John Edmonstone was a black man who used his knowledge to directly affect scientists who had a huge influence on the western world. Little is known about him as a man or his personal life, but we do have information about his professional life. Professionally, he was able to leave a legacy most former slaves wouldn’t imagine. A Scottish politician named Charles Edmonstone owned a plantation in Demerara, Guyana, the plantation that was said to be John Edmonstone’s place of birth. While living on the plantation, John Edmonstone befriended Charles Edmonstone’s son-in-law Charles Waterton. The two shared a love of nature; Carles Waterton was knowledgeable about the plants and animals of the rain forest. He used his knowledge to capture and expertly preserve the bodies of various birds. Because of the humid conditions of the rain forest, Charles Waterton quickly prepared and beautifully preserved the birds he captured. John Edmonstone was intrigued and spent as much time as he could learning about the Amazon Rain Forest and an expert form of taxidermy. John Edmonstone received a first-hand education about the plants and animals of Guyana, he also gained an understanding of the science of biology that would help him later in life. Around the year 1817, Charles and John Edmonstone traveled to Scottland after the passing of the 1807 Slave Trade Act, an act that banned slavery throughout the United Kingdom. John Edmonstone was able to take advantage of the passing of The Slave Trade Act and gained his freedom. Shortly after becoming a free man, John moved to Edinburgh, Scotland finding a residence close to the University of Edinburgh at 37 Lothian Street. He began working at a local museum as a Taxidermist, he also began teaching the art of Taxidermy at the University of Edinburgh. John was a successful teacher and Taxidermist. He was known for preserving various animals from across the world. He preserved a fifteen foot-long Boa Constrictor that gained a lot of attention from his peers and students. John Edmonstone is widely known within the world of biology and taxidermy as the mentor of Charles Darwin. Darwin began learning from John Edmonstone at the age of seventeen, he eventually hired John to teach him taxidermy paying him the equivalent of one hundred and sixty dollars a week. John had an enormous influence on Darwin, even influencing his professional decision to become a naturalist, geologist, and biologist. Unfortunately, we don’t know much about the birth or the death of John Edmonstone, the majority of what we do know about him comes from Darwin’s memoirs. But from the information we have, we can see how brilliant and iconic John was. He was fortunate enough to be able to learn as a slave, he was able to earn his freedom via traveling to Scotland where slavery was abolished. He then used the information he learned about biology and taxidermy to earn a living as a University professor and Taxidermist at the local museum. Stories like these need to be told so we can see the continuous perseverance of our ancestors, as well as, how they were able to influence the industries that would shape the western world. Mr. John Edmonstone, we stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! References:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/freed-slave-darwin-taxidermy https://biodiversity.utexas.edu/news/entry/john-edmonstone https://www.history.co.uk/shows/not-what-you-thought-you-knew/articles/john-edmonstone-%E2%80%93-the-man-who-taught-darwin https://www.lindahall.org/john-edmonstone/
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On April 27, 1945, Frederick August Kettel, Jr. was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to parents Frederick August Kettel, Sr. and Daisy Wilson. His father was a German immigrant who worked as a baker, his mother was a black woman from North Carolina who was a domestic worker. August was the fourth of six children who were raised mainly by their mother in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. In the late 1950s, Daisy Wilson remarried a man named David Bedford, the family then moved from the predominantly black Hill District to the predominantly white Hazelwood neighborhood. Being biracial in the Jim Crow era was difficult for August, he was often harassed in his neighborhood and at school because of his complexion, finding a space where he felt he belonged did prove to be difficult. 1959 was also August’s first year of high school. He was one of fourteen black children attending Central Catholic High School, unfortunately, he faced racist acts so often it drove him to drop out of school. He later enrolled in Connelley Vocational High School but again dropped out because he wasn’t learning anything. August had a thirst for knowledge but the educational institutions he attended were not adequate to intellectually stimulate him. He gave receiving a formal education one last try before dropping out again after he was accused of plagiarizing a paper he wrote about France’s Napoleon I. His teacher was not smart enough to realize she had a literary genius in her presence. August Wilson was a sixteen-year-old who was determined to learn, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the streets of Pittsburgh became his classroom, while finding any job he could to make a living. Every opportunity he had to learn something new he took full advantage of it, consuming book after book, setting the stage for one of the greatest literary careers in history. In 1962, August enlisted into the US Army after a disagreement with his mother over his career choice, he made his mind up that he wanted to be a writer. After spending only one year in the Army he returned home to pursue his goal of becoming a writer. He once again worked menial labor jobs to provide for himself, he also changed his name from Frederick August Kittel, Jr., to August Wilson, using the last name Wilson to honor of his mother. August was able to buy a typewriter after earning enough money, which officially began his career as a writer. He immediately began writing material that would become the foundation of some of the greatest American literature. Influenced by the culture surrounding him, August wrote as if his life was on the line. He wrote everywhere he went. Bars, lounges, cafes, any place he could find a napkin to write on, he would write what was on his mind. He didn't mind using napkins to write on, he was dedicated to writing and capturing his thoughts as they came to him. He started submitting his writings to Harper’s Magazine and other outlets because he wanted to expose the world to his work. Over time, he learned to become comfortable expressing his blackness and his love for his blackness through his writings. His life and writings were influenced by Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, and other black leaders of the time. Black Power was a concept that was prevalent in August's mind. In 1968, The Black Horizon Theater was founded by Penny Hill, Curtiss Porter, Tony Fountain, E. Phillip McKain, and August Wilson. The Black Horizon Theater was a black nationalist theater company created to inspire black art, black creativity, and black political activism. In 1973, August's first play was titled Recycle, which was performed for fifty cents a ticket. In 1977, he wrote the plays Black Bart and the Sacred Hills, before moving to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1978. After arriving in St. Paul, he began writing educational scripts for the Science Museum of Minnesota, only to quit after receiving a fellowship for The Playwrights' Center. August was laser-focused on becoming an accomplished writer and nothing was going to stop him. He became associated with a black theater company in Minnesota by the name of the Penumbra Theatre Company of St. Paul, the theater company helped him produce and feature a number of his plays. August would go on the write the plays Fullerton Street, Jitney, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, and Fences, he also was awarded the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the Whiting Award for Drama, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for his play Fences, and he was also named Artist of the Year by the Chicago Tribune, all of these accomplishments by the end of 1987. Later in 1987, the St. Paul Mayor named May 27th, August Wilson Day. August moved to Seattle, Washington in 1990, which became the location for his “Century Cycle” or the “Pittsburgh Cycle”, his cycle of ten plays that were set in Pittsburgh, with the help of the Seattle Repertory Theater, the theater also helped to produce his one-man show titled How I Learned What I Learned. After 1987, August produced nine more plays; Fences, The Piano Lesson, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and Joe Turner's Come and Gone, are his most accomplished and popular plays. August earned 28 honors and awards for his phenomenal work, his ten-play cycle was legendary and placed him in rare air as a writer and creator. August Wilson died in 2005 due to liver cancer at the age of sixty. After his death, he was honored when the name of one of New York City’s theaters in the Broadway Theater District was renamed the August Wilson Theater. This is the story of a man who wrote his place into history. Frederick August Kettel, Jr., aka, August Wilson, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J. A. Ward. Click here to get your copies of the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!! References: https://americantheatrewing.org/legends/august-wilson/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Horizon_Theater https://www.neh.gov/about/awards/national-humanities-medals/august-wilson https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/august-wilson-the-ground-on-which-i-stand-august-wilsonbiography-and-career-timeline/3683/ https://www.centertheatregroup.org/programs/students/learn-about-theatre/august-wilson-monologue-competition/august-wilson-biography/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Wilson https://www.britannica.com/biography/August-Wilson 1762 was the birth year of a man who was the son of a slave that became one of the most prominent men in French military history. Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie was his birth name, he is the son of a white French nobleman named Alexandre-Antoine Davy, Marquis de la Pailleterie, and an enslaved black woman named Marie-Cessette Dumas; Marie-Cessette was the slave of Alexandre-Antoine. Alexander Dumas was born in Saint Dominique (Haiti) on the island of Hispaniola. At the age of fourteen, he traveled to France to join his father; Dumas was treated as a slave in his home town because he was of slave lineage, but in France, he was the son of an aristocrat and benefited from his father’s position. Alexandre Davy earned nobleman status when he became the Marquis de la Pailleterie, which was his family’s title. For the next ten years, Dumas matured into a fine young man who had no idea he would make history as a military hero. At the age of twenty-four Dumas joined the French Army, his father refused to allow him to use his family’s name because he was entering the army as a private, Alexandre-Antoine did not want to be associated with anything of low-class. Dumas then changed his name from Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie to Alexandre Dumas, honoring his mother’s last name. Dumas joined the French Army in 1786 as a private, by 1792 he became a corporal in the Army and developed a reputation as a fierce soldier, swordsman, and leader during France’s battle against Austria and Prussia. Dumas' reputation as a great soldier was enhanced during the French Revolution. He became a member of a legendary all-black French unit named La Légion Américaine or the Black Legion, which was formed by Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de Saint-Georges in 1792. Shortly after the Black Legion was formed Dumas was promoted from corporal to second in command of the legion as the Lieutenant Colonel. Information suggests that Chevalier de Saint-Georges grew disinterested in continuing as a leader in the French army and left the Black Legion under the leadership of Dumas. The Black Legion was highly successful under Dumas, they were so successful that Dumas was promoted to General of La Légion Américaine in 1793, making him the first black person to become a general in the French Army. His rise from a private to a general was swift but well deserved, Dumas was a fighting machine with a bad temper, which was what the leaders of the French Army loved and hated about him. In 1793, as commander of the French Army located in the Alps, Dumas led the army to two vital victories capturing mountain passes. Despite his fame and success, he was ordered to defend himself legally against a Parisian Jacobian Club, coincidentally a coup d’etat occurred and he was free of those legal burdens. Around 1794, Dumas was beginning to have health problems and was granted leave time to recover. His recovery lasted two years. He returned to battle in the Alps in 1796 but was not given the command of the unit he was fighting with because he was demoted to second in command. Dumas was displeased with being demoted, he requested and was granted a transfer, he was sent to Italy to fight under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte. The relationship between Dumas and Bonaparte was a turbulent one, though Bonaparte respected Dumas’ resume Dumas didn’t hold the same level of respect for Bonaparte. In 1798, Bonaparte led his unit into Egypt, but they were not very successful. In addition to the unit’s lack of success Dumas’ health was beginning to decline again. Frustration with losing battles, declining health, and a rapidly declining relationship with Napoleon Bonaparte, all led to Dumas leaving Egypt in 1799. Unfortunately, Dumas found himself in a shipwreck off the coast of Italy, he was rescued but he became a prisoner of war for two years. In 1801, he was released from prison, but his health was also still in decline, so he decided to settle in the city of Villier-Cotterêts with his family. In 1802, he and his wife birthed a boy who would become a literary titan, Alexandre Dumas. Dumas died in 1806 at the age of forty-four having accomplished so much in such a short time that his life became a story. His son Alexander Dumas became the legendary author of popular books such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, which we later learned were based on the life of his father. Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie, aka Alexandre Dumas, we stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! References:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexandre-Dumas-French-general https://originalpeople.org/thomas-alexandre-dumas/ https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/blackeuro/dumasfather.html https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/people-global-african-history/dumas-thomas-alexandre-1762-1806/ On January 6, 1923, Leah Lange was born in Madisonville, Louisiana, which is a small town in the St. Tammany Parish, to parents Charles and Hortensia Lange. Charles Lange worked as a ship caulker and Hortensia was a homemaker and seamstress, the couple produced thirteen children and Leah was the second oldest of the thirteen. The Lange family came from humble beginnings in a town that was segregated and Jim Crow laws existed, despite being affected by the Great Depression and having to survive by farming, education was highly valued in the Lange household. The Lange family was Roman Catholic and their children attended Catholic schools in Madisonville until high school when Leah moved to New Orleans to continue her education at St. Mary's Academy, an African American Roman Catholic high school. Leah developed a love for cooking as a young girl spending time in her family’s kitchen. At the age of sixteen, she graduated high school and began working as a domestic worker and at a sewing factory before quitting those jobs to work at a restaurant in New Orleans’ French Quarter called The Coffee Pot, waiting tables. Leah working at The Coffee Pot waiting tables was seen as taboo because she was Creole, but it was also taboo for an African American to work in the French Quarter at the time. According to a New York Times article about Leah Chase, her working at The Coffee Pot was the first time she was in a restaurant. She went on to work at the Colony Restaurant, an upscale restaurant, as a waitress. Her time at The Coffee Pot and the Colony Restaurant helped to further develop her love for cooking and the foundation of her historic future. In 1945, Leah Lange met a man named Edgar “Dooky” Chase Jr. at a dance, the two would hit it off and eventually marry a few months later. Edgar Chase Jr. was a well-known trumpet player and bandleader from New Orleans' Treme neighborhood. Leah traveled with Edgar Jr. and his band for the first years of their marriage until the birth of their first child because they decided to travel less to manage their growing family. Edgar Chase Sr. owned a small lottery-like stand that also sold po'boy sandwiches; by the time Edgar Jr. and Leah decided to travel less and manage their family, Edgar Sr. grew his stand into an upscale black-owned restaurant named Dooky Chase. In 1952, as Edgar Chase Sr. became ill, Leah and Edgar Jr. took control of the restaurant and helped it expand into one of America's beloved black-owned restaurants by blacks and whites during the Jim Crow era. Dooky Chase served as an upscale place black people could go to for great food and community gatherings. Black and white freedom fighters from across the country would gather at Dooky Chase, allowing Leah to meet and befriend a number of our most beloved black figures; the restaurant was even used as a meeting place for the NAACP. Dooky Chase became a place where black people from all walks of life descended upon when they were in New Orleans. Dooky Chase is located in the historic Treme neighborhood of New Orleans on Orleans Ave, and because of the vision of Leah, the restaurant was able to grow and thrive but the neighborhood around the restaurant was not. She was advised to move her restaurant but refused because she valued her neighborhood. When Leah and Edgar Jr. first took over the restaurant Leah thought she would be a hostess but they needed a cook, so she migrated into the kitchen and brought in foods that were considered classic Creole dishes and traditional New Orleans dishes, a move that proved to be successful. She didn’t want to serve foods that were considered extravagant, she wanted to serve foods that people loved or could grow to love. During and after segregation, Dooky Chase rose to New Orleans restaurant prominence because of the quality of the food and dining experiences of her customers. Dooky Chase attracted people such as Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Ray Charles, and many more. Leah developed a love for art, especially African American art, and decided to redecorate the restaurant by covering the walls with exquisite African American art. Her love for art spawned into her serving on the board of the New Orleans Museum of Fine Arts. Her impressive resume also includes authoring two books, The Dooky Chase Cookbook and And Still I Cook. Her perseverance was put on display when Dooky Chase was flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, her grandson placed her art collection in storage to preserve it. A benefit was held by the Treme community for the restaurant where over forty thousand dollars were raised which helped to reopen the doors of Dooky Chase. Leah Chase used food to inspire the world from her restaurant in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans. She was able to travel and meet a number of the most powerful people in the world. There is even a story of her correcting President Barak Obama before he added hot sauce to her world-famous gumbo. Throughout her life, Leah earned many awards which include the New Orleans Times-Picayune 1997 Loving Cup Award, the Outstanding Woman Award from the National Council of Negro Women, a lifetime achievement award from the Southern Foodways Alliance in 2000, the Francis Anthony Drexel Medal, which is the highest award presented to an individual by Xavier University of Louisiana, plus many more. A gallery was dedicated to her by the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received at least six honorary degrees from various universities before her death in 2019. A woman from a small town in Louisiana developed a love for food and art which helped to uplift and promote Creole New Orleans food and culture around the country and around the world. She is known for her personality, art, gumbo, world-famous fried chicken, and using her restaurant to help make the world a better place. Mrs. Leah Chase, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!! References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/us/leah-chase-died.html#:~:text=Leah%20Lange%20was%20born%20in,Lange%2C%20a%20homemaker%20and%20seamstress https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leah_Chase#:~:text=Leyah%20(Leah)%20Chase%20(n%C3%A9e,American%20art%20and%20Creole%20cooking https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2671222/bio https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/chase-leah On July 27, 1979, Marielle Francisco da Silva was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to parents Marielle and Antonio, who raised their family in an area called Mare’ that’s considered a slum. As a young girl around the age of eleven Franco began working to earn money to help her family financially. At the age of nineteen she gave birth to her daughter Luyara but the relationship with her daughter’s father did not last. To support herself, she worked as a pre-school teacher while beginning her pre-university studies so she could further her education at a major university. In 2002, Franco earned a scholarship and attended the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, earning her bachelor’s degree in social sciences. Her next step was attending Fluminense Federal University and earning her master’s degree in public administration. The title of her master’s thesis was “UPP: The Decline of the Favela in Three Letters,” a thesis that examined the impact the police were having on the Favelas they patrolled; UPP means “Pacifying Police Units”, an initiative Brazilian law enforcement instituted in to attempt to retake the Favelas from the gangs. Between 2005 and 2007, Franco began working with the socialist party state representative named Marcelo Freixo. Franco, Frexio, and a number of others created the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights and Citizenship. Franco was motivated by the death of a friend killed by a stray bullet during a shootout between the police and drug dealers. Her motivation also led her to join the Brazil Foundation and the Maré Center for Solidarity Studies and Action. She was not only working to change the conditions in Brazil because of the death of her friend but change the overall conditions for black people and other oppressed people in Brazil. During Brazil’s municipal elections of 2016, Franco was a candidate running for a city council seat. She was viewed as having a long shot to win because she was a black woman from the Favelas who was an unmarried nineteen-year-old mother and was open about being a lesbian. But despite the negative perceptions and the odds, Franco earned the fifth-highest vote total with over 46,500 votes to become one of fifty-one of Rio de Janeiro’s city council members. As a city council member she used her position to help create change in Brazil by fighting for black rights, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, the rights of Brazil’s poor, and many more. She was a force to be reckoned with. Franco served as the chairperson of the Women's Defense Commission and also positioned herself as the overseer of Rio de Janeiro’s federal interventions into their local dealings. She pushed hard to destigmatize LGBTQ+ relations and even worked to create a bill that would approve of a day of lesbian visibility; the bill was eventually voted down. Franco consistently spoke out against the oppression the people of Brazil were experiencing, she was especially vocal against the consistent police violence. March 13, 2018, was the last time she was able to use her voice via social media to speak out against police violence. "Young Black Women Moving Power Structures" was the round table discussion Franco attended on March 14, 2018. Two hours after leaving the round table Franco and her driver were ambushed by two men shooting nine times killing them both. According to an investigation it was concluded that Franco was assassinated by the Brazilian Federal Police. Two former military police offers were arrested for the murder of Franco in 2019, with ties to the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, his neighbor, and his son. Protests of over one hundred thousand people were held all over the world in the name of Marielle Franco by those who supported her activism. Organizations such as the UN of Brazil and many others fought to have Franco's death investigated so justice can be served. Franco fought hard for the rights of others, now she needed her people to fight for her. Marielle Franco was a true soldier in the war against oppression who was unfortunately murdered by people who feared her power and feared change. Franco’s last words to the world via social media were “how many others will have to die for this war to end?” To the courageous Marielle Franco, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! In a village named St. Marc on the island of Saint Dominique, which is now Haiti, Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable was born around the year 1745. DuSable’s mother was an African woman who was formally enslaved and his father was a French sailor; because Dusable’s mother was free at the time of his birth he was born free of enslavement. DuSable would eventually travel throughout the world with his father being educated and even spending a few years learning in France. Gaining his traveling education DuSable learned to speak several languages and dialects including French, English, Spanish, Pidgin languages, and several Indigenous American dialects. Sources suggest that DuSable began traveling with his father because his mother was killed when their boat was raided by the Spanish. In 1765, traveling on his father’s ship from Saint Dominique to New Orleans the ship crashed injuring Du able and causing him to lose his identification papers. DuSable’s injuries were severe and took some time to heal, during his recovery he was almost enslaved because he did not have his identification papers, what saved him was several French Jesuit Priest protected him until his wounds healed. When DuSable’s injuries healed he and a young man named Jean-Baptiste became traders which led them to travel up the Mississippi River settling in what is now Peoria, Illinois, he also settled briefly in Indiana and Michigan. While living in Michigan DuSable married a woman named Kitihawa from the Pottawatomie tribe, the couple produced two children Susanne and Jean. In 1779, DuSable was accused of being a spy, arrested by the British, and imprisoned in Fort Michilimackinac for some time until he was released into the custody of the British Lieutenant Patrick St. Clair. DuSable was forced to manage St. Clair’s woodlands which resided along the St. Clair River in Michigan. Between the late 1770s and the early 1780s, DuSable and his family settled in North East Illinois along Lake Michigan in an area then called Eschikagu, which means “the place of bad smells”. DuSable’s home was built upon eight-hundred acres of land along the North bank of the Chicago River. Using his creativity and resources DuSable established a trading post in Eschikagu which eventually became the most successful trading post in the mid-west. The trading post made DuSable a wealthy man who was able to support his family and buy the finest of items for his home. The name Eschikagu eventually became primarily pronounced as Chicago because of Europeans who could not pronounce Eschikagu correctly. The ongoing American Revolution forced Du Sable and his family off of their lands and stripped them of their rights by the British, he migrated to Michigan where he opened and operated a new trading post. After the conclusion of the American Revolution DuSable was able to reclaim the rights to his land in Chicago and continued to grow his businesses. When DuSable married Kitihawa he was also accepted by the Pottawatomie tribe as one of their own, his great relationship with his wife’s tribe allowed him to hire a few Pottawatomie tribesmen to work for him helping to expand his business. Even though his trading post was thriving, DuSable decided to sell it in the year 1800 to a fellow resident of Chicago named John Kinzie for $1,200. After selling his trading post in Chicago DuSable moved near the Peoria, Illinois area, he owned a farm for ten years, selling it when his wife died. Following the death of his wife DuSable and his daughter moved to St. Charles, Missouri, which was French territory at the time, he was hired by the French governor to operate a ferry on the Missouri River. DuSable faced many financial challenges after moving to Missouri, he could not recreate the wealth he built working his trading post in Chicago. He would lose a lot of money and die in 1818 being finically assisted by his daughter. John Kinzie would eventually take credit for establishing Chicago, a story that would be thought of a fact until the truth about DuSable surfaced. The city of Chicago unofficially recognized DuSable as its founder in 1912, it wasn’t until 2006 that the city of Chicago officially recognized that a black man named Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable established their city. A lot of the information about DuSable is either hidden or lost, but we do have enough information to verify his pioneering feats, the second-largest city in America, and the largest trading post in the mid-west was created by a black man, let that sink in. I had the privilege of traveling to Chicago and seeing the monument of DuSable for myself, one of the highlights of my trip. To Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click the link to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!! References:
