Dr. Maulana Keranga founded Kwanzaa in 1966 after being inspired to bring unity to the nation after years of civilian turmoil and cultural detachment in African American communities. It is a holiday celebrated in the United States, for one week, from December 26^th to January 1^st each year mostly by African Americans. The holiday is guided by seven principles, one chosen for each day of the week-long celebration. These principles guide celebrators to practice philosophies that channel positivity in our lives. These seven principles are unity, self-determination, collective work, responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Each day of the week gifts are shared to represent the different principles.

In the past, some were apprehensive to celebrate because they feared it conflicted with Christmas, a traditionally Christian holiday. “Kwanzaa” is derived from the Swahili language, while the seven principles are typically represented in Swahili as well. The founder of this celebration Dr. Keranga, yearned for the Black communities across America to have stronger cultural ties and traditions since many African traditions were stripped from Black Americans through the duration of slavery. During the week of celebration seven candles are lit. Specific crops and harvest are chosen to represent the holiday. They are laid out across tables in homes to represent what the word Kwanzaa means, which is “first harvest.”

You don’t have to be African American to celebrate Kwanzaa, especially not to share in its purpose. Rather than being a religious holiday, Kwanzaa celebrates culture and tradition. So, no matter your beliefs anyone can honor this special time, bringing together family to try out new traditions such as African head wrapping or dancing. Kwanzaa is celebrated across countries all over the world, not just in the United States. Kwanzaa’s origin language of Swahili is spoken in the African countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.

Eli Whitney is thought of by some as the Father of American Technology. Throughout his life, he had a talent for creating things people needed – nails, hairpins, canes, muskets and more. However, his most well-known patent – the cotton gin – also had the devastating effect of expanding the institution of enslavement; making it even more profitable. By 1850, cotton was 50% of our GDP, and a multi-billion dollar institution worth more than all the manufacturing and railroad companies combined.

"Eli Whitney," portrait of the inventor. Courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Early Life

Whitney was born in Westborough, Massachusetts, on December 8, 1765. After his graduation from Yale College (now Yale University) in 1792, he considered becoming a lawyer. First, however, Whitney decided to work as a tutor to pay off his school debts. Although the tutoring jobs he was offered ultimately didn’t work out, one of the positions took him to Georgia where he was invited to spend time on the plantation owned by Catherine Greene, widow of Revolutionary War general, Nathanael Greene. There, he met a fellow Yale grad, Phineas Miller, who managed Greene’s plantation at the time and later became Greene’s second husband.

While living on the plantation, Whitney witnessed the difficulties of growing short-staple cotton that had to be picked and cleaned by hand. He took the problem as a challenge and designed a cotton “gin” (derived from the word “engine”). The gin could remove the seeds from cotton quicker and more efficiently than the plantation’s enslaved labor. Whitney and Miller became business partners and, with the financial support of Greene, began to manufacture the gin for general use. Whitney and Miller patented the cotton gin in 1794.

“Cotton is King”

The cotton gin revolutionized cotton production in the United States – benefitting Southern plantations, Northern textile mills, financial institutions, shipping companies and multiple other businesses and individuals connected to the institution of slavery. An enslaved person could produce approximately 5 pounds of lint cotton a day.  Whitney’s hand powered cotton gin could produce approximately 50 pounds of lint cotton a day.  By the time of the Civil War, steam powered cotton gins were producing approximately 2,500 pounds of lint cotton a day.  Soon cotton became the South’s most important crop and the leading U.S. export. Yet the cotton gin also had a significant human cost. Although cotton production became more efficient with the cotton gin, more enslaved labor was needed to plant and harvest the cotton as the number and size of plantations grew to keep up with demand.

Eli Whitney s Cotton Gin Patent Drawing, 03/14/1794 [National Archives Identifier: 305886]; National Archives and Records Administration Records of the Patent and Trademark Office Record Group 241

Westward Expansion

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 opened the Mississippi River Valley to agricultural development.  However, millions of acres of land in this area, as well as the southeast, legally belonged to Native Americans.  In order to remove Indigenous people from their ancestral lands, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830.  At least 50,000 Native Americans were forcefully moved to lands west of the Mississippi, River.  This forced removal, that killed thousands of men, women and children, is known as the “Trail of Tears.”  Following their removal, massive numbers of enslaved people and planters from Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee moved onto this land to produce cotton.

