W.E.B. Du Bois

 

Bard for all kinds Black

more inclusion was his goal

chose peace overall.

(Photo by Wikipedia.com)

10 Fun Facts on W.E.B. Du Bois:

1. William Edward Burghart Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
2. He held many titles throughout his life: American Civil Rights activist leader Pan-Africanist Educator Sociologist Writer Author Editor Poet Socialist Historian Scholar
3. In 1905, he founded a Black Civil Rights organization called the Niagara Movement along with other activists.
4. In 1909, he founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) while being active in many areas including being the founder of its magazine, The Crisis. Shortly after, he attended the First Universal Races Congress in London in 1911.
5. Du Bois was an author of many pieces. He wrote two novels, “The Quest of the Silver Fleece” (1911) & “Dark Princess: A Romance” (1928); a book of poetry and essays, “Darkwater: Voices From Within the Veil” (1920); and two African American history pieces, “The Negro” (1915) and “The Gift of Black Folk: Negroes in the Making of America” (1924).
6. He became Chairman of the Department of Sociology at Atlanta University between the years 1934 to 1944.
7. Du Bois was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
8. In 1948, he was CoChairman of the African Affairs.
9. He ran for Senate in 1950 on the American Labor Party ticket in New York.
10. At the age of 95, on August 27, 1963, he died in Africa after accepting to lead and manage the creation of the Encyclopedia Africana Project where he gained citizenship in Ghana due to inaccurate passport processing procedures.

Information by:

• https://www.naacp.org/naacp-history-w-e-b-dubois/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois

Here is one of Du Bois's popular poems:

The Song of the Smoke

By W. E. B. Du Bois

I am the Smoke King

I am black!

I am swinging in the sky,

I am wringing worlds awry;

I am the thought of the throbbing mills,

I am the soul of the soul-toil kills,

Wraith of the ripple of trading rills;

Up I’m curling from the sod,

I am whirling home to God;

I am the Smoke King

I am black.

I am the Smoke King,

I am black!

I am wreathing broken hearts,

I am sheathing love’s light darts;

Inspiration of iron times

Wedding the toil of toiling climes,

Shedding the blood of bloodless crimes—

Lurid lowering ’mid the blue,

Torrid towering toward the true,

I am the Smoke King,

I am black.

I am the Smoke King,

I am black!

I am darkening with song,

I am hearkening to wrong!

I will be black as blackness can—

The blacker the mantle, the mightier the man!

For blackness was ancient ere whiteness began.

I am daubing God in night,

I am swabbing Hell in white:

I am the Smoke King

I am black.

I am the Smoke King

I am black!

I am cursing ruddy morn,

I am hearsing hearts unborn:

Souls unto me are as stars in a night,

I whiten my black men—I blacken my white!

What’s the hue of a hide to a man in his might?

Hail! great, gritty, grimy hands—

Sweet Christ, pity toiling lands!

I am the Smoke King

I am black.

Poem extracted from https://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/the-song-of-the-smoke/.

W. E. B. Du Bois, “The Song of the Smoke” from Creative Writings by W. E. B Du Bois (KrausThomson Organization Limited, 1985). Reprinted with the permission of the Estate of W. E. B. Du Bois.

Source: Creative Writings by W. E. B. Du Bois (Kraus-Thomson Organization, 1985)

One of his powerful poems that stood out to me as he was having a discussion with a little girl:

A poem by the name of "Problematic" is available through the W.E.B. Du Bois Center from Twitter. They have a typewriter document image that shows the carefully thought out structure and his straightforward words in clever rhyme. Follow the link below to see it.

https://twitter.com/DuBoisUMass/status/1248974835511783425?s=20

Roland Martin

 

More than journalist,

an outspoken truth-teller,

encourages all.

(Photo by rolandsmartin.com)