http://blackhistorynow.com/jean-baptiste-pointe-du-sable/ https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/dusable-jean-baptiste-point-1745-1818/ https://www.wbez.org/stories/the-father-of-chicago-jean-baptiste-pointe-dusable/24858f5f-0620-4003-9b84-ac3fe294e1c3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baptiste_Point_du_Sable The South Pacific Islands are areas that are often forgotten when discussing the African diaspora, when we do discuss the South Pacific we mostly talk about the continent of Australia, the Hawaiian Islands, Fiji, and New Zealand. These areas are mostly known as vacation locations for those seeking a tropical adventure; unbeknownst to many people, these areas have become home to members of the African diaspora for tens of thousands of years. The South Pacific has three major groups of islands Polynesia, Micronesia, and our focus Melanesia. The name Melanesia is Greek in origin and it means “black islands” because the indigenous inhabitants of the islands are black people; the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville gave the name Melanesia to the islands. The name Melanesian is not the most accurate term used to describe the people and the cultures of the islands, but I will use the term only because of familiarity. Melanesia is made up of 2,000 islands which house around twelve million people, islands that were first inhabited around 70,000 years ago. The Solomon Island, Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, several archipelagos, countries, and smaller islands are what makeup what is considered Melanesia. As people began migrating out of Africa populating the world, South Asia and the South Pacific became home to many people bringing their different cultures and ways of living. Two distinct cultural groups are credited with being the first inhabitants of the Melanesian Islands, the Papuans, and the Austronesians, the Papuans inhabited the islands first followed by the Austronesians 3,000 years ago. According to a genetic study by Temple University in 2008, the inhabitants of Melanesia have a very distinct genetic make-up that differs from the inhabitants of Micronesia and Polynesia. Not all, but a number of the people of Melanesia have a distinct look of black skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. This phenotype is due to a genetic mutation that as far as we know can only be found in Melanesian people. Due to European and Indonesian colonization some of the indigenous names and cultural practices of Melanesia were either replaced completely or the indigenous people infused their culture with European and Indonesian cultures. European colonization began in the 1500s with the arrival of the Spanish and the Portuguese in the Maulku and Solomon Islands as well as Papua New Guinea. During the 1800s European colonization reached its apex as the practice of “blackbirding” became more and more popular. Blackbirding is the practice of enslaving the Melanesians and forcing them to work for their enslavers in Australia. Britain eventually became the main colonizers of Melanesia during the 1800s before they came under the colonization of Indonesia in the 1900s. The people of Melanesia speak Austronesian and Papuan languages, the Austronesian languages originated from Southeast Asia, as opposed to the Papuan languages that originated in Papua New Guinea and New Guinea. Of the two main language groups mentioned previously they consist of close to 1,319 sub-languages that include a Melanesian creole and pidgin languages, French and English are also languages spoken by the people. Melanesia is rich in natural resources yet the economy and the people are poor. Like the African continent, Melanesia is constantly mined and robbed of its natural resources by colonizers as the people are subjugated and used to work the mines. Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam have largely replaced the indigenous spiritual practices of Melanesia. Family structures are both matrilineal and paternal; both monogamy and polygyny are practiced by the Melanesians, who place a large emphasis on family structures. Extended families are welcomed and treated as the nuclear family with reverence for their elders and ancestors. I first became aware of the Melanesian Islands as a middle school student but didn’t learn much about the people or their cultures, like me millions of other people either have little knowledge of or no knowledge at all of the people of Melanesia. African people have given the world so much but are greatly oppressed and enslaved around the world. One of the missions of On the Shoulders of Giants is to not only bring attention to African people that exist around the world but expose the plight we experience. To the millions of Melanesian ancestors and Melanesian people who exist today, we proudly stand on your shoulders. A Spanish slave ship traveling the Magdalena River in Columbia was wrecked allowing the slaves aboard to escape, one of the slaves who escaped was the legendary Benkos Biohó, Bioho was a West African of royal descent. Bioho and his comrades escaped into the Columbian mountains, settling and establishing what is now San Basilio de Palenque around 1603. Located at the bottom of the Montes de Maria Mountain in the Bolivar Department of the country of Columbia, near the city of Cartagena, sits the historical African settlement that still stands to this day. The word Palenque translates to “walled city”. The freed Africans who established the Palenque were known to frequently raid the slave plantations of Cartagena freeing a large number of slaves. Cartagena at the time was used as a main slave-trading location in Columbia. The Palenque was well hidden which allowed it to not be found by the Spanish surviving for over two-hundred years. The inhabitants of San Basilio de Palenque are referred to as Palenqueros. The isolation of the Palenqueros over the centuries allowed them to preserve their African culture while infusing it with Spanish culture. The Palenqueros speak a form of creole called Palenquero, a language this is widely believed to be the only Spanish-based creole language spoken in the world. Around 3,500 Palenqueros were established. Between 1691 and 1713, San Basilio de Palenque was issued a Royal Decree by the Spanish declaring them free as long as they stopped raiding the plantations of Cartagena. The women of Palenque are known as the Palenqueras, these women dressed in beautiful bright colored dresses with turban-wrapped heads. The women are masterful saleswomen who are famous for their look and their delicious food. The food of the Palenqueras is widely known and desired across the world. So much so that Palenquera recipes were awarded the Gourmand World Cookbook Award in 2014, and Palenquera recipes have been included in over 15,000 cookbooks throughout the years. African culture influenced by Spanish, Caribbean, and South American cultures is what makes up the culture of San Basilio de Palenque, a settlement that is documented as the first free African settlement in the Americas. Their music, food, fashion, language, dances, and ways of thinking are based on their ancestral heritage, a heritage that was untouched by the Spanish for over two-hundred years. The Palenquero people were able to establish a way of living that was unique to them as well as empowering. From the time of the legend Benkos Bioho to the present day, San Basilio de Palenque stands as a symbol of African resistance, African pride, African strength, and African freedom. To Benkos Bhiho and the many heroes who established the Palenque and the inhabitants of San Basilio de Palenque, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J. A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!! References:
https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/cultural-space-of-palenque-de-san-basilio-00102 https://www.colombia.co/en/colombia-country/environment/caribbean-region/san-basilio-de-palenque-first-free-town-africans-americas/ https://impulsetravel.co/tour-operator/en/blog/93/san-basilio-de-palenque-a-historical-day-trip-dentination-from-cartagena https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Basilio_de_Palenque Before the founding of the Asante Empire, the Asante was a part of an Akan ethnic group that eventually became divided over time. What caused the division is debated, but whatever the truth is, it helped to lead to the unification of the Asante Empire. Migrations of the early Asante people led them settling along the coast of modern-day Ghana, the location they chose was rich in gold, kola nuts, and other natural resources; it was also a prosperous trade route. The Asante had not yet become a powerhouse, the Denkyira were the dominant Asante state; the Asante king at the time Obiri Yeboa had plans to become the dominant Asante state and eventually unify the Asante states. Obiri Yeoba was the Asante King from sixteen-sixty until sixteen-eighty. Little did Obiri Yeboa know his nephew Osei Tutu would bring his dream to life. Osei Tutu became the King of the Asante in sixteen-eighty, succeeding his uncle Obiri Yeboa, Tutu along with his priest Okomfo Anokye prepared to carry out their plans to unify the Asante. As stated previously, the Denkyira was the dominate Asante group and the main adversary for Tutu to conquer. Before Tutu made his move against the Denkyira, he united the other Asante clans he was named the Asantehene or King of the Asante, and united the remaining Asante clans under the Asantehene. Tutu also became the first Asantehene to have the Golden Stool. It is said that during a meeting between Tutu and the other Asante chiefs, Tutu's priest Okomfo Anokye summoned a golden stool from the heaven that landed in Osei Tutu’s lap. The Asante chiefs pledged their allegiance to the Asante, the golden stool, and Osei Tutu. The next step for Tutu was to defeat the Denkyira and unite the Asante kingdom. Okomfo Anokye along with his magic helped to decide the location of the Asante capital. Okomfo Anokye planted two trees, one at Kumasi and one at Kumawu, Kumasi became the Asante capital because the tree planted there grew tall and strong, the tree at Kumawu died. The cities of Jenne and Timbuktu were very important to the trade routes flowing through the Asante occupied area of Ghana. Whoever controlled the Asante clans controlled the trade routes. When Kumasi became the capital of the Asante states Tutu gained the title of Kumasihene along with his title as Asantehene during the first Odwira Festival, which is an annual festival to celebrate the unification of the Asante states. Tutu along with Okomfo Anokye and other Asante leaders created a constitution and a confederacy to govern the unified Asante states, it was also expressed that Tutu held the power of Chief of the Asante and the Chief Priest. Osei Tutu had one very critical mission; to achieve his goal defeating the Denkyira was a must. Tutu organized a strong military force to protect his unified Asante state, he also used his military to expand into the Asante Empire. Tutu eventually went to war against the Denkyira and defeated them, he also defeated other opposing states, the defeated Asante states along with the Denkyira became a part of the now unified Asante Empire. The empire was officially unified under Osei Tutu in the year 1701; under his leadership, the Asante Kingdom flourished, expanding economically, geographically, politically, and militarily. The Asante Empire became one of the most legendary empires in the history of the world. Tutu led the Asante Empire until his death in 1717 during a battle against the Akyem. The Asante Empire continued to flourish even after Tutu’s death, Opoku Ware succeeded Tutu and strengthened the unity if the Asante Empire by creating the Great Oath of the Asante. The empire continued its reign until it fell to the British invaders in the year 1900. To the great Asantehene Osei Kofi Tutu I, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osei_Kofi_Tutu_I https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/tutu-osei-kofi-c-1680-1717/ http://en.lisapoyakama.org/osei-tutu-the-founder-of-the-asante-empire/ https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/ashanti.php https://www.culturesofwestafrica.com/history-ashanti-empire-colonization/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rulers_of_Asante https://ghananation.com/rulers/?blurb=403 The origins of humanity and civilization can be traced back to the Nile Valley in Africa starting around Uganda and South Sudan flowing to Egypt. The African diaspora is the term used to describe the many African people who traveled out of Africa and populated the world. As far as we know, African people have inhabited every continent and left information about their cultures and ways of living across various lands. The Caucuses are no exception, Africans inhabit the Caucuses, and I will tell you about one group of African people called the Abkhazians who have lived in the caucuses for centuries. From my research, I have found a few stories that explain the origins of the Abkhazians, those stories are as follows. The Abkhazians inhabit the sovereign state of Abkhazia located along the northeastern coast of the Black Sea in the Republic of Georgia. According to accounts by the historian Herodotus, during the fifth century BC he traveled throughout the Caucuses and learned about a group of African people called the Colchians who lived in the area known then as Colchis. He described them as a Negro people with black skin and woolly hair who practiced circumcisions; Herodotus stated that the only people he knew that practiced circumcisions were Egyptians and Ethiopians. He also noticed that the Colchians practiced weaving patterns that originated in Egypt. Herodotus conducted research and concluded that the Colchians were Egyptians that were a part of the Army of the Pharaoh Sesostris after his campaign in southern Russia. An American journalist named John Gunther, centuries after Herodotus, also traveled to Colchis and learned that black people of African descent inhabit the lands, but was told that they existed in the region due to their ancestors being slaves of the Turkish. According to J. Malte-Brun, Colchis was a place that was constantly raided by slaveholders, Malte-Brun also concluded that it was unlikely that the Colchians were imported into the regions by the Turkish slaveholders. The Abkhazians are descendants of the Colchians as documented by the Russian writer Maxim Gorky, who sat with the elders of an Abkhazian village as the elders told Gorky about their heritage, and from those meetings, he concluded that the origins of the Abkhazians trace back through the Colchians from Egypt and Ethiopia. One hypothesis that exists about the origins of the Abkhazians is that they were Moors who were a part of the Roman Empire who often explored Eurasia. Another Theory Is that they are an indigenous European group called the Nigiri Latinis who inhabited European lands from Spain to Russia. However, a number of European historians agree on the hypothesis that the Abkhazians who inhabit Abkhazia today were brought there as slaves by the Ottoman Empire, or by the Georgian ruling family of Abkhazia the Shervashidzes. One European story tells of an Ottoman shipwreck carrying slaves and the slaves who survived the shipwreck became the Abkhazians. The Narts Sagas which are a series of stories about the origins of the people of the North Caucuses states that African people from the Horn of Africa were “escorting” the Narts on their travels throughout the Caucuses. One of the last pieces of information that European historians use to prove their slave history theory of the Abkhazians is a letter by Ivan Isakov to a man named Khrushchev stating that Afro-Abkhazians escorted Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov as he traveled into the region of Abkhazia. The issue with the European accounts about the Abkhazian origins is that none of the Abkhazian people or historians validates their stories. The verified stories of the Abkhazian origins are more aligned with the findings and conclusions of Herodotus and the European historians that agree with him. What we do know is that once again African people can be found around the globe inhabiting lands that are thought to not have any Africans present. To the Abkhazian people and the African diaspora, we stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! References:
