One Mic History

Most people remember Stepin Fetchit as a man who was a shame to his people.
tinyurl.com/muazdz4y

But they don't talk about Lincoln Perry as a man who terrified Hollywood because he understood his value.

In the 1930s, when Black actors were expected to be grateful just to be here, but Lincoln Perry realized he was the draw.

He watched white actors get catered to while he was treated like a prop, and flipped it.

He demanded equal pay, star billing, and the same luxury treatment as the biggest white names in the Hollywood .

If the studio didn't meet his terms, He shut down their production.

He was essentially a one-man labor strike.

They thought they were hiring a shuffling fool, but they ended up paying millions to a man who constantly reminded them that without him, they had no movie.

Lincoln Perry cut a path for every Black actor who came after him. To understand how he really pulled it off, check out my new article.

The Empire of the Fool: substack.com/home/post/p-206221745

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6 hours ago | [YT] | 1,130

One Mic History

Today is America’s 250th. 🇺🇸

But while the whole country is wrapping itself in the flag, America purposely left you out of that celebration. https://youtu.be/fu-bTjL3auo

Right after the Civil War, white Southerners were so bitter about losing their free labor that they completely boycotted Independence Day. They stayed home and sulked.

So, Black folks took the holiday for themselves.

By 1876, armed Black militias commanded by formerly enslaved men marched proudly through the streets of Charleston. Black women elected a "Queen for the Day." They completely took over, turning the day into a massive celebration of Black joy and freedom.

White supremacists hated every second of it. They complained bitterly in their diaries that we had "niggerized" the holiday.

I think you know what happened next: they used terrorism, mob violence, and murder to violently steal the holiday back.

If you feel a disconnect from all the America 250 celebrations, that is a feature, not a flaw. That patriotism was literally beaten out of your ancestors.

Watch How Black folks stole July 4th: https://youtu.be/fu-bTjL3auo

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5 days ago | [YT] | 4,092

One Mic History

Most of us learned the Underground Railroad went North. But for thousands trapped in the Deep South, Canada was too far. https://youtu.be/geeHw1BF17E

They went South, right into the Florida swamp.

In the mud, Black runaways met Lower Creek Natives who were fleeing the exact same oppressors.

They didn't just live next door to each other. They linked up, shared weapons, and formed the military alliance that became the Seminoles.
https://youtu.be/geeHw1BF17E

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1 week ago | [YT] | 4,782

One Mic History

Today, when someone says a task is a "cakewalk," it just means something is incredibly easy.

But the original Cakewalk wasn't just a dance, it was a roast of white folks.

During enslavement, Black folks would watch the plantation owners throw these grand, formal balls. They would watch them walking around all bougie, bowing, and taking themselves way too seriously.

So, they invented a dance to make fun of them.

They would do these wildly exaggerated, high-stepping, ridiculous walks to mock the planters' stuffy parties.

The funny part is, the enslavers were so blinded by their own supremacy, they had no idea they were being mocked. They thought the enslaved folks were just doing a cute dance.

They loved the dance so much that they started holding weekend contests, awarding the best dancer literally a piece of cake.

People have this idea that the enslaved were just mindless labor, but they openly mocked their captors right to their faces, and even created code words so they could communicate right under their noses.

Read The Rhythm without the Blues: onemicblackhistorypodcast.substack.com/p/the-rhyth…

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 3,323

One Mic History

Happy Fathers' Day

Segregation wasn't dismantled by a politician or a protest. It was dismantled by one Black father's love for his daughter.

In 1951, Oliver Brown's 9 year old daughter, Linda, walked six blocks through a dangerous railroad switchyard every single morning just to catch a school bus to her segregated Black school.

Meanwhile, an all-white elementary school sat just seven blocks from their house.

But Oliver Brown refused to let his child be treated as a second-class citizen. He grabbed Linda and walked straight into the all-white school, and demanded to be enrolled.

The rejection sparked Brown vs the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

But here is the twist,

The Black school actually had excellent facilities and great teachers, so on paper, it met the legal standard of "separate but equal."

Because of this, the State couldn't just buy better textbooks or a new roof.

Oliver Brown's act forced the court to rule on segregation itself, concluding that separation is inherently unequal and dismantling public school segregation in the United States.

If you like more unapologetic Black history, join my newsletter: onemicblackhistorypodcast.substack.com/

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 3,625

One Mic History

Mainstream history will tell you that General Gordon Granger stood on a Galveston balcony, read General Order No. 3, and enslavers immediately followed the law, peacefully freeing 250,000 captive black folks. tinyurl.com/4jwxjyrz

At the time, Texas was the last stronghold of slavery in the united states.

