Conrad Worrill: Dr. Martin R. Delany ... A man missing from Black History
[Conrad Worrill is National Chairman of the National Black United Front (NBUF).]
The use of history as a tool of liberation is an ongoing battle that the African in American Community must come to grips with.
Far too many African in American people reject the use of history as a tool to understand the past, the present, and the future. The rejection of history, by many of us, results in the denial of our true condition and situation as thirty million people living in the United States.
From time to time, in reflecting on our history and our present situation as a race, I reread a most profound book. In fact, I suggest that all African in American people read this book and become familiar with the work of this unsung hero in our struggle, Dr. Martin R. Delany. Martin R. Delany (a contemporary of Frederick Douglass and co-founder with Douglass of The North Star Newspaper) was a fearless and independent champion for the cause of our redemption from 1840 until his death in January 1885 at the age of 72.
Dr. Delany was known as the most prominent advocate of African in American nationalism in the nineteenth-century. It was in his book, written in 1852, The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States that Delany's view of the situation of our race became widely known.
Delany was free born in Charleston, Virginia on May 6, 1812. In an effort to improve their situation, the Delany's moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania when Martin was ten years old. At the age of nineteen, young Martin moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he worked as a barber and studied with an African in American minister named Lewis Woodson. Woodson is given credit for shaping Delany's political thought.
It was in Pittsburgh that Delany became exposed to the efforts of Africans in America who were organizing against the chattel slave system. These men were called abolitionists. Delany began attending meetings that focused on the abolition of slavery. These meetings and contacts with other African in American leaders inspired Delany to continue his self-education on the history of our race. He became an avid reader of world history and philosophy eventually emerging as one of the most important African in American thinkers and orators.
Africans in America knew Delany for his opposition to the chattel slave system and for his call for Africans in America to voluntarily return to Africa and establish a nation. He was a tenacious fighter for African in American collective action and self-help throughout his participation in the movement....
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The use of history as a tool of liberation is an ongoing battle that the African in American Community must come to grips with.
Far too many African in American people reject the use of history as a tool to understand the past, the present, and the future. The rejection of history, by many of us, results in the denial of our true condition and situation as thirty million people living in the United States.
From time to time, in reflecting on our history and our present situation as a race, I reread a most profound book. In fact, I suggest that all African in American people read this book and become familiar with the work of this unsung hero in our struggle, Dr. Martin R. Delany. Martin R. Delany (a contemporary of Frederick Douglass and co-founder with Douglass of The North Star Newspaper) was a fearless and independent champion for the cause of our redemption from 1840 until his death in January 1885 at the age of 72.
Dr. Delany was known as the most prominent advocate of African in American nationalism in the nineteenth-century. It was in his book, written in 1852, The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States that Delany's view of the situation of our race became widely known.
Delany was free born in Charleston, Virginia on May 6, 1812. In an effort to improve their situation, the Delany's moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania when Martin was ten years old. At the age of nineteen, young Martin moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he worked as a barber and studied with an African in American minister named Lewis Woodson. Woodson is given credit for shaping Delany's political thought.
It was in Pittsburgh that Delany became exposed to the efforts of Africans in America who were organizing against the chattel slave system. These men were called abolitionists. Delany began attending meetings that focused on the abolition of slavery. These meetings and contacts with other African in American leaders inspired Delany to continue his self-education on the history of our race. He became an avid reader of world history and philosophy eventually emerging as one of the most important African in American thinkers and orators.
Africans in America knew Delany for his opposition to the chattel slave system and for his call for Africans in America to voluntarily return to Africa and establish a nation. He was a tenacious fighter for African in American collective action and self-help throughout his participation in the movement....