Transcripts For CSPAN3 400th Anniversary Of Forced African Migration 20240713

Truth branch of asalah, usa today, and the law and policy group. We would also like to thank all of those people who make black history happen all year round. The year 2019 is special for many reasons, and we will explore those reasons in two parts. Part one will talk about the theme for black History Month this year, and that is black migrations. Our press event also includes a panel of scholars who enlightened this occasion with their expertise on the 400 years of africanamerican perseverance and resilience triggered from that arrival of 20 africans in 1619. But first, if we have her here, were looking for the president of the National Press club, Allison Fitzgerald cojack, who will come go get her who will come to give welcome in a few minutes. We are also honored to have the presence of dr. Lonnie g. Bunch iii, the founding director of the National Museum of africanAmerican History and culture and also a centennial ray of light. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Bunch. Thank you for your ongoing support of asalah and your embrace of the legacy of our founder, dr. Carter godwin woodson. Each year the president of asalah discloses the selection of the theme for the study of black history globally. Black history is not just an american thing. Black history is a study that we have seen actually take place in the uk as well as parts of africa and other parts of the world. So what dr. Woodson started has become a global, global event. Dr. Higginbotham is the first africanamerican chair of the History Department at harvard. We are also proud to congratulate her for winning the dr. John hope franklin award. We just learned of this last night. She is a historian of historians. And to read her statement on this years black history theme, black migrations, i give you dr. Higginbotham. Thank you, and welcome. Every year i write a statement to inaugurate black History Month. This one starts off, happy black History Month. This year opens with the theme black migrations. As the founders of black History Month, the association for the study of africanAmerican Life and history believes that migration represents one of the most important aspects of our nations past. The very title of the book, a nation of immigrants written by president john f. Kennedy captures the centrality of migration to the makeup of the american people. However, for africanamericans, the history of migration has a unique meaning. That of forced migration in the form of the african slave trade to america, which ended by law, though not always in practice, in 1808, and the domestic human trafficking, what we call the domestic slave trade that continued until the abolition of slavery in 1865. These are stories of families separated, of children taken from parents, and such pain was overwhelming and heartbreaking for families then as it is now. For children separated from their parents in the hispanic migrants who seek asylum in america. Dr. Carter g. Woodson understood the meaning of migration in this way when he wrote a century of negro migration. He published that book in 1918 and presented, quote, the facts as to how the negroes in the United States have struggled under adverse circumstances to flee from bondage and oppression in quest of a land offering asylum to the oppressed and opportunity to the unfortunate. As asalah calls attention to the many stories of migration and also in the present, we give special attention to the year 1619 when africans arrived on two slave ships in the Virginia Colony. The First Permanent English Settlement in north america. And i always like to say, and this is a digression, africans were in what is presently understood to be the United States as early as the 1500s because they were slaves there of the spanish and they helped to build the city that is the oldest city in the United States, st. Augustine in 1565. But 1619 is crucial because it is the year that epitomizes the moment of the unfolding problem of race and slavery in the american past and present. And we want to applaud the legislation introduced by congressman bobby scott of virginia, and that legislation is titled the 400 years of africanamerican History Commission act, hr1242115. And that came out february 2018. 1619 is important because its part of the story of the United States revolution, that revolution that created the United States. It is the year, as i said, that epitomizes the moment of the unfolding problem of race and slavery in the american past and present. Virginias lawmakers led the 13 colonies in creating a Legal Process that gradually structured permanent racial servitude. Indeed as a colony, virginia, and later as a state would pass laws on race that would serve as a model for defining the subordinant legal status of persons of african descent. Asalah emphasizes 400 years of perseverance in order to capture a history more expansive than enslavement, however. The four centuries bear witness to migration as countless stories of a past left behind and a future full of hope for a world free from Racial Discrimination. This longstanding and steady perseverance includes many actors, some escaping from slavery, some seeking to immigrate to africa, some moving from farm to city in the south or to the west, others seeking employment in the north in the 20th century or returning to the south in the 21st century. And not least of all, those who came to the United States from the caribbean, from south america, from africa and from many other places. Join asalah. Help us to make black History Month the best it is in 1619 to 2019 and throughout this year, come with us on this intellectual journey of black migrations. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Evelyn brooks higginbotham. Our 28th president for the association of the study of africanAmerican Life in history. Once again my name is gloria brownemarshall, professor at John Jay College and a legal historian, but id also like to put on another hat and that is legal commentator who covers the u. S. Supreme court. The study of black history involves many stakeholders. They include asalah members, branch members, students, supporters, readreaders, foundations, scholars, archivists, to name a few. Researchers of history rely on newspapers, and they say that journalism has been the first draft of history. We are pleased to present nichelle smith. She is the coordinating editor of usa todays Investigation Team and the leader of several awardwinning race and diversity projects. Additionally, usa today publishes an annual africanAmerican History publication during black History Month. This year asalahs 400th commemorative calendar and other events are featured in this publication. I give you nichelle smith. Thank you, gloria, and thank you to members of asalah. I am so delighted to finally be presenting this black History Month special edition to you. This is exodus, the issue we have for 2019. We have been doing these issues for seven years, unbeknown to the group. Asalah has been part of what has undergirded the issue since its inception. One of the things that we wanted to do with this edition in particular, we had a little bit of freedom of movement to step away from our founding philosophy. We had founded this in 2013 to celebrate civil rights anniversaries and to find a way to talk about how meaningful those anniversaries were. This year we had a little bit of leeway to really, really drill down deeply into asalahs theme of black migrations to the point that the Writers Group that i bring together every year are like, wow, that is so broad, what are we going to do to narrow that down. Luckily we had a reporter for our main story who had been wanting to talk about the in motion exhibit and the 13 Migration Theory that they set forth and she was able to use the theme to really get into that and tell a story that does not present africanamericans post slavery as victims but rather talks about how we were confronted with a situation in which we had no blueprint and we were able to move through, find our way and use agency and intelligence and independence to build a new life for ourselves. Also in looking at this, we knew we had to talk about the 400th anniversary of the african arrival, and i had been hearing for years, oh, 400th anniversary of slavery. Slavery started in 1619. I went into the research with the idea that i was going to find a precise date. As we went through and i was blessed to have e. R. Shipp, a pulitzer prizewinning writer do this for us, we found that we needed to do some debunking instead. We turned to Darrell Scott and gloria brownemarshall and other people at asalah to help us drill down into that notion and really debunk everything as well as give the schedule. So im tremendously proud of this issue, as i am every year. I think this is probably our most thoughtful issue and i hope that you guys will go online and maybe get a physical copy for yourselves. Its at onlinestore. Usatoday. Com. I also will be posting some of the stories, the key stories from this edition at our civil rights in america website that weve had and ive been maintaining for the past decade or so and thats civilrights. Usatoday. Com. And also i want to let you know that your word and your work travels so much farther than you think it does and than i ever thought it was going to do when we first started this. Last year we were able to give away 11,000 copies for free to museums and schools and libraries, naacp and other institutions. This year im delighted to say that we had the help of a former Washington Post reporter in getting us to 18,000 distributed around the country. I am hearing lots and lots of positive feedback from all over the country and hope that we can continue to present this to you. I just want to tell you how we use this issue to bring things full circle. Not only do we want to go back into the past, but we find things useful in terms of going back and getting what we need and as we push forward into the future. So with black panther being just a phenomenon that it was last year, i found that the asalah theme was a perfect device to talk about the theme in terms of our ancestors must have felt the same way in their search for their Promised Land as we did when we all saw waconda and started searching for that somewhere. I know i did when i went to jamaica. So thank you so much for providing a mechanism to talk not just about america, but about the haitian revolution, about the gullah people, about the islands and so much more that we werent able to get into this issue this time, but we hope to be able to get into in the future. Really appreciate the work. And if i could say one more little thing, i just want to give a little shoutout and love to the black press as well. People debate their purpose and usefulness as more black people are in the Mainstream Press, but without the new service, afro american, the informer, other newspapers, in addition to the historians gathered here today and that are listening, i would not be as informed as i need to be in order to do this work, so appreciate you. Thank you, nichelle. Someone created a National Calendar of events for the 400th. Its a Clearing House of events and activities taking place not just across the United States but around the world. Asalah provides organizations and individuals with a free platform to tell the world about their 400th related events. For example, on our calendar, if you have a chance, you go to asalah. Org and youll see our 400th calendar has a group from wichita, kansas, traveling to africa to give libations for the ancestors. We have dozens of conferences taking place, including a conference thats taking place in hampton, virginia, which is the site of the arrival of the 20 africans in 1619. We have great migration concerts in prince georges county, presenting the music of the different eras of impact and Film Screenings in chicago. If you have a chance to look at our calendar, and of course submit events that are 400th related, youll find that it is an abundant place for us to not only know whats going on in our communities but in communities across the country. Weve been contacted about black History Month celebrated in scotland. There is so much to go see around this world that was started by our founder, dr. Carter g. Woodson, and to understand those connections throughout the diasper. 