white History: Affirmative Action

We end our look at white history, with my hot take on Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action has come and gone over the years. It was introduced in 1965, by Executive Order 11246, which created the Equal Employment Opportunity system. 

Discrimination, otherwise known as white supremacy, was still the law of the land in 1965, so this system was put in place to create quotas to make it more fair for people besides white men to be employed. The fact that we needed this system at all, should be humiliating to us. It is not the shining triumph we like to claim it to be. We didn't learn to be better. We had to be forced into it, just like any other advances made in this country. white people were largely unwilling, or they would have just done it.

The fact that AA has been attacked over the years and detracted from by white people claiming it's an overreach or no longer necessary, is also a horrifying example that white supremacy is still the law of the land, in our hearts, if not the laws themselves. 

As soon as Affirmative Action is adjusted or dismantled because white people claim it's not necessary, we immediately see the exact opposite come to light. If you need further proof of that, look up Washington State's ban on AA, brought to us by none other, than Tim Eyman himself. Seriously, that's all you need to know...

Affirmative Action is only "racist" against people who already benefit from the system set up as it is. It shouldn't exist, because employment opportunities should be fair to begin with. If the system was equitable for all, we wouldn't need it. 

Dismantling white supremacy is the only way to make it fair for everybody. If I have learned anything from this project, though, most of us white people will not come to see this. Most of us will have to be dragged into it kicking and screaming, with the Supreme Court and government forcing it through laws and executive orders. We will look back on those as triumphs of fairness we all wanted all along anyway. We will cover up the hate and anger and fear and pretend we were one of the good ones all along.

This concludes my white history month project. In light of what's happening in many states trying to ban CRT in teaching history, I wanted to focus on historical figures and events that we have usually looked at one way, and really see the overlooked issues. white people don't want to be made uncomfortable. Our comfort is of highest priority in this country. These posts, no doubt, made white readers feel uncomfortable at times, or maybe the entire time. That's a good thing. It means you know we have had advantages and rigged the system in our favor. You know it was wrong. It's ok to feel bad about our past. It should spur us on to fight harder now to dismantle white supremacy. We should work to make our future history something we can truly be proud of. Something we won't have to hide. Are you up for it?

More info about Affirmative Action:

Wikipedia 

dol.gov 

History of Affirmative Action. 

Cornell Law School page.

white History: The Little Rock Nine Screamers

 

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The Little Rock Nine were the first nine Black students to integrate Little Rock Central High School, in 1957, three years after Brown v. Board passed, ending school segregation. You might be asking yourself, why did it take three years from Brown v. Board, till the school in Arkansas desegregated? The answer is simple: the governor, Orval Faubus, was a racist a-hole, who just decided, "Nah, the rules don't apply to me," (not a direct quote.) He opted not to comply with the law of the land. Just because he could. The president had to get involved and sent the National Guard to force Faubus to integrate the schools. How humiliating is that that our own, pretty much great grandparents, in this time era, were like this?

The above pictures are two of the most iconic shots from documenting the school's integration. The young woman in the front, is Elizabeth Eckford, who was harassed and tortured not only in this picture, but the entire time she went to school. Behind her, the main woman screaming, is Hazel Bryan Massery, who was 15 years old at the time. She is still alive and well today, though apparently has had a change of heart since then.

I did some researching, because I wanted to know some of the other white people in the shots, but as we are really good at doing, we managed to cover up a lot of the shameful situation by not bothering to get names. The perpetrators and the people who knew them are the ones who will have to fess up to it, and most of them have remained silent.

I did find a couple names, though. The young woman next to Hazel, the one in the dark dress, with the notebook, is Sammie Dean Parker, who was apparently an absolute terror at the school. Top level racist school bully. Her parents had the caucasity to try to sue the school district after she was suspended for her harassment. She was the absolute worst. I found no information online of her ever having a change of heart, or anything about her after this time, so who knows what became of her.

And the blonde woman in the second picture, in the light dress, holding the books in her arms, might very well be this woman. Please note, I have no actual proof of this, this is merely based on looking at the two photographs and reading the confirmation in the article about having gone to the school. But if they are the same, it's interesting to note how it was remembered so differently from what the photos of the day portray.

I tried to find information on the stockery-looking woman on Elizabeth's other side but found nothing on her. She looks like an adult, and appears to want to strangle her. I wish we had cared enough then to get these people's names. We should remember them. Many of these are our grandparents' ages now. Ms. Eckford is still alive.

The Little Rock Nine is another example of white people trying to get out of our racism and history by saying it's better to only acknowledge the true heroes, the Black students who integrated the school. They do deserve all the credit and kudos, of course, but it's also a convenient way to keep future generations not thinking about the people doing the bullying, so I say we need to remember the screamers and taunters who chanted "2, 4, 6, 8, We don't want to integrate" and bullied the students in the school. Their names and faces deserve all the shame.

More information:

Orval Faubus

The forced reconciliation. 

A look back.

