ROBERT SMALLS MAY 13-1862

 

Murphy Browne © May 6-2021 

 

ROBERT SMALLS MAY 13-1862 

 

At approximately 3:00 a.m on May 13, 1862, 159 years ago, an enslaved African man outwitted the Confederates and piloted one of their warships into the possession of the Union Navy. Robert Smalls was 23-years-old when he executed this heroic feat at the height of the American Civil War and contributed to the eventual victory of the Union side of the conflict. Reports in Northern newspapers referred to Smalls’ delivering of the Planter to the Union Navy as “the first trophy from Fort Sumter.” An article published in The New York Herald on May 18, 1862 included this information: “One of the most daring and heroic adventures since the war commenced was undertaken and successfully accomplished by a party of negroes in Charleston on Monday night last. Nine colored men, comprising the pilot, engineers and crew of the rebel gunboat Planter, took the vessel under their exclusive control, passed the batteries and forts in Charleston harbor, hoisted a white flag, ran out to the blockading squadron, and thence to Port Royal, via St. Helena Sound and Broad river, reaching the flagship Wabash shortly after ten o’clock last evening.” 

 

Robert Smalls remains a little-known figure outside of South Carolina. His heroic actions on May 13, 1862 are not as well-known as lesser actions by White Civil War “heroes” because contrary to popular opinion the Civil War was not fought to end slavery in the USA. Northern White politicians, fighting men and women of the Union did not care if slavery continued into perpetuity because they did not consider Africans their equal. Some White people may have thought that it was wrong to hold people in slavery, exploiting their labour without pay, buying and selling them, but even those abolitionists did not think that Africans were their equal. None of them would have been willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to end slavery. The Southerners or members of the Confederacy were willing to risk their lives to preserve slavery from which they benifitted enormously. Their very existence depended on enslaving and exploiting Africans. 

 

Smalls was born on April 5, 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina to Lydia, an enslaved African woman. Smalls and his mother were both “house slaves” yet he seized the opportunity to flee slavery. In his 1971 published book From Slavery to Public Service Robert Smalls 1839-1915 Professor Okun Edet Uya wrote: “Lydia was born a slave on the Ashdale Plantation located on Ladies Island, about a half hour’s row across from Beaufort and five hour’s row across the river from Hilton Head at the entrance to Port Royal on the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Lydia’s son Robert was born on April 5, 1839, in the McKee slave quarters on Prince Street. Following the end of the Civil War, during the Reconstruction period when for a short period the federal government made an attempt to include rights for African Americans, Smalls was elected to office first as State Representative in South Carolina and eventually as a member of the U.S House of Representatives. He was a state representative from 1868-1870 and state senator from 1870-1874. In 1874 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.”  

 

In his 2009 published book Yearning to Breathe Free: Robert Smalls of South Carolina and His Families, Andrew Billingsley describes Smalls’ absence from the history books. “The South Carolina history books I grew up with contained no mention, not even foot notes, of Robert Smalls and his extraordinary contributions to our state’s history. South Carolina has done little to honor or remember this significant figure. Outside his native Beaufort County, I know of no towns or streets named in his honor. Yet Robert Smalls should rank among the most honored and recognized South Carolinians, but he does not simply because of the color of his skin.” In March 2021, a “revived Army watercraft” which was “supposed to be decommissioned by the military, was brought back into active service and named for Robert Smalls.” 

 

In Canada there is a similar lack of recognition of African Canadians who have contributed in various ways. There are no streets, buildings or schools in Toronto named for Lucie and Thornton Blackburn who established Toronto’s first taxicab in 1837. Lucie Blackburn lived on Bleecker Street from 1890 to 1895 after her husband transitioned in 1890, yet there was great resistance from the Municipal government to name a building on Bleecker Street in honour of this African Canadian couple who made significant contributions to Toronto. The building was named the Wellesley Community Centre and the library in the building, the St Jamestown Library. Neither St James nor Lord Wellesley ever lived in Toronto. In 2016, a room at the George Brown College student residence in Toronto was named the Lucie & Thornton Blackburn Conference Centre. 

 

In 2020, there were calls to rename streets like Dundas Street and Jarvis Street  in Toronto that were named in honour of Scottish politician Henry Dundas, who was instrumental in delaying the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and William Jarvis who was a slave holder. In 2021, the 6^th year of the United Nations (UN) declared https://www.un.org/en/observances/decade-people-african-descent

International Decade for People of African Descent - United Nations There are around 200 million people identifying themselves as being of African descent live in the Americas. The promotion and protection of human rights of people of African descent has been a ... www.un.org

  International Decade for People of African Descent 2015-2024 let us continue that movement. 

 

Murphy Browne © May 6-2021  

 

BADC MAY 4-1992 YONGE STREET PROTEST

 

Murphy Browne © May 4-2021 

BADC MAY 4-1992 YONGE STREET PROTEST

 

Twenty-nine years ago, on May 4, 1992, the Black Action Defense Committee (BADC) led by social justice activist, Pan-Africanist and Garveyite, Dudley Laws, organized a demonstration in Toronto in solidarity with the people of Los Angeles who were angered by the acquittal of the four white Los Angeles policemen in the savage videotaped beating of African American Rodney King. 

A group of approximately 1000 Canadians took to Yonge St. in solidarity with Rodney King and the protesters in Los Angeles against police brutality and anti-Black racism and also to protest police brutality and anti-Black racism in Toronto. Two days earlier, 22-year-old African Canadian Raymond Lawrence had been killed by white police constable Robert Rice.  

 

In 1992 Raymond Lawrence was the 14th African Canadian victim of a police shooting in Toronto in the 14 years between 1978 and 1992 and the sixth African Canadian killed by police in Toronto. In 1979 Albert Johnson and Michael Sargeant were killed by police, in 1985 Leander Savoury, was killed by police, in 1988 Lester Donaldson was killed by police, in 1990, 16-year-old Marlon Neil was killed by police and in 1992 Raymond Lawrence was killed by police. In the hours following a peaceful demonstration, a group of people went on a rampage, looting and destroying property. Ironically, the majority of looters were reportedly white skinheads. 

On May 9, 2021 the Black Action Defense Committee (BADC) will host a virtual Dudley Laws Memorial Scholarship and Memorial Recognition Awards event. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Julius Garvey, the son of the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. 

 

Murphy Browne © May 4-2021 

MAY DAY LABOUR DAY TEN YEARS LATER MAY 1 - 2021 INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY

 

MAY DAY LABOUR DAY TEN YEARS LATER MAY 1 - 2021 

 

 

I wrote this article ten years ago on Sunday, May 1, 2011. In 2011, none of us could have envisioned the havoc that COVID19 has wreaked on the lives of workers in 2020 and 2021. This pandemic has exacerbated the already unfair conditions many workers faced in a capitalist system. The pandemic has wrecked lives and livelihoods and eroded civil liberties, in many instances including the right to demonstrate. Some vulnerable “essential workers” have been forced by financial circumstances to work even when they are sick. Under those circumstances workers have been infected and in turn infected family members who have lost their lives. Mostly racialized workers who because they cannot work from home, were forced to ride on overcrowded buses and risk exposure to the virus. Racialized workers who mostly work in grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies, public transit, trucking, warehouse, health care and childcare are exposed because they cannot work from home. Overcrowded living conditions add to the risks. Many workers who deliver food, newspapers, magazines etc., do not have access to sick days, are not unionized and cannot work from home, are forced to work to prevent starvation or homelessness. The rollout of vaccines in Canada which is supposed to protect us from the virus is confusing and exacerbated by the Canadian government’s four months delay for second doses despite the manufacturers’ recommendations of three to four weeks between doses. Pfizer recommends its second dose after 21 days; Moderna recommends a 28-day interval, and AstraZeneca has suggested administering its second dose four weeks after the first. Canada is the only country where people are forced to wait four months for a second dose of the vaccines. May Day/Labour Day May 1, 2021 is a world away from May 1, 2021 and many workers have not survived the pandemic because of the worldwide capitalist system that disenfranchises vulnerable workers. 

 

 

Murphy Browne © Sunday, May 1, 2011 

 

Most countries celebrate Labour Day on the first day in May. Even in countries that do not recognize May 1 as Labour Day, there are celebrations by workers on May 1 (International Workers Day). 

 

As a child growing up in Guyana, May Day was more than the celebration of workers; it was a day when the descendants of enslaved Africans and the descendants of indentured labourers imitated the antics of their former colonizers. Dressed in our new, special for May Day clothes, we gleefully danced around the Maypole during May Day celebrations as we plaited the colourful ribbons attached to the Maypole. 

 

I remember that more than I remember any Labour Day parades that happened during my childhood. The crowning of the May queen was also a part of the celebration which was replicated across the country in various community centres. 

 

Surprisingly, I can remember feeling very proud and pleased looking at the Maypole after we finished plaiting as I saw the intricate pattern we had formed on the pole with the brightly coloured ribbons. The plaiting of the Maypole and the crowning of the May queen are part of the pagan spring rites from the British Isles that became part of British Guianese culture and subsequently, Guyanese culture. 

 

May Day, in countries where it is observed as Labour Day, usually is a public holiday to honour workers and celebrate the social and economic achievements of the labour movement. Britain is said to have the oldest trade union movement in Europe, supposedly beginning in the 17th century with the organizing of workers in skilled trades like printing. The idea apparently gained momentum in the early 18th century with more categories of skilled workers, including tailors, shoemakers, weavers and cabinetmakers. Of course, none of these workers saw the irony of them fighting for improved working conditions and wages while the enslavement of Africans was a British institution. 

Similarly, in Canada, where the first trade union was founded by printers in Quebec City in 1827 White men organizing for better working conditions and wages did not see the irony of keeping a whole group of people working without pay. (Slavery was a Canadian institution until August 1, 1834.) 

 

In the United States, where slavery was abolished on January 31, 1865 with the passing of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Mechanics' Union Trade Association organized skilled workers in 1827. White workers were so incensed at the idea of Africans competing with them for jobs that there were several incidents of African-Americans being lynched and their homes burned. 

 

One of the worst cases occurred over a three-day period from May 1 to May 3, 1866 in Memphis, Tennessee. Eric Foner, a White American historian wrote of the Memphis Massacre in his 1988 book, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877: "It is difficult to say which proved more threatening to local Whites - the large number of impoverished rural freedmen who thronged the streets in search of employment or the considerable group that managed to achieve modest economic success." 

(Many of the African American victims were robbed of cash, watches, tools and furniture.) 

 

The many documented sources of this period of domestic terrorism against African-Americans emphasize that the victims of these crimes could not expect any help from the White, mostly Irish, police force whose members were, in many cases, also the perpetrators. 

 

On May 3, 1866 in the aftermath of the Memphis Massacre, it was documented that White Americans had raped and murdered many African-Americans and destroyed four churches, 12 schools and 91 homes of African-Americans. 

 

There are fewer recorded incidents of White Canadian workers murdering African-Canadians and burning their homes. However, what they may have lacked in quantity, the Canadians made up for it in quality. Beginning on July 26, 1784, African-Canadians in Shelburne, Nova Scotia were attacked and had their homes destroyed by their White neighbours. Those who managed to escape the 10-day reign of terror by fleeing to nearby Birchtown, were still the targets of attacks from the White mob, which continued the racially motivated attacks up to one month later. 

 

In his 1976 book, The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone 1783-1870, James W. St. G. Walker writes about the plight of David George who fled to Birchtown: "Along with others of his colour, George sought refuge in Birchtown, but even here they were unsafe. While the force of the riot continued in Shelburne for at least 10 days, incursions into Birchtown were reported for up to one month." 

 

The attacks were blamed on the inability of White men to compete with African-Canadians in the job market as employers could exploit the Africans by paying them less than the White men were willing to take as wages. 

 

Whether in Canada or the U.S., these attacks were erroneously called race riots when White people attacked communities of Africans. These were not riots when one group was trying to eliminate another group based on skin colour and especially when government forces were involved. Competing for jobs may have been used as an excuse but these were racially motivated attacks on clearly outnumbered and vulnerable African communities. Terrorism, ethnic cleansing or genocide might be more apt descriptions of these horrific acts. 

 

If the White people were genuinely interested in fighting for jobs, they would have recognized that who they needed to fight were those who could withhold employment or exploit their labour. The Africans in their midst were not in positions of power and were also being exploited by those who held power. 

 

The labour movement and worker solidarity has come a long way since those days when Africans in North America were brutalized and murdered because they dared to seek waged employment. 

 

Today, Africans in North America are members of unions alongside White co-workers. Unfortunately, however, although we pay the same union dues and should have the same access to services and leadership roles in our respective unions, this is not the case. It continues to be a struggle for Africans and other racialized people in the labour movement; hence the need for organizations such as the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance (ACLA) and the Latin American Trade Unionists Coalition (LATUC.) 

 

While working in unionized workplaces may offer more security for racialized workers than in workplaces where workers are not organized, racialized workers sometimes do not have the same access to services from their unions as White workers do. Looking at the leadership of the labour movement, from the individual locals to the national bodies, it is quite obvious that we still have a long way to go for equity and equality in the labour movement. 

 

As racialized workers, it is important to be actively involved in our unions, to work and advocate for change and not be satisfied with token, lapdog positions. 

 

 

Murphy Browne © Sunday, May 1, 2011