As slave owners benefited from the success of cotton, the lives of the enslaved people they owned were often made even more challenging.  Tobacco farmers who now found their crop in less demand were able to sell their enslaved property to cotton plantation owners for higher prices. Cotton farmers, who may have considered freeing their enslaved property, found them too valuable to lose. Northern slave owners, who lived in states that were gradually abolishing slavery, chose to sell them south for a profit, rather than lose money from their legal emancipation.  Even the lives of free African Americans in the North were made more precarious as they faced the risk of being kidnapped and sold to Southern plantation owners with few repercussions.

Impact on Enslavement

In 1790 there were six slave states in the U.S. By 1860, the number of slave states grew to 15 and more than one third of the U.S. Southern population were enslaved. During this time period, the enslaved population grew from roughly 790,000 to 4,000,000, and annual cotton production grew from around 2,000 bales to 4,800,000 bales. Approximately one million enslaved people were sold from northern states and the upper south to the lower south to meet the demand for producing cotton.  This process became known as the internal slave trade. The internal slave trade became the largest forced migration in American history, and led to the destruction of numerous families.

Conclusion

It is impossible to remember Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin without also recognizing his contribution to antebellum slavery in the United States. His legacy therefore, will always be tarnished with his impact on slavery.

However, it is important to note that Whitney also figured out how to manufacture muskets by using a machine method, making the parts interchangeable. This technique also proved to be revolutionary, allowing for the mass production of muskets beginning in 1798.

The National Archives says it best, “If [Whitney’s] genius led King Cotton to triumph in the South, it also created the technology with which the North won the Civil War.”

Recommended reading:

• In Search of the Promised Land:  A Slave Family in the Old South, by John Hope Franklin
• The Half Has Never Been Told:  Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, by Edward E. Baptist

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center would like to recognize all the diverse Native American cultures throughout this country, to honor their many freedom heroes, and to educate our guests about their rich history.

Recognition

November is National Native American Heritage Month, also known as National American Indian Heritage Month. Although Congress designated this month in 1990 under President George H. W. Bush, in reality it was the persistent work of indigenous people starting in the early 20^th century that inspired Congress to officially honor Native Americans in November. Individuals like Dr. Arthur C. Parker (Seneca), Rev. Sherman Coolidge (Arapahoe) and Red Fox James (Blackfoot) are just a few examples of native people who campaigned to educate all Americans about the value and contributions of Indigenous cultures.

We at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center recognize their past and present, their hardships and sacrifices, their perseverance and resiliency, their culture and wisdom, their devotion and kinship, and their physical and spiritual connection to this land.  We see you and we hear you.

One of the best ways we as Americans can recognize America’s first people is to acknowledge their traditional land. The following statement comes from the Greater Cincinnati Native American Coalition.

“As a step toward honoring the truth and achieving healing and reconciliation with the Indigenous Peoples who were affected most by the Doctrine of Discovery and broken treaties, we acknowledge the traditional Shawnee and Myaamia lands we now stand on, and on which the city of Cincinnati was built.”

Honor

We also want to honor all of our Native American freedom heroes, past and present.  We honor Wahunsenacawh (Powhatan), Tecumseh (Shawnee) and Tatanka-yotanka (Hunkpapa Lakota), who fought bravely to protect their people and land. We honor the Native People that aided freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad. We honor Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt, Eddie Benton Banai, and George Mitchell (founders of American Indian Movement (AIM)) who risked their lives fighting for Native rights while occupying Alcatraz and Wounded Knee. We honor Bridget Tolley and all the other women who fight to raise awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. We honor all Native women and mothers who give life and connect us all to that which is sacred.

American Indian Movement Trademark

Educate

One of the best ways to bring people and cultures together, build empathy, and understand the experiences of others is to educate ourselves and center their voices in our learning. Native Americans have been the stewards of this land for 20,000+ years. There are more than 6 million Native Americans still living in the United States today.

