THESE BEGINNING-T0-END, SEQUENCED IMAGES ARE FROM THE LINKED TO VIDEO WITH THIS SCRIPT. THE SCRIPT’S TEXT IS COMPLETE AND IS BROKEN DOWN TO MATCH TO THE IMAGE SHOWN WITH IT DURING THE VIDEO. – JS
This is the second part a 3-part of a series about Martin Delany, born in 1812 in Charles Town, then Virginia going on to be the first African-American field officer in the U.S. Army, organizer in 1859 of a year long scientific expedition in West Africa, Harvard educated physician, co-editor of The North Start with Frederick Douglass, author of several books including one of the very first important novels by an African-American. It was called “Blake: The Huts of American,” the story of a traveling insurrectionist serialized in the Anglo-African magazine in 1858-1860. After Lincoln met him in February, 1865 in the White House, the President immediately sent a memo to his Secretary of War, stating: “Do not fail to have an interview with this most intelligent and extraordinary black man.”
With Sonny Luckett as Martin Delany and Dr. Momodou Darboe narrating
Made possible with the generous, community-minded support of American Public University System (apus.edu) to encourage fact-based discussion into the foundational issues from which our nation has evolved.
“Persons from all parts of the country came to Monrovia to see this great man.” – Martin R. Delany and Robert Campbell: Black Americans in Search of an African Colony Richard Blackett – The Journal of Negro History p. 15 – jstor.org
Ridiculed and ignored in America for speaking, embraced by the thousands here for speaking – how strange.
:00 – Lamplight by Vandaliariver.com over intro images to :39 :00 – FX birds, seagulls, ocean waves over images 1-7 to :44 :00 – Waterdogs 4 by Cam Millar (cammillar.com) over images 1-7 to :44
Images 1-5 – fair use images from Master and Commander The Far side of the World directed by Peter Weir – youtube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k-0BzXV8w4Image 6. Map of the West Coast of Africa from Sierra Leone to Cape Palmas, including the colony of Liberia Contributor Names: Ashmun, J. (Jehudi), Young, J. H. (James Hamilton), Finley, A. (Anthony). Created / Published: Philad[elphi]a [Pa.] : A. Finley, 1830. loc.gov https://www.loc.gov/item/96680499/Image 7. fair use images from Master and Commander The Far side of the World directed by Peter Weir – youtube.com
:45 – syncopation, cheering crowds and singing over images 8-20 to 3:24
Image 8. fair use images from Master and Commander The Far side of the World directed by Peter Weir – youtube.comImage 9: “The arrival of Martin Robison Delany in Liberia is an era in the history of African emigration, an event doubtless that will long be remembered by hundreds of thousands of Africa’s exiled children.” The Journal of Negro History Vol. 62, No. 1 (Jan., 1977), pp. 1-25 (25 pages) Published By: The University of Chicago Press p. 15Image 10Image 11Image 12 Image 13Image 14: Ridiculed and ignored in America for speaking, embraced by the thousands here for speaking – how strange. – Douglass fighting a mob in Indiana – Douglass, Frederick. (1881). “Life and times of Frederick Douglass,” Hartford, CT: Park publishing. p. 285 – hathitrust.org https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015018652357&view=1up&seq=291&q1=IndianaImage 15: Image in color of gala event in French influenced West Africa Crowder, Michael. (1977). “West Africa: An Introduction to Its History.” London: Longman Group, Ltd. p. 110Image 16
“The regeneration of the African race can only be effected by its own efforts, the efforts of its own self and whatever aid may come from other sources; and it must, in this venture succeed, as God leads the movement and His hand guides the way.” – Delany, Martin R. (1879). “The Origin of Races and Color,” Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press. p. 94 books.google.com
Be thou like the noble Ancient — Scorn the threat that bids thee fear; Speak! — no matter what betide thee; Let them strike, but make them hear! Be thou like the first Apostles — Be thou like heroic Paul; If a free thought seek expression, Speak it boldly! speak it all ! Face thine enemies — accusers; Scorn the prison, rack, or rod! And, if thou hast Truth to utter. Speak! and leave the rest to God. – Truth and Freedom by William Gallagher – 1861
Image 17: “Face thine accusers, scorn the rack and rod and, if thou hast truth to utter, . . Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. (1930 – 1969). digitalcollections.nypl.org https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-a10b-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Image 18: ahec.armywarcollege.edu
Image 19: ahec.armywarcollege.edu
Image 20. River crossing Africa – Crowder, Michael. (1977). “West Africa: An Introduction to Its History.” London: Longman Group, Ltd. p. 110
2:12 – Sona Jobarteh & Band Kora from West Africa over images 21-43 to 4:48
Images 21 & 22 Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar – Sonah Jobarteh – Acoustic Guitar/ Kora/ Vocals/ Maurice Brown – Acoustic Guitar = Andi McLean – Electric Bass/ BVs – Mouhamadou Sarr – Djembe/ Congas/ Calabash/ BVs – www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig91Z0-rBfo
Delany wrote: Saturday, July 10th, 1859 – I landed on the beach at Grand Cape Mount, Robertsport, amid the joyous acclamations of the numerous natives who stood along the beautiful shore, – Delany, Martin R. (1861). “OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE NIGER VALLEY EXPLORING PARTY.” New York, T. Hamilton; https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001610366 – https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015003702209&view=1up&seq=26&q1=Robertsport Just north is the homeland of Shango, Delany’s grandfather, the Mandinko chief. Grandma Grace Peace told the Delany children how Shango was captured and shipped to America. A whipper tried to whip Shango in order to as Delany said: “leave him completely broken, as humble as a dog, as spiritless as a kitten.” Delany wrote that he personally observed on his trip in 1839 to Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas an example of exceeding cruelty and should be read or not read accordingly. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT FACT OF HISTORY BY A CREDITABLE SOURCE WHO IS BLACK. Not for children or teens . Delany, Martin R. (1859-1861 serialized). “Blake; or, The huts of America, a novel.” With an introd. by Floyd J. Miller. Boston: Beacon Press. books.google.com p. 175https://books.google.com/books?id=0ZV2AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT226&lpg=PT226&dq=as+s” rel=”noreferrer nofollow
Shango was killed in a fierce fight with the other man. Grandma Graci Peace passed on this story to Martin. But Mandinko tribes always have a griot or story-rememberer to pass on their history.
Observing the countryside, Delany wrote that he wondered why the coffee bean farmers didn’t plant their trees further, say twenty feet, apart. The History of Coffee, Part 1: Africa and Arabia by Judy Fleisher June 04, 2017 scribblerscoffee.comhttps://scribblerscoffee.com/blogs/news/the-history-of-coffee-part-1-africa
Observing the countryside, Delany wrote that he wondered why the coffee bean farmers didn’t plant their trees further, say twenty feet, apart. Delany, Martin R. (1861). “OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE NIGER VALLEY EXPLORING PARTY.” New York, T. Hamilton, Niger Valley p. 22https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015003702209&view=1up&seq=32&q1=coffee Wednesday July 13, 1859 Arriving at Monrovia Learning the 23rd Psalm https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 23&version=KJV (spoken on video in background) The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever) At Monrovia’s missionary schools, the classes are being rigidly prosecuted (Forever and ever Amen (in Yoruba)) The missionaries seem to be doing a good work, there being many earnest and faithful laborers among them of both sexes, black and white, and many native teachers They are shrewd, intelligent, and industrious, with high conceptions of the Supreme Being. Delany quotes unnamed missionary in Monrovia
Image 46 – Map of the West Coast of Africa from Sierra Leone to Cape Palmas, including the colony of Liberia by Ashmun, J. (Jehudi), Young, J. H. (James Hamilton), Finley, A. (Anthony) – Philad[elphi]a [Pa.] : A. Finley, 1830. https://www.loc.gov/item/96680499/
2:53 – Sona Jobarteh & Band Kora from West Africa over images 21-43 to 4:48, resumes 47-69 5:06-7:05
Images 55-58 are identical to images 52-54 in the video but with different perspectives
Image 59 – At Monrovia’s missionary schools, the classes are being rigidly prosecuted. The missionaries seem to be doing a good work, – Martin Robison Delany https://ahec.armywarcollege.edu/
“As soon as you can convince them that there is a mediator in Jesus Christ to whom you may talk, but cannot see, you make Christians of them. Many flee violence at home in favor of the peace-loving individuality of being a Christian.”
Image 68 – “Many flee violence at home in favor of the peace-loving individuality of being a Christian.” Golah hut – Project Canterbury Handbooks on the Missions of the Episcopal Church. Liberia New York: The National Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 1928. http://anglicanhistory.org/africa/lb/missions1928/
6:25 – FX mumbling hear hear over images 70-73 to 6:40 6:25 – FX applause over images 70-73 to 6:40
Images 70-73 & 76 – Montage Group of men and one woman from loc.gov collection Liberia starting extreme upper left hand corner moving clockwise 1. Edward Morris, 2. James Skivring Smith 3. John Hanson, 4. unidentified woman, 5. Urias A. McGill, 6. James B. Yates, 7. Edward J. Roye, 8. C. H. Hicks, (to viewer’s left of Roye, same row), 9. James M. Priest, 10. Alfred Francis Russell, 11. Philip Coker https://www.loc.gov/collections/daguerreotypes/?q=American+Colonization+SocietyImage 71Image 72Image 73Image 74Image 75Image 76Image 77Image 78Image 79Image 80Image 81Image 82Image 83Image 84Image 85Image 86Image 87
The fundamental principle of every nation is self-reliance, with the ability to create their own ways and means: without this, there is no capacity for self-government . In this short review of public affairs, it is done neither to disparage nor underrate the gentlemen of Liberia with whom, from the acquaintance I have made with them in the great stride for black nationality, I can make common cause, and hesitate not to regard them, in unison with ourselves, a noble band of brothers. – Delany, Martin R. (1861). “OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE NIGER VALLEY EXPLORING PARTY.” New York, T. Hamilton p. 24 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015003702209&view=1up&seq=34&q1=self-government
Image 88 – PAN AFRICAN FLAG Pan-African Culture Club (facebook)
King Cotton shapes history on three continents – A history of the British cotton industry by Claire Hopleyhttps://britishheritage.com/history/history-british-cotton-industry
7:36 – Family Bonds by Cam Millar over image 89-95 to 8:49
89q. TITLE: the brainchild of the white slaversof the American Colonization Society, such as Bushrod Washington, but instead in Egba under the laws of Egba chieftains, joining the cotton farmers, becoming then the world capital of the Free Kingdom of Cotton. Jamaican-born, Robert Campbell, a partner with Delany in this enterprise, wrote: “There is certainly no more industrious people anywhere and I challenge all the world besides to produce a people more so, or capable of as much endurance. Those who believe, among other foolish things, that the Negro is accustomed lazily to spend his time basking in the sunshine, like black-snakes or alligators, should go and see the people they malign.”A pilgrimage to my motherland. An account of a journey among the Egbas and Yorubas of Central Africa, in 1859-60. by Robert Campbell https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdclccn.05014430/?sp=9
” . . . the natives cultivating it for the manufacture of cloths for their own consumption. Its exportation is, therefore, capable of indefinite extension.”
