A COLORED MAN'S REMINISCENCES OF JAMES MADISON by Paul Jennings

Paul was a slave of James Madison, He was freed after being sold to Senator Daniel Webster, who made Paul reimburse him. This is the earliest first hand account of life in the White House. It's quite brief, but deserves a good reading. He delivers some keen insights and even debunks some popular mythology surrounding the history of the White House and the War of 1812. This story was recently printed by the White House Historical Society.

Preface

Among the laborers at the Department of the Interior is an intelligent colored man, Paul Jennings, who was born a slave on President Madison's estate, in Montpelier, Va., in 1799. His reputed father was Benj. Jennings, an English trader there; his mother, a slave of Mr. Madison, and the granddaughter of an Indian. Paul was a "body servant" of Mr. Madison, till his death, and afterwards of Daniel Webster, having purchased his freedom of Mrs. Madison. His character for sobriety, truth, and fidelity, is unquestioned; and as he was a daily witness of interesting events, I have thought some of his recollections were worth writing down in almost his own language.

On the 10th of January, 1865, at a curious sale of books, coins and autographs belonging to Edward M. Thomas, a colored man, for many years Messenger to the House of Representatives, was sold, among other curious lots, an autograph of Daniel Webster, containing these words: "I have paid $120 for the freedom of Paul Jennings; he agrees to work out the same at $8 per month, to be furnished with board, clothes, washing," &c.&J.B.R.&

About ten years before Mr. Madison was President, he and Colonel Monroe were rival candidates for the Legislature. Mr. Madison was anxious to be elected, and sent his chariot to bring up a Scotchman to the polls, who lived in the neighborhood. But when brought up, he cried out: "Put me down for Colonel Monroe, for he was the first man that took me by the hand in this country." Colonel Monroe was elected, and his friends joked Mr. Madison pretty hard about his Scotch friend, and I have heard Mr. Madison and Colonel Monroe have many a hearty laugh over the subject, for years after.&When Mr. Madison was chosen President, we came on and moved into the White House; the east room was not finished, and Pennsylvania Avenue was not paved, but was always in an awful condition from either mud or dust. The city was a dreary place.&Mr. Robert Smith was then Secretary of State, but as he and Mr. Madison could not agree, he was removed, and Colonel Monroe appointed to his place.

Published: Brooklyn, George C. Beadle, Bladensburg Series, No. Two, 1865

IS NEFERTITI A FAKE?

The bust of Queen Nefertiti housed in a Berlin museum and believed to be 3,400 years old in fact is a copy dating from 1912 that was made to test pigments used by the ancient Egyptians, according to Swiss art historian Henri Stierlin.

Stierlin,
author of a dozen works on Egypt, the Middle East and ancient Islam, says in a just-released book that the bust currently in Berlin’s Altes Museum was made on the orders of Germany archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt on site at the digs by an artist named Gerardt Marks.

“It seems increasingly improbable that the bust is an original,” Stierlin said.

The historian said the archaeologist had hoped to produce a new portrait of the queen wearing a necklace he knew she had owned and also carry out a colour test with ancient pigments found at the digs. But on December 6, 1912, the copy was much admired as an original work by a German prince and the archaeologist “couldn’t sum up the courage to ridicule” his guests, Stierlin said.

The historian, who has been working on the subject for 25 years, said he based his findings on several facts. “The bust has no left eye and was never crafted to have one. This is an insult for an ancient Egyptian who believed the statue was the person themself.”

He also said the shoulders were cut vertically in the style practised since the 19th century while “Egyptians cut shoulders horizontally” and that the features were accentuated in a manner recalling that of Art Nouveau. It was impossible to scientifically establish the date of the bust because it was made of stone covered in plaster, he said. “The pigments, which can be dated, are really ancient,” he added. afp

WHAT NAMES ARE WHITE NAMES?

Names are important as an indicator of culture and heritage. The question came up on a Yahoo listserve recently, regarding Hellan, the sister of Clietus "The Black," as to which "races" of people used this name.

As Americans we're fixated on the notion of race and see race as the end all and be all, so to speak, in identifying people. This is a particularly "American" phenomenon that speaks to creation of this country on a foundation of "chattel" slavery. People in other parts of the world commonly use culture, religion and other identifiers in categorizing people more often than race.

In fact, race is a social concept, not a biological concept. As we look at other countries and then wind back the clock a couple of thousand years to the time of Alexander of Macedonia, we have to keep in mind that not only are we dealing with a different place, we're also dealing with a different era. The Egyptians, Nubians, Kushites and Romans were some of the most advanced nations in the art of war, metallurgy, commerce and trade. With this in mind, it would have been more likely that a Vandal or a Visigoth from northern Europe would take on an Egyptian name than the other way around.

There was no such thing as a White name and a Black name, as such, in the era of Clietus and Alexander. There was such a thing as an Egyptian and Roman name, but certainly our perception of "race" did not exist in that era. Clietus was a close companion of Alexander not because of his skin color, but because of his cultural and national identity.

