Friday, June 21, 2024
Standing On Principles.
Recently, Tariq Nasheed posted a comment on X denying that soul fool from America came from West Africa. Then, he crossed the line and showed the image of a man eating fabric and claiming that this is collectively part of West African culture. The truth is that we black Americans have ancestry from West and Central Africa being mostly of Bantu heritage. For Tariq to show an image of a black person like this is what white racists do daily on the Internet. There is no excuse for this. Tariq Nasheed is a sellout and a traitor to black people as I have exposed him for years. This is low, even for him. West Africa has elevators, advanced technologies, gyms, hotels, homes, and other parts of modern culture. Tariq Nasheed's self-hatred, xenophobia (against Africans and Afro-Caribbeans), and his disinformation should be transparent for all to see. As an African American, the FBA and ADOS cults are hate groups plain and simple. Tariq Nasheed is a liar (to deny that Africa has role in the development of soul food) as some soul food was influenced by Africa like yams, okra, hibiscus, Guinea millet, lima beans, watermelon, rice, black-eyed peas, etc. Even mainstream scholars documented how soul food uses cooking techniques and ingredients from West Africa, Central Africa, America, and other places of the world. These groups don't care about reparations for black Americans, but they do care about promoting division and hatred of black people based on nationality which is completely against the Golden Rule and real principles.
The Judge Cannon will decide on the case of the documents on people saying if Jack Miller was qualified to be the prosecutor on the case. The Judge has rejected suggestions to step aside from the case. Many judges want Cannon to step aside. This has been reported by the New York Times. Judge Cannon was appointed by Donald Trump, and she has displayed bias on the classified document case. The appointee of former President George W. Bush wanted Judge Cannon to rescue herself from the Mar-a-Lago case as well. The judge has caused the course of the case to move very slow, and the Constitution cites the right of a trial to be speedy.
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
Juneteenth News.
Donald Trump praising autocrats like Xi and Putin is not shocking. Putin came to North Korea, so Putin could get military assistance in Putin's illegal war against Ukraine. So, North Korea, China, and Russia are unified in military programs and their political agendas. North Korea wants Russia to help its ballistic missile program as North Korea is constantly testing ballistic missiles that hit near Japan. The terrorism of the Houthis has caused innocent Yemeni fishermen to not earn money from feeding their families from fishing. These are the same Houthi racists enslaving black people in Yemen too. According to Farah Griffin, Trump talked about executing people at several White House meetings. These facts make us aware of the dangers of reactionary extremists who desire to ruin society as we know it.
A new poll shows that 21 percent of Independents have said that the recent Trump conviction will make them less likely to support Trump. President Biden has a new $50 million ad buy in swing states criticizing Trump on his 34 criminal felony convictions, sexual assault liability, and financial fraud verdicts. With all of these facts known, people should not support Trump, whose support is fueled in part by toxic male masculinity. Trump makes a mockery of the black community in trying to gain black votes in the Bronx, Detroit, etc. Trump's disrespecting the city of Milwaukee shows his hatred of America. The folks who truly hate America are those who hate America's diversity, abhor American charity helping people, and dislike American activists who desire progressive values to enrich all Americans and all people of the rest of the world. Trump and his MAGA cult members seek the destruction of modern-day American democracy, but we want more blessings and solutions to help the oppressed and the rest of the human race.
Sometimes, lies go around the world before the truth is known to more people. This is the first time of me mentioning my views about Tariq Nasheed's hip-hop documentary called Microphone Check. First, the "documentary" is half true. It tells the truth that African Americans played a key role in the origin and cultivation of hip-hop music. That is self-evident from the role of DJ King Mario to black people in the Bronx spreading hip hop worldwide from the 1970's and beyond. We black Americans have a beautiful and inspiring culture that has been a blessing to the whole world. The problem with the documentary is that it minimizes the role of Afro-Caribbeans in hip hop's origin for the sake of promoting a pro-FBA agenda. The FBA and ADOS movements (which hate Pan-African unity) are reactionary movements that seek to infiltrate the legitimate black American reparations movements to promote anti-black immigrant policies, scapegoat black immigrants for the problems in the black community, and these movements are silent on Western imperialism's role in the oppression of all black people, regardless of nationality. These movements are heavily silent on capitalist exploitation and the plight of black people in Haiti, Congo, etc. because they have a selfish mentality of not desiring to free black people globally. The unintended consequence of this documentary is of course the spread of division, arguments, and unnecessary hatred among black people based on nationality and xenophobia. For example, Tariq Nasheed said that New Orleans has no ties to Haitian culture. A Google search can prove that Haitians have strong cultural ties to New Orleans for centuries (this comes after he said the other lie that black people from Louisiana have no ties to African Americans as a whole. African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans have strong ties to Louisiana. So, Tariq is a liar). Many followers of the FBA and ADOS cults have cursed, threatened, and harassed people on social media who disagree with their rhetoric too.
We know that Tariq Nasheed is a classic xenophobe and sexist by calling women out of their names if they disagree with him, calling Afro-Caribbeans and Africans the slur of the t word, being a former rapper who shown vile lyrics about women (that he has not apologized for), writing books promoting sexist, red pill rhetoric, etc. As for Latinos (I heard of KRS One's recent statements), Latinos didn't create hip hop, so Fat Joe is wrong to say that hip hop is 50/50 black people and Latino people in hip hop's origin. Latinos did play a role in the early stages of hip hop from graffiti and dancing plus other aspects of hip hop. It is important to note that Afro-Latinos are black people, and many Afro-Latinos are some of my favorite heroes. As for Tariq and Fresh and Fit, both of them are wrong. Fresh and Fit are sexist, haters of women, promote manosphere lies, and extremists who make a mockery of black people. Myron Gaines is even worse than Tariq, as Myron Gaines denies the brutal nature of gentrification and racism against the black community of America. Therefore, as a black American, as my ancestors were in America long before 1800, I disagree with the divisive rhetoric of Tariq Nasheed (who recently befriended the hate-monger and sellout Tommy Sotomayor. Tariq also disrespected Tennessee state representative by calling him a fake Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.).
Some people want to underestimate Russia. Russia is struggling to defeat Ukraine is transparent. Yet, Russia has nuclear weapons. They have an alliance with China and North Korea. Russia has subs near Scotland and near Cuba (to have military drills in the area). Russia is promoting more military cooperation with Iran and Kazakhstan. Palestinian general discusses military co-operation at talks in Moscow in 2022 according to Reuters. The Pentagon has admitted that Russia launched anti-Western satellite killer weapons in space called Cosmos 2533. So, Putin is being very slick, and we shouldn't play around with this. The Soviet Union isn't here anymore, and Putin wants to be a future Tsar into the 2030's. The 2030's will be a crucial time in our history in what we shall see involving America, China, and Russia. Russia destroyed over 900 schools, hospitals, and churches in Ukraine since the Russian illegal invasion of Ukraine. Yet, many people ignore that because they care more about making token political points instead of showing the real truth. Russia has a new generation tank called the ARMATA T-14 (about 20 years ahead of its time), being helped by China's AI systems. So, this is real. We don't know exactly what this will lead to in the future, and we have to be prepared for the future. Pro-Putin GOP factions in America from Carlson to others are truly wrong.
By Timothy
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Monday, June 17, 2024
History and Culture in June of 2024.
Many people on my father's side live in the state of West Virginia. West Virginia has a long history involving working-class culture and rural culture. West Virginia was created on June 20, 1863, during the American Civil War being part of the Union. It is a key border state with tons of mountains and hills with locations like Charleston, Huntington, etc. My 4th cousin George Benjamin Artis Sr. married Nora Mae Brown (1955-2022) on November 6, 1978, at Wise, West Virginia. Their children are George Benjamin Artis Jr. (1977-2021) and Bethany Raechelle Justice (b. 1981). George Benjamin Artis Sr. had a child named Brittany Elaine Artis (b. 1989). Brittany Elaine Artis's mother is Robin F. Goolsby. Nora Mae Brown Artis lived from March 3, 1955, to Thursday, August 10, 2023. Nora lived in Brooskville, Florida and her parents were John and Mary Brown. Nora Mae Brown had tons of friends from her job at the Williamson Memorial Hospital Emergency Room. George Benjamin Artis Jr. had two daughters who are DeAndria Artis and Olivia Malaun Artis (these women are my 5th cousins). Olivia Malaun Artis has two children who are Dominique Dogan and Kamira Skye Dogan (who are my 5th cousins too). My 5th cousin Bethany Raechelle Justice had many children with Byron Justice whose names are Byron Justice Jr., Celeste R. Justice, and Victoria R. Justice (these are my 5th cousins too). George Benjamin Artis Jr. lived in Tampa, Florida before his transition on November 21, 2021. He attended Willaimson High School and graduated from Capitol High School in Charleston, West Virginia. George Benjamin Artis Jr. was a person who was loyal to his family and friends and was funny. His aunts are Carole Artis, Cheryl Artis, Mary Fullen Blackwell, Donzella Fullen, and Patricia Brown. George Benjamin Jr. and I are descendants of my 4th great-grandparents who were George and Esther Perkins. George Benjamin Artis Jr.'s parents are George Benjamin Artis Sr. (b. 1951) and Nora Mae Brown (1955-2023). George Benjamin Artis Sr.'s parents were Dekalb Artis (1915-2009) and Christine Tanyhill (1920-2004). Dekalb Artis's parents were George Artis Jr. (1891-1935) and Mary Fannie Artis (1895-1958). My late 2nd cousin's Mary Fannie Artis's parents were Sam Casey (1868-1938) and Sophronia Perkins (1870-1926). Sophronia Perkins's parents were George Perkins II (1847-1932) and Fannie Lou Blackstock (1848-1949). My late 3rd great-granduncle George Perkins's II's parents were Geroge Perkins I (b. 1815) and Esther Perkins (b. 1816). They lived in Northampton County, Virginia or the Virginian Eastern Shore. So, my paternal ancestry came from 2 locations. One set of my paternal ancestors came originally from the Eastern Shore of Virginia, traveled into North Carolina, then West Virginia, and all across America (in Florida too). Another set of my paternal ancestors came from Halifax, North Carolina, and traveled into Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and across America.
We can't underestimate the legacy of the Madden video game series. Madden is probably the most popular sports video game series of all time being named after the iconic football coach John Madden. Now, the franchise sold more 130 million copies as of 2018. Since 2004, it has been the only officially licensed National Football League (NFL) video game series. It has influenced many players and coaches of football. As of 2013, Madden has generated over 4 billion dollars in sales, making it one of the most profitable video game franchises on the market. The game started as John Madden Football released by Electronic Arts in 1988 with the cover of an energetic John Madden. Back then, the graphics were grainier, but it had customizable gameplay and conditions of weather (like hot, rain, snow, cold, and windy). It had quarters, player fatigue, and injuries plus penalties. People can create teams and other components were included in its cosmology. In 1989, Madden was released for both PC and Commodore 64. The 1990 Madden version, released also for the SNES and Amiga, adds audibles, and password-saved games. For the first time ever in a football video game, the camera or perspective is played from above and behind the quarterback rather than from the side right to left, and vice versa. It only had 16 teams, loosely based on real NFL teams as well as an All-Madden team was included as a bonus. By 1991, Madden was released for PC and consoles. It had new features like larger playbooks, and commentary including coaching from John Madden on classic football components like Play Action Pass. There was an upgrade of VGA graphics and the use of Adlib audio. In 1992, an ambulance would run over any players in its path on Madden. From 1992 to 1994, Mega placed the game at #1 in their monthly Top 100 Mega Drive Games of All Time.
After Visual Concepts failed to deliver Madden NFL '96 for the new PlayStation in 1995, EA hired Tiburon Entertainment for Madden NFL '97 and later acquired the company, centralizing development in-house. It planned to release John Madden Football as its first sports-based arcade game, but the game was cancelled due to unenthusiastic reactions from play testers. EA's refusal to release Madden and other sports titles for the Dreamcast in 1999 contributed to the console's lack of success and Sega's exit from the hardware market. By 1996, Madden was the best-selling sports video game franchise, with more than eight million units sold up until then
In 1997, EA hired Tiburon Entertainment for Madden NFL ’97 and later acquired by EA, centralizing development in-house. It planned to release John Madden Football as its first sports-based arcade game, but the game was canceled due to unenthusiastic reactions from play testers.
In 1998, Electronic Arts added "Franchise Mode" to Madden Football, giving players the ability to play multiple seasons, make off-season draft picks, and trade players. Within Franchise Mode, players take on the role of general manager and manage all personnel matters, including contracts, free agency, draft picks, and hiring and firing coaches. The player also acts as a head coach-like character (although there is a head coach figure in-game), choosing which players to play, making substitutions, running practices, practicing gameplans, etc. Players may play with any of the NFL's 32 franchises; they can choose whether or not to have trade deadlines and salary caps and if they want to start their franchise with a 49-round fantasy draft of all active NFL players. Players can also upload created teams for use in the game.
Once in game, players run training camp (individual drills for improving players' attributes), play in preseason games, and compete in a regular 16-game NFL season, including playoffs and the Super Bowl. The player has the option to play any game in the simulation, including those involving other teams if they so desire, or may simulate through the games as they choose. Most versions of Madden give a player 30 years with their franchise, sometimes with an opportunity to apply for the Hall of Fame at the end of the simulation. Throughout the history of Franchise Mode, there have been many issues and glitches including data corruption, gameplay bugs, and developer mistakes. Franchise Mode is one of Madden's most consistently criticized game modes yearly.
Madden NFL 2000 was the first Madden to have a play editor, arcade mode, and the Madden Challenge. The game was released on August 31, 1999, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, and Classic Mac OS. The cover athletes were former Raiders Coach John Madden and the Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders in the background. This was the second Madden to have someone besides John Madden on the cover. Madden NFL 2001 featured a segment called "Great Games" where one would be put in a situation where they control one team and would have to win the game within a set amount of time. If the player wins, they unlock either a new team or a stadium. Overall, there were more than 60 teams and over 80 stadiums in Madden NFL 2001. Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George is the cover athlete. Madden NFL video games in the 21st century had innovations like Smart Route, QB Vision, Lead Blocker Controls, and Highlight Stick.
