Black History Month Blog

On March 19, 1866, two weeks before Richmond's first Emancipation Day celebration, a young school teacher who had traveled to Richmond to educate former slaves wrote the following to her family in Brooklyn, NY:

"The colored people want to celebrate the anniversary of the fall of Richmond, because it is their Independence Day. They are told that if the celebrate it at all it shall be with blood. One of the young men says he shall he will celebrate it, if he does it alone. What do you think I should advise him? Of course I hold it to be their right to celebrate their freedom, and I don't like to see them cowed down by the whites. Yet I don't like to risk bloodshed, though I seriously believe that more blood will have to be shed before these people will be free." (Letter reproduced in the New York Tribune, March 30, 1866)

In the years following the Civil War, the African American population of Richmond celebrated each April 3rd as Emancipation Day. The date marked the anniversary of the fall of the Confederate capitol, and subsequently, the end to slavery in Richmond and its surroundings. The events were massive. Long parades lines were headed by richly regaled black militia regiments followed by members of the African American political societies, aid societies and church organizations. The procession marched the entire length of the city -- up Broad Street and down Main Street -- until it concluded at the capitol grounds. There -- at the seat of government in the very state were slavery began -- large crowds gather around Washington's monument to hear orators champion the cause of civil rights, black advancement and racial equality.

Initially, the reaction of many white Richmonders was one of condemnation, including threats of violence -- as demonstrated in the young teacher's letter home. When an African American church was burned on the eve of the first Emancipation Day, it was perceived as an act of intimidation. But the threats failed to deter the celebration. In time even the Richmond Dispatch conceded that it was a celebration of freedom and not of Confederate defeat. In later years, the parades and celebrations continued, but the speechmaking no longer took place on the capitol grounds (that ended when Federal troops left Richmond). By the 1890s, there were efforts to change the observance date because African Americans across the state had experienced freedom at different times, and there was pressure to create a uniform celebration. Yet, in Richmond, large crowds continued to gather for an April 3rd observance as late as the 1910s.

Richmond's Emancipation Day was more than a celebration. It was a bold assertion of the right to public space and freedom of expression, sending the message that the city's black population took their freedom seriously. Yet, this once prominent part of Richmond's identity has fallen out of our public memory. Efforts are currently underway for the city of Richmond to officially recognize April 3rd as "Richmond's Emancipation Day." For more information contact Michael Rawls at rawlsmm@vcu.edu. (Thanks to Ray Bonis for providing New York Tribune article).

--Michael Rawls, Admin. Office Specialist - VCU Libraries

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The State of Virginia has just taken a huge step toward apologizing for a grievous wrong. The enslavement of Blacks in Virginia lasted for centuries before the Civil War forced an end to the institution, but the attitudes and prejudices that allowed slavery to flourish survived. In a thousand different ways, from the laws of Jim Crow to the practices of underhanded realtors and financiers, prejudice against Blacks has persisted down through the years in America. While progress has gradually been made in mitigating the effects, legal and otherwise, of prejudice, apologies for slavery--along with the possibility of some kind of reparations--have been slow in coming.

Since 1865, various efforts have been made to move the United States toward finding a way to repay Black Americans for what their ancestors suffered. VCU Libraries has a number of books about the subject.

Roy L. Brooks' Atonement and Forgiveness (call number Cabell Library E185.89.R45 B76 2004) makes a case for reparations as a means to racial conciliation, setting the issue in the context of reparations made by states for other injustices, from apartheid to the Holocaust.

Raymond A. Winbush's Should America Pay? (call number Cabell Library E185.89.R45 S56 2003) is a collection of essays from various perspectives about the question of reparations.

More books on the subject can be found here. If you'd like to learn more online, National Public Radio has a page on the subject with links to further articles and interviews.

--John Glover, Reference Librarian for Humanities - Cabell Library

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Above and Beyond: A Celebration of the Legacies of the Leonard Graduates
Monday, February 26, 2007
Tompkins-McCaw Library, Distance Education, Rm. 2-010
509 North 12th Street
2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
This presentation will chronicle the legacies of the graduates of the Leonard Medical School, a former department of Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Leonard Medical School was one of fourteen medical schools founded in the United States between 1868 and 1900 dedicated to the education of African-Americans. Over its 36-year history, Leonard graduated almost 400 physicians. Founded in 1882, Leonard, like its sister black medical schools, struggled to survive financially as it tried to keep up with changes in medical education and medical science during the late nineteenth century. Race issues added an extra burden. Only two African-American medical schools, Meharry University and Howard University, survived after 1923. The graduates of Leonard Medical School went on to contribute in medicine in Virginia and other states. This lecture will discuss Leonard's founding and the contribution of the graduates to the medical community in Virginia and other states. Leonard Medical School finally closed its doors in 1918.

