Black History

A Five Hundred Year-Old Shared History

NNPA NEWSWIRE — “From the moment when Europeans took their slaves from a race different from their own, which many of them considered inferior to other human races, and assimilation with whom they all regarded with horror, they assumed that slavery would be eternal,” historian Winthrop D. Jordan wrote in his dissertation, “White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro.”

Published

6 years ago

February 25, 2021

Stacy M. Brown

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has launched a global news feature series on the history, contemporary realities and implications of the transatlantic slave trade.
(Read the entire series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11)

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

“It started with slave ships… There are more records of slave ships than one would dream. It seems inconceivable until you reflect that for 200 years ships sailed carrying cargo of slaves. How can man be nonviolent… in the face of the… violence that we’ve been experiencing for the past (500) years is actually doing our people a disservice in fact, it’s a crime, it’s a crime.” — Public Enemy- “Can’t Truss It.”

The transatlantic slave trade is often regarded as the first system of globalization and lasted from the 16th century through much of the 19th century. Slavery, and the global political, socio-economic and banking systems that supported it, constitutes one of the greatest tragedies in the history of humanity both in terms of scale and duration.

The transatlantic slave trade was the largest mass deportation of humans in history and a determining factor in the world economy of the 18th century where millions of Africans were torn from their homes, deported to the American continent and sold as slaves, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – or UNESCO.

The transatlantic slave trade that began about 500 years ago connected the economies of three continents with Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, England and France acting as the primary trading countries.

“The transatlantic slave trade transformed the Americas,” wrote Dr. Alan Rice, a Reader in American Cultural Studies at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston in the United Kingdom.

“Three factors combined to cause this transformation. Large amounts of land had been seized from Native Americans and were not being used,” Rice said. “Europeans were looking for somewhere to invest their money and very cheap labor was available in the form of enslaved Africans [thus] the Americas became a booming new economy.”

The transatlantic slave trade also formed an essential bridge between Europe’s New World and its Asia trade and, as such, it was a crucial element in the development of the global economy in the 18th century, Professor Robert Harms wrote for Yale University’s “Global Yale.”

Harms, a professor of History at Yale and chair of the Council on African Studies continued:

“There was one basic economic fact – little noticed by historians – that provides the key to the relationship between the direct trade and the circuit trade.

“When a French ship arrived in the New World with a load of slaves to be bartered for sugar, the value of the slaves equaled about twice as much sugar as the ship could carry back to France. For that reason, the most common form of slave contract called for fifty percent of the sugar to be delivered immediately and the remainder to be delivered a year later.

“The second delivery carried no interest penalty, and so the slave sellers were in effect giving the buyers an interest-free loan.”

In total, UNESCO estimates that between 25 to 30 million people — men, women and children — were deported from their homes and sold as slaves in the different slave trading systems.

More than half – 17 million – were deported and sold during the transatlantic slave trade, a figure that UNESCO historians said doesn’t include those who died aboard the ships and during the course of wars and raids connected to the slave.

The trade proceeded in three steps. The ships left Western Europe for Africa loaded with goods which were to be exchanged for slaves.

Upon their arrival in Africa, the captains traded their merchandise for captive slaves. Weapons and gun powder were the most important commodities but textiles, pearls and other manufactured goods, as well as rum, were also in high demand.

The exchange could last from one week to several months.

The second step was the crossing of the Atlantic. Africans were transported to America to be sold throughout the continent.

The third step connected America to Europe.

The slave traders brought back mostly agricultural products, produced by the slaves. The main product was sugar, followed by cotton, coffee, tobacco and rice.

The circuit lasted approximately eighteen months and, in order to be able to transport the maximum number of slaves, the ship’s steerage was frequently removed, historians said.

Many researchers are convinced that the slave trade had more to do with economics than racism. “Slavery was not born of racism, rather racism was the consequence of slavery,” historian Eric Williams wrote in his study, “Capitalism & Slavery.”

“Unfree labor in the New World was brown, white, black, and yellow; Catholic, Protestant, and pagan. The origin of Negro slavery? The reason was economic, not racial, it had to do not with the color of the laborer, but the cheapness of the labor,” Williams said.

Also, contrary to “the popular portrayal of African slaves as primitive, ignorant and stupid, the reality is that not only were Africans skilled laborers, they were also experts in tropical agriculture,” said editor and social media and communications expert, Michael Roberts.

In a dissertation for op-ed news earlier this year, Roberts said, Africans were well-suited for plantation agriculture in the Caribbean and South America.

Also, the high immunity of Africans to malaria and yellow fever, compared to white Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and South America, meant Africans were more suitable for tropical labor.

“While Native Americans’ labor were initially used, Africans were the final solution to the acute labor problem in the New World,” Roberts said.

“The slave trade was one of the most important business enterprises of the 17th century. The undisputed fact is that the nation states of Europe stabilized themselves and developed their economies mainly at the expense of millions of Black African people,” he said.

During the 16th Century, when Europeans first made regular contact, West Africa had highly developed civilizations and Africans were keen to trade their gold, silver, copper, Ivory and spices for European pots, pans, cloth and guns.

However, Europeans soon became more interested in exploiting the people of Africa and forcing them into slave labor.

Most of the slaves were taken from the West coast, but some were kidnapped further inland from the interior.

“The biggest lesson to be learned from this dark and evil chapter in human history is that exploiting fellow humans for cheap labor never pays off in the long run,” said Pablo Solomon, an internationally recognized artist and designer who’s been featured in 29 books and in newspapers, magazines, television, radio and film.

“The acts of using fellow humans as beasts of burden to save a few bucks always ends up costing more in the long run both in real money and in societal decay,” Solomon said.

“Any rationalization of misusing fellow humans is both evil and ignorant,” he said.

One aspect of the transatlantic slave trade that would greatly enhance its understanding is that the English began to enslave and export Irish persons to the Caribbean in the time of Oliver Cromwell, said Heather Miller, an educator and writer with expertise in the teaching of reading and writing, who holds graduate degrees from Harvard and MIT.

Cromwell was known for his campaign in Ireland that centered on ethnic cleansing and the transportation of slave labor to the Barbados.

“Irish enslaved persons worked alongside African enslaved persons in the Caribbean,” Miller said.

However, historians generally agree that the most cruel and exploitative people have been the African.

(Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)

“From the moment when Europeans took their slaves from a race different from their own, which many of them considered inferior to other human races, and assimilation with whom they all regarded with horror, they assumed that slavery would be eternal,” historian Winthrop D. Jordan wrote in his dissertation, “White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro.”

While tribal leaders assisted in the capturing of some African slaves, its without any doubt that foreigners were overwhelming the most egregious in their pursuit of men, women and children who would be placed in the horrors of forced labor and inhumane treatment.

The transatlantic slave trade would become the largest forced migration in history.

It started at the beginning of the sixteenth century and, until the mid-17th century, Spanish America and Portuguese Brazil were the major slave markets for European slave traders.

The Dutch participation in the transatlantic slave trade started in the 1630s and ended at the beginning of the nineteenth century, according to Henk den Heijer, professor emeritus in Maritime History at the Leiden University in the Netherlands.

During that period, the Dutch shipped 600,000 Africans to the colonies in the New World.

“Initially, the Dutch were against slavery which was considered to be a catholic heresy. This antislavery point of view can be easily explained,” den Heijer said.

“Dutch seafarers first ventured across the Atlantic without the intention of enslaving anyone. They were mainly interested in the trade in Atlantic products like salt, sugar, wax and dye wood. At the beginning of the 17th century, however, the Dutch established small plantation colonies on the coast of Guyana, the area between the Orinoco and Amazon rivers,” he said.

“Most of the early settlements were populated with Dutch colonists and a few indigenous slaves. The Dutch embraced the slave trade and slavery on a large scale for the first time in Brazil.”

The slave trade also brought a great deal of wealth to the British ports that were involved.

