May 5th, 2021 Bad Brad
By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP Doctor Eisman, is in Family Practice in Aventura, Florida with her partner, Dr. Eugene Eisman, an internist/cardiologist
Sir Galahad, the Siberian Husky of the Curmudgeon family, who guides the smooth running of our household, has requested that Renpet write today’s column. Long time readers of this discourse may recall that Renpet is a feline Curmudgeon. She has spent years doing ‘whatever’ for the CIA. Supposedly, she has retired; but there are frequent occasions when she leaves the residence, whisked away by two leggeds in dark suits. They all have earphones and bulges under their jackets. The Curmudgeon family has learned to ignore these absences.
February is
Black History Month, it’s something that no American of any race, color, or creed should forget. African Americans, the decendants of slaves and slaves themselves fought for freedom that was only at best was in the
promissory note of the
Emancipation Proclamation.
Those men, and women in the case of Harriett Tubman and Sojourner Truth, paved the way for freedom for African Americans and all others who benefited from what they fought for: women, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and other Hispanics, Asian Americans, and LGBTQ Americans.
That promise being made then, must be kept today, to the descendents of this men, as well as all who benefited through their sacrifice: even the Southern Whites who at the time did not know then, or all too often today, that they too needed emancipation.
William Brown Cooper (1811–1900), Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain
The presidency of Andrew Johnson arrived as the result of a tragedy that shook the nation. Johnson who was born on this day 210 years ago took office after Abraham Lincoln was shot by assassin John Wilkes Booth in 1865. But that was far from the only notable milestone in Johnson’s term. In addition to buying Alaska, he became the first American president to face the consequences of impeachment. Keep reading for more on Johnson’s hardscrabble life and tenure as U.S. president.
1. Andrew Johnson never went to school.
Born in December 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina to two working-class parents, Johnson enjoyed few privileges while growing up. His childhood home was a log cabin; following the death of his father in 1812, he worked instead of attending school and apprenticed as a tailor. Though Johnson taught himself the fundamentals of reading, he didn’t receive a formal education until marrying Eliza McCa
Today is the 157th anniversary of the
Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation made by
Abraham Lincoln when the outcome of the rebellion of the Southern slave states against the Union was still up in the air was a watershed for civil rights in the United States. Though it was a military order that only affected slaves in the rebellious states, it also set the stage for the
13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and other legal rulings that affected not only African Americans and former slaves, but also Native Americans, Women, other racial minorities and LGBTQ people. It is something that in our era when so many civil rights are under threat that we must remember and continue to fight for in the coming years. Freedom is never free.