Black History Month: From Insurrection to Integration
“Some of the greatest minds operated under the radar to level the oppressor. Their Hall of Fame lies in the intuitive compassion and strength inherited by their children.” Wesley Beeks
It could be said with certainty that the human soul is not meant for captivity. Humanity is its own historian. Many have lamented at the desensitization of violence in our society that endures with receding protest. Technology has become a personified enigma, handing out violent and misogynistic candies through media, legislative practices, virtual reality games and multi-media streaming, a continuous loop of unabridged culture. Granted September 11th and the tragedies of fallen planes hijacked not only our personal and national safety, but the paradigm of morality itself. Black History Month is an apt time to come together and accord value to an alleged “oppressed peoples”.
Slavery like motherhood has been a long standing tradition within cultures, nations, families and businesses. Inherently one or more groups feed off the transparent underclass of another group. Slavery extends past the targeting of a group to share at its board of directors Poverty, Lack of Education, No Healthcare, Self Denigration and Cultural Assassination. With slavery’s articles of incorporation it seduced nations, continents and peoples to sell and barter slaves of its most precious “humanity”. Some religions were the union for slavery keeping everything in alignment while closing off the curtain of malicious deals under the table, spouse swapping, free labor with no restrictions, “imaginary moral rallies “ to invigorate those faltering towards equality and liberty; finally compromised servitude to a “higher power” that censored Universal Rights. As the saying goes, “Somebody has to dig these ditches!”and that job usually went to the underclass and those without citizenship. Slave insurrections were far more prevalent in the Americas than what has been taught and espoused by “authorities “in traditional education.
Black History Month is a celebration not only for the recognition and validation of a population that contributed heavily to construction of the United States, but a necessary reminder and opportunity for “checks and balances” for a nation, its people and communities. Due to the approval of Black History Month legislation, it has paved the way for National Hispanic Week signed by President Gerald R. Ford in 1974 to proclaim one week beginning September 10, 1974 and ending September 16, 1974. Finally on August 17, 1988 enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States the week became a month. This was signed in proclamation September 13, 1988 by President Ronald Reagan officially heralding “September 15th to October 15th “a month to honor the contributions of Hispanic Heritage. Later May was named the month of observance for Asian and Pacific Islanders and March the month for the recognition of women which was long overdue.
Indomitable, willful, resourceful Africans who were enslaved became insurrectionist to dissuade the strategic and enforced cultural assassination of their homeland, name, traditions and self efficacy.Brazil, Jamaica, Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) were some of the nations in which slave insurrections were orchestrated and executed with dangerous proficiency. Major slave rebellions in Jamaica with the Maroons lasted from 1730 to 1739. Cuba’s racial war of 1868-1876 abolished it through bloody battles. In North America during the Revolution and War of 1812 many bondsman fought for the country while others escaped to freedom behind British lines. The most well known slave revolts were the Amistad and Creole incidents of 1839 and 1841. Jacob Lawrence, prominent artist who happens to have been of African ancestry did a well known painting, “Amistad”, which actress, director, choreographer, activist Debbie Allen fought tooth and nail for the Amistad film to be created. This marked a milestone in American cinema of a large scale slave insurrection in modern cinema.
Planted firmly on the surface layer are the famous 1831 slave revolts of Nat Turner, a fiery orator and visionary who set plantations sprawled across the South aflame in blazing effigy. Another well known slave revolt was John Brown’s, with white and Black Guerrillas faction for his invasion of Virginia in 1859. Through out it all African slaves in North America suffered a debasing physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual cruelty, a course navigated from “Colonial and Imperialistic” establishments. I would be remiss to not include the Gabriel Conspiracy of 1800, in which Gabriel who was a twenty four year old artisan standing at six feet two inches. We should take special note that he was a skilled laborer thus destigmatizing the “ignorant charming” propaganda imagery used to describe slaves and freedmen as unintelligent and incapable.
Black History Month celebrates the unique tapestry of America by honoring the traditions and cultural, scientific, theological, agricultural and political contributions of people of African descent. Migratory travels of Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, Panamanian, Puerto Rican, Haitian, Dominican and Caribbean to name a few provide an integral part of our story. The Taino, The African, and the Spanish are the emblem of Boricua College and to fail in the recognition of one is to dishonor the contributions of the founding forefathers and foremothers of this institution.
