The Star Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the great United States of America. As a country, we have our flaws, but I still believe it is great to live in this land. Once known as the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is currently the African-American National Anthem. Lift Every [...]

  Throughout the Black History Month series, I have reviewed historical figures, events of importance, as well as pieces of culture that are distinctly African-American. As the series continues, I plan to uncover the perception of black women in the United States as shown in advertisements, movies, and media etc…Today, I will specifically discuss the [...]

Yesterday’s article in the Black History Month series discussed the caging of the Mbuti Congolese man named Ota Benga. Today, I will discuss how the zeitgeist, or intellectual feel of the times, may have played a role in this atrocity against humanity. Often times, when one thinks of racism and inequality, a vision of “rednecks” [...]

Welcome to the Freak Show! Come one, come all see the man 8 inches and four feet tall! I imagine that the propaganda used to advertise the caged Ota Benga was similar to the text above. Ota Benga was a pygmy from the Mbuti tribe of Congo that was put on display in the 1904 St. [...]

History instructors will teach their students that the Civil War was fought to end slavery. They will continue to teach that black slaves were freed by Abraham Lincolns’ signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. These students will believe it. They will think that blacks were freed in 1862 and have had 145 years to become [...]

Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, the mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and acclaimed teacher, activist and preacher of the the 20th century, had a few things to say about time. Dr. Benjamin E. Mays appreciated the importance of using one’s time productively. If he were alive today, I’m sure that Dr. Mays would outwardly [...]

Whenever African-American people or things are referred to, they are often prefaced with the adjective “soul”. African-Americans eat “soul food” and their songs are “soulful”. If a non African-American acquires characteristics of this nebulous idea of “soul”, it might be said that: “S/he got some soul!” What is  soul, and what is it to be [...]

I think Black History Month should be discontinued. What’s all the fuss about anyway? Schools have been de-segregated, interracial marriages and children are on the rise. Heck, we even have a black president. I was raised to be color-blind. I don’t see color. I don’t look at facial features and traits to judge another, why [...]

  Credit: Justin Bua One of the most telling parts of a group of people is the work of their artisans, musicians, and craftsman. For African-American urban art, Justin Bua has been the father of “New Urban Realism”. Bua was born in 1968 and is a New York City native with a mix of the [...]

Feminism is the social movement geared towards the social, economical,  political protection and advancement of women. The first wave began in the nineteenth and twentieth century and two waves have since followed. Feminism is the blanket cause that unifies the female population together with one voice and speaks powerfully on their behalf. The spectrum of [...]

He taught us that “Black is Beautiful!” and his name is still heard in the hums and ha’s of reggae, jazz, and blues music. Lauryn Hills sings about “how they sold Marcus Garvey for rice” and one gets curious about his story. His legacy lives in the colors of the Black Liberation Flag, the Flag [...]

FBI files hold specific notes on a counter-orientation meeting held by black liberation movement leaders at the beginning of the university year in Durham, NC in the late 1960′s. This counter-orientation meeting was held to discuss the shift of the black liberation movement from a uni-dimensional purpose focused on race, to a wider context of focus on capitalism, workers’ rights, and quality of education for blacks at the time.