American History – Page 2 – Hamp's Corner of America

2017 Update of Gracie Hall-Hampton, the Book.

Gracie Hall-Hampton, the Arkansas Years, 1917-1953. Over the last several Arkansas , Gracie Hall-Hampton had become somewhat callous in her mannerisms. Friends, family, as well as a foe, say dealing with her could be a difficult task. Some say she’d gone from a sweet innocent young girl to a mean quick-tempered old woman. She always had her shotgun near, with a four- inch all-purpose pocket knife in the lone pocket of her trademark full-bodied specialty made homemakers apron. I guess over the years; she felt the need to defend her family, property, or self could come at any moment. She just wanted to be ready.
One can understand how a single mother must be the rock in the family, especially in the rural areas of a segregated South. Given where she and her family lived, one can also why she had to be tough to fend for herself and those she loved. In some ways, she took on the personality of a frontier woman blazing a trail for others to follow.
Raising five children, after her husband died was a tough assignment. She had to be a teacher after school was out, a mother when one of own was physically or emotionally hurt, a strong, kind, or stern disciplinarian whenever a situation calls for it. She had to provide the voice of wisdom and experience to young folks who thought they had the answers to all problems. But most of all, she had to be the protector of her family when it came to dealing with people, especially the local white folk of Banks, Arkansas.
She, maybe a little grudgingly, took on all those and other roles. As time went on, she realized that she could not be hesitant in making decisions. She had to convince some by proving that she was neither weak nor reluctant to do whatever was necessary for her and family to survive. Those who dared to challenge her authority found they’d better properly arm themselves. Whatever their choice of weapon, mental or otherwise, it would be a fight to the death.
To some, she was a sweet old lady who made the best tea cakes and other sweet treats. She was just as enjoyable as she had to be to get her way. A testament to her character all depended on who were providing the information. There was one common fact in all the conversations and inquiries. One did not cross this little five-foot mother of five, or there would be consequences.
For me, little Codis, a young, wide-eyed five-year-old kid, she was just Grandma. I was sent south because my father and mother, who were still living in Milwaukee, were going through a separation period which finally ended in divorce. I stayed with my grandma and her youngest daughter almost a couple of years.
She maintained her gruff personality even after moving to Milwaukee. She told me the story of a visit to the county hospital clinic. She was there for a physical checkup but quickly became annoyed while taking the exam. She told me, “I told that doctor to stop poking me all over and he would not, so I chased him out of the room with my pocket knife.” As I recall, there were no charges; they only told her she was in excellent health and could go back home now. I never did find out if she had the same doctor the following year.
Being brought up in the city, with all of its conveniences of indoor plumbing, electricity, modern medicine, yearly evolving personal and public transportation, along with open communication tools, i.e., Telegram and telephones, we took those things for granted.
Think about those who came before us in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Most were brought into this world by a midwife working under a kerosene lamp, using boiling well water and the determination of the expectant mother to deliver her baby as tools of the midwives trade.
I wrote this book so that my family and others could get to know Gracie Hall-Hampton, who was born in 1904 and died in 1985, eighty-one years later. I wanted my sons, daughter, and their sons or daughters to understand her. They should know how this five-foot woman survived in a segregated South. Limited to an eighth-grade education, living in the dark woods, nestled up to a tree line of timber. A tree line where black bears, wolves, coyotes, and an occasional mountain lion roamed, see how she rose above the circumstances and survived.
I wanted people to understand just who, and where this quiet little woman, until somebody got her stirred up, carved out her life. What motivated her to keep going? Readers get an understanding of what it was like to live in a place where a black person could disappear never to be found again in Jim Crow’s back yard.
After finishing the book, while lying in bed early one morning, I was thinking about what I tried to accomplish as a writer. I suddenly remembered how surreal I felt while proofing the section I wrote about the birth of my grandmother’s first child, who happened to be my future father. Thoughts of did I do it justice? Was I respectful enough to the moment? Was I detailed sufficiently for a reader to feel how it could have been? My answer to those questions and others were I wrote what I emotionally felt like as a member of the Hampton family. I carved out a storyline using a few fictitious characters and events to depict what it must have been like to live in those days. I wove stories told me by my uncles, aunts, cousins, father, and mother into each chapter. You and my family will judge my results as the book’s author.
I hope this book’s read by all people, especially black people and others of color. African-Americans can compare stories they’ve heard from their elders with those in this book. They will reach the same conclusion as did I. We come from a “family tree” of heroes who suffered in countless ways, survived and procreate, eventually paving the way for us to enjoy the freedom of being free from slavery in a country they helped to build. We should never forget that the struggle to remain free of racism is a never-ending job. No other race of people has been mentally or physically challenged throughout their entire world history up through today, for simply being on earth as have black people. The closest that come to this type of degradation and stereotyping is the Hitler Regime on the Jewish people during World War II. Keep in mind; I am not comparing slavery to the attempt at the extermination of the Jewish people by the Nazis.
As Americans, regardless of color, we have the chance and obligation to be the shining light that America is supposed to stand for these days. If we do that, this country will be truly recognized as the ideal society in which to make a life for you and our children.
Grandma Gracie had an abundance of common sense and loved her family. She always took the time to listen to me, as a kid and man, while offering advice where needed. I hope that she is standing at God’s side and are aware of this book’s publication dedicated to her memory. Love you, Grandma.

