Another Grand Ralph

cooler by the lake

[anothergrandralph]

Black Like Me

It is 2015. Today is the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Voting Rights Act, something short-sighted historians once marked as the end of the Civil Rights Movement. (There is, obviously, a bevy of work supporting a broader understanding, often referred to as the Long Civil Rights Movement.) While it would be easy to lament the SCOTUS decision two years ago that neutered the act or to celebrate a federal appeals court striking down Texas’s Voter ID law, that’s not what this is.

Today, I was browsing audiobooks on Audible, and it suggested some of their “Audible Bestsellers.” After To Set a Watchman and The Martian, was Black Like Me.  Motherfucking Black Like Me. A bestseller. In 2015.  For the uninitiated, I present the description provided by Publisher’s Weekly:

“[John Howard] Griffin's (The Devil Rides Outside) mid-century classic on race brilliantly withstands both the test of time and translation to audio format. Concerned by the lack of communication between the races and wondering what "adjustments and discriminations" he would face as a Negro in the Deep South, the late author, a journalist and self-described "specialist in race issues," left behind his privileged life as a Southern white man to step into the body of a stranger. In 1959, Griffin headed to New Orleans, darkened his skin and immersed himself in black society, then traveled to several states until he could no longer stand the racism, segregation and degrading living conditions. Griffin imparts the hopelessness and despair he felt while executing his social experiment, and professional narrator Childs renders this recounting even more immediate and emotional with his heartfelt delivery and skillful use of accents. The CD package includes an epilogue on social progress, written in 1976 by the author, making it suitable for both the classroom and for personal enlightenment.”

The author wants to know what it’s like for Black people in the American South...So he puts on literal blackface.  What the actual fuck?  It never occurred to him to go talk to an actual real-life African American?? In order to understand the experience of Blackness in America, a white dude has to “live” it and then explain it to us?? To truly understand Black America, do we turn to James Baldwin? Richard Wright? Toni Morrison? Ralph Ellison? Audre Lorde? Nope.  A Southern White man wearing his best “Negro” costume is gonna tell it like it is.

Why is it that only the straight cis white man is regarded as a neutral voice in America? From politics to internet commenting, unless one is a straight white man, it’s assumed you’re representing some underlying motive and thus untrustworthy.

We’re coming up on the anniversary of Mike Brown’s murder. Have we as white Americans learned anything in the past year?

[todaysdocument]

via The US National Archives Facebook page

The Voting Rights Act was passed fifty years ago today in 1965. Despite the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, African Americans in the South faced tremendous obstacles to voting, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions to deny them the right to vote. They also risked harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals, and physical violence when they tried to register or vote. This photograph of a church in Mississippi was taken after it was destroyed by a fire on August 11, 1964. The church housed a CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) Voter School. This church was one of 38 voter schools in Mississippi bombed or burned in 1964. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which aimed to increase the number of people registered to vote in areas where there was a record of previous discrimination. The legislation outlawed literacy tests and provided for the appointment of Federal examiners (with the power to register qualified citizens to vote) in certain jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination. In addition, these jurisdictions could not change voting practices or procedures without “preclearance” from either the U.S. Attorney General or the District Court for Washington, DC. This act shifted the power to register voters from state and local officials to the federal government. You can learn more about it here: http://1.usa.gov/1DwH9TX The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum is holding a voter drive today and is also offering free admission in honor of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act.

[usnatarchives]

[todaysdocument]

#ArchivesValentines are back!

[usnatarchives]

Some more Valentine’s Day sentiments from our archivists! 

[usnatarchives]

Many of the people in the photographs in our #MonthOfMarchers series are not identified, but we know the identity of today’s marcher.

Here is the story of Edith Lee-Payne, in her own words:

In late October 2008, my cousin Marsha phoned saying she saw a picture of me on the cover of a 2009 Black History Calendar. She said I was holding a banner that read something about a march. I immediately recalled the March on Washington in August 28, 1963. She went on to say the picture was in a museum. From there my search to find the picture’s origin began.

My search began with the Smithsonian since my only lead was a museum, and then on to the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. I am thankful to Jan Grenci of the Library of Congress, who located the photo online credited to the National Archives and Records Administration, while sending me other websites where the photo had been featured.