--Irene Lubker, Research Librarian and Interim Head of User Services - Tompkins McCaw Library for the Health Sciences.

Elvatrice Parker Belsches	The Leonard Medical School Building

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Mutual benefit societies provided much-needed assistance and community support to African-Americans during the post-Civil War period through the early twentieth century. These voluntary organizations gave financial, educational, insurance, and other services denied to African-Americans by white-owned businesses. Some served specific sectors of the African-American community such as black Cuban immigrants. With the help of these societies, blacks were able to start businesses, attend to funereal responsibilities, locate and obtain housing, and find access to health care, for examples. Members offered strong moral counseling to fellow members. Since mutual benefit societies relied on dues-paying members, every effort was made to see that they did not succumb to vices that would threaten the societies' financial stability. After the Great Depression, the U.S. government took over many of the functions peformed by mutual benefit societies, and so they gradually faded away.

You can learn more about mutual benefit societies and numerous other topics related to African-American culture in the 2-volume work, Encyclopedia of African American Society. The Encyclopedia spans a wide range of topics including theories, fine arts, literature, history, politics, media, health, education, music, dance, movements, popular culture, sports, and social issues, to name some. The work is ideal for researchers who are looking for an easy-to-understand introduction to this subject area. Every entry also contains lists of works for further reading that serve as good starting points for continuing your research. The Encyclopedia is located in the Cabell Library Reference Collection, call number E185 .E546 2005.

--Jill Stover, Undergraduate Services Librarian - Cabell Library

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In 1911 a small group of women met in Richmond and formed the Phyllis Wheatley branch of the YWCA, a group that was to become an integral part of the lives of many African-American youth. Phyllis Wheatley branches formed in Richmond and other communities like Indianapolis, St. Louis, Knoxville, and Asheville during the early part of the 20th century and served as social havens for young black women in a growing industrial world.

The officers of the newly formed Phyllis Wheatley branch rented a basement room at 100 East Leigh Street. There they remained until December 1915 until moving to a more spacious house at 740 North Fifth Street. Here the first group work activities were started: Bible classes, crocheting, embroidering, and the Sunshine Group, a forerunner of the Girl Reserves. (Under a new charge put in place in 1929 by the national YWCA, Girl Reserves clubs were required to work "with the teen-age girl, irrespective of creed or race."). By 1921 Girl Reserve clubs had an enrollment of 226 members, 16 employed girls, and short-time classes in music, cooking, home nursing, millinery, tailoring, current news events, and the Bible.

The Phyllis Wheatley building also had been host to a number of community service projects through the years. At 740 North Fifth Street the first local African-American nursery school was founded. Following World War II, African-American soldiers came to the branch for parties and housing advice.

We are fortunate to have the papers of the local YWCA at VCU Libraries, including the records of the Phyllis Wheatley branch. Among the records are interesting, sometimes forgotten information like the program from the Thirtieth Annual Conference of the N.A.A.C.P. From 27 June - 2 July 1939, this national event was held in Richmond at the Fifth Street Baptist Church and the Landmark Theater, then known as the "Mosque." The Phyllis Wheatley branch of the YWCA served as hosts for the Youth Conference. Among the featured panel speakers was Thurgood Marshall, who addressed on separate occasions "How to Attack State, County, and Local Discrimination in Education" and "Methods of Combating Police Brutality."

On the final day of the conference, Eleanor Roosevelt gave the keynote address at the "Mosque" and awarded the Spingarn Medal to Miss Marian Anderson. Conveying this award held deep meaning for Roosevelt. Earlier in 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall because of her race. The District of Columbia, then under the control of the Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, also banned her for the same reason from using the auditorium of a white public high school. As a result of the furor which followed, thousands of DAR members, including Eleanor Roosevelt, resigned. In answer to the protests, the United States Department of the Interior, with active encouragement from the First Lady, scheduled a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on April 9, 1939. The Easter Sunday program drew a crowd of 75,000 people and millions of radio listeners. Given two months after the concert, this gesture from Mrs. Roosevelt at the 1939 N.A.A.C.P. Conference in Richmond might be perceived as another calculated response to her husband in what had become widely disparate opinions on social issues.

