Motivational Posters for Black History Month
February 10, 2010 2:25 PM Subscribe
"Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Motivational poster for Black History Month
I like a lot of these. This one, which I didn't spot, is my favorite -- I have it posted in my office and take time every couple of months to reread the whole speech printed on it. I bought it, pre-Katrina, in New Orleans in a shop specializing in photographs of African Americans.
posted by bearwife at 2:31 PM on February 10, 2010
posted by bearwife at 2:31 PM on February 10, 2010
Turning the words of MLK and Malcolm X into something appropriate for a conference-room wall is an impressive achievement, in a way...
posted by bonecrusher at 2:32 PM on February 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by bonecrusher at 2:32 PM on February 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
i should get some sleep. I read 'unicorn' instead of 'unborn'.
posted by litleozy at 2:33 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by litleozy at 2:33 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
This should be among the posters:
"...the ruling class leaders of this land stepped up the hysteria and propaganda to drive into American minds the false notion that danger threatened them from the East. "
-Paul Robeson
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:34 PM on February 10, 2010 [4 favorites]
"...the ruling class leaders of this land stepped up the hysteria and propaganda to drive into American minds the false notion that danger threatened them from the East. "
-Paul Robeson
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:34 PM on February 10, 2010 [4 favorites]
Nice to read and re-read these quotes. They probably could have gone a little deeper than finding the 5 or 6 famous black men they could name off the top of their heads.
Also, does anyone possess a photo of Malcolm X not looking like the coolest and smartest person on the planet?
posted by Think_Long at 2:34 PM on February 10, 2010
Also, does anyone possess a photo of Malcolm X not looking like the coolest and smartest person on the planet?
posted by Think_Long at 2:34 PM on February 10, 2010
This assumes that we actually have any life's work.
posted by jonmc at 2:38 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by jonmc at 2:38 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Hey, I'm already doing my job better than the dead and the unborn. Two out of three's not bad!
posted by darksasami at 2:40 PM on February 10, 2010 [6 favorites]
posted by darksasami at 2:40 PM on February 10, 2010 [6 favorites]
thanks for this... a great resource for my Alternative Ed program...
posted by HuronBob at 2:43 PM on February 10, 2010
posted by HuronBob at 2:43 PM on February 10, 2010
I'm happy to report that my job performance evaluations consistently outstrip those of the dead.
Strange website.
posted by xod at 2:47 PM on February 10, 2010
Strange website.
posted by xod at 2:47 PM on February 10, 2010
Also, does anyone possess a photo of Malcolm X not looking like the coolest and smartest person on the planet?
Well there's that famous pic of him courtside at the Harlem Globetrotters game falling for the ol' water bucket full of confetti trick. Google image search seems to be failing me.
Oh wait...i'm thinking of A. Philip Randolph. Never mind.
posted by billyfleetwood at 2:48 PM on February 10, 2010
Well there's that famous pic of him courtside at the Harlem Globetrotters game falling for the ol' water bucket full of confetti trick. Google image search seems to be failing me.
Oh wait...i'm thinking of A. Philip Randolph. Never mind.
posted by billyfleetwood at 2:48 PM on February 10, 2010
Looking back I guess they got a few more than the "5 or 6" I remembered.
posted by Think_Long at 2:48 PM on February 10, 2010
posted by Think_Long at 2:48 PM on February 10, 2010
JoeBeese I don't know how I feel about Powell, first A.A. Secretary of State, first A.A. member of joint chiefs of staff. If you read his record it's exemplary, right up to that speech. Two tours of duty in Vietnam, more medals and honors than you can shake a stick a vocal opponent of "the whitewash of Vietnam," of our coup detat's in Chile and other regimes and up until that speech, the only non-neocon non-hawk in the entire administration, he delayed the invasion as long as could and dragged them to the UN to seek approval. After his resignation he called that speech "painful blot on his record." Whereas the others in the adminstration still wallow in their evil
I really think he was a good man that did a bad thing. Does that bad thing outweigh the entirety of his person and his life, I don't know, time will tell.
posted by ExitPursuedByBear at 2:48 PM on February 10, 2010 [8 favorites]
I really think he was a good man that did a bad thing. Does that bad thing outweigh the entirety of his person and his life, I don't know, time will tell.
posted by ExitPursuedByBear at 2:48 PM on February 10, 2010 [8 favorites]
I'm doing a better job than the undead, AT NOT EATING BRAINS!
posted by found missing at 2:51 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by found missing at 2:51 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I don't agree with the politics of any professional warmonger, but even so, Colin Powell is exceptionally sharp and brave, and his story carries enormous historical importance.
posted by serazin at 2:53 PM on February 10, 2010
posted by serazin at 2:53 PM on February 10, 2010
Where are the ladies?
posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:56 PM on February 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:56 PM on February 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
Malcolm X even looked cool doing Canadian talk shows, but you've got to wonder about his choice to do so.
posted by serazin at 2:59 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by serazin at 2:59 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Where are the ladies?
well...the site is called artofmanliness.com. The bias is implied.
posted by billyfleetwood at 3:03 PM on February 10, 2010
well...the site is called artofmanliness.com. The bias is implied.
posted by billyfleetwood at 3:03 PM on February 10, 2010
Oh. I didn't notice that the blog was a Man History thing. I thought it was a Black History thing.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 3:10 PM on February 10, 2010
posted by kuujjuarapik at 3:10 PM on February 10, 2010
Way to set the bar too high, Reverend. As if I don't have enough self-esteem problems already.
posted by Target Practice at 3:11 PM on February 10, 2010
posted by Target Practice at 3:11 PM on February 10, 2010
Man, when I'm all old and grizzly I want to look like Frederick Douglass.
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:14 PM on February 10, 2010
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:14 PM on February 10, 2010
This partially redeemed Powell for me. He was the first high profile person to very sharply say, "And so what if Obama WERE a Muslim."
posted by availablelight at 3:15 PM on February 10, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by availablelight at 3:15 PM on February 10, 2010 [3 favorites]
Malcolm X even looked cool doing Canadian talk shows, but you've got to wonder about his choice to do so.
Woah. Save that clip for Really Obscure Black History Month.
posted by GuyZero at 3:18 PM on February 10, 2010
Woah. Save that clip for Really Obscure Black History Month.
posted by GuyZero at 3:18 PM on February 10, 2010
If only Powell had read the website's How to Exit a Room Like a Man prior to February 2003.
posted by xod at 3:20 PM on February 10, 2010
posted by xod at 3:20 PM on February 10, 2010
I hope one day we can move past the "looky here, black people did some pretty important stuff too" of Black history month, to simply saying that these men are Great Americans with no additional qualifier.
But as I tell my two year old, little steps for little feet.
posted by three blind mice at 4:05 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
But as I tell my two year old, little steps for little feet.
posted by three blind mice at 4:05 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Where are the ladies?
They get their own month.
Fast forward one month:
A blog post is made: Motivational Posters for Women's History Month.
Comment A: Where are the women of color?
Comment B: They get their own month.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
posted by naoko at 4:24 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
They get their own month.
Fast forward one month:
A blog post is made: Motivational Posters for Women's History Month.
Comment A: Where are the women of color?
Comment B: They get their own month.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
posted by naoko at 4:24 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm just gonna say that the heavy rim-no lower rim 50s glasses look really good on black guys for some reason I can't articulate and they make me just look like Clark Kent so I am jealous.
posted by The Whelk at 4:46 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 4:46 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
I approve of this post...still missing the ladies though. It isn't Black Man History Month.
posted by snsranch at 5:44 PM on February 10, 2010
posted by snsranch at 5:44 PM on February 10, 2010
"Kitt is perhaps best known for a stint as Catwoman in the 1960s television series Batman, but her career has gone through many different stages, both before and after that TV appearance. In the years after World War II she became a nightclub-singing star in France. She appeared in plays and films, and she notched several hit recordings in the 1950s, singing in various languages. After a much-publicized attack on the Vietnam War, delivered in person at the White House in 1968, Kitt returned to Europe,"
posted by The Whelk at 5:58 PM on February 10, 2010
posted by The Whelk at 5:58 PM on February 10, 2010
That’s great. So that was January 17, but then on January 18, many years later in 1968, you were at the White House.
Is that the date? For that luncheon, I was not there to sing songs. I was invited to a luncheon with 49 other women to give my opinions about the problematic situation among the young people at the time. And my invitation said that they wanted me to talk about why is there so much juvenile delinquency in the streets of America.
Now the boys that were running away from America, because they didn’t want to get involved with the Vietnam War, [they] had come to me in various areas of the country–and also in Canada and England and several other areas of the world–and we would sit on my dressing room floor, or my hotel room floor, and we would talk and they would tell me how they felt. Their reason was that it was a dishonorable war and this is the way that I felt. Dishonorable war, unwinnable war, and they are killing the innocent for no reason. And therefore this is what I told Mrs. Johnson.
