Read more: Black History: The Harlem Renaissance
Black History: The Harlem Renaissance
Read more: Black History: The Harlem Renaissance
The Triumph of Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics
There have been several truly memorable moments in black history where the conspicuous incorrectness of racial discrimination has been dramatically put on display. The 1936 Olympics in Hitler’s Germany might be one of the most dramatic because of what the madman wanted to happen and what actually happened.
Hitler was delighted to host the Olympics because he felt it was a chance to put on display one of his center philosophical concepts which was the superiority of the Aryan race. Or to put it more bluntly, Hitler desired to show the superiority of the white man on the Olympic fields. Retrospecting on his arrogance, and knowing what we do today, you marvel how he could have been so profoundly wrong about something. But if he had never questioned that theory, he should have granted it serious review after the Berlin Olympics.
Read more: The Triumph of Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics
The Legacy of Rosa Parks
That event happened on December 1, 1955 on a simple city bus when a black woman by the name of Rosa Parks got on that bus. When the bus turned crowded, the bus driver ordered Ms. Parks to give up her seat to a white man as was the cultural order of things at that time. But Rosa Parks was not concerned in seeing that cultural order of things continue. She refused to give up that seat.
The explosion of outrage and social change that was brought out by that one simple act of civil disobedience is the watershed moment that anybody affected by the civil rights movement points to at the most significant event in modern black history. Rosa Parks was apprehended for not giving her seat up that day and the trial for that act of civil disobedience brought in to the national spotlight another important leader in the civil rights movement by the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This single event began to intensify and gather energy in the black community. It was a stirring and somewhat frightening time as the black community was energized and began to organize around these two brave leaders and the result was the most powerful civil rights protests in the history of the movement came about which pertained be known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
There are numerous reasons why such a simple event has had so much powerful effect on a people like it did on the black community of the 1950s. Undoubtedly the frustration and gathering power of a movement was already building up in the black community. A situation like this can best be identified as a tinderbox that is just awaiting for a spark for it to explode into fire. Once that simple black woman ultimately decided that she was no longer going to live in servitude to the white man and she placed her foot down and said NO, and that was the spark that set the civil rights movement in motion.
Rosa Parks wasn't a trained instigator or a skilled manipulator of organizations. Because she was merely a citizen and a simple woman with simple every day needs, that itself was a potent statement that this was the time for the community to take action and bring about change. She wasn't even looking to start a nation changing civil rights movement when she turned down to give up her bus seat. As she said afterwards in an interview about the event…
"I would have to know for once and for all what rights I had as a human being and a citizen of Montgomery, Alabama.” Then, in her autobiography, "My Story" she expounded that… “People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
Rosa Parks gained the right to be treated as a human being for herself and for her people across America and even around the world with her simple act of civil disobedience. She is an inspiration to us all that we likewise must demand the right of simple human dignity for all people who are citizens of this great land. And the story of Rosa Park’s audacity shows that if we assert what is right, then we may succeed.
The Legacy of George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver is probably most well recognized for his breakthroughs on the use of the peanut. Although it’s a fact that Carver was credited with more than 300 discoveries on the new and various uses for the common peanut, his concepts did not stop there. He carried on with his researches to discover significant uses for the other common agricultural products such as the soybeans, sweet potato, and pecans.
The Inspiring Legacy of Thurgood Marshall
While you look at the time frame that Thurgood Marshall exhibited his leadership at a national level, this was a landmark time period in which he made great steps to take this country from one still being impacted by the attitudes and social systems of slavery and a past full of discrimination to a society on a bright path to turn into a truly integrated society of the future.
Read more: The Inspiring Legacy of Thurgood Marshall
Black History: Thirteenth Amendment - Abolition of Slavery
The very fact that the United States government had to call for this step to outlaw slavery in this country once and for all tells us that the more emancipated way we think in modern times wasn’t always the way life was considered just a few hundred years ago. In light of the long uphill scramble black history in this country represents, it is worthwhile to look back at this elementary but powerful amendment which plainly states…Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Read more: Black History: Thirteenth Amendment - Abolition of Slavery
The Fifteenth Amendment and Equal Protection of US Citizens
Read more: The Fifteenth Amendment and Equal Protection of US Citizens
Some Heroic Achievements of Black American Soldiers in US History
The legacy of military heroism and accomplishment by African Americans is in truth a source of pride for African Americans in all walks of life. But the changes the military has gone through to live with the presence of black men in uniform has very much mirrored the conflicts for integration in society at large.
The account of truly heroic achievements by African American soldiers is much as honorable as any in military history. They include…
* March 3, 1770 – The very first American to die in the Revolutionary war was a black soldier named Crispus Attucks. He was killed when British soldiers fired on a peaceful gathering in Boston, Massachusetts beginning the war that lead to America’s independence.
* In World War II – Vernon J. Baker assumed leadership in assaulting dug in German machine gun emplacements destroying 6 and killing twenty six German soldiers. He received the Congressional Metal of Honor for his courage.
* December 7, 1941 – On the horrendous Pearl Harbor attacks, a black galley cook by the name of Dorie Miller on board the USS West Virginia rushed to the deck as his fellow soldiers lay injured and dying all around him. He valiantly took charge of the machine gun emplacement on the deck and fought off the dive bombers keeping them from further killing and injuring his comrades in arms. For his bravery, Dorie Miller received the first Silver Star of World War II.
These are just a couple of the hundreds of stories of courage and great service to country made by black men throughout America’s history. Inside the military, racial prejudice has long gone by the wayside because when men endure side by side in battle, they're brothers first, fellow soldiers second and people of race a remote third if at all. Battles have a way of equalizing all men and true soldiers know that. So the military has been a chance to cultivate equality and acceptance since it is a culture where being a good solider is constantly more significant than any petty prejudices any man may carry.
But it took longer for the armed forces as an institution to catch up with what soldiers knew instinctively on the battlefield – that all men are equal when they're brothers in arms. Finally on July 26, 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order Number 9981 which declared in no uncertain terms what the U.S. Military’s policy was bearing on racial segregations…
"It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale."
We can be thankful for fearless leadership such as President Truman’s and for the leadership of the military establishment to lay out the tone for the eventual social condemnation of segregation. While it is too bad that American has had to sustain an army to fight her enemies over the centuries, there's no question that the high ethical and moral conduct that is necessary for military men to perform in combat follows those men into society when their service to their country is done.
And that is among the many reasons that the integration of the military dictated that not only would racism no longer be allowed by the American military, it would soon be deemed ignorant and unacceptable in American society as well. While there's still work to be done to make that dream a fact, achievements like these we have laid the groundwork for a better world of integration for all American citizens.
Great Moments In Black History
Black History: The Legendary Harriet Tubman
Harriett Tubman was born in 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland to a slave family of the estate owned by Anthony Thompson. During her slave years, she bore many hardships and cruel treatment which left her with scars and even as susceptibleness to epileptic seizures that resulted from a head injury. It was usual for slaves to change hands and that was part of Harriet’s life as well. Finally in 1849, she escaped to freedom but she by far didn't run away from her people.
In the next few years Harriet Tubman became a true warrior for the redemption of her people who were locked away in slavery. Harriet did not just find a safe place and count her blessings for making it to freedom. She figured the need for the Underground Railroad in the salvation of hundreds of those a lot like her and it became her life’s mission to preserve the regional stations of that railroad for as long as it required to give liberty to all who had the bravery to flee slavery via that resource.
Harriet Tubman demonstrated the kind of courage, resourcefulness and intellect that a field general for any army would be proud to boast. When totaled, Tubmen lead 13 separate missions to bring African Americans to freedom along the Underground Railroad. That implies that she personally lead over seventy slaves to freedom and had a solid influence on the freeing of at least that many more. And by holding the Underground Railroad operational and out of the reach of slave hunters and authorities who tried to shut it down, she indirectly was influential in the redemption of hundreds, possibly thousands more. Who can say how many prosperous and influential black families in this country nowadays owe the lives of their ancestors and the success they have accomplished since those dark days to the brave work of Harriet Tubman.
When Civil War came, Harriet did not retire gratified that she had done her work for her people. She continued to work inexhaustibly for abolitionist movements and to do her part for the war effort. She became among the first ever female spies for the North during the war and her military skills were so well developed that she actually was installed in a position of leadership to command the raid on Combahee Ferry in 1863.
After the Civil War was over, Harriet Tubman carried on her work on behalf of abolitionist movements and for women’s rights until she retired to pen her memoirs. Her contribution during this pivotal time in black history was so venerated that the US Postal Service honored her with a stamp in 1978.
There have been several heroes and heroines in the long uphill struggle for liberation, equality, and freedom for African Americans in this country. During this barbarous time when Harriet Tubman stood in the gap for her people, the plight of black Americans was as much life-or-death as any other time in history. Small wonder her name is revered as among the icons of the fight for freedom before the Civil War. And small wonder she was referred to as Moses to Her People and will be thought of in that way for generations to come.
Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom
Black History: Rising to The Halls of Power
Even in the last decade, huge steps forward have been attained at the very top governmental positions by celebrated and highly qualified black Americans who are making all of us proud in the contributions they are bringing in to America. Colin Powell was an accomplished general who exhibited with quiet dignity and authority that he could lead numerous men into battle. He was honored for his valiant efforts finally attaining the very top levels of the government serving as President Bush’s Secretary of State in his 1st administration. Throughout the halls of government and anyplace Secretary Powell served, he was treated with respect and the honor that he deserves for serving his country so well.
Following the honorable service of Colin Powell, a just as recognized public servant, a black woman named Condoleezza Rice. It was a gallant day when she stepped into that office demonstrating how far America had come from the days when blacks could not eat in the very same restaurants as whites or drink from the same drinking fountains. And her service has been just as distinguished, assembling with heads of state from Africa to Europe to the Middle East to South America and making great achievements throughout her career.
These two black Americans are true models of Doctor King’s vision of people who were distinguished not for the color of their skin but the content of their character. Their excellence as leaders and their amazing resumes they contributed to their jobs provide enormous inspiration to black boys and girls in school that they too can arise in this society and go as far as they want to go if they let their instinctive gifts and skills come to the surface. They don't need a government program or special help to be successful. America has far to go but Dr. Rice and General Powell are models that the system can reward black people of excellence and won't over look the contributions they can make to America’s future.
And now we're on that part of black history that's yet to be. The future is a part of black history still to be written. And we witness another black leader of excellence who is on the very top position of power in the country, perhaps in the world, the presidency of the United States. And as with General Powell and Dr. Rice, Barrack Obama was elected president, not as a black man or in the context of the racial struggle in this country. He has been admired and praised for his leadership, his eloquence and his ability to bring new vision to this country. It is a day of pride for all of black America seeing Barrack Obama being in this position. He will have to work hard and be judged on his talents, skills, experience and ability to lead. But it’s a testimony to how far the country has come that he had just as much of a chance to win that election as any other candidate. His winning the presidency has knock down one more barrier to black people and throughout African American society, children will be able to say, there is nothing I cannot do if I try hard. And that is the vision every civil right leader since the civil war has wanted for blacks in America.
Read more: Rising to The Halls of Power
Black History: The Brown Versus the Board of Education Case in Kansas
In 1951, thirteen families in the small district of Topeka, Kansas, got together to do something about an unjust circumstance. The board of education of their community was permitting racial segregation in the school system founded on an out of date 1879 law. The head of this group of concerned parents was Oliver J. Brown and the result of what began as a few parents trying to make life better for their kids got to be among the most infamous and influential supreme court cases in history known as Brown versus the Board of Education.
The exercise of school segregation had become a usual and accepted practice in American society in spite of numerous movements in the history of civil rights to stop the separation of black society from the white. The justification that segregation allowed for a “separate but equal” setting which profited education, the truth was it was a lightly veiled attempt to deprive African American children of the quality of education that all people require to excel in the modern world.
The case carried on to gather momentum until it came before the Supreme Court in May of 1954. The decision was sensational and decisive when it came back 9-0. The statement of the court was brief, eloquent and pertinent stating that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
Now, even such an authoritative statement from the Supreme Court didn't end the battle between segregationists and those who'd end the exercise that deprived African American children of quality education. In 1957 the Arkansas governor attempted to block the integration of schools in his state and the sole thing that could stop him was the intercession of federal troops sent off by President Eisenhower. A similar but much better publicized event occurred in Alabama where Governor George Wallace physically barricaded black students from entering the University of Alabama. It called for the intervention of federal marshals to physically remove him to ascertain that the law of the land, as mandated by The Supreme Court, was carried through. And the law of the land then and forever since then was that separatism was illegal in this country.
Since this turning point decision, there have been other dodgier attempts to resurrect segregation. But over the years, attitudes have changed to where such views on how our social institutions are established are regarded old fashioned and uneducated.
The integration of the schools was a significant step in the ongoing conflict to create a truly equal society and to better the chances of black children to grow up with the same opportunities as all other kids in this country. As many more African American children became well educated, the black population has been able to cause a strong contribution to the culture and to the furtherance of knowledge in each discipline of learning. Further, the growing number of educated black population gave rise to the black middle class which equalized society from an economic point of view. As African Americans started to participate in all of the economic opportunities that middle class prosperity gave them, the chances for whites, blacks and people of all races and cultures to mix has been healthy to mend the scars of racism and gradually erase divisions in the culture.But perhaps the most important result of integration of the schools is the opportunity it has granted for children of all races to learn, play and grow unitedly. As young black and white students have attended classes, gotten to football games and hung out at pep rallies collectively, they've become friends. They have had opportunities to work together on teams and socialize under a lot of situations and as that has become the social norm and racism started to evaporate from the hearts of young America.
