Category: African American History

Edmonia's Statues

2/26/2021

Cheryl Harness
She’s historical!

Old Patent Office Building

Every year, many thousands of visitors to Washington DC make their way to the crossing of 8th and F Streets, to an enormous building with many columns. Once it was the US Patent Office Building. Now it’s the Smithsonian American Art Museum. And there, up on the third floor, those visitors might well admire a BIG statue of Egypt’s Cleopatra VII, at the moment when she was dying in the summer of 30 B.C. She was carved in Italy, out of snow-white marble.

When people first saw it in Philadelphia, in 1876, at America’s big 100th birthday party, they were so surprised to discover that the sculptor was a woman! Still more unusual, she was an African American. Her name was Mary Edmonia Lewis.

Her ancestors came from Africa, Haiti, and the Native American Ojibwa (or Chippewa) tribe. She grew up in western New York. With money her big brother made mining for gold out west, talented Edmonia went to Ohio’s Oberlin College, but not for long. Two white girls there lied, saying she tried to poison them, then a bunch of people beat her up. So her brother helped her settle in Boston, where she learned to sculpt. By age 20, Ms. Lewis had her own sculpture studio. She was so successful that she was able to leave racist, Civil War-torn America in 1865, to sculpt and study in Rome. When she heard the glorious news that the war was over and America’s slaves were emancipated, she celebrated by sculpting an African American man and woman, unchained.

In the years after she created her dying Cleopatra, both the artist and her masterpiece were lost to history. But now we know that Ms. Lewis ended her days in England, in 1907. Her Cleopatra wound up in Washington DC.

But there’s a little more to tell.

About the time Ms. Lewis left for Italy, President Abraham Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Ball was held, March 6, 1865, at the old Patent Office Building when it was new. Little did he know that, in about five weeks, he’d be mortally wounded over at Ford’s Theatre. Or that the building where he and his wife were dancing would be a treasure house of art, including a dying queen sculpted by a great African American artist.

Mary Edmonia Lewis (1844? ~ 1907)

Edmonia Lewis, The Death of Cleopatra, 1876, 63 x 31 ¼ x 46 inches.

Edmonia Lewis, Minnehaha, marble, 1868, one of several pieces based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem, "The Song of Hiawatha." Collection of the Newark Museum

Edmonia Lewis, Forever Free, 1867, 41 ¼ x 22” x 17 inches; Howard University collection, Washington DC

The multi-talented hands of Cheryl Harness create another winning combination of history, biography, and illustration in George Washington Carver and Science & Invention in America, the inspiring story of a man who rose from slavery to worldwide fame as America’s plant doctor. Cheryl Harness’ lively narrative follows Carver as he pioneers hundreds of new uses for plants and revolutionizes American agriculture. Her vivid illustrations are an invitation to step back in time and become an active participant in this compelling story.

MLA 8 Citation
Harness, Cheryl. "Edmonia's Statues." Nonfiction Minute, iNK Think Tank, 29 May
2018, www.nonfictionminute.org/the-nonfiction-minute/Edmonias-Statues.

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"We Shall Overcome": The Power of a Song

2/23/2021

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Amy Nathan
Stories that Surprise and Inspire

The song “We Shall Overcome” was an important part of the civil rights movement of the 1960's. It gave hope and courage to thousands of blacks and whites who protested peacefully against unfair treatment of African Americans. The song is easy to sing, but its words carry a powerful message. Here’s its main verse:

We shall overcome,

We shall overcome,

We shall overcome some day,

Oh, deep in my heart I do believe

We shall overcome some day.

      Often protestors faced hostile crowds, were arrested, or even beaten up when they took part in nonviolent demonstrations that called for all Americans—no matter their skin color—to have the same right to vote and be treated fairly in restaurants, stores, businesses, schools, buses, trains—and even amusement parks.

      Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a main leader of the civil rights movement, urged demonstrators not to fight back, no matter how badly they were treated. This song helped them do that. Holding hands and joining their voices in “We Shall Overcome” during demonstrations—or in jail—helped them feel they weren’t alone and that despite the danger, their efforts would lead to a better America.

      The protests did indeed lead to new laws being passed. The 1964 Civil Rights Law makes it illegal for any business that serves the public to discriminate against people because of race, religion, gender, or national origin. The 1965 Voting Rights Law outlaws rules that make it hard for blacks to vote.

      News about these nonviolent protestors—and their song—spread around the world. Before long, people protesting for fair treatment in other countries began singing “We Shall Overcome” in their own languages. It has been sung by demonstrators in such varied countries as India, Czechoslovakia, Romania, China, and Britain.

      While I was doing research for a book on civil rights, a man told me how the song helped him when he was surrounded by a hostile mob that hurled insults (and some rocks) during a 1963 demonstration at an amusement park that refused to let in blacks. When police arrived to arrest the protestors (not the stone thrower), the demonstrators held hands and sang the song as they walked through the mob to the police van. Their voices were shaky as they sang the verse “We are not afraid,” because they were very afraid, but the song gave them the courage to keep going.

Click here for source notes on this article.

