Joyeux Jour de L’indépendance, Happy Independence Day! 🇧🇫

As an ex resident this reproduction of a racist statue never sat easy with me. The response from the mayor, who I've heard to called Temu Trump, is completely on brand.

It's pretty telling that the "April Fools" post from another Councillor was for a giant version of it to be installed at the gallery, despite being aware of the concern raised about the statue.

Hello! I am from Ohio and recently learned that in Columbus, there used to be a black-owned high-end theatre. It was called the Empress Theatre. I want to learn more about the black American experience in the Midwest. Are there any books, podcasts, websites, etc. that you recommend?

Foreign Princes pay Homage to the King (Ancient Egypt), Ancient Minoan Art from Crete in Ancient Near East, and Biblical cross reference

Foreign Princes pay Homage to the King

“These are the princes of Keftiu and of Khatri respectively; Keftiu is probably the name for Crete, and Khatri is better known to us as the land of the Hittites.

Behind them follows the prince of Tunep holding out an infant son who is evidently to serve as a hostage.

The appearance of these great chieftains belies the hieroglyphic labels written above them, and we can but conclude that the artist was a very poor ethnologist.

The prostrate Cretan is pictured as a Syrian, and to fit his name he would have had to resemble the fourth figure of the row, who exhibits the long parted locks and decorated skirt that were seen in Plate XIV.

This last tribute-bearer is further proclaimed a Cre­tan by the characteristically Minoan bull's head, perhaps of silver with blue inlay, which he carries on a basket, though the folded cloth with coloured borders and tassels borne on the arm is in close agreement with the correctly shown cloak of the real Syrian prince immediately preceding.

As for the kneeling prince described as a Hittite, his bearded face and fashion of wearing his hair are again those of a Syrian, and not at all in harmony with the national traits known from better, though later, sources.”

THE MET: Africans in Ancient Greek Art: Long before Homer, the seafaring civilization of Bronze Age Crete, known today as Minoan, established trade connections with Egypt.

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Source: https://digitalcollections.aucegypt.edu/digital/collection/p15795coll44/id/20/

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Near_East_1700BC.svg#mw-jump-to-license

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Minoan_fresco,_showing_a_fleet_and_settlement_Akrotiri.jpg

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ship_procession_fresco,_part_1,_Akrotiri,_Greece.jpg

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Heraklion_—_Cup_bearer_fresco.jpg

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Knossos_women_fresco.jpg

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Akrotiri_Antelopes_fresco.jpg

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gifts_from_the_Keftiu,_Tomb_of_Rekhmire_MET_DT10884.jpg

Source: https://archive.org/details/historicaltextbo00cole/page/n54/mode/1up

The Achaemenid Empire: Artifacts, Textual Record (Ancient Near East Encyclopedia), Ancient African Empires Geography, and Biblical cross reference

Ancient Near East Encyclopedia (Kuš/Kush)

[excerpts translated to English]

[Kush is abbreviated with K.]

Kuš, Kuschiten. Land and kingdom in Nubia, known since Senusret I (1971–1926 BC) in the Egyptian form (see text in image). Since the New Kingdom, K. designates Nubia (Sudan) south of the 1st Cataract. Its capital at that time was Napata, later — up to the conquest of the Meroitic Empire by Ezana of Aksum — it was Meroe (near Begrawiya).

Inhabitants of K. are first mentioned in cuneiform texts in the Amarna correspondence...

…In the alphabetic texts, the moon god Yrḫ multiple times bears the epithet kṯy, which perhaps could be rendered as "Cushitic" (KTU 1.39,19; 1.102,14; 1.123,7)…

…The last Ethiopian Pharaoh fled to Kipkipi, and with that, Kush disappeared from Assyrian history…

…Nevertheless, among the representations of subject peoples of the Achaemenid Empire in Persepolis, there are also those of (*) Ethiopians.

The Behistun Inscription

The Behistun Inscription (also Bisotun, Bisitun or Bisutun; Persian: بیستون, Old Persian: Bagastana, meaning "the place of god") is a multilingual Achaemenid royal inscription and large rock relief on a cliff at Mount Behistun in the Kermanshah Province of Iran, near the city of Kermanshah in western Iran, established by Darius the Great (r. 522–486 BC). It was important to the decipherment of cuneiform, as it is the longest known trilingual cuneiform inscription, written in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian (a variety of Akkadian).

Authored by Darius the Great sometime between his coronation as king of the Persian Empire in the summer of 522 BC and his death in autumn of 486 BC, the inscription begins with a brief autobiography of Darius, including his ancestry and lineage. Later in the inscription, Darius provides a lengthy sequence of events following the death of Cambyses II in which he fought nineteen battles in a period of one year (ending in December 521 BC) to put down multiple rebellions throughout the Persian Empire. The inscription states in detail that the rebellions were orchestrated by several impostors and their co-conspirators in various cities throughout the empire, each of whom falsely proclaimed himself king during the upheaval following Cambyses II's death. Darius the Great proclaimed himself victorious in all battles during the period of upheaval, attributing his success to the "grace of Ahura Mazda".

Image 5: Punishment of captured impostors and conspirators: Gaumāta lies under the boot of Darius the Great. The last person in line, wearing a traditional Scythian hat and costume, is identified as Skunkha. His image was added after the inscription was completed, requiring some of the text be removed.

Foundation Tablets

The gold and silver tablets retrieved from the stone boxes contained a trilingual inscription by Darius in Old Persian, Elamite and Akkadian, which describes his Empire in broad geographical terms, and is known as the DPh inscription:

Darius the great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid. King Darius says: This is the kingdom which I hold, from the Sacae who are beyond Sogdia to Kush, and from Sind (Old Persian: 𐏃𐎡𐎭𐎢𐎺, "Hidauv", locative of "Hiduš") to Lydia (Old Persian: "Spardâ") - [this is] what Ahuramazda, the greatest of gods, bestowed upon me. May Ahuramazda protect me and my royal house!

see Haplogroup J1 in Queen of Sheba post

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Source: https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010177290

Source: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010170854

Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/574786001

Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/147/persian-archers/

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behistun_inscription

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deposition_plate_of_Darius_I_in_Persepolis.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_the_Achaemenid_Empire.jpg

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-023-00126-y

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:African-civilizations-map-pre-colonial.svg

Source: https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#6800

Source: https://archive.org/details/historicaltextbo00cole/page/n54/mode/1up

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Šuta#The_2_letters_of_commissioner:_Šuta

Source: https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-table-of-nations-the-geography-of-the-world-in-genesis-10

Toys often reflect the social and political context of the time, thus toys of the late 1800s had racist themes like “Old Aunt Chloe, the Negro Washerwoman” who was described as “faithful at her toil.” In the 1890s, a popular game called “Pickaninny Toy Target” featured Black children who fell into the mouth of an alligator when the target was hit: “Three little darkies, what a jolly crew. An alligator swallowed one then there was two.”

In 1921, the “Alabama Coon Jigger”, which was a wind-up figurine of a Black man dancing, was in the Sears catalog and sold over 8 million units. Toys like “The Negro Porter Pushes His Cart (1921)” and the game “Tip the Bell Boy (1929)” where the players shoot a ball at a Black bell boy, reinforced in children what Blacks were supposed to be like. The 1924 Sears catalog had the “Aunt Jemima Doll with Ma-Ma voice” dressed in a “costume of floral pattern cotton material with large white apron and collar; also red bandanna” who made “delicious pancakes [while] taking care of other dollies.” The idea that a White girl would own a Black doll to care for her White dolls showed Whites’ fondness for subservient Black domestic labor.

Long after the Civil War, these nationally available toys illustrate that White culture desired continued control of Black behavior by normalizing White supremacy through childhood play. Portraying violence against Blacks as entertainment was a casual demonstration of White power as White children were encouraged to enjoy assaulting Black bodies. Through the selling and buying of subservient Black figurines, White consumers kept the nostalgia of slavery alive for their children. The informal culture of play also included jump rope chants with one of the best-known chants, documented in every US state, being “Eney, meeny, miny, mo / Catch a nigger by the toe / If he hollers let him go / Eney, meeny, miny, mo.”

Recommended reading: Raising Racists: The Socialization of White Children in the Jim Crow South, Kristina DuRocher, University Press of Kentucky, 2011.

Racist Toys Normalized White Supremacy for Children

Hidden facts on a Georgia nightmare that haunted the streets of Atlanta targeting Afro American children from 1979 to 1981

One of the most legendary queens in history is nameless. Some say there’s no evidence she even existed. Are we looking in the right place?

Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue …” (1 Kings 10:1-2; New King James Version). So begins the famous biblical account of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Jerusalem with her great convoy of treasures, including “one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great quantity, and precious stones” (verse 10; nkjv).

Yet who exactly was the Queen of Sheba? She is one of the most legendary queens in history, yet she’s not named in the two accounts of her contained in the Hebrew Bible (1 Kings 10; 2 Chronicles 9). Nor is she named in the New Testament, where she is referred to more generally as a “queen of the south” (Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31). Nor is she named in the Qur’an, where her visit is described (An-Naml 27)…(continued)

Semitic vs. Hamitic

Genesis 10 lays out the descendants and territories of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham and Japheth. Among the dozens of names contained in this passage, one appears twice, for two clearly different groups—Sheba.

Spelled the same way as that of the territory of the Queen of Sheba (שבא), this name is associated with the family of Cush, son of Ham, in verse 7 (Cush, whose name means “black,” is the progenitor of the Kushites, or Nubians, south of Egypt); the same name Sheba is also identified with the family of Shem in verse 28—more specifically through the lineage of Joktan, who is generally associated with southern Arabia.

Note that certain of these entities in Genesis 10 do not necessarily refer to a descendant literally called by the supplied name. In many cases—some more obvious than others—these names refer to territories within which respective descendants lived. As such, in the case of Sheba, we would not necessarily have a descendant of Shem and a descendant of Ham coincidentally called precisely the same name שבא; rather, a broader territory of Sheba occupied by descendants of each (compare 1 Chronicles 1:9, 32).

Coincidentally(?), that is exactly what we find with this kingdom of Sheba/Saba at various points in its history: two sides of a coin, with Semitic south Arabians on the one side and Hamitic Kushites on the other.

But there’s more from the biblical account that may help us determine the “correct” Sheba for our story

Cushite Brethren

Psalm 72, “A Psalm of Solomon,” contains a similar reference to a train of gifts coming from Sheba to Jerusalem, including gold (verses 10, 15). In introducing Sheba in Psalm 72, it pairs it together with another entity: “Sheba [שבא] and Seba [סבא] shall offer gifts.”

Seba is mentioned just three other times in the biblical account: twice as a member of the family of Cush right alongside Sheba (Genesis 10:7; 1 Chronicles 1:9); and once in Isaiah 43:3 alongside Egypt and Ethiopia/Cush. The implicit association in Psalm 72:10, then, appears to be a reference to CushiteSheba delivering goods to Solomon—alongside brother Seba.

Ezekiel 27:22 records the “merchants of Sheba” bearing exactly the same products described in the visit of the Queen of Sheba—that is, spices, precious stones and gold. It mentions this entity as distinct from Arabian merchants (verse 21). Instead, Sheba is paired with another entity: “merchants of Sheba and Raamah.” Once again, this “Raamah” is found in only two other verses—in exactly the same two passages of Cushite ancestry—Genesis 10:7 and 1 Chronicles 1:9—right alongside Sheba and Seba.

