Table of Contents

Chapter 1.....................................................................page 4

Chapter 2.....................................................................page 8

Chapter 3.....................................................................page 11

Chapter 4.....................................................................page 14

Chapter 5.....................................................................page 16

Katherin Dunham

Chapter 6.....................................................................page 20

Chapter 7.....................................................................page 24

James Forten

Chapter 8.....................................................................page 27

Chapter 9.....................................................................page 30

Prince Hall

Table of Contents (Cont.)

Chapter 10...................................................................page 33

Chapter 11...................................................................page 36

Fannie Lou Hamer

Chapter 12...................................................................page 39

Chapter 13...................................................................page 42

Kenneth Clark

Chapter 14...................................................................page 46

Chapter 15...................................................................page 47

Chapter 1

It was Monday morning at Carson Elementary School as the 4th graders in room 204 unpacked their belongings. Kevin Cloud on the other hand had to go a different route. He proceeded toward his desk first in order to place the breakfast try he hand in his hands down.

"Yo Kevin," Mason Richard waved. Mason was the only black kid he knew who not only had, but wore Buildcraft glasses. Kevin took his hat off as his fro sprung to life.

"Were you able to finish your part for our biography report?" Mason asked him. Kevin frowned for a second. The last thing he wanted to talk about was school work so early in the morning. The class was put into groups and tasked to do some extensive research for Black History Month. However, Kevin had more important plans in mind like entering the Campnite tournament.

"Why do you have to ask me something like that so early in the morning?" he finally spoke.

"Because for two reasons. One, the due date is approaching very soon and two," Mason pointed to the number two upon the arrival of Lolah Kahleigh. Lighter skin than the two of them and half Hispanic, she had her hair tied up in a short ponytail. "Forget Mr. Coleman, I would worry more about Lolah," Mason warned.

"Ha! I'm not afraid of her," Kevin said with confidence and went over to his cubby to put his belongings away. He moved around the sea of kids, dodging her gaze, but she must have had x-ray vision and located him on the spot because as soon as he got to his cubby, she caught him there.

"Done with your side of the report yet?" she asked him directly. What was this? Check homework day or something he thought.

"I'm...still working on it," he answered. He lifted up his book bag and was about to put it in, but the entrance was suddenly blocked by Lolah's arm.

"Working on it...or starting it?" she persisted. He lowered his bag and gave a huge sigh.

"Something like that," he answered.

"You haven't started! KEVIN!" Lolah flipped. Kevin eyes widen as his lips puffed up and squeezed air out, trying to quiet her down.

"Jeez, I don't need the whole school to know," he said to her.

"Are you kidding me Kevin. This is why I didn't want to be in a group with you in the first place. The report is due this week," Lolah stressed to him. He removed her arm that was in the way and placed both his book bag and his coat once he removed it into his cubby.

"Trust me, I know. It'll get done your highness," Kevin teased.

"Umm, let me tell you something little boy. I don't need get, it better be done. Unlike you who just wanna play video games all day, my urgency is gonna be your urgency. My grades depends on this report being successful. I am getting into the top colleges and I'm not going to have the likes of you ruin my good track record that I have worked so hard for this year!" Lolah blasted.

"Whoa Lolah. Sweetie deep breaths, remember your breathing exercises," said Alisha Jackson who came from behind them. She towered over them as she moved some of her breads from her face and tucked them behind her pierced ear. "I'm sure Mr. C can hear you all the way across the room." Alisha wasn't lying. It wasn't till then that both her and Kevin looked over and saw Mr. Coleman at his desk and gestured for them to come over.

Chapter 2

For a Black History Month project, Mr. Coleman gave his students the task of a biography report on anyone they wanted to know more about.

"Is there something happening between you two that I should know about? I can hear you all the way over here," he asked them.

"See, told ya," Alisha interjected. Kevin didn't want Mr. Coleman to know he hadn't started his portion of the report yet so he tried to answer before Lolah could.

"We...were...just talking about how...lunch should serve something else other than peanut butter and jelly." Kevin's broken response brought about a puzzling look on both Lolah and Alisha's faces. Before Lolah could really say what was going on, Mason also interrupted and brought over the Kidzpost Newspaper that was placed on his desk for the morning.

"Mr. Coleman, did you see that the Museum of African-American History was finally approved. You've been talking about it for the passed two months now."

