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I hear tell the X-Men are popular again! [grin] A few mutated works from over the years.

Lotta shows coming up! First up I'll be hanging out at Vermont Sci-Fi & Fantasy Expo on April 27 and 28 in Essex Junction! Then it'll be over to Jetpack Comics in Rochester, NH on May The Fourth for Free Comic Book Day, the single most important day in the Nerd Calendar. Come on by my table and I'll show you what I've been working on!

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The first woman --of any race-- to earn a Masters' degree at the University of Hawai'i, Alice Augusta Ball's unfortunately brief life and achievements might very well have been lost to history. Born in 1892 Seattle, Ball briefly moved with her family to Hawai'i (not yet a U.S. state), but then returned to Washington to earn Bachelors' degrees in pharmaceutical chemistry (1912) and in pharmacy (1914). Ball's father James Ball, Jr., was (among other things) a professional photographer, and his father James Ball Sr., was a famous photographer in his own right --one of the very first Black Americans in the United States to learn the art/science of the daguerreotype. Alice's exposure (no pun intended!) to this still-emerging art form may have played a role in her aptitude for chemistry.

Ball returned to Hawai'i, enrolled at the University of Hawai'i (then known as the College of Hawai'i) and while pursuing her degree, joined the research team of the chemistry department. Her master's thesis focused on methods of extracting the active chemical in awa roots, which in turn led into her breakthrough discovery of a method of reconfiguring a water-soluble oil extract from the chaulmoogra tree, for the treatment of Hansen's Disease (perhaps better known as leprosy). An injectable regimen was developed from this research and remained the most effective treatment until the mid-1940's --leading to the full recovery of an unprecedented 78 patients.

Keep in mind that Ball's breakthrough predates modern antibiotics by several decades. Ball's death at the young age of 24 left behind some "gaps" in the research --among them an oversight that was later corrected (in 1922) by a colleague, public health officer and Assistant Surgeon at Kalihi Hospital, Dr. Harry Hollmann. Hollman named the chaulmoogra tree extraction process the "Ball Method." Two affiliated studies appeared in 1914 and 1917, making Ball the first Black scientist to publish in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Ball's contributions to pharmacology and immunology are at last being recognized: in 2000 a plaque was dedicated at the base of the university's sole remaining chaulmoogra tree; that same year February 29 was declared Alice Ball Day, and in 2007 the Board of Regents posthumously conferred upon Ball its prestigious Medal of Distinction.

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Continuing with some amazing women's biographies this month, today we look at the life of Sarah Boone. While details of her early life are scant, it is at least known that she was originally born to enslaved parents in 1832 North Carolina, and later married a free Black man, James Boone, in 1847. At some point before the Civil War, the couple and their 8 children --along with Sarah's own mother-- made their way to Connecticut by way of the Underground Railroad.

The Boones settled in New Haven and took jobs; James as a bricklayer and Sarah as a dressmaker --successfully earning enough to be able to buy and own their own house, which was an unusual achievement for a Black couple at the time, even in New England. The Boones became members of the Dixwell Congregational Church and it is assumed that, through this association, Sarah learned to read and write. Sarah's skill as a dressmaker eventually blossomed into full-on business ownership, and at one point she considered the question of how to iron corsets with their curved, tight-fitting contours. Through trial and error Sarah improvised a narrower, curved plank that could slip into sleeves, and would allow for greater freedom of movement with the iron, without producing as many wrinkles or creases. Over time she added padding to the plank to reduce impressions from the iron, and also came up with a method to collapse this curved plank on a hinged platform, for easier storage.

In other words: Sarah invented the modern-day ironing board.

In 1891 Sarah applied for, and received, U.S. Patent #473,653 --making her one of the first* Black women inventors to earn a patent.

Sarah remained in New Haven for the rest of her days and died in 1904. Surviving business records would seem to indicate that Sarah received little in the way of monetary gain, from the mass-commercialization of her invention; nevertheless her work stands as an important prototype, for an ordinary household object that is so familiar and so universal, that it is difficult to imagine a time before it existed.

( * - While details are conflicting, the VERY first Black woman inventor to receive a U.S. patent is popularly assumed to be Judy W. Reed, inventor of an improved dough kneader and roller in 1884 --however Reed's patent application and its associated documents reveal almost nothing about her life or circumstances.)

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You're not on the side you think you are

There's a trailer aggressively making the rounds about a modern-day American civil war movie, due to bow in a few weeks. Just... way way too many people acting excited and thrilled for this, as if it's something they can't wait to happen in real life. Almost as if we're being inured, numbed, to the scenario. Something we're expected to start getting used to.

