I liked this site I set up for Black History Month so much until I decided to keep it as a permanent part of my Web page.
In honor of February being Black History Month, here are a few sites to visit. If you come across a Web source for black images & graphics, please e-mail me from the italicized blue name on my pages and provide the links.
Before you visit the links, take a look at these excerpts from The Brownies' Book, a 1920's Black kids magazine, excerpts of which Oxford Univesity Press has just published as The Best of The Brownies' Book, an anthology drawn from the magazine by Dianne Johnson-Feelings. These excerpts are from American Legacy magazine, Summer 1996.
The little house is sugar,
It's roof with snow is piled.
And from its tiny window,
Peeps a maple-sugar child.
By 17-year old Langston Hughes
Little babies in a row,
Little dresses white as snow;
No hair, crinkled hair, straight hair, curls--
Lovely little boys and girls!
Little children in a ring,
Hear them as they gaily sing!
Red child, yellow child, black child, white--
That's what makes the ring all right.
Lad and lassie, youth and maid.
Born in sunshine, born in shade;
Zulu, Esquimaux, Saxon, Jew,
United, make the world come true!
God's big children all at work,
Not one dares his task to shirk;
"All for each, and each for all"--
White man, red man, black man, tall.
by Carrie W. Clifford
African Fashion site
Black Tech Guide
Black Collegian Online
Black Urban Prof
Blacks in America
Black Facts Online
Young Black Entrepreneurs
Black History Month Links
4 - World Book's Black History Month site
5 - The History Channel Black History Month site
6 - Encyclopedia Brittanica Guide to Black History
7 - The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture
8 - The Washington Post Black History Month site
Slave narratives and photos from the Library of Congress
Entire text (& photos) of ex-slave narrative books from UNC library - *Wonderful*
Slave narratives - "Death's Gwinter Lay His Cold Icy Hands On Me"
Slavery in the Atlantic Museum - not finished yet, but good info
Black Inventions and Inventors
I've included only the more common inventions, but there are many more in science, engineering, medicine, and other fields. The dates are the patent dates.
Folding Bed - L.C. Bailey, 7/18/1899
Lemon Squeezer - John T. White 12/8/1896
Automatic Gear Shift - Richard B. Spikes 12/6/32
Dust Pan - Lloyd P. Ray 8/3/1897
Fire Extinguisher - Thomas J. Martain 3/26/1872
Air Conditioning Unit - Frederick M. Jones 7/12/49
Comb - Walter H. Sammons 12/20/20
Letter Box - Phillip B. Downing 10/27/1891
Electric Railway Trolley - Elbert R. Robinson 9/19/1893
Traffic Signal - Garret A. Morgan 11/20/23
Golf Tee - George F. Grant 12/12/1899
Refrigerator - John Stanard 7/14/1891
Cap for Bottles and Jars - A.E. Longand & A.A. Jones 9/13/1899
Switching Device for Railways - William F. Burr 10/31/1899
Player Piano - Joseph H. Dickinson 6/12/12
The Water Closet - Jerome B. Rhodes 12/19/1899
Hand Stamp - William B. Purvis 2/27/1883
Postmarking and Canceling Machine - William Barry 6/22/1897
Mop - Thomas W. Stewart 6/13/1893
Type Writing Machine - Lee S. Burridge & Newman R. Mashman 4/7/1885
Lawn Sprinkler - Joseph H. Smith 5/4/1897
Clothes Dryer - George T. Sampson 6/7/1892
Lawn Mower - John Albert Burr 5/9/1899
Parcel Carrier for Bicycles - Jerry M. Certain 12/26/1899
Street Sweeper - Charles B. Brooks 3/17/1890
Printing Press - W.A. Lavalette 9/17/1878
Egg Beater - Willis Johnson 2/5/1884
Ironing Board - Sarah Boone 4/26/1892
Guitar - Robert F. Flemmings, Jr. 3/30/1886
Fountain Pen - William B. Purvis 1/7/1890
Shoe Lasting Machine - Jan E. Matzeliger 3/20/1884
Kneading Machine - Joseph Lee 8/7/1894
Horseshoe - Oscar E. Brown 8/23/1892
Bridle Bit - Lincoln F. Brown 10/25/1892
Spring Gun - Edward R. Lewis 5/3/1897
Oil Cup - Elijah McCoy 7/4/1876 (guy for whom "the real McCoy" was named)
Rotary Engine - Andrew J. Beard 7/5/1892
Air Ship - J.F. Pickering 2/20/1900
Bicycle Frame - Isaac R. Johnson 10/10/1899
From Ebony magazine, February 1997, p. 46
Clips from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
At his Nobel Peace Prize Lecture on 12/10/64
Re: the recent strides (1964 Civil Rights Act) toward racial equality: He affirmed that in the Negroes'ongoing struggle in America, "the demand for dignity, equality, jobs and citizenship will not be abandoned or diluted or postponed. If that means resistance and conflict, we shall not flinch. We shall not be cowed. We are no longer afraid." Turning to a discussion of nonviolence, he explained that "we do not want to instill fear in others....The movement does not seek to liberate Negroes at the expense of the humiliation and enslavement of whites. It seeks no victory over anyone. It seeks to liberate American society and to share in the self-liberation of all people."
And in conclusion: " Here and there an individual or group dares to
love, and rises to the majestic heights of moral maturity. So in a real
sense this is a great time to be alive. Therefore, I am not yet discouraged
about the future. Granted that the easygoing optimism of yesterday is impossible.
Granted that those who pioneer in the struggle for peace and freedom will
still face uncomfortable jail terms, painful threats of death; they will
still be battered by the storms of persecution, leading them to the nagging
feeling that they can no longer bear such a heavy burden, and the temptation
of wanting to retreat to a more quiet and serene life. Granted that we
face a world crisis which leaves us standing so often amid the surging
murmer of life's restless sea. But every crisis has both its dangers and
its opportunities. It can spell either salvation or doom. In a dark, confused
world the kingdom of God may yet reign in the hearts of men." p 202 of
Martin Luther King, Jr., by William Robert Miller
p189 King to a mass rally in St. Augustine, FL where he had gone in
response to a continuing barrage of particularly bad racist acts committed
against blacks and sympathetic whites and agreed to assist in the struggle
to free St. Augustine from the racism:
"I want to commend you for the beauty and dignity and the courage with
which you carried out demonstrations last week....You confronted the brutality
of individuals who feel they can block our righteous efforts toward a just
and free society by beating Negroes--and not only Negroes but by beating
white people who are here to give objective coverage to what is taking
place in this community. But amid all this, you stood up....So I want to
commend you, the heroes of St. Augustine....Soon the Klan will see that...all
of their violence will not stop us. For we are on our way to Freedom Land,
and we don't mean to stop till we get there.
"Now they do other things too. You know they threaten us occasionally
with more than beatings here and there. They threaten us with actual physical
death. They think that this will stop the movement. I got word way out
in California that a plan was under way to take my life in St. Augustine,
Florida. Well, if physical death is the price that I must pay to free my
white brother and all of my brothers and sisters from a permanent death
of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive. We have long since
learned to sing anew with our foreparents of old, "Before I'll be a slave,
I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Father and be saved."
p263 In a sermon (I think his last) at the Ebenezer Baptist Church,
re his death (this is somewhat paraphrased, as the book did this)
"We all think about it, and every now and then I think about my own
death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think about it in a
morbid sense....remember not my honors, or that I won a Nobel prize, but
remember what I tried to do with my life--serving others... remember that
he tried to love somebody." He wanted them to be able to say of him that
he tried to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison. And
I want you to say that I tried to love and to serve humanity. Yes, if you
want to, say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice.
Say that I was a drum major for peace. Say that I was a drum major for
righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't
have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things
of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.
These sites are so worth a visit. Just a click takes you there, and it is utterly amazing what people have gathered and put on the Net. If you absolutely can't visit but one, make it the Seattle Times site. Oh! it is wonderful! Lots of great photos. That's where the above photos came from. Click any one of them to get there. When you visit, take the time to let them know you did and how you liked it. it's important.
Seattle Times civil rights site - compreshensive, great photos
Seattle Times civil rights time line - great for putting things into perspective
Another time line - this one from Western Michigan
National Civil Rights Museum - Bet you didn't even know there was one
Roy Wilkins Memorial - it's like being there; good info
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute- if anyone should have one, its B'ham