Category Archives: American legal system

Birth of a Nation: Another Creation Angle

Posted on January 18, 2016 by admin

From time to time those of us working with the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project (MPCPMP) find ourselves re-emphasizing several points about U.S. history as the country addresses the day’s pertinent issues. These themes bear repeating: The nation’s … Continue reading →

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Black Enslavement and Emancipation – How Long

Posted on August 31, 2015 by admin

In an address given on August 23, 2015, to an audience gathered at Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, for an ancestral remembrance ceremony to commemorate enslaved Africans, Massachusetts State Representative Byron Rushing made a remark that struck a chord – … Continue reading →

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Fantasy

Posted on July 2, 2015 by admin

If I am not who you say I am then you are not who you think you are. Whenever observance for July 4th approaches, historical reflection is appropriate. This year, 2015, has been a time when chickens came home to … Continue reading →

Posted in African American History, African American literature, American legal system, American politics, ancestors, captured Africans, descendants of slaves, Slave economy, slavery, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Fantasy

Protest, Image, Black Struggle and Legacy

Posted on May 27, 2015 by admin

All black progress in the United States has begun with confrontation and resistance. This is a basic fact of American life and the only way to understand the current protest focused on police violence. As the black abolitionist Frederick Douglass … Continue reading →

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Here We Go Again

Posted on December 1, 2012 by admin

Over Thanksgiving weekend in Jacksonville, Florida, Jordan Russell Davis, a seventeen year old black male, was shot by Michael David Dunn, a white man. This time the young person’s death was triggered because he and his friends were, allegedly, playing … Continue reading →

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The First and the Forced

Posted on November 11, 2012 by admin

Over the last two weeks, the issues of law and race surfaced while board members were traveling in the Deep South (Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi). Previously these states were frontier regions, territories exchanged frequently among European nations, and heavily populated … Continue reading →

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Now or Never

Posted on October 7, 2012 by admin

Recently, during a conversation about the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project, someone stated that we must move as quickly as possible to conduct memorial services for our ancestors and place markers at Middle Passage port sites, or their … Continue reading →

Posted in African American History, African Diaspora, African ethnic groups, American legal system, American politics, ancestors, descendants of slaves, slave ports, slavery, transatlantic slave trade | Comments Off on Now or Never

Source Documents for Blog Posts (May-August, 2012)

Posted on September 23, 2012 by admin

Text: A Forgotten History: The Slave Trade and Slavery in New England, Choices for the 21st Century Education Program, Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, (2008). This work provides an overview of enslavement and the human trade of Africans … Continue reading →

Posted in African American History, African American literature, African Diaspora, American legal system, American politics, descendants of slaves, slavery, transatlantic slave trade | Comments Off on Source Documents for Blog Posts (May-August, 2012)

Strong People: The Evolution of Anti-Slavery and Emancipation

Posted on July 26, 2012 by admin

Enslavement has been called the “peculiar institution.” As a practice that is as old as mankind, its very longevity was an argument supporting continued acceptance. We realize that enslavement is based upon the exercise of power, and everything else is … Continue reading →

Posted in African American History, African Diaspora, Afro-Caribbeans, Afro-Latinos, American legal system, American politics, Central America, descendants of slaves, slavery, transatlantic slave trade | Comments Off on Strong People: The Evolution of Anti-Slavery and Emancipation

The Black Vote: Old Wine, New Bottles – More than a Vote for President

Posted on July 17, 2012 by admin

Last week the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced that it is currently fighting suppression of the African American vote in this year’s Presidential election.  The NAACP and other groups have renewed the struggle for the right … Continue reading →

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