Protesters at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, at which Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech.” Courtesy Library of Congress.

Amy Nathan is the author of Round and Round Together: Taking a Merry-Go-Round into the Civil Rights Movement, which tells the tale of the nearly ten years of protests that were needed to finally end segregation at an amusement park, placing the story of the park—and its merry-go-round—within the context of the civil rights movement as a whole. For more information on the book, click here.

MLA 8 Citation
Nathan, Amy. "'We Shall Overcome': The Power of a Song." Nonfiction Minute, iNK
Think Tank, 23 Feb. 2018, www.nonfictionminute.org/the-nonfiction-minute/
we-shal-overcome-the-power-of-a-song.

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The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement

2/22/2021

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Jim Whiting
The Running Encyclopedia

When seamstress Rosa Parks boarded a bus after work in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955, she had no idea she was about to make history.

At that time, Montgomery buses were strictly segregated. According to city law, whites had the right to the first few rows of seats. Under a long-standing custom, blacks had to give up their seats as additional whites boarded. So when that happened, the driver ordered Parks and three other blacks to move further back. The other three did. Parks didn’t. The driver repeated his order. Again Parks refused. She was arrested.

Years later, a legend grew up that she was tired from a long day on her feet. But as she explained, “No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

Black leaders, who had long shared her frustration, sensed an opportunity. They quickly formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and selected a young minister who had just moved to Montgomery as leader. His name was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Under his leadership, Montgomery blacks ordered a boycott of the bus system. They used many methods of alternate transportation, sometimes walking for an hour or even more. Despite whites’ burning of several churches and an explosion that destroyed Dr. King’s home, they persisted: day after day, week after week, month after month. Since blacks formed about 75 percent of the normal ridership, the loss of their fares began crippling the system. Finally, on December 20 the following year Montgomery repealed the law requiring segregated buses. The victory also catapulted Dr. King to national prominence.

Parks didn’t fare so well. She was fired from her job and received numerous death threats. She and her husband moved to Detroit.

Honors began pouring in. In 2000, Time magazine named Rosa Parks—often called the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement”—as one of the 100 most important people of the twentieth century.

Parks had another honor that year. In 1994, the white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan had announced a plan to clean up a portion of Highway I-55 near St. Louis, Missouri under the federal Adopt-a-Highway program. That meant signs would be posted to acknowledge the Klan’s “public service.” The Missouri Department of Transportation objected, but a series of court cases concluding in 2000 deemed the objection as unconstitutional. The state quickly responded by naming that portion of I-55 the Rosa Parks Freeway. The Klan never did clean it up.

Rosa Parks being fingerprinted. Library of Congress

A plaque entitled "The Bus Stop" at Dexter Ave. and Montgomery St.—the place Rosa Parks boarded the bus—pays tribute to her and the success of the Montgomery bus boycott. Wikimedia

Parks on a Montgomery bus on December 21, 1956, the day Montgomery's public transportation system was legally integrated. Behind Parks is a reporter covering the event.

Statue of Rosa Parks in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.

On the morning of December 1, 1955, hardly anyone in Rosa Parks s home town of Montgomery, Alabama had heard of her. By the time that night fell, she was on her way to becoming a household word all over the United States. Jim Whiting tells the story in his book What's So Great About Rosa Parks? For more information, click here.

MLA 8 Citation
Whiting, Jim. "The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement." Nonfiction Minute, iNK Think
Tank, 26 Feb. 2018, www.nonfictionminute.org/the-nonfiction-minute/
The-Mother-of-the-Civil-Rights-Movement.

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Sarah Keys Evans: An Early Pioneer for Justice

2/9/2021

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Amy Nathan
Stories that Surprise and Inspire

Sarah in her uniform as a member of the Women's Army corps. Courtesy of Sarah Keys Evans

Rosa Parks is famous for refusing to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. Buses were segregated there, with rules that made African Americans sit in the back. However, Rosa Parks wasn’t the first to protest against such unfair bus rules. Others had done so earlier, including Sarah Keys Evans, a young private in the United States Army who made her stand for justice three years before Rosa Parks.

In August 1952, Sarah was traveling home to North Carolina from Ft. Dix in New Jersey, where she was stationed. Early that summer morning, she boarded a bus in New Jersey—where buses weren’t segregated—and sat toward the middle of the bus. After midnight, the bus entered Roanoke Rapids, a town in North Carolina. Sarah’s hometown was farther south. A new bus driver took over the bus and ordered her to move to the back. When she didn’t, she was arrested. She had to spend the night in jail and pay a $25 fine the next morning. Police put her on another bus that took her the rest of the way home, forcing her to sit in the back.

        With the help of a young African American lawyer, Dovey Roundtree, Sarah Keys Evans filed a complaint against the bus company with the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). Sarah won!

        The ICC was in charge of interstate transportation—buses and trains that travel from state to state. The ICC said it was wrong for interstate buses to force people to sit in certain seats because of their race. This victory was announced one week before Rosa Parks made her stand on a different kind of bus—a local city bus, not an interstate one. Rosa Parks’ action led to a year-long protest in Montgomery and a Supreme Court victory that called for an end to segregation on local buses, too. It would take several years, however, and more protests before both of these rulings were finally obeyed in all parts of the country.

