POL A Black Man

[Thor1911]

My only disclaimer to this is that I am not voting for Obama because he is still a Liberal. However the historical achievements that were done with overcoming Slavery, Jim Crow, and Jim Crow era societial views can not be ignored.

A Black Man

Why is it that a Black Man can create a tiny piece called a filament (electric light - Lewis Latimer) that allows people to see in the dark?

But can't be seen fit to lead a country to the true light.

Why is it that a Black Man can create an instrument (clock - Benjamin Banneker) that all people use to tell time?

But people don't think it is time for him to run a country.

Why is it that a Black Man can design a place for the high authorities to meet in & a place for the president to live in (The Capital & the White House
Phillip Reid (a slave) & Pierre L'Enfant)?

But not good enough to lead these meetings or live in himself.

Why is it that a Black Man was brilliant enough to do the first open heart surgery (D r. Daniel Hale Williams) and show the world how to get and preserve plasma (Dr. Charles Drew)?

But not good enough to put a p rogram in place where everyone can afford this surgery.

Why is it that a Black Man was creative enough to design an instrument (traffic light - Garrett Morgan) to bring multiple people (traffic) to a
halt?

But not seen creative enough to design a plan to bring all this unnecessary and worthless fighting between countries.

Why is it that a Black Man could create the soles (shoes - Jan Matzeliger) that people walk on everyday?

But not seen good enough to fill the shoes of the worst president in history.

Why is it that a Black Man was smart enough & brave enough to teach himself (Fredrick Douglas &Thomas Fuller - both slaves) and others how to read, write and/or calculate math?

But not seen smart enough and bold enough to calculate a platform to be President to a country that sure needs another first by us.

So you see my Brother and Sisters what I am saying is let us not forgot our past, which led us to our present and can definitely be the backbone to our
future.

We were good enough, smart enough, creative enough, and bold enough then, so lets all give Obama the chance to show that we are still these things
and more.

We all are as strong as our weakest link, so don't be that weak link that denies our people that chance to show we still can OVERCOME & BE THE FIRST!

 

[lafrteacher]

Nice essay, but Obama is not really black.(Only 6.5 % African)

Color is not the litmus test for a president. Intelligence, humanity, leadership, common sense, and a genuine relationship with God is!

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Don't you love it when special interest groups just pull made-up history out of their butts like flying monkeys?
(And trust that no one will take the time to look it up)

Why is it that a Black Man can create a tiny piece called a filament (electric light - Lewis Latimer) that allows people to see in the dark?
But can't be seen fit to lead a country to the true light.

The first incandescent electric light was made in 1800 by Humphry Davy, an English scientist. He experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery. When he connected wires to his battery and a piece of carbon, the carbon glowed, producing light. This is called an electric arc.

Much later, in 1860, the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) was determined to devise a practical, long-lasting electric light. He found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly. In 1878, he demonstrated his new electric lamps in Newcastle, England.

The inventor Thomas Alva Edison (in the USA) experimented with thousands of different filaments to find just the right materials to glow well and be long-lasting. In 1879, Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb glowed but did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually produced a bulb that could glow for over 1500 hours.

Latimer was a Johnny come lately, sorry, not till 1881.

Why is it that a Black Man can create an instrument (clock - Benjamin Banneker) that all people use to tell time?

Umm, no.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock
Not even close. Mechanical clocks appeared during the 13th century in Europe.

Why is it that a Black Man can design a place for the high authorities to meet in & a place for the president to live in (The Capital & the White House Phillip Reid (a slave) & Pierre L'Enfant)?
But not good enough to lead these meetings or live in himself.

L’Enfant was born at the Gobelins, Paris, the third child and second son of Marie Charlotte L’Enfant (aged 25 and the daughter of a minor marine official at court) and Pierre L'Enfant (1704-1787), a painter with a good reputation in the service of King Louis XV. In 1758 his brother Pierre Joseph died at the age of six, leaving him the eldest son. He studied at the Royal Academy in the Louvre before enrolling to fight in the American Revolution. In 1791, President George Washington appointed L’Enfant to design a new federal capital city under the supervision of three commissioners, whom Washington had appointed to oversee the planning and development of the ten-mile square of federal territory that would later become the District of Columbia.

White and French.

Philip Reid was purchased by Clark Mills, owner of the foundry that was awarded the contract to cast the plaster model in bronze. In April, 1858, the model left Rome in six crates aboard the Emily Taylor. Finally arriving at its Maryland destination, work began in May, 1860. When completed, the five one-ton sections of Freedom were transported by wagons from Bladensburg to Washington D.C.
Philip Reid and a team of laborers assembled the Statue of Freedom on site at the Capitol grounds in 31 days during the Spring of 1863. On December 2, 1863, the Statue of Freedom was hoisted to the top of the Capitol Dome amid great celebration and a 35-gun salute.
Approximately half of the artisans working on the nation's Capitol building between 1790 and 1863 were slaves, laboring in the quarries of Virginia, excavating and hauling the stone that would be used in the building's construction. They hauled lumber, dug trenches, and ultimately placed the cut stone on the walls of the building.
Didn't design anything, just a worker.

Why is it that a Black Man was brilliant enough to do the first open heart surgery (D r. Daniel Hale Williams)

Not even close to the first.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/heart/pioneers.html

Why is it that a Black Man could create the soles (shoes - Jan Matzeliger) that people walk on everyday?

Jan Matzeliger was born in Dutch Guiana (now known as Surinam) in South America. His father was a Dutch engineer and his mother was born in Dutch Guiana and was of African ancestry. His father had been sent to Surinam by the Dutch government to oversee the work going on in the South American country.
Only half Black, and how fortunate that someone finally designed shoe bottoms?
Oh please...

 

[dragonslayer2001]

The

history of the traffic light in N. America:


AT A GLANCE:
Police Officer William L. Potts of Detroit, Michigan, decided to do something about the problem caused by the ever increasing number of automobiles on the streets. What he had in mind was figuring out a way to adapt railroad signals for street use. Potts used red, amber, and green railroad lights and about thirty-seven dollars worth of wire and electrical controls to make the world’s first 4-way three color traffic light. It was installed in 1920 on the corner of Woodward and Michigan Avenues in Detroit. Within a year, Detroit had installed a total of fifteen of the new automatic lights.
THE STORY
RELATED INFO
BOOKS
WEB SITES
DID YOU KNOW?
Invention: Traffic Light

Function: noun / trsffic signal / stoplight
Definition: A road signal for directing vehicular traffic by means of colored lights, typically red for stop, green for go, and yellow for proceed with caution.
Patent: As a government emplyee Potts could not patent his invention.

Inventor: William L. Potts

Criteria: First practical. Modern prototype.
Birth: Unknown
Death: Unknown
Nationality: Unknown

Milestones:
1918 U.S.Patent # 1,251,666 issued January 1, to J.B. Hoge of Cleveland, OH
1919 U.S.Patent # 1,307,544 issued June 24, to Oscar A. Erdmann of Detroit, MI
1920 William Potts invents and installs a three color, four direction taffic light in Detroit, MI
1923 U.S.Patent # 1,475,024 issued November 20, 1923 to Garrett Morgan for traffic signal
ARYs: traffic light, traffic signal, stop light, William Potts, Garrett Morgan, J Hoge, Oscar Erdmann, history, invention, stroy, facts, biography, inventor.

Story:
Even during the horse and buggy days, traffic in big cities was often heavy. Police officers had to be stationed full time directing traffic at busy intersections.

The world’s first traffic light came into being before the automobile was in use, and traffic consisted only of pedestrians, buggies, and wagons. Installed at an intersection in London in 1868, it was a revolving lantern with red and green signals. Red meant "stop" and green meant "caution." The lantern, illuminated by gas, was turned by means of a lever at its base so that the appropriate light faced traffic. On January 2, 1869, this crude traffic light exploded, injuring the policeman who was operating it.

With the coming of automobiles, the situation got even worse. Police Officer William L. Potts of Detroit, Michigan, decided to do something about the problem. What he had in mind was figuring out a way to adapt railroad signals for street use. The railroads were already utilizing automatic controls. But railroad traffic traveled along parallel lines. Street traffic traveled at right angles. Potts used red, amber, and green railroad lights and about thirty-seven dollars worth of wire and electrical controls to make the world’s first 4-way three color traffic light. It was installed in 1920 on the corner of Woodward and Michigan Avenues in Detroit. Within a year, Detroit had installed a total of fifteen of the new automatic lights.
At about the same time, Garrett Morgan of Cleveland, Ohio realized the need to control the flow of traffic. A gifted inventor and reportedly the first African American to own an automobile in Cleveland, Ohio, he invented the electric automatic traffic light. Though it looked more like the semaphore signals you see at train crossings today.

Many others had obtained US Patents for Traffic Signals, some as early as 1918. But Morgan's Patent was purchased by General Electric Corporation and provided the protection they needed to begin building a monopoly on traffic light manufacture.

TO LEARN MORE

RELATED INFORMATION:
Garrett Morgan Biography from The Great Idea Finder
Transportation History from The Great Idea Finder

ON THE BOOKSHELF:
Eureka!: An Illustrated History of Inventions From the Wheel to the Computer (Limited Avail.)
by Edward De Bono / Hardcover - 248 pages (1974) / Thames & Hudson
A marvelous array of history's and prehistory's most important and intriguing inventions.
The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle: And Other Surprising Stories About Inventions
by Don L. Wulffson / Paperback - 128 pages (1999) / Puffin
Brief factual stories about how various familiar things were invented, many by accident, from animal crackers to the zipper.
Why Didn't I Think of That?: Bizarre Origins of Ingenious Inventions We Couldn't Live Without
by Allyn Freeman, Bob Golden / Paperback: 260 pages / John Wiley & Sons; (September 1997)
Filled with wacky and fascinating facts, awe-inspiring success statistics, and rags-to-riches stories, Chronicles the odd origins behind 50 famous inventions and reveals the business side of each product's actual production, marketing, and distribution.
Garrett Morgan: Inventor
by Garnet Jackson / Paperback - 26 pages / Dearborn Financial Publishing (1992)
A brief biography of an African American inventor that describes, in rhyming text, how his lifelong interest in machines led to the invention of the traffic signal.

