HAPPY BIRTHDAY NINA SIMONE-In Honor of Black History Month

Assata Shakur-In Honor of Black History Month

Assata Olugbala Shakur (born July 16, 1947[1] as JoAnne Deborah Byron, married name Chesimard[2]) is an African-American activist and escaped convict who was a member of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and Black Liberation Army (BLA). Between 1971 and 1973, Shakur was accused of several crimes, of which she would never be charged, and made the subject of a multi-state manhunt.[3][4]

In May 1973, Shakur was involved in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike, during which New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster and BLA member Zayd Malik Shakur were killed and Shakur and Trooper James Harper were wounded.[5] Between 1973 and 1977, Shakur was indicted in relation to six other alleged criminal incidents—charged with murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, bank robbery, and kidnapping—resulting in three acquittals and three dismissals. In 1977, she was convicted of the first-degree murder of Foerster and of seven other felonies related to the shootout.[6]

Shakur was then incarcerated in several prisons, where her treatment drew criticism from some human rights groups. She escaped from prison in 1979 and has been living in Cuba in political asylum since 1984. Since May 2, 2005, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has classified her as a "domestic terrorist" and offered a $1 million reward for assistance in her capture. Attempts to extradite her have resulted in letters to the Pope and a Congressional resolution. Shakur is the step-aunt of the deceased hip hop icon Tupac Shakur (the sister of his stepfather, Mutulu Shakur). Her life has been portrayed in literature, film, and song.[7]

Shakur was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York City on July 16, 1947,[1] where she lived for three years with her parents and grandparents, Lula and Frank Hill.[8] After her parents divorced in 1950, she spent most of her childhood in Wilmington, North Carolina with her grandmother until her family relocated to Queens when she was a teenager.[8][9] For a time, she ran away from home and lived with strangers until she was taken in by her aunt, Evelyn Williams, later her lawyer.[10] She dropped out of high school, but later—with her aunt's help—earned a general equivalency diploma (GED).[10] She attended Borough of Manhattan Community College and then the City College of New York (CCNY) in the mid 1960s, where she was involved in many political activities, protests, and sit-ins.[10]

Shakur was arrested for the first time in 1967 (along with 100 other Manhattan Community College students) on charges of trespassing, after the students chained and locked the entrance to a college building, protesting a curriculum deficient in Black Studies and a lack of black faculty.[11] She married Louis Chesimard, a fellow student-activist at CCNY, in April 1967 and divorced him in December 1970. Shakur devotes only one paragraph of her autobiography to her marriage, attributing its termination to disagreements related to gender roles.[12]

After graduation from CCNY at the age of 23, Shakur became involved in the Black Panther Party (BPP), eventually becoming a leading member of the Harlem branch.[8][13] Prior to joining the BPP, Shakur had met several of its members on a 1970 trip to Oakland, California.[10] One of Shakur's main activities with the Panthers was coordinating a school breakfast program; however, she soon left the Party complaining about the macho behavior of male members of these organizations,[14] but did not go as far as other female Panthers like Regina Jennings who left the organization over sexual harassment.[15] Instead, Shakur's main criticism of the Black Panther Party was its alleged lack of focus on black history:

A documentary film about Shakur, Eyes of the Rainbow, written and directed by Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando, appeared in 1997.[9] The official premier of the film in Havana in 2004 was promoted by Casa de las Américas, the main cultural forum of the Cuban government.[196] The National Conference of Black Lawyers and Mos Def are among the professional organizations and entertainers to support Assata Shakur; The "Hands Off Assata" campaign is organized by Dream Hampton.[7] Hip-hop artist Common recorded a tribute to Shakur, "A Song for Assata", on his album Like Water for Chocolate, after traveling to Havana to meet with Shakur personally.[211] Digable Planets, Paris ("Assata's Song"), Public Enemy, and X-Clan have recorded similar songs about Shakur.[177] Due to her support in the hip-hop culture, Shakur has been alternately termed a "rap music legend"[207] or a "minor cause celebre".[212]



READ MORE ABOUT ASSATA SHAKUR ON WIKIPEDIA OR HER WEBSITE:

www.assatashakur.org

Check out Girl Up!-A Campaign of the UNF

Girl Up, a campaign of the United Nations Foundation, gives American girls the opportunity to channel their energy and compassion to raise awareness and funds for programs of the United Nations that help some of the world’s hardest-to-reach adolescent girls. Through Girl Up’s support, girls have the opportunity to become educated, healthy, safe, counted, and positioned to be the next generation of leaders.

Campaign supporters are encouraged to give a "High Five" to girls in developing countries by donating $5 or more to provide girls with such basic needs as access to school supplies, clean water, life-saving health services, safety from violence, and more. To give a High Five and learn more, join us at GirlUp.org.

HARRIET TUBMAN-In Honor of Black History Month

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross; c. March 1822 – March 10, 1913) was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War. After escaping from slavery, into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue more than 70 slaves
[1] using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era struggled for women's suffrage.

As a child in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman was beaten by various masters to whom she was hired out. Early in her life, she suffered a head wound when hit by a heavy metal weight. The injury caused disabling seizures, headaches, and powerful visionary and dream activity, which occurred throughout her entire life. A devout Christian, Tubman ascribed the visions and vivid dreams to revelations from God.

In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. Traveling by night, Tubman (or "Moses", as she was called) "never lost a passenger".[2] Large rewards were offered for the return of many of the fugitive slaves, but no one then knew that Tubman was the one helping them. When the Southern-dominated Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, requiring law officials in free states to aid efforts to recapture slaves, she helped guide fugitives farther north into Canada, where slavery was prohibited.

When the American Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the Combahee River Raid, which liberated more than 700 slaves in South Carolina. After the war, she retired to the family home in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents. She became active in the women's suffrage movement in New York until illness overtook her. Near the end of her life, she lived in a home for elderly African-Americans which she had helped found years earlier.

OCTAVIA BUTLER-In Honor of Black History Month

Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. After getting an associate's degree from Pasadena City College in 1968, she next enrolled at California State University, Los Angeles. She eventually left CalState and took writing classes through UCLA extension.
Butler would later credit two writing workshops for giving her "the most valuable help I received with my writing":
1969–1970: The Open Door Workshop of the Screenwriters' Guild of America, West, a program designed to mentor Latino and African American writers. Through Open Door she met the noted science fiction writer Harlan Ellison.
1970: The Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop, (introduced to her by Ellison), where she first met Samuel R. Delany. She remained, throughout her career, a self-identified science fiction fan, an insider who rose from within the ranks of the field.
Butler moved to Seattle, Washington, in November 1999. She described herself as "comfortably asocial—a hermit in the middle of Seattle—a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist, a Black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive." Themes of both racial and sexual ambiguity are apparent throughout her work. She died outside of her home in Lake Forest Park, Washington, on February 24, 2006, at the age of 58. Contemporary news accounts were inconsistent as to the cause of her death, with some reporting that she suffered a fatal stroke, while others indicated that she died of head injuries after falling and striking her head on her walkway. Another suggestion, backed by Locus magazine (issue 543; Vol.56 No.4), is that a stroke caused the fall and hence the head injuries.

Read More About Octavia Butler @ Wikipedia

Madame C.J. Walker-In Honor of Black History Month

Entrepreneur and philanthropist. Born Sarah Breedlove on December 23, 1867, in Delta, Louisiana. Madam C. J. Walker was one of the first female African-American entrepreneurs. Orphaned at the age of seven, she was raised by an elder sister. Walker married to Moses McWilliams at age 14 in Vicksburg. Widowed at age 20 with a daughter, A Lelia, she moved to St. Louis and attended public night schools and worked days as a washerwoman.

Driven by her own struggles with hair loss during 1890s, Madam C. J. Walker began experimenting with different hair care treatments and products. In 1905 she invented a method for straightening African-Americans' “kinky” hair: her method involved her own formula for a pomade, much brushing, and the use of heated combs. Encouraged by her success, she moved to Denver, Colorado, where she married Charles J. Walker. She promoted her method and products by traveling about the country giving lecture-demonstrations. Her business became so successful that she opened an office in Pittsburgh in 1908, which she left in the charge of her daughter.

In 1910 Madam C. J. Walker settled in Indianapolis. It was there that she established the headquarters of Madame C. J. Walker Laboratories to manufacture cosmetics and train her sales beauticians. These “Walker Agents” became well known throughout the black communities of the United States and the Caribbean. They in turn promoted Madame Walker's philosophy of “cleanliness and loveliness” as aids to advancing the status of African-Americans. An innovator, she organized clubs and conventions for her representatives which recognized not only successful sales, but also philanthropic and educational efforts among African-Americans.

Madam C. J. Walker died on May 25, 1919, at her home in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. At the time of her death, Madam C. J. Walker was sole owner of her business, which was valued at more than $1 million. Her personal fortune was around $600,000 to $700,000. She left one-third of her estate went to her daughter—who herself became well known as a supporter of the Harlem Renaissance—the remainder to various philanthropies. Her business strategies and philosophies inspired countless others.



Madame C.J. Walker Biography - Biography.com

Shirley Chisolm-In Honor of Black History Month

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician, educator, and author. She was a Congresswoman, representing New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to Congress. On January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination (Margaret Chase Smith had previously run for the Republican presidential nomination). She received 152 first-ballot votes at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.

Wikipedia