tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7528281299144900782024-02-19T12:03:42.798-05:00Black History Month: The African American ExperienceBlack History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-47508258612926764272023-12-30T21:25:00.000-05:002023-12-30T21:25:47.316-05:00Black History Month 2024: African Americans and the ArtsThe Association for the Study of African American History and Life (ASAHL) has selected this annual theme to celebrate the entire history of African Americans and the arts--botht he richness of the past and the present:
<p>
<blockquote>African American art is infused with African, Caribbean, and the Black American lived experiences. In the fields of visual and performing arts, literature, fashion, folklore, language, film, music, architecture, culinary and other forms of cultural expression, the African American influence has been paramount. African American artists have used art to preserve history and community memory as well as for empowerment. Artistic and cultural movements such as the New Negro, Black Arts, Black Renaissance, hip-hop, and Afrofuturism, have been led by people of African descent and set the standard for popular trends around the world. In 2024, we examine the varied history and life of African American arts and artisans.
<p>
For centuries Western intellectuals denied or minimized the contributions of people of African descent to the arts as well as history, even as their artistry in many genres was mimicked and/or stolen. However, we can still see the unbroken chain of Black art production from antiquity to the present, from Egypt across Africa, from Europe to the New World. Prior to the American Revolution, enslaved Africans of the Lowcountry began their more than a 300-year tradition of making sweetgrass baskets, revealing their visual artistry via craft.
<p>
The suffering of those in bondage gave birth to the spirituals, the nation’s first contribution to music. Blues musicians such as Robert Johnson, McKinley ‘Muddy Waters’ Morganfield and Riley “BB” B. King created and nurtured a style of music that became the bedrock for gospel, soul, and other still popular (and evolving) forms of music. Black contributions to literature include works by poets like Phillis Wheatley, essays, autobiographies, and novels by writers such as David Walker and Maria Stewart. Black aesthetics have also been manifested through sculptors like Edmonia Lewis and painters like Henry O. Tanner.
<p>
In the 1920s and 30s, the rise of the Black Renaissance and New Negro Movement brought the Black Arts to an international stage. Members of the armed forces, such as James Reese Europe, and artists such as Langston Hughes, Josephine Baker and Lois Mailou Jones brought Black culture and Black American aesthetics internationally, and Black culture began its ascent to becoming a dominant cultural movement to the world. In addition to the Harlem Renaissance, today we recognize that cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New Orleans also were home to many Black artists.
<p>
The 1960s continued this thread through the cultural evolution known as the Black Arts Movement, where artists covered issues such as pride in one’s heritage and established art galleries and museum exhibitions to show their own work, as well as publications such as Black Art. This period brought us artists such as Alvin Ailey, Judith Jamison, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez. The movement would not have been as impactful without the influences from the broader Black world, especially the Negritude movement and the writings of Frantz Fanon.
<p>
</blockquote>
Check out these links to learn more about richness of the past and present with an eye towards what the rest of the twenty-first century will bring to African Americans and the arts:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/initiatives/black-history-month-2024" target="_blank">National Museum of African American History: Art as a Platform for Social Justice</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/black-power/arts" target="_blank">National Museum of African American History: Making African America - The Arts</a></li>
<li><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/african-american-art-harlem-renaissance-civil-rights-era-and-beyond-smithsonian-american-art-museum/NQXxo3o0fCnXJg?hl=en" target="_blank">Smithsonian American Art Museum: African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond</a>
<li><a href="https://www.si.edu/spotlight/african-american-music/roots-of-african-american-music" target="_blank">Smithsonian Institution: Roots of African American Music</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/black-power/arts" target="_blank">National Archives: Black Arts Movement (1965-1975)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nga.gov/features/black-artists.html" target="_blank">National Gallery of Art: Black Art & Artists in our Collection</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nga.gov/learn/teachers/lessons-activities/uncovering-america/harlem-renaissance.html"><a href="https://www.nga.gov/learn/teachers/lessons-activities/uncovering-america/harlem-renaissance.html" target="_blank">National Gallery of Art: Harlem Renaissance</a></li></a>
<li><a href="https://dia.org/collection/center-african-american-art">Detroit Institute of Arts: The Center of African American Art</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.carnegiehall.org/Explore/Articles/2022/01/11/Timeline-of-African-American-Music" target="_blank">Carneie Hall: Timeline of African American Music</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200197451" target="_blank">Library of Congress: African American Song</a></li>
Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-44510623233928847392022-12-31T23:49:00.000-05:002022-12-31T23:49:49.079-05:00Black History Month Theme 2023: Black Resistance The Association for the Study of African American History and Life (<a href="https://asalh.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2023-Black-History-Theme-Executive-Summary.pdf" target="_blank">ASAHL</a>) has selected this annual theme to focus on how African Americans have organized and planned resistance efforts against racial injustice and oppression:
<blockquote><i>African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms, and police killings since our arrival upon these shores. These efforts have been to advocate for a dignified self-determined life in a just democratic society in the United States and beyond the United States political jurisdiction. The 1950s and 1970s in the United States was defined by actions such as sit-ins, boycotts, walk outs, strikes by Black people and white allies in the fight for justice against discrimination in all sectors of society from employment to education to housing. Black people have had to consistently push the United States to live up to its ideals of freedom, liberty, and justice for all. Systematic oppression has sought to negate much of the dreams of our griots, like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, and our freedom fighters, like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Septima Clark, and Fannie Lou Hamer fought to realize. Black people have sought ways to nurture and protect Black lives, and for autonomy of their physical and intellectual bodies through armed resistance, voluntary emigration, nonviolence, education, literature, sports, media, and legislation/politics. Black led institutions and affiliations have lobbied, litigated, legislated, protested, and achieved success...
<p>
As societal and political forces escalate to limit access to and exercise of the ballot, eliminate the teaching of Black history, and work to push us back into the 1890s, we can only rely on our capacity to resist. The enactment of HR 40, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, the Breathe Act, and the closure of the racial wealth gap is not the end. They too will require us to mobilize our resources, human and material, and fight for “freedom, justice, and equality”; “self-determination”, and/or “social transformation.”
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This is a call to everyone, inside and outside the academy, to study the history of Black Americans’ responses to establish safe spaces, where Black life can be sustained, fortified, and respected.</i></blockquote>
Check out these links to learn more about historical and contemporary issues on black resistance:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://ashp.cuny.edu/historicizing-black-resistance-us" target="_blank">The American Social History Project at CUNY: Historicizing Black Resistance in the U.S.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.aaihs.org/black-resistance-to-segregation-in-the-nineteenth-century/" target="_blank">Black Perspectives: Black Resistance to Segregation in the Nineteenth Century
</a></li>
<li><a href="https://eji.org/reports/segregation-in-america/" target="_blank">Equal Justice Initiative: Segregation in America</a></li>
<li><a href="https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5128/" target="_blank">History Matters: “Let Us Reason Together”: W. E. B. Du Bois Defends Black Resistance
</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/segregation.htm" target="_blank">Jim Crow Museum at Ferris State University: Attacking Segregation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/african/resistance-and-abolition/" target="_blank">Library of Congress: Resistance and Abolition</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/index.html" target="_blank">Library of Congress: The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom
</a></li>
<li><a href="http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1609-1865/essays/slaveresist.htm" target="_blank">National Humanities Center: Freedom's Story - Slave Resistance</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/t-magazine/black-spirituals-poetry-resistance.html" target="_blank">The New York Times Style Magazine: Black Spirituals as Poetry and Resistance
</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Resistance-Stories-from-Black-History-for-Kids/Rann-Miller/9781646044450" target="_blank">Simon & Schuster: Resistance Stories from Black History for Kids
</a></li>
</ul>
Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-49543492225410056882021-12-30T10:13:00.003-05:002021-12-30T10:17:21.110-05:00Black History Month 2022: Black Health and Wellness<p> The Association for the Study of African American History and Life (<a href="https://asalh.org/" target="_blank">ASAHL</a>) has selected this annual theme to focus on how American healthcare has often underserved the African-American community:
<p></p>
<blockquote>
<em>The theme for 2022 focuses on the importance of Black Health and Wellness. This theme acknowledges the legacy of not only Black scholars and medical practitioners in Western medicine, but also other ways of knowing (e.g., birthworkers, doulas, midwives, naturopaths, herbalists, etc.) throughout the African Diaspora. The 2022 theme considers activities, rituals and initiatives that Black communities have done to be well.
<br /><br />
In order to foster good health and wellness Black people have embarked on self-determination, mutual aid and social support initiatives to build hospitals, medical and nursing schools (i.e. Meharry Medical College, Howard University College of Medicine, Provident Hospital and Training School, Morehouse School of Medicine, etc.) and community clinics. Clinics were established by individuals, grassroots organizations and mutual aid societies, such as the African Union Society, National Association of Colored Women and Black Panther Party, to provide spaces for Black people to counter the economic and health disparities and discrimination that are found at mainstream institutions. These disparities and anti-Blackness led to communities developing phrases such as “When white folks catch a cold, Black folks get pneumonia.” Initiatives to help decrease disparities have centered several outcomes, including having more diverse practitioners and representation in all segments of the medical and health programs including such as the Ronald E. McNair Scholars. Even the impact of popular culture texts like Doc McStuffins cannot be dismissed...
<br /><br />Mindful of Sister Audre Lorde’s words, we are doing more to move forward holistically for the betterment of ourselves, our bodies, our relationships, our communities, and our planet. We are determined to create a platform that shines a light on the multiple facets of Black health and wellness through education and activism. There is much to uncover, amplify, question, and correct...
</em>
</blockquote>
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Check out these links to learn more about historical and contemporary issues on black health and wellness:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/black-history-month.htm#:~:text=theme%20for%20Black%20History%20Month%202022.%20This%20year%27s,negatively%20impacted%20outcomes%20for%20blacks%20and%20other%20minorities." target="_blank">Chiff.com: Black History Month 2022: Black Health and Wellness</a>
<li><a href="https://aawellnessproject.org/" target="_blank">African American Wellness Project</a>
<li><a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/04/20/timeline-health-race-disparities/5145641002/" target="_blank">Detroit Free Press: Health and race disparities in America have deep roots: A brief timeline</a>
<li><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aahealth/index.html" target="_blank">CDC: African American Health</a>
<li><a href="https://www.afpafitness.com/blog/12-black-american-health-and-wellness-pioneers" target="_blank">AFPA: 12 Black American Health and Wellness Pioneers</a>
<li><a href="https://www.everydayhealth.com/black-health-facts/statistics/" target="_blank">Everyday Health: #BlackHealthFacts and Statistics: A Knowledge Movement</a>
<li><a href="https://tcf.org/content/report/racism-inequality-health-care-african-americans/?agreed=1" target="_blank">The Century Foundation: Racism, Inequality, and Health Care for African Americans</a>
<li><a href="https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2020/health-risks-african-americans.html#:~:text=Indeed%2C%20African%20Americans%20are%20more%20likely%20to%20have,such%20conditions%20as%20cancer%2C%20diabetes%20and%20heart%20disease." target="_blank">AARP: African Americans More Likely to Have High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, CDC Says</a>
</ul>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-77812088961592230762021-01-04T08:00:00.046-05:002021-01-04T08:00:08.696-05:002021: The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity<p>The Association for the Study of African American History and Life (<a href="https://asalh.org/" target="_blank">ASAHL</a>) has selected this annual theme to focus on the black family in America: </p><p>
</p><blockquote><em>The black family has been a topic of study in many disciplines—history, literature, the visual arts and film studies, sociology, anthropology, and social policy. Its <strong>representation, identity, and diversity</strong> have been reverenced, stereotyped, and vilified from the days of slavery to our own time. The black family knows no single location, since family reunions and genetic-ancestry searches testify to the spread of family members across states, nations, and continents. Not only are individual black families diasporic, but Africa and the diaspora itself have been long portrayed as the black family at large.
<br /><br />While the role of the black family has been described by some as a microcosm of the entire race, its complexity as the “foundation” of African American life and history can be seen in numerous debates over how to represent its meaning and typicality from a historical perspective—as slave or free, as patriarchal or matriarchal/matrifocal, as single-headed or dual-headed household, as extended or nuclear, as fictive kin or blood lineage, as legal or common law, and as black or interracial, etc. Variation appears, as well, in discussions on the nature and impact of parenting, childhood, marriage, gender norms, sexuality, and incarceration. The family offers a rich tapestry of images for exploring the African American past and present.</em></blockquote><em></em><p></p><p><br /></p>
Check out these links to learn more about historical and contemporary issues in the black family:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Black-Families-Harriette-Pipes-McAdoo/dp/1412936381" target="_blank">Black Families, 4th Edition</a> by Hariette Pipes McAdoo
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Black-Family-Slavery-Freedom-1750-1925/dp/0394724518/" target="_blank">The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925, 1st Edition</a> by Herbert Gutman
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chubbs-Familys-Journey-Antebellum-Mid-1900s/dp/1620063778" target="_blank">The Chubbs: A Free Black Family's Journey from the Antebellum Era to the Mid-1900s</a> by Clemmie Whatley
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Strengths-Black-Families-Robert-Hill/dp/0761824685" target="_blank">The Strengths of Black Families, Second Edition</a> by Robert Hill
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hairstons-American-Family-Black-White/dp/0312253931" target="_blank">The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White</a> by Henry Wiencek
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/African-American-History-Devotions-Individuals/dp/1501849557" target="_blank">African American History & Devotions: Readings and Activities for Individuals, Families, and Communities</a> by Teresa Fry Brown
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Black-Family-Reunions-Finding-Rest/dp/1664121757" target="_blank">Black Family Reunions: Finding the Rest of Me</a> by Iones Vargus
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Assimilation-Blues-Communities-Contributions-Afro-american/dp/0465083609" target="_blank">Assimilation Blues: Black Families In White Communities, Who Succeeds And Why</a> by Beverly Daniel Tatum
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Black-Families-Therapy-Understanding-Experience/dp/1593853467/" target="_blank">Black Families in Therapy: Understanding the African American Experience, Second Edition</a> by Nancy Boyd-Franklin
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Whole-Brother-Debunking-Myths-Family/dp/1952602033" target="_blank">Whole Brother: Debunking the Myths That Break the Black Family</a> by Maliek Blade
</ul></div>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-54597228372052281822020-01-10T23:18:00.004-05:002020-12-30T12:19:18.895-05:002020: African Americans and the Vote<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Association for the Study of African American History and Life (ASAHL) has selected this annual theme to focus on access to the ballot box for African Americans in American history. Since 2020 is a presidential election year, it is even more essential to focus on what this election has at stake for women and African Americans and how we have progressed since Reconstruction.<br />
<blockquote><i>The year 2020 marks the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment and the culmination of the women’s suffrage movement. The year 2020 also marks the sesquicentennial of the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) and the right of black men to the ballot after the Civil War. <br /><br />
The theme speaks, therefore, to the ongoing struggle on the part of both black men and black women for the right to vote. This theme has a rich and long history, which begins at the turn of the nineteenth century, i.e., in the era of the Early Republic, with the states’ passage of laws that democratized the vote for white men while disfranchising free black men. Thus, even before the Civil War, black men petitioned their legislatures and the US Congress, seeking to be recognized as voters. Tensions between abolitionists and women’s suffragists first surfaced in the aftermath of the Civil War, while black disfranchisement laws in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries undermined the guarantees in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments for the great majority of southern blacks until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. <br /><br />
The important contribution of black suffragists occurred not only within the larger women’s movement, but within the larger black voting rights movement. Through voting-rights campaigns and legal suits from the turn of the twentieth century to the mid-1960s, African Americans made their voices heard as to the importance of the vote. Indeed the fight for black voting rights continues in the courts today. The theme of the vote should also include the rise of black elected and appointed officials at the local and national levels, campaigns for equal rights legislation, as well as the role of blacks in traditional and alternative political parties.</blockquote></i>
Check out these links to learn more about this historical moment in American history:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/african-americans-and-the-15th-amendment" target="_blank">Constitutiona Rights Center: African Americans and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fifteenth-amendment" target="_blank">HISTORY.COM: The Fifteenth Amendment (1870)<span id="goog_220671973"></span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://guides.loc.gov/15th-amendment" target="_blank">Library of Congress: The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: An Introduction</a></li>
</span>
<li><a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-fifteenth-amendment.htm" target="_blank">National Park Service: Suffrage in America: 15th and 19th Amendments</a></span></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/african-american-women-and-the-nineteenth-amendment.htm" target="_blank">National Park Service: African American Women and the Suffrage Movement</a></li>
<li><a href="http://african%20american%20women%20leaders%20in%20the%20suffrage%20movement/" target="_blank">Suffragist Memorial: African American Women Leaders in the Suffrage Movement</a></li>
</ul>
Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-89098563760293440392019-01-01T22:34:00.002-05:002019-01-02T11:20:03.053-05:002019: Black MigrationsThe Association for the Study of African American Life & History (ASALH) has selected this annual theme to emphasize the movement of people of African descent to new destinations and subsequently to new social realities. While inclusive of earlier centuries, this theme focuses especially on the twentieth century through today.
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Beginning in the early decades of the twentieth century, African American migration patterns included relocation from southern farms to southern cities; from the South to the Northeast, Midwest, and West; from the Caribbean to US cities as well as to migrant labor farms; and the emigration of noted African Americans to Africa and to European cities, such as Paris and London, after the end of World War I and World War II.
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Such migrations resulted in a more diverse and stratified interracial and intra-racial urban population amid a changing social milieu, such as the rise of the Garvey movement in New York, Detroit, and New Orleans; the emergence of both black industrial workers and black entrepreneurs; the growing number and variety of urban churches and new religions; new music forms like ragtime, blues, and jazz; white backlash as in the Red Summer of 1919; the blossoming of visual and literary arts, as in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Paris in the 1910s and 1920s.
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The theme Black Migrations equally lends itself to the exploration of the century’s later decades from spatial and social perspectives, with attention to “new” African Americans because of the burgeoning African and Caribbean population in the US; Northern African Americans’ return to the South; racial suburbanization; inner-city hyperghettoization; health and environment; civil rights and protest activism; electoral politics; mass incarceration; and dynamic cultural production.
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Check out these links to learn more about this historical moment in American history:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/545.html">The Great Migration (Encyclopedia of Chicago)</a>
<li><a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration">The Great Migration (The History Channel)</a>
<li><a href="https://lawrencemigration.phillipscollection.org/">Jacob Lawrence: The Migration Series (The Phillips Collection)</a>
<li><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/long-lasting-legacy-great-migration-180960118/">The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration (Smithsonian Magazine)</a>
<li><a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2015/06/the-great-migration-was-about-racial-terror-not-jobs/396722/">The 'Great Migration' Was About Racial Terror, Not Jobs (CityLab)</a>
<li><a href="https://www.census.gov/dataviz/visualizations/020/">The Great Migration, 1910 to 1970 (U.S. Census Bureau)</a>
</ul>
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</table> Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-41535132800314658512018-01-18T08:16:00.002-05:002018-01-18T08:19:40.073-05:002018: African Americans in Times of WarThe Association for the Study of African American Life & History (ASALH) has selected this annual theme to commemorates the centennial of the end of the First World War in 1918. It explores the complex meanings and implications of this international struggle and its aftermath. The First World War was initially termed by many as “The Great War,” “The War to End All Wars,” and the war “to make the world safe for democracy.”
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Those very concepts provide a broad, useful framework for focusing on the roles of African Americans in every American war, from the Revolutionary War Era to that of the present “War against Terrorism.” Times of War inevitably provide the framework for many stories related to African American soldiers and sailors, veterans, and civilians. This is a theme filled with paradoxes of valor and defeat, of civil rights opportunities and setbacks, of struggles abroad and at home, of artistic creativity and repression, and of catastrophic loss of life and the righteous hope for peace.
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The theme suggests that contemporary conditions, past and present, give us cause for critical pause in our studies and deliberations to consider the specific and unique issues faced by African Americans in times of war. These issues include opportunities for advancement and repression of opportunities during wartime; the struggle to integrate the military and experiences during segregation/apartheid and successful integration; veterans experiences once they returned home; the creation of African American Veteran of Foreign War posts; cultures and aesthetics of dissent; global/international discourse;, including impact and influence of the Pan African Congresses; the impact of migration and urban development; educational opportunities; health care development; the roles of civil rights and Black liberation organizations, including the Black Power movement and the Black Panther Party; the roles of African American businesses, women, religious institutions, and the Black press; in the struggle abroad and at home; the topographies and spaces of Black military struggle, resistance and rebellion; and how Black soldiers and/veterans are documented and memorialized within public and private spaces. These diverse stories reveal war’s impact not only on men and women in uniform but on the larger African American community.
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Check out these links that further explore this important issue:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/african-americans-in-combat/">PBS: African Americans in Combat</a>
<li><a href="https://www.army.mil/africanamericans/timeline.html">U.S. Army: African Americans in the U.S. Army</a>
<li><a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/military/blacks-in-military.html">National Archives: Blacks in the Military - Resources </a>
<li><a href="https://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/ex-war-afam-twobattles.html">Library of Congress: African American Veterans - Fighting Two Battles</a>
<li><a href="http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-world-war-i.html">New York Public Library: African Americans and World War I</a>
<li><a href="http://time.com/4681227/great-war-clip-black-history-month/">TIME: The Surprising Way African-American Soldiers Were Recruited for World War I</a>
<li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-overlooked-story-of-104-african-american-doctors-who-fought-in-world-war-i/2017/09/22/ff2fda1e-9e0a-11e7-9c8d-cf053ff30921_story.html?utm_term=.c198eb3eb15a">U.S. News: The overlooked story of 104 African American doctors who fought in World War I</a>
<li><a href="https://www.si.edu/spotlight/africanamerican-wwi-service">Smithsonian: African American WWI Military Service</a>
<li><a href="https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Notable-Graves/Minorities/African-American-History-at-ANC">Arlington National Cemetery: African American History</a>
</ul>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-22943816665026712832017-01-28T22:21:00.001-05:002017-02-02T11:56:58.584-05:002017: The Crisis in Black EducationThe Association for the Study of African American Life & History (ASALH) has selected this annual theme to bring attention to the crucial role of education in the history of African Americans. ASALH’s founder Carter G. Woodson once wrote that “if you teach the Negro that he has accomplished as much good as any other race he will aspire to equality and justice without regard to race.”
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Woodson understood well the implications associated with the denial of access to knowledge, and he called attention to the crisis that resulted from persistently imposed racial barriers to equal education. The crisis in black education first began in the days of slavery when it was unlawful for slaves to learn to read and write. In pre-Civil War northern cities, free blacks were forced as children to walk long distances past white schools on their way to the one school relegated solely to them. Whether by laws, policies, or practices, racially separated schools remained the norm in America from the late nineteenth century well into our own time.
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Throughout the last quarter of the twentieth century and continuing today, the crisis in black education has grown significantly in urban neighborhoods where public schools lack resources, endure overcrowding, exhibit a racial achievement gap, and confront policies that fail to deliver substantive opportunities. The touted benefits of education remain elusive to many blacks of all ages. Tragically, some poorly performing schools serve as pipelines to prison for youths.
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Yet, African American history is rich in centuries-old efforts of resistance to this crisis: the slaves’ surreptitious endeavors to learn; the rise of black colleges and universities after the Civil War; unrelenting battles in the courts; the black history movement; the freedom schools of the 1960s; and local community-based academic and mentorship programs that inspire a love of learning and thirst for achievement. Addressing the crisis in black education should be considered one of the most important goals in America’s past, present, and future.
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Check out these links that further explore this important issue:
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<li><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0872844.html">Milestones in African American Education</a> (Infoplease)
<li><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/05/17/gao-study-segregation-worsening-us-schools/84508438/">GAO study: Segregation worsening in U.S. schools</a> (USA Today)
<li><a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/01/28/us-education-still-separate-and-unequal">U.S. Education: Still Separate and Unequal</a> (U.S. News)
<li><a href="https://newsone.com/3579251/black-teachers-give-voice-to-challenges-in-education-system/">Black Teachers Give Voice To Challenges In Education System</a> (NewsOne)
<li><a href="http://avoiceonline.org/edpol/index.html">African American Voices in Congress: Education Policy Exhibit</a>
</ul>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-84853468881949063342016-01-21T00:30:00.001-05:002016-01-21T00:31:49.570-05:002016: Hallowed Grounds: Sites of African American Memories The 2016 National Black History Theme is "Hallowed Grounds: Sites of African American Memories." 2016 marks the centennial of the National Park Service (NPS), an agency of the U.S. federal government that manages all national parks, national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties. NPS was created on August 25, 1916, by congressional legislation through the National Park Service Organic Act. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that mandated the agency "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." It is currently an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior. NPS celebrates over 25 historic park sites with an <a href="http://www.nps.gov/history/aahistory/">African American heritage</a> theme. Below is the <a href="http://asalh100.org/black-history-themes/2015-theme/">official summary</a> from their website.
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<em>The history of African Americans unfolds across the canvas of America, beginning before the arrival of the Mayflower and continuing to the present. From port cities where Africans disembarked from slave ships to the battle fields where their descendants fought for freedom, from the colleges and universities where they pursued education to places where they created communities during centuries of migration, the imprint of Americans of African descent is deeply embedded in the narrative of the American past. These sites prompt us to remember and over time became hallowed grounds.
