Transcripts For CSPAN2 The Original Black Elite 20170312 : v

CSPAN2 The Original Black Elite March 12, 2017

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] if everyone could be seated, for those of you have it taken away knowledge very thrilled to be here and we recognize that we have a large audience. We are thankful for your presence. There he can and very you being here. Let me just check, it is they see it available for someone to take . [inaudible conversations] good afternoon. Im pam jackson, dirt at the library of congress are part of the National International outreach unit and we are very pleased to be with you today for this afternoons talk. A very exciting topic with a really great group of people. Should mention todays talk is part by the debut of ap africanamerican Cultural Association here at the library of congress and they will have a special part in our program that will be introduced shortly. I should mention that here for our extra audience for the most part to remind us internally the library of congress is their focus and should, desire to be recognized and provide the public where americas first Cultural Institution and an entire issue to provide a rich and enduring source of knowledge we care about inspiring creativity and intellectual in numbers of people everywhere. Todays topic in booktalk is designed to further the librarys mission in that way. And i to at the for the book includes the young Reader Centered poetry and Reader Center and its mission to promote books and reading and libraries and literature, poetry for the purpose of having a forum dedicated societies. Now more than ever illiteracy is critical to uphold it, defended, and he and preserving vibrant and robust democracies. We have now for 2017 titled ourselves of the different views of democracy. To do that for being here for part of that because it does promote and extend the ache of it that to a culture of reading it to make sure that the library of congress is really focusing on one anchor of it that we created sustain a culture that values literacy and literature and we do that with todays talk as well. This is a quick saturday to mention that the center for the buck administers the library of Congress Literacy award and we are currently soliciting application for prize money from the library of congress for literacy organizations that you should visit us at read. Gov literacy wars to learn about the program. Onto todays focus as they get started i wanted you to stakes. A a sql reach data checker devices, make sure they arent silent or vibrate. Our second point is we are recording today for the librarys broadcast of the honor of having ceased being with us today for this booktalk. As you participate and ask questions at that point of the program, please though youll be recorded and a part of our webcast and we can also visit us every. Gov to see more than 250 author talks and webcast that we have available for the talks that weve had over the years. I also mentioned if you have not already, the book for todays talk is available for sell and we encourage you to obtain their own copy if you have not done so good to know that shell be available for book signing after todays talk as well. Finally the chief criteria for deciding the books to feature in our books and beyond series has to do with connection to the library of congress and certainly todays book is offered certainly todays book is offered in a very different ways of celebrating, honoring and acknowledging the extraordinary figure of personalized library of congress employees and cultural lives as americans. But also because the research was done here and thats an important part of what the Library Links to promote and encourage which says we have a vast rich set of collection that matter to people and we can only share that if people engage with them, find out what to do, write about them, publish and come to talks about them. Thats one of the things they care about and do it celebrate the book. To further our program and talk about it, im going to introduce the library of congress historian, john y cole. John is a special feature a special secret are biased because he is the founding era for the buck and was part of the initiative that led to the legislation that created us were four years ago we are celebrating that would acknowledge and appreciate john who has a very special relation ship with todays author of the subject of the book, mr. Daniel berry wholl introduce our author and a couple key components of the rest of the program. Thank you for your attention. Enjoy the talk. [applause] is pam has mentioned, i am john cole. Im here not only to help celebrate Daniel Murray and above away, but also to acknowledge some special guests we have today. Were surveyed Daniel Murray family, descendents of Harold Murray who harold do i have that right . And most of them have made a trip to mexico to be with us today. Id like them to stand in he acknowledged in a special welcome for the library of congress. [applause] he would have via participatory history going on today and part of my remarks are going to be aimed at the family as well as some of our other special gas that we also have a special daniel berry project that i would like you to learn about before those of you who dont know the full story again emerged in elizabeths wonderful talk in his boat. I am hoping that jerry jones. Where are you, will tell you a little bit about the association and especially a special project. Lets give the association and. [applause] good afternoon, everybody. Maybe the steering