Encyclopedia

This interactive encyclopedia offers teachers and students access to terms, people, and events related to the history of Slavery in America. Many entries include reference material and some of the biographies on prominent figures contain suggestions for teaching as well as links to related sections of this site. The encyclopedia will continue to grow throughout the course of this project.

Gadsby’s Hotel: Hotel and tavern located in Alexandria, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington D.C. The site served as a place for people traveling through the Washington area to meet, eat, drink, and sleep. Originally opened in 1792 by John Gadsby, the hotel served guests until the early 1880s. Because slavery was allowed in both Virginia and Washington D.C. at the time, black people were not permitted to stay in the main areas of the hotel with the white guests. The hotel is important in history as the place where the noted author and free man of color, Solomon Northrup, was kidnapped and sold into slavery. His published account, entitled Twelve Years as a Slave, sold over 30,000 copies after its appearance in 1853.

Garrison, William Lloyd: (1805-1879) Abolitionist leader and founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, Garrison was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He became a printer (1818) and later an editor of several small New England papers (1824-28) before delivering in Boston his first inflammatory public address against slavery. (1829). He and Benjamin Lundy edited the Genius of Universal Emancipation in Baltimore that same year. He became associated with the American Colonization Society, an organization dedicated to sending freed slaves to Africa. After growing disillusioned with the organization, he founded the abolitionist newspaper, the Liberator, which he edited from 1831 to 1865. He believed in the immediate emancipation of all slaves and their assimilation into American society as eventual equals, a position that aroused great anger towards him by southern whites. As a moralist, he favored a peaceful separation of the North and South, opposing the actions of John Brown and others who supported violence. After the Civil War, he turned his passions and energies to crusading for prohibition, the plight of Native Americans, and women's rights.

Garvey, Amy Jacques: (1895-1973) The second wife of Marcus Mosiah Garvey (the popular and charismatic black leader of 1920s America), Amy Jacques Garvey came to be recognized in her own right as a journalist and feminist leader. Born into a solid, middle-class family in Jamaica, Garvey's father ensured his daughter would receive the best education possible. At age 24 she moved to New York City to begin a teaching career. Her roommate, Amy Ashwood (who became Marcus Garvey's first wife) introduced her to the Universal Negro Improvement Association, the brainchild of Marcus Garvey. The UNIA's ideal of racial pride as a means to foster unity among black people worldwide, and the creation of an autonomous black state in Africa appealed to the thousands of poor, urban blacks who heretofore felt they had no voice. Garvey quickly involved herself in the movement, embracing the belief of "Race First." She became Garvey's personal secretary and most trusted assistant and in 1922, when his marriage to Ashwood failed, his wife. As editor of the Woman's Page for the UNIA publication Negro World, Garvey wielded considerable power and authority. When her husband was incarcerated in 1923 for mail fraud, she continued to champion the movement through her editorials and raising money for his defense. As a feminist, she espoused "Practical Feminism," encouraging women to be both helpmates and community leaders. When Marcus Garvey was deported to Jamaica after his sentence was commuted by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927, Amy Garvey went with him and soon bore two sons there. Marcus Garvey would never regain the influence of his earlier years and continued to be dogged by legal and financial difficulties. He died in London in 1940. Amy Garvey, however, continued to champion the Pan-African movement through writing and lecturing. In the 1960s she became involved with the Black Power movement, highlighted by the publication of her book Garvey and Garveyism in 1963. She died on July 25, 1973.

