Primary Sources, Black History

Marlene Rivero portrays York's mother, whose son was the African-American Guide on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The painting is a self portrait as York's Mother Rose.Marlene Rivero developed her character in response to a Need to tell York's Story in 2003. The National Park Service first  saw  the program in Cairo, Illionois, and  it  has been seen by thosands of people between 2003-2006. It received honorable mention at the St louis, Mo. Marlene draws from the notes, songs, Costumes & spoken words she discovered while researching to tell of York's role in the L &  C Exp.   York was Clark’s childhood companion. He was enslaved.  He was devoted to William Clark. He was a guide on the expedition.  York had a great time on the expedition. He had, had his own rifle. He got to vote. He was a full member of the expedition. He had a, the Indians loved him.

Smart Hip Hop, CEO/Artist  Larry Lak

Melani N. Douglass is the Community Engagement Manager for Everyman Theatre - host of the Capacity Building Workshop presented by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. She was introduced to Everyman Theatre during her tenure as an Urban Arts Leadership Fellow while obtaining her MFA in Curatorial Practice from the Maryland Institute and College of Art. Douglass is also the founder of the Family Arts Museum - a nomadic, non-collecting institution that focuses on family as fine art, home as curated space and community as gallery. Her exhibition, Love on the Line: Stories of  a Baltimore Worth Living For was name as Best Pop-Up for Baltimore Magazine's 2015 Best of Baltimore list.  HUD Grant Writing and Capacity Building Training Wed, August 5, 2015 http://www.hud.gov/emarc/index.cfm?fuseaction=emar.registerEvent&eventId=2518&update=N Melani N. Douglass Urban Arts Leadership Program Fellow Education Department Everyman Theatre Baltimore, MD 21201 443.615.7055 x7133 www.everymantheat

Twelve Years A Slave, Solomon Northup descendant, Irene Zahos..Call To Action! Join The Gist of Freedom as we welcome Irene Zahos! Mrs. Zahos is promoting a CALL TO ACTION on behalf of Solomon Northup, her great, great grandfather. The Solomon Northup Legacy is initiating a campaign to have Solomon recognized for his activism role to end slavery. His book, Twelve Years a Slave, was a catalyst that prompted people in the mid 1800's to look at slavery  under the most extreme conditions of humanity and denigration of the human spirit. www.blackhistoryblog.com www.blackhistoryuniversity.com Solomon Northup upon his release and rescue from bondage became involved with the Underground Railroad acting as a conductor taking escaped slaves from Vermont into the freedom of Canada. He selflessly believed that "all men were created equal and that they should all; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  As we look at the

Join The Gist of Freedom, www.blackhistoryblog.com, as we welcome William Lambert's descendant Christina Streety-Napier! Lambert was a friend of radical abolitionist John Brown and, like the more militant abolitionist leader Henry Highland Garnet, Lambert called for the slaves to rise up against their masters. At times Lambert very publicly helped fugitive slaves escape to Windsor, Canada, which was just across the Detroit River from the city of Detroit. Lambert’s most famous incident occurred in 1847, when he had the owner of fugitive slave Robert Cromwell thrown in jail so that Cromwell could escape to Canada by boat. Abolitionist and civil rights activist William Lambert was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1817, the son of a manumitted father and a freeborn mother. As a young man Lambert was educated by abolitionist Quakers. Twenty-three year old Lambert arrived in Detroit, Michigan in 1840 as a cabin boy on a steamboat, and eventually started a profitable tailoring and dry cleaning business. Upon his

Sermon - The Battle Is Not Yours~ Rev. Hilton Mount Olive Baptist Hackensack NJ

Listen to socio-political analyst Cleo Manago discuss, Two officers shot in Ferguson... Don't Shoot Them Down, Shut Them Down!  Two cops were shot in front of the Ferguson Police Department early Thursday. The shots were fired just as a small crowd of protesters began to break up after holding a demonstration in the wake of the resignation of the Ferguson police chief, who stepped down Wednesday. St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said one officer was shot in the face, just below his right eye, with the bullet lodging behind his ear. The other officer was hit in the shoulder, and the bullet came out his back. ------As the Department of Justice prepares to release its full report into the Ferguson Police Department and Municipal Court System, it is becoming increasingly clear that the entire Ferguson Police Department may be forced to shut down. Local authorities consistently approached law enforcement not as a means for protecting public safety, but as a way of generating revenue,” Holder said, addi

