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BlackFacts Minute: February 12

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Black Facts for February 12th

1898 - (1898) Booker T. Washington, “The Madison Square Garden Address”

After his 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech, Booker T. Washingtons popularity grew rapidly among Northern whites.  In this instance he gives an address at Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 12, 1898, the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.  Not surprisingly he promotes industrial education among the African Americans.

Not long ago an old colored man in Alabama said to me: ls done quit libin in de ashes; Is got my second freedom. That remark meant that, this old man, by economy, hard work and proper guidance, after twenty years of severe struggle, had freed himself from debt, had paid for fifty acres of land and built a comfortable house, was a tax-payer, that his two sons had been educated in academic and agricultural branches and that his daughter had received mental training in connection with sewing and cooking.

With a few limitations, here was an American Christian home the results of individual effort and philanthropy. This Negro had been given the chance to get upon his feet; that is all which any Negro in America asks for. What position in state, letters or commerce the offspring of this family is to occupy, must be left to the future and the capacity of the race. That the race may have a new birth-a new freedom, in habits of thrift, economy and industrial development, I take to be the meaning of this meeting.

If this be true, I believe that the second birth, this new baptism of the race into the best methods of agriculture, mechanical and commercial life and respect for labor, will bring blessings not less than those given us by our Great Emancipator, whose birthday we celebrate.

Freedom from debt, comfortable homes, profitable employment, intelligence, bring a self-respect and confidence, without which no race can get on its feet. During the years of slavery we were shielded from competition. To-day, unless we prepare to compete with the outside world, we shall go to the wall as a race.

Despite the curse of slavery, during those dark and bitter days, God was preparing the way for the

1934 - Bill Russell

Bill Russell is a celebrated African-American retired basketball player. He played center for the National Basketball Association’s the Boston Celtics team. His relentless effort earned him a twelve-time All-Star title and the NBA Most Valuable Player title. Russell’s remarkable victories made him the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty. During his thirteen year long career he won eleven NBA championships.

On February 12, 1934, William Felton Bill Russell was born in West Monroe, Louisiana to Charles Russell and Katie Russell. Since West Monroe was a strictly segregated area, Russells faced the discrimination and racism issues. The family moved to Lousiana and settled in Oakland, California, when Russell was eight. Poverty forced them to raise young Russell in a series of public housing projects. When he turned 12, he lost his mother and her sudden demise served him a major emotional blow. His father quit his job so as to take care of his emotional son and earned Russell’s utmost respect. In his high school years he began playing basketball but struggled understanding the game despite having required skills. Thus, he was thrown out of the team.

One of the white coaches at his school saw his true potential and encouraged him to polish his raw skills. Receiving kind and encouraging words from a white person was unusual for Russell and the advice delighted him. He took heed of the advice and became a decent player in his junior and senior years and won back to back championships. His height of 6’9 gave him an added advantage to apply an unusual technique of defense. Despite his excellent performance in high school championships, the college recruiters ignored him given his origin. Eventually, Hal DeJulio from the University of San Francisco (USF) sensed Russell’s extraordinary instinct for game and offered him a scholarship. At USF, Coach Phil Woolpert made him the centerpiece of the team and soon he became one of the major players.

In spite of his remarkable performance, Russell and his fellow African-Americans

1909 - NAACP founded

Founded in 1909 in New York City by a group of black and white citizens committed to social justice, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nations largest and strongest civil rights organization.

The NAACPs principal objective is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of United States and eliminate race prejudice. The NAACP seeks remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes. This mission is accomplished by seeking the enactment and enforcement of federal, state and local laws securing civil rights, and by informing the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination.

From school desegregation, fair housing, employment and voter registration, to health and equal economic opportunity, the NAACP, working successfully with allies of all races, plays a significant role in establishing legal precedents in order to improve the quality of life of Americas downtrodden.

For more than ninety one years, the NAACP has been built on the individual and collective courage of thousands of people. People of all races, nationalities and religious denominations, who were united on one premise --that all men and women are created equal.

Although, one could write great prose about the triumphs of the NAACP, there is nothing more powerful than the facts of how the existence of the oldest civil rights organization has changed the face of history for this country. And despite threats of violence, and official government policies that were racist the NAACP continued and will continue to persevere

1793 - First fugitive slave law enacted by Congress

In 1793, Congress passed the first Fugitive Slave Law to implement the provisions in the Constitution. It stated that to reclaim an escaped slave a master needed only to go before a magistrate and provide oral or written proof of ownership. The magistrate would then issue an order for the arrest of the slave. The slave was not given a trial in court or allowed to present evidence on their own behalf, including proof of having previously earned their freedom.

Many Northern states passed Personal Liberty laws that granted a fugitive slave rights, such as trial by jury. Other states, such as Pennsylvania, passed strong kidnapping laws which functioned to punish slave catchers. Edward Prigg was convicted of kidnapping in Pennsylvania after capturing a slave family. Prigg took his case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court issued a double edged decision: it declared Pennsylvanias law unconstitutional but also ruled that the states did not have to use their facilities to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law. This led to some states passing new personal liberty laws prohibiting the use of state facilities for the enforcement of the fugitive law.

After the first Fugitive Slave Law was passed, lawyer Salmon P. Chase was just starting on his anti slavery career. He became an avid supporter of abolitionist causes when he met the editor of an abolitionist newspaper, James Birney, in 1836. The year after Chase and Birney had met, Birneys housekeeper Matilda, a part African female, was captured as a runaway slave. Birney had been unaware she was a fugitive. Despite Chases defense, which denounced the Fugitive Slave Law as unconstitutional, the authorities took Matilda back to New Orleans, where she was sold at auction. Chase moved on to defend Birney, who was charged with harboring a fugitive slave. Chase took the case to the Supreme Court, where the charges were dismissed because Birney did not know Matilda was a slave when he hired her. Chase continued to work defending fugitive slaves and those who aided them.

1793 - Fugitive Slave Act (1793)

Chap. VII.—An Act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters.

    Section 1.  Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever the executive authority of any state in the Union, or of either of the territories northwest or south of the river Ohio, shall demand any person as a fugitive from justice, of the executive authority of any such state or territory to which such person shall have fled, and shall moreover produce the copy of an indictment found, or an affidavit made before a magistrate of any state or territory as aforesaid, charging the person so demanded, with having committed treason, felony or other crime, certified as authentic by the governor or chief magistrate of the state or territory from whence the person so charged fled,  it shall be the duty of the executive authority of the state or territory to which such person shall have fled, to cause him or her to be arrested and secured, and notice of the arrest to be given to the executive authority making such demand, or to the agent of such authority appointed to receive the fugitive, and to cause the fugitive to be delivered to such agent when he shall appear:  But if no such agent shall appear within six months from the time of the arrest, the prisoner may be discharged.  And all costs or expenses incurred in the apprehending, securing, and transmitting such fugitive to the state or territory making such demand, shall be paid by such state or territory.

Sec. 2.  And be it further enacted, That any agent, appointed as aforesaid, who shall receive the fugitive into his custody, shall be empowered to transport him or her to the state or territory from which he or she shall have fled.  And if any person or persons shall by force set at liberty, or rescue the fugitive from such agent while transporting, as aforesaid, the person or persons so offending shall, on conviction, be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, and be