tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22478075836769698502024-02-20T18:45:23.544-06:00Enlightened Free Thinking Nubian Kings And QueensLarry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.comBlogger240125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-45695878621294040502019-06-03T08:44:00.001-05:002019-06-03T08:44:56.384-05:004 Fabricated Stories That History Lies About<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UFuRp8yvTqQ" width="480"></iframe>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-51507977535174184342019-05-11T11:56:00.001-05:002019-05-11T11:56:43.555-05:00Who Should Be Held Responsible For Slavery In America? - Part Three<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YWMESDMBf6A" width="480"></iframe>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-60489648530350074352018-08-29T09:53:00.001-05:002018-08-29T09:53:45.714-05:00Leroy "Nicky" Barnes (1933- )<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiogw8DJx_tb3qq26xs5CKtrzO9Sfod1ad7w1ty9yUSt2RxiIyQongje1HJTk86bqHd-Ya3rOoHyDwP_YxDEIk8B-FybZpbHWlU_HXgThK8XsKJFKTOnZRC2PtvYsBj1TMGGDTigY-1m14V/s1600/Leroy+Nicky+Barnes+%25281933-+%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="407" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiogw8DJx_tb3qq26xs5CKtrzO9Sfod1ad7w1ty9yUSt2RxiIyQongje1HJTk86bqHd-Ya3rOoHyDwP_YxDEIk8B-FybZpbHWlU_HXgThK8XsKJFKTOnZRC2PtvYsBj1TMGGDTigY-1m14V/s320/Leroy+Nicky+Barnes+%25281933-+%2529.png" width="294" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 15.36px;">Born Leroy Nicholas Barnes on October 15, 1933, in Harlem, New York was one of the most powerful New York drug dealers of the 1970s. His career as a drug lord began in 1965 when he was imprisoned for heroin consumption. While in New York Green Haven Penitentiary he met the Italian mafia leader “Crazy” Joe Gallo. After both were released, Gallo helped Barnes form a mass drug-dealing organization.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 15.36px;">Despite “Crazy” Joe Gallo’s murder on April 7, 1972, Leroy “Nicky” Barnes continued to expand his business. During this period Barnes acquired the nicknamed “Mr. Untouchable” as New York City police attempts to charge him for his crimes always failed because of absence of evidence or unreliable witnesses. By 1973, Barnes gather together the main drug kingpins in New York City to form for the first time a city-wide organization called “the Council.” Modeled on the similar Italian mafia organizations, the aim of this council was to bring order to the drug dealing market by regulating territories for drug dealing to prevent gang wars between African American drug lords.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 15.36px;">As his illicit business grew, so did Barnes’ reputation first in the underground spheres of New York and then increasingly among journalists in the city. One journalistic investigation of Barnes and his organization eventually was published in June 1977 in the </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15.36px;">New York Times Magazine</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 15.36px;">. Barnes appeared on the front cover after agreeing to be profiled in a photographic shooting session by the magazine. No African American drug lord had ever had garnered such favorable attention in a major New York newspaper or journal.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 15.36px;">The photo-shoot and accompanying story of Barnes, however, had unintended consequences as the publicity brought him to the attention of federal authorities. Newly-elected President Jimmy Carter was said to be appalled at the prominent of Barnes and ordered federal law enforcement officials to intensify their efforts to arrest him and bring down his crime organization. President Carter insisted that Barnes be tracked down and arrested by the Justice Department. As a result, later in 1977, Leroy "Nicky" Barnes was arrested by federal and state authorities in New York City. He was tried in a U.S. District Court for interstate drug trafficking, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison on January 19, 1978.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 15.36px;">After entering prison, the former drug lord began to cooperate with local and federal authorities. He was an undercover informer and then a prosecution witness, helping to convict his previous associates. Thanks to the information he transmitted, Barnes was released earlier at the request of the United States Attorney in Manhattan. Finally released in August 1998, he was placed under the federal Witness Protection Program.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 15.36px;">In 2007, Barnes released his autobiography titled </span><i id="m_4009967914148690299gmail-m_7750352693525720777yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1524312231410_3130" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 15.36px;">Mr. Untouchable</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 15.36px;"> written with the help of filmmaker Tom Folsom, who later created a documentary based on the memoirs. Leroy Nicky Barnes also appeared in a couple of fictional adaptations, such as the 2007 film American Gangster starring Denzel Washington.</span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-58719338081381098962018-08-08T22:53:00.001-05:002018-08-08T22:53:51.779-05:00THE MIGHTY CLOUDS OF JOY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhofG9Pl3qLU_cVC8X8ScMWhot-k71UtoA6FDuN8eY5UujGigNqdUZt-itLqE24oHXqopjTMFspQZGlV4bUXr0VlOGac_JPVCsQ9O3D2E_pHSONgPSyuawDNhpqzGSp2zRPa4lC8GL7wwCC/s1600/THE+MIGHTY+CLOUDS+OF+JOY.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhofG9Pl3qLU_cVC8X8ScMWhot-k71UtoA6FDuN8eY5UujGigNqdUZt-itLqE24oHXqopjTMFspQZGlV4bUXr0VlOGac_JPVCsQ9O3D2E_pHSONgPSyuawDNhpqzGSp2zRPa4lC8GL7wwCC/s320/THE+MIGHTY+CLOUDS+OF+JOY.png" width="307" /></a></div>
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Contemporary gospel's preeminent group, the Mighty Clouds Of Joy carried the torch for the traditional quartet vocal style throughout an era dominated by solo acts and choirs; pioneering a distinctively funky sound that over time gained grudging acceptance even among purists, they pushed spiritual music in new and unexpected directions, even scoring a major disco hit entitled, "Mighty High". More importantly, they were the first group to add bass, drums, and keyboards to the standard quartet accompaniment of solo guitar, resulting in a sound that horrified traditionalists but appealed to younger listeners -- so much so, in fact, that the Mighty Clouds became the first gospel act ever to appear on television's Soul Train.<br />
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Joe Ligon formed the group in 1955 during his high school days in Los Angeles, CA. He spent his childhood in Alabama, then moved west to live with his uncle. He found several other young men from the South in his Watts neighborhood, including, Elmo and Ermant Franklin, Leon Polk and Richard Wallace.They were all familiar with the gospel singing of the southern church. The sixth member of the group, Johnny Martin, was a native Californian, and his cooler urban style blended well with Ligon’s dramatic flair, derived from the Southern Baptist shout.<br />
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Their first recording “Steal Away to Jesus”, was in 1960. Their debut album <i>Family Circle came in</i> 1961. The group started with the traditional gospel sound but began experimenting with contemporary R&B elements; utilizing guitars, organ and drums, and later a full orchestra. These amplifications provided rich accompaniment for Joe Ligon’s explorations into the stratosphere of emotion.<br />
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The Mighty Clouds of Joy put other innovations into their dramatic stage shows. They wore bright color-coordinated suits and sported pompadour haircuts. Their singing was extremely energetic, and their voices wide-ranging. The Clouds would whip the audience into a frenzy with moral tales, exhorting the people to faith. This drama secured for them a reputation as the country’s premier male gospel ensemble, although they were only in their twenties. They were one of the first gospel groups to choreograph their songs, and became known as the “Temptations of Gospel”.<br />
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The group managed an unusual crossover hit, the number one dance single “Ride the Mighty High.” Controversy among their gospel followers exploded when The Mighty Clouds of Joy appeared on television’s <i>Soul Train</i> to promote the record. According to Intersound Records, Joe Ligon found the response from both old and new fans bewildering: “We were the first gospel group to do that show. All the kids were dancing like mad, and, boy, the mail started pouring in. The diehard Gospel fans gave us flak like you wouldn’t believe. It wasn’t churchy enough for them. They said we’d sold out and gone funky.</div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">However, the Clouds never really abandoned gospel. They recorded a very spiritual album, 1978's Live and Direct, which won Best Soul Gospel Performance in Grammy's traditional category, and repeated the triumph the next year, winning Best Traditional Soul Gospel Performance for Changing Times, in 1979.</span><br />
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While lineup changes plagued the Mighty Clouds throughout their career, they remained active into the new millennium; in addition to co-founders Ligon and Wallace, their latter-day incarnation also included Paul Beasley, Michael McCowin, Wilbert Williams, Johnny Valentine, Ron Staples, and guitarist Dwight Gordon. As the years advanced, Ligon took a more supportive singing role, with lead vocals performed by ex-Gospel Keynotes vocalist Beasley. Clouds Of Joy founder, Joe Ligon died in December 2016 at the age of 80.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">HERE ARE A FEW SONGS FROM THIS ICONIC GOSPEL GROUP:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> RIDE THE MIGHTY HIGH</span><br />
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<a class="m_-5885549225120321482m_-914745965221859095m_8283422564081834097OWAAutoLink" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D0Cof02iMfVk%26list%3DRDlQxuQn5kUkM&source=gmail&ust=1524495808490000&usg=AFQjCNFP1bFbA0jqFUBUXrdjMcc4JbNU3w" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cof02iMfVk&list=RDlQxuQn5kUkM" id="m_-5885549225120321482m_-914745965221859095m_8283422564081834097LPlnk142399" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank" wotdonut="true">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=0Cof02iMfVk&list=RDlQxuQn5kU<wbr></wbr>kM</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> I KNOW I'VE BEEN CHANGED</span><br />
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<a class="m_-5885549225120321482m_-914745965221859095m_8283422564081834097OWAAutoLink" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DlQxuQn5kUkM&source=gmail&ust=1524495808490000&usg=AFQjCNGH8VjJy2bhZlAGUrnds_BZt50m0g" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQxuQn5kUkM" id="m_-5885549225120321482m_-914745965221859095m_8283422564081834097LPlnk100217" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank" wotdonut="true">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=lQxuQn5kUkM</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> I BELIEVE I'LL RUN ON</span><br />
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<a class="m_-5885549225120321482m_-914745965221859095m_8283422564081834097OWAAutoLink" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3Dz7Rx2-RWea8&source=gmail&ust=1524495808490000&usg=AFQjCNEMmZ9IxiXRgVr2Fap13l5EtxwMTA" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Rx2-RWea8" id="m_-5885549225120321482m_-914745965221859095m_8283422564081834097LPlnk177462" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank" wotdonut="true">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=z7Rx2-RWea8</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> I DON'T FEEL NO WAYS TIRED</span><br />
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<a class="m_-5885549225120321482m_-914745965221859095m_8283422564081834097OWAAutoLink" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DzwmlPkrPB2Q&source=gmail&ust=1524495808490000&usg=AFQjCNF42uhIyWeYQDJXvjkoqLIcsVHr_Q" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmlPkrPB2Q" id="m_-5885549225120321482m_-914745965221859095m_8283422564081834097LPlnk114611" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank" wotdonut="true">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=zwmlPkrPB2Q</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "calibri" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> HE'LL BE THERE (Paul Beasley as the lead singer.) </span><br />
