"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE” : GARRY ODELL BLANSON

This Week’s Special Edition Article is on “A Living( former ) Domino’s Pizza Distribution Legend named Garry Odell Blanson!” : Garry was born in Monroe , Louisiana on March 11,1965 to Odell & Mrs Jessie Mae Blanson ; attended school locally{ including some College credits } ; between 1987 - 1988 became an Assistant Manager at Domino’s Pizza in Monroe, Louisiana ; It is “rumored” that between March 1993 and December 1996, Garry sold “OVER 50,000” Domino’s Pizzas( mostly along his pizza routes that ran through all parts of Monroe and West Monroe, Louisiana ) : partnered with Damian L Harris[ aka grave digga ] and 100.1 da’beat at football games , gave freebies to aspiring students like kita Wright ; “delivered pizzas to park view apts” ; arranged for partnership between Domino’s Pizza and the Carroll High Band Parents Concessionstand ; and arranged for the youth of Zion Travelers Baptist Church to have pizza served to them after church on several youth Sundays ; went to eat at a local fast food restaurant and a pizza customer paid for our meal; when Domino’s Pizza got The ULM contract,to sell pizzas at ULM Football games, the Regional Manager sought Garrys help in getting the sales associates to sell more pizzas, while having more fun! Garry Odell Blanson still resides in the City of Monroe, Louisiana. Garry’s has started a buzz in Monroe, Louisiana with his Articles,”OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE.”

"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" : BENJAMIN BRADLEY

During American Slavery, slaves were sometimes allowed to buy their “FREEDOM!” This Week’s Black Heritage Hero was able to do so in an “unusual fashion.” By using “mere ideas,”Benjamin Bradley was able to take common materials to “Invent,Build,and Sell”his steam-ship inventions, which enabled him to acquire funds for purchasing his “FREEDOM!” According to the Maryland State Manumission records, he bought his freedom for $1,000, and was emancipated from his owner( master ), John T. Hammond, on September 30, 1859, in Anne Arundel, Maryland. Benjamin Bradley[ who was also known as Benjamin Boardley ], was born a slave in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in March 1836. Around the age of 16, young Benjamin showed that he was intelligent and was mechanically inclined when he was able to build a steam engine out of a gun barrel, pewter, round steel, and other materials. His master decided to get him a job working as a helper at the Department of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Of course his master got paid the money that Benjamin earned{ but he did give Benjamin five dollars a month to keep for himself }. Benjamin ‘s professors at the naval academy were very impressed with his work. One of his professors( Professor Hopkins) even got his children to teach Benjamin how to read, write, and do math. While working at the naval academy, he built a steam engine and sold it to a Mid-shipman. With money that he had saved and from the money he got from the sale of his steam engine, he built another steam engine, which he sold to one of his classmates at the naval academy. Finally, with this money,he built “the first steam-powered warship in America!” Since he was a slave, Benjamin wasn’t allowed to apply for a patent of his invention. However, he used the proceeds from the sell of his steam-powered warship to complete the $1,000 dollars needed to buy his “FREEDOM” from his master! Benjamin Bradley died in 1904 and is buried at the Mashpee Town Cemetery in Massachusetts. In closing, I’m flabbergasted when I hear the mainstream media talk about how there is such a shortage of intelligent minded( S.T.E.M. ) young Black Workers & Students in America. Just because they want to use measuring standards that make Blacks appear to be inferior and incapable of handling the job requirements for the high-paying positions that they really don’t want Blacks to have in the first place! Just look what Benjamin Bradley was able to accomplish with “no formal schooling, no college degrees, and very little experience!”

"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" : CORALIE FRANKLIN COOK

Much has been said and written about Sally (Sarah ) Hemings, the mother of several of Thomas Jefferson’s slave children. However, little is taught in the schools in our Black Communities about Coralie Franklin Cook[ a descendant of the Heming’s family ] or about the Black Women of Monroe, Louisiana who fought for Women’s Suffrage! Coralie Franklin Cook was born in Lexington, Virginia, in March 1861 to Albert Barbour Franklin and Mary Elizabeth Edmondson, who enslaved by a Southern aristocratic family. She attended Storer Normal School where she showed a strong interest in speech and reading. In 1880, Coralie graduated from Storer College{ she is the first known college graduate among the descendants of Jefferson's slaves at Monticello }. After graduating from Storer College, she was hired as an Associate Professor, at Storer College, where she taught speech & english. Around 1884, Coralie and her female colleague, Mary Church Terrell decided to seek employment opportunities in Washington D.C.( in the field of Education ). Coralie went on to serve on the Washington D.C. Board of Education. Additionally, she became became a prominent leader among Elite Negro Women and the Black Women's Club movement. Coralie and Mary were early members of one of the oldest Black women's clubs[ the Colored Women's League of Washington ]. To her credit, Coralie was the only African-American woman invited to give an official statement at Susan B Anthony’s 80th birthday celebration at the Lafayette Opera House in 1900. In her address, Coralie addressed Susan B Anthony directly, stating, "...and so Miss Anthony, in behalf of the hundreds of colored women who wait and hope with you for the day when the ballot shall be in the hands of every intelligent woman; and also in behalf of the thousands who sit in darkness and whose condition we shall expect those ballots to better, whether they be in the hands of white women or Black, I offer you my warmest gratitude and congratulations.” Coralie Franklin Cook was a strong & staunch supporter of Women’s Suffrage. movement. Also, she was an active member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and part of the association's inner circles.   On August 31, 1898, Coralie Franklin married George W Cook a professor and Dean of the school at Howard University. They had one son named George William Cook Jr., and they were married for 33 years until George died on August 20,1931{ Coralie Franklin Cook died in 1942, at 81 years of age }.