400 years of perseverance includes a journey that includes overcoming unspeakable obstacles. But because we overcame those obstacles, were allowed to be unspeakable obstacles, but because we overcame were allowed to be in this room today. And it is the honor and glory of that resilience, that perseverance, that makes this 400th commemoration so important not just to the africanamerican diaspora, but to the world. Africanamerican resilience, perseverance, love, family and cultural pride brought us through so much, and here we are today, having gone through all of that, understanding that 400 years of perseverance is represented in so many different ways. Before we go to part 2 of our panel, i would like to have a welcome from the National Press club itself. Thank you so much. [ applause ] thank you, gloria. So great to see you and see all of you here today. Im bill mic keener, the executive director of the National Press club. Were honored to have you at this important occasion and see your Smiling Faces and know that theres so much to celebrate and youll enjoy this Great Program that gloria has put forward. I want to just, if i can, just touch on a couple of aspects of our history that we think important and have to do with progress and participation of the Africanamerican Community and press club together. So recently weve had, lets see, two president s ago, jeff but lu, works for al jauzira, a producer, and their Television Producing happens to be africanamerican, first male at the press club. Weve had africanamerican female president s but this is our first africanamerican male. And he did a tremendous job and was a great ambassador for us. If you go to our balance room, the biggest room around the corner on that side. Theres a plaque and it commemorates the first speaker at the press club. It was dr. Martin loourgt king, he was about 33 years old. And he was a terrific speaker for us. And its meaningful to people when they enter that room and know that dr. King spoke there. Interesting, dont have full video of this event. We have full audio of this event which is on the library of congress website. And he was terrific, of course. And the notes of his, i have a dream speech, that would come later in life, in that rhetoric that day. It was interesting as a historical document to hear and see that. I could go on forever. I know gloria has got great stuff. I will leave you one or two other things that i find fascinating that to our place, our country. So the last place that Lewis Armstrong played trumpet in public was here at the National Press club. For about a year, hed been holding the horn and singing. He had had a heart condition and went up to the force you need to play the trumpet. So hes coming up here in january of 1971 to see us, and his doctor gave him a gothrough right before he got on the train could tom u to come up. He said if you want to play, youre well enough to play. So people came there expecting to see him and hear him sing, but not expecting to hear him play trumpet. And he was great. And we found the audio. And we gave it to winton marsalis, and he said ive heard him play that run from hello dolly, like, hundreds of times, but ive never heard that improvisation. So what it tells us about the human condition is that at the end of life, you know, the artist is still inventing, right . And that music became the lead selling thing on im using, my kids would know these terms on apple, no, on itunes jazz and on one of the other ones, digital ones, for like two weeks. And it was this music was years old. But in a way we hadnt heard it before. So kind of, thats what the one of the things that happens at press club is that stuff thats important to our history, but we havent really listened to it the right way or heard it recently. Helps to us about the world were in and the public. And so much of that we find is the richness both in art and policy and culture thats brought forward from some of our visitors who are, you know, in the Africanamerican Community. And its a wonderful thing. Of course if you really want to know about that, go to that Wonderful Museum down across the street. [ laughter ] i am grateful for an opportunity to see all of you. Im going turn it back over to gloria. Thank you for being here. Thank you for what you do. And grateful for you to be here. [ applause ] thank you. Im also a member of the National Press club. [ laughter ] so as we turn to part 2, we are going to be led by our president , dr. Higgan both om, who will moderate the scholars who will discuss 400 years of perseverance from their perspective. Dr. Higgan botham. So we have a distinguished panel today. Brent legs is the director of africanamerican Cultural Heritage action fund. A 25 million fundraising and Preservation Campaign at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is a Harvard University lobe fellow and author of preserving africanamerican Historic Sites. Hes led efforts to create the birmingham civil rights National Museum monument in alabama which president barack obama designated in january 2007. He is the resipient of the 2018 robert g. Stanton National Preservation award. Brent legs other projects include preserving the estate of madam cj walker in irvington new york or joe fraziers gym, or nina simones birth place. And many more. Ees also an sisnt clinical professor at the university of marylands graduate program in Historic Preservation. Spencer crew is the clarence j. Robertson professor of history at george mason university. His Interest Research interests and publications focus on africanamerican migration, slavery and the under grournd railroad. He has been a leader in public history for several decades, serving formally as the president of the National Underground Railroad Freedom center in Cincinnati Ohio and later working at the National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution for 20 years. He brought there the innovative exhibits and the creative exhibits which have been important and memorable. The one that people probably remember best from field to factory, afroamerican migration, 1915 to 1940. And he also cocurated the exhibit, the american presidency, a glorious burden, which is one of the smithsonians most popular exhibitions. Hes also published books with those same names. Hes opportunitily working on a buy grauphy of thorogood martial. Gloria is a professor at john j. College. Hes shorauthored many books an articles. Her two books that have really made a mark, the Voting Rights war, the naacp, and the ongoing struggle for justice, and her book, the race law and American Society, 1607 to the present. And i chose that book because its a groundbreaking work connecting Racial Justice over 400 years in the areas of education, Voting Rights, property rights, criminal justice, a host of themes that involve africanamericans, latin americans, latinos, asians and native americans. And shes currently working or almost done, i guess, shes done on a book coming out on called, she took justice, about black women and the law. Shes also working on a documentary of the same title which will accompany the book. She is a u. S. Supreme court country. She is a member of the National Press club. And shes also often on television. You may have seen her as a analyst for msnbc, cbs, cnn, abc. And she is the chair, as you know, of asalhs 400th commemoration committee. And lastly Roger Fairfax is the jeffrey and martha cohen senior associate dean for Academic Affairs and professor of law at George Washington University Law school. He teaches and writes in the areas of criminal law, procedure and policy. And his scholarship appears in numerous books and leading journals such as the Boston College lawry view, cornell, uc davis, ford ham, harvard civil rights civil liberties, yale, and i cant list all of them. While at harvard he was one of the editors of the harvard law review and later a senior fellow at the Charles Hamilton institute for race and justice. Hes an elected member of the american law institutoe. We are very pleased to have you, and i look forward to this conversation. Brent legs. Yes. Your work with the National Trust for Historic Preservation gives history a really tangible form. I like to always tell my students that you can learn history in books, but you can also learn history in museums, but theres something really special standing in those places where history was made. Please talk about why its so important to preserve sites of slavery and in fact why your action fund is so crucial for capturing 400 years of perseverance. Well, i want to thank you, evelene, and asaulh for having me here today. We preserve the places where history happened. And we believe that every american, including africanamericans, should be able to see themselves in the Historic Places that surround us. The National Trust, we were charted by congress in 1949. Today we are National Nonprofit organization, and we are the leaders in preserving africanamerican Historic Places. We believe that preserving both the places of injustice, difficult histories, and slavery, is critical to understanding the black experience in america. But we dont stop there. We believe that its our social responsibility to reconstruct national identity, balance public memory, and to tell the full history of our nation, by honoring the black women and men and entrepreneurship and activism, education, law, science, and all of the ways that we have contributed to the development of the United States. What i wanted to do today is to highlight a couple of our projects just to give you a sense of the work that we do. Has anyone toured ft. Monroe . So president obama used the Antiquities Act of 1906, it was his first use to designate ft. Monroe monument. We got involved because we wanted to ensure that the story of townsend, mallory and baker, was brought to light. These three enslaved africans, they organized themselves, and they would be considered contra band of war by benjamin butler. It became a catalyst, an unknown catalyst, for emancipation when 500,000 freedom seekers followed in their foot stoepz. We believe as we recognize and honor 1619, that there is no greater story of black perseverance than the ones of those three men. And we want to make sure that all americans understand that history. Theres also a place called James Madisons mont pilliar in virginia, considered the father of the constitution. We have been working at this Historic Site to expand the naurtive there. And if you have the opportunity to tour the new exhibition titled the mirror distinction of color, what is beautiful about this is that the enslaved workers there literally working in the basement and on this plantation, it was hidden in the way that we had been interpreting that story. Today vifrtsz will learn about those workers, but also the legacy of slavery. They talk about Police Brutality, they talk about the aspirations and president obama becoming the first black president. It really speaks to the span of 400 years. And then the last slavery site that i want to share is shocko bottom in richmond, virginia. This nineacre archaeological site, if you see it today its nothing more than pavement and driveways and streets. But if you were able to pull back that history, you begin to understand that this was a second largest slave holding site in america. When the National Trust learned that the city had proposed a 90 million redevelopment to build a Minor League Baseball stadium, we