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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Sunday, February 06, 2005 - 3:01 pm
Black Facts that happened on February the 6th: 1820 The first organized emigration back to Africa begins when 86 free African Americans leave New York Harbor aboard the Mayflower of Liberia. They are bound for the British colony of Sierra Leone, which welcomes free African Americans as well as fugitive slaves. 1867 The Anglo-American merchant George Peabody, founds the $ 2 million Peabody Education Fund. It is the first philanthropy established in the wake of the Civil War to promote free public education in 12 Civil War devastated southern states for whites and African Americans. The Peabody Fund will provide funding for construction, endowments, scholarships, teacher and industrial education for newly freed slaves. 1870 On this day, Jonathan Jasper Wright was elected to the South Carolina Supreme Court. 1898 Melvin B. Tolson, author and educator, is born in Moberly, Missouri. Educated at Fisk, Lincoln, and Columbia universities, his first volume of poetry, "Rendezvous with America," will be published in 1944. He will be best known for "Libretto for the Republic of Liberia," published in 1953. 1931 The Harlem Experimental Theatre Group performs its first play at St. Philips Parish House. The group's advisory board includes famed actress Rose McClendon, author Jesse Fauset, and Grace Nail. 1933 Walter E. Fauntroy is born in Washington, DC. He will become a civil rights leader and minister. He will later become the United States congressman for the District of Columbia from 1971 to 1991. 1945 Robert Nesta Marley is born in St. Ann, Jamaica to Captain Norval and Cedella Marley. He will become a successful singer along with his group, The Wailers. Bob Marley and The Wailers were among the earliest to sing Reggae, a blend of Jamaican dance music and American Rhythm & Blues with a heavy dose of Rastafarianism, the Jamaican religion that blends Christian and African teachings. He died in 1981 at the age of 36, succumbing to cancer. As a result of his accomplishments, he was awarded Jamaica's Order Of Merit, the nation's third highest honor, (April, 1981) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the country's culture. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. 1950 Natalie Cole is born to Nat "King" and Maria Cole. She will follow in her famous father's footsteps and become a recording star. She became a Grammy Award-winning singer, and Best New Artist in 1975. 1961 The "jail-in" movement starts in Rock Hill, South Carolina, when arrested students demand to be jailed rather than pay fines. 1972 Robert Lewis Douglas founder and coach of the Rens, is inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. 1993 Tennis player Arthur Ashe dies at age 49. Ashe was the first African American to win at Wimbledon. He died of complications of AIDS, contracted from a transfusion during a earlier heart surgery. http://www.informationman.com/today.htm http://www.blackfacts.com
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Sunday, February 06, 2005 - 3:13 pm
Bob Marley
Reggae's most transcendent and iconic figure, Bob Marley was the first Jamaican artist to achieve international superstardom, in the process introducing the music of his native island nation to the far-flung corners of the globe. Marley's music gave voice to the day-to-day struggles of the Jamaican experience, vividly capturing not only the plight of the country's impoverished and oppressed but also the devout spirituality which remains their source of strength. His songs of faith, devotion and revolution created a legacy which continues to live on not only through the music of his extended family but also through generations of artists the world over touched by his genius. Robert Nesta Marley was born April 6, 1945 in rural St. Ann's Parish, Jamaica; the son of a middle-aged white father and teenaged black mother, he left home at 14 to pursue a music career in Kingston, becoming a pupil of local singer and devout Rastafarian Joe Higgs. He cut his first single "Judge Not" in 1962 for Leslie Kong, severing ties with the famed producer soon after over a monetary dispute. In 1963 Marley teamed with fellow singers Peter Tosh, Bunny Livingstone, Junior Braithwaite, Beverly Kelso and Cherry Smith to form the vocal group the Teenagers; later rechristened The Wailing Rudeboys and later simply the Wailers, they signed on with producer Coxsone Dodd's legendary Studio One and recorded their debut "I'm Still Waiting." When Braithwaite and Smith exited the Wailers, Marley assumed lead vocal duties, and in early 1964 the group's follow-up "Simmer Down" topped the Jamaican charts. A series of singles including "Let Him Go (Rude Boy Get Gail), " "Dancing Shoes, " "Jerk in Time, " "Who Feels It Knows It" and "What Am I to Do" followed, and in all, the Wailers recorded some 70 tracks for Dodd before disbanding in 1966. On February 10 of that year, Marley married Rita Anderson, a singer in the group the Soulettes; she later enjoyed success as a member of the vocal trio the I-Threes. Marley then spent the better part of the year working in a factory in Newark, DE, the home of his mother since 1963. Upon returning to Jamaica that October, Marley reformed the Wailers with Livingstone and Tosh, releasing "Bend Down Low" on their own short-lived Wail 'N' Soul 'M label; at this time all three members began devoting themselves to the teachings of the Rastafari faith, a cornerstone of Marley's life and music until his death. Beginning in 1968, the Wailers recorded a wealth of new material for producer Danny Sims before teaming the following year with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry; backed by Perry's house band the Upsetters, the trio cut a number of classics, including "My Cup, " "Duppy Conqueror, " "Soul Almighty" and "Small Axe, " which fused powerful vocals, ingenious rhythms and visionary production to lay the groundwork for much of the Jamaican music in its wake. Upsetters bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett and his drummer brother Carlton soon joined the Wailers full-time, and in 1971 the group founded another independent label, Tuff Gong, releasing a handful of singles before signing to Chris Blackwell's Island Records a year later. 1973's Catch a Fire, the Wailers' Island debut, was the first of their albums released outside of Jamaica, and immediately earned worldwide acclaim; the follow-up, Burnin' launched the track "I Shot the Sheriff, " a Top Ten hit for Eric Clapton in 1974. With the Wailers poised for stardom, however, both Livingstone and Tosh quit the group to pursue solo careers; Marley then brought in the I-Threes, which in addition to Rita Marley consisted of singers Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. The new line-up proceeded to tour the world prior to releasing their 1975 breakthrough album Natty Dread , scoring their first UK Top 40 hit with the classic "No Woman, No Cry." Sellout shows at the London Lyceum, where Marley played to racially-mixed crowds, yielded the superb Live! later that year, and with the success of 1976's Rastaman Vibration , which hit the Top Ten in the U.S., it became increasingly clear that his music had carved its own niche within the pop mainstream. As great as Marley's fame had grown outside of Jamaica, at home he was viewed as a figure of almost mystical proportions, a poet and prophet whose every word had the nation's collective ear. His power was perceived as a threat in some quarters, and on December 3, 1976 he was wounded in an assassination attempt; the ordeal forced Marley to leave Jamaica for over a year. 1977's Exodus was his biggest record to date, generating the hits "Jamming, " "Waiting in Vain" and "One Love/People Get Ready"; Kaya was another smash, highlighted by the gorgeous "Is This Love" and "Satisfy My Soul." Another classic live date, Babylon by Bus, preceded the release of 1979's Survival. 1980 loomed as Marley's biggest year yet, kicked off by a concert in the newly-liberated Zimbabwe; a tour of the U.S. was announced, but while jogging in New York's Central Park he collapsed, and it was discovered he suffered from cancer which had spread to his brain, lungs and liver. Uprising was the final album released in Marley's lifetime -- he died May 11, 1981 at age 36. Posthumous efforts including 1983's Redemption and the best-selling 1984 retrospective Legend kept Marley's music alive, and his renown continued growing in the years following his death -- even decades after the fact, he remains synonymous with reggae's worldwide popularity. In the wake of her husband's passing Rita Marley scored a solo hit with "One Draw, " but despite the subsequent success of the singles "Many Are Called" and "Play Play, " by the mid-1980 she largely withdrew from performing to focus on raising her children. Oldest son David, better known as Ziggy, went on to score considerable pop success as the leader of the Melody Makers, a Marley family group comprised of siblings Cedelia, Stephen and Sharon; their 1988 single "Tomorrow People" was a Top 40 U.S. hit, a feat even Bob himself never accomplished. Three other Marley children -- Damian, Julian and Ky-Mani -- pursued careers in music as well. http://www.kwekel.fiberworld.nl/second.html Other good biographies: http://www.thirdfield.com/new/biography.html http://niceup.com/bmbio.html http://www.bobmarley.com/ http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/marley_b.html Marley to be exhumed, buried in Ethiopia http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/01/12/marley.ethiopia.ap/ Thursday, January 13, 2005 Posted: 8:46 AM EST (1346 GMT) ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- The wife of reggae star Bob Marley said Wednesday that she plans to exhume his remains in Jamaica and rebury them in his "spiritual resting place," Ethiopia. The reburial is set for an unspecified date after monthlong celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Marley's birth to be held next month in Ethiopia. Both the Ethiopian church and government officials have expressed support for the project, Rita Marley told The Associated Press. "We are working on bringing his remains to Ethiopia," said Rita, a former backing singer for Marley's band, The Wailers. "It is part of Bob's own mission." Marley was born in St. Ann, Jamaica, in 1945. He died of cancer in 1981. Rita Marley said her husband would be reburied in Shashemene, 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Addis Ababa where several hundred Rastafarians have lived since they were given land by Ethiopia's last emperor, Haile Selassie. Hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans embraced Haile as their living god and head of the Rastafarian religious movement. Marley was a devout Rastafarian, a faith whose followers preach a oneness with nature, grow their hair into long matted strands called dreadlocks and smoke marijuana as a sacrament. "Bob's whole life is about Africa, it is not about Jamaica," said Rita, a Cuban-born singer who married Marley in 1966. "How can you give up a continent for an island? He has a right for his remains to be where he would love them to be. This was his mission. Ethiopia is his spiritual resting place," she said. "With the 60th anniversary this year, the impact is there and the time is right." Together with the African Union and the U.N. children's agency, Rita Marley has organized celebrations in Ethiopia, including a concert on Marley's birthday, February 6, to be held in Addis Ababa. The monthlong celebration, dubbed "Africa Unite" after one of Marley's songs, aims to raise funds to help poor families in Ethiopia. The Marley Family, Senegal's Baaba Maal and Youssou N'Dour, Angelique Kidjo of Benin and other African and reggae artists will perform as part of the US$1 million (euro760,000) program. The event is expected to be broadcast in Africa and beyond.