Where I found many of the names. 

cracked.com article

A paper written about this time. 

white History: Brown v. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a 1954 Supreme Court decision that undid the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896. Brown v. Board stated that a separate but equal education was unequal and therefore, unconstitutional. Jim Crow was still intact in other societal elements, this decision only ended Jim Crow within the world of education.

So, what changed in the nearly 60 years between Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board? Did white people suddenly see how damaging their white supremacy was and had as a collective made a concerted effort to dismantle it? Yeah, no...Definitely not. If that had happened, it wouldn't have taken a Supreme Court decision to enforce it, we'd have just done it. What happened was the formation of an organization called the NAACP.

The NAACP was founded in 1908, and became an organization with actual political and monetary power behind it. It would use its power to move civil rights forward, before the Civil Rights movement of the 50's and 60's even began. Thurgood Marshall, an attorney for the NAACP was the lawyer who fought for the plaintiffs(Brown) in the Brown v. Board case. (Thurgood Marshall would go on to become the first Black Supreme Court justice, himself. Talk about full circle!) 

Black activists did all the work to force the Supreme Court to honor their own concepts. They had to prove that separate was not equal, and therefore, unconstitutional, so the SC had no choice but to relent. white America was once again forced to change, kicking and screaming(more on that tomorrow) into a slightly more equal in one area, nation. white people do not get to pat themselves on the back for this landmark change. We should be humiliated that it took a Supreme Court case to get us to move toward equality.

Sources:

History.com

Thurgood Marshall 

National Archives

NAACP.org History 

supreme.justia.com

thirteen.org 

uscourts.gov

white History: Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson was a Supreme Court decision made on May 18, 1896 that reinforced Jim Crow America. It made "separate but equal" the official law of the land. 

The Plessy v. Ferguson case stated that it wasn't unconstitutional to have legalized segregation, as long as the result was equal. As we know, "separate but equal" was anything but, but as long as white people remained supreme, we didn't care.

The case itself is out of New Orleans, a man, Plessy, had refused to give up his seat in the "white only" section of a train, because he was only 1/8th Black, and since he was white-passing, said he should be able to sit in the "white only" section. Due to the one-drop rule and general racism, Plessy lost his case. It went to the Supreme Court, who upheld the ruling, and white supremacy.

This is another good example of the Supreme Court being used to uphold white supremacy. As we will see with the next couple of posts, it waxes and wanes in support, based on the white people's attitudes of the time, and is hardly permanent. We like to think of the Supreme Court as an indicator of the nation's progress, but it really isn't. It depends entirely on who is on it, and what they stand to lose or gain by the decisions.

Here are more resources about Plessy v. Ferguson:

Cornell Law School

Wikipedia 

History.com

Oyez.org

white History: Jim Crow

 

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We talk about the "Jim Crow South" a lot, but we don't really ever talk about what it was. We also don't really ever talk about the fact that it wasn't just the south, it was alive and well nationwide, in various forms.

Jim Crow was the name of a minstrel show character. He was the idea of what slave song and dance was like, and performed by a white actor in Blackface. The above picture depicts the fictitious "Jim Crow."

Jim Crow was both a legal system, and a social caste system set up after the Civil War to reinforce white supremacy. It was a system of legal segregation. You've seen images and depictions on tv/movies of "whites only" and "colored only" signs on buses and drinking fountains. The KKK developed during this time, as well as miscegenation laws. Voting rights were discouraged, outlawed, or made too difficult to participate in. This was Jim Crow. 

The Nazis were so inspired by our Jim Crow system that they adopted some of it into their own laws prior to the start of the Holocaust. They were really big fans of our use of eugenics and other pseudosciences to "prove" white superiority.

This legal system was enforced by law, and was the law of the land for a century. In case you've never thought about it before, a century is approximately five generations. Five generations of our white ancestors reinforced and benefited from Jim Crow while five generations of Black ancestors were held back from advancement. This is why there's talk about reparations now, because even if "Oh, but we're all equal now," is true, it doesn't mean there is equity. We unfairly got head for so long that it will never be "equal" unless we even the playing field.

Here are more sources on Jim Crow: 

Ferris State University page.

Wikipedia 

History.com

Jim Crow info 

PBS.org

Smithsonian Institute 

How Jim Crow influenced the Nazis.

More info on Jim Crow and the Nazis. 

white History: A Brief Look at How We Have Treated Chinese Immigrants

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The United States has generally treated Chinese immigrants like garbage. In the 1860's, we let Chinese men come to the country to build our transcontinental railroad. It was dangerous work that involved dynamite and mountains and no white person would do it unless you paid them a lot of money, so they decided to get people who would work for less.

Over 15,000 Chinese laborers came to the US and built our railroad, and we thanked them by passing the Page Act of 1875 which banned Chinese women from immigrating to the United States. The idea was hopefully it would get the laborers to go back to China. 

Those who remained were subject to discrimination and segregation and further thanked for their service with the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which banned all Chinese immigration entirely. This would not be lifted until 1965.