thought that an injustice. We organized with local advocates, grass roots, and partners to mitigate that threat. Today are working with mayor levar stony and the community to develop a communitydriven vision for memorializing that historic space. But again, when i talked about balancing public memory, and reconstructing national identity, it is to also pro serve sites of activism, achievement and community. And we are doing that through our new initiative at the National Trust which is called the africanamerican Cultural Heritage fund. This was birthed in the aftermath of charlottesville. You all remember those events where culture, heritage and public space collide ud in the most violent way. At the National Trust we wanted to provide national leadership. And in response we have created a social Impact Community of national thought leaders. And im proud that dr. Lony bunch, as well as dr. Evelyn higgon both om, and their institutions are founding members of our 20member National Advisory council. And we are raising 25 million to help preserve 150 place africanamerican sites in the United States. [ applause ] yeah. Places like the birthplace of nina simone in North Carolina. Or Southside Community arts center in chicago, where culture, arts, and Historic Preservation practice is being leveraged as a form of community revooit liization and Economic Development. Helping rich dentists who acquire madam cj walkers villa and create a center for female entrepreneurship with her new foundation that they just created, new voices. Also, john and Alice Coltranes home in new york. Were so happy to be working there, because john composed his masterpiece a love supreme in a bedroom in that space. But most moernz dont realize Alice Coltrane recorded her first five albums there. And it provides us the opportunity to build recognition for black women in civil rights, spirituality and music. One of the aspirations and goals of the action fund is to create a 10 Million National grant program. Last year when we invited proposals, we received e8 thru proposals. Last year we awarded 16 projects from los angeles to atlanta and new york, and invested 1. 1 million. Places like which i haven Dale Ladies Club in los angeles. The mary and elija freedom houses. Tuss kooegy university, the August Wilson house in pittsburgh and beyond. We just closed our second year proposals, and we received 462 this year. Requesting nearly 30 million. This year we will award nearly 2 million, are hoping to invest in 20 preservation projects. And again, we are looking to support 150 projects across the country, because we want to amplify the stories of africanamerican struggle and achievement. We want to foster truth, healing and recognition, but most importantly we want to highlight and share the full contributions of africanamericans to this nation, from 1619 to today, were celebrating black perseverance. Thank you [ applause ] spencer crew, in 1903, the great scollour and activist, w. E. B. Dubois, spoke pro fetically that the color line would be the problem of the 20th century. How did the migration of africanamericans during the 20th century contribute to making that statement true . Well, i think as we listen to and read about dubois, we have to keep in mind that he is a scholar, a sociologist and ober of American Society. I believe what he was observing at the time were important changes take place. Hed done a study at sfiflu philadelphia, had seen what was taking place and changing there. What i think he also saw and why he believed the color line was going to be so important and how migration impacts that is that he was beginning to see a new generation of africanamericans coming to the forefront, a generation that had not been born into slavery, not been shaped but that, but saw themselves and their place in a much different kind of way. And were much less willing to accommodate to the morays and the ideals that some in society had fostered on africanamericans before that. That they did not believe they were not equal. Not that their predecessors did but they had a different perspective. As you begin to see the aftermath of reconstruction and new laws, segregation, jim crow, tenant farming, you have individuals who are trying to navigate this and figure out what alternatives are available to them. I think what begins to happen is you get into the turn of the century, is that new opportunities present themselves. Probably the most important with unis the start of world war i with the recruiting of whites to go off to fight in the military in europe and other places, and jobs beginning to open up in the north. I think before that africanamericans were looking for other choices, other opportunities. They had been moving from rural areas in the south to urban areas in the south. But now they begin to move to urban areas in the north. And i think the biggest change that takes place that we have to keep in mind is the fact that we are shifting the Demographic Center of the Africanamerican Community. That prior to the early 20th century, majority of africanamericans, 90 , lived in rural areas and in the south. By the time we get to 1920 they were still mostly in the south, we were much more urban in the way we operate. Also much more northern in the way we operate. As a consequence i think what dubois is beginning to talk about is that what had been seen largely as a southern issue where southern legislators and senators and people like president wilson, hed said we know best how to take care of this Africanamerican Community. We have been around them for a long time and understand the issues that go with that. You in the north dont worry. Its not connected to you. What happens to the great may zbraigs and the guy graigs to the north is that the locus of the Africanamerican Community becomes much more northern. What you see happening is an explosion in the size of the africanamerican population in northern cities. You have places like new york and cleechblt where i grew up and newark where other people we know grew up. [ laughter ] seeing their populations of africanamericans double and triple in size. This means this issue of africanamericans and their place in the society, impact, is no longer just a southern question. It becomes a national question. Because in northern cities, having to is just to the issue of how do we accommodate this influx of new individuals into the cities . How do we provide the facilities, the support, in order to accommodate them . What we see happen is the growth of africanamerican enclaves in many cities. Har lim, the southside, huff area in cleveland, becoming very important areas of rafr can American Life. It pushes the issue of africanamericans concerns more to the forefront. Because as people go to these cities they dont go quietly and just accept the setting. They begin to raise issues about what their life is like, what kinds of treatment they deserve as citizens, and what is the nation going to do about that . And you see this in the growth of key organizations like the naacp, like the work of charley g. Woodson, as there is a decision to say that we have a place in this nation. We have made important contributions. And we will not sit quietly and allow the kinds of discrimination and mistreatment we have experienced before, to continue to be the way that we operate. So the consequence i think what dubois is talking about this is this push of africanamericans to the forefront. That is not only in terms of the growth of black populations and cities and the pressures and the political pressure of the naacp, but also you see the contributions, culturally and otherwise, of afternoon americans increasing as well. We talk about the harlem resonance, the negro ren sanz, because its not just in washington, d. C. Is a center. Thats an influence of cultural growth. You see jazz coming to the north. Someone was talking about i just blankd on his name. The trumpet player. Armstrong. Armstrong. These things come and go. [ laughter ] but the fact that as he comes up from the south from new orleans and brings that music with him and others do the same thing, you begin to see this also become more a part of American Life and culture. You also see it in the plays that begin to emerge. So that i think the face of africanamericans becomes much more national in its orientation. You first see this with the great migration that takes place roughly around world war one. But its just the start, the beginning. Its another great push of africanamericans that happen around world war ii. But this is slightly different. It doesnt go so much north to south, which had been the case so much in world war i. Many people come to washington, d. C. During this time period during world war i, many people who live in washington, d. C. Now can trace their roots back to North Carolina and South Carolina and virginia. As you get into world war ii, migration patterns still come somewhat northwest but much more westward. You begin to see people moving from louisiana to california, from the midwest to california, following again the jobs that are available in terms of the military and the thigz going on there. So that what we see happening is that as africanamericans relocate themselves in different parts of the nation, have an impact on those places, that they really cause a change in how we are perceived. I think what due bois is talking about in terms of the color line is that now issues of race become much more consequential, much more important as how we focus as a nation. Also our influence upon the political system. You begin to see the shift taking place when you look at the arrival of franklin del no roosevelt into office while the fact fa he may not be the most supportive president his wife p is. She becomes a spokesman for our population. I think those kinds of things are what raise this issue to the forefront. As you mentioned, ive been doing some work with thorogood martial and watching him operate. Part of what he does for the naacp is to begin to leverage this growing desire for change in the Africanamerican Community. And unwillingness to accept things as they are. Through thinks work and the court cases he raises and the support he gets in the Africanamerican Community you begin to see change. Its Thurgood Marshall through the naacp and others begins to change the voting laws in the nation and allowing africanamericans to vote. That is a huge shift. So on we focus on the brown versus board of education case as a critical case in terms of naacp work and martial. But in fact an even more important was the breaking through the texas white primary. Because until then africanamericans had been excluded from voting in primaries in the south, especially in texas. As a consequence had little impact upon the political systems there. But by breaking through that, the Supreme Court saying thats illegal, africanamericans need to be allowed to register to vote, it changes the nature of how politics has to be thought about. It changes the nature of the way the politicians have to think about african more than community. Youve seen this happening in Northern City more and more in chicago, aas the Africanamerican Community grows and they can vote, they have to Pay Attention to their contributions and needs and concerns because they will they can be a swing vote in a tight election. This becomes more and more the case in the south as africanamericans have the chance to vote, impact in small ways in terms of how people think about these kinds of issues. So that what dubois is talking about, predicting and seemed to take place, is this shift in this migration of africanamerican americans from in some ways lost in the rulers in the south because theyre so isolated, becoming much more to the forefront of issues of concern in American Society, and having a much larger impact upon it. And color and race becomes a key issue. You dont have the modern Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s