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Thursday, December 25, 2014

They Didn't Just Try Children As Adults, Not the Young Black Males Anyway...



     Well, it's not 'Today in Black History', but it is something that I’m sure not too many people know about, and I thought it was worth posting. Perhaps this will wake one or two people up to what is really happening in the streets today. IMO, they don’t seem to understand that this rash of young black males being killed in the street by the servants of the so-called legal system has not just started happening. This has been going on for more years than I am old; the difference is that we have now become a ‘cyber’ nation. It’s no longer just the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal informing the nation of what they want them to know; now there are news outlets everywhere, and they are all able to communicate with all the readers of the world, thanks to the power of cyber electronics. The news that this is not the only country suffering this plague of racial profiling, stereotyping, and ‘KWB’ (Killing While Black) can now be spread throughout the world in a matter of seconds. Everyone is now finding out these things are happening as soon as they happen, not years later, and they are feeling the hurt and anger right away. Because they haven’t been hearing it however, they think it is something new… Sorry to disappoint you folks:

George Stinney Jr, age 14

I found this article completely amazing, and not just because they waited 70 years to exonerate him. Look at him closely, and think about the name of this blogpost…

Monday, December 1, 2014

Today In Black History (and a Little of My Opinion)

It’s ironic that the whole Darren Wilson/Michael Brown thing should be going on right now. Many people are holding up cases like this one and others (Trayvon Martin, Eric Gardner, Tamir Rice) as evidence that blacks have not come as far as they thought they had in the fight for equality, that all the ground we thought we’d gained has actually been nothing but a mere footstep. (And some feel that we’re being pushed back so that we lose that footstep!) It’s just sad, that on a day like today when we should be commemorating how far this country has come toward equality for all, we are instead commiserating with parents whose children have been snatched away from them by a police system that was supposed to be in place “To Protect and Serve”.
Today in Black History, in 1955, an event occurred which at the time seemed momentous; an event that sparked the flame that was The Civil Rights Movement. December 1, 1955 was the day that one lone young woman made a decision which, at the time, didn’t seem like it would generate the national controversy that followed.
Rosa Parks at work
Rosa Parks on the bus
Rosa Parks mug shot
On this day in black history a young lady, tired from a long day at work, took a seat on a Metro bus and prepared herself for the ride home. What she didn’t prepare herself for was to be screamed at, called names, taken to jail like a common criminal, and then hailed as a national hero for helping to launch the civil rights struggle into the country’s collective consciousness. The woman?
The woman was Rosa Parks, who went from an unknown faceless black woman in the back of the bus to a woman with a mug shot, whose face was known everywhere and by everyone in the time it took to ride the bus home. She didn’t want the fame, or the notariety, but when it was thrust upon her she didn’t shirk her reponsibility.      
So many people are up in arms about what’s happened in Ferguson, and unfortunately many of them are resorting to looting and burning, as if that is going to change anything… imo, it not only won’t effect any positive changes, it further cements the stereotypical picture that white America already has. The few strides we had made did not come about because of violence, they came about through the work of peaceful activists like Martin Luther King. They didn’t come about through big  “die-ins”, where large numbers of people suffered financially and feared for their lives, where there was no regard for who the owners of those stores were or what their sympathies were. Those strides came about through certain stores/bus companies/restaurants which were known to discriminate being boycotted, and staging peaceful sit-ins; no violence, no threats, no profanity, just quiet dignity. What Rosa Parks did led to public transportation being integrated so that everyone could ride in any seat on the bus they chose without fear of being told to move, or risking arrest or even a beating, and she did not even set out to do it! She was merely a tired woman who had worked hard that day and didn’t see why she should have to get up.
The young men that have been killed, the men and women who have been abused by the police department, we should not mar their memories with all this violence and unrest. For the parents to specifically ask that people not link their son’s name with all the rioting, and for those people to ignore their pleas… well, it just makes me so sad. This is how her son will be remembered.
We should be commemorating the struggle that was fought for us so many years ago; remembering the people like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks; carrying on their work, instead of taking part in this mindless, useless, violence.

