Showing posts with label African American history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label African American history. Show all posts

January 29 - Happy Birthday, Oprah Winfrey

Posted on January 29, 2020

Born on this date in 1954...
Born into poverty in rural Mississippi...
Born to a teenage single mother...
Raised in inner-city Milwaukee...

She didn't have a chance for success, did she?

Yet Oprah Winfrey was smart enough, talented enough, ambitious enough, and persistent enough to become one of the richest, most famous, and most respected African American people ever!

She's even one of the few people recognized by just her first name: Oprah! (Cher and Madonna and Beyoncé are in the same situation.)

Check out her job titles:

Oprah started out in radio while she was in high school, and she was co-anchor for local evening news at just 19 years old! Since then she has been a talk show host, actor, television producer, and media executive - as well as a philanthropist and activist! She has co-authored five books, and she publishes her own magazine (O, The Oprah Magazine). AND she has even started her own network (OWN - the Oprah Winfrey Network).



Oprah's show was the highest-rated TV program of its kind in history and ran for 25 years! Here are a few of the honors she has received:
  • Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame
  • Presidential Medal of Freedom
  • NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame
  • Honorary doctorate degrees from Duke and Harvard 
  • Appearing on lists, sometimes as #1, such as "Most influential woman" / "Most influential people" / "Most powerful celebrity" / "Greatest Americans" / etc. - TIME, Life, Forbes, and more!








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December 2 - Happy Birthday, Charles H. Wesley

Posted on December 2, 2019

Do you know about Historically Black Colleges and Universities? They were created in order to give black people - many of whom were once enslaved - higher educations that they were denied at other institutions. Many of the HBCU started off with little money and held classes in people's homes, in churches, in basements, or oId schoolhouses. But in 1890 a law was passed requiring states to provide land-grants to colleges that educated black students; because of that law, the HBCUs were able to establish their own campuses.

Now that every U.S. college and university admits black student, some people ask why HBCU still exist. The answers include:
  • HBCUs are able to provide more leadership opportunities to black students.
  • HBCUs have developed a culture of mutual care and contribution and community.
  • HBCUs have grown in diversity over the years and decades. Almost a quarter of the students, these days, are non-black: non-black Hispanic, white, Asian or Pacific Islander.
Why am I talking about Historically Black Colleges and Universities instead of about today's famous birthday? Well, Charles H. Wesley (who was born on this date in 1891) attended a HBCU (Fisk), taught for decades at another HBCU (Howard), served as president of yet another HBCU (Wilberforce), and was the founding president of yet another HBCU (Central State University). So, yeah, Historically Black Colleges and Universities were really important in Wesley's life!!

(Above) Fisk University;
(below) Howard Univeristy

By the way, Wesley attended Yale University for his master's degree - and that Ivy League school is NOT an HBCU.

One thing I love about Wesley's career is that he wrote more than 15 books on African American history and political science. Now THAT's an important contribution!







(Monday after Thanksgiving)
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December 19 - Happy Birthday, Carter G. Woodson

Posted on December 19, 2018

"The Father of Black History"!

Wow!

Born on this date in 1875, in Virginia, you might realize that Carter G. Woodson was born free - because he was born about a decade after slavery was (FINALLY!!!!) abolished in the U.S. But he was born to a large poor family, and both of his parents were former slaves.

Like many other former slaves, Woodson's parents hoped that their kids would have access to more education than they'd had, and they moved the family to West Virginia when they head that a high school was being built for African Americans.

Still, Woodson only got to attend school some of the time. He had to help out with his family and, when he was older, work in the coal fields. He learned a lot on his own when he could squeeze in some time for reading and studying.

Finally, when he was 20 years old, Woodson was able to enter high school and earn his diploma in less than two years. Then he began teaching and even became a principal at age 25!

And Woodson took college classes part-time - earned his Bachelor's degree - became a school supervisor in the Philippines - went to a more prestigious university - and - and - and - 

And he earned a PhD from Harvard in 1912. He was the second African American to receive a doctorate (W.E.B. DuBois was the first). 


He did research on and wrote about black history in the United States, and he was one of the first people to do so. He not only wrote books, he began a scholarly journal about black history - and it still exists today - and he promoted Negro History Week, which later evolved to be Black History Month.



Woodson was also an activist who worked with the NAACP for a while and agitated for inclusion of black history in the regular history curriculum of high schools and colleges.  




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