Black History Month 2023 Newsletter

February is Black History Month! Although Black History is American History, February is a time to showcase Black Excellence in our history and culture. The newsletter is a little longer this month but I hope you read through it all and learn something important. Thank you for subscribing to The Family Jewels monthly newsletter. This year, try to make researching your family history a priority. If you would like to discuss a specific topic or have a genealogical question, send me a message and I will feature it in the next newsletter.

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HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH!!

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I’M TEACHING ANOTHER MASTERCLASS!

I’m teaching another Genealogy MasterClass for beginners on Saturday March 18, 2023 from 5pm-6:30pm. Have you always wanted to research your family tree but didn’t know where to start? Sign up for this class! I promise to keep it interesting and fun. When you sign up, you will receive a free Family Matters Genealogy downloadable workbook. Also, we will have three big giveaways during the class. Only 25 spots are available so click here to sign up today!

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Researching the 1920 Census

Minor changes existed between the 1910 and 1920 federal censuses. The Department of Agriculture requested the date change from April 15th to January 1st. The new date coincides with the completion of harvest season which was the most significant change.

Deletions

• Employment – unemployment status at the time of the census.
• Children – number of children born to the mother and number of children now living (2 columns).
• Marriage – the number of years married.
• Military service – information about a person’s military service in the Civil War.
• Native Americans – there was no separate Indian Schedule

Additions – Citizenship questions

Prior to 1920, Enumerators counted people wherever they were – including their employer or anyone they might have been visiting. In 1920, the enumerator included people in the household where they belonged, including people who were temporarily absent from their household.

The 1920 census included four new columns to track immigrants and their status as they arrived and lived in the United States:

• Column 15 – year of naturalization (what year the enumerated became a citizen)
• Column 20 – mother tongue of person
• Column 22 – mother tongue of Father
• Column 24 – mother tongue of Mother

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FEATURED ARTICLE

There have been so many heroes that have paved the way for African Americans. It was through their resistance to the “norm” they we achieved the status we have today. Although there is more work to do, we need to acknowledge those that fought for us from the very beginning.

Araminta Ross, also known as Harriet Tubman, was the “conductor” of the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a system of travel, safe locations and abolitionists that led many slaves to freedom in the northern states. She was born into slavery in Dorchester County Maryland in March 1822. Her enslaver was cruel, inflicting head trauma on her when she was young. She yearned to be free and escaped to Philadelphia in 1849.

Although she could have enjoyed her life of freedom, she decided to go back to rescue her family members. She traveled in secrecy with small groups at night, depending on the help of abolitionists and safe houses along her route. Harriet got her “passengers” as far North as Canada, working against the enactment of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. She helped the formerly enslaved find jobs and housing to jumpstart their new lives. During the Civil War, she worked as a nurse and cook for the Union and eventually became a spy. Her assistance led to raids that freed hundreds of enslaved men & women.

After Emancipation, she changed her focus to the women’s suffrage movement until her death. She died March 10, 1913, in Auburn NY where she had purchased land in 1859 and established an African American nursing home. Mrs. Tubman resisted the bonds of slavery and risked her own freedom to help other slaves.

As more laws were enacted to legitimize and legalize the institution of slavery, the enslaved knew that the only way they could seek freedom was either to flee or fight. Many chose to flee, taking their chances by escaping North either by themselves or with their families. Others chose to fight, planning rebellions and revolts against their enslavers.

Since it was against the law for the enslaved to possess guns or weapons, they had to fight by any means necessary – stealing guns and artillery or using whatever was available like pots, pans, pieces of wood, whips, knives, etc. The opportunity to be free was greater than the fear of being captured. One of the most famous slave rebellions was in Virginia in August 1831. Nat Turner and 70 slaves hatched a plan to kill white planters in order to demand their freedom. The rebels killed Nat’s enslaver and his family as well as many other neighboring white families. Patrols caught Nat two months later and tortured, hanged and defiled his body instead of giving him a trial. There were many other slave rebellions and revolts that occurred. To learn more, here is a link from my favorite historian and genealogist, Dr. Henry Louis Gates: https://www.pbs.org/…/did-african-american-slaves-rebel/.

The United States Color Troops (USCT) were African American soldiers that fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. They chose the side that would end slavery. The United States Congress passed the Confiscation Act of 1862, freeing slaves whose owners fought on the side of the Confederacy. The Militia Act of 1862 empowered President Lincoln to use free blacks and former slaves from Confederate states to fight for the Union. These acts led to the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing any slaves in rebellious states as of January 1, 1863. Mass recruitment of blacks went into effect on this date.

The United States War Department issued General Order 143 establishing a Bureau of Colored Troops to recruit and train the new Black soldiers. There were approximately 175 regiments containing 178,000 free blacks and freedmen that served in the Civil War between 1863 to 1865. Along with the USCT, there were Black volunteer groups in several states that mobilized to fight for the Union. The formerly enslaved believed that fighting for the Union meant that freedom was within reach…and they were right!  

The Supreme Court case of Brown v. The Board of Education was due to a brave African American father, Oliver Brown who fought the “separate but equal” law when he wanted to enroll his daughter in an elementary school that was close to their home in Topeka, Kansas in 1951.

According to the law, Brown’s daughter was to attend the segregated Black school that was farther away. Brown, along with 12 other families from the same neighborhood, challenged the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court ruling that racial segregation laws did not violate the US Constitution. The Brown decision proved that “separate but equal” was never the case and became a major victory in the Civil Rights Movement by paving the way for integration laws throughout the country. The execution of the ruling was slow-paced and met with violent White resistance, but African Americans still prevailed. Choosing to resist a Supreme Court decision paved the way for African Americans to attend their schools of choice, choose careers that previously were available to them and live in places where they were previously denied.

Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving resisted a law that determined who we could love and marry. Because discrimination and segregation laws in the south, miscegenation was prohibited and a punishable offense in Virginia . The law was created because it was believed that race mixing would cause the diminishing of the white race and therefore make the Black race the majority and more superior.

Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving, both Virginia residents and childhood sweethearts, married in 1958 in DC. Once they returned to Virginia, they were charged with the violation of Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law because it banned interracial marriage. They were both found guilty & sentenced to 1 year in jail. The judge agreed to suspend their sentences if they left Virginia and didn’t return for 25 years. They resisted the move and decided to fight the law. Their case went all the way up to the Supreme Court and on June 12, 1967, a unanimous decision stated that Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, “Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State.”

Theresa Ann Walker was the wife of Rev. Wyatt Lee Walker, the executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, chief of staff. On June 21, 1961, she boarded a Trailways bus from Atlanta to Jackson Mississippi as a Freedom Rider. The minute the bus pulled into the station, the police were waiting to take them to jail. At that time, Walker was the mother of 4 young children. She knew the importance of desegregation & civil rights and fought to make a better life for her children. Mrs. Walker will be 95 this year. Learn more at https://richmondmagazine.com/…/she-rode-for-freedom/

Although their approach in the fight for civil rights were completely different, both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X took the same stand against Jim Crow laws, racism and the unjust and improper treatment of African Americans.

Many focus on the contrast between the two leaders on their views on how to make change; however, no one compares how similar they were in their fight. Both believed in Black empowerment, racial justice and equality, human rights and instilling racial pride. Both believed that African Americans deserved their place in society and in the world and that the laws of the land should reflect that. They both believed that racism and discrimination had no place in America.

Although Dr. King’s approach was non-violence and civil disobedience while Malcolm X advocated Black Power and Black Nationalism by any means necessary, their collective resistance helped move the Civil Rights Movement forward by mobilizing all African Americans.

Lately, the fight for African American girls and women in schools and the workplace has been over their hair…HAIR?!?! Unbelievable right? Who would have thought that anyone could use something as simple as a hairstyle as a tool to discriminate against a whole race of women? Well, it happened:

• 17-year-old Asia Simo was kicked off her cheerleading team because her thick hair could not conform to the cheering standard of “half up, half down.”
• High school senior DeAndre Arnold could not walk during graduation unless he cut his dreads.
• 16-year-old Andrew Johnson, a high school wrestler from New Jersey, had to make a decision to cut his locs or forfeit his match. Johnson made the decision to cut his hair, ultimately winning his match.
• Women have been asked to “tone down their hairstyles or straighten their hair in workplace situations, management citing their hair “distracted” others or was considered “unprofessional.”

Thankfully, The Crown Act protects African American women from being discriminated against in the workplace because the way they style their hair does not conform to the Caucasian standard of beauty. Employers could not discriminate against employees with ethnic styles like braids, locs, twists, afros, or natural hair.   Studies have shown that employers judge African American women by the way they wear their hair. This impacts their opportunities for employment or professional advancement.

Black resistance manifested differently depending on the situation. However, one lessons ring true – stand up for something or you will fall for anything.

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Client Corner – Tantara Hardin Reese

Looking for Lost Ancestors?

If you are interested in researching your family history (and I strongly encourage everyone to do so), let me know and I can assist you.  For the month of March 2023, I will give you up to 2 FREE HOURS of research as a consultation BEFORE signing you on as a client! What does that mean? I will research your family for free for up to 2 hours. After you receive my Fact Finding Report, you can decide if you want to hire me for further research. I offer several affordable packages depending on your research needs.  If you are an amateur genealogist/family historian, I can create a research plan to guide you in the right direction. Send me a message and put FREEBIE as the Email Subject to book a consultation!

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Did You Know About This Ancient Chinese Secret?

The Kunlun

The Chinese treated the Kunlun as badly as the slaves in America. However, not all Africans were slaves; free Africans lived in China that were respected by the wealthy class.  During the Song Dynasty (960–1279), African slavery increased dramatically, especially from the Madagascar and Comoros Islands. An East African merchant and trader, Zhengjiani, and his entourage received honor and respect especially from the Chinese Emperor Shenzong and who considered them ambassadors of China. Zhengjiani created a profitable trade with China, importing highly sought after products such as ivory, rhinoceros horns, tortoise shells and frankincense.

Trade increased through the next two dynasties – Yuan (1271-1368 A.D. and Ming (1368-1644 A.D.), expanding the African trade to more East African countries and increasing import products to include amber and exotic animals. In turn, the Chinese exported silk, porcelain and lacquer to Africa. Starting in the 17^th century, the Europeans increased their countries’ trade relationships and colonization efforts, marginalizing the relationship between China and East Africa trading. Both countries started trading with the Europeans, leaving each other behind.

DNA Proof

Going deeper into the crossover of Chinese and African cultures, many historians and geneticists have argued that the Chinese descend from Africans. Although many do not believe this, it has now been proven that the first inhabitants of China were of African descent.

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Editor’s Note

Happy Black History Month