Without education, skill, discipline, respect and temperance this country would not be honoring any month or week of the peoples who built the nation. Black History Month provides a template for the recognition and offers social justice to those peoples who have been disenfranchised, relocated unwillingly, abused with a proliferation of psychological, sexual, physical, spiritual abuse and in general being betrayed by the social mores in favor of “segregated acceptance”. This provides a proud moment in our global lineage and an opportunity to augment and advance the consciousness of a nation of families working in tandem towards “Humanity”
“Some of the greatest minds operated under the radar to level the oppressor. Their Hall of Fame lies in the intuitive compassion and strength inherited by their children.” Wesley Beeks
It could be said with certainty that the human soul is not meant for captivity. Humanity is its own historian. Many have lamented at the desensitization of violence in our society that endures with receding protest. Technology has become a personified enigma, handing out violent and misogynistic candies through media, legislative practices, virtual reality games and multi-media streaming, a continuous loop of unabridged culture. Granted September 11th and the tragedies of fallen planes hijacked not only our personal and national safety, but the paradigm of morality itself. Black History Month is an apt time to come together and accord value to an alleged “oppressed peoples”.
Slavery like motherhood has been a long standing tradition within cultures, nations, families and businesses. Inherently one or more groups feed off the transparent underclass of another group. Slavery extends past the targeting of a group to share at its board of directors Poverty, Lack of Education, No Healthcare, Self Denigration and Cultural Assassination. With slavery’s articles of incorporation it seduced nations, continents and peoples to sell and barter slaves of its most precious “humanity”. Some religions were the union for slavery keeping everything in alignment while closing off the curtain of malicious deals under the table, spouse swapping, free labor with no restrictions, “imaginary moral rallies “ to invigorate those faltering towards equality and liberty; finally compromised servitude to a “higher power” that censored Universal Rights. As the saying goes, “Somebody has to dig these ditches!”and that job usually went to the underclass and those without citizenship. Slave insurrections were far more prevalent in the Americas than what has been taught and espoused by “authorities “in traditional education.
Black History Month is a celebration not only for the recognition and validation of a population that contributed heavily to construction of the United States, but a necessary reminder and opportunity for “checks and balances” for a nation, its people and communities. Due to the approval of Black History Month legislation, it has paved the way for National Hispanic Week signed by President Gerald R. Ford in 1974 to proclaim one week beginning September 10, 1974 and ending September 16, 1974. Finally on August 17, 1988 enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States the week became a month. This was signed in proclamation September 13, 1988 by President Ronald Reagan officially heralding “September 15th to October 15th “a month to honor the contributions of Hispanic Heritage. Later May was named the month of observance for Asian and Pacific Islanders and March the month for the recognition of women which was long overdue.
Indomitable, willful, resourceful Africans who were enslaved became insurrectionist to dissuade the strategic and enforced cultural assassination of their homeland, name, traditions and self efficacy.Brazil, Jamaica, Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) were some of the nations in which slave insurrections were orchestrated and executed with dangerous proficiency. Major slave rebellions in Jamaica with the Maroons lasted from 1730 to 1739. Cuba’s racial war of 1868-1876 abolished it through bloody battles. In North America during the Revolution and War of 1812 many bondsman fought for the country while others escaped to freedom behind British lines. The most well known slave revolts were the Amistad and Creole incidents of 1839 and 1841. Jacob Lawrence, prominent artist who happens to have been of African ancestry did a well known painting, “Amistad”, which actress, director, choreographer, activist Debbie Allen fought tooth and nail for the Amistad film to be created. This marked a milestone in American cinema of a large scale slave insurrection in modern cinema.
Planted firmly on the surface layer are the famous 1831 slave revolts of Nat Turner, a fiery orator and visionary who set plantations sprawled across the South aflame in blazing effigy. Another well known slave revolt was John Brown’s, with white and Black Guerrillas faction for his invasion of Virginia in 1859. Through out it all African slaves in North America suffered a debasing physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual cruelty, a course navigated from “Colonial and Imperialistic” establishments. I would be remiss to not include the Gabriel Conspiracy of 1800, in which Gabriel who was a twenty four year old artisan standing at six feet two inches. We should take special note that he was a skilled laborer thus destigmatizing the “ignorant charming” propaganda imagery used to describe slaves and freedmen as unintelligent and incapable.
Black History Month celebrates the unique tapestry of America by honoring the traditions and cultural, scientific, theological, agricultural and political contributions of people of African descent. Migratory travels of Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, Panamanian, Puerto Rican, Haitian, Dominican and Caribbean to name a few provide an integral part of our story. The Taino, The African, and the Spanish are the emblem of Boricua College and to fail in the recognition of one is to dishonor the contributions of the founding forefathers and foremothers of this institution.
Without education, skill, discipline, respect and temperance this country would not be honoring any month or week of the peoples who built the nation. Black History Month provides a template for the recognition and offers social justice to those peoples who have been disenfranchised, relocated unwillingly, abused with a proliferation of psychological, sexual, physical, spiritual abuse and in general being betrayed by the social mores in favor of “segregated acceptance”. This provides a proud moment in our global lineage and an opportunity to augment and advance the consciousness of a nation of families working in tandem towards “Humanity”
i luv it wesley since its black history month im going to draw you something for the newsletter
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