#JesseOwens
#Olympics
#america
#blackhistory
#BlackHistoryMonth
#BlackHistoryMonth2026

#JesseOwens
#Olympics
#america
#blackhistory
#BlackHistoryMonth
#BlackHistoryMonth2026

Today, for Black History Month, we remember Pauli Murray (November 20, 1910 – July 1, 1985), multiracial Black, LGBTQ Civil Rights and Gender Rights activist, labor organizer, poet, and Episcopal priest. S/he (to use the pronoun that s/he used for themself) was the first Black person to earn a Doctor of the Science of Law degree from Yale Law School, a founder of the National Organization for Women and the first Black person perceived as a woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. Throughout the 1930s, Murray actively questioned their gender and sex, repeatedly asking doctors for hormone therapy and exploratory surgery to investigate their reproductive organs, but was denied gender-affirming medical care. When young, s/he changed their birth name from Pauline to the more masculine-sounding Pauli. And after earning a doctorate, s/he preferred people to refer to them as “doctor” rather than “miss.”

In March 1940, Murray was arrested and imprisoned for refusing to sit at the back of a bus in Virginia, more than fifteen years before Rosa Parks’s famous act of Civil Disobedience. That same year, Murray became the executive secretary for National Sharecroppers Week, whose goal was to raise awareness of the poor conditions of sharecroppers and raise money for the union’s organizing efforts. Not long after this, s/he cofounded the Congress of Racial Equality along with Bayard Rustin and others. S/he also attended Howard University in the early 1940s, where s/he coined the term “Jane Crow” to refer to the double oppression faced by black women. 1943, Murray led a lunch-counter sit-in, seventeen years before the sit-in movement began in Greensboro, North Carolina. In the early 1960s, Murray collaborated with A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and Martin Luther King, but was critical of the sexism of the movement’s leadership. In 1966, they cofounded the National Organization for Women (NOW) with Betty Friedan, but later distanced themself from the organization because it did not seriously address the needs of working-class women of color.

After graduating from Howard, Murray tried to get into Harvard Law School, but was denied due to sexism. But Murray was accepted to the University of California Boalt School of Law, where s/he received Master of Law degree. Later earning another law degree from Yale. In 1951, they published the book States’ Laws on Race and Color, which Thurgood Marshall called the “bible” for Civil Rights litigators. In 1971, Ruth Bader Ginsburg named Murray as a coauthor of the ACLU brief in the landmark Supreme Court sex discrimination case Reed v. Reed, in recognition of her pioneering work on gender discrimination. Murray held faculty or administrative positions at the Ghana School of Law, Benedict College, and Brandeis University.

Murray wrote one of their greatest poems in 1943. It was a response to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s callous reaction to the Detroit Race Riot when he said that uprisings “endanger our national unity and comfort our enemies.” The poem’s title, “Mr. Roosevelt’s Regrets,” riffs on the Cole Porter song “Miss Otis Regrets.”

What’d you get, black boy
When they knocked you down in the gutter
And they kicked your teeth out
And they broke your skull with clubs
And they bashed your stomach in?
What’d you get when the police shot you in the back
And they chained you to the beds
While they wiped the blood off?
What’d you get when you cried out to the Top Man?
When you called on the man next to God, so you thought
And you asked him to speak out to save you?
What’d the Top Man say, black boy?
“Mr. Roosevelt regrets . . .”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #pualimurray #racism #sexism #feminism #lgbtq #transgender #gender #civilrights #civildisobedience #poetry #books #blackhistorymonth #BlackMastodon @bookstadon

Today in Labor History February 21, 1937: The League of Nations banned foreign nationals from volunteering in the Spanish Civil War. Nevertheless, thousands from Britain, the U.S. and other countries came to Spain and joined the Republicans in the fight against Franco and fascism. Altogether, over 59,000 international volunteers supported the anti-fascist cause, along with over 3,000 soviet “technicians.” Roughly 500,000 soldiers and civilians died in the war. The antifascist republican forces lost, leading to a 40-year fascist dictatorship.

One of the battalions of American volunteers was named the Tom Mooney Machine-Gun Company, after the anarchist IWW member Tom Mooney, who was framed for the 1916 Preparedness Day bombing in San Francisco. It was led by Oliver Law, a communist, and the first black man known to have commanded white U.S. troops. Law was from West Texas and had worked as a stevedore. Due to his skill, Law quickly rose in the ranks of the Republican army. However, he died on July 9, 1937, as he led an attack on Mosquito Crest.

You can read more about Mooney here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/05/19/tom-mooney-and-warren-billings/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #TomMooney #AbrahamLincolnBrigade #SpanishCivilWar #fascism #dictatorship #antifascism #solidarity #civilwar #antifa #civilians #franco #spain #union #republican #blackhistorymonth #IWW #anarchism #communism #tommooney #BlackMastodon

Today in Labor History February 21, 1937: The League of Nations banned foreign nationals from volunteering in the Spanish Civil War. Nevertheless, thousands from Britain, the U.S. and other countries came to Spain and joined the Republicans in the fight against Franco and fascism. Altogether, over 59,000 international volunteers supported the anti-fascist cause, along with over 3,000 soviet “technicians.” Roughly 500,000 soldiers and civilians died in the war. The antifascist republican forces lost, leading to a 40-year fascist dictatorship.

One of the battalions of American volunteers was named the Tom Mooney Machine-Gun Company, after the anarchist IWW member Tom Mooney, who was framed for the 1916 Preparedness Day bombing in San Francisco. It was led by Oliver Law, a communist, and the first black man known to have commanded white U.S. troops. Law was from West Texas and had worked as a stevedore. Due to his skill, Law quickly rose in the ranks of the Republican army. However, he died on July 9, 1937, as he led an attack on Mosquito Crest.

You can read more about Mooney here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/05/19/tom-mooney-and-warren-billings/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #TomMooney #AbrahamLincolnBrigade #SpanishCivilWar #fascism #dictatorship #antifascism #solidarity #civilwar #antifa #civilians #franco #spain #union #republican #blackhistorymonth #IWW #anarchism #communism #tommooney #BlackMastodon

Today in Labor History February 21, 1965: Malcolm X, who was assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom, New York City.

#blackhistorymonth #workingclass #LaborHistory #malcolmx #assassination #BlackMastodon

Today in honor of Black History Month, we remember Frederick Douglass, who died on this date, February 20, 1895. In an 1857 address Douglass said, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

After escaping slavery, Douglass became a national leader of the abolition movement. He also supported the women’s suffrage movement and ran for vice president as running mate to Victoria Woodhull on the Equal Rights Party ticket. In addition to being a brilliant orator, writer and social justice activist, Douglass was also the single most photographed man of the 19th century. He sat for over 160 portraits, always taking a dignified pose. He considered photography a tool for creating a positive image of black men. (Check out the graphic novel about Frederick Douglass by comic book artist extraordinaire, David Walker).

#workingclass #LaborHistory #slavery #abolition #freedom #FrederickDouglass #blackhistorymonth #photography #books #graphicnovel #author #write #BlackMastodon

TIL…

African women who were enslaved and brought to America often smuggled core culinary seeds inside the braids of their hair.

“African women braided their hair and hid rice seeds as well as other grains in cornrows. Also hidden in hair are black eyed beans, small cassava cuttings, maize and other grains depending on how thick the hair was.”

https://face2faceafrica.com/article/how-hair-was-used-to-smuggle-grains-into-the-caribbean-by-african-slaves

#BlackHistoryMonth #Africa #EnslavedPeople #Culinary #TIL #History

Today, in honor of Black History Month, we celebrate the life of Ben Fletcher (April 13, 1890 – 1949), Wobbly and revolutionary. Fletcher joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in 1912 and became secretary of the IWW District Council in 1913. He also co-founded the interracial Local 8 in 1913. Also in 1913, he led a successful strike of over 10,000 dockers. At that time, roughly one-third of the dockers on the Philadelphia waterfront were black. Another 33% were Irish. And about 33% were Polish and Lithuanian. Prior to the IWW organizing drive, the employers routinely pitted black workers against white, and Polish against Irish. The IWW was one of the only unions of the era that organized workers into the same locals, regardless of race or ethnicity. And its main leader in Philadelphia was an African American, Ben Fletcher.

