Image below of the great Congressman Rev Adam Clayton Powell is by Artist Bernard Saffran at:    http://www.safran-arts.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Clayton_Powell,_Jr.#Early_years

Adam Clayton Powell was a Messianic Christian minister, not a pretentious priest or preacher avoiding so-called worldly matters all around them except worship service and money. Powell both cared and acted in matters of importance to "the least of us" like jobs, housing, children, baseball, and the Civil Rights Act of 1965 that gained him many enemies seeking imperfections for his destruction. And, gay men and women of African heritage ought not ever forget that long before other prominent Black churches and communities, it was Powell and his daddy that welcomed openly gay folks to Abyssinian Baptist Church long before, during and after the so-called Harlem Renaissance by mostly "unmarried gentlemen." 

Voices of Messianic (courageous attitudes and behaviors) ministers still sound out for believers beyond  pretentious professors, ... to keep the faith; help overcome barriers to real goodness (like fathers earning enough  to help mothers birth and raise up a new generation);  and keep hope alive for "the least of us."   We boldly proclaim in the name of Jesus and memories of Dr. King that courageous young men have always mattered in moving heaven and earth for "the least of us." 

Parents, preachers and teachers ought to know why!   And, enlightened artists-writers who are also Messianic minded believers can help by debunking misinformation about struggles for life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for "the least of us."   Persons cited are for purposes of giving new generations positive proof that African-Americans of prior generations did indeed exist outside the comical and negative portrayals consistently propagated by too many ambitious novelists and Hollywood dreamers and gainers of media fame via denigrating rather than commemorating fathers and mothers who lived useful lives in raising up a new generation "up from slavery."

It is the real legacy of change and a story that ought always be remembered even in foreign relations with places like Darfur, Congo, Nigeria, Somalia and other generations of bad attitudes and behaviors among young men who are always the worst after-math of civil and social upheaval.  Terrorism by young men, ... vents first and most upon their opposition. Enlightened folks are reminded the Christian faith following the crucifixion of Jesus and dispersal by most of his disciples to Africa, ... was kept alive in places like Nubia (Darfur) that now has plenty of oil desired by the northern part of Sudan that has none but plenty of young men willing to kill for it. Civil War in the Sudan can only be comprehended by preachers and teachers if they understand Civil War and aftermath of what has occurred here, there and everywhere civil strife has existed.

Civil War in the Sudan is very much a challenge to men who matter. Millions of lives have been taken away as is always the case when good men do nothing. We ought not generalize as to who was lynched and why via Ku Klux Klan established by ex-confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest.  The war that ended slave codes and statutes did not end all the bad attitudes and behaviors present at Appomattox.  Rather, the people and places we now view with love and compassion such as Richmond and Atlanta were born again via better mothers (both Black and White) seeking to raise up new and better generations. It is an American chapter still being written in newest testament of a living Christ, not about kings and queens.   

In fact, wars and rumors of wars are central in histories of human change, ... excepting among uneducated who cover ignorance with soulful bliss that excludes matters of anthropology, geography, topography, and even sociology of our cherished freedom.  The great joy of being free in America is that of being able to search and seek for courageous goodness we believe brought forward new and better generations of believers such as President Barack Obama. 

Indeed, unless we perceive ourselves to be part of something much greater (God, Home, & Country) than our individual existence, ... there is no rational reason to care about ancestral relationships.  People who perceive they have emerged from little or nothing good will not espouse goodness (God) in futures of offspring at (Home) to include fathers. This site encourages parental education that teaches geography, history and challenges of (Country) beyond churches and cults as entertainment and imitation centers for "the least of us."      

Caring about the relative past is a testament of one's faith, but we are cautioned to not depend too heavily on oral histories.  More often than not the so-called eldest family members are not always the wisest or most knowledgeable about events and relatives.  Military and pioneer experiences by young men generally occurred beyond matrilineal and matriarchal village or plantation views! 

