“I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done in my body just as much as a man, I have a right to have as much as a man.”

#OnThisDay, 9 May 1867, Sojourner Truth addresses the American Equal Rights Association, arguing for equal rights for Black women.

Read a brief history of Truth’s life: https://wams.nyhistory.org/a-nation-divided/antebellum/sojourner-truth/

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #EqualRights #BlackAmericanHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons

Thurs, May 8 at 6 pm in the Gawain Family Outdoor Theater at York School: Ben Jealous, Monterey County native and currently executive director of Sierra Club. Event is free and open to the public. - Report by Agata Popęda, #MontereyCountyNow https://www.montereycountynow.com/blogs/opinion_blog/prominent-civil-rights-activist-ben-jealous-returns-to-his-alma-mater-for-a-discussion-on/article_3a3800e0-84d8-4bd9-b07d-f5202f41c79e.html

Our #transportation advisory: York School is off Highway 68, which we personally bike on frequently but as brief a distance as possible (high-speed traffic, no bike lane). Carpooling encouraged. (TMK, and it’s a Catch 22: Due to heavy traffic on CA SR 68, making it nearly impossible to keep to a schedule, it’s just not feasible for Monterey Salinas Transit to provide bus service.)

Speaking of Hwy 68: We’re about to make yet another report to #Caltrans about more broken car parts not cleared from the shoulder. (Sigh. Not unusual, e.g., https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/113709985426108972.) Where to report: https://csr.dot.ca.gov/

#CivilRights #BlackStudentUnion #MontereyCounty #YorkSchool #BlackAmericanHistory #UShistory #BenJealous #SierraClub

Countless #BlackAmericans had openly opposed the #VietnamWar. As early as 1965, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee produced a statement that unequivocally lambasted the war, and said that no Black American should “fight in Vietnam for the white man's freedom, until all the Negro people are free in Mississippi."

Still, thanks to the draft's implicit #RacialBias , Black Americans disproportionately served in Vietnam. This is largely because then-college students — the majority of whom were white men — could defer enlistment. As such, the burden of enlistment fell more on non-college educated men, particularly non college-educated #BlackMen. As a result, by 1967, 64 percent of all eligible Black American males had been drafted. Only 31 percent of eligible white men had.

Photo from Life Magazine archives.

#BlackAmericanHistory #SystematicRacism #WhitePrivilege #USA #KKKAmerica #MilitaryDraft #RacistUSA #AsianMastodon #StopAllWars #WarIsHell

The Cheif Sam Back-to-Africa Movement

Alfred "Chief" Sam inspired 100s of African American Oklahomans to follow him back to Africa, telling tales of the Gold Coast (present day Ghana) and it's riches. In 1913, holding large camp-style meetings, Sam sold $25 worth of stock in his Trading Company which would retain passage for the whole family to Africa. Sam claimed he had access to land where the group could settle. Hundreds of Oklahoma families not only purchased the stock but sold their possessions to take the trip.

Chief Sam raised enough money to purchase an old German steamer, in New York which he renamed 'The Liberia'. Meanwhile around 600 of Sam's followers gathered in Galveston Texas to meet the ship. In June 1914 the Liberia arrived in Galveston and on August 20, 1914, 60 delegates were chosen from the 100s gathered in Texas for the first trip to Africa.

When the group finally reached the Gold Coast, they were warmly welcomed. However, Life in Africa was not how they had imagined . Many suffered and perished from illness, and most believed they had been misled as local law prohibited American ownership of land. Many of the travelers headed back to Oklahoma. A 2nd voyage to Africa never took place and those awaiting the return of the Liberia to Galveston were left stranded.

Pictured here are 3 of the men who applied for emergency passports to take them home. Grant Crigler, Mose Davis + Boldin Taylor. Crigler + Davis resettled permanently in Oklahoma. Taylor eventually returned to and settled in Liberia.

The final photo is of Sam himself.

#cheifsam #cheifsambacktoafricamovement #backtoafricamovement #oklahoma #oklahomahistory #africa #goldcoast #ghana #africanamericanhistory #blackamericanhistory #history #americanhistory #alfredsam

“I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done in my body just as much as a man, I have a right to have as much as a man.”

#OnThisDay, 9 May 1867, Sojourner Truth addresses the American Equal Rights Association, arguing for equal rights for Black women.

Read a brief history of Truth’s life: https://wams.nyhistory.org/a-nation-divided/antebellum/sojourner-truth/

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #EqualRights #BlackAmericanHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons