Black History Month - Ending Statement 3/1/21

 This Black History Month truly has been my best one yet. Personally and in my environment. I've spent so much time looking up people I had never heard of before, learning bits and pieces of history never spoken on before--I feel enlightened a bit. Also, this was my first time being relatively active on social media during this time. It was so nice seeing all the posts, links, stories, just random "reminder that you're a black queen!" posts. It was really great.

Now, Black History Month 2021 is over. My month-long blog showcase is now over.

While I won't be posting any more black heroes for a while, that doesn't mean they become any less important. Just because I don't post about them doesn't mean they aren't important. I'll do another post eventually with more black heroes.

To any readers out there, I want you to stay learning about and supporting minorities everywhere in their fight for equal rights, equal representation--equal everything. The goal is equality.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/27/21

Ruby Bridges(1954 - Present Day)
Born in 1954, Bridges was born the year of Brown v, Board. Still, certain exams similar to voting literacy tests were put in place to bar African Americans from attending the all-white schools. At six-years-old, Ruby and five other black children were admitted entry to the schools. Two never left their original school, three went to a different all-white elementary, and Ruby went to William Frantz Elementary School alone. Police officers lead Bridges and her mother into the school as all the white parents gathered to hurl hideous slurs and threats at her. They pulled their children out of the school and only one teacher, Barbara Henry, was willing to teach her. The two spent the majority of the year alone together. Bridges' family received tons of backlash for this, such as unemployment, eviction, and shunning, but her mother especially persevered to ensure Ruby received the education that she and her husband and their parents had been denied. By the early 1970s, when Bridges graduated, she received her diploma from a desegregated school. She became a travel agent for fifteen years before becoming a full-time mother and author. She would write about her experiences in books such as Through My Eyes and This Is My Time, later receiving the Carter G. Woodson Book Award. In 1999, she established the Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote equality through education. Nowadays, Bridges has remained a lifelong activist and is alive and well at sixty-six years old.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/26/21

 

Minnie Riperton(1947-1979)

Born in 1947, Riperton grew up musically inclined. She studied music, drama and dance as a child and in her teens was the lead singer for the Chicago girl group, The Gems. Riperton was a backup sing for many artists such as Etta James, Fontella Bass, Ramsey Lewis, etc. She also sang for Rotary Connection for four years and in 1969 they performed at a Catholic Rock Mass. The height of her career was reached with her number one single, Lovin' You, the last release from her 1974 gold album, Perfect Angel. She quickly became famous for her whopping five and a half octave vocal range. In 1976, Riperton was diagnosed with breast cancer and originally given six months to live. During this time, she continued to record and tour and went public about her diagnosis, being one of the first celebrities to do so. In 1977, she became a spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society. In 1978, President Carter presented to her the American Cancer Society's Courage Award. In 1979, Riperton died of cancer at age 31.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/25/21

 

Marsha P. Johnson(1945 -1992)

Born in, 1945, Johnson legally changed her name to Marsha in 1966 when she moved to New York City. Being black, gay, transgender, and poor, Marsha was very familiarized with being marginalized and dedicated her life to helping young people like her. Every now and again she would revert to the male persona of Malcolm Michaels--this served as a painfully obvious reminder to herself and those around her that she was happiest and healthiest living as Marsha. She wished to then help youth who experienced this and simply wanted to live comfortably as well. In 1969, Johnson and a few others were key figures in resisting the Stonewall Bar Raid. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, another key figure, founded STAR(Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) to help homeless LGBTQ individuals, especially the youth. Johnsons was also heavily involved in the GLF(Gay Liberation Front) and the following pride marches that started up in the 1970s. As a drag queen and just a naturally outgoing person, Johnson's outfits were often extravagant and bright. These drew the attention of Andy Warhol who photographed and immortalized her in 1975. In 1992, at age 46, her body was found in the Hudson River. It was written off as a suicide, but those close to Johnson claimed she had not been suicidal and the whole situation was heavily underreported. Still, no formal criminal investigation has been held. A monument is being built in her honor in Elizabeth, New York.

Freedom

 Born in the Land of the Rising Sun,
raised in the Land of the Free.

I once thought that 14 changed everything.

That petalite and andalusite are both precious gems

that the Law of the Free was ready to defend.

Tell me why despite 14’s existence, 

Black Codes persisted,

segregation thrived.

They did everything in and out of their right 

to make sure that people like me forgot they were the Free.

But we never forgot.

Protest after protest after protest.

Riot after outrage after rebellion.

We lost millions of innocent lives

in the name of wanting to survive

When the Free says “I have a dream,” they deserve success.