15 Fun Facts on Roland Martin:

1. Roland Sebastian Martin was born on November 14, 1968, in Houston, Texas. 
2. Realizing his passion for communications at the young age of 14, he was part of a Magnet Program in Communications at the Jack Yates High School.
3. He is an American journalist, Editor, Commentator for TV One, the Host of News One Now, Washington on Watch with Roland S. Martin. He has also hosted on the morning talk show on WVON in Chicago (2007), on CNN (2013), guest-hosted on the Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull show (2009), appeared on other shows, such as The Situation Room, Anderson Cooper's AC360, and more. 
4. After graduating with a B.A. in Journalism in 1991 from Texas A&M University, he worked several jobs, such as Austin American Statesman and City Hall Reporter with Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
5. In college, he was a fraternity member of Alpha Phi Alpha in the Pi Omicron Chapter.  
6. He began working for KRLD radio in 1995 and later won a Top Sports Reporting Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. He also won honors from the Houston Press Club.
7. In 2001, Roland became the first editor of blackamericaweb.com that was founded by Tom Joyner and he also married his wife, Jacquie Hood Martin.
8. In 2008, he was a Senior Analyst at the Tom Joyner Morning Show spreading to more than 100 stations and 8 million people daily.
9. He received the President's Award from the National Association of Black Journalists in 2008. 
10. Another mark in history for Roland in 2008, he was awarded a spot in the Journalism Hall of Honor at Texas A&M University.
11. He is the former Editor of the Chicago Defender.
12. He has won four times the NAACP Image Award. For the last two years, he was named Best Host.
13. Roland is an author of 3 books: Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America, Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith, The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin, Wedded Bliss! A 52-Week Devotional to Balanced Living. He has contributed to several others, including Paradox of Loyalty: An African American Response to the War on Terrorism by Julianne Malveaux; Black Woman Redefined: Dispelling Myths and Discovering Fulfillment in the Age of Michelle Obama by Sophia Nelson; Faivish Pewzner New York and Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge by Etan Thomas and Nick Chiles.
14. He had received the NABJ 2013 Journalist of the Year Award.
15. In 2018, he became CEO of Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show streaming on Facebook Live, YouTube, Periscope, & IGTV. He created this show to focus more on "Black News", shining a light on injustices throughout America and providing education to everyone on how to create change and support the African American community including businesses, education, politics, and more.

Info by rolandsmartin.com & wikipedia.com

NABJ 2013 Journalist of the Year Video

Roland Martin: NABJ 2013 Journalist of the Year from Shellée M. Haynesworth on Vimeo.

Here is an episode of Roland Martin Unfiltered from his website:

Ahmaud Arbery death 1 year ago; Georgia GOP Voter Suppression; Andrew Young talks living wage, fillibuster

For more information on Roland's books, please visit:

https://rolandsmartin.com/category/titles-authored-by-roland-martin/

Rosa Parks

Bold within her stance,

sat where she pleased on a bus,

paid for it with time.

(Photo by Wikipedia.com)

10 Fun Facts on Rosa Parks:

1. Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama.
2. She was an American activist working for voter's rights, desegregation, fair housing, and more. Rosa was known as the "Mother of The Movement".
3. She was diligent in getting her high school diploma when only 7% of African Americans finished school to receive one. Her high school was a laboratory at the Alabama State Teachers' College for Negroes.
4. In December 1943, Rosa joined the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, working as the secretary until 1957. As a secretary, she was a sexual assault investigator, researching and fighting for equal justice in the case of Recy Taylor who was an African American woman gang-raped in Abbeville, Alabama.
5. In the 1940s, she was a member of the League of Women Voters along with her husband.
6. At the age of 42, she was famous for not giving up her seat on a Montgomery bus on December 1, 1955, to a white man when buses had separate sections for blacks and whites. The bus driver, James F. Blake, insisted that she take a seat at the further back of the bus than where she was sitting. Her resisting made him threaten to call the cops for her removal, but she left. Later on, she was arrested. 
7. Her altercation inspired Martin Luther King, who led boycotting on buses for a full year with other members of the NAACP and other Black Folk in the city who were notified through the advertisements of the network of churches. These were efforts to end racial segregation on public transportation.
8. She was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Award by the NAACP, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.
9. After economic sanctions from the government, death threats from white people, and disagreements with the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, she moved to Hampton, Virginia.
10. In the mid-1960s, she traveled to participate in and support the Selma to Montgomery March, the Freedom Now Party, and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (aka The Black Panthers).

When Rosa Parks was arrested in 1957 during the Montgomery Bus Boycotts.

(Photo by Wikipedia.com)

Rosa Parks rode a Montgomery Bus on December 21, 1956, when the city's transportation system was legally integrated. 

(Photo from Wikipedia.com)

(Information from Wikipedia.com, History.com, Biography.com, & Womenshistory.org)

John Lewis

 

Man of bold actions

wants us to march to freedom.

Strength matched stubbornness.

(Photo by Wikipedia.com)

Langston Hughes

Man of great talent

with unique accomplishments

never unnoticed.

