Last night we were blown away by a live performance of the play "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill." I taught a little about Billie and played her music in class, and I knew the broad strokes, but neither of us had read a good biography. We are on the lookout. Drop a recommendation in comments if you've read one. We may start with her co-written autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, published in 1956 and made into a 1972 movie starring Diana Ross, but I think I want a more objects, researched bio.
Born Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959) in Philadelphia, Billie grew up in Baltimore. Her father abandoned the family; her mother often worked on trains, so she was raised by others until her mother opened a restaurant in Baltimore. At age 10, she was the victim of attempted rape or rape, and she was sent to a reform school of sorts for a year. Released at 12, she joined her mother in Harlem and began running errands and cleaning in a brothel. At 13, she was a prostitute in a brothel. She discovered and came to love jazz and blues music from Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, and others in brothels.
At 15, she began singing in Harlem clubs and acquired a following, and the nickname "Lady Day." That led to singing with bands led by Bennie Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Count Basie and recording. She often found herself competing with her soon-to-be friend Ella Fitzgerald.
She became a national star, but unfortunately her alcoholism, heroin addiction, and series of abusive and unhealthy relationships took their toll. She served prison time for possession of heroin. In 1859, she was hospitalized for cirrhosis and heart issues. Police claimed to have found heroin again and arrested her again. She died, handcuffed to the hospital bed, from the cirrhosis and heroin withdrawal. She left a bank account of 70 cents.
Place.
The Savoy Ballroom was hugely popular and influential club at 586 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st streets in Harlem. Langston Hughes called it the "heartbeat of Harlem." It operated from 1926 to 1958.
Ella Fitzgerald got her start there, singing with the Chick Webb Band. On January 16, 1938, there was a battle of the bands contest at the Savoy between Ella and the Chick Webb Band and Billie Holiday and the Count Basie Band. Metronome Magazine declared Ella and the Webb Band winners; Downbeat Magazine declared Billie and Basie winners.
The Savoy Ballroom was hugely popular and influential club at 586 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st streets in Harlem. Langston Hughes called it the "heartbeat of Harlem." It operated from 1926 to 1958.
Ella Fitzgerald got her start there, singing with the Chick Webb Band. On January 16, 1938, there was a battle of the bands contest at the Savoy between Ella and the Chick Webb Band and Billie Holiday and the Count Basie Band. Metronome Magazine declared Ella and the Webb Band winners; Downbeat Magazine declared Billie and Basie winners.
Thing.
"Strange Fruit" is perhaps the song most associated with Billie Holiday. It was written as a poem by Jewish-American writer, teacher Abel Meeropol, and songwriter in the early 1930s, written as a protest of lynchings of African-Americans. It was inspired chiefly by photos of the 1930 Marion Indiana lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. It was first published in the magazine of the New York teachers union, The New York Teacher. Meeropol then set it to music, and it was sung at protests and gatherings.
Holiday heard it and began including it in shows. She approached her label, Columbia, about recording it. The company was apprehensive of southern reaction, but they allowed her to record it as a one-record deal with Commodore Music. Released in 1939, it sold a million copies and became her best seller.
"Strange Fruit" is perhaps the song most associated with Billie Holiday. It was written as a poem by Jewish-American writer, teacher Abel Meeropol, and songwriter in the early 1930s, written as a protest of lynchings of African-Americans. It was inspired chiefly by photos of the 1930 Marion Indiana lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. It was first published in the magazine of the New York teachers union, The New York Teacher. Meeropol then set it to music, and it was sung at protests and gatherings.
Holiday heard it and began including it in shows. She approached her label, Columbia, about recording it. The company was apprehensive of southern reaction, but they allowed her to record it as a one-record deal with Commodore Music. Released in 1939, it sold a million copies and became her best seller.
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Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides is the story of Kit Carson, one of the most celebrated and famous frontiersmen, scouts, and explorers in the American West. He was said to have known more about Indians than any other white man, married two Indian wives, but we was largely responsible for the subjugation, almost decimation, of the Navajo nation.
Christopher Houston Carson (Kit) (1808-1868) left his Missouri home at 16 to become a mountain man and trapper out west. He joined several expeditions and spent long stretched living among the Arapaho and Cheyenne. In the 1840s, he was the chief scout for several expeditions with John Fremont. Fremont's expeditions and reports made him a nationally know figure and got him involved in the Mexican War, specifically in California. His fame led to numerous articles, stories, and dime novels written about his adventures.
After a brief command of a New Mexico group of Union volunteers in the Civil War, he turned his attention suppressing the Navajo, Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache tribes in New Mexico. A bleak, isolated, and desolate site called Bosque Redondo was chosen as a reservation for the Navajo and Mescalero Apaches. In 1863, Carson was ordered to force the Navajo to the reservation, ordered to shoot males and round up women and children. Frustrated by the Navajo resistance and his orders, he ordered the destruction of their homes, fields, and animals, intending to starve them into submission. It worked, and thousands of Navajo were forced on the Long Walk to Bosque Redondo. Many died in the walk and on the reservation. In 1868, a new treaty was signed, and the Navajo were allowed to return to their homeland. Today, the Navajo Nation is the largest Indian reservation, about 17.5 million acres covering parts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.
Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides is the story of Kit Carson, one of the most celebrated and famous frontiersmen, scouts, and explorers in the American West. He was said to have known more about Indians than any other white man, married two Indian wives, but we was largely responsible for the subjugation, almost decimation, of the Navajo nation.
Christopher Houston Carson (Kit) (1808-1868) left his Missouri home at 16 to become a mountain man and trapper out west. He joined several expeditions and spent long stretched living among the Arapaho and Cheyenne. In the 1840s, he was the chief scout for several expeditions with John Fremont. Fremont's expeditions and reports made him a nationally know figure and got him involved in the Mexican War, specifically in California. His fame led to numerous articles, stories, and dime novels written about his adventures.