The advertisements pander to the basest macho insecurities, juicing up the "Don't Tread On Me" chest-thumpers and their perverse sense of "rugged individualism." (Likely with a generous dose of misogyny, racism, and evangelical nationalism thrown in.) The kind of people who think they're somehow going to be on the "winning" side were such a horrifying future to come true.

There are better and more meaningful ways to examine the consequences of such a thing, rather than a thrill-a-minute blockbuster summer action movie. Not going to spend money on this one and I would encourage you to thoughtfully consider saving your pennies, as well.

"Wait a minute, Peter you hypocrite," I hear someone call out at the back of the lecture hall. "Aren't you literally working on Volume III of a near-future graphic novel that's essentially about that very same subject?" Good heavens, yes. I didn't say the subject didn't need to be thoroughly explored. But the whole point of dystopic stories is their warning. 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, The Handmaid's Tale, the Hunger Games --the message behind such storytelling is to guard against such things. Such frightening futures are already way too plausible as it is --we're not supposed to be celebrating that or making it into some kind of exciting prospect; we're supposed to be doing everything in our power to prevent it.

The tagline of my series The Monitor's Guild is literally: "You're not on the side you think you are." I promise you, not a single character in my storyline is excitedly looking forward to suspended rights, interment camps or armed conflict in our home towns; the way some folks seem to be responding to this movie trailer.

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"If my children are somewhere, I should be where they are and know something about where they are."

Uncharacteristically for someone of her age at the time, Hazel Palmer immersed herself in the 1960's drive for civil rights ...because her children had done so. The mother of eight, Hazel was drawn into the SNCC after five of her children were arrested in Jackson, Miss. as Freedom Riders.

Born in 1922 Mississippi, Hazel worked as an elementary school teacher who was mostly unconnected to --and uninterested in-- current events, but her own children's commitment changed all that. Besides working various grassroots get-out-the-vote initiatives and participating in Freedom Schools, she even taught herself how to drive. Later she sued the city of Jackson, Miss. when it opted to close all of its municipal swimming pools rather than desegregate. While a higher court ultimately upheld the closures, Hazel remained a firm activist and advocate.

In 1964 Hazel took her commitment a little further and was part of the organization/founding of what would become the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), a parallel party that actually represented the interests of Black voters. (See Lesson #51 - Fannie Lou Hamer, Lesson #53 - Ella Baker, and Lesson #112 - Bob Moses, in this trading card series for more about the MFDP and some of its other key founding members.) That year, at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, the DNC's Credentials Committee offered a mere two seats to the MFDP and tacked on the stipulation that they would decide who those delegates would actually be and that those named delegates would be expected to take an oath of party loyalty --unfortunately this was the "compromise" offer. Regretfully the MFDP leadership (including Hazel, who had already annoyed the DNC organizers by leading a spontaneous chorus of "We Shall Overcome" from the convention floor) rejected this offer, and they ultimately went unrepresented. Mississippi went on to be represented by an all-white delegation and the party ultimately nominated the incumbent, President Lyndon Johnson. But this commitment to principle stayed with Hazel, and for the rest of her life she fiercely pushed for reform, voting rights, and ending discriminatory laws and ordinances.

Read a thoroughly engrossing first-person interview with Palmer at: https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:ws245qj9293/ws245qj9293.pdf (14-page PDF file)

"I know I'm not free and I don't expect to get free, other than the freedom I feel in myself. It's just a long journey and we've got to keep working."

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Dear hackers/Anonymous/cyberpunks:

Okay, you took down FB/IG for a little bit. Yay. What exactly was that supposed to be in aid of? Some kind of weird ransom thing? Because you really didn't accomplish much besides upsetting and inconveniencing a lot of inconsequential "little guys" (like me).

Why do you guys never go after the companies and organizations that truly deserve to be hurt? Surely you can figure out some way to really stick it to the corrupt looters who sit around the boardroom tables. Seriously, there aren't some sadistic billionaire landowners and evil investment bankers and human traffickers you couldn't be targeting? The robber-barons, fer Chrissakes. And their enablers. You've demonstrated your power, now use it for good.

C'mon. Do something consequential, here. Something besides just making a mess while wearing an offically-licensed V For Vendetta mask. Otherwise you're not coming across as the "heroes" you think you are.