The anti-Asian sentiment we see on the news today, with Asian Americans and immigrants being attacked actually has a long history in this country. We like to pretend it's new, but it isn't. We white people love to hate people from non-European places. Always have. We seem to just move from one group to the next, using and abusing them while profiting as much as possible from them. Why? Because we are trash.

Sources:

US Citizenship web page. 

Wikipedia 

Library of Congress web page. 

Guardian.com article 

History.com 

National Archives 

Info About the Chinese Exclusion Act 

PBS video 

white History: Tulsa/Black Wall Street Race Terror Attack

Today we examine another terror attack on the Black community by white supremacist terrorists. This time on May 21, 1921, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Greenwood District in Tulsa was nicknamed "Black Wall Street." It was a hub of business and prosperity in the United States. Black businesses, lives, and homes thrived. Once again, the flimsy excuse of an attack on a white woman spurred a large white mob to descend on Greenwood and within a 24 hour time period, they killed over 300 people, sent another 800 to the hospital, burned over 1200 homes, 60 businesses and schools, and razed the entire neighborhood to the ground. Not only were there angry mobs with guns, but private citizens with airplanes dropped incendiary bombs on the neighborhood as well. The National Guard finally had to break it up.

The displaced Black community members received no help or reparations from the government. 6000 inhabitants would end up being sent to internment camps to house them. And something that should shock nobody, none of the white terrorists were ever prosecuted for their crimes, and insurance companies denied claims to help Black residents rebuild their lives. 

This is actually one of the terror events in US history that there is quite a bit known about. For so many others, we erased it from history by not documenting it. The way we need to start looking at these events, though, is not saying "they" did this, but "we" did this. Our ancestors, not some random group of disconnected people. We terrorized them. This is how it needs to be taught.

Sources:

Wikipedia

Tulsa World page 

100 year reflection.

Century mark website. 

Oklahoma history website.

Tulsa history website 

History.com

white History: Juneteenth

 

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I know what you must be thinking: That's some next level caucasity for me to claim Juneenth as white history. And you're sort of right. Except that the only part I am claiming, the only part we as white people have any remote right to claim, is for being the reason Juneteenth exists at all. This is not at all our holiday to celebrate.

What is Juneteenth? Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't. Juneteenth honors June 19th, 1865, when the US military arrived at Galveston, TX, and at long last, enforced the end of slavery. Slavery had legally ended two years previously, but slave owners in Texas held out, didn't tell the enslaved people they were free, and kept them captive for a full two years more before being forced to stop.

Our ancestors kicked and screamed and held onto slavery for as long as they could before they had no choice but to accept it was over and they would have to free their enslaved humans. This event was deemed celebration-worthy and June Nineteenth, became Juneteenth, and a holiday was born.

Juneteenth has waxed and waned in popularity over the years, and seems to be on the rise in popularity. Some businesses have made it a paid holiday, though it feels inherently wrong for any white person to receive paid time off to participate in a holiday that the only part we played in it was trying to keep it from happening.

So remember, any time you hear a fellow white person complaining about why the holiday doesn't center all people and doesn't actively make white people feel like welcome participants, now you know why it isn't ours, and you can help educate those people about it. Equity feels like a loss to the oppressing class, which means, sometimes one group of people gets to enjoy a holiday, and we feel left out. And that's just the way it is.

Learn more about Juneteenth:

Wikipedia

PBS website page. 

Vox article

The official Juneteenth website. 

History.com page. 

 

white History: Ulysses S. Grant

 

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Ulysses S. Grant

Born: April 27, 1822

Died: July 23, 1885

Slaves Owned: 1

Known For: Being a Civil War Union army commander and war hero. Robert E. Lee surrendered to him. Being the 18th president. Being entombed.

Grant was the last enslaver president. He claimed not to be an abolitionist, but unlike the rest of the slave-owning presidents, he seemed to have some sense of the wrongness of it and willingly freed his slave. He also actually worked on some level of equality in Reconstruction. However, he was also working for assimilation of Indigenous people, as well, which as we know was devastating.

Because Reconstruction was such a time of compromising and deal-making, most of the presidents from this era are looked at as ineffective. His pre-presidency days definitely come across as more interesting than his time as president. 

This is another person who we see was a war hero turned president in this nation's history. white people really like turning war heroes into our leaders, even if it's not necessarily a good match.

Sources:

The official White House page.

Grant and slavery. 

More on Grant and slavery.

History.com page.

University of Virginia page. 

Wikipedia

white History: 13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment of the Constitution was ratified January 31, 1865. It makes slavery illegal, with the exception of using slavery as punishment. So, slavery is still legal in the United States. The odd thing is that none of the research I did shows that anybody objected to this or even insisted on it being in the amendment before they would ratify it. It was just a given that nobody had an issue with.

Because of this exception, we have seen the for-profit prison system used as a housing unit for unjustly convicted Black men and women. We have seen the school-to-prison pipeline developed. The 13th Amendment just shifted slavery from people's homes and farms, and moved it to for-profit prisons. It didn't take long for white people to learn how to exploit it for their own benefit.