ON THE WEB:
William Potts Traffic Light
Although Potts' achievement seems to not have been recognized at the time, a United States Court decision in 1928 established that he was, indeed, the inventor of the first 4-way, three-color signal.
(URL: www.signalfan.com)
Four-Way Traffic Signal
The intersection of Woodward Avenue and Fort Street (or Woodward and Michigan Avenue; both sites are recorded) in Detroit was the site of the world's first four-way traffic stop, which was put there in 1920. The stoplight had twelve bulbs and was manually operated.
(URL: www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/features/michweek/splash.html)
Garrett Morgan's Traffic Light
Invention of the traffic light according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
(URL: education.dot.gov/aboutmorgan.html)
Mr. Trafficlight
The first traffic lights had only four-inch lenses and the shell was wood with a tin cover. An original lamp was presented to Henry Ford’s collection of Americana at the Edison Institute, Greenfield Village, in 1938.
(URL: www33.brinkster.com/iiiii/trfclt/mrtrafficlight/mrtrafficlight.html)
The Hery Ford - Greenfield Village
Experience 300 years of history as the sights, sounds and sensations of America’s past come alive!
(URL: www.thehenryford.com/village/default.asp)
Why Are Traffic Signals Red, Green and Amber?
In 1920 Police Officer William Potts addressed the chaotic traffic of Detroit, Michigan, by co-opting the red, amber, and green automatic traffic light system used on railroads.
(URL: ask.yahoo.com/20031023.html)
Switching Signals
As traffic jams and headaches increase, inventors are continuing to work hard to make travel more safe and efficient.
(URL: homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~wiscengr/didyouknow/Traffic%20Lights/traffic_lights.shtml)
The Traffic Signal Museum
This site displays a private collection of over 75 vehicle and pedestrian traffic signals. Most people don't realize how many different types and makes of signals there are. The Traffic Signal Museum is the name of the site, it is not a real museum.
(URL: www.trafficsignalmuseum.com/)
Invention Dimension - Inventor of the Week
Featured Garrett A. Morgan (1877-1963) for his invention of the The Gas Mask.
(URL: web.mit.edu/invent/iow/morgan.html)

DID YOU KNOW?

The Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit that featured three positions: Stop, Go and an all-directional stop position. This “third position” halted traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets more safely.

Morgan's traffic management device was used throughout North America until it was replaced by the red, yellow and green-light traffic signals currently used around the world.

Morganr sold the rights to his traffic signal to the General Electric Corporation for $40,000.

Shortly before his death, in 1963, Morgan was awarded a citation for his traffic signal by the United States Government.

Garrett Morgan earned US Patent No.1,475,024 issued November 20, 1923 fot his traffic signal

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/trafficlight.htm

 

[dragonslayer2001]

ummmmmm

because the person running right now appears to have lots of corrupt local colleagues. Appears to be a marxist and most certainly is a gun grabber. because if you read quotes out of his book he certainly appears to have a victim mentality, and both he and his wife make racist remarks all the time, and attended a violently anti government and apparently anti white church for twenty years, and a biggie for me

is that he spent many years as a kid growing up in two violent countries, Kenya, and Indonesia (Indonesia was a violent military dictatorship) - countries totally unlike in culture, history, thought like the country he wants to lead.

I don't think he'd be "fair" at all.



ps. humans have been using sewed "soles" for thousands of years. You should give credit where credit is due and it is not that some people who have been black haven't had creative thoughts and ideas like everyone else. But I've read incredible distortions of history and people, especially blacks believe this shit. Like the ancient Greeks, you know, Hercules and Achilles and Plato were "actually" "black". Or that Ptolemy's (Macedonian General under Alexander) direct decendent Cleopatra, was "actually" "black". Wierd, sad, pathetic, and dangerous, very dangerous.

 

[Southern Cross]

THOR, THOR, THOR,

From reading the above response's to your origional post, your post, appears to have been SLAM DUNKED and run over by a huge train and all that remains is a small greasy spot on the rail.

I would not vote for omama bama if he were the only one running.

 

[Be Well]

Intelligent people judge others by their character - their beliefs, actions, and speech.

What race they are means nothing to me. Nothing. I would vote for a conservative, ethical and courageous black man - or woman - any day of the week.

 

[Harbinger]

My only disclaimer to this is that I am not voting for Obama because he is still a Liberal. However the historical achievements that were done with overcoming Slavery, Jim Crow, and Jim Crow era societial views can not be ignored.

A Black Man

Why is it that a Black Man can create a tiny piece called a filament (electric light - Lewis Latimer) that allows people to see in the dark?


Maybe because they didn't!


The year of 1840 saw the English physicist and chemist Joseph Wilson Swan join the race to produce a workable electric light and twenty years later in 1860 he patented an incandescent lamp with a filament made from carbonized paper in a partial vacuum. This was the world’s first electric light bulb.

But only being an experimental version there were limits to its’ illumination (it was quite dim) and it also could only be used very close to the source of power. The vacuum maintenance was also causing some trouble, so Swan, successful but frustrated, turned to other science projects and only returned to improving his invention in 1875 when he switched the filament to one of compressed and carbonized fibrous cotton thread.

In 1878 he demonstrated his new version. This was a year earlier than Thomas Edison, who had independently chosen the same textile for the filament in his light bulb, after he and his assistants had exhaustively tested 6000 alternative plant fibers from every corner of the Earth, before settling on cotton as the best.
Edison takes charge, (with some help)

Swan’s improved lamp lit well for thirteen and-a-half hours. Edison did beat this, his lasting for a little under fifteen hours.

Thomas Edison however was no ordinary inventor and due to his numerous past successes and fame, had a number of wealthy industrialists providing him with money to back his projects. So he bought Swan’s patent from the company that then owned it (not from Joseph Wilson Swan himself) and the latter passed into the history books (or the better ones, anyway).

