The Defenders Online | A Civil Rights Blog » black history month

The Origins of Black History Month

The Editors — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:07:55 +0000

By Daryl Michael Scott Reprinted by permission of the Association for The Study of African American Life and History www.asalh.org The story of Black History Month begins in Chicago during the late summer of 1915. An alumnus of the University of Chicago with many friends in the city, Carter G. Woodson traveled from Washington, D.C. [...]

Canada’s Racial History: Slavery, Tolerance, Discrimination, and Miscegeny

The Editors — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 20:35:31 +0000

By Janet Singleton
Canada too, the modest parallel universe above the United States, celebrated Black History Month in February. But that may surprise people who assume Canada is white and untouched by slavery.

Poetic Justice: A Biracial Man Pardoning a Black Man for Dating White Women

The Editors — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 16:03:42 +0000

By TaRessa Stovall
Like an embattled boxer returning to the ring, the question of whether the nation’s first black biracial president will pardon the first black heavyweight champion for the crime of interracial dating is back for another round.

The Chance to Get History Right

The Editors — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 15:30:44 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
Determined not to let morality or the truth stand in the way of a Big Lie, the Sons of Confederate Veterans are continuing their celebration of the founding of the doomed, treasonous Confederacy 150 years ago.

Black History Month 2011: W.E.B. Du Bois in the Age of Obama

The Editors — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:33:11 +0000

By David Levering Lewis
An eminent historian maintains there would be no Obama presidency without the Du Bois legacy.

A Word about George Washington’s “Wooden” Choppers

The Editors — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:29:32 +0000

By Stacey Patton
Washington whipped his slaves, threatened to sell them to the West Indies where slaves were often worked to death on sugar plantations, and he had they teeth pulled from their heads to give him comfort.

When The Whole World Was Watching: The First Time

The Editors — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 02:04:29 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
A new book published last month reminds us that the power of “new media” to support democratic change isn’t new.

Good Counsel: How Thurgood Marshall Inspired Me

The Editors — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:30:10 +0000

By Arsalan Iftikhar
I'm Arsalan Iftikhar, a civil rights attorney and frequent contributor to Tell Me More's Barbershop segment. The black history figure who has always been a hero of mine is Thurgood Marshall.

Why America Needs Black History Month

The Editors — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 03:16:31 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
How is it possible to discuss the multiple challenges to autocracy and repression elsewhere during the last half century without at least mentioning the one that had to be waged right here in “the land of the free?”

Black History Month is Over. But Should it be?

The Editors — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:58:45 +0000

By George Alexander I say we start celebrating Black History every day. If there’s ever a good time to feed your mind a little Black History every single day of the week, it’s now.

Reflections of a Black Pioneer: Two Cases of Integrative Leadership

The Editors — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:53:17 +0000

By Clifton R. Wharton, Jr. The unprecedented election of President Barack Obama has provided a dramatic spotlight on the issues of race in America. One aspect of significance is that it represents an important step in the process of racial integration in our nation. His election was the result of the collective decisions by a multi racial and multi ethnic electorate. Both as a U.S. Senator from Illinois and as President, Obama has been what might be called an "Integrative Black Pioneer."

The (Missed) Opportunity of a Lifetime

The Editors — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:38:35 +0000

By Leslie Proll When President Obama took office last January, hopes were high that the right wing’s long stronghold on the federal courts had come to an end. LDF and other civil rights advocates were eager for a new day when fair and impartial judges would once again be nominated and confirmed in large numbers.

July 2009: Something to Celebrate and Contemplate

The Editors — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:23:11 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels
July’s importance to African-American history underscores the fullness of the history of African Americans in and of itself. It also underscores how profoundly intertwined that history is -- right down to the present moment -- with the forces and ideals which led to and flowed from the actions of the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

Passing as Pragmatism: The Life of Belle da Costa Greene

The Editors — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:53:50 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when white women, regardless of their wealth or social position, could not vote, and were widely discouraged from pursuing any meaningful work outside the home, Belle da Costa Greene achieved extraordinary success: as a chief advisor to J.P. Morgan, one of America's greatest titans.

W. E. B. Du Bois at 141

The Editors — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:11:38 +0000

By David Levering Lewis
February is the month of America's emancipators. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, emancipator of African-American citizenship, was born February 23, 1868. Du Bois's eloquent turn-of-the-century meditation, The Souls of Black Folk, explained Americans of color to themselves with a saliency that still inspires and defines them today.

Time To Kill Black History Month?

The Editors — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:36:50 +0000

By Stacey Patton
African-American history has allowed both blacks, whites, and other groups to come to know themselves in a more nuanced and truthful way even amidst denial. And yet, there are writers, some of them African American, calling for black history to fade to black – no pun intended – for good.

Sarah Rector: The Richest Colored Girl in the World

The Editors — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:35:50 +0000

By Stacey Patton "Oil Made Pickaninny Rich - Oklahoma Girl With $15,000 A Month Gets Many Proposals - Four White Men in Germany Want to Marry the Negro Child That They Might Share Her Fortune," which appeared in The Kansas City Star on January 15, 1914, was just the first of many newspaper and magazine headlines during the next decade about Sarah Rector, the richest black child known to the world in that era.

Celebrating Black History: Jack Johnson, Unbelievable Blackness

The Editors — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:52:09 +0000

By Lee A. Daniels Born into dire poverty, the son of hard-working, achievement-oriented ex-slaves, Johnson rose against the seemingly insurmountable barriers of the pervasive, fierce racism of the day to capture an exalted symbol of the sports world-and of white supremacy-the world heavyweight boxing championship.

Celebrating Black History: Added Significance This Year

The Editors — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:23:10 +0000

By The Editors The February tribute known as Black History Month began in 1926 as Negro History Week, created by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a distinguished scholar who was determined to counteract the deliberate omissions of and distortions about black Americans' history found in most school history textbooks.