After a brief command of a New Mexico group of Union volunteers in the Civil War, he turned his attention suppressing the Navajo, Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache tribes in New Mexico. A bleak, isolated, and desolate site called Bosque Redondo was chosen as a reservation for the Navajo and Mescalero Apaches. In 1863, Carson was ordered to force the Navajo to the reservation, ordered to shoot males and round up women and children. Frustrated by the Navajo resistance and his orders, he ordered the destruction of their homes, fields, and animals, intending to starve them into submission. It worked, and thousands of Navajo were forced on the Long Walk to Bosque Redondo. Many died in the walk and on the reservation. In 1868, a new treaty was signed, and the Navajo were allowed to return to their homeland. Today, the Navajo Nation is the largest Indian reservation, about 17.5 million acres covering parts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.
Place.
In 1862, the Confederate threat to New Mexico had evaporated, leaving troops available to handle the territory's "Indian problem." A site was chosen for a reservation to hold the Navajo and Mescalero Apaches. That site was called Bosque Redondo, or Round Forest in English, located in eastern New Mexico, 300 miles from the tribes' homelands. There, they would be taught to farm and be civilized.
The land was barren and desolate; the army officer in charge of selecting it was sure no white settlers would ever want it. Kit Carson was ordered to round up the Apache and Navajo and move them there. By the winter of 1864, there were 8,500 Navajos and 500 Apaches living there. Of course, government promises were not kept; promised rations never materialized, attempts at raising crops failed for three years, and at least 2,000 Indians, nearly a quarter of their number died. General Sherman, appointed commander in the West after the Civil War and a commission investigated reports of corruption, waste, and abuse, even visiting for themselves. The commission found merit in the charges, and, in 1868, a new treaty was signed, allowing the Navajo to return to their homeland in the Four Corners region.
In 1862, the Confederate threat to New Mexico had evaporated, leaving troops available to handle the territory's "Indian problem." A site was chosen for a reservation to hold the Navajo and Mescalero Apaches. That site was called Bosque Redondo, or Round Forest in English, located in eastern New Mexico, 300 miles from the tribes' homelands. There, they would be taught to farm and be civilized.
The land was barren and desolate; the army officer in charge of selecting it was sure no white settlers would ever want it. Kit Carson was ordered to round up the Apache and Navajo and move them there. By the winter of 1864, there were 8,500 Navajos and 500 Apaches living there. Of course, government promises were not kept; promised rations never materialized, attempts at raising crops failed for three years, and at least 2,000 Indians, nearly a quarter of their number died. General Sherman, appointed commander in the West after the Civil War and a commission investigated reports of corruption, waste, and abuse, even visiting for themselves. The commission found merit in the charges, and, in 1868, a new treaty was signed, allowing the Navajo to return to their homeland in the Four Corners region.
Thing.
The "Long Walk" started in the beginning of spring 1864. Bands of Navajo led by the Army were relocated from their traditional lands in eastern Arizona Territory and western New Mexico Territory to Fort Sumner (in an area called the Bosque Redondo or Hwéeldi by the Navajo) in the Pecos River valley. The march was one that was very difficult and pushed many Navajos to their breaking point, including death. The distance itself was cruel, but the fact that they did not receive any aid from the soldiers was devastating. Not every single person was in prime condition to trek 400 miles. Many began the walk exhausted and malnourished, others were not properly clothed and were not in the least prepared for such a long journey. Neither sympathy nor remorse were given to the Navajos. They were never informed as to where they were going, why they were being relocated, and how long it would take to get there. (from Wikipedia)
At least 200 died on the March, and between 8,000 and 9,000 made it to the camp, where many fell prey to starvation disease, Ute and New Mexico slavers who made raids and sold captives in New Mexico and Mexico.
The "Long Walk" started in the beginning of spring 1864. Bands of Navajo led by the Army were relocated from their traditional lands in eastern Arizona Territory and western New Mexico Territory to Fort Sumner (in an area called the Bosque Redondo or Hwéeldi by the Navajo) in the Pecos River valley. The march was one that was very difficult and pushed many Navajos to their breaking point, including death. The distance itself was cruel, but the fact that they did not receive any aid from the soldiers was devastating. Not every single person was in prime condition to trek 400 miles. Many began the walk exhausted and malnourished, others were not properly clothed and were not in the least prepared for such a long journey. Neither sympathy nor remorse were given to the Navajos. They were never informed as to where they were going, why they were being relocated, and how long it would take to get there. (from Wikipedia)
At least 200 died on the March, and between 8,000 and 9,000 made it to the camp, where many fell prey to starvation disease, Ute and New Mexico slavers who made raids and sold captives in New Mexico and Mexico.
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In 2002, National Geographic writer Scott Wallace accompanied an expedition into the Brazilian Amazon to locate a tribe that had up, until then, had never had contact with anyone from the outside world. They were called the "Arrow People" or Flecheiros, and wrote The Unconquered. In 2022, it seems hard to believe that there are still uncontacted people's, but there are, in the jungles of South America and New Guinea and on islands off the coast of India. While these indigenous people have maybe seen outsiders, they meet them with arrows and spears and choose to remain uncontacted.
Wallace accompanied a Brazilian explorer and indigenous rights advocate named Sydney Possuelo. Born in 1940, Possuelo has made protecting Brazil's indigenous his life's work. Before Possuelo, the Brazilian government followed a policy of moving indigenous tribes off of land deemed valuable. Contact with these people invariably caused great loss of life due to disease, and the loss of their culture.