I highly recommend the Ava DuVernay documentary 13th, which is available on Netflix, to learn more about the 13th Amendment and it's use through the years. It is very eye-opening. 

The 13th Amendment is a great example of white supremacy being upheld. On the page, it looks great, but it ultimately keeps the status quo, if white people figure out how to use it properly.

Here are more resources about the 13th Amendment:

Cornell Law School page.

History.com page 

National Archives page

Wikipedia page 

white History: Andrew Johnson

 

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Andrew Johnson

Born: December 29, 1808

Died: July 31, 1875

Slaves Owned: 4+

Known For: Being the 17th president. Becoming president after Lincoln's assassination. Dealing with Reconstruction. Being the first impeached president.

Johnson was born into a poor family, and came to be a slave owner over time, when his finances improved. He freed his slaves August 9, 1863 and they stayed on as paid employees. He also possibly fathered children with at least one of his slaves.

He opposed giving citizenship to freed slaves. Johnson's big issue to deal with was Reconstruction. It was a big back and forth between Northern and Southern states, compromises, etc. Neither side really seemed to care about the freed slaves, except how to make sure they never got ahead, or would ever be considered equal in the eyes of the law. 

Johnson's presidency was mired in controversy, not getting a whole lot accomplished, and ultimately being impeached, but not voted out of office. He was not one of our nation's best...

Sources: 

Wikipedia

The official White House page. 

The impeachment.

Johnson and slavery. 

More about Johnson and slavery.

History.com page 

University of Virginia page.

Catcher Race Terror Attack, Arkansas

Over the course of American history, there have been many terrorist attacks perpetrated by white people on Black communities around the country. It is always about keeping and maintaining white supremacy. It is about terrorizing people and trying to control others.

Today we look at one such terror attack, in the city of Catcher, Arkansas. 

On December 28, 1923 a white woman named Effie Latimer was brutally attacked. Before she died, a doctor who tried to treat her claimed that she named the Black man who had attacked her. The newspaper reported this, naming names, and cops arrested the him and two people they said were accomplices. The cops claimed that the three men confessed to the crime, and were put in jail to await trial. So far, all of this is based on things white men said had happened, but with no proof or an investigation.

The next day, on the 29th, over 500 white people stormed the jail and demanded that the prisoners be released to them. They also terrorized the Black community and destroyed their property. Over 1000 Black citizens ended up being driven out of the city. In the midst of this, the police arrested members of the Black community for being out after dark, and shot and killed the father of the man accused of attacking Latimer.

The two alleged accomplices ended up being convicted and were both executed. It may not shock you to know that there was never any evidence that the three men had done anything, nor that they ever actually confessed to doing anything. The word of white men who may or may not have had motivations that were pure or interested in justice were taken as true and the only evidence needed to convict three men. It was enough to justify destroying a community and driving the people out of the town.

Latimer's true attacker was never found, because there was never an investigation. Justice was never served, because it was never really about her. It was an excuse to maintain white supremacy. 

Here are more sources to learn about this terror attack:

Encyclopedia of Arkansas page. 

Blackthen.com page. 

This page has some audio links about the attack. 

A look back. 

Pressargus.com article 

Zinnedproject.org page 

white History: Zachary Taylor

 

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Zachary Taylor

Born: November 24, 1784

Died: July 9, 1850

Slaves Owned: 100+

Known For: Being the 12th president. Being a Mexican-American and War of 1812 "hero." Harassing Indigenous people. Dying 2 years into his presidency.

Taylor helped New Mexico, California, and Utah become states in the Union. His biggest goal was to keep the Union together, at all costs. He was against expanding slave-owning territory in the Union, because of what it meant for keeping the states together, but I guess he was cool with it as long as he still got to participate in slave-owning himself.

He was raised in a slave-owning family, and brought his enslaved manservents with him to the White House as president, and to help serve him in the wars he fought in. He clearly did not care for their safety or welfare. Instead of freeing his slaves upon his death, his will stated that they be passed to his wife and children. Stand up fella, this guy...

Sources:

Taylor and slavery.

The official White House page. 

PBS website page.

Here's an unbalanced look at the president that doesn't mention slavery at all. 

History.com page

University of Virginia page. 

white History: Executive order 9066

 

We recently marked the 80th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, which ordered Japanese Americans to leave their property and move to relocation centers. These may also be known as internment camps, incarceration camps, or relocation camps. Most of them were in desert areas. People had only a few days to settle their effects, and most lost their homes and businesses. They were forced to live in barbed-wire fenced camps, in tents or rudimentary cabins ill-suited for the extreme heat and cold of the desert. They also had armed guards, with the guns trained on the people in the camps.

Pearl Harbor had taken place 3 months prior, and anti-Japanese hysteria was reaching new heights in the United States. Unlike people of German and Italian descent who had better chances of passing as anglicized white people(my family is a case in point,) Japanese Americans couldn't just change the spelling of their name or work on an accent to pretend they were white. There wasn't then, and there isn't now, any evidence of espionage or plans to participate in acts against the US from with, but Roosevelt caved to racism and signed EO 9066 anyway.

