BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — In 2021, the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) launched a global news feature series on the history, contemporary realities, and implications of the transatlantic slave trade. Today, leadership in America is trying to erase this history. This is Part 5 in the series.
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In 2021, the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) launched a global news feature series on the history, contemporary realities, and implications of the transatlantic slave trade. Today, leadership in America is trying to erase this history. This is Part 5 in the series.
By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
“And America, too, is a delusion, the grandest one of all. The white race believes – believes with all its heart – that it is their right to take the land. To kill. Make war. Enslave their brothers. This nation shouldn’t exist if there is any justice in the world, for its foundations are murder, theft, and cruelty. Yet here we are.”
―Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad
Once they reached the Americas, enslaved Africans were sold to the highest bidder at slave auctions and, once they had been purchased, slaves worked for nothing on plantations without any rights at all. Often punished harshly, some slaves committed suicide, according to historians, and pregnant women, many impregnated by their white slave masters, preferred abortion. The historic accounts of the transatlantic slave trade only worsen as they’re told. From the earliest stages of the transatlantic slave trade 500 years ago and throughout that most ignominious period, many enslaved Africans tried to reduce the pace of their work by pretending to be ill, causing fires, and by breaking tools, according to historians. Though few were able to escape, most who attempted to flee were caught and beaten, and some even murdered.
“Slavery is one of the foundational pillars of American society, propping up the nation starting in the earliest days of the Republic and touching the lives of everyone in America,” said Hasan Jeffries, a history professor at Ohio State University. “And, its legacy has been long-lasting,” said Jeffries, who specializes in African American history and contemporary black history, which includes the institution of slavery and its effect on African Americans in the United States from the founding era through the Civil Rights movement and today. “The deeply rooted belief in white supremacy that justified slavery survived its abolition in 1865 and undergirded the new systems of African American labor exploitation and social control, namely Jim Crow, that sought to replace what had been lost as a result of emancipation,” Jeffries continued. “Slavery may have ended in 1865, but a slaveholder mentality persisted, shaping the contours of American life for decades to come. This legacy of slavery is very much what African Americans have been fighting against from the moment of emancipation through the present.”
James Madison’s Montpelier, the home of the Father of the Constitution, an institution that examines slavery during the Founding Era and its impact today, recently commissioned a study that examined how Americans perceive their Constitutional rights. Research found that African Americans (65 percent) are less likely than whites (82 percent) to believe that their Constitutional rights are regularly upheld and respected.
The study also revealed that African Americans (62 percent) are more likely than whites (36 percent) to believe that civil rights is the most important Constitutional issue to the nation; findings that make it clear that race continues to play a major role in determining how Americans perceive Constitutional rights. “Enslaved people were considered property during the Founding Era; therefore, the Constitution’s declarations of ‘we the people’ and ‘justice’ excluded them, protecting one of the most oppressive institutions in history,” said Kat Imhoff, president and CEO of James Madison’s Montpelier. “While the words ‘slave’ and, or ‘slavery’ are never mentioned in the Constitution, they are referenced and codified in a variety of ways throughout the document,” Imhoff said. “The founders compromised morality – many were recorded as being opposed to slavery, but on the other hand, many were not – and power – in some cases, states bowed to slaveholding counterparts to ensure the Constitution would be ratified in the name of economics,” she said.
Imhoff continued:
“Slavery, when all was said and done, was incredibly profitable for white Americans – and not just in the South. It was the economic engine of the new nation. While Madison and his ideas remain powerful and relevant, they also stand in stark contrast to the captivity and abuse of Madison’s own slaves. At Montpelier, on the very grounds where Madison conceived ideas of rights and freedom, there lived hundreds of people whose freedom he denied.” Indeed, Madison’s story is one of the first in the continuing journey of Americans who struggled to throw off bonds of oppression and exercise the fullness of what it means to be free, Imhoff added. Working at James Madison’s Montpelier provides Imhoff and others a view of race and slavery’s legacy through the eyes of those who descended directly from the enslaved individuals who lived at Montpelier and other estates in the nearby Virginia area.