Madden NFL 23 was announced with head coach John Madden as the cover star on Madden Day (June 1, 2022, the same day the series' first installment, John Madden Football, was released) in honor of his legacy after his passing on December 28, 2021. The cover of the next gen version is a picture of Madden celebrating his victory as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders at Super Bowl XI. The All-Madden Edition is based on the cover of the series' 1st installment, John Madden Football, made by Chuck Styles. The recent Madden NFL 25 video game has new features like BOOM Tech, which EA called a "dynamic physics-based tackling system that unlocks the re-engineered Hit Stick and a new level of ball carrier control" in its official press release. EA Sports also introduced new commentary teams for Madden 25 in the form of Mike Tirico and Greg Olsen, as well as Kate Scott and Brock Huard. It will have Superstar Mode, Ultimate Team, and online head-to-head play. Madden NFL 25 will be released worldwide for PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as PC on Aug. 16, 2024, but those who purchase the deluxe edition or the MVP bundle can begin playing on Aug. 13.
Grand Theft Auto is one of the most popular and controversial video games of all time. GTA was released back on November 28, 1997, when I was a teenager, and its last release was shown in November 2021 called Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy (The Definitive Edition). GTA is an action-adventure video game that was created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Other people were involved like Dan and Sam Houser (who are brothers), Leslie Benzies, and Aaron Garbut. It was developed by the British development house of Rockstar North. It was published by its American parent company called Rockstar Games. The game is about an open world where the player can complete missions to progress an overall story like various side activities. Its focus has been on cities like San Francisco, Miami, and New York City. The game isn't meant for kids filled with adult themes and adult imagery.
There are many African American pioneer country music legends that many people don't know about. Arnold Shultz (1886-1931) had performances that weren't recorded. Yet, the fiddler and guitarist's distinct finger-picking style influenced many artists like bluegrass legend Bill Monroe and Merle Travis (who did his own version of the finger-picking style). Rufus "Tee Tot" Payne (1883-1939) met Hank Williams when he was a child. Payne taught Hank Williams how to play the guitar in the 1930's. Rufus Payne was a great music teacher. Hank Williams Jr. paid tribute to Rufus Payne in the song Tee Tot Song in 2002. Lesley Riddle lived from 1905 to 1979. He never let losing his leg and 2 fingers stop him from creating country music. He made an inventive guitar-playing style that inspired The Carter Family. Riddle traveled all over Appalachia to document songs. Henry Glover (1921-1991) was an early black music executive who wrote songs and scouted artists for King Records, which started in 1943. He worked with country music during its early years. When he was in the studio, Glover produced The Delore Brothers, Hawksahw Hawkins, and Moon Mullican.
Many of my relatives were African American veterans of World War I. For example, my late first cousin John Quincy Adams Scott (b. 1897) was a veteran of World War One. John Quincy Adams Scott (his mother was Roberta Scott, and his grandmother was Sarah Claud) and I are descendants of my 5th grandmother Zilphy Claud (1820-1893). John Quincy Adams is the 2nd great-grandchild of Zilphy Claud. He came back to America from Brest, France to Newport News, Virginia on June 26, 1919. The ship was named Konningin der Nederlanden. He was part of the United States Army as a Private of the Co. A. 548th Engineers. My late great uncle Calvin Bailey (1892-1954) was a member of the 540th Engineers of WWI. Calvin Bailey and I share the ancestors of my 3rd great-grandparents of Johnson Brickhouse (b. 1826) and Julia Perkins (b. 1835). One child of Johnson Brickhouse and Julia Perkins was my 2nd great grandmother Esther Brickhouse Bailey (1862-1955). Esther Brickhouse Bailey married Harry Bailey (1855-1943) and one of their children was Calvin Bailey. Calvin Bailey married Carry Bell (her parents are John and Vergie Bell) in 1919 in Northampton County, Virginia (which is on the Virginian Eastern Shore). L. M. Baker performed the ceremony. Calvin Bailey was part of the African American Company D, 540th Engineers in World War One. He was a Private who was on the ship called Britannia that traveled from Marseille, France to Brooklyn, New York City on June 6, 1919.
My late 2nd cousin Howard S. Lowe (1897-1958) was a World War One Veteran too. He was part of the U.S. Army and was born in Virginia. His parents were Bishop Charles Wesley Lowe (1875-1954) and my 1st cousin Louisa A. Sykes (1876-1955). The parents of Louisa A. Sykes were Willis Sykes (b. 1832) and my 4 great-grandaunt Lydia Claud (b. 1842). Lydia Claud's mother was my 5th great grandmother Zilphy Claud (1820-1893). According to my late 2nd cousin Elgin Madison Lowe (1914-2000), Howard S. Lowe was over 6ft tall and weighed over 200 pounds. Howard would tell stories about his events in France during WWI. He worked at Miners Manufacturing Company, and he was a barber at Colden's Barber Shop on East Washington Street. He lived in Philadelphia just before his passing. Howard S. Lowe was part of D. Company 545th Engineers Service Battalion of the rank of Private. He was on the ship called Rijndam, and it traveled to Hoboken, New Jersey (he was originally from Suffolk, Virginia) on September 23, 1918. Howard S. Lowe married Josephine Mayfield (1899-1974) first and his second wife was Frankie Knight (b. 1903).
To understand the Ferguson story fully, you must mention facts about the sacrifice and courage of the activists on the ground in Ferguson, Missouri. First, the parents of Michael Brown, who are Michael Brown Sr. and Lesly McSpadden, have worked for years to combat racial injustice, police brutality, and economic injustice in Missouri plus nationwide. They reached a settlement deal in a lawsuit with the city of Ferguson. They went to march with relatives of other African Americans who were killed by the police (like Tamar Rice, Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, etc.) and lobbied Congress to fund body cameras for police agencies. Alisha Sonnier is an activist who has gone into local politics too. Johnetta Elzie has been fighting for justice in the St. Louis area and Ferguson for years. Fran Griffin has joined a steering committee that created a review of the police department in Ferguson. DeRay McKesson, Bassem Masri, and other people have worked in the Ferguson movement too. Darren Seals Jr. (1987-2016) was a Ferguson activist who was mysteriously murdered in a burning car. Records prove that Seals was illegally monitored by the FBI considering him a revolutionary.
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss international issues. Vice President Harris said that more than $1.5 billion in aid for Ukraine will exist. This conference in Switzerland desires peace in Ukraine. The money includes 500 million dollars in new funding for energy assistance and 324 million dollars in redirected funds toward emergency energy infrastructure repair. The problem with the anti-Ukraine forces among the far right and the fake left is that they ignore or minimize the overt war crimes done by Putin's military forces. You can't condemn Netanyahu's war cries in Gaza and ignore the Russian war crimes in Ukraine. People who do that are hypocrites. Ukraine has every God-given right to use self-defense against Russian illegal invasion. There is a nuisance in the conflict. For example, I don't agree with Ukraine attacking Russia, but the overall point is that Ukraine has the right to be a free, independent nation without Russian imperialism.
By Timothy
Saturday, June 15, 2024
Summer 2024 Part 5.
165th Year Anniversary of the John Brown Raid.
The John Brown Raid took place 165 years ago. It was one of the most important events of antebellum America. As we approach the 160th year anniversary of the end of the American Civil War, we have more of a reflection of how America changed. Back then, millions of black people were in tyranny with slavery. Slavery is no country club. Slavery deals with control, brutality, torture, rape, family splitting, obscene acts on human life, and other abominable crimes having no justification at all. People have a God-given right to resist the tyranny of slavery in seeking true freedom. There were many slavery revolts, and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was one of the final anti-slavery revolts in America before the advent of the American Civil War. We know about John Brown and his total disgust of slavery. Yet, there were other men involved in the cause of the raid too like Shields Green, John Henry Kagi, and other brave people who wanted America to end slavery once and for all. Involving the raid, only 5 men escaped, 11 men were killed, and 7 were captured and later executed (including John Brown). John Brown and other men gave up their lives in heroic sacrifice, so we can type on the computer, go to any place we want, and live life without legalized slavery. Their memories will never be forgotten in our consciousness. We will always acknowledge their heroic sacrifice forever and ever.
The Bondage of American Slavery
In our generation, people need to be reminded of the brutality of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery in America. This was part of the Maafa when evil people kidnapped innocent black African men, women, and children and forced them to go into the Americas, Europe, Asia, etc. These human beings were raped, beaten, families split, and forced to do inhumane actions on the ships and plantations. Easily, the Maafa was the worst form of slavery in all of human history. In our generation, many far-right extremists want to sugarcoat the Maafa (like in Florida, Texas, etc.), but we won't do so here. The Maafa lasted from the late 1400's to the 1800's. Afterward, black people in the world are still fighting for justice and human liberation. Slavery still exists in Mauritania, Yemen (with racist Houthi terrorism harming black people and forcing many black people to be slaves), and other places in the world. Most victims of the Maafa came from Western and Central Africa. My DNA ancestry is mostly from Nigeria and the Congo/Angola. Therefore, I know fully about this subject. Many people from Europe, the Middle East, and traitors from Africa were complicit in the Maafa, but the racist Europeans controlled the major functions of the Maafa and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. In America, black people were forced into slavery in brutal terms. Yet, we still rose up in slave revolts to fight back. We were involved in the American Civil War to defeat the evil Confederacy to end overt, legalized slavery. Still, we fight against voting rights suppression, book bans, suppression of the rights of minorities, and the MAGA movement. We are on the right side of history, and we shall be victorious in the end.
The Planning
The John Brown raid took a lot of planning to create the raid. John Brown rented the Kennedy Farmhouse with a small cabin nearby. This place was 4 miles north of Harpers Ferry in Washington County, Maryland. He took up residence under the name of Isaac Smith. Brown worked with a small group of men for military action. This group grew to include 21 men besides himself. There were 16 white men and five black men. A Northern abolitionist group sent 198 breech-loading .52-caliber Sharps carbines ("Beecher's Bibles"). He ordered from a blacksmith in Connecticut 950 pikes, for use by black people untrained in the use of firearms, as few were. John Brown told curious neighbors that they were tools for mining, which aroused no suspicion as for years the possibility of local mining for metals had been explored. Brown "frequently took home with him parcels of earth, which he pretended to analyze in search of minerals. Often his neighbors would visit him when he was making his chemical experiments and so well did he act his part that he was looked upon as one of profound learning and calculated to be a most useful man to the neighborhood."
The pikes were never used; a few black people in the engine house carried one, but none used it. After the action was over and most of the principals dead or imprisoned, they were sold at high prices as souvenirs. Harriet Tubman had one, and Abby Hopper Gibbons another; the Marines returning to base each had one. When all had been taken or sold, an enterprising mechanic started making and selling new ones. "It is estimated that enough of these have been sold as genuine to supply a large army." Virginian Fire-Eater Edmund Ruffin had them sent to the governors of every slave state, with a label that said "Sample of the favors designed for us by our Northern Brethren." He also carried one around in Washington D.C., showing it to every one he could, "so as to create fear and terror of slave insurrection."
The United States Armory was a large complex of buildings that manufactured small arms for the U.S. Army (1801–1861), with an Arsenal (weapons storehouse) that was thought to contain at the time 100,000 muskets and rifles. However, John Brown, who had his own stock of weapons, did not seek to capture those of the Arsenal. John Brown wanted to attract more black American recruits. There was a lack of tons of people supporting this raid. He tried to recruit Frederick Douglass as liaison officer to the slaves in a meeting held (for safety) in an abandoned quarry in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. It was at this meeting that ex-slave "Emperor" Shields Green, rather than return home with Douglass (in whose house Green was living), decided to join with John Brown in his attack on the United States Armory, Green stating to Douglass "I believe I will go with the old man." Douglass declined, indicating to Brown that he believed the raid was a suicide mission. The plan was "an attack on the federal government" that "would array the whole country against us. ...You will never get out alive", he warned. According to Osborne Anderson, "the Old Captain told us, we stood nine chances to one to be killed; but, said the Captain at the same time[,] 'there are moments when men can do more dead than alive.'"
The Kennedy Farmhouse served as "barracks, arsenal, supply depot, mess hall, debate club, and home." It was very crowded, and life there was tedious. Brown was worried about arousing neighbors' suspicions. As a result, the raiders had to stay indoors during the daytime, without much to do but study (Brown recommended Plutarch's Lives), drill, argue politics, discuss religion and play cards and checkers. Brown's daughter-in-law Martha served as cook and housekeeper. His daughter Annie served as a lookout. She remarked later that these were the most important months of her life. John Brown wanted women at the farm, to prevent suspicions of a large all-male group. The raiders went outside at night to drill and get fresh air. Thunderstorms were welcome since they concealed noise from Brown's neighbors. John Brown didn't plan to make a quick raid and escape to the mountains. He wanted to arm the rebellious slaves to strike terror in the slaveholders in Virginia. Believing that on the first night of action, 200 to 500 slaves would join his line, Brown ridiculed the militia and the regular army that might oppose him. He planned to send agents to nearby plantations, rallying the slaves, and hold Harpers Ferry for a short time, with the expectation that as many volunteers, white and black, would join him as would form against him. He would then move rapidly southward, sending out armed bands along the way that would free more slaves, obtain food, horses, and hostages, and destroy slaveholders' morale. Brown intended to follow the Appalachian Mountains south into Tennessee and even Alabama, the heart of the South, making forays into the plains on either side.
Hugh Forbes had advanced knowledge of the raid. There were at least 80 people who knew about Brown's planned raid in advance. Brown didn't reveal his total plan to anyone. Hugh Forbes was paid $100 per month to be a drillmaster in a total of $600. Forbes was an English mercenary who served Giuseppe Garibaldi (a revolutionary person) in Italy. Forbes's Manual for the Patriotic Volunteer was found in Brown's papers after the raid. Brown and Forbes argued over strategy and money. Forbes wanted more money so that his family in Europe could join him. Forbes sent threatening letters to Brown's backers in an attempt to get money. Failing in this effort, Forbes traveled to Washington, DC, and met with U.S. Senators William H. Seward and Henry Wilson. He denounced Brown to Seward as a "vicious man" who needed to be restrained but did not disclose any plans for the raid. Forbes partially exposed the plan to Senator Wilson and others. Wilson wrote to Samuel Gridley Howe, a Brown backer, advising him to get Brown's backers to retrieve the weapons intended for use in Kansas. Brown's backers told him that the weapons should not be used "for other purposes, as rumor says they may be." In response to warnings, Brown had to return to Kansas to shore up support and discredit Forbes. Some historians believe that this trip cost Brown valuable time and momentum. Mary Ellen Pleasent donated $30,000 (or 1.1 million dollars in 2023) to help pay for the raid, saying it was "most important and significant act of her life."