Possuelo pushed the Brazilian government to adopt a no-contact policy, observing and protecting from a distance. He joined FUNAI, the Brazilian Indian agency, and went to work. He was relentless. An acquaintance of his described Possuelo to Wallace as "a cross between Jesus Christ and Che Guevara." Besides the dangers inherent in exploring the Amazon jungle in search of people who meet strangers with showers of poison-tipped arrows, he also had to deal with numerous death threats and actual attempts on his life by drug dealers, ranchers, loggers, miners and other groups who illegally strip the Amazon of resources and often massacre whole villages in the process.
Then he had to deal with bureaucrats and elected officials . Until 2006, he was head of FUNAI's Department of Unknown Tribes. Then, he criticized the Director of FUNAI for suggesting that Brazil's Indigenous controlled perhaps too much land, and he was removed from his office, but he continued his work for indigenous rights.
In 2002, National Geographic writer Scott Wallace accompanied an expedition into the Brazilian Amazon to locate a tribe that had up, until then, had never had contact with anyone from the outside world. They were called the "Arrow People" or Flecheiros, and wrote The Unconquered. In 2022, it seems hard to believe that there are still uncontacted people's, but there are, in the jungles of South America and New Guinea and on islands off the coast of India. While these indigenous people have maybe seen outsiders, they meet them with arrows and spears and choose to remain uncontacted.
Wallace accompanied a Brazilian explorer and indigenous rights advocate named Sydney Possuelo. Born in 1940, Possuelo has made protecting Brazil's indigenous his life's work. Before Possuelo, the Brazilian government followed a policy of moving indigenous tribes off of land deemed valuable. Contact with these people invariably caused great loss of life due to disease, and the loss of their culture.
Possuelo pushed the Brazilian government to adopt a no-contact policy, observing and protecting from a distance. He joined FUNAI, the Brazilian Indian agency, and went to work. He was relentless. An acquaintance of his described Possuelo to Wallace as "a cross between Jesus Christ and Che Guevara." Besides the dangers inherent in exploring the Amazon jungle in search of people who meet strangers with showers of poison-tipped arrows, he also had to deal with numerous death threats and actual attempts on his life by drug dealers, ranchers, loggers, miners and other groups who illegally strip the Amazon of resources and often massacre whole villages in the process.
Then he had to deal with bureaucrats and elected officials . Until 2006, he was head of FUNAI's Department of Unknown Tribes. Then, he criticized the Director of FUNAI for suggesting that Brazil's Indigenous controlled perhaps too much land, and he was removed from his office, but he continued his work for indigenous rights.
Place.
According to the United Nations' best estimates, there may be between 100 and 200 uncontacted tribes, numbering up to 10,000 individuals. A majority, 77-84 tribes, live in South America: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. There are over 40 uncontacted tribes in New Guinea, and two in the Andaman Island chain, the Sentinentelese and the Andamanese. It was the Sentinentelese in 2018 who killed an American missionary who attempted to land on their Island in order to convert them.
According to the United Nations' best estimates, there may be between 100 and 200 uncontacted tribes, numbering up to 10,000 individuals. A majority, 77-84 tribes, live in South America: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. There are over 40 uncontacted tribes in New Guinea, and two in the Andaman Island chain, the Sentinentelese and the Andamanese. It was the Sentinentelese in 2018 who killed an American missionary who attempted to land on their Island in order to convert them.
Thing
The Arrow People and other tribes in Central and South America in the Caribbean often used/use curare-dipped arrows and blowgun darts in hunting and warfare. Curare is a plant-derived poison that causes paralysis, and death results from asphyxiation due to paralysis of the diaphragm. Curare has also been used medically to treat tetanus and strychnine poisoning and to induce paralysis.
The Unconquered is a great adventure story, and it raises awareness of the uncontacted tribes and their fragile state. In 2017, some illegal miners massacred at least 10 Arrow People that were foraging for food. In the last five years or so, the Brazilian government has seemed to backpedal on protecting indigenous rights, cutting funding for the indigenous agency, FUNAI, and supporting exploitation of the Amazon's natural resources.
The Arrow People and other tribes in Central and South America in the Caribbean often used/use curare-dipped arrows and blowgun darts in hunting and warfare. Curare is a plant-derived poison that causes paralysis, and death results from asphyxiation due to paralysis of the diaphragm. Curare has also been used medically to treat tetanus and strychnine poisoning and to induce paralysis.
The Unconquered is a great adventure story, and it raises awareness of the uncontacted tribes and their fragile state. In 2017, some illegal miners massacred at least 10 Arrow People that were foraging for food. In the last five years or so, the Brazilian government has seemed to backpedal on protecting indigenous rights, cutting funding for the indigenous agency, FUNAI, and supporting exploitation of the Amazon's natural resources.
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Who led the largest slave rebellion in American history? Nat Turner? Denmark Vesey? Gabriel Prosser? John Brown? Not even close. The largest slave revolt in American history occurred in the territory of Orleans, on the German Coast (west bank of the Mississippi) from January 8-10, 1811, and it was led by an enslaved driver, an overseer who was himself enslaved, named Charles Deslondes. Little is known about Deslondes, but there are unsubstantiated reports that he was brought to the German Coast from Saint Domingue (Haiti), and that he may have participated in the slave revolt there. He was thought to have been born around 1789, and he was at least descended from Haitian slaves.
He started the rebellion at the Andry plantation, wounding the owner and killing the owners son before taking muskets, ammo, and military uniforms from the house. The rebels then started the March down River Road to New Orleans, burning other plantations and acquiring followers along the way. Eventually, over 500 people, armed mostly with knives, pikes, axes, and farm tools joined in. The plan was to join with rebels in New Orleans. Some sources say the intent was to declare a black state in the Mississippi.
Only two white planters were killed. The other plantation owners were either in their New Orleans town houses or had been warned ahead of time by their own slaves. A militia of about 80 men was quickly assembled, joined by 30 US soldiers, 40 sailors and militia from New Orleans. These forces met the rebels at the Bernoudy plantation, killing 40-45 and causing the rest to retreat into woods and swamps. By June 11, the rebellion was over, leaders were executed by firing squads, they were beheaded, and their heads were placed on pikes along the River Road, stretching some 60 miles.
Deslondes received no hearing. After his capture, his hands were chopped off, he was shot in the legs and body, and then put into a bundle of straw and burned alive.
Who led the largest slave rebellion in American history? Nat Turner? Denmark Vesey? Gabriel Prosser? John Brown? Not even close. The largest slave revolt in American history occurred in the territory of Orleans, on the German Coast (west bank of the Mississippi) from January 8-10, 1811, and it was led by an enslaved driver, an overseer who was himself enslaved, named Charles Deslondes. Little is known about Deslondes, but there are unsubstantiated reports that he was brought to the German Coast from Saint Domingue (Haiti), and that he may have participated in the slave revolt there. He was thought to have been born around 1789, and he was at least descended from Haitian slaves.
He started the rebellion at the Andry plantation, wounding the owner and killing the owners son before taking muskets, ammo, and military uniforms from the house. The rebels then started the March down River Road to New Orleans, burning other plantations and acquiring followers along the way. Eventually, over 500 people, armed mostly with knives, pikes, axes, and farm tools joined in. The plan was to join with rebels in New Orleans. Some sources say the intent was to declare a black state in the Mississippi.
Only two white planters were killed. The other plantation owners were either in their New Orleans town houses or had been warned ahead of time by their own slaves. A militia of about 80 men was quickly assembled, joined by 30 US soldiers, 40 sailors and militia from New Orleans. These forces met the rebels at the Bernoudy plantation, killing 40-45 and causing the rest to retreat into woods and swamps. By June 11, the rebellion was over, leaders were executed by firing squads, they were beheaded, and their heads were placed on pikes along the River Road, stretching some 60 miles.
Deslondes received no hearing. After his capture, his hands were chopped off, he was shot in the legs and body, and then put into a bundle of straw and burned alive.
Place.
Whitney Plantation opened in 2014 in the St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, one of the parishes affected by the 1811 uprising. Its focus is on slavery and its legacies, particularly slavery as practiced on antebellum Louisiana sugar cane plantations. It includes information and exhibits about the uprising.
Whitney Plantation opened in 2014 in the St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, one of the parishes affected by the 1811 uprising. Its focus is on slavery and its legacies, particularly slavery as practiced on antebellum Louisiana sugar cane plantations. It includes information and exhibits about the uprising.
Thing.
Most of the plantations targeted in the 1811 German Coast Uprising in Louisiana, were sugar cane plantations, and the enslaved people involved worked in sugar cane. Sugar cane has been called the cruelest crop in plantation history. Other kinds of plantations had more births than deaths among enslaved people. Sugar plantations had more deaths than births. Slaves on sugar plantations had a much shorter life expectancy than other plantations.
Sugar cane had to be planted and harvested which meant long days in hot and humid Louisiana weather with the added risks of venomous snakes and machete accidents. When harvested, there were long 24 hour days in boiling houses where the sugar cane stalks were crushed into a molasses-like substance that was put into barrels and drained, leaving only sugar behind.
Read Daniel Rasmussen's American Uprising to learn more about the revolt.
Most of the plantations targeted in the 1811 German Coast Uprising in Louisiana, were sugar cane plantations, and the enslaved people involved worked in sugar cane. Sugar cane has been called the cruelest crop in plantation history. Other kinds of plantations had more births than deaths among enslaved people. Sugar plantations had more deaths than births. Slaves on sugar plantations had a much shorter life expectancy than other plantations.
Sugar cane had to be planted and harvested which meant long days in hot and humid Louisiana weather with the added risks of venomous snakes and machete accidents. When harvested, there were long 24 hour days in boiling houses where the sugar cane stalks were crushed into a molasses-like substance that was put into barrels and drained, leaving only sugar behind.
Read Daniel Rasmussen's American Uprising to learn more about the revolt.
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Leo Frank (1884-1915) was born to a Jewish family in Texas, but raised in New York, earning a degree in engineering from Cornell He moved to Atlanta in 1908 to manage the National Pencil Company factory there. He married in 1910, and he became active in Atlanta's Jewish community.
On April 26, 1913, 13-year old Mary Phagan, one of the children who worked at the factory, was strangled, and her body was concealed in the factory's cellar. Frank was arrested and charged. The most damning evidence against him in the July trial was the testimony of the janitor, Jim Conley, who claimed Frank had done the murder and ordered him to hide the body. Frank was convicted, despite the fact that police had observed Conley washing blood out of his shirt, Conley had made four written affadavits that contradicted each other, and Conley contradicted the affadavits and himself when questioned on the witness stand.
The chief "evidence" against Frank really was that he was Jewish, and antisemitism was high in Georgia. He was convicted of murder. National press deemed the conviction a travesty of justice. The governor, believing Frank was innocent, commuted his death sentence to life. The governor's action enraged Atlantans so much that, when his term ended a few days later, he and his wife fled the state, in fear for their lives. That action enraged a group of 25 prominent men of Phagan's hometown Marietta to drive to the state prison in Milledgeville, kidnap Frank, and hang him near Marietta's square.
In his book, Steve Oney names names of those in the Lynch mob for the first time, including the father of a future governor. Frank was pardoned in 1986, but his death contributed to both the rebirth of the KKK on top of Stone Mountain and to the birth of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League.
Leo Frank (1884-1915) was born to a Jewish family in Texas, but raised in New York, earning a degree in engineering from Cornell He moved to Atlanta in 1908 to manage the National Pencil Company factory there. He married in 1910, and he became active in Atlanta's Jewish community.
