Benjamin Banneker and Bllack History Month

DUKES FANS: I was having coffee with some friends a few weeks ago, and one of them told me that he had been on a business trip in MD for a few days, and he somehow wound up visiting a place called, The Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum. He really was delightfully surprised by the place, and he asked me if I had ever been there. I was blown away; Banneker has long been one of my heroes, and my wife visited that place several times before she died as part of our regular Baltimore-Washington, DC long weekends. We loved walking the trails, seeing the recreated buildings, and visiting the museum.it. I have also become friends through my Quaker meeting with a woman who is a descendant of Benjamin. So Benjamin has been a part of my life since I first found out about him during my elementary school days. That also reminded me of how I had first found out about the Banneker site in 2016. I wrote about that experience in a newsletter back then, and I have reprinted it blow. Curiosity and Black History Month “The thing about Black History is that the truth is so much more complex than anything you could make up” Henry Louis Gates “Black History is not only a separate history-it is American History.” Morgan Freeman It is February, and in schools, newspapers, websites, museums and more that means that it is Black History month, a time to place a special emphasis on the accomplishments, experiences, and importance of African-Americans in, to, and in spite of American history and culture. While I have some problems with how the month tends to be looked at in a lot of places, the month often provides me with opportunities to experience and learn new and exciting things. I look forward to a lot of the activities during the month because I often hear interesting interviews with fascinating people, see some wonderful art work, get introduced to musicians, writers, and thinkers I may not have heard of before, and get greater insights into an event, time period or a person about whom I knew a little. Such was the case Saturday, February 6th when I took a trip to Doylestown’s Mercer Museum to see a first-person presentation on the life of Maryland’s Benjamin Banneker, the great colonial writer of almanacs, astronomer, and a surveyor on the team that laid out the city that was to become Washington, DC. He has long been one of my heroes, and this program promised to provide me with greater details about him and his life. As a kid in the 1950’s we had Negro History Week, and as an inveterate reader and devourer of all types of information, I loved learning about things that were not part of the regular school curriculum or in my history books. I went to a majority black elementary school, and my teachers and parents nurtured my curiosity and encouraged me to read, ask questions, and to explore. I got my first library card in the 2nd grade, and the libraries at 52nd and Sansom, 54th and Media, 40th and Walnut, and 19th and the Parkway were sacred places to me. They and magazines such as Jet and Ebony were sources that gave me a lot of basic information on Black people’s experiences from all different times and places that were not covered in school or in the mainstream media. So I had known some things about Banneker from my own study. I knew he had written an almanac, created a clock, had surveyed the land that later become Washington, DC., and that he had an ongoing relationship and correspondence with Thomas Jefferson. But the Doylestown presentation offered a chance to see him portrayed and to have his life brought off the pages-to sort of encounter him. And there was a great chance that I could get more detail and learn more things that I did not know about him and his life. I was not disappointed. Bob Smith from Baltimore has made a career of doing what he calls, “First Person Presentation”, and he presented us with a Banneker that had a sense of humor, unbridled enthusiasm, curiosity, ingenuity, and an intense commitment to education and freedom. And I learned some important things about what it was like to do the work that Banneker did in colonial America-what it took to track and study the stars outside at night in all types of weather to be able to put together an accurate almanac, for example. Or how physically hard and uncomfortable it was to do the surveying to lay out DC. And how he had taken apart and put together a pocket watch several times until he could do it blindfolded, and then used that memory to attempt to build the first clock in the colonies. It took him three tries and two years, but he was able to create the first clock made in colonial North America in 1756. It kept perfect time until his death in 1806. The other fascinating things that I found through Bob Smith’s portrayal were details of Benjamin’s family and of the help of the Ellicott family, Bucks County PA Quakers who had moved into the Baltimore area to establish a grist mill. When Ben was 40 George Ellicott lent him a book on astronomy and a telescope; those fired up his enthusiasm and took his interest in astronomy to a new level. It was George's cousin, Andrew Ellicott ,who recruited him to be a part of the surveying team for the District of Columbia. The Ellicotts definitely played a big role in Benjamin’s life. I also learned a lot about his family-his grandmother was apparently an English indentured servant who had served her full term, was given land as the term of her indenture, and who bought, worked with, freed, and married “Bannake,” an African who became Benjamin’s grandfather. And Bannake’s son, when he was made an inheritor of the family farmland, included 6-year-old Benjamin on the deed, making sure he could never be taken and sold into slavery. and to complete the picture of Benjamin’s life and times there were also some colonial era tools, a printing press, a telescope, maps from the time period, and more. It was a fascinating look at an impressive person, some unusual people, and a special time. As the Gates’ quote above notes, truth is often stranger and more involving than fiction. Benjamin’s story makes that clear. For me seeing the presentation at the Mercer was also a chance to add on to that knowledge that I first came across as an eager-to-learn young person. And as I continue to read and haunt libraries and dig through websites and museums, I suspect I will find out more about this incredible individual and be led into other paths and interests as well. I hope that whatever your interests, questions and/or points of curiosity are that you devote some real time to feeding and nurturing them-to indulging that spirit of curiosity that seems so vital to human life. Museums, libraries and trips are especially wonderful ways to feed and nurture that spirit. And when we do that perhaps we can better make sense of the world around us and our role in it. It is definitely worth a try. Surprises and wonders await. (For more information on Benjamin Banneker go to: http://www.biography.com/people/benjamin-banneker-9198038 https://www.black-inventor.com/

Remembering Georgie Bonds

DUKES FANS: “All I’ve ever wanted to do was to be a cowboy and a singer.” Georgie Bonds This week and last week I have been thinking about and celebrating the life of the great Philadelphia bluesman Georgie Bonds. A member of the Pennsylvania Blues Hall of Fame, Georgie was a regular on the Philadelphia blues scene who seemingly came out of nowhere in the 1990’s to become one of the most popular singer/guitarists up and down the East Coast. I first heard him in the mid-1900’s at blues jams at The Barbary and later at Warmdaddy’s,and he blew me away. His voice had a clear presence that was both sweet and powerful at the same time. Listening to him sing was always moving and intense. The Dukes were fortunate to do a couple of festivals with him, and we got to know him. He was a genuine and friendly person, and he always had that big smile. And when he asked how you were doing, you knew he really wanted to know. He was outgoing, friendly, and real. Georgie had some health issues due to a medical error, but he was still upbeat and outgoing even as he dealt with the long term consequences of that event. He rode and loved horses, was a real-life blacksmith, and was a joyous soul in love with life. He passed away on last Monday, January 13th at the age of 72. Thanks, Georgie, for sharing your music and your love of life with us. Love you! (https://georgiebonds.com )

January Night Skies

DUKES FANS "In winter the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity." John Burroughs, "The Snow-Walkers," 1866 Around 5:30 PM a wonderful curtain of darkness comes down and settles in, and for some 13 or 14 hours we are in the grip of one of the most dramatic and beautiful scenes on the planet-the winter night sky in the Northern Hemisphere. That seasonal combination of the absence of leaves on the trees, the sheer number of hours of darkness, the clear presence of so many constellations, and the visibility of several planets makes the winter sky among my favorite celestial happenings. Yes, there are nights when it is cloudy and not much seems visible, but even then the greys have their subtle shades and shapes that seem mysterious. And when the sky is cloudless, then things are amazingly stark and dramatic. Even in the city, nature's lights in the sky stand out. Some of the constellations are clear and almost shouting in their brightness: the Dippers in the north, Orion to the southeast, and Cygnus to the northwest are simply brilliant and delightful. It is a quiet gorgeousness up above us each night that beckons and pleases. For the past few days we have been fortunate to have had the first full moon of 2025 moon. The crescent and quarter moons give way to a new moon by the end of the first full week of January. The Full Moon was on January 13th, and this has easily and proudly visible for the past few nights and into the early morning. I am out most days by 6AM, and the moon is still proudly there in the northwest sky. Seeing it has been a wonderful way to welcome the day. This moon is known as The Wolf Moon. And that is supposedly because wolves are more active as this time in the winter, and their howls are more constant and pronounced. Visible, too, for the month is Jupiter, high overhead and also in the northwest sky. Venus and Mars are also visible during mush of this month; it is a month of extraordinary visuals. These are all treats and wonders for us to behold, and they all remind me of the wonderfully paradoxical position of humans in this universe. We are really quite insignificant when you observe all that is going on around and above us. I mean there is Jupiter or a comet, and then there is us. But we are also powerful because we can observe, think about and make some type of order out of all of this. We can even name these things. That too is amazing-we are simultaneously powerless and powerful. And we also get to stand back and enjoy it all. I hope you can all find some time to watch and enjoy the shows above us. Here is a link to a website that can help you find out and learn more about our magnificently wondrous January night skies. Get out, look up, and enjoy. The Sky Live https://theskylive.com/guide?geoid=4560349 ____________________________________________________ MLK DAY: A reminder that Monday is Martin Luther King Day of Service. Here is a link to a listing of service opportunities and celebrations in the Philadelphia area. https://volunteer.globalcitizen365.org/kingdayoverview?layoutViewMode=tablet

History is The Story Beneath The Story

DUKES FANS: “There are so many men and women who hold no distinctive positions but whose contribution towards the development of society has been enormous.” Nelson Mandela “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people working consistently can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead The above quotes have been important to me since I first came across them years ago. They point out the fact that while our history books and history courses often focus on important people, most of what those people accomplished that made them “historical” would not have been possible without the actions, support and involvement of tons of people whose names we will never know. When I taught American and world history, I often told students that history is about story-what happened, why did it happen, how did it happen, and most importantly, who were all the ordinary people involved? How were they affected? What did they do leading up to the big event? Or just after it? To me, that is where the power and beauty of history rests. As the Margaret Mead quote states, it is the actions of groups of people and not just 1 “great person’ that makes history and makes change. We may symbolize or personify the story through a great person, but it is the work of groups and of the "ordinary” folk that played a huge role in making it possible. Kings, generals, and Presidents plan and try to make things happen, but it is the willingness of many ordinary people ,working together, that can lead to an event occurring. Yes, many times the events or actions are ones with which we disagree or did not wish to happen. But the involvement of the ordinary people was essential. And that involvement is especially essential to those things we support and need, particularly in the area of justice and social change. There are unknown folks and backstory beneath any historical event, and we need to realize and acknowledge that. Take the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, for example. People know about Rosa Parks’ refusing to sit in the back of the bus and being arrested on Thursday, December 1, 1955. But most people do not know that she had worked with the NAACP for years, was not the first black woman arrested in Montgomery for sitting in the front of a bus, and that she had, in fact, set out to get arrested. Most people also do not know that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was not really associated with the people who helped organize the initial meeting which led to that famous boycott. It was labor leader E.D. Nixon who tricked King into hosting that first meeting about Ms. Park’s arrest because King was new in town and the powers that be in Montgomery did not know him, and therefore, had no plans on how to deal with him. And the first boycott meeting happened, in fact, not because of King, but in large because of the actions of one of my favorite unknown heroines-Jo Ann Robinson. A long-time member of the Montgomery Women’s Council, a black group that had been advocating for change in the Montgomery transportation system for several years, she, several friends, and family members hand mimeographed-not XEROXED or photo copied-HAND MIMIEOGRAPHED- some 30,000 fliers Thursday December, 1st that were placed in churches, given to high school students, and placed in barber shops and other places on Friday, December 2, calling for people to initiate a one day boycott of the bus system on Monday, December 5th. It was the success of that Monday boycott that led to the formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association and the full- blown Montgomery Bus Boycott that we think of today. I mention all of this because Monday, January 20th is an opportunity for many of us to be a part of groups working in small ways to help make things better. That Monday is Martin Luther Kings’ Birthday, and the Philadelphia area is home to the largest collection of service opportunities in the nation happening on that day. The idea is that ordinary citizens on that day can try to live out some of the ideas in the Mandela and Meade quotes about what it takes to make change. Global Citizen 365 is the organizer of many volunteer opportunities that help communities. If you are interested, please go to Global Citizen 365 to find places where you can be a part of those committed people helping to bring change. In these small ways, we can be a part of history. https://volunteer.globalcitizen365.org/kingdayoverview?layoutViewMode=tablet