The Niagara Movement –
The Niagara Movement was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. It was named for the "mighty current" of change the group wanted to effect and Niagara Falls, which was near where the first meeting took place in July 1905. The Niagara Movement was a call for opposition to racial segregation and disenfranchisement as well as policies of accommodation and conciliation promoted by African American leaders such as Booker T. Washington. The Niagara movement suffered from a number of organizational flaws including a lack of funding and central leadership. Additionally, Booker T. Washington's opposition drew support away from the group. Following the Springfield Race Riot of 1908, the Niagara movement admitted their first white member, Mary White Ovington, a settlement worker and socialist. In 1911, the remaining membership of the Niagara Movement joined with a number of White liberals to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Monday, February 23, 2009
Urban Word of the Day - 2/20/09
The Dred Scott Decision –
The Dred Scott vs. Sanford (1857) ruling was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that ruled that people of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants—whether or not they were slaves—were not legal persons and could never be citizens of the United States, and that the United States Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories. The Court also ruled that slaves could not sue in court, and that slaves—as chattel or private property—could not be taken away from their owners without due process. The Court in the Dred Scott decision sided with border ruffians in the Bleeding Kansas dispute who were afraid a free Kansas would be a haven for runaway slaves from Missouri. The Supreme Court's decision was written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. The Dred Scott decision was indirectly overruled by the passage of the Thirteenth & Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution.
Richard Allen –
Richard Allen was a minister, educator, writer, and the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) denomination in 1816 in the United States, after founding its first church (Mother Bethel AME Church) in 1794 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was elected the first bishop of the AME Church. Allen started as a Methodist preacher but wanted to establish a black congregation independent of white control. The AME church is the oldest denomination among independent African-American churches.
The Dred Scott vs. Sanford (1857) ruling was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that ruled that people of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants—whether or not they were slaves—were not legal persons and could never be citizens of the United States, and that the United States Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories. The Court also ruled that slaves could not sue in court, and that slaves—as chattel or private property—could not be taken away from their owners without due process. The Court in the Dred Scott decision sided with border ruffians in the Bleeding Kansas dispute who were afraid a free Kansas would be a haven for runaway slaves from Missouri. The Supreme Court's decision was written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. The Dred Scott decision was indirectly overruled by the passage of the Thirteenth & Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution.
Richard Allen –
Richard Allen was a minister, educator, writer, and the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) denomination in 1816 in the United States, after founding its first church (Mother Bethel AME Church) in 1794 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was elected the first bishop of the AME Church. Allen started as a Methodist preacher but wanted to establish a black congregation independent of white control. The AME church is the oldest denomination among independent African-American churches.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Urban Word(s) of the Day - 2/19/09
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing –
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a racially motivated terrorist attack on September 15, 1963, by members of a Ku Klux Klan group in Birmingham, Alabama. The bombing of the African-American church resulted in the deaths of four girls. Although city leaders had reached a settlement in May with demonstrators and started to integrate public places, not everyone agreed with ending segregation. Other acts of violence followed the settlement. The bombing increased support for people working for civil rights. It marked a turning point in the U.S. civil-rights movement of the mid-twentieth century and contributed to support for passage of civil rights legislation in 1964.
Huey P. Newton –
Huey Newton was co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, an African-American organization established to promote Black Power, civil rights and self-defense. Under his and co-founder Bobby Seale’s leadership the group became a political force both admired and feared for its aggressively militant stance. The FBI was to label Newton and his colleagues in the Black Panthers as ‘Public Enemy Number One’. In 1967 Newton was arrested and charged with killing an Oakland police officer during a dispute, leading to a much-publicized "Free Huey" campaign organized by the Panthers. His 1968 conviction was overturned due to procedural errors. In 1973 Newton escaped other criminal charges by fleeing to Cuba; he returned in 1977 and in 1980 earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of California. Newton was killed in a 1989 dispute with a drug dealer.
Urban Word(s) of the Day - 2/18/09
The Murder of Emmett Till –
A fourteen-year-old African American boy from Chicago, Illinois who was murdered in Money, Mississippi, a small town in the state's Delta region. The murder of Emmett Till was noted as one of the leading events that motivated the nascent American Civil Rights Movement. The main suspects were acquitted, but later admitted to committing the crime. Till's mother insisted on a public funeral service, with an open casket to show the world the brutality of the killing. Till had been beaten and his eye had been gouged out, before he was shot through the head and thrown into the Tallahatchie River with a 75-pound cotton gin fan tied to his neck with barbed wire. His body was in the river for three days before it was discovered and retrieved by two fishermen. Till was buried in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. The murder case was officially reopened in May 2004, and as a part of the investigation, the body was exhumed so an autopsy could be performed. The body was reburied by the family in the same location later that week.
The “Mammy” archetype –
The Mammy archetype is the portrayal within a narrative framework or other imagery of a domestic servant of African descent, generally good-natured, often overweight, and loud. The word "mammy" is a variant of "mother," formerly common in North America but now rarely used and now widely considered an ethnic slur. A "wet-mammy" or "wet-nurse" was a term used for a female domestic servant that acted as a nanny and was also assigned the duty to breast feed the child in lieu of the child's mother. A number of variations and usage of the mammy character became prominent in pop culture during the pre-civil rights period. One of the most notable examples is Aunt Jemima, a mascot for Quaker Oats's Aunt Jemima brand pancakes, pancake flour and mixes, and syrup. Mammy characters were a staple of blackface minstrelsy, giving rise to many sentimental show tunes dedicated to or mentioning mammies. Various “mammy” characters appeared in TV and radio shows during 50s and 60s.
A fourteen-year-old African American boy from Chicago, Illinois who was murdered in Money, Mississippi, a small town in the state's Delta region. The murder of Emmett Till was noted as one of the leading events that motivated the nascent American Civil Rights Movement. The main suspects were acquitted, but later admitted to committing the crime. Till's mother insisted on a public funeral service, with an open casket to show the world the brutality of the killing. Till had been beaten and his eye had been gouged out, before he was shot through the head and thrown into the Tallahatchie River with a 75-pound cotton gin fan tied to his neck with barbed wire. His body was in the river for three days before it was discovered and retrieved by two fishermen. Till was buried in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. The murder case was officially reopened in May 2004, and as a part of the investigation, the body was exhumed so an autopsy could be performed. The body was reburied by the family in the same location later that week.
The “Mammy” archetype –
The Mammy archetype is the portrayal within a narrative framework or other imagery of a domestic servant of African descent, generally good-natured, often overweight, and loud. The word "mammy" is a variant of "mother," formerly common in North America but now rarely used and now widely considered an ethnic slur. A "wet-mammy" or "wet-nurse" was a term used for a female domestic servant that acted as a nanny and was also assigned the duty to breast feed the child in lieu of the child's mother. A number of variations and usage of the mammy character became prominent in pop culture during the pre-civil rights period. One of the most notable examples is Aunt Jemima, a mascot for Quaker Oats's Aunt Jemima brand pancakes, pancake flour and mixes, and syrup. Mammy characters were a staple of blackface minstrelsy, giving rise to many sentimental show tunes dedicated to or mentioning mammies. Various “mammy” characters appeared in TV and radio shows during 50s and 60s.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Urban Word(s) of the Day - 2/17/09
Lynching –
Lynching in the United States was the 19th and 20th century practice of killing people by extrajudicial mob action in the. This type of murder is most often associated with hanging, although it often included burning and various types of torture. It was rare for culprits of lynching to receive punishment for their crimes. Lynching is often associated with Southern efforts to retain and enforce so-called "white supremacy" after the victory of the Union in the American Civil War. The granting of civil rights to freedmen in the Reconstruction era after the Civil War aroused anxieties among white citizens, who came to scapegoat African Americans for their wartime hardship, economic loss, and forfeiture of social privilege. African American citizens, and Caucasian Americans active in the pursuit of equal rights, were frequently lynched during the Reconstruction era. Notable lynchings of civil rights workers during the 1960s in Mississippi contributed to galvanizing public support for the Civil Rights Movement and civil rights legislation.
The Little Rock Nine –
The Little Rock Nine were the nine African-American students involved in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School. Their entrance into the school in 1957 sparked a nationwide crisis when Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, in defiance of a federal court order, called out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the Nine from entering. President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by federalizing the National Guard and sending in units of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division to escort the Nine into the school on September 25, 1957. The military presence remained for the duration of the school year. The “Little Rock Crisis” is considered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
Urban Word(s) of the Day - 2/16/09
Jim Crow Laws –
Laws enacted in the US between 1876 and 1965 that mandated segregation in all public facilities, with the famous "separate but equal" status. Some examples were the segregation of public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms and restaurants for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was also segregated. State-sponsored school segregation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education. Most of the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Tuskegee Airmen –
The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who flew with distinction during World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group of the US Army Air Corps. "Tuskegee Airmen" refers to all who were involved in the so-called "Tuskegee Experiment," the Army Air Corps program to train African Americans to fly and maintain combat aircraft. The Tuskegee Airmen included pilots, navigators, bombardiers, maintenance and support staff, instructors, and all the personnel who kept the planes in the air. The Tuskegee Airmen overcame segregation and prejudice to become one of the most highly respected fighter groups of World War II. They proved conclusively that African Americans could fly and maintain sophisticated combat aircraft. The Tuskegee Airmen's achievements, together with the men and women who supported them, paved the way for full integration of the U.S. military.
Laws enacted in the US between 1876 and 1965 that mandated segregation in all public facilities, with the famous "separate but equal" status. Some examples were the segregation of public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms and restaurants for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was also segregated. State-sponsored school segregation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education. Most of the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Tuskegee Airmen –
The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who flew with distinction during World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group of the US Army Air Corps. "Tuskegee Airmen" refers to all who were involved in the so-called "Tuskegee Experiment," the Army Air Corps program to train African Americans to fly and maintain combat aircraft. The Tuskegee Airmen included pilots, navigators, bombardiers, maintenance and support staff, instructors, and all the personnel who kept the planes in the air. The Tuskegee Airmen overcame segregation and prejudice to become one of the most highly respected fighter groups of World War II. They proved conclusively that African Americans could fly and maintain sophisticated combat aircraft. The Tuskegee Airmen's achievements, together with the men and women who supported them, paved the way for full integration of the U.S. military.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Urban Word of the Day - 2/6/09
Conscious Rap –
Conscious rap is a sub-genre of hip-hop that focuses on creating awareness and imparting knowledge. Conscious rappers traditionally decry violence, discrimination, and other societal ailments. It's propelled by the conviction that radical social change comes through knowledge of self and personal discovery. Most conscious rap songs contain positive, uplifting messages, often delivered over smooth, ear-grabbing beats. Conscious rap is often confused with political hip hop because 1) they speak to social turmoil and 2) there’s a disdain for commercialism. Political hip hop songs are usually delivered in a militant fashion while conscious songs empower by uplifting the listener.
Popular conscious rappers: Common, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, The Roots, Nas, Lauryn Hill
Conscious rap is a sub-genre of hip-hop that focuses on creating awareness and imparting knowledge. Conscious rappers traditionally decry violence, discrimination, and other societal ailments. It's propelled by the conviction that radical social change comes through knowledge of self and personal discovery. Most conscious rap songs contain positive, uplifting messages, often delivered over smooth, ear-grabbing beats. Conscious rap is often confused with political hip hop because 1) they speak to social turmoil and 2) there’s a disdain for commercialism. Political hip hop songs are usually delivered in a militant fashion while conscious songs empower by uplifting the listener.
Popular conscious rappers: Common, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, The Roots, Nas, Lauryn Hill
Urban Word of the Day - 2/5/09
Banjo –
A stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States. African Slaves in the American South and Appalachia fashioned the earliest banjos after instruments they had been familiar with in Africa, with some of the earliest instruments being referred to now as "gourd banjos". The name banjo is commonly thought to be derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza. Some etymologists derive it from a dialectal pronunciation of "bandore", though recent research suggests that it may come from a Senegambian term for the bamboo stick used for the instrument's neck.
A stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States. African Slaves in the American South and Appalachia fashioned the earliest banjos after instruments they had been familiar with in Africa, with some of the earliest instruments being referred to now as "gourd banjos". The name banjo is commonly thought to be derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza. Some etymologists derive it from a dialectal pronunciation of "bandore", though recent research suggests that it may come from a Senegambian term for the bamboo stick used for the instrument's neck.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Urban Word of the Day - 2/4/09
Neo-Soul –
Neo-Soul is a sub-genre of contemporary R&B that fuses 1970s-style soul with elements of hip-hop, jazz, funk, Latin, African, and house music. As its name (new-soul) implies, Neo-Soul music is essentially modern-day soul music, with contemporary attitudes and sensibilities. It differs from contemporary R&B in that it's more soulful, and it also tends to have deeper messages and meanings than R&B. Neo-Soul artists use their poetic and artistic skills to teach the world about 'black' history, love, politics, life and supporting one another as a human race.
Popular Neo-Soul artists: Lauryn Hill, Musiq Soulchild, Mint Condition, D’Angelo, Angie Stone, India.Arie, John Legend, Jill Scott
Neo-Soul is a sub-genre of contemporary R&B that fuses 1970s-style soul with elements of hip-hop, jazz, funk, Latin, African, and house music. As its name (new-soul) implies, Neo-Soul music is essentially modern-day soul music, with contemporary attitudes and sensibilities. It differs from contemporary R&B in that it's more soulful, and it also tends to have deeper messages and meanings than R&B. Neo-Soul artists use their poetic and artistic skills to teach the world about 'black' history, love, politics, life and supporting one another as a human race.
Popular Neo-Soul artists: Lauryn Hill, Musiq Soulchild, Mint Condition, D’Angelo, Angie Stone, India.Arie, John Legend, Jill Scott
Urban Word of the Day - 2/3/09
Negro spirituals –
Negro spirituals were primarily expressions of religious faith. They may also have served as socio-political protests veiled as assimilation to white American culture. They were originated by enslaved African-Americans in the United States. Many internet sources and popular books claim that certain songs contained explicit instructions to fugitive slaves on how to avoid capture, and on which routes to take to successfully make their way to freedom. These claims, as popular as they are, do not hold up to reasoned and informed inquiry; for example, the sources provide no firsthand evidence of the use of coded songs or distort the firsthand accounts that are availablein order to support their claims.
Popular spirituals: “Wade in the Water”; “Follow the Drinking Gourd”, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
Negro spirituals were primarily expressions of religious faith. They may also have served as socio-political protests veiled as assimilation to white American culture. They were originated by enslaved African-Americans in the United States. Many internet sources and popular books claim that certain songs contained explicit instructions to fugitive slaves on how to avoid capture, and on which routes to take to successfully make their way to freedom. These claims, as popular as they are, do not hold up to reasoned and informed inquiry; for example, the sources provide no firsthand evidence of the use of coded songs or distort the firsthand accounts that are availablein order to support their claims.
Popular spirituals: “Wade in the Water”; “Follow the Drinking Gourd”, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
Urban Word of the Day - 2/2/09
Quiet storm –
A late-night radio format, featuring soulful slow jams, pioneered in the mid-1970s by then-station-intern Melvin Lindsey at WHUR-FM, in Washington, D.C. Encompassing a mix of African American music genres, quiet storm music is distinguished by understated, mellow dynamics and relaxed tempos and rhythms. It can be soothingly pensive, or express romantic sentiment. Quiet storm music is similar to soft rock and adult contemporary styles, but it is more closely and unmistakably rooted in R&B and soul music, often with jazz extensions. At its best, the style features an urban sophistication and subdued soulfulness.
Examples: “Forever My Lady” – Jodeci, “Can’t Believe It” – T-pain, “Heaven Sent” – Keyshia Cole, “All The Things Your Man Won’t Do” – Joe
A late-night radio format, featuring soulful slow jams, pioneered in the mid-1970s by then-station-intern Melvin Lindsey at WHUR-FM, in Washington, D.C. Encompassing a mix of African American music genres, quiet storm music is distinguished by understated, mellow dynamics and relaxed tempos and rhythms. It can be soothingly pensive, or express romantic sentiment. Quiet storm music is similar to soft rock and adult contemporary styles, but it is more closely and unmistakably rooted in R&B and soul music, often with jazz extensions. At its best, the style features an urban sophistication and subdued soulfulness.
Examples: “Forever My Lady” – Jodeci, “Can’t Believe It” – T-pain, “Heaven Sent” – Keyshia Cole, “All The Things Your Man Won’t Do” – Joe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)