One of those who knew was David J. Gue of Springdale, Iowa, where Brown had spent time. Gue was a Quaker who believed that Brown and his men would be killed. Gue decided to warn the government "to protect Brown from the consequences of his own rashness." He sent an anonymous letter to Secretary of War John B. Floyd. Gue wanted Floyd to send soldiers to Harpers Ferry to make Brown call off his plans. Even though President Buchanan offered a $250 reward for Brown, Floyd did not connect the John Brown of Gue's letter to the John Brown of Pottawatomie, Kansas, fame. He knew that Maryland did not have an armory (Harpers Ferry is in Virginia, today West Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Maryland.) Floyd concluded that the letter writer was a crackpot and disregarded it. He later said that "a scheme of such wickedness and outrage could not be entertained by any citizen of the United States." Brown's second in command John Henry Kagi wrote to a friend on October 15, the day before the attack, that they had heard there was a search warrant for the Kennedy farmhouse, and therefore they had to start eight days sooner than planned. The time was soon to come. The raid started on October 16, 1859, on Sunday.
The John Brown Raid
The John Brown raid on Harpers' Ferry started on Sunday night on October 16, 1859 at 11 pm. Brown left three of his men behind as a rear guard, in charge of the cache of weapons; his son Owen Brown, Barclay Coppock, and Francis Jackson Meriam. He led the rest across the bridge and into the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown detached a party under John Cook, Jr., to capture Colonel Lewis Washington, great-grandnephew of George Washington, at his nearby Beall-Air estate, free his slaves, and seize two relics of George Washington: a sword Lewis Washington said had been presented to George Washington by Frederick the Great, and two pistols given by Marquis de Lafayette, which Brown considered talismans. The party carried out its mission and returned via the Allstadt House, where they took more hostages and freed more slaves. John Brown and his allies wanted to capture the Armory and then escaped before word could be sent to Washington, D.C. The raid started good for Brown and the other men. They cut the telegraph line twice to prevent communication in either direction. They wanted to stop communication on the Maryland side of the bridge; slightly later on the far side of the station, preventing communication with Virginia. One of the leaders of the raid, Osborne Anderson mentioned that many slaves were enthusiastic about their plan to free them from bondage and tyranny. By Monday, October 17th, more events happened. A free black man was the first fatality to result from the raid: Heyward Shepherd, a baggage handler at the Harpers Ferry train station, who had ventured out onto the bridge to look for a watchman who had been driven off by Brown's raiders. He was shot from behind when he by chance encountered the raiders, refused to freeze, and headed back to the station. That a black man was the first casualty of an insurrection whose purpose was to aid black people. Heyward Shepherd should not have died, and he thought that the men were robbers. He died over mistaken identity.
The shot and a cry of distress were heard by physician John Starry, who lived across the street from the bridge and walked over to see what was happening. After he saw it was Shepherd and that he could not be saved, Brown let him leave. Instead of going home, he started the alarm, having the bell on the Lutheran church rung, sending a messenger to summon help from Charles Town, and then going there himself, after having notified such local men as could be contacted quickly. John Brown and his men boarded the train. At about 7 AM it arrived at the first station with a working telegraph, Monocacy, near Frederick, Maryland, about 23 miles (37 km) east of Harpers Ferry. The conductor sent a telegram to W. P. Smith, Master of Transportation at B&O headquarters in Baltimore. Smith's reply to the conductor rejected his report as "exaggerated", but by 10:30 AM he had received confirmation from Martinsburg, Virginia, the next station west of Harpers Ferry. No westbound trains were arriving and three eastbound trains were backed up on the Virginia side of the bridge; because of the cut telegraph line the message had to take a long, roundabout route via the other end of the line in Wheeling, and from there back east via Pittsburgh, causing delay. At that point, Smith informed the railroad president, John W. Garrett, who sent telegrams to Major General George H. Steuart of the First Light Division, Maryland Volunteers, Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, U.S. Secretary of War John B. Floyd, and U.S. President James Buchanan.
At the Armory, employees began arriving to work. Later, they were taken as hostages by John Brown's party. Reports differ on how many there were, but there were many more than would fit in the small engine house. Brown divided them into two groups, keeping only the ten most important in the engine house the others were held in a different Armory building. According to the report from Robert E. Lee, some of the hostages are Colonel L. W. Washington of Jefferson County, Virginia, Mr. George D. Shope of Frederick, Maryland, etc. As it became known that citizens had been taken hostage by an armed group, men of Harpers Ferry found themselves without arms other than fowling-pieces, which were useless at a distance. Military companies from neighboring towns began to arrive late Monday morning. Among them was Captain John Avis, who would soon be Brown's jailor, who arrived with a company of militia from Charles Town. John Brown stayed too long in Harpers Ferry. It was on a narrow peninsula, almost an island. Many militia people came.
The militia companies, under the direction of Colonels R. W. Baylor and John T. Gibson, forced the insurgents to abandon their positions and, since escape was impossible, fortify themselves in "a sturdy stone building", the most defensible in the Armory, the fire engine house, which would be known later as John Brown's Fort. (There were two fire engines, which Greene described as old-fashioned and heavy, plus a hose cart). They blocked the few windows, used the engines and hose cart to block the heavy doors, and reinforced the doors with rope, making small holes on the walls and through them trading sporadic gunfire with the surrounding militia. Between 2 and 3 there was "a great deal of firing." During the day four townspeople were killed, including the mayor, who managed the Harpers Ferry station and was a former county sheriff. Eight militiamen were wounded. But the militia, besides the poor quality of their weapons, were disorderly and unreliable. "Most of them [militiamen] got roaring drunk." "A substantial proportion of the militia (along with many of the townspeople) had become a disorganized, drunken, and cowering mob by the time that Colonel Robert E. Lee and the U.S. Marines captured Brown on Tuesday, October 18." The Charleston Mercury called it a "broad and pathetic farce." According to several reports, Governor Wise was outraged at the poor performance of the local militia.
At one point Brown sent out his son Watson and Aaron Dwight Stevens with a white flag, but Watson was mortally wounded by a shot from a town man, expiring after more than 24 hours of agony, and Stevens was shot and taken prisoner. The raid was clearly failing. One of Brown's men, William H. Leeman, panicked and made an attempt to flee by swimming across the Potomac River, but he was shot and killed while doing so. During the intermittent shooting, another son of Brown, Oliver, was also hit; he died, next to his father, after a brief period. Brown's third participating son, Owen, escaped (with great difficulty) via Pennsylvania to the relative safety of his brother John Jr.'s house in Ashtabula County in northeast Ohio, but he was not part of the Harpers Ferry action; he was guarding the weapons at their base, the Kennedy Farm, just across the river in Maryland.
President James Buchanan called out a detachment of U.S. Marines from the Washington Navy Yard, the only federal troops in the immediate area: 81 privates, 11 sergeants, 13 corporals, and 1 bugler, armed with seven howitzers. The Marines left for Harper's Ferry on the regular 3:30 train, arriving about 10 PM. Israel Greene was in charge.
To command them Buchanan ordered Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee, conveniently on leave at his home, just across the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia, to "repair" to Harpers Ferry, where he arrived about 10 PM, on a special train. Lee had no uniform readily available, and wore civilian clothes.
The Aftermath
By October 18, 1859, the Marines broke through the engine house door. At 6:30 AM Lee began the attack on the engine house. He first offered the role of attacking it to the local militia units, but both commanders declined. Lee then sent Lt. J. E. B. Stuart, serving as a volunteer aide-de-camp, under a white flag of truce to offer John Brown and his men the option of surrendering. Colonel Lee informed Lt. Israel Greene that if Brown did not surrender, he was to direct the Marines to attack the engine house. Stuart walked towards the front of the engine house where he told Brown that his men would be spared if they surrendered. Brown refused and as Stuart walked away, he made a pre-arranged signal—waving his hat—to Lt. Greene and his men standing nearby. Greene's men then tried to break in using sledgehammers, but their efforts were unsuccessful. He found a ladder nearby, and he and about twelve Marines used it as a battering ram to break down the sturdy doors. Greene was the first through the door and with the assistance of Lewis Washington, identified and singled out John Brown. Greene later recounted what events occurred next. Greene said that John Brown was hit with blow to the neck. Two of the raiders were killed, and the rest were taken prisoner. Brown was wounded before and after his surrender. The hostages were freed, and the assault was over. It lasted three minutes.
According to one marine, the raiders presented a sad appearance. Army leader Robert E. Lee and the Marines had to calm the crowd from killing Brown and his men. Colonel Lee and Jeb Stuart searched the surrounding country for fugitives who had participated in the attack. Few of Brown's associates escaped, and among the five who did, some were sheltered by abolitionists in the North, including William Still. All the bodies were taken out and laid on the ground in front. "A detail of [Greene's] men" carried Brown and Edwin Coppock, the only other white survivor of the attack on the engine house, to the adjacent office of the paymaster, where they lay on the floor for over a day. Until they went with the group to the Charles Town jail on Wednesday, there was no record of the location of the two-surviving captured black raiders, Shields Green and John Anthony Copeland, who were also the only two survivors of the engine house with no injuries. Green attempted unsuccessfully to disguise himself as one of the enslaved of Colonel Washington being liberated.
John Brown was interviewed constantly by soldiers, politicians, lawyers, reporters, citizens, and preachers. He was given attention. The first to interview him was Virginia congressman Alexander Boteler, who rode over from his home in nearby Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and was present when Brown was carried out of the engine house, and told a Catholic priest to leave. Five people, in addition to several reporters, came almost immediately to Harpers Ferry specifically to interview Brown. He was interviewed at length as he lay there for over 24 hours; he had been without food and sleep for over 48 hours. ("Brown carried no provisions on the expedition as if God would rain down manna from the skies as He had done for the Israelites in the wilderness"). The first interviewers after Boteler were Virginia Governor Wise, his attorney Andrew Hunter, who was also the leading attorney in Jefferson County, and Robert Ould, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, sent by President Buchanan. Governor Wise having left—he set up a base in a Harpers Ferry hotel—Brown was then interviewed by Senator James M. Mason, from Winchester, Virginia, and Representatives Charles J. Faulkner, from Martinsville, Virginia, and Copperhead Clement Vallandigham, from Ohio. (Brown lived for years in Ohio, and both Watson and Owen Brown were born there.) Vallandingham was on his way from Washington to Ohio via the B&O Railroad, which of course would take him through Harpers Ferry. In Baltimore, he was informed about the raid.
Many people in the North and West viewed Brown as a fanatic attacking Virginia with only 22 men, of whom 10 were killed immediately, and 7 others would soon be hanged, as well as 5 deaths and 9 injuries among the Marines and local population. With the newspaper reports of these interviews, followed by Brown's widely reported words at his trial, the public perception of Brown changed suddenly and dramatically. According to Henry David Thoreau, "I know of nothing so miraculous in our history. Years were not required for a revolution of public opinion; days, nay hours, produced marked changes." Even people who disagreed with Brown viewed him as a brave man. Virginia Governor Wise had a force of 90 men acted disappointed that that action ended quickly. Wise also reported the opinion of Lewis Washington, in a passage called "well known" in 1874: "Colonel Washington says that he, Brown, was the coolest and firmest man he ever saw in defying danger and death. With one son dead by his side, and another shot through, he felt the pulse of his dying son with one hand and held his rifle with the other, and commanded his men with the utmost composure, encouraging them to be firm, and to sell their lives as dearly as they could."
Martyrdom
By October 19, Lee and the Marines, except for Greene left Harper's Ferry to go to Washington, D.C. They finished the report and sent it to the War Department. There was a synopsis of the events at Harpers Ferry. Brown was hastily processed by the legal system. He was charged by a grand jury with treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, murder, and inciting a slave insurrection. A jury found him guilty of all charges; he was sentenced to death on November 2, and after a legally-required delay of 30 days he was hanged on December 2. (This execution was witnessed by the actor John Wilkes Booth, who later assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.) At the hanging and en route to it, authorities prevented spectators from getting close enough to Brown to hear a final speech. He wrote his last words on a scrap of paper given to his jailer Capt. John Avis, whose treatment Brown spoke well of in his letters:
"I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood. I had as I now think: vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed; it might be done."
His words here predicted the Civil War as legalized slavery was never going to be abolished except by the American Civil War. Four other raiders were executed on December 16 and two more on March 16, 1860. Many Southerners viewed John Brown as a traitor, and many Northerners either viewed him as a martyr or a misguided person who legitimately opposed slavery. Ironically, the John Brown raid increased the chance of the American Civil War. Brown's raid, trial, and execution energized both the abolitionists in the North and the pro-slavery in the South and brought a flurry of political organizing. Public meetings in support of Brown, sometimes also raising money for his family, were held across the North. One source mentioned, "These meetings gave the era's most illustrious thinkers and activists an opportunity to renew their assault on slavery." It reinforced Southern sentiment for secession. By 1860, war was on the horizon. Just 2 years after John Brown's raid in 1859, the American Civil War started in 1861 with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Counting John Brown, there were 22 raiders, 15 white people, and 7 black people. 10 were killed during the raid, 7 were tried and executed afterward, and 5 escaped. In addition, Brown was assisted by at least two local enslaved people; one was killed and the other died in jail. John Brown is buried on his farm near Lake Placid, New York. It is maintained as the New York John Brown Farm State Historic Site. His son Watson is also buried there, and the bones of his son Oliver and nine other raiders are buried in a single coffin.
