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May 30, 2001
Music
Concerts Rock the Tiny Kingdom of Skullbonia 
"Tennessee's Last Kingdom," a two-year-old book by a local historian, Ernest R. Pounds, about Skullbone and the surrounding area (known by residents as the Kingdom of Skullbonia), cites longstanding rumors of racial lynchings in the Skullbone area many years ago. "This is the reason that for many, many years no blacks would dare set foot in the kingdom of Skullbonia," Mr. Pounds writes, adding, "It is still an unwritten rule that blacks are not to become permanent residents" in the town. New York Times
Genealogy
16th Annual Black Family Reunion Celebration Looking for a change of family reunion pace? Less reunion and more celebration, the National Council of Negro Women knows how to party. Who knew? Last year, attending families jammed to free concerts by Tyrese, Eric Benet and Kirk Franklin and crew on the Mall in D.C. Makes you wonder who they've got on lock for this year... drylongso.com
Genealogy
Going Somewhere? You might want to check out Carla Labat's Steppin' Out, a guide to 20 U.S. cities for the African American traveler. Find out where to get your 'Do hooked up on Friday, groove on Saturday, and shout on Sunday when you're on the road. drylongso.com
May 28, 2001
Genealogy
Indian and Native: Searching Our Native Heritage Don't tell me you still aren't a member of the AAHGS (Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society)! If you were, you'd know that their 1999 May/June newsletter featured research on our Native heritage. drylongso.com
Genealogy
International Society of Sons and Daughters of Slave Ancestry With all the talks on reparations heating up, this site may prove helpful. Hit them with an email: isda@aol.com drylongso.com
May 23, 2001
Political Animal
Ganja Woman "Jen was also a dealer to casts and crews of several Broadway shows, where she would appear at the stage door herself once a week to fill their orders. According to her own account, she made weekly visits to NBC's Today Show and Late Night With Conan O'Brien as well as serving the crew of Cats before it closed." Apparently she regularly traveled the drug corridor from Barbados to New York and was never stopped. And she had big stinky bags of pot? Where was the drug sniffing beagle? Who said profiling is effective? Village Voice
May 22, 2001
Political Animal
Breaking the Cycle of White Dependence: A Call for Majority Self-Sufficiency "Though apologists for black oppression enjoy pointing out that Africans often sold other Africans into slavery, this too indicates just how dependent whites have been on black people: having to pay and bribe Africans to catch their own and deliver them to us so as to fatten the profits of European elites. We couldn't even do that by ourselves." Zmag
Fnord
Smells Like Texas "Former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower told me, 'They've eliminated the middle man. The corporations don't have to lobby the government any more. They ARE the government.' Hightower used to complain about Monsanto's lobbying the Secretary of Agriculture. Today, Monsanto executive Ann Venamin IS the Secretary of Agriculture." London Observer
May 20, 2001
Fnord
Finger Lickin' Compassion "I felt like the Pied Piper of Panajachel, although instead of using my pipe to lead all the menacing rats out of town, it was my chicken that had the stray dogs under my spell." drylongso.com
Political Animal
The Black Eagle Swoops Into Sudan "Madison has become a pivotal figure in the rising abolitionist movement to free slaves in Sudan. In missions to southern Sudan, he and others have helped to liberate 7366 slaves." Village Voice
May 9, 2001
Beef-a-Real
Family Reunion Here's a list of publications that will get your reunion planning off to a good start. drylongso genealogy
Beef-a-Real
Adoption Resources for adopting. drylongso genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy Tools Back for a second appearance on our list, this company specializes in archival storage and preservation products. Store your quilt, CDs, scrapbook items and more. Clinching the deal is their Family Tree Album Kit. Priced at only $22.95 (volume discounts offered), the kit includes beautifully embossed album, 5 Genealogical Charts and 20 Ancestor Charts with Photoguard™ page protectors and instructions. drylongso.com
Genealogy
Family Reunion Tee shirts Remember last year's reunion t-shirts? Aunt Carol swore her baby could draw, chile! And when the design was done, who had the heart (or nerve) to tell her different? Try this site. They have great designs for you to customize with no amateurish graphics, so give yourself a break. They have 12 stock designs that you customize with your family name, reunion location and date. If you order 108 shirts (9 dozen) or more, (white shirts printed on the front only with one color of ink) you'll pay just $5 a tee!! Now, that's a deal. They even offer tees in sizes up to 5X (add $$ for your hefty kin). And if Aunt Carol just has to have her way, they'll do custom designs for an extra fee. drylongso.com
Genealogy
Online Book on Melungeons Self-described as "Melungeon by ethnicity, librarian by profession, population geneticist by training," Mike Nassau has an online book. The book covers: Melungeons, Lumbee Indians, Mestees, Brass Ankles, Mulattoes, Ramapo Mountain People, Miscegenation, and Indians of North America - Mixed Descent
Mr. Nassau references the following book, which even though I was unable to locate any further information online, seems worth the time to find it offline. Henry Berry Lowry, who led the Lumbee resistance to white encroachment and enslavement, is the one true Mestee folk hero. W. McKee Evans, a Lumbee, opened his book, To Die Game: The Story of the Lowry Band, Indian Guerrillas of Reconstruction, with this quote from Henry Berry Lowry: "My band is big enough. ... They are all true men. ... We mean to live as long as we can - and at last, if we must die, to die game." A philosophy to live by.
