Black History is More than Slavery By the Reverend James C. Simmons, Pastor of Baber A.M.E. Church and Chairman of Rise Up Rochester, Inc. On February 2, 2016, the United Postal Service released a stamp of one of our nation’s often forgotten founders, Bishop Richard Allen. Born a slave on February 14, 1760, Allen purchased […]
Black Lives Matter to Black People By the Reverend James C. Simmons, Senior Pastor of Baber African Methodist Episcopal Church and Chairman of Rise Up Rochester, Incorporated On Thursday, August 20, 2015, the precious blood of Raekwon Manigault, Jonah Barley, and Johnny Johnson was spilled in our streets and four others were wounded in a […]
In the constitution of the United States, penned in 1787, it states that that congressional representation is to be based on the “whole number of free persons” and “three fifths of all other persons,” a reference about African Americans. Known as the 3/5ths compromise, the founding fathers valued Africans enslaved in America and their descendants […]
By the Reverend James C Simmons, M.Div, Pastor of Baber AME Church After 16 hours of deliberation, on July 13, 2013, six jurors ruled that 29 year old George Zimmerman was justified in murdering a 17 year old, unarmed teenager named Trayvon Benjamin Martin and proved something African Americans have long known: Black life is […]