Author: jhnashtongmailcom

After the Emancipation Proclamation, some slave owners hid the news from their slaves of their freedom. It was not until Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived with 2000 troops traveling into Galveston, Texas, that many slaves learned of their freedom. One woman, a former slave named Tempie Cummins, told the Federal Writers’ Project in 1939 that her mother overheard the master say that the slaves didn’t know they were free, and he wasn’t going to tell them until after “another crop or two.” Cummins and her mother ran away that night.

Government agents went across the country to see if the slaves had been freed. To accomplish this, they would ask black people, “How are you working? What are you getting?” Some slaves would reply that they were not getting anything. If that was the case, the agent would have the owner present himself in front of the government. Some blacks might have been working as long as a year before they found out they were due payment for their labor.

Source: Black Then | After the Emancipation Proclamation: Slaves Kept in the Dark About Being Free

DALLAS – A group of Dallas dispatchers banded together to help a senior citizen who called 911 for help because she didn’t have anything to eat.

Dallas police say Valencia Crowder, a 911 dispatcher, received a call in late March from a senior citizen. The woman said she had exhausted all her resources and had nothing to eat. She called 911 hoping they could point her a city program that could help her.

Source: Dallas dispatchers answer call for help, donate groceries to senior citizen without food

Source: Chinese Credit Fuels Debt Crisis in Africa – Bloomberg

The whipping post. The lynching tree. The wagon wheel. They were the stories of slavery, an inheritance of fear and dread, passed down from father to son.

Source: Daniel Smith, living son of a slave at 88, shares his family’s story – The Washington Post

The FBI began COINTELPRO—short for Counterintelligence Program—in 1956 to disrupt the activities of the Communist Party of the United States. In the 1960s, it was expanded to include a number of other domestic groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Black Panther Party. All COINTELPRO operations were ended in 1971. (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

Source: Did You Know The FBI Sabotaged These Black Organizations? Here Is How COINTELPRO Works! | Urban Intellectuals

Brazil’s indigenous population of roughly 850,000 is more vulnerable to the COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, as they live in remote areas with little access to health care systems and because their communal lifestyle rules out social distancing.

Bolsonaro vetoed 16 parts of the law on efforts to address the coronavirus threat to Brazil’s indigenous population, but still allowed for provisions on adequate testing, ambulance services and medical equipment.

Source: Brazil’s Bolsonaro vetoes plans to offer COVID-19 support to indigenous people – Reuters

Source: Raoul Peck: What James Baldwin Knew About This Moment – The Atlantic

Black Feminism in Brazil is enjoying an important moment in the spotlight. In recent years, Brazil’s newly educated black women have sought out black authors and thinkers. While the Internet has played a huge role, much of this increased demand can also be attributed to 2015’s Black Women’s March when more than 50,000 Black Brazilian marched in Brasília. One of the main goals of the march was to push the Brazilian government into establishing policy that met the specific needs of black women—disproportionately affected by violence, poverty, and health issues.

Source: 12 Books and Texts You Need to Read to Understand Black Feminism in Brazil – PART 1 – Coisa de Preto by Kiratiana