q2K BHP
Black History Portal
THE BHP WIRE —
HIDDEN TRUTHS
GREENWOOD / BLACK WALL STREET WILMINGTON 1898 LITTLE ROCK NINE TUSKEGEE STUDY ROSEWOOD 1923 THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN SENECA VILLAGE BLACK TOWNS GREENWOOD / BLACK WALL STREET WILMINGTON 1898 LITTLE ROCK NINE TUSKEGEE STUDY ROSEWOOD 1923 THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN SENECA VILLAGE BLACK TOWNS
What's New!
THE JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
BHP HOME BEFORE AMERICA 1800–1936 1937–1957 1958–1980 1981–2000 2001–PRESENT

Explore Black History

Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.

✊🏾

Civil Rights

Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.

⚙️

Black Inventors

Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.

🏆

Sports

Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.

♟️

People

Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.

📍

Places

Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.

📜

Events

Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.

Enter a person, place, event, or topic.
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.

MORE →
BLACK FACTS
The Truths They Never Taught You...

Ruler of the Mali Empire in the 14th century

Mansa Musa was the ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa. Details recorded here should be sourced; unknown information is left blank.

MORE →
BHP gathered finds from its connected research sources. Showing the 4 strongest Black History matches.
← BACK TO RESULTS
NMAAHC

George III sterling silver sugar tongs

Date
1795
Manufactured by
Joseph Cooper, English, active ca. 1795 - 1801
Caption
These pieces, much like those they would replace in Slavery and Freedom, represent the deadly plantation economy in the New World that satisfied the international demand for sugar, which became a staple in the English tea industry. They also represent the financial success that sugar brought to successful slave owners, financiers, slave traders, sugar merchants, and the lifestyle maintained by sugar consumers in the United States. Sugar, Britain’s largest import, was also the focus of one of the first anti-slavery boycotts after the abolition bill was rejected by British Parliament in 1791. The boycott attempted to put economic pressure on the slave-dependent industry of sugar, hastening the end of the trade.
Description
A set of George III sterling silver sugar tongs from Joseph Cooper, London. They are a narrow U-shaped piece of metal that terminate in shallow oval-shaped bowls at each end. The outer surface is decorated with a pattern stamped or etched into the silver. At the top of the tongs, near the bend in the metal, is a large oval outlined in small raised dots. Within the outline is a double wavy line of smaller dots. In the center of the oval are three stylized flowers in a row. Each flower has four petals, with each consecutive flower sharing the petal with the blossom next to it. There are small dots scattered around the petals. At each of the two-pointed terminus of the large oval is a large dot with five lines radiating horizontally outwardly from the oval. The surface of the tongs' arms is edged with a repeating linear pattern of triangle shaped wedges. This in turn is lined on the interior by a double row of small dots. Both patterns terminate at the bowl-end of the arms, with a small ellipse made of double rows of small dots. On the backs of the bowls themselves are a wavy line with three score marks on each side of the wave. On the interior surface of the tongs are five silversmith’s marks. There are two maker's marks on one arm that consist of the initial’s 'IC' within a rectangle with rounded corners and a smeared effect to one side of the 'I'. The other arm has three marks. The first is a duty mark, the bust portrait of the sovereign within an oval. This is badly worn. The middle mark is a lion passant within a rectangle that certifies the silver quality, and the last is the letter 'U' within an oval, denoting production 1795.
Topic
African American
British colonialism
Commerce
Cooking and dining
Design
Domestic life
Economics
Slave trade
Slavery
Sugarcane
See more items in
National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
Classification
Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Data Source
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Object number
2020.32.1
Type
sugar tongs
Restrictions & Rights
No Known Copyright Restrictions
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Medium
sterling silver
Dimensions
H x W x D: 5 3/4 × 1 1/2 × 3/4 in. (14.6 × 3.8 × 1.9 cm)
Title
Object Name • George III sterling silver sugar tongs
Record ID
nmaahc_2020.32.1
Museum
NMAAHC
Title Sort
GEORGE III STERLING SILVER SUGAR TONGS
Source
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Metadata Usage
CC0
Date
1790s
Name
Cooper, Joseph
Topic
Design • Economics • Slavery • Cooking • Domestic life • British colonialism • Dinners and dining • Sugarcane • Business
Culture
African Americans
Type
sugar tongs
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.

NMAAHC

George III sterling silver sugar tongs

Date: Date

Caption

MORE →
NMAAHC

The Negro Equalled by Few Europeans. Translated From the French. To Which Are Added, Poems on Various Subjects, Moral and Entertaining; By Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New-England. In Two Volumes. Vol. II.

Date: Date

Caption

MORE →
No preview image
NMAAHC

Poster for Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Date: Date

Description

MORE →
No preview image
NMAAHC

Shirley Miller Sherrod Oral History Interview

Date: Date

Description

MORE →
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.

MORE →
TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY

Which Supreme Court case ruled state-sponsored public-school segregation unconstitutional?

Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.