The Story of Fortune, a Slave

 Fortune, his wife Dinah and their 3 children were slaves of Preserved Porter, a Connecticut bone doctor. In 1798, Fortune slipped from a rock on the west bank of the Naugatuck river, broke his neck and drowned. At the time, dissecting cadavers was illegal; but not applying to slaves, Dr. Porter cut him into pieces at the riverbank. At his office, he boiled the bones so that all flesh fell off, etched labels into them and used them as a medical training tool. Dr. Porter died 6 years later, listing the bones as worth $15 ($330 today).

Prior to his death, Dr. Porter used the bones to teach anatomy to his son; who used them to teach anatomy to his grandson; who used them to teach his daughter…135 years of generational doctors and wealth. In 1933, his name long forgotten, the family donated the bones to the Mattatuck Museum where they were displayed next to slave tools as “Larry the Slave”; a popular exhibit shown on their postcard; not taken down until 1970 when the Museum realized this was demeaning. They stored them in the basement.

In 1999, made aware of these bones in the basement, the NAACP and museum staff enlisted anthropologists and archeologists to examine them, ultimately determining this was Fortune. Based on bone density, he was a strong man who lived and worked with a broken back, hand and died of a broken neck.

On Sept. 13th, 2013, after being a slave, medical specimen, museum exhibit and archeological artifact spanning 275 years, Fortune was finally freed…laid to rest next to White society of his time…something that wouldn’t have been allowed when he died.

This is not an isolated story. Medical usage of Black and Indigenous people in ways prohibited of Whites was not uncommon. Since I still can't find my GG Grandfather (Ned Mills), Erica and I decided to make a donation to the Assoc for the Study of African American Life & History, as well as to make a regular pilgrimage here to leave flowers for Fortune.

Black History is American History and Black Lives Matter. If not to you, I got this. My actions will show they always have and still do…no statute of limitations. Now rest, Fortune.

The HistoryMakers: Documenting Black history through first-person accoun...

Nicolas Cruz get life without parole...NO!

 I'm not for or against the death penalty. But in the case of Nickolas Cruz, the man needed to go. He knew what he was doing, he planned it, he executed 17 people. I don't know what the jury saw that he, Cruz, SAID he did it, to say he should be spared. Good luck dude. You'll need it.

The U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade

 I am not an advocate of abortion. I do not believe abortion should be used for birth control. HOWEVER, I do not believe government has the right to tell me to carry to term the child of rape, nor of incest. Nor to continue to carry an ectopic pregnancy, or other life threatening pregnancies. The Supreme Court made a huge mistake in overturning Roe v Wade, which now allows states the opportunity to ban abortion completely. A woman should be the one to decide what happens to her body, and with the guidance of her doctor. There are so many children in the adoption system, and many more in the foster system. Let's take care of them in finding forever homes.

Zelensky: The end of the world has arrived.

 Zelensky: 'The end of the world has arrived' (yahoo.com) Click to Yahoo site to see post.

A Brief History of Ukraine

 From "A History Of Civilization" pg. 321

-Swedes penetrated the wilds of what is now Russia.

-Swedes established the first settled culture in Russia at Novgorod and Kiev; in fact, the Swedish invaders were known as "Russ."

                                                         pg.550

The Slav colossus, Russia, was already emerging, but early civilized life in Russia had been organized not by Slavs, but by Scandinavians. The Swedish Vikings had established small states in Novgorod and Kiev about the Danish north men were unsettling the painfully reconstructed civilization of western Europe. Russian lif was further enriched from Constantinople, first though penetration of Byzantine Christianity, and then by the introduction of Byzantine influence in art, literature, and terms of government. Indeed, later Tsars claimed Moscow as the capital of eastern Christendom, and asserted their independence of the mantle of Roman and Byzantine Caesars.

In the 13th century, Russia, then but a loose collection of feudal states, was conquered by Tartars, led by the grandson of Genghis Khan. For 200 years the Tartars maintained their sway, still collecting tribute from Russians when the Turks captured Constantinople. But Russian independence was not far off. In 1552, The Duke of Moscow defeated the Mongols, and became the leader of a Russian state. So rose the power which, in later years, would become the chief enemy of the Turks. The Turkish thrust northward conquered a part of what is now southern Russia. That territory was not Russian, but the possession of another Slovik power.

History Of Mankind- Vol.II pg. 24,26

....many specific Greco- native cultures can be distinguished: in Magna Graesia, Sicily, the country around Marsellies, the Propontis, Ukraine, Crimea, Cyrenaica, and so on.

....No less important was the influence of the Greek colonists on the Black Sea coasts, especially in the modern Ukraine.

Encyclopedia Britannica- History

  Beginning in the 7th-6th centuries BCE, numerous Greek colonies were founded on the northern coast of the Black Sea, on the Crimean Peninsula, and along the Sea of Azov. During the 1st millennium BCE, the steppe hinterland was successively occupied by the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians. These peoples, all of Iranian (Persian) stock, maintained commercial and cultural relations with the Greek colonies.

  The Goths from the Baltic region replaced the Sarmatians in the Ukraine about 200CE.

Kyivan (KIEVAN) Rus

  The formation of the Kyivan state began in the 9th century by the Varagians (Vikings), and the name Rus was the beginnings of the state. From the Varangian merchant-warriors came the progenitors of the Kyivan princes, who soon became Slavicized. The Varangians were also called Rus, and this became a territorial designation for the Kyivan region. Later, it was applied to the entire territory ruled by members of the Kyivan dynasty.

 80 Years Ago the Nazis Planned the ‘Final Solution.’ It Took 90 Minutes. - The New York Times (nytimes.com) I've never heard of this "conference." Stunningly evil.