I Bet You've Never Heard This One Before!!

Black History Fact: She Hid the Bed; and Got a Patent For It!! 

     I heard a 'Black History Fact' on the car radio the other day that was one I'd never heard of before; one that was surprising, and one that made me more aware than ever of how little we are being taught about the history of black people in this country. It seems to me that we are taught more about the history of how the slaves were brought here, their lives as slaves on the Massa's plantation picking cotton, and how hard they worked to try to escape being slaves than we are about any achievements made in more modern times. In my younger days I suppose there weren't as many to be taught about, but of what there was, it was only what was already 'old news'  (George Washington Carver, Harriett Tubman, Frederick Douglass) that students were taught. Now there is so much more that students could be learning about their culture, their ancestors, and themselves, but they are learning even less than they did then, not only because they are taught less, but also because they are not being instilled with the pride of their heritage that we were. 

That's one of my reasons for starting this blog, in the hope that I might be able to spread some of the 'Black History' that we were never taught in school, and show how much of an impact we actually have made (and continue to make) on modern American civilization. Barack Obama is not our only lasting legacy!

Sarah E. Goode & a diagram of her Cabinet Bed

This fact is about a woman who was born in 1850 into slavery. She was very aware of the challenges most of her friends and neighbors underwent in their day-to-day lives living in small, cramped spaces where there usually wasn't enough room for the people, let alone furniture and a bed. By the time she was 35 Sarah Elisabeth Goode had invented the Cabinet Bed; something like the Murphy Bed, but her bed did not roll up into the wall. Hers was designed to do dual duty as a bed at night and a rolltop writing desk during the day. Her invention had cubbyholes designed to hold stationary and writing supplies, and had a flat surface on which to write. 

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A larger diagram of the Cabinet Bed.

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A photo of what her invention may have looked like. 

     

Sarah Goode received her freedom at the end of the Civil War. She moved to Chicago, and there met her husband, Archibald Goode who was a carpenter. Together they ran their own furniture business, where they met a lot of people facing the issue of living in small spaces. These were just the kind of people for whom her Cabinet Bed was made.

             

Patent received by Sarah E. Goode, 1885

       Not much is known of Sarah E. Goode after she received the US patent in 1885, other than that she died in 1905.

 

Note:

A tailor in New York City, Thomas L. Jennings is credited with being the first African American to hold a U.S. patent. The patent, which was issued in 1821, was for a dry-cleaning process. 

Black History Fact I Bet You Didn't Know!

Normally the posts here are more of a "This Day in History" type, but I learned a very very interesting fact that I just had to post about. I'm hoping someone will find it as interesting as I did.

 Did you know that there was a patron saint of African slaves and their descendants? Do you know who he was?

I bet a lot of you didn't know that African slaves had a patron saint, let alone who it was, and that is nothing to be ashamed of. I think that is just one of the many facts about our history that are not well-known. This is why this blog is here, to hopefully enlighten us to how great our history truly is!

This man was born a slave, but according to some accounts, was freed by his owner in fulfillment of a promise the owner made to his father. Born in Sicily in 1524, Benedict did not become St. Benedict until 200 years after his death.

During his life he was an ascetic healer who believed in the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi (St. Francis took the Bible literally by joyfully following all that Jesus did and said.)  and devoted his life to them. After his death, the Catholic Church and colonial Europe used his image "to convert African slaves to Roman Catholicism". To emphasize the connection he was called St. Benedict the Moor and St. Benedict the Black.

St. Benedict of Palermo died on April 4, 1589. There is another great leader in black history whose life ended on that day; the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while he stood on the balcony outside his hotel room in Memphis, TN on April 4, 1968.





If you'd like to learn more, here's where I got my information:
The Root on St. Benedict of Palermo
St. Francis of Assisi

On This Day In Black History...

On this day in history, April 7th, 1915, Eleanora Fagin was born in Philadelphia, PA. She was a beautiful young woman, who unfortunately died much too soon. While she came to prominence during her short life, it was only after her death in 1959 that she became truly recognized and honored as the great talent that she was.

She was an inductee of several halls of fame; the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame in 1997, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and in 2004 the Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame. Four times her work was awarded Grammy Awards for Best Historical Album; the first, in 1980, was for "Giants of Jazz". The second came in 1992 with "The Complete Decca Recordings". The last two were in 1994 and 2002 for albums which bore her name. She herself was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, and the United States Postal Service produced a stamp with her likeness in 1994. Five of her songs were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978, 1989, 2000, 2005, and 2010. One of her songs became known as the song which changed the history of American music; it was called Strange Fruit, and was a haunting protest against the inhumanity of racism. Strange Fruit was also honored by the Library of Congress as one of the 50 songs that year to be added to the National Recording Registry.