(Photo by Carl Van Vechten from Wikipedia.com)

10 Fun Facts on Langston Hughes:

1. His full name was James Mercer Langston Hughes born in 1901 in Joplin, Missouri.
2. His great-grandmothers were slaves from Africa while his great-grandfathers were slave owners in Kentucky.
3. Leader of the Harlem Renaissance he became in 1921 when he attended Columbia University in New York City.
4. He was widely known for his sense of humor, which helped him get readily recognized for his children's works. He wrote children's poems, which have been translated into several languages and set to music.
5. In 1925, his poetry "The Weary Blues" won first prize in the Opportunity Magazine Literary Competition when he won a scholarship to attend Lincoln University in the state of Pennsylvania.
6. "The Weary Blues", his first book, was published in 1926.
7. Within his poems, he was among the first to incorporate jazz rhythms and dialects to interpret the lives of urban African Americans.
8. His famous poem, "Let America Be America Again" was published in 1936 bringing hopefulness to the American Dream to soon include African Americans.
9. During the Spanish War in 1937, he served as a war correspondent for many American newspapers.
10. His skills expanded to writing a play in 1949 that inspired the opera Troubled Island to come to life.

(Info from Poets.org, Wikipedia.com, Poetryfoundation.org, & Biography.com)

Take a read at one of Langston Hughes's famous poems.

Let America Be America Again

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again.

Here is another one of his earlier poems.

The Weary Blues

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
     I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
     He did a lazy sway . . .
     He did a lazy sway . . .
To the tune o' those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
     O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
     Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man's soul.
     O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan—
     "Ain't got nobody in all this world,
       Ain't got nobody but ma self.
       I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
       And put ma troubles on the shelf."

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more—
     "I got the Weary Blues
       And I can't be satisfied.
       Got the Weary Blues
       And can't be satisfied—
       I ain't happy no mo'
       And I wish that I had died."
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

(Both poems were cited by poets.org from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1994)

Gwendolyn Brooks

  

Her heart so gentle,

but words pierce through readers' souls,

proud being kind and fair.

(Photo by npr.org)

10 Fun Facts on Gwendolyn Brooks:

1. She was an author, poet, and teacher.
2. She was born on June 7, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas. Her family moved to Chicago weeks after her birth.
3. At the age of 17, she was publishing poems for the newspaper, Chicago Defender.
4. The first African American to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her poetry book titled "Annie Allen" in 1949.
5. She was well known for her kindness around town selflessly helping everyone that she could with their bills, writing, and more.
6. She organized her prize money to create poetry prizes for other writers in the community who were in need of funding for a place and supplies to write. 
7. Her passions include reading, writing, politics, and poetry when it came to creating her works and socializing.
8. She was the first Black woman to be the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress.
9. She was named the Poet Laureate of the state of Illinois.
10. Many of her poems written from the 1960s and later were based on the civil rights movement.

(Info from Poetryfoundation.org, Wikipedia.org, & Poets.org)

One of her famous free verse poems encourage Black girls and women to wear their hair naturally and exercising pride in being Black:

"To Those Of My Sisters
Who Kept Their Naturals"

-- never to look a hot comb in the teeth

by Gwendolyn Brooks

 

Sisters!

I love you.
Because you love you.
Because you are erect.
Because you are also bent.
In season, stern, kind.
Crisp, soft-in season.
And you withhold.
And you extend.
And you Step out.
And you go back.
And you extend again.

Your eyes, loud-soft, with crying and with smiles,
are older than a million years,
And they are young.
You reach, in season.
And All
below the rich rouch right time of your hair.

You have not bought Blondine.
You have not hailed the hot-comb recently.
You never worshipped Marilyn Monroe.
You say: Farrah's hair is hers.
You have not wanted to be white.
Nor have you testified to adoration of that state
with the advertisement of imitation
(never successful because the hot-comb is laughing too.)

But oh the rough dark Other music!
the Real,
the Right.
The natural Respect of Self and Seal!

Sisters!

Your hair is Celebration in the world!

(Poem cited from http://www.endarkenment.com/hair/poetry/brooks.htm)

Booker T. Washington

 

Man of mixed colors -

courage to stand on his own,

most influential.

(Photo by Wikipedia)

Ten Facts on Booker Taliaferro Washington:

1. He was born in the era of slavery to a father he didn't know and a mother who was a cook for the plantation's owner in the state of Virginia in the year 1856.
2. He was of mixed descent with his mother being Black and his father being White.
3. He was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to multiple Presidents.
4. He became a leader in the contemporary Black Elite with his wealth as a businessman and for his political nature.
5. In 1900, he founded the NNBL (National Negro Business League) organization.
6. In Tuskegee, Alabama, he founded a historically black college named the Tuskegee Institute. At the age of 25, he became principal of the Institute and worked there until his death in 1915.
7. "Atlanta Compromise" was the famous speech he gave on September 18, 1895, regarding the lynchings happening in the South of the United States.
8.  W.E.B. Dubois had a rivalry with him on their differing views of segregation as Washington wanted to keep the Blacks segregated, but with receiving equity and equality that the Whites had access to.
9. When Theodore Roosevelt invited Washington to dine with him, he became the first African American to be in the White House.
10. He was the author of 5 books:

• “The Story of My Life and Work” (1900)
• "Up From Slavery" (1901)
• “The Story of the Negro: The Rise of the Race from Slavery” (1909)
• “My Larger Education” (1911)
• “The Man Farthest Down” (1912)

(Info by History.com & Wikipedia.com)

Here is his historical marker at Piedmont Park in Georgia with his speech - "Atlanta Compromise".

