#blackeducation

John Berry Meachum

John Berry Meachum was born into slavery in Virginia in 1789 but by the age of 21 he had earned enough money doing carpentry work to purchase his own freedom and then his father's.

Meachum was a married man, but before he could save up enough to buy his wife's freedom she was moved to St. Louis. He followed her here and eventually managed to purchase her freedom as well.

While he was here in St. Louis, Meachum met a white Baptist minister named John Mason Peck, who asked for his help in creating a worship space for black people. Together they organized a Sunday school and religious services for slaves and free black people in the area, and in 1825, having been ordained a Baptist Minister himself, Meachum founded and became the pastor of First African Baptist Church, which still exists today albeit in a different location.

Through the Church, Meachum and Peck also offered secular education to black St. Louisans. Up to 300 people received schooling through First African Baptist Church, which charged a monthly tuition fee of one dollar but never turned anyone away for being unable to pay. Unfortunately this was right around the time that St. Louis enacted an ordinance banning the education of free black people. Meachum was forced to disband the Candle Tallow School but later, after the state of Missouri banned education for all blacks. He outfitted a steamboat with a library, desks, and chairs and opened the Floating Freedom School in the middle of the Mississippi, outside the reach of Missouri officials.

John Berry Meachum

John Berry Meachum nació como un hombre esclavizado en Virgina en el año de 1789 pero a la edad de veintiuno había logrado ahorrar suficiente dinero por medio de trabajos de carpintería para poder comprar su propia libertad y luego la de su padre.

Meachum era un hombre casado pero antes de que pudiese ahorrar suficiente dinero para comprar la libertad de su esposa, a ella la movieron a St. Louis. Terminó por seguirle hasta el lugar y también logró comprar la libertad de ella.

Mientras que estaba en St. Louis, Meachum conoció a un pastor bautista caucásico llamado John Mason Peck, quién le pidió su ayuda para crear un espacio de adoración para las personas negras. Juntos organizaron una escuela dominical y brindaron servicios religiosos para esclavizados como para personas negras del área que vivían en libertad y en 1825 después de que se le nombrara pastor bautista, Meachum fundó y se convirtió en pastor de la Primera Iglesia Bautista Africana, la cual aún existe pero en una diferente ubicación.

Por medio de la iglesia, Meachum y Peck también ofrecieron educación secular a las habitantes negros de St. Louis. Alrededor de trescientas personas recibieron educación por medio de la Primera Iglesia Bautista Africana, la cual cobraba una matrícula mensual de un dólar pero nunca rechazaba a las personas que no podían pagarla. Desafortunadamente, esto dio lugar durante el tiempo que St. Louis promulgó una ordenanza que prohibía la educación para las personas negras libres.

Meachum estuvo forzado a cerrar Candle Tallow School (Escuela Candela de Sebo) después de que Missouri prohibiera la educación para todos los negros. Él equipó un barco de vapor con una biblioteca, mesas y sillas y abrió Floating Freedom School (Escuela Libertad Flotante) en medio del Río Misisipi, lejos de las autoridades de Missouri.

Source | Fuente: African Archives

Images | Imágenes: African American Registry

Spanish translation by Long Live Blackness

“Children have a lesson adults should learn, to not be ashamed of failing, but to get up and try again.”

“Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”

“Without education, you are not going anywhere in this world.”

“History is not hatred.”

“Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights. It is the means to help our children and thereby increase self-respect.”

“It is the process of mis-education that inhibits the full potential of a nation.”

THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALE TO BECOME A PILOT

Bessie Coleman was the first African-American female to become a licensed pilot in 1921. Defeating gender and racial prejudice, the then 29-year-old became a symbol for millions of women of color at a time when African Americans were still battling segregation and fighting for equal rights across the country.  

However, Coleman quickly discovered that as a young black female, finding a place in the U.S. to obtain a pilot's license was no easy task. In 1915, at the age of 23, Coleman moved to Chicago. There she got a job as a manicurist on the city's South Side. One day her brother, John, showed up at her workplace and began taunting her with stories from his time spent in France during WWI. Spowart said John told his younger sister, "You know what makes you different from the women in France? It's that they can fly, and you can't." It was at that moment that Bessie Coleman decided she would become a pilot.  

Coleman was rejected from American aviation schools because of the color of her skin and her gender. She was told to attend an international aviation school in France, so spent her savings learning French and headed to Paris in 1920.  

While in Paris, Coleman spent about seven months learning how to fly and was rewarded with an international pilot’s license in 1921 by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.  Upon her return to the United States, Coleman became known for her extraordinary stunts and was dubbed “Queen Bess”.

After borrowing planes for years, Coleman finally saved up enough money to buy her own plane. But during a practice run, the plane's motor stalled, and it took a nosedive to the ground. Coleman broke her leg and fractured her ribs. It took nearly two years, but she eventually returned to the skies, flying exhibition shows and performing an occasional parachute jump.