On April 26, 1913, 13-year old Mary Phagan, one of the children who worked at the factory, was strangled, and her body was concealed in the factory's cellar. Frank was arrested and charged. The most damning evidence against him in the July trial was the testimony of the janitor, Jim Conley, who claimed Frank had done the murder and ordered him to hide the body. Frank was convicted, despite the fact that police had observed Conley washing blood out of his shirt, Conley had made four written affadavits that contradicted each other, and Conley contradicted the affadavits and himself when questioned on the witness stand.
The chief "evidence" against Frank really was that he was Jewish, and antisemitism was high in Georgia. He was convicted of murder. National press deemed the conviction a travesty of justice. The governor, believing Frank was innocent, commuted his death sentence to life. The governor's action enraged Atlantans so much that, when his term ended a few days later, he and his wife fled the state, in fear for their lives. That action enraged a group of 25 prominent men of Phagan's hometown Marietta to drive to the state prison in Milledgeville, kidnap Frank, and hang him near Marietta's square.
In his book, Steve Oney names names of those in the Lynch mob for the first time, including the father of a future governor. Frank was pardoned in 1986, but his death contributed to both the rebirth of the KKK on top of Stone Mountain and to the birth of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League.
Place.
Once convicted of the murder of Mary Phagan, Leo Frank was sent to Georgia's state prison in Milledgeville. This building, located in the edge of town, was used from 1911 to 1937. It was home to Georgia's first electric chair.
In August 1915, after the governor commuted Frank's death sentence to life in prison, a group of 25 prominent men from Marietta (Phagan's hometown) decided to mete their own punishment. They packed into Model T's and made the nearly four hour drive (150 miles on rough roads in model T's) to Milledgeville, bribes were paid, and Frank was kidnapped and taken back to Marietta to be hanged.
Unfortunately, the historic building itself fell into disrepair, and the county commission determined that it would cost $5 million to just stabilize it, so the building was demolished in 2018. There is at least one group currently working to develop fitting memorials of the site and the cemetery nearby.
Once convicted of the murder of Mary Phagan, Leo Frank was sent to Georgia's state prison in Milledgeville. This building, located in the edge of town, was used from 1911 to 1937. It was home to Georgia's first electric chair.
In August 1915, after the governor commuted Frank's death sentence to life in prison, a group of 25 prominent men from Marietta (Phagan's hometown) decided to mete their own punishment. They packed into Model T's and made the nearly four hour drive (150 miles on rough roads in model T's) to Milledgeville, bribes were paid, and Frank was kidnapped and taken back to Marietta to be hanged.
Unfortunately, the historic building itself fell into disrepair, and the county commission determined that it would cost $5 million to just stabilize it, so the building was demolished in 2018. There is at least one group currently working to develop fitting memorials of the site and the cemetery nearby.
Thing.
Fiddlin' John Carson (2868-1949) was a fiddler and singer who recorded the first country music song featuring vocals, "Little Old Cabin in the Lane "
Born near Marietta, Mary Phagan's hometown, he worked in Atlanta cotton mills before he became a street performer, playing, singing,candy selling his original songs. He was outraged when the governor commuted Leo Frank's death sentence to life in prison and wrote the "Ballad of Little Mary Phagan" in protest. He performed the song at numerous rallies, and it exacerbated antisemitism in Georgia and was probably an inspiration for Frank's lynching.
Fiddlin' John Carson (2868-1949) was a fiddler and singer who recorded the first country music song featuring vocals, "Little Old Cabin in the Lane "
Born near Marietta, Mary Phagan's hometown, he worked in Atlanta cotton mills before he became a street performer, playing, singing,candy selling his original songs. He was outraged when the governor commuted Leo Frank's death sentence to life in prison and wrote the "Ballad of Little Mary Phagan" in protest. He performed the song at numerous rallies, and it exacerbated antisemitism in Georgia and was probably an inspiration for Frank's lynching.
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Persons.
The Dead Are Arising, published in 2020 and written by Les Payne and Tamara Payne, is, as the blurb proclaims, "the definitive biography of Malcolm X." The Autobiography of Malcolm X is one of my favorite books, and I often recommend it, but this new book is based on hundreds of hours of interviews and research. It fills in gaps and corrects some falsehoods and omissions in The Autobiography.
Malcolm X rose to become the public face and voice of the Nation of Islam, heir apparent to the leader, Elijah Muhammad, until he left the NOI, disgusted by Muhammad's fathering of several children by his "secretaries," the corruption and entitlement among The Royal Family, as Muhammad's family came to be known, and Muhammad's unwillingness to take real action following the 1962 police shooting of Ronald Stokes in Los Angeles.
The NOI was founded by Wallace Fard Muhammad, who wooed black Christians to his own peculiar form of Islam that included tenants of black superiority and separatism. Very little is known about him. He used many aliases in his life, had a criminal record, and listed several different ethnicities in government forms. He claimed he was born in New Zealand, Afghanistan, and Spain. From 1930-1934, he went to black homes as a salesman, initially, but began to convert them to his own NOI, founding his first temple in Detroit. Then, he disappeared entirely from the public record in 1934.
Fard was succeeded by Elijah Muhammad, born Elijah Poole in Sandersville Georgia to a sharecropper family. He had barely a fourth grade education, and at 16 he moved to Detroit and became a member of Fard's NOI. When Fard disappeared, Muhammad declared that Fard was in fact Allah in human form and that he (Muhammad) was The Messenger. He formalized NOI theology including the idea that white people were devils, created by a black mad scientist named Yakub 6,000 years ago and that a Mother Plane that orbits the earth, capable of building or .destroying the earth. Muhammad's successor, Louis Farrakhan, teaches that EM is now on board that Mother Plane and that he (Farrakhan) has visited it several times.
The Dead Are Arising, published in 2020 and written by Les Payne and Tamara Payne, is, as the blurb proclaims, "the definitive biography of Malcolm X." The Autobiography of Malcolm X is one of my favorite books, and I often recommend it, but this new book is based on hundreds of hours of interviews and research. It fills in gaps and corrects some falsehoods and omissions in The Autobiography.
