How are you celebrating Black History Month?

Is that a holiday there or just a celebration day?

I could suggest searching for George Washington Carver to learn and appreciate the man. Basically he was a Black scientist who was born as a slave.

And also I’m really curious about that CRT post :P

@Mimishu1995 It’s a whole month celebration rather than a one day holiday. Yes a brilliant man!
It was a picture on my FB, you can see it. But it’s a small black child with guards around her protecting her right to education during integration. It said ‘If she was old enough to live through it, your child is old enough to learn about it.’
Surprisingly I got a lot of likes! :) I was a little nervous about it because I don’t have kids, I’m not black, and I’m not a teacher. I felt I needed to go outside my comfort zone.

I’m not.
If I was still teaching I’d have a boat load of lesson plans to teach.

@Dutchess_III You still got grandkids to teach! :)

@KNOWITALL Do they teach about him at school? Or is it something you have to search for?

@Mimishu1995 School. They did not teach nuance or abuse though, that part is skimmed. They say ‘brought in chains’ and pretty much moved on. None of the real horror’s.
I watch a weekly show called Finding Your Roots that taught me more than anything in school about the realities. And it’s hosted by a brilliant man.

Of course they teach it @Mimishu1995

@KNOWITALL….at the moment we’re working on the solar system. I foolishly got these glass fridge magnets for them. At this point 6 year old Cooper has broken Venus and 8 year old Zoey, of course, has broken the sun. My grandkids are Gods.

@KNOWITALL @Dutchess_III thank you. It’s a good thing to know that they do teach about a black person. I’m not familiar with the US education system so I don’t know which is being taught and which is not.

A lot of things in my own history only come to my knowledge through the Internet. Schools don’t help me with that.

And don’t feel bad about not learning more about Carver’s condition until recently. A lot of things in my school were skipped over too.

@KNOWITALL if Carver is such a well-known figure and you don’t need to do more research on him, then… I’m not sure if it’s appropriate, but look up Colonel Tyle. He was a runaway slave in the 18th century who rose to become a leader in the Revolutionary War. He was at one point the symbol of fear for the enemies, and led white people to fight for him. When he attacked anywhere, his army was incredibly effective, leaving massive loss to the enemies. The only thing that stopped him from being honored properly was that he was on the British’s side. But putting away the war context, you just have to admire how a runaway slave, at a time when slaves were basically not people, could manage to become such a great military leader and inspired the people of higher status than him to fight for him.

I even had a short story in my head about a black Lieutenant inspired by the man who was captured by the Patriots. He caused his captors a headache by demanding to be treated according to his title. A virtuous Patriot Captain decided to take over the task and treat him like he wanted. The idea was that a Lieutenant couldn’t disobey a Captain, and he could bring the prisoner into obedient from there. But after a while the Captain came to respect the prisoner for his bravery and virture, and started to question his own perception of black people. The prisoner on the other hand started to realize that not all white people were horrible slave owners and came to form a genuine relationship with the Captain.

I have not heard of him, I’ll definately put that on my list since it’s a three day weekend. Thanks!

That sounds interesting! Harriet was better than expected, what a woman!

I love Black History Month. So many amazing people who I learn about.

Have you seen the Tuskegee Airmen with Cuba Gooding Jr? I really liked it. True Story. I linked you the trailer.

I’ve been trying to get my husband to watch it for ten years. Maybe I will try again now that I am reminded of it.

You know what’s a great movie? Mudbound. It’s about sharecroppers. Mary J. Blige is in it.

After reading and watching the movie about Fred Hampton I got really depressed.

This guy got gangs to create a cease-fire and started rallying poor whites and black together and was killed by a racist president and racist cops.
Activists need to stop using the word socialism, it’s a one way ticket to assassination.

I’m not. I love history, all history though. Just finished reading a book on The Pony Express. No need to set apart a day or time to focus on one part over another.

Yesterday I stumbled on a fascinating program. An actress was portraying Harriet Tubman and a reporter was interviewing her. It was very, very interesting. The actress did a wonderful job, and she knew her girl.

Hidden Figures is great, too.

@chestnut That’s kind of the point of BHM though. :)

@KNOWITALL Doesn’t mean I have to participate. I refuse to. Will hard pass St. Patrick’s Day, too. Kwanzaa as well.

As a member of my congregation, I’m involved with our anti-racism and education efforts year round on behalf of eliminating prejudice. I’ve initiated a book cart of materials on racism and gender inclusivity that we are bringing out to the lobby after services so that people can borrow materials. I also lead common read discussions for the congregation, some of which titles are focused on civil rights issues. I’ve been doing this work year round and don’t feel a need to single out Black History Month separately.

But I’m very glad for any learning and recognition that is paid to Black history. The issues are still ongoing.

Celebrating is too noble and uplifting a description for my behavior regarding the month and black history. In fact, I don’t even think about it until someone happens to mention it. Both the wife’s and my daughter’s birthdays take center stage this month, along with the joys of the tax season. I tell you what has been fun. And that’s watching all the biographical documentaries of Muhammad Ali. I had no idea there were so many out there. Around a week ago, I spent most of an entire day under headphones listening to the collected speeches of Malcolm X. It’s a strange thing that I hadn’t really appreciated how 2 of the most significant black men in my lifetime could be so vocally entertaining through such wonderful and witty mastery of our language.

I realize it when the banks close for MLKs birthday.

My work celebrates Black History Month in many ways and events.
They have a poetry reading focused around a core topic. This years topic is about family.
The poetry reading event lasts about 90 minutes with about 10–12 poems.
I have had the pleasure of being a reader the past 6 years.
I also attended an event at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with a Black artists Family Photo exhibit with my colleagues.

Yes, both Mudbound and Harriet were awesome.

I’m sharing this story of a slave who escaped to my city, almost 200 years ago:

Biddy Bridget Mason (1815–1891)

She was born into slavery and “given” as a wedding gift to a Mormon couple in Mississippi named Robert and Rebecca Smith. In 1847 at age 32, Biddy Mason was forced to walk from Mississippi to Utah tending to the cattle behind her master’s 300-wagon caravan. She “walked” from Mississippi to Utah. That’s 1,620 miles!

After four years in Salt Lake City, Smith took the group to a new Mormon settlement in San Bernardino, California in search of gold. Biddy Mason soon discovered that the California State Constitution made slavery illegal, and that her master’s had a plan to move them all to Texas to avoid freeing them.

With the help of some freed Blacks she had befriended, she and the other Slaves attempted to run away to Los Angeles, but they were intercepted by Smith and brought back. However, when he tried to leave the state with his family and Slaves, a local posse prevented them from leaving.

Biddy had Robert Smith brought into court on a writ of habeas corpus. She, her daughters, and the ten other Slaves were held in jail for their own safety to protect them from an angry and violent pro-slavery mob until the Judge heard the case and granted their freedom.

Now free, Mason and her three daughters moved to Los Angeles where they worked and saved enough money to buy a house at 331 Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. Biddy was employed as a Nurse, Midwife, and Domestic Servant. She was one of the first Black women to own land in the city of Los Angeles.

She had the intelligence and boldness to use part of her land as a temporary resting place for horses and carriages, and people visiting town paid money in exchange for the space. That particular area was considered the first “parking lot” in Los Angeles.

Knowing what it meant to be oppressed and friendless, Biddy Mason immediately began a philanthropic career by opening her home to the poor, hungry, and homeless. Through hard work, saving, and investing carefully, she was able to purchase large amounts of real estate including a commercial building, which provided her with enough income to help build schools, hospitals, and churches.

Her financial fortunes continued to increase until she accumulated a fortune of almost $300,000. In today’s money, that would be $6M. Her most noted accomplishment is the founding of the First AME Church in California. In her tireless work she was known for saying “If you hold your hand closed, nothing good can come in. The open hand gives in abundance; even as it receives.”