In a continuing effort to publicize Gracie Hall-Hampton, the Arkansas Years 1917-1953, I will join LitFires Publishing exhibit at this year’s ALA (American Library Association, June 22-27, 2017) Annual Conference & Exhibition in Chicago. Go to http://exhibitors.ala.org/ for the full details. It’s my effort to expose the book to libraries and librarian personnel throughout the world. Thanks and I will see you in Chicago.

You can order this 356 page through my publishers, Author House, Bookstore website at http://www.authorhouse.com , through online stores like Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble (bn.com). You can also call our Book Order Hotline, at 1-888-280-7715. You can order by title, ISBN number listed below or my name as the author.

Published by Author House 11/20/2013
ISBN: 978-1-4918-3113-7 (sc)= Soft Cover
ISBN: 978-1-4918-3112-0 (hc)= Hard Cover
ISBN: 978-1-4918-3111-3 (e) = E-Book Format
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013919268
Peace, Blessings, and Keep it real,
Codis Hampton II
Follow Hamp at https://twitter.com/#!/HampTwo
Join us for the live broadcast of our bimonthly BTR Shows at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hampscornerofamerica
Meanwhile look for my fifth book, Misguided Intentions to be published this August. Thanks and see you in Chicago. Get any of my books by visiting my Amazon.com Authors page at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B017TYFKBI?ref_=pe_1724030_132998070

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Reading for Knowledge is Mandatory, Part 1

I know you’re wondering, who is this fellow? What credentials, education or background gives him the authority to suggest what I should do, much less how I should advise my family?

Well, I am really nobody special, just a black man, an interested party in the growth, survivability, of my people and their ability to compete for whatever job in every profession available in the worldwide job market. I want us to take ownership in our community and stop waiting on others to dictate what happens there. I didn’t go to Harvard or a historically black college. In fact, I’ve never graduated from any major college. But I did graduate cum laude from the School of Hard Knocks, with a major in “Common Sense.” So, this year I will use my media sites (HCofA’s “Reading for Knowledge” Initiative) and credentials to advise us all to read more, especially during this political season.

Believe me when I say, I’m not trying to be flippant here, but I do want you to consider the following information.

A Huffpost Books headline screams “The U.S. Illiteracy Rate Hasn’t Change in 10 Years.” Granted it’s from a December 12, 2014 update, but do you think it has gotten better since then? In the article the U.S. Department of Education along with the National Institute of Literacy states 32 million adults (14% of our American population) in the U.S. can’t read. 21 percent of adults in the U.S. read below a 5^th grade level and 19 percent of high school graduates can’t read. Major question…how do they graduate if they can’t read?