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Sunday, February 06, 2005 - 7:47 pm
The 'other' bus boycott Claudette Colvin acted 9 months before Rosa Parks http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/05/unsung.heroine.ap/index.html MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) -- In the segregated South of 1955, she refused to give up her bus seat to a white person in Montgomery, was arrested and convicted. Later, a boycott of buses by blacks helped launch the modern civil rights movement. As the 50th anniversary of the boycott approaches, Claudette Colvin's name and act of courage remain almost unknown -- a lost footnote to Rosa Parks' more famous defiance on a city bus that same year. But Colvin, a 15-year-old high school student at the time, refused to give up her bus seat to a white woman nine months before Parks took her stand. And it was a federal court suit involving Colvin that eventually led to a Supreme Court order outlawing segregated buses. The arrest of Parks on December 1, 1955, became the catalyst for the historic boycott, but some believe Colvin deserves recognition that has been denied for decades. "I think that Colvin and Parks are equivalent figures in American history whose importance is essentially identical," said Mills Thornton, a University of Michigan history professor and author of a book on the civil rights movement in Alabama. Tuskegee attorney Fred Gray, who represented Parks in the boycott case, also represented Colvin in the days following her arrest. "I've probably been a one-person crusader," he told The Associated Press. "Every time I make a speech about the Montgomery bus boycott, I talk about Claudette Colvin because if there had not been a Claudette Colvin, there may very well have never been a Mrs. Rosa Parks as we know her today." Parks, who now lives in Detroit and has been in poor health, remains the most prominent name associated with the boycott, along with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Colvin, who lives in New York City, has shied away from the media in recent years but returned to Montgomery for an anniversary event Thursday. "I do feel like what I did was a spark, and it caught on," Colvin told the audience at Booker T. Washington High School, where a one-woman play paid tribute to Colvin and other little-known participants in the movement. Gray said the nation needs to know about her role in the protest of segregated buses. "There are literally hundreds of unsung heroes who made substantial contributions to the civil rights movement whose names never appear in print and their faces never appear on television, but they are the ones who made the foundation," he said. 'She wasn't going to move' Gray said Colvin was coming home from school on March 2, 1955, when she got on a Capital Heights bus downtown at the same place Parks boarded another bus months later. Colvin was sitting about two seats from the emergency exit when four whites boarded and the driver ordered her, along with three other blacks, to get up. She refused and was removed from the bus by two police officers, who took her to jail. "The bus was getting crowded and I remember him (the bus driver) looking through the rearview mirror asking her to get up out of her seat, which she didn't," said a classmate at the time, Annie Larkins Price. "She didn't say anything. She just continued looking out the window. She decided on that day that she wasn't going to move." Price testified on her behalf in the juvenile court case, where Colvin was convicted of violating the segregation law and assault. "There was no assault," Price said. Gray described Colvin as a persuasive and determined young person who had been a part of Parks' Youth Council in the NAACP. Gray talked with civil rights activists E.D. Nixon and Jo Anne Robinson, who joined him in meetings with the bus company and city about Colvin's case. They discussed the possibility of a boycott by blacks. Gray said the city assured them that conditions would improve, given the threat that blacks would stay off the city's buses, but little changed. Attorney: Time wasn't yet right for boycott Gray said he told Parks and other Montgomery leaders that he thought Colvin's arrest was a good test case to end segregation on the buses, but the black leadership thought they should wait. "We didn't feel that the time was quite right to do what needed to be done and get the kind of support we needed to get," he said. In an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Colvin agreed that neither she nor civil rights leaders were ready at the time to go ahead with a boycott. "I think they weren't quite organized and didn't think I would make a good spokeswoman, icon or leader," Colvin said. "They wanted an adult person who was more experienced in handling the white community. I was too emotional and they didn't feel I was right for the case." Thornton said the state's decision to drop the segregation charge on the circuit court appeal and to press only the assault and battery charge made it impossible to use her case to challenge bus segregation. "Fred Gray, her attorney, considered later the possibility of having her sue the bus company for damages in federal court ... but by then she had become pregnant out of wedlock and her parents refused permission for the suit," Thornton said. Gray said he did not know if Colvin was pregnant at the time and that it did not play a role in whether they filed the lawsuit. "I know there have been a lot of rumors and that may have been one of the reasons why she may not have been out front as much as she should, but I know that was not the reason we didn't file the lawsuit in March," he said. Nearly a year later, on February 1, 1956, Colvin was one of four black women who served as plaintiffs in a federal court suit, known as Browder vs. Gail, that became the legal vehicle when the U.S. Supreme Court declared bus segregation unconstitutional in December 1956. The Parks arrest case, while it sparked the boycott, was a state case. "Claudette was very much a part of the beginning of the movement," Gray said. "There comes a time when you just take so much, and I think this community was just waiting for something to happen and for somebody to point the way to do something about the buses."
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Monday, February 07, 2005 - 10:15 pm
Black Facts that happened on February the 7th: 1712 Twenty-one slaves are executed after killing nine whites when a slave revolt occurs in New York City. 1872 The doors of Alcorn Agricultural & Mechanical College open. 1883 James Hubert "Eubie" Blake is born in Baltimore, Maryland. He will become a pianist, who will be an instrumental part of the creation of a new music movement named 'ragtime.' He will form a song-writing team with Noble Sissle that will create many Broadway musicals. He will temporarily retire after World War II and will see a resurgence of his career in the 1960's, with renewed public interest in ragtime. He will remain active as a jazz pianist and composer until his ninety-ninth year. He will join the ancestors on February 12, 1983 in New York City. 1926 The first Negro History Week begins. Originated by Dr. Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and history, the Sunday kickoff celebration involves ministers, teachers, professionals, and business people in highlighting the "achievements of the Negro." The concept will win increasing popularity and be expanded in 1976 to an entire month of local and national events exploring African American culture. 1945 Irwin Molison appointed judge of the US Customs Court. 1946 Filibuster in U.S. Senate killed FEPC bill 1967 Comedian, author, recording artist, actor, and talk show host Chris Rock was born in South Carolina. He will become a critically comedian, hosting his self titled show on HBO. He will also bring to the forefront a boycott of the flag of his birthplace. He will star in and make a few movies of his own. 1974 Grenada achieves independence from Great Britain 1986 Haiti's President-for-Life, Jean-Claude Duvalier loses control of his country to strikes, led by students. The U.S. government asked him to resign and helped him flee to exile in France. Henri Namphy becomes leader of Haiti. 1991 The Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide is sworn in as Haiti's first democratically elected president. 2000 Tiger Woods gains his sixth straight PGA Tour victory with an astonishing comeback to win the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, becoming the first player since Ben Hogan in 1948 to win six in a row. www.blackfacts.com www.informationman.com/today.htm
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Tuesday, February 08, 2005 - 10:57 pm
Black Facts that happened on February the 8th: 1894 Congress repeals the Enforcement Act which makes it easier for some states to disenfranchise African American voters. 1925 Marcus Garvey entered federal prison in Atlanta. Students staged strike at Fisk University to protest policies of white administration. 1944 Harry S. McAlphin - First African American to be accredited to attend White House press conference. 1968 Diminutive actor Gary Coleman was born in Zion, Illinois. Despite a childhood of medical troubles, Coleman went on to become a television star in numerous situation comedies. 1968 Officers killed three students during demonstration on the campus of South Carolina State in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Students were protesting segregation at an Orangeburg bowling alley. 1978 Leon Spinks defeated Muhammad Ali for heavyweight boxing championship. Ali regained the title on September 15 and became the person to win the title three times. 1985 Brenda Renee Pearson an official court reporter for the for the House of Representatives was the first black female to record the State of the Union message delivered by the president in the House chambers. 1986 Oprah Winfrey becomes the first African American woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show. 1986 Figure skater Debi Thomas became the first African American to win the Women's Singles of the U.S. National Figure Skating Championship competition, was a pre-med student at Stanford University. 1990 Andy Rooney, a CBS "60 Minutes" commentator, received a 90-day suspension from work because of racist remarks about African Americans attributed to him by Chris Bull, a New York-based reporter for "The Advocate," a bi-weekly national gay & lesbian newsmagazine published in Los Angeles. Bull quoted Rooney as having said during an interview: "I've believed all along that most people are born with equal intelligence, but Blacks have watered down their genes because the less intelligent ones are the ones that have the children. They drop out of school early, do drugs, and get pregnant." www.blackfacts.com
