Genealogy Forum NEWS

February, 1999


Black History Month



    CHANGING TIMELINES FOR A CHANGING MILLENNIUM
    Submitted by GFS VKN@AOL.com

    In February, 1999, we celebrate Black History Month. With the possible exception of Juneteenth, Black Americans,who are descended from slaves, will not have another major celebration until the advent of Kwanzaa in late December. Kwanzaa 1999 will usher in the new millennium as we celebrate the final rite of Imani, or FAITH, on January 1, 2000. Rather than adhering to the traditional temporal limits of each of these holidays, I would like to suggest a new paradigm for a new millennium.

    The 1999 theme for Black History Month is " THE LEGACY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LEADER-SHIP FOR THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE." What could be more appropriate for those of us who have researched and embraced the efforts and accomplishments of our forefathers and foremothers? We do have a proud legacy that deserves more than token recognition at specified times of the year.

    Why can we not go into the 21st century with a renewed commitment to embrace and celebrate the principles and aspirations of the proud men and women who came before us on a daily basis? We can accomplish this ambitious goal with a deeper understanding of each event. Last June, I expressed my views about Juneteenth as it relates the new millennium. Let me suggest expanding that concept to include Black History month and Kwanzaa..

    The Origins of Black History Month

    Carter G. Woodson, noted Black scholar and historian, is commonly referred to as "the father of Black History." Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, in 1915. Always a champion of the recognition of of Black Achievement, he initiated BLACK HISTORY WEEK, February 12 , 1926.

    For many years, the 2nd week of February (chosen so as to include the birthday of Frederick Douglass) was celebrated by Black people in the United States. BLACK HISTORY WEEK, was expanded after the '60's to BLACK HISTORY MONTH, which is now celebrated all over North America.

    Carter Woodson instilled fierce racial pride in his students and others through his teachings and writings. Black people in cities and towns in Canada and the United States begin their celebration of Black History and Culture in February.

    For those of you who may wonder what this has to do with slavery, which is our traditional focus, let me tell you a little more about Carter G. Woodson - the man. This year's theme invites us to examine the rich legacy of African American Leadership in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Individuals such as Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington and Congressional Representatives of both centuries give clear testimony of the search for political and social equality for all Americans.

    Woodson was the son of former slaves. His father, James, helped Union soldiers. He and his wife, Eliza, encouraged Carter and his brother, Robert Henry, to move from Buckingham County, Virginia to Huntington, W. VA. They heard they were building a high school for blacks there.

    Although their large and poor family prevented Carter's attendance at regular schools, he had mastered most common school subjects by the time he was seventeen. He worked as a miner in the coal fields of Fayette County to earn money to enter the Douglass High School. Although Woodson was twenty years old when he entered the school, he earned a diploma in less than two years. Woodson went on to earn a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University in 1912.

    During the twentieth century, the theme allows us to examine the contributions of such leaders as Marcus Garvey, Carter G. Woodson, Mary McLeod Bethune, Paul Robeson, Adam Clayton Powell, Shirley Chisolm, Barbara Jordan, Patricia Roberts Harris, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Jesse Jackson, Dorothy Height, Colin Powell, Benjamin E. Mays, Andrew Young and Kweisi Mfume. Just imagine the roll call for the year 2001, if we enter the new millennium with a commitment toward daily excellence.

    As we embrace the twenty first century, we pause to celebrate the triumphs of the last - the challenge of the present and the hope of the future. For those of you with a desire for more information, a BLACK HISTORY MONTH KIT will be distributed by the CARTER G. WOODSON ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF AFRO-AMERICAN LIFE AND HISTORY, INC., located at 1407 14th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.


    Kwanzaa and the NEW Millennium
    Submitted by GFS VKN@AOL.com

    Last year, as I prepared for a presentation on the holiday, the expansion of information devoted to the topic was astounding. Several websites were devoted to the subject. Numerous print advertisements and kente themed decorations were for sale. Some decried the commercialization of the holiday. This is consistent with the increased attention paid to Black History Month and to Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday.

    For our purposes as researchers and seekers of our ancestors, we must examine the underlying principles and the origin of this particular celebration. Just as we cannot face our future without confronting our past, we can not embrace new timelines without an understanding of each second of the current schedule.

    What is Kwanzaa?

    KWANZAA, the African-American spiritual holiday, was developed and initiated by Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga on December 26, 1966. During the early and middle sixties, Dr. Karenga noted that many community based groups were utilizing a myriad of ideologies, plans, and social approaches to help Black Americans obtain social changes in this era of Civil Rights in America.

    Dr. Karenga was appalled by the exploitation of Black America during the months of October, November, December or the Christmas Season. During this time in history, Black Americans did not have a holiday. (Black History Month was not officially inaugurated until 1976.) None of the major holidays celebrated American society related to the growth and development or essence of Black Americans.

    Dr. Maulana Karenga developed the Kwanzaa Holiday Season around the rejuvenation of those principles (Way of Life) utilized by Black Americans' ancestors. The principles (Way of Life) allowed them to endure slavery, racism, and oppressions during their sojourn in American. Dr. Maulana Karenga utilized the concept of Kwanzaa as the framework to address these major conditions of 1966 and to assist in the resolution of others.

