A Story of our history by Farrell Evans

The 1^st Rhode Island Regiment, widely regarded as the first Black battalion in U.S. military history, originated, in part, from George Washington’s desperation.

In late 1777 during the American Revolution, the Continental Army, led by General Washington, faced severe troop shortages in its war with the British. “No less than 2,898 men now in camp [are] unfit because they are barefoot and otherwise naked,” Washington wrote to Congress, begging for material support. Disease claimed nearly 2,000 soldiers during the army’s winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. When enough white men couldn’t be persuaded to enlist in the depleting army with bounties of land and money, Congress resorted to the draft. Its mandate: Each state must fill a quota of militias, based on its population.

Rhode Island, the smallest state with a population under 60,000 on the eve of the Revolution, needed to fill two battalions. When the state couldn’t recruit enough white men, its leaders appealed to Washington to allow both free and enslaved Black men to enlist.

As both a slaveowner and commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from its formation in 1775, Washington had long opposed the use of Black soldiers, fearing that armed Black men would incite a rebellion among enslaved people and alienate Southern slaveholders. But over time, the harsh realities of a failing war effort called for America’s founding fathers to make some pragmatic decisions to preserve their nation’s future.

The 1^st Rhode Island Regiment, widely recognized as the America’s first Black military regiment, didn’t start out that way. From its inception in 1775 as a part of the Rhode Island Army of Observation to its reorganization as the 1^stRhode Island in 1777 and its recruitment of Black soldiers to their own unit starting in February 1778, the regiment was one of the few in the Continental Army to serve all seven years of war. The unit distinguished itself in battles from the Siege of Boston to the Battle of Rhode Island and beyond to Yorktown.

Read this and other stories of Black History: https://www.history.com/news/first-black-regiment-american-revolution-first-rhode-island

Stacey Yvonne Abrams was born December 9, 1973 in Madison, WI. The second of six siblings, Abrams was born to Robert and Carolyn Abrams and raised in Gulfport, MS. Her family moved to Atlanta, GA allowing her parents to pursue graduate studies at Emory University, eventually becoming Methodist ministers. With parents who valued education, Abrams attended Avondale High School, graduating as their valedictorian. She went on to attend Spelman College, the #1 HBCU for over 10 years as reported by U.S. News and World Report (this author also graduated from Spelman, so I am biased)! As a Harry S. Truman Scholar, Abrams studied public policy at the University of Texas at Austin‘s LBJ School of Public Affairs, where she earned a Master of Public Affairs degree in 1998. In 1999, she earned a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.

As a student at Spelman College, Abrams was very active. She worked in the youth division office for Maynard Jackson, the mayor of Atlanta at that time and later interned with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Abrams was also an active participant in political and civil rights, a trait that is promoted at Spelman. She participated in a protest to replace the Georgia state flag. At that time, it still contained the Confederate flag image.

As a politician, Abrams was the Democratic nominee in 2018 for the Governor of the State of Georgia. Despite an excellent campaign, she was defeated in a controversial decision. This did not deter Abrams political career. She founded Fair Fight Action, an organization founded to address voter suppression, especially in Georgia and Texas.

Having served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, Abrams had a prominent career in politics. She decided to continue her career by running for governor in 2018. The 2018 gubernatorial race received national attention for irregularities in voter access to the ballot. At the time, Brian Kemp was serving as Secretary of State for Georgia and was responsible for the state’s voter rolls. He stalled 50,000 votes, which was interpreted by Civil Rights groups as intentional voter suppression since his action affected predominantly black voters. Kemp gives a whole new meaning to be careful what you wish for, as he may have never foreseen the consequences of his actions.

Despite losing this election, Abrams was encouraged to and considered running for U.S. President. Ultimately, she decided to establish Fair Fight Action, commit to fighting voter suppression and go on to change the world as we know it today!

One of my Spelman sisters who I admittedly have only seen on campus as a student in 1991-92 and an alumni at campus events, I am so proud to call her my Spelman Sistah and share that she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.

A little known fact about Stacey Abrams is that she is also an author of fictional work! Under the pen name Selena Montgomery, Abrams is the award-winning author of several romantic suspense novels having sold over 100,000 copies. Abrams wrote her first book as a third year student at Yale Law. Check out Selena Montgomery’s books. You will be pleasantly surprised! Despite her busy schedule, her writing career is still flourishing. Abrams will publish her newest book under own name in May 2021. It is called When Justice Sleeps. I can’t wait to read it.

At a time when the intellect of people of color, veracity of American history and the value of Black women is questioned and distorted, it is so important to share the story of American people. As Black people and Black women, WE ARE Americans. We have a story to tell, and it is the success and work of people like Stacey Abrams that inspires and truly changes the world!

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Check out this article on Stacey Abrams’s nomination for the Novel Peace Prize.

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a35383161/stacey-abrams-nobel-peace-prize-nomination/?fbclid=IwAR2H56TN5ZS3xTxQzWMG7288-6-GZMIEe_aofOn5U7htykQy4TkMHASdIt0

Anti-slavery crusader and Civil War veteran Harriet Tubman was born a slave named Araminta Ross some time between 1815 to 1822. The range of her estimated birth is so long because records were not maintained for slave births. She lives a life of service and was recognized as the first African American woman to appear on a U.S. postage stamp, the first in the Post Office’s Black Heritage Series.

Tubman’s appearance on stamps was emblematic both of the progress made in recognizing African Americans’ contributions to American history and of the ongoing effort to put abolitionists on equal footing with slaveowners in the nation’s historical canon.

Born to separated parents Harriet and Ben Ross on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Tubman was one of nine children. Known as “Minty” to her family and close friends, Tubman’s family struggled to stay together. Three of her sisters were sold to other slave owners, and Tubman was “loaned” out to other families on a regular basis as a tender-aged child under dangerous and unfavorable conditions.

Some time in her twenties, Tubman married a free Black man John Tubman. In honor of her mother Harriet or “Rit” as she was called, Tubman changed her name to Harriet, thus now known as Harriet Tubman. Marriages between free and enslaved Black people was common during the mid to late 19th century.

Tubman was a singular figure of the abolition movement, an enslaved woman who escaped captivity in Maryland and made at least 19 trips back to free more slaves. Tubman is estimated to have helped several hundred enslaved people find freedom in Canada via the Underground Railroad and is said to have “never lost a passenger.” During the Civil War, she freed 700 more when she led Union forces on a raid on Combahee Ferry in South Carolina. In her later life, though she had little money of her own, Tubman worked to house and feed the poor and became an important figure in the fight for women’s suffrage. Despite these extraordinary efforts, which earned her the epithet “the Moses of her people,” Tubman did not receive a pension for her services in the war until 1889 and died with little to her name.

Her deeds were not forgotten, however, and in the wake of the civil rights and Black Power movements there was a push to recognize overlooked figures like Tubman. Her inclusion in the Black Heritage Series put her alongside figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., Booker T. Washington and Jackie Robinson.

Despite being disabled as a teenager when an owner trying to stop the escape attempt of another slave, threw a large weight across a room, striking her in the head, Tubman achieved extraordinary things! Her life as a slave can only be described as cruel, inhumane, and abusive. Being just about 5 feet tall and small in stature and abused, she did not always receive the medical treatment that she required. Even after being accidentally hit in the head, she was not sent to a hospital for treatment, was sent back to work and suffered what we may call epileptic seizures foe the rest of her life. Despite her physical disability, Tubman had a string sense of community and justice. She freed herself on the 2nd attempt through the Underground Railroad and went on to free hundreds more, including her work with the Union army.

Justice delayed does not always mean Justice denied. In 2016, following years of calls from activists, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that Tubman’s face would replace that of President Andrew Jackson, a slaveowner and avowed white supremacist, on the twenty-dollar bill. The following year, Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, delayed the switch, saying, “We’ve got a lot more important issues to focus on.”

Although President Biden has only been in office for less than 30 days, his administration has prioritized recognizing Tubman’s accomplishments. In January 2021, President Biden’s administration announced they were taking steps to move forward with the redesign.

The facts and excerpts of this story are courtesy of History.com.

On January 27, we celebrate International Holocaust Remembrance Day!

The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

On this annual day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides.

How to Remember

International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration

Wednesday, January 27, 1 p.m. ET

During this ceremony, leaders from the United States and Europe will join Holocaust survivors in conveying the urgent responsibility we all share to protect the lessons and legacy of Holocaust history and to defend the truth—now more than ever.

Learn more about the Holocaust. You must know your history to plan for your future.

The Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock has been elected to the United States Senate and was sworn in on January 20, 2021 by Vice President Kamala D. Harris.

I will never get tired of sharing that statement. He is my Morehouse brother, classmate and friend, my forever Pastor, and the best person for the job! It is with immense pride and joy that I share this news over and over and over again.

In Senator Warnock, Georgia has an advocate for everyday people with everyday needs. Georgia has a PUBLIC SERVANT, not a politician. Georgia has hope for the needs of her families, her community, her future. Georgia has a man who will advocate for not some of the people, but ALL GEORGIANS!! America has a servant who will learn, lead and live by example.