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Tuesday, February 08, 2005 - 11:09 pm
The Tuskegee Airmen 332nd Fighter Group
Col. Benjamin O. Davis The Mustang pilot spotted the string of Bf-109's heading toward the crippled B-24. The pilot, a Lt. Weathers, dropped his wing tanks, and turned into the German formation. He gave the leader a burst with his .50 calibers and it nosed up, smoking, and soon went hurtling down to the ground. The pilot radioed the others in his flight and heard "I'm right behind you." But when Weathers looked back for himself, all he could see was the nose cannon of another Bf-109, pointing right at him. He dropped flaps and chopped throttle, instantly slowing his Mustang, and the Bf-109 overran him. A few bursts, and Lt. Weathers had his second kill of the day. Two more e/a were still in view and seemed like easy pickings, but the voice of the Group CO echoed in the pilot's mind, "Your job is to protect the bombers and not chase enemy aircraft for personal glory." Weathers returned to the bomber. Two things were unusual about this American fighter pilot. First, he had foregone a sure kill. Second, he was Black. He flew with the only U.S. Fighter Group in World War Two that could claim to have never lost a bomber in their care. That Group was the 332nd Fighter Group, "The Redtails," the famous all-Black outfit that fought both American prejudice and Nazi militarism. Under the leadership and iron discipline of Col. Benjamin O. Davis, the Redtails had learned that their mission in life was to protect the bombers. Prior to World War Two, the U.S. Army Air Corps did not employ Negroes (the respectful term in that era) in any role, a policy which found its justification in a racist and inaccurate report written in the 1920's. However in 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the Air Corps to build an all-Negro flying unit. The presidential order caused the Army to create the 99th Pursuit Squadron. To develop the Negro pilots needed for the new squadron, the Air Corps opened a new training base in central Alabama, at the Tuskegee Institute. Mrs. Roosevelt Goes for a Ride April 19, 1941 - Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt visited Tuskegee and met Charles "Chief" Anderson, the head of the program, Mrs. Roosevelt asked, "Can Negroes really fly airplanes?" He replied: "Certainly we can; as a matter of fact, would you like to take an airplane ride?" Over the objections of her Secret Service agents, Mrs. Roosevelt accepted. The agent called President Roosevelt, who replied, "Well, if she wants to do it, there's nothing we can do to stop her." With Mrs. Roosevelt in the back seat of his Piper J-3 Cub, Chief Anderson took off and flew her around for half an hour. Upon landing, Mrs. Roosevelt turned to the Chief and said, "I guess Negroes can fly," and they posed together for an historic photo. Not long after Mrs. Roosevelt's return to Washington, it was announced that the first Negro Air Corps pilots would be trained at Tuskegee Institute. In the spring of 1941, the first African-American enlisted men began training to become maintainers and the first thirteen pilot candidates entered training. Progress was slow; it was not until September 2, that Captain Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., became the first Negro to solo an aircraft as a U.S. Army Air Corps officer. On March 7, 1942, young black pilots stood at attention on Tuskegee's airstrip, for induction into the U.S. Army Air Corps. Eight days later the 100th Fighter Squadron was established as a part of the 332nd Fighter Group. The 99th Gets Started May 31, 1943: the 99th Fighter Squadron arrived at Farjouna in Tunisia, attached to the 33rd Fighter Group, flying P-40s. Three days later, Lt. William A. Campbell, Charles B. Hall, Clarence C. Jamison and James R. Wiley, flew the squadron's first mission, a 'milk run' over Pantelleria. On June 9, six pilots of the 99th FS became the first U.S. Negro pilots to engage in aerial combat. Led by Lt. Charles Dryden, Lt. Willie Ashley, Sidney P. Brooks, Lee Rayford, Leon Roberts and Spann Watson, exchanged fire with German fighter planes, with no losses to either side. The Italian garrison on Pantelleria surrendered on June 11, 1943, in large part due ot the powerful air attacks it had been subjected to. The 99th was a key part of the air assault. Sicily The 99th joined the 324th Fighter Group in El Haouria on June 29, 1943. At first they flew escort missions over the Sicilian coast. Within a few days, Lt Charles B. Hall got the 99th on the scoreboard when he downed an Fw-190. Sadly, this triumphant occasion was marred by the death of Lieutenants White and McCullin, victims of an operational accident. Escort missions over Sicily continued through the summer of 1943. One Tuskegee Airman, Lt. Richard Bolling, was forced to bail out and floated in the Mediterranean for a full day before he was recovered. On July 19, the 99th moved over to Licata, on the coast. The Critic Despite their achievements and accomplishments, the 99th found continued resistance and prejudice here in the Mediterranean. The CO of the 33rd Fighter Group, Col. William Momyer, complained about the performance of the 99th FS, compared their combat record to White squadrons, alluded to lack of air discipline, and hinted at a lack of aggressiveness. His comparisons overlooked the fact that the 99th did not operate at the front, but was stationed hundreds of miles to the rear. Nor did he mention his exclusion of 99th FS pilots from briefing sessions. But in those days, Blacks were easy targets, and in September of 1943, TIME magazine ran an article that repeated Momyer's accusations. About all the pilots could do was perform their jobs perfectly, and answer their critics with deeds, not words. Italy The 99th was scheduled to provide air support for the September 9 invasion of Salerno on the Italian peninsula. After the German counter-attack forced an Allied retreat, members of the 99th flew into Paestum, an airfield near Salerno, to provide air cover for the beachhead. In early October, the 99th started flying with the 79th Fighter Group based at Foggia, commanded by Col. Earl Bates, who fully involved the men of the 99th in combat missions. As the Germans retreated northward, the fliers of the 79th and 99th flew fighter-bomber missions on railroad, bridges, and communciation centers to hamper their mobility. These were grinding, demanding missions; pilots often flew more than 5 sorties a day. This activity continued through January, 1944, culminating in a large multi-Group strike on Naples' Capodichino Airdrome. But so far, the 99th only had the one aerial victory to their credit, while the 79th has destroyed or damaged almost 20 German aircraft. But on January 24, 1944, the Negro pilots broke out in a big way, downing five German planes in a morning mission led by Capt. Clarence Jamison, and three more that afternoon when Lt. Wiley's flight mixed it up with the enemy. And the next day, the 99th continued its combat success, claiming four e/a destroyed. On February 5, Lt. Driver got another. On the 7th, they got three more; they also received an official commendation from General Hap Arnold at this time. In April, the 99th was transferred from its partnership with the 79th FG to work with the 324th FG. As part of this Group, thay participated in Operation Strangle, the aerial campaign in May, 1944 to isolate the German garrison at Monte Cassino. Operation Strangle marked the end of the 99th Fighter Squadron's independent existence. The 332nd On July 4, 1944, the 99th was joined with three other Squadrons: the 100th, 301st and the 302nd to form the 332nd Fighter Group. These were all-Negro squadrons, all trained at Tuskegee. The veterans of the 99th resented the newcomers somewhat, but those issues soon worked themselves out. The Group transitiond to Mustangs at this time, decorating them with bright red spinners and tails, thus earning their nickname, 'Redtails'. A week later the 332nd escorted bombers on a mission against railyards, and Capt. Joseph Elsberry shot down three Fw-190s, the first black pilot to achieve this feat. The next day, July 13, the Group flew its first mission to Ploesti. On the 16th, they met some Italian Macchis (from Mussolini's short-lived, rump state in the North, the Italian Social Republic), and downed two of them. Two days later, July 18, Lt. Clarence 'Lucky' Lester destroyed three German airplanes, and earned a DFC for himself in recognition. This was a big day for the Group, as they claimed 11 e/a destroyed. Lee Archer scored his first that day; a credit which would later be officially changed to a shared kill. (Thus Archer left combat with an official 4.5 kills. It has been speculated that the AAF brass didn't want a Negro ace and the attendant publicity.) Throughout July, and through October of 1944, the Redtails flew countless missions, usually bomber escorts. Sometimes they shot down German aircraft, and began to build a respectable Group tally. Less often, they lost one of their own; but they never lost a bomber. Lee Archer scored his second in late July and three on October 12; then the first kill was retroactively changed. October was a rough month for the 332nd, losing 15 pilots. The bomber pilots began to appreciate the Redtails. In Mustang Aces of the 9th and 15th Air Forces, one B-24 pilot recalled "The P-38s always stayed too far out. Some of the Mustang group stayed in too close ... Other groups, we got the feeling that they just wanted to go and shoot down 109s ... The Red Tails were always out there where we wanted them to be ... We had no idea they were Black; it was the Army's best kept secret." Luke Weathers' escort mission described above provided the group's only aerial victories for the month of November. They flew 22 missions in December, running the group tally to 62 confirmed air-to-air victories by year's end. Bad weather in January limited them to 11 missions, picking up to 39 in February, but without many aerial victories. On March 24, 1945, Col. Davis led the Group on the longest escort mission ever flown by the Fifteenth Air Force, a 1600-mile round trip to the Daimler-Benz tank works in Berlin. On this mission, Roscoe C. Brown, Jr., Charles Brantly and Earl Lane, each shot down a German Me-262 jet fighter aircraft. The Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for their achievements this day. The Tuskegee Airmen continued flying and fighting, killing and dying, until the end of the war in Europe in May, 1945. http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_tusk.html
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Thursday, February 10, 2005 - 10:23 pm
Black Facts that happened on February the 9th: 1906 Death of Paul Laurence Dunbar (33), Dayton, Ohio 1944 Novelist Alice Walker was born in Eatonton, Georgia. 1952 Author Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man wins the National Book Award 1971 Baseball Hall of Fame inducts Leroy "Satchel" Paige. 1995 Bernard Harris, African-American astronaut, takes space walk. www.blackfacts.com
