MetaFilter posts tagged with blackhistory

Queer African American Women and the History of Marriage

liketitanic — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 15:16:36 -0800

"Two women, Edna Knowles and Peaches Stevens, were wed in Liz's Mark III Lounge, a gay bar on Chicago's South Side, before a host of friends and well-wishers."--JET Magazine, October 1970 The Pop-Up Museum of Queer History offers a terrific post on the public rituals queer African American women have used to celebrate their partnerships since the 1920s.

The coalition of tyrants will learn that they are loathed equally by men of all colors.

Currer Belfry — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:28:01 -0800

Remember that what has once been done may be done again. Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers were inspired by the life of his father, Alexandre. However, Alexandre Sr. was not just a handsome swashbuckler or a vengeful former prisoner. The boy who came from Haiti to France as “slave Alexandre” in 1776 had, by the age of 32, become commander-in-chief of the French revolutionary army in the Alps, eventually leading 53,000 troops to victory against formidably trained Austrian alpine forces. Napoleon, much like Hitler with Rommel, eventually became distrustful and probably jealous of his talented, fiercely independent general. Dumas eventually found himself imprisoned in the then-Kingdom of Naples, where he is believed to have been poisoned. He died in poverty a few years after his release. The first statue of General Dumas was torn down by Hitler’s Nazis, leaving his son’s novels as the best-known legacy of his spirit. He is recognized today as the first highly-ranked black officer in the armed forces of a predominantly white modern nation. Tom Reiss’ new book, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, tells all. Via Harvard Magazine and 3quarksdaily.

White History Month

Artw — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 10:49:12 -0800

Why America needs a White History Month

King Center Archive

latkes — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:16:05 -0800

The King Center archive launched a new web interface this year, featuring online access to thousands of historical documents relating to Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement.

Vintage Ebony

latkes — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:16:55 -0800

Vintage Ebony Magazine tumblr And the entire back catalog.

People tend to forget

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:28:47 -0800

'“The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975“ is an incredible documentary with an equally incredible story behind it. The film is constructed entirely from hundreds of hours of archival footage of the black power movement, footage that’s not just rare, but unseen; it was shot by a Swedish news crew in the 1960s and 1970s, then left untouched in a Swedish TV station’s cellar for 30 years, where it was discovered by documentary filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson.' Clips. Angela Davis. Interview with Danny Glover.

Gay Black History Month

Rykey — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 07:01:25 -0800

February is Gay Black History Month. [SLYT]

There's a black man standing in your Oxfords with you

cashman — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:01:03 -0800

Bill Cosby: "A lot of people think we oughta wash white, but we aint gonna, you see." "People think that we Afro-Americans started with nothing but little grass skirts like the kids in the Tarzan movies....but uh, we had something before we left Africa." "Now if you want to look history right straight in the eye... you're going to get a black eye. Because it isn't important whether a few black heroes got lost or stolen or strayed in American history textbooks. What's important is why they got left out." Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed. (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) Find at your local library. Some of the people mentioned: Norbert Rillieux, Jan Ernst Matzeliger, Jim Beckwourth, Jean Baptiste du Sable, York, 5000 black cowboys & Deadwood Dick (pictured page 11 of PDF), Matthew Henson, Daniel Hale Williams. In the second part, Cosby looks at the drawings of black and white children and talks about hollywood's portrayal of black people and the white audience's desire for these portrayals. In part three Cosby continues to examine characters in films, discussing white actors' roles, how they legitimized the messages for white audiences and created lasting memories. Part four continues with Cosby showing the portrayals of black people on film, mostly as servants or other stereotypes, then transitions into the effects of these portrayals, down to a black man's hairstyle. Part 5 opens up with a discussion of black people's acceptance into American society, and goes into a response and reaction to these messages. Cosby returns in the last segment to wrap things up.

DeFord Bailey, American musician

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 06:31:36 -0800

Within that small and very specific sub-genre of musical Americana identifiable as the train imitation, there is one amazing performance, from 1926, that set the standard: Pan-American Blues. The man who recorded it did a fine and fanciful job of evoking the sounds of a fox chase as well, and his rhythmically compelling solo rendition of John Henry stands as testament to the potential for musical greatness achievable by one man and a humble harmonica. He was an African-American who was a founding member of the Grand Ole Opry, a musical institution that we rarely (as in, never) today associate with black people, and his touching and tragic story, documented here, is one that will be of interest to those concerned with the racial, economic and socio-cultural history of American popular music. He stands at one of its more unexpected intersections: his name is DeFord Bailey. Live performance of Pan-American Blues Introductory snippet from DeFord Bailey: a Legend Lost A little more from DeFord Bailey: a Legend Lost, and note this text, from the closing of that video clip: "DeFord Bailey is the only founding star of the Grand Ole Opry who has not been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame". Quite possibly as a direct result of that documentary, Bailey was inducted in 2005 DeFord Bailey discography DeFord Bailey at Find A Grave

"They're selling postcards of the hanging."

Kattullus — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:27:43 -0800

On June 15th, 1920 in Duluth, Minnesota, three young, black circus workers, Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Issac McGhie, were lynched. The Minnesota Historical Society has a great site devoted to the terrible event, Duluth Lynchings Online Resource. I'd especially like to point out the Oral Histories section, which has short interviews with African-Americans who lived through the event. In 2001 Minnesota Public Radio covered the story, inspired by a campaign to build a memorial to the three men, which was dedicated in October of 2003. The Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial has a fine website which is well worth visiting.

Freed by the Civil War

Kattullus — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 06:58:46 -0800

In 1865, after the end of the Civil War, Col. P. H. Anderson of Big Spring, Tennessee, wrote to his former slave, Jourdon Anderson, asking him to return to work for him. In reply, Jourdon Anderson told Colonel Anderson exactly where he could stick his offer. This letter was part of The Freedmen's Book (full download in many different formats) which was distributed to those freed after and during the Civil War, so that they would know stories of other freedmen who had done well, including Touissant L'Ouverture, Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass. The book was put together and published by Lydia Maria Child, abolitionist, women's rights activist, Indian rights campaigner and all around awesome person. She became famous in her own time for her cookbook The Frugal Housewife, but today her best known work is Over the River and Through the Woods. The Freedmen's Book was part of an effort by abolitionists after the war to educate freed slaves. The American Antiquarian Society has a great website about that movement, Northern Visions of Race, Region and Reform, which has plenty of primary sources and images galore.

Motivational Posters for Black History Month

jefficator — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:25:59 -0800

"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

Dr. Mayme A. Clayton: a Champion of Black History

filthy light thief — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:13:44 -0800

