Black History Month All Year Long

And your journey begins. Tall Blue Markers tell the stories.

Abolution Hall 1767
My Neighbors House in Plymouth Meeting Pennsylvania has this marker in her front yard, because they help meetings there. The neighbors decided to help run slaves to freedom. They all got together to decide the plan and that's how it became known as Abolution Hall 1767.

Nancy Corson Lives Here Now. You can be an abolitionist too!

This Underground Railroad House (hard to see in the shadow) is where the abolitionists met, had their secret meetings and hid the slaves who were going north.

Runaway slaves used this path to their hide out on the property.

Quakers

Across the street from Nancy Corson's House is the Quaker Meeting Hall.

This property was across the street and they hid slaves, ammunition, and food.

Plymouth Friends Meeting House also helped George Washington and the Continental Army during the American Revolution!!

There are secret catacombs that run underneath all these buildings where George Washington hid the Continental Army documents from the English, and also kept food for the amy.

Colored Army The USCT (United States Colored Troops) Pennsylvania

The Union League was instrumental in convincing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to create the first Federal United States Colored Troops.

On the back home from Nancy's House located in Plymouth Meeting, PA you drive through Conshohocken, PA. on Fayette the main street.

On Fayette Street you'll find another blue sign for African American Private Edward Hector, who grew up there. Hector Street is named in his honor.

Private Edward Hector was in the The USCT (United States Colored Troops) 3rd Regiment who were the first to be trained at Camp William Penn located in the La Mott section of Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania. The white troops were trained at the Camp William Penn site located in the city of Philadelphia.

1863 -1865 First Union Army training grounds for the African-American troops ever enlisted into the United States Army during the American Civil War.
* These soldiers were at General Lee's surrender, helped hunt down John Wilkes Booth and were the only African-American soldiers to carry President Lincoln's casket.

I grew up in Cheltenham, PA notable for being the first training grounds for African American troops who had enlisted in the United States Army during the American Civil War.
Cheltenham was established in 1682 by 15 Quakers from Cheltenham, England, including Richard Wall and Toby Leech, who purchased 4,070 acres of land from William Penn. Cheltenham was incorporated as a township in 1900.

About Historic La Mott Pennsylvania
1857 James Mott and his wife Lucretia Coffin Mott the Ardent Quakeress moved into a small farm on the northern borders of the city of Philadelphia, on which a stone house stood near the road, whence the place took the name of "ROADSIDE."

Germantown Pennsylvania
Area history: "Guidebook to Historic Germantown", 1902 Edition of a "Guidebook to Historic Germantown". One of the opening pages contains a poem written by Francis Daniel Pastorius, the agent for the Frankfort Company, and the leader of the original thirteen settlers who came to Germantown.

African American and White

This sign is around the corner from my house where I live now, and shows where the Continental Army gathered to march to Valley Forge on Montgomery Avenue, Upper Merion PA.

Louisiana Code Noir

Also see About Dialect - 1724 Royal Edict about the Discipline of Slaves.

The Legacy of Rev. Al Sharpton's great-grandfather was a slave owned by the family of late Sen. Strom Thurmond, best known for advocating segregation.

Report: Sharpton descended from slaves owned by Strom Thurmond's relatives
Geneaologists have found that civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton is a descendent of a slave owned by relatives of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Obama's ancestors may have owned slaves
Democrat Barack Obama, who would be the first black president, has white ancestors who owned slaves, according to a genealogical researcher.

MUSIC - Songs are the Soundtracks of Culture! They contain the story of humanity.

Who Are the Funk Brothers?

Kids get to do the Funk Brothers Webquest
Far more than just an offering for "Black History" Month All Year Long, these interdisciplinary resources will provide thoughtful curriculum across K - Higher Ed grade levels. Identify what fits the learning needs of YOUR students.
"Standing In The Shadows of Motown" More Videos

The Funk Brothers & Chaka Khan
Chaka doing an EXCELLENT version of the Marvin Gaye hit accompanied by the legendary Funk Brothers with some nostalgic civil rights footage!!!

