Little Known Black History Fact: 

Eliza Ann Gardner

DL Chandler


Eliza Ann Gardner was a Boston abolitionist who went on to become the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church’s missionary society. She was born on May 28, 1831, and was a strong women’s rights advocate.

Gardner was born in New York City and moved to Boston where her father became a successful ship contractor. Her parents were active in the political world, and their home in the West End served as a stop on the Underground Railroad.

After school, where she was a stellar student but held back from opportunities due to her gender, Gardner aligned herself with the AME Zion church and became a dressmaker to make ends meet. She also joined the anti-slavery movement, linking with the likes of Frederick Douglass and others. She founded the missionary society in 1876, which raised funds to send missionaries to Africa. She is known as the "mother" of the society.

Gardner convinced AME Zion leaders to allow women to become ordained, and she later founded the Women's Era Club, the first Black club for women in Boston.

Gardner passed in 1922.

                            From BlackAmericaWeb.com

The Oldest Statue In the World Depicts a Black Man

Great Sphinx of Giza by Taylor Buckman

The oldest and most noted statue in the world bears the face of a Negro. It is the Sphinx of Gizeh (sp), which was worshipped as Horus, or Harmachis, the Sun-God of Light and Life. It was erected about 5,000 B.C.

The Devil which is now depicted as black, was once portrayed as White. When the black man dominated the planet he painted the forces of evil, white. When the whites came into power the shifted the colors. But as late as 1500 the Ethiopians still depicted their gods and heroes black, and their devils and villains, white. Father Fernandez, a Catholic missionary, who worked amongst them at this time, says "They paint Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and other saints in black form; and devils and wicked men, white. Thus Christ and his apostles are black and Judas, white. Annas, Caiphas, Pilate, Herod and the Jews are white, while Michael is black, and the Devil, white."

Taken from 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro, number 47, pg 16.

On this day in Black history:

June 25, 1933  James Meredith

James Meredith walking to class at the University of
Mississippi, accompanied by U.S. Marshals

On June 25, 1933 Civil Rights leader, James Meredith was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi.   Meredith was the first African American student admitted to the University of Mississippi on October 1, 1962.  When Meredith initially applied to the University of Mississippi he was accepted, when his race was discovered, he was denied entry.  Meredith lost a suit for entry in district court and then he filed with the U.S. Supreme Court where he won the right for admittance.  Rioting occurred on September 20, 1962 when Meredith arrived to register at the University of Mississippi.  Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent 500 hundred U.S. Marshals while President John F. Kennedy sent military police troops from the Mississippi National Guard and members of the U.S. Border Patrol to protect Meredith and maintain order during the disturbance.

US Army trucks loaded with steel-helmeted US Marshals roll across
the University of Mississippi campus in the
wake of the Ole Miss riot of 1962.

Almost four years later, Meredith was seriously wounded when he was shot by a white gunman June 7, 1966 on the second day of a solo 220 mile March from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi.  The march was a “March Against Fear” and to encourage voter registration.  After been taken to the hospital, supporters and other leaders committed to complete his march to Jackson and on June 26 approximately 15,000 marchers arrived in Jackson along with a recovering Meredith.  This march became the largest civil rights march in Mississippi’s history and resulted in over 4,000 Mississippi African American voter registrations.