In April we will share the history of Bass Reeves.

Bass Reeves (July 1838 – January 12, 1910) was an American law enforcement official, historically noted as the first black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi River. He worked mostly in Arkansas and the Oklahoma Territory During his long career, he had on his record more than 3,000 arrests of dangerous fugitives, and shot and killed 14 of them in self-defense.

Reeves was born into slavery in Crawford County, Arkansas, in 1838. He was named after his grandfather, Bass Washington. Reeves and his family were owned by Arkansas state legislator William Steele Reeves. When Bass was eight (about 1846), William Reeves moved to Grayson County, Texas, near Sherman in the Peters Colony. It appears plausible that Reeves was kept in bondage by William Steele Reeves’s son, Colonel George R. Reeves — a Texan sheriff, legislator, and one-time Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives until his death from rabies in 1882.

When the American Civil War began, George Reeves joined the Confederate Army, forcing Bass to go with him. It is unclear how, and exactly when, Bass Reeves escaped, but at some point during the Civil War, he gained his freedom. One account recalls how Bass Reeves and George Reeves had an altercation over a card game. Bass severely beat George, and fled to the Indian Territory where he lived among the Cherokee, Creeks and Seminoles. Bass stayed with these Native American tribes and learned their languages until he was freed by the Thirteenth Amendment’s abolishment of slavery in 1865.

As a freedman, Reeves moved to Arkansas and farmed near Van Buren.^[5][6][7][8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_Reeves

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield was born into slavery in Natchez, Mississippi somewhere between 1817 and 1826, to Anna Greenfield and a man whose name may have been Taylor. According to an 1854 article in The Tri-Weekly Commercial, “her mother was of Indian descent, her father an African.”

In the early 1820s, Greenfield’s mistress, Elizabeth H. Greenfield, a former plantation owner who moved to Philadelphia after divorcing her second husband and emancipated her slaves. E.H. Greenfield worked with the American Emancipation Society to send 18 formerly enslaved residents of the Greenfield plantation, including Anna Greenfield and two of her daughters, to Liberia on August 2, 1831, aboard the brig Criterion.

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield remained in Philadelphia. She studied music as a child.

In about 1851, Greenfield began to sing at private parties, debuting at the Buffalo Musical Association. From 1851 to 1853 she toured as managed by Colonel J. H. Wood, a supporter of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, who would not allow black patrons into her concerts.

In 1853, Greenfield debuted at Metropolitan Hall in New York City, which held an audience of 4,000—white patrons only. After the concert, Greenfield apologized to her own people for their exclusion from the performance and gave a concert to benefit the Home of Aged Colored Persons and the Colored Orphan Asylum. She went to London and performed there under the patronage of the Duchess of Sutherland and Harriet Beecher Stowe.  She even performed for Queen Victoria in 1854.

Returning to the United States, she toured and conducted a Philadelphia music studio. She taught students.  In the 1860s she created an opera troupe which she directed. Greenfield died in Philadelphia of paralysis on March 31, 1876. She was a member of the Philadelphia Shiloh Baptist Church.

Greenfield was dubbed “The Black Swan,” a play on Jenny Lind’s sobriquet, “The Swedish Nightingale).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Greenfield

Greenfield paved the way for a host of black female concert singers, from Sissieretta Jones to Audra McDonald. In 1921, the musician and music publisher Harry Pace named the first successful black-owned record company, Black Swan Records, in her honor.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/story-elizabeth-taylor-greenfield-americas-first-black-pop-star-180962077/

Being intentional means you are focusing on something, which also means you let go of other things. This month I have been intentional with my time.  I have focused on things that promote my vision and mission.

Being intentional allowed me to give a test to things that eat my time and talent. If the things did not pass the test, they moved off of my list.

I worked on items that moved my mission and vision forward.

I was intentional.

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield was born into slavery in Natchez, Mississippi somewhere between 1817 and 1826, to Anna Greenfield and a man whose name may have been Taylor. According to an 1854 article in The Tri-Weekly Commercial, “her mother was of Indian descent, her father an African.”

In the early 1820s, Greenfield’s mistress, Elizabeth H. Greenfield, a former plantation owner who moved to Philadelphia after divorcing her second husband and emancipated her slaves. E.H. Greenfield worked with the American Emancipation Society to send 18 formerly enslaved residents of the Greenfield plantation, including Anna Greenfield and two of her daughters, to Liberia on August 2, 1831, aboard the brig Criterion.

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield remained in Philadelphia. She studied music as a child.

In about 1851, Greenfield began to sing at private parties, debuting at the Buffalo Musical Association. From 1851 to 1853 she toured as managed by Colonel J. H. Wood, a supporter of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, who would not allow black patrons into her concerts.

In 1853, Greenfield debuted at Metropolitan Hall in New York City, which held an audience of 4,000—white patrons only. After the concert, Greenfield apologized to her own people for their exclusion from the performance and gave a concert to benefit the Home of Aged Colored Persons and the Colored Orphan Asylum.

She was born a slave in the Mississippi Delta but traveled the world singing to rich and poor audiences

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Greenfield

In Women’s History Month we will tell the story of African American woman, born into slavery but brought beautiful music to many people.

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield was born into slavery in Natchez, Mississippi somewhere between 1817 and 1826, to Anna Greenfield and a man whose name may have been Taylor. According to an 1854 article in The Tri-Weekly Commercial, “her mother was of Indian descent, her father an African.”

In the early 1820s, Greenfield’s mistress, Elizabeth H. Greenfield, a former plantation owner who moved to Philadelphia after divorcing her second husband and emancipated her slaves. E.H. Greenfield worked with the American Emancipation Society to send 18 formerly enslaved residents of the Greenfield plantation, including Anna Greenfield and two of her daughters, to Liberia on August 2, 1831, aboard the brig Criterion.

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield remained in Philadelphia. She studied music as a child.

In about 1851, Greenfield began to sing at private parties, debuting at the Buffalo Musical Association. From 1851 to 1853 she toured as managed by Colonel J. H. Wood, a supporter of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, who would not allow black patrons into her concerts.

In 1853, Greenfield debuted at Metropolitan Hall in New York City, which held an audience of 4,000—white patrons only. After the concert, Greenfield apologized to her own people for their exclusion from the performance and gave a concert to benefit the Home of Aged Colored Persons and the Colored Orphan Asylum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Greenfield

This month i highlighted the life of Madam CJ Walker who helped create an industry that allowed women of African descent to feel beautiful.

Madam C.J. Walker was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the Guinness Book of World Records. 

She was born Sarah Breedlove in December 23, 1867 in Delta, Louisiana. Her parents died when she was seven. She went to live with her sister and brother in law in Mississippi. She had three months of school and then went to work as a domestic servant. She married Moses McWilliams at age 14 and had one daughter, Leila. He died in 1887.

She moved to St Louis, Mo in 1888. She had dandruff and scalp problems. She learned about hair care from her brothers and went to work selling products for Annie Malone.

Walker made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women through the business she founded, Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company.

Walker started her mail order business in Denver around 1906, but later closing it in 1907. In 1908 she moved the business to Pittsburgh, and by 1910 established a base in Indianapolis. She also traveled to Central America and the Caribbean to sell her products. In 1916, she moved her personal life to New York City. She had trained more than 20,000 women by 1917, which was the first year of her annual conference held in Philadelphia.

She became known also for her philanthropy and activism. She made financial donations to numerous organizations such as the NAACP, and became a patron of the arts. 

She died at age 51 in 1919 in New York City.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_C._J._Walker

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This piece is by my brother, Devin Anderson.