Garvey, Marcus: (1887-1940) Founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the African-American Communities League (UNIA) in 1914 in Jamaica, British West Indies, where he was born. Garvey brought the organization to New York in 1916, and published a newspaper, Negro World, dedicated to the creation of free and independent nations in Africa. It attained a circulation of 60 thousand in 1925. His black nationalist movement--promoting self-determination of Africans across the globe--obtained a dues-paying membership of several million blacks throughout the world, but principally in the U. S. The UNIA demanded political and legal equality, basic civil rights, self-determination, an end to colonialism, and the political unification of African people everywhere in the world. Its Pan-Africanism sponsored nearly 1,000 chapters under the motto, "One God! One Aim! One Destiny!" The organization had its own medical corps of Black Cross Nurses, the African Orthodox Church, and uniformed military forces that paraded with great pomp and ceremony: Universal African Legion, Universal African Motor Corps, and the Black Eagle Flying Corps. His Black Star Steam Ship Line, which was supported by 35,000 "investors in race," floundered in 1923, the year Garvey was convicted and imprisoned for mail fraud. When released from jail, Garvey tried to re-establish the UNIA in Jamaica but never was able to equal his earlier success. Eventually deported to England, Garvey never managed to revive his movement. For a time in the early 1920s, Garvey's black nationalist appeal encouraged black and militant opposition to Jim Crow. Many of his African-American opponents, like Robert Abbott, editor of the Chicago Defender, and A. Philip Randolph, black socialist and union leader, attacked him as a charlatan who preyed upon the uninformed. Many of his followers joined the black nationalist movements of the 1930s and 1940s, and African nationalists such as Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, and Dnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria were greatly influenced by Garvey's philosophy and writings. For teacher-reviewed external web sites on Garvey, click here.

Gelders, Joseph: (?-?) A Birmingham native, Gelders taught at the University of Alabama and served as the southern representative to the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners. He also led the struggle in the fight to abolish poll taxes.

Gerrymander: The practice of arranging voting districts to favor the party in power or to achieve a district composed of desired types of voters. In the South, once white Democrats came to power after 1876, they sometimes "gerrymandered" voting districts so that they could be sure of getting an enhanced Democratic representation in the state and Federal legislatures. The Republicans did similar redistricting, too, during Reconstruction. Historically, the term originates in the combination of the last name of Eldridge Gerry, the Jeffersonian governor of Massachusetts, with the last half of the word salamander, which is a small lizard-like amphibian. When Gerry's political supporters carved up a voting district to favor themselves, an artist noticed the resemblance of the shape of the district to a salamander--thus, the term gerrymander was born. Its first recorded use was in 1812.

Gibbs, Jonathan C.: (1827-1874) The first African-American Superintendent of Public Schools of Florida, Gibbs also served as the Florida Secretary of State. During his tenure as Superintendent he was instrumental in furthering free public education and establishing quality schools for African American students.

Gibbs, Mifflin W.: (1823-?) A gold miner and Common Council member from Canada who moved to Arkansas to establish himself as a lawyer. After graduating with a law degree from Oberlin College he was admitted to the state bar and from there was elected as a city judge, becoming the first appointed African-American judge in the state.

Gommillion, Charles G.: (1900 - ) A Professor and Dean at Tuskegee Institute who defied the Institute's apolitical traditions, Charles Gomillion inspired African Americans to organize for their own right to vote. In 1960, his case, Gomillion v. Lightfoot, became one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions of the century by outlawing the altering the boundaries in order to minimize voting strength.

Goober: A Bantu word for peanut. Another word for peanut is pinder from the Congo word mpinda. The first known records of the word are in Jamaica in 1707, and in South Carolina in 1848. Pinder Town is the name of a place in South Carolina.

Grambling State University: Originally, an industrial school established in 1896 by the North Louisiana Colored Agricultural Relief Association, which organized to protect the farming interests of its 1,500 members and to educate of their children. The group purchased 23 acres outside of Grambling, Louisiana, and proceeded to build a schoolhouse and meeting place. Dissatisfied with the quality of their first two teachers, three of the Association's members appealed to Booker T. Washington, founder and head of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, for help in reorganizing the school. Washington's response came through Charles P. Adams, who arrived at Grambling in 1901. Adams traveled throughout northwest Louisiana soliciting financial donations for what became known as the Colored Industrial and Agricultural School. Adams' school opened on November 1, 1901, with three teachers and 125 students. With help from the Louisiana State Legislature, the school received additional funds in 1928, making it a State junior college and renaming it Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute. With a teaching curriculum at its core, the school continued to expand its plan for rural teacher education, culminating in the inauguration of a four-year teacher's program in 1940. The school began Grambling College with the additional training in medicine, law, and science. Current school enrollment nears 6,500 students on a 383-acre campus with over 90 buildings. Known for its outstanding sports program, in 1985, coach Eddie Robinson achieved the highest victory total of any coach in college football history. When he retired after 57 seasons in 1997, he had compiled a record of 408 victories. More than 200 Grambling players were drafted to NFL teams during his tenure, the most from any U. S. college.

Grandfather Clause: A legal loophole for white voters, who would otherwise have been disqualified to vote by the "color-blind" poll taxes and literacy test, that was part of a series of measures introduced by southern legislatures designed to restrict black voting. For example, the Louisiana Constitution of 1898 decreed that all males entitled to vote before 1867, and their sons and grandsons, were exempt from educational and property requirements. Obviously, because no black voter in the South could have voted prior to 1867, this exemption only applied to whites. The Supreme Court ruled in Guinn v. United States that such clauses were an evasion of the 15th Amendment.

Green Corn Ceremony: The Green Corn Ceremony, Ta-nah-kee-kee, or busk ceremony, is the most important ceremony in the Seminole religion and among other southeastern tribes. It honors the Supreme Spirit for providing the tribe with corn, the staff of life, and for bringing creation out of chaos. This nearly weeklong event is held in May or June at the time of the appearance of the new corn. Because it is tied to the full moon and the new crop, the date varies. It marks the end of the old year and beginning of the New Year for the tribe. Tribal members may not eat new corn until they perform the ceremony and give thanks to the Supreme Spirit for the new crop.

The Seminole separate into clans before the ceremony. Men compete against women in the game, toli. Each side uses sticks (apee) to hit a ball (koka) against a tall game pole for the score. Storytellers share traditional tales with the children. On the eve of the ceremony, the old Sacred Fire is allowed to die out. The following day, in the center of the ceremonial Square Ground, the shaman lights the New Year's Sacred Fire to connect the tribe with the Supreme Spirit. Tribal members drum, chant, pray, and participate in the stomp dance led by the shaman, with men responding to the chant and women maintaining the rhythm of the rattle. Through this time, the people fast. The shaman unwraps the deerskin from the tribal medicine bundle allowing tribal members to touch the contents. Men drink the Black Drink, asi, which causes them to throw up, as they believe asi cleans the body and clears the mind. They also receive sets of six ritual scratches on their arms, legs, and torso. Before breaking the fast, women are separated from the men. After offering a portion to the Sacred Fire, the women present the great feast, featuring corn, for all. Boys mark the passing from adolescence to manhood by receiving their adult names at this ceremony. Tribal elders announce punishments to lawbreakers and resolve disputes at this gathering. The ceremony is not open to those who are not members of the tribe.

Greenfield, Eloise Little: (1929 - ) Growing up in a low-rent housing project, Langston Terrace, in Washington, D.C. during the Great Depression, Eloise Little grew to know hard times but little of deprivation. The oldest of five children, she learned the value of close family and friends pulling together "to cushion the blows." After attending Miner's Teacher's College in Washington, and marrying childhood friend, Robert Greenfield, Little took a job as a clerk-typist at the U.S. Patent Office. Bored, she began to dabble in writing short stories. She submitted three stories for publication and all three were rejected. But a determined Greenfield persevered, and worked to hone her craft. In 1962 her poem "To a Violin," was published in the Hartford Times. She joined the District of Columbia Black Writers Workshop and at the suggestion of the head of the children's division there began writing a biography of Rosa Parks. The project made Greenfield aware of the paucity of books for African-American children, so by the early 1970s Greenfield embarked on a life-long mission to write for readers between kindergarten and junior high school. Well-known as a prolific author of books for African-American children, Greenfield draws on her own formative experiences to provide her readers with strong, positive images of lively characters nurtured by an embracing community of extended family and friends. In addition to her novels, she has published numerous biographies and poetry collections. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Eloise Greenfield published a new book nearly every year. She has received numerous awards including the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, the Carter G. Woodson Award, and the Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book.

Grimke, Francis: (1850-1937) Born to a slave mother and a white planter father in South Carolina, Francis Grimke was taken north to be educated at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1870. With the assistance of his famous aunts, the white abolitionist sisters Sarah and Angelina Weld Grimke, Francis continued his education at Princeton Theological Seminary, graduating in 1828. He was ordained and served for fifty years as the scholarly pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church. He served a white congregation and continually used his position to speak out against racism and racial discrimination. Known as the "Black Puritan," he rejected Booker T. Washington's accommodationism and urged blacks to strive for full social and civil rights. He also served for many years as the president o0f the Washington chapter of the NAACP. Grimke married his wife Charlotte in 1878, who also achieved fame as an outspoken educator and advocate of black civil rights.