“As a leader of this cultural institution engaged in the interpretation of slavery, I believe to truly move forward, it is essential to engage the descendants to help us interpret slavery in real terms and illuminate their ancestors’ stories,” Imhoff said. “Our country continues to grapple with the effects of slavery. Some of us feel it in deeply personal ways. Others only know of it historically or academically, as part of the distant, long-ago past. “These differences make it all the more important to engage in worthwhile discussions with each other. We must have a more holistic conversation about freedom, equality, and justice, and ensure we are inclusive of those people who it affects most readily.”
Up Next: The Roots of Slavery and Its Lasting Effects
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OP-ED: Trump Should Let African American Museum Tell the Truth About Slavery
A Precarious Time: Black Labor Day 2025
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Slavery, and the global political, socio-economic, and banking systems that supported it, constitute one of the greatest tragedies in the history of humanity, both in terms of scale and duration.
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The Transatlantic Slave Trade is not just Black history—it is American history, and Black Americans lived it. Their ancestors were violently torn from their homes, forced into brutal labor, and stripped of basic humanity. That legacy of injustice echoes loudly in every aspect of our society—because the slave trade wasn’t just cruel, it was foundational.
Yet today, that truth itself is under attack. President Donald Trump denounced the Smithsonian Institution as allegedly “out of control” for telling the unvarnished history of slavery—claiming museums focus too much on how bad slavery was and not enough on “brightness” or success, even as his administration reviews exhibits and threatens funding cuts to sanitize the narrative. He dismissed honest reflection as “woke,” arguing it undermines national pride.
We are re-running this series, which we originally published in 2019, each day because confronting our painful past is urgent—and because critics who erase suffering do so to keep oppression alive.
By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
“It started with slave ships… There are more records of slave ships than one would dream. It seems inconceivable until you reflect that for 200 years, ships sailed carrying cargo of slaves. How can man be nonviolent… in the face of the… violence that we’ve been experiencing for the past (500) years is actually doing our people a disservice; in fact, it’s a crime, it’s a crime.” — Public Enemy- “Can’t Truss It.” The transatlantic slave trade is often regarded as the first system of globalization and lasted from the 16th century through much of the 19th century. Slavery, and the global political, socio-economic, and banking systems that supported it, constitute one of the greatest tragedies in the history of humanity, both in terms of scale and duration.
The transatlantic slave trade was the largest mass deportation of humans in history and a determining factor in the world economy of the 18th century, where millions of Africans were torn from their homes, deported to the American continent, and sold as slaves, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – or UNESCO. The transatlantic slave trade that began about 500 years ago connected the economies of three continents, with Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, England, and France acting as the primary trading countries.
“The transatlantic slave trade transformed the Americas,” wrote Dr. Alan Rice, a Reader in American Cultural Studies at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, the United Kingdom. “Three factors combined to cause this transformation. Large amounts of land had been seized from Native Americans and were not being used,” Rice said. “Europeans were looking for somewhere to invest their money, and very cheap labor was available in the form of enslaved Africans; thus, the Americas became a booming new economy.” The transatlantic slave trade also formed an essential bridge between Europe’s New World and its Asia trade and, as such, it was a crucial element in the development of the global economy in the 18th century, Professor Robert Harms wrote for Yale University’s “Global Yale.”
Harms, a professor of History at Yale and chair of the Council on African Studies, continued: “There was one basic economic fact – little noticed by historians – that provides the key to the relationship between the direct trade and the circuit trade. “When a French ship arrived in the New World with a load of slaves to be bartered for sugar, the value of the slaves equaled about twice as much sugar as the ship could carry back to France. For that reason, the most common form of slave contract called for fifty percent of the sugar to be delivered immediately and the remainder to be delivered a year later. “The second delivery carried no interest penalty, and so the slave sellers were in effect giving the buyers an interest-free loan.”