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HERE ARE A FEW IMAGES OF THIS STILL ACTIVE GROUP:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghu4m8MOv-3OW4_AXNzK_PmnUMCb-zE_eLr9gzWX9TXidj4xpKk8RW1cWC0VRVsKVt5R-AV6sx7KSkUHn_VEGbrzFHLLSzgKIB7e38bY3shYNN-pKqOBQ1JtQGb0hyphenhyphenjh8vhQ96Oh2ijcUE/s1600/THE+MIGHTY+CLOUDS+OF+JOY2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="356" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghu4m8MOv-3OW4_AXNzK_PmnUMCb-zE_eLr9gzWX9TXidj4xpKk8RW1cWC0VRVsKVt5R-AV6sx7KSkUHn_VEGbrzFHLLSzgKIB7e38bY3shYNN-pKqOBQ1JtQGb0hyphenhyphenjh8vhQ96Oh2ijcUE/s320/THE+MIGHTY+CLOUDS+OF+JOY2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMGDiQ6YlrhpBPXKmYH6A2TcsVnKxGyaaWelxkD19gQoCNs69C-2FP4Q-Q7zjdPY2F7WkHE2LMb9G05BWrcDy2t59Plj6QkwjXaPtx6N6TckArOnhoeTF2t1bJAkLu7oqhPQyBLfOWXlds/s1600/THE+MIGHTY+CLOUDS+OF+JOY3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMGDiQ6YlrhpBPXKmYH6A2TcsVnKxGyaaWelxkD19gQoCNs69C-2FP4Q-Q7zjdPY2F7WkHE2LMb9G05BWrcDy2t59Plj6QkwjXaPtx6N6TckArOnhoeTF2t1bJAkLu7oqhPQyBLfOWXlds/s320/THE+MIGHTY+CLOUDS+OF+JOY3.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-63241535179942899812018-08-07T01:16:00.000-05:002018-08-07T01:16:20.646-05:00Annie Turnbo Malone (1869-1957)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<big id="m_-1944128928852578490gmail-m_-5890850179839198750yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1526242054389_66218" style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="m_-1944128928852578490gmail-m_-5890850179839198750yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1526242054389_66217" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">Entrepreneur and philanthropist Annie Turnbo Malone was born to Robert Turnbo and Isabella Cook in Metropolis, Illinois on August 9, 1869. Her parents were former slaves and her father joined the Union Army during the Civil War.<br /><br />Turnbo attended school in Peoria, Illinois, but she never finished high school. Instead, she practiced hairdressing with her sister. When she and her family moved to Lovejoy, Illinois, Annie decided she wanted to become a "beauty doctor." At the age of 20 she had already developed her own shampoo and scalp treatment to grow and straighten hair. Taking her creation to the streets, she went around in a buggy making speeches to demonstrate and promote the new shampoo.<br /><br />By 1902, Annie Turnbo's home shampoo venture thrived and she moved to St. Louis, Missouri, home of the nation's fourth-largest African American population, to expand her business. She was largely successful and she trademarked her beauty products under the name "Poro." One of her protégés was Sarah Breedlove who later became Madam C.J. Walker. Turnbo married in 1903, but soon after her marriage, her husband sought to control her business venture and she divorced him. She married again on April 28, 1914, this time to school principal Aaron Eugene Malone. The marriage lasted 13 years but ended in divorce as well..<br /><br />In her lifetime, Malone became one of the nation's wealthiest black women. She became a leading cosmetic entrepreneur but she was also a leader in the St. Louis black community. In 1918, Poro's success allowed Malone to build a four-story, million dollar factory and beauty school complex in the historic black neighborhood of "The Ville," in St.. Louis. It employed over 175 people and enabled young black women to pursue their high school and college educations by providing them with jobs and lodging.<br /><br />Malone was also an active philanthropist. She contributed thousands of dollars to educational programs, universities, to the YMCA, and to nearly every black orphanage in the country. She also served as board president of the St. Louis Colored Orphans Home from 1919 to 1943.<br /><br />In 1930, Malone relocated her business to Chicago; thereafter, the St. Louis Poro College and Malone's fortune declined, with a net worth of $100,000 dollars.</span></big><big id="m_-1944128928852578490gmail-m_-5890850179839198750yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1526242054389_66242" style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="m_-1944128928852578490gmail-m_-5890850179839198750yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1526242054389_66241" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"> Poro beauty colleges still operated in over 30 cities across the nation.<br /><br />Annie Turbo Malone died</span></big><big id="m_-1944128928852578490gmail-m_-5890850179839198750yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1526242054389_66244" style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="m_-1944128928852578490gmail-m_-5890850179839198750yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1526242054389_66243" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"> in Chicago, Illinois on May 10, 1957, she was eighty-seven years of age.</span></big>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-8074135216874310682018-04-06T20:17:00.000-05:002018-04-06T20:17:44.800-05:00Michael Anthony Donald (1961-1981)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<big style="line-height: 1.22em;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; line-height: 1.22em;">Michael Anthony Donald was a nineteen-year-old African American man who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in 1981 in Mobile, Alabama. His killing was one of the last known lynchings in the United States. Donald was born on July 24, 1961, in Mobile to Beullah Mae Donald and David Donald. He was the youngest of six children.<br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" /><br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" />In 1981, Josephus Anderson, an African American, was charged with the murder of a white police officer in Birmingham, Alabama while committing a robbery. Anderson’s case was moved from Birmingham to Mobile, Alabama in a change of venue. While the jury was struggling to reach a verdict on Anderson, members of the United Klan of America complained that the jury had not convicted Anderson because it had African American members. One Klansman, Bennie Jack Hays, announced to his fellow Klan members that “if a black man can get away with killing a white man, we ought to be able to get away with killing a black man.”<br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" /><br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" />On March 20, 1981, a mistrial was declared in Anderson case. The same night, Klansmen burned a cross on the Mobile County Courthouse lawn. Afterwards, Bennie Jack Hays, his son, Henry Francis Hays, and James Lewellyn “Tiger” Knowles, armed with a gun and rope, drove around Mobile looking for a black person to attack. While driving, Hays and Knowles spotted Michael Donald who was walking home after buying his sister a pack of cigarettes. Hays and Knowles forced Donald into their car at gunpoint and then drove him to a secluded wooded area in a neighboring county.<br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" /><br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" />Donald attempted to escape, knocking Bennie Hays’ gun away, when he tried to run away. Henry Hays and Knowles caught him and beat him with a tree limb. Hays then wrapped a rope around Donald's neck, strangling him while Knowles continued to beat Donald. After Donald stopped moving, Henry Hays slit his throat three times to make sure he was dead. They then returned to Mobile the next day and left Donald’s dead body hanging from a tree in a mixed-race neighborhood.<br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" /><br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" />In the subsequent investigation, local police initially suspected the Klan but instead took three local black suspects into custody based on their belief that Donald was killed in a drug deal that went wrong. When Donald’s mother convinced the police that her son was not involved with drugs, they released the suspects.<br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" /><br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" />Donald’s mother then contacted civil rights activist Jessie Louis Jackson, Sr. who organized a protest march in the city, demanding answers from the police. The FBI later entered the investigation and in 1983 Bennie Hays, his son, Henry, and Knowles were arrested for Donald’s murder. Henry Hays was convicted and sentenced to death and executed by the electric chair on June 6, 1997. Hays’s execution was the first in Alabama since 1913 for a white on black crime. Hays was also the only Ku Klux Klan member executed in the 20th century for a murder of an African American. Knowles was sentenced to life in prison and Bennie Hays was briefly freed when his trial was declared a mistrial. He died of a heart attack in 1993 before he could be retried.<br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" /><br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" />In 2006, the City of Mobile honored the memory of Michael Anthony Donald by renaming the street after him where his body was found.</span></big><br />
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Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-84681851816649743262017-11-03T20:22:00.000-05:002017-11-03T20:22:17.340-05:00Alexander Crummell (1819-1898)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Alexander Crummell, an Episcopalian priest, missionary, scholar, and teacher. Crummell earned his degree from the University of Cambridge in 1853, becoming the first black student to graduate from the institution. He spent much of his life addressing the conditions of African Americans while urging an educated black elite to aspire to the highest intellectual attainments as a refutation of the theory of black inferiority.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Alexander Crummell was born in New York City on March 3, 1819, to Charity Hicks and Boston Crummell. Both his mother and father were free, with Boston having been taken from Timannee, West Africa, and forced into bondage in the North, but eventually refusing servitude. With his parents believing in education for their children, Alexander began his education at an integrated school in New Hampshire. He later transferred to an abolitionist institute in Whitesboro, New York where he learned both the classics and manual labor skills. However, after being denied admittance to the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church because of his race, Crummell was forced to study privately. Crummell attended the Yale Theological Seminary for a time and at the age of 25, he became an Episcopalian minister. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">He traveled overseas toward the late 1840s. From 1848 to 1853 Crummell lectured took on speaking engagements in England just to make ends meet and later attending the University of Cambridge's Queens' College, from which he graduated in 1853—thus becoming the first black student to graduate from Cambridge. Crummell left England to become an educator in Liberia, accepting a faculty position at Liberia College in Monrovia. From his new post, Crummell urged African Americans to emigrate to Liberia.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Internal politics, however, forced Crummell to leave Liberia in 1872, shattering his dream of the West African nation as the Christian Republic populated by both indigenous people and African American immigrants. Crummell returned to the United States and settled in Washington, D.C. where he founded St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. When some Episcopal bishops proposed a segregated missionary district for black parishes, Crummell organized a group now known as the Union of Black Episcopalians to fight the proposal. Crummell also lectured widely across the United States stressing the social responsibilities of educated middle-class African Americans as race leaders. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">From 1895 to 1897 Crummell taught at Howard University in Washington, D.C. In 1897, the last year of his life, Crummell helped found the American Negro Academy and became its first president, with W.E.B. DuBois and William Saunders Scarborough as vice presidents. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Alexander Crummell, died on September 10, 1898, in Red Bank, New Jersey, at the age of 80</span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-51566346354635315112017-11-03T20:21:00.000-05:002017-11-03T20:21:51.515-05:00Dorsie Willis (1886-1977)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">Of the 167 enlisted black soldiers of the 25th Infantry discharged from the U.S. Army “without honor” by order of President Theodore Roosevelt after the shooting in Brownsville, Texas in 1906, Pvt. Dorsie Willis was the only to live long enough to see justice.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><br />According to census records, Willis was born in Mississippi in 1886. His parents, Corsey and Dochie Willis were free born. Willis joined Company D, 25th Infantry of the U.S. Army on January 5, 1905. In July 1906 Willis’s battalion was sent to Fort Brown in Brownsville on the American bank of the Rio Grande and near its mouth. His battalion replaced the white 26th Infantry. The local residents, mostly Mexican and about 20% white, were not happy with the prospect of African American soldiers being stationed there, and the soldiers of the 25th Infantry immediately encountered harassment. <br /><br />Less than <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1323094551" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">three weeks later</span></span>, between 12 and 20 men shot up Brownsville, killing one civilian and badly wounding another. Witnesses identified the shooters either as black or as soldiers, which meant the same thing since all the enlisted soldiers at Fort Brown were black. Their motive was thought to be revenge for the harassment they had suffered. <br /><br />Every soldier at Fort Brown denied taking part in the shooting or knowing who might have been involved. Willis testified under oath he was in bed in his company’s barracks during the shooting and knew nothing about it. But when army investigations concluded the shooters were unidentified soldiers, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the discharge of every one on duty that night, including Dorsie Willis, without court-martial or other trial.<br /><br />Historian John Weaver’s 1970 carefully researched book,<span class="m_-7466846851739868879m_-1031979325532833326yiv2624430010Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Brownsville Raid</i><span class="m_-7466846851739868879m_-1031979325532833326yiv2624430010Apple-converted-space"> </span>finally prompted the U.S. Army to reinvestigate the discharges, and in 1973 all discharged Brownsville soldiers were awarded Honorable Discharges posthumously; all except Dorsie Willis. On February 11, 1973, Willis was given his Certificate of Honorable Discharge attesting to his honest and faithful service. At the time only one other discharged Brownsville soldier also was alive but he had been readmitted to the army earlier and had already had an Honorable Discharge. <br /><br />California Congressman Augustus F. Hawkins later persuaded his colleagues to also compensate Willis for the injustice of his original discharge, and on January 11, 1974, the U.S. Army sponsored a luncheon for Willis in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he then lived, and Army Major General De Witt Smith presented the veteran a check for $25,000.<br /><br />Private Dorsie Willis died on August 24, 1977, and was buried at the U.S. Military Cemetery at Fort Snelling, Minnesota with full military honors.</span><br />
