America's Black Founding Fathers, Part 2 By Bob Ellis on June 29th, 2010

America's Black Founding Fathers, Part 2 By Bob Ellis on June 29th, 2010 Several weeks ago, as Glenn Beck continued his "Founders Fridays" shows, he took a look at the (largely) untold story of America's black founding fathers. This was an incredibly popular episode, and I heard from people as far away as Canada–a doctor looking for more information on these remarkable founders. Now Beck has gone back for another round of historical information about America's black founders.  He invited author David Barton back again.  Barton is the author of "American History in Black and White" which has enjoyed brisk sales since Part 1 of America's black founding fathers aired. They begin by looking at Absalom Jones, a black Episcopal preacher and his Thanksgiving Sermon. He was also a physician who worked with Benjamin Rush during the yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793 while our nation's capital was there. The Thanksgiving Sermon was not preached on the American holiday of Thanksgiving, but on January 1, 1808, and from that sermon, here is a clue as to why the sermon was preached on that particular day: Let the first of January, the day of the abolition of the slave trade in our country, be set apart in every year, as a day of publick thanksgiving for that mercy. Let the history of the sufferings of our brethren, and of their deliverance, descend by this means to our children, to the remotest generations; and when they shall ask, in time to come, saying, What mean the lessons, the psalms, the prayers and the praises in the worship of this day? let us answer them, by saying, the Lord, on the day of which this is the anniversary, abolished the trade which dragged your fathers from their native country, and sold them as bondmen in the United States of America. Because the Southern slave states threatened to tear apart the new union of states, the founders compromised on the issue of slavery and set a date in Article 1 Section 9 20 years in the future when the importation of slaves could be outlawed.  This gave something to the slave states which wanted to maintain slavery, yet set a date in the future when the entire country could begin bringing this evil institution to an end.  The alternative would have been the dissolution of the United States with the slave states going their own way…and likely keeping slavery in perpetuity. They also discussed Richard Allen, a black preacher at a white church (a "mega church" for its day) in the 1790s. Others including black Revolutionary War soldiers and elected officials such as Thomas Hercules, elected as clerk in Pennsylvania in 1792–their status achieved and recognized not on the basis of their skin color but their skill and accomplishments. Barton said one of the things that opened his eyes to the role black Americans have played in our history was a time when he was at the Texas state capitol and, between some meetings, he went exploring.  He went back underneath a stairway and found some posters or paintings of various legislatures from years past.   He said some of these were from times when the state legislature was 60-70% black Americans.  He took down some of their names and looked them up, finding they had served in the early days of Texas. Matthew Gaines was one of them; he was a black state senator who started the first faith-based program in the state. Barton said he had found this type of "hidden history" in many of the old Confederate states, where the "losers wrote history" by covering up the history of contributions made by black Americans. Barton told an interesting story that happened during the American Revolution.  The American second-in-command, General Charles Lee, was captured by the British and the only way we could hope to get him back would be to capture a British general for the purpose of prisoner exchange.  American Colonel William Barton staged a covert raid to capture British General Richard Prescott.  Among the 40 men who went with him on the raid was black soldier Jack Sisson who ended up saving the day by breaking open Gen. Prescott's locked door with his own head. During the audience segment, interestingly one young woman who is an attorney said she took African American studies in college and had not heard a lot of the things discussed on the show.  She didn't say just what she did learn in those courses, but I hope it wasn't the kind of stuff being taught by Jeremiah Wright. Yet much of this information has been out there for some time.  David Barton said there was a book written in 1855 by William Nell who was the first black American elected to federal office.  He said the book, called "The colored patriots of the American Revolution," is out of print, but it can be read online at Google Books. The show closed with the recitation by Vanessa Jean Louis of a Marcus Garvey quote which said, "A people without knowledge of their history is like a tree without roots." So true.     Carl Ray Louk "FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996 "LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000 "THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD "EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941 "FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" 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