https://www.georgianjournal.ge/discover-georgia/29876-the-tale-of-afro-abkhazians.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abkhazians_of_African_descent https://www.africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-great-the-egyptian-hercules/the-moors-of-abkhazia/The https://face2faceafrica.com/article/the-little-known-story-of-the-african-caucasians-enslaved-in-russia-in-the-17th-century https://www.africaresource.com/rasta/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/abkhazia-blakks.gif https://www.britannica.com/place/Abkhazia During the 14th century, the Kingdom of Mali was ruled by Mansa Abu Bakr II the ninth Mansa of Mali; at the time the Kingdom of Mali was one of if not the largest kingdoms on the African continent. Details about the life of Abu Bakr II are unknown except for accounts from the Arab historian Al-Umari. Al-Umari learned details about Abu Bakr’s life during a conversation with Abu Bakr’s successor Mansa Musa. The historian learned that Abu Bakr was interested in learning what was on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and confident he could complete the mission. According to Al-Umari’s account as told to him by Mansa Musa, Abu Bakr prepared 200 boats to sail across the Atlantic to learn about what existed on the other side on the ocean. The boats were stocked with gold, water, food, and enough essential items to last quite a few years. Abu Bakr instructed his Admiral to sail the Atlantic and to not return until he found the far side of the ocean, or unless they exhausted all of their resources. Several years passed before any of the boats from the voyage returned, only one boat returned, when questioned, the captain of the boat explained how many of the boats were lost in the ocean due to violently flowing currents. The captain explained how he narrowly escaped being drowned by a massive whirlpool and was able to sail home. Upon hearing this news, Abu Bakr loaded 2,000 ships, two thousand for his men and one thousand for supplies, then set sail to explore the far side of the Atlantic Ocean. Mansa Musa was placed in charge of the Kingdom of Mali until Abu Bakr returned, but he never returned, so to this day his death remains a mystery. According to African scholars and researchers, specifically researcher Gaoussou Diswara and historian Ivan Van Sertima, it is purposed that maybe Abu Bakr or other African explorers reached the Caribbean and the Central or South American continents. There are accounts of indigenous Americans stating that black people sailed to their islands with gold. According to accounts by Christopher Columbus and Bartolome de las Casas an abundance of West African spears, gold, and many other artifacts existed. Several white scholars who support the argument that Europeans reached the Americas first disagree that Africans sailed to the Americas. Remember that European historians have a history of rewriting history to make themselves seem superior, especially when it comes to their relations with African people. We will celebrate pioneering explorers like Abu Bakr and the many others who preceded him and followed him. To the great Malian ruler and explorer Mansa Abu Bakr II, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!! In 1806, Norbert Rillieux was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to parents Vincent Rillieux and Constance Vivant. Vincent Rillieux was a successful inventor of the steam-operated cotton baller and a slave owner. Constance Vivant and Norbert Rillieux were both free from slavery. Norbert, a mixed race creole was allowed privileges other people of African descent were not. He received a prominent education from a private Catholic school in Louisiana before traveling to Paris to study at École Centrale Paris, a postgraduate-level institute of research and higher education in engineering and science. Norbert’s educational concentrations at École Centrale Paris included physics, mechanics, and engineering. He was interested in steam engines and actually became an expert on steam engines, he even published several papers explaining the functions of steam engines. In 1830, at the age of twenty-four, Norbert became an instructor of applied mechanics at École Centrale Paris. Later in 1830, Norbert published a paper about using steam technology to help improve sugar refinery. He also began working on his multiple effect evaporating system which is an invention that would truly change the world. At that time, the process of making sugar from sugarcane was dangerous, unproductive and extremely expensive. The process of sugar making was actually called the "Sugar Train", “Spanish Train” or “Jamaican Train”. Large amounts of pressed sugar was poured into a huge cauldron, heated and monitored until the water evaporated. The remaining liquid was poured repeatedly into smaller pots during the thickening process of the liquid; the problem with the process was that sugar was constantly lost and or burned due to no control of the heat. The main problem with the process was the slaves that were forced to refine the sugar were often injured during the transportation of the scalding liquids. Norbert moved back to Louisiana with the intentions of working with his brother Edmund and his cousin Norbert Soulie as the head engineer of their coming Louisiana sugar refinery. Edmund and Norbert Soulie learned about Norbert’s work in using steam to improve sugar refinery and recruited him to join them. The refinery was never opened so they were not able to use Norbert’s intelligence and ingenuity to make their dream a reality. In 1843, Norbert Rillieux patented his multiple-effect evaporating system which improved the sugar refining process and also eliminated the need for slaves to be used to transport scalding liquids. The multiple-effect evaporating system helped to reduce the boiling point, it utilized multiple pans that better controlled the heat, and it also prevented the sugar from being burned or unable to be used. More sugar was produced, less time was used, no workers were harmed, and the sugar producers made more money. 1843 is also the year that Norbert installed his evaporator at the sugar refinery on the Bellechasse Plantation owned by Judah Benjamin. Benjamin was pleased with Norbert’s invention and became his biggest supporter, he stated that Norbert’s sugar was outstanding, even equal to or better than the sugar refined in the North. Norbert Rillieux became one of the most sought after engineers in the state of Louisiana, he was installing his multiple-effect evaporating system for a large number of sugar plantation owners and earning a large amount of money; however, he did not earn enough money or notoriety to erase racism. When plantation owners would invite Norbert to install his invention they would force him to either live with the slaves or give him his own quarters and have slaves serve him. Norbert was not used to the treatment and it bothered him, also during that time the freedom of blacks was suspended because of the coming Civil War. On one occasion, Norbert submitted an application for a patent that was denied because the workers at the patent office mistook him for a slave. Norbert eventually moved back to Paris, France because of the treatment he received and witnessed, and the decline in the sugar refining industry. Norbert died in 1894 in Paris. Before his death, he developed a passion for Egypt and was spotted studying hieroglyphics at the various pyramids in Egypt. Norbert Rillieux literally created the modern sugar refinery industry just by being passionate about steam engineering and using it to help improve the way sugar was produced. Mr. Norbert Rillieux, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! This is a story about women who ruled the Limpopo Province of South Africa, the only matrilineal monarchy in the world; I introduce to you the Modjadjis or Rain Queens of Balobedu. Two stories exist that tell the origins of the Rain Queens, the first is in the 16th century, the Chief of Monomotapa was told his daughter Dzugundini could gain rain making skills if he impregnated her. The second story is that Dzugundini was impregnated by her brother but was able to flee to the Sotho region of South Africa. Dzugundini eventually went on to found the Balobedu Kingdom of South Africa, which at the time had a male ruler. As warfare increased so did problems within the Balobedu Kingdom, the Mugudo or male ruler of Balobedu wanted to restore peace within his kingdom so he impregnated his daughter, the child was the first Modjadji or Rain Queen. The succession of Rain Queens are as follows; Rain Queen I was Maselekwane Modjadji who ruled from 1800 to 1854, Rain Queen II was Masalanabo I Modjadji who ruled from 1854 to 1894, Rain Queen III was Khesetoane Modjadji who ruled from 1895 to 1959, Rain Queen IV was Makoma Modjadji who ruled from 1959 to 1980, Rain Queen V was Mokope Modjadji who ruled from 1981 to 2001, Rain Queen VI was Makobo Modjadji who ruled from 2003 to 2005. From 2007 to 2018 Prince Regent Mpapada Modjadji led the Balobedu Kingdom. During the reign of the second Rain Queen, the Balobedu Kingdom was overrun by the majority white South African military. Under the oppression of apartheid the power and influence of the Rain Queen was weakened. During the 1990s, after apartheid ended, the Rain Queens power and influence was restored. Currently, no Rain Queen sits upon the throne, but in 2023 Princess Masalanabo II will be crowned Rain Queen VII Modjadji Masalanabo on her eighteenth birthday. It was customary for the Rain Queen to never appear in public, she would communicate to her people through royal counselors. The Rain Queen does not marry but is allowed to have a romantic partner. To ensure the loyalty of the kingdom, the Rain Queen would take “wives” from the various nobles of the kingdom; the “wives” would become royal servants or even romantic partners for some of the men in the kingdom. The lure and the prominence of the Rain Queen was prominent throughout South Africa, even the mighty king Shaka Zulu respected the lure of the Rain Queen. To help reinforce the Rain Queens power, every November a rain making ceremony was held within the kingdom. It is said that the power of the Rain Queen keeps the cycad tree in abundance under a rain belt within the gardens that surround the royal compound. Since the Rain Queen will only be a woman, when she does mate she would usually mate with a man chosen by her royal counsel. The eldest daughter of the Rain Queen is usually the successor to the throne, if the Rain Queen has no daughters or other circumstances prevent the Queens eldest daughter from ascending to the throne, the woman who is the closest in relation to the queen becomes the next Rain Queen. In the past it was custom for the Rain Queen to commit ritual suicide so her daughter can ascend to the throne, today they no longer continue that custom. The influence of the Rain Queen even spread to Western culture; Marvels character Storm of the X-Men was taken from the Rain Queen, the book She: A History of Adventure written by r H. Rider Haggard was inspired by the Rain Queens, specifically the second Rain Queen Masalanabo I Modjadji. There seems to be a continued misconception that women can’t rule, and specifically black women are not rulers of kingdoms. The Rain Queens are the latest example of women rulers I have presented to you; they are the first and only all-woman led monarchy in the world. To all six of the previous Rain Queens and to the upcoming seventh Rain Queen, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! On March 20, 1915, Rosetta Nubin was born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, to parents Willis Atkins and Kate Bell Nubin. Her father Willis was a cotton picker and singer, her mother Kate was a singer, mandolin player and, a COGIC preacher for her traveling ministry. Tharpe began singing and playing the guitar at the age of four and was considered a child prodigy by the age of six. The Tharpe family traveled throughout the South performing for various audiences until the family moved to Chicago, Illinois around 1925. The Tharpe family began performing at the fourth street COGIC church in Chicago and around the United States, igniting audiences with their skills and flair. Tharpe was gaining notoriety as a young talented singer and guitar player; she was one of the few black female guitarists making a name at the time. In 1934, Tharpe met and married a COGIC preacher named Thomas Thorpe, the couple lasted a few years before they divorced. Following her divorce, Tharpe’s stage named became Sister Rosetta Tharpe, she moved to New York with her mother and signed a record deal with Decca Records in 1938. At the age of 23, Tharpe became Decca Records’ first gospel artist and recorded her first four songs, "Rock Me," "That's All," "My Man and I" and "The Lonesome Road". All of her songs became hits and Tharpe was becoming a household name as a gospel singer influencing established and up and coming artists. Tharpe’s song “Rock Me” is an early influence on what would become Rock and Roll music; Tharpe herself was inspired by jazz and blues which can be heard in her music. Because she infused what was considered secular music within the gospel music she made, many churchgoers were turned off by her music, while simultaneously gaining a large following of new fans. As Tharpe’s popularity grew so did her opportunities. She began performing with musical legends such as Cab Calloway and Benny Goodman and performed at the Cotton Club in Harlem and Carnegie Hall. Her performances and collaborations helped to bring black southern gospel music to the mainstream; she also helped to set the foundation for Rock and Roll music to be created. As Tharpe’s popularity grew so did the sexism she faced as a woman playing the guitar. The more music she made the more Christians became upset with her for infusing secular music with the gospel. During World War II Tharpe was one of two gospel performers to record songs on V-Disc for black American troops abroad. In 1944, Tharpe and pianist Sammy Price recorded the song “Strange Things Happening Every Day”. The song became a hit and the first gospel song to appear in the top ten of Billboard’s Harlem Hit Parade Magazine. “Strange Things Happening Every Day” is often considered the very first Rock and Roll record to be recorded. Tharpe’s light continued to shine as she toured the United States exposing more and more people to her unique style of gospel music. In 1946, Tharpe was in New York attending a Mahalia Jackson concert when she discovered a young singer by the name of Marie Knight. Tharpe invited Knight to tour the country with her and record the songs "Up Above My Head" and "Gospel Train". As time passed Tharpe and Knight’s relationship took a toll after Knight lost her children and mother in a fire, Knight desired to become a solo artist and, rumors were spread that Tharpe and Knight had a romantic relationship. Tharpe married her manager Russell Morrison in 1951 and performed at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. In 1956, she recorded the gospel album Gospel Train with a black gospel quartet named The Harmonizing Four. In 1957, she was touring the UK for a month with Chris Barber a British trombonist. In 1964, Tharpe returned to the UK for a gospel and blues tour with Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Ransom Knowling, Little Willie Smith, Reverend Gary Davis, Cousin Joe, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee. Tharpe battled diabetes complications which caused her to have a stroke in 1970, following her stroke one of her legs were amputated. In 1973, Rosetta Tharpe died the day before she was scheduled to record new music. Unknowingly, Tharpe helped to create a new genre of music and inspired generations of future artists. Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Isaac Hayes, Meat Loaf, Neil Sedaka, Karen Carpenter and, Frank Turner are all musicians who have expressed Tharpe’s influence on their music. Tharpe was commemorated on a US postal stamp in 1998, posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2007, a four-hour BBC documentary about her life aired in 2011, the PBS series American Masters featured her in 2013, the play Marie and Rosetta was created about her time with Marie Knight and debuted in New York in 2016, and was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. She recorded fourteen albums and three of her singles appeared atop the Billboard charts between 1945 and 1949. To the legendary singer, guitarist and innovator Rosetta Tharpe, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! In the sixteenth century on the island of Hispaniola lived a group of people called the Tiano. The Tiano were indigenous to the Caribbean islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas and the Northern Lesser Antilles. They were the first Americans to defend themselves against Christopher Columbus; they also spoke an Arawakan language that was commonly found in the Caribbean and the Lesser Antilles. Hatuey was a Taino chief from the island of Hispaniola during the early stages of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Thirty Spanish ships arrived on the shores of Hispaniola, one of the ships was occupied by Governor Nicolas de Ovando, the ships also brought a large population of Spanish colonizers and African slaves. The enslaved Africans began escaping from the Spanish quarters fleeing into the interior of the island and connecting with the Tiano people. The Tiano were thought of as people who negatively influenced the Africans, in turn, the Africans escaped slavery. The Spanish first arrived in Hispaniola around 1502, bringing with them death and destruction for the Tiano and the Africans they captured. The Tiano were forced to defend themselves if they wanted to survive, and or, keep their lands. For over a decade, Hatuey led the Tiano people into combat against the Spanish to defend their freedom. Around 1511, Hatuey and four hundred of his soldiers traveled to Cuba on a mission to mobilize the people of Cuba against the Spanish. He warned the Cuban leaders about the vile nature of the Spanish, he urged them to unite and fight. It is said that the Spanish colonizing Priest Bartolome de Las Casas, recorded Hatuey speaking the following words to the Cuban leaders; “the intruders worship gold, fight and kill, usurp our land and makes us slaves. For gold, slaves, and the land they fight and kill; for these they persecute us and that is why we have to throw them into the sea”. A number of the leaders in Cuba did not take heed to Hatuey’s message, a few did join him in his fight to remain free from Spanish domination. As the Cuban forces were being organized to defend themselves the Spanish invaded Cuba led by Diego Velasquez. The Spanish had superior weaponry and outnumbered the Tiano, but they didn’t have half of the heart and tactics the Tiano possessed. Using guerrilla warfare, the Tiano was able to attack the Spanish and became a legitimate threat. The Spanish were held under siege in for a while in a fort because of the attacks Hatuey led against them. Eventually, the Spanish were able to overtake the Tiano, capture Hatuey and his men, and publicly executed Hatuey on February second of fifteen-twelve. Before Hatuey was murdered, he was asked by a Franciscan Friar if he would repent, become a Christian, and accept Jesus as his lord and savior. Hatuey did not have any knowledge of Jesus, heaven or hell. The Friar was doing his best to convince Hatuey to follow Jesus so he could “go to heaven”. Hatuey asked the Friar if all Christians went to heaven, the Friar told him that all Christians did go to Heaven, Hatuey then told the Friar he would rather be in hell. To one of the first freedom fighters in the Americas, Hatuey, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! In 1761, a baby girl was born to an enslaved African woman and a British Naval officer in the British West Indies. The baby was Dido Elizabeth Belle, the daughter of Maria Belle an African enslaved woman and Sir John Lindsay. Sir John Lindsay was a member of the aristocratic Lindsay family of Evelix of the Lindsay Clan; Sir John was eventually promoted to an Admiral within the British Navy. It is said that Sir John Lindsay met Maria Belle on a slave ship coming from the Caribbean, Maria Belle became the concubine of Sir John Lindsay and they produced Dido. In 1765, Sir John Lindsay returned to London bringing Dido with him to be raised by William Murray the 1st Earl of Mansfield and his wife Elizabeth Murray Countess of Mansfield. The Murray family adopted and raised Dido as one of their own even though she was of mixed races and considered a slave. Dido was baptized in 1766, educated, and groomed to be an aristocrat. She was freed from being considered a legal slave in 1793, when the Mansfield family granted her freedom from slavery. While being raised by the Murray’s at the Kenwood House outside of London, it is believed that Dido was brought into the household to be the playmate of Lady Elizabeth Murray, but was not considered her servant. Most of the English aristocrats were not used to seeing a person of African descent treated like the white aristocrat, possess a great deal of intelligence, articulate, poetic, and an asset to the family. Dido was able to enjoy several luxuries of the aristocratic lifestyle, she was viewed as an equal to Lady Elizabeth, but she was reminded from time to time that she was a slave. Dido was given the duty of maintaining the poultry yards and becoming the secretary for William Murray; a position that was usually reserved for males. Dido was able to earn up to one-hundred Euros annually from her secretary duties, a salary well over that of the typical African person in Europe at that time. Dido’s social position was unique, she was not relegated to servitude even though she was considered one of the illegitimate children of Sir John Lindsay. Dido was able to gain monetary stability when Sir John Lindsay died and she inherited a piece of one thousand Euros. Lord Mansfield gave her five hundred Euros after granting her freedom from slavery, one hundred Euros were inherited from Lady Margery Murray, and she was given a share of ten thousand Euros from William Murray. In 1793, Dido married a Frenchman named John Daviner, the couple produced three children. Dido died in 1895, her body being buried at St. George’s Fields, not the typical burial grounds of Africans or former slaves. Dido is one of the glaring examples of African people existing in Europe as more than slaves. She was famously depicted in a painting along with Lady Elizabeth Murray as her equal, not as a subordinate. That painting is one of the rare depictions providing proof about Dido’s status in English society, a status that challenged the overall ideas of the existence and status of African people. Her life is depicted in the films Dido Belle and Belle; in the plays, Spirit Songs, Spirit of the Middle Passage, Let Justice Be Done, An African Cargo; and in the musical Fern Meets Dido. Authors such as Caitlin Davies, Paula Byrne, Zadie Smith, and Emma Donoghue have written extensively about her life and impact. Dido Elizabeth Belle, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! On July 13, 1934, Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, during the time the British controlled Nigeria. His parents were Samuel Ayodele Soyinka and Grace Eniola Soyinka. Samuel was an Anglican minister and headmaster of the St. Peters School, Grace was a Nigerian entrepreneur and political activist. Grace was also the cousin of legendary Nigerian singer Fela Kuti and Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti and was considered an important member of the Ransome-Kuti family. His family was Anglican but lived in an area where the Yoruba tradition was the dominant spiritual system. His early education included attending St. Peter’s Primary School, the Abeokuta Grammar School, and then he attended the Government College in 1946. As a student at Abeokuta Grammar School, Soyinka won several literary awards for his outstanding writing which would help to set the stage for his future as a writer. The Government College was considered one of Nigeria’s best secondary schools, he graduated in 1952 then went on to study English literature, Greek and Western History at the University College of Ibadan, which is connected to the University of London. Soyinka used his writing skills to create a radio play named Keffi’s Birthday Treat that was broadcast in 1954. That same year, Soyinka along with several colleagues created an anti-corruption student organization named Pyrates Confraternity. In 1954, Soyinka moved to London, England to further his collegiate studies at the University of Leeds, he also published several written works and begin writing a column for a magazine called The Eagle. He graduated from The University of Leeds in 1958 and remained in the city of Leeds to begin his career as a professional writer. His first pieces of work as a professional writer were the plays The Swamp Dwellers and The Lion and the Jewel. The plays were so good that they were performed throughout the UK and Nigeria. After moving to London, his next step was earning money as a play reader while he established himself as a writer. Two of Soyinka’s poems were published in a Nigerian magazine titled Black Orpheus, simultaneously, one of his plays The Invention was being performed at the Royal Court Theater. Soyinka moved back to Ibadan, Nigeria after receiving a Rockefeller Research Fellowship to research African theater, he also became the co-editor of the Black Orpheus magazine. The Black Orpheus magazine was a satirical magazine that led Soyinka to create works such as The Trials of Brother Jero and A Dance of The Forest that poked fun at the elite in Nigeria. A Dance of The Forest became Nigeria’s official play to celebrate their freedom from the British. In addition to becoming a successful play-writer, Soyinka founded an acting ensemble called the “Nineteen Sixty Masks” to train future Nigerian artists. In 1960, My Father’s Burden the first play to be produced for Nigerian television was written by Soyinka and directed by Segun Olusola. The play was a satirical look at the Nigerian government’s continued occupation of the people homes. In 1962, Soyinka became a university professor of English at the Obafemi University in Ife, he also published an essay titled “Towards a True Theater”, released the full-length movie Culture in Transition in 1963, published the novel The Interpreters in 1964, and founded the Drama Association of Nigeria in 1964. In 1965, as an act of protest Soyinka quit his job as a university professor, later that year he was arrested and charged with taking over a radio station with guns and forcing the programmers to play a speech with information about political scams ran by the government. Soyinka spent a number of months in jail before being released due to Nigerian people protesting for his release. Being incarcerated did not stop his writing, he published Before the Blackout, Kongi’s Harvest and The Detainee before and after his arrest. 1965 was also the year Soyinka’s play The Road debuted at the Commonwealth Arts Festival in London. Despite his setbacks and opposition with the Nigerian government, the University of Lagos made Soyinka the headmaster and senior lecturer for their English department. Political activism was a big part of Soyinka’s life following the military coup of 1965. Soyinka held a secret meeting between himself and the military governor to ensure that a civil war did not occur. After the meeting, Soyinka’s life was in danger causing him to seek refuge from the public. He was eventually arrested and jailed for twenty-two months while a civil war began. During his imprisonment, he continued to write his poetry and continued to produce plays. His plays The Trials of Brother Jero and The Strong Breed were so good that they were able to debut in New York. Idane and Other Poems is a collection of poems that were published during his troubles with the government and it highlighted traditional Nigerian spirituality. The Nigerian civil war ended in 1969 freeing Soyinka and other political prisoners. After his release, he lived in France for a while to reestablish his foundation and continue his writing. Soyinka published The Bacchae of Euripides in 1969, he then published Poems from Prison, before regaining his position as the Headmaster of the Cathedral of Drama in Ibadan. In 1970, his play Kongi’s Harvest was made into a film, he produced a play titled Madman and Specialist which premiered at the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. He published a poetry collection titled A Shuttle in the Crypt in 1971, before traveling to Paris to play the role of the legendary leader of the Congo Patrice Lamumba. Soyinka’s political activism began to regain its energy, he also gave up his university position to focus on fighting what he considered as a corrupt government. He lived in exile but continued to use his writings and his plays to fight the Nigerian government and bring awareness to the conditions of his people. In 1972, Soyinka was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Leeds, his novels Season of Anomy and Collected Plays were published in the same year. Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 making him the first African to win that award; he dedicated his acceptance speech to South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. Soyinka became a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the protection of African people in 1994. In November of 1994, he was forced to flee from Nigeria to the United States because he was charged with treason. He became the second president of the International Parliament of Writers in 1997, the organization was created to support writers who were in opposition to their national governments. He received nineteen awards and honors throughout his life, wrote over thirty plays, published two novels, three short stories, five memoirs, eight poetry collections, fourteen essays, and produced three movies. Soyinka dedicated his life to writing and to the liberation of his people from a corrupt government. He was one of Nigeria’s greatest writers and one of the world's greatest contributors to literature. This man is a true example of one using their pen and becoming more powerful than a person with a weapon. With the Ransome-Kuti revolutionary blood running through his veins, Soyinka was primed to become the man that he is today. He was not pleased with how his people were living and being treated so he did something about it. We all have gifts and a means to fight oppression, we must recognize who we are, what we bring to the table and act. Mr. Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!! In 1974, on the island of West Papua, in the Pyramid Village of the Bailem Valley, a boy was born who would become the man to lead his people in a fight against Indonesian oppression. Benny Wenda is a member of the indigenous Lani people of West Papua, as a child he enjoyed gardening and living a peaceful life with his mother. The lands of the Lani were invaded by the Indonesian military in 1977; they constantly terrorized, beat, and raped the Lani people to keep them under control. The Lani women were forced to become servants to the soldiers bringing them food and catering to their individual needs. The vile treatment of the Lani people led to an uprising against the Indonesian military. 15,000 Lani people fought against the Indonesian military to regain their freedom. The military countered their attack by dropping bombs on the Lani villages, killing many people and injuring many more. Benny was one of the children who were injured by the bombings. His leg was severely injured and he did not receive treatment because of the oppressive conditions. The Lani people that survived were forced into the jungles to escape persecution. The surviving Lani living in the jungles were helpless against the attacks of the Indonesian military. Once, Benny and his family were traveling through the jungle when they were attacked by military personnel, the men ripped a baby from its mother’s arms breaking its back as they threw it to the ground, they then proceeded to rape Benny’s aunt forcing him to watch. The living conditions in the jungle were bad and forced the Lani people to surrender to Indonesian rule. Benny’s family remained in the jungle a bit longer but was forced to surrender after his grandmother died. A decision was made by his grandfather and other adults to surrender to the Indonesians to ensure the survival of the children. During their surrender, the Lani had to present themselves holding the Indonesian flag, pledge their allegiance to Indonesia, and vow to live under Indonesian law. After his family surrendered, Benny was placed in an Indonesian school and immediately indoctrinated to view the Indonesian as superior and his people as inferior. He was only taught about the history of Indonesia, forced to eat Indonesian food, forced to dress and think like an Indonesian, all while being terrorized by Indonesian youth. As an inquisitive child and a victim of constant terror, he would ask his mother why the Indonesian people treated them so bad, she would never answer his questions, she would just say he will learn one day. Benny went on to attend the University of Jayapura earning a degree in sociology and politics, an education he would use to help his people. As a natural leader, Benny began to organize the Papuan people and students to start talking, educating and strategizing to take a stand against the oppression they were experiencing. One of the main things Benny wanted for his people was for them to know who they truly were and where they come from. As mentioned earlier, the Indonesian education they received only taught them that they were savages. Benny was not satisfied with the lack of information about his people, so he began to search vigorously for any information he could find. Every resource he used did not help him until he was exposed to the oral history of the Papuan people. He learned that the Dutch gained control of Papuan land in 1945, they then promised the Papuan people independence but never delivered on their promise. He learned that his Papuan people and their culture were declared sovereign, they even had a flag and a national anthem. In 1969, the Act of Free Choice was a bogus tactic by the Indonesians to get a group of sell-out Papuans to agree to the Papuans assimilating into Indonesian culture. Around 1999, the Indonesian military were not as aggressive in their oppression of the Papuan people, so talks of independence ensued among the Papuan people, the Papuan flag was being raised and legal independence was being demanded. Between 1999 and 2000 was known as the “Papuan Spring” because of the spirit of rebellion and independence growing, also the Presidum of the Papuan Council was created to represent the Paupan people during negations with the Indonesian government. Benny became the leader of the Demmak Koteka Tribal Assembly. The Assembly was created to fight for independence and preserve the customs of the Papuan people. The mission of Demmak was compromised in 2001 when Magawati became the organizations president. His views aligned more with what the Indonesian government wanted instead of working to help the Papuan people gain independence. A Papuan elder was murdered by soldiers as the military once again tightened its oppressive grip upon the Papuan people. Even though Benny was facing what seemed like insurmountable odds, he never gave up on working to liberate his people. Paupan people lost their right to protest their oppression and anyone who spoke against the Indonesian government was arrested. In 2002, Benny was falsely arrested, jailed, tortured and blamed for crimes that left two police officers dead. Benny was facing 25 years in prison for crimes he did not commit, while the judge and the prosecutor were collaborating to convict Benny because he was fighting for the independence of his people. The Paupan people were certain that Benny would be convicted and killed by the Indonesian government. His odds of survival were so bad that he was advised to not eat the prison food because it could have been poisoned. With the courts against Benny and his ruling coming soon, he was able to escape prison with the help of a friend and flee to the UK. When he arrived in the UK he was able to reunite with his wife, they were able to create a home where he still resides to this day. Benny now travels around the world bringing awareness to the constant oppression the Papuan people experience daily. The Indonesian government attempted to have Benny arrested through Interpol as a Red Notice was placed upon him. The Red Notice made Benny a wanted man internationally and restricted his travel. Through the work of Fair Trials International the Red Notice was removed and Benny was once again able to travel the world and campaign for the freedom of his people. In 2014, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua was created and Benny was appointed its international speaker. The organization was designed to help the Papuan people gain and retain their independence from Indonesia. This led to the Melanesian Spearhead Group using its resources to helpitp protect all Melanesian people and prevent their oppression from being ignored. Benny was able to speak about his people during a TedX talk in 2013, in 2015 he toured South Africa speaking about the oppression his people are experiencing. He became the Chairman of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua and awarded the Freedom of Oxford in 2019. In 2013, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his lifetime work to free his people. Benny’s fight for his people continues today and will continue well after his last breath, because he has most certainly left a legacy to build upon. He is a consistent and powerful voice for his people despite the Indonesian government working to silence him and other Papuan liberators. We salute Benny for his bravery and commitment to the liberation of his people. Mr. Benny Wenda, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! The Nubian or Kushite Kingdom of Meroe produced a succession of African Queens called the Kandake or Candace. The Candace’s were brilliant, tactical, strong leaders of their kingdoms, and also known as fierce warriors. I previously introduced you to the four most popular Candaces Amanerinas, Amanishakhete, Nawidemak and Maleqereabar; Amanitore is the granddaughter of Amaneras and the daughter of Amanishakhete, she was the perfect woman to continue the legacy of the Candaces. Amanitore like her predecessors was the sole ruler of Meroe, a Warrior Queen, and it is said that she was accompanied by a man named Natakamni who served as the co-regent of Meroe. Amanitore’s name is depicted as Merkare in hieroglyphics or Medu Neter (words of the gods); she ruled the area we know today as Gebel Barkal located in the Sudan between the Nile and Atbara rivers. The exact time of her birth is unknown, but we do know it was before the first century BCE. Her reign as Candace begin in the first century BCE, she was known as a great builder/restorer of pyramids, a builder of reservoirs and helped to usher in a time of great prosperity for Meroe. Her restoration of temples came after they were destroyed by Romans in conflict. The most well-known temples she built was the temples of Amun at Naqa and Amara. During Amanitore’s reign, over two-hundred temples and pyramids were built, which reflects the wealth the Kingdom of Meroe possessed. She oversaw the importation of goods and the exportation of textiles, gold, jewels and exotic animals. Her reign lasted from 1 BCE until 20 CE. She was succeeded by the Candace Amanitaraqide who helped complete the building and expansion of Meroe until 50 CE. Her name is included in several Nubian and Egyptian texts, it is even said that she is the Candace that is mentioned in Acts 8:26-40 of the Bible. During her time as Candace she not only built up the nation, she was a true Warrior Queen that led her army into battle. One thing that is important about Amanitore for our current culture is her image. She was not built or depicted as a European woman, she was full figured with wide hips; this is important because it represents an African standard of Beauty. After her death she was buried within her own temple and recognized as a true ruler of Meroe. I love to tell the stories of African Queens, and I am very fond of the stories of the Candaces. It reminds us that Europeans did not give or inspire African culture, they stole and destroyed African culture. Black women have held positions of rulership before any European Kingdom was built. To the great Warrior Candace Amanitore, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to support the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! On September 15, 1945, Jessye Mae Norman was born in Augusta, Georgia, to parents Silas Norman and Janie King-Norman. Janie King-Norman was a school teacher and pianist, and Silas Norman was an insurance salesman. Jessye’s family was musically inclined, her grandmother along with her mother were pianists, while her father sang in their church choir at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church. As a seven-year-old elementary school student, she enrolled in her first singing competition, unfortunately, she placed third in the competition because she didn't remember some of the lyrics of the second stanza. Her early musical influences outside of her family were two women by the name of Mrs. Golden and Sister Childs. From an early age she showed that she was a terrific singer; to help enhance her musical abilities her mother enrolled her in piano lessons helping keep her family’s musical legacy intact. She was introduced to the world of opera as a nine-year-old, her birthday present was a radio and on Sundays, as she cleaned her room she listened to a broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera. She was introduced to two incredible black women opera singers, Marian Anderson, and Leontyne Price. These two women were her early opera influences; the best part about these women is Norman could see herself in these women and as a successful opera singer. While attending middle school she began her lessons as an opera singer with vocal coach Rosa Harris Sanders. As a high school student, she received vocal lessons from a woman named Lucy C. Laney. She continued her opera training as a young teen with a non-profit organization named the Interlochen Center for the Arts located in the state of Michigan. At the age of sixteen, she earned a full scholarship to attend Howard University after she competed in the Marian Anderson Vocal Competition, which was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a student at Howard, she studied voice with Carolyn Grant, sang in the Howard University choir, became a soloist in the choir at the Lincoln Temple United Church of Christ, and became a member of Gamma Sigma Sigma. In 1965, as a twenty-year-old, she became one of the founding members of the Delta Nu chapter of the Sigma Alpha Iota sorority. A year later she won the National Society of Arts and Letters singing competition. The following year she earned her bachelor's degree from Howard and then enrolled in the master’s program at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, before transitioning to the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1968, while simultaneously studying voice with Opera singer Elizabeth Mannion and vocalist Pierre Bernac. She was also fortunate enough to receive vocal coaching from the legendary Sylvia Olden Lee. In 1968, Norman moved to Europe to begin her career as an opera singer, little did she know this was the beginning of one of the most successful opera careers in history. She would win the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, Germany, despite