Enslavers had been hiding tens of thousands of enslaved Black people from the Proclamation for nearly two years, believing they were untouchable by the war.

Juneteenth didn't come from a peaceful announcement, it came through force.

When Granger landed, a massive percentage of his occupying force was made up of the United States Colored Troops.

Texas enslavers did not surrender because they heard a speech.

They surrendered because the government sent an occupying army. Granger just gave the order, but it was thousands of Black Union soldiers standing in Galveston that forced them to actually comply.

If you like more unapologetic Black history, consider joining my newsletter:
onemicblackhistorypodcast.substack.com/p/the-jubil…

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 2,818

One Mic History

Jambalaya is NOT the daughter of Jollof. https://youtu.be/0MLM3eCydHg

If you put a pot of Jambalaya and modern Jollof side-by-side, everyone assumes Jollof is the "mother" of Jambalaya.

But they didn't birth each other. They evolved at the exact same time.

Nigeria and Ghana might fight over who makes the best Jollof today, but neither invented it. The true origin belongs to the Wolof people of the Senegambia region.

While the Wolof mastered the science of cooking rice in rich meat and vegetable broths back in the 1300s, the modern version of the dish didn't exist yet. The bright-red, tomato-based Jollof we know today wasn't actually invented until the mid-1800s.

Why? Because tomatoes are native to the Americas. Seeds were brought to Africa in the 1500s, but it took centuries for the fruit to become the culinary backbone of the region.

That means modern Jollof was created after the bulk of the transatlantic slave trade had already ended.

These dishes are not mother and daughter. They are transatlantic cousins sharing the exact same one-pot DNA.

New video, "How Black Women Outsmarted the South with Just One Pot," is OUT NOW. https://youtu.be/0MLM3eCydHg

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1,557

One Mic History

In 1887, Black players like George Stovey and Moses Fleetwood Walker were absolutely dominating the International League. tinyurl.com/2z29e39u

White players were terrified of losing their roster spots to Black talent.

Enter Cap Anson, the biggest star in white baseball.

When his team was scheduled to play an exhibition game against Newark, Anson threw a racist temper tantrum and demanded that Stovey and Walker be barred from the field.

The team owners immediately caved.

That same day, July 14, terrified owners met at the Genesee House Hotel in Buffalo and executed a hard color line, officially banning any future contracts with Black athletes.

They thought this would starve Black men out of the sport. But Black baseball didn't die.

Out the ashes, we built a $2 million baseball league that completely humiliated the MLB at the box office.

Read my new article on how the Negro Leagues forced the MLB to steal from them just to stay alive.

The Sharecroppers of the Diamond
substack.com/home/post/p-201511958

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4 weeks ago | [YT] | 4,053

One Mic History

Thousands of enslaved Black folks didn’t run North via the Underground Railroad. Many of them ran straight into the swamp. tinyurl.com/ytpnncwf

For over two centuries, our ancestors hid in the Great Dismal Swamp, a deadly, snake-infested, 2,000-square-mile bog between Virginia and North Carolina that absolutely terrified slave catchers.

The white folks just saw a wasteland. Black folks saw independence.

They built cabins on the islands, forged their own weapons, and created a thriving, self-sufficient community right under the noses of their enslavers. They even secretly traded timber on the black market to fund their own survival.

But how do you feed an entire community hiding in the middle of a swamp? You take what you need.

Read my new article about feeding a revolution: tinyurl.com/ytpnncwf

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1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 5,072

One Mic History

First African Baptist Church is widely considered the oldest continuous Black church in North America first congregating in 1777. tinyurl.com/55duz762



But its real brilliance is hidden right under your feet.



If you walk into the sanctuary today, you’ll see a pattern of holes drilled directly into the wooden floorboards.



To the white folks in the 1850s, those holes were just decorative ventilation to keep the humidity from rotting the wood.



But that was a little white lie.



By day, enslaved Black men built the church. But by night, they were building a massive hub for the Underground Railroad right in the middle of the city, literally just a block away from the Negro Slave Mart.



They constructed a secret four-foot sub-basement under the main sanctuary to hide escaping slaves.



Those drilled holes?



Air holes for the people hiding beneath the feet of the congregation.



They ain't just random holes, either. They arranged them in the shape of a Kongo Cosmogram, a spiritual symbol representing birth, life, death, and rebirth.



It was a secret message to any Black person who walked into this church that it was a safe haven.



First African Baptist Church wasn't just a Church, it was an sanctuary hidden in plain sight.


Become a subscriber to my newsletter: onemicblackhistorypodcast.substack.com/

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1 month ago | [YT] | 4,529