In total, UNESCO estimates that between 25 and 30 million people — men, women, and children — were deported from their homes and sold as slaves in the different slave trading systems. More than half – 17 million – were deported and sold during the transatlantic slave trade, a figure that UNESCO historians said doesn’t include those who died aboard the ships and during the course of wars and raids connected to the slave trade. The trade proceeded in three steps. The ships left Western Europe for Africa loaded with goods that were to be exchanged for slaves. Upon their arrival in Africa, the captains traded their merchandise for captive slaves. Weapons and gunpowder were the most important commodities, but textiles, pearls, and other manufactured goods, as well as rum, were also in high demand.
The exchange could last from one week to several months. The second step was the crossing of the Atlantic. Africans were transported to America to be sold throughout the continent. The third step connected America to Europe. The slave traders brought back mostly agricultural products produced by the slaves. The main products were sugar, cotton, coffee, tobacco, and rice. The circuit lasted approximately eighteen months, and, to be able to transport the maximum number of slaves, the ship’s steerage was frequently removed, historians said. Many researchers are convinced that the slave trade had more to do with economics than racism. “Slavery was not born of racism; rather, racism was the consequence of slavery,” historian Eric Williams wrote in his study, “Capitalism & Slavery.”
“Unfree labor in the New World was brown, white, black, and yellow; Catholic, Protestant, and pagan. The origin of Negro slavery? The reason was economic, not racial; it had to do not with the color of the laborer, but the cheapness of the labor,” Williams said. Also, contrary to “the popular portrayal of African slaves as primitive, ignorant and stupid, the reality is that not only were Africans skilled laborers, they were also experts in tropical agriculture,” said editor and social media and communications expert, Michael Roberts. In a dissertation for op-ed news earlier this year, Roberts said, Africans were well-suited for plantation agriculture in the Caribbean and South America. Also, the high immunity of Africans to malaria and yellow fever, compared to white Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and South America, meant Africans were more suitable for tropical labor. “While Native Americans’ labor were initially used, Africans were the final solution to the acute labor problem in the New World,” Roberts said.
“The slave trade was one of the most important business enterprises of the 17th century. The undisputed fact is that the nation states of Europe stabilized themselves and developed their economies mainly at the expense of millions of Black African people,” he said. During the 16th Century, when Europeans first made regular contact, West Africa had highly developed civilizations, and Africans were keen to trade their gold, silver, copper, Ivory, and spices for European pots, pans, cloth, and guns. However, Europeans soon became more interested in exploiting the people of Africa and forcing them into slave labor. Most of the slaves were taken from the West coast, but some were kidnapped further inland from the interior.
“The biggest lesson to be learned from this dark and evil chapter in human history is that exploiting fellow humans for cheap labor never pays off in the long run,” said Pablo Solomon, an internationally recognized artist and designer who’s been featured in 29 books and in newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and film. “The acts of using fellow humans as beasts of burden to save a few bucks always end up costing more in the long run, both in real money and in societal decay,” Solomon said. “Any rationalization of misusing fellow humans is both evil and ignorant,” he said.
One aspect of the transatlantic slave trade that would greatly enhance its understanding is that the English began to enslave and export Irish persons to the Caribbean in the time of Oliver Cromwell, said Heather Miller, an educator and writer with expertise in the teaching of reading and writing, who holds graduate degrees from Harvard and MIT. Cromwell was known for his campaign in Ireland that centered on ethnic cleansing and the transportation of slave labor to Barbados.“Irish enslaved persons worked alongside African enslaved persons in the Caribbean,” Miller said. However, historians generally agree that the most cruel and exploitative people have been the Africans.
Up Next: The Economic Engine of the New Nation
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The Catholic Church played a vital role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, according to historians and several published theses on the topic.
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The Transatlantic Slave Trade is not just Black history—it is American history, and Black Americans lived it. Their ancestors were violently torn from their homes, forced into brutal labor, and stripped of basic humanity. That legacy of injustice echoes loudly in every aspect of our society—because the slave trade wasn’t just cruel, it was foundational.
