar Wasow

(born 1970) is an internet analyst who appears frequently on radio and television. Wasow tutored Oprah Winfrey in her first exploration of the Net in the 12-part series Oprah Goes Online. He is co-founder and strategic advisor for the social networking website BlackPlanet.com.
Wasow's father has German Jewish heritage, and his mother is African-American.
In 1995, Wasow was proclaimed by Newsweek as one of the "fifty most influential people to watch in cyberspace." In 2003, Wasow appeared in an Apple, Inc ad (Then Apple Computer, Inc) discussing their latest operating system at the time Mac OS X v10.3 Panther. Wasow is currently working on his doctorate at Harvard University in African-American Studies and political science.
Wasow is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in New York City and Stanford University in California

Life's Work

Omar Wasow has created a cyberspace community that transcends the usual boundaries separating urban dwellers. Subscribers to his innovative New York Online [NYO], launched in 1994, participate in forums to share opinions about city budget cuts and their favorite views of the city from its elevated trains; they also have access to local alternative publications on-line and cultural-event calendars. Still in his twenties and possessing the fervent global vision common to the well-educated and well-traveled, Wasow aimed to create a forum that echoed the most wonderful, most radical elements of his native New York's unique urban culture.


In doing so he has become one of the new breed of successful entrepreneurs in emerging technologies.
Wasow was born in December of 1970, in Nairobi, Kenya, where his parents were both teachers. The family later lived in Bangladesh, Australia, and Puerto Rico, among other exotic locales, but Wasow spent his formative adolescent years in New York City. There he attended the math-and-science-oriented Stuyvestant High School in Manhattan, and because of his mixed ancestry (one parent is African American, the other Jewish), he "grew up with the joy and anxiety of straddling two of NYC's most vibrant, troubled worlds," wrote Noah Green in the Village Voice.Green continued:


"A hacker of racial, not just digital, boundaries, he [Wasow] found solace in the neutral zone of the subways and the futurist promise of his old Commodore Vic-20," an early personal computer popular during the early 1980s. One evening, the high- schooler went to a party in New York's hip East Village neighborhood, where he met an odd bunch of artists and computer hackers brought together by their passion for computer technology; they traded stories and software disks. Those regular get-togethers would serve as the impetus for Wasow's online service years later.

Info taken from Wiki & Info.com

 

Mary Seacole

Mary Seacole was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1805. Her father was a Scottish army officer and her mother a free black woman who ran a boarding house in Kingston. Mary's mother also treated people who become ill. She was a great believer in the herbal medicines. These medicines were based on the knowledge of slaves brought from Africa. This knowledge was passed on to Mary and later she also become a 'doctress'.
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In 1850 Kingston was hit by a cholera epidemic. Mary Seacole, using herbal medicines, played an important role in dealing with this disease. She also dealt successfully with a yellow fever outbreak in Jamaica. Her fame as a medical practitioner grew and she was soon carrying out operations on people suffering from knife and gunshot wounds.


Mary loved travelling and as a young woman visited the Bahamas, Haiti and Cuba. In these countries she collected details of how people used local plants and herbs to treat the sick. On one trip to Panama she helped treat people during another cholera epidemic. Mary carried out an autopsy on one victim and was therefore able to learn even more about the way the disease attacked the body.


In 1853 Russia invaded Turkey. Britain and France, concerned about the growing power of Russia, went to Turkey's aid. This conflict became known as the Crimean War.
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Soon after British soldiers arrived in Turkey, they began going down with cholera and malaria. Within a few weeks an estimated 8,000 men were suffering from these two diseases. At the time, disease was a far greater threat to soldiers than was the enemy. In the Crimean War, of the 21,000 soldiers who died, only 3,000 died from injuries received in battle.


When Mary Seacole heard about the cholera epidemic she travelled to London to offer her services to the British Army. There was considerable prejudice against women's involvement in medicine and her offer was rejected. When The Times publicised the fact that a large number of British soldiers were dying of cholera there was a public outcry, and the government was forced to change its mind. Florence Nightingale, who had little practical experience of cholera, was chosen to take a team of thirty-nine nurses to treat the sick soldiers.