jones. And the Program Director at the African American culture association. On behalf of our president and our Board Members coming weeks ahead. Thank you for being here today. We have 150 members of the Daniel Murray association. The b. C. The hands of the members of the room so everybody can see you. Thank you for coming today. We have a special honor, not on april 28th. The Tony Morrison society displays seen around the world historical markers for africanamerican culture. The society has been chosen as one of those places that will get a marker. But they tell you it was a long process about two years ago went to talk with the people at the Tony Morrison society. We had to go to the congress to come to the library of congress and the architect of the capitol because through it so they dont play someone zoom on capitol hill. We have to go to the congress to get the library from the architect of the capitol to agree that we can place the bench at the library of congress in honor of Daniel Murray. [applause] the project is almost complete. We have 5000 for the bench and were also going to have a celebration so we are raising money for that celebration. And being told Something Else i dont remember exactly what that is. We are going to be happy the presentation on the 28th, which is a friday. The last friday in april. We hope you all can join us at that time and will be celebrate the life and legacy of Daniel Alexander payne wary. I want to thank mr. Kohl for allowing me to get appeared today and i hope you all can join us at a time. Thank you. [applause] we are squeezing a few more members of the family had. But we are doing it. I first learned about Daniel Murray back when i was a Young Library is before it given the center for the book was created which was 39 years ago. Ive learned that i was in the collections librarian and i was assigned to work on a collection called the color doppler collection that has many labels across the front of them. The library the congress decided to do some things about this collection of oral good. Part of it was to put an end to the collection and part of it to start up the valuable pamphlets they were going to be part of debris division. And a partner. Dorothy who is the director of the Howard Library and she helped me out this and we sorted many of the duplicate than some of the special books for the Daniel Murray collection that was left after mr. Murray died were made part of the librarys permanent collection. I wrote an article about it for one of the first articles i ever wrote in 1978. Guess what, 37 years later now i have found myself writing another article about Daniel Murray and i have learned so much about him and much of what i have learned really comes from this wonderful book we are going to hear more about today for the author. I must say that ive never forgotten what really struck me about mr. Murray with his passion about the important of literature and the way that literature and the literature of africanamericans could tell their story and a permanent fashion that he devoted his life as you will hear to this as one of the several projects he was involved in that it was his passion and the books of the love of literature that hes left behind is now part of his legacy of the library of Congress Library of congress. Tuesday the collections have worked on and many many others have worked on but also through the work of the association. This tradition. I first met our author, beth taylor a couple of decades ago when she was director of interpretation at Thomas Jeffersons monticello. Thats who holds a phd from the university of california bird we have spent more than 20 years in Museum Education and research including battle to monticello, but also director of education at James Madison montpelier. Her museum and a great experience as a researcher at her writing skills lead naturally to ballet career as an independent scholar is turning out wonderful books on important subjects. Her first book, slaves to the white house, Paul Jennings said the madison published in 2012 as the New York Times bestseller at the National Book award nominee. It also brought her to the library of congress for the first talk about her book and at the same time brought her to the library of congress National Book festival to talk about the book. Shes now back and we are just delighted. She is now among her other life than lecturing fellow at the Virginia Foundation of the humanities which i must say is the home of the Virginia Center for the book. So our lives come together in many ways. Today, the library of congress is very pleased to help her launch this june. Port history, a book about Daniel Murray and his remarkable family. Yes also that she herself describes it, a book about the original black elite and what has now become a forgotten era in american history. Thank you from introducing this era that would be a period of our history into another generation that has so much to learn from the story that you so skillfully tell. May i present Elizabeth Dowling taylor. [applause]. That i stumbled across Daniel Murray. Daniel murray, one of his first contributions to the library of congress as he was an assistant librarian of congress at a time when such professional appointments for black men were rare, and he started by putting together a list of 27, excuse me, 270 titles by africanamerican authors. And one of them was the memoir by Paul Jennings which the White House Historical association considers to be the first memoir of life behind the scenes in the white house. Precious few copies of it