What Mason brought up was true, but to both Kevin, Lolah, and Alisha surprise, Mr. Coleman seemed unimpressed by the news.

"Something wrong Mr. C? I thought you would be ecstatic over this kind of news," Alisha said first.

"It's not that I'm not happy about this good news. For years ever since I was a little boy around your age, our community have fought to have this museum built in showcasing our history. I am very happy it was approved, but if you keep reading, it also list the names of those who will be selected into it," he explained.

"Yeah it's right here. People like Dr. Matin Luther King Jr, Harriett Tubman, Rosa Parks, Hank Aaron, etc," Mason read the list out loud.

"While those are great leaders who deserve to be in the museum, I just feel sorry for those that are not well known and who should also be included," Mr. Coleman expressed to them. "Listen, I need you guys to do me a favor and head to the Media Center and return these VR headsets back to Mr. Hwan," he said to them.

Mason placed his paper into his back pocket while Lolah grabbed the transport bag and placed it on her back as all four of them left the room. The Media Center wasn't that far from there classroom as it was straight down the hall and on the second left. When they got there, kids moved around the library like a luggage conveyor belt as the school's librarian Mr. Hwan started his early morning checkouts. When he saw the four of them come in and noticed the transport bag, he motioned them over.

"Good morning Mr. Hwan. Mr. Coleman wanted us to bring back the VR headset we used," Lolah said to him.

"Good morning children. Ah yes. Unfortunately as you guys can see, it is very busy today and I cannot leave the counter until all of these books have been scanned in. Go ahead and place the bag into the VRS room, just don't touch anything that is in that room," Mr. Hwan told them. They all nodded and went into the side hall that had a small office, kitchen, and tech equipment. At the very back was a tall glass booth.

Chapter 3

"Has anyone ever been inside the VRS room before?" Kevin asked to which each of them shook their heads.

"It stands for Virtural Reality Simulation and it's similar to the VR headsets, but you don't need the headsets as the entire room would be it. So instead of having a 180 degree sight range you now have a 360 degree sight range," Mason explained to him.

"Well lets just hurry so we can get back because I still have to get into the breakfast line," Alisha said.

"You know that line is long by now," Lolah said.

"Girl, who you tellin'," Alisha said. "Lets hurry please." Mason went and held the door for everyone. The room or booth was big enough for all four of them to fit into and Kevin noticed how microchips were placed around certain spots or points.

"What's that?" asked Kevin who saw a red bound book on a small table.

The lettering on the cover made out to be Untold African-American History.

"Kevin! Mr. Hwan specificity said not to touch anything in the room," Lolah pointed out.

"Relax, it's just a book and maybe it has something in here we could use for our report," Kevin insisted.

"Wonder why it's in here and not out there," Alisha pondered. Kevin reached and took the book from the table and began flipping through some of the pages when all of a sudden the door closed behind them.

"Put the book down Kevin and lets get out of here," Mason said. Before Kevin could do so, the lights inside the VRS room started flickering as the book began to glow yellow. Without touching it the pages started flipping by themselves hard. A gust of strong winds attacked them directly as they had to raise their voices to hear each other.

"Kevin! Close the book!" Lolah shouted. Kevin's hands began to shake as he tried

to maintain his grip over the book. It was just then that Kevin saw an entire page ripped out from the book and went through one of the walls. Before he knew it, three more pages did the same thing. Just as the last page escaped, Kevin was finally able to close the book to which the wind died down in response.

Chapter 4

"What was that?" Lolah asked them.

"Lets get out of here," Kevin agreed, but before he was able to put the book back down, it glowed again and just as before the glow started to affect the room, but this time in a huge way. The walls, the entire space around them started to twist and turn like a bizarre pretzel. Like paint that was exposed to water, the warping of the walls slid down as the floor beneath their feet turned into a blackhole that they fell down into.

"Ahhh!" they screamed as what felt like an endless roller coaster drop only span for just a few minutes as their feet finally landed on solid ground.

"Kevin, I swear if you do one more thing," Lolah blurted as she snatched the book away from him.

"It's not...it wasn't...I didn't do anything!" he tried to say.

"Really now? Mr. Hwan said do not touch anything and what did you do?

Touched the book. It's not that you didn't do anything, it's that you did the most," Lolah pointed out to him.

"How about you two stop blaming who did what and focus more on where we are," Mason suggested. Though they could only see themselves, the room was pitch black. Like a vacuum cleaner, all of a sudden the darkness was sucked up and they found themselves outside.

"Why...are we outside?" Kevin wondered.

"Better yet, how did we even get outside? Weren't we just in the Media Center, actually in the school building itself?" Lolah questioned. Just then Mason called for them to come over to a sign posted on a window.

"I think we're in Chicago," Mason pointed out.

"Chicago!" they shouted in unison.

Chapter 5

"How did we travel all the way to Chicago from Carson Elementary?" Alisha asked them.

"I'm dead. If my dad finds out I'm not at school, I'm so dead," Lolah said to herself. Kevin to himself couldn't believe what was happening to them and it all started from him touching a silly red book.

"Are you guys seeing the same thing I'm seeing?" Mason asked them. Though the sign was on the window, through the glass they saw dancers moving their bodies in such a stiff and unexcited way that for a split second they questioned what they were even doing at first.

"Are they dancing?" Kevin broke the silence.

"You call that dancing? Where's the rhythm? Where's the movement? Where is the music? Alisha voiced. Lolah handed Mason the book so that she could get a better look. Mason cracked opened the book as it seemed to be just fine now.

"Don't!" shouted everyone. Mason had already opened it, but unlike last time, nothing really happened. It was just an ordinary book from his view.

"Nothing is happening," Alisha pointed out.

"Wow Kevin, you really are jinks," Lolah admitted. Kevin gave her the to be silent glare to which she didn't utter another word.

"Hey, check this out," Mason motioned.

"Katherine Mary Dunham, who's that?" Alisha asked.

"Well according to this book, she was an African-American woman born June 22, 1909. She had a mother and a father who was of west African and Madagascar heritage. When Katherine was three, her mother passed away, but her father eventually remarried.

"She also had an older brother," Lolah read the line below it.

"When Katherine was around our age, she was really good at both writing and dancing.

Fun fact: by the time she was twelve, she published a short story." Kevin skimmed further down and read how this Katherin person had a very active life style. Another fun fact: Sports that she played in was baseball, tennis, basketball, and track. When she became a member of a club where she learned a style of dancing that originated from European suggestions. Kevin jumped up when he heard Alisha yelp.

"Here's a fun fact: she had her own private school of dance and was only in high school!" It had always been Alisha dream to own her own dance company.

"The name Joliet must have been popular because the college she went to was called Joliet Junior College," Lolah noted. Lolah continued on and read that she studied in anthropology along with African dance. After her fieldwork in Haiti, she earned not only her bachelor's degree, but also a PH.B in philosophy.

"She contributed so much to African-American history. Her dancing career alone paved the way for other African-American girls to follow. The 'Katherine Dunham

School of Dance' was the only self sufficient African-American dance company around at the time and she created her own dancing technique," Alisha drooled over.

"In addition to that, Katherine brought about light on the social stigma of black dancers. She bulldozed her way to changing the impressions of blacks in America by demonstrating as a black woman, she could be clever, smart, delightful entertainer, and a gifted choreographer," Kevin read last.

Chapter 6

"Wait, wait, wait. How does all of this translate into that?" Lolah pointed back to the window .

"Hey, look at this," Mason said. "There's a page missing," he pointed out. Sure enough, there was as Mason claimed an entire page completely torn out.

"Now I remember. When that book went all bonkers, I could have sworn pages were being ripped out of it," Kevin recalled.

"This cannot be. It's too crazy to be," Lolah muttered.

"Care to share genius?" Kevin asked.

"Just...go with me on this," Lolah said.

"Do we have a choice?" Kevin persisted.

"Well compared to you, I am the smart one here and I would suggest you pay attention. I think we might be in some type of weird time altering situation and this book is disrupting history, black history specifically," Lolah concluded.

"Come again?" Kevin blurted.

"She could be right," Mason supported the idea.

"Oh Mason, not you too," Kevin moaned. When Mason closed the book, Kevin took notice of some lettering that appeared below the title that wasn't there when he initially had it.

"Hear me out. This reminds me of a game Lunamahh. basically, Katherine Dunham escaped from this book and without her, everything that she has contributed to Black History doesn't exist anymore," Mason explained.

"Which would explain this joke," Alisha pointed back to the window.

