On this day in (black) history…

On this day in (black) history, circa 1926, Carter G. Woodson, an African-American historian, author, journalist and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, started Negro History Week. This week would later become Black History Month.

Woodson was one of the first scholars to value and study Black History. “He recognized and acted upon the importance of a people having an awareness and knowledge of their contributions to humanity and left behind an impressive legacy.” A founder of Journal of Negro History, Dr. Woodson is known as the Father of Black History (and I am one of his innumerable grandsons).

tune in tomorrow for the lesson of the day

for>eva>>ward>>>

LR

On this day in (black) history…

where would we be without the work of Dr. Martin Luther King?

On this day in (black) history, circa 1948, Martin Luther King was ordained as a Baptist minister. This was before King skipped the 12th grade (at 15 years old) to enter and graduate from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology (without a high school diploma); before he later enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity degree; and before Dr. King went on to help an oppressed people mold a protest into ‘the civil rights movement’. (and the rest, my dear friends, is history…)

tune in tomorrow for the lesson for the day

for>eva>>ward>>>

LR

On this day in (black) history…

On this day in (black) history, circa 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes the first black woman to receive an M.D. degree. This would prove to be historic, as Crumpler became not only the first but the only African American woman to graduate from the New England Female Medical College (which merged with Boston University in 1873). Rebecca Lee Crumpler was born in 1833 in Delaware. She worked from 1852-1860 as a nurse in Massachusetts and published A Book of Medical Discourses in 1883, one of the first by an African-American about medicine.

tune in tomorrow for the lesson of the day

for>eva>>ward>>>

LR

On this day in (black) history…

On this day in (black) history we celebrate a giant. On this day, circa 1868, Dr. William Edward Burghardt DuBois, a Pan-Africanist, sociologist, historian, author (and editor), educator and civil rights advocate, is born in Great Barrington, Mass.

“In the course of his long, turbulent career, W. E. B. Du Bois attempted virtually every possible solution to the problem of twentieth-century racism— scholarship, propaganda, integration, national self-determination, human rights, cultural and economic separatism, politics, international communism, expatriation, third world solidarity.”

W.E.B. Du Bois will always be remembered as “The Father of Pan-Africanism”.

tune in tomorrow for the lesson of the day

for>eva>>ward>>>

LR

On this day in (black) history…

“the second somebody dies, somebody else is born…” (Aceyalone)

It’s been a couple of days since i last posted, not because there was nothing to post (because we all know, history is made everyday) but as a time to personally reflect and prepare to make some history of my own (more on that later, stay tuned).

In my absence, i missed my chance to timely muse on the birth, life, and legacy of some great, influential, (and sometimes powerful) people such as Sidney Poitier, Nancy Wilson, Malcolm X, Nina Simone, Eva Jessye, John Lewis, Barbara Jordan, and many more, including my niece, Casey Smith (the future first female African-American president of the United States. Well, that’s her dream. you go, Casey!) Onward…

On this day in (black) history, the “Bronze Muse” laid her head down for an eternal rest (and she deserved it). Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (September 24, 1825-February 22, 1911) was an African-American writer, lecturer, and political activist, who promoted abolition, civil rights, women’s rights, and temperance.

Harper helped found or held high office in several national progressive organizations. She is best remembered today for her poetry and fiction, which preached moral uplift and counseled the oppressed how to free themselves from their demoralized condition.

i am personally enamored by this beautiful hummingbird because In 1859, Watkins’s tale “The Two Offers” appeared in the Anglo-African, and was the first short story to be published by an African-American (who, at the time were forbidden to read and write).

Also on this day, circa 1938, the legacy was reborn in the form of poet/author, Ishmael Reed.

the second somebody dies, somebody else is born…

tune in tomorrow for the lesson of the day

for>eva>>ward>>>

LR

On this day in (black) history…

On this day in (black) history we will focus on a few firsts…

First, circa 1919, the first Pan-African Congress, organized by W.E.B. Du Bois, met at the Grand Hotel, in Paris. There were delegates from the United States, as well as from Africa. Blaise Diagne of Senegal was elected president and Du Bois was named secretary.

Spin forward to 1942 when the Army Air Corps’ all African-American 100th Pursuit Squadron, later designated a fighter squadron, was activated at Tuskegee Institute. The squadron served honorably in England and in other regions of the European continent during World War II.

Flash forward to 1992, when John Singleton is the first African-American director to be nominated for the Academy Award (nominated for best director and best screenplay for his first film Boyz N the Hood).

And finally, circa 2002, in the spirit of the winter olympics, Vonetta Flowers became the first black gold medalist in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. She and partner Jull Brakken won the inaugural women’s two-person bobsled event.

tune in tomorrow for the lesson of the day

for>eva>>ward>>>

LR

On this day in (black) history…

On this day in (black) history the theme is (as the venerable, hip hop legend, Slick Rick would say) “teacher, teacher tell me how you do it…”

First, circa 1688,the first formal protest against slavery, by an organized group of white people in English America, was made by Germantown (Pa.) Quakers at a monthly meeting. The historic “Germantown Protest” denounced slavery and the slave trade.

circa 1867, an educational institution was founded at Augusta, Georgia which was later to become Morehouse College, following its relocation to Atlanta. Morehouse College is one of the most prestigious black colleges in the nation.

circa 1931, Chloe Ardelia Wofford is born in Lorain, Ohio. Wofford, who will become a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor, is better known as Toni Morrison. In 1987, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, Beloved. In 1993, when Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, her citation read(s):

Toni Morrison, “who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.” (teacher, teacher tell me how you do it…)

tune in tomorrow for the lesson of the day

for>eva>>ward>>>

LR

On this day in (black) history…

On this day in (black) history the theme is BREAKING THE CHAINS!

First, circa 1870, Congress passed a resolution readmitting Mississippi on condition that it would never change its constitution to disenfranchise Blacks.

Flash forward to 1997, when Virginia House of Delegates voted unanimously to retire the state song, “Carry me back to old Virginia” , a tune which glorifies slavery.

(and still the struggle continues, on many levels…)

tune in tomorrow for the lesson of the day

for>eva>>ward>>>

LR

On this day in (black) history…

On this day in (black) history, circa 1923, Howard Carter, English archaeologist and Egyptologist, unsealed the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Also on this day in (black) history, the same year, Bessie Smith makes her first recording for Columbia Records. The record, “Down Hearted Blues,” written by Alberta Hunter and Lovie Austin, went on to sell an incredible 800,000 copies and be Columbia’s first popular hit. (unfortunately, if you check out Columbia’s roster of talent, there is no mention of her on their website – she should be highlighted, alphabetically, somewhere between Beyoncé and Billy Joel. hmm)

tune in tomorrow for the lesson of the day

for>eva>>ward>>>

LR

On this day in (black) history…

On this day in (black) history we recognize PROTEST.

We will start, circa 1848, in Boston where Sarah Roberts is barred from a white school. Her father, Benjamin Roberts, filed the first school integration suit on her behalf. (give us free)

Three years later, circa 1851, (still in Boston) Black abolitionists invade a courtroom and rescue a fugitive slave. (give us free)

Spin forward, circa 1961, when U.S. and African nationalists, protesting the slaying of Congo Premiere Patrice Lumumba, disrupt United Nations sessions. (give us free)

tune in tomorrow for the lesson of the day

for>eva>>ward>>>

LR