Just finished reading: The Humanity Archive

I just finished The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth, by Jermaine Fowler. This is an incredibly important and powerful book. It’s importance is underscored by recent events. (coughcoughscotuscough)

Have you read it yet? If so, comment below. (If not, go ahead and order yourself a copy. I’ll wait right here for you.) Don’t let the length of this post fool you — my doodles do not even scratch the surface of this book. I hope the information below piques your interest to learn more.

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In no particular order, here are some of the points that resonated with me, shook me, and/or stood out:

“History is the biography of power” as pointed out by author Jermaine Fowler

Here’s a little example: Robert Smalls stole a Confederate Navy ship and brought it to Union soldiers. He then spied for the Union, recruited thousands of other Black soldiers, was one of the Navy’s first Black pilots, fought in a bunch of battles, and eventually served as a congressman and five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (helping to abolish some black codes, build schools, increase pay for teachers), etc., etc. There’s a teensy plaque honoring him. All covered up by vegetation, so you’d have to know where to look for it. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Charleston is a 25’ towering Confederate statue.

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[emoji of my head exploding in disbelief]

I knew from reading Mo Rocca’s Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving that there were 16 Black congressmen in the 1870s. I knew that Blanche K. Bruce was the first Black senator to serve a full term. But I didn’t know that Rutherford B. Hayes basically relied on a pinky promise from the South that they wouldn’t meddle with civil rights.

Florida’s first Black congressman started in 1871. Guess when the second one served? 19-freaking-92. One hundred and twenty one years later.

How about Southern Black senators? Blanche K. Bruce and Hiram Revels served in the 1870s (with Bruce squeaking into the 1880s) … but there were no others until 2013 (2013!?!).

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Thomas Jefferson questioned “who will govern the governors”

Great question, Tommy.

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We’ve only been a democracy for less than six decades

Gulp.

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The Nixon administration lied about drugs

I mean, I know a little bit about how various drugs are criminalized in a very specific targeted way. And yet, this still surprised me for some reason. More on this to come though, because I’m diving into Richard Nixon again soon.

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Presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm received more hate for her gender than her race

Chisholm was the first Black congresswoman. And the second woman to run for a presidential nomination from a major party. Doing so, she received tons of hate and death threats… more of which was for her gender than her race.

This completely shocked me.

Also, her campaign slogan (Unbought and Unbossed) is brilliant and bad ass.

Richard Nixon was not a crook

Exhibit A: He colluded with Big MIlk. In exchange for $2 million dollars in campaign contributions, he allowed the American public to be milked for an extra $500-$700 million dollars.

Exhibit B: His goons did all sorts of shady shit, like follow around Democratic candidates and their families, forge letters, leak fake info to the press, etc. Using Hubert Humphrey’s letterhead, he sent notices out to Ebony, Jet, the Associated Press, etc., that Chisholm was a mentally unstable sexual deviant.

If you’re reading this on your phone, maybe go back later and look at this doodle on your computer so you don’t miss out on the details I dorked out over. You have no idea how proud I am of the splashing milk…. although it should splash a lot longer to symbolize the hundreds of millions of dollars drained from consumers.

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An enslaved man from Ghana brought us inoculation

Onesimus arrived in was brought against his will to Boston in the early 1700s. He told his enslaver, Cotton Mather, about inoculation. Cotton Matter told Dr. Zabdiel Boylston… who received eternal credit on his tombstone. (It’s a long story and definitely worth exploring more.)

Side note: Cotton Mather got his name for his sweet, sweet cotton ball hair. I’m making that up. But it certainly is exceptionally cotton bally and made me giggle, despite all of his enslaving and involvement in the Salem Witch Trials.

Side side note: the internet helpfully provided me with a photograph of Onesimus wearing dapper 1800s attire, despite the fact that Onesimus pre-dated the camera. And dapper 1800s attire. Future blog post idea: explore the possibility that he was a time traveler! Kidding again. This post is going off the rails quickly… but if you don’t laugh, you cry right…?

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Democracy never lasts long

John Quincy Adams cautioned “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet, that did not commit suicide.” For some reason, I drew a picture of John Adams.

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America has paid reparations before

Haitians had to pay France reparations after they won their independence… to compensate for their value… as slaves. So that’s something. Also, Haiti’s independence was one of the reasons Napoleon sold us the Louisiana Territory. And then, as Fowler points out, more land meant more genocide and more of a demand for free labor. And that’s not all! The U.S. paid reparations before. To enslavers. $300 per person freed in DC in 1862. That’s a whole lot of stuff that I had a hard time wrapping my head around.

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Henry Johnson: Harlem Hell Fighter

The “pint-sized onetime redcap from Albany, NY killed, wounded, and routed a party of 25 Germans singlehanded.” I admit, despite living near Albany, I knew Johnson’s name and that he was a war hero… but that’s about it. I didn’t know he was a Harlem Hell Fighter in World War I. Or that the Harlem Hell Fighters were under fire longer than any other infantry — 191 days! — or that they gave up no ground and no prisoners, despite experiencing 40% causalities.

(Check out the newish mural.)

Ida B. Wells was very dangerous

Speaking out against lynchings (like the lynching of WWI vet Charles Lewis, who was murdered just a few weeks after returning from the front), Wells was listed as “one of the most dangerous negro agitators” by the FBI. Ida and the lynchers. Both very dangerous. Kidding! Just Ida.

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“The American Model” of discrimination and slaughter was studied by the Third Reich

This shocked me. Then I was shocked that I was shocked, because really… our history is rich with material.

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The golf tee was invented by Dr. George F. Grant

… a black dentist and golfer from Boston.

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Speak out. Because this is your country.

Let’s wrap it up this post with a valuable reminder from Thurgood Marshall:

“Where you see wrong or inequity or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.”