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Thursday, February 10, 2005 - 10:51 pm
Black Facts that happened on February the 10th: 1787 Georgia's House of Assembly named Willliam Few, Abraham Baldwin, William Pierce, Georgie Walton, William Houston, and Nathaniel Pendleton as Georgia's commissioners to the Philadelphia constitutional convention. 1854 Educator Joseph Charles Price was born 1868 Conservatives, aided by military forces, seized convention hall and established effective control over Reconstruction process in Florida. Republican conservatives drafted new constitution which concentrated political power in hands of governor and limited the impact of the Black vote. 1907 Civil rights activist and politician Grace Towns Hamilton was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her undergraduate degree from hometown Atlanta University, before completing her master's degree at Ohio State Univesity. She held teaching positions at the Atlanta School of Social Work, Clark College, and LeMoyne College in Memphis, while maintaining an active interest in the civil rights movement. Hamilton served as executive director of the Atlanta Urban League from 1943-1960, and also sat on the board of the Southern Regional Council and the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women, as well as many other voluntary positions. But she made her most lasting mark by becoming the first African-American woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 1965. She served in Georgia House of Representatives until 1984. Today, a chair in the Emory University political science department is named in her honor. 1927 Mary Leontyne Price was born in Laurel, Mississippi, on February 10, 1927. As a youth, she sang in church choirs. Later, she attended Central State College in Wilberforce, Ohio, where she received encouragement and specialized vocal training. Through the financial assistance of people from her hometown and the great Paul Robeson, she was able to continue her training at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Price first attracted widespread attention while she was at Juilliard. Her fame in the United States led to her being selected to play of Bess in a European tour of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. That triumphal tour brought her worldwide fame. After the tour, she went on to sing the part of Aida in Austria, Belgium, Italy, and Yugoslavia. She was so popular in Europe that she signed to a contract to record songs in most of the major European languages. Back in the United States, her popularity continued to grow. In 1961, Price debuted with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, singing the part of Leonora in Giuseppe Verdi's II Trovatore. For her performance, she received a standing ovation that lasted forty-two minutes. At the peak of her popularity, Leontyne Price retired from active operatic singing. Her retirement from the stage left a gap that has yet to be filled. 1927 Attorney Ronald Brown was elected national chairman of the Democratic Party and became the first African American to hold the post. Brown was later appointed Secretary of Commerce under the Clinton administration in 1994. He served in this capacity until he was killed in 1996 when he and 32 others died in a plane crash while on a diplmatic mission in Croatia. 1940 Singer Roberta Flack born Born into a musical family, Flack graduated from Howard University with a BA in music. She was discovered singing and playing jazz in a Washington nightclub by pianist Les McCann, who recommended her talents to Atlantic Records. Two classy albums, First Take and Chapter Two, garnered considerable acclaim for their skilful, often introspective, content before Flack achieved huge success with a poignant version of folk-singer Ewan MacColl 's ballad, 'First Time Ever I Saw Your Face'. Recorded in 1969, it was a major international hit three years later, following its inclusion in the film Play Misty For Me. Further hits came with 'Where Is The Love?' (1972), a duet with Donny Hathaway, and 'Killing Me Softly With His Song' (1973), where Flack's penchant for sweeter, more MOR-styled compositions gained an ascendancy. Her cool, almost unemotional style benefited from a measured use of slow material, although she seemed less comfortable on up-tempo songs. Flack's self-assurance wavered during the mid-70s, but further duets with Hathaway, 'The Closer I Get To You' (1978) and 'You Are My Heaven' (1980), suggested a rebirth. She was shattered when her partner committed suicide in 1979, but in the 80s Flack enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Peabo Bryson that reached a commercial, if sentimental, peak with 'Tonight I Celebrate My Love' in 1983. Set The Night To Music was produced by the highly respected Arif Mardin, but the bland duet with Maxi Priest on the title track was representative of this soulless collection of songs. Still, Roberta Flack remains a crafted, if precisionist, performer. 1943 Eta Phi Beta, the national business and professional sorority, is incorporated in Detroit, Michigan. It will have chapters throughout the United States and number among its members civil rights activist Daisy Bates and artist Margaret T. Burroughs. 1945 The United States, Russia, Great Britain, and France approve a peace treaty with Italy, under which Italy renounces all rights and claims to Ethiopia and Eritrea. 1945 The Chicago Defender reports that over a quarter of a million African Americans migrated to California during the years 1942 and 1943. As the percentage of African Americans in California increases from 1 1/2% to more than 10% of the total population, so does the practice of racial segregation. 1946 Georgia-born Jackie Robinson -- major league baseball's first black player -- married Rachel Isum. 1964 After 12 days of debate and voting on 125 amendments, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by a vote of 290-130. The bill prohibited any state or local government or public facility from denying access to anyone because of race or ethnic origin. It further gave the U.S. Attorney General the power to bring school desegregation law suits. The bill allowed the federal government the power to bring school desegregation law suits and to cut off federal funds to companies or states who discriminated. It forbade labor organizations or interstate commercial companies from discriminating against workers due to race or ethnic origins. Lastly, the federal government could compile records of denial of voting rights. After passage in the House, the bill went to the Senate, which after 83 days of debate passed a similar package on June 19 by a vote of 73 to 27. President Lyndon Johnson signed the legislation on July 2. Later, future Georgia governor Lester Maddox would become the first person prosecuted under the Civil Rights Act. 1966 Andrew Brimmer becomes the first African-American governor of the Federal Reserve Board when he is appointed by President Johnson. 1967 The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. That amendment provided that in the case of a vice president's become president, the new president would name a new vice president, subject to confirmation by a majority vote of both houses of Congress. 1971 Bill White becomes the first African American major league baseball announcer when he begins announcing for the New York Yankees. 1990 South African President, Frederik Willem de Klerk announces that Nelson Mandela will be set free on February 11th after 27 years in prison. 1992 Alex Haley, renowned author, dies American biographer, scriptwriter, author who became famous with the publication of the novel ROOTS, which traces his ancestry back to Africa and covers seven American generations as they are taken slaves to the United States. The book was adapted to television series, and woke up an interest in genealogy, particularly among African-Americans. Haley himself commented that the book was not so much history as a study of mythmaking. "What Roots gets at in whatever form, is that it touches the pulse of how alike we human beings are when you get down to the bottom, beneath these man-imposed differences." 1998 Dr. David Satcher is confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become Surgeon General. www.blackfacts.com http://www.informationman.com/today.htm
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Thursday, February 10, 2005 - 10:53 pm
Educator Joseph Charles Price Few Individuals have made the impact on their times or left the legacy to their beneficiaries as did Joseph Charles Price, founder and first president of Livingstone College. Born February 10, 1854 at Elizabeth City, NC, he rose to fame and world renown as a scholar, Christian Gospel Preacher, orator and shining example of selflessness in devotion to his people. He graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania as valedictorian of the Class of 1879, and completed the three-year theological course in two years. So impressive were his early achievements and so dynamic his personality that Bishop James Walker Hood named him to the A.M.E. Zion Church's delegation to the 1881 Ecumenical Methodist Conference which met in the City Road Chapel, London. Here Dr. Price so excited and thrilled the people assembled until he was persuaded to remain in England and speak on behalf of the fledgling school the denomination had adopted through the General Conference. While in England he raised $10,000 for the college and returned in 1882 to embark upon the task of establishing and securing the institution. Dr. Joseph Charles Price (1854-1893) was the founder and first President of the college. A brilliant scholar, great Gospel Preacher, world-famous orator, and advocate for the common man, Dr. Price sought to educate the whole man; his hands, his head and his heart. During his ten years as President of the college, Dr. Price attracted students, friends and funds through the sheer power of his personality and Christian compassion. His great faith and hope for the future has been epitomized in this famous quotation of his: "I do not care how dark the night; I believe in the coming of the morning." Dr. Price served the college until his death in 1893, refusing positions of great prestige and attractive salaries to devote his life and enegeries to the college. He demonstrated faith in his people, and called upon all to seize the opportunity to contribute toward elevating the black man through generous support of educational enterprises. Three of Dr. Price's grandsons survive him: Dr. Price S. Braithwaite of Los Angles, California, Mr. Charles P. Sherrill of Salisbury, North Carolina and Dr. Richard Sherrill of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The annual observance of Founder's Day in our churches not only honors his memory, but provides us the opportunity to join in perpetuating his work by supporting Livingstone College. www.blackfacts.com
