“We want to reach a time when there won’t be Black History Month, when black history will be so integrated into American history that we study it along with every other history,” she said in an interview from her home in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Wednesday. “That’s the hope, and we have to continue to work until that is true, until that becomes a fact.”

In the meantime, she said, she will continue to put the history out there.

Angelou is hosting an hour-long syndicated radio special on the civil rights era that will air throughout this month on about 200 public radio stations across the country. Her special features Grammy award-winning singer Mary J. Blige, Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, economist and Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux, and professor Nikky Finney, winner of the 2011 National Book Award for poetry.

See our Black History GAME CHANGERS for 2012 HERE!

Angelou, 83, said she hopes the program sends a message that “the work of making our country more than it is today” is unfinished.

“Our work still remains and we have to do the best we can do,” she said. “The young people have a charge to keep, they have responsibility and some don’t know that, or maybe some have heard it but don’t recognize it.”

The program details Lewis’ work as a Freedom Rider, Finney’s tribute to late civil rights activist Rosa Parks, Young’s rise from small-town pastor to ambassador and Malveaux’s involvement with the Black Panther movement in her youth.

The work and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. are also discussed in detail. Angelou, who vocally denounced a truncated inscription of a King quote at his new memorial in Washington as taking the slain leader’s words out of context, said she was pleased to hear it will be changed by the National Park Service.

That decision, she said, showed that the park service had “the courage to say, ‘Hmm, thank you for correcting me.’”

“The artists the sculptor and the architect had the right to put on their work what they wanted to place,” Angelou said. “I am a friend of Martin Luther King and a mentee and so I had the right to say what I thought. That’s all. And I’m glad that it will be rearranged.”

Blige, younger than Angelou’s other guests, speaks of how she was inspired by female civil rights figures Coretta Scott King, Ruby Dee and Angelou herself.

“She’s just as charming as I would wish for a daughter of mine to be and just as dedicated to her field, and to be the best she can be,” Angelou said of the singer. “Young people fascinate me, so I try to stay in current with what they’re doing and what they’re saying.”

Angelou, who has authored more than 30 books and earned three Grammys for the spoken word, recently was presented with the BET Honors Literary Arts Award by first lady Michelle Obama and entertainers Cicely Tyson, Queen Latifah, Jill Scott and Willow Smith. The awards show will air on Black Entertainment Television on Feb. 13.

“My heart almost burst when Mrs. Obama came out and spoke so highly of my work and what it had meant to her and President Obama over the years,” Angelou said.

The famed poet also quelled controversy after she expressed her disappointment in rapper Common using profanity, namely the n-word, and the b-word in reference to women, on his current album released in December, which features Angelou on the intro “The Dreamer.”

Angelou says she doesn’t support use of those words, but she still respects the rapper.

“I said I’m disappointed, but on the other hand, he’s a fine artist and a good man as far as I can see,” she said.

“So he uses the word this week. Maybe next week he won’t, and I’ll be smiling widely.”

See our Black History GAME CHANGERS for 2012 HERE!

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will mark Black History Month at the White House with a celebration of Motown music.

The White House says performers will include Smokey Robinson, Sheryl Crow and John Legend. The Feb. 24 event will be taped and broadcast on PBS March 1.

The Motown event is the latest in the music series “In Performance at the White House.” The Obamas have hosted musical tributes to several genres, including jazz, country and Broadway. Mrs. Obama often hosts daytime programs for students to educate them about the genres and encourage involvement in the arts.

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African American writer, educator, and activist Dr. Maya Angelou is scheduled to host her first-ever public radio program in honor of this year’s Black History Month. The program, called ‘A Black History Month Special’ will be broadcast free of charge on all Public Radio affiliated stations.

Intimate and provocative stories, poems and conversations will illuminate African American history including comedy, film and family life, rounding out the hour with memories of “mother and sister friend,” the late civil rights activist Dorothy Height. The producer of the show is RCW Media Productions.

On comedy Maya Angelou observes, “Often in the black culture it is said, we laughed to keep from crying.” Joined by comedian Chris Rock, they discuss Rock’s childhood in Brooklyn, rise to Saturday Night Live and his view on comedy. As Rock defines the comic currents of our time, Maya Angelou offers historical perspective, reflecting on the 1930′s and 1940′s including Dusty Fletcher’s “Open the Door Richard” and the brilliance of early comedians who literally set the stage for African American comedy.

A film director in her own right of Down in the Delta (1988), Angelou explores African American films with a focus on the work of director Lee Daniels. Daniels and Angelou discuss the success of his movie “Precious” and how work from this filmmaker can impact and change dialogue in American Culture.

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In an op-ed that appeared in today’s NY Daily News, writer Ross Rosenfeld said it is time to get rid of Black History Month.

Rosenfeld claims that Black History Month does more to hurt race relations than improve them.

He reasoned that instead of teaching children to acknowledge people by their color, we have to teach them not to focus on that; and in the words of Martin Luther King Jr, focus on “the content of their character.”

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Though it was a controversial era for African-Americans, Blaxploitation cinema was a creatively rich period that broke down racial barriers for many black actors and filmmakers. Names like Richard Roundtree, Pam Grier, and Melvin Van Peebles became household names and showed an empowered side to African-American lives. Though the NAACP would strongly oppose the images depicted in many Blaxploitation films, if it wasn’t for them, the idea of a black superhero might not have ever existed.