Researchers noted the count of slaves and slave ships that came through the main British ports in 1771, when the average working person earned $35 in British currency per year and a single slave in good condition could be sold in the Caribbean for $25.

Liverpool had 107 ships and transported 29,250 slaves, historians noted.

London had 58 ships carrying 8,136 slaves while Bristol had 23 ships that transported 8,810 slaves.

Additionally, researchers said Lancaster had 4 ships that transported 950 slaves.

From 1791 to 1807, British ships carried 52 percent of all slaves taken from Africa while, from 1791 to 1800, British ships delivered 398,719 slaves to the Americas.

While it was the British who stood as the most progressive couriers of whatever was transported through the sea, many other countries chartered ships and descended upon African nations to capture slaves.

Ships sailed to Africa loaded with guns, tools, textiles and other manufactured goods and crews with guns went ashore to capture slaves and purchase slaves from tribal leaders.

Slave ships spent months travelling to different parts of the coast, according to historians who described the devastation on a webpage titled The Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Captives were often in poor health from the physical and mental abuse they suffered.

The air in the hold was foul and putrid, according to historians.

From the lack of sanitation, there was a constant threat of disease. Epidemics of fever, dysentery and smallpox were frequent. Captives endured these conditions for months. In good weather the captives were brought on deck in midmorning and forced to exercise.

They were fed twice a day and those refusing to eat were force-fed.

Those who died were thrown overboard. The combination of disease, inadequate food, rebellion and punishment took a heavy toll on captives and crew.

Surviving records suggest that until the 1750s, one in five Africans on board ship died.

At least two million Africans – 10 to 15 percent – died during the infamous “Middle Passage” across the Atlantic.

Some European governments, such as the British and French, introduced laws to control conditions on board. They reduced the numbers of people allowed on board and required a surgeon to be carried.

The principal reason for taking action was concern for the crew, not the captives, historians said.

The surgeons, often unqualified, were paid head-money to keep captives alive. By about 1800 records show that the number of Africans who died had declined to about one in 18.

When enslaved Africans arrived in the Americas, they were often alone, separated from their family and community, unable to communicate with those around them.

“When we arrived, many merchants and planters came on board and examined us. We were then taken to the merchant’s yard, where we were all pent up together like sheep in a fold,” according to a published description from “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.”

“On a signal the buyers rushed forward and chose those slaves they liked best.”

Sold, branded and issued with a new name, the enslaved Africans were separated and stripped of their identity.

In a deliberate process, meant to break their will power and make them totally passive and subservient, the enslaved Africans were “seasoned,” which meant that, for a period of two to three years, they were trained to endure their work and conditions – obey or receive the lash.

It was mental and physical torture.

“The anniversary of the Transatlantic Slave Trade needs to be marked in some way, not celebrated, but recognized and memorialized because of the effects this decision had then that still affects the world today,” said Dr. Jannette Dates, dean emerita at the School of Communications at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

“The Black Press continues to play its historic role in keeping issues of significance to African Americans in the forefront for black people’s awareness, knowledge and better understanding of our history,” Dr. Dates said.

Up Next

The Transatlantic Slave Trade: 500 Years Later the Diaspora Still Suffers

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COMMENTARY: This Life is About That First Step

Stacy M. Brown

A Little About Me: I'm the co-author of Blind Faith: The Miraculous Journey of Lula Hardaway and her son, Stevie Wonder (Simon & Schuster) and Michael Jackson: The Man Behind The Mask, An Insider's Account of the King of Pop (Select Books Publishing, Inc.) My work can often be found in the Washington Informer, Baltimore Times, Philadelphia Tribune, Pocono Record, the New York Post, and Black Press USA.

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Black History

Tradition Comes to the Streets in 11th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival at the Freedom Farmers Market

Published

19 minutes ago

September 22, 2026

BlackPressUSA Newswire

(L. to R.) Black-Eyed Pea Festival Director Wanda Ravernell with Barbara Lee and Winky Binky Dogs owner, Tyranny. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

Mayor Barbara Lee stops by to support vendors, Winky Dinky Dogs owner Tyranny Allen

A streamlined Oakland Black-Eyed Pea Festival took place on Sat. Sept. 12 in the lower Temescal neighborhood on the blocked off street that connect Shattuck and Telegraph avenues.

An early start brought together vendor regulars from festival partner, the Freedom Farmers’ Market, and vendors who have supported the festival at its previous location at Marston Campbell Park.

Wanda Ravernell, the festival producer/director was on the verge of cancelling the festival because of funding limitations in May before reaching out to Elaine Smith, president of Farms to grow, Inc., which supervisors the market.

From its start in 2014, the festival has focused on the traditions of African American culture through music, food and art. That emphasis included fresh food vendors, particularly growers of African American legacy crops like black-eyed peas, yams, watermelon, collard greens and okra, which all originate in Africa.

To Fresno farmer Will Scott of Scott Family Farms, the Freedom Farmers’ Market allows him to bring those crops to the inner city – and support the nutrition of African Americans.

Shortly after the festival opened Saturday morning with prayers and salutes to the ancestors by Wakan Wiya Two-Spirit Drum and Awon Ohun Omnira, led M. Zamora and Otobaji Stewart respectively, 86-year-old Scott, the son of a sharecropper, announced that he will put other endeavors aside to dedicate the rest of his life to raise those foods.

Smith shared that Farms to Grow assists Black farmers in helping them overcome one of their main impediments to success – distribution – while creating alliances to help Black people maintain farmland and make it prosperous for younger generations to keep farming and farmland in the family.

As the morning progressed to afternoon, a steady stream of visitors drifted from booth to booth, chatting with vendors and each other.

Scott noted that a market day like this was what he was accustomed to in his youth, where the market was not just about buying things but also a place for valuable social exchange.

The social aspect became even pronounced shortly after midday when Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee stopped by to shop and visit with some of the vendors, including Ellen Bimpeh of Sankofa, and Ravernell who was selling T-shirts designed by Stewart.

Lee is also a fan of Winky Dinky Dogs, an eatery owned by Tyranny Allen whose second brick-and-mortar venture further anchors a hub of businesses at that corner.

As he has in previous years, Andre Thierry of Accordion Soul, closed the festival with a 90-minute set that brought young and the young-at-heart on their feet to dance in a line or as impromptu couples.

And, surprisingly, the man Allen refers to as the mayor of 45th Street, came out on cane and chair to sit by the curb in the sun and listen to music reminiscent of his Louisiana roots. His appearance seemed to echo Scott’s observance about the market: to bring people together.

The Freedom Farmers’ Market is located at 4521 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland and is open on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month until Nov. 14. For more information and to apply to be a vendor, go to https://www.farmstogrow.org/freedomfarmersmarket

Black History

Nuna Phillips-McKee Celebrates 100 Years: ‘A Century of Faith, Family and God’s Amazing Grace!’

OAKLAND POST — Nuna’s life has been one of Christian service. A longtime member of Wings of Love Maranatha Ministries, now Incredible Church, she serves as director of Community Services and is actively involved in the church’s Food Ministries.

Published

1 week ago

September 14, 2026

BlackPressUSA Newswire

Nuna Phillips-McGee, far right, will be celebrating her 100th birthday with sisters (l. to. r.) Donna Hayes, Ida Williams, Sandra Phillips and Enis Harrison. Photo by Carol Dossman.

By Special to The Post

Nuna Phillips-McKee will reach an extraordinary milestone on Sept. 24 —her 100th

birthday, marking a century filled with faith, family, service, laughter and the amazing grace of God.

Born Sept. 14, 1926, in Oakland, Nuna has witnessed a world of change during her lifetime, yet the values that have guided her remain constant: a deep faith in God, devotion to family, a strong work ethic and a heart for serving others.

She enjoyed a distinguished career as a civil servant for more than 40 years, demonstrating the dedication, dependability and strength that have characterized so much of her life.

