1,000 word excerpt

Why I Wrote This Book

The WE in the title refers to AMERICA not just people of AFRICAN DESCENT. The West African symbol (on the first page) is Sankofa. It literally means Return and get it... It is a symbol of the importance of learning from the past. This book is about looking back at things that happened over 140 years ago and seeing how those things still affect us today.

This book was prompted by something that happened while working as a volunteer at Pennsylvania State Correctional Institute-in Chester. The setting was the prison chapel. I was there to watch the first of three performances put on by eight men serving life prison sentences. Some of the eight were not convicted of first-degree murder. Six out of the eight men were Black.

The production was very powerful. The men spoke about the reasons they were incarcerated and the years they had served. They spoke of the illiteracy among the prisoners, what it was like to grow up fatherless or to have a bad family life; of the things they missed while in prison, and the harsh reality of prison life. One man spoke of the affects of being on death row, even after his sentence was changed from death to life in prison. He described the effects as being similar to Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome suffered by war veterans. Though he was in his forties, he was crippled and walked with a cane.

Many of them apologized for there actions and sought forgiveness from the families of their victims. It was obvious that some of the men were there simply because they didnt have a good lawyer.

Many in the audience shed tears. The performance was as moving as it was powerful. The primary focus was that these men were trying to make the best of their situations. Though some had much to offer society, their life sentence meant they would spend their life in prison with no chance of parole.

After the performance, there was a question and answer period. Most who took the microphone were black. Many worked for agencies involved with prisoners, and some even headed up those agencies. Primarily, they said they were happy they came, and how much they enjoyed the play. Then most said they would pray for the men in the performance. Only one white person took the microphone and asked How can we help? Meaning what action can we take? (I learned later that this scenario was repeated at all three performances.)

The point here is this.

First, we were in a prison, behind bars, and no matter how well done the production was, it was not a show and these men were slated to be in prison for the rest of their lives. No one should have been happy or glad to be there. Second, they spoke of problems with illiteracy, broken homes, prisoner abuse, and the life sentences to be addressed. Yet, 136 years after the end of slavery, none of the Blacks in attendance thought of themselves as having enough power to bring about change, except the way their fore parents had done during slavery. That was by praying that someone else would come along and change things for them. This, like many other things, Blacks has held on to since slavery. Some of the whites there were from religious organizations. To them, praying was a given. They wanted to know what action they could take with their bodies, hands, and minds. More had to be done than pray for help.

I work as a volunteer conducting the O*u*r*S*t*o*r*y Cultural Awareness Series at the prison. In Cultural Awareness, we cover slavery as one of our topics. During one session, the subject of Jumping the Broom came up. I explained that this was something slaves had to do because slaves could not legally marry so jumping the broom symbolized a marriage ceremony. This was something we dragged out of slavery with us, and Blacks did not need to do that anymore.

After that explanation, one of the young inmates asked: What else did we drag out of slavery with us? I had no answer for that question. I had never thought of it. In my research into the history of African Americans around the time of slavery, I had never seen it addressed. That question has been discussed many times in the sessions. When you look into it seriously, you may be surprised by how much of what you see around you today has its roots in slavery, such as the thinking of the people at that performance

Free Blacks Worth Remembering,

John Barry Meachum, a free man of color, became prominent as pastor of the African Baptist Church at St. Louis. Meachum was born a slave but obtained his liberty through his own industriousness. By his earnings, he purchased his father, a slave; and Baptist preacher in Virginia. He then moved to Kentucky, where he married a slave, and where he professed religion.

Soon thereafter his wifes master moved to Mississippi, and Meachum followed her, arriving at St. Louis in 1815, with three dollars in his pocket. Since he was a carpenter and a cooper, he soon obtained employment, and used his earnings to purchase his wife and children. He began preaching, and was ordained in 1825. As time went on, he purchased some twenty slaves, but he never sold them again. Instead, he placed them in service, encouraging them to form the habits of industriousness and frugality. When a slave had paid for himself, he set them free. In 1835, he built a steamboat, equipping it with a library. (But he refused to sell alcoholic beverages and other intoxicants, and even banned passengers from bringing them onboard the steamboat.) By that time, he had built his net worth to over $25,000.

He was just as enterprising in religious matters. The church where he was pastor had about 220 members200 of whom were slaves. Among the fruits of his labor at that church were a large Sabbath school, a temperance society, strict and regular discipline in the church, a deep missionary spirit, and good order and correct habits among the slave population in the city.

These are the things that dont reach the history books