without this taking place, without this growing sense of i think of importance, and a place in the Society Without this migration, the shift takings place. So when you talk about dubois and his issue in the color line, the migration i think is that foundation for what hes seeing taking place. That the location of africanamericans in larger parts of the country, north and south and west, really help to push forward civil rights activism and changes in the society which we are the inheritors of it today. Thank you. [ applause ] gloria brown shausmartial, on sy levels if we look back at the Virginia Colony, many of its earliest statutes denied what we would consider today fundamental civil rights. For example, in the 1660s, it was illegal for blacks and whites to marry. And its interesting in 1924, virginia passed a purity act, a racial purity act, which also made that illegal. And we also know that it was not until the 1960s, in fact in the night 60s, the loving case, which comes out of virginia, is a case that is based on those same laws. So in a broader sense. Discuss the imwill ications of 400 years of perseverance from a civil rights perspective. Well, since i have plenty of time to do that, im going to. Okay. And i just going to go and i will go through 400 years of civil rights history in the time allotted. Because the overarching issue is that laws are created, africanamericans follow the laws, then the laws are changed. That theme takes place for 400 years. So let us begin with the arrival of the 20 africans. Those hostages who had been taken from angola, arrive on the shores in the Virginia Colony. There are no slave laws. There are no slave laws in the colony. So you have european indentured servants who are operating under a contract for a certain number of years of servitude where they have to work for free. And theyre paying back the cost of travel to this new land, this new world. And their room and board, et cetera, and theyre doing that through their own labor. Theyre basically white slaves under contract. But there are no slave laws so theyre contracted work. When they africans arrive in the colony, this unknown exactly what their status is but because there are no slave laws we know they were not slaves at the time, they were not enslaved. So then the question becomes, there are, you know, this quasi legal status of an indentured african servant. And we know they couldnt have automatically been slaves. This is a controversial point for historianians, it is very juicy, because then that means those europeans in the Virginia Colony created the slave laws that would then reduce them to perpetual servitude based on greed. And i always like to ask this question, if i might as an aside. For anyone whos working, if your employer could work you for free for life, would they . Now you know what slavery is. The ability to work one for free for life, and you take away race, you take away everything else, and you see thats what slavery is. And so the landowners were also the lawmakers. 1619 was the arrival of those africans but also the beginning of the house of burgess. And so this gave local control to those members because it was too difficult to go to england and have the information then travel back by sea every time a decision had to be made of legal consequence. So in 1619, they were given law making ability. The lawmakers were the landowners. Just like today, people who own property have a little bit more stake, its consider, in the colony, in the county, in the country. And therefore theyre given the benefits. Now we have these 20 africans arrive. Within those 20 africans we have mary and Anthony Johnson were assuming, and many others, most we dont know by name. So if they were enslaved in the very beginning, they wouldnt have had the opportunity to rise up as mary and Anthony Johnson did and own property of their own. Mary and Anthony Johnson owned property of their own. They had servants of their own. In the 1600s. So therefore those people who were part of the house of burgess were able to have political rule and control and make laws because they owned land. So now we have africans owning land. So now we have to change the rules. And thats why i said i can give you 400 years of civil rights history, because as soon as the africans owned land, then all of a sudden the laws changed. And designated them ailience within this commonwealth and aliens nout now within the colony had to leave and had to be pushed off of their land. So each time they would rise to the level of having particular level of power, the law would change. The lawmakers, and i still believe a lot of civil rights anticivil rights opposition or undermining of africanamericans, is due to come pigs. As soon as africans look like they may compete against those people in longstanding positions who assumed by White Supremacy they should be the lawmakers alone and controllers of the county or the colony or the country, the laws change to undermine the progress of the competition. Thats the other overarching 400year theme. Each time you look at civil rights youll find the ongoing struggle. Thats why each generation finds a counter change as soon as progress has been made. Each time a generation believes they have ended slavery, jim crow, segregation, you see a morphing of these changed laws that then undermine civil rights again. So if we go through, for example, and ill give one for each century, one thats very pifbltol, they changed the law that said the status of a child of the african would be the mother and not inherit from the european father. Can you imagine if this was a financial issue where the europe oon father had to pay or give party of the inheritance to that African Child slavery would have ended in the 16 hundreds or never really started. But when they changed the law ending these rights that had been part of european history for centuries, that no longer woo any African Child inherit from a european father, that allowed that father to have free reign and go back to the fact that you dont have marriage between the two. But theres always been the socalled mullateo. As long as two races have been in the same race and the sun has gone down, youre going to have nine months later who are going to have people of color. This has been going on since this whole period of time, too. The status of that child has been an ongoing struggle. Thats why as we go into the 1700s we see this per petal servitude, because those landowners who are lawmakers have decided i can best optimize my profit if the workers are not paid at all. If the worker is not paid at all, then i have pure profit. So racism becomes the stigma that allows for the guiltfree oppression of a group of people. Because if you decide theyre outside of the embrace of law, and then it was decided it was outside of the embrace of god. As a as a matter of fact, theres a bible in the bible museum that is called the slave holders bible. And they would use certain excepts from the slave holders bible to tell the enslaved person why god decided they should be in perpetual servitude. Now theyre outside of the embrace of god, outside of the embrace of law, and outside of the embrace of society. And we can do with you what we will because its gods will and were just putting into law what is necessary for gods will. When we get into the 1700s, people are not sitting back and deciding based on what god or any other person i am not going to be oppressed in this way. A number of the laws you begin to see are laws that are crushing slave rebellions and preventing people from interacting. They have to have a letter in their pocket to indicate at any point they could be at any place outside of the slave master. And so these pocket laws, and then the militia groups were created, and they were groups that are made to enforce any runaway slaves punnirment. You had bounty hunters, and that was not enough. Then the u. S. Constitution then has in it a fugitive slave clause. And it has an extradition fungtive slave clause thats put in place that says that this property must be brought back. Because in the 1787 when the constitution was drafted, the ideas was this fear that if theres profit lert of left, then the property holder would be left with nothing and property was very expensive. When we get into the 1800s, we have once again the push and pull of civil rights. Dred scott decision said even though weve been here, we were not citizens of this country and could not bring a lawsuit for our own freedom. When we get through the civil war we have the 13th amendment abolishing slavery except as a punish. For a crime. We have the 14th amendment that gives citizenship at birth, back those rights taken away by the dred scott decision. It allows prich lermgz and mune muneties, and then gives black men the right to vote. Triggering once again what took place in the 1600s with mary and Anthony Johnson been because then what do we have, the backlash, or blacklash, thats the clue cluks clan, John Birch Society and all these other individuals as well as the Supreme Court that is owe pressing the rights of africanamericans with civil rights decisions leading to pressie versus ferguson which then apart eyed, separate but equal. And then ill take the last case, in 2013, with the Shelby County versus holder case which gutted the voters right the act of 1965. What youll see is two steps forward, one and 3 quarters steps back. And thats the civil rights story over 400 years. Thank you. [ applause ] the legal story is important. I think why 1619 is so important to us, as i said before, because these are the laws that are p ut in place at the same time that america as a nation is declaring its indpoens, calls itself metaphorically slaves to king george iii. So we have this paradox where whites are going three steps forward, and blacks are going three steps backward by law. And that brings me to you, Roger Fairfax, because in virginia, when we think about these laws for racial subordination, its really clear that its not just simply that these laws are being broken. But those who break those laws are criminals. Its a whole process of criminalization. I think about Martin Luther king, i like to tell my students sometimes that you have to understand that rosa parks broke the law. She was actually the one breaking the law. And so whats the role of the criminal system, the criminal Justice System, as it relates to the arc of American History in which we see how unjust on many levels the system of criminal justice has been . Well, first of all, ellen i want to thank you for inviting me and also asaulh and congratulation todays this kickoff to what will be a yearlong celebration and kmemration of the 400th anniversary. The continued effort to achieve or do something despite difficulties, failure or opposition. When professor higgan both om asked me to think about the reel of the criminal law and 4 centuries of africanamerican perseverance, i decided to go where i often go, im looking here at the front row, because that is the National Museum for rafr can American History and culture, our wonderful institution which i think it is fair to say is indeed a monument to perseverance. And indeed emblaze ond on one of the entierior walls of the museum are the words of dr. Maya angelo, and those words are bringing the gifts that my an sisters gave, i am the dream and the hope of the slave. In those words from and still i rise speak powerly to the display of the africanamericans. Ive visit the probably a dozen times now on various occasions, and as is the experience of others whom ive spoeng, i experience it differently every time i go. So in preparation for todays panel, i thought it would be worth going back. I went earlier this week, to help me situate my thoughts about the role of the criminal law and these 400 years of perseverance. A you know what . It should not be surprising that there is scarcely an exhibit in that museum that does not bring into sharp relief the intimate nexus between the criminal law and the 400plus year of struggle of africans americans in this country. Whether thats being used as a mean, as a tool of social or racial control or to crystalize racial inequity. And professor brown mar shal talked about this a little bit, in terms of the development of the laws, the black codes, that were designed to cement the racial sub jugation after the civil war, force be africanamericans into labor contracts, restricting their movement, denying them the franchise, prohibiting them from serving on criminal and civil juries, jim crow laws regulating their access to transpoertation and recreation and education, regulating marriage between individuals of different races. And as professor higginbotham point the out, these were criminal laws. Failure to adhere meant you would be prosecuted and convicted and incarcerated as a result of your resistance to these laws. And so again, the criminal law was being used as a blunt tool to enforce an unjust racial and social order. We also see in the Museum Stories of the failure of the criminal Justice System to provide equal protection. The long and sad history of racial violence and state actors who were often indifferent at best and complicit at worst in this violence, the many horrifying images of africanamericans hanging from trees and from bridges, as a result of this violence. The image of a young vibrant emmet til just posed next to his dig figured face as he lied in the casket of the moving exhibit with the casket in the museum. And the skringss of the rape or tore tier of countless carve americans often without any subsequent serious effort to apprehend the rong doorz. And when we are apprehended with no justice, no grand jury indictment or conviction. We see stories, the use of the criminal justice apparatus to frustrate civil rights advocacy. The often cozy if not coordinated relationship between racial terror organizations as was mentioned in Law Enforcement meant that these racial terror groipz had Carte Blanche to use violence and intimidation and even murder to frustrate africanamericans in their attempts to exercise their civil rights or pursue economic advancement. And the museum depicts the phenomenon of the criminalization of these civil rights advocates, mugshot after mugshot of now iconic and some lesser no one civil rights activists who were arrested and brought into the criminal Justice System for asserting their rights. We see in the museum, stories of again the criminal Justice Systems impact on this attempt to persevere, despite all that stood in the way of africanamericans throughout that time. And one thing that struck moe was the set of Museum Stories about the criminal Justice Systems warehousing of black bodies. The vivd descriptions and depictions of convict leasing, exploiting that loophole in the 13th amendment, and that ban on slavery, to allow private parties to continue to profit from the unpaid labor of africanamericans. And i could go on and on with these examples of how the museum chronicles these intersections of the criminal law with the amp african American History. But we should be reminded this is not only about history. Many daunting challenges remain. And the museum chronicles this infortunate history of Police Brutality within the Africanamerican Community, but today we see instrans after instance of unarmed africanamericans losing their lives at the hands of Law Enforcement and too often with justice being denied. And yet we persevere. We see the different more enlooilt ind Public Health response to the Opioid Epidemic that is sweeping majority communities. And rightly so. Thats the response we should have. But countless numbers of africanamerican families are still feeling the effects of illconceived policies associated with the war on drugs, and that led to the mass incarceration that we still suffer from today. But yet, we persevere. The museum illuminated the criminal Justice Systems role in profiting as i mentioned from the ects ploitation of black bodies through practices such as conflict leasing. But today we have private prizzans and the poverty through fines and fees and penalties that were brought to light in the wake of ferguson. And the disfunctional cash bail system that we have that was illuminated with the story of ka looegt browder. Were persevering as we continue to deal with these issues. Item story the museum told me was of the long and enduring struggle for educational equality for africanamericans. And today were still grappling with that at the same time that we are confronting the realities of the school to prison pipeline. So still we persevere. And it really in quite moving fashion, the museum tells a story of the racial violence fueled by hate, such as the 1963 murder of those four little girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church in birmingham. And today we mourn in the wake of Mass Shootings at an africanamerican church in charleston, at a synagogue in pittsburgh, and the hatefueled violence that was put on display in charlottesville. But yet we vee persevere. Barry jenkins film, i was blessed to have been invited to a Legal Defense Fund Screening of that film. And that was followed by a q a with the brilliant director barry jenkins, and the equally brilliant president and director counsel of the naacp defense fund sharelin. Baldwins text to which i think jenkins does great justice explores a number of thaemds of race and criminal justice that weve talked about here. Baldwins words on the museum wall are, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us. Our unconsciously controlled by it. History is literally present in all that we do. I think what he said is true. I think its a fitting observation as we commence this yearlong commemoration of the anniversary. As the anthem commands us we sing a song full of the faith that the dark path taut us but also a song full of the hope that the president has brought us. We can, we will and we must persevere. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you. I am curious. Im really interested in each of you has a mission, a project, work that youre doing, related to these topics. And youve talked about it so well. But im curious, if youve ever been surprised or shocked or saddened or inspired, give me an example of something that has crossed your path that really moved you. And i just want all of you to just speak. All right. A moment that has inspired me, so the first time that i witnessed issues of race in place was when i was in the third grade. My mom as a lesson for helping us to feel empowered when we were registering for school, went up, i introduced myself, i am brent legs, and the woman asked, what is your address . And i said 741 mcguireu gyre avenue. She said what apartment number . I said 741. She said what apartment number . I said 741. Im looking at my mom whos standing there and seeing the frustration that she has. Give you some context. Mcguire avenue is a long street. At the end of the street was a low Income Housing project. Where we lived in the red brick ranch house that my parents built in 1972, that they were very proud of coming from rural kentucky, and that literally was the first moment where i understood that race and place would create a faults perception about my identity. When i had the good chance to go to grad school at the university of kentucky, i had a random conversation with the dean of the graduate preservation program. I was searching for my professional identity. Convinced me to go into that program. And they asked me to conduct the statewide inventory of historic rosen walled schools. A massive ooschool building program, literally the preservation of these spaces is the physical manifestation of a social movement in response to a crisis in black education. During this process, i learned that my mom and dad went to rosen walled school. Right . And i remembered standing at a school, having this multi sensory experience and interaction with this physical history. I could see and touch and hear the creaking floor boods as i toured that space. For me it really started to speak to the power of Historic Preservation and the power of place. To remind us of our great potential, and our social responsibility as a community, to continue to fight for justice and equality. So today i stand here as a preservation professional, first generation academically trained, and we are committed to building a pipeline and diversifying the field of preservation practice, because we want other Diverse Voices and professionals to stand up and rep for black culture. [ applause ] as evelyn mentioned earlier, earlier in my life i had a chance to work on an exhibition migration at the American History museum. I think for me what was most inspiring was the chance to travel around the country. And as we try to figure out about this exhibition, part of the mantra had been we cant do exhibitions on africanamericans because we dont have the information. We needed to find those things and make them part of the story. Thats very central to the Africanamerican Community, mi dpraigs is a part of probably the history of all of us in one way or another. My wife reminds me when she was younger she would hear her parents talking to people. They would say where are you from . They would say d. C. Where are your people from . North carolina, South Carolina, and places like that. Even more importantly in working with the exhibition it was the chance to talk to people about their stories and have them understand that their story was part of a larger context. Their story was part of a larger flow of the history of this country that was important. Even more importantly, that the material culture that was part of their lives that they thought was unborn, in basements, attics, trinkz around the house, were important harbingers and sim polgz of africanAmerican History and contra boouss to this country. For me its not one moment, but its a series of moments of beginning to talk to people, and have that light go on, that their stories were important, and that their stories were important bibles come to the smithsonian and be a part of it as a National Museum of American History. And that, for me, was very important and inspiring. And it reminded all of us about the kind of contributions we had to make. And how important saving those things and making them available were to ensuring that our place in this countrys history was never lost. So, it was, for me, the chance to share that with people, to have them realize that, and then to share that back to make sure that our stories are never lost so that, for me the most important thing is, making sure that, as lonnie is doing at the africanamerican mu s africanamerican museum that we capture our heritage, that its not lost. Our stories are never lost either. If we can do that, then well never be forgotten as important contributors to the history of this country. [ applause ] when i was working as a civil rights attorney full time, i would be in small towns in alabama and georgia and i would say i would not call them hotels. They were definitely motels where i would be by myself and i started thinking, how long have we been doing this, how long have we been advocating for our rights in court. How long have we been advocating for our rights in court . Thats when i started right my book race, law and American Society and i thought it would go back to the 1950s. Then i saw it was back to the 19 postplessy, 1905, 1906. The red summer, 1919, had another feature which was the colfax massacre in the 1800s. Then i would go back again and i would find thats why my book begins in 1607 and goes forward. But then i also found my place. I put a picture of my family in the front of that book because they were, and i found the term later. We just always told the story of coming up from kentucky in the 1800s. And then there was a