In the 1860 census in the South, there were 500,000 mulatto or mixed race slaves and 350,000 slave owners. Thus, every slave owner had on average produced more than one slave child. The slave children of former President Thomas Jefferson, and their direct descendants, are among the most carefully studied families in the history of America because of their outstanding achievements up to and including Chairman of the Board of DuPont Chemical Corporation. Thomas Jefferson is considered the greatest and most brilliant statesman this country has ever produced. Moreover, among the founding fathers, he was the one who was the most vocal opponent of slavery and did the most to contribute to its abolition. He wrote the Declaration of Independence with a clause opposing slavery, which was taken out at the insistence of the other signers. He wrote the Northwest Ordinance in 1783, and included a clause that prohibited slavery in the new areas of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803, and included a provision, which prohibited the introduction of slavery into these new areas. While president, Thomas Jefferson pushed through Congress a bill in 1808, which prohibited the importation of slaves and authorized the U.S. Navy to seize and confiscate ships containing slaves on the high seas. Thomas Jefferson was married to Martha Wayles, the daughter of John Wayles, for 10 years before she died in 1776. Upon the death of Martha Wayles and her father, Jefferson inherited 11,000 acres of land and 135 slaves. Sally Hemmings was one of the slaves inherited. She was also a daughter of John Wayles and an African slave, and thus his wife's half sister. Jefferson fell in love with this mulatto slave after she accompanied his daughter to France, where he was U.S. Ambassador in 1787. Their first son "Tom" was born in 1789. Sally Hemmings produced Beverly Hemmings in 1798, while Thomas Jefferson was Vice President, and three other children while Jefferson was President, including Harriet in 1801, Madison in 1805, and Eston in 1808. Beverly and Harriet Hemmings were allowed to run away in 1822. Harriet married a White person and never acknowledged her parents. Beverly ended up in England where he also passed for White. His great-grandson, Edward Graham Jefferson, migrated back to the U.S. and became a naturalized American citizen. He subsequently became CEO of DuPont Chemical Corporation, retiring in 1986 and was a member of the Board at AT&T Corporation, Chemical Bank, and Seagram Corporation. Sally Hemming's first son, Tom, eventually married Jemima, the slave daughter of a master named Drury Woodson, and changed his name to Tom Woodson. He became the distributor of an abolitionist newspaper and a leader in the Black community. Federal Judge Timothy Lewis in 1991, became the first prominent person to admit publicly that he was a descendant of Sally Hemmings and son, Tom Woodson. This was only after his Senate confirmation hearings. Most descendants were ashamed of their slave ancestry. Frederick Madison Roberts, the grandson of Madison Hemmings, became the first Black man ever elected to the State Assembly of California. He also became a close friend of Earl Warren and helped found UCLA, that is, the University of California at Los Angeles. Sally Hemming's last born son, Eston, had a son named John Wayles Jefferson who founded the Continental Cotton Company, which was very successful. Thomas Jefferson was the most vocal opponent against slavery and spent his entire life working for the abolition of slavery. He strongly believed that “all men are created equal” and that they could achieve equally if only given the opportunity. Jefferson would be proud to know that his slave children confirmed his theory about racial equality by their outstanding achievements.
I was
quite honored when Brad Pye Jr. asked me to write the foreword to his
outstanding autobiographical book considering all the very
distinguished people he could have chosen. Brad has uplifted the
lives of thousands of people during his 60 plus years in Los Angeles
and several of those deeds are outlined in this work. I am sure his
toughest job was choosing which appreciation letters, tributes, and
award documents to include in this outstanding compilation.
When I
was recently asked who the real American heroes were, I answered that
I most admired people who had dedicated their lives toward uplifting
the lives of their fellow man and especially people less fortunate
than themselves. In fact, I am in awe of people who have helped
disenfranchised, bright, gifted, deserving, needy African Americans
break through racial barriers and injustices. This esteemed group
includes people like John Brown and Marcus Garvey. Brad Pye in my
eyes has spent no less energy trying to help others.
John
Brown dedicated his life toward the emancipation of all slaves. He
actively campaigned to establish African American schools and helped
Oberlin College to open its doors to “Negroes” in 1839. John
Brown volunteered to personally teach Black farmers in New York how
to clean up and plant farmland that he had convinced a wealthy New
York landowner to donate. When slavery appeared to have no end, John
Brown died trying to steal enough weapons to allow slaves to fight
for their own freedom.
Marcus
Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Harlem
in 1918. His vision was to organize the Black race through race
pride, education, self-reliance, and economic development. Garvey
attempted to promote race pride by stressing the importance of the
historical accomplishments of people of African descent. He said “we
were once masters in art, science, and literature”, and “whatsoever
a Black man has done a Black man can do.” Self-reliance and
economic development was Garvey’s second major theme. His ultimate
objective was to manufacture every marketable commodity and to
establish factories that could employ and train thousands of Black
workers. Although Marcus Garvey did not achieve all his goals, his
spirit fortunately lives though the millions of people he has
inspired and uplifted. I am convinced part of that spirit reached
Brad Pye Jr.
Brad
Pye Jr.’s humble beginning started in Plain Dealing, Louisiana. In
1943 at the age of 12, he convinced a person driving to Los Angeles
to allow him to ride along for $5. His loving mother steered him
toward friends and joined him six years later. Brad parlayed this
non air-conditioned journey into a magnificent career as an award
winning manager and sports editor of the Los Angeles Sentinel
newspaper and as the sports director of multiple radio stations for
many years including KGFJ, KJLH, KACE, and KDAY.
Brad’s
outstanding sports journalism career provided him the opportunity to
obtain a lofty civic stature and to befriend numerous sport owners
and upper management personnel. He used those inroads to increase
awareness of racial injustices and inequalities and to promote
opportunities for qualified African Americans in numerous endeavors.
For over 50 years Brad used his influence and “insider” leverage
to help break racial barriers in every major sport including
football, baseball, boxing, and track and field. Brad was there when
Aaron Wade became the first African American to be named an American
Football league (AFL) official and when Eldridge Dickey became the
first Black American quarterback drafted into the NFL. As a good
friend, recruiter, and “Administrative Assistant” to Oakland
Raider owner Al Davis, Brad encouraged the first aggressive football
recruiting from historically Black colleges. This foresight helped
the Raiders win 3 Super bowl championships. It is also no
coincidence that Al Davis hired Art Shell as the first Black American
head football coach in the NFL.
In
professional baseball, Brad also worked tirelessly to promote Black
“firsts”. He and others wrote numerous letters and met
personally with the late Dodger owner Walter O’Malley. Eventually,
Emmet Ashford became the first African American umpire called up to
the Major league. Brad and others like Wendell Smith of the
Pittsburgh Courier newspaper also helped promote the acceptance of
major league baseball stars like Sam Lacey and Jackie Robinson who
became his very close friend.
Although
Brad is well known for promoting prep athletes at major southern
California universities like UCLA and USC, he is just as recognized
for obtaining press box accommodations for Black journalists in
Southern California. Black journalists are now a staple in the press
boxes of the Dodgers, Lakers and all other major sporting events.
Brad
Pye Jr.’s great career also touched the lives of numerous non
athletes. Among those who thank him and sing his praises include the
late Attorney Johnnie Cochran who thanked him for 30 years of
friendship and promotion long before the national media “discovered”
him. Personally, my story is not unlike Attorney Cochran. When I
told Brad that I had difficulty establishing my private practice as
the only Black Retinal specialist on the West Coast, he told me not
to worry. He subsequently published my resume in the Los Angeles
Sentinel newspaper and appointed me to the State Boxing Commission
and the State Athletic Commission. To demonstrate his trust, he even
sent his mother to me shortly thereafter when she developed a retinal
detachment. I cherish our 30 year friendship.
I am
confident that after reading this autobiographic collection of
letters, tributes, and awards, the reader will be amazed at what one
man can accomplish for his fellow man when intensely motivated.
Perhaps this book can inspire the reader to also help others.
Whitney, T. (1975) The Descendants of the Presidents. Charlotte, NC: Delmar Printing Co.
Five Black Presidents Text
Joel A. Rogers and Dr. Auset Bakhufu have both
written books documenting that at least five former presidents of the United
States had Black people among their ancestors.
If one considers the fact that European men far outnumbered European
women during the founding of this country, and that the rape and impregnation
of an African female slave was not considered a crime, it is even more
surprising that these two authors could not document Black ancestors among an ever
larger number of former presidents. The
presidents they name include Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln,
Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge.
The best case for Black ancestry is against
Warren G. Harding, our 29th president from 1921 until 1923. Harding himself never denied his
ancestry. When Republican leaders called
on Harding to deny the "Negro" history, he said, "How should I
know whether or not one of my ancestors might have jumped the fence."
William Chancellor, a White professor of economics and politics at Wooster
College in Ohio, wrote a book on the Harding family genealogy and identified
Black ancestors among both parents of President Harding. Justice Department agents allegedly bought
and destroyed all copies of this book. Chancellor also said that Harding's only
academic credentials included education at Iberia College, which was founded in
order to educate fugitive slaves.
Andrew Jackson was our 7th president from 1829
to 1837. The Virginia Magazine of
History, Volume 29, says that Jackson was the son of a White woman from Ireland
who had intermarried with a Negro. The
magazine also said that his eldest brother had been sold as a slave in
Carolina. Joel Rogers says that Andrew
Jackson Sr. died long before President Andrew Jackson Jr. was born. He says the
president's mother then went to live on the Crawford farm where there were
Negro slaves and that one of these men was Andrew Jr.'s father. Another account of the "brother sold
into slavery” story can be found in David Coyle's book entitled "Ordeal of
the Presidency" (1960).
Thomas Jefferson was our 3rd
president from 1801 to 1809. The chief
attack on Jefferson was in a book written by Thomas Hazard in 1867 called
"The Johnny Cake Papers."
Hazard interviewed Paris Gardiner, who said he was present during the
1796 presidential campaign, when one speaker states that Thomas Jefferson was
“a mean-spirited son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto
father.” In his book entitled "The
Slave Children of Thomas Jefferson," Samuel Sloan wrote that Jefferson
destroyed all of the papers, portraits, and personal effects of his mother,
Jane Randolph Jefferson, when she died on March 31, 1776. He even wrote letters to every person who had
ever received a letter from his mother, asking them to return that letter. Sloan says, "There is something strange
and even psychopathic about the lengths to which Thomas Jefferson went to
destroy all remembrances of his mother, while saving over 18,000 copies of his
own letters and other documents for posterity." One must ask, "What is it he was trying
to hide?"
Abraham Lincoln was our 16th president from
1861 to 1865. J. A. Rogers quotes
Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, as saying that Abraham Lincoln was the
illegitimate son of an African man.
William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, said that Lincoln had very dark
skin and coarse hair and that his mother was from an Ethiopian tribe. In Herndon's book entitled "The Hidden
Lincoln" he says that Thomas Lincoln could not have been Abraham Lincoln's
father because he was sterile from childhood mumps and was later
castrated. Lincoln's presidential
opponents made cartoon drawings depicting him as a Negro and nicknamed him
“Abraham Africanus the First."
Calvin Coolidge was our 30th president, and he
succeeded Warren Harding. He proudly
admitted that his mother was dark because of mixed Indian ancestry. However, Dr. Bakhufu says that by 1800 the
New England Indian was hardly any longer pure Indian, because they had mixed so
often with Blacks. Calvin Coolidge's
mother's maiden name was "Moor."
In Europe the name "Moor" was given to all Black people just
as the name Negro was used in America.
All of the presidents mentioned were able to
pass for White and never acknowledged their Black ancestry. Millions of other children who were
descendants of former slaves have also been able to pass for White. American society has had so much interracial
mixing that books such as “The Bell Curve”, discussing IQ evaluations based
solely on race, are totally unrealistic.
Dr. LeRoy Vaughn, MD, MBA The link below is to a really great article on Dr. Leroy Vaughn, MD, MBA, Historian and Honorary Nigerian African Chief. The latter title he earned for raising the funds to transport his staff to Africa to do free eye surgeries in Nigeria for people who needed them. He is a most extraordinary man, and his staff have proven to be equally noble.
California's Dr. Vaughn is also an evolutionary Black History speaker and historian since the 1960's who wrote the book BLACK PEOPLE AND THEIR PLACE IN WORLD HISTORY. This breathtaking book covers the subject from ancient times to the late 20th Century. From The Morningside Park Chronicle "Inglewood is home to one of the most renowned ophthalmologists and Black historians. Until now, many people may not have been aware of his presence. Dr. Leroy William Vaughn practices eye care at 323 North Prairie Ave, Suite 217 in Inglewood 90301. He is a diabetic eye specialist and well known for his work regarding glaucoma too. He has received many awards over the years, one of which was from former President Bill Clinton thanking him for his service to patients. Dr. Vaughn has acquired many titles over the years: doctor, historian and African Chief. He received a Bachelors of Science degree at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, before going on to acquire a medical degree at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. He interned at North Carolina Memorial Hospital and never ceased to slow in his practices once he started. So how did Dr. Vaughn become such a dynamic person?
A part of this story started in the 1990s. He was recognized in the field of history for his 2002 book, Black People And Their Place In World History. He has been studying black history since the 1960s and is very knowledgeable in black people’s true place in history."
To get your copy of Dr Vaughn's amazing Black history book that covers from ancient times to the mid 20th century titled BLACK PEOPLE AND THEIR PLACE IN WORLD HISTORY visit Amazon for a paperback, Lulu for a $10 .pdf ebook edition. Lulu also has a beautiful collector's quality hard copy edition.
Reading is a great place to start understanding where we've been so we can make smart decisions on where we are going. Below is the bibliography from the boo that is available on amazon.com
Bibliography For Additional Research and
Understanding
Reading is a great place to start. Below is the bibliography from the book
Bohlen, C. “Does She Say the Same Things in her Native Tongue?” New York Times, May 18, 1986 Felder, J. (1992) From the Statue of Liberty to the Statue of Bigotry. New York: Jack Felder. Felder, J. “Black Origins and Lady Liberty.” Daily Challenge. July 16, 1990 Felder, J. “This Miss.Liberty Was Modeled on Racism.” Black American, July 3, 1986. Robinson, C. & Battle, R. (1987) The Journey of the Songhai People. Philadelphia: Farmer Press Sinclair, T. Was Original Statue a Tribute to Blacks? New York Voice, July 5, 1986 The New York Post, “Statue of Liberty” June 17, 1986.
