Tag: black history everyday

A Historical Moment: Meeting Michelle

Michelle Petties

I am no longer surprised to find purpose in the people I meet. I am being guided to certain people for a reason. When I complimented Michelle on her Afro at the She Wins Conference last year, I had no idea she had such a rich backstory. When I did a video about the real Great Debaters, I didn’t know Michelle had also attended Wiley College!

Here are some fun facts I learned from her essay: “GROWING UP ON THE ‘COLORED’ SIDE OF THE BORDER:

  • Meet Michelle Petties, whose grandmother and aunt attended Wiley College, a historically Black college depicted in the 2007 film The Great Debaters, starring Denzel Washington. If you follow me on TikTok, I made a video about the real debaters that you can find under my Must Watch playlist. Michelle also attended Wiley in 1974.
Photo Credit: Michelle Petties | The author’s childhood home at 1208 E. Travis St., formerly known as Border Street.
  • Michelle was born and raised in Marshall, Texas, on Border Street (now Travis St), which served as a literal line of separation between the Black community situated south of the street and the white one on the north.
Photo Credit: Michelle Petties | The author (third from right, second row) at Sam Houston Elementary School in 1965.
  • In the fall of 1965, Michelle became one of the first Black students to integrate Sam Houston Elementary School.
  • A library worker denied her entrance because she was not a “mammal.” “If that sounds strange to you,” said Michelle, “imagine how it sounded to a young Black girl growing up at a time when segregation was still very much a part of the culture.”
Photo Credit: Michelle Petties | George Foreman, perhaps Marshall, Texas’s most famous son, meets President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. LBJ’s wife, Lady Bird Johnson, was born on a former plantation in Karnack, Texas, which is considered the Greater Marshall area.
  • She used to play with George Foreman as a child.

You Can Read Michelle’s Full Essay Here!

Black History Month in the UK + Interview

Did you know that October is Black History Month in the UK?

Yes!

The event began in the 1920s but was not celebrated in the UK until 1987.

In its honor, I am visiting V.M. Sang’s blog today with an interview and presentation of my book, Black History Facts You Didn’t Learn in School, released in February during Black History Month in the U.S. You can read more at the link below!

Interview with Yecheilyah Ysrayl

Little Known Facts About Emmett Till, the Trial, and Aftermath

FILE – This photo provided by his family shows Emmett Till in Chicago, about six months before he was killed in Aug. 1955 while visiting relatives in Mississippi. (AP Photo)
  • Emmett was born Emmett Louis Till on July 25, 1941, at Cook County Hospital in Chicago.
  • His nickname was Bobo, and his babysitter was Iberia Hampton, mother of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton.
  • At 5 years old, Emmett had polio, which left him with a stutter.
  • Emmett’s Father, Louis Till, was a WW2 soldier. Sadly, he was murdered for allegedly raping and murdering some Italian women along with another soldier.
  • It was Louis Till’s ring that Emmett wore to Mississippi. He begged his mom, Mamie Till-Mobley if he could wear it and show it off to his cousins. Because he wore this ring, his great uncle Moses Wright could identify his body.
  • Carolyn Bryant did not only accuse Emmett of whistling (which his cousins said he did whistle). Carolyn also testified that he was physically aggressive and that he propositioned her. According to the transcripts acquired by the FBI in 2004, Mrs. Bryant made it seem that Emmett Till sexually assaulted her, holding her hands and putting his hands around her waist.
  • After being kidnapped from his family’s home, Emmett Till was taken to a barn in Drew Mississippi where he was beaten according to the testimony of then-18-year-old Willie “Reed” Louis who heard his cries. A few Black men were also alleged to have helped Milam and Bryant. Leroy “Too Tight” Collins, Lee Logins, and Frank Young.
  • Mississippi tried to cover up the murder by hurrying to bury Emmett’s body. However, Mamie Till got the body shipped to Chicago. Upon arriving back in Chicago on the morning of September 2, 1955, the first stop for Till’s body was the A. A. Rayner Funeral home which, in 1955, was located at the corner of 41st and Cottage Grove. The casket arrived locked and sealed with the state seal of Mississippi, with orders that the casket was not to be opened. If Mississippi authorities could not bury the body in a nameless cotton field, they hoped their seal would keep Till’s story under wraps. But Mamie wasn’t going for that. She forced the casket open.
  • In 2004, the body was exhumed, and DNA testing was performed, conclusively identifying it as the body of Emmett Louis Till.

On learning of the death of her son, Mamie-Till Mobley made 3 key decisions that forever changed the Civil Rights Movement and cemented her son into history:

  1. She demanded Emmett’s body be returned to Chicago.
  2. She demanded an open casket.
  3. She allowed Jet Magazine to take pictures of Emmett’s battered body and publish them for the world to see.