According to the Department of Justice, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure.” According to BeginToRead.com “85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate, and over 70 percent of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level.” They predict that “2/3 of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the 4^th grade will end up in jail of on welfare.”

Although these are the statistics from all juveniles regardless of color, creed or origin, shouldn’t this concern you for Americas present and future? What about the People of Color community? Do you see growth in these numbers? A collogue recently posted the following sign on Facebook. It read “No one is coming to save you. This life of yours is 100% your responsibility.” Even God expects us to do certain things for ourselves by utilizing the human gifts he has bestowed upon us.

I’m a history lover; World, American and especially Black History. I’m just as fascinated today to read of black people, their inventions and exploits as I was as a kid. I used to skip school to go to the library because I believed they were not teaching me what I needed to know in school, parochial or public. It was dumb on my part because even today, you still need that degree now more than ever to compete for a decent job. Yet, never overlook the importance of reading a book for some type of media for knowledge.

Why don’t we get personal and look at the people in our circle of acquaintances, people we meet and talk to on a day to day basis? An irritating person is someone with whom you’re having a discussion that obviously does not know what they are talking about. During the conversation you find that the source of what little information they have on the subject comes from a friend of theirs or something somebody else has told them. Since they haven’t taken the time to read up on the subject, they are not aware they are repeating the wrong information. Yet they hang on to their erroneous information as if its word of Jesus Christ. Often time they are the most opinionated individual in the conversation and refuse to admit that their real lack of knowledge. Do you know anybody or ever been involved in that type of conversation?

Add to the mix those individuals, which can be any ones of us at times, who drive up to a neighborhood street, a store, a strip mall, or city business that is closed or moved to another facility. We wonder why we hadn’t gotten the word of this major detour or event. Not only are some of us not watching the local news, we are not aware of community developments. All that is needed is to browse our city websites or attending monthly meetings at the city hall. No…we tend to wait until some event strikes a personal nerve. Then we are all over it only to find out decisions about this particular project were made months ago. We are now too late to effect any kind of change in plans.

What about those who are backing a particular local or national political candidate knowing nothing about their real plans or reasons for running for office in the first place. Yet we are sometimes sure about whom we don’t want to vote for or we simply don’t vote. When that happens we get the kind of local or national Representatives, senators, or Presidents that don’t have our interest at heart. Or we are surprised by a position the newly elected official has taken that is opposite of our beliefs and the will of the people or everyday citizen. Once again, does any of this sound familiar to you?

There is a dire need for all of us to stay current on local and national events. We need to know the true details in order to avoid and in some cases provides us the ability to take action to effect change that affects your bottom line. That bottom line includes economics, community lifestyle or your children’s future.

A prime example is some in our local police department with cowboy attitudes when it comes to certain people of color. Does it really take a bevy of cops to empty their firearms into an individual’s back, front, or side that is armed with a knife? With the police chief stating at a press conference the officers feared for their life. Yet the video tells a different story of events.

Why must we wait for that to happen in our community? Why can’t we insist that our local officials, mayor, council persons demand additional training and a change in cultural in police? What is wrong with our policemen taking a stress test along with their fitness test every year? Such a physiological test is bound to reveal psychotic symptoms from certain individuals that should not be on the street with a weapon. Maybe they have been on the street too long to have a clear judgement in a normal response to a police action call. And overriding evidence has revealed that certain police tactics need a vast overhaul. The point is to implore the people who can effect change to act beforehand.

As a community of people, we must be more proactive instead of reactive. We start by being aware of current events in our community and nationally. Next, more remedy’s to the problem in Part 2 of this article.