In 1937 a sax player gave her a nickname which was to stay with her throughout her life. Please say Happy 99th Birthday to the legendary "Lady Day"; Miss Billie Holliday!!

Information gathered from:

Wikipedia
The Official Billie Holiday website
Strange Fruit by David Margolick
NPR Music


 Strange Fruit 
              by Abel Meeropol

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

             Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
             For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
             For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
             Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Today's Little Known Black History Fact

The Pulitzer Prize was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of American (Hungarian-born) publisher Joseph Pulitzer. There are 21 categories in which entries are submitted for consideration; the nominees are then selected from these entrants.

The first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Literature also holds the distinction of being the first African American woman.  Gwendolyn Brooks was awarded the prize in Poetry in 1950 for her work  Annie Allen.

Since 1950 Gwendolyn Brooks has been joined by other illustrious names, such as Scott Joplin in 1976 for Music, Alex Haley in 1977 for his book Roots, and Alice Walker in 1983 in the Fiction category for The Color Purple. In the history of the Pulitzer Prize, the list of African Americans who have been awarded one is quite long; unfortunately, there is a stain on that history. In 1981 Janet Leslie Cooke wrote a story entitled Jimmy's World which was supposedly the story of an 8 year old heroin addict; the story was false, and the Pulitzer Prize which Cooke had won for it had to be returned by the Washington Post.

While there were some who claimed that her actions led to black journalists not being as credible as before, it didn't stop Pulitzer Prizes from going to other black writers. As a matter fact, today's little known black history fact is about one of those writers.

On this day, March 31, 1988, Novelist Toni Morrison was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her book, Beloved.



For more information on:
Pulitzer Prize
Gwendolyn Brooks
Janet Cooke
Toni Morrison

LEATHER SHOES MADE FROM BLACK PEOPLE'S SKIN

Originally printed: [Philadelphia News.]
Printed in The Mercury, Saturday March 17, 1888

I remember that two or three years ago I incidentally referred to a prominent physician of this city wearing shoes made from the skin of negroes. He still adhered to that custom, insisting that the tanned hide of an African makes the most enduring and the most pliable leather known to man.

Shoes made from Big Nose George Parrott

Only last week I met him upon the street with a brand new pair of shoes. I looked at his foot wear, as I always do - his pedal coverings have an irresistible fascination for me - and said, with a smile:
"Is the down trodden African still beneath your feet?" In the most matter of fact way, and without the shadow of a smile, he answered: " I suppose you mean to inquire if I still wear shoes made of the skin of a negro. I certainly do, and I don't propose changing in that respect until I find a leather that is softer and will last longer and present a better appearance. I have no sentiment about this matter. Were I a Southerner - in the American sense of the word - I might be accused of being actuated by a race prejudice. But I am a foreigner by birth, although now an American citizen by naturalization. I fought in the rebellion that the blacks might be freed. I would use a white man's skin for the same purpose if it were sufficiently thick, and if any' one has a desire to wear my epidermis upon his feet after I have drawn my last breath he has my ante mortem permission."

The doctor's shoes always exhibit a peculiarly rich lustrousness in their blackness. He assures me that they never hurt his feet. The new pair he was using when I last saw him emitted no creaking sound and appeared as comfortable as though they had been worn a month. Their predecessors, he told me, had been in constant use for eight months. He obtains the skins from the bodies of negroes which have been dissected in one of our big medical colleges. The best leather is obtained from the thighs. The soles are formed by placing several layers of leather together. The skin is prepared by a tanner at Womseldorf, 16 miles from Reading. The shoes are fashioned by a French shoemaker of this city, who knows nothing of the true character of the leather, but who often wonders at its exquisite smoothness, and says that it excels the finest French calf-skin.