Survivors
Five of the organizers of the John Brown raid escaped. At least 22 men were involved in the raid too. Some of the escaped people were Francis Jackson Merriam, Barclay Coppock, and Owen Brown who escaped across Pennsylvania They took refuge in Astabula County, Ohio, where John Brown Jr lived. They were described as voters in the location. By November 1859, Governor Wise offered a reward of $500 (or $16,956 in 2023) each for the apprehension of the four white escapes. Charles Plummer Tidd was a lumberman from Maine. He met John Brown in Kansas who died during the American Civil War in 1862. He died of a fever while being in the Union Army. Owen Brown lived in Ohio for a time. He raised grapes on an island in Lake Erie or the Chicago market. He died on January 8,1889 in Pasadena, California. His funeral was an event with a marching band. His burial site is atop a peak named Brown's Peak being a local tourist attraction today. Albert Hazlett, 23, fought in Kansas, escaped following the raid but was captured and hanged on March 16, 1860. He was buried in John Brown Burial grounds. Osborne Perry Anderson escaped capture following the raid. He died in 1873. Osborne Perry Anderson is both the only Black escapee and the only escapee that had been in the engine house. He is also the only raider to publish a memoir about the raid. He served as a recruiter for the Union Army and died in poverty in 1872. He is buried unknown grave at the National Harmony Cemetery Park Cemetery, Hyattsville Maryland. Barclay Coppoc, 19, escaped capture following the raid. He fought in the Civil War. He died September 4, 1861, in a train crash caused by bushwackers; buried Mount Aurora Cemetery, Leavenworth. Kansas. Francis Jackson Meriam, 22, grandson of Francis Jackson was a leader of Antislavery Societies. Meriam was an aristocrat. He escaped during the raid. Captain Meriam led an African American infantry group during the Civil War. He died on November 28, 1865; New York County.
Being Inspired
The John Brown raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) was a massive time in the antebellum period of American history. It happened in 1859 which is almost 100 years after the birth of America. America was born in the midst of conflict and controversies. The British Empire wanted to control the colonists in America, but many colonists wanted to set up their own independent country, free from monarchical rule. America at one point almost lost the Revolutionary War, and even Norfolk, Virginia was burned to the ground during the conflict of the Revolutionary War. Yet, aid from France, Spain, and other nations along with American resiliency caused the Patriots to be victorious by the end of the Revolutionary War (after the Treaty of Paris in 1783). Many Americans back then wanted justice for all, and many Americans didn't desire that aim. The Preamble of the Constitution mentioned that "all men are created equal," but slavery, oppression against women, and genocide against Native Americans were realities. John Brown was an eclectic, eccentric man who desired an end to slavery against black Americans. He didn't just talk about ending slavery. He was actively engaged in Kansas to fight pro-slavery forces. It is important to note that black freedom included people of many colors, but it originated and was headed by black people. The prominent role of black people in the overall global black freedom struggle should be acknowledged regardless of DeSantis and his MAGA allies trying to sugarcoat black history. John Brown's raid was not supported by everyone in the abolitionist movement, because many felt it was a suicidal, impossible mission. On the other hand, no one can discount John Brown's courage and firm conviction to fight overt tyranny in American society. There were black and white men involved in the raid. Most of these men lost their lives in service to the cause of freeing black people from bondage. Slavery involves torture, rape, splitting families, ruining culture, murder, kidnapping, other forms of abuse, and other evils that have no justification. The survivors of the raid moved to other places in America to live their lives. John Brown's raid was one of the final events before the American Civil War (Many Southern states seceded from the Union by the early 1860's, and the Confederate Constitution explicitly condoned slavery). The American Civil War ended overt legalized slavery and expanded the federal government to new heights to reckon with the reality that one nation means one nation (not multiple states acting as separate nations that existed in the era of the Anti-Federalists vs. Federalists). John Brown and his allies will forever be remembered as heroic people who desired goodness to prevail over injustice. In the end, good will triumph, and that day will be so glorious in the eyes of Almighty God.
Conclusion (Summer 2024)
Donald Trump visiting GOP Congressional leaders at the U.S. Capitol is him returning to the scene of the crime. Trump provoked the terrorist mob to attack the U.S. Capitol building in trying to ruin democracy as we know it. These insurrectionists destroyed property, called police racist slurs, threatened to hang Mike Pence, and did other graphic actions in the U.S. Capitol. Trump called these terrorists "warriors." These people are not warriors, but criminals who waved Neo-Nazi and Confederate flags in the U.S. Capitol for the first time in American history. We have to be clear that cowards like McConnell and Cruz (who Trump disrespected both of these men's wives without apology. They are not real men, as real men will defend their wives' dignity) still support Trump in the 2024 Presidential election. This battle for our democracy is real. Our ancestors defeated the Confederates in 1865, defeated the Axis Powers in 1945, defeated racists at Selma in 1965, and we will defeat Trumpism once again in our generation. This battle for our freedom and democracy is as real as it gets. This time of Juneteenth in 2024 should give us great motivation to earnestly keep advocating for this cause for human liberation.
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss international issues. Vice President Harris said that more than $1.5 billion in aid for Ukraine will exist. This conference in Switzerland desires peace in Ukraine. The money includes 500 million dollars in new funding for energy assistance and 324 million dollars in redirected funds toward emergency energy infrastructure repair. The problem with the anti-Ukraine forces among the far right and the fake left is that they ignore or minimize the overt war crimes done by Putin's military forces. You can't condemn Netanyahu's war cries in Gaza and ignore the Russian war crimes in Ukraine. People who do that are hypocrites. Ukraine has every God-given right to use self-defense against Russian illegal invasion. There is a nuisance in the conflict. For example, I don't agree with Ukraine attacking Russia, but the overall point is that Ukraine has the right to be a free, independent nation without Russian imperialism.
Marilyn Mosby was sentenced to one year of home detention. She faced multiple years in prison, but the judge has shown compassion to her. She has three years of supervised release. Marilyn Mosby was a victim of a political agenda in trying to target Mosby, because she was a progressive black woman who fought for civil rights and human rights. Marilyn Mosby used the money that she used to create a better life for her family. I agree with her that she should be pardoned. The recent Supreme Court decision of Alexander vs. State Conference of the South Carolina NAACP represents Alito and other Justices' biases. The decision sought to keep a congressional map that a lower court had found to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Alito and five other Republican justices made it harder to challenge racial gerrymandering (like moving black voters from one district to another in South Carolina to promote a stronger Republican political power base).
Nikki Haley saying that she is voting for Trump in November is not shocking. It is typical of many Republicans caring more for a party than justice. Trump has promoted the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, and his embrace of fascist rhetoric shows Trump to lack character as a human being. Trump disrespected Haley's own husband, but Haley wants to vote for Trump. That's cowardice. Haley said that Biden has been a catastrophe which is a false statement. Biden passed some of the most progressive legislation in American history since the LBJ era. President Biden oversaw massive reductions in the unemployment rate, growth of business, the cutting of child poverty, and an increase in the greatest economic recovery from the pandemic than any Western nation on Earth (proving the resiliency of the American economy). Haley believes in the myth that Trump and Biden are equally bad when Trump wants a Muslim ban, desires to harm the press if it disagrees with him and seeks to promote immunity for officers who commit police brutality. Haley is a hypocrite who condemned Trump's statements disrespecting the military, but she wants to vote for him. Haley doesn't embrace Putin, but many GOP and MAGA cultists glorify Putin like Tucker Carlson.
It is important to expose the racist far right person Lilly Gaddis. These enemies of truth are part of the new generation of racists who want to cause division and anti-black hatred under the guise of claiming to be real "conservatives.". She said the n word and used other xenophobic rhetoric. She spewed her nonsense on TikTok. She promoted herself as the "traditional wife," but character is something that she doesn't have. She cries about freedom of speech, but freedom of speech has consequences. People have the right to use the freedom of speech to boycott her and not support her because of her MAGA views. She lied and said that her statements were out of context, but her words speak for themselves. Gaddis lied and said that there is not a lot of racism in America. Tell that to the families of the victims of Buffalo whose loved ones were murdered by a white racist, tell that to the families of the victims of Emmanuel Baptist Church whose loved ones were murdered by a white racist, and tell that to the increased incidents of hate crimes against black people (and other minorities in America) now. Gaddis wants to exploit the pain of African Americans to advance hatred and stereotypes, but we are on to her nefarious game.
Many people have talked about the Diddy apology video. In that video, Diddy never said Cassie's name or made a direct apology to Cassie at all. He did apologize for what he had done, but he lied previously in denying all allegations against him. What he has done has no justification. Witnesses from bodyguards, Cassie, other victims, and videotape evidence document Diddy's history of emotional and physical abuse. Many people accused Diddy of sexual abuse and human sex trafficking. Diddy is desperate to salvage his reputation. The truth is that the story of Diddy is filled with materialism, violence, and depraved actions. The video shows it all. Diddy not only beat Cassie up, but he threw an object at her. This relates to a vicious mentality. Even during the 1990's, I knew that something wasn't right with Diddy. In our time, we have to promote ethics and morality, not nihilism. You will notice that Diddy lied in his initial statement that all of these allegations against him were false. Diddy was sorry that he was caught point-blank period. His recent video proves that his recent denials are lies. Therefore, the Golden Rule is one great truth that we must all live by.
By Timothy
Summer 2024 Part 4.
Diana Ross at 80
Majestic, talented, and determined are accurate descriptions to outline her life spanning eighty years. Diana Ross went from the projects of Detroit, Michigan to be one of the most iconic artists of all time. She influenced every musician of the 21st century directly or indirectly without question. She was born in the Midwestern city of Detroit, Michigan. She was born to Ernestine Ross and Fred Ross Sr. She was the 2nd to six children. Diana Ross grew up in the North End section of Detroit and in Brewster Douglas Housing Projects in Detroit when she was a teenager. Diana Ross was raised Baptist. She attended Cass Technical High School, a four-year college and preparatory magnet school in downtown Detroit. Ross wanted to be a fashion designer. Diana Ross graduated from Cass Tech in January 1962. From 1959 to 1970, she was in The Supremes as a group member. Back in 1959, they were the Primettes. She worked with the Primes. The Supremes worked hard to promote their songs globally. They helped to make Motown one of the greatest music empires in history. The Supremes once had Barbara Martin. We know about Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson. The Supremes was the most successful group of Motown during the 1960's. They had hits like Baby Love, Where Did Our Love Go, Come See About Me, Stop! in the Name of Love, and Love Child. The Supremes had music about love, relationships, and togetherness. Later, Diana Ross established her own solo career. I'm Still Waiting, was a great song too. Her first American solo hit was Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand. Everything is Everything from 1970 was her second solo album. She was in movies like Ladies Sings the Blues (about Billie Holiday) and Mahogany. She made more hits like Love Hangover, Upside Down, Endless Love (in 1981 with Lionel Richie), and Chain Reaction. She was in The Wiz with her close friend Michael Jackson. By 1976, Diana Ross was called by Billboard as the Woman Entertainer of the Century. She earned a Special Tony Award in 1977, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and in 2013. She earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Many of her children are actress and musicians like Tracee Ellis Ross and Evan. Diana Ross has seven grandchildren. Diana Ross has influenced Beyonce, Michael Jackson, Brandy, Ting Tings, Ledisi, Questlove, and other people. In 1999, she was in the movie Double Platinum with Brandy Norwood. Thank You was her 25th studio album which was released in November of 2021 during the pandemic. She made music and tours as recently as October of 2023. She loves all of her five children. Now, it is the perfect occasion to give a detailed analysis of her life.
Growing Up in Detroit
Diana Ross was born in the Midwestern city of Detroit, Michigan on March 26, 1944. She was the second of six children. Her parents were Ernestine Moten and Fred Ross Sr. Ross grew up with two sisters named Barbara and Rita along with three brothers, Arthur, Fred Jr., and Wilbert (known as Chico). Diana Ross was raised in the Baptist Church. At first, her family was from 635 Belmont St., in the North End section of Detroit, near Highland Park, Michigan, where her neighbor was Smokey Robinson. When Ross was seven, her mother contracted tuberculosis, causing her to become seriously ill. Ross's parents sent their children to live with Ernestine's parents, the Reverend (pastor of Bessemer Baptist Church), and Mrs. William Moton in Bessemer, Alabama. After her mother recovered, she and her siblings returned to Detroit. By the time Diana Ross was 14 years old, in 1958, her family moved into the working-class Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects, settling at St. Antoine Street. Ross attended Cass Technical High School. This location was a four-year college and preparatory magnet school in downtown Detroit. At first, she wanted to be a fashion designer. She took classes in clothing design, millinery, pattern making, and tailoring. During the evenings and on weekends she also took modeling and cosmetology classes (Ross has written that Robinson loaned her the funds required to attend the courses), and participated in several of the school's extracurricular activities, including its swim team. In 1960, Hudson's downtown Detroit store hired Ross as its first African American bus girl. For extra income, she also provided hairdressing services to her neighbors. Ross graduated from Cass Tech in January 1962. By the time when she was 15 years old, Diana Ross joined the Primettes, the sister group to a male vocal group called the Primes, after she had been brought to the attention of music manager Milton Jenkins by Primes member Paul Williams. Among the other members of the Primettes were Florence Ballard (the first group member hired by Jenkins), Mary Wilson, and Betty McGlown, Williams' then-girlfriend. After the Primettes won a talent competition in 1960 in Windsor, Ontario, A&R executive and songwriter, Robert Bateman invited them to audition for Motown Records.
The Primettes had much success in live performances at sock hops and other events. Diana Ross approached William "Smokey" Robinson, her former neighbor (rumored to also have been her childhood boyfriend) about auditioning for Motown; he insisted that the group audition for him first. Robinson then agreed to bring the Primettes to Motown, on condition that they allow him and his group, the Miracles, to hire the Primettes' guitarist, Marv Tarplin (who had been discovered by Ross) for an upcoming tour. Tarplin ended up playing in Robinson's band(s) for the next 30-plus years. In her autobiography, Secrets of a Sparrow, Ross wrote that she felt that this had been "a fair trade."
The Primettes later auditioned for Motown, before various Motown executives. In Berry Gordy's autobiography, To Be Loved, Gordy recalled that he had been heading to a business meeting when he happened to hear Ross singing "There Goes My Baby", and that Ross's voice "stopped me in my tracks." He approached the group and asked them to perform it again, but, after learning how young they were, Gordy advised them to finish high school before trying to get signed by Motown.
Undeterred, the group began coming to Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. headquarters every day, offering to provide extra help for Motown's recordings, often including hand claps and background vocals. That year, the group recorded two tracks for Lu Pine Records, with Ross singing lead on one of them. During the group's early years, Ross served as its hairstylist, make-up artist, seamstress, and costume designer. In late 1960, having replaced McGlown with Barbara Martin, the Primettes were allowed to record their own songs at Hitsville studio, many written by "Smokey" Robinson, who, by then, was vice president of Motown ("Your Heart Belongs to Me" and "A Breathtaking Guy"). Gordy, too, composed songs for the trio, including "Buttered Popcorn" (featuring Ballard on lead) and "Let Me Go the Right Way." While these songs were regional hits, they were not nationwide successes.
