Tag: Black History

In Times of Crisis Black Publishers Prevail

On By thewriterfredIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

During various periods in this country’s history when Black America has confronted crisis, the Black publishers have used the pages of their newspapers to confront the racist forces threatening the rights of their people. Their roles as protector of a people began as far back as 1827. In that year two men, John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish used the pages of Freedoms Journal to oppose negative stories about Blacks printed in the pages of the New York newspapers and those papers that supported slavery. The Freedoms Journal was succeeded in 1847 by the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s North Star, an influential anti-slavery newspaper. The name of Douglass’s newspaper paid homage to the fact that escaping slaves used the North star in the night sky to guide them to freedom. The motto of his paper was “Right is of no sex-Truth is of no color-God is the Father of us all, and we are brethren.”

THE NORTH STAR
The North Star was published by Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey)

In the year 1889 Ida B. Wells Barnett bought an interest in the black Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper and two years later began publishing editorials that condemned the “thread-bare lie,” of rape that whites used to justify lynching of Black men. She was so effective that her newspaper was destroyed and she was forced to leave Memphis. Andrew Smitherman was the publisher of the Tulsa Star during the period when the Black community prospered in that city.

In his editorials he attacked the racism that existed and urged Blacks to stand up for their rights. His motto was, “You Push Me and I Push You.” He was one of the many heroes of Black Wall Street. The great Harlem Renaissance and the growth of that community with all of its ups and downs was covered by the Amsterdam News.

The most active and influential Black newspaper in the history of this country was the Chicago Defender and its publisher Robert Abbott, established in 1905 at the apex of Jim Crow Laws.

Abbott wrote extensively about the evils of racism and his motto for his paper was “American race prejudice must be destroyed.” He also encouraged Blacks in the South to leave that part of the country and move North where the job opportunities and the condition of living far exceeded that in the South. The Pittsburgh Courier, Baltimore African American, were other influential newspapers during our times of crisis.

We stand on the shoulders of those great newspapers and their publishers. We are now facing a crisis from the MAGA movement and if successful will jeopardize our children’s future in this country. If MAGA succeeds then our children and future generations will not enjoy the freedoms we have experienced over the years. In the past the newspapers mentioned stood up and fought back with the power of the pen. It is now our turn to do the same in the pages of the many outstanding Black newspapers and on all platforms of communication. with some of the best writers in the country. Let us all exercise the power of the pen on behalf of the 48.3 million Black Americans.

Black History Literary Weekend in San Antonio, Texas

On By thewriterfredIn Black History, San Antonio, TXLeave a comment

I am extremely proud of what we do in San Antonio to promote literacy and culture among our youth. We take a great deal of pride in the quality of writers living right here in the Alamo City. The weekend of February 26 to 28, we plan to acknowledge our writers at a Black History Literary Weekend Dinner. However, prior to the dinner, eight of our outstanding authors will participate in a number of events to include trips to S. J. Davis Middle School and the George Gervin Academy, where they will meet and talk with young students in grades eight through twelve. These eight authors, who have works of fiction, non fiction and poetry, voluntarily give of their time because they strongly believe that they must encourage our young to dig deep in the far regions of their mind, and nurture the gift of creative writing. They readily acknowledge, that someone in their life served as a role model to encourage them to pursue a dream of becoming a writer. Many times, young children do not get such encouragement in the home, and far too often their talent remains dormant and they never reach the pinnacle of success as writers.

This year’s theme for Black Literary Weekend is, “Literature: The Foundation of all Cultures.” Without the written word, the history is lost and the people become insignificant to the world and subject to elimination. A people’s history is recorded in many different genres to include, novels, autobiographies, biographies, essays, dissertations, poetry and the list goes on. The key is that it all begins when young adults have the courage to pick up a pen and write that first sentence. That often is the most difficult task because our young may have been discouraged by family members, peer groups or many other people who pass through their lives. This weekend our authors will dispel those doubts and hopefully, from out of the young people they meet and greet, will come the next Pulitzer Prize writer.

This year’s speaker at the dinner is an outstanding leader within the artistic and literary circles who has, over the years, served as a magnificent beam of creative light illuminating on our community. Aaronetta Pierce is not only a collector of art but also a writer who has recently produced two outstanding works, one on Maya Angelou who was Ms. Pierce’s very close friend, and the other an essay written to her grandchildren about their heritage. Both pieces will appear in an anthology to be released in March 2015, titled, Black is the Color of Strength. It will be one of many outstanding books featured at the San Antonio Book Festival in April 2015.

One of our primary goals for the dinner this year is to raise enough money to help support our effort to establish the Dr. David Floyd Writing Project as a 501c3 foundation. David is a brother whose life story I wrote a few years ago. It is a fascinating story. He graduated from high school reading at the second grade level, and last June received his Doctorate Degree in Accounting. Unfortunately, we lost David in October of 2014 to cancer. David and I had just begun to talk about a sequel to his story, encouraging young black boys not to fear life or run away from its challenges. We now plan to make him a symbol of struggle, dedication and success. If you are in the San Antonio area and would like to attend this dinner, you can contact Ms. Antoinette Franklin at (210) 264-1518 or Mr. D. L. Grant at (210) 207-9180, or just email me at fredwilliams@satx.rr.com.

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