Thursday, August 22, 2013

August 19th is World Humanitarian Day!!!

August 19th is World Humanitarian Day!!!

"World Humanitarian Day falls on 19 August, the day in 2003 when 22 aid workers were killed in a bombing at the UN headquarters in Baghdad. It's a day to commemorate all people who have lost their lives in humanitarian service and to celebrate the spirit of people helping people that motivates this work. This year the World Humanitarian Day project is a month-long campaign of events around the world to raise much-needed funds to continue the effort to help others."

Please click the link below and learn more about World Humanitarian Day.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

August 18th is Roberto Clemente Day!!!

August 18th is Roberto Clemente Day!!! 

"Born Roberto Clemente Walker on August 18, 1934, Clemente played with the Brooklyn Dodgers' minor league team before making his major league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955. He led the National League in batting four times during the 1960s, and played in the 1971 World Series. He died in a plane crash to deliver goods to Nicaragua in 1972." Thank you Mr. Clemente for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Roberto Clemente. :-)  

http://www.biography.com/people/roberto-clemente-9250805

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbltQjJk0Bo

"I want to be remembered as a ballplayer who gave all I had to give." - Roberto Clemente

Monday, August 19, 2013

August 17th is Tula of Curacao Day!!!

August 17th is Tula of Curacao Day!!! 

"On August 17, Curacao commemorate the revolt of the slaves in 1795. This revolt was lead by an independence fighter called Tula. Tula was one of the slaves that was currently stationed in Curacao at that time. A monument was especially made to commemorate Tula. This monument is located on the south coast of Curacao between "Koredo" and "Holiday Beach Hotel".The revolt started at Plantage Knip van Caspar Lodewijk van Uytrecht at Band'abou in Curacao on the morning of August 17, 1795. Tula was able to convince 40-50 slaves to join him in his fight. He was able to freed himself and these slaves and escaped from the camp and went to Lagun, where he was able to freed 22 more slaves." Thank you Tula for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Tula of Curacao. :-)

http://www.papiamentu.net/curacao/heroes.html

August 17th is Marcus Garvey Day!!!

August 17th is Marcus Garvey Day!!! 

"Marcus Mosiah Garvey, leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, first African-American leader in American history to organize masses of people in a political movement Garvey was born in Jamaica and immigrated to Harlem in 1916 at the age of 28. In his homeland he had been an admirer of Booker T. Washington’s philosophy of self-improvement for people of African descent and had formed the Jamaica Improvement Association. When he arrived in America his ideas expanded and he became a Black Nationalist. For him, Africa was the ancestral home and spiritual base for all people of African descent. His political goal was to take Africa back from European domination and build a free and United Black Africa. He advocated the Back-to-Africa Movement and organized a shipping company called the Black Star Line which was part of his program to conduct international trade between black Africans and the rest of the world in order to “uplift the race” and eventually return to Africa." Thank you Mr. Garvey for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Marcus Garvey. 

http://www.marcusgarvey.com/pages/bio

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." - Marcus Garvey

Thursday, August 15, 2013

August 14th is Jeni LeGon Day!!!

August 14th is Jeni LeGon Day!!!


"Jeni LeGon is one of the first African American women in tap dance to develop a career as a soloist. Not a high-heeled dancer in pretty skirts, she was a low-heeled dancer performing toe-stand in pants, and her rigorous combination of flash, acrobatics, and rhythm dancing proved you didn’t have to be a man to dance like a hoofer. Born in 1916 and raised near the south side of Chicago, her musical talents were developed on the street in neighborhood bands and musical groups. At the age of thirteen, buoyed by her brother who got a job touring as a singer and exhibition ballroom dancer, she landed her first job in musical theatre, dancing as a soubrette in pants, not pretty skirts." Thank you Ms. LeGon for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Jeni LeGon. :-)

http://www.atdf.org/awards/legon.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnGd6Gns4Is

“I danced like the boys. I could do the girls’ splits, but I used the boys’ splits because you could get up faster.” - Jeni LeGon

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

August 14th is Ernest Everett Just Day!!!

August 14th is Ernest Everett Just Day!!!

"African-American cell biologist Ernest Everett Just made pioneering contributions to the cytology and embryology of marine organisms." Thank you Mr. Just for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Ernest Everett Just. :-)

http://www1.pgcps.org/ernesteverettjust/pagelayout.aspx?pageid=147790

“We feel the beauty of nature because we are part of nature and because we know that however much in our separate domains we abstract from the unity of Nature, this unity remains. Although we may deal with particulars, we return finally to the whole pattern woven out of these.” - Ernest Everett Just


August 14th is Ethel L. Payne Day!!!

August 14th is Ethel L. Payne Day!!!