When the Free says “Nah” that isn’t the time to arrest.

We’ve been used as bait and have been beaten.

Hosed down and shackled up just for existing.

Pepper sprayed and handcuffed for being inconvenient.

Systems have been put in place to put us in lesser positions.

They’ve trickled down and are affecting

the present day more than some are admitting.

And as if to salt the wound,

the number of brave souls whose names were lost--

were marginalized and spat on.

In the Land of the Free, there is no rest.

Too many loopholes to keep them oppressed.

The Law of the Free

never cared for the Free.

But the Free do not relent, they never have.

For centuries, scholars, innovators, regular people

have stood up on soapboxes and shouted,

“We will be free.”

And whether the Land or the Law knows it,

we know it.

13, 14, 15

Brown v. Board of Education

Civil Rights Act, Crown Act

Slowly but surely, the Free are declaring their freedom.

The Free are claiming their god-given right to exist in peace.

The Free reminds me that when I see a person who looks just like me

being denied freedom on national T.V.

It is the Law that is wrong.

So despite being born in the Land of the Rising Sun,

I can grow up in the Land of the Free.

And Chukwu tells me that my andalusite skin shines as bright as anyone else’s.

My features and my culture are as valid

and are as embraceable as anyone else’s.

And there is strife in this world, yes.

There is injustice, there is pain, there are things the Law must do,

that the Law has decided not to.

The Land of the Free moves slowly, but it moves,

and when it wants to relapse, the Free scream for the truth.

And that’s what they will continue to do until serenity is achieved.

And if that turns out to be never then so be it,

but the Free will be free.