Grits: Enslaved Africans took hominy (the hauled dried kernels of Indian corn) and made grits by grinding the corn hauls and cooking them; grits is similar to eb, which is eaten in Africa.

Grog: A type of alcoholic drink made from rum and diluted by water. The drink was almost a staple drink among British sailors, who named it after the British Admiral, Edward Vernon. He was nicknamed "Old Grog" because he always appeared on the deck of his ship wearing a grogram cloak, which is a course garment, usually stiffened, and made of silk and wool. The amount of diluted rum served to indentured servants was always an issue for them, and many disputes over it between masters and servants occurred in the colonial era. Because indentured servants considered ample servings part of their standard provisions, masters began to see grog as a cost that could be avoided by using enslaved labor from Africa. Enslaved Africans were never served grog and had no right to sue in Colonial courts over the matter in any case.

Guinea Corn: Guinea Corn, also called sorghum and millet (Sorghum vulgave), is an indigenous African crop transported to North America by Africans.

Gullah: Gullah is a language identified with the descendents of African slaves living on the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. It is a full language system, similar to Sierra Leone's Krio, but includes thousands of other West African, as well as English, words and names. The word "tote," meaning "to carry," is a Gullah expression that is now part of mainstream U.S. English. More broadly, Gullah also applies to the culture of the people of the once isolated Sea Islands, including folktales, customs, basket-weaving techniques, art, and spirituality. Slaves knowledgeable in rice cultivation introduced rice culture and cuisine in the area, and it continues to today. The word "Gullah" is believed to be a corruption of Angola or "'Gola," where many slaves who were brought to the Carolinas originated.

Gumbo: This word is similar to the Tshiluba word kingombo and the Umbundu word ochingombo. It is a soup made of okra pods, shrimp, and powdered sassafras leaves. It was known to most southerners by the 1780s.

Gunger Cake: Gingerbread, which is a dark molasses cake flavored with the powdered root of the ginger plant, is thought to have originated in the Congo and been carried to North America by enslaved Africans.

Guy, Rosa Cuthbert: (1925 - ) On a cold winter day in 1932, the seven-year-old Rosa Cuthbert, wearing her best silk dress arrived in New York City with her parents and her sister from Trinidad. Two years later, Rosa Cuthbert's mother became ill, and her father (whom she called "a tyrant") sent his daughters to live with cousins in Brooklyn, one of whom was an active black nationalist and Garveyite. This exposure to black politics would have a lasting effect on the young Rosa whose later literary work was grounded in the experience of black oppression. By 1937, Rosa's father had also died forcing Rosa and her sister to enter an orphanage, an arrangement she escaped at age 16 when she married Warner Guy, a solider who soon left her to fight in World War II. The marriage later failed. Remaining in Harlem and supporting herself with factory work, a friend introduced Guy to Harlem's American Negro Theatre in the early 1940s when the institution was flowering and attracting a number of gifted young black writers and actors. Although she wrote and produced a one-act play, Guy was more strongly drawn to writing novels.

In 1950, Guy and John Killens, whom she met through the Committee for the Negro in the Arts, formed the Harlem Writers Guild, a collective of mostly unpublished writers. At a time when new attention was being focused on the black community, the Guild espoused a social philosophy that ethics could not be divorced from aesthetics. By the mid 1960s it had become a part of the growing Black Arts movement, an artistic offshoot of the Black Power Movement. Guy's first publication consisted of two short stories "Carnival" and "Magnify" in a Trinidadian newspaper soon followed by her first novel Bird at My Window (1966) an unblinking exploration of a racist society's effect on a poor black urban youth and its tragic consequence. It is as a writer for young people, however, that Guy is best known. Drawing upon her own childhood experiences in the West Indies, Guy penned a trilogy of two families, one West Indian and one African American through which she explores the theme of how American society fails its young. Numerous other books have followed as have awards such as the New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year and the Coretta Scott King Award. She currently lives in New York City.