Wednesday, April 04, 2012

The City of Sanford’s Racist Past - The Daily Beast

The City of Sanford’s Racist Past - The Daily Beast: The Florida town where Trayvon Martin met his death bears the name of its founder, a failed orange grower turned lobbyist who, in the 19th century, abetted a Belgian king’s bloody colonial adventure in the Congo that left millions of Africans dead.

Henry Sanford was also an ardent proponent of sending black Americans to Africa.

“The ground to draw the gathering electricity from the black cloud spreading over the southern states,” he termed it.

The Congo, Sanford said, would encourage “the enterprise and ambition of our colored people in more congenial fields than politics.”

Despite such sentiments, the city still proudly bears his name. Sanford, the city, honors Sanford, the man, by maintaining a library and museum in his memory, commemorating a racist who came to Florida as the sole heir of a hugely successful brass-tacks manufacturer in Connecticut.