Tag Archives: History

BROTHERS AND FRIENDS UP FROM MY HERITAGE

A few years ago, my younger sister, a churched lady, like my mother up from Virginia told me that my childhood friend Daniel, born abt. 1937, had passed over and numerous unknown and seldom seen men in our age group attended the funeral in our hometown church.  My first thought was yes, like me and my deceased friend Dan they too were of the Jenny Jackson midwife caring to our mothers back in the 1920-1950 era.  Mrs. Jackson is the woman who told us boys on many occasions we were born to be brothers in Christ; and though mentally retarded Daniel was always our hometown brother. 

Growing up during boyhood, it seemed to me that parents of everyone in town were from someplace else like Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and even Europe; working in the coal mines and living in housing built and owned by the Pittsburgh Coal Company.  From age 8 to 10 years I had a newspaper delivery job to about 50 different homes; and I knew which houses my school friends lived or did not live in.  

Coal miner readers like my father read everything, and believed Duvall Williams was their brother down in the coal mines and many like my father, in spirit of Jesus Christ also, before and after Jackie Robinson said he was a believer.  And, so those were added reasons for me to view Daniel as my brother and good boyhood friend.    

baseball with Jackie Robinson was a daily social conversation topic among African-American laboring men and women.  For men like my father and Mr. Duvall, Jackie Robinson epitomized the doctrine of Booker T. Washington that young Black men should use their minds, hearts and hands to gain marketable skills.  They encouraged young boys to men like Duball’s son Henry, my friend to learn and practice, and he demonstrated so well that older men of community baseball team (Library Monarchs) drafted him onto their team. 

That’s about time era when Henry told us younger guys like Daniel to stop calling him Cockeye, his boyhood nickname.  He was called Hank by older men on team as a sign of respect.  We younger boys did the same and he joined the Air Force and during his 20 year career became known as Henry Hank Williams champion amateur boxer and semi-professional golfer. 

Second baseman Jackie Robinson played 10 seasons for the Dodgers. Robinson had a .311 batting average with 1,518 hits, 137 home runs, 734 runs batted in, and 947 runs scored. Robinson was elected to Hall of Fame.

My father cared and admired Jackie’s courage and determination ducking pitches at his heard, hitting the dirt and getting back in the box to bat again. I learned about the games listening to him talk to Deacon Pope whose two sons were professional baseball players.  Their daily travels and news-paper opinions were part of our town culture chats by men and women including the Duvall family.

My friend Daniel’s family were not subscribers, and he was assigned to the special education room (many students called it the dumb room) in our elementary school building.  In my 8th year of schooling in another building, I learned that many kids I knew from the dumb room were not my inferiors, and some like Daniel were brotherly in classes and social relationships to me.  Not Daniel, but others did go on into the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th grades to graduate high school.  Daniel like many dropped out after 9th grade, and I seem to remember him getting a job on a local garbage pickup truck of a local pig farmer.       

It was not until after graduating high school that I learned from my mother and understood why Mrs. Jackson viewed all of us boys to be brothers.  In fact, I learned that Daniel’s name was not Daniel Duvall, I had always assumed because his father was known in the community as Duvall. I had not known their family name was Williams, probably because I never saw or heard him addressed by it in our church that he apparently did not attend.  He was a coal miner like my father and he and all the men I knew spoke to him as “Duvall or Mr. Duvall and his wife as Mrs. Duvall who I quickly learned that like Daniel her son, she was also mentally retarded.”   And, by the grace of God Almighty, I had a mother who was not.

My mother taught me a lot about “the least of us” of which our family was surely of them.  She explained for me to understand that like me Daniel was part of a sizeable family with an older sister who had a son (Clyde) and daughter (Mary/Sugar Lump) in the age group of me and my sister, four years senior to me.  The oldest Duvall offspring was not mentally retarded and functioned like a Godmother to her siblings and natural mother.  Her name was Elizabeth who had a strenuous burden being a mother, godmother and sibling to her oldest brother Davy who was gay and looked like her when he dressed in same clothes and make-up. 

A related burden for Ms. Elizabeth was her next older brother “Nukie” severally retarded since birth and often known to walk down the street buck naked.  I saw him once when Mrs. Jenny Jackson turned him around and walked behind returning Nookie home.  It was a similar incident to what I saw around 1971 in Accra Ghana with a naked man walking in the street and no one, not even policemen, stopping him.  My Ghana friend explained to me that it was their custom to not embarrass the family but wait for a relative to show up and take the man home.  

Younger brothers to Davy in Mr. Duvall’s family were James, Henry, Daniel and Leonard all born in my hometown of Library.  I very well remember Leonard at age 6 years dying when his appendix burst; and many mothers like mine assembled to mourn in the Duvall home.  The family members were not attendees or baptized in our nearby Baptist church because Big Sister Elizabeth was active in a Seven-Day Adventist Congregation in Pittsburgh and wanted her siblings and husband Burley Carrington to be so-saved. I was told that in early years of Pittsburgh Coal Company Mr. Burley was a mule team driver moving the coal from the mine to a location where good coal was separated from the dirt and slate.

 And, he was known to at one time in the past, he was a prize-fighter and likely the person who gave my buddy Daniel the boxing gloves he loved caring around his neck and getting buddies like me to put on a pair to box him.  I did and like everyone else put the gloves on with Dan I quickly learned that he knew how to punch.  I turned down his future offers to box me.  Our group of friends with Dan played with him just about every day it was him that Alvin Ross called Dangerous Dan along with other names like Man without fear.  My near death experience on the red hot slate dump was me trying to imitate Dangerous Dan who a week earlier had make the forbidden walk without fear of being sucked into the mass of red hot slate. 

Dan did a lot of things in play with my friends and me that we kept quiet about because no one ever asked us.  Example was the three alarm fire that burned the great field at the end of Overhill Avenue on which we all lived.  Playing cops and robbers on a long day in which Dan was the town sheriff, he ended his search for our hideout by setting the field on fire after we refused to surrender and show ourselves.    

So far as I ever heard, none other than son Clyde ever did get dipped in the water of salvation.  The death of Leonard, less than seven years of age, shocked my mother and other mothers in town, Black and White, when they learned the facts.  He died from child neglect by a retarded mother who did not, could not, diagnose a underage child’s complaint about a stomach ache, even after the first-grade teacher sent him home for caring.  My mother and others in town realized that Elizabeth needed help in helping her care for her mother and siblings.  The Library Civic Women’s Club that included Mrs. Jenny Jackson decided that one of them would visit the needy household each day to be useful and helpful; and Mrs. Jackson would extra care about boys like Daniel and Leonard to make certain they were not ill.

That declaration of my mother and other mothers helping Elizabeth get help caring for her mother and siblings was after World War II; and I remember it was about 1946 when Leonard died in the first grade while I was in the second grade, Mrs. Gates class.

Women’s Civic Clubs (moremarymatters.com)

Pittsburgh Coal Company, owned by Mellon Bank, had initiated and sponsored civic social clubs for men and women, including midwives, even before I was born.  But, so far as I know it was the Duvall Williams son Lenard’s death in which I best remember my mother as a Christian activist in action.  There were many mothers, Black and White, who mourned and suffered together when a neighborhood child died, or like me almost died in red hot slate dump accident imitating my friend Daniel walking on the edges. To this day, I believe GOD heard me holler and sent Freddy Austin dashing to my rescue, no one else.

I would like to tell readers that my beloved mother not only visited and went into Daniel’s household talking to his mother about him and her; and told my brother and friend that if Daniel were ever hungry he could come eat dinner with me and my siblings.  And if she saw him in the yard or streets playing when time for me to eat, she would wave him into supper also. But, its not a true story of my household, but a neighboring Italian mother and large family that emotionally adopted Daniel.  

I do well remember the day my mother carried baked  three sweet potato pies, and we walked to carry and give one to Mrs. Duvall in her house.   Daniel was there when the pie was given to Daniel’s mother who exclaimed in thanks that she would eat it and Dan asked to be included in the eating with her replying “no, Miss Cora (my mother) brought this for me.”   My mother promptly cautioned the pie is everyone and Dan’s replied with a big smile, “OK.” 

I want to remember, maybe exaggerate a bit, that at Thanksgiving-Christmas time our Italian neighbors always did so even giving him a turkey supper with greens and sweet potatoes along with other delights.  Daniel heard his name called out to God Almighty as an Italian father made blessings for all present, including him.

Other men in the church of my father did the same thing so far as I remember hearing my mother and father talk about the Duvall family. Elizabeth’s brother Davy often came to the house for talking with my mother about any and everything he wanted to discuss, especially what he was doing for his mother and siblings. He was not a coal miner and I do not recall him ever saying where he worked.  He was welfare qualified as head of household beneficiary and the women in town apparently were very fond of his visits and talks. 

Men like my father were tolerant; but would be less so when Mount Zion Baptist Church caught fire in year 1957, and Davy who was not a member rushed into the burning church and took the big famous bible to his home.  My mother counseled him that it was wrong of him and he promised to return when he finished reading.  Folks in town claimed he went crazy going down to the Roman Catholic Church waving the bible and shouting to whoever was inside that he now knew what they were hiding. 

Community Health (moremarymatters.com)

By my 10th year in public school, Old Man Duvall had retired as a coal miner and moved himself and family dependents minus Davy and James back to a farm in Erie, Pa. which used to be a part of Allegheny County in the 19th century.  I thought about him when deciding to write about my childhood buddy Daniel (some guys called him Boone).  I decided I needed to start with his father in Erie, PA. just as I did with my own story, starting in Salem, VA.  I learned a lot about the place and African-American heritage within it dating back to the pre-revolutionary war era patriots of 1775 to 1783.  

Researching and reading more I have since learned by copyrighted article below and concluded Duvall Williams was likely of the AME Church that my father was baptized into as a boy; and became a Baptist after marriage and coming to live near a Baptist church literally just steps away with doors open and inviting.  And, he was likely one of those World War I veterans like others I know something about who came into the Pittsburgh Region pursuant jobs in the coal mining and steel mill industries.

