Episodes Nearest to February 21, 1895 to February 22, 1895: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. North Carolina Legislature Adjourns for Frederick Douglass's Death
    date February 21, 1895 to February 22, 1895map WAKE, North Carolinatags African-Americans, Health/Death

    The day after Frederick Douglass's death, on February 21, 1895, the North Carolina legislature adjourned for a day to honor Douglass. The legislature was dominated by black republicans and white populists who voted in favor of the adjournment, while all of the Democrats voted against it. <br />Representative Crews, an African American from Granville County brought the resolution before...

  2. Black Laborers Attacked
    date February, 1895 to March 13, 1895map ORLEANS, Louisianatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Race-Relations

    In February of 1895, the Harrison Steamship Line of Liverpool discharged many white longshoremen and screwmen in New Orleans, Louisiana and contracted 300 non-union and unskilled black workers. Other shipping firms followed suit. The firms, which appealed to the US Courts for protection, claimed that they hired blacks, not because they would work for lower wages, but because the central issue...

  3. Death of Frederick Douglass
    date February 20, 1895map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags African-Americans, Health/Death, Race-Relations

    On February 20, 1895, after attending a women's rights meeting, Frederick Douglass was struck by a heart attack and died at the age of 77. Crowds gathered to pay their respects at the Washington Church where he lay in state. His body was later brought to Rochester, N.Y., where he was laid to rest.<br />Douglass was born a slave in Talbot County, Maryland in 1818* (exact date unknown;...

  4. Charleston Suffers a Cold Spell
    date February, 1895 to March, 1895map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Agriculture, Health/Death

    In February of 1895, Charleston experienced the coldest winter ever on record up to that date. It reached a low of twelve degrees Fahrenheit. Entire crops of strawberries, cabbage, lettuce, and peas were destroyed both within the city and across the state. The cold weather decimated both the city's food supply and its ability to export food products. While the account of the cold spell focuses...

  5. Ignoble and Impotent
    date March 4, 1895map ARKANSAS, Arkansastags Crime/Violence, Economy, Government, Politics

    On the evening of Monday March 4, 1895, the Fifty-third Congress came to an end. The headlines that ran in the New York Times that day took the opportunity to let lose a harsh critique on that particular Congress. They read: A DISGRACE TO AMERICA, FAITHLESS TO PARTY AND COUNTRY, and, NO ONE REGRETS THE DISSOLUTION. The prestigious newspaper commented on the corruption and ineptitude of the political...

  6. The St. Louis Brown Stocking Ball Club
    date March 4, 1895 to March 5, 1895map ST LOUIS CITY, Missouritags Arts/Leisure

    The New York Times reported that the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs was on the verge of dissolution on Monday March 4, 1895. National League Baseball was founded slightly before Major League Baseball. The Major League was founded in the early 1900s and since then the two leagues have competed in an annual series of games called the World Series. At the time of the reported...

  7. A Reporters Response to Frederick Douglass
    date March 7, 1895map BEAUFORT, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Education

    On March 7, 1895 an African American reporter wrote quite a compelling article in New South, a local black newspaper in Beaufort, South Carolina. The article told the story of a slave boy abandoned at a young age who had to scrounge for food in order to survive. The author explained the many hardships and troubles this black youth experienced throughout his life. As the boy grew older he learned...

  8. Sanitation in Medicine
    date March 9, 1895map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Health/Death, Science/Technology

    On March 9th, 1895, the Times and Registrar published an article detailing a new hypodermic syringe. Its sleek design, metal casing surrounding a sanitary inner glass chamber, was the newest in medical technology. A screw-on needle kept the syringe itself from being dangerous, decreasing the chance of sticks and accidents. Though the metal casing itself could be used many times,...

