Traveling Freedom's Road

Author: Traveling Freedom's Road: A Guide to Exploring Our Civil Rights History and Frederick Douglass in Maryland, and Frederick Douglass in Massachusetts

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

8.12.1841: Nantucket
Douglass rose and “gave evidence of such intellectual power that all present were astonished.” (S.J. May)
Douglass wrote:
“I spoke but a few moments, when I felt a degree of freedom, and said what I desired with considerable ease.”
https://t.co/HjRfPowZgs

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

8.11.1841: Day 2 @ the Nantucket 1841 antislavery meeting. Douglass, silent all day, rose to speak but didn’t get far; he “gave way to adjournment after saying but a few words,” according The Liberator.
8.12.1841 would be different.
More on Douglass at https://t.co/HjRfPowZgs

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

8.10.1841: an antislavery meeting began on Nantucket. Invited: Frederick Douglass, then 23. History records no mention of him speaking on 8.10. That would change over the next two days.
Douglass's Massachusetts connections are covered in this new book. https://t.co/HjRfPowZgs

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

To overcome racial inequality, we must confront our history. (@eji_org) https://t.co/9110PMgfPB

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1956: #MLK rode #Montgomery bus, signaling end of successful, yearlong boycott of segregated bus system. Visit sites honoring heroes like E.D. Nixon, Fred Gray, Rosa Parks, more in #MGM.

#civilrights #blackhistory #AfricanAmerican #travelingfreedomsroad #MartinLutherKingJr

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1767: Phillis Wheatley's first published #poem appears in the #Newport (RI) Mercury. It is the first published poem by an #AfricanAmerican.

The quote below, from 1774, appears in front matter of Traveling Freedom's Road.
#blackhistory, #civilrights, #freedom, @Phillis_W_

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1859: Shields Green was hanged for his role in the #HarpersFerry raid. A friend of #FrederickDouglass, Green met #JohnBrown at FD’s home in #Rochester and was present when FD and JB met in #Chambersburg PA. Read @deCaroJr book on Green.
#blackhistory #travelingfreedomsroad

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1939: GWTW premieres in #ATL. Hattie McDaniel, who would win Best Supporting Actress #Oscar, was not allowed at the premiere nor appear in the event's program. #ChicagoDefender called film "“a weapon of terror against black America.”
#blackhistory #civilrights #OnThisDay

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1964: #MLK preached "Evil carries the seed of its own destruction." (@TaylorBranch, Pillar of Fire, p. 525). Seems fitting thought on day of #TrumpAnnouncement.
#civilrights #blackhistory #trumpisdone #travelingfreedomsroad #martinlutherking #civilrightsmovement #1960s

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1960: @RubyBridges desegregated Frantz Elementary School #NewOrleans. About 500 white kids were taken out of school that day by parents.
Honored to have a photo of this historic event on the cover of #TravelingFreedomsRoad
#BlackHistory #civilrights #civilrightstrail #1960s

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1956: #SCOTUS upheld lower court ruling that #Alabama & #Montgomery bus segregation laws UNCONSTITUTIONAL, violating due process & equal protection clauses.
Boycotters won! Boycott ended on 12.20.56.
#blackhistory #civilrights #MLK #travelingfreedomsroad #rosaparks

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

@joncoopertweets Robert F. Kennedy

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1859: FD departs #Quebec for #England in aftermath of John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry. Wrote Douglass in his autobiog Life and Times: "I was now in danger of arrest on the ground of complicity with him."
#blackhistory #frederickdouglass #civilrights #civilwar #OnThisDay

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1960: Louis Martin’s "Blue Bomb" pamphlet in Black churches, extolling #JFK call to Mrs. King while #MLK in prison.
LM highlights: @Fisk1866 @UMich Advisor to #JFK #LBJ Editor @ChicagoDefender Founder @NNPA_BlackPress “Godfather of Black Politics”
#blackhistory #civilrights

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1960: Louis Martin’s pamphlet in Black churches. “Blue Bomb” extolled #JFK call to Mrs. King while #MLK in #GA prison. (See my past posts for MLK/JFK 1960 tale)
Rev. Abernathy: ”It is time for all of us to take off our Nixon buttons.”
#blackhistory #civilrights #blackvotes

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1960: Louis Martin’s pamphlet in Black churches. “Blue Bomb” extolled #JFK call to Mrs. King while #MLK in #GA prison.
King Sr.: “I had expected to vote against Senator Kennedy because of his religion. But now he can be my President.”
#blackhistory #civilrights #blackvotes

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1960: Louis Martin’s pamphlet in Black churches. “Blue Bomb” extolled #JFK call to Mrs. King while #MLK in #GA max security prison.

MLK Jr.: “Senator Kennedy…served as a great force in securing my release.” Days later, JFK elected!
#blackhistory #civilrights #blackvotes

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1960: Louis Martin’s brilliant pamphlet in Black churches. “Blue Bomb” extolled #JFK call to Mrs. King while #MLK in #GA max security prison.

Mrs. King: “It certainly made me feel good that he called me personally.” Two days later, JFK elected!
#blackhistory #civilrights

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1960: Louis Martin’s pamphlet telling Black churchgoers about #JFK call to Mrs. King is ready. The “Blue Bomb” will be at Black churches on 10.6 hoping to gain JFK votes. Mr. Martin known as Godfather of Black Politics.
#blackhistory #civilrights #MLK #1960s #RFK

[Traveling Freedom's Road @FreedomsRoad]

#OTD 1960: Campaign staffer Louis Martin had idea: a pamphlet at Black churches 2 days before election to spread word of #JFK call to Mrs. King.
S. Shriver ok'd it but no mention of campaign nor to #RFK ahead of time. Follow me for rest of story.
#blackhistory #civilrights #MLK