OUR RICH OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE : FREDERICK DOUGLASS PATTERSON

Who is the first person that comes to mind when you think of the name “Frederick Douglas?” Most people would say, “Frederick Douglas” the famous Negro abolitionist who rose to fame with the 1845 publication of his first book The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Strangely enough, few Black People under the age of 40 have ever heard of “FREDERICK DOUGLAS PATTERSON,” the Negro Pioneer of the American Auto Industry who took over his Dad’s[ Charles Richard Patterson ] Carriage Business( The C.R. Patterson and Sons Company ) and drove it into the Automotive Era! Frederick Douglas Patterson was born on September 17, 1871 in Greenfield, Ohio to C.R. Patterson and Josephine Utz. Frederick Douglas Patterson attended Frederick graduated from the old Greenfield High School in 1888. After graduating,he enrolled at Ohio State University. During his Junior year, he became the first Negro to play on the Ohio State Football Team. Since money was tight, Frederick left college before his senior year, and took a teaching job in Louisville, Kentucky.While teaching was ok, Frederick felt a need to return home to help run his father’s business( with his younger brother, Samuel Patterson ). Frederick ended up taking over the business, after his father’s death in 1910.While noticing a trend in the growth of horseless carriages, Frederick decided to shift the business to automobiles.In 1915, the first Patterson automobile[ the Patterson-Greenfield ] roiled off the assembly line! The Patterson-Greenfield sold for $850 and was suggested to be a higher quality automobile than Henry Ford’s Model T. It had a forty horsepower Continental four-cylinder engine and reached a top speed of fifty miles per hour. It was reported that there were between 130 - 150 of the Patterson-Greenfield vehicles produced between 1915 - 1920. Due to the fact that Henry Ford had cornered the market and was selling his vehicles for less than $400, Frederick decided to shift the company’s focus on manufacturing buses and trucks. Additionally, because of the 1929 stock market crash, the company finances took a big hit. Frederick Douglas Patterson died on January 18,1932 ( the company closed its doors for good in 1939). HERITAGE" : FREDERICK DOUGLASS PATTERSON Who is the first person that comes to mind when you think of the name “Frederick Douglas?” Most people would say, “Frederick Douglas” the famous Negro abolitionist who rose to fame with the 1845 publication of his first book The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Strangely enough, few Black People under the age of 40 have ever heard of “FREDERICK DOUGLAS PATTERSON,” the Negro Pioneer of the American Auto Industry who took over his Dad’s[ Charles Richard Patterson ] Carriage Business( The C.R. Patterson and Sons Company ) and drove it into the Automotive Era! Frederick Douglas Patterson was born on September 17, 1871 in Greenfield, Ohio to C.R. Patterson and Josephine Utz. Frederick Douglas Patterson attended Frederick graduated from the old Greenfield High School in 1888. After graduating,he enrolled at Ohio State University. During his Junior year, he became the first Negro to play on the Ohio State Football Team. Since money was tight, Frederick left college before his senior year, and took a teaching job in Louisville, Kentucky.While teaching was ok, Frederick felt a need to return home to help run his father’s business( with his younger brother, Samuel Patterson ). Frederick ended up taking over the business, after his father’s death in 1910.While noticing a trend in the growth of horseless carriages, Frederick decided to shift the business to automobiles.In 1915, the first Patterson automobile[ the Patterson-Greenfield ] roiled off the assembly line! The Patterson-Greenfield sold for $850 and was suggested to be a higher quality automobile than Henry Ford’s Model T. It had a forty horsepower Continental four-cylinder engine and reached a top speed of fifty miles per hour. It was reported that there were between 130 - 150 of the Patterson-Greenfield vehicles produced between 1915 - 1920. Due to the fact that Henry Ford had cornered the market and was selling his vehicles for less than $400, Frederick decided to shift the company’s focus on manufacturing buses and trucks. Additionally, because of the 1929 stock market crash, the company finances took a big hit. Frederick Douglas Patterson died on January 18,1932 ( the company closed its doors for good in 1939).

