Black history runs deep in Cortland County
This image shows Samuel Ringgold Ward, who was a pastor in Cortland from 1846 to 1851.
The story of Black history in the greater Cortland area is a conflict of progressive ideals against human realities.
A Black pastor led an all-white church, but faced racism.
An interracial and coeducational school had a professor and former student run out of town because of their interracial relationship.
The 20th Century would see greater respect for Black people in Cortland, as the likes of Black Olympians, singers and political activists would all make appearances in the city.
Here are some of the stories of how Black people brought their influence to Cortland County.
When Julian DeShazier, a 37-year-old Black pastor, marches in Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, he removes his clerical collar – a symbol of authority – and follows the instructions of organisers, many of whom are younger than him, and many of whom are women.
DeShazier and members of his Hyde Park University Church in Chicago, Illinois, decided that the youth, whom he describes as “faithful, but secular”, are “best positioned to lead this movement right now”. The role of the Church is “to be supportive of them in offering ourselves in the ways they show us they need us and to fill in the gaps as well.”
Rosa Parks sitting on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., in 1956. (Getty Images)
The boycott was a defining moment in the civil rights movement and helped thrust Martin Luther King Jr. and his commitment to nonviolent resistance into the spotlight.
Read on for more details on the events surrounding the boycott.
Rosa Parks was not the first African American to refuse to give up her seat
A 15-year-old girl, Claudette Colvin, was arrested on March 2, 1955 – nine months before Parks – for refusing to give up her seat aboard a Montgomery bus. While Black leaders in the city prepared to protest, they stopped short after discovering that Colvin was pregnant and believed she was not an appropriate figure for their cause, according to History.com.
Montgomery County probate displays historic archives for Black History Month
Montgomery County probate displays historic archives for Black History Month By Bethany Davis | February 17, 2021 at 9:36 AM CST - Updated February 17 at 10:18 AM
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - The Montgomery County Probate Office is releasing a series of videos to mark Black History Month. The videos focus on some of the historical documents of the Montgomery County Archives.
According to the probate office, the featured items included the original iconic arrest booking photo of Rosa Parks in February 1956. Parks was part of the mass arrest of Montgomery Improvement Association members who violated Alabama’s anti-boycott law. Also included are booking photos of other Montgomery civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., E.D. Nixon, Joanne Robinson.
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Protest expert Aldon Morris explains how social justice movements succeed
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Aldon Morris Aldon Morris is Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University and president of the American Sociological Association. His landmark books include
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Aldon Morris Aldon Morris is Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University and president of the American Sociological Association. His landmark books include Credit: Nick Higgins
One evening nine years ago 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was walking through a Florida neighborhood with candy and iced tea when a vigilante pursued him and ultimately shot him dead. The killing shocked me back to the summer of 1955, when as a six-year-old boy I heard that a teenager named Emmett Till had been lynched at Money, Miss., less than 30 miles from where I lived with my grandparents. I remember the nightmares, the trying