Biddy Bridget Mason died on January 15, 1891 at the age of 76. On March 27, 1988, ninety one years after her death, a special occasion event was given in her honor by members of the church she helped founded. Mayor Tom Bradley was among the dignitaries in attendance. Black women are legendary.
Black History is American History

And I’m sharing this thread from 10 years ago:
https://www.fluther.com/140599/culture-appreciation-who-is-your-favorite-african-american-hero/

Please disregard the following asinine post:
https://www.fluther.com/140599/culture-appreciation-who-is-your-favorite-african-american-hero/#quip2389509

Off-topic, but I have never been able to understand the concept of “free black” before the Civil War. Back then all black were by default slaves or at least this is my impression. There were some runaways here and there, but then how could they live their life? They were basically on the run with their white owners chasing them down (in fact, I’ve seen antique wanted posters for escaped slaves with hefty money on them). And even when they managed to escape and evade their owners and the bounty hunters who cared enough to look for them, how could they live a normal life, having a job, or just simply walk around? Wouldn’t the white people just look at them and let that slide? I don’t think the white people were oblivious that there were escaped slaves out there. So to an average white person, a black walking around without an owner had to be an escaped slave, a criminal, and should be taken care of. I just can’t understand how the “free black” could just walk around and not at least face any harassment from white people.

The whole scenario is just impossible to my logic, but I’ve seen evidence that proved otherwise. Escaped slaves who received support from kind people and went on to do great things. Some of them were even condoned by white people! And even better, those evidence could date way back to the Revolutionary War! So my question is: how could that be remotely possible, given the horrendous society back then?

I don’t mean to offend, I’m genuinely curious. My brain is literally broken now. My logic has failed me big time. Plus, this is Black History month right? So isn’t it appropriate to educate to a foreigner about black problems?

@Mimishu1995 There were northern states where Black people were free when Southern states still had slavery. Several states abolished slavery in the early 1800’s.

There is a movie called 12 Years a Slave. A true story about a Black man who lived in New York in the mid 1800’s who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in a Southern state.

Two worlds in one country was true during segregation also. Black people in northern states were able to eat in restaurants with white people, go to school with them, and use the same public bathrooms. In the South they couldn’t. The movie Green Book is about a Black concert pianist who travels to the South to perform and using the Green Book to reference which hotels are for Black people. It’s based on a true story in the early 1960’s. There was still some racism in northern states too, but the government and customs were very different in the two regions of the US.

The movie Hidden Figures was about the Black women who helped in the space program is also in the early ‘60’s. The movie shows scenes of one of the Black women who is a mathematician having to run through rain on the campus where they worked to use the bathroom for Black women in one particular building. The workplace was in Virginia, a Southern state. At one point in the movie her boss tears down the sign on the bathroom and says there are not segregated bathrooms anymore at work. I’ve read that that scene never really happened. That Virginia still had segregated bathrooms, but at that workplace it was overall ignored.

The boss was mostly based on a man from the Midwest who was a manager in the space program. Since it was the Space program of course it was people from all over the country working there; the best mathematicians and engineers. In fact the lead engineer who is a Jewish Holocaust survivor encourages another Black woman to further pursue her education to get her engineering degree. Also, John Glenn, the famous astronaut, is shown treating the women with respect and acknowledging their capabilities. He was from the Midwest too.

Sorry another post.

I found this article about slave states and free states and when various states got rid of slavery. https://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2012/12/before-there-were-red-and-blue-states-there-were-free-states-and-slave-states/

Salvery was illegal in many states @Mimishu1995. Black people in those states were free to work and learn and live just like white people.

@Dutchess_III Unfortunately there is still an issue today. Freedom on paper and in a law does not equate to how people of any color, gender, or culture are actually treated. There are still huge inequalities today.

I know that. I live here. I was just trying to explain to Mimi why not every black person in America was a slave.