LETTER FROM FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO HARRIET TUBMAN…..Rochester, August 29, 1868

Dear Harriet,

I am glad to know that the story of your eventful life has been written by a kind lady, and that it will soon be published. You ask for what you do not need when you call upon me for a word of commendation. I need such words from you far more than you can need them from me, especially where your superior labors and devotion to the cause of the lately enslaved of our land are known as I know them.

The difference between us is very marked. Most that I have done and suffered in the service of our cause has been in public, and I have received much encouragement at every step of the way. You, on the other hand, have labored in a private way. I have wrought in the day – you in the night. I have had the applause of the crowd and the satisfaction that comes of being approved by the multitude, while the most that you have done has been witnessed by a few trembling, scarred, and foot-sore bondmen and women, whom you have led out of the house of bondage, and whose heartfelt, “God bless you,” has been your only reward.

The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism. Excepting John Brown – of sacred memory – I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than you have. Much that you have done would seem improbable to those who do not know you as I know you. It is to me a great pleasure and a great privilege to bear testimony for your character and your work and to say to those to whom you may come, that I regard you in every way truthful and trustworthy.

Your friend,

Frederick Douglass.

THE NILOTES……or Nilotic people are indigenous to the Nile Valley…..they have 25 subgroups and speak over 70 different languages……that are included in the Nilotic languages…..they are the tallest, thinnest, darkest, group of people in Africa…..the movie Avatar was based off of the Nilotes people…..the Nilotes include all descendants of the original Nilo-Saharan speakers…..among these are the Luo, Sara, Maasai, Kalenjin, Dinka, Nuer, Shilluk, Ateker and the Maa-speaking peoples…..each of which is a cluster of several ethnic groups.

DID YOU KNOW…..the fireman’s pole or sliding pole……one of the signature features of US fire stations……was invented in Chicago by an African American?…….David Kenyon, a Captain with the City’s first African American engine company (#21)……came up with the idea in 1878….before 1878, spiral staircases or sliding chutes were common…..but not very fast…..Engine Company #21 crafted a pole out of a Georgia pine beam by shaving it into a 3-inch diameter pole…..and gave it several coats of varnish and a coat of paraffin…..despite being ridiculed by their fellow firefighters……others soon realized that Company 21 was usually the first company to arrive on scene when called…..especially at night…..upon learning this, the Chief of the department ordered the poles to be installed in all Chicago firehouses…..the poles drastically improved fire response times…..in1880, the poles went from wood to brass, and stood in firehouses across the nation.

MARSHALL “MAJOR” TAYLOR……was the fastest bicyclist in the world…..thousands of fans packed indoor sports arenas called velodromes to watch his high-speed races……Taylor won thousands of dollars as a bicycle racer and became the most famous African-American in the United States…..he broke the international color barrier a full decade before boxer Jack Johnson

…..Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor was born November 26, 1878.

ZORA NEALE HURSTON…..was a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance but was relatively unknown…..and very poor when she died……Hurston was born in January of 1891….as both a writer and anthropologist…..she committed her life to studying and celebrating African American folklore and culture…….Hurston moved to New York after a Harlem-based magazine presented her with a literary award…..from there she formed a network, earned a scholarship, and studied English and Anthropology at Barnard College…..she traveled throughout the American South to conduct interviews, record folklore, and collect objects of cultural significance…..her work, which included interviews with enslaved people and their descendants…..provided the basis for her novels, including “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (1937)……Hurston was an important voice in the largely male-dominated literary world of the Harlem Renaissance. Her work inspired and continues to inspire—future generations of artists, authors, and anthropologists.

SINCE THE CHEROKEE……people’s earliest involvement in slavery more than two centuries ago…..Cherokee Freedmen endured removal, fought for emancipation in 1866…..and spent generations reclaiming their rights to Cherokee citizenship…..their resilience is a vital part of our history, Black history and American history.