Coachmaker and blacksmith Charles Richard (“C.R.”) Patterson of Greenfield, Ohio founded C.R. Patterson & Son coachworks in 1893, producing buggies, buckboards, phaetons, surreys and other horse-drawn carriages, about 500 each year. After the death of his son Samuel, his eldest son Frederick Douglas Patterson moved home to help Patterson senior with the business. C.R. died in 1910, and Frederick Patterson added automoblie repair to the company’s services.
The first C.R. Patterson and Sons automobile was assembled in 1915, a two-door coupe, the first motorcar produced by a Black-owned company. Of the 100 or so autos produced by Patterson, none are still in exsistence. The firm couldn’t compete with the Ford assembly line, so the company switched to producing trucks and buses. There was brisk demand for the latter, especially schoolbuses, and Patterson manufactured 500 buses a month, producing as many as 7,000 between 1921 and 1931. One-third of the school buses in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania were thought to be Pattersons. Although the Depression closed the business in 1939, some Patterson buses were still on the roads as late as the 1950s.
Today is officially Washington’s Birthday (observed) according to the federal government. This date is also known as Presidents’ Day in some states, combining observance of all your favorite chief execs (Millard Fillmore?) into one holiday.
Birthday boy and first president George Washington enslaved 319 human beings in Virginia during his lifetime, but the state’s current governor, Glenn Youngkin, won’t let that be taught in the Old Dominion’s schools. Virginia’s kids will need a field trip to Mount Vernon to learn about it. President Washington also signed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, requiring authorities in free states and territories to allow slave-catchers to seize escaped refugees and transport them back into bondage.
Happy Black History Month.
More:
“George Washington, Slave Catcher,” Erica Armstrong Dunbar, New York Times
Related:
“More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation.” Julie Zauzmer Weil, Adrian Blanco and Leo Dominguez, Washington Post
Image (“George Washington Observes Black History Month”) by Mike Licht. Download a free copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Today is officially Washington’s Birthday (observed) according to the federal government. This date is also known as Presidents’ Day in some states, combining observance of all your favorite chief execs (Millard Fillmore?) into one holiday.
Birthday boy and first president George Washington enslaved 319 human beings in Virginia during his lifetime, but the state’s current governor, Glenn Youngkin, won’t let that be taught in the Old Dominion’s schools. Virginia’s kids will need a field trip to Mount Vernon to learn about it. President Washington also signed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, requiring authorities in free states and territories to allow slave-catchers to seize escaped refugees and transport them back into bondage.
Happy Black History Month.
More:
“George Washington, Slave Catcher,” Erica Armstrong Dunbar, New York Times
Related:
“More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation.” Julie Zauzmer Weil, Adrian Blanco and Leo Dominguez, Washington Post
Image (“George Washington Observes Black History Month”) by Mike Licht. Download a free copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
The 1900 Paris Exposition (Exposition Universelle), like many World’s Fairs and theme parks, had a leavening of exotic stereotypes. A counterweight was “The Exhibit of American Negroes,” depicting African American social progress, curated by W. E. B. Du Bois. Narrated by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, with Rhae Lynn Barnes, Chad Williams, and Farah Griffin. From Black History in 2 Minutes (Or So).
In January 1918, the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment landed in France to fight in World War I. Rather than desegregating its own combat units, the US put the 369th Infantry Regiment under French command. These American “Harlem Hellfighters” fought for 191 days, longer than any American troops, and were honored by France and the United States. Narrated by Dr. Henry Louis Gates and Hasan Jeffries. From Black History in 2 Minutes (Or So).
In 1915 D.W. Griffith released a propaganda film, “The Birth of a Nation,” enshrining the neo-Confederate “Lost Cause” mythology, the KKK, and its racist justification., using White actors in blackface to perpetuate stereotypes. The NAACP, founded in 1909, largely as anti-lynching organization, understandably protested the film’s screening. Narrated by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, with Vincent Brown, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, and Imani Perry. From Black History in 2 Minutes (Or So).
For nearly a century, Spanish Florida granted asylum and freedom to escaped enslaved Africans in the Carolinas and Georgia, prompting an “Underground Railroad” that ran south. Narrated by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, with Hasan Jeffries and Vincent Brown, from Black History in 2 Minutes (Or So).
After the Union Civil War victory over the Confederacy, former general William Tecumseh met with 20 black ministers to forge a plan for the 4 million liberated bondsmen. The meeting proposed land ownership – “40 acres and a mule,”a promise President Andrew Johnson would renege on, robbing black families of an economic future, unlike the White families who recieved federal land grants. Narrated by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, with Evelynn Hammonds and Farah Griffin, from Black History in 2 Minutes (Or So).
After Union victory in the Civil War, the government opened the Freedman’s Bank to provide a safe place for newly-freed black workers to place their funds. By 1871, 37 branches were open in the US, with over 70,000 people depositing $60 million into this bank. Then, in 1873, there was a depression. Narrated by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, with Hasan Jeffries and Vincent Brown, from Black History in 2 Minutes (Or So).
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