In recent years, Sarah Keys Evans has received several important honors, including an award from the U.S. Department of Justice, a proclamation from Congress, and a plaque at the Women’s Memorial in Washington. She was also honored in the place where her troubles began. An exhibit about her role in civil rights history was installed in the town museum of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina.

Source notes for this Minute may be found by clicking here.

This poster about Sarah Keys Evans is part of an exhibit on civil rights history that was on display at the Roanoke Canal Museum, in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Courtesy Roanoke Canal Museum

Sarah Keys Evans in 2006 when she received a Trailblazer Award from the United States Department of Justice, during a ceremony at the department's offices in Brooklyn, New York. Photo by Amy Nathan.

"Amy Nathan tells Sarah’s story dexterously, writing the nonfiction narrative in a very simple yet compelling way that makes the book hard to put down. Sarah’s courage and determination show through in Amy’s writing, and you can easily hear Sarah’s strong spirit speaking. Take A Seat, Make A Stand is an inspiring book of a young woman’s audacity and her act of civil disobedience that changed the way Americans are treated today." Review from New Moon magazine.
" Nathan strikes just the right balance of emotion and facts necessary to reach children within the context of a history lesson. As a result, this thin volume would be a good choice for elementary classrooms as part of a Civil Rights unit. A winner. " Kirkus review.

MLA 8 Citation
Nathan, Amy. "Sarah Keys: An Early Pioneer for Justice." Nonfiction Minute, iNK
Think Tank, 15 Feb. 2018, www.nonfictionminute.org/the-nonfiction-minute/
Sarah-keys-an-early-pioneer-for-justice.

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Dr Percy Julian: Forgotten Genius

2/4/2021

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Kerrie Logan Hollihan
Teaching the Power of Wonder

Dr. Percy Julian was my neighbor in Oak Park, Illinois. I didn’t know the family who lived in the pretty home surrounded by an iron fence. But I heard the story, that the house was firebombed after they had bought it back in 1951. The Julian's were African-Americans coming to a white community.

Later I learned more. Dr. Julian was someone who didn’t take no for an answer. He grew up in the segregated South going to black-only schools. He hoped to study plant chemistry, but no southern college would accept a Negro, so he moved on. He went to DePauw University in Indiana and helped pay tuition by waiting tables at a white fraternity. He graduated at the top of his class in 1920 and wanted to get his doctorate at Harvard. Harvard refused, because that would mean Julian could teach whites—and that was not allowed.

Julian moved on. He went to Austria to earn his doctorate, and in that lab he studied chemicals in plants, especially beans. Many excellent medicines came from plant chemicals, but extracting them was often costly.

Upon returning to DePauw to teach, Julian was able to synthesize a plant chemical called physostigmine. His discovery produced inexpensive medicine for patients with glaucoma, an eye disease causing blindness. But the Great Depression fell across America, and DePauw ran out of money to fund his research.

Julian moved on. A Chicago paint company hired Julian as the first African-American to head a research lab in American industry. Julian had to travel for his work, and motels refused him a bed. One year he slept in his car 32 times, sometimes in the dead of winter.

Julian and his coworkers developed inks and paper coatings, dog food and a product called Aero-Foam to extinguish fires on aircraft carriers. His team discovered many uses for soybeans, at that time viewed as food for cows and pigs. Most important, they synthesized “Substance S” from soybeans. This synthetic drug replaced wildly-expensive cortisone. Julian’s landmark achievement offered relief to kids suffering from the painful and disfiguring disease rheumatoid arthritis.

Percy Julian worked all his days, always moving on to make life better. He built his own research business, volunteered at church, played the piano, and loved his family. He became a quiet hero to many, including me. I’m writing a book about Dr. Julian, which I hope you’ll see in print. For now, visit this site.

This Percy Julian stamp was issued in 1993 to commemorate Black History Month.

Kerrie Hollihan has already written about one great scientist, Sir Isaac Newton. You can read more about this book here.
Kerrie Hollihan is a member of iNK's Authors on Call and is available for classroom programs through Field Trip Zoom, a terrific technology that requires only a computer, wifi, and a webcam. Click here to find out more.

MLA 8 Citation
Hollihan, Kerrie Logan. "Dr Percy Julian: Forgotten Genius." Nonfiction Minute,
iNK Think Tank, 13 Feb. 2018, www.nonfictionminute.org/
the-nonfiction-minute/dr-Percy-Julian-Forgotten-Genius.

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Edmonia's Statues

"We Shall Overcome": The Power of a Song

The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement

Sarah Keys Evans: An Early Pioneer for Justice

Dr Percy Julian: Forgotten Genius

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Edmonia's Statues

"We Shall Overcome": The Power of a Song

The ﻿Mother of the Civil Rights Movement

Sarah Keys Evans: An Early Pioneer for Justice

Dr Percy Julian: Forgotten Genius

Categories

Archives

The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement