Celebrating Black History Month: Lucy Higgs Nichols, Union Army nurse in the Civil War

Lucy Higgs Nichols, born April 10, 1838 in Hardeman County, Tennessee, was a slave, but escaped in late June 1862 with her daughter Mona and several other slaves.  She eventually arrived at the Union lines near Bolivar, Tennessee.  Major Shadrack Hooper of the 23rd Indian Infantry Regiment reported Lucy joining their regiment and described her as having integrity, honesty, intelligence, always smiling, cheerful and kind, a willing washer woman, seamstress, nurse, cook, and singer, as well as a "rattling good forager".

Her daughter Mona died at the Siege of Vicksburg.  After which she followed the Indiana 23rd Infantry when they were deployed to the war in Mississippi.  She was present at every siege.  She followed the Union army east in General Sherman's March to the Sea.

After the war, she was a free citizen of New Albany, Indiana.  She worked for officers and nursed veterans back to health.  Five years after the war, she developed measles and soldiers nursed her back to health.  When she had a stroke years later, soldiers cared for her again.

She passed away in January 1915 and is buried in an unmarked grave at West Haven Cemetery in New Albany, Indiana.

Celebrating Pride Month: William Dorsey Swann: The first "Queen of Drag"

Not Swann, but an image from a drag ball during that time.

William Dorsey Swann, born into slavery in  Hancock, Maryland in March 1860, is the first person in the US to lead a queer resistance group and self-identify as a "queen of drag".  After the Civil War, his parents bought a farm and began a job working as a hotel waiter.

During the 1880s and 1890s, Swann organized drag balls in Washington, DC and called himself the "queen of drag".  The men attending these drag balls were usually former slaves and rebel drag queens.  These events were very secretive and only communicated by word of mouth.

On April 12, 1888, he was arrested for female impersonation, the first documented case of such.  Swann stood up to the arresting officer and proclaimed, "You is no gentleman."

By choosing to resist instead of go along passively, Swann's arrest is one of the earliest-known instances of violence in the name of gay rights.

The publicity and public shaming made it even more difficult for Swann to throw his secret drag balls.

Swann stopped organizing drag balls in the 1890s, but his two brothers continued to participate in the drag community for almost 50 years.

Swann passed away in December 1925 in Hancock, Maryland.

Celebrating Black History Month: "Wade in the Water", African-American jubilee song

Wade in the Water is an African-American spiritual, a genre of music created and sung by African-Americans in slavery.  Wade in the Water was estimated to be written during the Civil War around 1863, but the lyrics were not published until 1901, by Frederick J. Work and his brother John Wesley. The first commercial recording was made by the Sunset Four Jubilee Singers and released by Paramount Records.

The song is associated with Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.  It is believed that Tubman, who made thirteen trips to the South and helped free more than 70 people, used this song to warn slaves to get off the main trail and into the water to prevent the slavers' dogs from finding them.

The song has been modified, updated, and recorded many times in the past one hundred years.  Billy Preston and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass have released instrumental versions of it.

Celebrating Black History Month: Boston Vigilance Committee frees escaped slave Shadrach Minkins 1851

Shadrach Minkins escaped slavery in Virginia in 1850 and fled to Boston.  He worked as a waiter until February 1851 when he was arrested by federal marshals and taken to the courthouse. The Boston Vigilance Committee, an abolitionist organization to protect escaped slaves from being captured and returned to slavery in the South, hired lawyers to defend Minkins.  

On February 15, 1851, about twenty black activists stormed the courthouse, overpowered the marshals, and released Minkins. They spirited him away in a wagon to Beacon Hill and hid him in an attic until nightfall.  With the help of the Underground Railroad, he escaped to Canada.

He settled in Montreal and never returned to the United States.  He passed away in December 1875.

Celebrating Black History Month: Bass Reeves, first African-American deputy US Marshall west of the Mississippi

Bass Reeves, born July 1838 in slavery in Crawford County, Arkansas, was the first black deputy U.S. Marshall west of the Mississippi, mainly in Arkansas and Oklahoma Territory.  He and his family were slaves of Arkansas state legislator William Reeves.

When the Civil War began, he joined the Confederate Army with his owner at the time George Reeves.  At some point he managed to gain his freedom but there are different accounts of how that happened.  It is know he stayed in the Indian Territory, learning their languages until he was freed by the Thirteenth Amendment.

He was appointed deputy US marshal by James Fagan, a US marshal, who had heard about Reeves and his ability to speak several Native American languages.

He worked for 32 years in Indian Territory, bringing in some of the most dangerous outlaws then and never received any wounds.  He even had to arrest his own son for murder. 

When Oklahoma became a state, he became a Muskogee Police Department officer.  That is where he died in January 1910.

NASA confirms it is not hiding kidnapped children in slave camps on Mars

In an actual turn of events, NASA had to defend itself against claims that it kidnaps children and ships them to Mars on a 20-year ride, where they have no choice but to work as slaves.  Robert David Steele was a guest on Alex Jones Show and claimed:

“We actually believe that there is a colony on Mars that is populated by children who were kidnapped and sent into space on a 20-year ride.”

and this:

“So that once they get to Mars they have no alternative but to be slaves on the Mars colony.”

Naturally, NASA had to defend itself without cracking up in the middle of their statement.  And against this sort of inane drivel, that's not as easy as it sounds.  Alex Jones is also known for stating the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax and promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy.  Most of his elaborate conspiracy theories have been debunked, and that's easy to do.

The only thing moving right now on Mars are the Rovers, dust devils and occasionally, running water!  But even rocket scientists need a laugh every now and then.  You cannot make this shit up!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/01/no-alex-jones-nasa-is-not-hiding-kidnapped-children-on-mars-nasa-says/?utm_term=.e8b581d3ad70

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/210884/20170630/nasa-denies-conspiracy-theory-about-kidnapped-children-working-as-mars-colony-slaves.htm

Celebrating Black History Month: Harriet Tubman (spy, Civil War hero)

Harriet Tubman: American abolitionsit, humanitarian and armed scout and  spy for the US Army.

Harriet Tubman, born into slavery about 1822, became an armed scout and spy during the Civil War. She saved her family and approximately seventy more enslaved family and friends.  Tubman used the Underground Railroad, a network of safe houses, making thirteen successful trips.

She is also the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the Civil War, the raid at Combahee Ferry, in which she helped liberate 700 slaves. 

Harriet Tubman  will be featured on the new $20 bill, entering circulation in 2020.