Dr. Mayme Agnew Clayton was a librarian and collector in Los Angeles who left behind a collection of remarkable value. Over the course of more than 40 years, she had collected the largest privately held collection of African-American materials, with over 30,000 rare and out-of-print books, 1,700 films dating back to 1916, as well as more than 75,000 photographs and scores of movie posters, playbills, programs, documents and manuscripts. Her collection, which has been compared to the Schomburg Collection in the New York City Public Library, was opened to the public in 2007. Mayme Clayton started collecting when she was a child in Van Buren, Arkansas. Growing up, she was the daughter of the town's only black merchant, and her parents taught her of black achievements. Her parents told her about pioneering educator Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of former slaves who went on to found schools for blacks and advise several presidents. Dr. Clayton's search for books on Bethune started her on the path of the collector. Mayme Clayton moved to New York City after studying at the Lincoln University of Missouri. In New York, she was married, and the couple moved to California in 1946 to start their family. In 1954 she became an assistant to the librarian at USC. Two years later, she was hired as a library assistant at UCLA's law library. She was co-owner of a bookstore in the early 1970s, and when the store closed, she was given its complete inventory of books by and about blacks and opened Third World Ethnic Books out of her home. Eventually, Clayton found that she enjoyed collecting books more than selling them. While running the business, she earned a bachelor's degree in history from UC Berkeley in 1974. She received a master's in library science from Goddard College in Vermont in 1975 and a doctorate in humanities from the now-closed Sierra University in Santa Monica in 1983. In 1972, Mayme Clayton founded the nonprofit organization Western States Black Research and Educational Center to promote the preservation of African American history. While she lived, WSBREC and the collection resided in her home and garage, spaces that had no climate control and were protected by a locked door and the family dog. As her collection grew, so did it's renown, and with it came inquiries from public and private organizations to help secure the treasure-trove of African-American media. Dr. Clayton was hesitant to hand her collection over. "So many have wanted to pitch in. But, you have to be careful about phonies." In the early 2000s, she and her son Avery were actively looking into building a new structure to house the collection and provide access to the public. Dr. Mayme Clayton lived to October 2006, long enough to see Avery secure the former courthouse in Culver City, California for $1 a year. She passed a few days after the arrangement was settled, at the age of 83. Avery carried the efforts forward, and the collection moved into its new home on February 12, 2007. The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum was opened to the public in November 2007 (PDF). Avery Clayton continued his mother's legacy, but he, too, passed on, on November 26, 2009. UC Santa Barbara education professor Cynthia Hudley was named as the next director. The collection is divided into five categories: literary, documents, films, music, photographs and memorabilia. The literature collection of over 30,000 titles includes the only known signed copy of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, 1773 by Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), which is considered by leading experts to be the first author of African descent to be published in America. The book was written when it was illegal to teach blacks to read or write, throughout the Western Hemisphere. The film archive is the largest Black film archive, with works dating back to 1916, and has been called "unmatchable and invaluable" by film historian Donald Bogle. This collection is being held by the UCLA School of Film and Television. In exchange for access to this archive, the university is doing any restoration work needed.

Something about the honesty being too something, sometimes

grounded — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:22:09 -0800

"It did feel a little isolating at the time, having atheist parents who thought skiing was a pretentious extravagance, believed America should stay out of Vietnam and regarded Valentine's Day and Mother's Day as 'meretricious, capitalist flim-flam.' " Daniel Grafton Hill IV (better known as this guy) remembers growing up with Daniel Grafton Hill III in a progressive, over-achieving, mixed-raced family. Meanwhile, the Hill father-son saga takes an ominous turn in the next generation.

Oral History of Black Leadership

Kattullus — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:52:25 -0800

Explorations in Black Leadership is a collection of video interviews with prominent African-Americans, focusing on activists of one sort or another. 34 people are interviewed, including Nikki Giovanni, John Lewis, Barbara Lee, Bobby Rush, Dorothy Height and Amiri Baraka. There are full transcripts of every interview. Here's an excerpt from the Nikki Giovanni interview: "The kids today have to have a voice. I'm amazed that they found it. I remember Sugarhill Gang with Sylvia, you know: "Uptown, Downtown, the Holiday Inn." You know, things like that. Then, of course, I remember the explosion of Tupac Shakur. Losing Tupac was a great loss for this generation. I have a tattoo--it says "Thug Life" --because I wanted to mourn with this generation. I don't see how people can knock the kids…paying so little attention. I had deep regrets--and I know Rosa Parks, you know, we don't hang out but I know her--I so regretted that she lent her name to be used against Outkast, because Rosa Parks is a wonderful--is a wonderful tune. And they were giving her problems. If people don't--if the younger generation doesn't sing the praises of the older generation they get forgotten."

Jim Crow Stories

plep — Sat, 06 Nov 2004 10:54:37 -0800

Jim Crow Stories.

Tom Feelings

moonbird — Fri, 29 Aug 2003 15:06:28 -0800

Tom Feelings, an African-American illustrator, author, and historian, has passed. "I had used the functional form of a narrative without words, it is open to all people, especially those who have difficulty visualizing what Black people describe as racism from the past and its lingering presence in the present."

Rastafari — Wed, 20 Feb 2002 19:11:21 -0800

Did anyone else forget that February is supposed to be Black History Month? Would you believe that Black Entertainment Television (BET) did.