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Officially* considered to be the first Black woman to earn a B.A., Mary Jane Patterson was born enslaved in Raleigh, North Carolina sometime in 1840, though there are few subsequent details of exactly how she and her family eventually found their way to the free state of Ohio. Enrolling at Oberlin in 1857, she disdained the then-standard 2-year program for women and instead enrolled in a full 4-year program of classical studies --the "gentlemen's course." She formally attained her Bachelor's (with high honors) in 1862.

Patterson then became a teacher; first at a local school in Ohio and then moving to Philadelphia to teach at the Institute for Colored Youth. Five years later she again moved, this time to Washington, D.C., to join the faculty at the then-new Preparatory High School for Colored Youth --the first-ever public high school for Black students (and the first public high school in D.C.; today known as Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, on M Street). In 1871 Patterson was elevated to principal, but briefly stepped down to the role assistant principal for one year under Richard T. Greener (himself the first-ever Black Harvard graduate and certainly a subject of a future lesson in this series). A year later after Greener's departure, she re-assumed the principalship and stayed in that role until 1884.

Patterson made good use of her prestigious position and advocated for civil rights and women's rights --significantly she founded the Colored Women's League of Washington, D.C. She died at the relatively young age of 54, in 1894. Her home at 1532 15th St., N.W. remains, part of D.C.'s African American Heritage Trail (PDF brochure).

( * - While Patterson's fellow Oberlin alum Lucy Stanton Day Sessions is considered to be the first Black woman to graduate from a college in the U.S., Sessions' studies were in a Literary Course program that, while equivalent to a Bachelor's, could not at the time be considered a degree.)

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"The Menotomy Hunter" sculpture by Cyrus Dallin, 1911. 2-color pen and ink, drawn 2015. Etching plate, originally created 1985. Happy Birthday to my beloved hometown of Arlington, Massachusetts (incorporated this date in 1807 as "West Cambridge," but we soon sorted out its proper name).

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"As black America approaches the 21st century, our capacity or our failure to build a solid bridge . . . of works will determine whether millions of young blacks already with us or yet unborn will cross over into the new century, or fall into the abyss."

Another name you almost certainly didn't know: M. (Moses) Carl Holman, civil rights activist, writer, and poet. Born in 1919 St. Louis, Holman showed an early gift for writing, and at the age of 19 won a scriptwriting award from a popular syndicated radio program. He graduated magna cum laude from Lincoln University and went on to acquire Master's degrees from the University of Chicago and from Yale. While at Yale he published his first collection of poems, and began regularly writing articles for various newspapers and magazines on income inequity, urban poverty, literacy, and other issues important to Black Americans. In 1962 he taught English at Clark College in Atlanta, giving him a front-row seat to key events in the earliest days of the civil rights movement. As some of his students participated in sit-ins and the Freedom Rides, he found himself appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, of which he eventually became deputy director in 1966.

In 1968 Ebony magazine named Holman as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans. That same year Holman published what is probably his best-known work: The Baptizin', a play which won first prize in the National Community Theater Festival. In addition to multiple collections of poems, Holman also published a definitive overview of the civil rights movement in the U.S., from 1965 to 1975.

Perhaps most significantly, in 1971 Holman was named Vice President of the National Urban Coalition. This organization had re-formed in 1967 in the wake of the so-called "long, hot summer" of racial strife and injustices. During this time Holman's singular talent for delivering quiet and polite, but still powerful, speeches came to the fore and he jumpstarted a great many local housing, education, job training, and economic development programs aimed at disadvantaged Black and Hispanic communities.

In his later years Holman forcefully addressed the issue of "dual literacy" for Black children --emphasizing that such students not only needed to be well-versed not only in the fundamentals such as reading, writing, and public speaking; but also in math, science, and technology. His 1988 obituary notes that Holman "had an uncanny ability to form a coalition out of the most diverse elements, and it was often said that the key to his ability to do this was the fact that he never appeared to have an agenda for himself."

(Teachers: Need some resources to engage your students this Black History Month? I'll send you a pile of these trading cards, no cost, no obligation. Just give me a mailing address and let me know how many students in your class. No strings attached, no censorship, no secret-relaying-of-names to Abbott or DeSantis or HuckaSanders.)

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Meet the "Negro Einstein," Lucien Victor Alexis, Sr. Born in 1887 New Orleans, Lucien originally worked as a railway mail clerk, saving up for his ultimate dream --to attend Harvard University; a phenomenally daunting challenge for a Black man at that time. At the age of 27 he finally accumulated sufficient funds and he was accepted, though the university asked him to first attend the Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire for one year. During that period Alexis discovered his talent (and love) for foreign languages and excelled in all of his classes, managing to graduate cum laude from Harvard a full year early (1917) so as not to exhaust the offset from his tuition savings.