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Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-63845215817185293662017-10-29T15:25:00.000-05:002017-10-29T15:25:17.929-05:00Andre Watts (1946-)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Andre Watts is the subject of one of the more memorable stories in American music. In 1963, the 16 year old high school student won a piano competition to play in the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concert at Lincoln Center, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Within weeks of the contest the renowned conductor tapped Watts to substitute for the eminent but ailing pianist Glenn Gould, for a regular performance with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The performance was televised nationally, with Watts playing Liszt’s E-flat Concerto, and his career was launched. From this storied beginning, Watts went on to become the first internationally famous black concert pianist.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Watts was born in Nuremburg, Germany on June 20, 1946 to an African American soldier, Herman Watts, who was stationed in Germany, and a piano-playing Hungarian refugee mother, Maria Alexandra Gusmits. His early childhood was spent on military bases, until at the age of eight his family moved to Philadelphia.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">His mother was his first piano teacher. She told Watts about the persistent practicing of her countryman, composer and pianist Franz Liszt, which influenced her young musician son. By age nine Watts had won a competition to perform in one of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Children’s Concerts. In 1963 he played with Bernstein, and in 1964 at the age of 17 he won a Grammy for “best new classical artist” for his first recording, the Liszt E-Flat Concerto, on the long playing (LP) record “The Exciting Debut of Andre Watts.” By the mid-1960s he became a top concert pianist, with a full concert schedule, including his London debut with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1966. Watts played at the presidential inaugural concert for Richard Nixon in 1969.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Andre Watts fitted studies for his Bachelor’s in Music at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore around his busy concert schedule, graduating in 1972. By the mid-1970s he was playing 150 concert and solo appearances a year. By his 30th birthday he had appeared ten times in the Lincoln Center’s Great Performance Series. The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) telecast his 1976 “Live from Lincoln Center” performance in its entirety, the first prime time, full-length recital aired nationally in the history of television. Watts toured Japan in 1974, and Europe twice in 1975-1976. He has appeared in televised programs numerous times over the years, including those produced by PBS, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the Arts and Entertainment Network (A&E).</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Somewhat rare for a child prodigy, Watts has sustained a lifelong career in music. His honors are numerous, including being the youngest person to receive an Honorary Doctorate from Yale University at age 26, and being selected in 1988 for the Avery Fisher Prize, one of the top honors for American classical musicians. In 2004 he was appointed to the Jack I. and Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in Music at Indiana University.</span></span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-50036278501754633742017-10-22T09:54:00.001-05:002017-10-22T09:54:30.485-05:00Harriet Ann Jacobs (1813 - 1897)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Harriet Ann Jacobs, daughter of Delilah, a slave, and Daniel Jacobs, a slave who was born in Edenton, North Carolina, on February 11, 1813. Until she was six years old Harriet was unaware that she was the property of Margaret Horniblow. Before her death in 1825, Harriet's relatively kind mistress taught her slave to read and sew. In her will, Margaret Horniblow bequeathed eleven-year-old Harriet to a niece, Mary Matilda Norcom. Since Mary Norcom was only three years old when Harriet Jacobs became her slave, Mary's father, Dr. James Norcom, an Edenton physician, became Jacobs's de facto master. Under the regime of James and Maria Norcom, Jacobs was introduced to the harsh realities of slavery. Though barely a teenager, Jacobs soon realized that her master was a sexual threat.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Around the time Harriet turned 15, Norcom began his relentless efforts to bend the slave girl's will. To get Harriet away from his wife, who was suspicious of her husband's intentions, he built a cottage for the girl slave four miles from town. Harriet had previously asked Norcom for permission to marry a free black man. Norcom violently refused. Now Harriet had a plan to disrupt his fight for sexual conquest: She had become friends with a caring white man -- an unmarried lawyer. She formulated a plan where she would become sexually involved with this man, become pregnant, and an infuriated Norcom would sell her and her child. A child was conceived. Nevertheless, Norcom had no intention to sell her. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;"> Still, Norcom pursued Harriet. The harassment continued even after she bore the lawyer another child. Finally, after she learned that Norcom was preparing to put her children to work as a plantation slave, she had had enough. In June of 1835, after seven years of mistreatment, Harriet escaped. For a short time, she stayed with various neighbors, both black and white. Then she moved into a tiny crawlspace above a porch built by her grandmother and uncle. The space was nine feet long and seven feet wide. Its sloping ceiling, only three feet high at one end, didn't allow her to turn while laying down without hitting her shoulder. Rats and mice crawled over her; there was no light and no ventilation. But her children had been bought by the lawyer and were now living in the same house. Harriet could even see them while they played outside through a peephole she had drilled. She lived in the crawlspace for seven years, coming out only for brief periods at night for exercise.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">In 1842, Harriet made her escape to freedom. She sailed to Philadelphia, and after a short stay traveled to New York City by train. There she was reunited with her daughter, who had in the meantime been sent by her father. Harriet would later move to Rochester, New York, to be close to her brother, also a fugitive slave. There she became involved with the abolitionists associated with Frederick Douglass and his newspaper,. In the following years, she would move back to New York, flee to Massachusetts to avoid Dr. Norcom, and finally become legally free after a friend arranged her purchase. Friends later convinced her to write an account of her life as a slave. Jacobs began compiling her narrative in 1853, completing it in 1858. What began as a serialized version of her life as a slave girl in Frederick Douglas' newspaper, The North Star. Jacobs was determined to tell her own story, she would later publish an account of her anguished life in her autobiography, <i>Incidents in the</i></span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: large;"> Life of a Slave Girl.</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;"> The book was one of the first open discussions about the sexual harassment and abuse endured by slave women. Following its publication, (which received little public acclaim until it was rediscovered more than 100 years later as part of the new renaissance of black women writers) Jacobs spent the remaining years of her life as an activist, supporting herself by working as a seamstress and later running a boarding house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After her brother's death in 1875, Jacobs and her daughter moved to Washington, D.C., following her mother's example, helped organize meetings of the National Association of Colored Women. Harriet was actively involved with the abolition movement before the launch of the Civil War. During the war, she used her celebrity to raise money for black refugees. After the war, she worked to improve the conditions of the recently-freed slaves.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Harriet Ann Jacobs died in Washington, D.C. on March 7, 1897.</span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-15383542774594546352017-10-20T10:07:00.000-05:002017-10-20T10:07:18.471-05:00Hallie Quinn Brown (1850-1949)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Teacher, writer, and women’s activist Hallie Quinn Brown was born on March 10, 1850 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of former slaves who in 1864 migrated to Canada. she grew up in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. The Brown family returned to the United States in 1870, settling in Wilberforce, Ohio. Brown attended Wilberforce College and received a degree in 1873. She then taught in freedman’s schools in Mississippi before moving to Columbia, South Carolina in 1875 where she served briefly as an instructor in the city’s public schools. By September 1875 she joined the faculty at Allen University. Brown taught at Allen between 1875 and 1885 and then for the next two years (1885-1887) served as Dean of the University. Brown also served as Dean of Women at Tuskegee Institute during the 1892-1893 school year before returning to Ohio where she taught in the Dayton public schools. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Brown had since childhood held an interest in public speaking. In 1866 she graduated from the Chautauqua Lecture School. By the time she began working at Allen University Brown was already developing a reputation as a powerful orator for the causes of temperance, women’s suffrage and civil rights. In 1895 Hallie Q. Brown addressed an audience at the Women’s Christian Temperance Union Conference in London. In 1899, while serving as one of the United States representatives, she spoke before the International Congress of Women meeting in London, UK. Brown also spoke before Queen Victoria.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Brown’s involvement in the women’s suffrage campaign led her to help organize the Colored Women’s League in Washington, D.C., one of the organizations that allied in 1896 to become the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). Hallie Q. Brown served as President of the Ohio State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs between 1905 and 1912. She also served as president of the National Association of Colored Women for four years, from 1920 to 1924. During her last year as president of the NACW, she spoke at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Brown also became active in the election campaign of President Calvin Coolidge, working to deliver the vote of African American clubwomen to this former Massachusetts governor. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Hallie Q. Brown published four significant works during her lifetime. In 1880, </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: large;">Bits and Odds: A Choice Selection of Recitations </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">was published. Thirty years later, in 1910, she published </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: large;">Elocution and Physical Culture</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">. Brown’s First Lessons in Public Speaking made its public debut in 1920. In 1926 her book </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: large;">Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;"> appeared. This work profiled the leading African American women of the era and became her most popular work.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Hallie Quinn Brown died in Wilberforce, Ohio on September 16, 1949. She was 99 years of age.</span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-16700401678680813752017-10-16T18:41:00.000-05:002017-10-16T18:41:43.182-05:00Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Painter and educator Laura Wheeler Waring was born on May 16, 1887, in Hartford, Connecticut. The fourth child of six born to Reverend Robert Foster and Mary Wheeler, Laura was unusual in some respects because she had the advantage of a superior education and middle and upper class associations. Her father studied Theology at Howard University and received his diploma ten years before Laura’s birth.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Laura’s education was exemplary. She graduated from Hartford High School in 1906 with honors and went on to study for another six years at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, one of the leading art institutes in the United States. In 1914, she received the A. William Emlen Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarship that allowed her to continue her studies of arts in major cities of Europe for a period of time. On that first trip she spent much time in the Louvre where she studied the works of several master painters. While in Europe she produced her first paintings, some of which would be exhibited in Paris art galleries. One piece, Houses at Semur, which she painted in France, would receive wide acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. She also traveled to Luxembourg to study the paintings of Claude Monet. With European recognition, Waring’s work was now in demand in American galleries as well including the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Brooklyn Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Upon her return, she worked at the all-black Cheyney Training School for Teachers in Philadelphia, where she established both art and music programs, which she directed for over thirty years. In 1924, she traveled again to Europe, accompanied by novelist Jessie Redmond Fauset. Her second trip took her to London, Dublin, Rome, Paris, and North Africa. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Waring’s most remembered work was her portraiture, which was largely of whites and upper class African Americans. The focus of her painting promoted charges of her being elitist; this is unfair since few people who were not of the upper classes could afford having their portraits done by professional artists. Also, Waring’s other work such as The Co-Ed, Mother and Daughter and The Magician all pursue themes that challenge the elitist label.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Waring also painted murals and landscapes of both America and Europe. She is distinguished from other American painters of the period not only for her talent but also for the unusual amount of formal training she underwent. In 1927, Laura Wheeler married Walter E. Waring, who was a professor at Lincoln University. The had no children.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">On February 3, 1948, Laura Wheeler Waring died after a long illness in her home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. </span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-90298167378281480602017-10-13T00:34:00.000-05:002017-10-13T00:34:24.118-05:00Ada Wilmon Overton Walker (1880-1914)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Ada Overton Walker, buck-and-wing, cakewalk virtuoso and choreographer regarded as one of the first African American choreographers on the American stage was born Ada Wilmon Overton on February 14, 1880 in Greenwich Village, New York City, the second child of Pauline Whitfield, a seamstress, and Moses Overton, a waiter. She was a child who seemed to have danced before she walked, fond of dancing in the streets with a hurdy-gurdy, until her parents decided she would receive formal dance training. Around 1897, after graduating from Thorp's Dance School, she toured briefly then an opportunity came when a girlfriend invited her to model for vaudeville advertisement at New York's Music Hall. She eventually the cast of Williams and Walker's Octoroons, in which once critic declared of her performance, "I have just observed the greatest girl dancer."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">In 1899 Overton married George Walker and they became the leading cake-walking couple of the new century; in the cakewalk, they had found a quintessential black modernist expression. In 1903, Williams and Walker production of In Dahomey was one of the first to realize the cakewalk's transformation. Ada soon changed the spelling of her name, from Ada to Aid. In that production, Ada and George's cakewalk was one that has never been matched. As the writer and photographer Carl Van Vechten noted of their performance, "The line, the grace, the assured ecstasy of these dancers, who bent over backward until their heads almost touched the floor, a feat demanding an incredible amount of strength, their enthusiastic prancing, almost in slow motion, have never been equaled in this particular revel, let alone surpassed." In 1903, Dahomey was presented as a command performance before Edward VII at Buckingham Palace, in the private quarters of the royal family. British high society followed the royal family for a gushing enthusiasm for cake-walking. When Overton Walker returned to New York, she used her reformed cakewalk choreography as entrée to elite white society. She promoted cakewalk's grace and eloquence by terming it "the modern cakewalk."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">In 1908 Overton Walker was featured in Williams and Walker's Bandanna Land, and her dancing continued to draw attention for its gracefulness. Soon after Bandanna Land opened, a new solo, "the Dancing of Salome," was added for her. One evening in 1908 while onstage in Bandanna Land, George Walker, became ill and left the show in 1980. His role was rewritten for Overton Walker, who donned his flashy male clothes and sang his numbers. By July 1911, six months after her husband died, Overton Walker had formed a new vaudeville act with one male and eight female dancers. She impersonating her late husband, and she performed the new dance craze "The Barbary Coast" in close embrace with her new male partner. From 1912 until her heath in 1914, Overton Walker continued to choreograph for two black female dance groups.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">In 1912, Overton Walker danced "Salome" in a spectacular vaudeville performance at Oscar Hammerstein's Victoria Theater in New York. She also rejoined Bert Williams for the annual Frog's Frolic, appearing onstage with Bill Robinson. In 1913, Overton Walker's dream to produce her own show was realized with a company of twelve at the Pekin Theatre in Chicago. In 1914, she switched from African-style dance to ballroom dance in her vaudeville act, with her new partner Lackaye Grant. The tango picnic, in July of that year, she and partner Grant performed their ballroom dance act to much acclaim. The tango picnic was Overton Walker's last public appearance.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Aida Wilmon Overton Walker died in New York, New York on October 11, 1914 of kidney disease.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">As the foremost African American female stage artist, Overton Walker established a black cultural identity onstage that became a model by which African American musical artists could gain professional acceptance on the American theatrical stage.</span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-8381083512899714642017-07-17T21:46:00.001-05:002017-07-17T21:46:47.370-05:00THE FIVE STAIRSTEPS ( 1966 - 1977 )<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Burke family was an attractive looking, talented Black family. Father Clarence Sr. and mother Betty had 6 children. The Five Stairsteps consisted of 6 kids...sweet Alohe, (born in 1948), charismatic Clarence Newton Jr. (born 1948), sincere James Marcellus (born 1950), vibrant Dennis (born 1952), smooth Kenneth (born 1953), and charming Cubie (born 1964). They were born and raised in Chicago by their parents Clarence and Betty Burke they attended Bennett and Harlan High School. You could say they were born into music, music was in their blood. Before they could walk they belted out melodies even if the words weren't understood. The 5 were singing together as young kids. They would line up on the couch singing to TV commercial or records on the record player; they would out-sing the TV and records...loud and clear. Their father was a detective/cop and mother watched the kids. Alohe, Clarence, James, Dennis, Kenneth, and Cubie were brought up in a household full of love, encouragement, and sternness with values, respect, and love. As they got older their voices got better. Clarence and Betty saw their kids had real talent. The Burke children were entered in all kinds of talent shows, and won most of them. If they didn't win, they won the attention of many in the music business.</div>
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Their mother named them The Five Stairsteps, because lined up together they looked like a staircase. The name "Stairsteps" fitted them well because with each step their career reached higher and higher. Chicago couldn't have been a better place to grow up. In the 1960s, Chicago was booming in the music industry right along with Detroit. Many Chicago bred singers were becoming World-Wide famous, turning out hit after hit. Talents such as Gene Chandler, Major Lance, Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions, Dee Clark, Fontella Bass, Billy Stewart, Walter Jackson, Billy Butler and The Enchanters, Jerry Butler, and many others. Soon The Five Stairsteps would add to that prestigious list of Chicago talent. .</div>
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From 1959 to 1964, they performed locally at church and school functions, talent shows, and other important places before important people. In 1965 the young teenage Stairsteps entered a singing contest at the famous Regal Theater and won first prize. They were up against some great competition but again they proved they were not immature (even if they were young and little) when it came to performing. They gave their heart, soul, sweat and tears in their performances.</div>
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Many from the music biz were in the audience begging Father Clarence for a chance to sign and record his kids but he wasn't sure if his children were right for the business or if the business was right for his children, and wasn't sure of the contracts offered. But, a neighborhood friend changed his mind about the music business. Fred Cash, a former neighbor, and of The Impressions happened to run into Father Clarence, and heard him brag of his children winning first prize contest at the Regal. Upon hearing that, Fred wanted to hear the children. He knew if they won at the Regal, they must be good and he was right. Through Fred, The Five Stairsteps got a chance to meet Curtis Mayfield, and he was very interested in them. Fred and Curtis assured Clarence Sr. that show business was what the Burke children were meant for, and would have nothing but success. With guidance, it would be safe for them. Father Clarence knowing Fred, Curtis and others and seeing how they lead regular lives outside of show business felt show business would be right for his children with his protection.</div>
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The Five Stairsteps signed to Windy-City around 1966. Their first album was a sensation. The songs of that album were so moving and heartfelt. The young generation fell in love with them and so did mature adults. They won fans instantly because their music was mature but not too mature that it would turn off the young ones but mature enough for the mature audiences. They toured the country in an Old Chevy, galvanizing audiences, old and young with their youth, zest, and gusto. They brought enjoyment and bliss to all who crowded the theaters and clubs to see them.</div>
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They also became full fledged stars in 1966. The young girls simply loved Clarence Jr., James, Dennis and Kenneth. Even the young guys couldn't deny how good The Five Stairsteps were. The guys often used the Five Stairsteps lyrics as lines to pick up girls. With four handsome young men, pretty Alohe, and their magnetic voices and songs and smooth dance steps...how could they miss!</div>
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Their first album is considered their best. It's an album that should be in everyone's collection of soul music. Anyone will become an instant fan by listening to that album. " World Of Fantasy", "Danger! She's A Stranger", "Come Back", "Behind Curtains", "Ooh Baby Baby", "Don't waste your time", "You Don't Love Me"; "Playgirl's Love", "You Waited Too Long" "The Touch of You" and "The Girl I Love" were unforgettable. They were small in size but big in heart and soul. Clarence Jr.'s voice and the Stairsteps music became the highlight of soul music in the mid 1960s. Just by hearing the first few notes or bars you knew it was The Five Stairsteps, because they created a special distinctive sound unlike any other in the soul genre.</div>
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Clarence Jr., who sung lead on their early hits, sung divinely with his smooth, crooning voice, making you feel each word with his voice. Alohe, James, Dennis, and Kenneth, made their voices heard, surrounding Clarence with their golden harmonies enriched with youthful enthusiasm. Most of the songs were written by Clarence Jr., cousin Gregory Fowler, father Clarence, and Curtis Mayfield. The songs were the epitome of Soul Music, young love, hopes and dreams. The album was a huge success and, The Five Stairsteps were what you would call an overnight success. They already were local celebrities around Chicago, but after their first release they attained World-Wide fame.</div>
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As The Five Stairsteps grew into young adults it didn't harm them as much as it did other young groups because their music always maintained that maturity which could reach any age group. As they became young adults, they didn't lose their spark, their songs though became more sensual, appealing and sexy but never blatant, "The Look of Love," "Baby, Make Me Feel So Good," "Something's Missing," "Ain't Gonna Rest(Till I Get You)," "Don't Change Your Love," "This Must Be Love," "I'm The One Who Loves You,", these songs showed their talent of making you feel that love is something you can't live without.</div>
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In 1970, the Burke boys weren't little anymore they were as big as their afros. Another change was their mother and father have joined the act and were known as Papa Burke and Momma Fine, even little baby Cubie had joined. They really became a family act then. Both the parents had aspirations of being in show business, and were able to be stars along with their children. Clarence Sr. joined with his sons and daughter full force. He would sing and before that he played the guitar and led the band behind his children. Papa Burke appeared on all the album covers with his children after the first release. Mother Betty was a former dancer; who danced and sang on stage and recorded with her children. The father and mother recorded a duet together on the "Family Portrait" album and Cubie was just as energetic onstage as his older siblings, although he never sang with them.</div>
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The Burke Family in the early 1970s took a breather from Show Business to be apart of society, to live normal lives which they never led. They wanted to be a part of life outside of Show Business. They all went to the same employment agency, sometimes working the same jobs. They didn't stay out of Show Business long. Some came back to the music business gradually. The group changed its name to, The Stairsteps.<br />
