Tag Archives: Civil War

Daddy Dearest

My father, a Native Southern Son, was born in the same month and year Negro History Week was established. Then, we were Negroes. Thirty-four years later, when I was born, we were still Negroes. When my father died at the … Continue reading →

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A Red Record Redux

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, in A Red Record (1895), about the bloody murders of Black people at the hands of white people, lists three β€œexcuses” white people gave for the wholesale murder of Black people by whites. The excuses are: …the … Continue reading →

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The Writing Life: Writing An Award-Winning Epic Poem

My epic poem, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass: Remembrance of Things Past and Present, was a co-winner of the 1998 Edwin Mellen Poetry Prize for an epic poem on the theme, β€œthe captivity, exploitation, and suffering of … Continue reading →

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Daddy Dearest

My father, a Native Southern Son, was born in the same month and year Negro History Week was established. Then, we were Negroes. Thirty-four years later, when I was born, we were still Negroes. When my father died at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Memory & Personal Essays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Happy Birthday to Black History Month!

Black History Month is nearly 100 years old!Β  Granted, it began as Black History Week, on February 7, 1926, and didn’t become Black History Month until February 10, 1976.Β  My father, a Native Southern Son, was born in the same … Continue reading →

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From The Miseducation of the Negro to Critical Race Theory

Carter G. Woodson, “the father of Black History,” wrote The Miseducation of the Negro in 1926. Woodson earned his PhD from Harvard University, and during his academic career served as the Dean of Howard University, an historically Black research university, established … Continue reading →

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The Work of Reconstruction Continues. . .

Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880, by W.E.B. DuBois, is a must read.  One Amazon reviewer wrote, β€œThis book is a great clue to the puzzle of how we got where we are today.”  Indeed, this period would inform the next … Continue reading →

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A Brief History of How “Black History” is Seen

What is called β€œBlack History” in the United States of America is American history.  In categorizing and cataloging β€œBlack History” as such, and relegating it not only to one month of the year, February, but also the shortest month of … Continue reading →

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A Brief History of the Hayes-Tilden Compromise

In order to understand the pathology of memorializing treasonous Confederates, look to the Hayes-Tilden Compromise (1876-77), which in effect ended the Reconstruction years (1865-1877), when Black people made tremendous strides, politically, economically, and socially, a mere 12 years after 246 … Continue reading →

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The β€œCancel-culture” Conundrum

If I hear one more white person say β€œCancel-culture…” β€œCancel-culture” is the latest buzz term being used by Trumpeteers, including Ivanka Trump, and as with almost everything that comes out of the Oval Office in these times, it’s a false … Continue reading →

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