Peace, make it a day in which Jesus Christ would be proud of you,

Codis Hampton II

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“In my latest book, Remember Moz, Gracie & John Hampton’s First-Born, I wanted to tell the world about a unique individual. Not because he happened to be my father but to explain who he was, where he came from, and how he evolved into the man he became up until his death. In doing so, I wrote of his ancestor’s roots back to and through the Civil War. The inclusion of his birth and upbringing in the heart of Arkansas, or Jim Crow country, add southern reluctance to learn why our country involved itself in a bloodthirsty four-year exercise in the first place? Then you begin to understand why, our parents behaved the way that they did. See if I captured the essence of this paragraph.” Get the book via the Authors Page at http://outskirtspress.com/webPage/isbn/9781478766056

Or visit my Amazon.com Authors page at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B017TYFKBI?ref_=pe_1724030_132998070

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Meaningful Change On The Horizon

Another year has passed giving us time to reflect on what occurred during the last twelve months. I don’t know about you, but I can say it was a good year. No, I didn’t strike it rich, purchase a new mansion of a home, buy an expensive luxury car or lose a large lot of weight. Although I did appreciate the loss of fifteen pounds.

I didn’t become a media personality for whatever reason. Nor did anyone in my family become any more famous than they already are at the moment. No there were no spectacular changes in my life last year. But then, there were no major losses of any kind either. Oh, there were deaths or people who we like to think transition on to a better afterlife. There are family and friends that we will miss and for which we are better off for having known in the first place. All in all, 2015 was a very ordinary year for my family and me. Oh yes…there was one significant discovery but I will tell you about that later on in January.

Now 2016…where do I start? Let me say right off the top, I do expect big things to happen during this particular year. I feel it coming for our country on a national scale. I envision subtle but effective changes in our black communities, both morally and economically. I’ve sensed and noticed a real change in entrepreneurial mood with optimism from the guests on my Blog Talk Radio Show. There is a renewed sense of community responsibility from all the different people I’ve talked to over the last year.

People are tired of the status quo and are willing to put themselves out there for the common good of all. Just check out the news, pay close attention to the conversation and actions taken by the small groups in various cities across the country. Black people are becoming more and more aware of the real black power that is green power. We have begun to realize the value in using economic means to facilitate change within this country.

There are political voices out there that have people recoiling from the idea that we are a nation of people who think like Donald Trump. Not to think of the real silent majority that despises the rhetoric and ideas pushed by the far right wing of the Republican Party and other extremists. Despite all the money spent by those organizations and their supporters in local political races; they are not directing the thought process of the American public.

Regardless of the fact that ultra-conservative white men own most of the largest national media. They who see the future USA population shift of white folks as no longer the majority a threat to their power base. Thus, a lot of the narrative you see and hear in our morning and evening news, national print media and oddly opinionated conversation from our political talk shows is downright self-serving to the status quo. You will note that the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Police Unions are part of that status quo mentality.

It’s as if we ask the police unions to undertake new training, stop and detain techniques, wear body cams, or simply not shoot someone sixteen times because they felt threaten by a knife-wielding mentally ill suspect. Then we are wrong? Where is it in our constitution or other laws that say Americans cannot ask and demand better service from our organizations formed to protect the public? I don’t think the country is going to stand for people telling us not to trust our own eyes or what we see in a video. Changes for the better are required and coming people.

People are tired of seeing or hearing all the tragic and criminal stories on our broadcast news. Especially since there are so many good stories happening on a daily basis. American’s are doing wonderful things, without selfish motivation, because we are good human beings. Check out HuffPost Good News at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/good-news/ or Sunny Skyz at http://www.sunnyskyz.com/ and the Good News Network at http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ In fact, some of the same organizations who bring you one-sided conservatively opinionated news have their website links touting good or inspiring news. That very fact itself should validate what I’ve been saying throughout this article.

You can and will play an important part in how 2016 will eventually turn out to you and your family. Join me in promising to be a better person, a better man, a better citizen, better father and spouse, and a better friend. In other words, I intend to be better at each and everything I do during all of 2016. And I will reward myself for achieving these goals by enjoying a movie, concert or other entertainment along the way. I intend to travel to more places than I did last year. In other words, I am going to enjoy life too. I also know if I do all of these things, God will take care of the rest along with providing the necessary means for my family and me.