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Friday, February 11, 2005 - 4:26 pm
Black Facts that happened on February the 11th: 1644 First Black legal protest in America pressed by eleven Blacks who petitioned for freedom in New Netherlands (New York). Council of New Netherlands freed the eleven petitioners because they had "served the Company seventeen or eighteen years" and had been "long since promised their freedom on the same footing as other free people in New Netherlands." 1783 Jarena Lee was born. The daughter of former slaves, born in Cape May, New Jersey. Jarena Lee is the considered the first female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1836, she published her autobiography, THe Life and Religious Experiences, of Jarena Lee, a Coloured Lady, Giving an Account of Her Call to Preach the Gospel. Her maiden name is unknown and the year of her death is uncertain. She married Joseph Lee, a minister of a Black church in Snow Hill (Lawnside - about 6 miles from Philadelphia) in 1811. 1790 The Society of Friends (Quakers) presents a petition to Congress calling for the abolition of slavery. 1898 Owen L. W. Smith of North Carolina, AME Zion minister and educator, named minister to Liberia. 1933 Lois Gardella becomes the original "Aunt Jemima." 1958 Mohawk Airlines schedules Ruth Carol Taylor on her initial flight from Ithaca, New York to New York City. She becomes the first African-American flight attendant for a United States-based air carrier. 1961 February 11, Robert Weaver sworn in as administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, highest federal post to date by a Black American. 1966 Willie Mays signs with the San Francisco Giants for $ 130,000 a year. At the time, this is one of the highest salaries in professional baseball. 1971 Whitney M. Young, Jr. was Executive Director of the National Urban League from 1961 until his tragic, untimely death in 1971. He worked tireless to bring the races together, and joined the tenets of social work, of which he was an outstanding practitioner, to the social activism that brought the Urban League into the forefront of the civil rights arena. Whitney was constantly in search of solutions to the racism that plagued Americans and caused black Americans to be regulated to second-class citizenship in the land they fought and died for. A relentless advocate for the poor, he visited rural and urban communities and advocated their cause to the nation. He was a close advisor to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and conferred with President Nixon; helping to shape the policies of three administrations and playing a major role in the development of the War on Poverty. He was a key figure in bringing the now-legendary 1963 March on Washington to fruition; and was a major force in bringing black leadership together in a united front for progress. Whitney’s eloquent testimony before Congressional committees and his poweful appeals to business, professional and civic leaders helped create an environment in which African Americans forged ahead to win new opportunities. 1976 Clifford Alexander, Jr. is confirmed as the first African American Secretary of the Army. He will hold the position until the end of President Jimmy Carter's term. 1977 Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam is named head of state in Ethiopia. He will rule Ethiopia and be backed by the Soviet government until he loses the civil war in 1991 to the forces supporting Meles Zenawi. 1989 Rev. Barbara Clementine Harris becomes the first woman consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church, in a ceremony held in Boston. Bishop Harris entered the priesthood after a long and successful career in public and community relations in Philadelphia between 1949 and 1977. On graduation from the Charles Morris Price School she joined Joseph V. Baker Associates Inc and rose to president. She also held senior posts with the Sun Company from 1968 until 1977, when she began her theological studies at Villanova University. Studying later at the Urban Theology Unit in Sheffield, England, she then graduated from the Pennsylvania Foundation for Pastoral Counseling, and was ordained a deacon in 1979 and a priest in 1980. Before she was consecrated a bishop in 1989, she had been Priest-in-Charge of St. Augustine of Hippo in Norristown, serving also as as a prison chaplain and as counsel to industrial corporations for public policy issues and social concerns. Named executive director of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company in 1984, she was also publisher of The Witness, and she held the additional post of interim rector of Philadelphia's Church of the Advocate in 1988. Bishop Harris is a member of the Union of Black Episcopalians, and among other activities she represents the national Episcopal Church on the board of the Prisoner Visitation and Support Committee, and is vice president of Episcopal City Mission of the Diocese of Massachusetts. 1990 Nelson Mandela is released. Nelson Mandela's greatest pleasure, his most private moment, is watching the sun set with the music of Handel or Tchaikovsky playing. Locked up in his cell during daylight hours, deprived of music, both these simple pleasures were denied him for decades. With his fellow prisoners, concerts were organised when possible, particularly at Christmas time, where they would sing. Nelson Mandela finds music very uplifting, and takes a keen interest not only in European classical music but also in African choral music and the many talents in South African music. But one voice stands out above all - that of Paul Robeson, whom he describes as our hero. The years in jail reinforced habits that were already entrenched: the disciplined eating regime of an athlete began in the 1940s, as did the early morning exercise. Still today Nelson Mandela is up by 4.30am, irrespective of how late he has worked the previous evening. By 5am he has begun his exercise routine that lasts at least an hour. Breakfast is by 6.30, when the days newspapers are read. The day s work has begun. With a standard working day of at least 12 hours, time management is critical and Nelson Mandela is extremely impatient with unpunctuality, regarding it as insulting to those you are dealing with. When speaking of the extensive travelling he has undertaken since his release from prison, Nelson Mandela says: I was helped when preparing for my release by the biography of Pandit Nehru, who wrote of what happens when you leave jail. My daughter Zinzi says that she grew up without a father, who, when he returned, became a father of the nation. This has placed a great responsibility of my shoulders. And wherever I travel, I immediately begin to miss the familiar - the mine dumps, the colour and smell that is uniquely South African, and, above all, the people. I do not like to be away for any length of time. For me, there is no place like home. Mandela accepted the Nobel Peace Prize as an accolade to all people who have worked for peace and stood against racism. It was as much an award to his person as it was to the ANC and all South Africa s people. In particular, he regards it as a tribute to the people of Norway who stood against apartheid while many in the world were silent. We know it was Norway that provided resources for farming; thereby enabling us to grow food; resources for education and vocational training and the provision of accommodation over the years in exile. The reward for all this sacrifice will be the attainment of freedom and democracy in South Africa, in an open society which respects the rights of all individuals. That goal is now in sight, and we have to thank the people and governments of Norway and Sweden for the tremendous role they played. 1990 James "Buster" Douglas defeats Mike Tyson in a stunning upset in Tokyo to win the heavyweight boxing championship. Almost two years later to the day, Tyson will be convicted of rape and two related charges filed by a Miss Black America contestant in Indianapolis, Indiana. http://www.blackfacts.com http://www.informationman.com/today.htm
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Beachcomber
Member
08-26-2003
| Friday, February 11, 2005 - 6:04 pm
The following documentary was produced by a local news reporter and it is fascinating. I don't know if this will be shown nationwide on PBS. From an article in the Charlotte Observer by Mark Washburn: House maid Sarah Mae Flemming was heading from one job to another that day in 1954 when she boarded a crowded bus in Columbia. She paid her fare but the aisles were jammed and she couldn't get to the Negro section in the back. The driver scolded her, and when she tried to get off at the next stop, he struck her in the stomach. Thus began a little-remembered legal case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court and was later cited as precedent in the better-known Rosa Parks case and subsequent bus boycott in Alabama. "This provided the underpinnings for Montgomery," says Steve Crump, documentary-maker and WBTV (Channel 3) reporter. Flemming's case outlawed segregation on public transit and doomed decades of the "separate but equal" doctrine in the South. Crump's February documentaries for Black History Month are an annual staple of WTVI's programming and "Before Rosa," like many of his other productions, is remarkable for the voices it preserves on fading history. It will air in March on South Carolina's public TV network. Crump's interest in Flemming's cause came from articles about her history last year in The State, written by the Columbia newspaper's Washington correspondent, Lauren Markoe. Flemming, a granddaughter of slaves, was 20 years old when the confrontation occurred on the bus, operated by South Carolina Electric & Gas. She died in 1993 at age 59 and is buried in her hometown of Eastover, S.C. Crump interviews judges, attorneys and Flemming family members in the 30-minute documentary, which details the racial emotion of the time. In one interview, Philip Wittenberg, a white attorney who represented Flemming, recalls hearing a commotion in his front yard the night before trial. "There were a bunch of my neighbors, standing behind a burning cross," he said. Among those who became involved in the case were civil rights attorney Matthew Perry, who went on to become the first black U.S. District Judge in South Carolina, and Thurgood Marshall, who was later named to the U.S. Supreme Court. Flemming's case upset social traditions in the South, but left her unvindicated. In 1957, a suit was heard against the bus company asking $25,000 for Flemming's humiliation. An all-white jury found against Flemming after 30 minutes of deliberation.
