Mamie Johnson

 Mamie Johnson played baseball for the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro Leagues.   In 1953, at the age of 18, she was scouted by the Clowns.  She was one of only three women to play professional men's baseball. The integration of the Negro Leagues and the Major leagues shortened her career to three years.  Her inspirational story is written in a novel entitled A Strong Right Arm by Michelle Y. Green.  In 2008, Major League Baseball arranged a Negro League Draft in which all surviving Negro Leagues players were drafted by Major league teams.  Johnson was drafted to the Washington Nationals.  

Claudette Colvin

Claudette Colvin's record was recently expunged. Read about Colvin and Elizabeth Jennings who were both anti-segregation pioneers who are often overlooked.

1938 Pecan Sheller Strike

Studying labor strikes is very important part of American History.   In 1938, twelve thousand pecan shellers went on strike for three months in San Antonio, Texas to protest poor working conditions and low pay.    The mostly Hispanic women worked ten hour days and were paid three dollars weekly.  At the time, company owners preferred human shellers over mechanized shelling for the sake of profit.  After 37 days of protests, both strikers and pecan shelling companies agreed to arbitration.  The three person board ruled in favor of the strikers, ordering higher wages and officially acknowledging the International Pecan Shellers Union.  

Virtual Unsung Heroes Lecture: Segregated Military Units

 Click here to register

Monday November 8th, 2021

7PM

Book Review: Hunt for the Bamboo Rat

Discussing the role of imperialism in American history is crucial to understanding the development of our country in the late eighteenth century.  Lessons involving the acquisition of Alaska, the annexation of Hawaii and the Spanish American War usually revolve around the morality behind colonial empires and the dangers of imperialism. The Hunt for the Bamboo Rat is useful tool when teaching Japanese imperialism. The story of a Zenji Watanabe provides an insiders view of the occupation of the Philippines prior to Pearl Harbor and after. It delves into the struggle behind an oppressive colonial power. The novel includes secret surveillance, the bombing of Corregidor and a brave Hawaiian who perseveres through brutal treatment.

Teaching Tip: If you enjoyed reading When My Name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park, you will be sure to enjoy this historical fiction as well.

Rock Springs Massacre 1885

Thousands of Chinese immigrants worked on the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860's.  The money earned in America was ten times more than what they could earn in China at the time.    Following the completion of the railroad most Chinese immigrants went to work for coal mining companies.  They were willing to work for lower wages than other miners, which fueled the anger between themselves and white miners.  On the morning of September 2nd, 1885 approximately 125 armed white miners viciously attacked the Chinese residents of Rock Springs Wyoming.  Chinese men were dragged from their homes and beaten while others were shot on site.   After the Chinese were gone the homes left standing were looted.  According to  Britannica.org 28 Chinese immigrants died  and 15 were injured.  Hundreds of Chinese miners were forced to abandon their homes and resettle.  

Teaching Tip: Compare the Tulsa Race Riot to the Rock Springs Massacre. It is a lesson worth discussing.               

Abolitionist: David Ruggles

David Ruggles was born in Norwich, Connecticut in 1810.  He believed that abolitionists should not just philosophize about the day slavery would end, but strive to help all the victims of human bondage. At the age of eighteen he opened a grocery shop in New York in order to further the anti-slavery movement growing in the Northeast.   The grocery shop circulated books and Anti-slavery publications for African-Americans who were denied access to the New York public libraries.  In addition to his anti-slavery book store, he served as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.  He helped to bring at least six hundred enslaved people to freedom.  His support for abolition made him one of the most hated abolitionists in New York.  

Tien Fuh Wu

Tien Fuh Wu grew up  in Zehjiang, China in the late 1800's.  She was forced to work in a brothel to pay off gambling debts her father generated.  By the age of ten she was sent to San Francisco to continue her life of servitude and physical abuse.  In 1894 she was rescued by a local missionary, who worked to free the imprisoned women.  Her body was covered with burns, cuts, and bruises from years of abuse.  After being rescued Tien Fuh Wu served as a translator for the mission that once rescued her.  She helped Donaldina Cameron liberate Chinese women in San Francisco from a vicious system of servitude.