African Ancestry

 

 

A War For Your Soul - Birmingham version 

A War For Your Soul-Birmingham version from Erisai Films on Vimeo.

This video was created to inspire young at-risk African-Americans not to fall prey to some of the problems they face in society. The use of the voice "Master of Darkness" represents the abstract concept of evil.

This video should not to be used to divide people (Black & White).
This video should not be used to criticize all aspects of hip-hop culture.
This video should not be used to condemn the millions of Black youth that are striving for excellence in their classrooms and communities.
This video should not be used to degrade the millions of children that do not have the proper educational resources offered in their community.
This video should not be used to scare our precious Black youth into a position of change.
This video should not be used to allow the rest of society to escape from their responsibility, to reach back and help with financial & academic support.

This video, if used properly, will allow our youth to see some of the horrific conditions that our ancestors fought through & some of the horrific conditions we face today.

All Americans should be upset, that Black children are being murdered in Chicago, Detroit, Birmingham, Norfolk, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia, New York and many other cities throughout the nation.

All Americans should be upset, that in many of the above mentioned cities, schools are struggling for proper funding, thus leading to an unfair start in our academic based society.

Many have asked "Why should I care?"...but can you imagine, the first person to find a cure for cancer, could be living in one of these areas, that we are afraid to reach out and help.

Some of the images from the past can be unsettling, but they are used to show all Americans how far we have come, and how far we still have to go. This film is being strategically placed in school systems, churches and youth orgs around the country, in hope of helping a lost generation of kids that we as Americans have forgotten. As fellow Americans, we must continue to love each other, and take that love and spread it to the rest of the world. Peace & Love

Congratulations to the First Family

JUDGES: 4th Chapter, 4th - 6th Verses

4. And Deb'o-rah, a prophetess, the wife of Lap'i-doth, she judged Is'-ra-el at that time.

5. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deb'o-rah between Ra'mah and Beth'-el in mount E'phra-im: and the children of Is'ra-el came up to her for judgement.

6. And she sent and called Ba-rak the son of A-bin'o-am out of Ke'desh-naph'ta-li, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Is'ra-el commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Ta'bor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naph'ta-li and of the children of Zeb'u-lun?

JUDGES 4: 4-6

Judges 4:14 NLT

Then Deborah said to Barak, "Get ready! This is the day the Lord will give you victory over Sisera, for the Lord is marching ahead of you."

click the link below:

www.theroot.com

Trace your African American Heritage
by clicking on the link below:
African Ancestry

African American Civil War Memorial
Freeman Foundation and Museum
Washington, DC

click on the link below:
Civil War Memorial

 Family Members who served in the Civil War:

Archie Freeman (1863-1865)

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/black.in.america/


Did you know that companies in the US have said they would hire a
> white man with a felony record and no high school education BEFORE
> they would hire a black man with NO criminal record and a 4-year degree?
>
> On July 23 at and July 24, CNN will premier a series, "Black in
> America with Soledad O'Brien" and I personally challenge you to watch
> it WITH your children, especially your sons, if you have any,
uninterrupted.
> The aforementioned statistics and many others will be revealed during
> the series.
>
> A friend had the privilege of meeting with Soledad O'Brien and
> actually SEEING this premier, and what she saw brought tears to her
> eyes and
>
> anguish, frustration, and a sense of helplessness to her soul.
>
> The first night the series will focus on Women and Families and the
> second night is dedicated entirely to the plight of the Black Man in
>
> America.

This is an extraordinary PBS documentary that traces the roots of African American Families in this country.
To see parts of this documentary click on the following link:
African American Lives 2