Over 127,000 American citizens had their civil rights violated from this executive order. While small amounts of money were given as reparations from the US government over the years, it still doesn't make up for the hatred that motivated it. Especially knowing how many homes and businesses were taken over by the same white people demanding they be locked up, and were never returned after the war.

There is so much information on this online, and there are a bunch more youtube videos, and movies and books about the time we interned our own citizens. If you haven't heard of this before, a good book to start with is, Farewell to Manzanar. Here are so other links, too.

ushistory.org

American actor George Takei was a child in the internment camps. This article talks about his support for reparations. 

The National World War 2 museum webpage.

The National Archives page. 

Wikipedia

history.com 

white History: James K. Polk

 

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James K. Polk

Born: November 2, 1795

Died: June 15, 1849

Slaves Owned: 53+

Known For: Being the 11th president, expanding the size of the United states by 1/3.

While in the White House, it it now known that Polk secretly purchased 19 slaves, the majority of whom, were children. He sent them to the land he had purchased that had been cleared out in the 1830 Indian Removal Act, and had them work his farm. He kept this a secret, not because he was ashamed, but because he didn't want to upset the Northern voters. So much integrity...

Polk is another humdrum president. He grew the size of the US, and that's really it, aside from secretly profiting from slavery while pretending not to be a slave owner, while in office.

Here are more links about Polk:

The White House official site page on Polk.

history.com page 

Polk and slavery.

Polk information 

University of Virginia page on Polk.

 

white History: Queen Elizabeth I and the British Monarchy

 

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Lest you think I'm only calling out white Americans and our role in white supremacy, today's post is dedicated to the people who started it all: the British!! Well, many European nations also participated in and benefited from the Transatlantic Slave Trade and thus, white supremacy, but she was the one who ultimately connect "us" with "them." After all, the colony, then state, of Virginia, the home of many of our enslaver presidents, was named after her...

Queen Elizabeth I never owned slaves herself, but she did fund a couple of famous men who helped found the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and personally profited from it, as well. Sir John Hawkins was an active slave trader, and Sir Frances Drake helped set up the slave trade routes. This would bring a lot of money into the British Empire.

During this time, the British Empire also expanded into Africa, colonizing land while profiting from the slave trade. This would go beyond Queen Elizabeth I, with every monarch after her dealing with, and profiting from the Transatlantic Slave Trade in their own way. 

Over the years, some of them, notably, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, were known to be staunch abolitionists, but it didn't stop any of them from continuing to participate in and profit from, colonialism well outside of Europe. The one doesn't really cancel the other...It is also notable, that while much of that empire has since been lost, there has never been any real talk or plans for reparations to their former victims.

Here are more sources on the British monarchy's role in the slave trade:

npg.org.uk article 

news.yahoo.com article 

slate.com article 

nationalarchives.gov.uk page 

Article about Francis Drake. 

Article about slavery in the times of Queen Elizabeth I.

white History: John Tyler

 

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John Tyler

Born: March 29, 1790

Died: January 18, 1862

Slaves Owned: 70+

Known For: Becoming the first vice president to become president after William Henry Harrison died one month into his presidency, annexing Texas, making Florida a state, and siding with the Confederacy when the Civil War began.

So, I'll be honest, this guy was kind of a dud of a president. He basically made a bunch of deals with people and then stabbed them all in the back to further his political gains. He was a big believer in Manifest Destiny and would be the one to annex Texas and bring Florida into the US. Nobody really liked him, though, and he ended up being a one termer because of it. I guess that's what you get when you compromise your beliefs to gain from it. Integrity was not his forte.

He was a big states' rights guy, so of course he never tried to end slavery, which makes sense, since he also participated in it. He apparently had two enslaved men work as his personal servants while in the White House. 

John Tyler is a great example of white male mediocrity. Just, nothing really stands out about him, but he managed to become an actual president of the United States...it baffles the mind, really.

Here are more sources to learn about John Tyler:

The White House website page. 

Wikipedia page

History.com page 

John Tyler and slavery.

More about John Tyler and slavery. 

 

 

white History: Dred Scott Decision

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Dred Scott v. Sanford, was an 1857 Supreme Court decision that upheld white supremacy in the United States.

Dred Scott was an enslaved man who earned money to purchase his freedom, and that of his wife. When their owner refused, an abolitionist group caught wind of his situation and got involved. With their financial support, he sued for his freedom. The case would end up making its way to the Supreme Court.

The 1857 decision denied Scott and his wife their freedom. It also declared that Black people, free or enslaved, were NOT American citizens, and as such, had no protection under federal laws. They had no right to sue in federal court. The decision also stated that Congress had no right to ban slavery. 

This decision would double down on enforcing slavery, reinforcing white supremacy, and making it easier to force freed and free Black people into or back into slavery, with no legal recourse. 

It is important to note that the Chief Justice, Roger B. Taney, came from a rich, slave-owning family, and would end up siding with the Confederate States in the Civil War, so one might say he had a vested interest in the outcome, which might be construed as a conflict of interest. But what do I know???

