In this section, poet Dr. Lora-Ellen McKinney explains some of the references used in her poems that may not be known by all viewers, listeners or readers.  Many of the poems are also accompanied by references that facilitate further study, if wanted.  Viewers are also asked to answer questions and comment on the explanations.Filmmaker and photographer Jordan Somers filmed this section of the Experiential Gallery.

Question:

What was the most important thing that you learned from this poem and the accompanying video?

Please tweet your response to @SeattleSLEM, #P3Project, #Poetry&PaintingProject, #P3Project2022

Question:

What was the most important thing that you learned from this poem and the accompanying video?

Please tweet your response to @SeattleSLEM, #P3Project, #Poetry&PaintingProject, #P3Project2022

Question:

What was the most important thing that you learned from this poem and the accompanying video?

Please tweet your response to @SeattleSLEM, #P3Project, #Poetry&PaintingProject, #P3Project2022

Question:

What was the most important thing that you learned from this poem and the accompanying video?

Please tweet your response to @SeattleSLEM, #P3Project, #Poetry&PaintingProject, #P3Project2022

Question:

What was the most important thing that you learned from this poem and the accompanying video?

Please tweet your response to @SeattleSLEM, #P3Project, #Poetry&PaintingProject, #P3Project2022

Background & Resources

Tulsa: Diamond in the Rough

Rosewood in TV and Film

Tulsa Burning: the 1921 Race Massacre (Film) 2021

Watchmen (TV series) 2019

Rosewood Massacre History

What a Florida Reparations Case Can Teach Us About Justice in America

1994 - Florida State University Law review - House Bill 591: 

Florida Compensates Rosewood Victims sand Their Families for a Seventy-One-Year-Old Injury

Rosewood in TV and Film:

Rosewood (Movie) 1997

Rosewood (TV Series) - 2015-2017

Watchmen (TV series) 2019

Question:

What was the most important thing that you learned from this poem and the accompanying video?

Please tweet your response to @SeattleSLEM, #P3Project, #Poetry&PaintingProject, #P3Project2022

Background & Resources

History of Underground Railroad quilt patterns - https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/underground-railroad-quilt-codes

Some patterns and their purported meanings:

Bow Tie = Dress in disguise to appear of a higher status

Bear Paw = Follow an animal trail through the mountains to find water and food

Log Cabin = Seek shelter now, the people here are safe to speak with

Question:

What was the most important thing that you learned from this poem and the accompanying video?

Please tweet your response to @SeattleSLEM, #P3Project, #Poetry&PaintingProject, #P3Project2022

Background & Resources

Ugly Jar Under the Sink

The ugly jar under the sink was something in my maternal grandmother’s home. It was filled with baby oil, witch hazel and banana peels.  She rubbed the contents on her legs and feet.  As it happens, banana peels alone, though especially when enhanced by witch hazel, are thought to reduce inflamed joints and shrink hemorrhoids.

History of Black Funeral Homes

"Black-owned and operated funeral homes came about due to segregation and Jim Crow, primarily in the South. Black people could not be buried in white cemeteries, nor could white-owned funeral establishments serve black people. Slaves were denied the right to mourn their dead.” 

In the segregated days prior to the Civil Rights era and the legal changes that emerged from it, Black funeral homes were more than that: they also served as community centers. Church and society women held their teas at them. Proms were held in them. 

Because African Americans could not hire limousines from white businesses, they rented them from funeral homes. My parents used limousines from Boyd’s Funeral Home in Cleveland, Ohio for their wedding.

E F Boyd Funeral Service and Cremation - https://www.efboyd.com/ and historical society data https://www.wrhs.org/research/library/genealogy/database/boyds-funeral-home/

When several Black funeral homes closed in Seattle, my mother and her friend started Southwest Mortuary It is no longer Black owned. It was sold following the deaths of both partners to Bonney Watson, a mortuary that previously had not conducted funeral services for or buried African Americans. At one point, for such actions, my father sued them, on behalf of a Black family whose child had drowned. 