1. The films showed Hollywood the power of the Black dollar at the box office and paved the way for a generation of black filmmakers and films with all black casts.
2. Classic slang words and phrases like, “Mack”, “cold blooded”, and “solid”.
3. The Man was always white.
4. The best soundtracks.
5. “Across 110th Street” by Bobby Womack
6. “Super Fly” by Curtis Mayfield
7. Unapologetic use of white ethnic slurs like the word “honky”
8. Athletes turned actors, and good ones, e.g. Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, Bernie Casey
9. Gordon Parks, director of Shaft and the sequels, Shaft’s Big Score and Shaft In Africa
10. Films set in black cities like Oakland (Hit Man); Detroit (Detroit 9000); Houston (Sugar Hill)

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Black History Month comes around every February; and every year, the media provide you countless commemorations, celebrations and presentations.

But it’s your history; shouldn’t you decide how to celebrate it?

BlackPlanet is giving its members a unique opportunity to design their own Black History Month campaign.  We want to celebrate the month your way.  Be as creative as you want to be—suggest a way to honor our rich history through a online or live event.

Just click the link here before October 15 to get started.

Black people are diverse and unique all over the world. We speak different languages, believe in different faiths, and have completely different outlooks on life.

Attributing a single characteristic to the Black race as a whole can be as inaccurate as attributing one characteristic to the entire human race; whereas living, loving, and dying are possibly the only three that extend to the entire human race.

I have compiled a list of 10 things that unite, but don’t define Black people as a race.

1.    Pride

Black pride is the appreciation for the past, the present, and future of the people. It isn’t discretely defined as celebrating Black History Month or knowing Black history. It’s the lifestyle that many live day-to-day or even the appreciation and support of their race. Just as pride for your country or profession bring people together, the pride of accomplishments bring Black people together.

2.    Soul

The irony of the word “soul” is that hundreds of years ago it was taught that Black people didn’t have souls. Today, Black people define the word “soul.”  Many black people embody a phenomena many people can’t explain or emulate, but can recognize and feel when they see it, hear it, or experience it in any form. I must point out, not all black people have soul, and the lack thereof does not make them less black. Call it soul, swagger, or charisma; Black people possess this quality that originates from the Black experience.

3.    Pain

Whether you are Black, White, Asian, or Hispanic, funerals bring the family together as death unexpectedly unites people. We are united by different histories of pain. Historians typically desensitize and de-personify tragic events by describing people as merely numbers. Thousands of slaves were captured, thousands of Jews were killed. It all boils down to the fact that thousands of people like you, me, or your family were killed. That’s pain that unites.

4.    Success

Whether you are a high school graduate or president of a corporation, you will most likely gravitate to people who share your accomplishments. There are many levels of success black people attain, and on every level of your climb to success, you will unite with those who aspire to your level of success.

5.   Aspirations For The Future

Sometimes we get caught in defining Black culture as what has happened in the past, when we should be looking to the future. Black people are always looking towards the future. A few years ago, many aspired to be the first black president, or even thinking of changing society so that it would be better for their own children.

The list continues after the gallery

Take a look at the Top 10 That Unite Black People gallery:

6.    Welcoming of The Unknown

Black people have historically been a welcoming, xenophellic people. A race that is open to new cultures, people and trends. Black people extend their families by inviting people to be god-parents or fictive kin (pretend aunts, uncles, and others who are close to their family). The ability to adapt and welcome people allows Black people to understand others who are different and have compassion for Blacks they might not personally know.

7.    Religion

Religion brings millions of black people together. The Christian and Islamic faiths account for a majority of the religious populations in the world. It is a foundation in most societies and probably unites Black communities the most.

8.    Origin

No matter where you go, you can appreciate meeting someone from your hometown or country. Many Black people will travel to a distant state or country for a family reunion or cultural parade.  I know many people in college who picked their school because it was far away from their hometown. Ironically, when they arrived to college, they mainly befriended people from their own hometown.

9.    Art

Black artistic expression has influenced music, movies, and American culture itself. Black art connects people’s mind’s, bodies and soul; for example, it has created music sub-cultures like Reggae, Hip-Hop, R&B, Rap, Soca, Jazz, and Soul.

10.    Dialect

How we speak and what language we speak connects people. Black people speak all types of languages and have many unique accents. While there is no such thing as “talking Black,” there are certain mannerisms, accents, and voice tone sounds that are unique to Black peoples’ heritage and origin.

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LOS ANGELES – Three Los Angeles elementary school teachers accused of giving children portraits of O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman and RuPaul to carry in a Black History Month parade have been removed from their classrooms, a school district spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Children from other classes at the school displayed photos of more appropriate black role models, such as Nelson Mandela, Harriet Tubman and President Barack Obama, Los Angeles Unified School District spokeswoman Gayle Pollard-Terry said.

The incident occurred Friday at Wadsworth Avenue Elementary School in South Los Angeles, where the student body is more than 90 percent Latino.

District Superintendent Ramon Cortines placed the teachers — all white men who teach first, second and fourth grades — on administrative leave on Tuesday while an investigation is conducted, Pollard-Terry said.