"So what do we do?" Lolah asked him.

"Well, from what you said and from what I know, we have to either find the image of Katherine Dunham or bring the image to us. Either way, the image of her has to be sealed back inside the book," Mason answered.

"I doubt we'd be able to find her," Kevin brought to light.

"Then we'll bring her to use," Lolah said while looking directly at Alisha. Mason picked up what she was alluding to and also looked at Alisha.

"What?" she asked.

"We need you to dance," Mason said for Lolah.

"You've been taking dance lessons since you were four. You're the best Grade 4 dancer we have at school. Having Katherine to know that her legacy isn't forgotten should bring her out to us," Lolah explained.

"Fine, Kevin drop me a beat," Alisha said to him. Kevin counted down and began to beatbox to which Alisha started to dance to. Her uncontrolled yet freeing movements caused for the sign to ripple into an image of a woman. The sudden transformation startled Mason as he dropped the book in addition to it now glowing. Kevin stopped his beatboxing and picked up the book to which the glow turned from yellow to green as a subtle flash traveled down each of the lettering Kevin had saw beforehand on the cover of the book.

"Return to ties that bind, seal!" Kevin shouted and opened the book, pointing it at the image. The image of Katerhine Dunham materialized into a light blue smoke and was quickly absorbed into the book until it closed shut by itself. However, before they could even take note of what just happened, the whole area around them started to distort again as they fell through the ground.

Chapter 7

"Where are we now? Alisha asked as the dark background checkered its way into showing a town before disappearing. They were able to see people moving about their day, however it didn't seem like they were able able to see the four of them.

"I have no idea," Lolah said as she took the book from Kevin in fear of something else happening because of him.

"Mason, why does your newspaper look different?" Kevin took noticed as the coloring of it looked stained. Mason took the local paper out of his back pocket and checked it out. Sure enough, every article had changed.

"I think we're in Pennsylvania," Mason pointed to an article about the Liberty Bell. There was another section that talked about some states still being slave states. American states that still legalized slavery at a particular period in U.S. history.

"Wait, what? Why is slavery still legal in some states? All of that should have

been abolished by now," Lolah pointed out to them. The information printed on the newspaper showed a portion of the states in the south were still slave states. This sparked Lolah curiosity as she flipped through the book and found a person by the name of James Forten.

"Listen to this you guys. September 2, 1766, James Forten was born free. He had two other siblings, however James' birth would not have been possible if it wasn't for his grandfather who had himself freed from slavery. While only fourteen years old, James joined the privateer while the Revolutionary War was going on," Lolah read.

"Fun fact: he joined the navy technically as a 7th Grader," Mason pointed out.

"It wasn't all fun and games. In fact, the vessel he was on was apprehended by the British and there was a possibility James was going to be branded as a slave and the prison was just as harsh," Kevin added.

"Luckly for him and for us, he was let go and eventually down the road joined a merchant crew which by 1970 he signed on for an apprenticeship position with a

family friend to which he learned from," Lolah also added. The book didn't mention anything about James' education, but one could conclude he went more of a skill trade route. Especially when the family friend retired and James purchased the sail loft from him. James created an impressive tool for moving around large sails, but by 1810 he had one of the most profitable sail loft in Philadelphia. This made James one of the richest man in Philadelphia despite his skin color. He used his position to hire both blacks and white workers.

"He sounds like a really great guy. But, what contribution did he do that had power over the slave states?" Alisha asked them.

"Well, according to the book, he used his wealth and social power to help African-Americans who were fighting for their civil rights at the time. Unlike some others, he branched out and his involvement spread not from just the city, but across the nation which is huge in itself right there. He was also against the ACS," Lolah told them.

"What does ACS stand for?" Kevin asked.

Chapter 8

"Stands for American Colonization Society. Basically it was a group of white dudes who sought to forcefully remove freed African-Americans and ship them back to Africa. The issue was a lot of African-Americans back then hated them because while the ACS seemed to be ant-slavery in public, behind closed doors their actions seemed to be the complete opposite," Mason explained to him. Lolah also added to Mason's explanation that as an abolitionist, or a person who fights to see slavery abolished, you can see why James Forten was so against them.

"Wow, he even went as far and convinced a newspaper company to cover anti-colonization stories to inform the public and to seal the deal, he would help financially support the company," Kevin read.