On this day in Black History, a tired young woman named Rosa Parks sat quietly in a bus seat, and forever changed the way the country treated black people.                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Friday, November 28, 2014

Today's Little Known Black History Fact



There are a lot of faces in black media (both in print and airwaves) that our society does not recognize; they may have seen the person in a short role somewhere, but they really don’t know who the person is. Then there are the faces that we see on so many different shows, but always in a supporting role. We know who the characters they play are, and we’re always talking about how good “the person who plays that character” is, but we can never seem to remember ‘that person’s’ name…
Well, today’s Little Known Black History fact falls into the latter category.  She has won a Golden Globe, an Emmy, a Screen Actors Guild Award, an Obie, and four NAACP Image Awards. She has also received two Tony Award nominations. (Wikipedia)
She is most well-known for her 16 year run as Lt. Van Buren on the long-running Law & Order series. Born November 28, 1952 in Saginaw, Michigan, she has played in 27 different television series, made for TV movies, and movies for the big screen from 1986 to 2014.
Epatha Merkerson
She has earned many accolades over the years, including playing the longest-running African-American character in the history of primetime television. 
Her name is S. Epatha Merkerson. (The S. was for Sharon.)  She legally had her first name changed to S. although she prefers to be called Epatha.
In 2012, Merkerson became the host of the show Find Our Missing which highlights the search for missing people of color. Each episode tells the story of the missing person or persons, beginning with the day they vanished. Find Our Missing provides insight into these victims’ lives–their hopes and dreams, what makes them tick, and how they have touched those around them—from the people who know them best.  (Wikipedia)

Happy Birthday to one of the best female character actors I’ve seen…
Epatha Merkerson!





Monday, November 24, 2014

Something a Little Different (Video)



I've seen a few of this type of video, and I always find myself getting so angry at 
society.I'm disappointed in human-kind and amazed because the attitudes displayed 
here actually  exist in this day and age. 

Then I wonder, what would I do? Would I say anything? Would I get angry at the person doing the discriminating? 
Would I stand up for the rights of the person being discriminated against?

It brings me to tears to see how grateful these women are. These are women born in the 
USA, women who (rightfully) expect to be treated just like anyone else in the store, but 
who are instead singled out for harsh verbal abuse which they have done nothing to 
warrant. 

This was a set-up, an experiment to see how people would react to someone else 
displaying such bigotry, but sadly it actually does happen in this country. For a country 
that is supposed to be so progressive and forward thinking, there are certainly some very 
closed-minded people displaying some cruel beliefs. How would those same bigots feel 
if they went to another country and were treated the same way on a daily basis that 
Blacks, Muslims, Hispanics,  Ethiopians, Asians, and all those of a different 
race/culture/sexual identity are treated here? 

It is sad that in a country which has made so much progress, a country which has been 
soadmired by other countries the world over that now, when we should be more united 
than ever before, we are instead headed right back to where we were in the days of slavery....




This article is the opinion of the author only, and is not representative of Blogspot.






Monday, November 17, 2014


We’re Baaack!!


After a hiatus, Little Known Black History Facts is back; hopefully you will learn some things about Black History that you didn't know before, or be reminded of some things that you learned long ago. Either way, I hope that you will share this site with friends, family, FB, Google+ Circles, Twitter; with everyone you know!

On This Day in Black History…

     Between September 5 and October 22, 2002, the country was rocked by a series of shootings which took place in the DC/MD/VA area. These shootings were seemingly
entirely random, subject to no pattern which the police were able to discern. Added to the panic was the fact that there was no evidence left, and no witnesses to help
discover who the perpetrator or perpetrators were. A total of 13 shootings occurred in this area during the “Beltway Sniper attacks”; 10 of these resulted in death. Before
John Allen Muhammad
the Beltway Sniper attacks there were 12 shootings which occurred in other areas; 6 of those were fatal. The victims were just as random as everything else about the shootings seemed to be; they ranged in age from 13 to 72; they were Black, white, Pakistani, Hispanic, and Asian. The killer(s) made no distinction between male and female, the only thing all the victims seemed to have in common was that in some manner, in the course of their day, they encountered the sniper.
     Through a series of mistakes on the part of the killer(s), and intensive police work, John Allen Mohammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were captured in October 2002, and in October the following year John Allen Muhammad was put on trial. He was convicted in Virginia of murder, and on November 10, 2009, at 9:11 pm, John Allen Muhammad aka ‘the Beltway Sniper’ was pronounced dead by lethal injection at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia.



