Above: Gingerbread Cottages at Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard

Cottagers' Corner in Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard

Skip Finley Presents at Lambert's Cove

Richard L. Taylor Speaks at Union Chapel

The Honorable Valerie Jarrett at Union Chapel ¹

Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr. at the Old Whaling Church

On Saturday, August 11, 2018 we were welcomed to a wonderful reception by Joanne   Edey-Rhodes , President of The Cottagers, Inc., and lawyer and real estate executive Richard L. Taylor , at Cottagers’ Corner, the site of the former Town Hall building, located on Peqout Avenue in Oak Bluffs. Ms. Edey-Rhodes gave background information on The Cottagers, Inc. and the African American community in Oak Bluffs. Her presentation was followed by Richard L. Taylor who shared his research on African American homeownership on Martha’s Vineyard. Taylor noted that the absence of an overly discriminatory and exclusionary culture on the island, effectively allowed blacks to purchase property in steadily growing numbers since the nineteenth century. In his book, Martha’s Vineyard: Race, Property, and the Power of Place, he described the circumstances in which blacks were able to buy property freely, “ The presence of Native Americans on the island, the religious revivals that have created a sense of spiritual inclusion, the presence of a minimum amount of slave activity, and free blacks that were followed by the service class and entrepreneurial class have all contributed to this residency thread and growth of the black presence on the island.” ²

The following evening, we attended a dinner and lecture hosted by media executive Skip Finley . He and his wife are year-long residents on the Vineyard. Finley presented on the history of black whaling captains from the mid-1700s until the early 1900s. He started his research on black whaling captains close to five years ago when he was asked to write a story for the Vineyard Gazette’s Town of Oak Bluffs column, about William A. Martin a black whaling captain from Martha’s Vineyard who sailed from 1877 to 1890. Finley realized that there were at least 52 whale captains of color of the 2,500 masters who captained these ships. What is more, between 30 to 40 percent of whaling crews were men of color who identified as free blacks, former slaves, West Indians, Native Americans, Cape Verdeans and Portuguese, among others. It’s quite difficult to grasp the magnitude of the whaling industry which lasted more than 200 years. According to Finley, of the 52 whale captains of color who had a consolidated career of 150 years, the successes from their 271 discrete voyages had an estimated value at approximately $74 million today.

On Thursday, August 16, 2018 we attended A Conversation with The Honorable Valerie Jarrett , who was interviewed in the packed Union Chapel by Richard L. Taylor. Immediately following was Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr.’s annual Hutchins Forum at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown. This year’s panel centered on the theme, “A Single Garment of Destiny: MLK’s Dream in the Age of Trump.” While the evening’s discussion was framed around the Trump presidency, a special moment of silence was given for Aretha Franklin . Mr. Gates began his statements noting, “Aretha taught us how to love. How to respect ourselves. And she taught us the many ways being black and being a woman could be beautiful.” Following the moment of silence, the room roared with applause in honor of the late Queen of Soul. The panel was moderated by award winning journalist and civic activist Charlayne Hunter-Gault , who started the conversation by asking the panelists for their thoughts on the condition of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “garment of destiny,” a metaphor for the network of mutuality between all individuals. The panelists included journalist and PBS NewsHour’s chief White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor , Fox News commentator and Democratic political consultant Douglas Schoen , The New Yorker writer and Columbia University journalism professor Jelani Cobb , and Republican political consultant, writer, and CNN political commentator Shermichael Singleton . The conversation then shifted to focus on Trump’s foreign policy and ended with a dialogue on the state of race relations in America. ³

The HistoryMakers also attended the panel "All the Women in My Family Sing" on Wednesday August 24, 2018, at the Vineyard Haven Public Library. Callie Crossley moderated a panel of contributors to the anthology All the Women in My Family Sing, featuring Lisa A. Jones , a multiple award-winning television documentarian, Deborah Santana , an author, business leader, and activist for peace and social justice; Kristin Leavy-Miller , a freelance writer; and Lalita Tademy a New York Times bestselling author. The anthology documents the experiences of women of color at the dawn of the twenty-first century, and explores how those women are striving to define themselves and how to navigate their small world into the larger one. With a packed house, the evening’s event was a rousing success.

Our Founder and President Julieanna Richardson also had a productive meeting with Amy Ryan director of Vineyard Haven Public Library, Lisa Sherman director of The Edgartown Public Library, Ebba Hierta director of Chilmark Public Library, Allyson Malik director of Oak Bluffs Public Library and Rosa Parker interim director of Aquinnah Public Library, to discuss the contents of their African American collections. Both institutions expressed great interest in The HistoryMakers Digital Archive.

Over the past two weeks, The HistoryMakers has been busy on Martha’s Vineyard. In total, our interview team completed twenty-nine interviews with HistoryMakers from a broad range of categories including law, politics, business, medicine, art and media. We had the pleasure of sitting down with: senior counsel Judith N. Batty , orthopedic spine surgeon Dr. Ronald C. Childs , corporate general counsel Almeta Cooper , municipal court judge The Honorable Pamela Dashiell , media executive Skip Finley , automotive distribution executive Al Green , corporate general counsel Brent Henry , corporate executive Jessica Isaacs , architect L. Duane Jackson , automotive distribution executive Steven Jackson , corporate executive Brenda Lauderback , photojournalist Dolores Allen-Littles , radio talk show host Joe Madison , lawyer Glenn Mahone , vocalist Vivian Male , screenwriter and producer Kathleen McGhee-Anderson , automotive sales entrepreneur Damian Mills , Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton , lawyer and financier Clarence Otis, Jr. , lawyer Barbara Y. Phillips , judge The Honorable Edward R. Redd , corporate bank executive George A. Russell, Jr. , speech pathologist and painter Harry N. Seymour , law professor Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. , lawyer and real estate executive Richard L. Taylor , corporate executive Genelle Trader , corporate executive Richard C. Walker III , restaurant owner and operator Craig Welburn , and restaurant owner and operator Diane Welburn.

We would like to thank our dedicated interview team including; Julieanna Richardson , Larry Crowe , Harriette Cole and Denise Gines along with our videographers Matthew Hickey and Scott Sterns . We also extend our deepest thanks to all of our HistoryMakers for their participation in the events over the past two weeks and for sharing their stories. We look forward to celebrating their achievements next year on the Vineyard. 

Our community is growing! We are so glad to announce Duke University as our latest subscribing institution to The HistoryMakers Digital Archive, bringing our total to 50 subscribing institutions.

" I'll have all my ancestors with me because at this moment in time, I am the sole reason for their existence. "

- James Avery

Please share with us your stories of how you incorporate The HistoryMakers Digital Archive into your curriculum and research. We'd love to hear from you!

Contact: digitalarchive@thehistorymakers.org

NOTES:

1. Photo: The Honorable Valerie Jarrett, Jeanna Shepard, Vineyard Gazzette

2. Richard L. Taylor, Martha's Vineyard: Race, Property and the Power of Place, (2016), 9-10.

3. Noah Asimow, “Spirit of Aretha Franklin Fuel Hutchins Forum,” Vineyard Gazzette, August 17, 2018,  https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2018/08/17/spirit-aretha-franklin-fuels-hutchins-forum