wcaleb’s Twitter Archive—№ 16,706

1. I spent Martin Luther King, Jr., Day working on my book about Henrietta Wood. +
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 5 Retweets ❤️ 22 Favorites 2018 Jan 15 Mood 0

…in reply to @wcaleb
2. Wood’s story is proof that “freedom is never voluntarily granted by the oppressor,” as King famously said in 1966. "It must be demanded by the oppressed."
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 1 Retweets ❤️ 5 Favorites 2018 Jan 15 Mood -2 🙁

…in reply to @wcaleb
3. Born enslaved in Kentucky around 1820, Henrietta Wood was a free woman by 1853, living in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 1 Retweets ❤️ 3 Favorites 2018 Jan 15 Mood -1 🙁

…in reply to @wcaleb
4. Then, she was kidnapped, re-enslaved, and sold to Mississippi. She was later taken to Texas during the Civil War, & held captive there until 1866.
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 1 Retweets ❤️ 3 Favorites 2018 Jan 15 Mood -4 🙁

…in reply to @wcaleb
5. Eventually she managed to return to Cincinnati, where, beginning in 1869, she sued the white man who had kidnapped her in federal court—and won—though not until 1879, receiving $2,500 in damages.
Permalink On twitter.com ❤️ 3 Favorites 2018 Jan 15 Mood -7 🙁

…in reply to @wcaleb
6. After that she moved to Chicago, where she died in 1912. Her son, who had been born enslaved in Mississippi, was a lawyer on the South Side until his death in 1951.
On twitter.com ❤️ 1 Favorite 2018 Jan 15 Mood -7 🙁

…in reply to @wcaleb
7. Fifteen years later, MLK came to Chicago, too. He summoned Chicagoans to the “fierce urgency of now,” reminding black Americans of “our great heritage.”
Permalink On twitter.com ❤️ 1 Favorite 2018 Jan 15 Mood +3 🙂

…in reply to @wcaleb
8. Henrietta Wood and her son, Arthur H. Simms, were part of that “heritage,” too. More people should know their names.
Permalink On twitter.com ♻️ 1 Retweets ❤️ 11 Favorites 2018 Jan 15 Mood 0