My first contact with the National Archives was with the very kind and extremely patient and helpful Rutha Beamon. Not only did Ms. Beamon provide me ordering instructions, she informed me two other photos were taken at the March. These photos include my mother, making them especially memorable. My best description of this moment is “overwhelming.” Something I could never have imagined is reality. Grasping it is not easy.

It is very humbling and gratifying to have been captured in photos viewed and used around the globe, by an unknown photographer that I have great respect, gratitude, and appreciation for. At that moment, the photographer captured my indescribable and unbelievable feelings as I listened and felt and saw, simultaneously, despair and hope on the faces of people around me, including my mother. It’s also humbling that my image identifies me as a civil rights demonstrator, associated with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the historic March on Washington that will be seen throughout history.

It is with great pride and humility that I return to Washington, DC, to celebrate my sixtieth birthday and the dedication of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Monument. Although his dream is not yet realized, his tireless leadership to bring a nation together will never be diminished as I and others continue to keep the dream alive.

[ourpresidents]

"We have a cancer… close to the Presidency, that’s growing. It’s growing daily…"

On July 16, 1973, during his testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee, Deputy Assistant to the President Alexander Butterfield shocked the world by revealing the existence of a White House taping system. 

This revelation proved particularly explosive as the taping system could and would corroborate John Dean’s June 1973 testimony that he had detailed for President Richard Nixon White House-led cover-up efforts of the Watergate break-in in a March 1973 conversation.  Dean testified that he had even warned the President of a lethal “cancer growing on the Presidency,” due to the continued perjury and pay-offs required to maintain the cover-up.

The conversation between President Nixon and White House Counsel John Dean had occurred on March 21, 1973 and was captured by recording devices in the Oval Office of the White House.

In this conversation segment, Dean warns President Nixon that the Watergate cover-up is a growing “cancer… close to the Presidency.” Listen here.

Conversation 886-008, Audiotape 886 (NARA Identifier #7450039), Oval Office Recordings, White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives and Records Administration.

More Watergate-Related Conversations from the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

[todaysdocument]

This animation from Moonwalk One shows all the stages of the Apollo 11 mission, which launched 45 years ago on July 16, 1969.  As designed, the only component to return to Earth was the Command Module Columbia.

Moonwalk One, ca. 1970

From the series: Headquarters’ Films Relating to Aeronautics, 1962 - 1981. Records of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1903 - 2006

via Media Matters » Stepping Stones to the Moon

[anothergrandralph]

Summertime Chi

If I hear another upper-middle-class white homeowner from one of Chicago’s fully-gentrified neighborhoods bemoan the gun violence of our fair city, I swear I will cut a bitch.

Social media proclaims that the 60 people shot in Chiraq really put a damper on your holiday weekend.  This does not come from a place of empathy or even sympathy.  It is fear, plain and simple.  Cause or solution have no place in the conversation.  How do we keep our privileged white children safe as they go from their private Montessoris to their selective enrollment high schools as they mature like the savings bonds they will surely receive upon graduation?

Pro- and anti-gun rhetoric / blaming the victims / no parents / culture of violence

“ Family structure is no longer existent in a lot of these neighborhoods and Entitlement has won to sway the votes.”

Ever set foot in Englewood? Roseland? Austin? Little Village?

or the racial makeup of these neighborhoods is enough to determine family structure?

“Let them all shoot each other, maybe they will eventually run out.”

Did you say the same thing about Columbine? Sandy Hook?

Just say what you mean:

Only white lives matter.

Derrion Albert didn’t matter.

Hadiya Pendleton didn’t matter.

Endia Martin didn’t matter.

Vaughn Holemon didn’t matter.

I guess they couldn’t be exploited to buttress your liberal ideology like Trayvon.

It’s like lamenting the destruction of Detroit while planning your exodus to the suburbs. When the only city presence in many Chicagoans’ lives is the CPD or a photo-op when the Mayor comes to close their schools. Three children were shot within a mile of the President’s house last week - did you hear anything about that? Just say what you mean: only white lives matter.

[congressarchives]

225th Anniversary of the First Congress: We’ll be posting documents and stories highlighting the establishment of the new government under the Constitution through March 2016.

Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution states that upon assembling, senators would be divided into three classes. Their terms would be six years. Every two years the members of one class—approximately one-third of the senators—would face election or reelection. Because the Constitution did not specify how the classes should be formed, the Senate appointed a committee to determine the process.

On May 15, 1789, the senators followed the instructions from the committee’s report the day before and divided into three groups so that no two senators from the same state were in the same group. The Secretary of the Senate wrote 1, 2, and 3 on small, equally-sized pieces of paper and placed them into a wooden box. One member from each of the three groups drew a piece of paper. The number they drew signified the class their group would be divided into. The first class faced reelection in two years, the second class in four years, and the third class served the full six year term.

Today, senators continue to be divided into these three classes. This same ceremony for establishing classes was most recently conducted when Hawaii entered the Union in 1959.

Senate Journal Showing the Senators being Divided into Classes, 5/15/1789, Records oft he U.S. Senate

[anothergrandralph]

Happy birthday, US Constitution!

[geekdadblog]

Today’s Document: Learn About History, One Document at a Time

Regarding George Washington’s Oath of Office, National Archives. (See more than page one at ...

[todaysdocument]

Nice feature on todaysdocument from geekdadblog blog this week!

[hueyfreemanonlyspeaksthetruth]

The Boondocks Season 4 premiere April 21st

[this-day-in-baseball]

April 9, 1962 Keeping a Laotian prince waiting in the White House, President Kennedy opens up Washington’s new $23-million D.C. Stadium by tossing the ceremonial first pitch. Despite a rain delay, JFK stays for the entire game to see the Senators beat the Tigers 4-1.

[fuckyeahchristinahendricks]

Mad Men, Season 7 promo.

[anothergrandralph]

Rowr.

[visualjunkee]

Martha Cooper: Hip Hop Files 1979 - 1984

Martha Cooper has the reputation of being the first and foremost photographer of hip hop culture in New York City.

Cooper was a photo-journalist living in New York City when she first began documenting the origins of B-boy (short for break-boys) and hip hop culture. While other New Yorkers at the time saw this movement as a trite, uninspired or even offensive fad, Martha found a new form of expressing art. Through her camera lens we recount the infancy of hip-hop culture, from the alleys and subways of New York to the masses beyond the boroughs. (available on amazon,  also check out Jamel Shabazz photo series)

Producer Amerigo Gazaway: *Soul Mates* series continues the theme of his previous work in creating collaborations that never were. On the series’ first installment, the producer unites Brooklyn rapper Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) and soul legend Marvin Gaye for a soul stirring masterpiece mashup aptly titled “Yasiin Gaye: The Departure (Side One)

Stream the whole thing on SoundCloud or download it here (for a limited time).

photos:©martha cooper. all rights reserved

[sugarfey]

I was thinking yesterday about fandom gatekeepers and straight white fanboys with chips on their shoulders and how much they suck, and while as female fans it’s immensely satisfying to lay the smack down with proof of our nerd cred, I think it’s important to also emphasise that...

[todaysdocument]

Cranks, Crack-pots, and Martians

"I suppose that by this time you have received many letters from numerous cranks and crack-pots who quickly became jitterbugs during the program. I was one of the thousands who heard this program and:

did not jump out of the window,

did not attempt suicide,

did not break my arm while beating a hasty retreat from my apartment,

did not anticipate a horrible death,

did not hear the Martians “rapping on my chamber door”,

did not see the monsters landing in war-like regalia in the park across the street…”

—Letter dated November 1, 1938, from J. V. Yaukey of Aberdeen, South Dakota, to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the “War of the Worlds” broadcast by Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater on the evening of October 30, 1938.

75 years ago on October 30, 1938, the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) broadcast an adaptation of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. The hour-long radio program began with an announcer introducing a musical performance and moments later interrupting with a special news bulletin describing the landing of Martians in New Jersey and their subsequent attacks with death rays. Although CBS made four announcements during the broadcast identifying it as a dramatic performance, millions of Americans who heard it were scared into some sort of action, many wrote letters. The newly created Federal Communications Commission received more than 600 letters about the broadcast, Not everyone took to the streets however, and many, like the writer of this letter, felt that others were overreacting.

via Prologue: "Jitterbugs" and "Crack-pots" Letters to the FCC about the “War of the Worlds” Broadcast 

[uncannypanels]

Uncanny X-Men #144 by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson