BHM: Feb 11th. Bishops, ministers, Whitney Young, and the first black protest. Read on.
Today is another interesting day in black history (and aren't they all?).
On this day in 1898, the Hon. Right Rvd.* Owen L. W. Smith, a minister in the A.M.E. church, became a Minister of a different kind when he was appointed consul to Liberia. Liberia was from a very early date considered a "set-aside" in the Foreign Service for African Americans -- the first black American accredited Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (that's just a "normal" ambassador, despite the fancy-sounding title) was Edward R. Dudley, also to Liberia, in 1869.
In 1783, Jarena Lee was born. She was the first woman ordained in the A.M.E. church (a list that would grow to include some amazing evangelists), as well as the first African American woman to have her autobiography, The Life and Religious Experiences, of Jarena Lee, a Coloured Lady, Giving an Account of Her Call to Preach the Gospel, published in the United States.
Continuing the religious theme: in 1996, the Right Rvd. Barbara Clementine Harri became the first African American woman to give the Baccalaureate Address at Penn. She had already become the first woman (of any race) to be raised to a bishopric in the American Episcopal church. (yes, yes: "bishopric" is a funny word. Even funnier is "titular archbishopric".)
In 1990 (I remember this day very vividly) Nelson Mandela was released from prison.
In 1971, we lost an absolute luminary: Whitney Young, executive director of the National Urban League. He was attending a conference in Lagos, Nigeria and suffered a heart attack. President Nixon sent a USAF plane to transfer his remains back to the US, and delivered the eulogy at Young's funeral in Kentucky.
And I've saved the best for last: on this day in 1644 the first known legal protest by black people in America succeeded. Eleven slaves in what was then New Amsterdam were manumitted by the Council of the New Netherlands on the grounds that VOC did not have the legal right to enslave people for life, but must grant black indentured servants their freedom after the same period of time as indentured whites. They were awarded reparations for the wages lost after that date (ahem).
* I'd have to pull out the protocol handbook to see if that's the correct order for the honorifics, and I can't be bothered right now.
