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Escaping to Destinations South: Keynote address at the 2012 Undergound Railroad Conference

June 30, 2012

William L. Katz gave the following keynote address at the Escaping to Destinations South Underground Railroad Conference in St. Augustine, Florida on June 21, 2012. The conference was hosted by the National Park Service. I am here to honor the first freedom fighters of the North and South American continents and the islands of the […]

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Native American History: Isobel de Olvera

June 30, 2012

This Native American History Month I propose we celebrate Isobel de Olvera, a Native American who also had African ancestors. She was a single, free woman of color who lived in the last years of the 16th century and early years of the 17th century and comes to us through her own words. Olvera’s date […]

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Black Indians: How NOT to Celebrate an Anniversary

January 16, 2012

As 2011 ended the U.S. Senate voted 92 to 6 for the McCain-Levin amendments [S 1867] to the National Defense Authorization Act. In the name of fighting terrorism, an astounding majority of Democratic and Republican leaders granted unlimited authority to the President [and future Presidents] and the Army to arrest anyone, citizen or foreigner, here […]

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Black Indians: A Personal Journey

January 6, 2012

The personal sojourn that led to a book named Black Indians began in the 1930s and my father, Ben Katz, who fell in love with African American blues and jazz music. He first had a large 78-rpm record collection, and then a large collection of African American history books and pictures. I had to be […]

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November is Native American History Month

November 25, 2011

This October as many Americans celebrated “Columbus Day” men and women from more than half a dozen Native American nations marched to Zuccotti Square to voice support for “Occupy Wall Street.”  Invited to address the famous General Assembly, they linked their original experience with “colonialism and corporate greed” to OWS demands and current struggles of […]

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