  9. Georgia Lynchings & Murder
    date January, 1895 to May 22, 1895map MONTGOMERY, Georgiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Race-Relations

    In the first half of 1895, four black men were lynched by whites in Georgia. On May 22, 1895, Sheriff George Dunham went to the residence of William Connell in Dublin, Georgia to investigate claims that Connell had beaten his wife. According to a Georgia newspaper, the Atlanta Constitution, which claimed it represented “the true facts of the case,' Connell opened the door when the Sheriff...

  10. Sex Across The Color Line
    date March 16, 1895map HENRICO, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Race-Relations, Slavery, Women

    The town did not look on Thomas J. Penn, a prominent white man, with favor as they suspected him of committing a rape and two murders. In Danville, Virginia, Penn raped ten year old, defenseless Lina Hanna. Penn, her owner, badly injured Hanna, an African American, who was very lucky to have survived. The rape was not the only disaster in this story. The biggest mystery of all was the disappearance...

  11. Railroad Ruckus
    date January 30, 1895map HAWKINS, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    On an ordinary day in Rogersville the Southern Railway train, run by Conductor Shell, pulled into the station to unload its cargo of flour and take on the next load of lumber. Lewis Boyd, a black man, hopped up into the car to help unload the flour. As he removed the sacks of flour from the car, he happened to throw some of them to the ground. Conductor Shell reprimanded Boyd for his carelessness...

  12. Black Emigrate to Liberia
    date March 18, 1895 to March 19, 1895map CHATHAM, Georgiatags African-Americans, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations

    Emigration of African-Americans back to Africa was not a new idea in 1895. In fact, many of the colonizing missions were quite experienced by 1895 for the missions had taken place since the early nineteenth century. White Americans felt that blacks needed to be removed from society. Prior to the Civil War, many states, including Virginia, had laws which stated that free blacks had to petition...

  13. Feuds Between the North and South
    date January 26, 1895map HENRICO, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Government, Law, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Judge M.L. Buchwalter lived in Cincinnati, Ohio. He convicted a prisoner and sent him to Kentucky. Once he arrived in Kentucky, not long after he got off the train, the prisoner was lynched. This greatly disturbed Judge Buchwalter, and the next time Kentucky asked him to send his prisoner to their state, he worried about what would happen to the prisoner. He first contacted Kentucky and pleaded...

  14. Massachusetts Cotton Mills Move South
    date January 23, 1895map JEFFERSON, Alabamatags Agriculture, Economy

    On January 23, 1895, the Alabama Birmingham Age-Herald published a front page article titled “Beyond Any Doubt, Two leading Cotton Mills of Lowell, Mass. Will Come South and Build.' The Massachusetts legislative committee on mercantile affairs heard the petitions of two cotton mills, Boott and Merrimac, to manufacture goods outside of the commonwealth. The mills were created in 1835 for...

  15. Dissent in the Democratic Party
    date January 16, 1895map CLARKE, Virginiatags Economy, Government, Law, Politics

    Dissent in the Democratic Party

    The big issue leading up to the election of 1896 was the question of the free coinage of silver. With the decline of the economy following Grover Cleveland's election and his repealing of the Sherman Silver Purchase act, his Democratic base began to falter, and the Populist Party support of the free coinage of silver began to invade much of the Democratic...

  16. Birth of Blues Singer, Lyricist, and Actress Alberta Hunter
    date April 1, 1895map SHELBY, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Arts/Leisure

    Alberta Hunter was born on April 1, 1895 in Memphis, Tennessee. Both of her parents were former slaves. At age 15, Hunter left home for Chicago, Illinois, where she launched her singing career, performing with King Oliver's legendary Creole Jazz Band. She came of age as a singer when female musicians received little respect. Her career pinnacled twice: in the 1920s and 1930s, she was one...

  17. Free Silver or Bust
    date April 7, 1895map LIMESTONE, Alabamatags Economy, Government, Law, Politics

    A total of 400 Republicans, Democrats, and Populists declared that they stand emphatically in favor of free silver. Men of all three parties gathered in convention at Athens, Alabama to form themselves into the Central Silver Club. They promised that they would vote for all and only those men who supported the free coinage of silver in the next elections, regardless of the candidate?s party affiliation....

