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Yahoo
17 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Replica 1738 fort in St. Augustine honors first free Black settlement
'Viva Mose!' shouted the crowd of dignitaries, state park rangers and community members gathered at Fort Mose Historic State Park near St. Augustine on a sunny Friday in early May. The chant — translated as 'Long live Fort Mose!' — celebrated the ribbon cutting of a newly constructed replica of a 1738 fort that holds a special place in America's Black history. In 1738, the Spanish governor of Florida chartered the settlement of Fort Mose as a refuge for those fleeing slavery from English colonies in the Carolinas. Over several decades, an estimated 100 Africans made the first legally sanctioned free Black community in the pre-Constitution United States their home and safe haven from British rule. 'The reconstruction stands as a tribute to the courageous men and women who founded Fort Mose in 1738, ensuring their legacy lives on,' said Charles Ellis, the president of the Fort Mose Historical Society. 'By bringing this fort back to life, we enhance our ability to tell the story through on-site events, group tours, lectures and virtual seminars. Because of this, no longer will our fourth and fifth-grade students ask, 'Where is the fort?'' The reconstruction was made possible due to extensive research of the site that began in the 1970s and 1980s with efforts spearheaded by Dr. Kathleen Deagan, a University of Florida professor of archaeology, anthropology and history, and Dr. Jane Landers, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University. Financial support for the project came from public and private sources, including the Florida State Parks, St. Johns County, Florida Power and Light, Wells Fargo, the Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation, the Florida State Parks Foundation and more, who all fundraised a total of $3.2 million to turn this dream into reality. 'The reconstruction of the Fort Mose has been a labor of love, dedication and unwavering commitment which began in 2012,' Ellis said. 'When we broke ground on the reconstruction of Fort Mose, we didn't just build walls. We created a tribute to the resiliency and determination of freedom seekers who made the first legally sanctioned free Black settlement in North America possible.' In addition to exploring an indoor museum with a timeline of Fort Mose and St. Augustine history, visitors can now walk through a full-scale replica of the 39-foot-tall lookout tower that helped residents of the fort monitor for enemy attacks. Reenactors will help illuminate history and help visitors imagine what life was like in the 1730s during special events and tours complete with drills, pageantry and cannon firing. Construction on the replica fort began in January 2024, 30 years after the site was designated as a national historic landmark. Chuck Hatcher, director of the Florida State Parks, said collaboration is what made this project come to fruition. 'Archaeologists, CSOs, volunteers, park staff, division staff, artists and public officials have all worked together to make this project come to fruition,' he said. 'I would like to think if the people who were the original members of Fort Mose were here, they would be proud of what we've done and the representation of what they had.' While there is no blueprint for how to build a replica 1738 fort, the design was put together with the goal of being as authentic as possible while staying mindful of Florida's climate. The palisade walls and structural support beams that hold up the fort are made to look like wood but are constructed of concrete. Now, state park officials and volunteers who helped this project come together are celebrating the story of courage, resilience and freedom that the fort helps tell. 'Nearly 300 years after Fort Mose stood as a beacon to freedom seekers, it will stand again and be a testament to the power of freedom, bravery and the human spirit,' said Kathleen Brennan, president of the Florida State Parks Foundation. 'May this fort last 300 years and beyond to honor those who made their living here and to inspire visitors from all over the world, who will come here to experience what can only be found here at Fort Mose.' Find me @PConnPie on Instagram or send me an email: pconnolly@ Stay up to date with our latest travel, arts and events coverage by subscribing to our newsletters at If you go: Admission to park grounds is free. To enter the visitor center there is a $2 fee per adult. Children under 6 are admitted for free. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 365 days a year. Located at 15 Fort Mose Trail in St. Augustine; 904-823-2232;
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Remains of 19 Black Americans returned to New Orleans nearly 150 years later
The remains of 19 Black Americans whose skulls were taken to Leipzig, Germany, in the 1880s to perform "racial pseudoscience" experiments, were brought to New Orleans to be properly memorialized, a repatriation committee said Thursday. Dillard University, the City of New Orleans and University Medical Center will hold a New Orleans-style jazz funeral on Saturday morning for the 13 men, four women and two unidentified people, according to Dr. Monique Guillory, the president of the historically Black Louisiana university. "They were people with names," Guillory said at a press conference on Thursday. "They were people with stories and histories. Some of them had families -- mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, human beings -- not specimens, not numbers." MORE: Pope Leo XIV's family tree shows Black roots in New Orleans Dr. Eva Baham, chair of Dillard University's Cultural Repatriation Committee, said during the press conference that the University of Leipzig reached out to the City of New Orleans in 2023 and offered to repatriate the remains. The Cultural Repatriation Committee formed in 2024 and looked through public records to identify exactly who the people were and establish a genealogy, according to Baham. The group has not been able to identify any descendants at this point, she noted. Baham's team located the people's death records in the archives of Charity Hospital. The medical institution served people of all races from 1736 until it was shuttered due to severe damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, according to a statement from Dillard University. University Medical Center New Orleans opened in its place in 2015 and was the major funder