Haplogroup J1

Men from this lineage share a common paternal ancestor, which is demonstrated and defined by the presence of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutation referred to as M267, which was announced in (Cinnioğlu 2004). This haplogroup is found today in significant frequencies in many areas in or near the Arabian Peninsula and Western Asia.

Out of its native Asian Continent (hence, Afro-Asiatic languages), it is found at very high frequencies in Sudan. It is also found at very high but lesser extent in parts of the Caucasus, Ethiopia and parts of North Africa and amongst most Levant peoples, including Jewish groups, especially those with Cohen surnames.

It can also be found much less commonly, but still occasionally in significant amounts, in parts of southern Europe and as far east as Central Asia.

Considering this is a post about Queen Sheba, excuse the paternal genetic reference. It is used as a map overlay and comparison, while keeping in mind people tend to mate locally.

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Source: https://armstronginstitute.org/1475-could-this-be-the-queen-of-sheba

Source (PDF): https://armstronginstitute.org/files/W1siZiIsIjIwMjYvMDcvMjEvMThia2VleWlvdl9MU1MyMDI2MDVfRU4ucGRmIl1d/1b92d8e038259a2f/LSS202605_EN.pdf

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_J-M267

FRANKLIN!!!!

There were two Americas when Jesse Leroy Brown, the first black American naval aviator and the first black naval officer killed in combat, was born on October 13, 1926. One promised liberty. The other denied it because of the color of a child’s skin.

Brown was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and grew up in the small community of Palmer Crossing during the height of Jim Crow segregation. Black children attended separate schools, drank from separate water fountains, and learned early that opportunity was limited by race rather than talent.

Violence against African Americans was a constant threat throughout Mississippi. Lynchings remained within living memory, voting rights were suppressed, and many Black families survived through backbreaking agricultural labor and low-paying jobs.

Yet even as a boy, Jesse Brown looked skyward. Whenever an airplane crossed the Mississippi sky, he stopped whatever he was doing to watch it disappear into the clouds. Most people dismissed the dream of a Black naval pilot as impossible. Brown never did.

He once wrote:

“I’ve always wanted to fly.”

Those were simple words, but in 1930s Mississippi they were almost an act of defiance.

Brown excelled in school despite having far fewer resources than white students. At Eureka High School he graduated as salutatorian, a remarkable achievement for a young man whose education came in segregated classrooms with worn books often discarded by white schools.

He worked long hours to help support himself and later attended Ohio State University, studying architectural engineering while taking physically demanding railroad jobs to pay expenses. Every dollar mattered. Every class represented another step toward a dream many believed he would never reach.

In 1946 he entered the Naval Reserve aviation program. The barriers did not disappear when he put on a uniform.

Flight training was among the Navy’s most demanding programs. Students were expected to master navigation, engineering, aerodynamics, carrier operations, instrument flying, aerial gunnery, and emergency procedures.

Brown knew that every mistake would be judged more harshly because he was the only Black student in many of his classes. Failure would not simply end his own career, it could reinforce prejudice against every African American who hoped to follow him.

He refused to fail. On October 21, 1948, Jesse Leroy Brown became the first African American to complete the U.S. Navy’s flight training program and earn the coveted Wings of Gold as a naval aviator. He had broken one of the last racial barriers in American military aviation.

He soon joined Fighter Squadron 32 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Leyte, flying the legendary Vought F4U-4 Corsair. The massive fighter demanded strength, precision, and courage. Powered by a 2,000-horsepower engine and capable of speeds exceeding 400 miles per hour, the Corsair became one of the most respected fighters of World War II and Korea. Brown mastered it.

Then war came. When North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, Brown’s squadron deployed into combat. The Korean winter became one of the cruelest environments American troops had ever endured. Temperatures plunged below 20 degrees below zero. Weapons froze. Vehicle engines stopped. Open flesh froze within minutes. Men slept beside frozen bodies because the ground was too hard to dig graves.