Program from the 30th Annual Conference of the NAACP, Richmond, 1939 Larger Image	Program from the 30th Annual Conference of the NAACP, Richmond, 1939 Larger Image
YWCA Phyllis Wheatley Branch, Fulton "Y" Club during a drama presentation of a séance Larger Image	YWCA house Larger Image

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As part of the Black History Month Blog, VCU Libraries' Special Collections and Archives will post weekly images from its collections of photographs, manuscripts, and other materials that document African American life and history in Virginia.

View larger image | View reverse

This image shows the cover of "Sit-In Songs: Songs of the Freedom Riders" LP record which was issued by CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) in 1962 on the Dauntless label. The record contains many of the songs sung or inspired by the "Freedom Riders" who in 1961 rode buses in the segregated south to test Federal law that outlawed racial segregation in interstate transportation facilities, including bus stations and railroad terminals. Notice how the music notes resemble the bar stools of lunch and diner counters.

This record is part of the collection of papers of Dr. Edward H. Peeples, Jr. Peeples is Emeritus Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at VCU. Much of Peeples' research and writing dealt with contemporary issues of social justice and he spent most of his adult life as a civil rights advocate involved in a variety of human rights reforms in Virginia and other places across the south. A copy of "Sit-In Songs: Songs of the Freedom Riders" is available to borrow on CD from Special Collections and Archives for those interested in listening to the record.

--Ray Bonis, Assistant Archivist for Collections, Special Collections and Archives

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St. Paul's Baptist Church (larger image)

On Thanksgiving night, 25 November 1909, members of First Union Baptist Church met near Virginia Union University at 2028 Henrico Street (now Botetourt Street) for the purposes of organizing a new church. Shortly thereafter the first members established the church known as "The St. Paul's Baptist Church" and constructed a sanctuary with a seating capacity of fifty people. They called as their first pastor Reverend George D. Pinkney. Four sanctuaries and six pastors later, St. Paul's Baptist Church has grown to become one of the largest predominantly African-American congregations in the Old Dominion.

During its ninety-seven year history, St. Paul's has called six pastors, none serving longer than Reverend Journey Archer Mosby. Mosby was called to St. Paul's in 1929, four years after the membership had constructed and moved to a second sanctuary in the Newtown neighborhood that accommodated over two hundred worshippers. This sanctuary would serve the needs of the congregation until 1950 when Mosby recognized the need for an even larger sanctuary. After several years of fundraising, the congregation sold its building in Newtown in 1957 and purchased an existing church building at 26th and Marshall Streets in Church Hill.

Reverend Journey Archer Mosby ( larger image)

Mosby retired in 1969 but St. Paul's continued to grow under Reverend James E. Leary, who served until 1983. St. Paul's sixth and current pastor Reverend Lance D. Watson assumed the pulpit on 15 October 1985. With Watson as preacher the church experienced tremendous growth and today counts over 6,000 members on two campuses in the Richmond area. Their north campus building was completed on 47 acres of land on Creighton Road in 2002. The south campus was the result of a historic act of generosity, when in 2005 the congregation of Weatherford Memorial Baptist Church voted to give its buildings located on Belt Boulevard to St. Paul's. As St. Paul's nears its 100th anniversary, the church oversees its own credit union, preschool, housing corporation, and scholarship fund for college-age youth.

VCU Libraries is proud to be working with members and staff at St. Paul's Baptist Church to document and preserve their archives as part of the Archives of the New Dominion grant initiative. Materials donated by St. Paul's to VCU Libraries include photographs, church histories, membership directories, minutes, bulletins, event programs, and the recorded sermons of Reverend Watson. For more information on the records of St. Paul's Baptist Church, please contact Special Collections and Archives at 828-1108.