of the project, Baham said. MORE: Twin sisters buy former plantation to preserve and protect Black history Of the 19 people, 17 of them died in December 1871 and two died in January 1872, their ages ranging from 15 to 70 years old, according Baham. Many of them were not born in Louisiana but came from states like Kentucky and Tennessee. The committee discovered that 10 of the 19 people were in New Orleans for less than six years, Baham noted. "We have people who were here in New Orleans from one hour in 1871, one day, a week, two months," Baham said at the news conference. "I just want to remind you that the Civil War had ended in 1865, so we have 10 of these individuals who had arrived here after the American Civil War." MORE: $9.4 billion plastics facility to be built on slave burial grounds, report says The names of the 17 people that the committee was able to identify include Adam Grant, 50; Isaak Bell, 70; Hiram Smith, 23; William Pierson, 43; Henry Williams, 55; John Brown, 48; Hiram Malone, 21; William Roberts, 23; Alice Brown, 15; Prescilla Hatchet, 19; Marie Louise, 55; Mahala [no listed last name], 70; Samuel Prince, 40; John Tolman, 23; Henry Allen, 17; Moses Willis, 23; and Henry Anderson, 23. "We can't rewrite history," Charlotte Parent, vice president of business development at University Medical Center, said at the press conference. "The times were what the times were at the time, but we can always look back and figure out ways that we can embrace and make things as right as we can, and this is one of those opportunities for us to do that." Remains of 19 Black Americans returned to New Orleans nearly 150 years later originally appeared on
New York Times
2 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Skulls of 19 Black Americans Return to New Orleans After 150 Years in Germany
Sometime before Jan. 10, 1872, a young Black laborer named William Roberts checked himself into Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Just 23 years old, he was from Georgia and had a strong build, according to hospital records. His only recorded sickness was diarrhea. He was one of 19 Black patients who died at the hospital in December 1871 and January 1872, and whose skulls were sent to Germany to be studied by a doctor researching a now wholly discredited science that purported a correlation between the shape and size of a skull and a person's intellect and character. The skulls languished in Germany for about 150 years until Leipzig University contacted the city of New Orleans two years ago to repatriate them. They were returned to New Orleans this month, and the 19 people are being honored on Saturday morning with a jazz funeral before the skulls are interred. While the return of human remains from museum collections has become more common, the repatriation of these 19 Black cranial remains to New Orleans is believed to be the first major international restitution of the remains of Black Americans from Europe, according to Paul Wolff Mitchell, a researcher at the University of Amsterdam who studies the 19th century history of race and science in the United States and Europe. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
‘Now they are home': human skulls shipped overseas from New Orleans for racist research to be laid to rest
In the late 1800s, 19 Black New Orleanians' heads were dismembered and shipped to Leipzig University in Germany for research. The 19 had died at New Orleans' charity hospital between 1871 and 1872, and the research, which was commonplace at the time, sought to confirm and explore the now widely debunked theory that Black people's brains were smaller than those of other races. In the 1880s, Dr Henry D Schmidt, a New Orleans physician, sent the skulls to Dr Emil Ludwig Schmidt. They were taken from the bodies of 13 men, four women and two unidentified people. 'They were stripped of their dignity,' Dillard University's president, Monique Guillory, said at a news conference on Wednesday. 'They were people with names. They were people with stories and histories. Some of them had families, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, human beings.' Leipzig University is in the process of repatriating skulls, bringing them back to their original locations. To that end, in 2023, representatives from the university contacted the city of New Orleans to inform it of the 19 skulls. The city formed a cultural repatriation committee, led by historian Eva Baham, which includes representatives from Dillard University, the city of New Orleans, the University medical center and other community partners. Over the course of the last two years, the cultural pepatriation committee attempted, unsuccessfully, to contact descendants of the victims. Still, they were able to find out the names of the deceased and their ages (ranging from 15 to 70), what they died from and how long they had been in New Orleans – in one instance, one of the people had been in New Orleans for only hour before dying. Only five of the identified people were from Louisiana; the others were from Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky. Now, more than 150 years later, those skulls were returned to New Orleans and will be memorialized and laid to rest on Saturday – the location of the rest of their remains is unknown. A visitation will take place at Dillard University's Lawless Memorial Chapel with a service. A memorial and jazz funeral are also scheduled for that day. And the remains of 17 of the 19 – Adam Grant, Isaak Bell, Hiram Smith, William Pierson, Henry Williams, John Brown, Hiram Malone, William Roberts, Alice Brown, Prescilla Hatchet, Marie Louise, Mahala (last name unknown), Samuel Prince, John Tolman, Henry Allen, Moses Willis and Henry Anderson – will be laid to rest with their names. Two of the 19 could not be identified. All of the remains will be stored at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial. 'This is not simply about bones and artifacts. It is not only about injustices. This is about restoring and, in many ways for us here, celebrating our humanity,' Guillory said. 'It is about confronting a dark chapter in medical and scientific history, and choosing instead a path of justice, honor and remembrance. And we will do so in the most sacred way we know how: in a true New Orleans fashion, with a jazz funeral that shows the world these people mattered. They belonged. They belonged here, and now they are home.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
She used to work at the cafe below Milwaukee's City Hall. Now she owns it.
