1619-2019 Commemoration: First African Landing
400th Anniversary Ceremony of First Africans in Virginia
This weekend, Thursday, August 21-Sunday, August 25, 2019, was a National Recognition of the real date for the founding of America. July 4, 1776 might be the date the colony in the New World parted from its big sister Britain; however, it is August 20, 1619 when the White Lion docked at Point Comfort with 20 African bondsmen and women whom were then traded for food and other supplies that the philosophical tone was set or cast in a mold stiffly in opposition to the democratic values that came much later in the Constitution.
What became known as America was not an empty or barren landscape. These white men looking for opportunity they could exploit, did not recognize the humanity of anyone outside themselves. Though the history of the African people who ended up far away from home did not begin in 1619 with their capture, this event marks the start of a calendar.
Nothing today can undo that injustices African Diaspora people have faced and continued to face. What this commemoration does is speak out loud the unpleasant truth that needs addressing so the surviving generations can benefit.
A day later on my way to Newport News airport the taxi driver says that his daughter and husband (32 & 22) voted for Trump. The two belong to a church in Florida and the preacher -- white man, convinced the congregation -- majority African American, to vote for Trump because he is against abortions and same sex loving couples. Now that the former members are fellowshipping with another group, the preacher has nothing positive to say to the husband who saw him as a surrogate father.
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson said at Healing Day that he commended Gov. Ralph Northam, 73rd Governor of Virginia, for admitting the errs of his predecessors and has committed himself to righting those wrongs with legislation that is equitable and fair. Several people were taking photos with the governor at the Healing Day. Though Secret Service was there, he was accessible. The mayor of Hampton sat on the curb close to the stage later on. These politicians didn't seem afraid of their constituency. Everyone was invited to get close that weekend whether that was on the history tour where we met the historic couple who started the documentation trail in 1619 where torn from their homes in Angola without regard for the disruption and irrecoverable stolen legacy – Antoney and Isabell become servants of Captain William Tucker, who was the commander of the fort at Point Comfort. Their child, William is the first recorded baby of African descent Baptized in English North America—Jan. 3, 1624.
It is to this same place, the fort at Point Comfort that three African men who decided they did not want to be sold further south away from friends and family and took refuge where Major General Benjamin F. Butler granted asylum – using the clause “contraband of war” to legally justify not sending them back to their masters. Harriet Tubman also spent time here at the hospital nursing the sick soldiers and others who sought refuge back to health.
I arrived Wednesday – in time for the 400 Commission Community Meeting at Ft. Monroe. The nest day I attended the ceremony at the Tucker Family Cemetery where hundreds of descendants of the first African couple: Antoney and Isabell and William Tucker. From there we went to the Political Pioneer Stakeholder Luncheon, then got dropped off at Hampton University to visit the museum and see the exhibition.
Later that evening was a panel discussion at the chapel on the Hampton campus hosted by ASALH. We met many families who were helping their children get settled into the school. Quite a few were legacy students, that is, their parents were alumni.
It was with this acknowledgement -- the truth of what this nation has done to people of African descent and how its wealth is centered in the free labor and stolen lives dating back to August 1619 here-- that the events leading up to the National Day of Healing, Sunday, August 25, 2019 proceeded.
I arrived late Wednesday night at Newport News. The next day, Thursday was a wonderful community conversation about the 400 years of African American History Commission and what its charge is. I met many men from San Francisco, one an author. I met a wonderful resident there who not only gave me a lift, she took me around to visit the African American heritage sites like Emancipation Tree at Hampton University where I marveled at the 400 year old testament to liberty and education. Not only was the Emancipation Proclamation read here, this is also the site prior to freedom where Ms. Mary Peake, a free-born African American woman and an educator, taught free and enslaved Africans to read out of her home and later under the tree. Such act was against Virginia law.
“At 98 feet in diameter, the Emancipation Tree is ‘designated as one of the ‘Ten Great Trees of the World’ by the National Geographic Society and it continues to be a source of inspiration for all Hamptoians” (1619-2019 Family Tree). A school was later erected so that students – adults and children, could be more comfortable studying, especially during the inclement weather. Bright red, a replica sits near the tree.
While on campus, my new friend, gave me a tour of her alma mater. We visited the graveyard, saw the chapel, library and a few of the new buildings and sat next to celebrity politician, activists and scientists like President Obama, Dr. King, Ms. Peake and ? I ignored President George W. Bush. Dr. ? University President has expanded the holdings during his ? tenure. Downtown Hampton is the site of a beautiful office building. The is a new Scripps School of Journalism, housing developments, ? and ?
The following day started
Beautiful photo essay:
This weekend, Thursday, August 21-Sunday, August 25, 2019, was a National Recognition of the real date for the founding of America. July 4, 1776 might be the date the colony in the New World parted from its big sister Britain; however, it is August 20, 1619 when the White Lion docked at Point Comfort with 20 African bondsmen and women whom were then traded for food and other supplies that the philosophical tone was set or cast in a mold stiffly in opposition to the democratic values that came much later in the Constitution.
