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(Illustration by TS Abe; Photographic reference: Corbis Outline #MayaAngelou #IKnowWhyTheCagedBirdSings #African-American #BlackAmerican Maya Angelou’s breakthrough memoir forever changed American literature and helped carve a new space for black self-expression Maya Angelou published the first of her seven memoirs not long after she distinguished herself as the star raconteur at a dinner party. “At the time, I was really only concerned with poetry, though I had written a television series,” she would recall. James Baldwin, the novelist and activist, took her to the party, which was at the home of the cartoonist- writer Jules Feiffer and his then-wife, Judy. “We enjoyed each other immensely and sat up until 3 or 4 in the morning, drinking Scotch and telling tales,” Angelou went on. “The next morning, Judy Feiffer called a friend of hers at Random House and said, ‘You know the poet Maya Angelou? If you could get her to write a book...’” That book became  I Know Why th

#JewishProfessors  #HistoricallyBlackColleges #CivilRights #African-American  #BlackAmerican #Black History While Jewish and African American communities have a tumultuous shared history when it comes to the pursuit of civil rights, there is a chapter that is often overlooked. In the 1930s when Jewish academics from Germany and Austria were dismissed from their teaching positions, many came to the United States looking for jobs. Due to the Depression, xenophobia and rising anti-Semitism, many found it difficult to find work, but more than 50 found positions at HBCUs in the segregated South. Originally established to educate freed slaves to read and write, the first of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities was Cheyney University in Pennsylvania, established in 1837. By the time Jewish professors arrived, the number of HBCUs had grown to 78. At a time when both Jews and African Americans were persecuted, Jewish professors in the Black colleges found the environment comfo

#BlackHistorymonth #BlackHistory #African-American #BlackAmerican Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month in the U.S., is an annual observance in Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It began as a way for remembering important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. As a Harvard-trained historian, Carter G. Woodson, like W. E. B. Du Bois before him, believed that truth could not be denied and that reason would prevail over prejudice. His hopes to raise awareness of African American’s contributions to civilization was realized when he and the organization he founded, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), conceived and announced Negro History Week in 1925. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that encompassed the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The response was overwhelming: Black history clubs sprang up

  #African-American  #BlackAmerican #Black History #Emancipation,  #Slavery,            #BookerTWashington Washington may be the most important name in the United States of America. It is the name of the capital city, the 42nd state, and thirty counties (including Washington Parish, Louisiana) and fifty-one cities, towns, villages, and unincorporated communities with Washington somewhere in their names. All of these names are after George Washington, the first president of the United States. Among the nearly 39 million African Americans, the surname “Washington” is the most popular. In other words, there are more African Americans with the last name Washington than any other. This makes Washington the blackest name in America. How ironic. I found this out a few years ago when I read an article by Jesse Washington, then of the Associated Press, “ Washington: The Blackest Name in America .” Washington stated that there are 163,000 Americans with the surname Washington,

#BlackWomen #Medical #Slavery #BlackHistory #African-American  #BlackAmerican Black women's history matters in medicine.  Read ProPublica's feature piece on how the US is the most dangerous industrialized country in which to give birth, and racial disparities in maternal mortality make it even worse for women of color: https://www.propublica.org/article/nothing-protects-black-women-from-dying-in-pregnancy-and-childbirth And they're seeking your help in understanding the problem. If you nearly died during pregnancy or know someone who died due to childbirth-related causes, check out this page for more information: http://propub.li/2Ae5RMi At 0:54, a previous version of this chart mistakenly said "deaths per 1,000 live births," but it is "100,000" instead. The error has been fixed. UPDATE: On Tuesday, April 17, 2018 — New York removed the statue of J. Marion Sims as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s review of city markers that could be deemed “symb

Clockwise from top left: Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, via Instagram; Dave Sanders for The New York Times; Melissa DePino, via Twitter; Myneca Ojo, via Facebook #African-American #BlackAmerican #Police #whitePrivilege #WhitePeople What makes the police encounters chilling is  how routine they are . They happen while black people are going about their everyday lives, only to be interrupted by someone calling the police for the thinnest of suspicions. In the past month, more than a handful of such interactions have attracted widespread attention on social media — and, in turn, in national outlets like The Times, CNN and The Washington Post. “It happens so frequently to people of color that we don’t often think of it as a big deal or as particularly newsworthy,” said Paul Butler, a Georgetown University law professor who is the author of “ Chokehold: Policing Black Men .” He added, “It’s humiliating and aggravating and upsetting, but the idea that it’s national news is un

#SayItLoudPBS #BlackTwitter #Names #African-American #Stereotypes What's in a name? Sometimes it's just our imagination, and other times it's an attempt at a political statement. Black names have been satirized and stereotyped for a long time, but they have a unique and downright surprising history. Azie and Evelyn discuss the history, culture, and influence on "black sounding names" for #SayItLoudPBS

#Slavery #SlaveTrade   #African-American  #BlackAmerican #Black History In the late 15th century, the advancement of seafaring technologies created a new Atlantic that would change the world forever. As ships began connecting West Africa with Europe and the Americas, new fortunes were sought and native populations were decimated. With the native labor force dwindling and demand for plantation and mining labor growing, the transatlantic slave trade began. The Transatlantic Slave Trade was underway from 1500-1866, shipping more than 12 million African slaves across the world. Of those slaves, only 10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle Passage. Over 400 years, the majority of slaves (4.9 million) found their way to Brazil where they suffered incredibly high mortality rates due to terrible working conditions. Brazil was also the last country to ban slavery in 1888. By the time the United States became involved in the slave trade, it had been underway for two hundred years. The

#MissUSA #MissTeenUSA #MissAmerica #African-American #BlackAmerican #BeautyPageants (CNN) For the first time, America's top beauty pageants --  Miss USA , Miss Teen USA and  Miss America  -- have   crowned black women as their winners at the same time. And that's a big deal if you know pageant history. Beauty pageants early in their histories, some dating back to the 1920s, barred women of color from participating. Even after organizations began changing their rules to accept women of all races, there was still a lingering frustration and opposition to join. Only in the last 50 years have black women become more prevalent in these competitions.  Vanessa Williams was the first black Miss America  in 1983, and  Carole Anne-Marie Gist , the first black Miss USA contestant, was crowned in 1990. The following year  Janel Bishop  became the first black Miss Teen USA. So when Cheslie Kryst was named 2019's Miss USA on Thursday, she   became part of a histo