By 1916, thanks in large part to Fletcher’s organizing skill, all but two of Philadelphia’s docks were controlled by the IWW. And the IWW maintained control of the Philly waterfront for about a decade. After the 1913 strike, Fletcher travelled up and down the east coast organizing dockers. However, he was nearly lynched in Norfolk, Virginia in 1917. At that time, roughly 10% of the IWW’s 1 million members were African American. Most had been rejected from other unions because of their skin color. In 1918, the state arrested him for treason, sentencing him to ten years, for the crime of organizing workers during wartime. He served three years. Fletcher supposedly said to Big Bill Haywood after the trial that the judge had been using “very ungrammatical language. . . His sentences are much too long.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #benfletcher #union #strike #philadelphia #longshore #docker #waterfront #wwi #racism #blackhistorymonth #BlackMastodon

Lone #activist #IeshiaEvans stands her ground while offering her hands for arrest by #riotPolice during a #protest against #policeBrutality outside the #BatonRouge #Police Department in #Louisiana on July 9, 2016. Evans, a 28-year-old Pennsylvania nurse and mother of one, traveled to Baton Rouge to protest against the #shooting of #AltonSterling

#BlackHistoryMonth

A Stop On The Underground Railroad Has Been Discovered Hidden Inside New York’s Historic Merchant’s House

By Cara Johnson

"The Merchant's House Museum in Manhattan was built by abolitionist Joseph Brewster in 1832 — and a secret passage behind its walls now appears to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad."

https://allthatsinteresting.com/new-york-merchants-house-underground-railroad-stop

Books about the Underground Railroad at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=underground+railroad

#blackhistorymonth #ushistory

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/109893482569845648

Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !

Feb 19:

Q: Why is so much Black music about violence and misogyny? I'm not racist, but is Black culture just more violent?

A: Racism. Rap, trap, and drill, are only the most popular genres of Black music listened to *by white people.*

Read the whole linked thread.

Lone #activist #IeshiaEvans stands her ground while offering her hands for arrest by #riotPolice during a #protest against #policeBrutality outside the #BatonRouge #Police Department in #Louisiana on July 9, 2016. Evans, a 28-year-old Pennsylvania nurse and mother of one, traveled to Baton Rouge to protest against the #shooting of #AltonSterling

#BlackHistoryMonth

Today, for Black History Month, we honor the memory of Mary Fields (c. 1832–12/5/1914), also known as Stagecoach Mary, an American mail carrier who was the first Black woman to be employed as a star route postwoman in the United States. She was born into slavery. After emancipation, she worked as a chambermaid on a steamship, and as a household servant. In 1895, at the age of sixty, she got a job as a Star Route Carrier, which used a stagecoach to deliver mail in the harsh weather and rocky terrain of Montana. She carried multiple firearms, most notably a .38 Smith & Wesson under her apron to protect herself and the mail from wolves, thieves and bandits. She never missed a day, and her reliability earned her the nickname "Stagecoach Mary." When the snow was too deep for horses, she delivered the mail on snowshoes, carrying the sacks on her shoulders.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #stagecoachmary #maryfields #slavery #blackhistorymonth #BlackMastodon

Today, for Black History Month, we honor the memory of Mary Fields (c. 1832–12/5/1914), also known as Stagecoach Mary, an American mail carrier who was the first Black woman to be employed as a star route postwoman in the United States. She was born into slavery. After emancipation, she worked as a chambermaid on a steamship, and as a household servant. In 1895, at the age of sixty, she got a job as a Star Route Carrier, which used a stagecoach to deliver mail in the harsh weather and rocky terrain of Montana. She carried multiple firearms, most notably a .38 Smith & Wesson under her apron to protect herself and the mail from wolves, thieves and bandits. She never missed a day, and her reliability earned her the nickname "Stagecoach Mary." When the snow was too deep for horses, she delivered the mail on snowshoes, carrying the sacks on her shoulders.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #stagecoachmary #maryfields #slavery #blackhistorymonth #BlackMastodon

The strength of “infinite hope”

MIT Dean of Engineering Paula Hammond keynotes the 52nd MLK Celebration, with a message of resilience and determination.

by Peter Dizikes

https://news.mit.edu/2026/the-strength-of-infinite-hope-0217

#blackhistorymonth

This week’s series of portraits of Black women I’m doing for Black History Month. I got a late start, but I’ve done a lot of work in a week!
These four are my faves from this week.
I also did Henrietta Lacks & bell hooks.

#BlackHistorymonth #BlackWomen #Feminism #Women #Art #Portrait #MastoArt #painting

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/109880423700227612

Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !

Feb 17: Black Panthers

Read the whole thread.

thank you for everything you’ve done for us, Mr. Jackson. you’re now one of the ancestors. go rest in power.

Jesse Jackson, U.S. civil rights activist, dead at 84 | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/jesse-jackson-obit-9.7093216

#BlackHistoryMonth #CRM #RIP #QDEP