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Biographies Open Pages of History
Black Americans restored to rightful place
(AP) — History has not been good to
Onesimus.
As smallpox raged across Boston in
1721, the prominent Boston minister C ot
ton M ather suggested “ye Method of
Inoculation" that he had learned from
Onesimus, his former slave: Deliberately
infect healthy people to boost their imm u
nity.
Although the first mass inoculation in
America probably saved thousands of
lives, a white Englishman, Edward Jenner,
is remembered today as the pioneer of
phy project’s first volume, “African Ameri
can Lives,” was published last month. The
massive com pendium , which contains bi
ographies o f what Gates cal Is the "al l-ti me
greatest hits” o f black American history,
will be dwarfed by the expected 10 vol
umes that are planned to follow it
The series will contain about 10, (MX)
biographies in all, in what Gates says is the
largest African-American research project
to date.
“African American Lives” begins with
slugger Hank Aaron and ends with civil
G a te s, 5 3 , c h a irm a n o f
Harvard’s Department of Afri
can and African A merican
Studies, and director of the
W.E.B DuBois Institute for
African and African American
Research. “It’s our attempt to
reverse centuries of neglect—
sometimes advertent, some
times inadvertent.”
Among the lesser-known
figures in the book is Mary
Elizabeth Bowser. A slave in
the home of Jefferson Davis,
the Confederate president dur
ing the Civil War, she spied on
top rebel leaders and sent the
information North to the Union
Army.
Another is Cesar, a former
slave whose treatm ents for
snakebite and other poisons
g a rn e re d him w id esp re ad
praise in the 17th century, 150
years before medical schools
began accepting black stu
dents. Another is Nat Love, a cowboy in
Texas and Arizona who claimed to be the
model forthe legendary "Deadwood Dick”
o f dime novel fame.
There’s Toni Stone, a female baseball
player who played forthe Negro Leagues.
f t ’s our attempt to reverse centuries of
neglect — sometimes advertent, sometimes
inadvertent.
— Henry Louis Gates Jr.
i
mass vaccination.
Many black historical figures such as
Onesimus cling to the margins o f history,
or have disappeared altogether. Now, two
Harvard University scholars, Henry Louis
G a te s Jr. and E v ely n
B rooks
Higginbotham, have begun an ambitious
undertaking: restoring forgotten or little-
known black Americans to their place in
history.
The African American National Biogra
Ask
rights activist Whitney Moore Young Jr.
Between are about 6(M) biographies, some
o f them household names such as the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr., comedian Bill
Cosby and National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice. Many othernames have
been revived from attics, dusty archives
and history’s hidden pages.
“You can’t restore what has been truly
lost. You have to find it first, preserve it
and then put it in the mainstream,” said
Dear Deanna!
Ö
«
3
3
3
3
around. I enjoy sex w ith my wife and
w ith other men on the side. Nobody
says anything when people cheat with
the opposite sex but they go o ff when
people cheat with the sam e sex. Just
because a few men w ho do this have
sexually transm itted d iseases d o esn ’t
mean we all are infected. T h ere’s n oth
ing wrong with this and we need justice.
- Big John; St. Louis, Mo.
Real People, Real Advice
\n advice column known /or
its /earless approach to reality \
based subjects!
play Russian R oulette with HIV and
your sex life, you should have stayed
single. It’s w rong because y o u ’re co m
m itting adultery, secretly setting your
w ife up for diseases and severely in
sulting G o d ’s plan for m arriage. W ant
ju stice ? Y ou’ve ju st bought y o u rself a
ticket to Hell with gasoline pants on.
I’m one o f those men being blasted with
the u n d erc o v er b ro th er s tu ff going
Dear Big John:
Y ou ’re a selfish, im m ature and nasty
person. Y ou should be asham ed o f your
self because your wife d o e sn 't deserve
this kind o f betrayal. If you w anted to
Dear Deanna!
W hy does everybody bash reality tele
vision show s? I love them and think
th e y ’re very entertaining and reflect
real life. If Ico u ld , I would definitely go
on one and com e out with fame, money
and a good experience. The people that
play hater on these show s are only mad
because they a re n ’t on television.
- Shannon; Greensboro, N.C.
Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Signed as a novelty player to bring in fans,
she kept pace with male players and, in
1953, singled off legendary pitcher Satchel
Paige in an exhibition game.
Gates said he recently secured funds to
have the books put in every public school
library in Boston, New Orleans. Seattle, and
Washington, D.C., and is hoping to get the
works into schools in other cities. His hope
is that teachers will use the books to show
that black heroes aren’t only found among
sports rosters and on rap labels.
Dear Shannon:
haps they have different agendas in the
relationship. Why should he satisfy her
unhappiness when h e’s handling his
business as a husband? I’ve experi
enced this situation before with 3 o f my
friends and it seem s that Paul deserves
Wake up and smell the year 2(M)4. Some of
these reality programs prosper by making
people look like fools, thus, William Hung
and Omarosa. No matter how many phone
votes or scripted episodes, the networks
already know the winners. If anyone gets
upset, its’ probably because o f the stu
pidity o f the show. Go get your 15 minutes
o f fame. Y ou'll make a great guest on a
soap opera which I’m sure you also think
is real.
Dear Deanna:
I read the advice you gave Paul w hose
wife was partying with her friends. I feel
your advice was m isguided and you
suggested he needed to change to ac
com m odate his w ife’s problem s. Per
better. - Shadston; Houston. Texas
Dear Shadston:
Hallelujah! Now that’s a response from a
real man that I take my hat off to. You’re
absolutely right and I understand that
sometimes a more objective perspective
may need to be taken. Now that you think
about it, Paul does deserve better. If his
club hopping wife isn't happy then they
need to communicate and decide to either
work out the problem or someone has to
“get to stepping!”
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