This is by far, one of the most disgusting moments in American history...Here are more sources on this Supreme Court decision:

Thirteen.org page 

Roger B. Taney wikipedia page

Archives.gov article 

History.com page

Cornell Law School article 

Supreme.justia.com page

Wikipedia page 

white History: William Henry Harrison

 

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William Henry Harrison

Born: February 9, 1773

Died: April 4, 1841

Slaves Owned: 11

Known For: Dying one month into his presidency.

William Henry Harrison doesn't really have much of a presidency, seeing as he died one month into it. So, I'm going to focus on his life prior to that.

As a young man, he served in the military to clear the land of Indigenous people

Mr. Harrison at one point in his life, claimed to be an abolitionist, but then denied it when he ran for president, so he could win the Southern vote. Not much an an abolitionist, was he...Especially since he was a slave owner, as well...

At some time, he lived in free territory and in order to skirt around the law, he made his slaves indentured servants so he could keep them. So much integrity...

With the way he skirted the law and changed his views to suit his political needs, I'm thinking we actually are better off without a long presidency from this guy...not that I wish death on anybody...

Here are sources about William Henry Harrison:

An article about his stance on slavery. 

The White House history website article.

University of Virginia page. 

History.com

The White House website's page. 

white History: John Howland

 

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Name: John Howland

Born: ca 1598

Died: ca February 1672

 

Today we talk about a man that I am distantly related to, through my mother's side of the family. A man who came over on the actual Mayflower. And also fell off the actual Mayflower, on the way over. This is a true story. He literally fell out of the Mayflower and was fished out of the water as they traveled across the ocean.

John Howland was a servant of one of the men traveling to the "new world" and ended up married with kids and land here, and is related to a LOT of Americans. Myself included. According to ancestry.com records, he is my first cousin, 12 times removed. It is both interesting and disturbing to have a direct connection to the Mayflower. There is no way I can deny my benefiting from white supremacy now and always.

John Howland might have an unusual claim to fame in this country, but his presence begat a lot of us. And we have been reaping the benefits of this country, colonization, and the slave trade, ever since.

There have even been children's books written about him, but here are more online sources about John Howland:

The Mayflower Society

Pilgrim Hall Museum 

American Ancestors.org

He basically has his own website... 

Another Mayflower website.

Another Mayflower history site. 

white History: Martin van Buren

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Martin van Buren

Born: December 5, 1782

Died: July 24, 1862

Slaves Owned: 4+ 

Known for: Being the 8th president. Being president during the worst economic depression to that date, and doubling down with Andrew Jackson's economic policy, which worsened the depression. Being a one-termer.

Van Buren came from a slave-owning family, and apparently only owned a few himself, but it's a few too many humans to own. The only acceptable amount of humans to own, is zero.

Van Buren also opposed the annexation of Texas, because it would have been a slave territory. Before you get excited to see it as proof that he wasn't so bad after all, just know that the motive was to keep the fragile balance of the Union in place. Slave-owning states and free states always teetered back and forth, and this would have tipped it too far in favor of slave-owning states, which would have angered the free states and lost his chances at reelection from them. It was entirely political and self-preservation at its heart. He was ultimately a fan of, beneficiary of, and enforcer of, the status quo of slavery in the United States.

Sources:

Article about his refusal to annex Texas.

The official White House page.

The role the Founding Fathers had on him. 

University of Virginia page.

The Van Buren home and slavery.

More on his views of slavery. 

white History: The Trail of Tears

 

The Trail of Tears is named after the routes taken by the people of the Five Tribes, the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole, as they were forcibly removed from their land and marched on foot, through the winter, to Oklahoma. This act of ethnic cleansing would move over 100,000 people from the East and South, to the Midwest. About 15,000 people died from this.

Some people protest at using words like "ethnic cleansing" to describe what took place with the signing of the 1830 Indian Removal Act by Andrew Jackson, but that's exactly what it was. We create euphemisms to describe what happened in American history to distance ourselves from what happened, but we all benefited from it, and ultimately still do today. We have to stop shying away from our past and spelling out exactly what we did to get to where we are now. 

The Trail of Tears came about, because we wanted the land that was already occupied, so we took it. By force. Andrew Jackson signed an act that allowed us to do whatever it took to get that land. With the federal government's permission, we threw the people off the land, marched them, by foot, uncaring if they lived or died, until they reached an enclosed space set aside for them. Then we took their land and developed it for white people to live on and profit from. 

We act like it was some other group of people, in the past, and not our own ancestors. We act as though we've learned from this, but have we ever paid reparations to the Indigenous peoples of this land? Have we ever given as much land back to them as we can? Put them in positions to govern the land in the best way possible? One person here, one position there is a start, but it's not reparations. Not even close.

Make sure to look through youtube for more articles. There are also documentaries and books about this well-known historical event. Here are more sources to learn about the Trail of Tears:

Oklahoma Historical Society article.

USHistory.org article. 

National Park Services page.

