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Tag Archives: World War II
Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday: A Reflection
On July 4, 2026, America marks its 250th birthday, reflecting on its Declaration of Independence and the historical complexities surrounding its authors, notably Thomas Jefferson’s legacy as a slave owner. The piece underscores the contributions of Black Americans throughout history and critiques the current leadership dynamic, advocating for new, younger voices in governance. Continue reading
Posted in Education & Teaching, Politics & Public Affairs
Tagged america, America's Birthday, American Revolution, Black History Month, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Decisive Decade, Declaration of Independence, Fred Hampton, George Washington, history, Independence Day, John F. Kennedy, Korean War, Leadership, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., patriotism, politics, Samuel Yette, Segregation, Slavery, The Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson, Vietnam War, World War I, World War II
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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, raising black boys
Tagged 1960s, Black Arts Era, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Civil War, Confederacy, Decisive Decade, Emmett Till, Family, fathers, Fourth of July, history, Jim Crow, Michael Easley, politics, raising black boys, Relationships, Richard Wright, Segregated South, Slavery, Southland, The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch, Virginia, War of Northern Aggression, World War II
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Sausage, Cabbage, and Black Bread
During my seven-hour flight to Frankfort, Germany, I watched “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” Based on the book, Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII by Damien Lewis, the movie is a fictionalized … Continue reading
Posted in Politics & Public Affairs
Tagged Black Nazi, Churchill's Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII, Damien Lewis, Great Wars, Hitler, Lufthansa, Manifest Destiny, Marjorie Stewart, Movies, Operation Postmaster, Richard Heron, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, V-Day, White Man's Burden, white nationalism, Winston Churchill, World War II
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Rereading Richard Wright’s Black Boy
When I first read Richard Wright’s Black Boy more than 40 years ago when I was a teenager, little that I knew about literature, I thought the writing was superb. I was doing a little writing then and thought Wright … Continue reading
Posted in Literature & Cultural Criticism
Tagged being a teenager, Black Boy, Black Patriotism, Confederacy, Confederate flag, Family, fathers, Growing Up, Nashville TN, New South, North Carolina, raising black boys, Relationships, Richard Wright, Segregation, Slavery, Strange Fruit, Virginia, World War II
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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 1960s, Black Arts Era, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Civil War, Confederacy, Decisive Decade, Emmett Till, Family, fathers, Fourth of July, Jim Crow, Michael Easley, raising black boys, Relationships, Richard Wright, Segregated South, Slavery, Southland, The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch, Virginia, War of Northern Aggression, World War II
3 Comments
Happy Birthday to Black History Month!
Black History Month is nearly 100 years old! Granted, it began as Black History Week, on February 7, 1926, and didn’t become Black History Month until February 10, 1976. My father, a Native Southern Son, was born in the same … Continue reading
Posted in Education & Teaching, Politics & Public Affairs, Race, History & American Society
Tagged Black History Month, Black Patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Civil War, fathers, Frederick Douglass, Gerald Ford, Growing Up, Lost Cause, Martin Luther King Jr., Negro History Week, patriotism, raising black boys, segregated U.S. Army, The Miseducation of the Negro, W. E. B. Du Bois, What is the Fourth of July to the Negro?, World War II
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Virginia on My Mind
There is something that keeps drawing me back to Virginia. Although my father was born in North Carolina, he grew up in Virginia and returned there in 1946 after he was discharged from the segregated U.S. Army. He was drafted … Continue reading
Remembering My Father as I Remember Maceo Snipes, Black Veteran, Shot to Death After Voting in Georgia Primary — July 18, 1946
As a teenager my father, a Native Southern Son (NC and VA), was drafted to serve in the segregated U.S. Army during World War II. Shortly after he was honorably discharged from the Army in 1946, he moved to Brooklyn, … Continue reading
The Pledge of Allegiance, Little White Lies, and All that Jazz!
It has been more than 50 years since I was in elementary school in the New York City public school system, yet I remember, word for word, the “Pledge of Allegiance.” At this time, I thought nothing of it, but … Continue reading
Posted in Justice Chronicles, Politics & Public Affairs, Race, History & American Society, Streets of Rage
Tagged 13th Amendment, Atomic Bomb, Black Codes, Black Power, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Camelot, Confederate States of America, Critical Race Theory, Culture Wars, Great Society, Growing Up, Hiroshima, internment of Japanese Americans, James Brown, John F. Kennedy, Little White Lies, Lyndon B. Johnson, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Nagasaki, patriotism, Pledge of Allegiance, raising black boys, Richard Nixon, Robert F. Kennedy, Segregation, Slave Codes, Slavery, urban decay, war on crime, World War II
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Dear Daddy: A Love Letter to Your Beloved South
July 15, 2020 Dear Daddy, Last night I dreamt of you for the first time since your death. I woke up with tears in my eyes. Although you have been dead for a little more than 38 years, in the … Continue reading
Posted in Education & Teaching
Tagged being a teenager, Benin & Togo, Cameroon, Civil War, Confederate memorials, Confederate Monuments, Confederate statues, Congo, discrimination, Ellis Island, Emmett Till, Family, fathers, Four White Men Kidnap and Rape Black Girl in Tylertown MS, Ghana, Growing Up, NC, Nigeria, racial reckoning, Segregation, slave ships, Southern Bantu peoples, the South, Township of Bath, Virginia, white supremacy, World War I, World War II, Yeatesville
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William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters 