"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" : DAISY E.A. LAMPKIN

What system replaced the "PEONAGE SYSTEM" in America? For those who aren't familiar with the what the Peonage System was, it was a system where former slaves were forced to pay off a debt through physical labor. Soon after the American Civil War, about the time when America went from using "Slave Labor" to "Share-cropping & Tenant Farming," the Peonage System began spreading throughout the southern states, and some of the north. Also, this outrageous system was referred to by most people as a form debt slavery or debt servitude, because the former slaves were prohibited from moving on to another town, city, or state, until the debt was completely paid off! Ok, let's think about jobs in America and why Black People work jobs. Despite the myth that they work jobs for a living, most Black People work jobs to pay off their debts, which are numerous! Oh boy, how I wish that I had more time to discuss how "CERTAIN PEOPLE" in America have established "SEVERAL OVERT & COVERT SYSTEMS" to not only get Black People into bad debt, but to get their Black Children into bad debt as well. By the way, according to an online article,"CREDIT CARD DEBT" for Black households has risen drastically within the last two to three years. Therefore, unbeknownst to most Black People in America, instead of working to create better lives for themselves and their children, they are mainly working to "PAY OFF THEIR DEBTS!" Well, on to this week's Black Pioneer. Daisy E.A. Lampkin was born on August 9, 1883, in Reading, Pennsylvania. Of interesting note, not only was Daisy "BORN FREE in AMERICA," but so were her parents and her mother 's parents! Instead of going to college after high school, Daisy chose to remain in Reading, Pennsylvania and help her parents.However, in 1909, she decided to move to Pittsburgh. In 1912, she married a Colored man by the name of William Lampkin, who owned & operated his own restaurant in a suburb of Pittsburgh. Around this time, the discussion of "WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE" was being talked about all around Pittsburgh.Being that Daisy was a woman, it naturally struck a nerve with her. Some people said that this was when she first found her calling as a Female Activist, Women Suffrage Organizer, Civil Rights Activist, and National Field Secretary for the NAACP. In an article I found online, a Negro professor at Virginia Union University, who was a leading spokesman for the equality for the American Negro, by the name of Gordon B. Hancock said, "Negroes in America don't know how indebted they are to Daisy E.A. Lampkin for what she had done and sacrificed for the Negro Cause!" In October 1964, Daisy E.A. Lampkin suffered a severe stroke, which she was unable to recover from. She died on March the 9, 1965, only a day or so before March 11, 1965, when I, Garry O'Dell Blanson, entered this world.