!!! Happy Black History Month 2014 !!!

[Alnitak]

Gwendolyn Britt sponsored marriage equality in Maryland and sadly died before she could see her dream fulfilled. Long an advocate for civil rights and Freedom Rider. RIP

 

[Gentleheart]

Black women who were lynched in America

this is just a 'small sample', I'm sure.

Let's have a moment of silence for these individuals who endured a life of agony, pain and hardships that many of us could never imagine. Reading stories like this remind me to be grateful that I live in this day and age (things could be a lot worse). I could not imagine living in a time when it seemed as if the entire world was against you...a time with no justice, and little hope.

mad respect and remembrance to everyone in that article and each person who suffered a similar fate.

 

[LilBit]

I just cannot make myself go into a soul food restaurant.

Mildred "Mama Dip" Council refers to the fare in her Chapel Hill restaurant as "country cooking" or "Southern cooking." I've liked the food the few times I went there, but it's not terribly vegetarian-friendly, so I've only sampled a small portion of the menu.

I'd also like to recognize Walter Francis White (not the Breaking Bad guy). He's most well-known for his work with the NAACP, but I know him best as one of the authors on whom I wrote my M.A. thesis.

 

[Gentleheart]

14-year-old George Stinney executed in South Carolina in 1944...

Convicted of the first-degree murder of two pre-teen white girls

so wrong, and I'm side-eyeing the ENTIRE ordeal. Justice was not served for any person of color at that time. This child was wronged several times over.

Rest in Peace, George. You're remembered.

 

[MissAnne]

14-year-old George Stinney executed in South Carolina in 1944...

Convicted of the first-degree murder of two pre-teen white girls

so wrong, and I'm side-eyeing the ENTIRE ordeal. Justice was not served for any person of color at that time. This child was wronged several times over.

Rest in Peace, George. You're remembered.

I heard that they may be re-opening the case and trying to clear his name. Its all bittersweet though, but definitely worth a try.

 

[MissAnne]

mad respect and remembrance to everyone in that article and each person who suffered a similar fate.

YES! You know that those mobs had no respect for human life if they can even think about lynching a pregnant woman. I just....

Thanks for posting this.

And Thank you, thank you also to Lilbit, Alnitak, Cupid, EastofEden, Buzzer (I know that Im missing folks...sorry, but I appreciate you.) Thank you for keeping this thread going.

 

[Alnitak]

Civil rights unsung hero Bayard Rustin died in 1987 when I was six months old. He was MLK's right hand man. Without him there wouldn't have been a SCLC or a March on Washington. He was also gay and King didn't care. Others did, and that's why he is not well remembered.

In 1986 he said this:

Today, blacks are no longer the litmus paper or the barometer of social change. Blacks are in every segment of society and there are laws that help to protect them from racial discrimination. The new "niggers" are gays.... It is in this sense that gay people are the new barometer for social change.... The question of social change should be framed with the most vulnerable group in mind: gay people.

 

[MissAnne]

GLAAD is making stuff so easy for me:

Beautiful. Brave.

Legendary women's college basketball player who stands 6 feet 8 inches tall, joined the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury in 2013.In 2009, she excelled in high school basketball and she was named the #1 Women's Basketball Player in the Country.

In an interview with SI.com on April 17, 2013, Griner publicly came out as lesbian. She also revealed in the interview that she was bullied as a child, explaining, "It was hard. Just being picked on for being different. Just being bigger, my sexuality, everything". She said she is very passionate about working with children in order to bring attention to the issue of bullying, particularly against LGBT people

 

[xbuzzerx]

YES! You know that those mobs had no respect for human life if they can even think about lynching a pregnant woman. I just....

Thanks for posting this.

And Thank you, thank you also to Lilbit, Alnitak, Cupid, EastofEden, Buzzer (I know that Im missing folks...sorry, but I appreciate you.) Thank you for keeping this thread going.

THank you for creating it.

 

[pat grimshaw]

Faith Bandler, born 1918

'I'm right and I know I'm right.'

'Happiness is a high price to pay for Independence'.

 

[miaedu]

Marsha P. Johnson was a revolutionary trans activist, Stonewall instigator, Andy Warhol model, drag queen, prostitute, and Saint, as well as a downtown NYC fixture from the 1960’s through her too-soon demise in 1992. Johnson persevered through a life embodied by her middle initial P, which stood for “Pay It No Mind.”

http://www.justusboys.com/forum/threads/418485-Pay-It-No-Mind-The-Life-and-Times-of-Marsha-P-Johnson

 

[pat grimshaw]

She was big face on the big screen

 

[MissAnne]

The kids at school are doing Black History Month reports and I just have to say....it makes me so proud.

I love Black History Month.

 

[miaedu]

Sylvester James, Jr. (September 6, 1947 – December 16, 1988), better known as Sylvester, was an American disco and soul singer-songwriter. Known for his flamboyant and androgynous appearance, he was often described as a drag queen, although he repeatedly rejected such a description. Responsible for a string of hit singles in the late 1970s, Sylvester became known in the United States under the moniker of the "Queen of Disco."

Born in Watts, Los Angeles, Sylvester developed a love of singing through the gospel choirs of his Pentecostal church. Leaving the congregation after being persecuted for his homosexuality, he was an early founder of a group of black cross-dressers and trans women known as The Disquotays, who disbanded in 1970. Moving to San Francisco, he embraced the counterculture and joined drag troupe The Cockettes, eventually producing solo shows heavily influenced by female blues and jazz singers like Billie Holiday and Josephine Baker. During their critically panned tour of New York City, Sylvester left the Cockettes to focus on his solo career.

Fronting Sylvester and his Hot Band, he released two commercially unsuccessful albums on Blue Thumb Records in 1973. Gaining new backing singers in the form of Two Tons O' Fun and Jeanie Tracy, he obtained a recording contract with Harvey Fuqua of Fantasy Records. His first solo album, Sylvester (1977), was a moderate success, and was followed by acclaimed disco album Step II (1978), which spawned the hit singles "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" and "Dance (Disco Heat)." He recorded four more albums, including a live album, with Fantasy Records before signing to Megatone Records, the dance-oriented label founded by friend and collaborator Patrick Cowley, where he recorded four more albums, including the Cowley penned and produced hit Hi-NRG track "Do Ya Wanna Funk."

An activist who campaigned against the spread of HIV/AIDS, Sylvester died from complications arising from the virus in 1988.

On September 20, 2004, Sylvester's anthem record, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)," was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame. A year later, on September 19, 2005, Sylvester himself was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame for his achievement as an artist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_(singer)

http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Sylvester/Syl_Bio.html

http://www.officialsylvester.com

 

[Alnitak]

Mildred Loving was actually arrested with her husband Richard in Virginia for marrying in 1958. The charge against them was "cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth."

The trial judge said:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

As punishment, they were banished from their home state and waited nine years as their case winded its way to the Supreme Court, where in 1967 they had their justice.

 

[Gentleheart]

Dr. Ronald McNair. What an inspiration!

 

[Alnitak]

28 Black People You Probably Don’t Know About (But You Should)

One for every day of February

There have only been four state governors of African-American descent. Pinchback was the first. 118 years passed before the second black governor took office. Also, he could have lived a life of privilege but instead, he celebrated his ancestry and likely cost himself an illustrious political career.

P.B.S. Pinchback

Canada’s first black doctor was also a surgeon during the U.S. Civil War. He was present at Abraham Lincoln’s death bed.

Anderson Ruffin Abbott

Nash became the leader of the Nashville lunch counter sit-ins. After their arrest, the protesters chose Nash to appear before the judge. They refused to pay their bail because paying would have been an admission of guilt and contributed more money to the efforts to disenfranchise black citizens.
Nash confronted the mayor of Nashville on the city steps. She asked him, “Do you feel it is wrong to discriminate against a person solely on the basis of their race or color?” The mayor responded that he did. Three weeks later, Nashville lunch counters were integrated.

Diane Nash

 

[eastofeden]

Tracy Chapman... a breakthrough on so many levels for so many reasons. She has a love affair with Alice Walker and the reason I love her is she doesn't feel the need to qualify her sexuality to anyone or explain anything...AND she released one of the most brilliant albums of all time...

 

[Alnitak]

My final entry for Black History Month 2014 will be about Dr. King, universally revered today, but despised by racist whites and even looked down upon by Malcolm X and other radical elements of the Civil Rights Movement.

The head FBI's Counter Intelligence Program called him the nation's "most dangerous Negro," and accused him of fomenting communism. Director J. Edgar Hoover spread rumors about Dr. King around the White House, basing them on wire tap recordings of Dr. King now sealed by court order until 2027. In all likelihood there is nothing unflattering to look forward to...

Ultimately Dr. King's steady hand won out, and his legacy rises above those who tried to destroy him.

 

[MissAnne]

So tomorrow is the last day of Black History Month. This month always goes by so fast ! Thank you to everyone that contributed to the thread. I didn't post as much as I had wanted to, but Im happy with the information that was posted.

Im so proud.