This Week In Black History December 25-31, 2024

BO DIDDLEY DECEMBER 25 1760—The first poem written by a Black person and published in America is published on Christmas day 1760. It was written by Jupiter Hammon—a slave in Long Island, N.Y., who was allowed to attend school. The poem was entitled “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries.” Ham­mon also wrote a poem to Phyllis Wheatley—another early and great African-American poet. Hammon is thought to have lived until he was 95 (1711-1806). He was devoutly re­ligious. 1838—At the Battle of Okeechobee on Christmas Day 1838, a force of Seminole Indians soundly defeated U.S. government troops who were trying to force them off their lands. The Seminoles were led by a Black chief named John Horse. The Seminoles were perhaps the most racially integrat­ed of all the Indian tribes. During the early 1800s, Blacks escap­ing slavery in Florida and Georgia were frequently granted safe ha­ven by the Seminoles. Significant intermarriage resulted. Their aid for escaped slaves was one of the reasons the government wanted so desperately to relocate the Semi­noles from Florida to the Midwest. 1951—Mr. and Mrs. Harry T. Moore are murdered when a bomb ex­plodes under their home in Mims, Fla. Both were teachers and...