Brain Awareness Day! SYNAPTIK FOUNDATION. Come out to The Learning Tree at 801 Bartholdi Street in the Bronx this Saturday from 1-5pm for Pi and Brain Awareness Day. LavonneHunter@gmail.com Listen and learn more about Brain Awareness Day on The Gist of Freedom   Www.blogTalkRadio.com/blackhistory Saturday March 14th SYNAPTIK FOUNDATION. Come out to The Learning Tree at 801 Bartholdi Street in the Bronx this Saturday from 1-5pm for Pi and Brain Awareness Day.   The most complex object in the known universe, the brain, only uses 20 watts of power. It would require a nuclear power plant to energize a computer the size of a cit block to mimic your brain.  Brain Awareness Day! LavonneHunter@gmail.com Lavonne Hunter earned a dual BA in Psychology and Special Honors Curriculum, and MS in Secondary Adolescent Education in Biological Sciences from Hunter College. Trained as a research scholar in neurobiology, Ms. Hunter served as the Science Learning Coordinator of the Minority Access to Career (MARC) progra

Listen to The Gist of Freedom tonight as we talk with Jennifer Nelson a descendant of the historical black town, Boley OK. One of the first nationally chartered black-owned banks, Farmers and Merchants Bank in Boley, Oklahoma, an all-black town successfully fended off “Pretty Boy” Floyd’s Bank Robber's Gang!  ON NOVEMBER 23, 1932, three members of Charles A. “Pretty Boy” Floyd’s gang made the worst mistake of their lives. They tried to rob the state’s first nationally chartered black-owned bank Farmers and Merchants Bank in Boley, Ok, an all-black town of proud-walking pioneers. Up to that point, the Floyd gang had been robbing an average of a bank a week, usually without any resistance. Gangster Floyd  had warned his gang members against robbing the Boley bank because, the people of Boley all had guns, knew how to shoot them and weren't afraid to use them.  Photos: Boley Council Members, Boley Bank,  SEMINOLE NEGRO INDIAN SCOUTS _ They didn't heed Floyd's warning and Birdwell and Patterson, armed burst

100 Black Men In Law Enforcement 100 Black Men In Law Enforcement discuss the Brooklyn Nwe York police officers killed. Suspected shooter reportedly kills himself after shooting two officers inside their patrol car. 100 BLACKS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT WHO CARE 591 Vanderbilt Avenue, Suite 133, Brooklyn, NY 11238 (718) 455-9059 EMAIL: BlacksNLaw@aol.com Photo: 1929 Harlem Police officers listen ~ 1892, NYPD's First Black Patrolman, Moses P. Cobb with Senator Eric Adams, Co-Founder 100 Black Men in Law Enforcement! 

Black Historical Unsung heroes

Get Out The Vote with Activist Stella Antley!   This show is dedicated to the memory of Octavius Catto ~In 1871, during the the first election in which blacks could vote,  Octavius Catto was murdered by a Democratic party operative while canvassing for Republican candidates. On his way back from the polls, Catto, who had spearheaded a get-out-the-vote drive for black voters, was shot in the back by a political opponent. Catto’s funeral was the city’s largest to date. His assassination rallied his supporters in the Republican Party, which would dominate Philadelphia politics for the next 80 years, thanks in part to black support. Succeeding generations of African Americans named buildings and professional organizations after him. But by the middle of the 20th century, as the civil rights movement turned its attention to desegregating the South and ensuring housing equality in the North, Catto had become, as his graveside monument proclaims, a “Forgotten Hero.” As perhaps the only historical figure who has

The Ebola outbreak, please Join The Gist of Freedom, The Black History Internet Radio show in welcoming Sierra Leonean Hindowa Saidu! "On Thursday the World Health Organization said that more than 1,900 people have died in West Africa Ebola out break. There have been 3,500 confirmed probable cases in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. More than 40 percent of death have occurred in the last three weeks, the W.H.O. said, suggesting that the epidemic is fast out pacing effort to control it, In spite of all of these development Sierra Leoneans in the state of Massachusetts in America in few hours time will be taking on the principal streets of Boston in a walk against the Ebola out break in their country and region. This is to draw the attention of the American public and the rest of the world to the suffering of our people as international press houses have been invited to fully cover the event. May God cause his face to shine on the land that we love Sierra Leone." ~ Hindowa Saidu

Playwright Rickerby Hinds and NAACP Criminal Justice Chair Terry Taalib Major - Standing Up For Justice! Wednesday October 15, 6-9pm PCT Special performance of DREAMSCAPE Cesar Chavez Community Center Auditorium 2o60 University Ave. Riverside, CA Dreamscape depicts the true story of the death and inner life of a young woman, "Myeisha Mills," who dreams through the impact of the twelve bullets that killed her. Through beat-boxing, spoken word and dance, the performance is structured around an autopsy report recited by a dispassionate coroner following the trajectory and impact of the bullets – each one triggering its own unique memory.

Join The Gist of Freedom tonight as we welcome filmmaker, Thomas Allen Harris.  Inspired by Deborah Willis’ book, Reflections in Black, THROUGH A LENS DARKLY (Willis is also a co-producer) casts a broad net that begins with filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris’s family album. It considers the difference between black photographers who use the camera to define themselves, their people, and their culture and some white photographers who, historically, have demeaned African-Americans through racist imagery. The film embraces both historical material (African-Americans who were slaves, who fought in the Civil War, were victims of lynchings, or were pivotal in the Civil Rights Movement) and contemporary images made by such luminaries as Roy DeCarava, Gordon Parks, and Carrie Mae Weems. The film is a cornucopia of Americana that reveals deeply disturbing truths about the history of race relations while expressing joyous, life-affirming sentiments about the ability of artists and amateurs alike to assert their identity thr

Ron Westray -Live at Jazz at The Lincoln Center!  Ron talks about his latest CD Jimi Jazz, a tribute to Jimi Hendrix http://www.bluecanoerecords.com/jimi-jazz.html One of the most highly regarded trombonist of his generation, Ron Westray continues to expand upon the legacy set before him with his CD releases, "Jimi Jazz",  "Live From Austin" and "Medical Cures For The Chromatic Commands Of The Inner City". Professor Ron Westray’s professional contributions encompass a stunning list of achievements in the areas of performance, composition, recording, and publishing. Since the early nineties he has performed as trombonist or lead trombonist with the most prestigious jazz ensembles in the world, including the Mingus Big Band, New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, The Wynton Marsalis Septet, Irving Mayfield, The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, and the Marcus Roberts Ensemble, in hundreds of performances around the globe. 

Jennie Dean (1852-1913) Undaunted Faith~ Manassas Industrial School & Jennie Dean Memorial The most significant person in the founding of the school was Jane Serepta Dean. Dean was born into slavery in western Prince William County, Virginia around 1852. . Dean was a deeply religious woman Manassas Industrial School & Jennie Dean Memorial Tonight learn more about the school as  Dr. Phillip Merrill lectures on the Manassas School! ------------------ Tonight learn more about the school as  Dr. Phillip Merrill lectures on the Manassas School! Join Dr. Merrill September 19, 2014. 6:00 pm @ An Artifactual Journey of Nanny Jack & Co.in NYC  http://www.jackshainman.com/exhibitions/20th-street --------------- On the site of the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth, this five-acre park is now a park of remembrance for the school’s founder, former slave Jennie Dean. The outlines of the foundations of the original building are marked, and there is a model of the school and a kiosk with an

Tonight join The Gist of Freedom with host Roy Paul as we talk with the executive producer Walter Puryear, the director Michael Green and cast members of the dynamic play Black Wall Street!  Please Mark your calendar.. Black Wall Street is running at The Andrew Freedman Home, 1125 GrandCouse Bronx, NY starting Thursday September 18th thru Sunday October 5,204. This show is dedicated to the memory of one of the most prominent Tulsan killed in the Tulsa Massacre,  Dr. A.C. Jackson, a 40-year-old surgeon. BLACK WALL STREET   by Celeste Bedford Walker In 1921, in a small community in Tulsa Oklahoma, there was a Black paradise called Greenwood.  This community consisted of Blacks, Indians, and Jews, who respected and did business with each other. In time the town was soon known as Black Wall Street.  In a mere 36 block section of town, these African-Americans owned and operated up to 600 thriving businesses. One of the most popular of these businesses was Old Lady Boleys’,(fictional) an eating establishment whi

Tonight on The Gist of Freedom www.BlackHistoryUniversity.com, we'll talk with Jamel Robinson, founder of the Jamel Robinson Child Welfare Reform Initiative! ------ 1837-1915 Amanda Berry Smith devoted her life to the ministry of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Her most noted achievement is the opening of the first orphanage for black children in Illinois.  In 1899, the orphanage opened its doors to homeless African American girls. The 12-room brick house that served as the orphanage was the first of its kind in Illinois. The community at large was receptive to Smith’s evangelical message and supported the presence of the orphanage. By 1910, the building housed 33 children, up from 12 in 1900 In Harvey, Illinois, a suburb founded by temperance groups south of Chicago, Smith took up the duties of the national representative for the WCTU, and wrote her life’s story. An Autobiography: The Story of the Lord’s Dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith, the Colored Evangelist was published in 1893. Through

Tonight on The Gist of Freedom Join Historian Yul Anderson. He will explain the State of Black Studies and his statement below. "Black Studies program throughout American have been taken over by others from the Diaspora community such that African American studies becomes Diaspora study programs. Leadership of Black/Afro-American studies programs have morphed and lost interest in the origination of such programs and have now been commingled with Latin American Study, Caribbean studies, Haitian Studies, to the point that there is no longer a distinctive core of Black or African American study programs in America.  This has resulted in a tug of war of funding and resentment amongst African American Scholars who feel their distinctive turf has been invaded, as a result less funding for Black or African American studies programs exist. The Global media, while seeing the Africans influence and power in American as a result of Presidents Obama's African Summit now place more emphasis on African images rather than