Celebrating Black History...Leaving A Legacy

PROLOGUE

Whatever you want your legacy to be, you must live that way right now. 
--Bruce H. Clark, The Power to Advance, Pastor of Advance Church in Silver Spring, Maryland

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Dr. Mae Jemison

Never limit yourself because of others' limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination. 
-- Mae Jemison, Astronaut--First African American Woman in Space, Physician and Founder of two Technology Companies, www.drmae.com

Cicely Tyson

"I say that if each person in this world will simply take a small piece of this huge thing, this tablecloth, bedspread, whatever, and work it regardless of the color of the yarn, we will have harmony on this planet."
 --Cicely Tyson, America I AM Journal

Dr. Cornell West

• "To be great does not mean you have to dominate other people."
  
• "When you really love people, you can't stand the fact that they are treated unjustly."
  
• "We may be disappointed in something or someone, but in #love we should never give up on it...or on him/her."

--Cornell Well, Noted Professor and Intellectual

Dr. John Hope Franklin

"It takes a person with a stout heart and great courage and uncompromising honesty to look the history of this country squarely in the face and tell it like it is." 

--John Hope Franklin, Noted Historian, Professor and Researcher

John Hope Franklin was born Jan. 2, 1915, in Rentiesville, Oklahoma.  He died on March 25, 2009 in Durham, North Carolina. 

Justice Thurgood Marshall

"In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute." 
--Thurgood Marshall (1908 - 1993), The First African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Native of Baltimore, Maryland

Some of the public institutions named after Justice Marshall:

• Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston, Texas
• Thurgood Marshall College, La Jolla, California
• Thurgood Marshall Middle School, San Diego, California
• Thurgood Marshall High School, Sugarland, Texas
• Thurgood Marshall Academy, A Public Charter School , Washington, D.C.
• H.S. 670 Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change, New York City, NY
• Baltimore Washington International Airport, Baltimore, MD

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EPILOGUE

Kevin Wayne Johnson

"…our deeds, no matter how small, can bring forth a great return."  
--Kevin Wayne Johnson, Author of Give God The Glory! series & Founder of Writing For The Lord Ministries

Celebrating Black Economic History...Education and Entrepreneurs

Excerpts from "Surviving And Thriving 365 Facts in Black Economic History"by Julianne Malveaux, http://www.lastwordprod.com
(Used by permission.)

Quotes

• ...Dozens of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were organized before the turn of the century, funded in part by church contributions and bake sales and buoyed by simple tenacity.

For a list of all HBCUs, see:  http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/list/whhbcu/edlite-list.html

• North Carolina Mutual was founded in 1898, and it is the oldest and largest African-American life insurance company in the US.  http://www.ncmutuallife.com/

• Reginald F. Lewis (1942 - 1993) opened the first African American law firm on Wall Street in 1983.  In Baltimore, Maryland, there is a museum honoring the state's African American History named in his memory.  Mr. Lewis was also a distinguished gentleman of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

• Robert L. Johnson, the founder (with Sheila Johnson) of Black Entertainment Television (BET). [BET] was sold to Viacom for about $3 billion. (Most stunning entrepreneurial story of the late 20th century)

• On June 1, 1921, Tulsa Oklahoma's Black Wall Street, a prospering African American community was burned to the ground by mobs of envious Whites and even bombed from the air.

For more information on the 1921 Tulsa Oklahoma Race Riot, see:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot

Happy Valentine's Day 2011! | The Secret To Lasting Love

Any old & happily married people out there?  In one word, why has your love lasted? Please share your comments and "couple" pics.

Gospel Music Winners at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards (2011), updated 2/18/2011

Best Gospel Performance: “Grace” by BeBe and CeCe Winans

"Grace" was released in October 2009 on the "Still" Album.  
For a live performance of the song, see:  http://www.oprah.com/entertainment/BeBe-and-CeCe-Winans-Perform-Video_1
To purchase the song,  click: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/still/id329529651

Best Gospel Song: “It’s What I Do” by Kirk Whalum and Lalah Hathaway

To see a live performance, see:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmucb-B7Uns
To purchase the song, click:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hes-been-just-that-good/id353931656?i=353932279&ign-mpt=uo%3D6

Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album: “Hello Hurricane” by Switchfoot

http://www.switchfoot.com

To preview or purchase the album, click:  http://www.amazon.com/Hello-Hurricane-Switchfoot/dp/B002OH12P4

Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album: “Love God, Love People.” By Israel Houghton

http://www.newbreedmusic.com

To preview or purchase album, click:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/love-god-love-people-deluxe/id387931822

Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album: “The Reason” by Diamond Rio

http://www.diamondrio.com

To preview or purchase the album, see:  http://www.diamondrio.com/release.php?num=11    

Best Traditional Gospel Album: “Downtown Church” by Patty Griffin

http://www.myspace.com/pattygriffin

Check out Patty Griffin's MySpace page to see a the video, "The Making of Downtown Church".
To preview or purchase the album, see:  http://www.amazon.com/Downtown-Church-Patty-Griffin/dp/B00307Q90A    

Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album:  ”Still” by BeBe and CeCe Winans

http://www.myspace.com/bebeandcecewinans

To preview or purchase the album, click the MySpace Page link above.  

In Memoriam:
*Kudos to the Grammys for recognizing the late Bishop Walter L. Hawkins and Queen of Gospel, the late Albertina Walker.

Bishop Walter L. Hawkins
1949 - 2010

Ms. Albertina Walker
1929 - 2010

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1) For a quick list of awards for all categoies, see:  http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8181943-2011-grammy-award-winners-full-list

2) For a list of all winners and nominees in all categories, see:  http://www.grammy.com/nominees

Celebrating Black Economic History--February 2011

http://www.lastwordprod.com/

Excerpts from "Surviving And Thriving 365 Facts in Black Economic History" by Julianne Malveaux, http://www.lastwordprod.com (Used by permission.)

• Whether free or enslaved, African American people were involved in the economic development of our nation.

• By 1910, African American people had more than 15 million acres of rural land, but Black farms were smaller and less well capitalized than White farms -- a prescription for land loss during the 20th century.

(This was almost 50 years after the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 that freed 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million enslaved people.)

• By 1999, Black rural land ownership had dropped to 7.7 million acres, or just 1 percent of all privately owned rural land in the United States.

(For a summary of how this statistic relates to the USDA Settlement with Black Farmers, see Wall Street Journal article, "Black Farmers, USDA Agree to $1.25 Billion Settlement" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704269004575073820593191804.html#articleTabs%3Darticle)

• Congress chartered the Freedman's Saving and Trust Company in 1865. By 1874, deposits totaled more than 3 million, but the bank had been so poorly run that when the abolitionist Frederick Douglas became its president in 1874, he declared it bankrupted. Though Congress chartered this bank, it refused to reimburse depositors.

Discussion:  Do you think there is any correlation between how blacks were historically treated by financial institutions, (e.g., the Freedman's Savings and Trust's bank failure, exploitation of black consumers who were charged high interest rates and given bad loans by some financial institutions, etc.) and the statistic stating that Blacks have the highest "unbanked"* rate of any U.S. ethnic group.  (See the graph below)


*Unbanked is defined as households that answered "no" to the question, "Do you or does anyone in your household currently have a checking or savings account?"

UNBANKED HOUSEHOLDS BY RACE AND ETHNICITY
http://www.economicinclusion.gov/key_findings.html

About The Author:

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and President of Bennett College for Women.  Malveaux's popular writing has appreared in USA Today, Black Issues in Higher Education, Ms. Magazine, Essence Magazine, and The Progressive.  A native San Francisian, she is the Founder and Thought Leader of Last Word Productions, Inc. a multimedia production company headquartered in Washington, D.C. 

UPDATE | Win Tickets to the 2011 US Open Courtesy of ArthurAshe.org

In celebration of Black History Month, "ArthurAshe.org" takes a look at the year 1968. They have an interview with Arthur Ashe  and are offering an Essay Contest with a chance to win four (4) tickets to the U.S. Open this summer in New York City. For more details, visit:  http://www.arthurashe.org.

Philadelphia Bullying Victim on "The View"

For the background story and video footage of the incident, please watch above. This story is shocking and the truth is, these incidents are far too common.  Some victims, like Phoebe Prince, do not live to tell the story. Kudos to "The View" for telling this family's story. 

http://abc.go.com/watch/the-view/SH559080/VD55109616/the-view-23

Black History Month: Inspirational quotes by Carter G. Woodson, Maya Angelou, and Arthur Ashe

What Carter G. Woodson had to say about "Education Reform"

Real education means to inspire people to live more abundantly, to learn to begin life as they find it and make it better... Carter G. Woodson from "The Mis-Education Of The Negro", Africa World Press, Inc.,  Washington, D.C., 1990

Carter G. Woodson
1875 - 1950

Maya Angelou on "The Dream"

‎"Your ancestors took the lash, the branding iron, humiliations and oppression because one day they believed you would come along to flesh out the dream." --Maya Angelou from the America I AM Journal, Edited by Clarence Reynolds, Smiley Books

Dr. Maya Angelou
1928-2014

Let's Get Started...with Arthur Ashe

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. --Arthur Ashe, Humanitarian and World Class Tennis Star

1943 - 1993