Nuna’s life has been one of Christian service. A longtime member of Wings of Love Maranatha Ministries, now Incredible Church, she serves as director of Community Services and is actively involved in the church’s Food Ministries.

Through the years, she has continued to help meet the needs of others—not merely with food, but with kindness, compassion and a genuine desire to serve. Her ministry reflects a simple principle by which she lives: when God blesses you, you bless others.

Nuna is the proud mother of one son, whose memory she carries in her heart, and the beloved grandmother of three grandchildren, as well as six great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

At 100, she has the rare blessing of seeing several generations of her family carrying forward a legacy that began long ago.

She remains the loving, intelligent, witty, and, when the occasion calls for it, delightfully sassy Nuna that her family and friends know so well. Her contagious laugh, quick wit and youthful spirit have endeared her to generations of relatives, church members and friends.

Nuna was born into the large and loving Phillips family of seven sisters and one brother, with bonds that formed in childhood and have remained precious throughout the decades. Their shared love, faith, and family traditions have continued to be a source of joy, strength and countless treasured memories.

As family and friends gather for this special occasion, they will celebrate far more than a number. They will celebrate 100 years of prayers prayed and answered; 100 years of lessons learned and wisdom shared; 100 years of family, faith, laughter and love; 100 years of serving God and serving others.

Most of all, they will celebrate a life that stands as a testimony to God’s faithfulness through every season.

Nuna’s century-long journey can be summed up in the words chosen to commemorate this remarkable occasion: “100 years of God’s amazing grace.”

Black History

BOOK REVIEW — Curved Air: A Biography of Sickle Cell Anemia and the Quest to Cure the First Molecular Disease

OAKLAND POST — Over decades, researchers worked haphazardly. Papers were written, treatments were tried, used, or discarded. Doctors discovered that genetic testing could prevent new cases, a heartbreak for would-be parents. Researchers discovered that “a perfect storm” of confluence spread SCD: malaria, human population, and mosquitoes.

Published

1 week ago

September 14, 2026

BlackPressUSA Newswire

Book Cover of Curved Air.

Copyright: c.2026, Publisher: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, SRP: $29.95, Page Count: 338 pages

Four weeks of testing, and you’re exhausted.

Two gallons of blood, maybe three, have been removed. No lie. You’ve laid on tables, slid through machines, been scanned so much you lost count and finally, your doctors have a diagnosis. As in the new book “Curved Air” by Kevin Davies, you have hope there’s a what next?

Though the disease was known in parts of Africa and likely existed here in the United States for hundreds of years, sickle cell disease (SCD) is a relative newcomer in disease research.

Says Davies, “Sickle cell was first identified more than 120 years ago” and it was considered as a “Black disease.” Because of that, discrimination followed “sickle cell warriors” and research was scant, though white people can and do get SCD.

With “agonizing” pain as a major symptom, “SCD is one of roughly seven thousand genetic diseases” currently known to science. When someone has SCD, a genetic mutation causes their red blood cells to curve and get stuck in blood vessels, rather than flowing freely as they should. This diminishes the oxygen supply “to various parts of the body… which causes inflammation and pain,” jaundice, stroke, and damaged organs. Anemia, Davies says, can leave a patient fatigued and short of breath. Anticipating pain crises causes anxiety and PTSD.

Says Davies, “More than forty million people carry” one copy of the genetic mutation that causes SCD, and “five hundred thousand affected” babies are born with the disease per year, worldwide.

Over decades, research was done haphazardly. Papers were written; treatments were tried, used, or discarded. Doctors discovered that genetic testing could prevent new cases, a heartbreak for would-be parents. Researchers discovered that “a perfect storm” of confluence spread SCD: malaria, human population, and mosquitoes.

There was always hope that someday, sickle cell disease might be cured.

Then, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) gene-editing therapy was approved by the FDA, and a brave volunteer named Victoria Gray stepped forward…

So, you want to – need to – learn more about sickle cell disease? Is it imperative for you? Then, this is your book. But there are things you’ll want to know before you dive into “Curved Air.”

