Scottsboro Boys Trial Attorneys

Jul 26, 1937- Titled "Enjoying Their Freedom." Byline on reverse of photo reads: Samuel Liebowitz and the 4 youths he defended in the famed Scottsboro case wave farewell as they leave for New York after viewing a movie at Cincinnati. Those freed are Eugene Williams, Roy Wright, Willie Roberson and Olen Montgomery. (original press photo owned  by G. Morgan purchased from Historical Images-Memphis, Tn. May 9, 2012 - ( Fair Use Rule - Photo utilized for non-profit news reporting and commentary))

A bit of information surfaced in last weekend's edition of the Chattanooga Times Free Press regarding the attorneys from Chattanooga involved in the "Scottsboro Boys" case and the physician who examined the alleged victims in the case.

Regarding George Chamblee, Esq., employed by the ILD, International Labor Defense League, to assist Samuel Liebowitz in the Scottsboro Case. "Chamblee, the grandson of a decorated Confederate veteran and member of a prominent Tennessee family, had no trouble with unpopular defendants and causes including Communists and radicals. He represented many moonshiners during the Prohibition era and claimed he had tried more than 800 murder cases with none of his clients being electrocuted or hanged. A graduate of Mercer Law School, he served as Chattanooga city attorney and district attorney general in Hamilton County before becoming involved in Scottsboro."
 http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/opinion/columns/story/2016/feb/28/summers/352089/

African American History Month 2016 - Carter G. Woodson

Carter G. Woodson Image Courtesy of Ancella Bickley Collection, West Virginia State Archives - See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/aah/woodson-carter-g-1875-1950#sthash.qaCD0Cyu.dpuf

February is African American History Month

The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.

As a Harvard-trained historian, Carter G. Woodson, like W. E. B. Du Bois before him, believed that truth could not be denied and that reason would prevail over prejudice. His hopes to raise awareness of African American's contributions to civilization was realized when he and the organization he founded, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), conceived and announced Negro History Week in 1925. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that encompassed the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The response was overwhelming: Black history clubs sprang up; teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils; and progressive whites, not simply white scholars and philanthropists, stepped forward to endorse the effort.

By the time of Woodson's death in 1950, Negro History Week had become a central part of African American life and substantial progress had been made in bringing more Americans to appreciate the celebration. At mid–century, mayors of cities nationwide issued proclamations noting Negro History Week. The Black Awakening of the 1960s dramatically expanded the consciousness of African Americans about the importance of black history, and the Civil Rights movement focused Americans of all color on the subject of the contributions of African Americans to our history and culture.

The celebration was expanded to a month in 1976, the nation's bicentennial. President Gerald R. Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” That year, fifty years after the first celebration, the association held the first African American History Month. By this time, the entire nation had come to recognize the importance of Black history in the drama of the American story. Since then each American president has issued African American History Month proclamations. And the association—now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)—continues to promote the study of Black history all year.
(Excerpt from an essay by Daryl Michael Scott, Howard University, for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History)

Executive and Legislative Documents

The Law Library of Congress has compiled guides to commemorative observations, including a comprehensive inventory of the Public Laws, Presidential Proclamations and congressional resolutions related to African American History Month.
http://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/

Sermon by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. "Why Jesus Called a Man a Fool" August 27, 1967; The Martin Luther King and Malcolm X Debate and Dr. Derrick Hudson on Dr. King

Martin Luther King and Malcolm X Debate



Dr. Derrick Hudson Presentation: "On March 26th, 1964, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X met at the United States Capital to hear deliberations on the Civil Rights Bill being debated by the United States Senate. I was born on March 9, 1964, so I would have been a mere 17 days old when these two men, whose shoulders I stand upon, came face to face with one another..."

"There is a danger in making MLK a mere object of hero-worship. By this we allow his courage to substitute for our fear, his boldness to take the place of our timidity, his radical call to hide our tepid
conformity. If we do this, we shall simply be like the people Brutus describes in the lines following his quote above, where he refers to those who omit to take on the affairs of men at the flood: "Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat; and we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures." If, in our current affairs, we allow ourselves to be bound in shallows and miseries instead of taking issues at the flood, we shall simply be angry men and women who live the life of endless, but futile critics..."

Link to the rest of Dr. Hudson's presentation - http://www.mines.edu/UserFiles/File/Hudson.pdf

The Inconvenient Truth - Black American Lynchings and The Use of The "N" Word.

Fair Use for non-profit educational display. 

Story and picture from Face Book

Excerpt taken from the article, "Black Women Lynched in America," photo is of Laura Nelson.

Black American Lynchings and The Use of The "N" Word.

"American mobs lynched some 5000 Black Americans since 1859, scores of whom were women, several of them p...regnant. Rarely did the killers spend time in jail because the white mobs and the government officials who protected them believed justice mean't (just us) white folks. Lynching denied Black American's the right to a trial or the right to due process. No need for a lawyer and a jury of your peers: the white community decided what happened and what ought to be done. After the whites accused Laura Nelson of killing a white deputy In Oklahoma, they raped this Black woman, tied her to a bridge trestle and for good measure, they lynched her son from a telephone pole. Did the white community react in horror after viewing the dangling corpses of Laura Nelson and her son? No, they came by the hundreds, making their way by cars, horse driven wagons, and by foot to view the lynching. Dressed in their Sunday best, holding their children’s hands and hugging their babies, the white on-lookers looked forward to witnessing the spectacle of a modern day crucifixion. They snapped pictures of Laura Nelson, placed them on postcards and mailed them to their friends boasting about the execution. They chopped off the fingers, sliced off the ears of Ms. Holbert, placed the parts in jars of alcohol and displayed them in their windows.

White America today know little or nothing about lynching because it contradicts every value America purports to stand for. Black Americans, too, know far too little about the lynchings because the subject is rarely taught in school. Had they known more about these lynchings, I am almost certain that Black Americans would have taken anyone to task, including gangster rappers, for calling themselves niggers or calling Black women “hoes” and “bitches.” How could anybody in their right mind call these Black women who were sexually abused, mutilated, tortured and mocked the same degrading name spoken by their murderers? What Black woman in her right state of mind would snap her fingers or tap her feet to the beat of a song that contained the same degrading remarks that the whites uttered when they raped and lynched them.

The lynchers and the thousands of gleeful spectators called these Black women niggers when they captured them, niggers when they placed the rope around their necks and niggers when their necks snapped. Whites viewed Black women as hated black things, for, how else can one explain the treatment of Mary Turner? The lynch mob ignored her cries for mercy, ripped off her clothes, tied her ankles together, turned her upside down, doused her naked body with gas and oil, set her naked body on fire, ripped her baby out of her, stomped the child to death and laughed about it. Blacks purchased Winchesters to protect themselves, staged demonstrations, created anti-lynching organizations, pushed for anti-lynching legislation and published articles and books attacking the extralegal violence.

So who are our real heroes? Lil Kim Is not a hero. Oprah is not a hero. Whoopie Goldberg is not a hero. Michael Jordan is not a hero. Dennis Rodman is not a hero. They are entertainers, sport figures, creations of the media, media icons and they are about making huge sums of money and we wish these enterprising stars well. Mary Turner, Laura Nelson, Marie Scott and Jennie Steers and countless others who died painful, horrifying deaths are your true historical heroes. Niggers they were not, bitches they were not and hoes they were not. They will not go down in history for plastering their bodies with tattoos, inventing exotic diets, endorsing Gatorade, embracing studio gangsterism. They were strong beautiful Black women who suffered excruciating pain, died horrible deaths. Their legacy of strength lives on. These are my heroes. Make them yours as well".

Before you even form your mouth again to use the "N" word, please consider the inhumanity behind the origin of the word, consider the history of pain and death tied to that word and vow to never use it again, ever!""

Excerpt taken from the article, "Black Women Lynched in America".
Attached photo is of Laura Nelson. (Fair Use Rights for non-profit education.)

Fair Use Rights for non-profit educational use

We must never forget our history so that we may never repeat our mistakes.

https://henriettavintondavis.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/black-women-who-were-lynched-in-america/