I’m so proud of you my friend. Brava!!

Today, I am sharing the Maryland Governor’s plan to force schools to begin opening by March 1st or face legal action. Has the Governor’s office reached out to each school system or is he and the Maryland Superintendent dictating from their offices? I suggest that instead of threatening legal action, the State of Maryland officials should learn from President Biden and find ways to work together, not make arbitrary threats. They should find common ground and work with public school systems. It seems that since he took office and defunded the Baltimore City Public School Systems, he is much better equipped to dictate than he is to work cohesively with his colleagues. While Larry Hogan has done a good job at mandating masks in Maryland and showed leadership when there was a lack of leadership on the federal level, he has not shown a capacity to work with local leadership to support ALL MARYLANDERS and not just the businesses and constituents who support you.

Don’t take my opinion. Read the plan to return to the classroom that the Maryland Governor posted and let me know what you think.

Maryland Governor Hogan Plan to return to in-class learning by March 1st

From Reasonable Doubt to 4:44 mogul and rapper Jay-Z has always used music as a vessel to drop lessons and the Brooklyn native will continue to do …

Roc Nation Launches School In Partnership With Long Island University Brooklyn

Year after year, women are becoming more comfortable with their sexuality and asking for what they want in the bedroom, but there’s still a significant gap in orgasms reported by heterosexual men and women across the board.

One study says “heterosexual men were most likely to say they usually-always orgasmed when sexually intimate (95%), followed by gay men (89%), bisexual men (88%), lesbian women (86%), bisexual women (66%), and heterosexual women (65%) (Frederick et al., 2018). Let’s take a closer look at this information.

Of all women, lesbian women reported that they experience orgasms more often than bisexual and heterosexual women when sexually intimate. Only about two-thirds of heterosexual women report that they usually have orgasms when having sex. Shocking, right? So why is there a 30% gap between heterosexual men and women?

Let’s start with the fact that sexual pleasure is still somewhat of a taboo topic. It’s rarely discussed in sexual education, and when it comes to women, often not discussed at all. We’ve been taught that it’s normal for a man to want and enjoy frequent sex, whereas many women are shamed and stigmatized for sharing those same desires. It’s true, the world is becoming a more sex-positive place, but many women still feel ashamed or embarrassed to talk about their sexual desires and pleasure with a partner. Lack of communication can lead to a variety of outcomes such as faking or pretending to orgasm (please stop doing this!), having mediocre sex, or feeling sexually inhibited—meaning, there’s a low desire for sexual experiences or a lack of comfort during those experiences. These outcomes are not only harmful to your pleasure and satisfaction but they’re hindering you from living your best sex life. Talking about sex and pleasure with a partner doesn’t just strengthen your relationship but it can lead to sexual liberation, overall sexual satisfaction and, are you ready? … MORE ORGASMS!

Studies show that engaging in a variety of sexual behaviors during intimate encounters contribute to the experience of orgasms. It’s also important to note that not all orgasms are the same. Nearly 1 out of 5 (18%) women said that intercourse alone is sufficient for an orgasm, about 2 out of 5 (36%) women said they needed clitoral stimulation for an orgasm, and another 2 out of 5 (36%) women said that clitoral stimulation is not essential, however, their orgasms feel better if the clitoris is stimulated during intercourse.

The takeaway here is that women’s sexual arousal preferences vary. The desire for genital touching (i.e., clitoral stimulation, vaginal fingering, oral sex) and the duration of these activities, varies also. Additional factors that can impact someone’s ability to experience an orgasm include stress, feeling depressed, and taking certain medications, amongst others. Typically, women take more time to reach full arousal compared to their male partners, which can also be a factor.

How Do We Close the Gap?

In order to close the orgasm gap, sexual communication needs to happen. Partners can encourage this communication by playing sexual games, talking about sexual fantasies, and/or discussing sexual activities that have been pleasurable in the past. If you’re a woman who needs more stimulation during sex, consider adding a toy into the mix. If you need tips on how to build intimacy with a partner, check out our 7 step guide to next-level physical intimacy. Interested in spicing things up a bit? Dive into the world of kink!

The bottom line is—your sexual satisfaction is just as important, and just as deserved, as your partner’s. The goal isn’t always achieving orgasm, it’s having fun and being present in the experience. Sex is about being able to be authentic, free, relaxed, and comfortable. Enjoy the process, and you will find the goal. Let your pleasure be your measure.

Original Material provided from The Buzz by Pure Romance.

The Buzz by PR