There were no coal mine jobs in northern Allegheny County that once included Erie County.  Many Pittsburgh Region African-American military veterans dating back to Civil War came from Erie County.

I remember as a teenager that Mr. Duvall (Duvall Williams) had retired as a coal miner, and moved back to his farm home in Erie, Pa. a county about two hours distance from Library.  I later learned he grew up there but kept ownership of the family house in Library where most of his children, including my friend Dan, and his older brother Davey who became head of household and rented out two rooms.  I was excited to learn and including what follows from copyrighted material of the Shared Heritage folks in Erie, PA.    

Settlement and Slavery to the Civil War: 1795-1865    https://www.sharedheritage.org/

Erie’s early history is traditionally told as a story of Revolutionary War veterans and brave white pioneers carving frontier settlements out of the wilderness of northwestern Pennsylvania. Often missing from that narrative are the enslaved Africans brought here by their owners.

Lost on most of us in the 21st century is the fact that Pennsylvania, cradle of American freedom, even had slavery. In 1780, even as American colonists were locked in a bloody fight for independence, Pennsylvania became the first democratic body in world history to move toward gradual abolition of slavery. The law passed that year banned the importation of slaves and mandated that enslaved persons born before 1780 would remain so for life, while their children born after 1780 would remain “indentured servants” until the age of 28.

Among the prominent Erie citizens counting persons among their substantial property were Judah Colt, P.S.V. Hamot, Rufus Reed, and the Kelsos. When John Kelso died in 1821, the Erie press ran an advertisement selling “the time” of 18 year-old Bristo Logan. Following his purchase by John Cochran of Millcreek and ten additional years of enslavement, Logan married and ran his own ice cream business, pioneering a tradition of notable African American success in that enterprise.

I know that Allegheny County, wherein I was born, in the 1810 U.S. Census, listed some 28 living slaves subject to gradual/eventual emancipation under Pennsylvania law. I do not know about Erie County and the non-profit insight cited is very informative to me knowing what kind of work Black men were doing, for who and why.  Fighting in the War of 1812 included the U.S. Navy and Black sailors therein which I long suspected in writing about military history.  But, then afterwards where did they go to do what with their lives before the Civil War erupted and give a history as to who, what, when and where.

Whose brothers were they, and how do I know my relatives down in Virginia were or were not related to them. Virginia was right across the Ohio River from Pittsburgh and I dare not imagine none of my ancestral kin failed to attempt or accomplish escape from slavery before Underground railroad historians love to read and talk about. As the son of a coalminer and offspring of generations that ventured to pursue liberties where no one had dared to do so before reflected a pioneering spirit of men born, not made by, favorable actions of others telling them how and when to go or not go to war or work.  I like following the records of men at war and peace because it causes me to think I might indeed be a brother to Daniel, and his story is part of my story to tell.  If not, why do I know so much and care about him since our childhoods in the same town and streets.  Indeed, God works in mysterious ways for us to think about.

“Am I Not a Man and a Brother?” Josiah Wedgewood, 1787*
Bladen Farm, from a Map of Mill Creek Township, 1876

One of the first white settlers in northwest Pennsylvania was John Grubb, who brought with him from Maryland a black man named Boe Bladen. Census records tell us that Grubb had several African Americans living in his household (likely Bladen and his sons), and we also know that Grubb moved at some point from enslaver to abolitionist. Originally taken from Guinea, west Africa, Bladen arrived with striking marks on his body. Conflicting accounts hold that the markings were indicators either of his tribal identity or savage treatment by a previous owner.

Sometime around the turn of the century Bladen purchased a 400-acre tract of land in Millcreek Township from the Pennsylvania Population Company.  Though reduced somewhat in size over time, the Bladen Farm (marked on the landscape today only by the “Bladen Road” street sign) remained the property of three generations of Bladens for a full century.  How Boe Bladen was able to purchase the land, and how and when he earned his freedom remains murky, but John Grubb almost certainly played a role in helping the man become one of the first–and, if we include his sons, longest-tenured–landowners in early Erie County history.

By the early nineteenth century, Harborcreek Township was home to the largest population of enslaved and free African Americans in northwest Pennsylvania.  Robert McConnell and James Titus were first to arrive, brought here as young children by early settler Thomas Rees.  It is quite possible that at least Spanish American War veteran Robert McConnell, buried alongside Rees in Gospel Hill Cemetery and described in early Erie histories as a “mulatto,” was Rees’s son. Upon their 28th birthday, Rees granted McConnell and Titus 50 acres each. 

These are just a few of the African Americans from Erie’s early history whose lives remain etched in relative obscurity but who doubtlessly contributed to the growth of the larger community.  Indeed, the burgeoning maritime and industrial powerhouse that Erie County became by the mid-19th century was built partly with the toil of enslaved and free black men, women and children. 

Gospel Hill Burial Ground
African American sailors in the Lawrence “Live-Fire” Exhibit, Erie Maritime Museum

That truth was reinforced during the summer of 1813 when the county’s still small black population (likely no more than 50) more than doubled with the arrival of African American sailors from the eastern seaboard. Many of them skilled and experienced sailors, African American seamen—who in this era enjoyed a greater measure of respect and equal treatment on board a ship than black men generally received anywhere on land—made up roughly a quarter of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s force that defeated and captured a British naval squadron in the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813. Following the dramatic U.S. naval victory, the fleet’s commanding officer noted that Perry spoke “highly of the bravery and good conduct of the negroes, who formed a considerable part of his crew. They seemed to be absolutely insensible to danger.”

On land, the struggle for what Abraham Lincoln would call a “new birth of freedom” at Gettysburg intensified in the years leading to the Civil War. Erie had a chapter of the white-dominated American Colonization Society that promoted a “back to Africa” movement, but most patriots who believed a better future possible for African Americans focused their energies in anti-slavery work, some as bravely outspoken members of the Anti-Slavery Society.

In Erie, William Himrod, a pioneer of the city’s renown iron industry and an outspoken abolitionist, used his home at Second and French Streets to house the “Sabbath School for Colored Children.” Himrod then established the community of “New Jerusalem” north of Sixth and west of Sassafras to Cherry Street for free blacks and destitute whites, selling lots at affordable prices with the requirement that they build a home and help forge an interracial community.

The Jerusalem appellation stuck, in part because of the pilgrimage-like journey from the city across a yawning wooded ravine in those years. Over time, Jerusalem became home to many prominent black residents and institutions. Looking north, the community faced Presque Isle Bay and the promised land of Canada; to the south soon would be “Millionaire’s Row,” a prominent stretch of grand mansions housing the richest and most prominent Erie industrialists, shipping magnates, financiers, and political elites.

. William Himrod grave, Erie Cemetery

More widely celebrated than these community-building efforts is Erie’s association with the Underground Railroad (UGRR)—neither a railroad nor underground, but a complex chain of homes, churches and countless other places of refuge extending from the Deep South to northern locales like Erie and Canada in the decades leading to Civil War. Much Underground Railroad history in Erie County remains shrouded in legend—unsubstantiated fables of underground tunnels extending into Presque Isle Bay, for example. By the very nature of what was a criminal enterprise carried out in secret, a lack of documentation has long frustrated historians.

We know for certain, however, that for reasons owing to its location at the southern edge of narrow Lake Erie just across from Long Point, Ontario, northwest Pennsylvania was a region of vigorous UGRR activity by black and white residents. From the late 1820s through the Civil War, Erie citizens helped many of the hundreds of slaves a year who managed to escape to their freedom on the Underground Railroad.

We know of Albert and Robert Vosburgh, father-and-son barbers who for many years used their shop at 314 French Street to harbor, re-groom, and outfit anew runaway enslaved persons who would then move by night northeastward along the edge of the shoreline, or across Lake Erie to Canada. Indispensable to their work was Hamilton E. Waters, (maternal grandfather of world-famous musician Harry T. Burleigh), hired by Albert Vosburgh to clean and press clothes—and also to surreptitiously help direct fugitives toward their freedom. Refuge in Canada was essential after the passage in 1850 of the Fugitive Slave Act, which heightened the fear and resentment of slave catchers who roamed the region.

We know of local Underground Railroad conductor Frank Henry, who hid persons seeking freedom in the Wesleyville Methodist Church. Henry often received them from Hamilton Waters, who directed their clandestine route eastward out of Erie to the shoreline at Four Mile Creek. At the west end of the county was conductor Reverend Charles Shipman of the Universalist Church in Girard. An outspoken abolitionist, Shipman received and gave sanctuary to fugitives coming from the south, redirecting them either west toward the Ohio border or eastward to Erie and Harborcreek.

The cause of abolition was bolstered by the True American, a newspaper published by Henry Catlin from the second floor of the Lowry Building at East Fifth and French. For years, runaway enslaved persons were hidden from slave-catchers in the newspaper bins of Catlin’s office. It was Catlin who on April 24, 1858 brought to Erie the nation’s most eloquent anti-slavery voice, Frederick Douglass. 

In the face of an angry mob that nearly ran Catlin and Douglass out of town, the great orator delivered his lecture that evening at Park Hall carrying the title, “Unity of the Human Race.” 

Harry Thacker Burleigh, Hamilton Waters, Reginald Burleigh (L-R)
Wesleyville Methodist Episcopal Church
Frederick Douglass, ca. 1850

The Lowry Building that housed The True American belonged to state Senator Morrow Barr Lowry, in the Civil War era one of Erie’s most successful businessmen, but far more than that.  Remembered as the “Moral Conscience” of the senate, Lowry advocated abolition in the state legislature, as well as debt forgiveness for the poor.  An acquaintance of John Brown, Lowry visited the radical abolitionist in Charles Town, Virginia while he awaited execution for the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry that helped trigger the Civil War.  When war came, Lowry contributed $2,000 toward the fabled 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry that would fight at Gettysburg under the command of Colonel Strong Vincent, and also pushed for arming free black men as soldiers for the Union Army.  Lowry later championed the establishment of the Pennsylvania Soldiers and Sailors Home. His farm on what was then Cooper Road eventually was sold to the Sisters of Mercy to establish Mercyhurst College.