word, its called exodusters that we then moved from five families, the bradshaw line of my mothers side, to kansas. And in kansas we became farmers. And five families, five brothers started their farming communities. And we still have cousins who are farmers. At one point had the largest black farm in kansas. But what also got me about this was this idea of free will. In a case i ran into when i was doing my research was poindexter versus bailey. And in this case, and from 1850s, we had a slave master, who of course would have these enslaved human beings and then right before he died, before he wanted to go to the rotten place in hell, he would manumit them. When he did this, he put in his will that once he died, then this enslaved person could either choose to stay with his wife as an enslaved person or be free. The court then says, no, this person has no right of free will. To determine if he can even be a slave. He has no human right because humans have a right of free will. This person is not human. Its property. And you dont decide where the chair goes. You decide, the chair does not. So that always stayed with me, the idea that my ancestors traveled to kansas by free will, that i travel where a job takes me or where i need to go, that im here today, that were here today based on free will. And its so important to understand that there have been opposition groups and certain people and philosophy who do not want us to exercise free will. One klansman said after the 1964 civil rice rights act was passed, now theyre going to work for every inch they get. So if you feel youve been in a battle, you have. Weve been battling for every inch we get each time we get it. And the battle is over free will, because it was determined that we were here for a particular purpose that would benefit others. Not ourselves. So, this is all quite unusual, isnt it . That we actually get to have our choices, choose our partners, choose where we live, what type of work we do. All this is relatively new from the period 1619 to present. I also wanted to talk about this one thing that happened to me. I was bussed. And i was bussed under missouri versus jenkins because i came from the midwest, kansas, into kansas city, missouri, and bussing came very late. So, when i was bussed, it was this, you know, old but new phenomenon. And i remember people walking in, looking in the doors as we were at the time about 20 africanamerican students in a school of hundreds upon hundreds of white students. And you heard the n word and you had things written on your locker and you had all these things happen. I always say im still to me, the jury is still out on the benefit of bussing, the benefit of this forced integration. But it also gave me the power to say that i can look anyone in the eye and be very clear in what i have to say to them without fear or favor. I also realized those people that would come in with their charts and look and examine each person in the room and where they were seated and how many people were there. I always wondered who they were. They were civil rights attorneys. Little did i know, years later, that i would become a civil rights attorney. My area would be education. And i would be the one opening the doors, peeking in, seeing what the racial come composition was in the particular classrooms and how many books were in the library. All these things go full circle. And i think about our ancestors and how proud they must be and concerned at the same time that we move forward that were here in this room would be of great pride. But then at the same time, do we still have the fire and the sense of free will that we want to carve out a place in this world for the next generation to be freer than we are today. Thank you. [ applause ] its interesting. My father, Roger Fairfax sr. Has been involved in a pretty intense effort over the past really two decades now to uncover our family history. Hes done some phenomenal work aided by people like carmen powell, who is a friend of professor crew. He has really uncovered branches of our family tree and traced them back to the early 19th century, right around 1800. But we hit a roadblock then because of the documentation. We couldnt find our ancestors prior to about that turn of the Century Point and the trail really went cold for a few years. But we had a breakthrough fair recently. Thanks to the work of another fa nominal genealogist, maddy mccoy, from the virginia slavery inventory database, we were able to discover my great, great, great grandfather, simon fair fox, who was enslaved in northern virginia. Fairfax county, to be exact. And received his manumission in june 5, 1978 in Fairfax County circuit court. I think thats extraordinary enough. Theres a lot i could say about this. If you wanted to learn more, the Washington Post has uncovered this story quite extensively, some other outlets. But the reason that these Media Outlets were interested in this story is because our discovery came literally 48 hours before i call him my baby brother. I guess i cant say this anymore. My youngest brother, Justin Fairfax was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of the commonwealth of virginia. [ applause ] and my father and maddie, you know, came up with this document 48 hours before the swearing in. I remember being in the green room right before we walked out to the steps of the capitol to witness him be sworn in, and my father handed him a copy of the document. I knew what it was. He did not know. He had been obviously consumed by the events leading up to the swearing in. My father said, put it in your pocket. Just put it in your breast pocket. Dont ask questions. When you take the oath, i want you to have that. He did it. He took the oath of office. It was a frigid morning, january 2018 in richmond. And he was sworn in as only the second africanamerican statewide elected official since reconstruction with his great, great grandfathers manumission in his breast pocket. So, perseverance, indeed. [ applause ] this has been wonderful. Now wed like to hear from you. Do you have questions for our panelists . I see bob first and then ill just go back. Uhhuh . Yeah. I know youre familiar with this, evelyn, but just one second. Well pass this thank you. Ive been reminded that i need to say my name. Im robert harris. Im Professor Emeritus of cornell university. Former president of asalh. And i know, evelyn, that you know this, but dubois when he talked about the problem in the 20th century being a problem of the color line, he was looking at this not just domestically but internationally. And this year, 2019, is the 100th anniversary of the first Panafrican Congress of 1919 after world war i. Panafrican congress 1919 after and i think its something we need to be aware of, especially when we have a president of the United States who can so flippantly talk about nigerians not wanting to go back to their huts in africa and who can also make comments denigrating the african continent. Some people who see africa as not being a continent of nations and they see it, you know, as being one undifferentiated mass. Anyway, i mention that because next week ill be going to paris with the delegation from alpha Alpha Fraternity to commemorate the centennial of the first Panafrican Congress. And that meeting was extremely important, organized by dubois, rafert w. Logan played an Important Role and ida gibbs played an Important Role in the organization of the first Panafrican Congress and of panafricanism. So, i think we need to keep this in mind, of course, carter witson also saw the relationship between africa and africanamericans with several of his publications. I just wanted to mention that. Thank you. You can just pass it around. My name is howard moreland. Im a husband of the woman who is passing the mic around. I just wanted to give a shout out to gerald horn who introduced me to the case of somerset versus stewart. And i think it was 1774. The case of a man who was enslaved in virginia and taken as a man servant by his owner to england. And when he got to england, he emancipated himself and sued for his freedom. And the chief judge of the entire British Empire, more powerful than the chief judge of our Supreme Court because he had personal discretion, he gave the ruling that there is not now and never has been a law in england authorizing slavery. Therefore, there is no slavery in england. Somerset was free to go. And two years later when Thomas Jefferson wrote that all men are created equal, according to gerald horn, he had in the back of his mind this idea, we have to get out of the British Empire in order to escape the looming fate of emancipation. So, the corn one of the cornerstones of this foundation of this country was fear of emancipation. We had a conference in ghana just this past december celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first allafrica Peoples Congress called by president cruma in 1978. Im a person who believes that we as a people put much too much time on electoral politics and not enough on economics. And is there any historian, anyone exploring how we have used our collective economics to advance and promote interest in society . We give our children the impression that prescott bus boycott was run because of moral reasons and people marching it was, won because bus drivers were losing thousands of dollars monthly and they went to people and said, we have to do something about this. Its simply so difficult to find anyone who talks in the black community about economics and the use of collective economics as a means of promoting our interest in this society. I mean, Professor James klingeman wrote about it all the time in his column. He has a book called black money matters, but we seem to on every level totally ignore how our collective economics can be a major weapon to promote and protect our interest in this society. I would like to speak to that for just very briefly. My area is not collective economics but from the civil rights standpoint, once again it was two steps forward, you know, and then being pushed back a step and threequarters. Ill tell you why. It goes back to this issue of competition. When those africans got through the Middle Passage and rose on those shores of virginia and were able to survive at a time when not only was there cannibalism being practiced in the Virginia Colony, and if you visit jamestown, youll see, you know, the prostrates remains of evidence of this cannibalism that is there for you to witness. This was a very devastating place, even for the indentured european servants. And so they navigated the culture, the weather, the conditions and the economics. So, when i say marian Anthony Johnson had property of their own and farming, why do i know this, because under law when it was time for them to pay their taxes, there was a fire on the farm that was probably the neighbor jealous of these africans who had this property, had this Economic Development, this had, you know, financial power, and they burned their farm down. And so once again, this is the overarching story. We make economic progress and that progress is undermined through terrorism, through murder, through fires, through the killing of the cattle. These things have been happening time and time again. Its not that we havent had the economic push. We have had economic unity. But as we go through, even after slavery ended, there was this push. There was Economic Development. There was a farming and then a backlash of terrorism and klu klux klan. It went into the jim crow era. Same thing. You know, ida b. Wilz barnett, the reason she becomes famous is because she sees these brothers who own a store in tennessee, and then the store is doing well in the black community. The white store owner who was treating us horribly gets upset and decides to trump up these charges, go after these black store owners, say theres some rape involved, when theres not. And when we defend ourselves, theres