Follow the Drinking Gourd - Is This Song 'Authentic'?
It could not possibly have been sung by escaping slaves, because it was written by Lee Hays eighty years after the end of the Civil War. Also find “The Underground Railroad Quilt Controversy: Looking for the 'Truth'" lecture by Laurel Horton.

Work Songs in a Texas Prison

Paul Robeson

Hear Go Down, Moses (way down in Egypt land, tell old Pharaoh, let my people go.

Legendary Paul Robeson (1898 -- 1976) son of a slave, sings his famous song performed live in Moscow in 1949. He was an American actor, athlete, singer, writer, civil rights activist, and a great humanist. Paul graduated with honors from his high school in Somerville, New Jersey, where he excelled academically, and participated in singing, acting, and athletics. Robeson later studied law at Columbia and African history and languages at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London. Robeson found fame as an actor and singer with his fine bass-baritone voice. He is one of the few true basses in American music, his beautiful and powerful voice descending as low as a C below the bass clef. In addition to his stage performances, his renditions of old Negro spirituals were acclaimed. Robeson also became interested in the folk music of the world. He came to be conversant with 20 languages, fluent or near fluent in 12. His standard reportoire after the 1920's included songs in many languages (e.g., Chinese, Russian, Yiddish, German, etc.). Between 1925 and 1942 Robeson appeared in eleven films, in the UK and the USA ("Song of Freedom", "The Proud Valley", "The Emperor Jones", "Show Boat", "King Solomon's Mines", "Jericho", etc.).
In June 1949 during the 150th anniversary celebration of the birth of Alexander Pushkin, Robeson visited Russia to sing in concert and was given a warm public welcome. Robeson remains a celebrated figure in Wales. A number of Welsh artists have celebrated Robeson's life. In 1958, Robeson's 60th birthday was celebrated in several US cities and twenty-seven countries across Europe, the Soviet Union, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Over 3000 people gathered in Carnegie Hall to salute Robeson's 75th birthday, including Dizzy Gillespie, Odetta, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte (who also produced the show). In 1976, at the age of 77, Paul Robeson died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. In 1998, he received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2004, the United States Postal Service honored Robeson with a stamp in the Black Heritage Series. Listen to Paul Robeson's deep voice and enjoy this fantastic performance!

RACE

Brown vs. Board of Education: Kenneth Clark did a test in the 1950's which was replicated in 2007 by a film student Kiri Davis a young filmmaker whose high school documentary has left audiences at film festivals across the country stunned -- and has re-ignited a powerful debate over race.

I HAVE A DREAM  
100% LITERACY FOR ALL CHILDREN IN THE US.
RACISM - 50 Years Later Brown vs. Board of Education

Learn more about Black English from Creole Experts

Think Linguistic Rights.

Segregation

THE ORAL CULTURE - STORYTELLING AND FOLKTALES

TWO Original Anansi Folktale Ebooks.
The only source online or in print!

These Virgin Islands Dutch Creole folktales was first collected by a Dutch anthropologist, J. P. B. de Josselin de Jong, who visited the Virgin Islands in 1923.

Stories of the people, often passed from elders to the next generation. Help your students learn through the oral tradition. Download, read, and hear each story narrated in both American Virgin Island Creole and Standard English, plus find out how these stories survived in tact from the original storyteller.
De Josselin de Jong does not say who told him this story. However, we do know that all of the people who told him stories lived on St. Thomas and St. John and that they spoke both Dutch Creole and Virgin Islands English. A Brother Anansi and Brother Tecoma Stories spoken in Standard English and Negerhollands English.

