#back history

[tzitzimitl-eztli]

The Nightmare

The more I draw the more of this and I come up with a story maybe I'll do it or just forget it

[zamgoods]

BackHistory on Black History Month

Monday February 15th      2.15.2021      46th day of the year  Waxing New Moon

Thanks to ChuckSpears for schooling us on the History of Black History Month.  A happy birthday to you Teach.

February is said to be the month Abraham Lincoln (2.12.1809) and Fredrick Douglass( 2.1818) was born which is why Doctor Carter G. Woodson picked February to celebrate what he called Negro Life and History.  

[bookdragonlibrary]

Depth in Miraculous Ladybug

It’s Black Month and I want to talk about something in Miraculous Ladybug. 

I don’t know if this was intentional but Alya Césaire has the name of a Black French writer, Aimé Césaire.

He was born in Martinique in 1913, one of the few departments outside metropolitain France. He was a poet, a dramaturge, an essayist and a biographe but also an engaged writer against racism and the disparition of the Black cultures in the French colonies but also in all colonies in general. That’s why he created the concept of “négritude” which was more cultural than political.

Important: don’t use the word “nègre” (I don’t know if it has the same meaning than English n-word but you see it has to be used with caution) in French, even if it looks like negro (“black” in Spanish) because now it’s a racist slur. Aimé Césaire used it to forge his neologism “négritude” just like queer people use the word queer to describe themselves to wash away the slur aspect of it. Just like Tyrion’s philosophy: 

“Never forget what you are, the rest of the world will not. Wear it like an armor and it can never be used to hurt you.”

[bootlegramdomneess]

America's Karma

[historicallyblack]

Charlene Foggie-Barnett as a child, pictured with her parents, Pittsburgh, January 1959. Photo courtesy of Foggie-Barnett family.

 When I look at this photo of my parents holding me, I'm transported to some of the happiest days of my life. This image represents our own version of the “Camelot” effect that the Kennedy's were living in the White House. Much like the first family of the country, we were the first family of Wesley Center A.M.E. Zion Church, my Dad was an NAACP and Housing Authority president, and both of my parents managed peaking Civic involvement, with a strong family to back them. Like the Kennedy's, we also vacationed every summer in Hyannis Mass. on Cape Cod, near my father's hometown of Boston. Although we were a very different family that clamored for retreat amidst sun, surf and seafood, we enjoyed generations of Foggie's and the stories they shared. At this point, (being photographed on my first birthday for the Pittsburgh Courier Newspaper by our friend, Charles "Teenie" Harris) I had no concept about the effects of stifling prejudice, segregation and racial disparity. All I knew was joy and acceptance in a community that smiled through their constant push for equality. A society that had to invent their own Camelot, to get through each day. Little did I know as I delighted in the frills of my party dress, that I would eventually find myself part of that somber struggle, as well.

Story from Charlene Foggie-Barnett, Teenie Harris Archive Specialist 

[poppascrew]

When a Florida store owner noticed that his black customers were being harassed by police, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He installed several cameras to catch the menacing Miami Gardens cops who were harassing and terrorizing both his black employees and customers.

[poppascrew]

Gregory Isaacs Documentary