History.com page. 

white History: Andrew Jackson

 

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Andrew Jackson

Born: March 15, 1767

Died: June 8, 1845

Slaves Owned: 150+

Known For: Being the 7th president, signing the 1830 Indian Removal Act, being a brutal slave owner, being just the absolute worst, really.

Andrew Jackson is so bad, that he basically gets two entries in this project. Tomorrow I'll be focusing on the 1830 Indian Removal Act and it's effects on the Indigenous people, so today I'll focus on Jackson the slaveowner.  

Andrew Jackson brought his enslaved humans to work for him at the White House while he was president. He used their labor to build onto and add improvements to the White House. He also seemed to have no problem with slavery, and saw himself as a father figure to his enslaved people. He cared about their wellbeing because to him, a happy slave, was a productive slave, not because he actually cared about them as people. He definitely put profit over humanity. He also had no problem using corporal punishment on them, ordering "disobedient" slaves to be whipped, and putting out advertisements for any of them who ran away. 

He also encouraged the USPS to censor abolitionist materials being published and mailed, which the Postmaster General did without qualms.

Andrew Jackson was very much a fan of slavery and did all within his power to uphold it. This, combined with tomorrow's post, will cement him as one of the most horrible presidents, and all around terrible human beings, to ever live in this country. It's not a big surprised that TFG was such a fan of his...

Sources:

A White House history article on slavery and Jackon's household.

Vox Article 

Information on the misuse of the USPS.

More information on the USPS misuse. 

The Jackson house website statement on slavery.

A History.com article about the controversial nature of Jackson's presidency. 

Smithsonian Institute page on Jackson.

University of Virginia page on Jackson. 

The White House website entry on Jackson.

white History: Devil's Punchbowl, Natchez, Mississippi

 Video About Devil's Punchbowl

We are taught that the Union Army during the Civil War were the "good guys," because they're the side that won, and the side that brought about the end of slavery. But it wasn't always the case, sadly. The Devil's Punchbowl concentration camp is something that has been hidden to most white people, because history is written by the winners and in this country, the winners are white people.

The western way of thought has placed an emphasis on written history over oral tradition. This works in our favor when we don't want to pass on our evils, because all we have to do is not write them down, and eventually, nobody will remember it. The Devil's Punchbowl, in 1865, was where the Union Army built a concentration camp to house freed slaves, and then proceeded to starve over 20,000 people to death or leave them to die of disease. This is one such incident where we decided to let history, and us, forget. But it was kept alive by oral tradition within Black communities in this country. Since it was largely not documented, white people can choose to ignore its validity. You have to decide for yourself if you believe this to be true, or not. 

There aren't many photos of this death camp. There weren't news reporters at the scene documenting it. All there is, for the most part, is the stories that were passed down from survivors or people who saw it happen and told the next generation, who told the next generation. How history is recorded is important to maintaining or dismantling white supremacy. It's time we learn about these horrifying incidents, believe they happened, and own up to them now. How many other things have happened in the course of our nation's history that we simply never heard of because our ancestors chose to cover them up? We many never really know...

There are a lot more videos on youtube that you can watch, besides the one I included here, and here are also some other sources to learn more about one of our most terrible, unknown to us, moments in history:

As you can see, Wikipedia doesn't have a lot to say about this incident.

 African American Registry website article.

There has been research done, and this incident has been confirmed as legitimate. 

This is the Twitter thread that I first learned about Devil's Punchbowl.

white History: James Monroe

 

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James Monroe

Born: April 28, 1758

Died: July 4, 1831

Slaves Owned: 75+

 Known For: Being the 5th president, being involved with a slave rebellion attempt(spoiler alert, he wasn't trying to free them), helped found the country of Liberia, signing the Louisiana Purchase.

James Monroe was another president who claimed to hate slavery. Unlike the other presidents who claimed this, he actually did something about it. Unfortunately, it was something that was just as white supremacist as reinforcing slavery. While being a slaveowner himself, he worked with a group of people that colonized a section of African and founded the nation of Liberia. The capital, Monrovia, is actually named after him. His attitude was such that he did not want a United States with Black people in it, so he wanted to ship them all to Liberia to be rid of them. Yes, it ends slavery, but it's generally a terrible attitude to have, so I cannot credit him with anything. Particularly since he still profited from it, and had taken part in quelling an attempted slave rebellion.

Here are more sources to learn about James Monroe:

Wikipedia

James Monroe's household and slavery. 

A White House history article about Monroe and slavery.

University of Virginia's section on President Monroe. 

The official White House website entry.

 

white History: MOVE Bombing of Philadelphia

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Did you know that the police in the United States actually bombed Americans? And got away with it? It's not something you learn in history class in school, not even in college.

In Philadelphia, there was a house being used for an organization working to dismantle white supremacy. When the group started getting complaints from the neighborhood, and eventually were evicted from their building, there was resistance from the group. Instead of dealing with it in non-violent means, the police eventually opened fire on the building, and dropped an incendiary bomb through the roof. This caused a fire that spread through the entire city block, destroying homes of people not involved with the situation. They chose not to let the fire department attempt to put it out, so the fire just burned the entire block to the ground, leaving countless people homeless. Of the people who were still alive from the group being evicted, they were arrested, tried, and imprisoned, while the police faced no repercussions for their actions.