Mike Nassau
The Stacks
Dubose Heyward's "Brass Ankles" Etiwan Island and its People -- The "Brass Ankles" people of Dubose Heyward fiction were really found on Edisto Island, SC. Writer's Project Life History, published in 1938 by Chalmers S. Murray is all descriptive narrative, no direct interviews and being so calls for a critical reading regarding author perspective, but it is still an interesting glimpse of a closed society near Charleston, SC Library of Congress
Genealogy
Native American Radio List of Native American radio links, Native music and programming, some are Native-owned stations and 6 have internet broadcasts in RealAudio drylongso.com
May 8, 2001
Political Animal
Race by the Numbers "The misleading reports of white proportional decline are likely not only to sustain the racist fears of white supremacist groups but also to affect the views of ordinary white, nonextremist Americans. A false assumption that whites are becoming a minority in the nation their ancestors conquered and developed may be adding to the deep resentment of poor or struggling whites toward affirmative action and other policies aimed at righting the wrongs of discrimination." [Free registration required.] New York Times
Sports
On the Field, History Plays Out In Black, White "If T-ball is supposed to gently introduce children to the hardball version of America's pastime, then the game at the Bush White House offered some rather stark lessons about race in America." Washington Post
Genealogy
Melungeons Melungeon page… Appalachia's "lost race" -- Portugese, Black Dutch, Black Irish, Native American/African/Caucasion. Interesting socio/political background on the "FPC" (Free Persons of Color) identification and connection to Melungeon heritage.
Genealogy
Footprints Along the Border, Story of the Seminole-Negro Indian Scouts riveting and inspiring tales of the American Maroons who were an integral part of the United States' forces in the Indian Wars. Go to the home page to access information on the west Texas bordertowns where the scouts relocated, the Army orders for the scouts to leave Fort Clark after living there 40 years and more. William Gwaltney
May 7, 2001
Genealogy
Black Family Pledge Melanet's Watoto World Parental Guide page has links to Dr. Maya Angelou's Black Family Pledge, guide to selecting African American children's literature, the Children's Defense Fund, educational resources, and other resources for African American parents. Melanet
Genealogy
Topics in African American Family History Course This is Weselyn Professor Renee Romano's syllabus for her Topics in African American Family History Course -- excellent readings and no midterms! Dr. Renee Romano
Political Animal
A View From the Trenches "A few classrooms have rolled-up maps and a globe, but rarely does one see a map displayed - not of the city, state, country, world, let alone the stars. The library has one picture of Martin Luther King Jr. and of the Earth seen from space. But there are no pictures of famous buildings, of national monuments, of geographic wonders. There are no reproductions of fine art or posters of historic events that could stimulate imaginations and motivate questions beyond the neighborhood. There aren't even pictures of athletic heroes. There are some children's illustrations of the fantasy and animal stories they almost exclusively read. Too much art displayed might suggest too little reading." New York Times
Genealogy
Ida B. Wells Community Academy Dr. Edward W. Crosby's Ida B. Wells Community Academy in Akron, Ohio is an inspiration. And if you're on a quest for knowledge, this bibliography covers a lot of ground. Get cultured! Read! Dr. Edward W. Crosby
Genealogy
The Other Side of the Family "Beaumont was always something of a mystery figure in our family's story -- a white man remembered only vaguely and somewhat reluctantly through a faded old photograph and a newspaper clipping. By contrast, Laura was a beloved and memorable figure. Her brilliant 1890 portrait and that of her beautiful mixed-race daughter, Pearl, my great-grandmother, hung proudly in the entryway of my house throughout my boyhood in Seattle." Washington Post Magazine
May 5, 2001
Genealogy
African-Native Genealogy African-Native Genealogy Homepage: Celebrating the Estelusti--The Freedmen, Oklahoma's Black Indians by Angela Y. Walton-Raji
Excellent heritage books featured and for sale: Index to the Cherokee Freedman Enrollment Cards, 1880 Cherokee National Census, and more. Great links about Native Americans and Freedmen, the Black West, Cherokee, Choctaw-Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek Treaties freeing the slaves, Black Indian Slave Narratives, Freedmen Surnames, Tri-Racial Isolates of the Upper South (like the Melungeons), and the Frontier Freedmen's Journal. Angela Y. Walton-Raji
May 1, 2001
Political Animal
The 'Wrongs' of 'Mr. Civil Rights' "In his letter to the embattled leader of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, a furious Walker predicted that Jackson's current problems may be an indication of more sinister tribulations ahead. He drew Jackson's attention to an unflattering piece about him in Time magazine by Jack White ("The End of the Rainbow: How Can Jesse Jackson Preach Morality After Fathering a Love Child?"), then delivered a warning." Village Voice