So it’s full speed ahead for 2016. But don’t forget now, we should promise to keep in touch over the year and share our special thoughts and experiences. Hey, Happy New Year, my people.

Peace, make it a day in which Jesus Christ would be proud of you,

Codis Hampton II

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Remembering Moz, the Book

I beg to differ, no… anybody can’t write a book. You will note that those who say that loudest haven’t written anything. Any and everybody may be trying, including me, but everybody cannot write a book. Education, training, or tutoring enables but does not produce an effective writer. Oh, I believe as others that there is a book in all of us. The problem, as you might imagine, is getting it out of a person. There are numerous reasons why people can’t write fiction, current events, spiritual awakening or their life story.

We are all different, some raised in similar neighborhood environments, by parents (single or other family members) that bring their habits and mannerisms to the adult to child relationship. How many times have you heard a guardian start a stern warning with, “When I was a child, my mother or father,” People act in certain ways based on their life experiences. And make no mistake about it, as much as we say we will not repeat the same rearing mistakes our parents or guardian did, we always find ourselves repeating some words. Words, warning, or advice that directed at us by the same people we are trying not to emulate.

Yes, we are all impressed by someone in our childhood. Be that a parent, grandparents, aunt, uncles, or the old man or woman around the corner. All of us remember the advice given by many. And unfortunately, especially nowadays, some have never heard or listen to any of it. They also have a story. Some have told it from a jail cell; others didn’t get to tell it because their lives were cut short by the opposition, police, or another prison inmate.

Then there are those who have lived the American dream as portrayed in books and the movies. Some were raised by the privileged in this country. They came from homes like the old television series, Father Knows Best, Eight is Enough or even The Cosby Show. The offspring grew up to be successful, wealthy, and live happily ever after. Some from that environment strayed or failed because they did not know how to handle the stress of not being as successful as their parents.

So yes, there is a book in all of us. However, everybody is not a writer. Or for that matter, everybody cannot tell their story accurate enough with all the emotion needed for interpretation by a ghost writer. Readers will be able to tell if the story is unique, no matter who wrote it. And they alone, are the ultimate judge if you have a story worth their time.

There must be some reason that people will read the story in the first place. First of all, the story or subject must interest your targeted readers. Creativity must be present, flow constructively and cause a person to reflect on their or others around them lives. Every author, aspiring author and I know and understand the deep and subtle meaning behind those words. All authors have a story to tell, regardless if the book is successful or a downright failure. I’ve had three with the latest being Remember Moz. That simply means that I’ve written three books whereas I had something to say to any and everyone who will read the books. As previously stated readers will be the judge if I’ve succeeded in my quest.

In my latest, Remember Moz, Gracie & John Hampton’s First-Born, I wanted to tell the world about a unique individual. Not because he happened to be my father but to explain who he was, where he came from, and how he evolved into the man he became up until his death. That is why I go all the way back to the Civil War, following his people’s roots up through his birth in the heart of Jim Crow country. Why I take you through his growth as a responsible human being and why he had to take on that type of responsibility at a young age. Through it all, I show you the humorous side of a serious individual who always made an effort to enjoy life as he lived and worked in it.

Everybody had a father, mine was just one of a billion or more, but oh what an impression he made on those he touched during his lifetime. That is the story I tell in Remember Moz. A story, anybody and everybody should read just to see who this man was and if I did him justice in representation. A story that should be read by all who think that being a black family man and father in this country is ordinary. This book will point out how presumptuous and simply wrong an opinion can be. There are numerous issues that come up daily and demand a black father’s attention because of the way the declining majority attempts to divide this country by race. Issues that most other races take for granted, black parents must use as teachable moments in preparing their offspring to succeed and indeed survive in the United States or America. No matter what they say, you and I know it is not equal.