Yet today, that truth itself is under attack. President Donald Trump denounced the Smithsonian Institution as allegedly “out of control” for telling the unvarnished history of slavery—claiming museums focus too much on how bad slavery was and not enough on “brightness” or success, even as his administration reviews exhibits and threatens funding cuts to sanitize the narrative. He dismissed honest reflection as “woke,” arguing it undermines national pride.
We are re-rerunning this series, which we originally published in 2019, each day because confronting our painful past is urgent—and because critics who erase suffering do so to keep oppression alive.
By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
“When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught us how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.” — Jomo Kenyatta, First President of Kenya, Africa.
The Catholic Church played a vital role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, according to historians and several published theses on the topic.
The trans-Atlantic slave trade was introduced by the coming of the Europeans, who came with the Bible in the same manner that Arab raiders and traders from the Middle East and North Africa introduced Islam through the Trans-Saharan slave trade, according to AfricaW.com, a premier informational website available throughout the continent.
“In fact, the Church was the backbone of the slave trade,” the authors wrote. “In other words, most of the slave traders and slave ship captains were very ‘good’ Christians.”
For example, Sir John Hawkins, the first slave-ship captain to bring African slaves to the Americas, was a religious man who insisted that his crew “serve God daily” and “love one another.” His ship, ironically called “The Good Ship Jesus,” left the shores of his native England for Africa in October 1562. Some historians argue that if churches had used their power, the Atlantic slave trade might have never occurred.
By the same logic, others argue that the Catholic church and Catholic missionaries could have also helped to prevent the colonization and brutality of colonialism in Africa. However, according to a 2015 Global Black History report, the Catholic church did not oppose the institution of slavery until the practice had already become infamous in most parts of the world.
In most cases, the churches and church leaders did not condemn slavery until the 17th century. The five major countries that dominated slavery and the slave trade in the New World were either Catholic or still retained strong Catholic influences, including Spain, Portugal, France, England, and the Netherlands.
“Persons who considered themselves to be Christian played a major role in upholding and justifying the enslavement of Africans,” said Dr. Jonathan Chism, an assistant professor of history at the University of Houston-Downtown.
“Many European ‘Christian’ slavers perceived the Africans they encountered as irreligious and uncivilized persons. They justified slavery by rationalizing that they were Christianizing and civilizing their African captors. They were driven by missionary motives and impulses,” Chism said.
Further, many Anglo-Christians defended slavery using the Bible. For example, white Christian apologists for slavery argued that the curse of Ham in Genesis Chapter 9 and verses 20 to 25 provided a biblical rationale for the enslavement of Blacks, Chism said.
In this passage, Noah cursed Canaan and his descendants, arguing that Ham would be “the lowest of slaves among his brothers” because he saw the nakedness of his father. A further understanding of the passage also revealed that while some have attempted to justify their prejudice by claiming that God cursed the black race, no such curse is recorded in the Bible. That oft-cited verse says nothing whatsoever about skin color.
Also, it should be noted that the Black race evidently descended from a brother of Canaan named Cush. Canaan’s descendants were evidently light-skinned, not black. “Truly, nothing in the biblical account identifies Ham, the descendant of Canaan, with Africans. Yet, Christian apologists determined that Africans were the descendants of Ham,” Chism said.
Nevertheless, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the racial interpretation of Noah’s curse became commonplace, he said. In 2016, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. offered a public apology after acknowledging that 188 years prior, Jesuit priests sold 272 slaves to save the school from financial ruin.
This is how The New York Times first reported the story: The human cargo was loaded on ships at a bustling wharf in the nation’s capital, destined for the plantations of the Deep South. Some slaves pleaded for rosaries as they were rounded up, praying for deliverance. But on that day, in the fall of 1838, no one was spared: not the 2-month-old baby and her mother, not the field hands, not the shoemaker and not Cornelius Hawkins, who was about 13 years old when he was forced onboard.