What became known as America was not an empty or barren landscape. These white men looking for opportunity they could exploit, did not recognize the humanity of anyone outside themselves. Though the history of the African people who ended up far away from home did not begin in 1619 with their capture, this event marks the start of a calendar.
Nothing today can undo that injustices African Diaspora people have faced and continued to face. What this commemoration does is speak out loud the unpleasant truth that needs addressing so the surviving generations can benefit.
A day later on my way to Newport News airport the taxi driver says that his daughter and husband (32 & 22) voted for Trump. The two belong to a church in Florida and the preacher -- white man, convinced the congregation -- majority African American, to vote for Trump because he is against abortions and same sex loving couples. Now that the former members are fellowshipping with another group, the preacher has nothing positive to say to the husband who saw him as a surrogate father.
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson said at Healing Day that he commended Gov. Ralph Northam, 73rd Governor of Virginia, for admitting the errs of his predecessors and has committed himself to righting those wrongs with legislation that is equitable and fair. Several people were taking photos with the governor at the Healing Day. Though Secret Service was there, he was accessible. The mayor of Hampton sat on the curb close to the stage later on. These politicians didn't seem afraid of their constituency. Everyone was invited to get close that weekend whether that was on the history tour where we met the historic couple who started the documentation trail in 1619 where torn from their homes in Angola without regard for the disruption and irrecoverable stolen legacy – Antoney and Isabell become servants of Captain William Tucker, who was the commander of the fort at Point Comfort. Their child, William is the first recorded baby of African descent Baptized in English North America—Jan. 3, 1624.
It is to this same place, the fort at Point Comfort that three African men who decided they did not want to be sold further south away from friends and family and took refuge where Major General Benjamin F. Butler granted asylum – using the clause “contraband of war” to legally justify not sending them back to their masters. Harriet Tubman also spent time here at the hospital nursing the sick soldiers and others who sought refuge back to health.
I arrived Wednesday – in time for the 400 Commission Community Meeting at Ft. Monroe. The nest day I attended the ceremony at the Tucker Family Cemetery where hundreds of descendants of the first African couple: Antoney and Isabell and William Tucker. From there we went to the Political Pioneer Stakeholder Luncheon, then got dropped off at Hampton University to visit the museum and see the exhibition.
Later that evening was a panel discussion at the chapel on the Hampton campus hosted by ASALH. We met many families who were helping their children get settled into the school. Quite a few were legacy students, that is, their parents were alumni.
It was with this acknowledgement -- the truth of what this nation has done to people of African descent and how its wealth is centered in the free labor and stolen lives dating back to August 1619 here-- that the events leading up to the National Day of Healing, Sunday, August 25, 2019 proceeded.
I arrived late Wednesday night at Newport News. The next day, Thursday was a wonderful community conversation about the 400 years of African American History Commission and what its charge is. I met many men from San Francisco, one an author. I met a wonderful resident there who not only gave me a lift, she took me around to visit the African American heritage sites like Emancipation Tree at Hampton University where I marveled at the 400 year old testament to liberty and education. Not only was the Emancipation Proclamation read here, this is also the site prior to freedom where Ms. Mary Peake, a free-born African American woman and an educator, taught free and enslaved Africans to read out of her home and later under the tree. Such act was against Virginia law.
“At 98 feet in diameter, the Emancipation Tree is ‘designated as one of the ‘Ten Great Trees of the World’ by the National Geographic Society and it continues to be a source of inspiration for all Hamptoians” (1619-2019 Family Tree). A school was later erected so that students – adults and children, could be more comfortable studying, especially during the inclement weather. Bright red, a replica sits near the tree.
While on campus, my new friend, gave me a tour of her alma mater. We visited the graveyard, saw the chapel, library and a few of the new buildings and sat next to celebrity politician, activists and scientists like President Obama, Dr. King, Ms. Peake and ? I ignored President George W. Bush. Dr. ? University President has expanded the holdings during his ? tenure. Downtown Hampton is the site of a beautiful office building. The is a new Scripps School of Journalism, housing developments, ? and ?
I hadn’t know what the term
contraband referenced and why it was used when speaking about escaped African
people. I learned that “contraband” is a legal term and again references those
Africans who escaped from captivity into another captivity in name not deed. As
word spread more and more Africans: women and children and the elderly showed up
at the fort and stayed. Additional schools were established and hospitals were
organized—when Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation was delivered, six African
schools had been constructed in Hampton.
The following day started
Beautiful photo essay:
Daily Press: 1619-2019 Commemoration of the First Africans Landing at Point Comfort
posted by Interchange @ 8:04 PM
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