--Alex Lorch, Community Outreach Archivist - Special Collections & Archives

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The Gullah are a people group most heavily concentrated in the Sea Islands (also called Rice Islands), which extend 160 miles along the South Carolina and Georgia coastline. They are descendents of slaves from the West African and Gold Coasts. During the antebellum (Pre-Civil War) era, the Gullah worked on rice, cotton, and indigo plantations in the low country, and were able to preserve much of their African heritage due to their relative isolation and ethnic majority in the region. Following the Civil War, many whites left the area, and the Gullah became yet more isolated as they took over the land formerly occupied by the whites. Many of the bridges connecting the islands to the mainland were destroyed during the war and remained unrepaired, reinforcing the insular nature of these communities.

The Gullah language continues to thrive today, and is the only Creole English still extant in the United States. Derived from African languages brought to Southern plantations as long ago as the 1700s, Gullah, or Geechee, maintains a surprising similarity to Caribbean languages such as Trinidadian, Jamaican, and others. The insularity of the Gullah community has thus far prevented widespread "decreolization," through which speech changes in response to the dominant language. Similarly, the community is also a striking anomaly in its preservation of African cultural, food, and religious customs. Their sweetgrass baskets and beautiful wood carvings can be seen in the Charleston market and in other low country communities still today.

For more information, see entries for Gullah in Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (Cabell Reference E185 .E54 1996) and Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (Cabell Reference F209 .E53 1989).

--Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian - Research and Reference Services

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Juneteenth is an African American holiday celebrating June 19, 1865, the day when General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas to proclaim the news that all slaves were emancipated. There are various tales about why Texans didn't receive news of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, over a year and a half previously. Since the end of the Civil War, Juneteenth has been celebrated by African Americans throughout the country. It is often a homecoming event marked by picnics, baseball games, parades, and dances. Although often celebrated on June 19, many cities and states observe Juneteenth on January 1, August 4, August 8, and other times of the year. It is the oldest African American holiday.

For more information, see Holiday Symbols and Customs, 3rd Ed. Cabell Library Reference GT3930 .T48 2003 and Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary, 3rd Ed. Cabell Library Reference GT3925 .H64 2005.

--Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian - Research and Reference Services

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While headwraps are a popular accessory among both blacks and whites, they have historic beginnings and are among the oldest clothing items still in use in America today. Prior to the Civil War, several Southern states enforced a law which required blacks to cover their heads in public but prevented them from wearing hats as did white women. Black women wore headwraps to meet this requirement, as well as to absorb sweat and keep their hair clean. Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion explains this, and notes that although women ceased wearing headwraps in public after the Civil War, they continued to wear them at home. African Americans involved in the civil rights movement reinvigorated the style when, in the 1960's and 70's they began to wear headwraps in public to acknowledge both their slave ancestors and their African roots.

Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion Cabell Library Reference GT507 .E53 2005

--Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian - Research and Reference Services

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The McIntosh County Shouters are a group of men and women from the coast of Georgia who perform the African American tradition of congregational Ring Shout. Ring Shout is the oldest musical tradition of African Americans dating back to the antebellum South. According to their web site, http://hometown.aol.com/Shoutforfreedom/Shout.html, "The McIntosh County Shouters perform ring shouts and sing songs that Negro slaves were singing when they arrived by ship in Virginia in 1722. The songs are sung to many different melodies, their themes ranging from Biblical vignettes to Biblical themes translated to speak of worldly conditions such as those of slavery, to contemporary topics such as the scourge of drugs and the death of a fellow shouter."

The Ring Shout is characterized by the traditional call-and-response singing as members walk and dance counter-clockwise while one member taps the floor with a long wood pole. To hear songs from the McIntosh County Shouters, go to Media and Reserves on the third floor of Cabell Library and ask for these two CD’s:

Call # M1670 W3 1994 V2
African American Congregational Singing. Tracks 1 and 2.

Call # M1629 F656 1993
Folk Masters. Track 15.

For more information about the McIntosh Counter Shouters and the Ring Shout tradition, read the book, Shout Because You’re Free by Art Rosenbaum. It is located on the third floor of Cabell Library with the Call #, F292 M15 R67 1998.

--Kevin Murray, Evening and Weekend Services Coordinator - Research and Reference Services

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The term African American Vernacular English (AAVE) refers to a variety of English spoken in some African American communities. Like other dialects of English, AAVE contains unique rules, patterns, and vocabulary. It is referred to as a "vernacular," as its use is almost exclusively limited to spoken English, and it is not often seen in written form.