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 3:25 pm
Black Facts that happened on February the 12th: 1793 In 1793, Congress passed the first Fugitive Slave Law to implement the provisions in the Constitution. It stated that to reclaim an escaped slave a master needed only to go before a magistrate and provide oral or written proof of ownership. The magistrate would then issue an order for the arrest of the slave. The slave was not given a trial in court or allowed to present evidence on their own behalf, including proof of having previously earned their freedom. Many Northern states passed "Personal Liberty" laws that granted a fugitive slave rights, such as trial by jury. Other states, such as Pennsylvania, passed strong kidnapping laws which functioned to punish slave catchers. Edward Prigg was convicted of kidnapping in Pennsylvania after capturing a slave family. Prigg took his case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court issued a double edged decision: it declared Pennsylvania's law unconstitutional but also ruled that the states did not have to use their facilities to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law. This led to some states passing new personal liberty laws prohibiting the use of state facilities for the enforcement of the fugitive law. 1865 Henry Highland Garnet, preacher and abolitionist, becomes the first African American to preach in the rotunda of the Capitol to the House of Representatives. It is on the occasion of a Lincoln birthday memorial. 1869 Issac Burns Murphy, considered the greatest American jockey of all time, dies. He was the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby two years in a row and became the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby three times. In 1955, Isaac Murphy was the first jockey voted into the Jockey Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Racing, in Saratoga Springs, New York. 1882 Black rights activist Henry Highland Garnet dies, soon after being appointed the U.S. ambassador to Liberia. 1900 For a Lincoln birthday celebration, James Weldon Johnson writes the lyrics for "Lift Every Voice and Sing". With music by his brother, J. Rosamond, the song is first sung by 500 children in Jacksonville, Fla. It will become known as the "Negro National Anthem". 1907 Roberta Martin, gospel great born. Born this day in Helena, AR --- died Jan. 18, 1969. Worked with gospel greats like Thomas Dorsey and Theodore Frye. Sis. Martin became owner of one of the largest gospel publishing houses in Chicago. 1909 - When six African Americans were killed and 200 others driven out of town in race riots in Springfield, Illinois in the summer of 1908, many Americans were shocked, because they associated such violence only with racism in the south. Springfield was not only a northern city, but the home of Abraham Lincoln. Three people, Mary Ovington, William E. Walling, and Dr. Henry Moskowitz, alarmed at the deterioration of race relations, decided to open a campaign to oppose the pervasive discrimination against racial minorities. They issued a call for a national conference on "the Negro question", and for its symbolic value, they chose the centennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, February 12, 1909, as the date for the conference. Held in New York City, it drew an interracial group of 60 distinguished citizens, who formulated plans for a permanent organization devoted to fighting all forms of racial discrimination. That organization became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the U.S. With more than 2,200 branches across the country, it is in the forefront of the struggle for voting rights, and an end to discrimination in housing, employment, and education. 1930 In Tuskegee, Alabama, the Rosenwald Fund made grants to the Alabama State Board of Health to help meet the cost of a sutdy of syphilis in African American men living in rural Georgia and Alabama. would begin a four decade long study of syphilis without treatment. Over 400 men were allowed to carry the disease without medical treatment for nearly 40 years. Several government agencies including the Federal Public Health Service and the Center for Disease Control participated in the unethical study. It was kept a secret until 1972 when a newspaper reporter disclosed it. 1934 Birthday of William Felton Russell, better known as "Bill" Russel, he was player-coach of the Boston Celtics basketball team in 1968 and 1969. Russell was born in Monroe, Louisiana. 1939 Augustus Nathaniel Lushington became the first African American to earn a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.), earning the doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1897; died on this day. 1948 First Lt. Nancy C. Leftenant became the first Black accepted in the regular army nursing corps. 1952 Congressional Medal of Honor awarded posthumously to Sgt. Cornelius H. Charlton for heroism in Korea. 1956 First black late-night talk show host in history, Arsenio hall was born. 1962 Bus boycott started in Macon, Georgia 1983 Pianist Eubie Blake died in Brooklyn, NY 5 days after his 100th birthday. Blake was one of the last ragtime pianists and composers whose most famous songs included "I'm Just Wild About Harry." With Noble Sissle, Blake was the composer of the first all-African American Broadway musical, "Shuffle Along," which opened on Broadway in 1921. http://www.informationman.com/today.htm http://www.blackfacts.com\
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 3:32 pm
The Tuskegee Experiment July 25, 2002 --Thirty years ago today, the Washington Evening Star newspaper ran this headline on its front page: "Syphilis Patients Died Untreated." With those words, one of America's most notorious medical studies, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, became public. "For 40 years, the U.S. Public Health Service has conducted a study in which human guinea pigs, not given proper treatment, have died of syphilis and its side effects," Associated Press reporter Jean Heller wrote on July 25, 1972. "The study was conducted to determine from autopsies what the disease does to the human body." The next morning, every major U.S. newspaper was running Heller's story. For Morning Edition, NPR's Alex Chadwick reports on how the Tuskegee experiment was discovered after 40 years of silence. The Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began the study in 1932. Nearly 400 poor black men with syphilis from Macon County, Ala., were enrolled in the study. They were never told they had syphilis, nor were they ever treated for it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the men were told they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several illnesses, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue. For participating in the study, the men were given free medical exams, free meals and free burial insurance. At the start of the study, there was no proven treatment for syphilis. But even after penicillin became a standard cure for the disease in 1947, the medicine was withheld from the men. The Tuskegee scientists wanted to continue to study how the disease spreads and kills. The experiment lasted four decades, until public health workers leaked the story to the media. By then, dozens of the men had died, and many wives and children had been infected. In 1973, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed a class-action lawsuit. A $9 million settlement was divided among the study's participants. Free health care was given to the men who were still living, and to infected wives, widows and children. But it wasn't until 1997 that the government formally apologized for the unethical study. President Clinton delivered the apology, saying what the government had done was deeply, profoundly and morally wrong: "To the survivors, to the wives and family members, the children and the grandchildren, I say what you know: No power on Earth can give you back the lives lost, the pain suffered, the years of internal torment and anguish. "What was done cannot be undone. But we can end the silence. We can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the eye and finally say, on behalf of the American people: what the United States government did was shameful. "And I am sorry." http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/jul/tuskegee/ Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble, a physician and medical historian, chaired the presidential committee on the legacy of Tuskegee that secured an apology from the government. She writes this commentary to mark the 30th anniversary of the news reports that unmasked the study: I was there when President Clinton said the words, "I am sorry." Tears streamed down the faces of many black people in the audience. I heard people sobbing. The pain inflicted by the syphilis study was not limited to the citizens in and around Tuskegee. For many African Americans, the fact that the Tuskegee study occurred at all proves their lives are not valued in America. In the 30 years since the newspaper story broke, the syphilis study has become a powerful metaphor, symbolizing racism in medicine, misconduct in human research, the arrogance of physicians, and government abuse of black people. Efforts to improve the health status of African Americans have frequently come up against the legacy of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Many African Americans point to the syphilis study as a reason why they won't participate in clinical trials, donate organs, and more recently in the case of postal workers at the Brentwood post office in Washington, D.C., are wary of being vaccinated against anthrax. There was a time that the word Tuskegee did not immediately bring to mind the syphilis study. It evoked images of Booker T. Washington, the educator and founder of Tuskegee Institute, of George Washington Carver, the scientist, or of the Tuskegee airmen, the World War II aviation heroes. We cannot forget the inhumanity of the syphilis study, but we cannot let it be the only lens through which we examine the history of African Americans and medicine. Even in the face of oppression, African Americans have developed strategies and institutions to provide care, improve health, advance black health care professionals, and to battle racism in medicine. If you want a good example, you need look no further than Tuskegee Institute itself. In 1891 the school established a hospital, in 1918 it started a clinical society for black physicians and in 1922 it began the first post-graduate course for black nurses. All these institutions were necessities in a segregated medical world. At the presidential apology, I spent time with Mr. Herman Shaw, one of the then eight survivors of the study. Of course we talked about the syphilis study. "You know this was racist," he told me. "They only used colored people." "You won't get any argument from me on that," I replied. But our conversation went beyond the syphilis study. We talked about his family, his schooling -- but most of all we talked about his love of farming. I told Mr. Shaw that I had a picture of him on his tractor. "You know that tractor is 56 years old and it is still running," he said. He went on to talk about how he could not wait to get home to get back on it. My conversation with Mr. Shaw reminded me that the men in the study should not be remembered solely as victims of a federally financed experiment, but as human beings with families, interests and lives. I made a promise to Mr. Shaw: "As long as I live, I will make sure that people won't forget you or what happened to you and the other men." I am keeping my promise to Mr. Shaw. He died December 3, 1999, at the age of 97. http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/jul/tuskegee/commentary.html
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 3:41 pm
That's very powerful.
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 3:48 pm
It is, Tish. I started doing this for my kids because they've complained that their Black History studies amounted to posters on the wall of the very well known stuff. I'm hoping to supplement what they are learning in school with things that will make them think and want to learn more on their own. One of the side effects is that I'm learning more, too.
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Schoolmarm
Member
02-18-2001
| Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 4:50 pm
Because of the Tuskegee experiments and the medical experiments done with prisoners by the Nazis, we now have protection of Human Subjects. Every university or agency doing research has to have an Institutional review board to make sure that something like these horrid tragedies does not happen again. In the online training required for most researchers, there are specific questions regarding stopping the experiment if (lets say) the experimental treatment is clearly working so that the placebo or control group can benefit from it as well. Minors, the elderly, prisoners, pregnant women and those with diminished mental capacities are considered "protected" groups and undergo further review. I wrote two or three Martin Luther King musicals when I was teaching at King School. One of them had collected folk/civil rights songs and the story about civil rights in Des Moines as it paralleled what was happening in the rest of the US. There are some really great children's books about black inventors, musicians and scientists. I love Langston Hughes poetry.... "Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly."