     His co-hort in the killings, Lee Boyd Malvo (who was a minor at the time) is serving life in prison without possibility of parole in Virginia. As of June 2013 he was still appealing his sentences, claiming that as the Supreme Court had declared that people who were minors at the time of their offense could not be given mandatory sentences of life without parole, his sentence is a violation of his civil rights. To date, the courts have not agreed.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Jul. 29, 1910: Slocum Massacre in Texas

Another small town (like Rosewood) in the South (like in Florida); this time in Slocum, Texas, that a lot of us are just learning about. Massacred blacks, murdered for nothing more than being black. This is what we're heading for, if you can call it 'heading'. What we're actually doing is going backwards, and it's not voluntary. We're not choosing to return to a time when a young boy can get lynched for looking at a white woman, but that's exactly the way this country is headed. 14 year old boys will be kidnapped off the street, and their killers will be acquitted. (Sound familiar?) Wrap your head around this little known black history fact:                                                                                                                       Descendants of the Slocum Massacre victims                                                                                                                      attending a Texas House ceremony in 2011
On July 29, 1910, citizens in the small, predominately African American town of Slocum, Texas were massacred.
That morning, hundreds of white citizens from the surrounding community converged on Slocum. Over the following days terror reigned for the African American citizens as individuals were gunned down working fields and seeking shelter in their homes.
Even those who tried to leave town were not safe. Many bodies were found shot in the woods, with their travel packs at their sides. While there has never been a clear figure of how many died, estimates range from 8 to 25. Many suspect the toll was much higher.
This was one of many towns, such as Rosewood and Tulsa, where a successful, self-sufficient African American community was the subject of a terrorist attack designed to maintain economic white supremacy.
In each town, the incident that sparked the attack was relatively insignificant and often fabricated. In Slocum, there were various trigger incidents such as a disputed debt between a well-regarded black citizen and a white citizen as well as anger from some whites when an African American man was put in charge of local road improvements.
The aftermath? As E.R. Bills explains in The Dissident Voice:
[After the massacre], the personal holdings of many Slocum area Anglo citizens fortuitously increased.
The abandoned African-American properties were absorbed or repurposed as the now majority white population saw fit. The standard southern Anglo-centric world order was restored, and this order has endured, even to the present day.
According to recent demographic statistics, most of the communities around Slocum have an African-American population that ranges between 20-25%. Grapeland’s is 35%, Rusk’s is 30% and Palestine’s and Alto’s is 25%. Slocum’s African-American population is just under 7%.
Today, Slocum is still an unincorporated community and that’s probably wise. If there was an elected civic leader or assembly in Slocum, they might be asked to apologize for the massacre or explain why there are no placards acknowledging the event or the American citizens who were slaughtered there and covered up in unmarked graves in the woods and creek bottoms.
To learn more, read the following articles and book by E. R. Bills:

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Little Known Black History Fact of the Day

Today's black history fact is one that will bring back a lot of memories for people all across the country. His birthday is coming up, so this is a perfect time to pay homage to him for his achievements for America in general, but more specifically for Black America.

He was born May 1, 1939 in Richmond, VA. In 1959, when he was 20, he applied for a position that he wanted, badly; so badly that when he was chosen over 4 other applicants (all white) but told that to keep the job the public was not to ever see his face, he accepted it. One night while working, he decided that he wanted his family to be able to see him, so he ordered the barriers the company was using to hide him removed. The next day he was fired. 
Max Robinson-the early years

  Such was the beginning of a long and distinguished career in news reporting for Max Robinson, the first black network news anchor.

He moved to Washington, DC, and in 1969 became the first black anchor on a local television news program. During this time at WTOP-TV Channel 9 he also became the first black anchor on a network television news program. He won six journalism awards for his work reporting on events such as the riots in 1968 which stemmed from the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.  During this time he did a documentary on black life in Anacostia, DC, called The Other Washington, which won him two regional Emmys.

Max Robinson-World News Tonight
On April 15, 1978, Max Robinson became the first black to anchor a network news nightly broadcast, the World News Tonight.

Robinson used his position to fight racism wherever he felt it was necessary, including in journalism. He did not always agree with the network on how black America was portrayed in the news, and how the black viewpoint was neglected.

Max Robinson left ABC in 1984 to go to Chicago, Ill. He was the first black anchor at WMAQ, but left there in 1985.

Shortly after leaving WMAQ he was hospitalized in Blue Island, Ill. with pneumonia, where it was discovered that he had AIDS.

In 1988 he traveled back to DC to give a speech to the Howard University School of Journalism. Later that night, he was admitted to Howard University Hospital, where he died on December 20, 1988.
 
Max Robinson-the later years


My source, and for more information:
Matt & Andrej Koymasky


Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Black History Fact I Bet You Didn't Know!

Normally the posts here are more of a "This Day in History" type, but I learned a very very interesting fact that I just had to post about. I'm hoping someone will find it as interesting as I did.


 Did you know that there was a patron saint of African slaves and their descendants? Do you know who he was?

I bet a lot of you didn't know that African slaves had a patron saint, let alone who it was, and that is nothing to be ashamed of. I think that is just one of the many facts about our history that are not well-known. This is why this blog is here, to hopefully enlighten us to how great our history truly is!

This man was born a slave, but according to some accounts, was freed by his owner in fulfillment of a promise the owner made to his father. Born in Sicily in 1524, Benedict did not become St. Benedict until 200 years after his death.

During his life he was an ascetic healer who believed in the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi (St. Francis took the Bible literally by joyfully following all that Jesus did and said.)  and devoted his life to them. After his death, the Catholic Church and colonial Europe used his image "to convert African slaves to Roman Catholicism". To emphasize the connection he was called St. Benedict the Moor and St. Benedict the Black.

St. Benedict of Palermo died on April 4, 1589. There is another great leader in black history whose life ended on that day; the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while he stood on the balcony outside his hotel room in Memphis, TN on April 4, 1968.





If you'd like to learn more, here's where I got my information:
The Root on St. Benedict of Palermo
St. Francis of Assisi

Monday, April 7, 2014

On This Day In Black History...

On this day in history, April 7th, 1915, Eleanora Fagin was born in Philadelphia, PA. She was a beautiful young woman, who unfortunately died much too soon. While she came to prominence during her short life, it was only after her death in 1959 that she became truly recognized and honored as the great talent that she was.

She was an inductee of several halls of fame; the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame in 1997, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and in 2004 the Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame. Four times her work was awarded Grammy Awards for Best Historical Album; the first, in 1980, was for "Giants of Jazz". The second came in 1992 with "The Complete Decca Recordings". The last two were in 1994 and 2002 for albums which bore her name. She herself was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, and the United States Postal Service produced a stamp with her likeness in 1994. Five of her songs were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978, 1989, 2000, 2005, and 2010. One of her songs became known as the song which changed the history of American music; it was called Strange Fruit, and was a haunting protest against the inhumanity of racism. Strange Fruit was also honored by the Library of Congress as one of the 50 songs that year to be added to the National Recording Registry.

In 1937 a sax player gave her a nickname which was to stay with her throughout her life. Please say Happy 99th Birthday to the legendary "Lady Day"; Miss Billie Holliday!!

Information gathered from:

Wikipedia
The Official Billie Holiday website
Strange Fruit by David Margolick
NPR Music


 Strange Fruit 
              by Abel Meeropol

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!
             Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
             For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
             For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
             Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Today's Little Known Black History Fact

The Pulitzer Prize was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of American (Hungarian-born) publisher Joseph Pulitzer. There are 21 categories in which entries are submitted for consideration; the nominees are then selected from these entrants.

The first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Literature also holds the distinction of being the first African American woman.  Gwendolyn Brooks was awarded the prize in Poetry in 1950 for her work  Annie Allen.

Since 1950 Gwendolyn Brooks has been joined by other illustrious names, such as Scott Joplin in 1976 for Music, Alex Haley in 1977 for his book Roots, and Alice Walker in 1983 in the Fiction category for The Color Purple. In the history of the Pulitzer Prize, the list of African Americans who have been awarded one is quite long; unfortunately, there is a stain on that history. In 1981 Janet Leslie Cooke wrote a story entitled Jimmy's World which was supposedly the story of an 8 year old heroin addict; the story was false, and the Pulitzer Prize which Cooke had won for it had to be returned by the Washington Post.

While there were some who claimed that her actions led to black journalists not being as credible as before, it didn't stop Pulitzer Prizes from going to other black writers. As a matter fact, today's little known black history fact is about one of those writers.

On this day, March 31, 1988, Novelist Toni Morrison was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her book, Beloved.



For more information on:
Pulitzer Prize
Gwendolyn Brooks
Janet Cooke
Toni Morrison

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

LEATHER SHOES MADE FROM BLACK PEOPLE'S SKIN

Originally printed: [Philadelphia News.]
Printed in The Mercury, Saturday March 17, 1888

I remember that two or three years ago I incidentally referred to a prominent physician of this city wearing shoes made from the skin of negroes. He still adhered to that custom, insisting that the tanned hide of an African makes the most enduring and the most pliable leather known to man.
Shoes made from Big Nose George Parrott


Only last week I met him upon the street with a brand new pair of shoes. I looked at his foot wear, as I always do - his pedal coverings have an irresistible fascination for me - and said, with a smile:
"Is the down trodden African still beneath your feet?" In the most matter of fact way, and without the shadow of a smile, he answered: " I suppose you mean to inquire if I still wear shoes made of the skin of a negro. I certainly do, and I don't propose changing in that respect until I find a leather that is softer and will last longer and present a better appearance. I have no sentiment about this matter. Were I a Southerner - in the American sense of the word - I might be accused of being actuated by a race prejudice. But I am a foreigner by birth, although now an American citizen by naturalization. I fought in the rebellion that the blacks might be freed. I would use a white man's skin for the same purpose if it were sufficiently thick, and if any' one has a desire to wear my epidermis upon his feet after I have drawn my last breath he has my ante mortem permission."

The doctor's shoes always exhibit a peculiarly rich lustrousness in their blackness. He assures me that they never hurt his feet. The new pair he was using when I last saw him emitted no creaking sound and appeared as comfortable as though they had been worn a month. Their predecessors, he told me, had been in constant use for eight months. He obtains the skins from the bodies of negroes which have been dissected in one of our big medical colleges. The best leather is obtained from the thighs. The soles are formed by placing several layers of leather together. The skin is prepared by a tanner at Womseldorf, 16 miles from Reading. The shoes are fashioned by a French shoemaker of this city, who knows nothing of the true character of the leather, but who often wonders at its exquisite smoothness, and says that it excels the finest French calf-skin.

Do not for a moment think that this doctor presents an exceptional case of one who puts the human skin to a practical use. Medical students frequently display a great variety of articles in which in the skin or bones of some dissected mortal has been gruesomely utilized, and in bursts of generosity they sometimes present these to their friends, who prize them highly. One of the dudest dudes in town carries a match-safe covered with a portion of the skin of a beautiful young woman who was found drowned in the Delaware river. It still retains its natural colour. Another young man with whom I am acquainted carries a cigar case made of negro skin, a ghastly skull and crossbones appearing on one side in relief. One of the best known surgeons in this country, who resides in this city, has a beautiful instrument case, entirely covered with leather made from an African's skin. A young society lady of this city wears a beautiful pair of dark slippers, the remarkable lustrousuess of whose leather invariably excites the admiration of her friends when they see them. The young doctor who presented them to her recently returned from an extended foreign tour, and he told her that he had purchased them from a Turk in Alexandria, and that he did not know what sort of leather they were made of, but he supposed it was the skin of some wild animal. As a matter of fact, the skin came from a negro cadaver, which was once prone on a Jefferson College dissecting table, and the leather was prepared in Womseldorf. The rosettes on the slippers were deftly fashioned from the negro's kinky hair.

The Mercury, Saturday March 17 1888

For more information on this subject:
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/apr13/index.htm
http://knowledgefullcircle.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/is-black-skin-being-used-and-sold-and-made-into-leather-products-today/

Retrieved from Facebook page Black Thought