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Alohe left the group in 1972 to begin a spiritual journey, and later would attend college, graduate and work at Emory University at which she was also a guest speaker.</div>
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Around 1975, the four Burke brothers got back together and signed to Dark Horse Records and recorded the album "Second Resurrection." They were now full grown men in their 20s with manly jubilant voices but still maintain that enthusiasm, which was evident in "2nd Resurrection." The album did fairly well, peaking at number ten R&B in early 1976. The group disbanded for good in 1977.</div>
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Keni Burke remained in Show Business becoming an in demand session bass player, playing a role in many soul stars' hits. You may even hear him playing his bass guitar on many tunes of the 1970s and 1980s. His bass line and guitar playing became a very significant sound in music and has been duplicated by many. Keni also became a solo artist as well as legendary bass guitarist. By the time Keni became a solo artist, he was somewhat of a veteran in the music business. So he had a lot of years of learning and developing his solo efforts.In 1980, The Burke gentlemen came back as "The Invisible Man's Band" with a hit song called "All Night Thing," it was a dance craze for the post disco era generation. Most thought The Invisible Man's Band was a new group. Many loved the song but many didn't know the group singing had been in the business more then 15 years and that "All Night Thing" was just one of many of their hits. Many didn't know because the Burke brothers changed the group name, and had no presence of themselves on the album cover.<br />
The Invisible Man's Band was the last hurrah for the Burke brothers together. Invisible Man's Band was the right name for them because the whole Burke family became invisible after that. Clarence remained in the music business, Keni remained in the business...mostly successful behind the scenes (Keni has a son who sings and his name is Osaze Burke); the rest went their separate ways. Father Clarence was said to have worked with the New Jersey Racing Commission. Alohe was said to have been doing various things; at one time she was attending college studying Biological Engineering and said at one time to be managing a book store in the early 1990's. Alohe is an intellectual; an insightful lady with a sense of humor. She is a Star Trek fan and also a science fiction fan. James at one time put his time into another art...painting and selling his work. Dennis became a hair stylist and has his own hair salon. Cubie became a popular professional dancer; formerly was with The Dance Theater of Harlem. He also recorded in the early 1980's. The song most associated with him is "Down for Double."<br />
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NOTE: Sadly on May 14, 2014 at age 49, Cubie Burke passed away, almost a year to the day of the demise of his oldest brother, Clarence Burke Jr. who passed away on May 26, 2013 at the age of 64.</div>
<strong><span style="color: #330099; font-size: medium;"> <em><u>I do not take credit for anything I share</u></em>.</span></strong><br />
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REFERENCES:</div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://newsone.com/2500788/clarence-burke-jr-5-stairsteps-dead-dies/&source=gmail&ust=1484721204862000&usg=AFQjCNFNa-U8cAV3VkVWwklp27Ayk0HMOw" href="https://newsone.com/2500788/clarence-burke-jr-5-stairsteps-dead-dies/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">https://newsone.com/2500788/cl<wbr></wbr>arence-burke-jr-5-stairsteps-<wbr></wbr>dead-dies/</a><br />
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-five-stairsteps-mn0000760977/biography&source=gmail&ust=1484721204862000&usg=AFQjCNFPiEAGgc6cOqvEDb3iUw7BTxFtGw" href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-five-stairsteps-mn0000760977/biography" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">http://www.allmusic.com/artist<wbr></wbr>/the-five-stairsteps-mn0000760<wbr></wbr>977/biography</a><br />
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/arts/music/clarence-burke-jr-singer-in-five-stairsteps-dies-at-64.html&source=gmail&ust=1484721204862000&usg=AFQjCNEezhNzyZ2fMwDNtTdoNCKZaY0gBw" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/arts/music/clarence-burke-jr-singer-in-five-stairsteps-dies-at-64.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05<wbr></wbr>/30/arts/music/clarence-burke-<wbr></wbr>jr-singer-in-five-stairsteps-<wbr></wbr>dies-at-64.html</a><br />
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Stairsteps&source=gmail&ust=1484721204862000&usg=AFQjCNEyFTLgLeuioPhMfiEizrC5OVrmmQ" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Stairsteps" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/<wbr></wbr>Five_Stairsteps</a><br />
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.billboard.com/artist/406999/five-stairsteps/biography&source=gmail&ust=1484721204862000&usg=AFQjCNG9IRs3H1swWa2wYK6ZSy2ZmQjF2g" href="http://www.billboard.com/artist/406999/five-stairsteps/biography" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">http://www.billboard.com/artis<wbr></wbr>t/406999/five-stairsteps/biogr<wbr></wbr>aphy</a><br />
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://thefunkshow.com/joomla/index.php?option%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D207%253Acubie-burke-a-biography-%26catid%3D34%253Aintroduction%26Itemid%3D28&source=gmail&ust=1484721204862000&usg=AFQjCNE5SWlqwBvFcu455Lx9a25S7Ly3KA" href="http://thefunkshow.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=207%3Acubie-burke-a-biography-&catid=34%3Aintroduction&Itemid=28" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">http://thefunkshow.com/joomla/<wbr></wbr>index.php?option=com_content&v<wbr></wbr>iew=article&id=207%3Acubie-bur<wbr></wbr>ke-a-biography-&catid=34%3Aint<wbr></wbr>roduction&Itemid=28</a><br />
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A FEW YOU TUBE PERFORMANCES BY THIS DYNAMIC FAMILY</div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DyrotsEzgEpg&source=gmail&ust=1484721204862000&usg=AFQjCNH8CMUoPyv_Eo22YEorGs852Hig4w" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrotsEzgEpg" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=yrotsEzgEpg</a><br />
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'OOH CHILD'</div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DZSx3XXx554o&source=gmail&ust=1484721204862000&usg=AFQjCNEP2APT8xFe3f1w35nvQeE3O1CalA" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSx3XXx554o" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=ZSx3XXx554o</a><br />
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'WORLD OF FANTASY'</div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DgHwwuSt4qIo%26list%3DRDgHwwuSt4qIo%23t%3D0&source=gmail&ust=1484721204862000&usg=AFQjCNFXvqCDHGPrFXZLirRdmZx98bKcaQ" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHwwuSt4qIo&list=RDgHwwuSt4qIo#t=0" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=gHwwuSt4qIo&list=RDgHwwuSt4q<wbr></wbr>Io#t=0</a><br />
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'COME BACK'</div>
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<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DxCy49PCsiSQ&source=gmail&ust=1484721204862000&usg=AFQjCNGj9pNKDphuy6ArIKzGMjUgorUKKw" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCy49PCsiSQ" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" wotsearchprocessed="true">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=xCy49PCsiSQ</a><br />
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'YOU'VE WAITED TOO LONG'</div>
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A FEW IMAGES OF THIS SOULFUL FAMILY:</div>
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Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-75990429219094061472017-06-28T07:53:00.000-05:002017-06-28T07:53:56.303-05:00George A. Ramsey (1889-1963)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: medium;">San Diego businessman and community leader George Ramsey was born in Pasadena, California, one of eight children of George S. Ramsey, a railroad porter and barber, and Eva M. Ramsey. Most sources say that he arrived in San Diego in 1913 as the valet of a prominent amusement park developer, but Ramsey himself recalled selling newspapers on the streets of the city in 1904. And at one time a stowaway, and a hobo. Among other jobs he claimed to have tried were ranch hand, boxing manager, bootblack, and salesman.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: medium;">By 1916 Ramsey resided in downtown San Diego and had started a career managing bars, cafes, hotels, and boarding houses that catered mainly to African Americans, sometimes in partnership with other businesspersons. During the early 1920s, he was prosperous enough to indulge his passion for breeding and racing horses and betting on them at Tijuana, Mexico’s Caliente Race Track. Most successful and significant was Ramsey’s partnership with the married couple Robert and Mabel Rowe, a white male and an assumed to be light-skinned black female, which led to the construction of the forty-five-room Douglas Hotel in 1924 located in the downtown district. Six years later, the hotel’s Creole Palace nightclub opened with a spacious ballroom and stage shows that featured a risqué “black and tan” chorus line, jazz, blues, boogie-woogie band performances, and singers who thrilled the nightclub’s racially mixed clientele. Also on the premises was a café, bar, clothing store, laundry, card room, billiard hall, and barbershop.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: medium;">As its reputation spread as the premier black entertainment venue on the Pacific coast, the hotel-nightclub tandem earned the appellation “Harlem of the West,” and Ramsey, arguably the most prominent and influential African American in the city, was hailed the unofficial “Black Mayor of San Diego.” More than an attractive resting place and chic cabaret, this was the most visible business establishment that blacks in the region could point to with considerable pride. Local professionals and Visiting celebrities knew the Douglas Hotel as the "in place."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: medium;">After the failure of his three-year marriage to his first wife, Rena, in 1924, and the death of business partner Robert Rowe, Ramsey married Rowe’s widow, Mabel Rowe, in 1927. The marriage ended in divorce in 1939, but Mabel concentrated on managing the Douglas Hotel until it was sold in 1956, a casualty of competition and, ironically, racial desegregation.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: medium;">Ramsey, Tall, erect, handsome, suave, and always stylishly dressed, demonstrated philanthropy and civic leadership that benefited the black community. A 33nd degree Mason and Shriner, Ramsey was also fundraiser for Bethel Baptist Church. lobbyist. In his latter years, when not in his garden tending to his prize carnations, Ramsey wrote a regular column for the California Eagle called “Racing With Ramsey” that covered the horse racing scene at Caliente where he was a public relations representative.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: medium;">George A. Ramsey died in San Diego on January 20, 1963,</span></span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-17674482732102800202017-06-26T19:36:00.000-05:002017-06-26T19:36:09.054-05:00Sammy Davis, Jr. (1925-1990)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Samuel George Davis Jr. was born on December 8, 1925 in Harlem, New York. His parents, Sammy Davis Sr., an African American, and Elvera Sanchez, a Cuban American, were both vaudeville dancers. They separated when young Davis was three years old and his father took him on tour with a dance troupe led by Will Mastin. Davis joined the act at a young age and they became known as the Will Mastin Trio. It was with this trio that Davis began a lucrative career as a dancer, singer, comedian, actor, and a multi-instrumentalist.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">During World War II Davis joined the army, he joined an integrated entertainment Special Services unit, and found that while performing the crowd often forgot the color of the man on stage. After his discharge from the army Davis rejoined the Will Mastin Trio and soon became known in Las Vegas as the kid in the middle. On November 19, 1954, with the act in Las Vegas finally getting off the ground, he was involved in a serious car accident on a trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Davis lost his left eye and wore a glass eye for the remainder of his life. During his long hospital stay, Davis converted to Judaism.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Davis resumed his career and quickly began to achieve success on his own by 1956 when he appeared in the Broadway show Mr. Wonderful. Soon afterwards he was a headliner at the Frontier Casino in Las Vegas for many years. In his first years at the Frontier he could not reside at the hotel where he performed, gamble in its casino or go to its bars or restaurants. After he became an “A list” celebrity, Davis refused to work at venues which would practice racial segregation. His demands eventually led to the integration of Miami Beach nightclubs and Las Vegas, Nevada casinos.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">During the late 1950s Davis appeared in the feature films Anna Lucasta, Porgy and Bess, and Ocean’s Eleven. It was the filming of Ocean’s Eleven in 1960 that led to his friendship with Frank Sinatra. Davis, Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop became known as the Rat Pack. In the same year Davis married, Swedish-born actress May Britt. This interracial marriage caused controversy for the couple. At the time such marriages were illegal in 31 states. Only a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1967 eliminated these bans. Britt and Davis divorced in 1968 and </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_7910658" style="background-color: white; border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204 , 204 , 204); color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">two years later</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;"> on May 11, 1970 he married Altovise Gore, a dancer in the Broadway play Golden Boy. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Jesse Jackson. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Although perhaps the most well-known black performer in the U.S. in 1961, Davis still faced racism at the White House. When Frank Sinatra arranged for the Rat Pack to perform at an inaugural ball for newly elected John F. Kennedy, Davis was unceremoniously removed from the program. Partly because of this incident, Davis developed a friendship with Kennedy’s political rival, Richard Nixon. While Davis embraced the Republican Party he nonetheless actively supported the civil rights movement during the 1960s, appearing publicly with leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King and raising thousands of dollars in benefit concerts to support civil rights activists. In 1972 Davis once again caused controversy by giving President Richard Nixon a warm hug during the Republican National Convention in Miami. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Davis had a long successful career which included Broadway performances, a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music and Comedy Special. His recording of The Candy Man was a #1 hit in 1972 earning him a Pop Male Vocalist of the year Grammy nomination.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Samuel "Sammy" George Davis Jr. died in Beverly Hills, California on May 16, 1990. </span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-10029473631310096782017-06-17T12:53:00.002-05:002017-06-17T12:53:50.655-05:00Ernest Evans (Chubby Checker) (1941-)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Chubby Checker, the man credited with inventing “The Twist,” was born Ernest Evans on October 3, 1941, in Spring Gully, South Carolina. He was raised in the projects of South Philadelphia, where he lived with his parents, Raymond and Eartle Evans, and two brothers. By the age eight Evans had formed a street-corner harmony group, and by the time he entered South Philadelphia High School, he had taken piano lessons at Settlement Music School. After school Evans would entertain customers at his various jobs, by performing vocal impressions of popular entertainers of the day, such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Fats Domino. Evans eventually caught a small break after graduating from high school by making novelty records that were impressions of singers like Elvis Presley and Fats Domino.</span><span class="m_-8414230171510907998m_-4831228929235054264m_-3190415187184795959yiv3239417044Apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Kal Mann, who worked as a songwriter for Cameo-Parkway Records, arranged for young Chubby to do a private recording for American Bandstand host Dick Clark.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Evans' career took off when he met Barbara Clark, wife of American Bandstand host, Dick Clark. Barbara Clark is credited with giving young Evans his full stage name. When Barbara Clark met Evans, he was working on his Fats Domino impression at the Cameo-Parkway recording studio. Mrs Clark asked Evans what his name was. "Well", he replied, "my friends call me 'Chubby'". As he had just completed a Fats Domino impression, she smiled and said, "As in Checker?" That little play on words ('chubby' meaning 'fat', and 'checkers', like 'dominoes') got an instant laugh and stuck, and from then on, Evans would use the name Chubby Checker.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">With Barbara Clark's help, Evans got a job recording a Christmas greeting card for Dick Clark’s associates. This record spawned another song called “The Class," which contained impressions of famous singers. It was a hit. Unfortunately, Chubby Checker fell into obscurity and his record label was ready to drop him. When Barbara Clark persuaded Checker to redo “The Twist,” a 1959 hit by Hank Ballard. Although the song was popular with American youth, producers at American Bandstand felt that Ballard, who looked older than his actual age, was not the right face for the show. Checker was young and could do a reasonable impression of Ballard's voice. He got the job.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Chubby Checker's version of “The Twist,” released in the summer of 1960, became popular as a dance as well. It was simple and supported an open dancing format increasingly popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s where couples moved together but did not touch. Dick Clark particularly liked this style of dancing for his popular afternoon television show.</span><span class="m_-8414230171510907998m_-4831228929235054264m_-3190415187184795959yiv3239417044Apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Between 1960 and 1962 the dance and song took the United States, and then the world, by storm. Chubby Checker was invited for an entire week of American Bandstand performances. The song hit top of the Billboard top 100 in 1960 and a spin-off song, “Let’s Twist again” repeated the success the following summer.</span><span class="m_-8414230171510907998m_-4831228929235054264m_-3190415187184795959yiv3239417044Apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Chubby Checker recorded other songs during the rest of the decade but none proved as popular as "The Twist." His signature song made musical history. Checker was the only artist to have five albums in the top 12 at the same time; the only artist to ever have a song on the charts at #1 on two separate times; and the only artist to ever have nine double-sided hits. Almost all of this early work featured some version of "The Twist." The song also popularized a new style of couples dancing that continues to be influential to this day. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">On December 12, 1963, Checker by then a 22 year old millionaire, proposed marriage to Catharina Lodders, a 21-year-old Dutch model and Miss World 1962 from Haarlem, the Netherlands. They were married on April 12, 1964 at Temple Lutheran Church in Pennsauken, NJ. The couple have three grown children and still live in the Philadelphia area.</span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-55648776679563322632017-06-10T15:34:00.000-05:002017-06-10T15:34:06.687-05:00Josiah Thomas Walls (1832-1905)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Josiah Thomas Walls was born a slave in Winchester, Virginia on December 30, 1842. He was conscripted by the Confederate Army and captured in Yorktown by Union forces in 1862. Walls then enlisted in the U.S. Colored Troops Infantry Regiment in 1863 where he rose in rank to First Sergeant. Prior to his discharge from the Army in 1865, Walls married Helen Ferguson of Newnansville, Florida.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">After leaving the U.S. Army, Walls settled in Alachua County, Florida and became active in local politics. After passage of the U.S. Military Reconstruction Act of 1867, Walls joined the newly formed Republican Party in Florida. He was an elected delegate to the 1868 state constitutional conventions and shortly afterward was elected to the lower house of the State Legislature in 1868. He advanced to the State Senate representing the 13th District, which was mostly Alachua County, in 1869. First elected to the Congress in 1870, Josiah T. Walls became Florida’s first elected African American Congressman.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Walls’s six year tenure as a U.S. Congressman was filled with controversy. He was the only black representative unseated three times by opponents challenging his elections in 1870, 1872, and 1874 including J.J. Finley, a former Confederate General. Despite these disputed elections, Walls compiled a legislative record which included introducing bills favoring land grants to railroads and securing connections to ports servicing Cuba and the West Indies. Walls also submitted measures to reinforce the Civil Rights Act of 1866. After serving in Congress he returned to the Florida State legislature and resumed farming on his 175 acre plantation near Gainesville, Florida. Walls also purchased a newspaper, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: large;">The New Era</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">. Walls remained active in politics serving at various times as mayor of Gainesville, a member of the County Board of Public Instruction and County Commissioner. In 1896 he moved to Tallahassee to become the Farm Director at what is now Florida A&M University. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Josiah Thomas Walls died on May 5, 1905 in Tallahassee, Florida</span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-73637984966897030702017-06-04T15:10:00.000-05:002017-06-04T15:10:32.119-05:00Emlen Lewis Tunnell (1925-1975)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiY4c30tF2qz0nlCnZ_nH9sRJiXtJ9AAZgUe09jnNzuP5tDBQ_gvokl7RAb8Fqwq73mnhO9lcJMWb9JN90-YyWdSpGOxXKCSSUanMbewhNYuTy_qFhivtRLKLoqB6pNoiqCRCIWySC9x9T/s1600/Emlen+Lewis+Tunnell+%25281925-1975%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiY4c30tF2qz0nlCnZ_nH9sRJiXtJ9AAZgUe09jnNzuP5tDBQ_gvokl7RAb8Fqwq73mnhO9lcJMWb9JN90-YyWdSpGOxXKCSSUanMbewhNYuTy_qFhivtRLKLoqB6pNoiqCRCIWySC9x9T/s320/Emlen+Lewis+Tunnell+%25281925-1975%2529.jpg" width="254" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Emlen Lewis Tunnell was the first African American named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967. He was also the first pro football player to gain recognition as a defensive back, and set a record for career interceptions that would hold for two decades. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Tunnell was born to Elzie Tunnell and Catherine Adams Tunnell on March 29, 1925 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Tunnell’s mother was a domestic worker who principally raised him and his three siblings. Tunnell grew up in Radnor, Pennsylvania, where he attended high school and played varsity football. He subsequently played on the football team at Toledo University where, during an early season game, he landed awkwardly and fractured his neck. The doctors told Tunnell that his football playing days were over. Tunnell, however, went on to make the university’s basketball team.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">In 1943 Tunnell volunteered to serve in World War II. Though his injuries disqualified him from enlistment in the Army, Tunnell was able to serve on active duty with the United States Coast Guard. During his shore leaves he ignored medical advice and played football for the Fleet City Bluejackets of the Connecticut Football League. His playing there earned him a scholarship from the University of Iowa. At the university Tunnell became a star running back and defensive back for the Hawkeyes, but missed his senior year due to an eye injury. Again, Tunnell’s football career seemed over when he was ignored in the National Football League (NFL) draft. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">In the summer of 1948 Tunnell hitchhiked 150 miles to the training camp of the New York Giants. With his size and quickness, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Tunnell impressed the Giants’ coaches. The Giants offered him a contract, and Tunnell accepted the $5,000 one-year contract with $1000 in bonuses, becoming the first African American to play for the Giants two years after the color barrier was broken in the NFL. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Tunnell was a key player in the Giants “umbrella” defense, and was the NFL’s top kick returner. Despite multiple injuries, Tunnell played in 158 consecutive games for the Giants. Tunnell was nicknamed the Giants’ “offense on defense,” and he set records in return yards as well as interceptions. Tunnell helped the Giants win a National Championship in 1956 and an Eastern Division title in 1958. In 1959 Tunnell reunited with his former assistant coach, Vince Lombardi, who was now the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Tunnell helped the Green Bay Packers win a Western Division Title in 1960, as well as a National Football League Championship in 1961.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Upon his retirement in 1961 Tunnell held the record for interceptions at 79. Yards gained on interceptions at 1,282. Total punt returns with 258, and yards gained on punt returns with 2,209. Tunnell was selected to nine pro-bowls and, in 1951, when defensive players were allowed to be named All-NFL he was chosen for four consecutive seasons.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">After his career as a player ended in 1961, Tunnell served as assistant coach and scout for the Giants from 1962 to 1973. He then held the position of assistant director of pro personnel until the time of his death on July 22, 1975. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Emlen Lewis Tunnell died from a fatal heart attack during training camp in Pleasantville, New York on July 22, 1975. He was 50 years old.</span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-68431991906256558542017-05-30T17:20:00.000-05:002017-05-30T17:20:19.819-05:00Augusta Savage (1892-1962)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOchl9tBvE8M2-0ItxOxTaVQWjHOU7BuZaZzWZdzun6alb6CKasQzRzrys6-OkspCB6io_dEjlf7zHW0lH6N26LT-cJ-3WeDDvIixqgN_DQ-eEulkPesD3ZfwZFmB8FJdDQZW8dIL14pSO/s1600/Augusta+Savage+%25281892-1962%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOchl9tBvE8M2-0ItxOxTaVQWjHOU7BuZaZzWZdzun6alb6CKasQzRzrys6-OkspCB6io_dEjlf7zHW0lH6N26LT-cJ-3WeDDvIixqgN_DQ-eEulkPesD3ZfwZFmB8FJdDQZW8dIL14pSO/s1600/Augusta+Savage+%25281892-1962%2529.png" /></a></div>
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<span id="m_2659036125067327088m_-1082067640641252223yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1490958530032_447198" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">African
American sculptor, teacher, and advocate for black artists
Augusta Savage was born Augusta Christine Fell in Green Cove
Springs, Florida on February 29, 1892, the child of Edward
Fells, a laborer and Methodist minister, and Cornelia Murphy.