One oft-cited example of its distinction from other varieties of North American English is the use of the verb "to be." The forms of this infinitive are omitted from phrases containing a gerund; "they are dancing" may become "they dancing." Yet the insertion of "be" into a phrase such as "they be dancing" is indicative of a habitual action.

However, AAVE is much more than just different syntax and vocabulary, and it is an important topic in sociolinguistic research. Though it is often connected to Ebonics and the highly politicized uproar in 1996 over the Oakland, California School Board resolution, most linguists maintain that Ebonics and AAVE are not completely synonymous.

Information for this entry came from the Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics (Cabell Reference P40 .C564 2001) and the truly fascinating Companion to Southern Literature (Cabell Reference PS261 .C55 2002).

Other works of interest include:

Campbell, Kermit Ernest. Gettin' our groove on : rhetoric, language, and literacy for the hip hop generation. Cabell Library PE3102.N42 C36 2005

Lanehart, Sonja L., ed. Sociocultural and historical contexts of African American English. Cabell Library PE3102.N44 S63 2001

Brown, Fahamisha Patricia. Performing the word : African American poetry as vernacular culture. Cabell Library PS310.N4 B76 1999

Rickford, John R. African American vernacular English : features, evolution, educational implications. Cabell Library PE3102.N42 R53 1999

--Renée Bosman, Government Information Librarian - Research and Reference Services

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African Americans have a rich culinary heritage which is connected strongly with family and community ties. In many ways, Southern food and African American food is indistinguishable because prior to the Civil War, slaves were responsible for growing, harvesting, butchering, and preparing foods for both whites and blacks. Since the 1960's, soul food has been part of a larger revitalization of African American identity and culture.

Although some African American foods originated in Africa (namely okra, black-eyed peas, and collard greens), the American South and outside influences were the primary sources of soul food. Over generations, African slaves in the South added dietary staples from Europeans (pork, chicken, sugar, peppers, potatoes) and Native Americans (maize, beans, catfish, shrimp, fowl). Because of the abundance of flavorings available in the South, soul food is characteristically high in fat, salt, and sugar and is spiced with various peppers and seasonings to make it among the spiciest (and tastiest!) food in the country. It still remains a staple in many families and has now spread beyond the South, often enjoyed at soul food restaurants as well as special community and family events throughout the nation.

Information for this entry came from an excellent resource available in Cabell Library Reference (GT2850 .E53 2003). Encyclopedia of Food and Culture is a tasty three-volume masterpiece with entries about individual foods (including African American food staples such as barbeque, biscuits, tea, chitlins, and fish), food preparation, nutritional information, various food customs, and much more. United States: African American Foodways is an excellent entry spanning several pages, and it provides a thorough overview of this topic.

--Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian - Research and Reference Services

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Harlem, a New York City neighborhood, was the sight of cultural, social, literary, and artistic awakening for African Americans in the 1920s and 1930s. The Harlem Renaissance began as the "Great Migration" of African Americans from the South moved to large Northern and Midwestern cities. Many of the most influential participants in the Harlem Renaissance were part of this influx, including Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Richard Wright, and Langston Hughes. The Renaissance had far-reaching effects; even Richmond, particularly the Jackson Ward neighborhood (known also as the "Harlem of the South") experienced cultural, intellectual, and economic benefits.

Civil Rights organizations, such as the NAACP, started during the Harlem Renaissance, but the influence of this movement is most greatly felt in the tremendous body of literature, journalism, music, theatre, and art that was produced and appreciated nationally and internationally.

The VCU Libraries offer many books written during and about the Harlem Renaissance. Search for "Harlem Renaissance" as a subject in the catalog for a listing. Sample titles include:

• Aberjhani and Sandra L. West. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. REF PS153 .N5 A24 2003


• Anderson, Paul Allen. Deep River : Music and Memory in Harlem Renaissance Thought. Cabell Stacks ML3556 .A53 2001


• Fabre, Genevieve and Michel Feith. Temples for Tomorrow : Looking Back at the Harlem Renaissance. Cabell Stacks PS153.N5 T45 2001


• Krasner, David. A Beautiful Pageant : African American Theatre, Drama, and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance. Cabell Stacks PS338.N4 K73 2002

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