a slaughter and when these men who own this Grocery Store are put in jail, theyre drawn out and lynched. So, this is an ongoing yes, we are fighting for Economic Developments. And the last point ill make is this the boycott was a tool we used, economic boycott we used to say if youre not going to serve us, if youre not going to treat us fairly, if youre not going to hire us, then were not going to buy your merchandise. And, unfortunately, this case went to these cases went to the u. S. Supreme court. And the u. S. Supreme court ruled against the naacps use of an economic boycott. When we talk about the browder case, it ended the montgomery bus boycott. It was represented by fred gray ended that case. So, it wasnt the protests that ended the case. It was the browder case before the u. S. Supreme court. So, i just want you to know the economic push and pull and what weve been through, talking about perseverance, and even starting a business is so difficult, to the point where we know now that the banks bank of america, countrywide and other banks, during the Obama Administration under attorney general eric holder, they paid millions upon millions of dollars of fines because as soon as we bought a home, we found out we were given these horrible rates. We were given balloon payments. And then ended up in foreclosure so they found out later it was Racial Discrimination that led to these horrible terms given to us and we had the same collateral, same credit, even more in the bank than other people. Once again, each time we make economic progress, that progress is undermined by people who cannot imagine our free will and ability to rise up and not just be on the same level economically, educationally, et cetera, but maybe even be better in certain areas. My question is is there anyone like you does anyone explore economics, how it can be used in a way just like ive never heard of a book like that. Im trying to find, is there one . One that talks about economics and how it can be used Julianne Malveaux has several books on economics, if you read her books. Julianne malveaux. Brent is saying the National Urban league has the studies on the state of black america and they will bring those topics up. I just want to also emphasize the point about the browder case because really a browder and three other women, not including rosa parks, are the ones who took that case to court, which shows that we need the protests, we need the boycotts, but we also need to take our cases to court. And this is also why and i do agree with you that economics is important, but, please know that politics is important. We have got to vote. Hi, my name is george jordan. Im a reporter with the afro, im asking this question from a freelance standpoint, however. This week we witnessed the attack of a black openly lgbtq actor this week. It was a hate crime both from, you know, a racist standpoint and a homophobic standpoint. Were also facing many challenges within the Lgbtq Community regarding hiv and also regarding our criminalization of people who are hiv and being able to divulge your status. I was wondering when we talk about perseverance and where you talk about visibility of groups, what are we doing in order to include those groups in the conversation and preserving Historical Places like, lets say, gmads building or preserving or working together to expand the conversation around civil rights with these intersections between race and lgbtqia . All right. Ill start. Thank you for that question. And we were all saddened by the violence that happened to our brother and are wishing him well. So, i want to start off by giving you a stat. The National Register of Historic Places, which is the National Inventory of the places that we deem significant in the United States, has inventory of over 90,000 places. Less than 10 reflect the full diversity of america, including underrepresented communities, women and lgbtq. At the National Trust, we have been committed to creating a more equitable interpretation and vision for the nation by advocating for the preservation of Stonewall Inn in new york city, which is a National Monument declared by president obama. And one of our National Treasure campaigns is the home of pauly mary in durham, North Carolina. When you speak to intersectionality, cofounder of the National Organization of women, first africanamerican episcopal saint. She was an activist against gender, against Racial Injustice and were looking to identify and honor and recognize more places like that. Im going to add to that that i actually have been on the board of a National Trust and part of our push all along had been to have the investigation of places worth preserving thought about in much larger terms because previously i think the idea had been who famous had lived there. So the push all along has been, lets think more about who are the people connected to these places in different kind of ways. When you go out and look at a house, the question is, who built the house . Who served there . Who is the gardner . Who did all the things that kept that thing functioning and making it viable . If we continue to do that, which brent is doing, i think admirably, it allows those intersections to come forward and broadening how people think about these places and it allows you to think about a much Bigger Picture than you would otherwise. I wrote an article titled wanted gay black men. And the reason why i wrote this is because i think that the Civil Rights Movement has always included all of us in some form or other. And i use the prime example of james baldwin. And so the sense of and byron rushton, when you start going through the names and youll see the different artists and activists and lawyers and others and so thats always been a part of our community. I wrote that article because i wanted the black gay activists to come forward and use that energy and creativity and courage in the overarching issue of justice for our community because we cant afford to leave anybody alone in a silo. You know, our Community Needs all hands on deck. We needed it before and we especially need it now. So, i think we need each other. And if nothing else, the circumstances today are showing more than ever how we need each other. No, go ahead. Im from mississippi. We defer. Its a respect thing. My name is pamela bingham. Honestly, im so full and overwhelmed by this discussion. I didnt know if i was going to make it because i had to drive from petersburg today. And my mother has alzheimers, so getting up here is always a struggle. Theres so much to say, but in all sincerity, i always give a thank you in these environments to the people who made it possible for me, us, to be here at the National Press club. I am actually an environmental engineer. Im in his chapter of asalh in washington, d. C. But like i said, im living in petersburg. And i grew up in jackson, mississippi. Now, ive always thought i was free. My family made that possible for me. Summer of 1964 my mother went through that pregnancy. That was a pretty bad summer in jackson for those of you who know. So, i feel very blessed to be here. But god has taken me through some changes from mississippi to florida to the dmv and now he has stuck me in petersburg, virginia, and i am like, what is wrong here . I seriously came today i am the great, great, great granddaughter of gabriel of gabriels rebellion. My father has worked on this research until his death from the 1950s so dont give up 1950s to 2014. Im trying to finish his books, which is one of my questions for you. So, i felt free all my life and i got to Central Virginia and people are not free in petersburg and richmond. I cant explain. Youll understand it. I pray for your brother every day. When he sat down on lee jackson day, i thought, oh, because they really wanted to run him out on a rail. I cannot believe theres a lee jackson day but its the day before the king holiday in West Virginia for those that dont know. It was the accommodation to have the king holiday. So coming from this rebellious family, i have three questions and it pretty much relates to everybody so ill just direct them. Im the family genealogist in my dads passing. So, first of all, im in petersburg. I have made myself the 20162019 chair due to lack of anything happening. This is a community that is so focused on the confederacy and the Petersburg National battlefield, even though there were u. S. Colored troops, even though it was the First Free Black Community in pocahontas island. I am refighting the civil war. So, i need asalh to help me. I just met with the city manager. She is at least from baton rouge, so she understands. We have a common background about these things. People we grew up in the same time and we know what our folks have gone through for us to be free now and for us to tell history completely. They do not want to do that in petersburg. So, i made an Economic Development argument, cultural tourism. Im still being fought. I need asalh. Dr. Higgenbotham, i need us i need us to meet afterwards to really talk about this plan. Im meeting the superintendent of the Petersburg National battlefield is africanamerican, but he is constrained because he is in the National Parks system. So, i understand everybodys viewpoints. They gave us the economic and the political lessons growing up in jackson. Thats question one for asalh. National trust person, totally need you. Melissa jest is a good friend of mine. And theres a gentleman who started a Petersburg Preservation Task force. Now, you know the word preservation didnt mean to me what it now means growing up in mississippi. It had a whole different context so it made me nervous. They invited me to the first meeting because they thought i was that negro. They found out i am not that negro. So, i need the trust. They want to throw out some markers. I want a museum. Thats at the beginning. I want to change curriculum. We finally got the names changed at ap hill, black students in robert e. Lee school. Im going to wrap this up. I know youre hurrying. Point two. My great grandfather, we have a family lawyer who told me this story two years ago and hes 90something, so im running out of time. My father is from vicksburg. We know this. We couldnt prove it to the park service. They wont put it in the display but they do acknowledge a slave helped him get around vicksburg during the civil war. What we need is the court case that this lawyer, this white lawyer dabney took to the mississippi courts to get my great grandfathers freedom. I need a student, all you law people, to help me find that. And remember the courthouses burned, so its difficult. The last question for anybody in the room that can talk to me outside, i now have 3,000 plus names of relatives from my dads 50 years of work. How do we visually display that so that people can see their connectivity . Right now its on 50 8x11 sheets of paper. [ applause ] ill respond to your first two questions. And we funded an Equitable Development plan to preservation virginia to assess the Economic Impact of heritage tourism both in richmond and across the state of virginia for the purpose of equipping the mayor and other advocates with financial indicators to be able to advocate for public and private investment. Is this in richmond . Its supporting richmond but its looking at the state cultural tourism and economy as well. That will be a great resource for you once thats completed. Your second question about museum versus historic marker or trail. Most newcomers of preservation always advance an idea of a museum. It is one of the most difficult and financially Sustainable Business models there is. And i would suggest that you start with an Historic Marker Program because okay. What i love about markers is it marks the history, even if its absent. And its a lowcost solution for being able to expand interpretation. And what i heard you speak about was a conflict between the histories. And it