Posts tagged history
HiStorytelling
A FotoJo
Pennsylvania Humanities Council (PHC) History Speakers
What’s next Governor, Workhouses?
Image: Cartoon suggesting the Speenhamland system of 1795 was allowing paupers to live in luxury.
A Brief History of Poor Laws
During the reign of Elizabeth I, a series of legislation was passed to deal with the increasing problem of administering poor relief.
1563 — Justices of the Peace were authorised and empowered to raise compulsory funds for the relief of the poor and, for the first time, the poor were put into different categories
- those who would work but could not: these were the able-bodied or deserving poor. They were to be given help either through outdoor relief or by being given work in return for a wage.
- those who could work but would not: these were the idle poor. They were to be whipped through the streets, publicly, until they learned the error of their ways.
- those who were too old/ill/young to work: these were the impotent or deserving poor. They were to be looked after in almshouses, hospitals, orphanages or poor houses. Orphans and children of the poor were to be given a trade apprenticeship so that they would have a trade to pursue when they grew up.
Provisions of the Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601
consolidated all the previous legislation into one law and
included the creation of ‘Overseers’ of relief. The 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law.
In 1776, Adam Smith published his Wealth of Nations in which he said that the State should not interfere with the economy but should let the laws of supply and demand operate freely. The implication of this for poor relief was that those who could not work should be allowed to fend for themselves - and starve if necessary - rather than having the State provide any form of relief. Further, it was thought that men would work for any wage rather than starve themselves and their families; lower wages would benefit employers and reduce the price of food. ~
In 1834,The Poor Law Amendment act was passed and the new Poor Law is introduced. Under the new system relief was to be given in most instances only if the pauper entered the workhouse. ~ Pity the Poor Pauper
PA Governor Corbett’s 2012-13 Budget Proposal
The Governor’s 2012-2013 budget calls for eliminating GA cash assistance entirely and slashing funding of GA-related Medical Assistance by as much as two-thirds. The General Assistance (GA) program is only for the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians:
- Disabled or sick adults without children
- Domestic violence survivors
- Adults caring for another who is sick or disabled
- Adults participating in drug or alcohol treatment programs
More info…
- Assessment of Governor Corbett’s 2012-13 Budget Proposal by the Numbers CLEAR Assessment of Corbett’s 2012-13 Proposal - CLEAR Coalition
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Gov. Corbett’s easy attack on Pennsylvania’s weakest
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State Budget Proposal – Governor’s Cuts Would Affect Most Vulnerable
Got something to say about it:
Governor Tom Corbett
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120
Governor Tom Corbett
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120
(governor@pa.gov) & FAX (717-772-8284)
Image:Shackles on the feetof Lady Liberty.
National Park Service, Statue of Liberty National Monument (nps.gov)
In the completed statue the shackle, which Liberty symbolically has broken, lies in front of her right foot, the heel of which is raised as in walking. The shackle chain disappears beneath the draperies and reappears in front of her left foot, the end link modeled to appear broken. (NPS Historical Handbook)
Read my Blog post: Liberty Bound
(Source: cr.nps.gov)
Honorable Samia Yaba Nkrumah M.P. (4th from right) @AAMPmuseum with (left to right) Dr. Evelyn Poe, Denise Valentine, Adrienne Whaley, Prof. Sir Vincent Abukuse Mbirika, Dr. D. Zizwe Poe, Tianna Williams, Ama Nimley, Rakeira Williams, Beyan Kesselly. (04272012) Photo by Denise Valentine.
Philadelphia – The personal diary of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), first President of Ghana, was returned to his family and country today. By order of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the diary was released directly into the hands of President Nkrumah’s daughter, the Honorable Samia Yaba Nkrumah, M.P.
I was fortunate to attend a welcoming reception for Samia Nkrumah at the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) immediately after she reclaimed Dr. Nkrumah’s diary for the people of Ghana.
Photo Source: Madagascan Woman - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Madagascan_Woman.jpg
To Adorn
Recently, I worked on a project called “The Will to Adorn: Philadelphia Stories of Beauty and Adornment” at the Philadelphia Folklore Project (PFP). It featured a screening of the award-winning documentary “Hair Stories,” (1998) by West Philadelphia filmmaker,master braider and hair sculptor, Yvette Smalls, storytelling by members of Keepers of the Culture (KOTC), Philadelphia’s Afrocentric storytelling group, and story-sharing from attendees. ”The Will to Adorn” occurred in conjunction with an effort by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, a national multi-year initiative exploring how African American identities are communicated through cultural aesthetics, arts of the body, dress, and adornment.
The program at PFP looked in-depth at how people use adornment, hair, dress, style, etc. as means of self expression and community affirmation. Narrator, C Frink-Reed, KOTC’s historian and folklorist, gave an eloquent and moving tribute to master braider, Yvette Smalls. After the screening of “Hair Stories,” storyteller TAHIRA took us down memory lane, recalling the days when we sat between our Grandmothers’ knees to get our scalps ‘scratched and greased.’ Momma Sandi told the beautiful story “Royalty,” portraying Jezebel, not as a loose woman, but as one adorned with regality.
Thirsty Roots offers this abbreviated version of the black hair history timeline from the book, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America by Ayana Byrd and Lori Tharps.
Black Hair History/Discovering our Roots…
More… Hair History
http://thirstyroots.com/black-hair-history
http://thirstyroots.com/black-hair-history/african-american-hairstyle-history
…
Indigo Chile
For my story, I chose to examine adornment as a form of resistance. During my research, I viewed a talk by Virginia Tech History Professor Beverly Bunch-Lyons discussing the methods and strategies black women used to resist slavery. She explains… To continue reading, visit: TO ADORN
(Update 8/1/12: Sadly, Kinyozi-Yvette Smalls passed away on April 16, 2012, this public appearance on March 2nd, would be her last.)
Barefoot. Pregnant Awards - Strangers in the Land - HSP
Barefoot, Pregnant Awards (NOW) Nat’l Organization Women Philadelphia Chapter - Historical Society of Pennsylvania 1973.
Another interesting piece on Women and Morality
Far from the Path of Virtue: Women on the Margins of Morality in Antebellum America
“In the antebellum period, American women’s participation in the public sphere was limited, often constraining women to roles as pious, devoted mothers and wives. However, some women stepped outside propriety: adulteresses, wives suing for divorce, unwed mothers, and prostitutes all tested the bounds of female propriety.”
“This exhibit features societal responses to women’s deviance and the stories of five women, both villains and victims, who treaded on the margins of morality and challenged notions of appropriate moral behavior for women.”
Pepper-Pot Woman at a Philadelphia Marketplace, circa 1811. Food As A Lens. John Lewis Krimmel (1786-1821)
Food Folklore - Restoring resourcefulness and reciprocity in our communities.
Reggae version: “Everybody want to raid de barn, nobody want to plant de corn” -Anthony B.
Fairytale version: “Who will help me plant this grain of corn?” -The Little Red Hen
Food 4 Thought – Mural of Notable Residents of Historic Germantown, Save-a-Lot, Chelten Plaza, Philadelphia, Photo (2-10-12) by Denise Valentine
Food Equity/ Food Security
Germantown History Mural: “Notable” Residents
Marketplace as Metaphor
Food Emancipation
Food Folklore
I want to know whose idea it was to put a lily white representation of Germantown history, including two icons of slavery, on the wall in a predominantly black, and increasingly poor neighborhood?
See: http://storymama01.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/food-for-thought/
“It meant what it said and it said what it meant.” Miss Winson Hudson 1962
This was Miss Winson Hudson’s interpretation of an article of the Mississippi Constitution.Section 244 of the state constitution of 1890, imposed a literacy requirement in order to register to vote. “Applicants were required to copy and then write an interpretation of the any section chosen by the registrar. Legal barriers in addition to “tactics of intimidation and violence” for the purpose of disfranchising the black vote were a long standing practice in Mississippi. “By 1955, only 5% of black voters were registered to vote.”
“It took Winson and Dovie Hudson many tries, over many years, to register to vote.” Her first attempt had been in 1937. In 1961 she was slipped a note that read: ‘The eyes of Klan’s upon you.” P. 43
Finally, in 1963, Winson Hudson registered to vote in Harmony, Mississippi, when she interpreted part of the state constitution by saying: “It meant what it said and it said what it meant.” With her sister Dovie, Winson also filed the first lawsuit to desegregate the public schools in a rural county.
“Winson’s narrative … illustrates the virtually untold story of the role that African American women played in the civil rights movement at the local level in black communities throughout the South.”
Mississippi Harmony: Memoirs of a Freedom Fighter. Winson Hudson, Derrick Bell, Constance Curry. Palgrave Macmillan, Dec 30, 2003. p.37 - 44
(Image) 1630, Africae nova descripto… Amsterdam, Willem Janszoon Blaeu.
This map, which appears in Volume X of Blaeu’s Grand Atlas…Yale Map Collection.
The International Transmission of Knowledge and Culture
In addition to our natural curiosity, certain forces have made travel and the exchange of knowledge both necessary and inevitable. Take a look at exploration, trade and conquest through maps, travelogues and stories of Ancient Exploration.