12 Things The Negro Must Do For Himself by Nannie Helen Burroughs (Circa Early 1900's) 1.  The Negro Must Learn To Put First Things First.  The First Things Are:  Education; Development of Character Traits; A Trade and Home Ownership.   The Negro puts too much of his earning in clothes, in food, in show and in having what he calls "a good time."  The Dr. Kelly Miller said, "The Negro buys what he WANTS and begs for what he Needs."  Too true! 2.  The Negro Must Stop Expecting God and White Folk To Do For Him What He Can Do For Himself.   It is the "Divine Plan" that the strong shall help the weak, but even God does not do for man what man can do for himself.  The Negro will have to do exactly what Jesus told the man (in John 5:8) to do--Carry his own load--"Take up your bed and walk." 3.  The Negro Must Keep Himself, His Children And His Home Clean And Make The Surroundings In Which He Lives Comfortable and Attractive.   He must learn to "run his community up"--not down.  We can segregate by law, we integrate only by living.  Civilization is not a matter of race, it is a matter of standards.  Believe it or not--some day, some race is going to outdo the Anglo-Saxon, completely.  It can be the Negro race, if the Negro gets sense enough.  Civilization goes up and down that way. 4.  The Negro Must Learn To Dress More Appropriately For Work And For Leisure. Knowing what to wear--how to wear it--when to wear it and where to wear it, are earmarks of common sense, culture and also an index to character. 5.  The Negro Must Make His Religion An Everyday Practice And Not Just A Sunday-Go-To-Meeting Emotional Affair. 6.  The Negro Must Highly Resolve To Wipe Out Mass Ignorance.   The leaders of the race must teach and inspire the masses to become eager and determined to improve mentally, morally and spiritually, and to meet the basic requirements of good citizenship. We should initiate an intensive literacy campaign in America, as well as in Africa.  Ignorance--satisfied ignorance--is a millstone abut the neck of the race.  It is democracy's greatest burden. Social integration is a relationship attained as a result of the cultivation of kindred social ideals, interests and standards. It is a blending process that requires time, understanding and kindred purposes to achieve.  Likes alone and not laws can do it. 7.  The Negro Must Stop Charging His Failures Up To His "Color" And To White People's Attitude. The truth of the matter is that good service and conduct will make senseless race prejudice fade like mist before the rising sun. God never intended that a man's color shall be anything other than a badge of distinction.  It is high time that all races were learning that fact.  The Negro must first QUALIFY for whatever position he wants.  Purpose, initiative, ingenuity and industry are the keys that all men use to get what they want.  The Negro will have to do the same.  He must make himself a workman who is too skilled not to be wanted, and too DEPENDABLE not to be on the job, according to promise or plan.  He will never become a vital factor in industry until he learns to put into his work the vitalizing force of initiative, skill and dependabi 8.  The Negro Must Overcome His Bad Job Habits. He must make a brand new reputation for himself in the world of labor.  His bad job habits are absenteeism, funerals to attend, or a little business to look after.  The Negro runs an off and on business.  He also has a bad reputation for conduct on the job--such as petty quarrelling with other help, incessant loud talking about nothing; loafing, carelessness, due to lack of job pride; insolence, gum chewing and--too often--liquor drinking.  Just plain bad job habits! 9.  He Must Improve His Conduct In Public Places. Taken as a whole, he is entirely too loud and too ill-mannered. There is much talk about wiping out racial segregation and also much talk about achieving integration. Segregation is a physical arrangement by which people are separated in various services. It is definitely up to the Negro to wipe out the apparent justification or excuse for segregation. The only effective way to do it is to clean up and keep clean.  By practice, cleanliness will become a habit and habit becomes character. 10.  The Negro Must Learn How To Operate Business For People--Not For Negro People, Only. To do business, he will have to remove all typical "earmarks," business principles; measure up to accepted standards and meet stimulating competition, graciously--in fact, he must learn to welcome competition. 11.  The Average So-Called Educated Negro Will Have To Come Down Out Of The Air.  He Is Too Inflated Over Nothing.  He Needs An Experience Similar To The One That Ezekiel Had--(Ezekiel 3:14-19).  And He Must Do What Ezekiel Did Otherwise, through indifference, as to the plight of the masses, the Negro, who thinks that he has escaped, will lose his own soul.  It will do all leaders good to read Hebrew 13:3, and the first Thirty-seven Chapters of Ezekiel. A race transformation itself through its own leaders and its sensible "common people."  A race rises on its own wings, or is held down by its own weight.  True leaders are never "things apart from the people."  They are the masses.  They simply got to the front ahead of them.  Their only business at the front is to inspire to masses by hard work and noble example and challenge them to "Come on!"  Dante stated a fact when he said, "Show the people the light and they will find the way!" There must arise within the Negro race a leadership that is not out hunting bargains for itself.  A noble example is found in the men and women of the Negro race, who, in the early days, laid down their lives for the people.  Their invaluable contributions have not been appraised by the "latter-day leaders."  In many cases, their names would never be recorded, among the unsung heroes of the world, but for the fact that white friends have written them there. "Lord, God of Hosts, Be with us yet." The Negro of today does not realize that, but, for these exhibits A's, that certainly show the innate possibilities of members of their own race, white people would not have been moved to make such princely investments in lives and money, as they have made, for the establishment of schools and for the on-going of the race. 12.  The Negro Must Stop Forgetting His Friends.  "Remember." Read Deuteronomy 24:18.  Deuteronomy rings the big bell of gratitude.  Why?  Because an ingrate is an abomination in the sight of God.  God is constantly telling us that "I the Lord thy God delivered you"--through human instrumentalities. The American Negro has had and still has friends--in the North and in the South.  These friends not only pray, speak, write, influence others, but make unbelievable, unpublished sacrifices and contributions for the advancement of the race--for their brothers in bonds. The noblest thing that the Negro can do is to so live and labor that these benefactors will not have given in vain.  The Negro must make his heart warm with gratitude, his lips sweet with thanks and his heart and mind resolute with purpose to justify the sacrifices and stand on his feet and go forward--"God is no respector of persons.  In every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is" sure to win out.  Get to work!  That's the answer to everything that hurts us.  We talk too much about nothing instead of redeeming the time by working. R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R In spite of race prejudice, America is brim full of opportunities.  Go after them!