sounds like youre advocating for being able to tell the full history about virginia. So, im happy to talk to you about strategies for building some preservation infrastructure. Thank you. And understand preservation virginia is not okay. Ill be really quick. Im denise, publisher of the washington informer newspaper. Thank you, nichelle, for a shout out to the black press. And a few years ago i knocked on the door of the Preservation Office about trying to get our archives preserved and realized i was knocking on the wrong door. But i will say that, like the informer, which is 55 years old this year, there are hundreds a couple hundred of blackowned newspapers whose archives are in basements and storage places and were looking for resources to get those publications digitized. Our photo galleries digitized so we can help contribute to the research that people are looking for. And so any recommendations you might have. Im the former chair of nnpa. I would love to share that with the organization. The National Newspaper publishers association. The other one is kind of a little flippant question but im going to ask anyway. Ive heard a lot about african or black nationalism, the african all of that today, and its just interesting. We did a little piece in the paper this week that the recent friend of the president , who was arrested this week, has on more than one occasion said he would not seek whats the word . A pardon for himself. He would seek a pardon for Marcus Garvey. He said that more than once. Does anybody have any idea what thats all about . The only thing i know is that under for many years, people may know Marcus Garvey was a global phenomenon that he was charismatic nationalist who decided there would be a black to Africa Movement and the black story line would be the ship that would take people back. This is in the early 1900s. That ship was unseaworthy, unbeknownst to him. But he had a vision of selfactualization within the Africanamerican Community. And he did he believed strongly in his philosophy and his writings that there was enough talent within the Africanamerican Community that we could be selfactualized people and defend ourselves, feed ourselves and be there for ourselves as independent people. Marcus garvey ive met a garveyite and im a member of a chapter of the Negro Improvement Association in new york city. So the garveyites continue. Im not the deep history of it. Its in my book. Thats the reason im familiar with this. But i also know there was this case in which there were conflicts within the Africanamerican Community that led to nonsupport when he was attacked by the fbi and others within the federal government to undermine his ability to bring and the power he had to bring the Africanamerican Community together. And what really happened was that they said, because he sold his shares to this ship and that the ship was unseaworthy, that this was fraud. So this fraudulent action, he was accused and convicted of led to prison time and then deportment. So theres been and ive met his son. And his son has been seeking Marcus Garveys pardon and he sought Marcus Garveys pardon during the Obama Administration. So, im only assuming that thats where theyre referring to, that the pardon of Marcus Garvey posthumously because they feel it was not his intent to defraud anyone. But, you know, the people who sold him the ship and said they were captain and said the ship could do what it could do were actually tricking him. So, im just going to that notion. Once again, each time we go two steps forward and the ability for this man to bring together globally people of african descent and there were people i met later in life who still mourned the deportation of Marcus Garvey. So, im thinking that might be it. [ inaudible ] i dont know why. That part might involve other outside stimulants. I just want to say really briefly, too, there are legal scholars who are working on this issue about that case and the problems with that case. And the other point i wanted to make about Marcus Garvey, which ive only learned in the last ten years or so, is how great a global phenomenon the Garvey Movement was. I have a student who wrote his dissertation under me and the book is called the age of garvey, and hes seeing garveys ideas in africa, in cuba, just all over. And other people have written about this, too. But its just pretty phenomenal because we for so long thought if this was a new York Movement and then it became a detroit and new orleans movement. And then it became a rural Southern Movement and then it became a Cuban Movement and in england and in africa. So, i do think its amazing. I think he was seen as a threat because it wasnt just simply that he was asking people to go back to africa. That wasnt the biggest part. My mothers people came from jamaica, so they werent going back anywhere but staying in harlem, but her godfather was one of garveys lieutenants. And its interesting because his main goal, remember, was the redemption of africa. And this is when africa is being colonized and carved up by the european powers. I think that was his biggest threat to the world. And rosa parks was a garveyite. I mean, it was it really was a Fierce Movement during this time period. Last question. This has been tremendous, gloria, all of you, thank you very much. But my question is to ms. Smith. I want to bring us back to the usa special edition. Im just very excited that youre here. And youre talking to us. I first saw one of those editions about four, five years ago. I dont remember. I just happened to see it on the news stand. I was excited about it. I actually brought it to an executive council meeting. And i said, well, you know, are we do we know anything about this . Did they reach out to us, any of that . Sorry. And so now, you know, to make a long story short, i heard you talk about the free papers that youre going to be circulating and all that. So, might asalh look forward to some of those free papers on this issue now . Asalh can look forward at the luncheon. I was told to set aside 300 for the luncheon. So, youll be getting those. We just have to figure out the how to get them well, thats 300 out of about 900 people. I mean, theyre going to be on newsstands like usa itself, correct . Yes. You will be getting some. And in terms of for the future relationships with asalh, i hope ive always been in touch a little bit with sylvia and i was able to come to one of the conferences in raleigh several years ago. I was just trying to reconnect because yes, i know. I love the organization would like some copies. I love the organization would like to get copies to members across the country because my goal with this now that this has become a little bit of a personal mission for me that i didnt know that i was going to be on, so its funny how life goes. I was content to be a features editor who talked about cool new shoes and all of that. You have a little more of a mission than that. And suddenly someone wanted to do black history more than a decade ago and here i am. So my mission with this is, first, to tell the truth about who we are and show warts and all, if need be, who we are and how we are in the world and not leave our definition to other people to do. Its very easy to do when you work in Mainstream Press and youre around mainstream issues all day long. Thats my charge. My second thing has been in understanding where we are the mainstream organization and how we distribute across the country and how this particular publication just is an anomaly. Its very different from the other special editions weve done, very different from the usa today main paper. So getting to that core audience of everyone in this room and the children in schools and different populations has been something that ive been on a mission to do anyway. Yes, i would love to give asalh more copies, work more closely with historians. I basically have filled my next edition just by listening. Thats true. Im already done pretty much, but, yes, my desire would be to get this. And then into the hands of people who want it and can use it and begin that conversation back and forth so that i get a better understanding of where we need to go with it and a better way to integrate more voices into that main paper. Now that ive moved from a shoeloving features editor i still love my shoes, but now ive moved into investigation history of shoes everywhere you turn. But now that im on more of an investigative focus and really trying to gather the data around things like peter was talking about, economics and politics and go indepth into what we do, i really want to begin bringing more voices such as asalh historians, such as people who write for the black press and participate in the black press into what we do so that we can live out usa todays core mission at its beginning of being about telling everybodys story and not just one. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you. Unfortunately, were out of time. This has been a tremendous occasion and we wanted to, of course, thank our panelists. [ applause ] and to thank our president to black migrations that includes forced migration. Just to think of the wisdom that goes into making the selection for the black history theme for the year and that ours would be black migrations. I want to thank you for being with us on the first day of black History Month for 2019 in this crucial year and hope be that you go forward with your own 400th commemorative activity. That you think about what you can do in your community to celebrate the ancestral journey of 400 years of perseverance and consider the resilience that was necessary to overcome so many obstacles that would allow you to be in your community and to have your friends and your family, your education, and whatever obstacles we may see today cannot in any way compare to what our ancestors have encountered. But there is also the future and we have to think about young people. This is a way through asalh and the activities that we have on the website, asalh. Org. Youll find activities for family mentoring, youll find a list of books for the 400th preservation perseverance, i knew i would do that at one point, and you will also find at one point a sense of how you and your community can put an activity together that will be on our calendar, our National Calendar of events. For more information, please see our website. Once you do, youll see that on february 16th were having a luncheon and that luncheon is at the renaissance hotel. There are still tickets available. February 16th for our luncheon, where we will delve even deeper into 400 years of perseverance with an almost entirely different panel. And that panel will be moderated by jelani cobb, the author, jelani cobb. So, that is february 16th. In that time, as was pointed out, we said that journalism is the first draft of history. Were all helping to write the first draft and the next draft of history for the next 400 years. Who would have thought 400 years ago what was taking place then would be something we discussed today. So, as we go forward from an organization of historians, started by dr. Carter g. Woodson, we say, go out and make good history. Thank you so much and thank you for joining us. [ applause ] all week were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan3. Lectures in history, american artifacts, reel america, the civil war, oral histories, the presidency, and special event coverage about our nations history. Enjoy American History tv now and every weekend on cspan3. This holiday week, American History tv is on cspan3 every day with prime time features each night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Tonight a discussion on aviation with aviation writer and filmmaker paul glennshaw on the first u. S. Military airplane, the 1909 wright flyer. Tuesday the year 1969 with woodstock, free speech and the gay rights movement. 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