Their panic and desperation would be mostly forgotten for more than a century. But this was no ordinary slave sale. The enslaved African Americans had belonged to the nation’s most prominent Jesuit priests. And they were sold, along with scores of others, to help secure the future of the premier Catholic institution of higher learning at the time, known today as Georgetown University.
“The Society of Jesus, who helped to establish Georgetown University and whose leaders enslaved and mercilessly sold your ancestors, stands before you to say that we have greatly sinned,” Rev. Timothy Kesicki, S.J., president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, said during a Liturgy of Remembrance, Contrition, and Hope.
“We pray with you today because we have greatly sinned and because we are profoundly sorry.” During the early republic, Catholics celebrated the new Constitution for its guarantee of religious liberty while simply accepting its guarantee of slaveholding, according to Blackthen.com.
Internal church politics mattered too. When the Jesuit order was suppressed in 1773, the plantation system of the order in Maryland was seen as a protection for their identity and solidarity.
The universal church taught that slavery enjoyed the sanction of Scripture and natural law. Throughout the antebellum period, many churches in the South committed to sharing their version of the Christian faith with Blacks. They believed that their version of Christianity would help them to be “good slaves” and not challenge the slave system, Chism said.
“Yet, it is important to note that African Americans made Christianity their own, and Black Christians such as Nat Turner employed Christian thought and biblical texts to resist the slave system. Furthermore, Black and white abolitionist Christians played a major role in overturning the system of slavery,” he said.
Up Next: A 500-Year-old Shared History
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The night of Aug. 22 to Aug. 23, 1791, in Santo Domingo – today Haiti and the Dominican Republic – saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
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The Transatlantic Slave Trade is not just Black history—it is American history, and Black Americans lived it. Their ancestors were violently torn from their homes, forced into brutal labor, and stripped of basic humanity. That legacy of injustice echoes loudly in every aspect of our society—because the slave trade wasn’t just cruel, it was foundational.
Yet today, that truth itself is under attack. President Donald Trump denounced the Smithsonian Institution as allegedly “out of control” for telling the unvarnished history of slavery—claiming museums focus too much on how bad slavery was and not enough on “brightness” or success, even as his administration reviews exhibits and threatens funding cuts to sanitize the narrative. He dismissed honest reflection as “woke,” arguing it undermines national pride.
We are re-rerunning this series, which we originally published in 2019, each day because confronting our painful past is urgent—and because critics who erase suffering do so to keep oppression alive.
A people without the knowledge of their history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots — Marcus Garvey.
By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
The night of Aug. 22 to Aug. 23, 1791, in Santo Domingo – today Haiti and the Dominican Republic – saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
The slave rebellion in the area weakened the Caribbean colonial system, sparking an uprising that led to the abolition of slavery and gave the island its independence. It also marked the beginning of the destruction of the slavery system, the slave trade, and colonialism. Each year, on Aug. 23, the United Nations hosts an International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition to remind the world of the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade.
U.N. officials said it provides an opportunity to think about the historic causes, the methods, and the consequences of the slave trade. Experts said it’s important to never forget. And, with the approaching 500th anniversary of the date Africans were first forced into slavery in America, many like Felicia M. Davis, the director of the HBCU Green Fund, which invests in sustainable campus solutions for historically black colleges and universities, said she believes African enslavement demands reexamination.
“The fact that slavery was underway for a century in South America before its introduction in North America is not widely taught nor commonly understood,” Davis said. “It is a powerful historical fact missing from our understanding of slavery, its magnitude, and global impact. Knowledge that slavery was underway for a century provides deep insight into how enslaved Africans adapted,” she said. Far beyond the horrific “seasoning” description that others have provided, clearly generations had been born into slavery long before the introduction in North America, Davis argued. “It deepens the understanding of how vast majorities could be oppressed in such an extreme manner for such a long period of time. It is also a testament to the strength and drive among people of African descent to live free,” she said.
