The Black Researcher

This is a story of how traitors were dealt with in the Black community. How A Free Black Ohio Community Dealt With Slave Traitors Heaven had its Lucifer. The Jews had their Judas. America had Benedict Arnold.  And Rome had its Brutus. Every community across the world, every movement in all ages, has had its share of traitors - members of the community who are determined to derail the progress of the people for their own personal gain. Here is a true and remarkable story about how one such fiend was dealt a taste of his own medicine. Portrait of Laura Haviland From her book A Woman's Life Work (1881) While working on the Underground Railroad, abolitionist Laura S. Haviland, a White woman, assisted the Black community of Ohio in the punishment of a Black traitor. That person, a 'loafish mulatto' and 'a man of no principle' who went by the name of Robert Russell, hired himself out to a slave-holder in pursuit of a fugitive slave. It had been a whole two years since Ja...

 The European Governor of an African Empire 2010 Reproduction of an oil painting of Francisco de Sousa (Credit: Professor and anthropologist Milton Guran) French ethnographer Pierre Verger (1902-1996) once called Francisco Félix de Sousa (1754-1849) the greatest slave trader of all time. And yet, de Sousa was an adopted member of the kingdom of Dahomey and, particularly, its government. Reproduction of an oil portrait of Francisco Félix de Sousa 1996 (Credit: Professor and anthropologist Milton Guran) Francisco Félix de Sousa helped to overthrow the administration of King Ghezo's predecessor. For that, the king declared that he was eternally indebted to "Dom Francisco." Ghezo made him the chief of all trade in Dahomean territories, the majority of which was conquered from other Africans. As a result, de Sousa could take as many slaves as he wanted from the stockpile of captives taken in war and sell them to whomever he pleased. And as de Sousa was Portuguese, many of the...

Stealing a Slave to Freedom in Broad Daylight 'Practical Illustration of the Fugitive Slave Law' 1851 (Source: Library of Congress ) This remarkable story about the rescue of a fugitive slave by a White citizen of Canada was recorded by the Canadian abolitionist Charles Stuart (1783-1865) in 1844. Captain Charles Stuart at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in England (Source: UK National Portrait Gallery via Wikipedia Commons )

White Male Privilege in the Time of "New World" Slavery Here's a rather comical tale I read recently (at least I found some humor in it). This story comes to us from Haiti during the time that the island nation was a French colony and most of the population consisted of people who were enslaved by the French. The author is a monk by the name of Jean-Baptiste Labat (1663-1738). It is important to note that Labat was himself a slave-owner and the kind who did not mind whipping his slaves viciously for their " disobedience ." This story demonstrates the stratification of privilege that existed in the time of slavery. It further shows how any White man - no matter their level of intelligence - was able to finesse and finagle their way up the social ladder. In this case, the pathway to wealth was an older White woman and that wealth was built on the backs of African slaves. The story begins... D'Artagnan from The Musketeers, A Drama by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste...

The Participation of African People in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Slavery is a very serious and delicate topic for anyone to research. To research and to present on the history of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade is to undertake a task that can lead to a better understanding of the present situation facing the descendants of its victims and benefactors in our world today. But if a careful effort is not taken in this process, this same work can lead to negative consequences in our society. It can potentially spurn alternate histories, adding to the cadre of myths that are often presented as fact. A reckless approach to research on the history of the slave trade can make villains out of heroes and heroes out of villains. From Hull Maritime Museum, Featured in  A Pictorial History of the Slave Trade (1971) by Isabelle Aguet (Source: Slavery Images ) In the "reflections" chapter of his massive 900-page  Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade   (1997), the culmination of many ye...

  The Ukrainian Fortress City Built  By A Black Man Left: Plan of the Kherson Fortress in 1792 (Source: Wikipedia Commons ); Right: Portrait of General I.A.Hannibal - founder of the city of Kherson and the fortress  (Credit:  Kherson Guide ) Many students of Black history are familiar with the name of Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), the astronomical genius of African descent who contributed to the earliest survey for the construction of the U.S. capital in Washington, D.C. But very few are aware that there was another Black man who supervised a similar project for a city in Europe.  View of Kherson F. Ya. Alekseev (1755-1824) (Credit: Kherson Guide ) Kherson, a significant city in Southern Ukraine, was designed and co-founded by the eminent Russian general Ivan Gannibal (1735-1801). Gannibal, it seems, began his work shortly after the city was founded by General Grigory Potemkin, a favorite of Empress Catherine II. Inside the fortress walls, Gannibal include...