“The superintendent will not let anyone make a mockery out of Black History Month,” she said.

The issue was brought to district officials’ attention by the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP after the organization received a complaint early Monday, chapter President Leon Jenkins said.

Jenkins said he felt the teachers acted in concert to mock black heroes and children’s innocence.

“These are not the people we want our young people to emulate or believe these people represent the best of the African-American community,” Jenkins said. “It’s hard for the NAACP to believe this was a mistake.”

Simpson, a former NFL star, is serving a nine-year prison sentence for robbery and kidnapping. He was famously acquitted in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife and her friend.

RuPaul is a drag queen performer. Rodman, a former NBA star, has gained notoriety for bad boy behavior on and off the basketball court.

Some parents at the school on Wednesday said the issue was overblown.

Sharon Tinson, who has two daughters at the school and attended Friday’s celebration, said she had been surprised to see Simpson displayed in the parade. But she noted that Simpson, like Rodman, was a great athlete before falling from grace. RuPaul simply has an alternative lifestyle, she added.

She noted the event also included a tribute to pop singer Michael Jackson, who has also had a checkered career.

“I kind of laughed at it,” Tinson said. “I wasn’t offended.”

Gabriel Blackson, whose son attends the school, said he also took a larger view of the ruckus.

“These guys were heroes before. People make mistakes,” he said. “I think they show kids they can be somebody, to push them to be somebody.”

Jenkins said he is calling for the teachers to be fired.

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“I could not have told you then that some sun
would come,
somewhere over the road,
would come evoking the diamonds
of you, the Black continent–
somewhere over the road.
You would not have believed my mouth.”

The above stanza echoes, poet and author Gwendolyn Brooks’ confidence in the potential of African-Americans. In 1950, Brooks was the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize. Brooks did more than illuminate the Black experience; she transcended racial boundaries, paving the way for transformative Black figures that would come after her.
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Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas on June 7, 1917. Six weeks later, her parents, David and Keziah Brooks, moved to Chicago, Illinois. As a teen, attending a leading white high school, Brooks was no stranger to racism and prejudice. She transferred from the all-black Wendell Phillips to the integrated Englewood High School. She graduated from Wilson Junior College in 1936. Brooks developed profound insight on racial dynamics, which later influenced her work.

At 13, Brooks’ first poem, “Eventide,” debuted in the American Childhood Magazine. By 16, the shy Brooks had compiled 75 published pieces. As a teen, she met two of Harlem Renaissances iconic poets, Langston Hughes and James W. Johnson, who encouraged her to read modern poetry extensively.

In 1945, Brooks won critical praise for her first published book of poetry in, “A Street in Bronzeville.” By the end of the decade, she had become a Guggenheim Fellow, and in 1950, Brooks became the first African-American to win the Pulizer Prize, for her book “Annie Allen.”

In 1962, John F. Kennedy invited Brooks to read at the Library of Congress poetry festival, she later began teaching creative writing at several notable institutions.

1967 marked a pivotal change in Brooks career; she attended a Black Writers’ Conference at Fisk University, where she said she rediscovered her Blackness. This consciousness is notably portrayed in “In The Mecca,” a long poem about a mother’s desperate search for her missing child in a Chicago housing project.

Gwendolyn Brooks was made poet laureate of Illinois in 1968, a title that she held until her death, of cancer, on December 3rd 2000, at age 83. Brooks’ resilience lives on far beyond Chicago’s South Side. Whether it was via ballads and sonnets or blues and rhythms in free verse, the poet’s words reverberate loudly. She once said that in order to create “bigness” one doesn’t have to create an epic. “Bigness,” Brooks proclaimed, “Can be found in a little haiku, five syllables, seven syllables.”

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THE STORYTELLER: Zora Neale Hurston

THE FIRST CHAMPION: Jack Johnson

As Black History Month comes to an end, it is important that we remember the African-Americans who fought and died for America during its many wars. Few people know that the man credited to be the first one to die in the Revolutionary War was a Black man by the name of Crispus Attucks. During the War of 1812, Black soldiers helped defeat the British in New Orleans.

By the end of the Civil War, 10% of the union forces were Black. The 54th regiment, which was an all Black fighting unit, was immortalized in the movie “Glory” and fought a number of important battles, eventually losing more than half of their troops. Two of Frederick Douglass’s sons also fought in the Civil War and Harriet Tubman severed as a scout for the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers.

During World War I, Black soldiers were given full citizenship, although they still fought in segregated units. Many credit Black soldiers for bringing Jazz music to Europe and France.

In World War II, Black soldiers had an increased presence. The NAACP pushed for the War Department to form the all-black 99th Pursuit Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Corps, otherwise known as the Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee airmen were the only U.S. unit to sink a German destroyer. Like the 54th Regiment, the Tuskegee Airmen were immortalized in a movie of the same name.

The Marines first opened themselves to Black volunteers in 1942. To the dismay of the Marines only 63 African Americans joined.

Black officer, Lieutenant Colonel Campbell C. Johnson, decided that he would actively recruit Black Marines. Due to his efforts African Americans began joining the Marines at a rate of more than 1,000 a month in 1943.

