THE THIBODAUX MASSACRE (NOVEMBER 23, 1887)

CONTRIBUTED BY: KC WASHINGTON

The Thibodaux Massacre took place in Thibodaux, Louisiana on November 23, 1887. Black sugar cane workers, determined to unionize for a living wage, chose to combine their minimal power during the crucial harvest season. Instead, their actions sparked a massacre.

With echoes of the bondage their ancestors had experienced during slavery, the cane workers protested the harsh working conditions, long hours, and starvation wages. They were fed subsistence meals and paid as little as 42 cents a day with scrip which could only be used in plantation stores.

The Knights of Labor, one of the few labor unions to organize blacks, encouraged the sugar cutters to demand better treatment and $1.25 a day in cash. The Knights had tried unsuccessfully to organize the workers in 1874, 1880, and again in 1883 but had been blocked all three times. But the cutters thought the results might be different in 1887, when the Knights urged them to wait until the rolling season was almost underway to propose making a stand. During the rolling season, there was a narrow window of time to harvest the cane and unlike with cotton growers, the planters were unable to attract enough strikebreakers from out of the area because of the low pay they offered. With this strategy in mind, Junius Bailey, a 29-year-old schoolteacher and the president of the Terrebonne chapter of the Knights of Labor, went directly to the growers with the sugar cutter’s demands.

When the growers refused to negotiate and fired the union members on November 22, the strike was called and for the next three weeks an estimated 10,000 workers (the largest such action in the farming industry) went on strike, affecting four parishes: Lafourche, Terrebonne, St. Mary, and Assumption.

Meanwhile, white vigilantes locked down Thibodaux and went door to door attempting to identify strikers and demanding passes from any blacks going in and out of town. As morning broke on November 23 shots rang out from a cornfield and two white guards were injured. At that point, the massacre began.

The planters persuaded Governor Samuel D. McEnery, a Democrat and former sugar planter, to unleash several units of the all-white state militia. Commanded by ex-Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard, the militia brought a .45 caliber Gatling gun while the paramilitary groups set up outside of the Thibodaux courthouse. Both the militia and white vigilantes went door to door shooting suspected strikers and those unlucky enough to cross their path.

The indiscriminate killing left approximately 60 people dead. The bodies of many of the strikers were dumped in unmarked graves. Those who survived hid in the woods and swamps as the killings spread to other plantations.

Although the Thibodaux Massacre was one of the deadliest episodes in United States labor history, the Southern white press heralded the action of the militia and vigilantes. Sugar planter Andrew Price, who participated in the attacks, won a seat in Congress in 1888. Statues were erected and public areas named after many involved in the unlawful killings while the workers, including women and children, went anonymous, their murders marked only by their loved ones. Black farm workers wouldn’t attempt to unionize in earnest again until the 1930s.

UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1948)

CONTRIBUTED BY: BLACKPAST

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
 
Article 1.
•    All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.
•    Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.
•    Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4.

•    No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.
•    No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.
•    Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.
•    All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.
•    Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.
•    No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.
•    Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.
•    (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
•    (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.
•    No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.
•    (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
•    (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.
•    (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
•    (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.
•    (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
•    (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.
•    (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
•    (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
•    (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.
•    (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
•    (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.
•    Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.
•    Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.
•    (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
•    (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.
•    (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
•    (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
•    (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.
•    Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.
•    (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
•    (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
•    (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
•    (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.
•    Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.
•    (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
•    (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.
•    (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
•    (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
•    (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.
•    (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
•    (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.
•    Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.
•    (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
•    (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
•    (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.
•    Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

BRITISH WEST INDIAN REGIMENT (BWIR), THE (1915-1918)

CONTRIBUTED BY: VIRGILLO HUNTER

British West Indies Regiment, Amiens Road near Albert, September 1916

Image courtesy Imperial War Museum (Q1201)

On August 4, 1914, Britain joined the Great War. The First World War, 1914-1918, is usually viewed as a predominantly white European conflict. In fact, many Africans, Asians, black Britons, and Caribbeans fought for the British Empire. At the beginning of the war, the British War Office, however, was reluctant to allow blacks to enlist in the British Army, fearing it would create racial tension in the ranks.

By early 1915, the British Colonial Office and War Office, despite their differences on allowing blacks into the British Army, agreed that Britain needed reinforcement from the colonies. With the support of King George V, in April 1915, a West Indian contingent was formed from colonial volunteers who had enlisted.

On October 26, 1915, the British West Indian Regiment (BWIR) was established and made official with Army Order Number Four in 1916. The BWIR was created as a separate unit within the British Army. The regiment mainly attracted men from the Caribbean, particularly from Jamaica. Men from the continent of Africa, from India, and black Britons, who were eager to support “the mother country“ but refused entry into white units of the British Army because of their race, also joined the BWIR. Although the BWIR had 12 battalions, all commanding officers in the regiment were required to be white, and blacks and other men of color did not rise above the rank of sergeant. Nonetheless, by November 1918, the BWIR had recruited over 15,000 men.

By the time the regiment was sent to the front lines in March 1916, the British Army was already engaged in war in Africa, Europe, and the Mediterranean.  Black soldiers were rarely given combat assignments, but when given the opportunity to fight, they performed as well as white soldiers. Many of their victories, however, were either downplayed or claimed by white commanding officers and soldiers.

Between 1916 and 1917, soldiers of the BWIR was stationed in France, Egypt, Belgium, West Africa, South Africa, and the Middle East. They spent most of their time during the war doing labor-intensive work such as digging trenches and laying telephone wires. Because of this, unarmed BWIR soldiers were consistently in the line of fire and suffered numerous casualties. The BWIR finally saw combat in Egypt and Palestine in 1917. In September 1918, the 1st and 2nd battalions were instrumental in defeating the Turkish position on the Bahr Ridge in the Jordan Valley.

When World War I ended with the Armistice of November 11, 1918, many demobilized BWIR soldiers returned to the Caribbean, where their presence was met with ambivalence unlike returning white soldiers in Britain. Demobbed BWIR soldiers, however, later led political and independence movements in Jamaica and other colonies.

Although most World War I BWIR service records were destroyed in an air raid during the Second World War, some BWIR soldiers were eventually recognized as war heroes and bestowed military medals.  Two were given the Member of the British Empire (MBE) medals. On June 22, 2017, the African and Caribbean War Memorial was unveiled on Windrush Square in the Brixton section of London to memorialize the African and Caribbean men who fought and the women who volunteered to defend the British Empire.