We’ve come so far in a few centuries,

in a few more, imagine how much farther we could be. 

~~~

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Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/24/21

 

Maria P. Williams(Unknown - Unknown)

Williams lived in Kansas City, Missouri, her birthdate is unknown. In My Work and Public Sentiment, published in 1916, Williams details her social services and activism. In 1922, she was confirmed to be a "lecturer" of the Good Citizens League. In 1923, the Chicago Defender confirmed that her husband Jesse L. Williams, the president of The Western Film Producing Company and Booking Exchange of Motion pictures. Williams was the secretary and treasury of this department. It was this year, 1923, that she acted, filmed, produced, and distributed her own movie The Films of Wrath. This is what she is known for. Her death date is unknown.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/23/21

 

Jane Bolin(1908-2007)
Born in 1908, Bolin was a fantastic student, graduated high school in her mid-twenties. Despite all racial barriers, Bolin earned her law degree from Yale Law School in 1931, at just 23. Bolin was the first African American woman to ever graduate from there. She worked at her father's practice for a bit before marrying and moving to New York City in 1933. There, she became the first African American woman to hold the position of assistant corporate counsel of New York. In 1939, at age 39, Bolin was called to appear before Mayor Fiorella La Guardia, who would swear her in as the first African American judge. She would serve for 30 years, actively working to care for and decrease crime in youth and dismantle segregationist policies. Bolin headed boards such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the New York Urban League. In retirement, she volunteered to help out schools and died at the age of 98. In 2011, a biography on Bolin's life came out, Daughter of the Empire State: The Life of Judge Jane Boline, written by Jacqueline A. Mcleod.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/22/21

Mae Jemison(1956 - Present Day)

Born in 1956, Jemison grew up with a love for the sciences. In high school, she decided to pursue biomedical engineering and graduated with a National Merit Award scholarship. She was the head of the Black Student Union while studying in Stanford and served in a Cambodian refugee camp while studying at Cornell Medical College. Jemison then worked as a general practitioner then spent two years as a medical Peace Corps officer in Sierra Leone and Liberia. In 1985, Jemison applied to NASA's astronaut program. In 1987, Jemison became the first African American woman to be admitted and after a year became the first African American female astronaut. In 1992, Jemison flew off to space aboard the Endeavor. She spent days in orbit, conducting several experiments. She has received several honors such as the 1988 Essence Science and Technology Award, the Ebony Black Award, several honorary doctorates, and many more. In 1993, Jemison left NASA and moved on to teaching. Today, Jemison runs the Jemison Group, an organization dedicated to improving African healthcare.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/20/21

 

Marian Anderson(1902 - 1993)
Born in 1902, Anderson displayed great vocal talents from childhood, often performing in her Union Baptist Church choir. At 19, members of her church raised money to send her to Giuseppe Boghetti's music school for a year, but then he offered Anderson another year of free lessons. In 1925, Anderson entered a competition and won first prize to sing at New York City's Lewisohn Stadium. This kicked off her career and Anderson went on to appear in symphonies, Southern black colleges and did a few tours in Europe with monarchs present sometimes. She was still barred off from many opportunities here in the U.S. due to her race. After touring South America, she tried to sing for Daughters of the American Revolution and was denied for her skin. Eleanor Roosevelt caught wind and organized for her to sing at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday. She went on to be the first African American to perform in the Metropolitan Opera and her autobiography, My Lord, What a Morning, was published in 1957. In 1958, Anderson was declared a goodwill ambassador for the United States and in 1963, President Johnson awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1986 she received a Grammy Award.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/19/21

Alice Coachman(1923 - 2014)

Born in 1923, Coachman grew up in Georgia, reliant on herself and personal support to develop her athletic abilities since segregation kept her out of quality training facilities. She excelled in the high jump and in 1939, broke the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) high school and college women's high jump records while barefoot. Coachman won 25 AAU outdoor and indoor awards and competed for Tuskegee and Albany State. In the 1948 Olympics, Coachman cleared a 5'6 jump on her first go, making her the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. President Truman congratulated her and Albany celebrated with an Alice Coachman Day. 

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/18/21

 

Ethel Waters(1896 - 1977)

Born in 1896, on Halloween, Waters grew up poor and was married off by age 12. She left about 4 years in and became a Philidelphia hotel maid. On her 17th birthday, she sang for a nightclub on Juniper Street and won a competition that landed her an opportunity to sing at Baltimore's Lincoln Theatre. In 1919, she moved to New York City and made her nightclub performances more widespread. In 1921, Waters became the fifth African American woman to ever make a record. In 1925, Dinah became a hit and Waters toured with the Black Swan Dance Masters. In 1933, Waters appeared in an integrated Broadway show, As Thousands Cheer, becoming the first African American to ever do so. At the same time, she was also performing in Jack Denny & His Orchestra, making her the highest-paid Broadway performer at the time. In 1939, The Ethel Waters Show started showing on NBC, the first time an African American would star in their own show. Waters wrote an autobiography, His Eye Is On The Sparrow, in 1951, a bestseller and currently a classic read. She would continue to star in shows throughout the 1950s.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/17/21

 

Robert Sengstacke Abbott (1870 - 1940)

Born in 1870, Abbott's grandparents had been slaves and his father, Abbott, died when he was young. It was from his step father that he received his second surname, Sengstacke. Abbott graduated from Chicago's Kent College of Law in 1898, but was racial barriers kept him from practicing. So instead, he started the Chicago Defender Newspaper. It became a literary home for African American discussions, issues, and art. Gwendolyn Brooks, Willard Motley, and Langston Huges all featured on there and the newspaper advocated for the betterment of African Americans through migration, shining light on injustice and encouraged unapologetic blackness. Abbott died in 1940 in the Robert S. Abbott home, what is now a historical landmark.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/16/21

 

Jesse Owens(1913 - 1980)