Malcolm X rose to become the public face and voice of the Nation of Islam, heir apparent to the leader, Elijah Muhammad, until he left the NOI, disgusted by Muhammad's fathering of several children by his "secretaries," the corruption and entitlement among The Royal Family, as Muhammad's family came to be known, and Muhammad's unwillingness to take real action following the 1962 police shooting of Ronald Stokes in Los Angeles.
The NOI was founded by Wallace Fard Muhammad, who wooed black Christians to his own peculiar form of Islam that included tenants of black superiority and separatism. Very little is known about him. He used many aliases in his life, had a criminal record, and listed several different ethnicities in government forms. He claimed he was born in New Zealand, Afghanistan, and Spain. From 1930-1934, he went to black homes as a salesman, initially, but began to convert them to his own NOI, founding his first temple in Detroit. Then, he disappeared entirely from the public record in 1934.
Fard was succeeded by Elijah Muhammad, born Elijah Poole in Sandersville Georgia to a sharecropper family. He had barely a fourth grade education, and at 16 he moved to Detroit and became a member of Fard's NOI. When Fard disappeared, Muhammad declared that Fard was in fact Allah in human form and that he (Muhammad) was The Messenger. He formalized NOI theology including the idea that white people were devils, created by a black mad scientist named Yakub 6,000 years ago and that a Mother Plane that orbits the earth, capable of building or .destroying the earth. Muhammad's successor, Louis Farrakhan, teaches that EM is now on board that Mother Plane and that he (Farrakhan) has visited it several times.
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The Dead Are Arising, published in 2020 and written by Les Payne and Tamara Payne, is, as the blurb proclaims, "the definitive biography of Malcolm X." The Autobiography of Malcolm X is one of my favorite books, and I often recommend it, but this new book is based on hundreds of hours of interviews and research. It fills in gaps and corrects some falsehoods and omissions in The Autobiography.
Malcolm X rose to become the public face and voice of the Nation of Islam, heir apparent to the leader, Elijah Muhammad, until he left the NOI in 1964, disgusted by Muhammad's fathering of several children by his "secretaries," the corruption and entitlement among The Royal Family, as Muhammad's family came to be known, and Muhammad's unwillingness to take real action following the 1962 police shooting of Ronald Stokes in Los Angeles.
After he left the NOI, Malcolm X received numerous death threats, and he told interviewers that the NOI was actively out to kill him. On February 21, 1965, he made a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. During the speech, two separate incidents distracted Malcolm X's security team. William 25X ran toward the lectern and fired his sawed-off shotgun directly at Malcolm's chest. Two other shooters, identified by the Paynes in their book as Thomas Hayer and Leon Davis, fired their pistols. Police arrested Hayer and two other men, Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Khalil Islam, were arrested and convicted, even though Hayer cleared Aziz and Islam multiple times and named the other members of the assassination team, all from the Newark NOI mosque.
In 2021, after the investigation was re-opened, Aziz and Islam were totally exonerated. None of the other men named by Hayer have been arrested, and the Paynes lay out major faults and irregularities, perhaps intentional, in the investigation in their book, The Dead Are Arising.
The Dead Are Arising, published in 2020 and written by Les Payne and Tamara Payne, is, as the blurb proclaims, "the definitive biography of Malcolm X." The Autobiography of Malcolm X is one of my favorite books, and I often recommend it, but this new book is based on hundreds of hours of interviews and research. It fills in gaps and corrects some falsehoods and omissions in The Autobiography.
Malcolm X rose to become the public face and voice of the Nation of Islam, heir apparent to the leader, Elijah Muhammad, until he left the NOI in 1964, disgusted by Muhammad's fathering of several children by his "secretaries," the corruption and entitlement among The Royal Family, as Muhammad's family came to be known, and Muhammad's unwillingness to take real action following the 1962 police shooting of Ronald Stokes in Los Angeles.
After he left the NOI, Malcolm X received numerous death threats, and he told interviewers that the NOI was actively out to kill him. On February 21, 1965, he made a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. During the speech, two separate incidents distracted Malcolm X's security team. William 25X ran toward the lectern and fired his sawed-off shotgun directly at Malcolm's chest. Two other shooters, identified by the Paynes in their book as Thomas Hayer and Leon Davis, fired their pistols. Police arrested Hayer and two other men, Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Khalil Islam, were arrested and convicted, even though Hayer cleared Aziz and Islam multiple times and named the other members of the assassination team, all from the Newark NOI mosque.
In 2021, after the investigation was re-opened, Aziz and Islam were totally exonerated. None of the other men named by Hayer have been arrested, and the Paynes lay out major faults and irregularities, perhaps intentional, in the investigation in their book, The Dead Are Arising.
Thing.
This is an interesting letter from Malcolm X to Alex Haley, his co-writer of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. He tells Haley that he has to postpone their working together for a while.
It's dated December 1963. He wasn't exactly forthcoming with Haley. Elijah Muhammad, the head of the Nation of Islam, forced him to cancel all public appearances and interviews after his famous comment on JFK's assassination. Malcolm X had said that the assassination was an example of America's "chickens coming home to roost," implying that he saw the assassination as karma, cosmic justice, because JFK had authorized the assassination of South Vietnam's President just a few weeks before. Several months later, Malcolm announced that he was leaving the NOI.
The title, The Dead Are Arising, by the way, refers to the fact that Nation of Islam members referred to black Christians as either the "lost/found" or the "dead" (to the true faith). When black Christians were converted to NOI, it was said that the "dead are arising."
This is an interesting letter from Malcolm X to Alex Haley, his co-writer of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. He tells Haley that he has to postpone their working together for a while.