In January 1961, Gordy agreed to sign the group on the condition they change their name. Songwriter and Motown secretary Janie Bradford approached Florence Ballard, the only group member at the studio at the time, to pick out a new name for the group. Ballard chose "Supremes", reportedly, because it was the only name on the list that did not end with "ette." Upon hearing the new name, the other members weren't impressed, with Ross telling Ballard she feared the group would be mistaken for a male vocal group (a male vocal group was, indeed, named the Supremes). Gordy signed the group under their new name on January 15, 1961. The Supremes was born.
Being Part of the Supremes
The Supremes featured amazingly talented black women. Diana Ross was very ambitious and eager to show her talents to the world. By January 1961, the Supremes signed with Barry Gordy and Motown. Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, and Barbara Martin were in the group by January 15, 1961. Barbara Martin left the group, so The Supremes became a trio. In late 1963, the Supremes ad their first hit When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes. It peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. Diana Ross became the lead singer by the edict of Gordy. In June 1964, while on tour with Dick Clark's Cavalcade of Stars, the group scored their first number-one hit with "Where Did Our Love Go", paving the way for unprecedented success: between August 1964 and May 1967, Ross, Wilson, and Ballard sang on ten number-one hit singles, all of which also made the UK Top 40. The group had also become a hit with audiences both domestically and abroad, going on to become Motown's most successful vocal act throughout the sixties.
Ross began to dominate interviews with the media, answering questions aimed at Ballard or Wilson. She pushed for more pay than her colleagues. In 1965, she began using the name Diana from the mistake on her birth certificate, surprising Ballard and Wilson who had only known her as Diane. Following significant issues with comportment, weight, and alcoholism, Florence Ballard was fired from the Supremes by Gordy in July 1967, hiring Cindy Birdsong from Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles as Ballard's replacement. Florence Ballard deserves compassion, and she was a gentle soul. Gordy renamed the group Diana Ross & the Supremes, making it easier to charge a larger performance fee for a solo star and a backing group, as it did for other renamed Motown groups. I disagree with Berry Gordy for these decisions for many reasons. One is that Florence Ballard was a victim of rape who deserved the opportunity to have compassion and therapy, not to be fired quickly. Also, Florence Ballard should have stayed in the group a lot longer as a means of solidarity. Florence Ballard is an underrated vocalist. The Supremes is about women's empowerment and black talent.
The group appeared as a trio of singing nuns in a 1968 episode of the popular NBC TV series Tarzan. Between their early 1968 single "Forever Came Today" and their final single with Ross, "Someday We'll Be Together," Ross would be the only Supremes member to be featured on many of their recordings, often accompanied by session singers the Andantes or, as in the case of "Someday We'll Be Together", Julia and Maxine Waters and Johnny Bristol. Still, Wilson and Birdsong continued to sing on recordings. Gordy drove Ross relentlessly throughout this period and Ross, due to anxiety arising from Gordy's demands of her, began suffering from anorexia nervosa, according to her autobiography, Secrets of a Sparrow. During a 1967 performance in Boston, Massachusetts, Ross collapsed onstage and had to be hospitalized for exhaustion. In 1968, Ross began to perform as a solo artist on television specials, including the Supremes' own specials such as TCB and G.I.T. on Broadway, The Dinah Shore Show, and a Bob Hope special, among others. In mid-1969, Gordy decided that Ross would depart the group by the end of that year, and Ross began recording her initial solo work that July. One of the first plans for Ross to establish her own solo career was to publicly introduce a new Motown recording act. Though she herself did not claim their discovery, Motown's publicity department credited Ross with having discovered the Jackson 5. Ross would introduce the group during several public events, including The Hollywood Palace. In November, Ross confirmed a split from the Supremes on Billboard. Ross's presumed first solo recording, "Someday We'll Be Together", was eventually released as a Supremes recording and became the group's final number-one hit on the Hot 100. It was also the final number-one Billboard Hot 100 single of the 1960s. Ross made her final appearance with the Supremes at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 14, 1970.
Her Solo Music and Movie Career
By May of 1970, Diana Ross released her eponymous debut solo album. It had hits like Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand) and A'int No Mountain High Enough. Diana Ross made more albums like Everything is Everything in 1970 and Surrender in 1971. I'm Still Waiting is a 1971 ballad that was her first number-one single in the UK. In 1971, she also starred in her first solo television special called Diana! which included the Jackson 5. By this time, she was working on her first film called Lady Sings the Blues. It was released to the public in October 1972 that detailed the life story of the icon Billie Holiday. The film was a classic filled with drama, emotion, contributions to music, and a legacy. Ross won critical acclaim for her performance in the film. Jazz critic Leonard Feather, a friend of Holiday's, praised Ross for "expertly capturing the essence of Lady Day." Ross's role in the film won her Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. The soundtrack to Lady Sings the Blues became just as successful, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200, staying there for two weeks, and selling two million units. In November 1972, Ross sang the song "When We Grow Up" for the children's album, Free to Be... You and Me. In 1973, Ross had her second number-one hit in the U.S. with the ballad "Touch Me in the Morning." Later in the year, Motown issued Diana and Marvin, a duet album with fellow Motown artist Marvin Gaye. The album became an international hit. Touring throughout 1973, Ross became the first entertainer in Japan's history to receive an invitation to the Imperial Palace for a private audience with the Empress Nagako, wife of Emperor Hirohito. In April 1974, Ross became the first African-American woman to co-host the Academy Awards, with John Huston, Burt Reynolds, and David Niven. After the release of the 1973 album Last Time I Saw Him, Diana Ross acted in more films. The 1975 film that she was in was Mahogany with Billy Dee Williams. The film is about black people in the fashion industry, issues in the black community, exploitation, and other matters in a realistic fashion. Diana Ross designed the wardrobe in the film herself. Mahogany was the story of an aspiring fashion designer who became a runway model and the toast of the industry, Mahogany was a troubled production from its inception. The film's original director, Tony Richardson, was fired during production, and Berry Gordy assumed the director's chair himself.
Gordy and Ross clashed during filming, with Ross leaving the production before shooting was completed, forcing Gordy to use Secretary Edna Anderson as a body double for Ross. While a box-office success, the film was not well received by the critics: Time magazine's review of the film chastised Gordy for "squandering one of America's most natural resources: Diana Ross." Nonetheless, Ross had her third number-one hit in the U.S. with "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)." A year later, in 1976, Ross released her fourth solo number-one hit, "Love Hangover", a sensual, dramatic mid-tempo song that bursts into an uptempo disco tune. Later that year, Ross launched her "An Evening with Diana Ross" tour. The tour's success led to a two-week stint at Broadway's Palace Theatre and a 90-minute, Emmy-nominated television special of the same name, featuring special make-up effects by Stan Winston, for a scene in which Ross portrayed legendary cabaret artist Josephine Baker and blues singers Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters, and a Special Tony Award. The albums Baby It's Me (1977) and Ross (1978) sold modestly. The film adaptation of The Wiz had been a $24 million production, but upon its October 1978 release, it earned only $21,049,053 at the box office. Though pre-release television broadcast rights had been sold to CBS for over $10 million, the film produced a net loss of $10.4 million for Motown and Universal. At the time, it was the most expensive film musical ever made. The Wiz remains a powerful film and a classic for the black American community and other communities too. The Wiz had Diana Ross and Michael Jackson displaying great acting chemistry together.
In 1979, Ross released The Boss, continuing her popularity with dance audiences, as the title song became a number-one dance single. On July 16, 1979, Ross guest-hosted an episode of Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show, featuring Lynda Carter, George Carlin, and Muhammad Ali as guests. Later that year, Ross hosted the HBO special, Standing Room Only, filmed at Caesars Palace's Circus Maximus Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada, during her "Tour '79" concert tour. This concert special is noted for its opening, during which Ross literally makes her entrance through a movie screen. In November of that year, Ross performed The Boss album's title track as a featured artist during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, in New York City. Later, Diana Ross will continue to thrive during the 1980's.
Diana Ross and Michael Jackson
Diana Ross and Michael Jackson were close friends for decades. Their relationship have been a product of rumors, but the truth is that both Diana Ross and Michael Jackson loved each other deeply. They met when Michael Jackson was nine years old when he was in the Jackson Five group. From that moment onward, they were close friends. Diana Ross didn't discover The Jackson 5, but Diana Ross supported the Jackson Five. Michael Jackson was taught about the industry by Diana Ross, and Diana Ross was in plays with Michael Jackson in the 1970's. Michael Jackson and Diana worked on the movie The Wiz by the late 1970's. Also, both people would perform together in the 1980's, go to music events together, and had a close relationship. In 1981, Jackson appeared on a Diana Ross TV special, in which Ross teased him about being attractive to her. In 1981, Jackson appeared on a Diana Ross TV special, in which Ross teased him about being "very sexy."
According to Jackson's brother, Jermaine, the pair would engage in an on-and-off relationship, and Jackson openly referred to Ross as his girlfriend. He claimed his brother wouldn't let anyone else near her and even considered marrying her. Some people disagree with this view. According to biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, there was no sexual relationship between them even though he wrote in his book Call Me Miss Ross that Jackson was heartbroken when Ross got married to Arne Naess. Jackson did not attend the wedding and told Taraborrelli, "I was jealous because I've always loved Diana Ross and always will." In Call Me Miss Ross, Taraborrelli wrote that Ross said, "I was older. He kind of idolized me and wanted to sing like me." Regardless of the truth, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson had a close friendship. When Jackson died in 2009, Ross released the following statement: "I can't stop crying, this is too sudden and shocking. I am unable to imagine this. My heart is hurting. I am in prayer for his kids and the family." Shortly after his death, records revealed that Jackson had written in his 2002 will that he wanted Ross to have custody of his three children should his mother Catherine die before him. During the World Music Awards in 1996, Diana Ross sat on Michael Jackson's lap singing to him. I don't recall friends doing that all of the time, so they had a very powerful emotional link. Jackson wanted Ross to be the second person in line to take care of his kids after he was gone, while Ross still defends her friend and remembers him on his birthday every year.
The 1980's
By 1980, Diana Ross released her most successful solo album to date called Diana. Chic's guitarists Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards were involved in hits like I'm Coming Out and Upside Down. The latter song was her fifth chart topping single in America. Ross scored a Top 10 hit in late 1980 with the theme song to the film It's My Turn. Continuing her connections with Hollywood, Ross recorded the duet ballad "Endless Love", with Lionel Richie. The song would become her sixth and final single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Ross began negotiations to leave Motown at the end of 1980. After over 20 years with the label, Ross received US$250,000 as severance. RCA Records offered Ross a $20 million, seven-year recording contract, which gave her complete production control of her albums. Before signing onto the label, Ross allegedly asked Berry Gordy if he could match RCA's offer. Gordy stated that doing so was "impossible." Ross then signed with RCA on May 20, 1981. At the time, Ross's was music history's most expensive recording deal. In October 1981, Ross released her first RCA album, Why Do Fools Fall in Love. The album sold over a million copies and featured hit singles such as her remake of the classic hit of the same name and "Mirror Mirror". Shortly thereafter, Ross established her production company, named Anaid Productions ("Diana" spelled backwards), and also began investing in real estate and touring extensively in the United States and abroad.
Before the release of Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Ross hosted her first TV special in four years, Diana. Directed by Steve Binder, the concert portions of the special were filmed at Inglewood, California's 17,500-seat The Forum indoor stadium and featured performances by Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali, Dallas actor Larry Hagman, music impresario Quincy Jones, and members of the Joffrey Ballet. In early 1982, Ross sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XVI and appeared on the musical variety show Soul Train. The episode, devoted completely to her, featured Ross performing several songs from Why Do Fools Fall in Love.
On May 6, 1982, Ross was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She followed up the success of Why Do Fools Fall in Love with Silk Electric, which featured the Michael Jackson-written and -produced "Muscles", resulting in another Top 10 Grammy nominated success for Ross. The album eventually went gold on the strength of that song. In 1983, Ross ventured further out of her earlier soul-based sound for a more pop rock-oriented sound following the release of the Ross album. Though the album featured the Top 40 hit single, "Pieces of Ice", the Ross album did not generate any more hits or achieve gold status. On July 21, 1983, Ross performed a free concert on Central Park's Great Lawn, aired live worldwide by Showtime. Proceeds from the concert would be donated to build a playground in the singer's name. Midway through the beginning of the show, a torrential downpour began. Ross tried to continue performing, but the severe weather forced the show to be stopped after 45 minutes. Ross urged the large crowd to exit the venue safely, promising to perform the next day.
The next day's concert suffered no rain, but the memorabilia that was supposed to be sold to raise money for the playground had already been destroyed by the storm. When journalists discovered the exorbitant costs of the two concerts, Ross faced criticism from Mayor Ed Koch and the Parks Department commissioner. During a subsequent mayoral press conference, Ross handed Koch a check for US$250,000 for the project The Diana Ross Playground was built three years later. In 1984, Ross released Swept Away. The album featured "All of You", a duet with friend Julio Iglesias. The single was featured on both Ross's album and Iglesias's 1100 Bel Air Place, his first English-language album. It became an international hit, as did the Lionel Richie-penned ballad "Missing You", composed as a tribute to Marvin Gaye, who had been killed earlier that year. Swept Away garnered gold record sales status. Eaten Alive was her 1985 album which was produced by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees. It has the song Chain Reaction. She worked with Michael Jackson and Gibb on the album too. In 1985, she was in the USA for Africa's We Are the World charity song that sold 20 million copies worldwide. Money from the song went to fight famine in Africa. On January 27, 1986, Ross hosted the 13th annual American Music Awards. Ross returned the next year to host the 14th annual telecast. She came back to Motown and won the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Supremes (along with Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard). She has the song If We Hold Together song from the film The Land Before Time in 1988. Her 1989 album was Workin' Overtime.
Her Later Career
Diana Ross made more albums like The Force Behind the Power in 1991, Take Me High in 1995, and Every Day is a New Day in 1999. By 1991, Diana Ross was one of the few American artists to have headlined the annual Royal Variety Performance, performing a selection of her UK hits before Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London. This marked her second appearance at the Royal Variety Performance, the first being in 1968 with the Supremes. The Force Behind the Power sparked a comeback when the album went platinum in the UK. It is led by the No. 2 UK hit single "When You Tell Me That You Love Me." The album produced 9 singles across international territories, including another Top 10 UK hit "One Shining Moment." In 1993, Ross returned to acting with a dramatic role in the television film, Out of Darkness. Ross won acclaim for her role in the TV movie and earned her third Golden Globe nomination.