We recommend the following resources to help you learn more about Native American history and their experiences today:

Books

• All the Real Indians Died Off by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker
• Custer Died For Your Sins by Vine Deloria Jr.
• The Girl Who Sang to The Buffalo by Kent Nerburn
• Dancing at Halftime by Carol Spindel
• Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed by Judy Pasternak

Films

• Reel Injun
• Wind River
• Finding Dawn
• Unspoken: Native American Boarding School
• In Whose Honor?
• Alcatraz is Not an Island

Museums

• National Museum of the American Indian | Washington, D.C.
• Southwest Museum of the American Indian | Los Angeles, CA
• Museum of Indian Arts and Culture | Santa Fe, NM

Historic Sites

• Fort Ancient | Oregonia, OH
• Serpent Mound | Peebles, OH
• Hopewell Culture National Historical Park | Chillicothe, OH

Websites

• https://gcnativeamericancoalition.com/
• http://www.aimovement.org/
• https://indiancountrytoday.com/
• https://www.csvanw.org/
• https://www.nativewomenswilderness.org

Many of us have been inspired by stories of freedom seekers and conductors who resisted the injustice of slavery in the United States via the Underground Railroad. We encounter their stories through books, films, local lore and family tales. Their heroism has captured our collective imaginations for generations and many of us genuinely wish to know more—How did the Underground Railroad actually work? Which stories are 100% true and which ones are not? Was my relative a conductor? Was my home a safe house?

This curiosity draws many of us deep into the research rabbit hole. Yet once we dive in ourselves, we often discover that uncovering this history can be both exhilarating and incredibly frustrating at the same time.

Maintaining perspective

The one point researchers must remember is that the Underground Railroad was a SECRET network of individuals and safe houses. Freedom seekers and conductors rarely talked openly about their experiences prior to the Civil War and only a handful kept secret notes about their experiences.  Involvement in the Underground Railroad was very dangerous. Some conductors were jailed, fined, sold into slavery and even murdered.  Freedom seekers that were captured were sent back into slavery and severely punished—some were even sold away from their families. These reasons and more made secrecy about this activity absolutely essential. It’s because of this secrecy that we know very little about most freedom seekers and conductors. Most of the details and first-hand accounts that have been documented about the Underground Railroad were written after the Civil War.

That being said, don’t let this discourage you from your research. These stories must be told; the legacy of these heroes must endure. Remember, it was the undeniable courage, cooperation and perseverance of these individuals that helped free over 4 million enslaved people and brought an end to over 200 years of legal slavery in the United States. These individuals changed the course of American history like no others. So on behalf of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, we’d like to offer you some tips on researching the Underground Railroad, freedom seekers and conductors. We wish you the best on your researching journey.

Primary sources from freedom seekers and conductors

The best way to understand the Underground Railroad and the experiences of freedom seekers and conductors is through primary sources. New York conductor Sydney Howard Gay kept secret notes on over 200 freedom seekers. Philadelphia conductor William Still wrote the first book on the Underground Railroad, published in 1872, about his experiences helping freedom seekers. Slave narratives can provide some great information as well—over 6,000 have been written.

• Check out Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936 to 1938, a collection of more than 2,300 first-person accounts of enslavement from the Library of Congress.
• Read William Still's The Underground Railroad, a collection of carefully preserved letters, newspaper articles and firsthand accounts about the freedom seekers he helped guide to safety through Philadelphia.
• Read Sydney Howard Gay’s Record of Fugitives, a treasure trove of information about how and why slaves escaped, who assisted them and where they were sent from New York.

Secondary sources from abolitionists, abolitionist organizations and abolitionist newspapers

You can find information on freedom seekers, conductors and safe houses by examining personal letters, diaries, organizational documents and newspaper articles from these three sources:

• The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
• Library of Congress: Frederick Douglass Newspapers, 1847-1874
• Documenting the American South: Levi Coffin Papers, 1798-1877

Books

Numerous books have been written about the Underground Railroad, freedom seekers and conductors. Visit a library or bookstore and see what they have. A quick search online might be helpful for your research. Just make sure that any books you reference were written by a reputable source like John Hope Franklin, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Eric Foner and David Blight.