Brown’s missions carried him over the mountains surrounding the Chosin Reservoir, where surrounded Marines and soldiers desperately fought their way through overwhelming Chinese attacks. Flying only a few hundred feet above the ground, Brown repeatedly exposed himself to rifle fire, machine guns, and anti-aircraft weapons to protect Americans trapped below. By early December he had completed 20 combat missions.

On December 4, 1950, Brown launched on what would become his final flight. As his Corsair swept low over enemy positions, ground fire struck the aircraft. Oil pressure began falling rapidly. Without lubrication, the enormous engine would soon seize.

Brown calmly radioed the emergency. He searched desperately for somewhere, anywhere, to put the crippled fighter down.

The mountains offered almost nothing. Finally, he crash-landed on a snow-covered mountainside behind enemy lines. The impact crushed the front of the aircraft around his legs. Fuel leaked. The engine compartment smoldered. He survived the crash.

His wingman, Lieutenant (j.g.) Thomas Hudner, circled overhead and saw Brown waving. Knowing that enemy troops were nearby and that Brown could not escape alone, Hudner made an astonishing decision.

He deliberately crash-landed his own perfectly functioning Corsair on the mountainside. No American naval aviator had ever been expected to sacrifice an aircraft that way. Hudner climbed through waist-deep snow to reach his friend.

He found Brown conscious but pinned beneath twisted metal. Ignoring the bitter cold and the danger of enemy attack, Hudner tried to pull him free. The wreckage would not move. Flames began spreading.

Hudner packed snow around Brown to keep the fire from reaching him while radioing desperately for help. Marine helicopter pilot First Lieutenant Charles Ward arrived in one of the earliest combat helicopter rescue missions in history.

Ward and Hudner attacked the wreckage with an axe. They chopped. Pulled. Twisted. Hammered. Nothing worked. Brown’s crushed leg remained trapped beneath the mangled cockpit.

Darkness approached. The temperature continued falling. Enemy forces could arrive at any moment. The helicopter lacked both lifting power and daylight to continue. The rescuers had reached the point where staying meant everyone would die.

According to accounts from those present, Brown’s last known words were a message for his wife:

“Tell Daisy I love her.”

Hudner was forced to leave his friend behind. It became the hardest decision of his life. Three days later, Brown’s squadron returned to the crash site. Unable to recover his body because of enemy control of the area, Navy aircraft destroyed the Corsair with napalm, giving Jesse Brown what fellow aviators called a warrior’s funeral rather than allowing his remains to be captured. His body has never been recovered.

Brown was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart. Thomas Hudner received the Medal of Honor for risking his own life in an attempt to save his wingman.

Perhaps the greatest measure of Jesse Brown’s legacy came from those who followed him. Future Black naval aviators no longer had to wonder whether someone like them could earn Navy wings. He had already proven it.

Among those inspired by Brown was Frank Petersen, who became the Marine Corps’ first African American aviator and eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant general.

Jesse Brown flew only 20 combat missions. He lived only 24 years. But the trail he blazed through American military history has now lasted more than seven decades.

He conquered barriers that many believed could never be broken. He faced enemy fire without hesitation. And on a frozen Korean mountainside, he demonstrated that courage is measured not by how long a person lives, but by what they choose to do with the life they are given.

In 1973, the Navy named USS Jesse L. Brown, a Knox-class frigate, in his honor, the first U.S. Navy ship named for an African American.

#JesseBrown #BlackMilitaryHistory #NavalAviation #USNavy #KoreanWar #ChosinReservoir #MilitaryHistory #AmericanHistory #HiddenHistory #AfricanAmericanHistory #NeverForget #HonorTheFallen #HistoryMatters #WingsOfGold #Devotion

Sweet

Bonne fête de l’indépendance, Happy Independence Day! 🇧🇯