It's dated December 1963. He wasn't exactly forthcoming with Haley. Elijah Muhammad, the head of the Nation of Islam, forced him to cancel all public appearances and interviews after his famous comment on JFK's assassination. Malcolm X had said that the assassination was an example of America's "chickens coming home to roost," implying that he saw the assassination as karma, cosmic justice, because JFK had authorized the assassination of South Vietnam's President just a few weeks before. Several months later, Malcolm announced that he was leaving the NOI.
The title, The Dead Are Arising, by the way, refers to the fact that Nation of Islam members referred to black Christians as either the "lost/found" or the "dead" (to the true faith). When black Christians were converted to NOI, it was said that the "dead are arising."
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Are you ready for some really gritty, down and dirty, historical fiction that brings together all the chaos and tumult of the 1960s? Go back a few years and pick up the Underworld USA trilogy by James Ellroy.
The trilogy covers the years 1958 to 1973 and blends fiction and history, following the lives of a couple of FBI agents who are involved in practically every covert event that occurred during that time. The plots involve a loooong list of historical characters.
One of the most notorious figures in 20th century history is J. Edgar Hoover ( 1895-1972). Hoover was arguably the most powerful, feared, and corrupt men in American history.
He served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1924 to his death in 1972. Under his leadership, the FBI was a tool used to go after and antagonize anyone that he deemed as a threat to himself and to America. Using illegal wiretapping, surveillance, planted and manufactured evidence, blackmail, even possibly assassination, he went after immigrants, labor leaders, political activists, entertainers, and civil rights leaders. Presidents feared him because of the information that he knew about them.
Are you ready for some really gritty, down and dirty, historical fiction that brings together all the chaos and tumult of the 1960s? Go back a few years and pick up the Underworld USA trilogy by James Ellroy.
The trilogy covers the years 1958 to 1973 and blends fiction and history, following the lives of a couple of FBI agents who are involved in practically every covert event that occurred during that time. The plots involve a loooong list of historical characters.
One of the most notorious figures in 20th century history is J. Edgar Hoover ( 1895-1972). Hoover was arguably the most powerful, feared, and corrupt men in American history.
He served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1924 to his death in 1972. Under his leadership, the FBI was a tool used to go after and antagonize anyone that he deemed as a threat to himself and to America. Using illegal wiretapping, surveillance, planted and manufactured evidence, blackmail, even possibly assassination, he went after immigrants, labor leaders, political activists, entertainers, and civil rights leaders. Presidents feared him because of the information that he knew about them.
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James Ellroy takes the reader all over the US and the Caribbean in his Underworld USA trilogy, to every event that made history from 1958 to 1973, and involves all the big players in those events.
A good bit of the books takes place in Las Vegas, where Howard Hughes, the super-eccentric, reclusive business magnate, inventor, pilot, and movie maker was transforming the city. During the 1940s and 1950s, organized crime had taken Las Vegas from a dry desert town to the gambling capital of the country. While Hughes had visited often in those decades, he had other plans when he moved there in the 1960s; he wanted to make Vegas more glamorous. He occupied the top floor of the Desert Inn and then bought it when management tried to get him to leave. Then, he bought six other hotels and other businesses, making him the biggest employee in the state. He used his money to wield incredible influence on Nevada, politically and economically, yet he rarely left his rooms - the beginning of his ultra-reclusive phase. Just as quietly as he has arrived in Vegas in 1966, he left, using the fire escape, in 1970. He spent the rest of his life secretly shuttling between a few cities and in his private jet, but he never returned to Vegas
James Ellroy takes the reader all over the US and the Caribbean in his Underworld USA trilogy, to every event that made history from 1958 to 1973, and involves all the big players in those events.
A good bit of the books takes place in Las Vegas, where Howard Hughes, the super-eccentric, reclusive business magnate, inventor, pilot, and movie maker was transforming the city. During the 1940s and 1950s, organized crime had taken Las Vegas from a dry desert town to the gambling capital of the country. While Hughes had visited often in those decades, he had other plans when he moved there in the 1960s; he wanted to make Vegas more glamorous. He occupied the top floor of the Desert Inn and then bought it when management tried to get him to leave. Then, he bought six other hotels and other businesses, making him the biggest employee in the state. He used his money to wield incredible influence on Nevada, politically and economically, yet he rarely left his rooms - the beginning of his ultra-reclusive phase. Just as quietly as he has arrived in Vegas in 1966, he left, using the fire escape, in 1970. He spent the rest of his life secretly shuttling between a few cities and in his private jet, but he never returned to Vegas
Thing.
Wiretapping, listening in on private conversations or phonecalls, is an important element of James Ellroy"s Underworld USA trilogy and in American history
Franklin Roosevelt actually had the first recording device installed in the White House, and every succeeding president recorded to some degree ( Go to YouTube and search for LBJ recordings. Quite .... Something.) The public and press didn't necessarily know until Watergate, of course.
J. Edgar Hoover ordered illegal wiretapping and recording on dozens and dozens of people: presidents, politicians, reporters, civil rights leaders, entertainers, etc. He would then use those recordings for threats and blackmail. (Famously, he sent supposed recordings of MLK, Jr's hotel rooms to MLK along with an anonymous letter directing him to kill himself.)
Wiretapping, listening in on private conversations or phonecalls, is an important element of James Ellroy"s Underworld USA trilogy and in American history
Franklin Roosevelt actually had the first recording device installed in the White House, and every succeeding president recorded to some degree ( Go to YouTube and search for LBJ recordings. Quite .... Something.) The public and press didn't necessarily know until Watergate, of course.
J. Edgar Hoover ordered illegal wiretapping and recording on dozens and dozens of people: presidents, politicians, reporters, civil rights leaders, entertainers, etc. He would then use those recordings for threats and blackmail. (Famously, he sent supposed recordings of MLK, Jr's hotel rooms to MLK along with an anonymous letter directing him to kill himself.)
