Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.

Why is legacy so important?

Clarence Still, a local New Jersey historian and descendant of abolitionist William Still, spent his lifetime answering this question.

In 1989, Still worked diligently to stop real estate developers from tearing down the Peter Mott House, a station on the Underground Railroad. Then the home was no more than a crumbling wooden structure that was in the way of development. But for Still, it was an important part of telling the story of African-American resistance to slavery in the 18th Century.

Today, the home is a museum. For the past eleven years, Still and other members of the Lawnside Historical Society worked to preserve and maintain the Peter Mott House. The Lawnside Historical Society has also worked to preserve the legacy of Lawnside, the state's oldest African-American incorporated municipality.

And every year, Still hosted the Still Family Reunion--bringing William Still's descendants together from all over the United States.

Still passed away on Friday in his home. However, Still's legacy as a historian and preserver of African-American history lives on.

Suggested Reading

Lawnside Historical Society

The Underground Railroad by William Still

May 2

1844: Inventor Elijah McCoy, also known as the "Real McCoy," is born in Ontario, Canada. An inventor, McCoy owned patents to fifty inventions that enhanced the running of many engine-operated machines.

1920: The National Negro Baseball League plays its first game in Indianapolis.

May 3

1845: Macon B. Allen becomes the first African-American allowed to practice law in the United States after he passed the Massachusetts bar. In 1873, Allen was appointed to a judgeship in South Carolina.

May 4

1891: Provident Hospital, the first integrated hospital in the United States is founded by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. Located in Chicago, Provident Hospital becomes a training ground for African-American doctors and nurses.

1961: The thirteen Freedom Riders begin traveling through the South on buses to assess Southern compliance with the 1960 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed segregation in interstate transportation facilities.

May 5

1865: Baptist minister and community activist Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. is born. Under his tutelage, Abyssinian Baptist Church becomes the largest Protestant congregation in the United States.

1905:

Using a collection of articles from other news publications and his own reporting, Robert S. Abbott publishes the first issue of the Chicago Defender.

May 6

1787: Prince Hall establishes the first African-American Masonic Lodge in Boston.

1812: Pan-Africanist Martin R. Delay is born in Charles Town, Va.

May 7

1950: Poet Gwendolyn Brooks is awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

May 8

1858: Prominent abolitionist and writer, William Wells Brown, publishes the first play by an African-American. Entitled "Escape," the play emphasizes the complex feeling of being American.

1925 The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters is founded by Asa Philip Randolph.

Today is the last day of National Poetry Month and I've decided to end with a discussion of one of my favorite poems, "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Published six years before W.E.B. Du Bois coined the term "double consciousness," Dunbar's poem evokes the feelings of African-Americans desiring true citizenship in a country that was consistently creating barriers that would hinder their inclusion in society.

My favorite lines of the poem are "With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,/And mouth with myriad subtleties." In my opinion, these lines show not only the emotional distress associated with being African-American at the height of the Jim Crow Era but also the perseverance to achieve greatness in United States' society.

What is your favorite Dunbar poem?

Suggested Reading

"We Wear the Mask"

W.E.B. Du Bois

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Booker T. Washington once said, "an inch of progress is worth a yard of complaint."

Throughout Washington's career, he countered with much opposition from men such as William Monroe Trotter and W.E.B. Du Bois who felt that he was not doing enough to fight for an immediate end of racism and segregation in the United States.

Yet, Washington also had the support of working class African-Americans in the South who benefited greatly from his advocacy of industrial education. But most interesting to me, was his close relationship with white philanthropists and politicians. I have often wondered if Washington's philosophy of promoting education and entrepreneurship in lieu of racial equality was in the best interest of African-Americans during this time period. I still don't have an answer.

What do you think? Was Washington right to argue that African-Americans should prove their worth before gaining equal rights? Do you think he really believed in this philosophy or, was it a means to an end?

Suggested Reading

W.E.B. Du Bois

Progessive Era

African-Americans and the Progressive Era

William Monroe Trotter