Despite the opposition to the Vietnam war from Black leaders and athletes like Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali, many Black soldiers both volunteered and were drafted to fight in the Vietnam war. Colin Powell joined the ROTC at City College and would go on to be a Captain in Vietnam, later becoming a major. Powell would go on to be National Security Adviser (1987–1989), Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Army Forces Command (1989) and as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993) and eventually as Secretary of State for George W. Bush in 2001.

Another Black Vietnam veteran who would go on to success was Col. Charles F. Bolden. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1968, he became a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, flying over 100 sorties in Vietnam. Bolden’s flying skills made him an ideal candidate for NASA, which he joined as an astronaut in 1981. After a long and impressive career as an astronaut, President Barack Obama name Bolden the head of NASA.

The University of California, San Diego has halted funding for student media after a TV segment ridiculed black students outraged by a party mocking Black History Month.

The head of the campus Associated Students froze funding for 33 media outlets after one outlet, The Koala, ran a student TV episode last week calling black students ungrateful and using a derogatory term for blacks.

Associated Students President Utsav Gupta says he wants a timeout until the campus can craft a new policy on student-funded media.

The Koala, which has a reputation for airing offensive material, made fun of reaction to an off-campus fraternity party this month. The “Compton Cookout” urged partygoers to dress as ghetto stereotypes to commemorate Black History Month.

Here’s What The Koala Said On Their Website

The Koala would like to condemn the organizers of the Compton Cookout. If history has shown us anything, you need more black people at your party to have enough black-on-black violence to actually justify the name “Compton.” Shame on you. SHAME.

Here’s a Koala Member’s Apology

“I offer my apologies,” said Wes Field, a second year student at UCSD and an editor with the Koala. “Like, I don’t stand behind statements that were made and I understand why the outrage. Like, I get it.”

Field is disgusted with the action’s of Kris Gregorian, the Koala’s editor.”We run a show,” Field explained to San Diego 6. “We do it every Thursday night and it’s basically just a talk show.”

But there was nothing basic about last Thursday’s edition. That’s when Field says Gregorian went in front of the camera and said, “You should be thankful you ungrateful n******.”

The NAACP Addressed The Issue

Earlier today, the NAACP joined a chorus of university officials, students and legislators who have condemned the party.

“This event was intended and did expose the true feeling of a group of people, who either are racist, who acted out their beliefs, or people who say they are not racist, but engaged in acts that were racist,” said Leon Jenkins, president of the Los Angeles branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The NAACP maintains that if the university does not sanction those involved, it will “send a less than clear message that such future reckless or intentional behavior will not be tolerated, which may embolden the perpetrators, and future perpetrators’ beliefs that they will not suffer any serious consequences concerning acts of discrimination and racism, which may cause such actors to act out their racist tendencies in the future.”

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Ralph Bunche was an American diplomat and political scientist whose work on domestic policy and foreign affairs shaped the struggle for human rights. Bunche was the first African-American to win the Nobel Peace Prize. His consistent avowal of African rights gave American statesmen the example they needed to pursue civil rights during segregation.

Ralph Bunche was born in Detroit, Michigan on August 7th, 1904. His family later moved to Los Angeles, California where he would enroll in several schools during his peripatetic childhood. Bunche studied at the University of California, Southern Branch and graduated with high honors there at the age of 23. It was the second time he had served as class valedictorian, the first he held at Jefferson High School years prior. He set high standards for himself as a varsity basketball athlete and budding scholar. Upon graduation from college, Bunche took a job as a janitor and later a teacher to save money for his graduate studies. He received his Master’s in 1928 while working as a professor at Howard University; he would later move on to Harvard University to pursue a doctoral fellowship in International Relations. His forays into diplomatic affairs centered largely on the politics of the African continent during the heights of colonial rule. The Rosenwald Fellowship allowed him to examine the social institutions of Togoland and Dahomey. His work was so thorough that he was honored with the Toppan Prize for outstanding work in social studies.

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But Bunche’s career was not about winning awards; it was about defining the problem of race across the African diaspora and finding solutions to the nagging iniquities in the global conscience. In his quest to offer workable solutions, Bunche served as an educational leader on the New York City Board of Education, Professor Emeritus at Howard University, trustee at Oberlin College and several other posts where he could disseminate the information he collected. His first book <em>A World View of Race</em> was the premier sociological work to approach the issue of race from a wide-angled view. It solidified his place as a scholar, and challenged his home country’s political order by comparing the injustices abroad to the seething conflicts in America. His early academic work informed his civic duties as a member of Roosevelt’s esteemed Black Cabinet, preliminary planner for the United Nations and diplomat in the Arab-Israeli mediation process. As he accumulated experience with world issues, he was apt to challenge the segregationist policies of the South. He refused an appointment as assistant Secretary of State under Harry Truman because of his opposition to the unfair laws still practiced in parts of the country. Nevertheless, he pushed forward where he could to promote world peace.

Bunche was often criticized by new guard leaders of the Black Power Movement for his government loyalty. Although he was working within a broken system, he toppled some of the powerful biases that held Blacks in a lower position for so long.

