Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, 19th Century Cardiologist

The first man to successfully perform open heart surgery… was AFRICAN AMERICAN! Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1858-1931) was the first licensed African American cardiologist, and in 1891 became the first physician to successfully perform a procedure on the heart where the patient actually survived. In 1893, he went on to found the Provident Hospital in Chicago, IL. He also served as surgeon-in-chief of Freedman’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. (predecessor of Howard University Hospital).

Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom's Cabin

In the early 1850’s, one event hastened the coming of the Civil War and emancipation (unlike any other), and that was the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe writes and publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel that, for the first time, exposed the harshness and cruelty of slavery. This book immediately became a best seller, selling over 300,000 copies in the first year. Queen Victoria is said to have wept when she read it. It was the most popular novel of the nineteenth century, and the second best selling book overall (second only to the Bible). This book helped to fuel the abolitionist movement during its final stages---- leading up to the Civil War. Incidentally, the character Uncle Tom (who has come down in history to be regarded as a “racially spineless” character) was, in fact, a very heroic character in the actual novel. 

 

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)

 

 

African American and Professional Football

In 1902, Charles W. Follis aka “The Black Cyclone” (1879-1910) (below, right) became the first African-American to play professional football (non- NFL), playing for the Shelby Blues. Fritz Pollard (1894-1986) (below, left), an All-American halfback (Brown), led Brown to the Rose Bowl in 1915, turned pro (along with Bobby Marshall—also African American) in 1919, playing for the Akron (OH) Pros, and leading them to a world championship in 1920. The Pros later joined the newly formed American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football League). In 1921, Pollard became the first African-American to be an NFL head coach when the Pros named him co-coach of the team. George Taliaferro (born January 8, 1927) (below, center), halfback (Indiana) was the first African-American drafted into the NFL, being picked by the Chicago Bears in the thirteenth round of the 1949 draft. The NFL did not practice the same racial exclusionary practices in its early days as did major league baseball---- “America’s pastime”. 

 

Charles W. Follis aka “The Black Cyclone” (1879-1910)

 

Fritz Pollard (1894-1986)

 

George Taliaferro (born January 8, 1927)

Britain's Policy Shift Re: International Slave Trade

In 1772, an important court case was decided in Britain that would ultimately lead to the end of the international slave trade. In 1769, James Somersett, a slave from the Virginia colony, was taken to Britain with his master Charles Stewart. While in Britain, Somersett escapes, but is re-captured by his master. In an action to determine the legality of Somersett’s re-capture by Stewart, Chief Justice Lord Mansfield ruled, in essence, British common law respecting individual rights outweighed the laws permitting slavery in the American colonies. Somersett (and thousands of other slaves then in Britain) were free. This seminal case signaled a shift in British policy away from the promotion of the slave trade toward one of prohibition. It should be noted, the Somersett case was decided some 85 years prior to the Dred Scott decision (to be discussed later) in which the U.S. Supreme Court on similar facts reached a different conclusion. 

 

Chief Justice Lord Mansfield (1705-1793)

 

 

The Life of a Slave on a Plantation in the South (cont'd)

Slave cabins were one-room shacks---- freezing in the winter and sweltering in the summer. These dust-filled wooden structures were excellent breeding grounds for pneumonia, typhus, cholera, malaria, lockjaw and tuberculosis. If a young child survived to go to the fields, he/she usually went to those fields with rotten teeth and worms. Fewer than 4 out of 100 slaves lived to age 60.

 

 

Bessie Coleman, Aviator

The first African-American aviator… was a WOMAN! Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) was the daughter of two sharecroppers in Atlanta, GA. She first became interested in flight after hearing stories of World War I aviators. Since she was not able to gain admission to American flight schools, she moved to France where on June 15, 1921, Coleman obtained her pilot license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (almost 2 years prior to Amelia Earhart), becoming the first African American (male or female) to hold such. On April 30, 1926, she was killed when her plane malfunctioned while she was performing an aerial maneuver at an air show--- the only way she was able to earn money at the time as a civil aviator. Coleman paved the way for all of the African American aviators and astronauts currently in the sky.

 

Photo of Bessie Coleman (cir. 1921)

 

Copy of Coleman's pilot license issued on June 15, 1921. Amelia Earhart was issued this same license almost two years later.

 

Photo of Bessie Coleman (cir. 1925)

Slavery and the Admission of States in the U.S.

One interesting fact about the formation and admission of states in the U.S. is the “unwritten” policy to admit states generally to preserve the balance between free and slave states. For example, the first thirteen states were split seven free states and six slave states. The fourteenth state KY was a slave state. When Ohio (a free state) was admitted in 1803, it was followed in 1812 by Louisiana (a slave state). Thereafter, states were admitted two at a time---- one slave and one free state--- in order to preserve the delicate balance between the two systems. This practice continued uninterrupted until the Civil War.

Map showing the balance of power between free and slave states (cir. 1830)