• To start you off, we recommend Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad by Eric Foner.

Local and state historical societies

A great way to find out if there was Underground Railroad activity in your area is to contact your local or state historical society. These individuals specialize in all aspects of your local or state history, and are a great resource.

• If you live in Ohio, check out Ohio History Connection

National and state park services

Some Underground Railroad or abolitionist landmarks may fall under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service or a state park service. For example, Frederick Douglass’ house at Cedar Hill is a national historic site, and is managed by rangers of the National Park Service. You can find out more at nps.gov.

Colleges and universities

If you’re not sure where to start on your research, local history professors may be able to point you in the right direction.  Some of them may also be experts on Underground Railroad history, or specific conductors and freedom seekers. Some colleges and universities create online databases that focus on specific historical topics. Here are a few examples:

• Harvard University Hutchins Center for African American Research
• Eastern Illinois University
• Yale University Macmillan Center: Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition

Public libraries

Libraries, and more specifically librarians, are a great resource for historical research.  Librarians are experts at finding the right primary and secondary resources for your project. Books, journals,  newspapers and databases are just a few of the resources that are often available at libraries.

Library of Congress and National Archives

Two reliable and respectable databases to search are the Library of Congress and National Archives.  Unlike Google and other public search engines, documents on these websites go through a verification and authentication process. The Library of Congress will pull up over 40,000 “results” when you search “Underground Railroad.”

• Library of Congress
• The National Archives

Museums and historic sites

Experiential learning is a great way to educate yourself and your family about the Underground Railroad. Plan a visit to the sites in your area.

• Plan a visit to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
• Visit other Underground Railroad site in the region

Documentaries

If you’re looking for a general introduction to the Underground Railroad, I recommend watching a reputable documentary. Underground Railroad: The William Still Story will give you an educational and inspirational look at the Underground Railroad and William Still, a true American hero.

Photograph of William Still. Source: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

African American Churches

African American churches were often the epicenter of their communities and some were actually used as safe houses. Leaders of these churches were know to hide, feed and clothe freedom seekers, as well as help them find jobs and housing. The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), founded by Richard Allen, has been around since 1794. Some of these old African American congregations may be able to help you with your research.

This year, we celebrate the centennial of the passage of the 19^th Amendment and ultimately women’s right to vote. Woo! This is amazing right?! 100 years of voting for women in the United States! Well, not exactly.

Here’s the thing about the 19^th Amendment—not all women were granted the right to vote when it was signed into law in August of 1920.

19th Amendment Overview

The 19^th Amendment states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” In theory, this should apply to every single person in the United States who identifies as female. Yet many women were effectively excluded from the vote. In the Jim Crow South, for example, both African American men and women were prevented from voting due to the passage of racist laws that unjustly targeted people of color. Beyond the system that made voting nearly impossible, the threat of lynching—unchecked in the United States for decades—hung over many African Americans in the South like a bad storm that would never clear out.

Other women of color, such as Native and Asian American women, were also prevented from voting since they were denied United States citizenship. Women across the country were tasked with navigating the shifting landscape, sometimes still unable to cast their votes due to unmet “qualifications” like their age, residency or even mental competency.

Here’s my point—obtaining the vote for women was a long, hard-won struggle. It took nearly 100 years of protest to see the passage of the 19^th Amendment. Unfortunately, the movement that got us there lacked unification, solidarity, and sisterhood.

The Early Movement

Born out of the abolitionist movement of the early 19^th century, the first formal gathering in support of women’s rights occurred in late July, 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. Attended by those who would later declare themselves suffragists, the convention was unique in that women were at the forefront of the discussion for the first time in American history. Famous abolitionists like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison and Lucrecia Mott all participated in these early gatherings. From this point on, it seemed everyone was on the same page: women deserved the same rights as men. That is, until the issue of race divided them.

Divisions and the 15th Amendment

After the end of the Civil War, the United States ratified the 14^th and 15^th Amendments to the Constitution. These amendments (part of the “Reconstruction Amendments”) were passed to 1) grant African Americans citizenship and 2) grant African American men the voting rights. Though progress was made, both women of color and white women were left out.

Many in the women’s suffrage movement were angered by these new amendments—they felt that women should have been included in this moment. Suffragists were forced to make a choice: support suffrage for African American men as more urgent priority or withhold support based on the desire for universal suffrage for all.

Ultimately, the passage of the 15^th Amendment caused suffragists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to split off from the rest of the movement to form the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) with the mission of universal suffrage. One of their core beliefs was that African American men should not be granted the right to vote before women. I mean, let’s be honest—before white women.

Not all suffragists supported Anthony and Stanton, however. Suffragists like Lucy Stone supported the 15^th Amendment and quickly worked with others to form the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). This organization supported not only women’s suffrage, but suffrage for African American men as well. The AWSA’s approach was to work on passing women’s suffrage state-by-state without alienating 15^th Amendment supporters. African American women suffragists supported this idea while also fighting for their own set of priorities, since they faced even greater hurdles than white women. African American women continued to fight for suffrage, often working with both the NWSA and the AWSA when the time called.

The divide between white and African American women grew, even as both groups worked toward the same goal. White suffragists would fan the flame of tension, even appealing to racist leaders in the South for support. Meanwhile, African American suffragists like Ida B. Wells-Barnett and others mobilized throughout the country, continually pushing to become part of the narrative of universal suffrage. And despite the discriminatory behavior of their white-counterparts, many African American suffragists continued to work in interracial spaces to keep the fight for the vote moving forward.

Legacy of the 19th Amendment

Ultimately, the women’s suffrage movement did succeed when the 19^th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920. It’s estimated that around 8 million women voted that November for the first time. However, as I have pointed out, many women were left out of this monumental moment. For many women of color, the moment of celebration came much later with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

It’s this point that makes it hard for me to put on my white dress in honor of my suffragette foremothers and champion the centennial. As often in history, most of our knowledge of the women’s suffrage movement is limited. From a young age, we learn the names of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but rarely if ever hear about the accomplishments of Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Francis Ellen Watkins Harper—equally worthy women who fought for their suffrage while also fighting for their place in American society as Black women.

As a white woman myself, I’m frustrated by how often these narratives are still excluded. We choose not to address the fact that Elizabeth Cady Stanton asked Frederick Douglass, an early champion for women’s rights, not to appear on a stage in Atlanta, GA in 1890 for fear it would upset the white men whose support she was vying for at the time. We choose not to highlight how Mary Church Terrell told Walther White of the National Association for the Advancement of Color People (NAACP) that she believed suffragists like Alice Paul and others would exclude Black women from the 19^th Amendment if they could.

Women’s Rights Today

What’s even more frustrating to me is that we don’t seem to be making much progress with the idea of intersectional sisterhood—even today. In 2017, myself and a few friends excitedly made the 8-hour journey to Washington D.C. to participate in the Women’s March. Signs in hand, I felt I was part of history as a walked with an estimated 470,000 people to protest to the new administration’s stance on human rights. It was in the later weeks that I would come to re-think my decision, as many women of color voiced concerns about the all-white feminist narrative that seemed to be at forefront of popular discussion. This was only reinforced the next year, when movement groups began to splinter across the country in response to racism, anti-Semitism, and the push back against intersectional feminism.

Feminism cannot exist without intersectionality—period. If your brand of women’s rights is exclusively based on a white narrative and you’re unable to expand that—then you’re part of the problem. Just as many the early suffragists fell out due to the 15^th Amendment, I watched in amazement as I read accounts (some from people I know) of white women defending their brand of feminism while discounting valid criticism that calls out discriminatory behavior.

We have a long way to go in this country for voting to be fair and equitable. In 2020, we still face the challenge of voter suppression in every single state. My hope (and ask) is that we learn from the mistakes of our foremothers and do not repeat them. I ask this specially of my fellow white women—it’s time to embrace inclusivity and equality, otherwise we risk becoming part of problem instead of the solution.