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Black History Database

@blackhistorydb.bsky.social

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This is our story. Our mission is to provide children and families with essential facts about Black History, past and present. www.blackhistorydatabase.com Linktree: https://linktr.ee/blackhistorydatabase

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Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · Jun 22

Incorporated in 1887, Eatonville was a pioneering response to the segregation and disenfranchisement of the Reconstruction era. Its founding represented a bold vision: a town governed entirely by Black Americans, built on the ideals of self-determination, education, and community empowerment.

Eatonville, FL: A Legacy of Black Self-Governance and Brilliance

Tucked just a few miles north of Orlando, Eatonville, Florida, stands as one of the oldest African American municipalities in the United States. Incorporated in 1887, Eatonville was a pioneering respo...

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Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 2d

Perspective is everything 😂

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 6d

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…. and the first woman appointed to the Massachusetts Superior Court. Judge Barron’s legacy lives on through the work of her granddaughter, CLA’s Deputy Director Faye B. Rachlin, and the rest of her family.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 6d

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She was the first woman to present evidence to a Grand Jury in Massachusetts, the first to prosecute major criminal cases, the first woman judge appointed for life to the Boston Municipal Court,….

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Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 6d

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Pictured here receiving an honorary degree is Jennie Loitman Barron, remembered as an American suffragist, accomplished lawyer, and judge.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 6d

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…. with a dissertation (initially supervised by Edgar S. Brightman and, upon the latter's death, by Lotan Harold DeWolf) titled A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 6d

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At the age of 25 in 1954, King was called as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. King received his PhD on June 5, 1955, ….

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 6d

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The young men often held bull sessions in their apartments, discussing theology, sermon style, and social issues.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 6d

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Hester was an old friend of King's father and was an important influence on King. In Boston, King befriended a small cadre of local ministers his age, and sometimes guest pastored at their churches, including Michael E. Haynes, associate pastor at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 6d

In 1951, King began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University, and worked as an assistant minister at Boston's historic Twelfth Baptist Church with William Hunter Hester. 🧵

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Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 7d

Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon has a message for Black people who decry America's history of oppression: "Stop being a little boy. You're whining and crying about something that's ultimately your fault."

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 7d

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King graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1951 and was the Valedictorian of his class. He applied to the University of Edinburgh for a doctorate in the School of Divinity but ultimately chose Boston instead.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 7d

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King became known as one of the "Sons of Calvary", an honor he shared with William Augustus Jones Jr. and Samuel D. Proctor, who both went on to become well-known preachers.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 7d

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King's father supported his decision to continue his education and made arrangements for King to work with J. Pius Barbour, a family friend and Crozer alumnus who pastored at Calvary Baptist Church in nearby Chester, Pennsylvania.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 7d

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At Penn, King took courses with William Fontaine, Penn's first African-American professor, and Elizabeth F. Flower, a professor of philosophy.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 7d

King enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania, and took several courses at the University of Pennsylvania. At Crozer, King was elected president of the student body. 🧵

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Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 8d

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He played freshman football there. The summer before his last year at Morehouse, in 1947, the 18-year-old King chose to enter the ministry. King graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1948, aged nineteen.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 8d

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On Sundays, they attended church services in Hartford at a church filled with white congregants. King wrote to his parents about the lack of segregation, relaying how he was amazed they could go to "one of the finest restaurants in Hartford" and that "Negroes and whites go to the same church".

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Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 8d

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On Friday evenings, the students visited downtown Simsbury to get milkshakes and watch movies, and on Saturdays they would travel to Hartford, Connecticut, to see theatre performances, shop, and eat in restaurants.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 8d

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On weekdays King and the other students worked in the fields, picking tobacco from 7:00 am to at least 5:00 pm, in temperatures above 100 °F, to earn roughly USD$4 per day.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 8d

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…. The white people here are very nice. We go to any place we want to and sit anywhere we want to." The farm had partnered with Morehouse College to allot their wages towards the university's tuition, housing, and fees.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 8d

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This was King's first trip into the integrated north. In a June 1944 letter to his father, King wrote about the differences that struck him: "On our way here we saw some things I had never anticipated to see. After we passed Washington there was no discrimination at all….

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 8d

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In the summer before King started at Morehouse, he boarded a train with his friend—Emmett "Weasel" Proctor—and a group of other Morehouse College students to work in Simsbury, Connecticut, at the tobacco farm of Cullman Brothers Tobacco.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 8d

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As World War II was underway, many black college students had been enlisted, so the university aimed to increase their enrollment by allowing juniors to apply. In 1944, aged 15, King passed the examination and was enrolled at the university that autumn.

Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 8d

During King's junior year in high school, Morehouse College—an all-male historically black college that King's father and maternal grandfather had attended—began accepting high school juniors who passed the entrance examination. 🧵

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Black History Database @blackhistorydb.bsky.social · 8d

That’s awesome. Her message is as powerful today as it ever was 🙏🏾