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THE WOMAN’S WOMAN: Sojourner Truth

THE ACTIVIST: Fannie Lou Hamer

Even with slavery so deeply entrenched in the American psyche during the 19th century, it was difficult to ignore a voice as strong and as bold as the one of Sojourner Truth. An American slave who actively supported abolitionist movements and became a staunch women’s rights activist, Truth’s message of equality and freedom, of compassion and the power of civic activism spoke to legions of Blacks and Whites, alike. Her legacy of civic participation and grassroots organizing became a cornerstone of the philosophies that guided many of today’s Black leaders into lives of public service.

Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in 1797 in New York. Originally Isabella Baumfree, she grew up with a dozen siblings under the mastership of a Dutch colonel. After the colonel’s death and the subsequent property shuffling, Truth’s family was separated. Approximately 9 years old at the time, was sold to a man named John Neely who beat her with metal rods and raped her daily.

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Truth was sold a few more times before she finally escaped the tyranny of slavery in 1826. After changing her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843 she became a Methodist and began preaching about the need to abolish slavery.

The Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Massachusetts was an organization founded by abolitionists that also worked on women’s rights, peace, and religious tolerance. In 1844, Truth joined their cause and learned about the virtues of pacifism and the importance of pursuing peace alongside fellow members Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison.

The powerful ideologies of equality and freedom that Truth had learned and internalized during her time with the Northampton Association manifested themselves in her now-famous 1851 speech, “Ain’t I A Woman?” in which she laid her rights as a woman in this country alongside her white counterparts at the Ohio Women’s Rights convention.

Her belief that Blacks and Whites in America had to work together to achieve peace and equality informed her strategies while working for the Union army during the Civil War. Truth recruited Black soldiers to fight in the war and while working in the Freedman’s Hospital in Washington D.C., she would lay the groundwork for the principles of desegregation espoused during the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century.

Her fight for the dignity, humanity and self-respect of African-Americans allowed for the paradigm shift required to eventually bring us to the inauguration of America’s first Black president.

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THE LIBERATOR: Harriet Tubman

THE ACTIVIST: Fannie Lou Hamer

From KTLA

SAN DIEGO — Officials at UC San Diego are condemning a ghetto-themed party organized by fraternity students to mock Black History Month.

A Facebook posting advertising Monday’s ‘Compton Cookout’ invited people to a condominium complex off-campus.

The invitation urged all participants to wear chains, rapper-style urban clothing by makers such as FUBU and speak very loudly.

Female participants were encouraged to be “ghetto chicks” with gold teeth, cheap clothes and “short, nappy hair.”

The invitation said the party would serve watermelon, chicken, malt liquor, cheap beer and a purple sugar-water concoction called “dat Purple Drank.”

Click Here For More

Read The Invitation To The “Compton Cook Out,” As Posted On Facebook:

“February marks a very important month in American society. No, i’m not referring to Valentines day or Presidents day. I’m talking about Black History month. As a time to celebrate and in hopes of showing respect, the Regents community cordially invites you to its very first Compton Cookout.

For guys: I expect all males to be rockin Jersey’s, stuntin’ up in ya White T (XXXL smallest size acceptable), anything FUBU, Ecko, Rockawear, High/low top Jordans or Dunks, Chains, Jorts, stunner shades, 59 50 hats, Tats, etc.

For girls: For those of you who are unfamiliar with ghetto chicks-Ghetto chicks usually have gold teeth, start fights and drama, and wear cheap clothes – they consider Baby Phat to be high class and expensive couture. They also have short, nappy hair, and usually wear cheap weave, usually in bad colors, such as purple or bright red. They look and act similar to Shenaynay, and speak very loudly, while rolling their neck, and waving their finger in your face. Ghetto chicks have a very limited vocabulary, and attempt to make up for it, by forming new words, such as “constipulated”, or simply cursing persistently, or using other types of vulgarities, and making noises, such as “hmmg!”, or smacking their lips, and making other angry noises,grunts, and faces. The objective is for all you lovely ladies to look, act, and essentially take on these “respectable” qualities throughout the day.

Several of the regents condos will be teaming up to house this monstrosity, so travel house to house and experience the various elements of life in the ghetto.

We will be serving 40′s, Kegs of Natty, dat Purple Drank- which consists of sugar, water, and the color purple , chicken, coolade, and of course Watermelon. So come one and come all, make ya self before we break ya self, keep strapped, get yo shine on, and join us for a day party to be remembered- or not. ”

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From The Root:

It’s Black History Month yet again. With several years of university teaching under my belt, I’ve begun to wonder what black history my students have actually learned during this month or any month before entering college. It’s clear the students know a version of black history that moves rather quickly from slavery to Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement to the election of Barack Obama.

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They describe black history with words, such as “real,” “struggle,” and “overcoming.” “Real” captures the racial authenticity that privileges those stories, which emphasize the ways in which black people have fought back against an oppressive system through invention, revolution, and political activism. What the students have learned seems to suggest that a history of the black experience documents how black Americans have “kept it real” in spite of racism.

After numerous classroom discussions, I’ve come to understand that though this “real” history is important, it overshadows the moments where resistance and activism are not obvious concerns. There is a black history that exists outside of the “real” story. Here, I am reminded of 18th century poet, Phillis Wheatley whose poems possess no apparent literary activism. Her well-formed elegies barely discuss slavery and certainly do not seem to oppose its practice. Before we place her outside of black history or chastise her lack of racial consciousness, we must recognize that Wheatley may offer an alternative story. Let’s assume that Wheatley’s intention was not to inaugurate this “real” history. Let’s concede that Wheatley does not keep real the narrative of struggle and resistance that has become synonymous with blackness.

Click here to read more.

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OPINION: Black History Month Shortchanges Us

OPINION: Why We Still Need Black History Month

In the 1960s, being Black and exercising your right to vote meant losing your job, being beaten or even lynched. But for Fannie Lou Hamer, voting rights activist and civil rights leader, there was no point in being scared. Fearless, she was among the first to organize voter registration drives throughout the South during the Civil Rights struggle, and considered one of the best organizers of the entire movement. For her efforts, Hamer received death threats. She was shot at, jailed, brutally beaten, and fired from the plantation where she worked. She was “tired of being sick and tired,” Hamer said. Thanks to Hamer’s relentless commitment, not only can African-Americans vote with no restraints, they eventually went to the voting booths in droves and successfully elected the first African-American President.

Fannie Lou Hamer was born in Montgomery County, Mississippi on October 6, 1917. She was the youngest of 20 children, born to sharecroppers Jim and Ella Townsend. Hamer began helping her parents in the fields when she was six-years-old. At 12, she dropped out of school to work the fields full-time.

In 1962, Hamer volunteered with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In 1964 she became SNCC’s field secretary, and co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which challenged the legitimacy of the Democratic National Convention’s all-white Mississippi delegation.

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In front of the Credentials Committee, in a televised proceeding, Hamer gave a riveting speech. She explained how taxes, literary tests, and intimidation prevented African-Americans from registering to vote. The convention soon “compromised,” offering MFDP two seats, which the MFDP refused. Although they were denied official recognition, they continued to successfully register African-Americans to vote.

On March 14, 1977, at the age of 59, Fannie Lou Hamer died of cancer. Hamer was an unyielding pioneer in the struggle for civil rights. She knew voting was the vehicle to change the plight of African-Americans.

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THE STORYTELLER: Zora Neale Hurston

THE LIBERATOR: Harriet Tubman

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GALLERY: Landmark Year In Modern Black History – 1968

OPINION: Black History Month Shortchanges Us

From the Huffington Post:

In honor of Black History Month, the NBC cafeteria served fried chicken, collared greens, and jalapeno cornbread today for lunch. The picture below was snapped by Questlove, the drummer for the Roots–Jimmy Fallon’s house band. He was also the musician that pointed out via Twitter that Conan spent half a million dollars on a walk-out song for Tom Hanks during his last episode.

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Someone tweeting under the name @nbcu (which, as of now, only has 8 followers) is claiming to and be NBC’s VP of Communications, Kevin Goldman. The first and only tweet says: “The sign in the NBCU cafeteria has been removed. We apologize for anyone who was offended by it.”‘

Click here to read more.

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JUST CURIOUS: Is Relaxing Your Hair A Celebration Of Black History?

TV One To Celebrate Black History Month By Tributing Cultural Classics

Boxer Jack Johnson set the standard for the twentieth century model of the dominant Black athlete. Before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in a major sport, and before the mainstream acceptance of Muhammad Ali’s remarkable flair, Johnson made it fashionable to be a rich, educated sportsman. As the first Black heavyweight champion of the world, Johnson inspired Black Americans and engendered hostility from whites. Even liberals like Jack London called for a “Great White Hope” to prove European racial superiority. Johnson’s victories were sometimes marred by race riots of angry white’s seeking revenge. In a society still plagued by insidious white supremacy, many other Black athletes, politicians, and other public figures continue to stir up the kind of jealousy and anger that Black excellence often does.

John Arthur (Jack Johnson) was born on March 31, 1878 in Galveston, Texas to former slaves. In his early life, he held jobs as a baker, painter and dock worker. With only a fifth grade education, Johnson was limited to modest occupations. But it was his stint as a janitor at a local gymnasium that ignited the interest in boxing that would define his life. Johnson had his first professional fight in 1897. He made the rounds on the Texas circuit, earning the nickname the “Galveston Giant” for his statuesque physique. By 1903, Johnson was the uncontested black heavyweight champion, but he sought the recognition of the great American white fighters whom the press deemed superior. As he traveled across the globe, racking up wins in Europe and in the Caribbean, Johnson called out the stateside champions who refused to fight him on the basis of his race. Both John L. Sullivan and Jim Jeffries evaded Johnson, hoping to preserve their reputations and middle class pride. If they fought a black boxer like Johnson, they could face ridicule from their peers in the sport, and worse reactions from the public if they lost. Jack Johnson’s taunts did not fall of deaf ears with Australian champion Tommy Burns finally accepting the challenge to fight him in 1908. In what could only be described as a drubbing, Johnson defeated Burns in Sydney, Australia.

Even with prevailing stereotypes about Black men being unrefined brutes, Johnson beat Burns using his patented defensive strategy of counterpunching for rounds at a time and then unleashing devastating blows to finish off his opponent. This reserved style infuriated the boxing world in the wake of his victories; they called him a “coward.” That didn’t stop the press commentators from egging on the other fighters who stood a change at beating Johnson, with Jack London famously urging white fighter Jim Jeffries to come out of retirement to “wipe that smile off his face.” Jeffries also gave in to the pressure, and because of his impeccable record was picked the favorite to finally knock Johnson off the pedestal he had reached.

On July 4th, 1910, Johnson again trounced his opponent, ignoring the “Great White Hope” labels that Jeffries carried with him into the match. The result set off a series of race riots, and public opinion swayed negatively about boxing on the whole.

When Johnson was seen with white women, in an open challenge to the status quo denouncing interracial liaisons, he was indicted under The Mann Act, which stipulated that men could not transport women across state lines for inappropriate activities like prostitution. He fled the country for England, where he lived with his first wife Etta Terry Duryea. Upon his return to the United States, he was arrested and served a year of jail time. Johnson had peaked in his boxing career but his personal life was still a point of interest for the angry press corps. He loved to race cars at incredible speeds, and eventually died in a car crash at the age of 70.

Johnson’s life underscored the fear of Black men that had so crippled America during his time, and still does in ours. But he lived to overturn those standards and, in so doing, made Black athletes a social force to be reckoned with for time to come.

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Celebrate BLACK HISTORY MONTH With NewsOne!

OPINION: Why We Still Need Black History Month

Black culture is rich in artifacts, customs and symbols — all of which have been widely imitated in the American mainstream. Author Zora Neale Hurston showed an active interest in the folklore of African-American life. As one of the leading artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston chronicled the Black experience in unique detail, and in some ways made it possible for someone generations of Black readers to learn our people’s history.

Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama at the turn of the 20^th century. Hurston gave different birth dates throughout her life. That willingness to tell an embellished tale is one of Hurston’s remarkable eccentricities. She was raised in Eatonville, Florida, one of the few all-Black towns with its own government and sustainable economy. When Hurston’s father moved daughter and wife Lucie Potts to the area, he embedded them in the Southern tradition in ways that would affect Hurston’s work immensely. She set several of her novels and stories in parallel worlds with signifying memes like the front porch and the stubborn mule representing the ideals of her childhood. Hurston first studied at Howard University, publishing her first short stories and plays in the college’s literary magazine, Stylus.

Moving to Harlem, Hurston started the literary magazine, “Fire,” with Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman. Hurston won a scholarship to Barnard College for her writing, and it was her work with Franz Boas at Barnard that introduced her into the anthropological framework that characterized her worldview. Although critics sometimes charge her with creating trite early work, she had a style all her own. Hurston was a maker of Black mythology and, in this way, influenced future Black female authors, like Alice Walker, Toni Morrison and others, to stray from convention to find unmatched techniques. Langston Hughes and other male writers of the vanguard pushed Hurston to create outside of her patterned work, but she consistently defied any predetermined notions of good literature. Her best known work is the 1937 novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” heralded as one of the great works of all American fiction.

When Alice Walker led a revival movement for her work in the 1970s, she pointed to Hurston’s style as her main strength, and to her folklore as the continuation of a separate tradition for African-Americans. After falling out of the literary world’s graces, Hurston continued to write, but much of her work went unpublished. Though in 1960 she died a poor woman, buried in an unmarked grave, Zora Neale Hurston paved an unlikely way for Black writers after her.

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Celebrate BLACK HISTORY MONTH With NewsOne!

OPINION: Why We Still Need Black History Month

From Newsweek:

When did everybody start hating on Black History Month? I have yet to find a person, black or white or anything else, looking forward to the February festivities. At one point, when speaking to a well-known black intellectual about participating in a video NEWSWEEK is putting together, I was stunned by the vehemence of his refusal. It’s not as if I was asking him to march to Birmingham. But I get it. It seems ghettoizing and patronizing to spend one month of every year proving that black history is a holistic part of American history. As Morgan Freeman once famously told Mike Wallace, “You’re going to relegate my history to a month? … Which month is White History Month? … I don’t want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.” Because today the divisions between black and white are not as cavernous or ugly as they once were. The contributions of famous black Americans, from Frederick Douglass to Oprah Winfrey, are widely known. Martin Luther King Jr. has his own federal holiday. The president of the United States is black. If tens of millions of white people voted for Barack Hussein Obama, the lesson has been learned, right? As if. Despite the election of Obama, African-Americans still live in a culture that is overreliant on stereotype and slow to explore the complexity of racialized issues such as the ghetto or Haiti. So you can complain about Black History Month all you want. But there’s still work to be done.

When Carter G. Woodson began Negro History Week in 1926, he chose the second week of February to encompass the birth dates of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Its purpose then was to teach some and remind others that the history of black people in America was not simply the story of subjugation. Woodson recognized that, shell-shocked from slavery and demoralized by Jim Crow, black Americans had to build a vision that would give them the confidence to partake in the fruits of freedom. “We have a wonderful history behind us,” Woodson said. “If you are unable to demonstrate to the world that you have this record, the world will say to you, ‘You are not worthy to enjoy the blessings of democracy or anything else.’ ” But Woodson—himself a historian and only the second African-American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard (W.E.B. Du Bois being the first)—recognized the radicalism inherent in a call to educate and inspire African-Americans. For, if Negro History Week asked blacks to slough off the scars of oppression, it also demanded that whites acknowledge their role as oppressors. Woodson’s aim was also to rebut the inaccurate and insulting stereotyping that then passed for knowledge about African-Americans—such as the canards that black people aren’t as intelligent as other races and are more prone to criminality and dancing. And sadly, nearly 100 years and a civil-rights movement later, too many people still believe that.

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Celebrate BLACK HISTORY MONTH With NewsOne!

HBCU Students Reflect On 50th Anniversary Of Civil Rights Sit-Ins

Silver Spring, MD – This February, TV One will take a look back at dramatic, musical, and comedic portrayals of African American life from the 70s, 80s and early 90s during their “Way Black When” celebration of Black History Month.

During primetime each weeknight, TV One will spotlight a variety of black cult classics in film, television, comedy and music, from “The Richard Pryor Show” to “Cleopatra Jones,” with commentary from industry experts including actresses/actors, producers and musical artists who helped create, or were influenced by such celebrated productions.

During each of the four weeks during February, TV One will focus on one of four genres: Comedy/Variety; Classic Films/Film Soundtracks; Classic Sitcoms, and Blaxploitation Movies.

“The manner in which our culture has been portrayed in film and television provides an interesting and provocative lens through which to view our history over the past 40 years,” said TV One Senior Vice President of Original Programming Toni Judkins. “With the help of a number of the actors, comedians, producers and directors involved, we not only want to spotlight that programming, but tell a story about how it relates to where our culture and society are today.”

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From NBCWashington.com:

Former first lady Laura Bush has a new title to add to her resume.  She’s the newest member of the advisory board for the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The board is working to raise money for the yet-to-be-built museum.

Congress has pledged to provide half of the museum’s $500 million cost, if private fundraising covers the rest. Various other celebrities have been helping to raise private funds for the museum, including Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones. The museum is scheduled to open in 2015 on the National Mall near the Washington Monument.

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Laura Bush Praises Obama’s Message To Schoolchildren

GALLERY: Obama & Bush’s First Meeting At The White House

BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) – A school for kindergartners through second-graders in a comfortable Philadelphia suburb has become the latest target of accusations by conservatives that schoolchildren are being indoctrinated to idolize President Barack Obama.

The controversy grows out of a school assembly during Black History Month in February, when gripes about the freshly inaugurated president were still mostly hushed.

That month, a group of smiley and fidgety students at B. Bernice Young School sang a medley of two short songs praising the president.

The first song begins, “Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama/He said that all must lend a hand/To make this country strong again.”

The second one was set to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and included the refrain, “Hooray, Mr. President.”

While the performance is seven months old, the outrage is new and came about because of the discovery of a YouTube video.

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It’s been fodder for conservative opinion leaders such as columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin and Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck.

The notion that schoolchildren are being subjected to partisan politics rather than taught civics emerged earlier this month before an Obama speech to students was played in thousands of schools.

By then, unlike February, there was broader mistrust of Obama, particularly over his health insurance overhaul plans. Concerns that he would use his speech to students as a political tool grew partly because the White House initially released a lesson plan encouraging students to “help the president.”

The plan was revised and the message to students was not overtly political.

News about the song brought a quick response from New Jersey’s Department of Education.

Spokeswoman Beth Auerswald said the department wants “to ensure students can celebrate the achievements of African Americans during Black History Month without inappropriate partisan politics in the classroom.”

Auerswald said the state would also look into whether posting the video online violated the privacy of students.

Superintendent Christopher Manno defended the performance in Friday’s editions of the Burlington County Times.

“There was no intention to indoctrinate children,” he said. “The teacher’s intention was to engage the children in an activity to recognize famous and accomplished African Americans.”

He said he would not identify the teacher who led the song. State education officials said she retired at the end of the last school year.

The source of the video is not entirely clear. In Malkin’s column, she said it was posted in June on the YouTube channel of author Charisse Carney-Nunes, who wrote the children’s book “I Am Barack Obama.”

The song medley was presented to Carney-Nunes, who had been invited to the school, as a demonstration of a project the children had put together, her public relations firm said in a statement.
“Charisse feels it is unfortunate that an event put together with sincere intentions to encourage literacy while celebrating the contributions of African Americans to our great nation has become political fodder and hopes cooler heads will prevail,” the hoverFly media statement said.

The video was ubiquitous online Friday but was not listed under Carney-Nunes’ feed.
Officials at the Burlington Township Board of Education did not return calls Friday to discuss the incident or how much public response it received, and the district’s Web site was not available.

Leslie Gibson, the mother of a kindergartner and a second-grader, said the incident was not addressed in Thursday evening’s back-to-school assembly.

Gibson said that while parents had different views about how problematic the song may have been, one thing was unanimous: They don’t like having television trucks and reporters camped out on the streets near the school.

Friday afternoon, there were two police cars posted outside the building.

There wasn’t much protest, though. One man, Chris Concannon, from nearby Magnolia, was outside hoping to speak with school officials about what happened.

“It’s just like the Hitler Youth all over again,” said Concannon, an unemployed 26-year-old former National Guardsman. “They should be learning history, but instead they’re being taught to worship the president.”