East Bay Youth Join Alabama Civil Rights Pilgrimage
March 10, 2009
Eric Fuller, a senior at East Oakland School of the Arts at Castlemont High.
Two local high school students are participating in the Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage March 6 - 8, representing the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center.
The pilgrimage, created and hosted by Congressman John Lewis of Atlanta, Georgia, offers members of the U.S. Congress a link to the history and sacrifices of the Civil Rights movement and an opportunity to reflect on ways to carry forward the struggle for civil rights.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee chose the Freedom Center to participate in this year’s pilgrimage, based on the center’s work for peace and democracy. [Read more]
Oakland Centenarians Witness “Change”
March 10, 2009
Oakland Centurions Lillie Cage (left) , 108, and Ruth Villa Jones,102, are Oakland residents in Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s district. Though they never thought that they would live to see a Black family occupy the White House, they are optimistic that the Obama family will make America proud and will inspire youth, especially Blacks, to achieve spiritually and educationally. Photos by Gene Hazzard
Black Women in the White House
March 10, 2009
By Paul Cobb
Part 1
Michelle Obama is the first Black First Lady in the White House. She and her husband President Barack Obama recently acknowledged the historical contributions that Blacks, especially women, played in the construction, maintenance and politics of the nation’s presidential home.
President George Washington forced his own slaves to live and work as butlers, cooks, seamstresses and maids inside “the President’s House” in Philadelphia. This practice continued until the 1850s.
According to the White House Historical Association, the slave and servant quarters were in the basement now called the ground floor. The rooms now include the library, china room, offices and the formal Diplomatic Reception Room. At least one African-American baby was born there, in 1806 to Fanny and Eddy, two of Jefferson’s slaves. The child, who was also considered a slave, died two years later. [Read more]
Tarrant Is Among Dwindling Number of Pearl Harbor Survivors
March 2, 2009
What Next for The NAACP?
February 3, 2009
By Aileen Clarke Hernandez
On Feb.12, 1909, a group of activists in New York City issued “The Call” for a National conference “On the Negro Question” in the wake of violence and lynching of African Americans in several states, including race riots in Springfield, Illinois in the summer of 1908.
Mary White Ovington, one of the group’s founders, later wrote a history of how the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) began. In it, she referred to an article, “Race War in the North,” that caught her attention and the attention of others who eventually responded to The Call.
Those who responded were White and Black, male and female, radical and liberal, working class and upper class, religious and questioning. Their vision and determination created an institution that this year will celebrate a century of demanding that the nation make good on its promise of equality.
The United States was not then, nor is it now, a perfect union. [Read more]
Black Wall Street celebrates Black History Month
February 2, 2009
Starting this Wednesday, the Black Wall Street District in Oakland will be celebrating Black History Month February 2009 with a whole month of events.
Some of the over 50 scheduled district events include the Black Wall Street District Forum on AIDS/HIV, the James Henry’s Music and Drum Workshop, the “Musical Review: Then and Now” featuring Purextasy, and the Haywood Kempo Karate Tournament. As a special performance, JP Myrick will make an appearance as the legendary Harriet Tubman at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library.
A list of the month’s events are below. For more information see the Black Wall Street website.
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Wednesday, February 4
Black History Month Open House & Community Fundraiser Guice Christian
Academy Presents a Black History Month Open House includes a historical
presentation and facility tours. This event will give community members an
opportunity to deal directly with the Guice Christian Academy
administrators. Guice Christian Academy 6925 International Boulevard Black
Wall Street District 6:00 p.m. Free - bhm2009@blackwallstreet.org -
www.blackwallstreet.org
Friday, February 6
Music and Drum Workshop James Henry’s Music and Drum Workshop. Celebrate
Black History Month with a hands-on music and drum workshop that captures
the imagination. Call the Children’s Librarian 615-5727. Elmhurst Library
1427 88th Avenue @ International Boulevard Black Wall Street District 1:00
p.m. Free - bhm2009@blackwallstreet.org - www.blackwallstreet.org
[Read more]
First Poet Laureate Brought to California by Black Scout
January 30, 2009
By Mary Rudge
A child who would grow to become Oakland’s first librarian and who also would become the country’s first Poet Laureate, Ina Donna Coolbrith, (1841-1928), was guided to California by Jim Beckwourth, the legendary Black scout, trader, trapper and explorer.
Coolbrith was also a mentor Jack London. As a child, he taught himself from books in the West Oakland library.
Though she lived a life full of history, Coolbirth never told her own story. After she died, it was reported that she was born in Illinois, a niece of Mormon Leader Joseph Smith. With her mother and sister, she escaped a massacre that killed her uncle and father and joined other Mormons coming West. [Read more]
Dr. Lowery: “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
January 27, 2009
The Rev. Joseph Lowery, chair of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, once headed by Dr. King, delivered a benediction at the Inauguration, opening with the first words of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”:
“God of our weary years, God of our silent tears…”
Lowery implored God to help Americans make “choices on the side of love, not hate, on the side of inclusion not exclusion, tolerance not intolerance.” [Read more]
Lee Celebrates Obama Inauguration
January 22, 2009
Photo by Adam Turner
Washington, DC - Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee released this statement following the swearing-in of President Barack Obama:
“The inauguration of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States is a transformative chapter in American history, signaling a dramatic shift in our nation’s politics and priorities. It is an extraordinary event that illustrates to our neighbors abroad that America has made tremendous progress in breaking down racial barriers that have historically paralyzed our nation. [Read more]
Photos of history
January 22, 2009
Oakland Post photographer Adam Turner was there for Barack Obama’s historic inauguration. You can see more photos, as well as images from the Everett and Jones cross country bus trip on the Presidential Post Blog.
