Over two dozen bullet and machete wounds scarred his body. He survived three assassination attempts in three different countries. He fought in hundreds of battles over the course of his life, and Winston Churchill turned twenty-one years of age while taking heavy fire from one of his units. Antonio Maceo’s larger than life exploits are… Continue reading The Bronze Titan: Antonio Maceo, Cuba’s Greatest Warrior
Category: Slavery
A Slave’s Christmas Story
Solomon Northup was a free black man from Minerva, New York who married the love of his life on Christmas Day in 1829. Northup was born in July of 1808 to a freed slave, Mintus, and a “woman of color” (reportedly one-quarter African-American, and three-quarters European) whose name is unknown. He was raised on the… Continue reading A Slave’s Christmas Story
Finding a Place Between the World and Ourselves
I had been anticipating Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, Between the World and Me for all of three weeks. I must confess, I had not heard he was writing a book and I did not want to know too much of its content before reading it, in the same way that I detest previews and would rather watch… Continue reading Finding a Place Between the World and Ourselves
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?
Delivered July 5, 1852; Corinthian Hall; Rochester, New York Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I… Continue reading What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?