On December 4, 1969, seemingly every law enforcement agency in our country conspired with a infiltrator​ to assasin​ate Fred ​Hampton and Mark Clark. It was the goal that day to utterly devastate​ Chicago's Black Panther Party. We know now how COINTELPRO devised methods to destroy all black organizations dedicated to the uplift of black communities. We also know that J. Edgar Hoover feared that a messiah would appear to lead this country's black populace. So he, and his legions of illegal agents of oppression did all that could to silence black voices. Today I speak on this blog about our ancestors call for black unity. Before Fred Hampton died on December 4, 1969, he gave this speech "Power Anywhere Where There Are People". I will read Fred Hampton's words and honor the memories of Mark Clark and Fred Hampton today.

December 3, 2000 the date of jubilee for ancestor Gwendolyn Brooks, 19 years ago today. This magnificent woman of prose. I salute her with 10 minutes of just a few of her poems. Gwendolyn Brooks wrote 20 books of poetry. So clearly I cannot do her justice in 10 minutes but at least I can say rest in eternal peace, ​my sister.

On December 3, 1866, John Stewart Rock passed into the eternal pasture of black greatness. Although, Mr. Rock only lived 41 years those years were full of impressive greatness. He was the very first black lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court of The United States. He is said to have coined the term "BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL" and today I will read a speech he gave a decade before his death, I Will Sink Or Swim My Race, given March 5, 1858, three years before the start of the Civil War.

On December 3, 1847, 172 years ago Frederick Douglas and Martin Delany published the very first volume of the historic newspaper The North Star. This paper was dedicated to the ​destruction of the institutional system of slavery that existed in America. At the time of the first publication,​ almost 95% of our black ancestors were being held in bondage. This morning I will read an excerpt of The North Star as well as a poem dedicated to The North Star on ​The Black Blogger's website.

Today on the 160th anniversary of John Brown’s death on the gallows December 2, 1859. I read an essay written by Yale Professor David W. Blight that connects some of the dots in the relationship between John Brown and Frederick Douglass. I understand the importance and the magnitude of John Brown’s failed raid on the Federa Armory On October 16, 1859 as it relates to the searing of our nation and the eventual Civil War. John Brown was depicted in the history books I read as a crazed white man totally out of control, totally out of his senses. However, John Brown sacrificed so much to end the evils of slavery. We must give this man his due because he saw evil and paid the ultimate price to see it erased. Frederick Douglass may not have agreed with his methods but understood the need for a violent uprising to end this evil system.