Not all black man know the formula for allowing successful childrearing while providing an environment of love, understanding, protection, and neutering to facilitate confidence in our children. My father knew even though he may not have been sophisticated enough to articulate that knowledge. He got his point across by living the life and demonstrating how one should live, play, and love. Towards the end, he also revealed the weakness in human nature of searching for ways to cope with a major love and companion lost. All in all, that weakness for coping did not diminish his personality or who he was throughout his life.

Peace, make it a day in which Jesus Christ would be proud of you,

Codis Hampton II

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Black Legends of The Wild, Wild West, Part I, #BHM

This is the first article of a Four Part Series on Black Folks, who helped to tame the west. Originally publised in April of 2015, republised today in celebration of our Black History Month of 2020. Today we take a look at U.S. Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves.

The subject matter and individual I’m writing about this Black History Month cause me to be reflective of my personal history. I remember when I was a nine, ten, eleven-year-old kid living in Milwaukee. Yes, it was that red brick apartment building located on thirteenth and Juneau that many have heard me lovingly refer too.

It reminds me of Saturday mornings spent watching ‘Tales of the Texas Rangers,’ Lash LaRue, the Lone Ranger, and yes, even Roy Rogers as well as other Cowboy television programs. We would eat breakfast and hurry to the living room to watch my father’s, subsequently, our favorite shows. I had a makeshift holster and belt. It was just a blue boy scout’s belt with the shiny brass buckle running through a leather holster that held my trusty six-shooter. I would tie that holster down to my right thigh with an old shoestring just like a real gunfighter.

Talk about imagination; I was full of daydreams during those years. Whenever my friends or cousins came over, we would play in my back yard. We’d use the fifty-gallon oil drums sitting on A-frame stands as horses; throw rags and an old blanket over the barrel as saddles. It didn’t help, because after we finished playing and went back inside? My stepmother would smell the coal oil residue on my pants and me. I would get another warning about her having to wash those pants in with other clothes spoiling the pleasant aroma she was creating with detergent fresher of some type. I am not sure, but I think after several warnings, she washed my play pants with daddy’s work pants.

Back then (mid-fifties), all the cowboys seen on television, movies were white. My father always told me not to worry about it because there were black cowboys in the old west. Just because television program writers didn’t write about them, did not mean they didn’t exist. He’d tell me, I can be anything I want to be, but make sure you’re the best at whatever you choose. So in my mind, it was my blackface riding that horse chasing rustlers, bank robbers and fighting range wars. I would imagine myself, family members, and other people I knew, would be just as comfortable in the old west as anybody. Of course, later on in the sixties, seventies, and eighties, the public did see black faces appearing in cowboys, gangsters and all kinds of entertainment. It was readily known that Sammy Davis Jr was a fast draw expert in real life, seen as a frequent guest star in several of the cowboy television series. By that time, I’d hung up my gun and holster, turned to chase girls instead of rustlers and the like.

One such real live lawman who roamed the old west while dishing out justice was U.S. Deputy Marshall Bass Reeves. Born as a child of slaves in Paris, Texas, in 1838, he served as a water boy until old enough to become a field hand. He became his master’s body servant and personal companion at an even older age.

Bass reportedly ran away after beating up his master (George Reeves) after some dispute during a card game. He found a haven by living with the Seminole and Cherokee Indians, where he developed his skills with the pistol and rifle. It’s also where he became fluent in several Native American languages, finally freed in Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation order of 1863.

Moving to and buying farmland in Van Buren Arkansas, while marrying Nellie Jennie a year later. He would go on to father ten children (five girls and five boys) from this union. Although the family lived happily on the farm, Frontier Law answered Bass’s restlessness and yearning for adventure.

He was appointed as part of a 200-deputy crew by U.S. Marshall, James Fagan in 1875, because of his specific knowledge of the Indian Territory and his ability to speak their language. At the time, the area had become inundated with outlaws, thieves, and murderers looking for an area that before had no federal or state jurisdiction. With a patrolling area covering 75,000 square miles, the deputy’s instructions were to bring in the perpetrators dead or alive.