"Fun fact: he believed in the American dream," Mason pointed out.

"Another fun fact: those that are involved in things such as philanthropy and activism, all have him to thank in the Philadelphia area," Alisha chimed in.

"So his involvement helped contributed to the slave states being eventually abolished. So the question now is how do we lure James Forten's image out?" Lolah asked them.

"Mason? Didn't you move from one of these former slave states?" Kevin asked him.

"I guess, though I can assure you, it's not a slave state no more," Mason stated. It wasn't long before the book started to glow yellow again to which Kevin snatched it from Lolah's hands. "He's in my newspaper!" Mason brought to attention.

"Return to ties that bind, seal!" Kevin shouted and opened the book which now glowed green, pointing it at the image. The image of James Forten materialized into a light blue smoke and was quickly absorbed into the book until it closed shut by itself. This triggered the whole area around them to twist and bend again as they fell through the ground.

Chapter 9

As the darkness faded, the kids found themselves on top of an university building where they could see an elongated riverbed. Mason looked around and saw the name of the university to which he knew they were in Massachusetts. Below them was a college campus that Mason was familiar with as he had to do a project on the colleges he would like to know more of. However something was off about it. There didn't seem to be a lot of black people on the campus which struck Mason as odd because it's a well diverse school.

"Seems like the book reacts when an image is near or when it's in your hands Kevin," Mason said and gently removed the book from him, sneakily.

"Why me though?" Kevin complained.

"Probably because it has something to do with you touching the book first," Lolah thought. Mason flipped through the book and found another section that had a missing page.

"Prince Hall? From 1735 through 1738, he was born between those years. His actual place of birth along with his true birthday is not clear. Prince Hall was a free African-American man who could read and write, but as far as how or who taught him, it is unknown," Alisha read over Mason's shoulder.

"Ohh, a mysterious forefather," Lolah teased. "He's defiantly not going to be well known with chunks of his life missing like that."

"Doesn't mean he shouldn't be recognized," Kevin insisted. Alisha brought her brown eyes back to the book.

"He was married a few times, but no educational background recorded. He was employed for a lot of jobs, but perhaps the most important one was as a leather worker. He actually owned his own store that dealt with leather. Oh look Mason, your name is in here."

"Freemasonry. It was a very high established society. In its core was the beliefs in liberty, equality, and peace," Mason corrected.

"Well according to this, Prince Hall wanted into that society based upon the principals you just mentioned. He and a few freed others tried to become members, but were declined. He applied to another branch in Ireland and his group was approved," Alisha read aloud.

"That's good news," Kevin said.

"Not so much. It was more or less a slight step in the right direction, but it came with problems," Mason told him.

Chapter 10

"See although his cabinet had the title, they didn't have any of the power that comes with it. Not to mention that the power that they did have was very little. Fun fact: he had an audience with the 'Grand Lodge of England' who appointed their cabinet as 'African Lodge No. 459 on Septemeber 29, 1784'. It was the countries first African Masonic branch we ever had. Another fun fact: More African Masonary began popping up like a wave with Prince Hall being honored as 'Provinial Grand Master on January 27, 1791,'" Alisha brought to light.

Mason also added how he also contributed to the African-American community at the time, especially by being another abolitionist himself. Prince Hall stood up against the Congress of Massachusetts for the creation of a curriculum for African-American children. Though his plea was sound, it was still rejected. Kevin pointed out another fun fact: Prince Hall formed his own school for freed African-American children.

"He also left a huge legacy behind. I mean, this dude formed a Black Freymasony,

fought for equal educational rights for African-American children, and also continued on to fight against slavery," Mason expressed to them.

"With all that we now know about him, how are we going to lure out his image? Any ideas because four heads are better than one," Lolah through out there.

"Or maybe all we need is just one head, your head," he spoke.

"Wow, radiation has finally reached your brain," Lolah said while she placed the back of her hand against his forehead to which he brushed off.

"It's you. You're going to lure his image out," Kevin said. "You're one of the smartest people I know. By definition you are educated, technically we all are. We are what he fought for, African-American children having equal educational rights," Kevin explained. It wasn't long before the book glowed yellow which meant an image was nearby. Mason tossed the book over to Kevin as Alisha pointed to the university sign that had Prince Hall's image on it which wasn't there before.