Image 107 – ADINKRA – the natives cultivating it for the manufactureImage 108 – ADIRE – of cloths for their own consumptionImage 109 – BATIKImage 110 – EWE – Its exportation is, therefore, capableImage 111 – KHASA of indefinite extension.Image 112 – KENTEImage 113 – KORHOGOImage 114 – KUBAImage 115 – MANJAKAImage 116 – BROCADEImage 117 – AFRICAN TIE-DYEDImage 118 – AFRICAN PRINTSImage 119 – Kente fabric/cotton – youramba.com – cotton kohantextilejournal.com
10:55 – Rule Britannia by U. S. Army Strings over images 120-121 – 11:10 wikipedia.org
He (Delany) read in the August 13th issue of the West African Herald: “King Dahomey is about to make the great Custom in honor of the late King Ghezo. Determined to surpass all formal monarchs, a great pit has been dug which is to contain human blood enough to float a canoe. Two thousand persons will be sacrificed on this occasion. The king has sent his army to make some excursions at the expense of some weaker tribes. The younger people will be sold into slavery. The older persons will be killed. Whole villages are taken. For Dahomey’s 5,000 celibate, enslaved, machine-like Amazonian warriors, Abeokuta was an object of their frenzied hatred, because Abeokuta defeated them in a war and even captured a general and made off with the sacred umbrella of the late King Gezo (Ghezo). King Ghezo died, some believed, because he defied a prophecy that if he invaded Abbeokuta – a “safe city against slavers” – he would pay the price. He tried. He was defeated. He died in 1858.
Image 122 – he read in the August 13th issue of the West African Herald: The West African Herald masthead the first African-owned newspaper in West Africa, in 1858. It was circulated at first to only about 300 subscribers – 2/3 of them Africans – and endured for sixteen years, stimulating a proliferation of African-owned newspapers later in the 19th century. pbagalleries.com
11:16 – Alice Bort, Laura First, Ardyth Gilbertson over images 123-124 to 11:24 11:24 – KODO over images 123-135 to 12:27 – KODO World Tour 51:30-51:56 – youtube.com 12:47 – Shana Aisenberg (shanasongs.com) banjo over images 136-137 to 13:15
Image 123 – tapestry depicting several kings of Dahomey and their regnal years Ivana Madzarevic – Own work wikipedia.orgImage 124 – King Dahomey is about to make the great Custom in honor of the late King Ghezo. – 124a – tapestry depicting several kings of Dahomey and their regnal years IvanaMadzarevic – Own work wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Dahomey ; 124b Français: Le roi Ghézo et le prince royal Bâhadou. English: King Ghezo and the Royal Prince Badohou. Date 1 January 1863 Source Le Tour du monde, volume 7 [1] Author Valentin Foulquier (1822–1896) commons.wikimedia.org https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Le_Tour_du_monde-07-p085.jpgImage 125 – Determined to surpass all formal monarchs – victims for sacrifice – From The history of Dahomy, an inland Kingdom of Africa 1793 – New York Public Library Author Archibad Dalzel wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahomey#/media/File:Victims_for_sacrifice-1793.jp
Image 132 – and made off with the sacred umbrella of the late King Gezo (Ghezo). – Ghezo, King of Dahomey Date 1851 Source From Dahomey and the Dahomans – New York Public Library [1] Author Forbes, Frederick E. wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghezo
12:44 – banjo by Shana Aisenberg images 137-138 to 13:14
“Farewell, farewell my loving friends, farewell. . . The jasmine smells of Africa are tonight less fragrant than my scented memory of soft honey-suckled summer’s night breezes in Virginia long ago, and awaking to the mockingbird.”