The history of the United States has often been described as the history of oppression and resistance to that oppression, said David B. Allison, the editor of the book, “Controversial Monuments and Memorials: A Guide for Community Leaders.” Slavery and the resulting touchstones stemming from slavery throughout the history of the United States run as a consistent thread that illuminates the soul and essence of America, said Allison, a historian with a master’s degree in U.S. History from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.’ “From the compromises and moral equivocation in the founding documents during the Revolutionary Era – statements like ‘All men are created equal’ were written by a man who kept Black men and women as decidedly unequal as slaves – to the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement, the tragedy and terror of slavery are fundamental to the history of the United States,” Allison said.
Today, the fallout from the events of Aug. 2017 in Charlottesville – brought about by a white supremacist rally and touched off the debate around the potential removal of a statue to a leader of the Confederacy – continues to weigh down the collective psyche of this nation, Allison continued. “Moreover, the rise in police profiling and brutality of Black men and the resulting rates of incarceration for African Americans highlight the ongoing oppression that was initially born in the crucible of slavery,” he said. Allison added that it’s “absolutely essential to understand and remember that 2019 is the 500th anniversary of slavery in the United States so that we can understand both how our country became how it is now and how we might envision a more just future for all citizens.”
Each year, the UN invites people all over the world, including educators, students, and artists, to organize events that center on the theme of the International Day of Remembrance. Theatre companies, cultural organizations, musicians, and artists take part in this day by expressing their resistance against slavery through performances that involve music, dance, and drama. Educators promote the day by informing people about the historical events associated with the slave trade, the consequences of the slave trade, and promoting tolerance and human rights. Many organizations, including youth associations, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations, actively take part in the event to educate society about the negative consequences of the slave trade.
Here in America, many organizations, activists, and scholars are focused on 2019 as the anniversary of the arrival of the first Africans to be enslaved in Jamestown and 160 years since the last slave ship arrived, Davis said. Also, there’s a growing list of apologies for slavery from colleges and universities, local governments, and corporations. Efforts are underway by the HBCU Green Fund to organize a national convening under the theme “Sankofa Remix” with three tracks: past, present, and future. The goal is to examine history from an African American perspective, explore current impacts, including backlash from the election of the first Black president, and craft a vision that extends at least 100 years into the future that features presentations from artists, activists, technology, scholars, and other creative energy. “It is encouraging to know that BlackPressUSA is focused on this topic. It is our hope that plans are underway to cover activities throughout the entire year,” Davis said, noting that 2019 also marks the 100th anniversary of the Red Summer Race Riots.
“The UN Decade of African Descent 2015-2024 should also be highlighted as the BlackPressUSA leads this important examination of history,” she said. “Interestingly, the first and last slave ships to arrive in the U.S. both arrived in August. The HBCU Green Fund is working to put together a calendar of dates and observances. “We would love to work with Black Press USA to promote a year-long observance that helps to reinvigorate and support the important role that the Black press plays in the liberation of Black people across the globe. “We would be honored to have Black Press USA as a Sankofa Remix partner organization and look forward to collaboration opportunities,” Davis said.
Up Next: The Catholic Church Played a Major Role in Slavery
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The White House has issued a statement saying that President Trump is right about the Smithsonian being “out of control” as it “increasingly prioritizes exhibits that undermine our values and rewrite the American story through a lens of grievance and exclusion, the Smithsonian’s embrace of woke ideology distorts history and erodes public trust.”
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By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Washington Bureau Chief and White House Correspondent
Following the direction of President Trump, the Smithsonian Museum Institution (The Smithsonian), the world’s largest museum, education and research complex, is being reviewed by lawyers who are tasked with identifying content that could be considered “woke,” particularly as it applies to the subject of slavery.
The president declared that he does not want the nation viewed in a negative light — either in the present or the past. As a result, a disproportionate portion of the review will be focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), affectionately known as the “Blacksonian.”
The Smithsonian comprises nineteen museums and galleries and the National Zoo. Eleven of the sites are on the National Mall and include the Lincoln Memorial and the NMAAHC.