Among the wheeling and dealings of city government, there is a thriving food establishment in City Hall — if you know where to find it, or just follow your nose. The aroma of smothered pork chops, oven-baked mac and cheese, and baby back ribs leads to RCW's Cafe in the lower level of City Hall, where Rhonda Carter-Watson juggles taking orders from the lunchtime crowd of office workers while her lone chef, Javier, is busy at the grill. Being behind the café's counter isn't new for Carter-Watson. She worked as a fill-in manager at the former Aladdin's City Cafe when it was owned and operated by her then-boss, chef and entrepreneur Azmi Alaeddin. Now she owns it. She took over the establishment, aptly renamed after Carter-Watson's initials, in January 2024. The café operates Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is located in the underground walkway between City Hall and the Zeidler Municipal Building. Carter-Watson said she had some big shoes to fill. The previous manager, Sherri, 'knew everyone's name. Everyone's order. I was like, there is no way I can follow someone like that." But a year and a half in, she's found ways to put her own spin on things and build new traditions. "I think everyone is enjoying everything we are offering here.' Carter-Watson already knew her way around the restaurant business. She worked as a short-order cook at Harold's Country Kitchen on 35th and Capitol. She also worked for the original owner of Ashley's Bar-B-Que. She worked for Alaeddin for 35 years, managing several of his cafes and restaurants throughout Milwaukee. She managed his Middle Eastern café, Aladdin - Taste of the East, in the Milwaukee Public Market, and filled in as a manager at the now-closed All Aboard Café in the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, and Aladdin's City Café when staff were on vacation. When Sherri retired, Alaeddin opted not to renew the license for the café he had operated for eight years. Instead, he encouraged Carter-Watson to bid to operate the space. She did and won. Carter-Watson, a mother of three, said her family was very encouraging, telling her: "Mom, it's your time. You've been doing this for so long." Her love for cooking was imbued in her as a child. As the oldest in her family, she was expected to cook for her three siblings. Growing up, her mom's home was the family gathering spot for the holidays. Now it's her home. 'Even when I say, 'I am not going to cook,' I always cook something,' Carter-Watson said. Since taking over the café, Cater-Watson has slightly changed up the menu while keeping some staples like the falafel hummus wrap. One menu change stands out. The previous owner did not serve pork because of his Middle Eastern background. Now, Carter-Watson has added staples like bacon cheeseburgers and limited-time themed menu items for Black History and Hispanic Heritage months. The biggest hit was the soul food menu for Juneteenth. It featured smothered pork chops, green beans, baby back ribs, dressing, collard greens, oven mac and cheese, catfish and coleslaw. 'We were selling out of everything,' Carter-Watson said, adding that the from-scratch cream cheese pound cake and banana pudding were also top sellers. She plans to bring the Juneteenth menu back this year. Carter-Watson wants the café to be more of an experience. She incorporated communal activities into the space. During Lent, she had a jelly bean jar guessing contest. The winner got a free meal. And for Black History Month, she put a multicultural puzzle in the cafe that customers slowly pieced together while waiting for their orders. But moving from employee to entrepreneur came with sticker shock. Inflation drove up food prices. She said a case of eggs used to cost $15. Now it's $40. A 10-pound tube of ground beef now costs $52 when it used to be $37. And a 40-pound case of chicken breasts is now $120, up from $75. Carter-Watson laments the same decision many businesses face: raise prices or cut back on products. 'You really don't have a choice,' she said. 'The bills still have to be paid. The employees still have to be paid. You still have to be able to buy the supplies.' Carter-Watson signed a five-year lease with the city to operate the café, but wants to stay longer. 'I still think I got a few years left in me,' she said. Carter-Watson's daughter, Asia Carter, couldn't be prouder of her mother. She's been innovative, trying different dishes and bringing in other ethnic cuisine like Horchata or tres leches cake. Asia Carter is often the taste tester for some of her mom's new dishes, like the chicken mole. Asia helps manage the cafe, and her dad and two sisters sometimes help also. 'I feel very excited for her … to see her strike out on her own and be as successful as she has been,' she said. La Risa Lynch is a community affairs reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Email her at llynch@ This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: At RCW's Cafe in Milwaukee City Hall, new owner puts own spin on menu