"Ethel L. Payne combined a passionate concern for the rights of black people in all parts of the world with a talent for investigative reporting and writing. She became the leading African American journalist of her time, and a tireless supporter of civil rights." Thank you Ms. Payne for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Ethel L. Payne. :-)

http://blackhistorynow.com/ethel-l-payne/

“…just as I was so fierce about protecting my brother, I had a strong, strong, deeply embedded hatred of bullies…. So I said, ‘Well, I want to grow up and be a lawyer, and I want to defend the rights of the poor people.’ ” - Ethel L. Payne

August 14th is Magic Johnson Day!!!

August 14th is Magic Johnson Day!!!

"Born Earvin Johnson Jr. on August 14, 1959, in Lansing, Michigan, Magic Johnson dominated the court as one of America's best basketball players for 12 years. He retired from the LA Lakers in 1991 after revealing that he had the AIDS virus. He has since then built up a business empire, which includes real estate holdings, several Starbucks franchises, and movie theaters. He is also an author." Thank you Mr. Johnson for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Magic Johnson. :-)

http://www.biography.com/people/magic-johnson-9356150

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYZGcK6Q7Ms

"When you face a crisis, you know who your true friends are." - Magic Johnson

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

August 13th is Joycelyn Elders Day!!!

August 13th is Joycelyn Elders Day!!!

"Joycelyn Elders, the first person in the state of Arkansas to become board certified in pediatric endocrinology, was the sixteenth Surgeon General of the United States, the first African American and only the second woman to head the U.S. Public Health Service. Long an outspoken advocate of public health, Elders was appointed Surgeon General by President Clinton in 1993." Thank you Ms. Elders for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Joycelyn Elders http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_98.html

"We really need to get over this love affair with the fetus and start worrying about children." - Joycelyn E


Monday, August 12, 2013

August 11th is Alex Haley Day!!!

August 11th is Alex Haley Day!!!

"Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was born on August 11, 1921 in Ithaca, New York. He was the youngest child of Simon Alexander and Bertha Palmer Haley. At the time of his birth, his father was a graduate student at Cornell University and his mother was a music teacher.As a young boy, Alex Haley first learned of his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, by listening to the family stories of his maternal grandparents while spending his summers in Henning, Tennessee. According to family history, Kunta Kinte landed with other Gambian Africans in “Naplis” (Annapolis, Maryland) where he was sold into slavery.Alex Haley’s quest to learn more about his family history resulted in his writing the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Roots. The book has been published in 37 languages, and was made into the first week-long television mini-series, viewed by an estimated 130 million people. Roots also generated widespread interest in genealogy." Thank you Mr. Haley for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Alex Haley. :-)

http://www.kintehaley.org/testsite/alex-haley/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Z8YClpARw

"Racism is taught in our society, it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics." - Alex Haley

Saturday, August 10, 2013

August 10th is Scott Joplin Day!!!

August 10th is Scott Joplin Day!!! 

"Born in the late 1860s in Texarkana, on the border between Texas and Arkansas, Scott Joplin took up the piano as a child and eventually became a travelling musician as a teen. He immersed himself in the emerging musical form known as ragtime and became the genre’s foremost composer with tunes like "The Entertainer," "Solace" and "The Maple Leaf Rag," which is the biggest-selling ragtime song in history. Joplin also penned the operas Guest of Honor and Treemonisha. He died in New York City on April 1, 1917." Thank you Mr. Joplin for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Scott Joplin. :-)

http://www.biography.com/people/scott-joplin-9357953

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPmruHc4S9Q

"When I'm dead twenty-five years, people are going to begin to recognize me." - Scott Joplin

August 10th is Anna Julia Cooper Day!!!

August 10th is Anna Julia Cooper Day!!! 

"Born in 1858 in North Carolina to her enslaved mother, Hannah Stanley Haywood, and her white slaveholder, Anna Julia Cooper spent her lifetime of over a century redefining the limitations and opportunities for women of color in a society set up for their disempowerment and subjugation. A distinguished scholar and educator, Cooper saw the status and agency of black women as central to the equality and progress of the nation. She fought tirelessly throughout her life to re-center and uplift the voice of black women in pursuit of a more just society for everyone" Thank you Ms. Cooper for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Anna Julia Cooper. :-)

http://cooperproject.org/about-anna-julia-cooper/

"It is not the intelligent woman v. the ignorant woman; nor the white woman v. the black, the brown, and the red, it is not even the cause of woman v. man. Nay, tis woman's strongest vindication for speaking that the world needs to hear her voice." - Anna Julia Cooper

Friday, August 9, 2013

August 9th is International Day of the World's Indigenous People!!!

August 9th is International Day of the World's Indigenous People!!!