The date this took place? March 13, 1985. 1985. The 80's. The time a lot of us grew up in. Do you remember seeing it on the news? I sure don't. Did you discuss it with your friends and family at the time? Neither did I. Here's our chance to rectify that. The links below go into great detail about the attack and what led up to it, as well as the aftermath. Let's make sure we don't let this be forgotten to history.

Sources to read:

 Vox article from 2019.

Philadelphia Inquirer article. 

NPR article with firsthand information. 

A New Yorker article. 

A BBC article. 

NPR article discussing a recent development in the story. 

white History Month: James Madison

 

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James Madison

Born: March 16, 1751

Died: June 28, 1836

Known for: Being the 4th POTUS, writing the Bill of Rights, writing some of the articles in the Federalist Papers, losing the War of 1812.

James Madison too, was a slave owner, though apparently a reluctant one. He owned over 100 humans over the course of his life, many of whom he hired out as paid(to him, of course) labor. According to this, he was a rather average slaveowner who treated his enslaved people relatively well, all things considered. He and his wife Dolly apparently really disliked the idea of slavery, but not enough to actually do anything about it. And not enough to free them when he had a chance to. You know what we call a reluctant, remorseful slaveowner? A slaveowner. It doesn't matter how he felt, it matters what he did not do about it.

Here are more sources on the life and times of James Madison:

This is from the James Madison museum.

Here is the Virginia State encyclopedia. 

A University of Virginia link.

History.com article 

white History Month: Oliphant v. Suquamish

The justice system, headed by the Supreme Court, has never worked in favor of Native Americans. 99% of the time, Supreme Court cases are ruled in favor of the non-Native American side. My running theory is that to vote for them would be to ultimately acknowledge the wrongs done upon them by this nation, and to show that we know we did wrong by them. I urge people to look through lists of landmark Supreme Court cases, you'll see, case after case, in favor of white people over non-white people.

One such case, was Oliphant v. Suquamish, from 1978. This landmark case made it to the Supreme Court, where they ruled that tribes cannot prosecute non-Native Americans. If a crime is committed, they have to hope and trust that the American justice system will take care of it for them. Spoiler alert: It does not. What this case essentially did was give white people free reign to commit any crime on tribal land, and never face repercussions. 

The Supreme Court repeatedly upholds white supremacy. This case is just one of many that does so.

Here are several sources to read more about this case:

Wikipedia

The Justice Department article 

A good legal description of the case.

A short essay written from a law school. 

And a post written for a Cherokee website.

white History Month: Thomas Jefferson

 TW: Frank discussion about slavery and rape

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Thomas Jefferson

Born: April 13, 1743

Died: July 4, 1826

Known For: Being the 3rd President, sitting out the Revolutionary War, excessive slaveownership, being Sally Hemings's rapist.

Thomas Jefferson owned over 600 humans throughout the course of his life. The man who is credited with writing the majority of the Declaration of Independence, also owned humans, and made one his habitual sex slave. I guess the line "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal," was written by one of the other guys...

The best known person Thomas Jefferson owned, was Sally Hemings. She was Thomas's wife's half sister and was owned from birth by the Jeffersons. Thomas began raping Sally when she was somewhere between 14 and 16 years of age, and she became pregnant for the first time at age 16. She would ultimately bear him 6 children through her life. She was never freed.

Here is a twitter thread about Sally Hemings. Make sure to follow Johnathan if you're on twitter, and further your antiracism education.

It's important for us to not get caught up in the romanticism people try to put on Thomas and Sally. Even if they were somehow "in love" with each other, as a person owned by Thomas, Sally had no option to say no to him. She could never truly consent to anything he wanted from her. It's not complicated. It's not a delicate thing. It was one human owning and repeatedly sexually assaulting another human being. It's uncomfortable, sure, but it's our history. He and many, many white men, our ancestors, did this to Black women over the centuries. This is part of our history and literally part of our nation's DNA.

Another important person in American history who is largely overlooked, was Sally's brother James. James Hemings is responsible for some of our favorite foods, the most important of course, being macaroni and cheese! Thomas sent him to train as a chef in France, and when most history books talk about the food Thomas brought back, the recipes he was known for, I can guarantee he never stepped foot in a kitchen do do any cooking. Ever. It was James who brought these back and introduced Americans to French cuisine. 

Here are more sources about Thomas Jefferson:

Here is the official White House bio on him that never mentions his status as a slave owner.

The Monticello website actually does mention it and even acknowledges that Jefferson fathered Sally's children. 

Unlike the Wikipedia entry on him that goes into great detail of "controversies" trying to excuse it all away.

And here are sources about James and Sally Hemings:

James has his own website. We owe so much to him in this country! 

Here is Monticello's page about James.

And here is Monticello's page about Sally. 

And here's an article about finding Sally's living quarters at Monticello.