Dr. B-A's Permanent Black History Month Site

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.

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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.

Winter Sweetness

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

Kindergarten Song

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

Dear Mr. Editor:

My Mother says you are going to have a magazine about colored boys and girls, and I am very glad. So I am writing to ask you if you will please put in your paper some of the things which colored boys can work at when they grow up. I don't want to be a doctor, or anything like that. I think I'd like to plan houses for men to build. But one day, down on Broad Street, I was watching some men building houses, and I said to a boy there, "When I grow up, I am going to draw a lot of houses like that and have men build them." The boy was a white boy, and he looked at me and laughed and said, "Colored boys don't draw houses."

Why don't they, Mr. Editor?

My mother says you will explain all this to me in your magazine and will tell me where to learn how to draw a house, for that is what I certainly mean to do. I hope I haven't made you tired, so no more from your friend,

Philadelphia, Pa.

Dear Editor:

I have been waiting with some interest for the appearance of The Brownies' Book, but I understand the printers' strike has delayed it. I am sure you have many good plans in mind for our children; but I do hope you are going to write a good deal about colored men and women of achievement. My little girl has been studying about Betsy Ross and George Washington and the others, and she says: "Mama, didn't colored folks do anything?"

When I tell her as much as I know about our folks, she says: "Well, that's just stories. Didn't they ever do anything in a book?" I have not had much schooling, and I am a busy woman with my sewing and housekeeping, so I don't get much time to read and I can't tell my little girl where to find these things. But I am sure you know and that now you will tell her.

My husband worked in a munitions plant during the war and there were a few foreigners there. He said they often spoke of some big man in their country, but didn't seem to know about any big colored men here. And he said that when he came to think of it, he didn't know much about anybody but Booker T. Washington and you and Frederick Douglass.

Our little girl is dark brown, and we want her to be proud of her color and to know that it isn't the kind of skin people have that makes them great.

New York City

Black Web Links

The Afro-American Almanac - historical documents, great speechs, trivia games, folk tales, from slavery to now

Net Noir-interviews w/prominent blacks, business, sports, lifestyle

Abu Fine Art - a great web-site for African-American fine art of all sorts (paintings, figurines, etc.)

African American Women On-line - good stuff and great links

Stamp on Black History Month - neat site with stamps issued

American Visions Society Online - finance, technology, education, chats

MSBET - virtual tour through all BET's divisions, including shopping, bulletin boards, etc.

The Black Market - financial advice, community activism, ethnic recipes, profiles, forum, etc.

HBO Cyber Soul City

African-American Stuff on the Net

Black historian's 3-year walk of the Underground Railroad

Northstar - The Underground Railroad

The Universal Black Pages - all sorts of goodies

African American Shopping Mall - Like a mall, it has everything.

African American Shopping Mall Links - worth a visit

Black Facts - Check it out!

NetDiva - A must for females of color or those who want to know about them. http://www.netdiva.com

African Fashion site

Black Tech Guide

Black Literary

Black Collegian 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

The Ex-Slave Narratives - In the 1930's the Worker's Progress Administration (WPA) sent interviewers all over the country to record the narratives of those who had been slaves and were now dying out. I read these constantly, and gain a lot from them each time. Thinking about slavery at this point is not about "dredging up the past," but rather, about gaining strength from knowing our ancestors could come through that experience with a modicum of dignity and self-respect. Their voices are worth hearing.

Slave narratives

Slave narratives and photos from the Library of Congress

Entire text (& photos) of ex-slave narrative books from UNC library - *Wonderful*

Duke University slave voices project

Slave narratives - "Death's Gwinter Lay His Cold Icy Hands On Me"

Slavery in the Atlantic Museum - not finished yet, but good info

Links to the 19th Century South

Little Known

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

Riding Saddle - William D. Davis no date

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."

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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.

Civil Rights Info Links

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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

Voices of the Civil Rights era

Roy Wilkins Memorial - it's like being there; good info

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute- if anyone should have one, its B'ham

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Dawn D. Bennett-Alexander