On April 25, 1864 — 15 months after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863 — Annie Davis, a slave,  sent this letter to the White House:

Belair [Md.]  Aug 25^th 1864

Mr president  It is my Desire to be free. To go to see my people on the eastern shore.  My mistress wont let me. You will please let me know if we are free. And what i can do.  I write to you for advice.  Please send me word this week. Or as soon as possible and oblidge.

Annie Davis

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Madam C. J.Walker died on this day at the age of 51 in 1919.  Upon her death she was considered to be the wealthiest black woman in America and known to be the first African-American woman millionaire.  Some sources cite her as the first self-made American woman millionaire. Her daughter Lelia succeeded her as president of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company.

“I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations….I have built my own factory on my own ground.”                                                                             

-Madam Walker, National Negro Business League Convention, July 1912

Color guard of Negro engineers, Ft. Belvoir(?), [Va.]

[between 1941 and 1945]

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsac.1a35472/

Found at http://www.loc.gov/

vintageblack2:

Wearing authentic U.S. Army uniforms depicting service of black soldiers from Revolutionary War to Vietnam, are (clockwise from top) SFC Joe M. Taylor, Revolutionary War; M/Sgt. Army A. Brown, War of 1812; S/Sgt. Steven J. Shepherd, WWI; S/Sgt. Walter C. Cleveland, WWII ; S/Sgt. Alexander C, DuBose, Vietnam; SFC George F. Stuart, Korean War; SFC Thomas J. Evans, Spanish War; S/Sgt. Joe L. Jones, Civil War. Soldiers pictured have a total of 127 years in Army.

         (Source: Ebony Magazine, Aug, 1968)

vintageblack2:

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS In the 1930s, two white prostitutes falsely accused nine black men of gang-rape, in order to avoid facing other police charges. Click the link to read more about the Scottsboro trials.

Lena Baker: The Only Woman Executed by Electrocution In Georgia

 ”What I done, I did in self-defense, or I would have been killed myself. Where I was I could not overcome it. God has forgiven me. I have nothing against anyone. I picked cotton for Mr. Pritchett, and he has been good to me. I am ready to go. I am one in the number. I am ready to meet my God. I have a very strong conscience.”

New York’s famous 369th regiment arrives home from France, 1919.
Nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, the 369th Regiment was the first all-black regiment to fight in World War I. They arrived in France in 1918 and fought on the front lines for six months, longer than any other American unit during the war. Source: ca. 1919, Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, MD.