She retained the last name of her second husband, a carpenter
named James Savage; they were divorced in the early 1920s. <br />
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After moving to Harlem in New York in 1921, Savage studied art
at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
where she finished the four-year program <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_165091180" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">in three years</span></span>. She
was recommended by Harlem librarian Sadie Peterson, for a
commission of a bust of W.E.B. DuBois. The sculpture was well
received and she began sculpting busts of other African
American leaders.<br />
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Savage’s bust of a Harlem child, Gamin (1929), brought her
fame as an artist, and a scholarship to study at the Academie
de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris. In France, Savage had first
received a French scholarship in 1922 but the offer was
rescinded when white Alabama students who had received similar
grants refused to travel to France unless she was removed from
the group. Her unsuccessful appeal against that loss
initiated her lifelong fight for civil rights and the
recognition of black artists. Her challenge to the denial of
her application was reported in both the black and white
presses. <br />
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Savage exhibited in several galleries and had numerous
commissions after her return from Paris to Harlem. With a
grant from the Carnegie Foundation, she founded in 1932 the
Savage School of Arts, which was the largest program of free
art classes in New York. In 1934 Savage became the first
African American woman elected to the National Association of
Women Painters and Sculptors. She was president of the Harlem
Artists Guild during the 1930s.<br />
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Using her appointment in 1936 as an assistant supervisor in
the Federal Arts Project (a division of the Works Progress
Administration or WPA, she fought for commissions for black
artists and to have African American history included on
public murals. Savage was the first director of the Harlem
Community Art Center, the most successful community center of
the Federal Arts Project. After resigning from the WPA in
1939, she opened the Salon of Contemporary Negro Art in
Harlem, which was America’s first gallery for the exhibition
and sale of works by African American artists. The gallery
was not financially successful, however, and was forced to
close after several months. <br />
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Although she was a leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance,
low sales and a lack of financial resources dogged Savage’s
career. Many of her works were done in plaster, and she was
unable to raise the money to have them cast in more permanent
materials, so not all have survived. Most notably, the
16-foot-tall 1937 sculpture The Harp, also known as Lift Every
Voice and Sing, commissioned for the 1939 New York World’s
Fair, was destroyed when the fair was over because she didn’t
have the funds to have it removed from the fairgrounds and
cast in a more permanent material. When the Schomburg Center
had a retrospective of her work in 1988, only 19 pieces were
located.<br />
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Augusta Savage became reclusive in the early 1940s, and died
in New York city of cancer on March 26, 1962. </span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-24475385757649108762017-05-29T13:53:00.000-05:002017-05-29T13:53:04.212-05:00Fannie Jackson Coppin (1837-1913)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Zu3fS29bf02EGIdC0vKHOqazXEvoSp5Fs2beB8mDUNHTDIZzOk-TtIqZttyW-CDeyY25N8Li_W5KqdlhkgRYxq5SOM9mFHBZwK-kLENt2J5TrG5jGL7T1i87lhPfET7lq5AxkJBQ-eQ9/s1600/Fannie+Jackson+Coppin+%25281837-1913%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Zu3fS29bf02EGIdC0vKHOqazXEvoSp5Fs2beB8mDUNHTDIZzOk-TtIqZttyW-CDeyY25N8Li_W5KqdlhkgRYxq5SOM9mFHBZwK-kLENt2J5TrG5jGL7T1i87lhPfET7lq5AxkJBQ-eQ9/s320/Fannie+Jackson+Coppin+%25281837-1913%2529.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Fannie Jackson was born a slave in Washington D.C. on October 15, 1837. She gained her freedom when her aunt was able to purchase her at the age of twelve. Through her teen years Jackson worked as a servant for the author George Henry Calvert and in 1860 she enrolled at Oberlin College in Ohio. Oberlin College was the first college in the United States to accepted both black and female students.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">While attending Oberlin College Jackson enrolled and excelled in the men’s course of studies. She was elected to the highly respected Young Ladies Literary Society and was the first African American student to be appointed in the College’s preparatory department. As the Civil War came to an end she established a night school in Oberlin in order to educate freed slaves.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Upon her graduation in 1865, Jackson became a high school teacher at the Institute for Colored Youth, (ICY) a high school for African American students in Philadelphia. Within a year she was promoted to principal of the Ladies Department and taught Greek, Latin, and Mathematics at the Institute. In 1869 Jackson became principal of the entire institute, making her the first African American woman to receive the title of school principal, a position she would hold until 1906.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">In addition to providing African American youth with education, Jackson founded homes for working and poor women. She also was an influential columnist who defended the rights of women and blacks in local Philadelphia newspapers. Jackson added missionary work to her long list of accomplishments when she married Rev. Levi Jenkins Coppin, a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church on December 21, 1881. In 1902 the couple went to South Africa and founded the Bethel Institute, a missionary school which emphasized self-help programs. After a decade of missionary work, Coppin returned to Philadelphia because of declining health. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Fannie Jackson Coppin died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 21, 1913. She was 76 years of age.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #514f26; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">In 1926, a Baltimore, Maryland teacher training school was named the Fanny Jackson Coppin Normal School in her memory. It is now Coppin State University.</span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-66517555290818658312017-04-26T09:48:00.000-05:002017-04-26T09:48:03.750-05:00Alfred L. Cralle (September 4, 1866 – 1920) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZF6ZDssWIpJgqCzNY2OidKjh8BvyluigCdgrU_sxpDceydmb6p5Bni8OvfPvr8NIeLr6vIpQETjsxe5BMCYzcZbUCY06k3jgIo07rXWrkq0eiuB7_hCH2joHgsd7iWP40ud2OzRMlCZ2f/s1600/Alfred+L.+Cralle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZF6ZDssWIpJgqCzNY2OidKjh8BvyluigCdgrU_sxpDceydmb6p5Bni8OvfPvr8NIeLr6vIpQETjsxe5BMCYzcZbUCY06k3jgIo07rXWrkq0eiuB7_hCH2joHgsd7iWP40ud2OzRMlCZ2f/s320/Alfred+L.+Cralle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div id="m_7103408725032404644m_-852603845059627492yiv0285645028mceTemplatePreview" style="background-color: white; font-family: HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<span id="m_7103408725032404644m_-852603845059627492yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482888141283_30917" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">Alfred L. Cralle was an African American businessman and inventor who was best known for inventing the ice cream scoop in 1897. Cralle was born on September 4, 1866, in Kenbridge, Lunenburg County, Virginia, just after the end of the American, Civil War. He attended local schools and worked for his father in the carpentry trade as a young man. During that period, he also became interested in mechanics. </span><span id="m_7103408725032404644m_-852603845059627492yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1482888141283_30918" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">Cralle was sent to Washington D.C. where he attended Wayland Seminary, a branch of the National Theological Institute, one of a number of schools founded by the American Baptist Home Mission Society immediately after the Civil War to help educate newly freed African Americans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">After attending the school for a few years, Cralle moved to Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, where he worked as a porter at a drugstore and at a hotel. While working at the hotel, he developed the idea of the ice cream scoop. It came to him when he noticed ice cream servers having difficulty trying to get the popular confection desired by the customer into the cone they were usually holding. The ice cream tended to stick to spoons and ladles, usually requiring the server to use two hands and at least two separate implements to serve customers. Cralle responded to that problem by creating a mechanical device now known as the ice cream scoop. He applied for and received a patent on February 2, 1897. The thirty-year-old was granted U.S. Patent #576395. Cralle’s invention, originally called an Ice Cream Mold and Disher, was designed to be able to keep ice cream and other foods from sticking. It was easy to operate with one hand. Since the Mold and Disher was strong and durable, effective, and inexpensive, it could be constructed in almost any desired shape, such as cone or a mound, with no delicate parts that could break or malfunction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">Cralle was also a successful Pittsburgh business promoter as well. When local black investors created the Afro-American Financial, Accumulating, Merchandise, and Business Association in Pittsburgh, he was selected as assistant manager. He did not become famous for his inventing of his ice cream scoop. It spread widely so quickly that people soon forgot or never knew Cralle as the inventor. Thus he never profited from his invention.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helveticaneue" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helveticaneue" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif;">Married and with three children, Cralle experienced a number of personal tragedies. His wife and one of his daughters died in 1918 of a communicable disease. In 1920 he lost his only son to another disease and Alfred L. Cralle himself was killed Later that same year (1920), in an automobile accident in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. </span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-38962050303708677812017-03-21T14:30:00.000-05:002017-03-21T14:30:44.263-05:00Harold Washington (1922-1987)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Harold Washington, the first African American mayor of Chicago, Illinois, was born on April 15, 1922, to Roy Washington, a lawyer, Methodist minister and one of the first black precinct captains in Chicago. Washington’s mother Bertha Washington was a well-known singer in the city. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Washington attended segregated public schools including the newly completed DuSable High School where he set records as a track star. Despite that success, Washington dropped out of high school at the end of his junior year and worked in a meat packing plant until his father helped him obtain a job at the U.S. Treasury office in Chicago. There he met Dorothy Finch, his future wife. The couple married in 1941 when Harold Washington was 19 and Dorothy was 17. They divorced </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1368572382" style="background-color: white; border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204 , 204 , 204); font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">ten years later</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">In 1942 Washington was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent overseas as part of a segregated unit of the Air Force Engineers, then part of the U.S. Army. Washington served three years in the South Pacific and rose to the rank of First Sergeant. After leaving the Army in 1945, Washington returned to Chicago and received his B.A. from Roosevelt University in 1949. He earned a J.D. from Northwestern University’s School of Law in 1952 where he was the only African American in his class. Washington was admitted to the Illinois bar and began practicing law in Chicago. He also served in the city corporation counsel’s office as an assistant prosecutor from 1954 to 1958. Beginning in 1960 he served for four years as an arbitrator for the Illinois State Industrial Commission. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Although Harold Washington had worked for 3rd Ward boss and former Olympic athlete Ralph Metcalfe since 1951, he became a candidate for office for the first time in 1965, winning a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives where he served until his election to the State Senate in 1976. Although a protégé of Metcalfe, who was part of the political machine of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, Washington occasionally challenged the machine as in the late 1960s when he supported Renault Robinson, a black police officer who founded the Afro-American Patrolmen’s League to protest discrimination against black officers and police brutality. In a special election held in 1977 to determine the successor to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley who recently died, Washington finished third in a field of four contenders for the Democratic nomination.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">In March 1980, Washington won the Democratic Primary over incumbent First District Congressman Bennett Steward and ran unopposed in the general election. On January 3, 1981 Washington became a member of the ninety-seventy Congress as the Democrat of Illinois. He served on the Committee on Education and Labor, the Committee on Government Operation, and the Judiciary Committee. Washington supported student aid, employment training and child nutrition programs. Also, during his seat on the Judiciary Committee, he focused on the extension of the enforcement sections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Shortly after his reelection to Congress in 1982, Washington began his second campaign for mayor of Chicago. He won the hotly contested Democratic nomination in February 1983 against incumbent Mayor Jane Byrne and Richard M. Daley, the son of the late mayor. Normally the Democratic nominee for the office of mayor receives token opposition from the Republican Party but Washington’s primary victory over the Democratic political machine led to much of the organization supporting Bernard Epton, the GOP candidate in the general election. After an unusually contentious campaign that attracted national attention, Washington won the office of mayor on April 12, 1983. On </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1368572383" style="background-color: white; border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204 , 204 , 204); font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">April 30</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">, Washington resigned his seat in the House as he was sworn in as Mayor of Chicago.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">Much of Washington’s first term in office was marred by conflicts with the Chicago City Council, still controlled by the political machine, which blocked much of his reform agenda. Consequently Washington often vetoed legislation passed by the 50-person City Council. He also forged a coalition of reform-minded African American, Latino and white aldermen. Finally in 1986 when Washington’s supporters won a one-vote majority on the City Council, his legislative agenda was finally considered. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">On February 24, 1987, Harold Washington again defeated Jane Byrne to win the Democratic nomination for mayor. The Democratic machine, weakened by defections to Washington and political corruption scandals, did not challenge Washington’s reelection and he easily won the general election in November. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;">On November 25, 1987, nine months after his primary win which guaranteed a second term, Harold Washington had a heart attack in his office and died.</span>Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-90519412742197115372017-02-28T13:02:00.000-06:002017-02-28T13:02:04.436-06:00The illusion of freedom: The police state is alive and well <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(<span style="font-style: italic;">“All the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.” — Historian Milton Mayer, </span><a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html" rel="nofollow" style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45</span></a></div>
