You already know the deal. Black/Pan-African history is a 24/7/365 history that can’t be contained in February. Every day of every month of the year has something to say about Black power, Black brilliance, Black resistance and Black love. And truth be told, we’re making Black history daily (but that’s the subject of another article).
Right now, let’s take a look at September.
Sept. 15, 1915: Carter G Woodson, the Father of Black History, founded the legendary Association for the Study of Negro Life and History , now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
Sept. 10, 25 & 30, 1962: This is the beginning of the James Meredith, Univ. of Mississippi, SCOTUS saga . On Sept. 10, the United States Supreme Court ordered the University of Mississippi to accept James Meredith as a student. Fifteen days later (Sept. 25), Mississippi’s Governor Ross Barnett, in defiance of the court order, blocked Meredith’s entrance to the school. President John F. Kennedy responded by sending federal troops to the state on Sept. 30 to escort James Meredith onto the campus. And again, this was just the beginning of this story which later included an assassination attempt, a famous, impromptu organizational collaboration march, a confrontation between “old-school” and “new school” Black activists and the public introduction of one of the most famous phrases to emerge from the Civil Rights/Black Power movements of the 60s (and it ain’t “We shall overcome”).
Sept. 1, 1975: Daniel “Chappie” James , a former Tuskegee Airman, became the first Black four-star general in the United States Air Force.
Sept. 3, 1901: Alabama makes racial segregation mandatory during the state’s Constitutional Convention of 1901. Alabama’s new state constitution, adopted on Sept. 3, 1901, prohibited interracial marriage, mandated separate schools for Black and white children and achieved the new constitution’s primary purpose of legally disenfranchising Black voters. Racist-a$$ Alabaman legislators used “race-neutral” language in order to avoid being slapped down by the 14th Amendment’s stance prohibiting race-based disenfranchisement. And here we are in 2023, and these racist m#%$f^@&*’s are doing the same $#!+.
Sept. 4, 1875: A massacre of innocent, peaceful, minding their own damn business Blackfolk by a savage, heathen white mob inClinton, MS left dozens of Blacks, and likely many, many more, dead. A newspaper article out of Memphis, TN dated Sept. 7, used the following headline and descriptor to present the horrific white domestic terrorism to its readers: “The Mississippi Riots. General Slaughter of Negroes. Origin of the disturbances – unprovoked attack on Negroes – The Chivalrous Vicksburg Militia shoot all the Blacks they can find – the authorities powerless.”
Sept. 14, 1874: The Jan. 6, 2021 coup attempt by MAGA faithful nearly became the second successful coup (violent overthrow of a democratically elected government) on U.S. soil, with the one and only being the1898 Wilmington “riot” in North Carolina. However, over two decades before white domestic terrorists successfully overthrew a multi-racial, democratically elected city government, killing countless Blacks in the process in NC, there was a coup attempt in New Orleans that was eventually put down, but came close to being successful at overthrowing the Louisiana state government – killing countless Blacks in the process. Read morehere about this insane, yet very historically consistent example of white domestic terrorism, i.e. mob violence, savagery, thuggery and immoral lawlessness.
Sept. 3, 1918: Five Black soldiers were hanged for their alleged participation in what historians erroneously call theCamp Logan Riotwhich took place in Houston on August 23, 1917. These men were hung without due process, which was just one of the many injustices endured by the five who had their lives taken from them on Sept. 3, 1918 and all the other brave brothers of the all-Black 24th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army who were connected to the Camp Logan injustice – brothers who merely refused to allow their people to be mistreated and disrespected any more, and chose to stand up and fight for Black people.
Sept. 3, 1868: On this date, white oppressors received the “read” of a generation.AME minister Bishop Henry McNeal Turner has an insane resume in terms of what he did during his lifetime for the culture. Part of that resume includes the fact that he was part of the first group of Reconstruction-era African-American elected officials (July 1868). However, just months later, racist Georgia lawmakers expelled all the brothers. On Sept. 3, 1868, Turner stood before the assembled representatives and tore them a new one! It is literally a sin against God that we know little about when McNeal kept it all the way real.Readhis speech in its entirety. It’s hella-long, but hella-worth the investment of time.
Sept, 15, 1830: The First National Negro Convention held in Philadelphia to discuss leaving U.S. The convention was initiated by Hezekiel Grice, a free brother from Baltimore, who was sick and tired of being sick and tired of the oppression in the U.S. Grice wrote to several big-time Black leaders asking if free Blacks should consider getting the hell outta Dodge and head to Canada. Roughly 40 showed up, including the founder of the AME Church, Bishop Richard Allen. This 1830 conversation offers historical context to an under-appreciated advocate for Black self-determination, the late Randall Robinson, founder of Trans-Africa, who wrote several must-read books including “Quitting America: The Departure of a Black Man From his Native Land;” and the current move of many Blackfolk choosing to relocate outside the U.S. The 1830 convention was the first of many. The phenomenon in total was known as the Negro Convention Movement.
Sept. 15, 1897: Without the National Black Women’s Organizations movement there may never have been a successful New Negro Movement (Harlem Renaissance) or Civil Rights Movements. Immediately after emancipation, Black women created community organizations that served as the social media of their day, communicating critical information to nd movements organize. Those scattered organizations were brought together in large part by Mary Church Terrell . In Terrell’s first presidential address to the National Association of Colored Women delivered on Sept. 15, 1897 , she called sisters to “unity, activism and race pride.” Additionally, Terrell was born on Sept. 23, 1863 in Memphis.
ALSO IN SEPTEMBER…
On Sept. 15, 1963 , four Black girls were killed during the white domestic terrorist bombing of Birmingham’s 16 th Street Baptist Church . Addie Mae Collins (14), Denise McNair (11), Carole Robertson (14) and Cynthia Wesley (14). And, mostly forgotten, two teen Black boys were killed by white racist violence, as well: Johnny Robinson (16), killed, shot in the back by a white police officer (Jack Parker)… and Virgil Ware (13), killed, shot in the face and chest by a white teenager.
On Sept. 12, 1977 , Steve Biko , founder of South Africa’s Black Consciousness Movement, was killed. Though grossly overlooked, Biko was central to the anti-apartheid movement’s success. Also, check out his book “I Write What I Like.”
Additionally, Vanessa Williams became the first Black woman named Miss America (Sept. 17, 1983); the Emancipation Proclamation was first announced (Sept. 22, 1862); W.C. Handy published “Memphis Blues” (Sept. 27, 1912); the National Urban League was founded (Sept. 29, 1910); Alain Locke , one of the “founders” of the Harlem Renaissance, was born (Sept. 13, 1886).
For more examples of historic racial violence heaped upon Blacks during the month of September, visit:https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/sep.