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Sunday, February 13, 2005 - 6:03 pm
Black Facts that happened on February the 13th: 1818 Absalom Jones, the first African American Episcopal priest ordained in the U.S. , dies in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was an instrumental force in the development of the early African American church and benevolent society movements. 1882 Death of Henry Highland Garnet (66), diplomat and protest leader, in Monrovia, Liberia. 1892 The first African American performers, the World's Fair Colored Opera Company, appear at Carnegie Hall less than one year after the hall's opening. In the company was concert singer Matilda Sissieretta Jones, who had her solo debut at Carnegie Hall two years later. 1907 Wendell P. Dabney establishes The Union. The Cincinnati, Ohio paper's motto is "For no people can become great without being united, for in union there is strength." 1919 Eddie Robinson was born. He accepted the head coaching position in 1941, at the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute in Grambling, Louisiana (later named Grambling State University. Over the next 54 years, he became the winningest college football coach. On October 7, 1995, he won his 400th game, establishing a record and securing his status as a legend. Sports Illustrated placed Robinson on the cover of its October 14, 1995 issue, making him the first and only coach of an historically Black university to appear on the cover of any major sports publication in the United States. To his credit, he produced 113 NFL players, including four Pro Football Hall of Famers. 1920 The National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs was founded by Andrew "Rube" Foster. They were called the Negro National League. It became the first successful African American professional baseball league. Two other leagues had previously been started, but failed to last more than one season. 1923 The first African American professional basketball team "The Renaissance" was organized by Robert J. Douglas. It was named after its home court, the Renaissance Casino. They played from 1923 to 1939 and had a record of 1,588 wins against 239 losses. They became the first African American team in the Basketball Hall of Fame. 1957 The Southern Leadership Conference was founded at a meeting of ministers in New Orleans, Louisiana. Martin Luther King, Jr. was elected its first president. Later in the year its name was changed to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. 1970 The New York Stock Exchange admits its first Black member, Joseph Searles. 1973 Wm. Desjardin patents corner cleaner attachment Gertrude E. Downing and William Desjardin Corner Cleaner Attachment, Patent No. 3,715,772 on February 13, 1973 http://www.informationman.com/today.htm http://www.blackfacts.com/
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Sunday, February 20, 2005 - 11:40 am
'Slavery & The Making of America' is on MPT again.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Sunday, February 20, 2005 - 11:47 am
Found an interesting site on Missouri Slave Data. Missouri's Largest Slaveowners! Boone County 1860 R. King owned 57 slaves W. C. Robinett owned 50 slaves Howard Co. William Swinney owned 86 slaves and 1369 acres of land. Buchanan County 1856 Dugan Frouts owned 28 slaves and 320 acres of land. J.C. Ingram owned 26 slaves and 160 acres of land. Cape Girardeau County 1856 The largest slave holders were assessed with 40 slaves. Cooper County 1850 John H. Ragland -- Considered the county's largest slaveowner. Henry E. Moore -- 2nd largest slave owner. Joseph Byler noted as a "not so affluent" slaveowner. Davis County 1854 Milton N. Moore, a chief owner of slaves was taxed on 16 slaves. Greene County 1858 Daniel D. Berry was taxed on 37 slaves worth $13,300, 23 horses & mules, and 4320 acres of land valued at $33,760 John Lair and Solomon C. Neville owned 24 slaves each -- Lair's valued at $16,200 and Neville's at $10,000. Jackson County 1860 Jabez F. Smith was the largest slave holder in the state of Missouri. Kansas City 1858 John Daughtery was assessed with 33 slaves and 2420 acres of land. Michael Arthur owned 30 slaves and 18801/2 acres. Macon County 1854 Alfred Ray owned 31 slaves. 2nd largest slave holder, James W. Medley owned 13 slaves. Pike County 1859 J.C. Carter was assessed with 43 slaves Andrew Ashbaugh assessed with 37 slaves Names and data from Slavery in Missouri, by Harrison Anthony Trexler PhD, 1914 link
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Sunday, February 20, 2005 - 11:51 am
'I Was A Slave' Some quotes... I WAS A SLAVE Book 1: Descriptions of Plantation Life BETTY POWERS: “’Twas lak [It was like] a town wid de diffe’nt businesses. Thar am de blacksmith shop, shoe shop, carpenter shop, de milk house, de marster had ’bout 100 milk cows, de weavin’ room, de gin, an’ de feed mill. ... De cullud fo’ks lives in de cabins. ’Twas called de quatahs [quarters]. Now, in each cabin lives one fam’ly. ’Twas de father, mother an’ de chilluns. Thar am ’bout as many chilluns as thar am grown-ups. Ise can shut my eyes now, an’ see dem rows of cabins. Thar am three rows, an’ de rows am ’bout ha’f a mile long. Ever’ fam’ly does its own cookin’. Mammy, Pappy, an’ their 12 chilluns lives in our cabin, so Mammy have to cook fo’ 14 people, ’sides her field work. ... De marster am a sweet, fine man. ’Twas his wife an’ de overseer dat am tough. Dat womens had no mercy. She am a devil. Gosh fo’ Mighty!, how Ise hates her. Yous see dem long ears Ise have? Well, dat’s f’om de pullin’ dey gits f’om her. Ise am wo’kin’ ’round de house, keepin’ flies off de fo’ks, gittin’ wautah [water] and sich [such]. Fo’ ever’thin’ she don’t lak [like], ’twas a ear-pullin’ Ise gits. ’Twas pull, pull, an’ some mo’ pull ever’ time she comes neah me.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I WAS A SLAVE Book 2: The Lives of Slave Men . WES BRADY: “We niggers lived in log houses and slep’ on hay mattress with lowell covers, and et [ate] fat pork and cornbread and ’lasses [molasses] and all kinds garden stuff. If we et flour bread, our women folks had to slip the flour siftin’s from Missy’s kitchen and darsn’t [dare not] let the white folks know it. We wore one riggin’ lowell clothes a year. I never had shoes on ’til after surrender come. ... The overseer was ’straddle his big horse at three o’clock in the mornin’, roustin’ the hands off to the field. He got them all lined up and then [he] come back to the house for breakfas’. The rows was a mile long and no matter how much grass was in them, if you leaves one sprig on your row, they beats you nearly to death. Lots of times they weighed the cotton by candlelight. All the hands took dinner to the field in buckets and the overseer give them fifteen minutes to git dinner. He’d start cuffin’ some of them over the head when it was time to stop eatin’ and go back to work.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I WAS A SLAVE Book 3: The Lives of Slave Women . CHENEY CROSS: “I was brung up right in de house wid my white folks. Yessum, I slep’ on de little trundler bed what pushed up under de big bed, in durinst de day. I watched over dem chillun day an’ night. I washed ’em an’ fed ’em an’ played wid ’em. Gran’mammy an’ Mammy wove de cloth for de hands’ [field hands = field slaves] clothes. ... I was allus [always] dressed in white clothes all frill’ up wid starch an’ ribbon an’ sich [such]. Us had our shoes store bought... Field hands gone barefoot, ’ceptin’ in de winter, an’ den dey had to prepare dey own shoes. Dat was de way it went. You had to prepare for youself an’ if you ain’t hab de head to do dat, den you went widout. Dey had a hard time. I don’t see how dey manage, but I allus say de Lawd [Lord] was wid ’em.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I WAS A SLAVE Book 4: The Breeding of Slaves MARY INGRAM: “ ’Twarn’t any mai’iage ’lowed on de plantation ’twix’ some. De marster, he tell who can git mai’ied an’ who can’t. Him select de po’tly [portly = large] and p’lific womens, an’ de po’tly man, an’ use sich fo’ de breeder an’ de father of de women’s chilluns. De womens dat am selected am not ’lowed to mai’y [marry]. De chilluns dat am bo’n dat way don’t know any father. De womens have nothin’ to says ’bout de ’rangement. If she am po’tly an’ well-formed, deys fo’ced her wid de breeder. ... W’y don’ weuns refuse? Shucks, man, yous don’ know w’at yous says. De rawhide whup [whip] keeps you f’om refusin’. Ise know ’cause Ise see de young girls cryin’, an’ dey gits whupped ’cause deys stubbo’n. De ol’ nigger women ’vise de girls dat ’twarn’t no use to refuse. Dat it jus’ makes it wo’se fo’ dem.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I WAS A SLAVE Book 5: The Lives of Slave Children HENRY KIRK MILLER: “The children that weren’t big enough to work were fed at the white people’s house. We got milk and mush for breakfast. When they boiled cabbage, we got bread and potliquor [the liquid remaining after cabbage was cooked]. For supper, we got milk and [corn]bread. ... As fast as us children got big enough to hire out, she [the mistress] leased us to anybody who would pay for our hire. I was put out with another widow woman who lived about 20 miles. She worked me on her cotton plantation. Old Mistress sold one of my sisters and took cotton for pay. I remember hearing them tell about the big price she brought because cotton was so high [expensive].” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I WAS A SLAVE Book 6: Slave Auctions JENNY PROCTOR: “When he goes to sell a slave, he feed dat one good for a few days. Den when he goes to put ’em up on de auction block, he takes a meat skin and greases all ’round dat nigger’s mouth to make ’em look like dey been eatin’ plenty meat and sich like, and wuz good and strong and able to work. Sometimes he sell de babes from de breas’, and den again he sell de mothers from de babes, and de husbands and de wives, and so on. He wouldn’t let ’em holler [scream or cry loudly] much when de folks be sold away. He say, “I have you whooped if you don’t hush.” Dey [The slaveowners] sho’ loved deir six chillun, though [loved their own six white children, though]. Dey wouldn’ want nobody buyin’ dem.” link
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Sunday, February 20, 2005 - 9:26 pm
Preserving the legacy of Malcolm X Sunday, February 20, 2005 Posted: 8:49 PM EST (0149 GMT) NEW YORK (AP) -- He was one of the most charismatic figures in the civil rights movement and also one of its most feared, a former convict who abandoned his "slavemaster name," energized the Nation of Islam and met a violent end at 39. Four decades after his death, Malcolm X has inspired another movement -- one aimed at re-examining and preserving his legacy. Leading the way are Malcolm X's daughters, who want to convince people he was a champion of human rights and are converting the Audubon Ballroom in upper Manhattan -- the scene of his assassination on February 21, 1965 -- into a history center that would catalogue his life and work. "It's our responsibility to make sure that we do preserve and document our history to empower future generations," said Ilyasah Shabazz, the third of six daughters born to Malcolm X and wife Betty Shabazz. On Monday, the Audubon will be the site of a commemorative event on the anniversary of Malcolm X's death. The official opening of the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center at the Audubon is slated for May 19, on what would have been his 80th birthday. His life has defied easy definition. The son of a preacher who was killed after being threatened by the Ku Klux Klan, Malcolm Little was arrested for robbery in 1946 and spent six years in prison. He emerged as a fiery Nation of Islam minister with a new name and a message that blacks should cast off white oppression "by any means necessary." He propelled the Nation of Islam from a 500-member sect into a political and religious organization with 30,000 members by 1963. His messages of black empowerment and self-sufficiency made him an icon to blacks and others around the world. In 1964, he split from the Nation of Islam, and after an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca where he worshipped alongside Muslims of all colors, he renounced racial separatism. His new direction angered some Black Muslims -- and led to his murder during a speech at the Audubon Ballroom. The ballroom's new center will house a multimedia environment containing documents about Malcolm X's life, including memoirs, notes, speeches and other personal items rescued by his family and now held by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. "There has been a lot of paraphrasing. Now there will be a lot of clarity," said another daughter, Malaak Shabazz, who hadn't been born yet when Malcolm X was slain. "This collection really is going to enlighten a lot of people." In his autobiography, Malcolm X said the media, the government, and even other black leaders characterized him as a demagogue. But his family said the presentations will dispel that portrayal. At the time, said Malaak Shabazz, "there weren't that many people of color at the forefront, speaking not just for black and white issues but human rights issues. But before he was assassinated he was going to speak at the United Nations to speak on the human rights issues that faced indigenous people and people of color." The collection will also reveal a different side of Malcolm X, his family said. "Looking at these letters, the vulnerabilities, the determination, the commitment and the humanity was really touching," said Ilyasah. "You get to see that he was a young man, he was a father, a husband, he was someone's child." Setting the record straight Other projects also are aimed at setting the record straight on Malcolm X. Manning Marable, a professor of history and political science at Columbia University, is working on a biography he says will dispel errors in other literature. "Many of the books that document Malcolm have major inaccuracies," said Marable. "Many are poorly edited and don't encompass the entirety of his speeches." Next year, Percy Sutton, Malcolm X's personal lawyer who later served as Manhattan borough president, is launching his own project, the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Living History Foundation. Its purpose, Sutton said, will be "for people to learn about Minister Malcolm and Dr. Shabazz and what their contributions were." The family welcomes renewed interest in Malcolm X. "They say that our father changed, that there was this transformation," said Ilyasah Shabazz. "I don't think it was a transformation -- he evolved." http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/20/malcolm.x.legacy.ap/index.html