    Kwanzaa is a spiritual, festive and joyous celebration of the oneness and goodness of life, which claims no ties with any religion. The focus of Kwanzaa is centered around the seven principles (Nguzo Saba) with particular emphasis on the unity of our Black families. It is a time for gathering of our families, and for a rededication to manifesting the principles of Kwanzaa (Nguzo Saba) as a way of life for Black Americans. Kwanzaa is a way of life; not just a celebration.

    Nguzo Saba - Kwanzaa 7 Principles:
    1. UMOJA (UNITY) - To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

    2. KUJICHAGULIA (SELF DETERMINATION) - To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

    3. UJIMA (COLLECTIVE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY) - To build and maintain our community together and to make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together.

    4. UJAMAA (COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS) - To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit together from them.

    5. NIA (PURPOSE) - To make as our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

    6. KUUMBA (CREATIVITY) - To do always as much as we can, in the way that we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it.

    7. IMANI (FAITH) - To believe with all our hearts in our parents, our teachers, our leaders, our people and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

    As a living social practice, it is a week of actual remembering, reassessing, recommitting, reward- ing and rejoicing. For evaluation of ourselves and our history, we relate to our past, reassess our thoughts and practices, and dedicate ourselves to the achievement of Black liberation and the betterment of life for all Black Americans. Finally, the concept of Kwanzaa, the African-American holiday, is to help Black Americans relate to the past in order to understand the present and deal with the future.

    If we practice the principles in our lives that helped our ancestors to endure oppression, slavery and racism, we can emphasize the Unity of the Black family. We should strive throughout the new millennium to develop self and facilitate a positive Black self-esteem by exposing individuals to a culturally desirable pattern of principles, to help them live their lives and to encourage the highest level of positive Black self-esteem and spiritual development.

    SUMMARY

    Why the suggestion of a new timeline? Probably because the emphasis upon the Year 2000 has been placed upon the temporal aspects. Y2K issues are on every lip, as we fret over our capability to transfer our new technology into a new century. There is a danger in placing too much emphasis upon the hardware and ignoring the software of our minds and heritage.

    Thus, the suggestion that we develop a 21st Century timeline around these two celebrations is relevant to our Afrigeneas Family. It is important to relate to the past in order to understand the present and deal with the future. A people will never look forward to posterity who never looked backward to their ancestors.

    Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays often quoted an anonymous poem.

         God's Minute

         I have only just a minute. Only sixty seconds in it.
         Forced upon me. Didn't seek it, didn't choose it,
         But It's up to me to use it.
         I must suffer if I lose it. Give account if I abuse it.
         Just a tiny little minute---- But eternity is in it.

         Anonymous

    What better tools for stewardship of our seconds on this planet than the principles, resilience, and courage of our slave ancestors? Start today to design your timeline for the Year 2000.
         Sylvia Ryce Cornell

    For more information on either topic, there are several websites devoted to Kwanzaa and to Black History Month. Try a search on any of the major search engines using the topic as a keyword.


    The AfriGeneas Slave Data Collection


    Attention All Rooters with Slave Data:

    We would certainly encourage and support all researchers to share any and all slave data you encounter in your genealogical pursuits. We, African Ancestored Researchers (aka: Afrigeneas), have a project of some 10 year duration to gather, compile and make available slave data to the African Ancestored researcher. Records kept by the slaveowner are frequently the only clue to our ancestors, particularly during the period 1619-1870.

    Records Sought include:
  • Advertisements
  • Apprenticeship
  • Bible Records
  • Bills of Sale
  • Birth Records
  • Census Schedules
  • Church Records
  • Cohabitation
  • Court Recorda
  • DayBooks/Logs
  • Death Records
  • Diaries-Journals
  • Inventories
  • Legislative Acts
  • Letters
  • Litigation
  • Manumissions
  • Marriage Records
  • Military Records
  • Misc Records
  • Pension Records
  • Plantation Records
  • Run-A-Ways
  • SlaveOwners
  • Slave Sales
  • Tax Records
  • Wills

    • Such information provided is available to all researchers at our FTP site and at the Afrigeneas HomePage. It is also available in the AOL Genealogy Forum Libraries.

    What format would we want the data?
    Well in the final analysis, whatever is best for you, the Sharer.

    A preferred format follows:

  • Slaveowners Name:
  • Name of Slave:
  • Parent(s) of Slave:
  • BirthPlace of Slave:
  • Age of Slave:
  • Sex of Slave:
  • Color of Slave:
  • Other PhysicalDescription:
  • Other Information:
  • Source Document:
  • State:
  • County:
  • Year of Source Document:
  • How to Access Source Document:


    • This information may be submitted on line To: slavedata@aol.com
    or by USPostal Service
    To: Anniston-Calhoun Public Library
    Alabama Room-SlaveData Collection
    Post Office Box 308
    Anniston, AL 36202

    Browse The Collection As It Builds
    http://www.afrigeneas.com/

    Thanx for your attention and for your help!
    Valencia King Nelson
    National Coordinator

    Browse AfriGeneas Archived Messages On-Line
    http://www.msstate.edu/listarchives/afrigeneas/


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