Footsteps articles from May 1999

Footsteps archives from May 1999

Whaling: A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD FOR BLACK SOCIETY.(African America men)(found work on whaleships)(hard, but they were treated)(more fairly)
May 1, 1999... Before African Americans were granted citizenship, and before the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania brought geysers of crude oil to the surface of the earth, black and white whalers roamed the globe in pursuit of whales. Manning oars and...

New Bedford: WHALING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.
May 1, 1999... Nestled between woods and the Acushnet River, Bedford Village, Massachusetts, seemed the perfect choice to locate an expanding whaling business. The year was 1765, and Joseph Rotch of Nantucket, an island just off the coast, was meeting with...

Blacks in Whaling.(the Quakers religious)(group used African)(American crewmen on)(whaling ships)
May 1, 1999... In the years during and following the American Revolution, the Quakers (a religious group) of Nantucket, Massachusetts, were the dominant figures in the whaling industry. As a group, the Quakers opposed slavery, and Quaker shipowners set...

Captain Absalom F. Boston.(African American whaling captain)
May 1, 1999... Absalom F. Boston was born free on Nantucket in 1785. He is the island's only known black whaling captain. He went to sea as early as 1806, and apparently rose through the maritime ranks, acquiring the skills needed to perform in ever more...

Tools OF THE Trade.(tools used on whaling ships)
May 1, 1999... TWO WHALEBOAT TOOLS Toggle Iron or Harpoon: The harpooner in a whaleboat threw the harpoon into the whale to fasten the boat to the whale. The toggle iron with a swivel barb tip (which enabled it to fix more firmly in the whale) replaced...

Lewis Temple INVENTOR.(developed new type of)(harpoon for hunting whales)
May 1, 1999... Lewis Temple was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1800. It is not known if he was born a freeman or a slave, or how he found his way north and learned the blacksmith's trade. By the late 1820s, he was settled in New Bedford, had married, and...

Scrimshaw Soap.(special artwork used by)(sailors to decorate teeth)(from captured whales)
May 1, 1999... Each of the sperm whale's teeth resembles a cone with a blunt point and fits into a socket (hole) in the lower jaw. The largest tooth on record weighed more than four pounds. Whale teeth were not considered valuable items. Rather, the captain...

Paul Cuffe: Mariner.(established free school)(in Westport, Massachusetts)
May 1, 1999... Paul Cuffe was born in 1759 on Cuttyhunk, a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. His father, Kofi, was an Ashanti (from southern Ghana in West Africa) whose name means "born on Friday." Kofi had been a slave in West Africa, and was...

Pardon Cook: WHALING CAPTAIN.
May 1, 1999... Pardon Cook was one of the few blacks to become a captain before the Civil War. The son of Benjamin Cook of Tiverton, Rhode Island, and Catherine Almy of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Cook was born in the seacoast village of Westport,...

My Great-Grandfather, Jose Elias Ramos.
May 1, 1999... My great-grandfather, Jose Elias Ramos, was a black whaler. I do not remember him because he died when I was only two years old. I asked my father, Dennis Berrios, about his grandfather. Dennis Berrios: He came to New Bedford from the...

Whales FOR Sale.(oil, baleen, ambergris)(and other products from)(whales are sold)
May 1, 1999... Until 1859, the market for whale oil seemed almost inexhaustible. After a whale was killed and brought alongside a whaleship, the crew would "peel" the blubber, or fatty tissue, from the giant mammal, cut it into smaller pieces, boil it in...

Light from a Tin Can Candle.(instructions on making)(candles or whale-oil lamps)(such as those used before)(electricity was used)
May 1, 1999... In 1879, Thomas A. Edison invented the incandescent lamp. Two years later, he was involved in the construction of the first central power station in New York City. More electrical plants followed. Soon electricity was lighting up factories...

My Father, Amario A. Oliveira.(whaler from Africa)(Interview)
May 1, 1999... AN INTERVIEW WITH LOUIS A. OLIVEIRA Amario Oliveira was a whaler from 1913 to 1916. He sailed on the Viola, a brig (two-masted ship with square-rigged sails) out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Oliveira traced his roots to the Cape Verde...

New Bedford Whaling Museum.(museum recognized by)(United States Congress)
May 1, 1999... In 1996, the U.S. Congress recognized the historical significance of New Bedford by designating a section of the city's waterfront district as the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. The New Bedford Whaling Museum is proud to be a...

Kendall Whaling Museum.(has exhibit about New)(England whaleships with)(African Americans)
May 1, 1999... When you walk through the door of the Kendall Whaling Museum in Sharon, Massachusetts, you are met by "Heroes in the Ships," an exhibit about African Americans on New England whaleships. It is a story told through the words, drawings, and...

BOOKS.(books about African American)(seamen and whaling ships)
May 1, 1999... Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail by W. Jeffrey Bolster (Harvard University Press, 1997) is a must-read for anyone interested in learning more about this topic. Black Inventors by Nathan Aaseng (FACTS ON FILE, 1997)...

RESOURCES.(Boston University program)(provides resource)(materials for African Studies)
May 1, 1999... The Outreach Program, African Studies Center, Boston University, provides resource materials for schools, media, museums, and community groups and churches. Its library collection focuses on materials of use to classroom teachers and includes...

PLACES TO VISIT.
May 1, 1999... African Meeting House York and Pleasant Streets Nantucket, MA 02554 (Tel: 508-228-4058) Kendall Whaling Museum 27 Everett Street Sharon, MA 02067 (Tel: 781-784-5642) Captain William A. Martin's House is one stop on the African...

John Mashow, Master Shipbuilder.
May 1, 1999... "The name of John Mashow deserves to be ranked, undoubtedly, with those of our best naval architects." So read an article published in 1868 in The Mercury, a New Bedford newspaper. The article continued: "John Mashow, a man of color, who from...

HEROES OF THE SHIPS.
May 1, 1999... There were many blacks in whaling whose names and deeds remain unknown. What is known is that the hard work and devotion to duty of all of these men contributed to the economic growth and prosperity of the United States.