an attempt by a racist judge to suddenly change the rules of the competition to prevent her from winning. She then made her debut as a professional opera singer in the opera Tannhauser as the character Elisabeth, after signing a three-year contract to perform with the Deutsche Opera Berlin. Following her performance, critics rated her as the greatest since Lottie Lehmann who was a German soprano singer. Norman experienced massive success as a black opera singer in Europe, her voice was outstanding, and she didn’t have the traditional look and size of the average opera singer. She performed in Germany and Italy with the most successful companies; she even appeared as a European princess or a noble. Norman was outstanding, perfectly singing all the voice ranges from contralto to soprano. She sang in her first Italian performance in 1970 in Florence, Italy performing in the opera Deborah by Handel, the following year she performed as Selika in L’Africaine by Meyerbeer at the Maggio Musicale. Her star was shining bright and she wasn't slowing down any time soon. She followed her performance at the Maggio Musicale by starring in the role of Countess Almaviva in the opera Le Nozze di Fargo by Mozart at the Berlin Festival. She even recorded her role as Almaviva with the BBC Orchestra which became a finalist for the Montreux International Record Award, her performance made her a household name in Europe and the United States. In 1972, she performed the lead role in the opera Aida in Milan, Italy at La Scala, next she performed in London at the Royal Opera and the Covent Garden as the character Cassandra in the opera Les Troyens. She made her American debut as a singer at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California for its 50th anniversary in the concert version of the opera Aida. She then performed in Lenox, Massachusetts in the All-Wagner concert at the Tanglewood Music Festival. She toured the United States performing before she returned to Europe to continue touring. In 1973, she performed in New York City with the “Great Performers” series in the Alice Tully Hall at the Center for the Performing Arts. Norman moved to London in 1975 but found it hard to find local performances, however, she continued to perform internationally, she even was able to perform throughout North America and the United States further building upon a legendary legacy. Norman continued to perform as a singer but didn’t perform much as an opera singer between 1975 and 1980. In 1980, she earned the title role in the opera Ariadne Auf Naxos at the Hamburg State Opera in Germany. In 1982, she made her debut as an opera singer in the United States with the Opera Company of Philadelphia as the character Jocasta in the Opera Oedipus Rex and the opera Dido. In 1983, she returned to New York to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in the opera Les Troyens as the characters Cassandra and Dido. Norman was so spectacular that she was considered the world’s best soprano singer. She was also invited to sing at the inauguration of then-President Ronald Regan in 1985. In 1986, she sang for Queen Elizabeth at her sixtieth birthday celebration, later she became the soloist in the opera Four Last Songs with the Berlin Philharmonic while touring in the United States. Norman continued to perform as an opera singer but she also began producing songs and performances during the late 1980s and the early 1990s, several of her production won her awards and critical acclaim, and she even earned a television performance. In 1989, she featured as the soloist with the Indian conductor Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as it opened its 148th season. She even performed in Hong Kong at the opening of the Hong Kong Cultural Center, as well as performed in Taiwan’s National Concert Hall. Later in 1989, Norman sang the French National Anthem for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. Norman eventually moved back to the United States and lived in Croton-On-Hudson, New York, and in 1990, she was able to perform at the one hundred fiftieth birthday gala for the legendary Russian composer Tchaikovsky held in St. Petersburgh, Russia. She also made her debut in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s performance of the opera Alceste before singing at the seven-hundredth celebration party for the Swiss National Day. Norman had a stellar career as a singer and became an international opera legend; sadly she died in Manhattan, New York at the age of seventy-four on September 30, 2019. During her career, she earned thirty-five honors and awards, twelve honorary doctorate degrees, thirty-eight notable leading opera roles, and performed in over twenty-six notable oratorio and orchestral performances. She was a true legend with a voice so pure that even the gods were envious of her. Ms. Jessye Mae Norman, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! On January 24th, 1874, Arturo Alphonso Schomburg was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico to a free black Caribbean midwife named Mary Joseph; his father was a German merchant residing in Puerto Rico named Carlos Federico Schomburg. As a young child in school, Schomburg was having a discussion with one of his teachers, who went on to tell him that African people had no history and contributed nothing to humanity. Schomburg did not believe his teacher and was determined to find and display the history of African people to the world. He completed his formal education in San Juan, Puerto Rico at the Instituto Popular studying commercial printing. He also studied African literature at St. Thomas College. In 1891, Schomburg moved to Harlem, New York where he became a member of the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico, a committee founded by Puerto Rican exiles who united with Cubans to fight for their independence from Spanish rule. Unfortunately, the Cuban Revolutionary Struggle was unsuccessful and Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States, Schomburg focused on uncovering the history of Africa and its many accomplishments. In 1911, Schomburg co-founded The American Negro Society, as well as renamed the El Sol de Cuba #38 Lodge to the Prince Hall Lodge #38. "Afroborinqueño" or Afro- Puerto Rican is the term Schomburg used for himself after experiencing racism; he wanted America to know he was proud of who he was and his ancestral heritage. While studying as much of African history and culture as he could, Schomburg worked as a clerk in a law firm and as a Spanish teacher. In 1895, Schomburg married a woman named Elizabeth Hatcher, the couple produced three sons before her death in 1900. Two years later he married Elizabeth Morrow Taylor, they produced two sons before her death. He then married Elizabeth Green and they also produced three sons. In 1906, Schomburg worked for the Bankers Trust Company before becoming supervisor of the Caribbean and Latin American Mail Section. In 1904, his first article was published in the The Unique Advertiser titled "Is Hayti Decadent?” He then published a pamphlet titled Placido, a Cuban Martyr about Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés, a Cuban independence fighter. In 1914, Schomburg became a member of the American Negro Academy, serving as the last president from 1920 to 1928. The academy was created to unite African scholars who disproved racist scholarship, while promoting the vastness of African history, culture and contributions to humanity. Enveloped within the cultural richness of the Harlem Renaissance, Schomburg was heavily influenced by other black scholars while in turn influencing them to study and promote the history of Africa. In 1912, he was the co-editor of the Encyclopedia of the Colored Race written by Daniel Alexander Payne Murray. In 1916, Schomburg published A Bibliographical Checklist of American Negro Poetry. In 1925, Schomburg published the essay "The Negro Digs Up His Past” in the Survey Graphic magazine; the essay was powerful enough to influence the esteemed historian Dr. John Henrick Clarke to seek out Schomburg and become a historian himself. “The Negro Digs Up His History” was also in the essay collection titled The New Negro by Alain Locke. In 1935, a librarian named Ernestine Rose who represented the New York Public Library purchased Schomburg’s extensive collection of African historical information and artifacts, for the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and Art housed in the 135th street branch of the New York Public Library. Schomburg was so impressive and influential a whole cultural center was named after him. The Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and Art was eventually renamed the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Schomburg was the curator of the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He also served as the curator for the Negro Collection at Fisk University’s library from 1931 to 1932. He became an honorary member of the Men’s Business Club, became the treasurer of the Loyal Sons of Africa, he became the past master of the Prince Hall Lodge #38 Free and Accepted Masons and Rising Sun Chapter Number 4. Schomburg died in 1938, but inspired many African people to learn about the greatness of African history and culture, and the many accomplishments African people brought to the world. Schomburg traveled the world collecting African historical artifacts and information to display to his people and the world. He was named one of the 100 Greatest African Americans in 2002 by Molefi Asante. Hampshire College and the University of Buffalo both have scholarships named in honor of Schomburg. He is one of the many African historians who laid the foundation for On the Shoulders of Giants to exist today. To the late great Arturo Alphonso Schomburg, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J. A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! On September 27th, 1935, Mamie Belton was born in Ridgeway, South Carolina to parents Della Belton Havelow and Gentry Harrison. Her parents separated when she was a child, she lived with her paternal grandmother while her mother worked in Washington D.C., during this time her love for baseball developed by playing with her Uncle Leo “Bones” Belton; Bones was close in age to Mamie and they both improved their baseball skills together. They created their own bats, balls, and bases out of the materials they were able to find. Throwing rocks at crows regularly helped her develop a strong pitching arm. Her primary schooling was in a two-room building called the Thorntree School, before moving to New Jersey to live with members of her family, following the death of her grandmother. Mamie’s grandmother was one of the first people who supported her baseball ambitions. Confident in her abilities, Maimie honed her baseball skills playing against boys before she decided to become a part of an organized team. Living in New Jersey allowed Mamie to play baseball as much as she wanted; she even had her choice of playing with women or men. She attempted to play for an all-girls team, but it is reported that she quit in frustration because she was not used to playing softball; she learned to play baseball by playing with boys so the game of softball was not thrilling to her. She would later join an all-white boy’s baseball team where she quickly became one of the best players, she helped to lead the team to two championships behind her strong right arm and crafty pitching. Around 1947, Mamie moved to Washington D.C. to live with her mother and began studying to become a dietician at the Freedman’s Hospital, which is now Howard University Hospital. Even though she was pursuing her academics, she never gave up on her dreams of playing baseball. She joined two semi-professional baseball teams, the Alexandria All-Stars and St. Cyprian's, in hopes of creating a baseball career for herself. Her next step was to try out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League but was not allowed to play. She was angry and determined to show the world that she was a great baseball player. Mamie met and married a man named Charles Johnson. The couple produced a son before they eventually divorced. By 1953, the Negro Leagues were in decline due to the Major League Baseball luring the best of the black baseball players to their league. This was not good overall for the league, but it opened a door for Mamie to shake up the world. During this time Mamie was playing baseball part-time and working at an ice cream shop, she was spotted by a scout named Bish Tyson who worked for the Indianapolis Clowns, which was a Negro League team. Tyson was able to introduce Mamie to Buster Haywood and McKinley 'Bunny' Downs, both managers of the Clowns. This meeting led to Mamie gaining a tryout for the Clowns and eventually making the team, joining two other women who were already a part of the team, Toni Stone and Connie Morgan. She became a starting pitcher for the Clowns from 1953 to 1955; she won her first start as a pitcher and went on to post an overall record of thirty-three wins and eight losses. As a member of the Clowns, Mamie traveled to Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, and many other states, showing off her special talents as a pitcher. Along with her stellar record as a pitcher, Mamie posted a batting average of around .284. With Jim Crow being the law of the land, as the Clowns traveled to various states to play their games, the male players would sleep on the team’s bus while Mamie and the other women players slept at houses of local black families for safety. Mamie was aware of the racial tension in America and how it stifled black baseball players, but she was still determined to play and determined to show the world that black male and female baseball players were as good as, or even better than their white counterparts. Mamie earned the nickname “Peanut” from a Kansas City Monarch player named Hank Bayliss, he would constantly tell her that she was small and looked like a peanut pitching on the mound. Though Mamie was successful playing baseball in the Negro Leagues she began to set herself up for life after sports by studying nursing on the side. As a member of the Indianapolis Clowns, she made no more than $700.00 a month in a league that was on its last leg. She had an exciting an enlightening encounter with baseball legend Satchell Page, who gave her some tips on how to throw her curve ball better. By 1955, the Negro Leagues was struggling to stay afloat and Mamie had her son to raise; she did not make enough money playing baseball to properly sustain herself and her son. Mamie Johnson left baseball in 1955 as one of the Negro Leagues most successful pitchers and the only woman to pitch in the Negro Leagues. After leaving baseball Mamie earned a degree in nursing from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and sustained a nursing career for thirty years. Though she was not actively playing baseball, she still had a love for the game which she used to coach teams in youth baseball leagues; she also worked for her son at his baseball memorabilia shop in Maryland. Though Mamie Johnson’s name is not mentioned when people speak