African American Funeral Homes: Essential Throughout History and Today https://www.delawareonline.com/story/sponsor-story/evan-w-smith-funeral-services/2021/02/01/african-american-funeral-homes-essential-throughout-history-and-today/4211105001/

Honoring Black Funeral Homes 

https://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2021/02/african-american-funeral-homes/

The Disappearance of a Distinctly Black Way to Mourn https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/black-funeral-homes-mourning/426807/

Question:

What was the most important thing that you learned from this poem and the accompanying video?

Please tweet your response to @SeattleSLEM, #P3Project, #Poetry&PaintingProject, #P3Project2022

Question:

What was the most important thing that you learned from this poem and the accompanying video?

Please tweet your response to @SeattleSLEM, #P3Project, #Poetry&PaintingProject, #P3Project2022

Background & Resources

Why is Juneteenth food red? It:

___ Is a bright summer color.

___ Is an American symbol (part of the red, white and blue).

___ Represents the blood of generations of tortured and murdered enslaved people.

The Story Behind Red-Hued Juneteenth Food and Drink

Celebrating Juneteenth: Food, History and Recipes

Naturally-Dyed Red Velvet Cake with Beets and Cream Cheese Frosting

* Red velvet cake is usually made with dye. Originally, the color red came from beets. Here is a recipe for red velvet cake made according to the original recipe.

Juneteenth History

President Joe Biden announced on June 17, 2021, that he had signed legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday. This was a remarkable moment. 94 year old Opal Lee, who had started a movement to name the day a holiday, and who had made several attempts to walk from Galveston to Washington, DC, was there at the bill signing!

Opal’s Walk https://www.opalswalk2dc.com/juneteenth-2021

This prayer reflects the complexity, the beauty of, the purpose for and the challenge remaining in the celebration of Juneteenth.  But this is a complicated holiday.

The History of Juneteenth https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-legacy-juneteenth

When Did Slavery Actually End?

There are some options:

December 31, 1862 - On this night, enslaved persons, having heard about emancipation (except in Texas), waiting in prayer meetings in churches, homes and meeting houses. At 12:01 AM, they celebrated their freedom. African American Protestants maintain this tradition to this day. It is called Watch Night.

The Historical Legacy of Watch Night https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-legacy-watch-night

January 1, 1863 - Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation 

Emancipation Proclamation https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation- proclamation

April 8, 1864 - The Thirteenth Amendment was passed by the House of Representatives in Congress. 

13th Amendment to the US Constitution https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-13/ 

January 31, 1865 -The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified by 27 of the then 36 states. It abolished slavery except in the case of criminals. This when mass incarceration began.

June 19, 1865 - Now a federal holiday since 2021, Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas. The word is a mash up of June and nineteenth. The first celebrations were in 1866. It is also celebrated in parts of Mexico where Black Seminole escapees from slavery settled. 

"Somewhat Honest Abe" or Did Lincoln Want to End Slavery?

Lincoln did not initially want to end slavery. He believed that it was morally wrong. But it was also constitutional and, therefore legal. He wanted to stop its extension into other territories, states, and the American West.

5 Things You May Not Know About Abraham Lincoln, Slavery and Emancipation https://www.history.com/news/5-things-you-may-not-know-about-lincoln-slavery-and-emancipation

Slavery Abolished in America with adoption of the 13th Amendment https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/slavery-abolished-in-america

On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth became the first person to assassinate an American president when he shot and killed Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was attending a play, and when struck down, was seated in his box at Ford's Theater in Washington. A supporter of slavery, Booth believed that Lincoln was determined to overthrow the Constitution and to destroy the South that he loved and did not want changed.

Now, because Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and the next President, Andrew Johnson,  was racist, several things happened,  that impact us to this day.  Enslaved persons in the Carolinas, along the coasts, into Georgia and beyond, were to have been given Confederate lands - 40 acres and a mule - per family. This was reparations. President Andrew Johnson insured that it never happened. 

Because white people did not want to pick their own crops, they changed laws. Enslavement was legal for those who engaged in criminal acts. People were then incarcerated for stepping on cracks, looking white people in the eye, etc.

Causes of Mass Incarceration 

https://www.vera.org/ending-mass-incarceration/causes-of-mass-incarceration

Lawry’s Seasoned Salt  

https://www.tastecooking.com/seasoning-inspires-salty-looks-kanye-hooks/

Rev. Ella Mitchell

Jubilee Called True "Independence Day" for Blacks