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 6:59 pm
Here's an interesting thing I found today about soul food. I've been thinking about it since the other day when grannyg posted that she made banana pudding and I thought about how long it's been since I had it and when I first had it. I went to an ex-boyfriend's grandmother's for Thanksgiving one year and I just couldn't get enough of her Banana Pudding with Nilla wafers! Eventually, Erik and I used to go to a black church near me that had an outdoor fish fry once a week so I could buy Banana pudding, sweet potato pie, fried fish, and mac and cheese. Mmmmmmm. I always thought it was just a soul food thing all this time. Because of the associations I had made with it--an African American boyfriend, his grandmother, and the Black church--it never occurred to me that it was southern *and* soul food. And I still want banana pudding. So here's the post about the evolution of soul food: The cousines of white people and black people of the south have much more in common than differences. There are, however, some distinct differences, at least historically. Also, there are influences on southern food that are distinctly of African origin, so we can speak of white southerners eating African American food. Southern food has several characteristics compared to the food of other regions. Most obviously, southern food is heavily based on pork. This is not just a preference but was deeply ingrained in the southern economy. Unlike the mid west or northeast, the south devoted a huge proportion of its land to non-edible crops -- cotton, tobacco, sugar cane -- and imported a lot of basic food staples from the mid west -- especially dried corn and wheat. These were grown in the south, but not enough to feed the population of people and animals. The south was a food-poor society, and in general, both black and white farmers were poorer than in other regions. Discrimination, underfunding of education and other legacies of southern racism further impoverished both black and white poor farmers. People made dishes from what was available. One of the thriftiest animals for converting food waste, and crop residue into food was the pig. Poor southern sharecroppers, black and white, rarely ate beef or other red meats. Southerners also used every part of the pig "except its squeel" as the old saying went -- fat for rendering, bristle for brushes, even ears and tails were eaten. Southern breads used pork fat, rather than butter, like the breads of other regions. Because of the abundant lard, southerners tended to fry more foods -- not just chicken, but fried fish, and fried breads (hoe cakes, fried corn bread, etc). Because of the lack of refrigeration, pork was converted to preserved smoked ham, hamhocks and bacon, which in turn was not just sliced and fried, but added to greens and other dishes. One short excellent description of a dinner prepared by a poor white sharecropping family is in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families by James Agee and Evans Walker. It is quite sad -- fried ham and a gravy made from the left over grease and with molasses added. This was sopped up with cornbread. Commentators in the late 19th and early 20th century often noted that southern cooking was very unhealthy. Southern turn of the century cousine of the majority of southerners would be almost unrecognizeable to fans of the Food Network's southern chefs -- a fairly unwavering diet of grits, cornbread, ham, bacon and rarely vegetables, often wild. The first basic difference historically between white and black southern cooking was that soul food originally derived from cheaper and less desireable products as a result of the poverty and lack of choice of slaves. Chitlins (the intestine of the pig) for example was more associated with slaves and freemen after the civil war than with white southerners. Other cuts that developed into soul food included hog jowls, pig feet, and pig tail. The last and maybe most important contribution of African Americans to souther cooking and the development of soul food is African influences. Okra and yams (sweet potatos) actually were brought from Africa and are mainstays of soul food. Cooking vegetables with hot peppers, meat and oil, also is a universal practice across West Africa and if you know soul food, you would be shocked to see how similar the preparation of collard greens is to West African casava leaf dishes. By the early 20th century, southern living standards began to improve. Moreover, soul food was radically transformed when black people moved north and had more variety and higher incomes. Also important, black women worked as cooks in southern hotels and for northern and southern upper class families, introducing more variety, better ingredients and more healthful cooking methods. Today soul food has a lot of variety, and is difficult to generalize about too much. It is a lot more like French cooking than other American cooking, being based on long cooked stocks, sauces and roues, and long braising for very tender meats. There is still a lot of fried food, although almost all meats rather than breads as in the past, and each family's fried chicken recipe is considered a secret treasure. It is still common to cook all kinds of greens, not just collards, with preserved meat and some source of hot pepper, although smoked turkey is replacing ham for health conscious families. In the northeast, the influx of Geechies, West Indians and Puerto Ricans into the black community has probably helped in the replacement of rice for cornbread and other corn based starches. Also in the northeast, salt water fish that are well suited to frying (porgy, whiting) have replaced fresh water fish that are good for frying (butter fish, cat fish).
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 7:34 pm
I posted this one a long time ago..but in light of the fact I'm seeing this WONDERFUL woman on Feb. 28th. "Phenomenal Woman" Maya Angelou Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size But when I start to tell them, They think I'm telling lies. I say, It's in the reach of my arms The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I'm a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That's me. I walk into a room Just as cool as you please, And to a man, The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees. Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees. I say, It's the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I'm a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That's me. Men themselves have wondered What they see in me. They try so much But they can't touch My inner mystery. When I try to show them They say they still can't see. I say, It's in the arch of my back, The sun of my smile, The ride of my breasts, The grace of my style. I'm a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That's me. Now you understand Just why my head's not bowed. I don't shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing It ought to make you proud. I say, It's in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need of my care, 'Cause I'm a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That's me. Her words are full of power!! "Still I Rise" You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries. Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own back yard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 11:31 am
HIV rate doubles among U.S. blacks In past decade, infections among whites kept steady percentage, studies show Associated Press Originally published February 26, 2005 BOSTON - The HIV infection rate has doubled among blacks in the United States over a decade while holding steady among whites - stark evidence of a widening racial gap in the epidemic, government scientists said yesterday. Other troubling statistics indicate that almost half of all infected people in the United States who should be receiving HIV drugs are not getting them. The findings were released in Boston at the 12th Annual Retrovirus Conference, the world's chief scientific gathering on the disease. "It's incredibly disappointing," said Terje Anderson, director of the National Association of People With AIDS. "We just have a burgeoning epidemic in the African-American community that is not being dealt with effectively." Researchers and AIDS prevention advocates attributed the high rate among blacks to such factors as drug addiction, poverty and poor access to health care. The HIV rates were derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examinations Surveys, which analyze a representative sample of U.S. households and contain the most complete HIV data in the country. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compared 1988-1994 data with figures from 1999-2002. The surveys look only at young and middle-age adults who live in households, excluding such groups as soldiers, prisoners and homeless. Thus, health officials believe the numbers probably underestimate true HIV rates in this country. Still, they show a striking rise in prevalence of the AIDS virus from 1 percent to 2 percent of blacks. White rates held steady at 0.2 percent. Largely because of the increase among blacks, the overall U.S. rate rose slightly from 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent. Smaller studies had shown rising infection rates among blacks in recent years, but this study takes a longer and more complete look at changes in the general population. "I think it's very concerning," said Dr. Susan Buchbinder, who leads HIV research for the city of San Francisco. "I think what we need to look at is how we can reduce those rates and get more people into treatment." The lead CDC researcher, Geraldine McQuillan, said she was encouraged to see the HIV rate among younger blacks holding steady at just under 1.5 percent: "It tells me we're making some headway." Other national data and published reports studied by the CDC showed that 480,000 HIV-infected people ages 15 to 49 should have been getting antiviral drugs in 2003, yet only 268,000, or 56 percent, were given such medication. Researcher Eyasu Teshale of the CDC said the gap represents "a substantial unmet health care need." Treatment is widely viewed as vital to prevention. Powerful AIDS drugs that came into wide use in the mid-1990s can knock down levels of the virus in the body, reducing the chances that the patient will infect others. Nearly 1 million people in the United States have contracted the AIDS virus since the outbreak began in the early 1980s. About 40,000 people test positive each year, and more than 18,000 die. However, U.S. infections have remained fairly level in recent years with the use of powerful HIV drugs. Link to Baltimore Sun (Subscription required)
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Thursday, March 03, 2005 - 4:04 pm
The lecture with Maya Angelou was magical. She has a commanding but quiet way of grabbing the attention of the audience! She sang Spirituals and told stories with her poetry. She spoke about the importance of children going to the library and learning about African American poets in history. One poet was, Ann Spencer. She also spoke about rainbows. That each person has a rainbow or someone who shines and helps them through life. She said her grandmother and aunt were her rainbows. I didn't realize that Maya stopped speaking at the age of 6 after being the victim of a violent crime. (rape) The violator was killed shortly after it happened. Maya also spoke about the role of African Americans in history. She said every other culture (except Native American) came to this country voluntarily. But, the African Americans were often chained to the bottom of ships in horrible conditions when brought to this country as slaves. Believe it or not the first slaves came to this country before the Mayflower in 1619! It was a fascinating evening with a wonderful and wise woman. I just wish I could have been closer. (We were way in the back)
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