#hashtagfornoreason

[lesbrarianlightsup]

Lit, only L I take is to the face

[michelleisgreat]

Regrann from @sparkiebabyofficial - A little history on one of the failed attempts to dim #blackgirlmagic. The Tignon Laws were passed in 1786 under the administration of Louisiana Governor Esteban Rodriguez Miró. They enforced appropriate public dress for women of color. At this time in Louisiana history, women of African descent vied with white women in beauty, dress and manners. One of their most standout physical attributes that separated them from their white female counterparts was their hair. Women of African descent would often adorn their hair with colorful jewelry, beads and other accents, demonstrating an exotic appearance which attracted the attention of White men. Many of them had become the girlfriends and placées (openly kept mistresses) of white, French, and Spanish Creole men. This perceived threat to white women's relationships with French and Spanish Creole men incurred the jealousy and anger of their wives, mothers, sisters, daughters and fiancées. Historian Virginia M. Gould notes that Miró hoped the law would control women “who had become too light skinned or who dressed too elegantly, or who, in reality, competed too freely with white women for status and thus threatened the social order. according to historian Carolyn Long who noted: "Instead of being considered a badge of dishonor, the tignon…became a fashion statement. The bright reds, blues, and yellows of the scarves, and the imaginative wrapping techniques employed by their wearers, are said to have enhanced the beauty of the women of color." The women who were targets of this decree were inventive and imaginative. They decorated tignons with their jewels and ribbons, and used the finest available materials to wrap their hair. In other words, "they effectively re-interpreted the law without technically breaking the law" and they continued to be pursued by men. #blackhistory - #regrann @Regrann from @theculturespeaks #FaridaDawkins #BlackHistoryMonth #bhm #blackpride #blackpride #BlackGirlMagic #blackgirlsrock #BlackWomen #blackwomanmagic #tignon #tignonlaws #African #headwrap #youcantsitwithus #hashtagfornoreason (at Harlem)

[michelleisgreat]

Lisa Williamson, also known as Sister Souljah, is an author, lecturer, rap singer, activist, community organizer and political commentator. Through her music, books, lectures and community work she advocates black power, personal responsibility and activism.  She proudly challenges black Americans to strengthen their communities and character by embracing spirituality and self-confidence. A New York Times best-selling author, Williamson now reaches the younger generation through her novels written in the popular style known as street-lit. In 1985 Williamson graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in American history and African studies. In 1992 Williamson's musical career began as a member of the hip-hop group, Public Enemy. Her solo album, 360 Degrees of Power, debuted soon after and was designed to reach the consciousness of the country’s youth. Sister Souljah gained national attention that same year with provocative statements about anti-white violence made in the wake of riots in Los Angeles. That attention grew dramatically when then Presidential candidate Bill Clinton denounced her comments about the riots as “hate driven and racist.”   In 1995 at the age of 31, Williamson published an autobiography as Sister Souljah titled No Disrespect. Four years later she published her first novel The Coldest Winter Ever, which sold over a million copies. She followed with a 2008 novel Midnight: A Gangster Love Story, which became a New York Timesbestseller in 2009. Two years later she published Midnight and the Meaning of Love.  All of her novels are popular with inner city young people. With an interest in philosophy, history and culture, Williamson has worked at a medical center in Zimbabwe and traveled throughout Africa. She also has visited and lectured in Eastern Europe, England, France, Finland and Holland. Williamson continues to lecture on issues of child abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, and drug and alcohol abuse. #SisterSouljah #BlackHistoryMonth #bhm #BlackHistory #blackpride #BlackGirlMagic #blackgirlsrock #BlackWomen #blackwomanmagic #blackisbeautiful #hiphop #coldestwinterever #nodisrespect #rbg #african #hashtagfornoreason (at New York)

[michelleisgreat]

Today I'd like to celebrate the founders of the Black Lives Matter Movement: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. . Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an international activist movement, originating in the African-Americancommunity, that campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people. In 2013, the movement began with the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin the preceding February. How did three words launch a modern-day civil rights movement? Alicia Garza, an organizer with the National Domestic Workers’ Alliance, took to social media after the news broke to write a love letter to black people on her Facebook page—a simple plea to come together in recognition that “black lives matter.” Her friend Patrisse Cullors, head of an advocacy organization for incarcerated people, repeated the line on her own social media accounts, this time adding a hashtag. Soon enough, the pair, along with their tech-savvy friend Opal Tometi, director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, had lit up the Web with a plea to acknowledge—and fix—the disproportionate apprehension, imprisonment and killing of black Americans by the police. Black Lives Matter became nationally recognized for its street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African Americans: Michael Brown, resulting in protests and unrest in Ferguson, and Eric Garner in New York City. Since the Ferguson protests, participants in the movement have demonstrated against the deaths of numerous other African Americans by police actions or while in police custody. The originators of the hashtag and call to action, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, expanded their project into a national network of over 30 local chapters between 2014 and 2016. The overall Black Lives Matter movement, however, is a decentralized network and has no formal hierarchy. . #blackhistory #BlackHistoryMonth #bhm #BlackGirlMagic #blackgirlsrock #BlackWomen #blackwomanmagic #BlackLivesMatter #blm #icantbreathe #ericgarner #trayvonmartin #michaelbrown #hashtagfornoreason

[michelleisgreat]

She was 10 years old when she went from being a poor negro girl to becoming one of the richest African Americans in the early 1900’s.  Born and raised on a Creek Indian plantation, Sarah Rector came into millions after her leased Oklahoma land, thought to be worthless, was discovered to be flush with oil and they began extracting 2500 barrels per day. So, here’s what happened.  As a result of an agreement between the United States and the Creek Indians, Creeks, and their former slaves, were allotted a plot of land and Sarah and her family each received a portion of rock infested land making it difficult to near impossible to farm.  But what was meant for her bad, turned out for her good. After her income leaped from pennies to over $15,000 per month (considered a fortune in 1912) and her identity was revealed, the then 12 year old was bombarded with everything from loan requests to plain old handouts. Topping things off were the barrage of marriage proposals from white males even as far away as Germany. Things got so out of hand that there were even efforts made to pass a law that would declare this brown skinned millionaire – white.  The Chicago Defender reported, “the white people have become so alarmed at the enormous wealth of this young girl that they do not like such wealth belonging to a girl of Afro American blood.” While so many African Americans were swindled out of their land or money by the white “guardians” forced upon them, as an adult, Sarah managed to own stocks, bonds, a boarding house and a bakery. It is uncertain the status of her estate by the time she passed in 1967, but Sarah Rector will forever be a proud part of our African American history. . #sarahrector #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistory #blackpride #blackgirlsrock #BlackLivesMatter #hashtagfornoreason

[michelleisgreat]

It was the summer of 1926 at the Folies Bergère in Paris. Hordes of white Parisians flocked to the famed theater to see La Revue Nègre, a musical show that emerged from France due to the country’s fascination with jazz culture. And there, wearing little more than strings of pearls, wrist cuffs, and a skirt made of 16 rubber bananas, Josephine Baker descended from a palm tree onstage, and began to dance. This dance—the danse sauvage—is what established her as the biggest black female star in the world. She became an overnight sensation: Thousands of dolls in banana skirts were sold all over Europe; beauty editors advised women to rub walnut oil on their faces to darken their skin like Baker’s; postcards, featuring Baker with a glossy, slicked-down­­ hairstyle in her famous banana skirt with jewelry strategically placed over naked breasts, were widely distributed. But beyond her beauty and charisma, Baker radically redefined notions of race and gender through style and performance in a way that continues to echo throughout fashion and music today, from Prada to Beyoncé. Baker’s arrival in Paris coincided with a newfound obsession with black culture, a generation of French men and women who collected African art, jazz, and danced the Charleston. Aside from these surface-level interests, there was a much deeper and disturbing fascination with the widely accepted belief in black people’s inherent primitiveness. When she swung onstage in that fiercely swinging banana skirt in 1926, Baker brilliantly manipulated the white male imagination. Crossing her eyes, waving her arms, swaying her hips, poking out her backside, she clowned and seduced and subverted stereotypes. By reclaiming her image, she advanced her career in ways unprecedented for a woman of that time. . #josephinebaker #BlackExcellence #bhm #blackhistory #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackWomen #blackwomanmagic #BlackGirlMagic #Legend #activist #AfricanAmerican #jazz #blackpride #racism #France #rainbowtribe #hashtagfornoreason

[michelleisgreat]

@Regranned from @editorsmusings - In a time when few men could carry it You lifted the cross upon your shoulders Not alone Never without a doubt You fought for a freedom our birth rights had ordained Against the Venters and the Potgieters Against men who parted seas to claim A land that was never theirs You fought Suffered Interrogations Torture Prisons Banishment To European-claimed land Where you continued to fight In a time when they thought they were strong You fought Until your name became unspoken Because you feared its power Your power Even when they stole your babies’ Childhoods from you You fought Even when they ripped your husband From your newlywed arms Threw him into a concrete cell Even when they displaced intimate moments Between a wife and her husband from private bedrooms to monitored visiting rooms You fought Never denying your womanhood, Motherhood Wifehood Carrying your pain, vulnerable eyes You allowed your cheekbones to hold your head up high Guarded your children to death You honoured your husband as religiously as you knew how Loved your people passionately Fought it through Never to be forgotten Poem: A song for Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela-Mandela SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 by THATO By Vangile Gantsho (@Vangi22) #WinnieMandela . Photo by Peter Magubane Image #repost via @asandasizani #winniemandela #power #muse #queen #birthday #mandela #fight #fearless #strength #determination #warrior #princess #mother #motherofnations #BlackHistoryMonth #blackhistory #blackwomanmagic #Africa #africangirls #hashtagfornoreason (at East Harlem)

[michelleisgreat]

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an African American jazz and pop music singer, dancer, actress, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned over 70 years appearing in film, television, and theater. . #Harlem #Nyc #NewYorkCity #bhm #BlackLivesMatter #blackhistory #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackWomen #blackwomanmagic #BlackGirlMagic #lenahorne #Legend #activist #AfricanAmerican #jazz #blackpride #hashtagfornoreason (at New York, New York)