Do not for a moment think that this doctor presents an exceptional case of one who puts the human skin to a practical use. Medical students frequently display a great variety of articles in which in the skin or bones of some dissected mortal has been gruesomely utilized, and in bursts of generosity they sometimes present these to their friends, who prize them highly. One of the dudest dudes in town carries a match-safe covered with a portion of the skin of a beautiful young woman who was found drowned in the Delaware river. It still retains its natural colour. Another young man with whom I am acquainted carries a cigar case made of negro skin, a ghastly skull and crossbones appearing on one side in relief. One of the best known surgeons in this country, who resides in this city, has a beautiful instrument case, entirely covered with leather made from an African's skin. A young society lady of this city wears a beautiful pair of dark slippers, the remarkable lustrousuess of whose leather invariably excites the admiration of her friends when they see them. The young doctor who presented them to her recently returned from an extended foreign tour, and he told her that he had purchased them from a Turk in Alexandria, and that he did not know what sort of leather they were made of, but he supposed it was the skin of some wild animal. As a matter of fact, the skin came from a negro cadaver, which was once prone on a Jefferson College dissecting table, and the leather was prepared in Womseldorf. The rosettes on the slippers were deftly fashioned from the negro's kinky hair.

The Mercury, Saturday March 17 1888

For more information on this subject:
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/apr13/index.htm
http://knowledgefullcircle.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/is-black-skin-being-used-and-sold-and-made-into-leather-products-today/

Retrieved from Facebook page Black Thought

Today In Black History

If you were to ask the average Joe walking down the street who the first black woman to win an Academy Award was, a lot of them could tell you; it was in 1939, and the actress was Hattie McDaniels who played in Gone With the Wind as the O'Hara's cook/nanny. She won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Now, who was the first black woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress? That's just a little tougher, isn't it? Today in Black History in 2001, the movie was Monster's Ball, and the winner was (drum-roll please) Halle Berry for Best Actress! Yes, in 2001 Halle Berry won the Oscar for playing  the role of Leticia Musgrove.

There was also another first that year for blacks in the Academy Awards. 2001 would be the first time that two black performers had won not just nominations, but Oscars for their leading rolls in their movies. Halle Berry won for Monster's Ball, and Denzel Washington won for Training Day!

There have been many triumphs over the years when it came to the Academy Awards, but in my opinion not nearly enough. Between 1958 and 2012 there were 4 black men who won an Oscar for Best Actor; Sidney Poitier - Lilies of the Field, Denzel Washington - Training Day, Jamie Foxx - Ray, and Forest Whitaker - Last King of Scotland. In the same period, 1958 - 2012, only one black woman won an Academy Award for Best Actress, and that was Halle Berry in Monster's Ball.

There have been 4 black producers whose films were nominated for Best Picture. They were Quincy Jones for the Color Purple, Lee Daniels - Precious, Broderick Johnson - The Blind Side, and Reginald Hudlin - Django Unchained. None of the films won.

And to add a little known black history fact:

In 1967, there were two black actresses nominated for Best Supporting Actress; one was for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and the actress was Beah Richards. The other was for the film Thoroughly Modern Millie, and the actress was Carol Channing! (For more information, visit this Wikipedia page.)

List of African American Academy Awards Winners and Nominees

Little Known Black History Fact Of the Day

This is one that I know a LOT of people never knew, including myself! 

If asked what the first black newspaper was in America, what would you answer? It might be any one of several well-known papers; the Los Angeles Sentinel (1935-2005), the Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001), the Baltimore AfroAmerican (1893-1988), the Chicago Defender (1910-1975),  or the Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002). All of these newspapers hold various claims to fame, but the first black newspaper published in America was (drum roll please!) The Freedom Journal.

The Freedom Journal was the first black owned and operated newspaper in the United States. Its first edition came out on March 16th, 1827 in New York City, and was issued weekly until its demise in 1829. Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm were the co-editors until September 14th, 1827 when Cornish resigned. From 1829-1830 Cornish published The Rights of All.

Freedom's Journal provided international, national, and regional information on current events and contained editorials declaiming slavery, lynching, and other injustices. The Journal also published biographies of prominent African-Americans and listings of births, deaths, and marriages in the African-American New York community. Freedom's Journal circulated in 11 states, the District of Columbia, Haiti, Europe, and Canada.

For more information on Freedom's Journal, and other black owned and operated newspapers:

ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Freedom's Journal, the first African American newspaper

Welcome to Little Known Black History Facts!

I decided that, rather than post the Black History Facts in Bikini 

Bottom, I'd give them a home of their own so 

Welcome!! 

Say hi to the first of what I hope are many posts about some of the 

things that  our forefathers have done! (Remember Crispus  Attucks?)

 So, here goes. 

If you have any suggestions which might improve this blog, 

or any comments, please leave them for me in the

Comments section.

I hope you enjoy reading about our rich history as much as I'm

enjoying researching and writing about it!

                                               Wanda J