#205: Jonkonnu (Part 2)

Jonkonnu is very similar to New Orleans second lines, it’s a street parade. During slavery, the enslaved would sing & dance door to door in hopes of gifts. Of the parade, masked performers would too, depict slave life through satire.

#206: Jonkonnu (Part 3)

The origins of the name John Canoe are unknown but my favorite explanation is that he was an Ashanti figure named Jankomo, known for his dance moves of two steps forward & one back. This holiday is celebrated in NC, Belize, the Bahamas & other places

#207: Jamaica (Part 1)

On Christmas Day in 1831, a rebellion that included at least 60,000 slaves in Jamaica began. An economic depression occurred that year which led many poor whites to become allies with the slaves. This encouraged the rebellion.

#208: Jamaica (Part 2)

Prior to the war, Sam Sharpe had been given limited freedom to move around the British Colony, he was the mastermind behind it. A strike was led on Christmas by the enslaved but demands weren’t met which led to cane fields being burnt down.

#209: Jamaica (Part 3)

The next year, the rebellion ended and about 300 were executed for their participation in the war, Sam Sharpe was one of them. However, the Baptist War would encourage the British to eventually emancipate many of their colonies throughout 1838.

#210: Christmas Escape

In 1850, Maryland led with 279 runaways. In 1854 on Christmas Eve, Harriet Tubman went from Philly to Maryland to free her three brothers and other loved ones. On Christmas Day, they officially reached freedom & two years later, she freed her parents.

My first book

amazon.com/Today-Learned-…

#211: Popes (Part 1)

Pope Nicholas V in 1455 established an edict known as the Doctrine of Discovery which legally called for the colonization of all colored people in the world who weren’t Christian “to those in the remotest parts unknown to us, all who were enemies of Christ”.

#212: Popes (Part 2)

On June 7, 1494, Pope Alexander VI divided the world in two. Spain was in competition with Portugal to secure new lands, so the Pope initiated the Treaty of Tordesillas(where the meeting for the compromise occurred). This made the division official.

#213: Uncle Tom (Part 1)

The real Uncle Tom was an escaped slave turned abolitionist named Josiah Henson(relative of Taraji). In 1830, him & his family walked 600 miles to Canada for their freedom. It’s recorded that he helped free 118 slaves.

#214: Margaret Garner (Part 1)

Garner was a slave who lived in Kentucky during the Pre Civil War era and in 1856, her and her family escaped to Ohio. After her husband was retrieved and the remainder of her family was surrounded at their hideout, things took a turn.