Edison now began to rapidly improve the working life span of the light bulb. His further experiments leading to better and better versions until by 1880, his bamboo fiber filament lamp was a 16 watt bulb that lasted for anywhere between 1200-1500 hours.

Though this again was not entirely down to him. A large reason for the long burning filaments was the complete lack of oxygen inside the glass bulb. An inventor called Herman Sprengel had produced a device called a mercury vacuum pump, which was better than anything Swan or Edison himself had yet come up with at evacuating the air from the lamp’s chamber. This at last could allow for the first ‘long life’ light bulbs.

And the design for the bulb itself employed by Edison was not his alone, his had evolved out of a glass concept invented by two Canadians: Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans; but they had been unsuccessful in finding willing backers for their bulb, and having no financial muscle themselves, ended up like Swan, having their rights to patent bought by Thomas Edison, and also like Swan, are hardly known today whilst Edison is regularly hailed as the father of the light bulb.

One should not belittle Edison, mind. He behaved perfectly legally at all times and improved the originals immensely, allowing them to become widespread in use. And although he did not get there first, his original had also been slightly better than the competition.
Moving on

In the next century 1903 saw Willis Whitnew invent a metal-coating for the carbon filament which avoided the inside of the bulb turning dark with sooty residue. In addition to this, 1906 saw tungsten (still in common use today) making its appearance as the General Electric Company patented a way of producing filaments from this excellent candidate metal. Indeed Edison himself had known tungsten would eventually prove to be the best choice for filaments in incandescent light bulbs, but in his day, the machinery needed to produce the wire in such a fine form was not available. Engineering had come on in leaps and bounds in the intervening years but tungsten filament production was still a costly pastime for business until 1910 when William David Coolidge of General Electric improved the process of manufacture to make the longest lasting tungsten filaments available to all. No where is there mention of the name above

But can't be seen fit to lead a country to the true light.

When they can get past their past history and forgive for wrong doing and respect other people and their history....then maybe one could be elected but human beings haven't moved to that point and as long as people in general are selfish, selfcentered and egotistical...we'll never reach that point!

Why is it that a Black Man can create an instrument (clock - Benjamin Banneker) that all people use to tell time?

Clocks were invented long before this man! http://www.arcytech.org/java/clock/clock_history.html

But people don't think it is time for him to run a country.

Why is it that a Black Man can design a place for the high authorities to meet in & a place for the president to live in (The Capital & the White House
Phillip Reid (a slave) & Pierre L'Enfant)?

Probably because a black person never did!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_...ory/history your shoes/history your shoes.htm

But not seen good enough to fill the shoes of the worst president in history. Fill no supersede very high probability!


WHen he can fill his own ego and actually do have the stuff that he claims to have done as well as speak properly in public instead of using ums and sounds like that...and actually know this history of the country he wants to represent....up hold the constitution and pledge his allegiance to the U.S. ....then we'll talk!

Why is it that a Black Man was smart enough & brave enough to teach himself (Fredrick Douglas &Thomas Fuller - both slaves) and others how to read, write and/or calculate math?


Many people were brave enough and smart enough to teach themselves how to read through out history...why do the Blacks get sole rights to that?????

what ever!!!


But not seen smart enough and bold enough to calculate a platform to be President to a country that sure needs another first by us.

THat's right he doesn't appear to the public to be smart enough......duh!

So you see my Brother and Sisters what I am saying is let us not forgot our past, which led us to our present and can definitely be the backbone to our
future.


Let us also not create history out of thin air for the purpose of a selfish agenda!


We were good enough, smart enough, creative enough, and bold enough then, so lets all give Obama the chance to show that we are still these things
and more.


And creative enough to in the propaganda that many blacks like to spread!

We all are as strong as our weakest link, so don't be that weak link that denies our people that chance to show we still can OVERCOME & BE THE FIRST!

I bet the early blacks that came to this country would be extremely disappointed in their future generations that have since come about. I bet they are turning in their graves! All that I am sure they've tried to established have been removed and replaced with a selfish, lazy, self centered, inconsiderate bunch of people! (generally speaking)


This is nothing but pure propaganda that many blacks are falling for! * Note ...this that I've written is in response to this thread and is in no way against the original poster of this article!

Most people..."that are not black or hispanic* do not have a problem with skin color and being president...they do however have a problem with lack of qualifications on the presidential candidate's part!

Its no wonder a lot of blacks behave the way they do when they are being fed crap like this!

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Re: traffic lights.

Actual traffic lights, actual forerunners of our contemporary traffic lights had been in use in both Europe and the US long before this crude device that has nothing to do with anything that's in use today and was never installed anywhere, was patented.

Morgan's patent, dated 1923:

On December 10, 1868, the first traffic lights were installed outside the British Houses of Parliament in London.
On August 5, 1914, the American Traffic Signal Company installed a traffic signal system on the corner of 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. It had two colors, red and green.
The first four-way, three-color traffic light was created by police officer William Potts in Detroit in 1920.
The first interconnected traffic signal system was installed in Salt Lake City in 1917, with six connected intersections controlled simultaneously from a manual switch. Automatic control of interconnected traffic lights was introduced March 1922 in Houston, Texas.

 

[Dennis Olson]

There are millions of honorable, capable black men in this country. If the right one actually took the nomination, I'd vote for him in a second. I feel the same about ANY race; if a QUALIFIED, HONORABLE, DECENT candidate, male or female, of any race were to win the nomination, they'd get my vote.

Unfortunately, those people don't run, do they, as a general rule? Alan Keyes was mariginalized by the MSM every bit as much as Ron Paul was. GOOD PEOPLE do not generally want the job, and the few that DO try are destroyed by TPTB.

And that is entirely independent of race or gender.

 

[dragonslayer2001]

well

I don't agree with the first part of this statement as I think your number is too large,

but I do agree with part two. If the right candidate came along who was black I'd vote for him/her.


"There are millions of honorable, capable black men in this country. If the right one actually took the nomination, I'd vote for him in a second."


There are about 6 million black men in the country, and I think the stats say about 60-70% have been arrested. So that leaves about 2 million or so who haven't. Out of those I don't think all of them are capable of being President. Not disagreeing with the statement, just the numbers.

 

[Thor1911]

Is it really an issue?

From reading the above response's to your origional post, your post, appears to have been SLAM DUNKED and run over by a huge train and all that remains is a small greasy spot on the rail.

I would not vote for omama bama if he were the only one running.

Based upon the negative responses, I seriously doubt if people like DC2001 would vote for a Black Man for President. More importantly, I think that the selective presentation of issues is even more concerning and reveling of how one really feels about minorities in America (or the world for that matter). Let us clarify what is true and not true in the essay/commentary:

Lewis Howard Latimer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Latimer
Latimer received a patent in January 1881 for the "Process of Manufacturing Carbons", an improved method for the production of carbon filaments for lightbulb. The Edison Electric Light Company in New York City hired Latimer in 1884, as a draftsman and an expert witness in patent litigation on electric lights. Latimer was also an Edison Pioneer, a group of those that had worked for Edison companies over the years. Latimer never worked directly for Thomas Edison, or in Edison's lab.[3] Latimer is an inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his work on electric filament manufacturing techniques.

http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat247097.pdf

Benjamin Banneker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Banneker
He did not INVENT the clock, but could create and build them based upon his examining a pocket watch.

As to a Black man building the Capital City, there is some confusion on the facts but from the Benjamin Banneker pages of history..." According to the legend, L'Enfant took his plans with him, leaving no copies behind. As the story is told, Banneker spent two days recreating the bulk of the city plans from memory. The plans that Banneker drew from his presumably photographic memory then provided the basis for the later construction of the federal capital city"

Additionally Phillip Reid is given credit for helping in building this Nation's Capital.
Philip Reid was born a slave in the early 19th century at Charleston, South Carolina. He came to be a master craftsman and artisan, playing a key role in the completion of the United States Capitol at Washington D.C.

The Statue of Freedom, the crowning feature atop the dome of the U.S. Capitol, was hoisted into place on December 2, 1863. Commissioned in 1855, the full-size plaster model of Freedom was completed by Thomas Gibson Crawford in 1856 at his studio in Rome, Italy, and finally cast in bronze at the Mills Foundry in Bladensburg, Maryland, ultimately under Philip Reid's supervision (see bronze sculpture).

Philip Reid was purchased by Clark Mills, owner of the foundry that was awarded the contract to cast the plaster model in bronze. In April, 1858, the model left Rome in six crates aboard the Emily Taylor. Finally arriving at its Maryland destination, work began in May, 1860. When completed, the five one-ton sections of Freedom were transported by wagons from Bladensburg to Washington D.C.

Philip Reid and a team of laborers assembled the Statue of Freedom on site at the Capitol grounds in 31 days during the Spring of 1863. On December 2, 1863, the Statue of Freedom was hoisted to the top of the Capitol Dome amid great celebration and a 35-gun salute.

Approximately half of the artisans working on the nation's Capitol building between 1790 and 1863 were slaves, laboring in the quarries of Virginia, excavating and hauling the stone that would be used in the building's construction. They hauled lumber, dug trenches, and ultimately placed the cut stone on the walls of the building.
On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed an act abolishing involuntary servitude in the District of Columbia. This Emancipation Proclamation put an end to slavery within the capital city, and Philip Reid became a free man.

Garrett Morgan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrett_Morgan
Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr. (1877 – 1963) was an African American inventor who originated a respiratory protective hood (similar to the modern gas masks), invented a hair-straightening preparation, and patented a type of traffic signal.
Notice the last part of that sentence said, " a type of traffic signal."

I guess some of us are looking for any reason to down those who are different from us?

 

[Southern Cross]

You admit in your own writing lincoln was wrong

Approximately half of the artisans working on the nation's Capitol building between 1790 and 1863 were slaves, laboring in the quarries of Virginia, excavating and hauling the stone that would be used in the building's construction. They hauled lumber, dug trenches, and ultimately placed the cut stone on the walls of the building.
On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed an act abolishing involuntary servitude in the District of Columbia. This Emancipation Proclamation put an end to slavery within the capital city, and Philip Reid became a free man.
-----------------------------------------------------------
If slaves worked from 1790 to 1863 and uncle linc signed his worthless paper in 1862 he still worked the slaves a year after his worthless paper. If you fully read that worthless paper though it DOES NOT FREE the slaves in the NORTH (And his worthless paper had no power in the South)so I guess that was ok for the North to keep their slaves. But we will invade the South and make them give theirs up. And the war was started over slavery (bs) if it was why didn't the NORTH give their slaves up at the start of the war. No, we can't do that cause people like US Grant had to keep his slaves till the end of the war and the 2nd, 13th amendment past. The truth will always prevail and no matter how hard you liberal fruit cakes try to change it, it will not work.

 

[dragonslayer2001]

Thor

I've thought about Colin Powell, but since GWI and things I've learned recently, I don't see him as being much more than too political and not having enough personal power to overcome Cheney/Rumsfield when he ran State.

Key's is a great motivational speaker, but lacks acumen.


Anyway, got to run. More later.

 

[mbo]

Thomas Sowell should be sitting in the White House.



.... and not because he's black. But because he knows what the FedGov is supposed to do, and what it's NOT supposed to do.




.

 

[Ender]

I'd vote for Bill Cosby.

 

[Penguin Zen]

Intelligent people judge others by their character - their beliefs, actions, and speech.

What race they are means nothing to me. Nothing. I would vote for a conservative, ethical and courageous black man - or woman - any day of the week.

I agree 100%
Know want to know who I would cast a vote for....“Don’t get stuck on stupid.”
That was the advice of Lt. General Russel Honre

 

[SugarMagnolia]

....More importantly, I think that the selective presentation of issues is even more concerning and reveling of how one really feels about minorities in America (or the world for that matter).

...I guess some of us are looking for any reason to down those who are different from us?

...while others are more than happy to accuse people of "OMG, discrimination!" for pointing out lies and untruths glorifying and giving credit where none is due.

This isn't about "downing those who are different from us", this is about nipping preposterous "new history" myths right in the bud.

If there really are that many Black technological accomplishments, they would not have to steal credit for the things that they NEVER invented.
Like say...clocks.

How desperate and foolish it makes some look when they repeat this ridiculous propaganda.

 

[Freeholder]

...while others are more than happy to accuse people of "OMG, discrimination!" for pointing out lies and untruths glorifying and giving credit where none is due.

This isn't about "downing those who are different from us", this is about nipping preposterous "new history" myths right in the bud.

If there really are that many Black technological accomplishments, they would not have to steal credit for the things that they NEVER invented.
Like say...clocks.

How desperate and foolish it makes some look when they repeat this ridiculous propaganda.

Agreed. I already voted for Alan Keyes for President once, when he ran a couple of elections ago. I'd be happy to vote for Thomas Sowell. Not so sure about Powell, as he's too much a part of what's going on in the government right now. I honestly don't CARE what color a person is! I just want the best man for the job -- and neither McCain, Obama, nor Hillary is it!!

Kathleen

 

[sy32478]

Its not about race / color, its about culture.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Its not about race / color, its about culture.

....or lack thereof.

Where's Tyrone LaBeethoven's Ninth Symphony?
The Hanging Gardens of Harlem?
Shaneekwa DaVinci's paintings?
And we all love the works by the immortal playwright DaWilliam LaShakespeare, don't we?

C'mon, if there *were* actual cultural accomplishments, they'd be trotted out every effing February.

OK, there's the much discussed "Black Anthem" whose lyrics, "lift ebbry voice and march, til whitey go away", moved us all to tears at the recent performance by René Marie...

 

[Glowy SC]

I will not vote for anyone based on race or gender. I don't care if they are white, black or puce; man or woman. I will not vote for them just so they can be the first of what ever they happen to be. I want some one that can help this country if such a person even exists that can clean up this mess. Obama is not that person. McCain is not that person. Clinton is not that person. I don't know what I will be doing in Nov.

 

[Ender]

SugarMagnolia,

The black Pharaoh's of ancient Egypt were among the greatest rulers that were ever on the earth.

AND, being a musician, I am exremely happy with the great gift of JAZZ, the one music that actually evolved from American culture.

I will not vote for anyone based on race or gender. I don't care if they are white, black or puce; man or woman. I will not vote for them just so they can be the first of what ever they happen to be. I want some one that can help this country if such a person even exists that can clean up this mess. Obama is not that person. McCain is not that person. Clinton is not that person.

My sentiments exactly.

 

[dragonslayer2001]

Ender

there were most likely some Nubian Pharoahs at times, as can be seen by likenesses, but they were not all black, nor do I think they were mostly black in Egypt's long history. Tutankamnen, Neferititi, Seti, etc., were not.


"The black Pharaoh's of ancient Egypt were among the greatest rulers that were ever on the earth."


They ruled over one of the highest advanced civilizations in history, but I am not convinced they "invented" all that. They very well could have inherited it from the prior age that was destroyed.

As John Anthony West has said "it is almost as if it were there in it's entirety at the very beginning, out of nowhere. I mean everything. And after the beginning it all deteriorates as if they couldn't remember where it came from".

That is a paraphrase, but that was his main thought.


As for "greatest" you'd have to more fully describe what you mean. I never forget that Pharoah's were considered "gods". Doesn't jibe well with the Founding principles of these United States -


The simple fact of the matter as pertains to this thread is that there is no one running on the ticket's that would make a good President. Period.

This thread started out as some kind of whinny puff piece trying to use the guilt response that one should vote for Obama because some things in the world got invented by black people.

Well, that's a hell of a good reason to vote for Obama.


Make a great commercial.

"THE FIRST OPEN HEART SURGERY IN AMERICA WAS PREFORMED BY A BLACK SURGEON."
DO THE RIGHT THING
"VOTE OBAMA"​

 

[Richard]

Nice essay, but Obama is not really black.(Only 6.5 % African)

Color is not the litmus test for a president. Intelligence, humanity, leadership, common sense, and a genuine relationship with God is!

no he is 50% black but thinks himself 100%, it is by this deception he seeks the presidency, see through it

 

[les_stockton]

It has never crossed my mind to not vote for him for being a black man. My concern about him is that he certainly has muslim sentiments, even if he claims not to be muslim; and he definitely is one of the most liberal Senators in Washington, if not the most liberal.