During World War I Lucien was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in the famed 366th Infantry (see also Lessons 60 and 117 in this series). After the war he returned to his hometown of New Orleans and married Rita Holt, with whom he had one son, Lucien Jr. (who would himself one day also attend Harvard and overcome a great many prejudices of his own). After working as a teacher at a number of elementary schools, he secured an appointment as principal of McDonough High School, where he would truly cement his reputation. Alexis brought some of his Army discipline to his principalship and also to his German and Latin classes, quietly enforcing strict dress and behavior codes. McDonough was situated in a poor neighborhood and was the only public high school available in New Orleans for Black people and endured a bad reputation... but under Alexis's leadership over the next 30 years, the school not only succeeded, it flourished (so much so that local ne'er-do-wells made a point of never picking on any of Alexis's students as they passed through dangerous neighborhoods on their way to and from school!).

Over the course of his tenure, Alexis published a number of additional research articles on ethonic theory, and also physics, chemistry, atomic theory, and even Relativity. After retirement, he and Rita founded and administered New Orleans's Straight Business School (no connection to Straight University). He also founded New Orleans's School of Post-Modern Science, and even served as president of the Supreme Industrial Life Insurance Company --then one of the largest Black insurance firms in the United States. Alexis died in 1981, sadly having outlived his own son, who himself died in 1975. (Teachers: Need some resources to engage your students this Black History Month? I'll send you a pile of these trading cards, no cost, no obligation. Just give me a mailing address and let me know how many students in your class. No strings attached, no censorship, no secret-relaying-of-names to Abbott or DeSantis or HuckaSanders.)

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Everybody say hello to Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons: activist, teacher, and researcher. Born in 1944 Memphis, Gwendolyn was the first generation in her family to attend college (Spelman, 1962). She credits her grandmother, Rhonda Bell Robinson, with having instilled in her the family's history and its reckoning with slavery, her own hardships growing up as a sharecropper, and how Mississippi was objectively the "worst of the worst" for Black people. Gwendolyn solemnly promised her grandmother that she would never go to Mississippi. (And don't even get her started on the epic confrontations with teachers and school officials about the "inappropriateness of her hair." Boy, it's sure nice that that sort of racial dress-code pettiness isn't a thing anymore, huh?)

In the 1960's, inspired by several Spelman professors (to include Howard Zinn), Gwendolyn actively and enthusiastically became involved in the SNCC against her family's wishes. She participated in sit-ins and endured several arrests, ultimately jeopardizing her Spelman scholarship. She helped prepare curricula for Freedom Schools and coordinated mock voter registrations, working under Bob Moses (see Lesson 112 in this series) and alongside James Forman and her fellow Spelman alum Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson (see Lesson 66). Eventually she came into the orbit of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and ultimately found herself taking over as director of the Mississippi Summer Project in 1964 when its previous director, Lester McKinney, had been picked up by Laurel police. She herself was arrested in Jackson following a march; being held, beaten and tortured for 15 days in a makeshift prison constructed on the county fairgrounds.

Gwendolyn later moved briefly to New York, and then to Atlanta where she worked on Julian Bond's state campaign (see Lesson 72). She continued to work with the local chapter of the SNCC, authoring a controversial position paper on Black Power that argued against expelling its white members. Around this time Gwendolyn also (unsurprisingly) found herself on the FBI's notorious Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) target list. Inspired by the speeches of Malcolm X, Gwendolyn joined Nation Of Islam in the late 1960's and changed her name to Zoharah (also taking her husband Michael Simmons' last name), and moved to Philadelphia. However her strong feminist principles contravened a number of NOI teachings, putting her at odds with the organization's stance on women as submissive helpmeets. Over the next 20 years she worked for the American Friends Service Committee, travelling to Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and (significantly) Palestine.

Gwendolyn retired from the University of Florida in 2019; conducting and leading research that explores Islamic feminism and the cultural impact of Sharia law on Muslim women. Today Simmons is senior lecturer emerita, continuing to travel and lecture on gender equality, and on many other issues affecting Black Americans, feminism, and social inequities. Her and Michael Simmons' daughter Aishah Shahidah Simmons, is herself an accomplished documentary filmmaker. (Teachers: Need some resources to engage your students this Black History Month? I'll send you a pile of these trading cards, no cost, no obligation. Just give me a mailing address and let me know how many students in your class. No strings attached, no censorship, no secret-relaying-of-names to Abbott or DeSantis or HuckaSanders.)