In 1994, One Woman: The Ultimate Collection, a career retrospective compilation, became a number one hit in the UK, selling quadruple platinum. The retrospective was EMI's alternative to Motown's box set Forever Diana: Musical Memoirs. Ross performed during the opening ceremony of the 1994 FIFA World Cup held in Chicago and during the pre-match entertainment of the 1995 Rugby League World Cup final at Wembley Stadium. The World Cup ceremony had her take a penalty kick that was staged for her to score, and the goalposts were intended to fall down from the power of her shot. She infamously missed the penalty instead. On January 28, 1996, Ross performed at the Super Bowl XXX halftime show, held at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Earlier that month, Ross's Tokyo concert, Diana Ross: Live in Japan, filmed live at the city's Nippon Budokan Stadium, was released. In May 1996, Ross received the World Music Awards' Lifelong Contribution to the Music Industry Award. In that awards show, Diana Ross sat on Michael Jackson's lap and sang to him. On November 29, EMI released the compilation album, Voice of Love, featuring the singles "In the Ones You Love", "You Are Not Alone" and "I Hear (The Voice of Love)."
On February 8, 1997, EMI released the Japanese edition of Ross's album, A Gift of Love, featuring the single, "Promise Me You'll Try." In May, she performed with operatic tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras again at the Superconcert of the Century concert, held in Taipei, Taiwan. She later inducted the Jackson 5 into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on May 6. On February 19, 1998, Ross hosted the Motown 40 telecast on ABC. In 1999, Ross was named the most successful woman singer in the history of the United Kingdom charts, based on a tally of her career hits. Madonna would soon succeed Ross as the most successful woman artist in the UK. Later that year, Ross presented at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards in September of the year and shocked the audience by touching rapper Lil' Kim's exposed breast and pasty-covered nipple, amazed at the young rapper's brashness. In 1999, she and Brandy Norwood co-starred in the television movie, Double Platinum, which was aired prior to the release of Ross's album, Every Day Is a New Day. From that album, Ross scored a Top 10 hit in the UK in November of that year with "Not Over You Yet."
21st Century Developments
Diana Ross reunited with Mary Wilson first in 1976 to attend the funeral service of Florence Ballard, who died in February of that year. In March 1983, Ross agreed to reunite with Wilson and Cindy Birdsong for the television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. The Supremes did not rehearse their performance for that evening, due to time constraints. A scheduled medley of hits was canceled. Instead of following producer Suzanne de Passe's instructions to recreate their choreography from their final Ed Sullivan Show appearance, Wilson (according to her autobiography) planned with Birdsong to take a step forward every time Ross did the same, then began to sing lead on the group's final number-one hit song, "Someday We'll Be Together", on which Wilson did not perform. Later, Wilson introduced Berry Gordy from the stage (unaware that the program's script called for Ross to introduce Gordy), at which point Ross subtly pushed down Wilson's hand-held microphone, stating, "It's been taken care of." Ross then re-introduced Gordy. These moments were excised from the final edit of the taped special, but still made their way into the news media; People magazine reported that "Ross [did] some elbowing to get Wilson out of the spotlight."
In 1999, Ross and mega-tour promoter SFX Entertainment (which later became Live Nation) began negotiations regarding a Diana Ross tour which would include a Supremes segment. During negotiations with Ross, the promoters considered the creation of a Supremes tour, instead. Ross agreed. As the tour's co-producer, Ross invited all living former Supremes to participate. Neither Jean Terrell nor late 1970s member Susaye Greene chose to participate. 70s Supremes Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne were then touring as Former Ladies of the Supremes.
Ross contacted Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong, who then began negotiations with SFX. Negotiations with Wilson and Birdsong (who allowed Wilson to negotiate on her behalf) failed when Wilson refused SFX's and Ross's offer of $4 million for 30 performances. Following the passage of SFX's final deadline for Wilson to accept their offer, Payne and Laurence, already negotiating with SFX, signed on to perform with Ross on the tour. Laurence and Payne would later say that they got along well with Ross. The newly formed group performed together on Today and The Oprah Winfrey Show, as well as VH1's VH1 Divas 2000: A Tribute to Diana Ross. The Return to Love Tour launched in June 2000, to a capacity audience in Philadelphia. The tour's final performance was at New York City's Madison Square Garden. The tour was canceled by SFX shortly thereafter, due to mediocre ticket sales, despite glowing reviews from media as varied as Billboard magazine, the Detroit Free Press, the Los Angeles Times, and The Village Voice newspapers. On December 5, 2000, Ross received a Heroes Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS). The Heroes Award is the highest distinction bestowed by the New York Chapter
Diana Ross's first public post RTL appearance was at a fundraiser for former President Bill Clinton. In January 2001, Love & Life: The Very Best of Diana Ross was released in the United Kingdom, becoming Ross's 17th gold album in that country. In June, Ross presented costume designer Bob Mackie with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Fashion Awards. Two days before the September 11 attacks, Ross performed "God Bless America" at the US Open before the tournament's women's final, between Venus and Serena Williams. Immediately following the attacks, Ross performed the song again at Shea Stadium, before the New York Mets first game, after driving cross-country to be with her children (in the wake of the attacks, flying in the U.S. was temporarily restricted). Ross teamed with legendary singers Patti LaBelle and Eartha Kitt, among others, for a Nile Rodgers-produced recording of Sister Sledge's classic disco hit, "We Are Family", recorded to benefit the families' of 9/11 victims. Diana Ross worked hard to tour at London and other places of the world. She fought alcohol addiction by the early 2000's. In May 2004, Ross and daughter Tracee Ellis Ross appeared on the cover of Essence magazine, in celebration of its 50th anniversary. On December 8, 2004, Ross was the featured performer for Stevie Wonder's Billboard Music Awards' Century Award tribute.
Diana Ross raised money for the tsunami victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. She promoted his M.A.C. Icon makeup collection, as part of the beauty corporation's Icon series. In 2005, Ross participated in Rod Stewart's Thanks for the Memory: The Great American Songbook, Volume IV recording a duet version of the Gershwin standard, "I've Got a Crush on You." The song was released as promotion for the album and later reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart, marking her first Billboard chart entry since 2000. Also in 2005, Ross was featured as an honored guest at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball Weekend, a three-day celebration honoring 25 African-American women in art, entertainment, and civil rights. On May 22, 2006, a year after the celebration, a one-hour program about the weekend aired on ABC, including celebrity interviews and behind-the-scenes moments. On March 22, 2006, Ross's televised Central Park concerts, entitled "For One & for All", were named TV Land Awards' Viewer's Choice for Television's Greatest Music Moment. In 2007, Ross was honored with the BET Awards' Lifetime Achievement Award and, later, as one of the honorees at the Kennedy Center Honors. She has the album I Love You in 2006. In 2011, Ross was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.
In February 2012, Ross received her first Grammy Award, for Lifetime Achievement, and announced the nominees for the Album of the Year. In May, a DVD of her Central Park concert performances, For One & For All, was released and featured commentary from Steve Binder, who directed the special. A month later, on December 9, she performed as the marquee and headlining performer at the White House-hosted Christmas in Washington concert, where she performed before former President Barack Obama. The event was later broadcast as an annual special on TNT. On November 27, 2015, Motown/Universal released the album Diana Ross Sings Songs from The Wiz, recorded in 1978. The album features Ross's versions of songs from the film version of the musical The Wiz, in which she starred along with Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Richard Pryor and Lena Horne. She mourned the passing of Michael Jackson in 2009.
On June 30, 2017, Ross headlined the Essence Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana, with her daughter Rhonda Ross-Kendrick performing as the opening act. On November 19, 2017, Ross received the American Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award. Ross performed several of her hits, ending with "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", during which she brought all of her grandchildren onstage. Her eldest grandson, eight-year-old Raif-Henok Emmanuel Kendrick, son of Rhonda Ross-Kendrick and husband, Rodney, performed an impromptu dance behind Ross, which gained attention. Ross was then joined onstage by all of her children, their spouses, first ex-husband Robert Ellis, Smokey Robinson (who brought Ross to Motown), and Motown founder, Berry Gordy. Diana Ross promoted her fragrance called Diamond Diana on the Home Shopping Network. Ross released her twenty-fifth studio album Thank You in November 2021. It was written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and contains her first original material since 1999's Every Day Is a New Day. The album had songs like Turn Up the Sunshine with the band Tame Impala. On November 15, 2022, Ross received a 2023 Grammy Award nomination in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category for Thank You. On June 9, 2023, Ross kicked off the US leg of The Music Legacy Tour which celebrated her greatest #1 hits. Later in 2023, Ross performed at London's Royal Albert Hall on October 14 and 15, and again in April 2024.
Ross became romantically involved with Motown CEO Berry Gordy in 1965. The relationship lasted several years, resulting in the birth of Ross's eldest child, Rhonda Suzanne Silberstein, in August 1971. Two months into her pregnancy with Rhonda, in January 1971, Ross married music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein, who raised Rhonda as his own daughter, despite knowing her true paternity. Ross told Rhonda that Gordy was her biological father when Rhonda was 13 years old. Beforehand, Rhonda referred to Gordy as "Uncle B.B." Ross has two daughters with Silberstein, Tracee Joy Silberstein (Tracee Ellis Ross) and Chudney Lane Silberstein, born in 1972 and 1975, respectively. Ross and Silberstein divorced in 1977. Ross met her second husband, Norwegian shipping magnate Arne Næss Jr., in 1985, and married him the following year. She became stepmother to his three elder children; Katinka, Christoffer, and folk singer Leona Naess. They have two sons together: Ross Arne (born in 1987) and Evan Olav (born in 1988). Ross and Næss divorced in 2000, after press reports revealed that Næss had fathered a child with another woman in Norway.
Ross has seven grandchildren: grandson Raif-Henok (born in 2009 to her daughter Rhonda); grandsons Leif (born on June 5, 2016) and Indigo (born 2017), born to her son Ross Næss; granddaughters Callaway Lane (born in 2012) and Everlee (born October 2019) born to Ross's daughter Chudney; granddaughter Jagger Snow (born in 2015), and grandson Ziggy (born in 2020) to her son Evan. Diana Ross was raised in the Baptist Church. She influenced Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Jade Thirlwall, Questlove, Ledisi, and the Ting Tings. Diana Ross helped to expand the influence and power of women in the music industry. She gave voice to many women to achieve power moves inside the stage and outside the stage of musical culture.
The Legacy of Diana Ross
One major part of Diana Ross's legacy is about women leadership in music and entertainment. She was a boss long before boss women (in the music industry) were more commonplace by the early 21st century. By the 1970's, she was a well-known businesswoman. Her work ethic was cultivated by her family and friends from the projects of Detroit. Diana Ross has been through adventures via tours, creating music, making friends, and loving her children. What remains constant in her life is the love of the culture of musical expression. She also is a very humble woman who has shown respect to legendary people like Beyonce, Brandy, and other artists. She was in The Supremes being one of the greatest groups of all time. There is no En Vogue, Destiny's Child, SWV, Brownstone, Total, Allure, and other groups without The Supremes breaking records, eliminating barriers, and showing outstanding songs like Where Did Our Love Go, Love Child, Baby Love, Come See About Me, Stop! in the Name of Love, Back in My Arms Again, You Keep Me Hangin' On, I Hear a Symphony, You Can't Hurry Love, and other hits. Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard were legends of The Supremes with their great vocal ability and supreme humbleness. Also, Diana Ross is her own woman who made great solo projects in her own right too. She had a long friendship with Michael Jackson filled with creative energy, love, and strength. Her children like Rhonda Ross Kendrick, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Evan Ross have been involved in acting and singing for years. Diana Ross promoted The Jackson 5, Brandy, and tons of other musicians for generations. Diana Ross has a lengthy legacy as one of the premier women entertainers of the 20th and 21st centuries
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, which is found on the West Coast of the United States of America, was born amid massive change, economic development, and entertainment. It's the most populous city in Nevada. Beyond the clubs and the centers of money, tons of hard-working class people live in Las Vegas too. Located in Clark County, the city is the second largest city in the Southwest. It is found in the Mojave Desert too. Being a resort city, it's home to boxing events, music events, gambling, shopping, fine dining, nightlife, and other forms of entertainment. Millions of people travel to Las Vegas every year to have vacations, celebrations, or business meetings. The city of Las Vegas has 641,903 people as of 2020, and its metropolitan area has about 2.2 million people. Las Vegas comes from the Spanish word las vegas meaning the meadows. From people getting married to watching large shows, Las Vegas is a very vibrant location. Its hotels are very numerous, and Las Vegas has a wide-ranging infrastructure. It is also a recent, young city. New York City was born over 2 centuries ago. Norfolk, Virginia was born over three centuries ago. Las Vegas was a city during the early 20th century. The population of Las Vegas has rapidly expanded in its land size to about 141 square miles.
The History of Las Vegas
There is no other city like it on planet Earth. Las Vegas as a city has a recent history. The settlement of Las Vegas, Nevada was founded in 1905 after the opening of a railroad that linked Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The stopover attracted some farmers (mostly from Utah) to the area. The freshwater was piped to the settlement. In 1911, the town was incorporated as part of the newly founded Clark County. Urbanization took off in 1931 when work started on the Boulder Dam (now the Hoover Dam), bringing a huge influx of young male workers, for whom theaters and casinos were built, largely by the Mafia. Electricity from the dam also enabled the building of many new hotels along the Strip. The arrival of Howard Hughes in 1966 did much to offset mob influence and helped turn Las Vegas into more of a family tourist center, now classified as a Mega resort. The name Las Vegas—Spanish for “the meadows”—was given to the area in 1829 by Rafael Rivera, a member of the Spanish explorer Antonio Armijo trading party that was traveling to Los Angeles and stopped for water there on the Old Spanish Trail from New Mexico. At that time, several parts of the valley contained artesian wells surrounded by extensive green areas. The flows from the wells fed the Las Vegas Wash, which runs to the Colorado River.
The prehistoric landscape of the Las Vegas Valley and most of Southern Nevada was once a marsh with water and vegetation. The rivers that created the marsh eventually went underground, and the marsh receded. The valley then evolved into a parched, arid landscape that only supported the hardiest animals and plants. At some point in the valley's early geologic history, the water resurfaced and flowed into what is now the Colorado River. This created a luxurious plant life, forming a wetland oasis in the Mojave Desert landscape. Evidence of prehistoric life in Las Vegas Valley has been found at the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. An abundance of Late Pleistocene fossils has been discovered from this locality, including Columbian mammoths and Camelops hesternus.
Native Americans lived in the Las Vegas Valley over 10,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found baskets, petroglyphs, pictographs, and other evidence in many locations like Gypsum Cave and Tule Springs. Paiutes moved into the area by 700 A.D., migrating between nearby mountains in the summer and spending winter in the valley, near Big Springs. A trade caravan of 60 men led by the Spanish merchant Antonio Armijo was charged with establishing a trade route to Los Angeles. By following the Pike and Smith routes through a tributary of the Colorado River they came upon the Las Vegas Valley, described by Smith as the best point to re-supply before going onto California. The travelers named the area Las Vegas, which is Spanish for the meadows or 'fertile plains.' John C. Fremont came into the Las Valley on May 3, 1844, while it was still part of Mexico. He was appointed by President John Tyler to lead a group of scientists, scouts, and spies for the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which was preparing for a possible war with Mexico. Upon arriving in the valley, they made camp at the Las Vegas Springs, establishing a clandestine fort there. A war with Mexico did occur, resulting in the region becoming United States territory. The fort was used in later years by travelers, mountain men, hunters, and traders seeking shelter, but was never permanently inhabited.
In 1855, William Bringhurst led a group of 29 Mormon missionaries from Utah to the Las Vegas Valley. The missionaries built a 150 foot square (46 m) adobe fort near a creek and used flood irrigation to water their crops. However, because of tensions rising among leaders of the small Mormon community, the summer heat and difficulty growing crops, the missionaries returned to Utah in 1857, abandoning the fort (The remains of the fort are preserved in the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park).
For the next few years, the area remained unoccupied by Americans except for travelers and traders. Then the U.S. Army, in an attempt to deceive Confederate spies active in southern California in 1864, falsely publicized that it reclaimed the fort and had renamed it Fort Baker, briefly recalling the area to national attention. After the end of the war in 1865, Octavius Gass, with a commission from the federal government, re-occupied the fort. The Paiute nation had declined in numbers and negotiated a new treaty with the United States, ceding the area around the fort to the United States in return for relocation and supplies of food and farming equipment. Consequently, Gass started irrigating the old fields and renamed the area Las Vegas Rancho. Gass made wine at his ranch, and Las Vegas became known as the best stop on the Old Spanish Trail. In 1881, because of mismanagement and intrigue with a Mormon syndicate, Gass lost his ranch to Archibald Stewart to pay off a lien Stewart had on the property. In 1884, Archibald's wife Helen J. Stewart became the Las Vegas postmaster.
The property in the Las Vegas areas (increased to 1,800 acres (730 ha)), stayed with the family (despite Archibald Stewart's murder in July 1884) until it was purchased in 1902 by the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad, then being built across southern Nevada. The railroad was a project of Montana Senator William Andrews Clark. Clark enlisted Utah's U.S. Senator and mining magnate Thomas Kearns to ensure the line's completion through Utah to Las Vegas. The State Land Act of 1885 offered land at $1.25 per acre ($3.09/hectare). Clark and Kearns promoted the area to American farmers who quickly expanded the farming plots of the area. Not until 1895 did the first large-scale migration of Mormons begin in the area, at long last fulfilling Brigham Young's early dream. Through wells and arid irrigation, agriculture became the primary industry for the next 20 years and in return for his development, the farmers named the area Clark County in honor of the railroad tycoon and Senator.
By the early 20th century, wells piped water into the town of Las Vegas. That gave people a reliable source of fresh water and a means to develop additional growth. The more availability of water in the area allowed Las Vegas to be a water stop, first for wagon trains, and later railroads, on the trail between Los Angeles and points east such as Albuquerque, New Mexico. By 1905, there was the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad. That linked Salt Lake City to southern California. U.S. Senator William Andrews Clark was the majority owner of the railroad, which was a corporation based in Utah. Among its original incorporators were Utah's U.S. Senator Thomas Kearns and his business partner David Keith. Kearns, one of the richer and more powerful men in Utah, and Keith were the owners of Utah's Silver King Coalition Mine, several mines in Nevada, and The Salt Lake Tribune. Kearns and Keith helped Clark ensure the success of the new railroad across Utah and into Nevada to California. Curiously, for a time there were two towns named Las Vegas. The east-side of Las Vegas (which encompassed the modern Main Street and Las Vegas Boulevard) was owned by Clark, and the west-side of Las Vegas (which encompassed the area north of modern-day Bonanza Road) was owned by J.T. McWilliams, who was hired by the Stewart family during the sale of the Las Vegas Rancho and bought available land west of the ranch. It was from their property that Las Vegas took form.
Clark built another railroad branching off from Las Vegas to the boom town of Bullfrog called the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad. With the revenue coming down both railways that intersected there, the area of Las Vegas was quickly growing. On May 15, 1905, Las Vegas officially was founded as a city when 110 acres (45 ha), in what later became downtown, were auctioned to ready buyers. Las Vegas was the driving force in the creation of Clark County, Nevada in 1909, and the city was incorporated in 1911 as a part of the county. The first mayor of Las Vegas was Peter Buol, who served from 1911 to 1913. Shortly after the city's incorporation, the State of Nevada reluctantly became the last western state to outlaw gambling. This occurred at midnight, October 1, 1910, when a strict anti-gambling law became effective in Nevada. It even forbade the Western custom of flipping a coin for the price of a drink. Nonetheless, Las Vegas had a diversified economy and a stable and prosperous business community and therefore continued to grow until 1917. In that year, a combination of economic influences and the redirection of resources by the federal government in support of the war effort forced the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad to declare bankruptcy. Although William Clark sold the remains of the company to the Union Pacific Railroad, a nationwide strike in 1922 left Las Vegas in a desperate state.
By July 3, 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the appropriation bill for the Boulder Dam. The dam was renamed the Hoover Dam during the Truman administration. By 1931, people started to build the dam. The population of Las Vegas increased from around 5,000 citizens to 25,000, with most of the newcomers looking for a job building the dam. However, the demographic of the workforce consisting of males from across the country with no attachment to the area created a market for large-scale entertainment. A combination of local Las Vegas business owners and Mafia crime lords helped develop the casinos and showgirl theaters to entertain the largely male dam construction workers. Despite the influx of known crime figures, the local business community tried to cast Las Vegas in a respectable light when the Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur visited in 1929 to inspect the dam site. However, a worker was found with alcohol on his breath (this was during the time of Prohibition) after a visit to Block 16 in Las Vegas. The government ultimately decided that a federally controlled town, Boulder City, would be erected for the dam workers.
Realizing that gambling would be profitable for local businesses, the Nevada state legislature legalized gambling at the local level in 1931. Las Vegas, with a small but already well-established illegal gambling industry, was poised to begin its rise as the gaming capital of the world. The county issued the first gambling license in 1931 to the Northern Club, and soon other casinos were licensed on Fremont Street, such as the Las Vegas Club and the Hotel Apache. Fremont Street became the first paved street in Las Vegas and received the city's first traffic light in 1931. In reply, the federal government restricted the movement of the dam workers to Las Vegas. Smuggling and circuitous routes then were developed. In 1934, to curtail these activities and the resulting growth of criminal figures in the gambling industry, the city's leading figures purged gambling dens and started an effort to stem the flow of workers from the dam. This only emboldened some dam workers who still contrived to visit Las Vegas. A celebration of this era has become known as Helldorado Days.
Although the suppression efforts resulted in declines at gambling venues and resulted in a business downturn, the city was recharged—both literally and figuratively—when the dam was completed in 1935. In 1937, Southern Nevada Power became the first utility to supply power from the dam, and Las Vegas was its first customer. Electricity flowed into Las Vegas, and Fremont Street became known as Glitter Gulch due to the many bright lights powered by electricity from the Hoover Dam. Meanwhile, although the dam worker population disappeared, the Hoover Dam and its reservoir Lake Mead turned into tourist attractions on their own and the need for additional higher-class hotels became clear. In 1940, U.S. Route 95 was extended south into Las Vegas, giving the city two major access roads. Also in 1940, KENO, Las Vegas's first permanent radio station, began broadcasting replacing the niche occupied earlier by transient broadcasters. The war years in Las Vegas lasted from 1941 to 1945. On January 25, 1941, the U.S. Army formed the flexible gunnery school for the United States Army Air Corps in Las Vegas.
Mayor of Las Vegas John L. Russell signed over land to the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps for this development. The gunnery school would be the Nellis Air Force Base. The U.S. Army disagreed with legalized prostitution in Las Vegas. So, in 1942, they forced Las Vegas to ban the practice, putting Block 16 (the local red-light district), out of business permanently. By April 3, 1941, hotel owner Thomas Hull opened the El Rancho Vegas. It was the first resort on what became the Las Vegas Strip. The hotel gained much of its fame from the gourmet buffet that it offered. On October 30, 1942, Texas cinema magnate R. E. Griffith rebuilt on the site of a nightclub named Pair-O-Dice It first opened in 1930 and was renamed Hotel Last Frontier. A few more resorts were built on and around Fremont Street, but it was the next hotel on the Strip that publicly demonstrated the influenced the influence of organized crime on Las Vegas. Many ethnic organized crime figures were involved in some of the operations at the hotels, but the Mafia bosses never owned or controlled the hotels and clubs that remained monopolized by hard-bitten local Las Vegas families. These families back then didn't want to cede ground to the crime bosses and proved strong enough to push back. This changed during post-WWII Las Vegas. This was when gangster Bugsy Siegel with help from his friend fellow mob boss Meyer Lansky, poured money via local owned banks for cover of legitimacy and built The Flamingo in 1946 Siegel modeled his enterprises on the long running gambling empire in Galveston, Texas, which had pioneered the high-class casino concepts that became mainstays on the Strip.
The Flamingo initially lost money and Siegel died in a hail of gunfire in Beverly Hills, California, in the summer of 1947. Additionally, local police and Clark County Sheriff deputies were notorious for their heavy-handed tactics toward mobsters who "grew too big for their pants." However, many mobsters saw the potential that gambling offered in Las Vegas. After gambling was legalized, the Bank of Las Vegas, led by E. Parry Thomas, became the first bank to lend money to the casinos, which Thomas regarded as the most important business in Las Vegas. At the same time, Allen Dorfman, a close associate of longtime Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa and a known associate of the Chicago Outfit, took over the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund, which began lending money to Las Vegas casino owners and developers. They provided funding to build the Sahara, the Sands, the Riviera, the Fremont, and finally the Tropicana. Even with the general knowledge that some of the owners of these casino resorts had dubious backgrounds, by 1954, over 8 million people were visiting Las Vegas yearly pumping $200 million into casinos. Gambling was no longer the only attraction; the biggest stars of films and music like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Liberace, Bing Crosby, Carol Channing, and others performed in intimate settings. After coming to see these stars, the tourists would resume gambling, and then eat at the gourmet buffets that have become a staple of the casino industry. On November 15, 1950, the United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce (known as the Kefauver Hearings) met in Las Vegas. It was the seventh of 14 hearings held by the commission. Moe Sedway, manager of the Flamingo Hotel and a friend of mobster Bugsy Siegel, Wilbur Clark representing the Desert Inn, and Nevada Lieutenant Governor Clifford Jones were all called to testify. The hearings established that Las Vegas interests were required to pay Siegel to get the race wire transmitting the results of horse and dog races, prizefight results, and other sports action into their casinos.
The hearing concluded that money from organized crime incontrovertibly was tied to the Las Vegas casinos and was becoming the controlling interest in the city, earning the organized crime groups vast amounts of income, and strengthening their influence in the country. This led to a proposal by the Senate to institute federal gambling control. Nevada's Senator Pat McCarran was instrumental in defeating the measure in committee.
Along with their connections in Hollywood and New York City, these interests in Las Vegas were able to use publicity provided by these media capitals to steer the rapid growth of tourism into Las Vegas, thereby dooming Galveston, Texas; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and other illegal gaming centers around the nation. Nevada's legal gaming as well as the paradoxical increased scrutiny by local and federal law enforcement in these other locales during the 1950s made their demise inevitable.
The Strip was a location where bombs were tested. On January 27, 1951, the Atomic Energy Commission detonated the first of over 100 atmospheric explosions at the Nevada Test Site. There were dangers of radiation exposure from the fallout, and Las Vegas advertised the explosions as another tourist attraction. Black then, many people didn't know about the radiation exposure from such explosion back in the day. Many people offered Atomic Cocktails in the Sky Room restaurant at the Desert Inn that provided the highest view of the mushroom clouds. During this time, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce successfully pushed for Vegas to become nicknamed the Atomic City. Several Miss Atomic pageants were held to help display the city's modernity and to continue spinning messages on the nearby testing to tourists. The influx of government employees for the Atomic Energy Commission and from the Mormon-controlled Bank of Las Vegas spearheaded by E. Parry Thomas during those years funded the growing boom in casinos. But Las Vegas was doing more than growing casinos. In 1948, McCarran Field was established for commercial air traffic. In 1957, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas was established, initially as a branch of the University of Nevada, Reno, and becoming independent in 1969. In 1959, the Clark County Commission built the Las Vegas Convention Center, which became a vital part of the area's economy. Southwest Gas expanded into Las Vegas in 1954. These atmospheric tests would continue until the enactment of the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963 when the tests moved underground. The last test explosion was in 1992. Howard Hughes in 1966 was the eccentric promoter of American aviation who had OCD. He was also a virulent racist. Hughes lived in Las Vagas for years to build Las Vegas real estate, hotels, and media outlets via an estimated $300 billion. Las Vegas changed from Wild West roots to have a more cosmopolitan vibe. Hank Greenspun via the Las Vegas Sun local newspaper helped to expose criminals and corruption in Las Vegas.
His investigative reporting and editorials led to the exposure of Clark County Sheriff Glen Jones' ownership of a brothel and the resignation of Lieutenant Governor Clifford A. Jones as the state's national committeeman for the Democratic Party. Before his death in 1989, Hank Greenspun founded The Greenspun Corporation to manage his family's assets, and it remains a major influence in Las Vegas, with media holdings in print, television, and the Internet; substantial real estate holdings; and ownership stakes in several casinos. One problem for the City of Las Vegas was that the Strip did not reside in Las Vegas. Because of this, the city lost tax revenue. There was a push to annex the Strip by the City of Las Vegas, but The Syndicate used the Clark County Commissioners to pull a legal maneuver by organizing the Las Vegas Strip properties into an unincorporated township named Paradise. Under Nevada Law, an incorporated town, Las Vegas, cannot annex an unincorporated township. To this day, virtually all of the Strip remains outside the City of Las Vegas.
Like many places in America, Las Vegas had segregation, and activists fought to defeat it. Entertainment venues were segregated between black owned and white owned businesses back in the day. Almost all businesses in Las Vegas back then were owned by white people. Black Americans were banned from entering the venues. Black businesses were mainly confined to clubs on the west side of Las Vegas. Thus, African Americans (except those who provided the labor for low-paying menial positions or entertainment) and Hispanics were limited in employment occupations at the white-owned clubs. However, because of employment deals with black worker groups, many clubs favored black workers, and the Hispanic population actually decreased 90% from 2,275 to just 236 by the mid-1950s. Organized crime-owned businesses saw an opportunity in not dividing their clientele by race, and despite property deeds and city and county codes barring such activities, made several attempts at desegregating their businesses in the hopes of putting out of operation the non-white owned clubs and expanding their own market share. An attempt was made at forming an all-integrated night-club modeled on the Harlem Clubs of New York City during the 1920s and 1930s, like those owned by German-Jewish gangster Dutch Schultz. On May 24, 1955, Jewish crime boss Will Max Schwartz, along with other investors, opened the Moulin Rouge. It was a very upscale and racially integrated casino that actually competed against the resorts on the Strip, especially the non-white owned strips on the west side. By the end of the year, the casino closed as Schwartz and his partners had a falling out, but the seeds for racial integration were sown.
Many sources have credited Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack as a significant driving force behind desegregation in the casinos. One famous story tells of Sinatra's refusal to perform at the Sands Hotel unless the hotel provided Sammy Davis Jr. with a room. The famed performing group made similar demands at other venues, forcing owners to amend their policies over time.
However, it took political action for racial desegregation to occur. In 1960, the NAACP threatened a protest of the city's casinos for their policies. A meeting among the NAACP, the mayor, and local businessmen resulted in citywide casino desegregation, starting with the employees. Many whites were attritioned from positions and their jobs were given to the black unions. Along with the rest of the country, Las Vegas experienced the struggle for civil rights. Activists like James B. McMillan, Grant Sawyer, Bob Bailey, and Charles Keller dragged Las Vegas to racial integration.
Aside from seeing no business advantage to excluding non-white customers from casinos and clubs, the organized crime groups were composed of people of ethnicities (Jewish and Italian) that faced discrimination from certain Americans and thus could understand the plight of black people. This was also a driving force behind the integration advocated by ethnic performers such as Sinatra and Martin. Another big force for equality was Mayor Oran Gragson. Spurred into local politics by a vigilante ring of cops who repeatedly broke into his appliance store, he implemented infrastructure improvements for the minority neighborhoods in Las Vegas, backed the NAACP in its actions, and promoted black workers for jobs. He also championed the cause of the Paiute tribe that owned a small portion of Las Vegas. Gragson stopped the U.S. government from evicting the tribe and made infrastructure improvements for them. His work helped reverse the decrease of minority populations in Las Vegas. Local legislation kept up with the national legislation, and integration was finally established. Violence came as a result of school integration, with violent riots and fights occurring in Clark High School when people of many racists fought each other. This happened in Rancho High School too in racial riots. Integration sparked a white flight from the school district from 1965 to 1971.
Las Vegas, during the 1970's and the 1980's, experienced massive growth. Las Vegas and Clark County had incredibly high growth rates. The population more than doubled in most decades. The rate slowed down in the 1970s with the decrease of the white birth rate but never dropped below 60% (1980–1990), and even accelerated after 1990 due to immigration. By 2000, Las Vegas was the largest city founded in the 20th century, and by 2006 it was the 28th largest city in the U.S., with a population of 552,000 in the city and nearly 1.8 million in Clark County. The explosive growth resulted in the rapid development of commercial and residential areas throughout the Las Vegas Valley. The strong boom in the resort business led to many new condominium developments all along the Strip and downtown area. Also, urban sprawl development of single-family homes continued across the valley, building the areas of Henderson, North Las Vegas, Centennial Hills, and Summerlin. The rapid development and population growth both halted abruptly in the late 2000s recession. The famous American author and journalist Hunter S. Thompson wrote and published his seminal novel called "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," describing the experience of his 1971 trip to the city. By November 21, 1980, the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino suffered a devastating fire. A total of 85 people died and 785 were injured in what remains the worst disaster in Nevada history. The property eventually was sold and reopened as Bally's Las Vegas, and MGM moved south to Tropicana Avenue. From 1989 to 2007, there was the megaresort era of Las Vegas The Rat Pack and Mafia ended by the 1980's. The World War II generation started to retire in massive numbers, and the rise of Baby Boomer entrepreneurs started a new era in the city's history. The megaresorts grew in Vegas.
Therefore, Las Vegas began to become a more commercialized, family-oriented place with large corporations coming to own the hotels, casinos, and nightclubs that replaced the ownership of the places by Mafia bosses. The megaresort era kicked off in 1989 with the construction of The Mirage. Built by developer Steve Wynn, it was the first resort built with money from Wall Street, selling $630 million in junk bonds. Its 3,044 rooms, each with gold-tinted windows, set a new standard for Vegas luxury and attracted tourists in droves, leading to additional financing and rapid growth on the Las Vegas Strip. More landmark hotels and other structures were razed to make way for even larger and more opulent resorts including Rio and Excalibur in 1990, Mandalay Bay, Venetian, and Paris in 1999, Planet Hollywood (formerly Aladdin) in 2000, Palms existed in 2001, and Wynn was opened in 2005.
The home mortgage crisis (2007-2010) and the late 2000s recession affected Las Vegas' economic success. New home construction was stalled, and construction projects either were canceled, postponed, or continued with financial troubles. Some of these projects included the MGM Mirage property of CityCenter, Fontainebleau, Echelon, and The Plaza. The global financial situation also had a negative effect on gaming and tourism revenue, causing many of the companies to report net loss. By 2010, empty lots on the Strip were affecting the foot traffic of other casinos. The new landmark hotels and resorts are the Encore from 2008, CityCenter in 2009, Sphere at the Venetian Resort in 2023, and Fontainebleau in 2023. In the 2010s, multiple analysts agreed that the Las Vegas economy was recovering, with improving conditions in tourism and the housing market for 2013. Prices are rising and there has been a large increase in the million-dollar home market, with many new custom homes being built. January 2013 marked the 19th consecutive month with home sales higher than the same month in the previous year. In addition, Las Vegas was named America's Top Turn Around Market for 2012 by Trulia.
During the late evening of October 1, 2017, Las Vegas became the scene of the deadliest mass shooting committed by a single gunman in the history of the United States. A gunman opened fire on Route 91 Harvest festival-goers from the Mandalay Bay resort, killing 60 and injuring 867. The Alpine Motel Apartments fire occurred in downtown Las Vegas in December 2019, killing six people. It is the deadliest fire to occur in city limits. During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic casinos were ordered to close, nearly unheard of in Las Vegas. The COVID-19 pandemic reached the city in March 2020, having various effects such as business closures and time. This has also led to mass cancellation of events and festivals.
Due to concerns about climate change in the wake of a 2002 drought, daily water consumption in Las Vegas has been reduced from 314 gallons per resident in 2003 to around 205 gallons in 2015. Despite these conservation efforts, local water consumption remains 30 percent more than in Los Angeles, and over three times that of San Francisco. In June 2017, a heat wave grounded more than 40 airline flights of small aircraft, with American Airlines reducing sales on certain flights and Las Vegas tying its record high at 117 degrees Fahrenheit.
Overall, Las Vegas continues to evolve, with many places being constructed and built. The city also continued to open more retail, which are largely high end. Furthermore, it continues to attract and gain more tourists from around the world. Many recent buildings of 2020s decade include Area15, Circa, and Resorts World, all of which are unique to Las Vegas. It will continue the urban sprawl of Las Vegas and its county. Las Vegas Strip will look different in 2020s since the brand new decade will bring new designs such as reshapes and these new LED lights on the edges of the Luxor and the debut of Mayfair Supper Club. The Las Vegas Convention Center completes its extension to the Strip with the convention business being bigger than other buildings, which will get its own renovation from 2021 to 2024. Allegiant Stadium opened in 2020, which welcomed the Raiders and their fans, and was selected to host Super Bowl LVIII. Other new events include MSG Sphere rounding out the Vegas skyline, Flamingo Steakhouse's rebirth in the vintage style, mysterious Area15 opening its doors, complicated relationship with Asian dining, a lot of new residencies, Resorts World preparing a newer debut, Caesars Forum emerging as a new event space, Wynn getting a few recent restaurants, Hard Rock transforming into a Virgin Resort, new kind of food tour that hits The LINQ in the Strip, new burger and drive-in, and Truth & Tonic being the first all-vegan restaurant on the Strip of Las Vegas. It is suggested that the downtown will look different with the overhead of Vision video and $15 million renovation of its own with new roadwork in the Fremont East District. Also, Downtown Grand in Las Vegas is expanding widely with this establishment of a second hotel rise. On April 2, 2024, Tropicana Las Vegas closed after 67 years of operation. It is set to be demolished and replaced by New Las Vegas Stadium which will be the home of the Oakland Athletics after they relocate to Las Vegas.
The Culture of Las Vegas
The culture of Las Vegas is very diverse and interesting. Its culture is not just about casinos, but tourism, gaming, various conventions, athletics, music, and restaurants. Most casinos in the downtown area are on Fremont Street, with The STRAT Hotel, Casino & Skypod as one of the few exceptions. Fremont East, adjacent to the Fremont Street Experience, was granted variances to allow bars to be closer together, similar to the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, the goal being to attract a different demographic than the Strip attracts. The center of the gambling and entertainment industry is the Las Vegas Strip, outside the city limits in the surrounding unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester in Clark County. Some of the largest casinos and buildings are there. The city is home to several museums, including the Neon Museum (the location for many of the historical signs from Las Vegas's mid-20th century heyday), The Mob Museum, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, the DISCOVERY Children's Museum, the Nevada State Museum, and the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park. The city is home to an extensive Downtown Arts District, which hosts numerous galleries and events including the annual Las Vegas Film Festival. "First Friday" is a monthly celebration that includes arts, music, special presentations and food in a section of the city's downtown region called 18b, The Las Vegas Arts District. The festival extends into the Fremont East Entertainment District. The Thursday evening before First Friday is known in the arts district as "Preview Thursday", which highlights new gallery exhibitions throughout the district. The Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts is a Grammy award-winning magnet school located in downtown Las Vegas.
The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is downtown in Symphony Park and hosts various Broadway shows and other artistic performances. The Las Vegas Valley is the home of three major professional teams: the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Vegas Golden Knights, an expansion team that began play in the 2017–18 NHL season at T-Mobile Arena in nearby Paradise, the National Football League (NFL)'s Las Vegas Raiders, who relocated from Oakland, California in 2020 and play at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s Las Vegas Aces, who play at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. The Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB) plans to move to Las Vegas by 2028. Two minor league sports teams play in the Las Vegas area. The Las Vegas Aviators of the Pacific Coast League, the Triple-A farm club of the Oakland Athletics, play at Las Vegas Ballpark in nearby Summerlin. The Las Vegas Lights FC of the United Soccer League and the Vegas Vipers of the XFL, play in Cashman Field in Downtown Las Vegas. The mixed martial arts-promoted institution of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is headquartered in Las Vegas and also frequently holds fights in the city at T-Mobile Arena and at the UFC Apex training facility near the headquarters.
There are numerous musicians and bands based in Las Vegas. The famous R&B group 702 is from Las Vegas with members like LeMisha Grinstead, Irish Grinstead, Amelia Cruz, and Meelah Williams. Their songs of Get It Together in 1997 propelled them into a new level of popularity. Their debut album was called No Doubt in 1996 with songs like Steelo (which was produced by Chad Elliot, Missy Elliot, and George Pearson), All I Want, and No Doubt. The rock pop band Imagine Dragons is based in Las Vegas with members of Dan Reynolds, Wayne Sermon, Ben McKee, and Daniel Platzman. They were formed in 2008. Many of their most influential songs are Believer, Thunder, and Whatever It Takes. Ne-Yo was born in Arkansas and lived his childhood later in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is one of the most talented singers and songwriters of our generation. We know of his music from songs like So Sick, When You're Mad, Because of You, Closer, and Miss Independent.
Epilogue
In conclusion, Las Vegas is known for many things from hotels to casinos. Yet, many people forget that Las Vegas is very multifaceted with a wide-ranging cultural power. The city has over 640,000 people with restaurants, churches, fine dining, entertainment locations, stadiums, and other forms of entertainment that have enriched people for over one century. We know about the Rat Pack, Toni Braxton, Usher, Celine Dion, Elvis Presley, Wayne Newton, and other artists performing in Las Vegas for years and decades. From the Clark County Government Center to the World Market Center, social and technological power exists in Las Vegas. Las Vegas has been called by many names like City of Lights, Capital of Second Chances, The Silver City, America's Playground, and The Marriage Captial of the World. The mayor of Las Vegas is the Independent Carolyn Goodman. Las Vegas is also the second largest city in the Southwest being a cultural staple of West Coast culture. There are tons of prominent people who were born in Las Vegas, Nevada like Vashti Cunningham (a professional track and field high jump athlete, who is the daughter of football legend Randall Cunningham), Ricky Davis, Greg Anthony, and other human beings. Las Vegas is a heavily middle-class, working-class city. The myth is that Las Vegas consists of mostly wealthy corporate leaders. The reality is that chefs, teachers, judges, plumbers, engineers, janitors, factory workers, nurses, doctors, Uber drivers, architects, and other people make massive social contributions to Las Vegas on a daily basis fully. These working-class people make our civilization function literally, and their grit and sacrifices should always be appreciated. The people in Las Vegas of every color and every background have made Las Vegas an outstanding cultural location.
By Timothy