"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" : G.W. FRANKLIN

As I look around Monroe, Louisiana, I can’t help but notice that not much FAN-FARE or ACCOLADES is given to the Black Funeral Home Establishments located in our Black Communities. Collectively, I would say that Black Funeral Homes in Monroe employ a large number of Black employees. Frankly speaking, I don’t know what the Black citizens of( or the City of Monroe ) Monroe would do without the services of our local Black Funeral Establishments! Recently, at a Monroe City Council Meeting, I happened to be a witness when “Smith’s Funeral Home” received an award for The Black Business of the Month of February. That was good, but no mention of the awarding[ or the award ] was ever published in any of the local newspapers or mentioned in any of the other media outlets in Monroe { hello, the groundbreaking ceremony for State Representative Mike Echols Hotel got more coverage than the award for Smith’s Funeral Home }! Well, let’s get to this week’s Our Rich Black Heritage Hero, G.W. Franklin. It was reported that he was born in Quitman, Georgia. G.W. Franklin got his start “shoeing” horses at a black-smith shop. Also, at one time, he accomplished an astonishing feat for a Negro during the late 1800’s. G. W. Franklin operated four different businesses simultaneously! He had a black-smithing business, a wood and coal yard, a hack line business, and an undertaking business. Around 1894, he decided to only have one main business. So, in 1894, he picked up and moved his under-taking business to Chattanooga, Tennessee( there in Tennessee, he ran his under-taking business up until the time of his death ). After he got his under-taking business going, G.W. Franklin purchased land for several Black cemeteries, bought mules and horses, and owned other valuable real-estate in exclusive parts of the Chattanooga. He even built some of the wooden hearses for his under-taking business. As I stated before, G.W. Franklin ran his under-taking business in Chattanooga for more than 35 years. Furthermore, he served as President of the National Negro Funeral Directors Association for 20 years. He was a close personal friend of Booker T Washington[ as well as being a member of The National Negro Business League ]. G.W. Franklin was a honorary pallbearer at the funeral of Booker T Washington, and he was in charge of the funeral services for Booker T Washington’s wife} Margaret Murray Washington }. Why, there wasn’t a more widely known under-taker in Chattanooga, Tennessee( or amongst the members in the under-taking business )! G.W. Franklin died in 1928. NOTE : there is a marker in Chattanooga,Tennessee[ in Hamilton County ] erected by the Tennessee Historical Commission in his honor, located on Chestnut Street, near West 5th Street, on the right when travelling north.

” OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" : BRIDGET “BIDDY” MASON

It’s really mind blowing thinking about how even though Negroes had their wives “raped” by their slaveowners, had their children “sold” out from under them, and were constantly “whipped and beaten” by their slaveowners, they still found a way to be highly successful. Bridget “Biddy” Mason was able to achieve so much, inspite of the fact that she was born into slavery. She was born on August 15, 1818 in Hancock County Georgia. When Bridget was a young child she was sold to a White man, and was eventually given or sold to a White couple( Robert and Rebecca Smith, sometime in the 1840s ). She had three girls, who were said to have been fathered by her new slaveowner[ Robert Smith ]. During her teenage years, Bridget learn skills as a mid-wife, domestic and agricultural, and even herbal medicine. A big turning point in her life came in 1847, when her slaveowners took up the Mormon Religion and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. The reason it was a big turning point was because while staying in Utah, the slaveowner met a church leader . The church leader convinced the slaveowner to move to California; a state which just happened to be declared a “FREE STATE”{ so, you see, some slaves were already FREE in some states, before the American Civil War & Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation }. Sometime after Robert Smith moved Bridget and his family to San Bernardino California, and before January 21, 1856, the county Sheriff and a few other White men served Robert Smith with a court order( about freeing Bridget and her 3 children ). A Los Angeles court heard the habeas corpus action regarding her freedom. Since Bridget was a Negro, according to law, she was not allowed to testify in court against her White owner! After Bridget’s owner failed to appear in court on January 21, 1856, the judge presiding over the case, Ben I Hayes freed Bridget and her girls[ in 1860, she recieved a certified copy of the document that guaranteed their freedom ]. After winning her freedom, Bridget took up work as a mid-wife/ nurse delivering babies{ her herbal medicines were of great help during the “Smallpox Epidemic” of the 1860s, in Los Angeles, California, which all but eliminated the Indian population! of Los Angeles }. Bridget was one of the first Negroes in Los Angeles, California to actually own her own land! In 1866, she purchased a nearly one-acre site between present-day Broadway (then Fort Street) and Spring Street, between 3rd and 4th Streets. On this, the present day location of “The Biddy Mason Memorial Park,” she built her homestead. Through her real-estate holdings alone, she amassed a huge fortune! In Addition to being a wealthy businesswoman, Bridget was instrumental in founding a “traveler’s aid Center,” and a school and day care center for Negro children. In 1872, along with her White son-in-law Charles Owens and other Black residents of Los Angeles, Bridget was a founding member of “The First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles”[ it was the city's first Black church, and she even donated the land on which the church was built ]. On top of that, Bridget also helped to establish the first elementary school for Black children in Los Angeles! She use to say,”If you hold your hand closed, nothing good can come in. The open hand is blessed, for it gives in abundance, even as it receives." On January 15, 1891, Bridget “Biddy” Mason died and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery{ in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights }. Furthermore, near the site of Mason's home lies a 82-foot-long installation in her honor( the concrete wall contains embedded objects that tell the story of her life ). In 1989, the local city officials named a city park located on the site of her former home in Los Angeles, California in her honor[ it is named “The Biddy Mason Memorial Park.”].