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Commemorating Tom Baker's 90th birthday - a series of Doctor Who: Fourth Doctor Era trading cards. 1, 6, 8, and 9 of 9; John Leeson and David Brierly voicing K-9, Lalla Ward as Romana, Matthew Waterhouse as Adric, Tom Baker as The Doctor. Watercolour, coloured pencil, acrylic, gouache, pen-and-ink.

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Farewell to a musical god and the best thing to ever happen to the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I vividly remember a summer, decades ago, at the age of ten, when I was lucky enough to be able to attend a BSO performance at Tanglewood, Mass. The concert was of course riveting, but the unforgettable part came near the end: it was announced that Maestro Ozawa had received "a very important phone call" just before the final number and had to leave the stage, passing the baton to the first chair. The final number was John Williams's "Superman" theme, and the performance went ahead. Just as it was about to shift into its final heroic movement, Ozawa returned in triumph, racing up the center aisle --and sporting a Superman t-shirt. Realizing we'd all been had, the audience burst into cheers as Ozawa resumed conducting for the song's crescendo. Phenomenal moment. Some weeks later I was (apparently) still high from the experience, when my fifth grade teacher assigned an in-class essay about A Person Who Impressed You --probably trying to get a better handle on her new class. I'm sure there was a flood of breathless essays about actors and historical figures and athletes --mine was unapologetically about Ozawa. Apparently it stood out. [grin]

Rest well, maestro. You broke all manner of records and a fair number of barriers, too. Thank you from this still-impressed ten year-old.

Enjoy this one-of-a-kind performance from the Sesame Street All-Animal Orchestra:

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Commemorating Tom Baker's 90th birthday - a series of Doctor Who: Fourth Doctor Era trading cards. 1, 5, 6, and 7 of 9; Louise Jameson as Leela, Tom Baker as The Doctor, John Leeson and David Brierly voicing K-9, Mary Tamm as Romana. Watercolour, coloured pencil, acrylic, gouache, pen-and-ink.

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Commemorating Tom Baker's 90th birthday - a series of Doctor Who: Fourth Doctor Era trading cards. 1 - 4 of 9; Elisabeth Sladen (who would have turned 78 this week) as Sarah Jane, Nicholas Courtney as Brig. Lethbridge-Stewart, Tom Baker as The Doctor, Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan. Watercolour, coloured pencil, acrylic, gouache, pen-and-ink.

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Lissete Denison Forth was born enslaved sometime in 1786, in Detroit in the then-unincorporated Northwest Territories. Forth was unfortunately born three years shy of the adoption of the Northwest Ordinance, which prohibited slavery in what would ultimately become Michigan. In 1805, Lisette's parents, Peter and Hannah Denison, were freed upon the death of their owner --but Lisette and her five siblings were transferred to the ownership of that owner's brother. Peter and Hannah were encouraged to sue for their children's freedom and while the territorial courts ultimately ruled only in favor of the four Denison siblings that had been born after 1789, it further asserted that the unincorporated territories were under no obligation to honor the tenets of the Fugitive Slave Law (see Lesson #123 in this series). Following the letter of this ruling, Lisette and her older brother coincidentally crossed into Canada and established residency there, returning to Detroit as immigrants in 1815.

Lisette took a job as a domestic servant for famed Detroit entrepreneur (and future mayor) Solomon Sibley, and invested her pay in land ownership, eventually incurring enough money to buy four lots in Pontiac, Michigan --making her the very first Black property owner in the city. She later leased the lots to her brother and eventually sold the property. In the meantime she took on another job in the household of another well-known Detroit figure (and another future mayor!), John Biddle, and continued her practice of investing her earnings into property and stock ownership, to include a steamboat and a bank: unheard-of ventures for a Black woman at that time. The Biddles moved first to Philadelphia and then to Paris, imploring Lisette to come with them, who by then had become a close family friend, particularly with John's wife Eliza.

Upon her return to Michigan in 1856, Lisette had accumulated enough capital to build a chapel, and after her death in 1866 her estate (administered by the Biddles' son William) hired famed architect Gordon Lloyd to design and build St. James Episcopal Church in what is now Grosse Ile township. The church was completed in 1868 and stands to this day as a dedication to Lisette's memory and life.

Teachers: Need some resources to engage your students this Black History Month? I'll send you a pile of these trading cards, no cost, no obligation. Just give me a mailing address and let me know how many students in your class. No strings attached, no censorship, no secret-relaying-of-names to Abbott or DeSantis or HuckaSanders. #blackhistorymonth

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Happy 90th birthday to the legendary Tom Baker! (2.5 in. x 3.5 in., watercolour with some pen & ink)