Trevor Noah

 

Cares about the world,

shows it through comedic bits,

South African pride.

(Photo from Wikipedia.com)

10 Facts About Trevor Noah:

1. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
2. He went to Maryvale College, which is a private Roman Catholic high school in his hometown.
3. A man known by many titles: 
• Comedian
• TV Show and Talk Show Host
• Political Commentator
• Producer
• Writer
• Actor
4. He's the host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central. You're bound to laugh at one of his funny jokes. He knows how to lighten up a situation.
5. Two of his popular comedy specials are Lost in Translation & African American.
6. He is the author of his autobiography called "Trevor Noah: Born A Crime" which was published in 2016.
7. He has been nominated for two NAACP Image Awards.
8. He is 1 of the 35 Most Powerful People in the New York Media (2017 & 2018).
9. In 2018, he was 1 of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
10. His newest project is "Afraid of the Dark" comedy show coming out on Netflix on February 21st.

(Info from Trevornoah.com & Wikipedia.com)

One of my favorite moments of Trevor Noah:

    While watching an interview of him speaking about his book, one of the moments with his mother stood out to me. This is summarized - when he was younger, Trevor has a moment with his mother when their car broke down on the way to church. Trevor wanted to go home and his mother was adamant about moving forward with her plan. She had mentioned that the Devil does not want them to go to Church. After a string of questions from him to his mom, they both continued their journey to the church by catching the minibusses. I found this funny moment to be not only interesting but inspirational. It grasped my interest immediately since I had a similar event in my life with crashing my car and having to walk 8.9 miles to school in the rain. If I had not gone to the University, I would've lost out on my being on track for my Certificate and this would've made things worse for me. What his mother, Patricia, mentioned made me wonder if it had been the Devil's work. According to the stories of my religions, it's possible. But we do not have to dive in that far. The point is that I would still question it like how Trevor did. But his mother has inspired me to keep going even at a surprising sudden stop in life.

To read his story, you can purchase it from https://www.trevornoah.com/store, on Audible for his audiobook, and more. It's available internationally as well.

Here's a clip from his comedy special featured on his YouTube page:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En8Tz2RzubE

Here's one from The Daily Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cDC4wEY9SQ

A Day for Lovers

 

Blooming roses pink

sweeps me up off to my feet

silk indulgences.

(Image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay)

Equality

 

Recognized in law,

A fight that's neverending;

Can't they treat us right?

(Image by Ryan Morrison from Pixabay)

Slavery

 

long and sweaty day

not a penny for labor

work fast or be whipped

(Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay)

Facts - 

When slavery began:

After being baptized in Africa, nineteen slaves made their way to the English colonies.

Slavery was mandated by law in the year 1640.

The United States Constitution did not prohibit it.

When this kind of slavery ended:

Slavery ended on December 18, 1865 by the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The slaves were freed from the remaining states of Kentucky, Delaware, Tennessee, Kansas, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland, Missouri, Washington D.C., and the 12 Parishes of Louisiana.

(Information was obtained from Wikipedia.com)

Maya Angelou

 

Words of hopefulness

after years of her silence

backed by sassiness.

(Photo by mayaangelou.com)

"Prejudice is a burden that confused the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible."

~Maya Angelou

A famous quote to ponder is still appropriate for our times today.

She was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. Her portfolio includes:

7 autobiographies

3 books of essays

Over 18 poetry books

Credited in plays, movies, and tv shows (50 years)

Her popular poems include "Still I Rise" and "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" along with the one cited below. She was the second poet to recite a poem at an inaugural address. Her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" took stage at Bill Clinton's first inaugural address in the year of 1993.

On the Pulse of Morning

BY MAYA ANGELOU

A Rock, A River, A Tree

Hosts to species long since departed,   

Marked the mastodon,

The dinosaur, who left dried tokens   

Of their sojourn here

On our planet floor,

Any broad alarm of their hastening doom   

Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,   

Come, you may stand upon my

Back and face your distant destiny,

But seek no haven in my shadow,

I will give you no hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than

The angels, have crouched too long in   

The bruising darkness

Have lain too long

Facedown in ignorance,

Your mouths spilling words

Armed for slaughter.

The Rock cries out to us today,   

You may stand upon me,   

But do not hide your face.

This poem was cited from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48990/on-the-pulse-of-morning which also came from her book published in 1994, "The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou".