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Marching
to a Different Drummer
Unrecognized Heroes of American History
By Robin Kadison Berson
Robin Kadison Berson is
Director of the Upper School Library of Riverdale Country School
in New York City. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, she was a
Woodrow Wilson Fellow at New York University, here she received
a Master of Arts degree in history; she holds a Master of
Science degree from Columbia University of Library Service. She
has taught secondary school history in a variety of settings,
and spent seven years as managing Editor of History of
Education Quarterly.
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Profiling 35 reformers and activists prominent in American history from the
eighteenth to the twentieth century, the author says her work is "a
celebration of the maladjustment that has, small increments at a time, moved
American society closer to the ideals we are proud to profess." Many of
these individuals are familiar only to students of the discipline. They include
such figures as Sara Josephine Baker, George Washington Cable, Florence Kelley,
and Rose Schneiderman. Berson says her selection of subjects was based "not
on material success or achievements (of the subjects), but on the breadth and
quality of the vision that animated these lives."
Reviews
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Tillson, former Confederates, and other racists did not want
the freedmen and especially Tunis G. Campbell to succeed in
their experiment of self-government. There plot was to undermine
and reverse the program set in operation General
William T. Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who
had met with 20 of Savannah's black clergy on Jan. 12, 1865, to
discuss how to help blacks make the transition from slavery to
freedom. Sherman and Stanton mulled over
the response and four days later Sherman issued Special
Field Orders, No. 15., promising all blacks 40 acres of Low
Country property and a military mule. General
Rufus Saxton, director of the South Carolina Freedmen's Bureau implemented
the program, settling over 40,000 blacks on 40-acre tracts.
Tunis Campbell
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With a solid background in Greek, Latin, and upper math, Anna
won easily admittance into Oberlin College in Ohio, located near
Lake Erie. One of the first integrated secondary schools in the
country, Oberlin, founded by abolitionist and free thinkers, was
the first college to admit both blacks and women. Anna was
exceedingly prepared for the rigor of Oberlin. . . .
In 1884, Anna received her undergraduate degree
and
then secured a position at Wilberforce University and during the
summer sessions earned an A.M. in mathematics from Oberlin. To
be near her mother and family, Anna in 1885 returned for a year
to St. Augustine. In 1887 she was employed to teach math and
Latin at Washington High School (later named the M Street High
School) in the nation's capital. In 1901, Cooper became principal of M Street High
School.
Anna Julia Cooper
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Mary White Ovington (1865-1951)
John Swett Rock
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Table of Contents
-- Acknowledgments
-- Introduction
-- Subject Lists
-- William Apess
-- Sara Josephine Baker
-- Smedley Butler
-- George Washington Cable
-- Tunis Campbell
-- Luisa Capetillo
-- Edward Coles
-- Anna Julia Cooper
-- Angie Debo
-- John Lovejoy Elliott
-- Elizabeth Freeman
-- Laura Haviland
-- Thomas Hazard
-- Lugenia Hope
-- Myles Horton
-- Jovita Idar
-- Florence Kelley
-- Thomas Kennedy
-- Susette La Flesche
-- Lucy Laney
-- Benjamin Lay
-- Belva Lockwood
-- Seth Luther
-- Vito Marcantonio
-- Tanya Nash
-- Mary Ovington
-- Jeannette Rankin
-- John Rock
-- Ernestine Rose
-- Rose Schneiderman
-- Tye Leung Schulze
-- David Walker
-- George White
-- Carola Woerishoffer
-- Minoru Yasui
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George Henry White
Lugenia Hope
1871-1947 |
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Months before Cornwallis surrendered to Washington at
Yorktown in October 1781, Elizabeth, known commonly as
Bett or MumBet, began her own social revolution in the
household of her mistress, Hannah Ashley, and the state
of Massachusetts.
Hannah Ashley attempted to strike Lizzie with a heated
kitchen shovel; Elizabeth "interposed her arm, and received
the blow; and she bore the honorable scar it left to the day of
her death" (Berson, 109). Disturbed by her mistress
outrageous behavior, Elizabeth consulted the lawyer Theodore
Sedgwick and cited the revolutionary doctrine of equality.
Elizabeth Freeman
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Lucy entered the first class of
Atlanta University in 1869 at the age of 15. After graduation from Atlanta
University, Laney began a lifelong career as an educator and the
founder of numerous institutions for the uplift of freedmen and
their children. She taught first, for ten years, in the
public schools of Savannah, Macon, and Milledgeville. Much of her
efforts were curtailed by the reactionary phases of Reconstruction
and post Reconstruction Georgia. . . . Believing that she could provide a higher standard of
education than Georgia's public schools for Negroes, Lucy Laney
decided to open her own school with the encouragement of the Christ
Presbyterian Church, USA, and chose the city of Augusta which provided no
schools for black children. Various Negro aid societies
provided some funds. The school opened on January 6, 1883 in the basement
of the Christ Presbyterian Church (10 and Telfair Street), starting with
five children, Laney had within a couple of years over 200
students enrolled in her school. Lucy Laney
Published by Greenwood Press. Westport
Connecticut. 1994
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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updated
22 October 2007 / updated 8 April 2008
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