Although Mary Seacole was an expert at dealing with cholera, her application to join Florence Nightingale's team was rejected. Mary, who had become a successful business woman in Jamaica, decided to travel to the Crimea at her own expense. She visited Florence Nightingale at her hospital at Scutari but once again Mary's offer of help was refused. Unwilling to accept defeat, Mary started up a business called the British Hotel, a few miles from the battlefront. Here she sold food and drink to the British soldiers. With the money she earned from her business Mary was able to finance the medical treatment she gave to the soldiers.


Whereas Florence Nightingaleand her nurses were based in a hospital several miles from the front, Mary Seacole treated her patients on the battlefield. On several occasions she was found treating wounded soldiers from both sides while the battle was still going on. After the war ended in 1856 Mary Seacole returned to England. She hoped to work as a nurse in India but she was unable to raise the necessary funds. Mary Seacole died in London on May 14,1881.

Taken from spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk

 

Fantastic info.

 

A separate site needs to be creatred

 

i respectfully disagree...this needs to be here to remind all of us about those that came before us...the ones who paved the way...for as much fun as we have around here...we do so because of relationships that were forged many years ago...we live in very carefree times...we are fortunate that we can choose to be with whom we want...i wish it was required reading for every person that joins the forum...

this thread is a far cry from your lunch conversations at work reggie...it kinda puts things in perspective...doesn't it?

 

lol

 

Silly woman what men say among each other is all measuring of dick size i already told you that its truth that is twisted and i posted it for humor my dear especially it was geared towards the men that is why I posted it in the men locker room my opinionated white tigress.

Now on to the topic i said we should create a separate site for expanding the information to push to know more on IR unions globally betwen BMand WW .
I wish i would of said that earlier before your remark but its all good all is forgiven .
But I do agree as well it should be left here on this thread as well as a beckon to all those who follow these people footsteps ,so you have a point as well my dear lippy.

 

Big Ups to KimboSlice on this entry...



Narrative Essay

Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), an African American mathematician and amateur astronomer, calculated ephemeredes for almanacs for the years 1792 through 1797 that were widely distributed.


On Nov. 9, 1731, Benjamin Banneker was born in Baltimore County, Md. He was the son of an African slave named Robert, who had bought his own freedom, and of Mary Banneky, who was the daughter of an Englishwoman and a free African slave. Benjamin lived on his father's farm and attended a nearby Quaker country school for several seasons. He received no further formal education but enjoyed reading and taught himself literature, history, and mathematics. He worked as a tobacco planter for most of his life.​

In 1761, at the age of 30, Banneker constructed a striking wooden clock without having seen a clock before that time, although he had examined a pocket watch. The clock operated successfully until the time of his death.​

At the age of 58 Banneker became interested in astronomy through the influence of a neighbor, George Ellicott, who lent him several books on astronomy as well as a telescope and drafting instruments. Without further guidance or assistance, Banneker taught himself the science of astronomy; he made projections for solar and lunar eclipses and computed ephemeredes (tables of the locations of celestial bodies) for an almanac.​

In February 1791 Maj. Andrew Ellicott was appointed to survey the 10-mile square of the Federal Territory for a new national capital, and Banneker worked in the field as his scientific assistant for several months. After the base lines and boundaries had been established and Banneker had returned home, he prepared an ephemeris for the following year, which was published in Baltimore in Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of Our Lord, 1792; Being Bissextile, or Leap-Year, and the Sixteenth Year of American Independence, which commenced July 4, 1776.​

Banneker forwarded a manuscript copy of his calculations to Thomas Jefferson, then secretary of state, with a letter rebuking Jefferson for his proslavery views and urging the abolishment of slavery of the African American, which he compared to the enslavement of the American colonies by the British crown. Jefferson acknowledged Banneker's letter and forwarded the manuscript to the Marquis de Condorcet, the secretary of the Academie des Sciences in Paris. The exchange of letters between Banneker and Jefferson was published as a separate pamphlet and given wide publicity at the time the first almanac was published. The two letters were reprinted in Banneker's almanac for 1793, which also included "A Plan for an Office of Peace," which was the work of Dr. Benjamin Rush.



The abolition societies of Maryland and Pennsylvania were largely instrumental in the publication of Banneker's almanacs, which were widely distributed as an example of the work of an African American that demonstrated the equal mental abilities of the races.​

The last known issue of Banneker's almanacs appeared for the year 1797, because of diminishing interest in the antislavery movement; nevertheless, he prepared ephemeredes for each year until 1804. He also published a treatise on bees and computed the cycle of the 17-year locust.​

Banneker never married. He died on Oct. 9, 1806, and was buried in the family burial ground near his house. Among the memorabilia preserved was his commonplace book and the manuscript journal in which he had entered astronomical calculations and personal notations.​

Banneker's memory was kept alive by writers who described his achievements as the first African American scientist. Recent studies have verified Banneker's status as an extremely competent mathematician and amateur astronomer.

Taken from africawithin.com

 

Known as “the baby genius of the Harlem Renaissance,” Philippa Duke Schuyler was a child prodigy who became quite famous for her youthful accomplishments as a composer and pianist. By the time she was four years old, Schuyler was a skilled pianist; by five she was performing Mozart before audiences in concert halls. When she was six, she was touring to perform her own compositions; in 1940, at the age of eight, she performed for thousands of visitors at the New York World’s Fair. She was ten when she became the youngest member of the National Association of American Composers and Conductors. To satisfy popular interest, magazines and newspapers including the New Yorker, Time Magazine, and the New York Times, included lengthy features outlining her achievements.

Schuyler’s parents, too, were well-known figures in the Harlem Renaissance. Her father, George Schuyler, was a prominent and controversial African-American journalist. Her mother, Josephine Cogdell, a white woman, was a painter and writer. Both believed strongly in the theory of hybrid vigor and felt that children produced by interracial unions would inherit the strengths of both races and that ultimately mixed-race Americans would resolve the country’s racial tensions. Schuyler’s parents dedicated themselves to her success: Josephine Cogdell coached her daughter, pushed her to work hard, and acted as her agent; George Schuyler promoted Philippa Duke Schuyler in his newspaper columns and actively sought recognition for her successes in the white press. In an effort to keep her from becoming self-conscious, Schuyler’s parents didn’t allow her to see any of the considerable media attention she received. Nevertheless, both parents promoted Schuyler as an interracial role model and as proof of the theory of hybrid vigor.

Though Schuyler briefly fascinated the nation as a mulatto child prodigy, white America lost interest in her as she aged. As a teenager, she began to suffer the injustices and humiliation of racial prejudice. Unable to find a place for herself in the American music community, Schuyler left the country. Her extensive international performance schedule allowed her to explore the dynamics of race in a variety of cultures and settings. She struggled to find a comfortable community and to create a satisfying personal identity. Her failure to do so led to almost constant traveling for the rest of her life. Though she feared she would never feel completely accepted anywhere, she continued to seek a society she could join fully. In Adventures in Black and White, a memoir of her experiences traveling worldwide, Schuyler wrote:

Despite the turmoils, threats, hazards, uncertainties, of this age, I love it, for I realize all human eras have been fraught with problems. I admire the people who are doing their best to shape a new world. I think there is great hope for the human race, and I feel a deep warmth of affection for all peoples, everywhere.

As a result of her sense of alienation from her native country and in response to the neglect she suffered in the American music community, as a young woman Schuyler changed her name to Felipa Monterro and began to pass as white. She hoped her new identity would free her from being defined by her earlier career. She planned to return to the United States and pursue a new career as a concert pianist. Though this never worked out, as Felipa Monterro she established an international lecture tour, talking on topics related to her world travel.

Though she never gave up performing concerts, as an adult Schuyler also worked as a journalist. Fluent in several languages, she wrote for French, Portuguese, and Italian newspapers, as well as American papers and magazines. She authored several moderately successful books based on her experiences covering international news. It was, in fact, while she was covering the war in Vietnam for an American newspaper that she was killed in a helicopter crash. A posthumous book, Good Men Die, collected her writings about Vietnam.

Info taken from yale.edu

 

never heard of her...

as usual

which is why you must not accept that you can only learn, in a structured classroom

 

Malik True, you have educated us all. Thank you.