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MY'STORY

The MOVE Fire

This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at the MOVE house, city officials approved dropping an explosive device on the roof, the resulting fire was allowed to burn, 11 people—including five children—died, and 61 homes were destroyed. Philadelphia City Council later called it a “brutal attack carried out by the City of Philadelphia on its own citizens” and acknowledged that no individual faced criminal consequences for the bombing. One timeline correction worth preserving for the BHP record: the major previous MOVE-police confrontation was August 8, 1978, about seven years before the bombing, not a year or two earlier. Officer James Ramp was killed, other police and firefighters were wounded, nine MOVE members were later convicted, and television cameras recorded police beating Delbert Africa during his arrest. The 1985 MOVE Commission later specifically criticized city planners for failing to adequately use lessons from that 1978 confrontation. And that actually strengthens the point you’re making: 1985 did not happen without precedent or institutional memory. There had already been a deadly confrontation with MOVE, years of conflict, negotiations and police involvement before Osage Avenue.

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BLACK FACTS
The Truths They Never Taught You...

The Violence That Helped Spark the NAACP

In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.

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BHP gathered finds from its connected research sources. Showing the 4 strongest Black History matches.
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NMAAHC

Document appointing nine men to a slave patrol

Date
March 15, 1846
Written by
Col. Henry Adams, American, 1823 - 1899
Received by
Col. William Clark Grasty, American, 1817 - 1901
Subject of
Edmund Fitzgerald, American
James M. Fitzgerald, American
John Rice Miller, American
Charles E. Miller, American
Luther J. Tynes, American
N. C. Miller, American
Coleman Scruggs, American
Morton Scruggs, American
Description
A manuscript document, one sheet of handwritten script in black ink on white paper, written by Col. Henry Ward Adams of the Virginia Militia and addressed to Capt. William C. Grasty. The document reads [I, having been requested to / appoint a company of patrol and believing the same / to be very necessary, do (in pursuance of an act of / Assembly in that case made and provided) hereby appo- / -int William C Grasty pr Captain, and Edmund / Fitzgerald, N. C. Miller, Coleman Scruggs, Morton Scruggs, / James M. Fitzgerald, John Rice Miller, Charles E. Miller, / and Luther E. Tynes a company of Patrol within the / 2nd Battalion of the 168th Regiment of Virginia Militia in / the muster bounds of Capt Wm C Grasty to patrol / and visit all Negro quarters and other places suspect- / -ed of entertaining unlawful assemblies of slaves, / servants or other disorderly persons as aforesaid, unl- / -awfully assembled, or any others strolling from one plantation to another, without a pass from his or / her master or mistress or overseer, and take them / before the next justice of the peace, who if he shall / see cause, is hereby required to order every such / slave servant stroller or other disorderly person as / aforesaid to receive any number of lashes, not exc- / -eeding twenty on his or her bare back.]. On the reverse of the document is written [Capt. William C. Grasty / Mount Airy / Henry Adams / 15 March 1846].
Place depicted
Pittsylvania County, Virginia, United States, North and Central America
Topic
African American
Fugitive enslaved
Law
Military
Slavery
U.S. History, 1815-1861
Violence
See more items in
National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
Collection title
Liljenquist Family Collection
Classification
Slavery and Freedom Objects
Documents and Manuscripts
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Liljenquist Family
Data Source
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Object number
2019.26.3
Type
manuscripts
Restrictions & Rights
No Known Copyright Restrictions
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Medium
iron gall ink on wove rag paper
Dimensions
H x W: 12 1/4 × 7 5/8 in. (31.1 × 19.4 cm)
Title
Object Name • Document appointing nine men to a slave patrol
Record ID
nmaahc_2019.26.3
Museum
NMAAHC
Title Sort
DOCUMENT APPOINTING NINE MEN TO A SLAVE PATROL
Source
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Metadata Usage
CC0
Date
1840s
Name
Fitzgerald, Edmund • Tynes, Luther • Adams, Henry • Fitzgerald, James • Scruggs, Morton • Miller, John • Scruggs, Coleman • Miller, Charles • Grasty, William • Miller, N. C.
Place
Pittsylvania County • United States • North and Central America • Virginia
Topic
Slavery • Law • Violence • Fugitive enslaved • U.S. History, 1815-1861 • Military
Culture
African Americans
Geo Location
County • Pittsylvania County • State • Virginia • Country • United States • Continent • North and Central America
Type
Manuscripts
Online Media Type
Images
Online Media Rights
No Known Copyright Restrictions

Media

Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Rights and restrictions shown above are supplied by the Smithsonian record.

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NMAAHC

Argument of John Quincy Adams, before the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of the United States, Appellants, vs. Cinque, and others, Africans, captured in the Schooner Amistad

Date: Date

Description

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NMAAHC

Quincy Jones

Date: Date

Description

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NMAAHC

Document appointing nine men to a slave patrol

Date: Date

Description

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NMAAHC

Trade card for the "Great Negro Mart" in Memphis, Tennessee

Date: Date

Description

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TOPIC OF THE DAY

Greenwood / Black Wall Street

Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY

Who was the first African-American woman millionaire in the United States?

Madam C.J. Walker