Enlightened Free Thinking Nubian Kings And Queens

Although little remembered today, Leidesdorff was a social, economic and political force in pre-gold rush San Francisco, with a number of “firsts” credited to his name. When he was named the U.S. Vice Consul to Mexico in 1845, he became the nation’s first African American diplomat.   He was elected to San Francisco’s first city council and its first school board in 1847.  He built the first hotel, the first shipping warehouse, he operated the first steamboat on San Francisco Bay, and he laid out the first horse race track in California. Born on the island of St. Croix in the Danish West Indies in 1810, William was the son of Danish sugar planter Alexander Leidesdorff and Anna Marie Sparks, a light-skinned woman of mixed race ancestry.  In 1841 Leidesdorff sailed his 106-ton schooner  Julia Ann  around Cape Horn to California and settled in the Mexican village of Yerba Buena on San Francisco Bay.  Over the next three years he became a succes...

Richard Claxton  " Dick "  Gregory  (born October 12, 1932) is an American comedian,  civil rights  activist, social critic, conspiracy theorist, writer and entrepreneur. Gregory is an influential American comedian who has used his performance skills to convey to both white and black audiences his political message on civil rights. His social satire helped change the way white Americans perceived black American comedians since he first performed in public.  As a poor student who excelled at running, Gregory was aided by teachers at  Sumner High School , among them Warren St. James. Gregory earned a track scholarship to   Southern Illinois University Carbondale   There he set school records as a half-miler and miler. His college career was interrupted for two years in 1954 when he was drafted into the   U.S. Army . The army was where he got his start in comedy, entering and winning several Army talent shows at the urging of hi...

(1813 – August 4, 1882) Anna Murray-Douglass was an American  abolitionist , member of the  Underground Railroad , and the first wife of American social reformer and statesman  Frederick Douglass , from 1838 to her death.  Anna Murray was born in  Denton, Maryland , to Bambar(r)a  and Mary Murray.  Unlike her seven older brothers and sisters, who were born in slavery, Anna Murray and her younger four siblings were born free,  her parents having been  manumitted  just a month before her birth.  A resourceful young woman, by the age of 17 she had established herself as a laundress and housekeeper.  Her laundry work took her to the docks, where she met Frederick Douglass,  who was then working as a  caulker . Murray's freedom made Douglass believe in the possibility of his own. When he decided to escape slavery in 1838, Murray encouraged and helped him by providing Douglass with some sailor's clothing her ...

Nova Scotia is considered the place of origin of modern ice hockey. The quantity of natural ponds ideal for skating, combined with the British gaming tradition helped facilitate the geographic and social conditions necessary for the development and creation of the game now known as Canadian Hockey. The roots of Canadian Hockey originated with the North American Indians but early African-Canadian players also helped shape the sport. By the mid-1890's, in an era when many believed blacks could not endure the cold, these African-Canadian athletes defied myths and developed a revolutionary style of hockey that was fast moving, tough, acrobatic, exciting, and entertaining. During the late 1890's games between black club teams in Nova Scotian towns and cities were arranged by formal invitation. By 1900, however, the Negro Hockey League of the Maritimes was created and was headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Negro Hockey League produced players and athletes comparable to an...

Ma'tri-arch'y   (ma'tri'ar'ki),  n.; pl.   A state or stage of social evolution in which deescent is reckoned only in the female line, all children belonging to the mother's clan.  Such a system increases the mother's social and political importance, making her the head of the family and the  guardian of religious rites  and traditions.  Hence, with many writers matriarchy means not only descent reckoned through the female line ( called uterine descent, or cognation ), but also rulership by woman.   Others, however, discriminate the rights and customs characteristic of  uterine descent , as mother-right ( adaptation of G. Mutterrrecht ), from the political or domestic supremacy of woman, known as gynecocracy, or gynocracy, " rulership by women, " or metrocracy, " rulership by mothers ." Matriarchy in the narrow sense (that is, as "mother-right") is found  among many primitive peoples ; whether it ever existed in the broade...

       Born in Eufaula, Alabama, Carrie Tuggle was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and former slave. Around the turn of the century, she moved to Birmingham, Alabama in search of a career.        She became a social worker and counseled delinquent boys, often appearing with them in court. At that time juveniles were tried in the same court as adults. Mrs. Tuggle saw the injustice of this situation and was instrumental in the formation of the Jefferson County Juvenile and Domestic Court.        In 1903, she formed the Tuggle Institute in Enon Ridge as a school and residence for homeless boys. From a modest start, the Institute became an important factor in the advancement of Blacks. Outstanding graduates from Tuggle include businessman Dr. A. G. Gaston, and musicians John J.("Fess")Whatley and Erskine Hawkins.        The Birmingham Board of Education purchased Toggle Institute in 1934 and later nam...

"Black women are particularly vulnerable to the effects of European standards of beauty, because these standards emphasize skin colors and hair types that exclude many black women, especially those of darker skin. Using a social work lens, this article explores the black woman’s internalization of European beauty standards through family, peers, the media, and society, and the related outcomes of this internalization on self-perception, academic achievement, sexual behavior,  employment, marital status, and mental health. A review of the research indicates that European standards of beauty can have damaging effects on the life trajectories of black women, especially those with dark skin, primarily in the form of internalized self-hatred. Suggestions are made for social work practitioners to address the effects of these internalized European beauty standards among black women through programming and clinical practice."