As a result, younger generations look on racism as an unusual and primitive viewpoint from long ago and not in step with an up to date aspect of the world. This kind of true credence both by whites toward blacks and by blacks toward whites will go further to ultimately end racial separation and intolerance compared to any riot or protest or march or even ruling from the Supreme Court could ever do. And we have Oliver Brown and that small group of parents from Topeka, Kansas to give thanks for this. By doing what was best for their children, they did something marvelous for all of America’s children both now and for generations to come.
Black History: The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
As you sit back and take in the phenomenal accomplishments of black history, it's natural to be impressed by some of the great figures of black history including Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver and a lot more. But one name remains head and shoulders above the rest and that's the name Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. King’s legacy of change and his call for the end of racial discrimination and segregation in American society is without question the voice that has struck America as no other has done. While many have demonstrated tremendous leadership, Dr. King clearly showed a vision for the future of America in which black and white worked, lived, played and worshipped together as a united society.
Read more: The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Black History: The Legacy of Booker T. Washington
In 1901, the life story of Booker T. Washington was published with the fitting title Up From Slavery. Washington’s scramble to rise up from the restrictions of a slave’s life to be come one of the most illustrious black leaders in America is among the reasons he is revered in black history as one of the greats who genuinely made a difference for his people.
When Booker T. Washington’s family was liberated from slavery in Virginia, young Booker instantly began pursuing the path where he would make his mark, in education. Attaining success at Hampton University and then at Wayland Seminary, he was soon to open up new accomplishments for African Americans in higher education, being one of the first leaders of the Tuskegee University in Alabama.
But it was more than just academic success that punctuated Washington’s career. He became outstanding in many areas of leadership being a spokesperson for post slavery black America to the powerful and influential in this country. Book T. Washington lived the idea that the pen was mightier than the sword and was an early voice for moderation and learning to excel within the establishments and customs of America instead of dealing in violence.
Among Washington’s great strengths was encountering partnership and coalitions between leaders of numerous communities to enhance the opportunities for education and excellence for the African American community of the time. One of the more influential speeches of black history was given by Washington and became recognized as the Atlanta Address of 1895 in which Washington, speaking to a predominantly white audience set off a profound change in way economic opportunity and employing was done in America at its time. In that one speech he…
* Called up on the black community to become part of the economy and industry of America thus commencing the healing process that was so needed at the time.
* Stated without reservation that the south was the region of the country where there were the biggest opportunities for black employment. By drawing together the strong black labor force with an economy in the middle of recovery from the civil war, Washington may have been among the principal architects for the recovery of the south from the ravages of that war.
* Introduced to the economic institutions largely run by the white citizens of the country that it made more sense to capitalize on the huge resident black population for dependable workers than to look to immigrants. The final result was a boom in employment for the black community that was a big leap forward in the struggle to come up out of slavery.
The Atlanta Address of 1895 moved Booker T. Washington into national prominence becoming a healing voice and a herculean catalyst for change in the United States. Using his advanced network of supporters from each arena of leadership including political, academic and business leaders, Washington worked inexhaustibly to give hope and new opportunities for black families trying to make their way in America.
His work ethic was fundamental and brought forth change at a rate that was phenomenal by any measure. But it had taken a toll on Washington who died relatively young, at the age of fifty-nine from exhaustion and overwork. But this too remarks the enormous drive and devotion this significant black leader had to use all of his talents, his intellect and his network to better the lives of black people and speed up the road to acceptance and integration all over America. We all owe a Booker T. Washington much gratitude for being “the man of the hour” to lead all people forward, black and white, to look for ways to work together in partnership instead of with distrust or violence to attain a better America for everybody.
Copyright © 2011 Athena Goodlight
Black History: Notable Black Comedians in the US Entertainment Industry
Read more: Black History: Notable Black Comedians in the US Entertainment Industry
Black History: The Rainbow Coalition Movement
The fight for freedom and equality for African Americans is one that's passed down from one generation to the next and from one era of black leadership to the next. Throughout the known history, the African American leadership has had a lot of outstanding men and women who made their mark and made a difference for black people in the United States. And that tradition carries on to this day with modern black leadership like Barrack Obama, Jesse Jackson and the Reverend Al Sharpton.
Jesse Jackson has organized his efforts to uphold the struggle for civil rights in one of the most groundbreaking organizations in history that came to be called the Rainbow Coalition. This organization exemplified the dreams and goals of the Reverend Jackson, without doubt. But it also represents the shared efforts of black Americans across the nation in modern times to retain the dream of Martin Luther King alive and moving forward.
Read more: Black History: The Rainbow Coalition Movement
Black History: The Age of Slavery
Read more: Black History: The Age of Slavery
Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery
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