 

This is how it all started..."The Children of Birmingham", Winner of the Youth Video Award

African Burial Grounds New York City Most press stories regarding the African Burial Ground in New York city perpetuate the modern urban myth that this landmark was found by construction workers. That is not true. Newspapers and press releases generally state that “The burial ground lay forgotten until workers uncovered it while excavating for a new federal building in 1991.” Although they were workers, they were working archaeologists. The African Burial Grounds were found by a carefully researched archaeological investigation developed by archaeologist Edward S. Rutsch. Rutsch knew of the importance of their findings (he often said "This is the 'Plymouth Rock' for American Blacks”)and, with others, he fought hard for its preservation. The fact that this site has been preserved and is known today is due to archaeology, not to accident. 1961 MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM RIDERS PROJECT A SLIDE TOWARD SEGREGATION
Public schools are less integrated today than they were in 1970. In the South, many school systems, once segregated by law, have been freed from court oversight and, with the return to neighborhood schools, have reverted to their former state. The percentage of black children attending schools that are mostly minority increased from 66 percent in 1991 to 73 percent in 2003, according to the Harvard Civil Rights Project. Communities trying to do better than this should be celebrated, not sued, writes Ruth Marcus.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112801275.html

Martin Luther King

Dr. Martin Luther King . . listen, look, read and learn!
PRINT OUT I HAVE A DREAM by Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963
"The poet only desires exaltation and expansion, a world to stretch himself in. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits." ~ G.K. Chesterton

LITERATURE, MUSIC, SLAVE SONGS, LYNCHING POETRY, BLACK HISTORY, MARTIN LUTHER KING, BRAIN TEASERS, ONLINE QUIZ, HERSTORY, MONTECELLO, BLACK US PRESIDENTS, BREAKING BARRIERS, PIONEERS, SCIENCE, FIRST GEEKS, AFRICANA DATA, DIGITAL DIVIDE, OUTREACH, PRIMARY SOURCES

PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA NOVEMBER 4TH 2008

  ELECTION DAY EXHORTATION

The 2008 Election Digital Divide The Internet and Citizen Journalism is now part of the Voting Ritual. One of the most amazing differences in play with this election is how the Internet was and is now being used. This has never happened before in history - anywhere on earth - because it was happening World Wide. One of the most powerful ways to undermine your opponent is the use humor, using it to make fun and defeat the other party. The internet is the gift that keeps on giving, because now all the scenes watched on TV [ which used to be a one time event for everyone to witness and enjoy ] are now available 24/7. We can watch the videos on the net, over and over, anytime, anywhere, forever. All the music video's from people all over the world whose songs about the candidate they love will be a record of the change and the amount of views testimony of it's power. Citizens now report polling place problems, fraud, abuse etc. minute by minute. Everyone can carry their cell phone camera / video camera to document [shoot anything they like] then in real time upload it to the website for all to see. The cell phone connection to the net allowed for texting, tweets, and video uploads to youtube that immediately gives us the latest information that you empowered people who wanted to be part of the mob that swarms any location. The use of the social net and the web 2.0 / 3.0 widgets that spread the word. That is the Digital Divide. A president like McCain who doesn't know how to use email and has no personal understanding of the internet or the technology which is so last century. Then you PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA who was able to use the internet in every way possible for his campaign. He is the example of 21st Century knowhow. The people of America knew he was the better canidate and voted him in office because we all know that we need to move forward to stay competitive with the rest of the world.
The following examples come from my ECP BLOG http://blog.edu-cyberpg.com/


Photograph Your Polling Place
Vote Election 2008 All photographs are contributed under a Creative Commons license.

Survey on Straight Ticket Voting Problems - Straight Party Voting feedback requested on How should it work.

Real time reports of voter assistance calls made to 866-OUR-VOTE Welcome to Our Vote Live, the official site documenting the groundbreaking voter assistance work of the Election Protection Coalition.

All Digital Media Deserve Maximum First Amendment Protection In order to preserve free speech and protect children online, the next President and Congress should take specific steps, including the following:

Validity of the common red state versus blue state classifications Map. Dr. Christopher Healey, associate professor of computer science shows Voter results for U.S. Presidential, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and state Gubernatorial elections.

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