Even now we have this problem when dealing with other cultures from what's a decidedly modern "American" perspective. An example of this is found with the conflict in Darfur where the "Arabs" are culturally distinct from the "African" citizens of the Sudan, even though they are virtually identical in their "racial" makeup. In otherwords if you put them on the corner of 125th and Malcolm X Blvd. in NYC they'd all be "niggers." These lines we draw in the sand mean nothing in the real world.

I'll give you another example. I met a man from Libya the other day, here in Kent, Ohio. I couldn't tell where he was from by looking at him. I could have guessed anywhere in north Africa or Arabia. When I spoke with him I found he was an "Arab," but his hair was curly like Persians I've met who admitted having African ancestors. As an "Arab" I expected that he could have come from a family that herded animals, which was true. However, what surprised me was that his family's main business was agriculture. My understanding of the conflict between the Africans and the Arabs of Sudan was that a large part of the conflict was over water rights for the herders and the farmers and that each group was identified by their occupation. However, in his case, clearly this was not true.

As we continued to speak I asked him to join my Blakfacts network and upload some pictures. That's when he started showing me the hundreds of pictures on his cell phone of weddings, his home in Libya, their farm, the animals they herd, weddings, etc. It was mind-blowing, many of the preconceived notions of what the Sahara looks like, they stay 500 miles from the Mediterranean Sea, had to be thrown out. What he showed me looked more like California than what we see depicted as the Sahara on TV. I did not see even one sand dune. What I did see were mountain goats, snow-capped mountains, 1lb mushrooms and many other gazelle like animals that they hunt for meat. I even saw a well manicured front yard with "American" style grass in their part of the Sahara. In short, we cannot monolithically pigeon-hole entire nation's of people. People have been on the planet too long not to have interacted with each other in every way imaginable.

Certainly, the name Hellan could have been used by people of African descent at that time. If you would like to research the name further I suggest looking at it's linguistic orgins and the meaning assigned to the name by various peoples. Many names in that area were associated with Egyptians or North Africans, such as Pheonix and Egyptus (two Egyptian brothers), Romulus and Remus, Europa, and many of the great men and women of that time, even the gods trace their lineage back to Egypt. You can read any book on Greek and Roman mythology and develop a genealogy that traces all of them back to Egypt. What we have to keep in mind is that Egypt was like 18th century France, it was the place to be from and they were the people to be emulated, so everyone wanted to be affiliated with the Egyptians, in more ways than one.

I suggest reading the books "Black Zeus" and "Profiles in African Heritage" by Dr. Edward Jones for further study.

LEBRON JAMES CROWNED MVP 2009

LeBron James at 24 years old has the world at his fingertips. He returned to his alma mater, St. Vincent–St. Mary High School, for the ceremony on May 4th, 2009. A select crowd of 1200-1300 were there to celebrate with him with thousands of adoring fans outside the building waiting to see the king himself.

LeBron really is of royal stock. He not only accepted his award with humility, grace and style. LeBron noted that he couldn't have accomplished all that he has without the cooperation of his fellow teammates, family and friends. When LeBron first turned pro I'm sure there were many people who wondered as I did how would he fare. Amazingly, he seems to be coming along spectacularly.

When asked what was his ultimate goal basketball was not the ultimate for LeBron. His ultimate goal was to be the best he could be, as a father, husband, teammate, etc. LeBron's mother, Gloria James, was on hand, as were his children LeBron James Jr., Bryce Maximus James and their mother Savannah Brinson. The two have yet to tie the knot, but it seems inevitable that will happen at some point in the future as LeBron has strong ties to his boys and Brinson is his high school sweetheart.

In winning the first of many MVP awards, sure to come his way as a pro, Lebron has not forgotten where he comes from. LeBron had to return to the site of other important victory celebrations, his home town of Akron, Ohio. LeBron confided in the crowd that he took the long way through the streets of Akron remembering the sights of his childhood. The people of Akron know LeBron as the hometown king, a man of the people, one of them. He returns these feelings of goodwill by continuing to give back, whenever he can.

Along with the trophy awarded by Kia Motors America came a brand new Borrego SUV which he promptly donated to the Akron Urban League, which is not unusual in and of itself. This is how it's done in the NBA, so that players are left free to endorse the cars of their choice. It appears as though that would be a Ferrari F430 spider (with Ferrari emblems ripped off and LeBron emblems put in their places). That's the car he drove to the awards ceremony. You know LeBron's got to ride in style. But, it is LeBron's style, a style he can call his own. What really impressed this reporter was the fact that, in spite of his enormous presence on his former turf, he decided to donate his vehicle to the Akron Urban League and in receiving his award he remembered to bring gifts for his fellow Cavaliers. Unfortunately, Delonte West (13) is still waiting for his Range Rover in exchange for a preseason gift given to him by LeBron.

All joking aside. It was a great day for Akron. It was a great day for LeBron and a great day for the Cavaliers, as LeBron is the first Cavalier to receive this award. LeBron's not done yet, in fact he stated unequivocally that we should expect to see the Cavaliers in the winners circle at the end of the playoffs and that he'll still keep striving for improvement even after that.


We just want to say congratulations to LeBron, the James family, the Cavaliers and Akron, Ohio for producing a great Black man who can stand head and shoulders with some of the most outstanding human beings to grace the planet.