  18. Livestock to Leisure
    date December 16, 1894map HENRICO, Virginiatags Agriculture, Arts/Leisure, Economy, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    On December 16, 1894 a man in Richmond County, Virginia, recorded the weight of hogs that he killed. He killed over 4000 pounds of hogs, but gave away 400 pounds to a friend. Perhaps the meat would provide for his family throughout the cold winter, or he might sell it to a local market. Either way, livestock was an important alternative to crops, which were difficult to depend on as they often had...

  19. Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.
    date April 16, 1895 to May 20, 1895map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags Economy

    The Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. was an important Supreme Court case dealing with the first establishment of an income tax in the United States and the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act of 1894. The Gorman Tariff Act stated that, for a five year period, any “gains, profits and incomes' in excess of 4,000 would be taxed at two percent. In compliance with the Act, the Farmers' Loan...

  20. Halma Wins the Kentucky Derby with African American Jockey
    date May 4, 1895map JEFFERSON, Kentuckytags African-Americans, Arts/Leisure

    Twenty thousand people attended the Kentucky Derby in 1895, the largest crowd ever at the Churchill Downs racetrack. Halma's victory increased morale among Kentuckians because he was the first homebred to claim the Derby title for several years. Halma was hailed as a great horse, worthy of the victory. He had never run a mile and a half before, but his superb breeding (Hanover Julia L.) predicted...

  21. Double Murder in Louisville, Kentucky
    date April 30, 1895 to May 9, 1895map JEFFERSON, Kentuckytags Crime/Violence, Health/Death

    On April 30, 1895, Fulton Gordon murdered his wife, Nellie Bush Gordon and her lover, Arch Dixon Brown. Brown, recently divorced from his wife, was the son of the Kentucky governor. The double murder took place at “the disreputable resort of Lucy Smith, a colored woman,' who was in part blamed for providing accommodations for the illicit lovers. <br /> The murder made the front...

  22. African American Composer William Grant Still is Born
    date May 11, 1895map WILKINSON, Mississippitags African-Americans, Arts/Leisure

    William Grant Still was born on May 11, 1895 in Woodville, Mississippi. His father passed away when Still was only three months old, and he and his mother moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where she soon remarried. As a boy, Still learned to play the oboe and cello and took violin lessons. He soon developed an interest in African American, jazz, popular, opera, and classical genres. Still attended...

  23. Finding Utopia in Baldwin County
    date November, 1894map BALDWIN, Alabamatags Economy, Race-Relations, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    In the summer of 1894 there was hope for a new way of life in the reconstruction of the South. E.B. Gaston took a group of people down to Baldwin County, Alabama on the Mobile Bay. A colony free from all forms of private monopoly, a colony where working people could come together to form a single-tax community was founded. Members of the Fairhope Industrial Association were all followers of economist...

  24. Annual Public School Report of Superintendent
    date September 7, 1894 to 1894map NORFOLK CITY, Virginiatags African-Americans, Education, Race-Relations, Women

    In the Portsmouth Star, Superintendent John C. Ashton reported the public

    school demographics for the year ending July 31, 1894. The school year was in session

    for 195 days in three districts. There was racial segregation at this point with seventeen

    schools for white children and seven for colored children. There were a total of 3,610

    school-aged children and of...

  25. Convention of Free Silver Supporters
    date June 12, 1895 to June 14, 1895map SHELBY, Tennesseetags Economy

    After the Civil War, silver reserves were discovered in the Western United States. Free silver advocates were people who advocated the Federal Government to allow silver to be minted at 1 per troy ounce as opposed to the gold standard which valued gold at 20 per troy ounce. The result of introducing silver into the market would have been an increase in money supply and inflation. Those who backed...