 | | Rodney Reynolds Publisher |
Ralph Ellison believed "there are two sides to history the written and unwritten", and so do we hence the name of this newsletter. Here we'll attempt to make that second history, that "obscure" history, unwritten no longer.
We Must Not Forget!
I am often asked how important it is for us to remember our history. My answer is quite simple: very. As we look to the events of our past we must never forget those individuals, black and white, who sacrificed years and in some cases their lives so that we could enjoy the freedoms that exist in America today. The efforts by many have directly affected our lives by making America a better place to live.
Today we have no more back of the bus. No more colored drinking fountains. No more being refused services in shops and restaurants. Water hoses. Lynchings. Yes, some of our history is painful. Still in order to get where we're going, we must remember where we've come from. And if the recent attack on the Voting Rights Act tells us anything, it's that we must never forget our past and that the fight for racial justice and equality is not over.
As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington in August, let's not forget the purpose of the march and how it changed our lives.
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From The Archives
 | | Participants in the National Action Networks 2012 re-enactment of the"Selma to Montgomery March" pass by American Legacy's mobile truck exhibit in Montgomery, AL.(March 2012) |
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History Keepers
The late, great Gordon Parks-who died in March 2006 was, among other things, a social activist artist. Setting aside his films-The Learning Tree and Shaft-his poetry, and musical compositions, Parks was a prolific recorder of history. He was pragmatic enough to know, early on, that if he wanted to keep taking photos he had to earn a living at it-and so he got his first chance at learning to "shoot fashions" as he was given to say, by strolling into a white-owned Minneapolis dress shop in 1938, and asking the husband-and-wife owners, the Murphys, if he could have a job photographing the gowns there. Mr. Murphy gave him short shrift, but Mrs. Murphy gave him a job. That job eventually took him to ...
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The (Back) Story
From the time the Isabella, carrying 150 Africans, arrived from Bristol, England, until 1780, when Pennsylvania passed the first emancipation law in the United States, the city had watched enslaved Africans disembark onto its docks in chains, to be sold on the corner of Front and Market Streets in front of the London Coffee House. Today on that corner you'll see only a shuttered brick building; this is often the way-we must see beyond the long-gone structures and tangible survivals to revive this other history As in many...
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Black History Facts
 | | Howard University was named for General Oliver O. Howard, a Civil War hero who was both a founder of the University and, at the same time, commissioner of the Freedman's Bureau. Learn More! |
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American Legacy Revisited
 | | To order a 18 x 24 replica of this cover click here! |
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Visit the Mobile Truck
 | To request information on how American Legacy's mobile truck exhibit can visit your city, school district or organization,
click here! |
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