I know this is not something that most people on earth ever even think about because they have no respect or acknowledgment of Indigenous people no matter where they are in the world, but EVERYONE SHOULD!!!! The people that are still alive today with this direct ancestry link are super important to this world!!! They are the last people that still hold the values, culture, and traditions of original people of this earth whom we are all descendent from in the first place!!! Ignoring these people, their culture, their history, their rights, and their well-being is a disservice to your own ancestry and the people whom build this world! Please take time today and whenever you can to learn more about all indigenous people of the earth and always respect!!!

"The International Day of the World's Indigenous People (9 August) was first proclaimed by the General Assembly in December 1994, to be celebrated every year during the first International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995 – 2004). In 2004, the Assembly proclaimed a Second International Decade, from 2005 – 2014, with the theme of "A Decade for Action and Dignity." The focus of this year's International Day is "Indigenous peoples building alliances: Honouring treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements." The theme aims to highlight the importance of honouring arrangements between States, their citizens and indigenous peoples that were designed to recognize indigenous peoples' rights to their lands and establish a framework for living in proximity and entering into economic relationships. Agreements also outline a political vision of different sovereign peoples living together on the same land, according to the principles of friendship, cooperation and peace."

Please click the link below and learn more about International Day of the World's Indigenous People.

August 8th is Matthew Henson Day!!!

August 8th is Matthew Henson Day!!!

"Legendary African-American Arctic explorer Matthew Henson was born into poverty, ran away from home and went to sea at age 12. Yet he grew up to become a famous American hero whose long term partnership with Robert E. Peary allowed them to discover the North Pole in 1909." Thank you Mr. Henson for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Matthew Henson. :-)

http://www.matthewhenson.com/index4.htm

"I think I'm the first man to sit on top of the world." - Matthew Henson

August 7th is Abebe Bikila Day!!!

August 7th is Abebe Bikila Day!!!

"It is a thriller rare in modern Olympics. With amazing grace he changed the Olympic Marathon leaving colorful footsteps forever. First he ran barefooted then in shoes. Abebe Bikila was born in 1932 in the North Showa region of Ethiopia, in a village called Jato. He grew up in a typical village setting. He received some church education. In his youth, he was noted as a good swimmer, Gena player, a type of hockey played during Christmas, and a skillful horse rider. At the age of 17 he moved to the capital city, Addis Ababa, where he began a military carrier in the imperial bodyguard regiment. To keep the troops physically fit, the army unit had regular sport activities. This program gave him a chance to develop his natural talent for sport. Later on as a symbol of unity the armed forces established a yearly sport competition event, which was designed to reunite the three forces, The Army, The Air Force and The Navy in shared activities." Thank you Mr. Bikila for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Abebe Bikila. :-)



"I wanted the world to know that my country Ethiopia has always won with determination and heroism." - Abebe Bikila

August 7th is Ralph Bunche Day!!!

August 7th is Ralph Bunche Day!!!

"Born on August 7, 1903 or '04 in Detroit, Ralph Bunche excelled at academics to become a professor and federal officer specializing in international work. He joined the United Nations in 1947 and oversaw a heralded armistice in the Arab-Israeli conflict. He was awarded the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize and later oversaw peacekeeping efforts in the Congo, Cyprus and Bahrain. He died on December 9, 1971." Thank you Mr. Bunche for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Ralph Bunche. :-)


"There are no warlike people - just warlike leaders." - Ralph Bunche

August 4th is Louis Armstrong Day!!!

August 4th is Louis Armstrong Day!!!

"Louis Armstrong, nicknamed "Satchmo," "Pops" and, later, "Ambassador Satch," was born on August 4, 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana. An all-star virtuoso, he came to prominence in the 1920s, influencing countless musicians with both his daring trumpet style and unique vocals. Armstrong's charismatic stage presence impressed not only the jazz world but all of popular music. He recorded several songs throughout his career, including he is known for songs like "Star Dust," "La Via En Rose" and "What a Wonderful World." Armstrong died at his home in Queens, New York, on July 6, 1971." Thank you Mr. Armstrong for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Louis Armstrong. :-)



"Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no more music in them." - Louis Armstrong

August 4th is Barack Obama Day!!!

August 4th is Barack Obama Day!!!

"Born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, Barack Obama is the 44th and current president of the United States. He was a civil-rights lawyer and teacher before pursuing a political career. He was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996, serving from 1997 to 2004. He was elected to the U.S. presidency in 2008, and won re-election in 2012 against Republican challenger Mitt Romney. President Obama continues to enact policy changes in response to the issues of health care and economic crisis."

Whether you like Mr. Obama politically or personally you can't deny his influence and the importance of his presidency. To me it did mean HOPE, whether everything was able to be done or changed now it at least opened up the country a little bit to something different and in the direction of change. Thank you Mr. Obama for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Barack Obama. :-)


"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential." - Barack Obama