Voices In Color

82-Year-Old School For Blacks Makes History

Freetown Elementary was a two-room schoolhouse when it opened in 1925, funded partly by a philanthropist who sought to provide schools to blacks when segregation and discrimination were standard practice.



It had no indoor plumbing, so students had to use outhouses. They had to run into the woods to cut wood for the stove to heat the building whenever the coal ran out. And because black children didn't get school buses, some students had to walk several miles.



These were hard times, but former students remember them fondly. They swell with pride over their former school's placement was placed last month on the National Register of Historic Places.



The designation means that the National Park Service recognizes the building as an important part of state history, said Nancy Kurtz, the National Register coordinator for the Maryland Historical Trust.

Source: The Baltimore Sun


Today's Black Fact

On this day in 1958, ten thousand students, led by Jackie Robinson, Harry Belfonte and A. Phillip Randolph, participated in the Youth March for Integrated Schools in Washington. Daisy Bates, head of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP, and the nine students who integrated Little Rocks's Central High School were awarded the Spingarn Medal for their courage and leadership in the civil rights struggle.

New Organization Encourages Positive Images Of Women

The Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN), an umbrella organization of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, is a coalition of powerful women and men of all races and ages, founded by women in the entertainment industry, committed to supporting, promoting and defending the positive, balanced portrayal of women in entertainment and in society.

The recent dialogue surrounding the portrayal of women of color in entertainment, specifically in Hip-Hop music, has propelled women in the entertainment industry to take a proactive stand. WEEN’s mission will target three core areas: 1) corporate social responsibility, 2) media/artist responsibility and 3) community programs/outreach.

In addition to WEEN’s goal to be One Million Strong in one year, WEEN will also publish to action a “Pink List” to spotlight artist, albums, songs, publications, radio and TV programming and films that support women and ask that WEEN members support them in return. In 2008, WEEN will take their message to the streets nationally in the first ever Women’s Empowerment Tour.

Source: FinalCall.com News

Modern Printed Matter

I love almost every piece on this etsy site, Modern Printed Matter.

Man Arrested In GA For Tying Noose Around Tupac Statue

Police in De Kalb County, Georgia have arrested one individual and are investigating a series of racial attacks at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts, after vandals tied a noose around the neck of a bronze statue of slain rapper, Tupac Shakur.

According to police, the first incident occurred early Saturday morning (October 20), when vandals defaced the building and tied a noose around the neck of the statue of Shakur, which is located in the center's Peace Garden.

Source: AllHipHop.com

Today's Black Fact

On this day in 1935, the first Black-authored play to become a long-run Broadway hit, Langston Hughes' "Mulatto" opens.

African American Hair

According to the November issue of Allure magazine, 94% of young Africa-American women have used hair relaxers. Maybe it's just because I've gone "natural" with the dreads but that number seems surprisingly high to me...

Tribune, Other Media Firms File Motion To End Jena Trial Secrecy

A coalition of major American media companies filed a 1st Amendment petition Monday seeking to open to public scrutiny the criminal trial of Mychal Bell, one of the teenage defendants in the controversial Jena 6 case in Louisiana.



The legal motion, filed in LaSalle Parish District Court, challenges the decisions by presiding Judge J.P. Mauffray to close the proceedings in Bell's juvenile case and order all the parties involved not to speak about it. Mauffray's orders run counter to Louisiana juvenile laws, precedents set by the Louisiana Supreme Court and provisions of both the Louisiana and U.S. Constitutions, the petition asserts.


The Chicago Tribune is the lead plaintiff in the petition, which has been joined by the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Co., the Associated Press, the Hearst Corp., the Belo Corp., the Gannett Corp., CNN and ABC News.

Source: chicagotribune.com

Obama Criticized Over Singer

Senator Barack Obama is drawing criticism for signing up a gospel singer with controversial views about gay men and lesbians for his campaign in South Carolina. The Obama campaign has recruited several gospel acts, including Donnie McClurkin, for a statewide tour to begin this week in Charleston. Gospel music is one of many ways the campaign is trying to reach black evangelicals in South Carolina, an early voting state where half the Democratic primary voters are black and where at least one recent survey shows Mr. Obama is losing ground to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Mr. McClurkin, a black preacher who sang at the Republican National Convention in 2004, has gained notoriety for his view that homosexuality is a choice and can be “cured” through prayer, a view ridiculed by gay people.

Critics on the Internet say Mr. Obama is trying to appeal to conservative blacks at the expense of gay people. Surveys have found that blacks are less supportive than whites are of legalizing gay relationships.

Mr. Obama said through a spokesman that he “strongly disagrees” with Mr. McClurkin’s views. He did not indicate he would cancel Mr. McClurkin’s appearance, but said, “I have consistently spoken directly to African-American religious leaders about the need to overcome the homophobia that persists in some parts of our community so that we can confront issues like H.I.V./AIDS and broaden the reach of equal rights in this country.”

Source: The New York Times

Today's Black Fact

On this day in 1947, the NAACP's petition on racism, "An Appeal to the World," is presented to United Nations at Lake Success.