Born in 1913, Owens was born James Cleveland Owens. He started out a sickly kid working as the son of a sharecropper in Arizona. But when his family moved to Ohio at the age of 9, Owens experience a much faster-paced world in which he began to be recognized for his track ability. In high school and Ohio University, he set many records and in 1935, Owens made history by breaking 5 world records. In the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, Owens won 4 medals and broke 2 Olympic records, disproving Hitler's theory of Aryan superiority. Following, Owens settled down and set up a business for himself. In 1976, President Ford awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1980, Ownes died of lung cancer.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/15/21

 

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)

Born in 1917, Brooks graduated from Wilson Junior College. Her earliest poems were featured in the Chicago Defender. Her first published collection(1945) was A Street Bronzville. Brooks became the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1950 for Annie Allen. In 1968, Brooks was named the poet laureate of Illinois. A majority of her poems were written about the African American experience. Brooks came out with a novel, Maud Martha in 1953 and The Bean Eaters 1960. In 1972 she came out with an autobiography Report From Part One. In 1989, Brooks received a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment. She spent the last ten years of her life as an English professor at Chicago State University

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/13/21

 

Dorothy Height

Born in 1912, Height graduated from Columbia University and began her civil rights activist career by 25. She was president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years, and through it set up several programs to help out African Americans in the South. She famously viewed gender equality and racial equality as issues to be solved together. Height won several orator prizes and facilitated dialogue between white and black women to bring us together. She even helped organize the March on Washington. In 2004, Height was granted the Congressional Gold Medal and passed away in 2010.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/12/21

 

Annie Lee Cooper (1910 - 2010)

Born in 1910 to an extremely segregated Selma, Cooper grew up barely even knowing black Americans could vote. Selma fought against civil rights to the point it almost looked like slavery. It was when she moved to Kentucky at 14 to be with her sick sister that Cooper saw black Americans exercising this right. She moved back to Selma in the 1960s to care for her sick mother, coming face to face with harsh discrimination once more. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee came to Selma around the same time and started urging black citizens to fight for their voting right. Cooper participated in grueling demonstrations, even losing her job for it, and is known for punching Jim Clark after he poked her neck with his baton. Jim Clark was notorious for aggressively, sometimes violently, resisting civil rights movements. Cooper remained active and was a key role in the passing of the Civil Rights Act. In June 2010, she celebrated her 100th birthday and died later on that year.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/11/21

 James Armistead Lafayette (1748 - 1830)

Born in 1748, Armistead was raised in slavery in New Kent, Virginia. In 1781, Armistead joined the Revolutionary War in the Continental Army under Marquis de Lafayette. Armistead posed as a runaway slave hired by the British to infiltrate British General Charles Cornwallis' headquarters. Benedict Arnold, a turncoat soldier, helped Armistead learn more about the British and helped him return to America undetected. Armistead was now free to travel back and forth between American and British soldiers and helped stopped 10,000 British reinforcements. This was a major aide in Lafayette's and Washington's in Yorktown, leading to the British defeat. However, Armistead was not eligible for emancipation under the Act of 1783 for slave-soldiers because he counted as a "slave-spy." He sent a petition to the Virginia General Assembly and Marquis de Lafayette helped by writing a recommendation for his freedom. In 1787, Armistead was freed and as a thank you to Lafayette, he adopted his surname. James Armistead Lafayette moved a few miles away, bought a few acres of land, and started a family. He farmed until his death in 1830.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/10/21

 Claudette Colvin (1939 - Present Day)

Born in 1939 in Montgomery, Alabama, Colvin grew up in a poor, heavily segregated Alabama. She knew firsthand the injustices of the world and quickly grew fed up with it. Day after day, Colvin relied on the city bus to get to school and back. On her way home, March 2, 1955, a few white passengers had boarded and the bus driver told her and three others to get up, despite there being other available seats. Colvin refused to get up, resulting in an arrest by two aggressive police officers. The African American community was outraged and fought for her--but she was largely swept under the rug because she didn't have "good hair" or "good skin." Also, she later became pregnant as a teenager. However, she and 3 other women teamed up in Browder v. Gayle, declaring the unconstitutionality of Montgomery's segregation.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/9/21

 

Shirley Chisholm (1924 - 2005)
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1924, Chisholm was a first-generation American and graduated from Brooklyn College cum laude. Despite an interest in politics, Chisholm worked as a nursery school teacher and earned a degree in childhood education from Columbia University in 1951. She joined and was active in the League of Women Voters, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Urban League, and the Democratic Party. In 1964, Chisholm ran for and became the first African American in the New York State legislature. Then, in 1968, she won a seat in Congress representing New York's 12th congressional district. She became "Fighting Shirley" and introduced more than 50 pieces of legislature for equality by race, gender, status, etc. She co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971. In 1972, she requested presidential nomination from the Democratic Party and was turned down. Discrimination followed and her campaign was severely underfunded and underrepresented. Still, Chisholm garnered 10% of the delegated votes. 1977 became the first African American woman to ever serve on the House Rules Committee. In 1983, Chisholm retired from Congress and taught at Mount Holyoke College and co-founded the National Political Congress of Black Women. In 1991, she moved to Florida and eventually died of ill health.

Black History Month - Erased Heroes 2/8/21

 Cathay Williams (1842 - 1893)

Born to an enslaved mother and free father in 1844(possibly 1842), Williams was a house slave on the Johnson plantation in Jefferson City, Missouri. In 1861, Union soldiers occupied the area, and Williams was taken in as "contraband." Captured enslaved peoples were forced to work in military support roles such as nurses, cooks, laundresses, etc. Williams was a cook and washerwoman under General Philip Sheridan. In 1866, Williams registered in the Army under the pseudonym William Cathay due to the prohibition of women in service and was assigned to the 38th U.S. Infantry Regiment. Shortly after she contracted smallpox and it was in her frequent hospitalization that Williams was discovered as a woman. She was discharged in 1868. In 1876, her story as a female African American in the Army was published in St. Louis Daily Times. Williams was denied military pension in 1890 and in 1893, she was diagnosed with neuralgia, diabetes, she was amputated, and now needed a crutch. Still, she was denied pension and died shortly. She is now the only recorded female African American Buffalo Soldier.