NMAAHC curators and staff research and assemble exhibits that accurately present history based upon fact. This includes some exhibits that truthfully depict aspects of the horrors of slavery.
It is no secret that a large percentage of the generational wealth enjoyed today by some of white America would not exist without the exploited free labor of enslaved Africans in this nation’s sugarcane and cotton fields and in other areas.
However, the White House has issued a statement saying that President Trump is right about the Smithsonian being “out of control,” saying that as it “increasingly prioritizes exhibits that undermine our values and rewrite the American story through a lens of grievance and exclusion, the Smithsonian’s embrace of woke ideology distorts history and erodes public trust.”
The statement provides examples of the Smithsonian’s “woke” agendas and exhibits, including a few that many might see as politically motivated, like the National Portrait Gallery commission of a stop-motion drawing animation that examines the career of Anthony Fauci.
Additional examples include:
In a nation that was at least partially founded on the concept of free speech, the administration’s position challenges the boundaries of censorship at the same time that it begs the question, “Are there limits to the types and content of speech that is federally funded? If so, who should be the determinant of those limits?
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BlackPressUSA.com or the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — In a society that often erases African American narratives, my family has insisted on remembering, on speaking our truth, on ensuring that future generations know they come from greatness. In a moment where the telling of Black history is facing a very real, very direct threat in this country, proudly sharing our stories is an act of both resistance and necessity. Our history must be preserved.
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By Tonia Wellons
My name is Tonia Wellons, and I am the daughter of Rendell and Carol Wellons, the granddaughter of Ruth and James Lane, the great-granddaughter of St. Paul and Julia Wellons, the great-great-granddaughter of Hack and Maria Holloman, and the third great-granddaughter of Jason and Maria Holloman.
This lineage, which was spoken aloud at our 71st family reunion this month and has been spoken aloud at every family reunion for seventy years, carries the weight of our collective memory and the power of our shared triumph.
When I trace my roots back through eight generations to Temperance Brown, born around 1805 in Ivor, Virginia, I am not just recounting names and dates—I am honoring a legacy of resilience, faith, and unwavering commitment to family and community that defines who I am today.
In a society that often erases African American narratives, my family has insisted on remembering, on speaking our truth, on ensuring that future generations know they come from greatness. In a moment where the telling of Black history is facing a very real, very direct threat in this country, proudly sharing our stories is an act of both resistance and necessity. Our history must be preserved.
Temperance Brown was born into bondage, yet she became the foundation upon which our family’s American story was built. Her daughter, Maria Brown, later known as Martha, married Jason Holloman, and together they exemplified the courage and defiance that would become our family’s hallmark. When Jason, described in our oral history as “a proud and courageous man who refused to be beaten by his master,” was sold away to Alabama, never to be seen again, Maria faced the unimaginable—raising three sons alone while enslaved. The year was around 1830, just one year before Nat Turner’s rebellion would shake the very foundations of Virginia’s plantation system.
What happened next reveals the extraordinary character that runs through our bloodline. After the Civil War ended, Maria’s three sons—Hack Hanson, James Henry, and Julius—did something revolutionary: they purchased the very plantation where they had once lived as slaves. “Overhome ,” as it was known, became more than just land; it became a symbol of transformation, a place where the formerly enslaved became landowners, where the oppressed became community leaders.
The values that sustained our family through these trials were rooted in faith, community, and an unshakeable belief in justice. Hack and James Henry, according to our family historians, were “very outspoken and stood up for the rights of others.” They weren’t politicians, but they stayed informed about political activities, riding their “jumper”—a one-seat buggy—to Courtland whenever issues demanded their attention. As the first Black landowners in Southampton County and among the first Black voters in the county, they understood that their freedom was meaningless unless they actively participated in shaping their community’s future.
The tradition of family gatherings – first during Thanksgiving and beginning over 70 years ago on the 4th Saturday in July wasn’t just about family fellowship; it was about preserving our story, ensuring that each generation understood where we came from and what we had overcome. In those gatherings, family members shared “reminiscences of the old slavery days” and stories of hardship, but also of triumph. These weren’t just memories—they were lessons in resilience, blueprints for survival, and testimonials to the power of faith and family unity.