have been made, and i would maintain that it was not for this by Daniel Murray, this wasnt the only important memoir or other notable works, that wouldve been lost to obscurity altogether. My book is a biography of Daniel Murray pioneer in the black history movement, major race activist, model civic citizen and prominent member of washington dc his black elite. But it is also the story of a larger narrative. And that is a remarkable rise and disastrous decline of africanamerican prospects over the span of his lifetime, 1851 18511925. The rise of prospect for African Americans after emancipation brought, as one ex slave put it, a glorious harvest of good things. In particular, the 14th and 15th amendments to the United States constitution which granted americans of every color all rights, including the right to vote. But later the federal government in the name of reconciliation with the former Confederate States brought about early abandonment of reconstruction and ushered in a denial of the rights of africanamericans that were embedded in that very constitution. There was renewal in the south of oppression of africanamericans that included stigmatization, discrimination, segregation, intimidation, terror. Now, i have long been given my work at monticello and montpelier, and i know how important it is, how central it is to understanding american history. Bubut i was a little bit slowern understanding that that period between emancipation and the modern Civil Rights Era is just essential. Sometimes you mention the word reconstruction to americans and theyre not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. And im going to share with you a personal anecdote about my own ignorance prior to my intensive study of this era. I had a picture, a picture in my head, of africanamerican legislators in the halls of Congress Looking like buffoonish rubes, hayseeds in their teeth. I am as part of my research in this current book, as difficult as it was, watched the birth of a nation, the original 1950 movie it was the second time i i was watching it. I recall that id watched it in High School Come in a humanities class. No discussion about the content. The whole point was to discuss his innovative film techniques. When i watched it this time there was a particular screenshot, and there it was, shabbily dressed africanamericans in the legislative chamber, one of them, their feet up on a desk looking enormous and closeup, and in the background was his colleague gnawing on an enormous chicken like. That was my picture. That was in the picture in my head. And it showed you how strong Popular Culture can be, especially visual images. And indeed, this movie captivated the American Public and put in their heads lots of false images that were not countered by our schooling because of the inaccuracy of our schooling in presenting these parts of our history. So to be sure, there were 23 africanamerican gentleman who served in the halls of congress and in the senate, and they did so with distinction. So yes, reconstruction was a good thing. It ended too early. What followed was a bad thing, and that of course was the jim crow era. And again africanamericans were abandoned by the federal government and allowed to be virtually reenslaved by White Supremacists. Now, we have to recognize all of our history, own all of our history, including the chapters that we are ashamed of. And only then can we do a better job of considering the solutions to the legacies of these shameful chapters, if we have a full picture. Now, in telling my story of rise in reversal, i wanted from the beginning to personalize it in the lived experience of one man and his family. I chose Daniel Murray and his family because i admire him and because, as it turns out, he was even a better choice than i realized initially. And that is because his art fit the overall arc of the narrative almost perfectly. I also chose to focus on the black elite for two reasons. One was to underscore the heterogeneity of the africanamerican experience. In our own time we hear common reference to a phrase that is one of my pet peeves, the black community, as if 42 million americans formed an indistinguishable block. Africanamericans are certainly not a monolithic group today, but nor were they even in the time before the civil war. The second reason that i focused on the black elite is because they put and highest delete the absurdity of a white supremacy. They were not works in progress. They had achieved high levels of education, accomplishments, gentility. They were prosperous. They were doctors. They were lawyers. They were businessmen. They were entrepreneurs. They were district or federal Office Clerks or held higher titles. So they gave the lie to the contention by White Supremacists the black americans were incapable of contributing to mainstream society. Now, Daniel Murray was born in washington sister city of baltimore, and he came here at about age 18, after the civil war. Someone who lived it was a caterer command at the time he was the proprietor of one of the two restaurants in the United States Capital Building. Now, in the Capital Building that was a restaurant on the congressional side and on the senate side. And on the main floor of the capital was a library of congress. Thats where it got its start and that is where it remained until 1897 when it moved over to the dedicated new structure that we now know as the jefferson building. So Daniel Murray worked as a waiter for his brother in the senate restaurant, and they are,

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