of the baseball greats, she was honored by Bill Clinton during his presidency, earned the Mary McLeod Bethune Continuing the Legacy Award, a book titled "A Strong Right Arm" was written about her life and, a one-woman show about her life titled "Change Up" was performed in various theaters. She was honored in two-thousand five by the Washington Nationals and the mayor of Washington D.C. Anthony Williams, in the inaugural game for the Washington Nationals. Mamie Johnson died in 2017 as an unsung baseball pioneer. Her contributions to baseball may not be talked about much, but she is just as significant as any male baseball legend, black or white. She helped kick the doors wide open for women who wanted to play professional baseball. Her intelligence, skills, heart, and love for the game helped her become the legend that she is. Mrs. Mamie "Peanut" Johnson, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! From the sixteenth century through the ninetieth century, slaves, soldiers, and domestic workers from East Africa were bought to Sri Lanka by the Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch and the British. Kaffir is a name used to label this particular ethnic group of Sri Lanka. We are familiar with the term Kaffir because it is a racial epithet in South Africa. In Sri Lanka, the term came into being via the Arabs as Qafr meaning unbeliever or mystic, because they refused to convert to their oppressor’s ways, later the Portuguese adopted the term and pronounced it as Cafre. The British began to label this particular group of people as the Kaffir when they counted their census between 1871 and 1911. The Kaffir continued to pass down their African history through oral traditions as they were enslaved by the Arabs and Portuguese, as well as, their enlistment as soldiers, slaves, and domestic workers by the Portuguese, Dutch, and English. Culturally, the traditions of the Kaffirs began to fade as time passed and the people were introduced to new traditions from other cultures. The culture they do have was brought with them from East Africa and is mostly maintained by the elders. Outside cultural influences have also had an impact on the Kaffir’s religion; their elders have somewhat maintained their original religious traditions, while most of the Kaffir are now Roman Catholic, Buddhist, and Muslim. Music is another facet of the Kaffir culture that has changed as their elders continue to hold on to their African traditions, Kaffrinha/Bailas is a popular form of Sri Lankan music created by the Kaffir which includes African, European and Asian elements. Today the total number of Kaffir is estimated to be around fifteen hundred people, they can be found throughout the Sri Lankan island in various cities. It is believed that when the Kaffir was brought to Sri Lanka their numbers were around 20,000 people, numbers that are vastly different from the number of Kaffir living today. The Kaffir originally spoke a form of Portuguese creole which included linguistic elements from Africa, Asia, and Portugal. The Kaffir has contributed to Asian culture and Sri Lankan culture through their music and craftsmanship; the assagai is a metal tip spear that was widely used in battle and is an example of the Kaffir contribution to Sri Lanka. These people were brought to Sri Lanka by force or as a source of labor, either for war, cleaning or building; like many other African people, they also were victims of Arab and European colonization. The Arab slave trade has existed for over two-thousand years and it still exists today. The slave trade is one of the reasons the Kaffir from Ethiopia, Mozambique and various other East African countries exist in Sri Lanka today. Similar to African people being dispersed throughout the Americas via the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, African people were dispersed throughout the Asian continent via the Arab Slave Trade, as well as, European colonization. The Kaffir are another example of the extent of the African diaspora; African people have traveled and civilized the world on their own or by force. To the Kaffir of Sri Lanka, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! On July 24th, 1802, Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was born in Villers-Cotterêts, France, to parents Thomas-Alexandre Dumas and Marie-Louise Élisabeth Labouret. Thomas-Alexandre was the son of a French nobleman and an African woman enslaved in Haiti. Dumas began his writing career in 1822 after moving to Paris, France, he became the scribe for the Duke of Orleans, Louis-Philippe during the revolution of 1830. While working for Louis-Philippe he also began writing his magazine articles and plays; in 1829, at the age of 27, he produced his first play Henry III and His Courts. His play was well received and critically acclaimed by his audiences and critics. In 1830, he produced his second play Christine which was also met with critical acclaim and allowed him to make money as a writer. Dumas followed in the footsteps of his grandmother and father by changing his last name from de la Pailleterie to Dumas to connect more with his family’s African roots. Following his success as a play writer, Dumas began writing novels, essays and short stories surrounding the topics of crime and humiliations and became known as a serial novelist. In 1838, Dumas publish his first serial novel Le Capitaine Paul, which was a reworking of one of his plays, he also created a production studio to help him write many more novels. Celebrated Crimes is an eight-volume essay collection written by Dumas and others between 1839 and 1841. The novel The Fencing Master was published in 1840, it highlighted the Fencing Master Augustin Grisier and what he witnessed during the Russian Decembrist Revolt. Because of the content and popularity of The Fencing Master, Dumas was banned from Russia, and The Fencing Master was outlawed by then Czar Nicholas I. In 1844, Dumas published some of his most famous works The Count of Monte Cristo, The Corsican Brothers, and The Three Musketeers. In 1843, Dumas published the novel, Georges, to address the many issues associated with his African heritage; Dumas became knowledgeable of his African ancestry and was proud of who he was. The popularity of his novels led to them being translated into many different languages and mountains of money coming in. He was able to support his lifestyle which was said to include many women and much spending; his homes Le Port-Marly and Chateau de Monte-Cristo were examples of his opulent lifestyle and gregarious nature. The downside to the way he lived was he spent a lot of his money entertaining people, when financial troubles arouse, he was forced to sell his properties and his "friends" were nowhere to be found. Soon Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in France and was not fond of Dumas' writings; by that time Dumas published his widely read travel books, Dumas left France in 1851 for Brussels, Belgium before moving to Russia in 1859; some people say Dumas escaping from creditors was part of the reason he left France. Because the Russian elite spoke French as a second language Dumas was able to continue earning money from his many writings. It is believed that Dumas wrote over one hundred thousand pages in his life. In 1861, Dumas traveled to Italy after Victor Emmanuel II became the King of Italy. Dumas became involved in the unification of Italy and founded the newspaper the Indipendente before returning to France in 1864. Alexandre Dumas died in 1870, was buried in his hometown of Villers-Cotterêts as a literary giant, who at the time was being overshadowed by the political climate in Europe. Over time his contributions to literature became greatly appreciated by the world. The Alexandre Dumas Paris Metro was named to honor his works in 1970, along with the restoration of his home the Chateau de Monte-Cristo. Over his lifetime, Dumas wrote twenty-eight high adventure fiction works, three d’Artagnan romances, seven Valois romances, eight Marie Antoinette romances, and three entries in the Sainte-Hermine trilogy. He also wrote five dramas to round off his long list of fictional works, writings that further helped him to cement himself as an iconic writer. As far as nonfictional works, Dumas wrote over thirteen nonfiction books, which included his numerous travel novels. Dumas is best-known for writing the books The Three Musketeers and the Count of Monte Cristo, but as we have learned his literary contribution was vast, and this came from a man of African ancestry. I make that last statement because it was and is still believed that people of African descent are inferior to Europeans, but from my studies, I have learned that Europe and all other Western nations would be nothing without black people. Dumas was second to none as a writer and his writings have stood the test of time on an international stage. Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie aka Alexandre Dumas, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!! References: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexandre-Dumas-pere https://www.biography.com/writer/alexandre-dumas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Dumas Click the button below to support On the Shoulders of Giants on Pateron!! On August 21, 1932, Melvin Peebles was born to parents Edwin Griffin and Marion Peebles in Chicago, Illinois. Edwin Griffin worked as a tailor in Phoenix, Illinois, the same suburb where Van Peebles attended Thornton Township High School, graduating in 1949. After high school he attended West Virginia State College then transferred to Ohio Wesleyan College, graduating with a degree in English Literature in 1954. Thirteen days after his college graduation Van Peebles joined the Air Force where he served for three and a half years. In 1956, Van Peebles spent time in Mexico, where he married Maria Marx who was a German actress and photographer; the couple produced Van Peebles’ eldest son actor and director Mario Van Peebles. While living in Mexico Van Peebles earned a living as a painter, in 1958 he moved to San Francisco, California where he found work as a cable car grip man. In 1957, Van Peebles made his first short films Sunlight and Three Pickup Men for Herrick as a new filmmaker. With no previous experience in film making and his first two short films in hand, Van Peebles set out to Hollywood to become a film director. Unfortunately, his films were not well received and he didn’t find anyone who wanted to work with him. While in New York City, he was offered a chance to screen his films in France, this meeting led to him and his family moving to the Netherlands and Van Peebles working for the Dutch National Theater. While living in the Netherlands Melvin Peebles changed his name to Melvin Van Peebles, to help him find work. Van Peebles was starting to gain recognition for his films; he was invited to work in Paris by Henri Langlois a French film archivist and influential film figure. Langlois hired Van Peebles to translate Mad Magazine into French, to do so, Van Peebles learned French and began to change the course of his career and film history. Van Peebles began writing plays using a French style of songwriting that mixed singing and speaking. Van Peebles began writing novels in the 1960s; his first four novels were The Big Heart, A Bear for the F.B.I., The True American, and Harlem Party. He also wrote a collection of short stories in French before releasing his French short film Cinq Cent Balles in 1965. In 1968, Van Peebles made his first feature-length film titled The Story of a Three-Day Pass, which was successful enough to attract Hollywood producers; because of his name being Van Peebles the Hollywood producers thought he was a white man. In 1968, Van Peebles also released his first studio album as a recording artist titled Brer Soul. The success of The Story of a Three-Day Pass led to Van Peebles being selected by Columbia Pictures to direct the film The Watermelon Man in 1970. Van Peebles was also selected to direct the filming of the Powder Ridge Rock Festival before it was canceled by a court injunction. In 1971, Melvin Van Peebles rocked Hollywood and the black film industry when he made his groundbreaking film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. Van Peebles along with a fifty-thousand dollar loan from Bill Cosby funded the film. Van Peebles wrote the script, directed the film, edited the film, wrote the score for the film, and he also developed and directed the marketing campaign for the film. It is considered a groundbreaking film because it created the “Blaxploitation” era in film, its message resonated with the Black Panthers and other groups fighting for black liberation, it grossed over ten million dollars, and showcased the brilliance of Melvin Van Peebles to the world. In 1972, Van Peebles wrote the composition for the theater adaptation of his novel Harlem Party titled “Don’t Pay Us Cheap”, his work on the music and the book led to Van Peebles being nominated for two Tony awards. Van Peebles was also nominated for a Tony award as a composer and lyricist for the play “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death.” In 1976, Van Peebles wrote the theme song for the television series "Just an Old Sweet Song", in 1977, he wrote the screenplay for the biopic "Greased Lightning", in 1978, he wrote the pilot for the television show “Down Home”, before making his television debut as an actor in the 1981 series “The Sophisticated Gents”. Van Peebles began working in the American Stock Exchange as an options trader in the 1980’s, where he would ultimately find success. In 1986, he wrote the book Bold Money: A New Way to Play the Options Market, and in 1987 he opened Van Peebles and Hayes Municipal Securities, which was a municipal bonds firm. In 1995, Van Peebles co-starred in the live-action version of the Japanese comic Fist of the North Star, in 2005, Van Peebles was the focus of the documentary How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company, later in 2005, Van Peebles along with Ossie Davis and Gordon Parks were featured in the documentary Unstoppable. As a professional creator Melvin Van Peebles wrote thirteen books; directed, wrote, scored or produced over 13 films; earned ten extra writing credits working on films in various capacities; has 16 credits as an actor; wrote six plays; released seven studio albums; and four movie soundtrack albums. Van Peebles was truly a man that refused to be held back by the racism in America. He earned a chance to make films in Europe but ended up changing the film industry in America and around the world. He helped Hollywood and the rest of the world see that black people could write, direct, act, produce films, create the music, and even perform the music. He made his first two short-films not understanding how to make a movie, but in the end, he fully understood that he must take control of his career to truly make a difference in the film. Mr. Melvin Van Peebles, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J. A. Ward Click here to learn more about the On the Shoulders of Giants book series!!! |
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