Black Hands, White House by Renee K. Harrison;

Author:Renee K. Harrison; [Harrison, Renee K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL084000 Religion / Religion, Politics & State, HIS056000 History / African American & Black, POL004000 Political Science / Civil Rights
Publisher: National Book Network

“Why don’t the Negro keep his place,” / Not force himself upon our race? / It matters not what men may say, / They are inferior in every way. . . .

He’s well enough among his race, / And this alone is his true place; / We’ll not regard his fame or skill, / But hold him as a Negro still.

Suppose he has inventive art, / The world acknowledge he is smart, / Intelligent and fills the bill? / He’s nothing but a Negro still.

Brown’s Departure: A Tree in My Name

Following Henry’s departure from the Smithsonian in 1878, Baird became the second secretary of the Smithsonian and served in that capacity until 1887. When Baird died, the third Smithsonian secretary, Samuel Pierpont Langley (1887–1906), put Brown in his place by significantly decreasing his pay and demoting him to the status of “common laborer.” Brown’s world spiraled as he lost his privileges and status at the Smithsonian. Debts mounted, and the threat of returning to his desolate origins was becoming a pressing reality. Because of the demotion and decrease in pay, Brown could not retire as planned and worked several years beyond his eligible retirement to make ends meet.30 On February 14, 1906, Brown retired after fifty-four years of service to the Smithsonian, and on June 24, 1906, he died in his home in Anacostia. No plaques, stones, or memorials were raised for his service. Nearly one hundred years later, in 2004, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History planted trees in his honor on the museum grounds. Twelve years later, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016, recognized Brown for his service by designating a room in his honor inside the halls of the Smithsonian.

Today, the Smithsonian Castle, whose existence is due in part to enslaved and free Black people’s contribution, is the first and “most iconic of all the Smithsonian’s 769 facilities, including nineteen museums, nine research centers, a National Zoo, and other establishments.”31 Eleven of the nineteen Smithsonian buildings stand in areas within the National Mall once occupied by slave pens, slave markets, and slave-owning plantations and farms.

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