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Brace yourself.</div>
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There is something being concocted in the dens of power, far beyond the public eye, and it doesn’t bode well for the future of this country.</div>
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Anytime you have an entire nation so mesmerized by the antics of the political ruling class that they are oblivious to all else, you’d better beware. Anytime you have a government that operates in the shadows, speaks in a language of force, and rules by fiat, you’d better beware. And anytime you have a government so far removed from its people as to ensure that they are never seen, heard or heeded by those elected to represent them, you’d better beware.</div>
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The world has been <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">down this road before</a>.</div>
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We are at our most vulnerable right now.</div>
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The gravest threat facing us as a nation is not extremism — delivered by way of <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2015/02/25/homeland-security-sovereign-citizens" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">sovereign citizens</a> or <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/11/trump-radical-islam/508331/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">radicalized Muslims</a> — but despotism, exercised by a ruling class whose only allegiance is to power and money.</div>
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We’re in a national state of denial.</div>
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Yet no amount of escapism can shield us from the harsh reality that the danger in our midst is posed by an entrenched government bureaucracy that has no regard for the Constitution, Congress, the courts or the citizenry.</div>
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If the team colors have changed from blue to red, that’s just cosmetic.</div>
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The playbook remains the same. The leopard has not changed its spots.</div>
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Scrape off the surface layers and you will find that the American police state is alive and well and continuing to wreak havoc on the rights of the American people.</div>
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“We the people” are no longer living the American Dream.</div>
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We’re living the American Lie.</div>
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Indeed, Americans have been lied to so sincerely, so incessantly, and for so long <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/donald-trump-lies-liar-effect-brain-214658" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">by politicians of all stripes</a> — who lie compulsively and without any seeming remorse — that they’ve almost come to prefer the lies trotted out by those in government over less-palatable truths.</div>
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Here’s a truth few Americans want to acknowledge: nothing has changed (at least, not for the better) since Barack Obama passed the reins of the police state to Donald Trump.</div>
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The police state is still winning. We the people are still losing.</div>
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In fact, the American police state has continued to advance at the same costly, intrusive, privacy-sapping, Constitution-defying, relentless pace under President Trump as it did under President Obama.</div>
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<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-trump-1st-month-deadliest-2015-killings-article-1.2966610" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">Police haven’t stopped disregarding the rights of citizens</a>.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">SWAT teams haven’t stopped <a href="http://www.news-press.com/story/news/2017/02/01/15-members-cape-coral-swat-wrong-door-and-78-year-old-woman/97351300/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">crashing through doors</a> and terrorizing families.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">The Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security haven’t stopped <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/37125/police-militarization-trump-era/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">militarizing and federalizing local police</a>.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">Schools haven’t stopped <a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/news/20170220/swat-team-assists-in-school-active-shooter-drills" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">treating young people like hard-core prisoners</a>.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">For-profit private prisons haven’t stopped locking up Americans and <a href="https://news.vice.com/story/trump-immigration-orders-will-make-private-prisons-rich" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">immigrants alike</a> at taxpayer expense.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/media/trump-era-media-censorship.html" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">Censorship hasn’t stopped</a>.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">The courts haven’t stopped <a href="http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/02/grand_jury_clears_swat_team_member_who_shot_retire.html" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">marching in lockstep with the police state</a>.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">Government bureaucrats haven’t stopped <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/02/20/the-man-arrested-for-praising-jesus#.RBDbIr2Tb" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">turning American citizens into criminals</a>.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">The <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/08/trump-tech-and-the-future-of-government-surveillance/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">surveillance state hasn’t stopped spying</a> on Americans’ communications, transactions or movements.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/08/tsa-screening-racial-religious-profiling-aclu-study" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">TSA hasn’t stopped groping</a> or ogling travelers.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">Congress hasn’t stopped enacting draconian laws such as the USA Patriot Act and the NDAA.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t stopped being a “<a href="https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/has_the_dept_of_homeland_security_become_americas_standing_army" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">wasteful, growing, fear-mongering beast</a>.”</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">The military industrial complex hasn’t stopped <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/02/02/512490365/yemen-aftermath-trumps-first-military-raid-continues-to-raise-questions" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">profiting from endless wars</a>.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">The Deep State’s <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/17/fbi-releases-100-new-pages-on-clinton-email-probe.html" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">shadow government</a> hasn’t stopped calling the shots behind the scenes.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.4em; padding: 0px;">And the American people haven’t stopped acting like <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-public-deeply-polarized-and-already-dug-1487283677-htmlstory.html" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;">gullible sheep</a>.</li>
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Here’s the problem as I see it: “We the people” have failed to recognize these warning signs as potential red flags to use as opportunities to ask questions, demand answers, and hold our government officials accountable to respect our rights and abide by the rule of law.</div>
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Unfortunately, once a free people allows the government to make inroads into their freedoms, or uses those same freedoms as bargaining chips for security, it quickly becomes a slippery slope to outright tyranny. And it doesn’t really matter whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican at the helm, because the bureaucratic mindset on both sides of the aisle now seems to embody the same philosophy of authoritarian government.</div>
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As I make clear in my book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-America-War-American-People/dp/1590793099/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: none;"><em>Battlefield America: The War on the American People</em></a>, this is what happens when you ignore the warning signs.</div>
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This is what happens when you fail to take alarm at the first experiment on your liberties.</div>
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This is what happens when you fail to challenge injustice and government overreach until the prison doors clang shut behind you.</div>
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In the American police state that now surrounds us, there are no longer such things as innocence, due process or justice — at least, not in the way we once knew them. We are all potentially guilty, all potential criminals, all suspects waiting to be accused of a crime.</div>
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So you can try to persuade yourself that you are free, that you still live in a country that values freedom, and that it is not too late to make America great again, but to anyone who has been paying attention to America’s decline over the past 50 years, it will be just another lie.</div>
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The German people chose to ignore the truth and believe the lie.</div>
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As the wife of a prominent German historian recalled: “[O]n the whole, everyone felt well. … And there were certainly eighty percent who lived productively and positively throughout the time. … We also had good years. We had <em>wonderful</em> years.”</div>
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In other words, as long as <em>their</em> creature comforts remained undiminished, as long as <em>their</em> bank accounts remained flush, as long as <em>they</em> weren’t being discriminated against, persecuted, starved, beaten, shot, stripped, jailed and turned into slave labor, life was good.</div>
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<em>This is how tyranny rises and freedom falls.</em></div>
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Remember, freedom demands responsibility.</div>
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Freedom demands that people stop sleep-walking through life, stop cocooning themselves in political fantasies, and stop distracting themselves with escapist entertainment.</div>
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Freedom demands that we stop thinking as Democrats and Republicans and start thinking like human beings, or at the very least Americans.</div>
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Freedom demands that we not remain silent in the face of evil or wrongdoing but actively stand against injustice.</div>
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Freedom demands that we treat others as we would have them treat us.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">In other words, if you don’t want to be locked up in a prison cell or a detention camp — if you don’t want to be discriminated against because of the color of your race, religion, politics or anything else that sets you apart from the rest — if you don’t want your loved ones shot at, strip searched, tasered, beaten and treated like slaves — if you don’t want to have to be constantly on guard against government eyes watching what you do, where you go and what you say — if you don’t want to be tortured, waterboarded or forced to perform degrading acts — if you don’t want your children to grow up in a world without freedom — then don’t allow these evils to be inflicted on anyone else, no matter how tempting the reason or how fervently you believe in your cause.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.0909px;"> </span></div>
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I'm sharing this article because, I think that it makes a very valid point. The government has been slowly stripping away the rights of the American people. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this article.Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2247807583676969850.post-65360047254273973292017-02-23T21:15:00.000-06:002017-02-23T21:15:26.107-06:00Dick Gregory full length conversation with Good Twin Bad Twin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A very revealing look at the hidden acts that have been perpetrated by the members of the American government and the so called president. I'd love to hear your comments on the information that Baba Dick Gregory espouses.Larry Malonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356180596962414594noreply@blogger.com0