At 38 years old, he was the first black U.S. Deputy Marshall to serve in that capacity west of the Mississippi River. Known as being courteous and impeccably dressed in his boots polished to a shine, he rode a large reddish stallion with a white-blazed face. While marshaling in the Oklahoman Native American Territory, over his 32 years of service, credited with killing fourteen outlaws and having arrested 3,000 felony lawbreakers of all kind. At 6’2”, approximately 200 pounds, he was ambidextrous with a reputation for being quick, accurate and deadly with his two guns. He was just as skilled with a rifle. Maybe that is why in all those years, he never suffered a gunshot wound, although his hat was shot off more than a few times. A big man with those kinds of skills had to be imposing enough to look at much less take on in a gunfight.

One of his most emotional and personal manhunts involved the apprehension of his son, Benny Reeves. The warrant charged his son with the murder of his young wife. The ultimate fair-minded Bass Reeves demanded the assignment as other deputies were reluctant to take the job because it was his son. In 1902, after a two-week trek into the badlands, he found and arrested his son. Returning him to Muskogee, Oklahoma to face trial, he turned him over to Marshal Bennett. Benny was tried, convicted and served twenty years at Leavenworth for the crime. A citizen’s partition was instrumental in gaining his pardon and early release, after which he spent the rest of his life without further incidents with the law.

By 1907, Oklahoma became a state, and Reeves Deputy US Marshal Commission ended. He was 68 years old. He moved on to join the Muskogee Police Department until his health became a problem while attempting to carry out his duties. Bass Reeves died of Bright’s disease in 1910. There are several books and articles written and available today. His life and exploits as a US Deputy Marshall was the subject of a movie entitled Bass Reeves, released in 2010. James A. House played the leading character. He confided that when independent filmmaker and owner of the San Ponderous Productions contacted to play the part, he “didn’t even know who Bass Reeves was.”

Here was a man who could not read or write. He had to have others read his warrants to him before searching for various outlaws. He would memorize the details from that reading, including which warrant was for whom. When serving the document, he never failed to pick out the correct warrant belonging to a specific outlaw. It is amazing to me how our people always found a way to adjust and make progress on whatever job they had to do. That is an important legacy they left us, the ability to improvise. To this day, we use those skills in our everyday lives. Deputy Marshall Reeves goes down in US history as one of the greatest frontier heroes this country has ever known. And once again, my father proved to be right. There was black folk roaming the Wild West. Look for Part II next week.

Peace, make it a day in which Jesus Christ would be proud of you,

Codis Hampton II

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Join us for the live broadcast of our bi-monthly BTR Shows at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hampscornerofamerica

We present the republication of the Authors’ tour of South Korea as a 17-year-old GI with Unchon-ni. Check out the details at https://outskirtspress.com/Unchonni

We are in a continuing effort to publicize, Gracie Hall-Hampton, the Arkansas Years 1917-1953. Based on the life of the Authors Grandmother. The Novel examines an era of Jim Crow that many in our society may have forgotten occurred against people of color. Meanwhile, we celebrate the publication of his fifth book, Misguided Intentions. A book where family relationships questioned to the core. Read MI’s review at https://redheadedbooklover.com/gracie-hall-hampton-codis-hampton-ii/ Click on the publisher-Authors page at https://outskirtspress.com/MisguidedIntentions

Get any of his books by visiting my Amazon.com Authors page at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B017TYFKBI?ref_=pe_1724030_132998070

Look for new books, updates of current titles, and submission of short articles to major magazines upcoming in 2020. We love to pass on our written word. – HampOur Parent Company and sponsor is CHIIA Group, online at http://hcoa.net/ and http://www.chiia.com/home.html. Our Retail Site is https://frostyltd.com/frosty-ltd-com