President Johnson decided to get rid of me and, according to what I was told, he called the media and said, "I don’t want to see that woman’s face anywhere." So you’re out of work and you don’t know why. Because nobody bothers to tell you, because maybe they don’t know.
And you found out you were bugged, right?
Oh, yes. My house was bugged and it’s only recently that [investigative journalist] Jack Anderson was giving an interview with somebody and it was on the news. He said, "Yes, her house was bugged and the CIA was following her." [President Johnson] sent out the FBI, but they couldn’t find any information on me being a subversive because I happen to love America; I just don’t like some of the things that maybe the government is doing. If you ask me a question, I am going to give my opinion. And in a case like that when the people who are responsible for our country ask you a direct question, I expect them to accept a direct answer. Not to be blackballed because you are telling the truth.
So Jack Anderson said, "Yes, when they came back with the fact that she loves her country, [President Johnson] didn’t like that because that was not bad news. So then he sends out the other group, the CIA, and they came back with backyard gossip–it is rumored she is a sadistic sex nymphomaniac."
Via
posted by The Whelk at 6:00 PM on February 10, 2010
Is that the date? For that luncheon, I was not there to sing songs. I was invited to a luncheon with 49 other women to give my opinions about the problematic situation among the young people at the time. And my invitation said that they wanted me to talk about why is there so much juvenile delinquency in the streets of America.
Now the boys that were running away from America, because they didn’t want to get involved with the Vietnam War, [they] had come to me in various areas of the country–and also in Canada and England and several other areas of the world–and we would sit on my dressing room floor, or my hotel room floor, and we would talk and they would tell me how they felt. Their reason was that it was a dishonorable war and this is the way that I felt. Dishonorable war, unwinnable war, and they are killing the innocent for no reason. And therefore this is what I told Mrs. Johnson.
President Johnson decided to get rid of me and, according to what I was told, he called the media and said, "I don’t want to see that woman’s face anywhere." So you’re out of work and you don’t know why. Because nobody bothers to tell you, because maybe they don’t know.
And you found out you were bugged, right?
Oh, yes. My house was bugged and it’s only recently that [investigative journalist] Jack Anderson was giving an interview with somebody and it was on the news. He said, "Yes, her house was bugged and the CIA was following her." [President Johnson] sent out the FBI, but they couldn’t find any information on me being a subversive because I happen to love America; I just don’t like some of the things that maybe the government is doing. If you ask me a question, I am going to give my opinion. And in a case like that when the people who are responsible for our country ask you a direct question, I expect them to accept a direct answer. Not to be blackballed because you are telling the truth.
So Jack Anderson said, "Yes, when they came back with the fact that she loves her country, [President Johnson] didn’t like that because that was not bad news. So then he sends out the other group, the CIA, and they came back with backyard gossip–it is rumored she is a sadistic sex nymphomaniac."
Via
posted by The Whelk at 6:00 PM on February 10, 2010
Malcom X was black??
Gah. I just spent 20 minutes looking for that new yorker cover which is in front of 740 fifth avenue and everyone but the doorman is wearing black "X" hats from the spike lee movie.
posted by shothotbot at 7:22 PM on February 10, 2010
Gah. I just spent 20 minutes looking for that new yorker cover which is in front of 740 fifth avenue and everyone but the doorman is wearing black "X" hats from the spike lee movie.
posted by shothotbot at 7:22 PM on February 10, 2010
"Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
What a creepy, ineffectual thing to say. How would one ever know if one was doing one's job better than the dead and the "unborn"? How could anyone avoid doing one's job better than them?
posted by telstar at 8:43 PM on February 10, 2010
What a creepy, ineffectual thing to say. How would one ever know if one was doing one's job better than the dead and the "unborn"? How could anyone avoid doing one's job better than them?
posted by telstar at 8:43 PM on February 10, 2010
Motivational posters suck eggs, but these are fun, in a genre conformational sort of kluge.
posted by caddis at 11:03 PM on February 10, 2010
posted by caddis at 11:03 PM on February 10, 2010
Call me crazy, but I'm thinking the reference to the dead and the unborn is more of a 'greatest that ever was or ever will be' kind of thing than it is a reference to zombies and fetuses.
posted by box at 5:19 AM on February 11, 2010
posted by box at 5:19 AM on February 11, 2010
I will never do anything better than the zombie fetuses.
posted by ServSci at 6:47 AM on February 11, 2010
posted by ServSci at 6:47 AM on February 11, 2010
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posted by Joe Beese at 2:30 PM on February 10, 2010 [2 favorites]