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One cannot tell the story of America without preserving and reflecting on the places where African Americans have made history. The Kingsley Plantation, DuSable’s home site, the numerous stops along the Underground Railroad, Seneca Village, Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church and Frederick Douglass’ home — to name just a few — are sites that keep alive the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in our consciousness. They retain and refresh the memories of our forbears’ struggles for freedom and justice, and their belief in God’s grace and mercy. Similarly, the hallowed grounds of Mary McLeod Bethune’s home in Washington, D.C., 125th Street in Harlem, Beale Street in Memphis, and Sweet Auburn Avenue in Atlanta tell the story of our struggle for equal citizenship during the American century.
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The Association for the Study of African American Life & History has selected this annual theme to bring attention to the <strong>centennial celebration of the National Park Service</strong> and the more than twenty-five sites and the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom that are part of America’s hallowed grounds, including the home of the father of black history, Dr. Carter G. Woodson.</em>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-24032015706359307942015-01-31T21:25:00.000-05:002015-01-31T22:08:09.733-05:002015: A Century of Black History, Life, and CultureThe 2015 National Black History Theme is "A Century of Black History, Life and Culture." 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Its official mission is to ASALH's official mission is "to promote, research, preserve, interpret, and disseminate information about Black life, history, and culture to the global community." Its official vision is "to be the premier Black Heritage and learned society with a diverse and inclusive membership supported by a strong network of national and international branches to continue the Woodson legacy." Carter G. Woodson, historian and founder of ASALH, established Negro History Week in 1926 to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Each year, Woodson established a national theme for the celebration. Since 1976, ASALH extended the celebration for the entire month of February. <strong>Below is the official summary from their <a href="http://asalh.net/">website</a>. </strong>
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<em>Over the past century, African American life, history, and culture have become major forces in the United States and the world. In 1915, few could have imagined that African
Americans in music, art, and literature would become appreciated by the global community. Fewer still could have predicted the prominence achieved by African Americans, as
well as other people of African descent, in shaping world politics, war, and diplomacy. Indeed, it was nearly universally believed that Africans and people of African descent had
played no role in the unfolding of history and were a threat to American civilization itself. A century later, few can deny the centrality of African Americans in the making of
American history.
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This transformation is the result of effort, not chance. Confident that their struggles mattered in human history, black scholars, artists, athletes, and leaders self-consciously used their talents to change how the world viewed African Americans. The New Negro of the post-World War I era made modernity their own and gave the world a cornucopia of cultural gifts, including jazz, poetry based on the black vernacular, and an appreciation of African art. African American athletes dominated individual and team sports, changing baseball, track-and-field, football, boxing, and basketball. In a wave of social movements, African American activism transformed race relations, challenged American foreign policy, and became the American conscience on human rights.
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While the spotlight often shines on individuals, this movement is the product of organization, of institutions and of institution-builders who gave direction to effort. The
National Urban League promoted the Harlem Renaissance. The preservation of the black past became the mission of Arturo Schomburg and Jesse Moorland, leading to the rise of the Schomburg Research Center in Black Culture and Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. The vision of Margaret Boroughs and others led to the African American museum movement, leading to the creation of black museums throughout the nation, culminating with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Student activism of the 1960s resulted in the Black Studies Movement and the creation of black professional associations, including the National Council of Black Studies, and a host of doctoral programs at major American universities.
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At the dawn of these strivings and at all points along the road, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) has played a vital role. When he founded the Association in 1915, Carter G. Woodson labored under the belief that historical truth would crush falsehoods and usher in a new era of equality, opportunity, and racial democracy, and it has been its charge for a century. In honor of this milestone, ASALH has selected “A Century of Black Life, History, and Culture” as the 2015 National Black History theme. </em>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-58104443342855891382014-01-06T01:11:00.001-05:002014-01-06T01:11:06.643-05:00Black History Month 2014: Civil Rights in AmericaThe 2014 National Black History Theme is "Civil Rights in America." 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which was the nation's first attempt to eliminate poverty through public poilcy.). Below is the official summary from the <a href="http://asalh.org/">Association for the Study of African American Life and History</a>.
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<i>The Revolutionary American Thomas Paine held that “civil rights are those which appertain to man in right of his being a member of society.” From the beginning of our Republic, free people of African descent have seen themselves as citizens, members of society, and therefore due equal rights. From the nation’s origins, Americans believed that religion should not be a basis for abridging a citizen’s rights, but very few believed color should be treated similarly...The resulting struggles over civil rights have remade our nation for more than two centuries.
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The history of civil rights in the United States is largely the story of free people of color and then African Americans to define and enumerate what rights pertain to citizens in civil society. It has been the history of enlisting political parties to recognize the need for our governments, state and federal, to codify and protect those rights. Through the years, people of African descent have formed organizations and movements to promote equal rights. The Colored Convention Movement, the Afro-American League, the Niagara Movement, the National Council of Negro Women, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference carried the banner of equality when allies were few. In the modern era, integrated organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Urban League, and the Congress of Racial Equality fought for and protected equal rights. The names of America’s greatest advocates of social justice—Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Fanny Lou Hamer — are associated with the struggle for civil rights.</i>
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For more information, check out these links below:
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<li><a href="http://civilrights50.net/about/">Civil Rights at 50 (Equal Justice Society)</a>
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<li><a about="" history="" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=752828129914490078" http:="" ivilrightsact.cfm="" www.judiciary.senate.gov="">U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Remarks on the Civil Rights Act of 1964</a>
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<li><a href="http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=97&page=transcript">National Archives: Civil Rights Act of 1964</a>
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<li><a href="http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_civil_rights_act_of_1964/">History.com: Civil Rights Act of 1964</a>
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<li><a href="http://www.congresslink.org/print_basics_histmats_civilrights64text.htm">Major Features of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (CongressLink)</a>
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<li><a href="http://libguides.northwestern.edu/civilrights">Encyclopedia References on Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Northwestern University Library)</a>
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<li><a href="http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/50th_anniversaries.aspx">March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and War on Poverty (Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity)</a>
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<li><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/12/04/remarks-president-economic-mobility">Remarks by President Barack Obama on Economic Mobility</a>
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<li><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/07/11/poverty-in-the-50-years-since-the-other-america-in-five-charts/">Poverty in the 50 years since 'The Other America' in Five Charts (Washington Post)</a>
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<li><a href="http://inequalityforall.com/">Documentary: Inequality for All (Robert Reich)</a>
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</ul>
Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-11310615825340125162013-01-10T22:15:00.002-05:002020-12-30T12:40:30.172-05:00Black History Month 2013: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington The 2013 National Black History Theme is <b>"At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington."</b> To commemorate these historical moments, President Barack Obama will use <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/10/obama-using-mlk-lincoln-b_n_2447174.html">bibles from both former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King</a> during oath at his second inaugural celebration. Below is the official summary from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
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<i>The year 2013 marks two important anniversaries in the history of African Americans and the United States. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation set the United States on the path of ending slavery. A wartime measure issued by President Abraham Lincoln, the proclamation freed relatively few slaves, but it fueled the fire of the enslaved to strike for their freedom. In many respects, Lincoln’s declaration simply acknowledged the epidemic of black self-emancipation – spread by black freedom crusaders like Harriet Tubman – that already had commenced beyond his control. Those in bondage increasingly streamed into the camps of the Union Army, reclaiming and asserting self-determination. The result, abolitionist Fredrick Douglass predicted, was that the war for the Union became a war against slavery. The actions of both Lincoln and the slaves made clear that the Civil War was in deed, as well as in theory, a struggle between the forces of slavery and emancipation. The full-scale dismantlement of the “peculiar institution” of human bondage had begun.
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<i>In 1963, a century later, America once again stood at the crossroads. Nine years earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had outlawed racial segregation in public schools, but the nation had not yet committed itself to equality of citizenship. Segregation and innumerable other forms of discrimination made second‐class citizenship the extra‐constitutional status of non‐whites. Another American president caught in the gale of racial change, John F. Kennedy, temporized over the legal and moral issue of his time. Like Lincoln before him, national concerns, and the growing momentum of black mass mobilization efforts, overrode his personal ambivalence toward demands for black civil rights. On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of Americans, blacks and whites, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, marched to the memorial of Abraham Lincoln, the author of the Emancipation Proclamation, in the continuing pursuit of equality of citizenship and self-determination. It was on this occasion that Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his celebrated “I Have a Dream” speech. Just as the Emancipation Proclamation had recognized the coming end of slavery, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom announced that the days of legal segregation in the United States were numbered.
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<i>Marking the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History invites papers, panels, and roundtables on these and related topics of black emancipation, freedom, justice and equality, and the movements that have sought to achieve these goals. Submissions may focus on the historical periods tied to the 2013 theme, their precursors and successors, and other past and contemporary moments across the breadth of African American history.</i><br />
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I also highly recommend people visit the latest Smithsonian exhibition, <a href="http://nmaahc.si.edu/Exhibitions/ChangingAmerica">Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and the March on Washington, 1963</a> (December 14, 2012 - September 15, 2013) at the National Museum of American History and watch the Oscar-nominated film, <b>Lincoln</b> (2012).
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qiSAbAuLhqs" width="315"></iframe><br />
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Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-68259292741545396942012-01-10T02:17:00.000-05:002020-12-30T12:40:24.100-05:00Black History Month 2012: Black Women in American Culture and History<i>From the American Revolution to the present, African American women have played a myriad of critical roles in the making of our nation. Their labor and leadership, their motherhood and patriotism, and their intellect and artistic expression have all enriched both the African American community and the nation at large. In slavery and freedom, their struggles have been at the heart of the human experience, and their triumphs over racism and sexism are a testimonial to our common human spirit.<br />
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In American culture today, many know of the accomplishments of a few prominent figures. From Phillis Wheatley, the unlikely American patriot during the Revolutionary War, to Harriet Tubman, the leader of the Underground Railroad from slavery, to Ida B. Wells, the unyielding opponent of lynching, to Rosa Parks, the mother of the modern Civil Rights Movement, black women have been notable for standing against oppression. From Gwendolyn Brooks to Toni Morrison to Rita Dove, they have distinguished themselves in American letters, and in recent years they have been recognized as actors and recording artists with Academy Awards and Grammys. <br />
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The accomplishments of these exceptional women are the expressions of a vibrant culture in which African American women play a singular role. The labors, struggles, organization, and sacrifices of common women have made possible the prominence of heralded individuals. In churches, community groups, literary societies, sororities, and advocacy organizations, African American women have been the core of organized black life, but here their strivings have often escaped the gaze of the public and hence their history is too little known.<br />
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Their story is unique in the annals of American history. Black women were held as slaves and middle-class black women labored while their counterparts were housewives. Subjected to a long history of stereotypes about their sexuality, morality, spirituality, and intellect, African American women have never succumbed to victimhood and have pressed forward to uplift themselves, their families, and their community.</i><br />
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-- <a href="http://www.asalh.org/blackhistorythemes.html">Association for the Study of African-American History and Culture</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Below, </span><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">these two videos highlight African American history and life at the turn of the century (late 1800s-early 1900s). Enjoy them!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"></span>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-86623706190779811632011-01-08T22:40:00.000-05:002020-12-30T12:40:20.188-05:00Black History Month 2011: African Americans and the Civil War<i>In 1861, as the United States stood at the brink of Civil War, people of African descent, both slave and free, waited with a watchful eye. They understood that a war between the North and the South might bring about jubilee -- the destruction of slavery and universal freedom. When the Confederacy fired upon Fort Sumter and war ensued, President Abraham Lincoln maintained that paramount cause was to preserve the Union, not end slavery. Frederick Douglas, the most prominent black leader, opined that regardless of intentions, the war would bring an end to slavery, America's "peculiar institution."<br />
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Over the course of the war, the four million people of African descent in the United States proved Douglas right. Free blacks and slaves rallied around the Union flag in the cause of freedom. From the cotton and tobacco fields of the South to the small towns and big cities of the North, nearly 200,000 joined the Grand Army of the Republic and took up arms to destroy the Confederacy. They served as recruiters, soldiers, nurses, and spies, and endured unequal treatment, massacres, and riots as they pursued their quest for freedom and equality. Their record of service speaks for itself, and Americans have never fully realized how their efforts saved the Union.</i> <i>-- Association for the Study of African American Life and History</i><br />
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150 years later, in honor of the efforts of people of African descent to destroy slavery and inaugurate universal freedom in the United States, the 2011 Black History Month theme is "<b>African Americans and the Civil War</b>" to urge all Americans to study and reflect on the value of their contribution to the nation.<br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">This article excerpt is from the newspaper, <a href="http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080210/NEWS01/802100645/1001/news">Lansing State Journal</a>. Do you agree that Black History Month has run its course? Does it still have any relevance today and in the future?</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><i>When Carter G. Woodson founded Negro History Week in 1926, he wasn't trying to establish a permanent annual tradition.<br />
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In fact, he was looking toward a day when black history would be integrated into the general run of history and carving out time in February to pay attention to it wouldn't be necessary.<br />
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But more than 80 years later, Black History Month is an annual tradition, complete with sales, television specials and school assemblies. There are times when it seems to be used more for marketing purposes than idealistic ones.<br />
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And some have concluded that it has run its course.<br />
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The actor Morgan Freeman, for instance, said in an interview for "60 Minutes" two years ago that it was "ridiculous" to relegate black history to a single month.<br />