Because author Kevin Davies is the editor of The CRISPR Journal, you can expect up-to-date, cutting-edge information; but that’s a two-sided coin: the information is heavy-duty, not always easy to grasp, and it’s burdened by acronyms that can be overwhelming. Yes, that’ll inform you, but it may also send you elsewhere for further understanding, which really should’ve come from this book.

And yet, if you or someone you love has SCD, this is your book. It explains where the disease came from, why it hasn’t been completely cured yet, and what kind of hope you can hold. It’s a good start on a path to comprehension.

Also, be aware that the narrative here is sometimes padded with journalistic fluff that might annoy you if you’re eager to get to the science. Indeed, “Curved Air” will teach you. Then again, it also might test you.

Black History

OP-ED: If AI Is the New Language of Power, Then NAN Wants Black Communities Fluent

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — If Black and Brown communities are going to compete at the highest levels of industry, then practical AI training cannot be reserved for Silicon Valley boardrooms, elite universities, or people who already have a seat at the table. It has to reach our residents, our clergy, our organizers, our entrepreneurs, our young people, and our families.

Published

1 week ago

September 14, 2026

BlackPressUSA Newswire

By Rev. Al Sharpton

Through a new National Action Network initiative, artificial intelligence is framed as a practical tool for industry preparedness.

We are at the forefront of a fundamental shift of access and opportunity. When new technology emerges, marginalized communities are often told to catch up to systems we did not design, and adjust to landscapes that would sooner leave us behind than include us in their architecture. Often during these shifts, our communities become the least resourced, and must navigate industries whose rate of change outpaces their rate of exposure. To combat this, these communities must develop emerging systems of knowledge through internal networks of education, skill-exchange, and entrepreneurship. This is a civil rights issue.

Now, at the dawn of the artificial intelligence era, the same systems our communities have always built for ourselves must rise again. We have had to teach one another how to navigate every new language of power, often because nobody was coming to teach us. AI cannot be different.

If Black and Brown communities are going to compete at the highest levels of industry, then practical AI training cannot be reserved for Silicon Valley boardrooms, elite universities, or people who already have a seat at the table. It has to reach our residents, our clergy, our organizers, our entrepreneurs, our young people, and our families.

For this reason, National Action Network is putting AI education directly in the hands of the community with a new initiative led by AI fluency strategist Susan Hearn. The AI Fluency Initiative’s premise combines the doctrines of racial equity with technology and culture, elevating how access makes AI such a consequential force in determining who gets to shape the next era of American life.

Too often, our communities are spoken for as populations that technology is happening to, rather than working for. We hear about the jobs AI might eliminate, the algorithms that discriminate, and the industries being disrupted. Those concerns are real, but that cannot be where the conversation ends.

We must proactively shift this narrative. We are not just workers to be displaced and demographics to be reached after AI has already disrupted the landscape. We are purveyors and engineers of this technology and should be considered active participants in its use.

Our initiative seeks to interrupt that sequence, refusing to let us become passive figures in a shift that should be empowering us.

For over three-decades, NAN has understood that civil rights advocacy must be practiced wherever inequality shows up. Technology education is included in this conversation because of what it bestows on the communities it reaches. It is one component of a broader commitment, ensuring that communities historically excluded from emerging industries have the tools to participate fully in the economic and cultural shifts of our future. Economic self-determination is just as much a pillar of equity as it is a part of voting rights and equal legal protections.

For us, access is not meaningful if it arrives after everyone else has already learned the rules. So, we start with the fundamentals. The AI Fluency Initiative is designed as a repeated working session to meet people where they are. Students are introduced to the technology across various use cases, then sent home with usable skills based on the work produced during the session.

NAN has always fought to ensure that no community is locked out of the economy. From the fight for fair employment and access to capital to the push for equity in education and homeownership, we have consistently been at the forefront of keeping the doors of opportunity open to all. This fight is no different.

AI is the next gate through which the mechanisms of opportunity will pass through. It is quickly becoming part of how people apply for jobs, build businesses, and articulate themselves. The use cases are vast and the adoption has been swift. If these tools are becoming part of everyday life, then access to understanding them must become an element of everyday empowerment. It is paramount to us that Black communities are not only exposed, but at the helm.

We know that progress does not always distribute evenly. Communities have to demand access and request inclusion in the infrastructure of change. This self-advocacy is often the only way to ensure that hegemony does not continue to inflict exclusion and disenfranchisement on those who could most benefit from seismic shifts in industry. We must refuse to be told to wait our turn, and instead harness the tools of self-education and empowerment.

To be serious about the wealth gap means confronting the technologies reshaping work culture. Amending the academic achievement gap requires us to refuse a literacy discrepancy from arising in the first place. Equity requires preparation, and we are in the unique position to harness these emerging tools so that it is our voices that are heard, our perspectives that are amplified, and our communities that are enfranchised.

The AI Fluency Initiative is an access measure addressing an economic gap.

Black History

Henry O. Flipper: A Trailblazer at West Point and Beyond

OAKLAND POST — Flipper’s promising military career ended abruptly in 1881 when he was accused of embezzling commissary funds. A court-martial acquitted him of embezzlement, but convicted him of conduct unbecoming of an officer. The Army dismissed him in 1882. The circumstances surrounding his punishment would later be widely regarded as unjust and influenced by the racial discrimination of the period.

Published

1 week ago

September 14, 2026

BlackPressUSA Newswire

Henry Ossian Flipper. Public Domain.

By Tamara Shiloh

Henry Ossian Flipper’s life is a remarkable story of insistence, achievement, injustice, and ultimately vindication. Born enslaved on March 21, 1856, in Thomasville, Georgia, Flipper rose from the restrictions of slavery to become the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point. His accomplishments extended far beyond military service; he later became a respected engineer, surveyor, author, translator, and government official.

After the Civil War, Flipper’s family settled in Atlanta, where education became central to his future. He attended schools established for African American children by the American Missionary Association and later studied at Atlanta University. In 1873, Congressman James C. Freeman of Georgia nominated Flipper for admission to West Point. He entered the academy that July.

Flipper’s four years at West Point were extremely difficult. Because of racism, he experienced harassment and almost complete social isolation from many of his fellow cadets. Nevertheless, he succeeded academically and graduated on June 14, 1877, ranking 50th in a class of 76. His graduation represented a historic breakthrough for African Americans in the United States military.

Commissioned as a second lieutenant, Flipper was assigned to the 10th U.S. Cavalry, one of the famed African American regiments known as the Buffalo Soldiers. At Fort Sill in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, Flipper served as an engineer, surveyor, construction supervisor, quartermaster, and commissary officer. One of his most lasting engineering accomplishments was a drainage system that eliminated pools of stagnant water around the fort and helped reduce mosquito-breeding areas. The system became known as “Flipper’s Ditch,” and portions of it remain associated with Fort Sill today.

Flipper’s promising military career ended abruptly in 1881 when he was accused of embezzling commissary funds. A court-martial acquitted him of embezzlement, but convicted him of conduct unbecoming of an officer. The Army dismissed him in 1882. The circumstances surrounding his punishment would later be widely regarded as unjust and influenced by the racial discrimination of the period.

Rather than allowing his dismissal to define his life, Flipper built an extraordinary civilian career. He became a civil and mining engineer and surveyor, working extensively throughout the American Southwest and Mexico. He established an engineering office in Nogales, Arizona, became knowledgeable about Spanish and Mexican land law, and later worked for the federal government, including service connected with the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior.

Flipper died in Atlanta in 1940, but efforts to restore his reputation continued for decades. In 1976, the Army changed his dismissal to an honorable discharge. Then, on February 19, 1999, President Bill Clinton granted Flipper a posthumous presidential pardon.

Today, Henry Ossian Flipper is remembered because his life helped open doors for generations of African American military officers, engineers, and public servants who followed him.