Our hopes on this site are to emphasize that a lot of unknown and unsung young men were born and died without glory in the Second American Revolution to set free "the least of us" including the good and bad ones, deserving and not deserving freedom others did not want them to have.  Enlightened and educated ministers of the gospels have suggested that we should start with Civil War records, and then proceed to find the before and after of ancestors who served in the cause of liberty. We believe that virtually all African-Americans of today had ancestors who did so but remain unknown because too many of us do not care to know about true Black patriots as other folks remember their kindred fallen and dead. 

And, we are thus saddened by the "back-sliding" of so many beneficiaries who owe so much to the relatively few faithful who marched toward victory salvaged in life and struggles of men like Frederick Douglass (formerly one of the courageous young offspring of matrilineal Bailey lineage in Eastern Shore Maryland and Virginia that generated hundreds of U.S. Colored Troop volunteers in cause of emancipation)?  Their lives mattered and "the least of us" ought to "thank God" that fertile Bailey mothers helped "bail us out of slavery" by birthing courageous youth to help our Joshua in matters most preachers fail to teach.  

Many educated African-Americans alive today are compelled to remember securing civil rights followed the great struggle (Civil War) for human rights that began at least by time of the First American Revolution.  And, yes there are many who profess to be believers but do not seek to see the 20 centuries long hard battle paths of change toward goodness that began with philosophy given by Jesus himself.  Indeed, until such time as most preachers are teachers about the birth and struggles of "goodness" born on Christmas day, ... shadows of the faith will continue to ignore lives documented by the National Park Service Civil War website.  The site lists more than 650,000 young men who died and at least another million who lived afterwards without heirs to care but relatives who surely ought to know and remember them in HIS name. 

                                                         Civil War Website                  

                                                      Research Models

Genealogy oriented sites are good for known and unknown family links of useful lives such as First Lady Michelle Robinson Obama, ... lived helping self and others as Christ asked that believers "tell John what was seen and heard."  Genetic insight is not about religion but rather the attitudes and behaviors up and beyond organized rituals of Sunday morning praise and prayers. It is about men like Jackie Robinson and his kind of believer-achievers who believe JESUS desires all youth to achieve goodness by doing, not simply being.  As with his life, inspiration, nurturing and nutrition of the child via mothers still requires other sources for coaching and motivation like the father of Michelle Robinson Obama to facilitate enlightenment education including good grades and "love songs by Stevie Wonder."    

Much of our knowledge about the Robinson roots are recalled from conversations with James R. Herring, Sr. (deceased) whose mother was a Robinson born and raised in Richmond among scores of men like assertive  and determined Maxwell and Spotswood Robinson, and their offspring first African-American news network anchorman Max, Jr. and Randall Robinson.  Modern jazz saxophonist Stephen Herring is one of them affirming the Robinson tempo of excellence is still born again in each new generation.  We should have believed, if not known generations ago, that providence always reaches into a lineage of believers for goodness sake.  Maybe the DNA of Robinsons we know and have seen excel (like Jackie Robinson) exist for reasons unknown to but uplifting for "the least of us."  

                                  Michelle Robinson Obama Family Tree

Persons identified on this site, such as possible ancestors of First Lady Michelle Robinson Obama .... and Reverend Jesse (Robinson) Jackson (and, gifted Smokey Robinson for sure) are for purposes of helping youth understand how and why so many of us believe we are brothers and sisters in Christ, both spiritually and via DNA attributes of goodness that spans centuries.  We hope to convey that being born again is about seeking truth in being and doing, from the womb to the tomb, and that includes uplifting indoctrination, motivation, education and enterprise to achieve it.  Yes, both sexes:  many bright, some bewildered and all human colors, dark and light with eyes to see and ears to hear not just about the man from Galilee but all those lifted up in HIS attitudes and behaviors.  That includes many of our ancestors (including Black, White and Native American ones) held so dear in the enablement of overcoming fear, ignorance, disease, hunger and heathen values like polygamy we too often neglect to talk about. 