Another former Maryland slave who landed in Erie was the aforementioned Hamilton Waters, who worked not only as a clothes presser at Vosburgh’s barber shop, but also served as a town crier and the city’s lamplighter. Waters was partially blind, the reason for which is unclear, but evidence suggests that while enslaved he was caught reading a book and punished accordingly. As he walked the streets lighting Erie’s gas lamps, Waters sang the old spirituals and plantation work songs of his youth. Accompanying him was grandson Harry Thacker Burleigh, who went on become one of the world’s great composers (see next section).

Morrow Barr Lowry, “Moral Conscience” of the Pennsylvania Senate
“Come and Join Us Brothers”

The terrible Civil War that had been coming on since the nation’s founding did not leave Erie untouched. Historical research is ongoing concerning the military service of African Americans from northwest Pennsylvania in both the army and navy.  The 3rd United States Colored Regiment was organized August 1863 near Philadelphia, the first Pennsylvania unit of African American men.

Among the black men mustered in at Erie, Waterford or Meadville, we know the 43rd regiment of U.S. Colored Troops fought with great skill and courage during the 1864 Wilderness Campaign.  That is underscored in this account of the Siege of Petersburg from the unit’s Chaplain, J. M. Mickley:

Colored non-commissioned officers fearlessly took the command after their officers had been killed or borne severely wounded from the field, and led on the attack to the close. . . .Here, on this, as on many other fields during this war, for the sacred cause of our republican liberties, free institutions, and the Union, the blood of the Anglo Saxon and the African mingled very freely in the full measure of devoted offering.

1865-1930 →

Sources

“Erie’s Underground Railroad,” Erie’s History and Memorabilia, April 1, 2017; at https://eriehistory.blogspot.com/2017/04/erie-underground-railroad.html; retrieved July 20, 2020.

“Morrow B. Lowry,” Pennsylvania State Senate; at https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/BiosHistory/MemBio.cfm?ID=4956&body=S, retrieved July 20, 2020.

Thompson, Sarah S., with additional research and an essay by Karen James.  Journey From Jerusalem, 1795-1995 (Erie County Historical Society, 1996), pp. 11-27.

Image Sources

  1. Josiah Wedgewood, 1787 https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/am-i-not-a-brother-or-sister/
  2. 1876, H.B. Robinson
  3. Photo by Chris Magoc, 2019
  4. Erie Maritime Museum website
  5. Image courtesy of Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7134179/william-himrod
  6. Illustration courtesy of the Harry T. Burleigh Society, and Jean Snyder’s superb book, Harry T Burleigh, From the Spirituals to the Harlem Renaissance (University of Illinois Press, 2016, p. 23)
  7. Illustration courtesy of Debbi Lyons’s richly illustrated and wonderful “Old Time Erie” site: https://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2013/01/wesleyville-me-church-and-underground.html?m=0
  8. Illustration from the Black Past (public domain): https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/1860-frederick-douglass-constitution-united-states-it-pro-slavery-or-anti-slavery/
  9. Illustration from the Pennsylvania State Senate: https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/BiosHistory/MemBio.cfm?ID=4956&body=S
  10. 1863 lithograph, Peters Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution: http://www.civilwar.si.edu/soldiering_join_us.html

*One of the most widely reproduced images of the abolition movement, this Josiah Wedgewood engraving dates to the founding of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in England.  The question “Am I Not a Man and a Brother?” is rhetorical to our modern sensibilities, while the black man on bended knee holds a complex set of meanings: is he a piteous supplicant pleading for his humanity to a dominant, presumably benevolent white society?  Or is this the Christian archetypal appeal to moral conscience—a “taking the knee” prayerful entreaty that has continued, often with defiant courage, through the civil rights movement and now the Black Lives Matter Movement?

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Civilian Conservation Corps

                CCC APPLICATIONS AND NECESSITY

This essay is about what we have seen and heard since our births in the Pittsburgh Region during the 1929 Depression Era that lasted until the virtual ending of World War II in year 1945 during which we witnessed a million or more boys nurtured to become helpful and useful young men.

How strange it is to find any politicians and statesmen with wisdom to comprehend and understand that most growing youth bodies, especially boys have dynamic food intake needs other than mother-love, sugar and other substances such as narcotics to induce energy and stamina.  Mother-love and good intentions are not good enough for all or even most boys.  It is a national matter now with an estimated 80 percent of military age young men (Black and White) physically unfit for service demanding stamina. 

The great fallacy of the consequent for America is that it absolutely needs and knows how to help young boys to men, who are often hungry. lowly educated and poor, help the country by helping themselves as was done prior to World War II. The environment in most Americanof America’s counties obviously need caring youthful hands along their high ways and by-ways including the interstate systems. Functional Caring is not about assigning guards and disciplined boys from juvenile detention Centers and Prisons.   

It is all about the long-term natural wisdom of Congress such as establishment of the Buffalo Soldier regiments back in 1866 with youth that served as America’s first National Park rangers, among many firsts including cowboys, mail-boys, stock boys, tree and brush clearance, coal clear-boys, farm-boys, and other maintenance jobs that older men did not physically want or able to do. Indeed, like the mythical squires of Robin Hood stories, boys still need to be recruited and apprenticed to be useful and helpful to men more senior in modern-day skills and crafts now most often unionized to keep them out and away from marketable opportunities.   

The often forgotten Buffalo Soldiers must be remembered

Post-World War II Social science and political consideration neglected continuation of many economic depression era programs focused on boys to men, like CCC camps.  So doing, a new world order of men and women envisioned newly emerging public welfare policies at federal, state and county levels to be adequate nurturing for growing boys to men, such as three hot meals per day (Eisenhower called “three hots  and a cot necessity.”  Social science reasoned that parents, with government encouragement and support, could, would and should be the caring providers to all underage boys.  . 

The reality of single mother households have generated a new reality that government cannot ignore by building more housing for mothers and jails/prisons for bad boys due to violations of laws.  Such policies have functionally ignored the puberty, priorities and attitudes of young mothers and their sons.

Civilian Conservation Corps is and was a model project for consideration by the U.S. Government various Departments  in planning, programing and budgeting in the short-term, midterm and long-term manpower years of underage boys to useful and helpful men, planned for and recruited. to be so.

Congress debates, processes and funding for executive proposed programs (including demonstrations dating back to the Freedmen’s Bureau of 1866 up through the Civilian Conservation Corps of 1933.  But demonstrations are not permanent.   They can be continued and renewed if and when government chooses to do so   

We believe and understand Ex-Congressman Tip O’Neil’s prognosis that all politics are low, and realize that local government politicians are the ones who grease the wheels of county, state and federal government actions for change.

A good example we believe to me youthful new-comers like Mayor Gainey of Pittsburgh, the region my wife and I were born into.  Pittsburgh is the largest center but has many neighboring smaller cities, towns, mills, mines, manufacturers, wholesale businesses plus other enterprises including professional football, baseball, hockey pushed and praised by fans and governments.  And, teamed up for better tomorrows it is still a place for champions made of steel hearts, minds, and hands.   

This essay focus is on who, how and why teenage boys in the Pittsburgh Region and elsewhere need champions in their corner to back and support them in getting head starts afforded by past programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps. 

What Do I Know? Ed Gainey

A life’s recounting in the subject’s own words

by JEFF SEWALD

2022 SUMMER
WHAT DO I KNOW?

A Walk with his Constituents: Mayor Ed Gainey walks with press secretary Maria Montaño, community advocates, and residents of Homewood on Inwood Street in March.
July 11, 2022

I have to say that it feels good to be the mayor of my hometown, to be connected to the place where I was born and raised. My family is from the Hill District, but I was actually born in South Oakland. We were only the second black family to live on Lawn Street.

My mother was young, 15, when I was born and needed a lot of help, so I stayed with my grand-mama for a while. When she moved to East Liberty, I moved with her, in August 1977, when I was 7. Before long, my mom moved there, too, and when she did, I moved in with her. So, I grew up in public housing — “Section 8.”

On my mom’s side, there’s me and my sister, Shadé. We grew up together. On my dad’s side, there is my sister Valerie, my brothers Jacob and Philip, my sister Latoya, and my sister Janese. Sadly, in 2016, Janese was shot and killed one night by a man who had followed her out of a bar in the Homewood section of town.

Janese’s death affected our family deeply. I’d never seen anyone put into a body bag before, let alone a loved one. I was 46 at the time, but a traumatic experience like that is difficult to go through at any age. To be honest, a lot of it is a blur to me now. But the actions of my father, who delayed his retirement to take in and raise Janese’s three children, were nothing short of heroic. My dad was just 17 when I was born, and wasn’t prepared to be the father that I needed. So, to see him, after so many years, grow into the father’s role by being there for my nephew and twin nieces was truly awe-inspiring. That’s the power of family.

Ed Gainey
Faith in Leadership
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61st Mayor of Pittsburgh (2022)
 Board of Directors, Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (2014-2022)
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Member, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 24th District (2013-2022)
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Chairman, Pittsburgh Democratic Party Committee (2010)
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Economic Development Coordinator for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl (2007-2012)
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Special Projects Manager for Mayor Tom Murphy (2002-2006)
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Legislative aide to Pennsylvania State Representative Joseph Preston, Jr. (1997-2002)
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Community Development Organizer, East Liberty Development, Inc. (1996-1997)
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Morgan State University, B.S., Business Management (1994)

When we lived in Oakland, police officers would often come knocking on my grand-mama’s door just to see how she was doing. They really looked after the neighborhood. East Liberty, however, was different. By the time we moved there, the “war on drugs” was building. It was still a good community, and I made a lot of friends there, but 80 percent of the households were headed by single moms, and all were poor.

I started school at Dilworth Traditional Academy, then went on to the Holy Rosary School. In eighth grade, I left Holy Rosary and attended Central Catholic for two years. In the end, in 1988, I graduated from Peabody High School and headed off to college — the first person in my family to do so. But it would take time for me to get a proper college education. As a young man, I didn’t really understand the value of it.

I went to Norfolk State University in Virginia, and lasted just one semester, having earned only a 1.8 GPA. Why did I do so poorly? At 18, I was too immature to be so far from home. And I just wasn’t focused. I had no discipline. So, I left Norfolk and returned home to attend the Community College of Allegheny County for several semesters to try and raise my GPA. That’s when I finally got focused. Eventually, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management from Morgan State University, in Baltimore, in 1994.

So, did I ever think that I’d go into politics or become the mayor of my hometown? No. Growing up, I had never met a politician. None ever knocked on our door. None came to our school, either. So, how could I aspire to be an elected official when I didn’t even know what that was? I aspired to be a basketball player. After all, that’s what was happening in the neighborhood. It was all we knew. So, I played for Holy Rosary, and then for Peabody. I wasn’t at Norfolk long enough to even try to play, and when I went on to Morgan, I decided to hang up my sneakers for good, becoming laser-focused on getting a college degree. My mom made sure of it. The power of her love fueled my desire to become somebody, and I was determined to leave Morgan State an educated man.

Early on at Morgan, I remember going to class, and my professor asked me what I was doing there. “Your lesson’s not in the classroom,” she said. “It’s out there,” and she pointed out the window to a gathering of students who were holding a sit-in. Now, I’m from Pittsburgh. Generally, we don’t protest here. Nevertheless, I decided to join my classmates to call for an increase in government funding for historically black colleges like Morgan State. We all marched Downtown to city hall where I met the first elected official I’d ever known — and he was black like me. That person was a gentleman named Kurt Schmoke, who was then the mayor of Baltimore. Mayor Schmoke helped us to secure more funds for Morgan State, and it was the first time that I witnessed how the system of government works. That got me thinking, “Maybe I should get involved in politics, at some level.”

After graduating from Morgan State, I returned to Pittsburgh where I learned of an organization called “East Liberty Development, Inc.” It had been closed down for a while due to racial tensions between the nonprofit and the community, but it was about to reopen. So, I went in to see its interim director, Wheeler Winstead. I knew they had no money, but I wanted to learn about community development, so I told Mr. Winstead that I’d work for free, if he showed me the ropes. If he liked my work, when the organization acquired some funding, he could pay me then. In a short time, I learned much about community development. I knew many mamas and grandmamas in East Liberty. And I knew a lot of the business owners, too. So, I devised a workable plan for the community to act on, and felt good about that.

Outreach
Mayor Ed Gainey with supporters after his first community meeting in Homewood at the Community Empowerment Association in March.

With that experience under my belt, I left East Liberty Development and went to work for a Pennsylvania state representative named Joseph Preston, Jr., who served the 24th District, which includes East Liberty. I stayed with Joe for six years, then moved on to work for two Pittsburgh mayors in succession: Tom Murphy and Luke Ravenstahl.

For Tom, I was “special projects manager.” He was a true visionary, and a lot of community development took place during his administration. He was focused on that. I also worked for Luke Ravenstahl to promote economic development. Luke was very unlike Tom Murphy. He was more charismatic, but a visionary he was not. Luke grew up in a political family and had been president of Pittsburgh City Council before becoming mayor, having succeeded Bob O’Connor, who died unexpectedly only six months into his first term. Luke was just 26 years old when he took office. It was a big job to tackle for someone so young. Anyway, working in the Mayor’s Office, I couldn’t help but learn a lot. For me, the place was like an “institution of higher learning,” and I wanted to absorb as much as I could, and I did.

After that, in 2004, I ran for Pennsylvania state representative for the first time, and didn’t even make it onto the ballot. The second time, in 2006, my race was closely contested, but I lost by only 94 votes. Then, on my third try, in 2012, I defeated my old boss, Joe Preston, with two-thirds of the vote. My district included many majority-black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, including East Liberty, Homewood, East Hills and Lincoln-Lemington, plus the demographically similar municipality of Wilkinsburg. I became a member of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, and served in the State House for the next eight years.

So, why did I decide to seek elected office? You know the old saying: “If you want to make a difference, you’ve got to get in the game.” I believed that things could always get better for everyone. If you don’t believe in something, you can’t make it happen. So, you must have faith because faith is part of leadership.

During my years as a state representative, I realized that my district and Pittsburgh as a whole were changing. I witnessed protests for social, economic, LGBTQIA, and environmental justice, and learned how sensitivity to these issues was beginning to transform my hometown, organically. But we didn’t have the kind of leadership that was needed to help the city blossom. So, in 2021, I decided to run for mayor. I defeated the incumbent in the Democratic primary, 46 to 39 percent, and went on to win the general election with 70 percent of the vote, thus becoming the first African-American to be elected mayor in Pittsburgh’s history.

Being mayor is a big responsibility. So, how will I lead? My leadership style is basically bottom-up. I always ask my staff, “What do we have to do to make things happen?” Most importantly, we must have a core set of values: “This is what we stand for; here’s where we want to go; and here’s how we’re going to get there.” We want Pittsburgh to be a safe city. We also want it to be affordable, a place where everyone can live and thrive. As for safety, we plan to work hard on improving the relationship between the police and our local communities. We must build trust. And while we are not opposed to gentrification, per se, we intend to push for an increase in the availability of affordable housing, to give poor people a leg up.

Think about the issues that my administration had to face in its first 90 days. We had six snowstorms, but not enough funding to handle them. All we could do was promise that we would learn to do better. And with each snowstorm, we did. The reality was, all the main streets in the city had been plowed. Our Department of Public Works staff worked 16-hour shifts to accomplish this. But when you don’t have the proper equipment, and only 80 percent of the personnel needed to do the work, plowing all secondary streets is not possible. Fortunately, we were able to find discretionary funds to buy six more trucks, and to lease six others. And when our last storm hit, leaving six inches of snow, we received very few complaints.

The municipal challenge of snow removal enabled us to demonstrate that we could handle adversity. But before long, we also had to deal with the tragedy of a young person getting shot and killed near Oliver High School. Then there was the Oakland Crossing development, for which we had to make sure that the agreement would include affordable housing and a grocery store for residents, all the while protecting the park and green spaces. And we were successful. That deal marked the first time a private developer agreed to accept Pittsburgh Housing Authority vouchers to subsidize housing for lower-income residents.

Next came the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge, and the tragic death of a man named Jim Rogers, who was tased multiple times by local police and died. All of this happened at a time when we were still not fully staffed. In Pittsburgh, the mayor’s race is essentially over in May, and you have from May to January to put your transition team and personnel in place. But we didn’t have that because we still had to win the race in November. So we only had from November to January to get things together.

As I said, my family is from the Hill District, a part of the city that has a rich history and was once a great source of pride for the local African-American community. The Hill features some wonderful real estate that is prime for the development of affordable housing. The area is also prime for a revitalized commercial district. Many merchants, shops, restaurants and clubs could be located along its streets. Considering the rebirth of a historically racially and ethnically mixed community, I think it’s time that we talk seriously about the economy — and diversity.

I believe that economies are made up of people, and our people are diverse. Now, how can we ensure a middle-class life for not only white people, but for black and brown citizens as well? Sadly, in Pittsburgh, no black or brown community is “middle class.” Every community where the residents look like me is locked in poverty. So, as citizens, we must work to ensure that we’re building a city where all people have a place to live and access to opportunity.

What I like about my job is that no day is ever boring. I’m still learning, every day. I always tell my team, “The more we learn and create an environment of learning, the more we’ll be able to accomplish.” I don’t ever want to come to work and talk only about what we know. I want to talk about what we’ve learned. If we all leave here at the end of each day knowing more than we did the day before, we will do just fine.

It pleases me that, in recent decades, our nation’s history has become a bit clearer. Police batons, attack dogs, water hoses, lynching and mass incarceration are all part of that history. There’s a lot of pain out there, and a lot more that we need to acknowledge. I have to laugh when people say, “Can’t we just move forward?” We cannot move forward until we understand where we’ve been. We must address the fact that certain things really happened in our history. But my team has heard me say, many times, that I’m proud of my history, even the part about slavery. Our people’s story is a remarkable one. Think about it. We were brought here on ships. We didn’t speak the language. We were given new names. We watched our mothers be brutalized; our fathers, whipped and even murdered. We were sold as property. Under “Jim Crow,” we were considered only three-fifths human. We couldn’t go to school. We had no access to capital. We couldn’t own land. And not until the passage of the 15th Amendment could black men vote. Yet, while there is a lot that must be accounted for, we can also talk about the progress that has been made.

The “civil rights movement” put an end to “Whites here; Coloreds there.” Then came “Affirmative Action,” which gave our people better access to education. And let’s not forget that we — brown, black a people coming that far in such a short period of time?

When I look back, and forward, I am hopeful. Hope changes things. But I tell my children — my wife, Michelle, and I have three — that there’s a difference between wishing and hoping. A wish is when you sit and wait for something to come your way. Hope is patiently seeking what you want, and putting in the time and effort that’s required to get it. For me, life is more about hope every single day. And to create more hope, we all must continue to learn. It doesn’t have to be about anything major. Small things multiply.

One thing I’ll say about my executive team, that I love so much, is that they all come from diverse backgrounds. The richness that they bring to the table to solve problems is wonderful because they all see issues through the prism of their own life histories. The give-and-take between our team members will determine, collectively, how we should move, and that adds value to our end product. And what are we saying when we talk about “value”? Learning, tolerance, understanding and love. That’s the reality I see.

Categories: People

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Jeff Sewald
Jeff is an award-winning independent filmmaker and writer who specializes in defining the cultural significance of American people, places, things and events.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a work relief program that gave millions of young men employment on environmental projects during the Great Depression. Considered by many to be one of the most successful of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, the CCC planted more than three billion trees and constructed trails and shelters in more than 800 parks nationwide during its nine years of existence. The CCC helped to shape the modern national and state park systems we enjoy today.

CCC and the New Deal

WATCH: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, with an executive order on April 5, 1933. The CCC was part of his New Deal legislation, combating high unemployment during the Great Depression by putting hundreds of thousands of young men to work on environmental conservation projects.

The CCC combined FDR’s interests in conservation and universal service for youth. As governor of New York, he had run a similar program on a smaller scale.

The United States Army helped to solve an early logistical problem – transportation. Most of the unemployed men were in Eastern cities while much of the conservation work was in the West.

The Army organized the transportation of thousands of enrollees to work camps around the country. By July 1, 1933, 1,433 working camps had been established and more than 300,000 men put to work. It was the most rapid peacetime mobilization in American history.

Under the guidance of the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, CCC employees fought forest fires, planted trees, cleared and maintained access roads, re-seeded grazing lands and implemented soil-erosion controls.

Additionally, they built wildlife refuges, fish-rearing facilities, water storage basins and animal shelters. To encourage citizens to get out and enjoy America’s natural resources, FDR authorized the CCC to build bridges and campground facilities.

CCC Camps                               

The CCC enrolled mostly young, unskilled and unemployed men between the ages of 18 and 25. The men came primarily from families on government assistance. Men enlisted for a minimum of six months.

Each worker received $30 in payment per month for his services in addition to room and board at a work camp. The men were required to send $22 to 25 of their monthly earnings home to support their families.

Some corpsmen received supplemental basic and vocational education while they served. In fact, it’s estimated that some 57,000 illiterate men learned to read and write in CCC camps.

Minorities in the CCC

In addition to younger men, the CCC enrolled World War I Army veterans, skilled foresters and craftsmen, and roughly 88,000 Native Americans living on Indian reservations.

Despite an amendment outlawing racial discrimination in the CCC, young African American enrollees lived and worked in separate camps. In the 1930s, the U.S. Supreme Court didn’t think of segregation as racial discrimination.

Enrollment in the CCC peaked in August 1935. At the time, more than 500,000 corpsmen were spread across 2,900 camps. It’s estimated that nearly three million men – about five percent of the total United States male population – took part in the CCC over the course of the agency’s nine-year history.

Women were prohibited from joining the CCC.

Notable CCC Alumni

Several celebrities served in the CCC before they were famous.

Actors Walter Matthau and Raymond Burr labored in Montana and California, respectively. American league baseball hall-of-famer Stan Musial also worked for the CCC, as did test pilot Chuck Yeager, the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound.

Veteran conservationist and author Aldo Leopold supervised CCC erosion control and forestry projects in Arizona and New Mexico.

Criticisms of the CCC

Though the CCC enjoyed overwhelming public support throughout its tenure, the agency’s programs initially drew criticism from organized labor.

Trade unions opposed the training of unskilled workers when so many union members were out of work. They also opposed Army involvement in the CCC, which they feared could lead to state control and regimentation of labor.

In order to quell union opposition, FDR appointed American labor union leader and vice president of the International Association of Machinists as the first director of the CCC.

CCC Achievements

By the time the CCC program ended at the start of World War II, Roosevelt’s “Tree Army” had planted more than 3.5 billion trees on land made barren from fires, natural erosion, intensive agriculture or lumbering. In fact, the CCC was responsible for over half the reforestation, public and private, done in the nation’s history.

CCC companies contributed to an impressive number of state and national park structures that visitors can still enjoy today. More than 700 new state parks were established through the CCC program.

Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy

In 1942, Congress discontinued funding for the CCC, diverting desperately needed resources to the effort to win World War II.

Monuments and statues dedicated to the CCC and its alumni dot parks across the country. The extensive development and expansion of park facilities and services by the CCC made possible the modern state and national park systems Americans enjoy today.

The CCC became a model for future conservation programs. More than 100 present-day corps programs operate at local, state, and national levels engaging young adults in community service and conservation activities.  

The National Civilian Community Corps, part of AmeriCorps – a national service program – enrolls 18- to 24-year-old men and women for 10-month stints working for non-profit and governmental organizations, often with an environmental purpose.

Sources

The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933-1942: An Administrative History. National Park Service.
Into the Woods: The First Year of the Civilian Conservation Corps. National Archives.
CCC Brief History. Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy.

Citation Information

Article Title

Civilian Conservation Corps

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/civilian-conservation-corps

Access Date

July 15, 2022

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

March 31, 2021

Original Published Date

May 11, 2010

ENVIRONMENT

BY

 HISTORY.COM EDITORS

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When Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in as president in 1933, he took the helm of a United States brought to its knees by the Great Depression. With unemployment as high as 25 percent, millions were out of work and an entire generation of young people had lost hope in their … read more

During the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted approximately a decade, shantytowns appeared across the U.S. as unemployed people were evicted from their homes. As the Depression worsened in the 1930s, causing severe hardships for millions of Americans, many looked … read more

Great Depression History

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. Over the next several … read more

The 1930s

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New Deal

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Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Artists of the New Deal

The New Deal was one of President Roosevelt’s efforts to end the Great Depression. Art projects were a major part of this series of federal relief programs, like the Public Works of Art Project, the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture and the Treasury Relief Art Project. … read more

Labor Movement

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Works Progress Administration (WPA)

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African Americans and the Civilian Conservation Corps (1941)

in: Eras in Social Welfare HistoryGreat DepressionNew DealOrganizations

CCC Participant at Barrack’s Door
National Archives and Records Administration

WHAT THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS (CCC) IS DOING FOR COLORED YOUTH

The CCC and Colored Youth.
Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Offices, 1941.
[Edgar Brown]

Editor’s Note: This is a slightly edited copy of a publication produced by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1941.  The original copy is in the Documents section of the New Deal Network

Approximately:
250,000 — colored youth have served in the corps since President Roosevelt and the Congress initiated the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. Regular habits of work, training, discipline, fresh air and three     well  prepared and ample meals a day have combined to improve the health and morale of all enrollees. The gain in weight has ranged from seven to fifteen pounds for each boy.
30,000 — young colored men and war veterans, one tenth of the total CCC enrollment, are actively participating in the Civilian Conservation Corps. They are engaged on work projects throughout the country, and the Virgin Islands.
$700,000 — a month for the past year has been allotted by colored CCC boys to their parents and dependents back home.
90,000 — books have been supplied through the War Department and the Office of Education for colored camp libraries. Current magazines, daily and weekly newspapers are made available in camp recreation halls.
12,000 — colored CCC enrollees in the past five years have completed courses in first-aid through cooperation of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Red Cross
2,000 — colored project assistants’ leaders and assistant leaders are on duty at CCC Camps.
600 — colored cooks are steadily employed in CCC Mess Halls.
900 — classes in Negro history were conducted in the camps during the past five years. National Negro Health exhibits have been shown for five consecutive years in cooperation with the U. S. Health Service.
800 — colored boys have gained business training in the capacity of store clerks and mangers of the Post-Exchanges in CCC camps.
400 — colored typists are assigned to CCC headquarters of commanding officers, camp superintendents and educational advisors.
147 — colored college graduates are serving CCC camps as educational advisers.
1,200 — part-time, experienced teachers are actively engaged in instruction of these colored enrollees at CCC camps.
25 — colored medical reserve officers and chaplains of the U. S. Reserve Corps are on active duty in the nations CCC Camps.
106 — colored CCC camps are located in forests, parks, recreational areas, fish and game reservations, and on drainage and mosquito control projects.
48 —  colored CCC companies are engaged on soil Conservation projects.
2 — colored commending officers with the rank of Captain and Lieutenant, in the U.S. Reserve Corps are on active duty with the CCC; one at Gettysburg National Park, Pennsylvania, and the other at

Fishers landing, New York. Four other line officers are on active duty at these two Camps.

4 — colored engineers and six colored technical foremen have served Pennsylvania camps for more than two years, At Gettysburg, the camp superintendent is a Negro.
1 — colored historian who received his Ph.D degree from Columbia University is included in the camp personnel at Gettysburg.
1 — colored CCC company is at work at Zanesville, Ohio on one of the largest tree nurseries in the U.S.
3 — colored companies have made possible during the past five years the restoration of the battlefields at Yorktown, Virginia in the Colonial National Park.
1 — colored company in Ohio, near the Taylorville Dam carriers on in the renowned Miami Conservation District, a flood control project started after the 1913 Dayton flood.
1 — colored company has been engaged on the unique historic project at Williamsburg and Jamestown, Virginia.
1 — colored company is located on the TVA site in Tennessee.
11,000 — colored enrollees have been taught to read and write. More than 90 per cent of the colored CCC enrollees regularly attend classes from elementary to college level which are conducted in each camp’s education building which is well equipped and especially constructed for vocational instruction. Howard University, Wilberforce University, Tuskegee Institute, Hampton Institute, Florida A. & M. College at Tallahassee, Tennessee A. & I. State College and a number of other Negro collages have granted scholarships and fellowships to CCC enrollees.

INDUSTRY AIDED
The textile and food industries and the railroads have received orders for more than $33,000,000 worth of supplies needed to run colored CCC camps.

         $15,000,000 — has been obligated for clothing worn by colored enrollees, including shirts, underwear, trousers, socks, denim jumpers, shoes, caps, raincoats and overcoats.
$19,000,000 — has been expended for food served colored boys and men at camp during the past 6 1/2 years.
$1,500,000 — has been received by railroads for transportation of colored CCC enrollees to camp and back home again.

COLORED MEN AND BOY’S PARTICIPATION IN THE CCC

The Civilian Conservation Corps was established by President Roosevelt and the Congress on April 5, 1933. On the same day the late Robert Fechner was named Director. James J. McEntee, now Acting Director of the CCC, has been Assistant Director since its inception.

The purpose of Civilian Conservation Corps work is to relieve acute conditions of distress and unemployment in the United States and to provide for the restoration of the countries natural resources along with the advancement of an orderly program of useful public Works.

Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees are selected on a state-quota basis by the Labor Department from unemployed and needy young men. Veterans are selected by the Veterans’ Bureau, and make up ten per cent of the total enrollment.

From the beginning of the Civilian Conservation Corps, colored youths have shared in the program. At the peak strength of the CCC, reached in August 1935, there were 506,000 young men and war veterans enrolled. Of this number, approximately 50,000 were colored.

Mindful of the health of these young men, medical officers from the U. S. Army Reserve Corps hare been assigned to look after their physical well being. Fourteen colored medical officers are now on active duty at CCC camps throughout the country. Each company is provided with a first-aid building, company, hospital, or dispensary with a medical officer in charge. Orderlies are appointed from among the enrollees.

The Office of Education has acted in an advisory capacity to the War Department in working out an educational and recreational program. Each company has an educational adviser, who develops a program suited to the individual needs of each camp. College graduates are appointed to fill these positions. Eleven thousand colored enrollees who were illiterate have been taught to read and write in classes offered by the CCC camps. There are today 147 colored men serving the CCC camps as education advisers. Most of the educational work is carried on at camp. Arrangements are often made, however, for enrollees to take additional school work in public school evening classes in nearby cities. The camp educational programs offer instruction in carpentry, shorthand, tying, forestry, auto mechanics, landscaping and numerous other vocational subjects. While attendance at classes is voluntary, approximately ninety per cent of the colored enrollees attend. Classes in first-aid, safety, morale, guidance, leadership and hygiene have been well attended. While at work, CCC enrollees are given practical instruction on the job by the project superintendent and the technical staff.

Baseball and soft ball diamonds, tennis courts and basket ball courts have been laid out to provide recreational facilities at the camps. Some of the camps have produced championship teams in baseball and other sports. Current movies, health education films, lectures on geography, conservation, history and other topics, and plays are included in the camp educational and entertainment program. Trips to nearby museums and other points of interest are frequently scheduled.

Six colored chaplains of the U.S. Army Reserve Corps direct the religious activities in a number of the colored camps. They are aided by ministers from nearby communities.

Through the experience and training received in the CCC, boys learn how to live together and work together amicably. Experience and training afforded by the CCC has helped many boys to secure employment. The specialized knowledge gained by filling such positions as mess sergeant, company clerk, assistant educational adviser, leaders, project assistants, store clerk manger, foreman and first-aid men has proved valuable to these enrollees in the Civilian Conservation Corps.

TYPES OF JOBS AND COURSES TAUGHT AT THE CCC CAMPS

Approximately 5,000 different courses in 116 different subjects are being given in Forest service oaks each month. In all camps, including National Park Service camps, probably 11,500 courses in 150 different subjects are being taught.

Source: New Deal Network:  The CCC and Colored Youth. Author: Brown, Edgar. United States Government Printing Offices, 1941.

For further information:

Edgar G. Brown papers, 1936-1981. Amistad Research Center, Tulane University.

Gower, C. W. (1976). The Struggle of Blacks for Leadership Positions in the Civilian Conservation Corps: 1933-1942. The Journal of Negro History, 61(2), 123–135. https://doi.org/10.2307/2717266

Pamphlet: The Civilian Conservation Corps and Colored Youth (1940). Broward County Library Digital Archives.

Mercantilism

Mercantilism is an economic theory that holds the prosperity of a nation dependable upon its supply of capital, and that the global volume of trade is “unchangeable.” Economic assets, or capital, are represented by bullion (gold, silver, and trade value) held by the state, which is best increased through a positive balance of trade with other nations (exports minus imports). Mercantilism suggests that the ruling government should advance these goals by playing a protectionist role in the economy, by encouraging exports and discouraging imports, especially through the use of tariffs. The economic policy based upon these ideas is often called the mercantile system.

Mercantilism was established during the early modern period (from the 16th to the 18th century, which roughly corresponded to the emergence of the nation-state. This led to some of the first instances of significant government intervention and control over market economies, and it was during this period that much of the modern capitalist system was established.

Internationally, mercantilism encouraged the many European wars of the period, and fueled European imperialism, as the European powers fought over “available” markets. Belief in mercantilism began to fade in the late 18th century, as the arguments of Adam Smith and the other classical economists won favour in the British Empire (among such advocates as Richard Cobden) and to a lesser degree in the rest of Europe (with the notable exception of Germany where the Historical school of economics was favored throughout the 19th and early 20th century). Among the former British colonies, the United States of America chose not to adhere to classical economics, preferring a form of neo-mercantilism embodied by the “American School” and reflected in the policies of Hamilton, Clay, Lincoln and later Republican Party economic philosophy, itself mirrored in the theories of the Historicists in Germany by such economists as Friedrich List, until the emergence of the New Deal and the modern era. Today, mercantilism as a whole is rejected by many economists, though elements of it are still accepted by some economists including Ravi Batra, Pat Choate, Eammon Fingleton, and Michael Lind.[1]

Early mercantilist writers embraced bullionism, the belief that that quantities of gold and silver were the measure of a nation’s wealth. Later mercantilists developed a somewhat more sophisticated view.

European economists between 1500 and 1750 are today generally considered mercantilists; however, these economists did not see themselves as contributing to a single economic ideology. The term was coined by the Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau in 1763, and was popularized by Adam Smith in 1776. In fact, Adam Smith was the first person to organize formally most of the contributions of mercantilists in his book The Wealth of Nations.[2] The word comes from the Latin word mercari, which means “to run a trade,” from merx, meaning “commodity.” It was initially used solely by critics, such as Mirabeau and Smith, but was quickly adopted by historians. Originally, the standard English term was mercantile system. The word mercantilism was introduced into English from German in the early 20th century.

Mercantilism as a whole cannot be considered a unified theory of economics. There were no mercantilist writers presenting an overarching scheme for the ideal economy, as Adam Smith would later do for classical (laissez-faire) economics. Rather, each mercantilist writer tended to focus on a single area of the economy.[3] Only later did non-mercantilist scholars integrate these “diverse” ideas into what they called mercantilism. Some scholars thus reject the idea of mercantilism completely, arguing that it gives “a false unity to disparate events”.[4] To a certain extent, mercantilist doctrine itself made a general theory of economics impossible. Mercantilists viewed the economic system as a zero-sum game, in which any gain by one party required a loss by another. Thus, any system of policies that benefited one group would by definition harm the other, and there was no possibility of economics being used to maximize the “commonwealth”, or common good.[5] Mercantilists’ writings were also generally created to rationalize particular practices rather than as investigations into the best policies.[6]

Mercantilist domestic policy was more fragmented than its trade policy. While Adam Smith portrayed mercantilism as supportive of strict controls over the economy, many mercantilists disagreed. The early modern era was one of letters patent and government-imposed monopolies; some mercantilists supported these, but others acknowledged the corruption and inefficiency of such systems. Many mercantilists also realized the inevitable result of quotas and price ceilings were black markets. One notion mercantilists widely agreed upon was the need for economic oppression of the working population; laborers and farmers were to live at the “margins of subsistence“. The goal was to maximize production, with no concern for consumption. Extra money, free time, or education for the “lower classes” was seen to inevitably lead to vice and laziness, and would result in harm to the economy.[7]

Scholars are divided on why mercantilism was the dominant economic ideology for two and a half centuries.[8] One group, represented by Jacob Viner, argues that mercantilism was simply a straightforward, common-sense system whose logical fallacies could not be discovered by the people of the time, as they simply lacked the required analytical tools. The second school, supported by scholars such as Robert B. Ekelund, contends that mercantilism was not a mistake, but rather the best possible system for those who developed it. This school argues that mercantilist policies were developed and enforced by rent-seeking merchants and governments. Merchants benefited greatly from the enforced monopolies, bans on foreign competition, and poverty of the workers. Governments benefited from the high tariffs and payments from the merchants. Whereas later economic ideas were often developed by academics and philosophers, almost all mercantilist writers were merchants or government officials.[9]

Mercantilism developed at a time when the European economy was in transition. Isolated feudal estates were being replaced by centralized nation-states as the focus of power. Technological changes in shipping and the growth of urban centers led to a rapid increase in international trade.[10] Mercantilism focused on how this trade could best aid the states. Another important change was the introduction of double-entry bookkeeping and modern accounting. This accounting made extremely clear the inflow and outflow of trade, contributing to the close scrutiny given to the balance of trade.[11] Of course, the impact of the discovery of America can not be ignored. New markets and new mines propelled foreign trade to previously inconceivable heights. The latter led to “the great upward movement in prices” and an increase in “the volume of merchant activity itself.”[12] Prior to mercantilism, the most important economic work done in Europe was by the medieval scholastic theorists. The goal of these thinkers was to find an economic system that was compatible with Christian doctrines of piety and justice. They focused mainly on microeconomics and local exchanges between individuals. Mercantilism was closely aligned with the other theories and ideas that were replacing the medieval worldview. This period saw the adoption of Niccolò Machiavelli’s realpolitik and the primacy of the raison d’état in international relations. The mercantilist idea that all trade was a zero sum game, in which each side was trying to best the other in a ruthless competition, was integrated into the works of Thomas Hobbes. Note that non-zero sum games such as prisoner’s dilemma can also be consistent with a mercantilist view. In prisoner’s dilemma, players are rewarded for defecting against their opponents – even though everyone would be better off if everyone could cooperate. More modern views of economic co-operation amidst ruthless competition can be seen in the folk theorem of game theory.

The dark view of human nature fit well with the Puritan view of the world, and some of the most stridently mercantilist legislation, such as the Navigation Acts, was introduced by the government of Oliver Cromwell.[13]

Criticisms

Much of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations is an attack on mercantilism.

Adam Smith and David Hume are considered to be the founding fathers of anti-mercantilist thought. A number of scholars found important flaws with mercantilism long before Adam Smith developed an ideology that could fully replace it. Critics like Dudley North, John Locke, and David Hume undermined much of mercantilism, and it steadily lost favor during the eighteenth century. Mercantilists failed to understand the notions of absolute advantage and comparative advantage (although this idea was only fully fleshed out in 1817 by David Ricardo) and the benefits of trade. For instance, Portugal was a far more efficient producer of wine than England, while in England it was relatively cheaper to produce cloth. Thus if Portugal specialized in wine and England in cloth, both states would end up better off if they traded. This is an example of absolute advantage. In modern economic theory, trade is not a zero-sum game of cutthroat competition, as both sides could benefit, it is an iterated prisoner’s dilemma. By imposing mercantilist import restrictions and tariffs instead, both nations ended up poorer.

David Hume famously noted the impossibility of the mercantilists’ goal of a constant positive balance of trade. As bullion flowed into one country, the supply would increase and the value of bullion in that state would steadily decline relative to other goods. Conversely, in the state exporting bullion, its value would slowly rise. Eventually it would no longer be cost-effective to export goods from the high-price country to the low-price country, and the balance of trade would reverse itself. Mercantilists fundamentally misunderstood this, long arguing that an increase in the money supply simply meant that everyone gets richer.[14]

The importance placed on bullion was also a central target, even if many mercantilists had themselves begun to de-emphasize the importance of gold and silver. Adam Smith noted that bullion was just the same as any other commodity, and there was no reason to give it special treatment.

The first school to completely reject mercantilism was the physiocrats, who developed their theories in France. Their theories also had several important problems, and the replacement of mercantilism did not come until Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in 1776. This book outlines the basics of what is today known as classical economics. Smith spends a considerable portion of the book rebutting the arguments of the mercantilists, though often these are simplified or exaggerated versions of mercantilist thought.[15]

Scholars are also divided over the cause of mercantilism’s end. Those who believe the theory was simply an error hold that its replacement was inevitable as soon as Smith’s more accurate ideas were unveiled. Those who feel that mercantilism was rent seeking hold that it ended only when major power shifts occurred. In Britain, mercantilism faded as the Parliament gained the monarch’s power to grant monopolies. While the wealthy capitalists who controlled the House of Commons benefited from these monopolies, Parliament found it difficult to implement them because of the high cost of group decision making.[16]

Mercantilist regulations were steadily removed over the course of the eighteenth century in Britain, and during the 19th century the British government fully embraced free trade and Smith’s laissez-faire economics. On the continent, the process was somewhat different. In France economic control remained in the hands of the royal family and mercantilism continued until the French Revolution. In Germany mercantilism remained an important ideology in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the historical school of economics was paramount.[17]

Legacy

In the English-speaking world, Adam Smith’s utter repudiation of mercantilism was accepted without question in the British Empire but rejected in the United States by such prominent figures as Alexander Hamilton, Henry Clay, Henry Charles Carey, and Abraham Lincoln. In the 20th century, most economists on both sides of the Atlantic have come to accept that in some areas mercantilism had been correct. Most prominently, the economist John Maynard Keynes explicitly supported some of the tenets of mercantilism. Adam Smith had rejected focusing on the money supply, arguing that goods, population, and institutions were the real causes of prosperity. Keynes argued that the money supply, balance of trade, and interest rates were of great importance to an economy. These views later became the basis of monetarism, whose proponents actually reject much of Keynesian monetary theory, and has developed as one of the most important modern schools of economics.

Adam Smith rejected the mercantilist focus on production, arguing that consumption was the only way to grow an economy. Keynes argued that encouraging production was just as important as consumption. Keynes also noted that in the early modern period the focus on the bullion supplies was reasonable. In an era before paper money, an increase for bullion was one of the few ways to increase the money supply. Keynes and other economists of the period also realized that the balance of payments is an important concern, and since the 1930s, all nations have closely monitored the inflow and outflow of capital, and most economists agree that a favorable balance of trade is desirable. Keynes also adopted the essential idea of mercantilism that government intervention in the economy is a necessity. While Keynes’ economic theories have had a major impact, few have accepted his effort to rehabilitate the word mercantilism. Today the word remains a pejorative term, often used to attack various forms of protectionism.[18] The similarities between Keynesianism, and its successor ideas, with mercantilism have sometimes led critics to call them neo-mercantilism. Some other systems that do copy several mercantilist policies, such as Japan’s economic system, are also sometimes called neo-mercantilist.[19] In an essay appearing in the May 14, 2007 issue of Newsweek, economist Robert J. Samuelson argued that China was pursuing an essentially mercantilist trade policy that threatened to undermine the post-World War II international economic structure.

One area Smith was reversed on well before Keynes was that of use of data. Mercantilists, who were generally merchants or government officials, gathered vast amounts of trade data and used it considerably in their research and writing. William Petty, a strong mercantilist, is generally credited with being the first to use empirical analysis to study the economy. Smith rejected this, arguing that deductive reasoning from base principles was the proper method to discover economic truths. Today, many schools of economics accept that both methods are important; the Austrian School being a notable exception.

In specific instances, protectionist mercantilist policies also had an important and positive impact on the state that enacted them. Adam Smith, himself, for instance praised the Navigation Acts as they greatly expanded the British merchant fleet, and played a central role in turning Britain into the naval and economic superpower that it was for several centuries.[20] Some economists thus feel that protecting infant industries, while causing short term harm, can be beneficial in the long term.

Nonetheless, The Wealth of Nations had profound impact on the end of mercantilist era and the later adoption of free market policy. By 1860, England removed the last vestiges of the mercantile era. Industrial regulations, monopolies and tariffs were withdrawn. In pursuing the free trade policy, England became and remained the dominant economic power in Europe for the next many years until World War I.

Is Lake Chad a Pan-African Matter?

Gifted and talented scholars of African heritage, institutionalized throughout the world have the challenge of caring and knowing about the least of us dependent upon the Chad River Basin and Lake Chad.  We raise the question.  Why, and what do Pan-African brethren in the arts and sciences have to say or do about it, now and in future years to come.

Lives of people and natural resources in northern Nigeria and the seven other African countries that rely on Lake Chad for survival are under serious threat as the climate change challenge facing the lake worsens. Kingsley Jeremiah and Joke Falaju write.

The shrinking of Lake Chad, which provides food for over 40 million people in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad and the disappearing natural resources in the lake has become a global calamity and therefore require urgent attention or else the cascading effects will worsen.

The lake regarded as one of the largest water bodies in Africa, is fast loosing its traction. The lake’s water level and size has shrunk by massive 90 percent compared with what it was in the 1960s. Its surface area has decreased from a peak of 25,000 square kilometers to approximately 1,350 sq.km today.Already, the lake has reportedly seen 60 per cent decline in fish production, degradation of pasturelands, leading to shortage of dry matter estimated at 46.5 per cent in certain places in 2006, reduction in the livestock population, and threat to biodiversity, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has said.

The lake use to be an essential water resource for fishermen, livestock farmers and crop farmers of riparian countries with about 135 species of fish and an annual production estimated at 200,000 tonnes. It was the epitome of productivity, food security and wealth to the people residing in the basin and beyond. In Chad alone, it was estimated that there were about 20,000 commercial fish sellers at the period.The Lake Chad Basin, which is shared by Algeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, and Sudan, could aggravate migration and directly linked to the challenges face by herdsmen across the region.

Considering that larger populations of these countries live below poverty lines, there is fear of looming water shortage for drinking and a sound environment conducive for socio-economic development as it also offers a unique social and cultural environment contributing to the rich diversity of the region.Interestingly, Lake Chad riparian populations have their cultural values, beliefs and traditional practices shaped by their relationship with the natural environment and therefore influencing environmental sustainability.

Prior to the drought, in the 1960s, the best grazing land was in the Sahel zone of the Lake Chad Basin. The Sahel was good for extensive herding as there was rarely conflict with crop farming and it was estimated that seven (7 ha) hectares of land could feed one Tropical Livestock Unit for six (6) months of the year. The drought led to the loss of pasture and the initiation of the transhumance migration towards the guinea savanna in the south of the basin.

As of today, the lake is a source of insecurity, instability, and loss of livelihoods as it is experiencing variability in size due to both human pressure and adverse effects of climate change, causing it size to reduce from 25,000km in the 60s to 2,500 km as at 1985 due to the combined effects of climate change and the unsustainable water and natural resource management. However, in 2013, the surface area of Lake Chad increased to 5,000 km following an exceptional improvement of the rainfall pattern.

A review of the hydrology of the Lake Chad Basin shows that the wet years (before 1973) inflow averaged between 30 – 40 Km per annum, while the dry years (after 1974) inflow averaged 20 – 21 Km per annum while the lowest was 16 Km recorded in 1984. The current Basin Water use as at 2011 is estimated at 2 Km per annum.

Despite these, the Lake Chad basin has a huge and untapped socio-economic potential including the agricultural lands; Fishery and pastoral potential; Groundwater; Mining resources; Hydrocarbons, Tourism.

Today, the Federal Government of Nigeria through its Ministry of Water Resources would kick-start an International conference on focusing on the lake.With the theme “Saving the Lake Chad to revitalize the Basin’s ecosystem for sustainable livelihood, security and development,” expectations are high that initiative would play a vital role and ensure that proper management of the nations water resources becomes a priority.

The conference is expected to address sub-themes, including; Restoration of Lake Chad: Scientific and Technical innovations; Lake Chad Water Transfer: prospects, challenges, and solutions; Social, environmental, cultural, and educational aspects in the current context; Security and regional cooperation aspects with a view to restoring peace in the Lake Chad basin; Funding of approved options.

He said the conference is first of its kind wherein all the member countries of the Congo Basin (which are the basin intending to donate the water for recharging the Lake Chad) are also invited so as to also have discussions with them, for us to reach a consensus”

The however mentioned that if the consensus was on the inter-basin water transfer, it would take a very long period of years as the study and design alone could take up to 5-10 years while actual construction would take a longer period of time.He said: “we are talking of drawing water from different basins with a distance of over 2,500km, its a huge infrastructure project, noting like that has ever happened in Africa, its not something that can be done easily or rushed, it must be planned meticulously and the implementation process thorough.

He stressed that funding must be generated adding that if the consensus is reached during the conference and the design for the project completed and funds are being sourced for the project, a donor conference would be organized and it would be easier a good hearing from development partner and the World at large to fund the project.

The main objective of the 3-day International Conference to be held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja is to create global awareness on the socio-economic and environmental challenges arising from the shrinkage of the lake, threat to livelihoods inducing insecurity with a view to developing a comprehensive programme for action to save the Lake from extinction.

The specific objectives of the conference are as follows: To inform stakeholders, discuss and develop consensus on the different solutions to restore Lake Chad, including the Inter Basin Water Transfer (IBWT) Project from the Ubangi River to the Lake Chad; To bring together experts, political decision makers, donors, UN Specialized Agencies, scientific and technical experts, Civil Society, NGOs and researchers to exchange knowledge and share information on water resources development and management in a crisis environment for sustainable development in the Lake Chad Basin; To garner political and financial support, for the restoration option identified for of the Lake Chad.

The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu stated that the project to save the lake from extinction is not only that of the Nigeria but for all the member countries of the Lake Chad Basin saying the Nigerian government was only driving the process, He said the conference was initiated by the ministry to bring together intellectuals in the financial, political world to find a way out towards saving the Lake Chad.

Adamu pointed said: “the aim of this conference is to bring to World’s attention the issue of saving the Lake Chad from drying up and after the conference we want to reach an international consensus of the need to save lake chad and also have a consensus on how to save the lake chad.” What we have on the table now is the inter-basin transfer from the Congo basin into the river but we are bringing a lot of experts to address the problem but we are keeping an open mind that if experts come with a better idea than the inter-basin water transfer we are also willing to critically look at it.”

He said the conference is first of its kind wherein all the member countries of the Congo Basin (which are the basin intending to donate the water for recharging the Lake Chad are also invited so as to also have discussions with them, for us to reach a consensus”

The however mentioned that if the consensus was on the inter-basin water transfer, it would take a very long period of years as the study and design alone could take up to 5-10 years while actual construction would take a longer period of time.He said: “we are talking of drawing water from different basins with a distance of over 2,500km, its a huge infrastructure project, noting like that has ever happened in Africa, its not something that can be done easily or rushed, it must be planned meticulously and the implementation process thorough.

He stressed that funding must be generated adding that if the consensus is reached during the conference and the design for the project completed and funds are being sourced for the project, a donor conference would be organized and it would be easier a good hearing from development partner and the World at large to fund the project.

Now we dare to venture there are thousands of potential Pan-African minded souls in Pan-African source universities and colleges inheriting the challenges of caring about people of African heritage of and within the Lake Chad Basin.  And, it is their heritage to go and see what matters to them as the old move onward and upward to being ancestors, who once cared the cause would be in their minds, hearts and hands, God Willing.

Lions Tigers and Wolves

Lions, tigers, wolves and liars are both ancient and modern.  Believe it or not, all are born of motherhoods, and have mostly the same DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid, a self-replicating material present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes. It is the carrier of genetic information.)   So, enough already is known about X and Y cell teaming in creation of life, excepting our speculation that human beings are empowered by possession of souls that cannot be scientifically observed or documented.

In the known history of humanity since God only knows, we are inclined to suggest new generations seek to gain knowledge and understanding about the past that yielded them up to now perhaps better understand the question about Jesus: was he sent, or just happened to be born for salvation of the world, “not simply the least of us.” 

What new generations of believers believe about then or now depends a lot as to their sources of beliefs and faiths.  Not all or most people of African heritage in Africa or anywhere else believe or have the same faith, or organized religious beliefs.  Facts are that relatively few are inclined to embrace biblical tales written for and by Tiger and Wolf mindsets in Asia and Europe before and after birth of Jesus.

Jesus of Nazareth was born and lived in a time-line of murderous births of kingdoms and empires such as Rome which vanquished not only civilizations like Carthage and Egypt; but then proceeded to enslave millions of human habitants and capture millions of African lions for entertaining killings in their thousands of arena daily games.  By time the Western Roman Empire collapsed, it had literally depopulated the North African lion population so as to entertain blood-thirsty citizens.   

“Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?”

In 1871, a famous meeting took place in East Africa between explorer David Livingstone and newspaper writer Henry Stanley. No one had heard from Livingstone for a long time. Stanley led a search party to find him. When he saw the white explorer, Stanley reportedly said, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

Colonies in Africa

In the late 1800s, countries in Europe claimed control of lands in Africa. This drawing tries to show how much of Africa was under Britain’s rule. A British leader has one foot in Egypt and the other foot in South Africa.

So, like it or not new youth have always depended upon artists, writers and especially story-tellers to help define their humanity: Believe/Acknowledge/Love of God, Honor generations of ancestral fathers and mothers, and Do goodness to others.

The Art of Anthony Brown

Each have their own means and methods of approach to other lives including lambs such as the artistic White lie by Bernhard Plockhorst depicting Jesus as having Aryan Nordic features and herding White sheep as Christians flocking to Christ.

There is nothing wrong with the artist or picture; but, what is lacking are insufficient generations of African heritage artists committed to artistic and literary messaging for youthful minds not of Caucasian ancestry.

Many potential gifted and talented young minds of African heritage are utterly ignorant about philosophy of life generated by Jesus. How so that so many have hip-hoped away from knowledge and understanding later day believers like Maurice of Numidia, thousands more of Ethiopia and even disciples like Martin Luther King Jr.  

Thus, far too many have been turned off from knowledge and understanding a Philosophy of Life that matters most to salvage and lift them up. Too many do not know how and why many of their known ancestral generations during the Second American Revolution embraced Living Christ beliefs to get up and out of the hell on earth that entrapped them.

                                                                        Generation Tables

Certainly, for gifted and talented African heritage youth, the worse includes suggestions that human life originated in Mesopotamia and even worse that peoples of Africa are the result or descendants of people cursed by God to be bearers of water and hewers of wood for would-be superiors by hook and crook.  Our book was originally designed to contain 10 chapters and about 264 pages, that will now be posted little by little during periodic updates of the website.

This web edition is perhaps our humble attempt to help new artists and writers gain some helpful and useful insight as to matters that existed of possible interest to new generations to tell their own stories, not for glory, but entertainment and goodness sake to help their generation feel better about their own existence as human beings of African heritage.

“Not to know what happened before one was born is to remain a child.” [Cicero:De Oratore XXXIV].  Ignorance is not a virtue.          

We honor past generations of gifted and talented artists and writers who in their own centuries pursuant knowledge sought to research and learn more about Africa in determining what happened before they were born.  Who cares to know more?  

So, where did the gifted and talented of African heritage begin when free to do so?  Where did 20th and 21st centuries scholarly seekers of knowledge go, and what was seen and heard in whose language? 

Young scholars like Augustus Casely-Heyford were perhaps born to be offspring of their ancestral kinsmen like:

J. E. Casely Hayford

National Museum of African Art

The following is a table displaying the number of speakers of given languages within Africa:

LanguageFamilyNative speakers (L1)Official status per country
AfrikaansIndo-European7,200,000[22] South Africa
AkanNiger–Congo11,000,000[23]None. Government sponsored language of  Ghana
AmharicAfroasiatic21,800,000[24] Ethiopia
ArabicAfroasiatic150,000,000[25] but with separate mutually unintelligible varieties Algeria,  Chad,  Comoros,  Djibouti,  Egypt,  Eritrea,  Libya,  Mauritania,  Morocco,  Somalia,  Sudan,  Tunisia
BerberAfroasiatic56,000,000[26] (estimated) (including separate unintelligible varieties) Morocco,  Algeria
ChewaNiger–Congo9,700,000[27] Malawi,  Zimbabwe
EnglishIndo-European6,500,000[28] (estimated)see List of territorial entities where English is an official language
FrenchIndo-European700,330[29][30] (estimated)see List of territorial entities where French is an official language
FulaniNiger–Congo25,000,000[23] 
GikuyuNiger–Congo6,600,000[31] 
HausaAfroasiatic34,000,000[32] Nigeria,  Niger
IgboNiger–Congo18,000,000[33] 
KinyarwandaNiger–Congo9,800,000[23] Rwanda
KirundiNiger–Congo8,800,000[23] Burundi
KongoNiger–Congo5,600,000[34]recognised national language of  Angola
LingalaNiger–Congo5,500,000[23]national language of  Democratic Republic of the Congo
LugandaNiger-Congo4,130,000[35]native language of  Uganda
LuoNilo-Saharan (probable)4,200,000[36] 
MalagasyAustronesian18,000,000[37] Madagascar
Mauritian CreoleIndo-European1,135,000[38]native language of  Mauritius
MossiNiger–Congo7,600,000[23]Recognised regional language in  Burkina Faso
NdebeleNiger–Congo1,090,000[39]Statutory national language in  South Africa
Northern SothoNiger–Congo4,600,000[40] South Africa
OromoAfroasiatic26,000,000[23] Ethiopia
PortugueseIndo-European13,700,000[41] (estimated) Angola,  Cape Verde,  Guinea-Bissau,  Equatorial Guinea,  Mozambique,  São Tomé and Príncipe
SesothoNiger–Congo5,600,000[42] Lesotho,  South Africa,  Zimbabwe
ShonaNiger–Congo14,200,000 incl. Manyika, Ndau (2000–2006)[43] Zimbabwe
SomaliAfroasiatic16,600,000[44] Somalia
SpanishIndo-European4,101,590[45] Equatorial Guinea,  Morocco
SwahiliNiger–Congo15,000,000[46]official in  Tanzania,  Kenya,  Uganda,  Rwanda national language of  Democratic Republic of Congo
TigrinyaAfroasiatic7,000,000[47] Eritrea
TshilubaNiger–Congo6,300,000[48] (1991)national language of  Democratic Republic of the Congo
TswanaNiger–Congo5,800,000[49] South Africa,  Botswana
UmbunduNiger–Congo6,000,000[50]recognised national language of  Angola
XhosaNiger–Congo7,600,000[23] South Africa,  Zimbabwe
YorubaNiger–Congo28,000,000[23] Nigeria,  Benin
ZuluNiger–Congo10,400,000[23] South Africa