Black History

NBA All-Star Damian Lillard Returns Home for 15th Annual Backpack Giveaway

OAKLAND POST — “I know what it is to grow up here and be here in Oakland,” shared Lillard. “I do feel like it’s my responsibility to be present and supportive and be a resource and be an example for the kids and right now as somebody from Oakland that’s well positioned, with a big platform, I’m always trying to find ways to use that platform and serve our youth and community.”

Published

1 week ago

September 14, 2026

BlackPressUSA Newswire

Portland Trail Blazers point guard and Oakland High School alum Damian Lillard hosts back-to-school giveaway at Ira Jinkins Recreation Center in East Oakland. Photo by Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

Music, food trucks, bouncers, and rock climbing turned Ira Jinkins Park into a neighborhood block party on Saturday, Sept. 5, as nine-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard hosted his 15th annual back-to-school backpack giveaway in Deep East Oakland.

The Portland Trail Blazers point guard, an Oakland High School alum, returned to the recreation center where he trained as a kid and distributed backpacks stuffed with school supplies to nearly 400 children. Lillard was joined by family, friends, and former Oakland City Councilmember Desley Brooks in an event that has become a fixture of the neighborhood.

“I know what it is to grow up here and be here in Oakland,” shared Lillard. “I do feel like it’s my responsibility to be present and supportive and be a resource and be an example for the kids and right now as somebody from Oakland that’s well positioned, with a big platform, I’m always trying to find ways to use that platform and serve our youth and community.”

While watching children play inflatable basketball and roll a giant beach ball on the grass, Lillard took in the scene.

“Doing something positive makes me feel great,” said Lillard. “I remember attending cookouts like this as a child and it was always a lot of fun. It feels great to not only show youth a great time, but to be of service to them.”

Beyond the giveaway, Lillard is funding renovations to the Ira Jinkins Recreation Center, including major upgrades to its basketball courts, the same courts he once used daily before heading to play recreation league games across town. Last Christmas, he provided gifts to more than 400 local families.

Sports agent Aaron Goodwin, who has represented Lillard throughout his career, described the tradition as core to who Lillard is: someone who consistently looks for ways to give back, uses his platform to inspire youth, and treats events like this as more than a handout, but a chance to be a genuine resource and example for kids from his hometown.

“That’s who Damian is,” said Goodwin. “He always wants to give back. He does this every summer, and he also has an annual Christmas giveaway. He wants to inspire youth that they too can achieve.”

Lillard grew up traveling to the Ira Jinkins Center to train before playing at Rainbow Recreation Center, and he went on to star at Oakland High before his college and NBA career took off.

Lillard who has built a life legacy hosted the event within a center carrying its own historical weight.

The facility is named for Ira Jinkins, a civil rights organizer who helped lead West Coast marches honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and pushed for the creation of the MLK Regional Shoreline Park.

Its building sits within the William “Bill” Patterson Park complex, beside the East Oakland Sports Center that opened in 2011. Patterson was known for his civic impact and work with EBMUD East Bay Municipal Utility District, Merritt College, and the NAACP, among other organizations. A film on Patterson’s life debuted at the Oakland International Film Festival this week.

Last year, before the NBA All-Star Weekend in the Bay Area, the City of Oakland dedicated a court at the center in Lillard’s honor, and Lillard launched a $25,000-per-year scholarship with Portland State University for high school students across nine East Bay schools. He also sponsors camps and other programming throughout the nation.

Lillard sat out of the 2025-2026 NBA season due to an Achilles tendon injury incurred as a Milwaukee Buck. The year of healing will allow him to return to the Portland Trail Blazers.

“This is a great event,” said Shawn, watching his grandchild enjoying the activities. “I’ve been to every single one of them (backpack giveaways); I’ve been knowing Dame (Damian) since he was 8 years old. You don’t have many people that give back the way Damian does. There’s no better guy to do this. His whole family is awesome from the top down.”

For Lillard, the annual tradition, held in memory of his late grandfather, Albert Johnson, remains a way of reinvesting in the community that shaped him.