I think it is odd to have so many people, in this day and age, go on and on about the reason people wont vote for him is that they're racists. That's utter bull crap. The reason is that he's a communist. That's why we're not voting for him. It's the same reason I wouldn't vote for Ted Kennedy. Kennedy isn't black. He's a communist and I wouldn't vote for him either.

Hopefully, this will end the confusion.

 

[Christian for Israel]

so let's see if i get this straight...

i won't vote for obama because i'm a racist. i won't vote for hillery because i'm a sexist. i won't vote for mccain because i'm a...conservative...?

ok, i think i understand now.

 

[Malone Laveigh]

so let's see if i get this straight...

i won't vote for obama because i'm a racist. i won't vote for hillery because i'm a sexist. i won't vote for mccain because i'm a...conservative...?

ok, i think i understand now.

Sure, that has to be the reason. It wouldn't have anything to do with their position or lack thereof on issues that matter to people.

As for SM's post:

Where's Tyrone LaBeethoven's Ninth Symphony?
The Hanging Gardens of Harlem?
Shaneekwa DaVinci's paintings?
And we all love the works by the immortal playwright DaWilliam LaShakespeare, don't we?

C'mon, if there *were* actual cultural accomplishments, they'd be trotted out every effing February.

OK, there's the much discussed "Black Anthem" whose lyrics, "lift ebbry voice and march, til whitey go away", moved us all to tears at the recent performance by René Marie...

I sure do feel those old injuries when I laugh that hard.


Malone

 

[energy_wave]

Color is not the litmus test for a president. Intelligence, humanity, leadership, common sense, and a genuine relationship with God is!

Why the hell didn't you post that when Bush was running for president. Bush lacks every one of those qualities, imo.

 

[Thor1911]

....or lack thereof.

Where's Tyrone LaBeethoven's Ninth Symphony?
The Hanging Gardens of Harlem?
Shaneekwa DaVinci's paintings?
And we all love the works by the immortal playwright DaWilliam LaShakespeare, don't we?

C'mon, if there *were* actual cultural accomplishments, they'd be trotted out every effing February.

OK, there's the much discussed "Black Anthem" whose lyrics, "lift ebbry voice and march, til whitey go away", moved us all to tears at the recent performance by René Marie...

I think you are a prime example of why we will always have "Diversity" needs in our society. Do you think that Black Americans have not contributed to American Society? Do you not think that they have cultural contributions?

Notice how you and DC2001 focused on the achievements of Black Americans that you can obfuscate and denigrate, but you didn't say anything about Charles H. Drew and his invention of storing blood plasma. What about Ernest Everett Just, who laid the modern ground work for cytology and DNA? Perhaps next February you should open your eyes and ears and learn something. It is people like you that go out your way to be little races and only acknowledge the negatives. White by themselves didn't make America great.

My original point was that there were many a Black man and women, who overcame legal and social discrimination to succeed and make a difference in everyone's life. While legal discrimination have viturally been eliminated and the majority of social discrimination has been reduced; do not lie to yourself and others and think that a non-white person has any advantages over a white one.

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Thor1911, they have certainly trained you well in your Diversity classes, but unfortunately, it is all revisionist carp.

And Ender, only Farrakhan and his Black Supremacists and some Diversity propagandists seem to see Egyptian accomplishments as being Black.
Truth is, only the 25th Dynasty of Egypt was Nubian or Black.
And even then, Nubians were not Sub-Saharan Blacks, they were more closely related to the Ethiopian Blacks.

 

[dragonslayer2001]

Thorr

I think the original point of your thread is as follows:



A Black Man


But can't be seen fit to lead a country to the true light.

But people don't think it is time for him to run a country.

But not good enough to lead these meetings or live in himself.

But not good enough to put a program in place where everyone can afford this surgery.

But not seen creative enough to design a plan to bring all this unnecessary and worthless fighting between countries.

But not seen good enough to fill the shoes of the worst president in history.

But not seen smart enough and bold enough to calculate a platform to be President to a country that sure needs another first by us.


So you see my Brother and Sisters what I am saying is let us not forgot our past, which led us to our present and can definitely be the backbone to our
future.

We were good enough, smart enough, creative enough, and bold enough then, so lets all give Obama the chance to show that we are still these things and more.

We all are as strong as our weakest link, so don't be that weak link that denies our people that chance to show we still can OVERCOME & BE THE FIRST!



You posted a political thread about Obama and filled with examples that have nothing to do with Obama. Obama has spent something like 143 days in the Senate. He has a great deal of baggage. He is anti-Second Amendment. He is a closet racist. He belongs to a very racist church. In his writings and his wife's they talk about what they are going to do for blacks. Not Americans. He wife openly says she has never been proud of her country. Obama talks about his "white grandmother" and makes racial slurs about the way she was raised. Both he and his wife are happy and proud to be photoshot with hard core white haters like Farahkhan and his wife.

I don't feel obliged to either like him, respect him or vote for him because of the color of his skin.

Your post didn't come across as a paean to the achievments of some black people, but it certainly came across as a plea to vote Obama.

 

[Ender]

And Ender, only Farrakhan and his Black Supremacists and some Diversity propagandists seem to see Egyptian accomplishments as being Black.
Truth is, only the 25th Dynasty of Egypt was Nubian or Black.
And even then, Nubians were not Sub-Saharan Blacks, they were more closely related to the Ethiopian Blacks.
Reply With Quote

SM-

I am not an authority on Egypt but I had a great mentor who was an Egyptologist; he was as white as they come.

