Tag: History

Lynda Blackmon – Youngest person to participate on Bloody Sunday

Leave a comment

At the young age of 14, Lynda Blackmon was allowed to march from Selma to Montgomery.

Lynda Blackmon

In the height of the Civil Rights Movement, hundreds marched from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in a nonviolent protest for voting rights. February 2020, Bay Area News 9 wrote these words sharing her story, her struggles and how she continues to live with the aftermath of Bloody Sunday.

“But the March 1965 demonstration was met with violence in what is now known as “Bloody Sunday.”

For Lynda Blackmon, the youngest demonstrator allowed to march that day, it’s still hard to talk about.

“I can’t forget those feelings to this day,” said Blackmon, who was 14.

She was hit twice in the forehead and shoved to the ground.

“I was running into a cloud of tear gas and this man was running, beating me, hitting me in my head,” Blackmon said.

The book Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom tells her story.

Blackmon said she became involved in the movement at 7 years old after her mother died.”

Learn about the women of the civil rights movement. They may not be household names but they are living history. Women have a story to tell. Learn their stories. This woman who walked with some of our civil rights giants had been through a tremendous ordeal at a young age. She had lost her Mother, her foundation, the person who loved and cared for her. For her to even participate in civil rights was a tremendous feat and a testimony to her mother, her tribe, her community. Learn the stories of everyday people in your community. It will change your life, change your perspective.

#womenshistorymonth #herstory #BloodySunday #LyndaBlackmon

Renee Montgomery, two-time WNBA Champion and now WNBA Team Owner

Leave a comment
Renee Montgomery

Black History happens everyday by the extraordinary women and men who stand on the shoulders of our ancestors fighting for a life that is better today and tomorrow than it was yesterday. Renee Danielle Montgomery made not just Black History in 2021 but American history. She saw injustice in the league that she had played for 11 years and decided that she would either be part of the problem or the solution. What a solution she found.

Renee Montgomery just bought out Kelly Loefler’s stake of the Atlanta Dream, the WNBA team which she owned when she was appointed as a US Senator foe the great state of Georgia and lost to the Honorable Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock in November 2020. What makes this so spectacular and newsworthy is that Ms. Montgomery decided to take off a year after Ms. Loefler threw her Black team members under the bus during her campaign. Those same team members and along with others in the WNBA banded together to support Rev. Warnock against their team’s owner.

In the summer of 2020, members of the Atlanta Dream and Phoenix Mercury came together on national television wearing Black t-shirts with bold white letters that read “VOTE WARNOCK” in all caps. At the time, some members of the WNBA didn’t even know who or what Warnock was. Now the world knows!

One of the leaders of this movement was Renee Montgomery. She made the conscious decision to ignite a campaign against the team’s former owner and won. She asked to meet with the team owner and respectfully discuss their differences. This now former team owner decided not to meet with Ms. Montgomery and her allies for political reasons. That was a mistake on her part. Ms. Montgomery and her allies went on to support Rev. Warnock helping him win his campaign on January 5, 2021. Ms. Montgomery would not stop there.

With the support of her teammates, fans, the community and eventually the league, the stakes owned by the now defeated Loefler were bought by Ms. Montgomery and an ownership group that she joined. In just one year, Renee Montgomery went from being an Atlanta Dream team player to an Atlanta Dream team owner.

Renee Danielle Montgomery has only just begun which in my book make her one of the the greatest! To learn more about Renee Montgomery and the Atlanta Dream, please visit the following links. She is Black History. She is American History. She is Women’s History!

#womenshistorymonth #reneemontgomery #blackgirlmagic #blackgirlsrock #livinghistory #changeagent #warnock #AtlantaDream #WNBA

Renee Montgomery official WNBA site

Time Magazine article: WNBA supports Warnock

Atlanta Dream WNBA page

Happy Black History Month

Leave a comment

When I opened Google on February 1, 2017, to my delight, Google wished me ‘Happy Black History Month’ highlighting Edmonia Lewis, an African-Native American sculptor born in New York on Independence Day 1844.  On February 1, 2018, Google highlighted Carter G. Woodson, an Black American writer and historian considered the “Father of Black History.”

Go out and learn more about your history.  Lots of times we discuss the great Black Americans who built this country and helped our community begin to grow and thrive.  Now I want you to learn your history.  Who are your parents?  Who are your grandparents?  Where do you come from?  These are my children.  I want them to know where they come, who they are, what great people came in our family before them.

IMG_1099.jpg

Our children need to know and learn who the great famous Black women and men in world history.  That is very important.  But just as important is for them to know and learn who the great Black women and men in our family histories are.  Make it a part of our Black History activities.  Talk with your ancestors and learn about your family.  That’s what I plan to do.

This month, I have decided to dedicate time to learning my family history and hope that you may do the same.  Make Black History Month GREAT again!!!

 

What is Halloween?

Leave a comment

what is halloween

During a time between autumn and winter, harvest and disposal, life and death, we celebrate Halloween with costumes and superstitions.  Halloween is one of the oldest holidays celebrated today with its origins in the 2,000 year old Celtic tradition of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).  Samhain was a celebration held on the night before their new year, November 1, characterized with bonfires, costumes, and fortune-telling. As the Celts became more influenced by Christian mores after being conquered by the Roman Empire and with the influence of Pope Boniface and Pope Gregory III, Halloween came to be celebrated on the eve of All Saints Day or All-Hallowmas, incorporating many of the traditions of Samhain and two Roman Empire traditions of Feralia – a Roman Empire custom marking the passing of the dead, and a celebration honoring Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruits and trees whose symbol is an apple.  So, that’s where the tradition of “bobbing for apples” was derived.bobbing for apples2

Over time, Halloween became a more secular and community-based observance.  With the first immigrants to America, Halloween was celebrated primarily in southern states, of which Maryland is included, due to the strict Protestant principles in colonial New England.  However, as the Irish fled from the great potato famine of 1846, Halloween became more popular blending Irish and English customs with Native American influences.  Overtime, the ritual of Halloween dropped most of its religious and superstitious traits, and it became a national holiday in the early 20th century in America. 

halloween bonfireToday, the American tradition of “trick-or-treating” and dressing in costumes have become a way of life dating back to the holiday’s Celtic, Irish and English origins.  While the holiday has been plagued with vandalism and negative connotations over the years, Halloween relied on the good will of spirits traditionally; now it relies on the “good-will” of parents and community leaders for children to have fun. So as the days get shorter, the weather grows chilly and winter begins, people around the world celebrate with parties, costumes, and sweet treats!

happy halloweenHappy Halloween!! Make it Great!

Related articles