Had Till’s mother not intervened and reclaimed her son’s body, Till’s lynching may have been recorded in the history books alongside the likes of George Lee and Lamar Smith. Like Till, Lee and Smith were lynched in Mississippi in the summer of 1955 days before Emmett arrived. But unlike Till, their stories have been largely forgotten.

  • The same train that took Emmett to Money is the same train that brought his remains back to Chicago.
  • In early 2022, a filmmaker found the kidnapping warrant for JW Milam and Roy Bryant. The warrant also listed Carolyn Bryant, but she was never arrested. (Source: LeFlore Count Courthouse, Greenwood MS, Elmus Stockstill, LeFlore County Court Clerk)
  • Emmett’s body was taken to the A.A. Rayner Funeral home before arriving at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ on the South Side of Chicago for the funeral on September 4, 1955. He was buried on September 6th.
  • The trial began on September 19, 1955, and the white people in the area raised $10,000 for JW Milam and Roy Bryant’s defense fund.
  • The man in charge of picking the list of jurors for the Emmett Till case was the county attorney who was also one of Milam and Bryant’s defense attorneys.
  • Still, three of the men on the jury thought Milam and Bryant were guilty until they eventually agreed with the majority. Though they knew the men were not innocent, they also did not think “justifiable homicide”— was a fitting punishment for a Black boy who insulted a white woman.
  • Mamie Till stayed at the home of TRM Howard in the all-black community of Mound Bayou during her time in the trial. The community was secure, armed, and well-guarded. People said getting into it was like trying to get into the white house.
  • In 1956, JW Milam and Roy Bryant confessed to killing Emmett Till in Look Magazine for $4,000.
  • In 2007, Carolyn Bryant admitted she lied about the details of Emmett Till to Duke University senior research scholar Timothy Tyson. However, in an unpublished memoir from 2008 titled: I am More than a Wolf Whistle: The Story of Carolyn Bryant Donham as written by Marsha Bryant, Bryant stands by her story that Emmett put his hands on her. She declares she is a victim as well as Emmett.

Her confession to Tyson was made public in 2017.

Emmett Louis Till, July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955

Black ReWrite

I was blessed to come in contact with an organization called Black Rewrite, which focused on amplifying and celebrating narratives of Black and Brown authors. They dedicate space for Black authors each week, and I am honored to be featured this week!

At Black Rewrite, they provide space for authors to share their work, and I would be delighted if you could check out my article, “American History X,” on the site. Please be sure to like, share, and comment if you choose and share with your Black author friends!

Here’s the link to the piece. Thanks so much!

American History X

Angels in Black Skin

Listen, yesterday started out annoying and frustrating for me.

Watching all these Black people walk past my table and frown at the title of my book (Black History Facts You Didn’t Learn in School) was disheartening and sad.

It wasn’t about the money. It never is. It was about the sheer audacity of people to be offended.

I wanted to run to the bathroom and burst into tears at the arrogance of a people with no interest in their own history. There was even an interracial couple who walked by, him Black, her white.

Chile, do you know this man looked at his white friend/wife/woman and asked if she wanted the book while laughing as they walked on?

Trifling does not even begin to describe the moment.

But then…

There was an older Black man. He walked by my table and dropped a crinkled 20, whispering, “Keep doing what you are doing.”

You have to understand how he did it.

In African American families, elders (grandma’s, grandpa’s, aunts, uncles, etc.) will hug you and whisper in your ear, “How you?” While slipping cash into the palm of your hand.

There is no conversation about it and they are not interested in your explanations. It is simply an act of love wrapped tight in spiritual discernment. You need this even if you don’t think you do.

You could be struggling with bills.

You could be frustrated.

You could be facing any unforeseen tragedy, and this person who has lived long enough to know what love looks like in the flesh slips you with just enough money to cover whatever was bothering you.

Now, I was not in a financial catastrophe but a spiritual one. An emotional one. One that almost made me pack up my things and walk out the door.

There is something about not being appreciated that sends me boiling.

My tolerance is zero.

But then, here comes an angel, dressed casually, with a brimmed hat and gray beard wrapped in golden black skin.

He drops a 20 on my table like it was the sweaty palm of my hand and whispered words of confidence into my spirit without losing stride. He spoke while walking, always keeping sight of his mission.

This man’s simple act gave me everything I needed to keep going.

People took notice, stopping at my table suddenly, almost like they had been commanded to.

There is no moral to this story that you have not already read.

No. This is not the angel man, lol.

The Kindle Version of Black History Facts is 99c for a Limited Time! Click Here to Get Yours.

Want a signed paperback? Click here!