He maintained that the black Pharaohs were some of the greatest rulers the world has ever known.

I can go back and research it if you like- but not tonight.

 

[Oilpatch Hand]

With all due respect to the individual inventors/innovators named in the opening post...

Barack Obama didn't do any of that carp.

Barack Obama didn't do anything resembling any of that carp.

In fact, to be precise, and at the risk of putting too fine a point on the matter...Barack Obama himself ain't done carp.































But I'm not voting for him primarily because he's a philosophical Marxist, whether he wishes to acknowledge the fact or not.























And what the heck does a "community organizer" do, anyway? Teach people in the neighborhood how to organize their spice racks?

 

[lafrteacher]

Why the hell didn't you post that when Bush was running for president. Bush lacks every one of those qualities, imo.

I'm not sure why you felt the need to post that. If you knew anything about me at all, you would have found it unnecessary.

Maybe you ought to go back to read the Bush threads when he was running for president. His qualities were well-discussed. Everything is not about about skin color.

Here's one thread I found about Bush: took me 30 seconds to find it...

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=116544&highlight=bush+candidacy

 

[Altura Ct.]

However the historical achievements that were done with overcoming Slavery, Jim Crow, and Jim Crow era societial views can not be ignored.

So what? What is your point exactly? That some blacks are smart? All races have overcome hardships or troubles at one time or another. Still doesn't change the fact that blacks have a proportionally large criminal element, that black on white crime is out of control, that blacks have 70%+ out of wedlock births & that blacks are by and large racist as hell.

 

[Thomas Paine]

It's not the color of his skin but the content of his character that prevents me from voting for Obama. Hell I have trouble finding candidates of any color that measure up to my standards.

 

[mbo]

My only disclaimer to this is that I am not voting for Obama because he is still a Liberal. However the historical achievements that were done with overcoming Slavery, Jim Crow, and Jim Crow era societial views can not be ignored.

A Black Man

Why is it that a Black Man can create a tiny piece called a filament (electric light - Lewis Latimer) that allows people to see in the dark?

But can't be seen fit to lead a country to the true light.

Why is it that a Black Man can create an instrument (clock - Benjamin Banneker) that all people use to tell time?

But people don't think it is time for him to run a country.

Why is it that a Black Man can design a place for the high authorities to meet in & a place for the president to live in (The Capital & the White House
Phillip Reid (a slave) & Pierre L'Enfant)?

But not good enough to lead these meetings or live in himself.

Why is it that a Black Man was brilliant enough to do the first open heart surgery (D r. Daniel Hale Williams) and show the world how to get and preserve plasma (Dr. Charles Drew)?

But not good enough to put a p rogram in place where everyone can afford this surgery.

Why is it that a Black Man was creative enough to design an instrument (traffic light - Garrett Morgan) to bring multiple people (traffic) to a
halt?

But not seen creative enough to design a plan to bring all this unnecessary and worthless fighting between countries.

Why is it that a Black Man could create the soles (shoes - Jan Matzeliger) that people walk on everyday?

But not seen good enough to fill the shoes of the worst president in history.

Why is it that a Black Man was smart enough & brave enough to teach himself (Fredrick Douglas &Thomas Fuller - both slaves) and others how to read, write and/or calculate math?

But not seen smart enough and bold enough to calculate a platform to be President to a country that sure needs another first by us.

So you see my Brother and Sisters what I am saying is let us not forgot our past, which led us to our present and can definitely be the backbone to our
future.

We were good enough, smart enough, creative enough, and bold enough then, so lets all give Obama the chance to show that we are still these things
and more.

We all are as strong as our weakest link, so don't be that weak link that denies our people that chance to show we still can OVERCOME & BE THE FIRST!

Thor1911,

I think your post refers to Barack Obama. However, Obama did none of these things. As a matter-of-fact, I cannot think of any accomplishments that Obama really earned for himself.


Sooooo, are you effectively saying that people should vote for Obama out of some deep-seated guilt for some reason?

I guess if you feel that your vote for Obama will expunge your racist past, then go for it Thor.



.

 

[Thor1911]

Reading is fundamental

Thor1911,

I think your post refers to Barack Obama. However, Obama did none of these things. As a matter-of-fact, I cannot think of any accomplishments that Obama really earned for himself.


Sooooo, are you effectively saying that people should vote for Obama out of some deep-seated guilt for some reason?

I guess if you feel that your vote for Obama will expunge your racist past, then go for it Thor.



.

Can anyone read anymore? The first sentence I wrote stated that I wouldn't vote for him and why. My second sentence, perhaps not very clear, tries to get us to reflect upon the accomplishments of Black Men (and women) and their contributions to America.

 

[mbo]

Can anyone read anymore? The first sentence I wrote stated that I wouldn't vote for him and why. My second sentence, perhaps not very clear, tries to get us to reflect upon the accomplishments of Black Men (and women) and their contributions to America.

Uh huh.


Is it not 'racist' to focus on the accomplisments of ANYONE by tying it to their race?

Did people look at what Thomas Edison did and say "gee, that's pretty good for a white guy" ???



I just think the whole notion of "<fill-in-the-blank> History Month" and other such feel-good self-esteem efforts is GARBAGE and only continues the problem you purport to 'care' about solving.




.