Had a Talk with George
Denise Valentine, Storyteller w/ General George Washington @
Re-enactment of the historic Battle of Germantown at Cliveden, the Estate of Benjamin Chew, Photo taken Oct 4, 2011 by Denise Valentine | http://www.denisevalentine.com
Denise Valentine, Storyteller
February 20, 2012
I had a talk with General George Washington @ the reenactment of the historic Battle of Germantown. While all the other soldiers were fighting, and dying, there he was, just standing there looking, well, like a general. I thought to myself, if I’d had the chance to talk to George, face-to-face, what would I say? What would he say? Well, here was my chance. I asked him what he thought about his enslaved man Harry Washington running away to Join Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment? With a stunned look, he said, “You don’t say.” I went on to tell him all that I knew about Harry: that he had evacuated with the British to New York (1783), then Nova Scotia, and finally to Sierra Leone. To all of this the General replied, “You don’t say.” Now, I’m sure this response was just his way of being polite. And, since historical performers make it a point not to break character, he couldn’t possibly acknowledge anything that took place after the battle or after his own passing. He didn’t even know he’d be president one day. In fact, George had expended a great deal of time and expense securing the return of his “stolen” property. As for Harry, he faced a British military tribunal, charged with rebellion against the colonial government in Sierra Leone.
Washington’s Revolution (Harry that is, not George)
I came across the story of Harry Washington while reading a book by Cassandra Pybus, “Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty.”
Lord Dunmore, the colonial governor of Virginia at the outbreak of the American Revolution, issued a Proclamation (1775) that freed “all indented Servants, Negroes, or others… willing to bear arms for the Crown.”
Harry Washington was one of “three of General Washington’s servants” offering their services to the British.
An amendment to the Treaty of Paris prohibited the British from carrying off “negroes or other property belonging to the inhabitants of the United States of America.” Nevertheless, the “Book of Negroes” lists Harry amongst the 3,000 Black Americans who were evacuated to Nova Scotia at the end of the American War of Independence.
Harry is also listed in the Birchtown muster. Harry, Jenny and their two small children relocated to the British colony of Sierra Leone in 1791. In 1800 he was one of the leaders of a failed rebellion in Sierra Leone.
Further Reading:
Slave resistance: Will joins the British - September 30 Phillip Seitz: http://thehistoryteller.com/2011/resistance/will-joins-the-british/
For Will and thousands of other men of African descent the choice was clear. In January of 1778 he quietly walked away from the Chew home into occupied Philadelphia and was never heard from again.
image; http://www.fold3.com/image/#6602543
Jacob Bummel, 35, stout fellow. Formerly the property of Benjamin Chew of Cecil County, Virginia; left him 4 years ago.
Harry Washington, 43, fine fellow. Formerly the property of General Washington; left him 7 years ago.
Daniel Payne, 22 years, ordinary fellow, (Maurice Salt). Formerly slave to Gen. Washington, Virginia; left him about 4 years ago. GMC.
Harry Squash, 22, stout middle sized, (Mr. Lynch). Property of Mr. Lynch, purchased from Captain Huddleston, Royal Artillery.
Deborah his wife, 20, stout wench, thick lips, pock marked, (Mr. Lynch). Formerly slave to General Washington, came away about 4 years ago. GBC
Hill, Lawrence The Book of Negroes / Someone Knows My Name - www.lawrencehill.com/the_book_of_negroes.html
Canadian author Lawrence Hill’s novel is published as Someone Knows My Name in the USA, Australia and New Zealand and appears in Canada as The Book of Negroes
Martin, Zena. Blog post. Feb 21 – Harry Washington: Freed Slave, Black Loyalist and Fighter for Freedom. THROUGH ZENA’S EYES - BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2011. http://zmblackhistorymonth2011.blogspot.com/2011/02/feb-21-harry-washington-freed-slave.html
Nell, William C. The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, With Sketches of Several Distinguished Colored Persons: To Which Is Added a Brief Survey of the Condition And Prospects of Colored Americans: Electronic Edition.WITH ANINTRODUCTION BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY ROBERT F. WALLCUT. 1855. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/nell/nell.html#nell166
Pybus, Cassandra. “Washington’s Revolution, Harry that is not George” Journal of Atlantic Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2006, 183-198.
Seitz, Phillip. Slave resistance: Will joins the British - September 30, 2011.
For Will and thousands of other men of African descent the choice was clear. In January of 1778 he quietly walked away from the Chew home into occupied Philadelphia and was never heard from again. http://thehistoryteller.com/2011/resistance/will-joins-the-british/
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“Stories are like Roots to the Past…
and Wings to the Future.”
