#blacked out history

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On May 26, 1956, two female students from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson, sat down in the “whites only” section of a segregated bus in the city of Tallahassee. When they refused to move to the “colored” section at the rear of the bus, the driver pulled into a service station and called the police. Tallahassee police arrested Jakes and Patterson and charged them with “placing themselves in a position to incite a riot.” In the days immediately following these arrests, students at FAMU organized a campus-wide boycott of city buses. Their collective stand against segregation set an example that propelled like-minded Tallahassee citizens into action.

search for: Willhelmina Jakes, Carrie Patterson, FAMU, Florida civil rights movement

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Info: The cultural assimilation of Native Americans was an effort by the U.S. to force European-American culture on Native Americans between the years of 1790-1920 (with lasting impact on many cultures in the present). "The government took our children away from our families and forced them to go to boarding schools, cut our hair off, gave us English names, punished us for speaking our languages, and tried to take away our ceremonies and traditional ways of life," said Alayna Eagle Shield of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. With increased immigration to the US, European immigrants forced "standard" cultural values and practices, partially responsible for the isolation of Native Americans on reservations. The government outlawed traditional Native religious ceremonies and established boarding schools. In these schools children were forced to speak English, study "American" subjects, and attend church. This acculturation process has been experienced by many cultures throughout the U.S., including African Americans. "The biggest thing I'm proud of is our children are revitalizing the language for us," said Alayna. "In our little communities the fight to preserve the essential components of who we are is real." For more info search: Dawes Act of 1887; Indian Citizenship Act of 1924; American Indian Wars; Trail of Tears

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 DJ Kool Herc and Cindy Campbell are a Jamaican-born brother and sister duo credited with originating hip hop music in the early 1970s in The Bronx, New York City. The two began hosting back-to-school parties in the recreation room of their building. DJ Kool Herc developed the style considered “the blueprint for hip hop”. He used the record to focus on a short, heavily percussive, part in it: the "break".  This later gave birth to “b-boys & b-girls” - dancers to Herc’s “breaks”. His use of hard funk records like James Brown was an alternative both to the Bronx gang culture and to the popularity of disco in the 1970s. His style is most notable in artists like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa. Cindy went on to found Hip-Hop Preserve Inc., a non-profit that preserves the origins of Hip Hop culture. 

For More Info Search: “James Brown”; “Grandmaster Flash”; “break dancing”; “The merry-go-round”; breakbeat

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In 2012, 45 year old Michael Dunn opened fire on a vehicle filled with 17 year old Jordan Davis and three of his friends just after 7:30pm in Jacksonville, Florida. Michael Dunn, who was not later convicted for the first degree murder of Jordan Davis, got into an argument with the teens over their "rap crap" music. He fired 10 shots at the SUV, three of them while the car was fleeing. Three shots struck Davis, one of them cutting through his liver, his lung and his aorta. After killing Davis, Dunn left the scene of the shooting, went back to a hotel where he was staying with his fiance, and walked his dog. He returned the next day to his house -- more than two hours away -- without calling 911. Dunn claims that he felt threatened, and thus immune under Stand Your Ground legislation. The jury deciding the fate of Michael David Dunn deliberated for more than 30 hours on whether or not he murdered Davis, longer than the jury that acquitted George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin or the jury that convicted Marissa Alexander in 12 minutes.

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Fannie Lou Hamer was a civil rights leader instrumental in organizing Mississippi Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s. Black Southerners registering to vote faced serious threats including harassment, loss of jobs, beatings, and lynchings; nonetheless, Hamer was one of the first to volunteer in Ruleville, Mississippi. Later she admitted, ".. what was the point of being scared? The only thing they could do was kill me, and it kinda seemed like they'd been trying to do that a little bit at a time since I could remember."  She became Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and spoke at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Through her work in the civil rights movement, she  gained a reputation as an electrifying speaker and powerful freedom fighter.