                                        Frazier Robinson

First-Lady Michelle Robinson Obama - Up from multiple generations of believers, courage, faith, hope and love of God and others in the struggles and toil never to be forgotten, ... that we are brothers and sisters in the body and spiritual philosophy of Christ that brought us up from slavery and seeded gifted births to help "the least of us."  Of course, we do not know any of this for certain but rather it is the mystery of our faith that allows us to believe all is possible with God!  People thus noted are sample examples as to why we choose to believe individual lives are part of a much greater (universal) picture than any mind of man or woman can see, ... or color.  Our sincere hope is that writers in Hollywood and elsewhere will go out into the realities of life offstage and generate more matters of inspiration for new generations and those yet to be born, ... via the mysteries of human procreation. And, we can only hope Black actors and actresses will stop characterizing degenerate attitudes and behaviors as goodness.

                                            Robinson-Martin Generations

Without Robinson offspring voices like Jesse, (son of Noah, cousin to Jackie, Randall, Spotswood, and even our First Lady Michelle up from enslaved Robinson generations in Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, Mississippi and even far away Texas), ... daring to speak courageously confronting powers that be, much of what we take for granted, such as Title 9 to the U.S. Civil Rights Act would not exist.  Theology matters more than most people imagine and is not simply believing or not in God, or proclaiming Jesus a "personal savior"  while ignorant of HIS philosophy of life for humanity.  Youth should be taught to know and understand philosophy of Jesus was source of liberty inspired and generated as we know and love one another (not lovin' it like a hamburger)! Thomas Jefferson's Declaration in 1776, even had he not been a slave-owner, could never have been conceived in any other philosophy of life, let alone written, ... without prior generations of thoughts about life and liberty.   It was a death warrant for slavery "like a tree being chopped down, still green, but now timber, no longer a tree!" 

                             History of Slavery in United States

Our philosophy of life and view of others flows from the functional theology we subscribe to, not religious rituals claimed or practiced by pretenders prancing across the stages of life in pursuit of liberty and happiness without helping anyone other than themselves.  Story telling by scholars and novelists, at the least value embraces liberation theology and at best, ... reaffirms beliefs and faith we hold dear in pursuit of happiness that non-believers neither care or wonder about who/what/why/when/where and how?   We are determined to convey that our ancestors and parents did not simply exist but gained abilities and skills to perform work useful for themselves and others, ... whether slave or free in both war and peace.  Black scholars have a responsibility to stop ignoring young men at war and leaving "work" out of "scholarly works" about and for "the least of us."  Youth need to know "doing work" is greatest function of life, not "being high/happy"!  

                                                   Who Are You?

Older generations are compelled to be enterprising enough to tell their stories so writers will hear them and new generations of readers will comprehend our faith is more than bible reading and attending worship services.  Tell youth what we have seen and heard climbing up; ... including the great challenge to overcome obstacles of both African traditional and slavery induced polygamous lifestyles that have impeded economic and social development for many generations.   All believers have good cause to remember that years 2010-2039 will be that of generation #68 not defined by skin color but content of character, ... ... beginning with the birth of Jesus in whose body and spirit many souls were lifted up from hell on earth.  So, in the words of James Weldon Johnson (generation # 63), let us together: (click below for web link to music and words that millions of enlightened and educated souls have called "the Negro National Anthem")

                     Lift Every Voice and Sing

                                   Rainbow-Push Coalition

We would argue a most visible fallacy are educated people, who have seen and heard voices like Jesse Robinson Jackson, ... but fail to enlighten new generations that he does so as a Minister of the Good News in which we have believed most, if not all our lives.  Those of us who remember bad times are challenged to remember generations of goodness that brought us forth for the purpose we are able to see, hear and bear witness.  Our interests are not so much about persons like Jesse loved by millions, ... but more so the spiritual purpose of him as an obvious teaching ministry who can also preach to get attention about "the least of us?"

Without DNA testing, we cannot prove that athletic talents, intelligence IQs, and courage like that of Jesse Robinson Jackson, Jackie Robinson and Randall Robinson are related but we can speculate they were by virtue of so many traits in common that we have witnessed.  Of course, those who have never seen a Robinson run will not notice the unique strides in moving the baton ahead. And, yes, many of us, including preachers and teachers, ... saw Jackie steal home plate to lift us up!

In a way Jesse's goodness (far from perfection) in being leads us back to every Sarah, since Abraham, that have ever given birth to people we know and hold dear, ... wondering what would our lives be if they or their siblings were never born? Why were so many Robinson offspring born? Was it to fill the ranks of the Union Army needed to abolish slavery?  How many of the Robinson saviors who served were related?  Which ones paid the ultimate price for our liberty with their lives?  How can we know?  Who cares?  We do and it bothers us greatly that for so many, ... memorial day is simply another holiday or parade on television and news announcement showing the President at Arlington.

                                           Robinson Patriots

Mothers like Sarah Robinson on above left were born of ex-slave parents in Virginia after the Civil War, with dozens of known and unknown fertile cousins dispersed by Virginia's infamous slave breeding industry to Alabama, the Carolinas, Georgia and beyond in human hell on earth for many who fell in despair and were never saved.  Many of the new mothers up from slavery  were challenged by their faith (and Booker T.) to raise up a new and more enterprising generation of Negroes to generate better generations of human beings, ... where many had fallen and could not get up.   And, many mothers did so almost as fast as you can say the name, Jack Roosevelt Robinson, a much prayed for & promised "New Negro" generated in the second total free-born generation of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for "the least of us." 

                         Jack Roosevelt Robinson, born 1919

Jackie was a famed believer, and millions of Black men and women loved him for goodness sake!  He played a life-time game of "hard-ball" as though "the least of us" depended on him to hit and run for us all, ... and we did indeed love him for his life and wife Rachael on and off the field of dreams for boys learning to play by the rules of challenging engagements.  Men that mattered, including pastors, deacons and trustees who had experienced World War II, dressed in their best suits, ... and went out to see Jackie on Sunday afternoons, (not for play, nor pay to pray) but for showing appreciation in the cause of goodness.  For us, the wonder of it all is that hundreds, if not thousands of Robinson offspring from one or more African heritage fathers and mothers in bondage brought forth so many, ... that we are compelled to look into our faith to understand we are our brothers and sisters, like it or not, in the bodies for sure, and hopefully spirit. 

A general review of many outstanding graduates of historically Black Colleges and Universities during the 20th century indicate a sizeable number just happened to be Robinsons like Judge Spotswood Robinson on right, and just happened to have same first names and other virtues like courage, faith, hope and love for "the least of us?"  And, more than a few looked and could pass for White!  We fear not to believe a hidden hand exists for us to witness as models to motivate youth,... not simply praise and recall dead prophets for them to know and remember on Sunday. 

And, as a product of our own spiritual yearnings we are inclined to speculate Robinson/Robeson folks that flocked to places like Princeton, New Jersey after the Civil War were preparing a way for the coming of not only Paul Robeson but also our First Lady Michelle, another gifted Robinson child?  Scholarship seems to be a common trait across the country among the Robinson offspring. Only Christ knows for sure what was common in their DNA, but it does not take a biologist to notice similarities of goodness like uncommon determination among "the least of us!" 

The failure of scholar believers to update the gospels for preachers to affirm Christ in our midst is a failure of scholarly sight and hearing.  Too many have defaulted to semi-literate pretentious preachers to explain a philosophy of life that youth need to propagate goodness. Indeed, Jesus is too important to be isolated in religious rituals.  And God save us from robed pretenders of the highly educated kind who receive affirmative actions by rich and powerful benefactors to society, ... but in turn deliberately avoid helping "the least of us"

Do we not see and hear HIM in gifted children being born everyday?  And, we know for certain that as it was with the birth of Jesus, no one can predict when, where or why a gifted child is born, ... but all can believe and anticipate each will be the realized second coming in the flesh.  Indeed, what would any place, people or even nations be without them being born, living and toiling for the common good of humanity. 

When all peoples and places of African heritage like Jamaica and Ghana prioritize education and enlightenment of their gifted births, ... then all children can be saved, not by wondrous words of preachers and dead prophets?  We the living who have seen and heard much of the past century are newest testament that Christ lives not just on Easter morning sunrise service, but in very energy of life itself we hold sacred enough to educate medical experts to heal and sustain. 

Raising better and more fruitful generations means telling our stories about what we have seen and heard while time is available.  As reminded by Dr. Benjamin Mays, President of Morehouse College and great teacher to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and many of our leaders up from slavery, ... "We only have a minute."