This legacy of activism and community leadership flows directly through my veins. The same courage that enabled Jason to resist his master, that drove Maria to raise three sons alone, that inspired Hack and James Henry to become community leaders, lives on in my own commitment to justice and service. When I engage in community work today, I carry forward their understanding that personal success is incomplete without collective progress. Their example teaches me that true freedom requires not just the absence of chains, but the presence of opportunity, dignity, and voice for all.
Faith was the cornerstone that held our family together through centuries of struggle. The strict moral teachings of our ancestors, their emphasis on respect and faith, created a foundation strong enough to withstand the storms of slavery, Jim Crow, and beyond. This spiritual grounding didn’t make them passive; instead, it empowered them to act with purpose and conviction. Today, my faith continues to guide my work, providing both the moral compass and the inner strength needed to confront injustice wherever I find it.
The preservation of our family history through oral tradition speaks to another core value: the understanding that our stories matter. For seventy-one years, we have gathered in Ivor, Virginia – the place where I was born and raised – to honor our past and strengthen our bonds. This commitment to storytelling and memory-keeping influences how I approach my own work—with the understanding that representation matters, that voices need to be heard, and that history must be preserved.
What makes our family story particularly powerful is not just that we survived slavery, but how we transformed that experience into strength, leadership, and service. From Temperance Brown’s quiet endurance to Hack and James Henry’s bold land ownership, from their roles as community leaders to their commitment to voting rights, our family has consistently chosen engagement over withdrawal, hope over despair, action over resignation.
Today, as I continue their legacy, I understand that my American story is both deeply personal and universally significant. It represents the broader American experience of trauma and triumph, of roots that run deep in American soil watered by both tears and determination. The values of activism, community work, faith, and family that sustained my ancestors through slavery and its aftermath continue to guide my steps today.
Standing on the shoulders of eight generations, I carry forward not just their DNA, but their dreams, their courage, and their unwavering belief that this country, for all its flaws, is our home. We helped build it, we fought for it, and we continue to perfect it. That is my American story—one of transformation, resilience, and the unbreakable bonds of family that have sustained us for over two centuries.
Tonia Wellons is the President & CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation, the largest public foundation in the region with over $500 million in assets and $70 million in annual grants.
This is the second essay in the Public Welfare Foundation’s Legacies Rooted in Resistance and Resilience Series.
BLACKPRESSUSA.COM NEWSWIRE — As our communities face a mounting economic crisis disproportionately devastating African Americans and the marginalized, we declare that now is the time for the faith community to rise and speak with moral clarity. Just as Dr. King before us, today’s religious leaders must carry the mandate and mantel to fight for social and economic justice for all people.
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Statement from the Joint Coalition of Churches & National Action Network:
On August 28, 2025 in solemn commemoration of the historic 1963 March on Washington, a united coalition of churches and the Black Press led by Dr. Boise Kimber, Bishop J. Drew Sheard, and Dr. Samuel C. Tolbert, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr, President and CEO of NNPA: The Black Press of America will join Civil Rights icon Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, to lead a protest march on Wall Street in New York City, the epicenter of economic power and privilege. The march will feature prominent religious and Civil Rights leaders and activists, who will speak and much more.
As our communities face a mounting economic crisis disproportionately devastating African Americans and the marginalized, we declare that now is the time for the faith community to rise and speak with moral clarity. Just as Dr. King before us, today’s religious leaders must carry the mandate and mantle to fight for social and economic justice for all people.
The march not only honors the legacy of those who came before us but also confronts the urgent injustices of today. Economic disparity is not just a political issue; it is a moral one. We will not be silent. We will not yield to systems or policies that rob our people of opportunity, dignity, and basic human rights.
This is more than a moment; this is a movement. Together, we will stand. Together, we will march. Together, we will speak. Together, we will rise.
Joint Coalition of Churches & National Action Network (NAN).
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