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On April 22, 1884, the US recognized the Congo Free State. The Congo Free State originated from the African land grab conducted by the Europeans in the 19th century. Belgium's King Leopold II desperately wanted to be an imperialist too, so he claimed a huge territory in the heart of Africa, deemed useless and impenetrable by most Europeans. However, the region proved to be rich in rubber, ivory, and minerals. King Leopold II amassed a huge personal fortune because the Congo was his personal possession, not Belgium's.
While the King told the world that he was undertaking vast humanitarian and infrastructure improvements out of the goodness of his heart and Christian charity, he, in fact, authorized horrific abuse on the Congolese in forcing them to collect rubber and other valuable resources. He created private militias who used torture, kidnapping, and murder to force labor; they were especially known for cutting off hands of men, women, and children when quotas weren't met. It is estimated that up to 50% of the population died.
Because of the inaccessibility of the region, the truth didn't emerge until the late 1800s thanks to Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, and others who actually viewed the abuse firsthand, like George Washington Williams, a black American former soldier, Congressman, minister, and lawyer who exposed the horrors that he found in his travels of the Congo; he coined the phrase "crimes against humanity." His writing and lectures informed the world and led to a huge public outcry against the king and the abuses. Williams was a great American figure that should be better known.
King Leopold's Ghost is an excellent history of this travesty and was the basis of an excellent documentary of the same name
On April 22, 1884, the US recognized the Congo Free State. The Congo Free State originated from the African land grab conducted by the Europeans in the 19th century. Belgium's King Leopold II desperately wanted to be an imperialist too, so he claimed a huge territory in the heart of Africa, deemed useless and impenetrable by most Europeans. However, the region proved to be rich in rubber, ivory, and minerals. King Leopold II amassed a huge personal fortune because the Congo was his personal possession, not Belgium's.
While the King told the world that he was undertaking vast humanitarian and infrastructure improvements out of the goodness of his heart and Christian charity, he, in fact, authorized horrific abuse on the Congolese in forcing them to collect rubber and other valuable resources. He created private militias who used torture, kidnapping, and murder to force labor; they were especially known for cutting off hands of men, women, and children when quotas weren't met. It is estimated that up to 50% of the population died.
Because of the inaccessibility of the region, the truth didn't emerge until the late 1800s thanks to Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, and others who actually viewed the abuse firsthand, like George Washington Williams, a black American former soldier, Congressman, minister, and lawyer who exposed the horrors that he found in his travels of the Congo; he coined the phrase "crimes against humanity." His writing and lectures informed the world and led to a huge public outcry against the king and the abuses. Williams was a great American figure that should be better known.
King Leopold's Ghost is an excellent history of this travesty and was the basis of an excellent documentary of the same name
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Until the mid 1800s, the heart of Africa was essentially left alone in the Europeans' mad scramble to claim Africa as their own. It was deemed impenetrable because of the thick rainforests, fierce indigenous resistance, malaria, and sleeping sickness. This began to change in the late 1870s thanks to explorers like Henry Stanley and others who traveled and mapped the Congo River.
Stanley tried to interest Britain in laying claim to the Congo but was rebuffed. The British Empire had enough of Africa. So, Stanley found a willing monarch, eager to jump into the imperialism game with the big boys, Belgium's King Leopold II. Pledging to the international community that his interests were purely benevolent, Christian, and philanthropic, he claimed the region as his own personal property, not Belgium's. Discovering the valuable ivory, rubber, and minerals present, he immediately enslaved the native Congolese and used private militias to exact harsh punishments for resistance.
Until the mid 1800s, the heart of Africa was essentially left alone in the Europeans' mad scramble to claim Africa as their own. It was deemed impenetrable because of the thick rainforests, fierce indigenous resistance, malaria, and sleeping sickness. This began to change in the late 1870s thanks to explorers like Henry Stanley and others who traveled and mapped the Congo River.
Stanley tried to interest Britain in laying claim to the Congo but was rebuffed. The British Empire had enough of Africa. So, Stanley found a willing monarch, eager to jump into the imperialism game with the big boys, Belgium's King Leopold II. Pledging to the international community that his interests were purely benevolent, Christian, and philanthropic, he claimed the region as his own personal property, not Belgium's. Discovering the valuable ivory, rubber, and minerals present, he immediately enslaved the native Congolese and used private militias to exact harsh punishments for resistance.
Thing.
The chicote or chicotte whip was invented by Portuguese slavers in the 18th century. In the 19th century, it was used by the Force Publique (FP), King Leopold's private army used to enforce rubber quotas. The chicote is made of twisted hippo or rhino hide, and it often caused death. It was one of the violent means of punishment used in the Belgian Congo. Failure to meet rubber collection quotas could mean a death sentence or the kidnapping and torture of villagers. Members of the FP were required to produce hands to prove they had killed people and not wasted bullets. They often took hands from the living to instill terror and to raise their hand count. The rubber quotas even included hands, and some villages warred in other villages in order to collect hands. A Danish missionary wrote that baskets of severed hands became the symbol of the Congo, and hands were seen as macabre currency. FP members were awarded bonuses based on the number of hands they produced.
The chicote or chicotte whip was invented by Portuguese slavers in the 18th century. In the 19th century, it was used by the Force Publique (FP), King Leopold's private army used to enforce rubber quotas. The chicote is made of twisted hippo or rhino hide, and it often caused death. It was one of the violent means of punishment used in the Belgian Congo. Failure to meet rubber collection quotas could mean a death sentence or the kidnapping and torture of villagers. Members of the FP were required to produce hands to prove they had killed people and not wasted bullets. They often took hands from the living to instill terror and to raise their hand count. The rubber quotas even included hands, and some villages warred in other villages in order to collect hands. A Danish missionary wrote that baskets of severed hands became the symbol of the Congo, and hands were seen as macabre currency. FP members were awarded bonuses based on the number of hands they produced.
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