</i></span></blockquote>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-5377288816207139872008-02-05T23:29:00.000-05:002012-01-06T13:20:58.345-05:00TIME: 25 Most Important Films on Race<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><b><a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1709148_1709143,00.html">TIME</a></b> magazine has released the 25 most important films on race in America:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">To celebrate Black History Month, we've chosen 25 movies to honor the artistry, appeal and determination of African Americans on and behind the screen. The films span nine decades, and reveal a legacy that was tragic before it was triumphant. At first, blacks were invisible; when they were allowed to be seen, it was mostly as derisive comic relief. The 1950s ushered in the age of the noble Negro, in the imposing person of Sidney Poitier — the Jackie Robinson of movies. Only when Hollywood realized that a sizable black audience would pay to see films more reflective of their lives, whether funny, poignant or violent, were they given control of the means of production. Sometimes. The fact remains that of the 25 films here, chosen to cover the widest range of black films, fewer than half were directed by blacks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I highly recommend browsing the list. Many of the films, such as <b><i>Imitation of Life,</i></b> <b><i>Gone with the Wind, </i>and <i>In the Heat of the Night,</i></b> were produced in a time where race relations were very intense in the nation. More recent films, such as <b><i>Do the Right Thing</i></b> and <b><i>Bamboozled</i></b>, explore modern perspectives on race. This is a great link for film and cinema studies enthuasists.</span>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-64930150528650751082008-01-31T15:30:00.000-05:002012-01-06T13:20:11.400-05:00Black History Month in Canada<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ935iQLvClkNL4EKIUzXNRSr4y4PrUvUpC04pV4cSu4PgTpmsqG7x0Gqgb0fzUxe61PsDB1klDNikxfjTjGIVe2JGWQLIJFNSTohhij-lr0H968u9SpBvtOOc4HvIzY4CsM6Ff2U8KkU/s1600-h/canada.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162010161526920594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ935iQLvClkNL4EKIUzXNRSr4y4PrUvUpC04pV4cSu4PgTpmsqG7x0Gqgb0fzUxe61PsDB1klDNikxfjTjGIVe2JGWQLIJFNSTohhij-lr0H968u9SpBvtOOc4HvIzY4CsM6Ff2U8KkU/s200/canada.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">February is also Black History Month for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Canadian">black Canadians</a>. About 2-3% of the national population is currently of African descent. The largest populations reside in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Alberta. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Black Canadian history is also linked to the United States. Slavery became increasingly rare in Canada and eventually became illegal in the British empire by 1833. Canada became a favorable place to escape slavery in the United States. Today, there are sizable black communities in Southern Ontario and Nova Scotia who trace their ancestry to the black ex-slaves who used the Underground Railroad to seek refuge and freedom in Canada. This also marks the <a href="http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/multi/black-noir/index_e.cfm">175th anniversary</a> of the Act to abolish slavery in the British empire.<br />
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For more information about black Canadian history, <a href="http://blackhistorycanada.ca/">click here</a>. This is another interesting <a href="http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/English/exhibits/black_history/index.html">website </a>on the black Canadian experience in Ontario, 1834-1914.<br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">This <a href="http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=816400">news release</a> has been recently announced by the national government of Canada. </span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The Honourable Jason Kenney, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity), today invited Canadians to celebrate Black History Month during the month of February. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">"I invite all Canadians to join in the celebrations and, in so doing, to reflect upon the significant contributions of black Canadians to our society and the vital role this community has played in our shared history," said Secretary of State Kenney. "This year marks the 175th anniversary of the Act for the Abolition of Slavery in the British Empire, which ended slavery throughout the British colonies and was a key step toward recognizing the evil of slavery."<br />
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In December 1995, the Parliament of Canada officially recognized February as Black History Month. Communities across Canada will host events to celebrate the contribution of black Canadians to our society.<br />
</span></blockquote>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-56820231141125933262008-01-25T17:25:00.000-05:002020-12-30T12:40:11.606-05:00Black History Month Theme 2008: Carter G. Woodson and the Origins of Multiculturalism<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5152538635143503634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJBR6UhkvmEGjJQElNDXIobbo21ukZwgUSAJLzL5RLOJ2MQ93kcbdahCI4feV8iOd9SPz7hH_sPu-wifQk7B-SGSO1GrcTEIg_WYtoYvjWrAE_k0E4jDjU-QYtudUmXhleVbtFMEMJQo/s200/woodson.bmp" style="cursor: hand; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (<a href="http://www.asalh.org/">ASALH</a>) has announced the <b>Black History Month Theme for 2008</b>: "Carter G. Woodson and the Origins of Multiculturalism." This year, educators and leaders across the country will celebrate and commemorate the contributions of Harvard-educated historian, Carter G. Woodson, a pioneer in the establishment and study of African American historiography.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Born from parents who were ex-slaves and could not read or write in Virginia, he was determined to attend school and earn a college degree. The turning point in his life was when none of the courses he studied included the history of Black Americans. When he pursued doctoral studies at Harvard University, he established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASALH) and "Negro History Week" as a way to share cultural and historical knowledge about Black people around the world. His work with white scholars helped neutralize the racial stereotypes and historical ignorance that negatively labeled African Americans for many centuries. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Today, Negro History Week has expanded to the entire month of February. Similar Black heritage celebrations have arisen and expanded in Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. More communities are researching and learning about their own cultural backgrounds from scholars, journalists, archivers and educators who have continued to make the study and teaching of African American history more accessible than ever.</span><br />
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<blockquote><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><i><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><i>"...Carter G. Woodson did most to forge an intellectual movement to educate Americans about cultural diversity and democracy. For the sake of African Americans and all Americans, Woodson heralded the contributions of African Americans and the black tradition. In 1915, he established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and by the time of his death in 1950, he had laid the foundation for a rethinking of American identity. The multiculturalism of our times is built on the intellectual and institutional labors of Woodson and the association he established. He should be known not simply as the Father of Black History, but as [a] pioneer of multiculturalism as well." -- ASALH</i></span></i></span></blockquote></div>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-56571244916952780752008-01-21T16:06:00.000-05:002012-01-06T13:18:17.729-05:00Martin Luther King National Birthday Holiday<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJwrB1xmYU6sCawMn37GSY48JJnJ7YM1y_QzK_z1Lvf6PyAi68ClkymmzOtGMxV449M2EJEN8v4lBvkUAxTdBAAIlvWcva6dS4NqeRyrX1lnQiLEyRUZpSMuIdmcmYe3tAfUBrDG4x6RA/s1600-h/king.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160029838006080882" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJwrB1xmYU6sCawMn37GSY48JJnJ7YM1y_QzK_z1Lvf6PyAi68ClkymmzOtGMxV449M2EJEN8v4lBvkUAxTdBAAIlvWcva6dS4NqeRyrX1lnQiLEyRUZpSMuIdmcmYe3tAfUBrDG4x6RA/s200/king.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Today is the Martin Luther King's National Birthday celebration. It marks the 45th anniversary of the renown civil rights leader's assassination in Memphis, Tennessee. Many people don't realize he was in Memphis to support the striking black sanitation workers' right to form a union. While his speech, "I have a Dream," resonates with all of us on his hopes for a more integrated society, he was also a staunch critic of the Vietnam War and was in the early stages to start the Poor People's movement, a symbolic rally to end poverty in America. He had other policy aspirations that would further advanced the civil rights struggle across the country. Many Americans, not suprisingly, at the time opposed his controversial views on human rights and thought he was a unpatriotic troublemaker.<br />
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<div><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Sadly, American society today has somewhat lost the true meaning of his message. What we celebrate today is oversimplified and sterile. He did not just have a dream for racial integration for his all children; he pushed a national agenda for progressive change to end social and economic inequality in America. The anti-war and anti-poverty demonstrations were among his activities but he had greater goals as a pastor and community organizer. King adopted Gandhi's theory of nonviolence as a potential tool to advance the civil rights struggle and bring about radical social change globally. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he shifted his focus</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> to address human rights for everyone. It was not limited to just race or skin tone as the news media wants us to believe. He supported the redistribution of wealth and power in America to help the poor, the sick and the disabled. His life was cut short when an assassin's bullet killed him before he could truly fulfill his dreams.<br />
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<div><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/studentnews/01/17/one.sheet.mlk.background/index.html#cnnSTCText?iref=werecommend"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">CNN</span></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> has an excellent short biography about Dr. King. If you are a teacher, this </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/studentnews/01/17/one.sheet.mlk.background/index.html#cnnSTCText?iref=werecommend"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">article</span></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> is another great resource to ask students in grades 6-12 and college questions about his legacy. Oprah also expresses how Martin Luther King, Jr. changed her own life in this <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20172797,00.html?xid=rss-fullcontentcnn">story</a>.</span></div>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752828129914490078.post-88761097331114580322008-01-17T23:37:00.000-05:002012-01-06T13:17:24.073-05:00Review: The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man (1912)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGq4d1FUVCgY56clQqLX5GfkfH1884ihRnTNnmVGWkVUdbNG529RLCzJ1Il5AsaAV4pePiX4pyfzWoCp_qVyf8Gk-UGeEgrSZoXsROI8wW6RS6VK7Hy4CCUIJfZfgCdhU4iR4QDtBZRxc/s1600-h/colouredman.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5152492404115529474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGq4d1FUVCgY56clQqLX5GfkfH1884ihRnTNnmVGWkVUdbNG529RLCzJ1Il5AsaAV4pePiX4pyfzWoCp_qVyf8Gk-UGeEgrSZoXsROI8wW6RS6VK7Hy4CCUIJfZfgCdhU4iR4QDtBZRxc/s200/colouredman.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" /></a> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><b><a asin="0679727531" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=752828129914490078&postID=8876109733111458032" type="amzn">The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man</a></b> (1912), by James Weldon Johnson, narrates the story of a young mulatto man who decides to permanently "pass for white" at the turn of the century (early 1900s). Throughout his young adulthood, he embraces African American (Negro) musical traditions but struggles with the daily difficulties of identifying as a black man in American society. </span><br />
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<div><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">In his childhood, he and his black mother relocate to Connecticut from Georgia where he excells brilliantly in his studies, especially becoming a music prodigy on the piano. However, one day in school, he is stunned when the teacher asked for him to sit down when all the white students continue to stand. He wonders why he was treated differently from his peers. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">He rushes home to tell his mother what happened in school. As he compares his dark curly hair and fair skin complexion to his mother, he learns that he is indeed considered black (because of the racial identity of his mother) and that his father is a white Southerner.This news shocks him. </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">By high school graduation, the sudden death of his mother and the sale of his home leaves him alone with little money to attend Harvard. Following his mother's wishes, he heads south to Atlanta University to pursue his music studies. </span></div><br />
<div><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Unfortunately, as he reaches the university, he discovers someone has stolen his money. To recover his loss, he finds a job at a cigar factory in Florida and teaches piano lessons on the side. When the factory shuts down, he relocates to New York City where he discovers ragtime music. An older, white gentleman overhears the young man playing the piano at a club and persuades him to tag along on a tour of Europe. </span></div><br />
<div><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Although he enjoys his trip in Europe, he desires to return to America to pursue his studies on Negro music. His curiosity and admiration for Negro culture is shattered when he witnesses firsthand a white mob lynch a black man. In the wake of this experience, he abandons his musical ambitions. He feels too much shame to associate himself to a group of people "treated worse than animals." </span><br />
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</div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">This is a riveting story of the struggles of a young mulatto man living in two separate worlds: one black and one white. As he travels throughout New England and the American South, he develops an appreciation for African American musical traditions, such as ragtime music. Unfortunately, the incident with the white lynch mob terrifies the narrator greatly. </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Although this book written nearly 80 years ago, its importance in African American literature is still essential. African Americans developed a sense of double consciousness, where they struggled in a society where racial identities were rigid and binary. Racial prejudice was very common and harsh , and those who could escape it "passed for white", or crossed the color line.</span></div><br />
<div><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), best known as the composer to <i>Life Every Voice and Sing</i>, wrote his first and only novel on the complexity of race in American society at the turn of the century. As one of the first fictional novels using the first person written by an African-American author, this famous book inspired other African-American writers, such as Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston, to create fictional novels on African American life and culture. Johnson would later become an active leader and writer in the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), African Diaspora studies and the Harlem Renaissance. </span></div><br />
<div><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I also recommend Danzy Senna's <b><a asin="1573227161" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=752828129914490078&postID=8876109733111458032" type="amzn">Caucasia</a></b> and Nella Larsen's <b><a asin="0813511704" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=752828129914490078&postID=8876109733111458032" type="amzn">Passing</a></b>, which also explores themes of race and biracial identity throughout African American history.</span></div>Black History Scholarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13803907194869760820noreply@blogger.com0