By Michael Coard
From – https://www.phillytrib.com/
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
Precisely 98 years ago in February 1926, Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), of which he was a co-founder, first celebrated Negro History Week, which had been publicly announced in 1925. It was renamed Black History Week in 1972 and ultimately became Black History Month in 1976.
In 1912, Woodson- later recognized as the “Father of Black History”- became the first person of enslaved parents to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University. While a student at that elite Ivy League school and attending a lecture there, he was told by one of his white professors that Africans and African Americans “had no history.” Instead of merely getting angry, Woodson got even and did so through researching and organizing.
A little known fact about Negro History Week is that, as noted by ASNLH (now called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History- ASALH), Woodson “never viewed Black history as a one week affair. He pressed for schools to use Negro History Week to demonstrate what students learned all year. It was in this sense that Blacks would learn of their past on a daily basis that he looked forward to the time when an annual celebration would no longer be necessary.” Also, he “believed that Black history was too important to America and the world to be crammed into a limited time frame. He spoke of a shift from Negro History Week to Negro History Year.”
And I believe exactly what Woodson believed, which is why I’m writing this article entitled “Black History Month is World- and Philly- History Everyday.” Thanks to Woodson and literally hundreds of other past and present African-centered scholars, every Black educator (as well as every other educator) has an academic obligation to teach Black history, which is actually world history. And if those educators are in Philadelphia, they also have an academic obligation to include Black Philadelphia history as part of that world history.
If there was a syllabus for a World/Philadelphia Black History course, it must include information about- but certainly not be limited to- the following:
Africa- The Cradle of Humankind
Africans were the first humans/Homo sapiens on this planet beginning 300,000 years ago in the Nile Valley region of East Africa. And for 75% of those 300,000 years, which equals 225,000 years, they were the only humans on this planet. It wasn’t until just 75,000 years ago that other “ethnic” groups eventually came into existence after slowly migrating out of Africa. And many of those groups, as a result of that migration, began developing pale skin and stringy hair due to reduced melanin stemming from a change in climate from sunny to cloudy.
Africa- The Cradle of Civilization
Civilization is defined as that which has a “high level of cultural and technological development.” Therefore, Africa is indisputably the cradle of civilization as proven by hundreds of inventions, creations and discoveries including, for example, these ten:
Agriculture- Nabta Playa and Bir Kiseiba region of Egypt/Kemet, 9500 B.C.
Algebra- Egypt/Kemet by Ahmes, 1500 B.C.
Architecture- Egypt/Kemet by Imhotep, 2600 B.C.
Astronomy- Nabta Playa region of Egypt/Kemet is where the world’s first astronomical site was built, 7500 B.C.
Calculus- Egypt/Kemet by Tishome, 1500 B.C.
Calendar (“Adam’s Calendar)- Egypt/Kemet, 300,000 B.C.
Cotton- Eastern Sudan/Nubia, 5000 B.C.
Medicine- The “Father of Medicine” wasn’t Hippocrates, a Greek, born in 450 B.C. It was Imhotep, an Egyptian/Kemite who lived 2,200 years earlier in 2680 B.C.
Religion/Monotheism- Egypt/Kemet, 1350 B.C.
Writing- Sudan/Nubia, 5000 B.C.
African American Ingenuity
As a result of the genetic prowess of their ancient African ancestors, African Americans- despite slavery, sharecropping, Jim Crow, educational segregation, etc.- are proudly responsible for hundreds of inventions, creations and discoveries including, for example, these sixteen:
Air Conditioning Unit Design — Frederick Jones 1942
Dry Cleaning Process — Thomas Jennings 1821 (The first Black person to receive a U.S. patent for an invention)
Elevator (Modern) — Alexander Miles 1887
Global Positioning System/GPS (Development) — Gladys West, pre-1973
Home Heating Ventilation System — Alice Parker 1919
Home Security Alarm Video System — Marie Brown 1969
Ice Cream— Augustus Jackson 1832
Light Bulb (Modern) — Lewis Latimer 1881
Lock (Modern) — Washington Martin 1889
Potato Chip — George Crum (aka George Speck) early 1850s
Refrigeration (Frozen Food) Transport System — Frederick Jones 1949
Remote Control/TV Programmable — Joseph N. Jackson 1978
Telephone Blueprint — Lewis Latimer 1878
Thermostat Temperature Control System — Frederick Jones 1960
Traffic Signal (Traffic Light Forerunner) — Garrett Morgan 1923
Trolley/Electric Railway — Elbert Robinson 1893
Philadelphia Black History
The history of Blacks in this city includes, among many other occurrences, these nine:
Slavery began in Philadelphia in 1684 when the “slave” ship Isabella from Bristol, England arrived with 150 kidnapped Africans.
Beginning in 1685, William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, enslaved three Black persons at his Pennsbury Manor, just 20 miles north of Philadelphia.
The mayor of Philadelphia from 1707-1709, William L. Masters, was one of the city’s largest enslavers of Black women, men, girls and boys. Little did he realize that 317 years later in 2024 The Honorable Cherelle L. Parker- a remarkably skilled Black woman whom he would have enslaved- would be sworn in as the city’s 100th mayor after an overwhelming victory in 2023.
George Washington enslaved nine Black women, men, girls and boys in Philadelphia from 1790-1797 at America’s first “White House,” which was located at Sixth and Market streets. These nine were among the 316 he enslaved at his Mt. Vernon, Virginia plantation.
Two years after Cheyney University- America’s first HBCU- was founded in 1837, a 136 acre farm on Old York Road just outside Philadelphia was purchased to begin classes. Initially called the African Institute, it was renamed several weeks later as the Institute for Colored Youth. Ten years later in 1849, it moved to Barclay Street in Philadelphia before relocating to Seventh and Lombard streets in 1852. Finally, in 1902, the school’s trustees purchased the farm of George Cheyney, a white Quaker who supported Black education.
Abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman spent time separately in Philadelphia; Douglass in 1844 and Tubman in 1849.
More than 5,000 Black women, men, girls and boys beginning in 1869 are still buried in a cemetery desecrated under a trash dump and city playground in South Philadelphia at Fourth and Catherine streets. Fortunately, former Mayor Jim Kenney supported activists’ calls to memorialize that site. After creating the Bethel Burying Ground Historic Site Memorial Committee in 2017, the Kenney administration, following extensive public input, approved the memorial design by Karyn Olivier- a Black artist/sculptor/installer- in 2021. The grand opening is expected in 2025.
On Election Day in 1871 a block from Octavius Catto’s home at Eighth and South streets, a white man- angered by Catto’s relentless and courageous rallying cries to Black men to fearlessly exercise their 1870 Fifteenth Amendment right to vote- murdered him with two shots to the body. A prominent 12-foot statue of Catto has been on permanent public display since 2017 on the south side of City Hall. By the way, Catto had also been a math professor, an English professor and a principal at the Institute for Colored Youth, which later became Cheyney University.
The Philadelphia Tribune, founded in 1884 by Christopher James Perry Sr., is the oldest continuously published Black-owned and operated newspaper in America.
There’s much more to learn about Black history/Black world history/Black Philadelphia history. But there’s no rush. Take your time. After all, it’s bigger than February. In fact, it’s forever.
Michael Coard, Esq. can be followed on Twitter, Instagram, and his YouTube channel as well as at AvengingTheAncestors.com. His “Radio Courtroom” show can be heard on WURD 96.1 FM or 900 AM. And his “TV Courtroom” show can be seen on PhillyCAM/Verizon Fios/Comcast. The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Philadelphia Tribune.
