Mary McLeod Bethune: Bethune-Cookman University and her other Legacies

“The drums of Africa still beat in my heart. They will not let me rest while there is a single Negro boy or girl without a chance to prove his worth.” ― Mary McLeod Bethune   “I was born and reared in the South and no southerner has greater love for the land of his…

Black Woman, Where does it Hurt? EVERYWHERE

Tonight is New Year’s Eve and I just finished watching the movie, Fences starring Viola Davis and Denzel Washington with one of my girlfriends and it left me speechless.  I went through so many emotions…hate, love, joy, and many more.  It was a great and powerful movie and I really enjoyed it.  The resilience that…

July/August 2016: African American Mentions, News, and Articles of Interest

Malcolm X was invited back to London by the African Society to address a large audience in the Old Theatre at the London School of Economics. In both addresses, Malcolm X moved the political discourse from civil rights to human rights and stated clearly and unequivocally that the Black liberation struggle had to be internationalized rather than ghettoized….

June 2016: African American Mentions, News, and Highlights

In Native Son, Wright writes: “Goddammit, look! We live here and they live there. We black and they white. They got things and we ain’t. They do things and we can’t. It’s just like living in jail.” Vince Staples reminds us that the inner city still imprisons many. We should never forget that for some…

Become Political “Gladflys”: African American Votes are Political Currency

#NOAMCHOMSKY: Well, before answering that, let me just make one comment on elections: They’re important. It does matter who sits in the White House, who’s—who appoints Supreme Court justices, who makes decisions about war and peace, about environment and so on. Matters who’s in Congress, matters who’s in the state legislatures and so on. It…

Journal Article: Battered Women “Compelled to Crime”

Gender Entrapment Theory Melanie – The lesson Melanie learned was that “Black men live a life that is more difficult than Black women, and that part of their family’s commitment to the community was to understand the pressures on the Black man and to forgive him for not making it in the world.” The women in…

Learning to Forgive Myself; and in turn Others

“Give forgiveness; that is your greatness.”    As I am sitting here making my Yogi Kombucha Green tea I came across the tea bag’s paper label and written on it said, “Give forgiveness; that is your greatness.”    Which reminds me of the last two years of my mommy’s life.  I had to pull the…

Second Class Moms, Girlfriends, and Wives for Some Black Men

This is my take on women and how we are told that our black men and boys should be protected at any cost, even when it comes to their decisions on love….sometimes at our own detriment. We are always asked as black women to share our men.   Share our men with their mothers, their…

Black History 1: Art, Psychology, Law, and Sports

The African Blood Brotherhood for African Liberation and Redemption (ABB) was a Marxist communist and black nationalist organization that emerged in response to the violent race riots of the Red Summer of 1919. Founded in 1919 in Harlem by Cyril V. Briggs, a West Indian immigrant, the organization was structured as a secret fraternal society…

March 2016: African American News, Highlights, and Mentions

Follow the links to the appropriate articles, books, or businesses I mention this month.  Hope you enjoy!! – AcademicHustler1975 ‘Wathint’ Abafazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo’ meaning (you strike the women, you strike the rock) These words from the famous resistance song have come to symbolise the courage and strength expressed at the Women’s March of 1956 as South…

Race & Crime: The Ku Klux Klan’s Hostile and Deadly Reign in America

At the time of the killings, the police special agent in charge of the Klan informant was at the back of the caravan, having trailed it to the site. He did not intervene, or radio for help, or trip a siren, or pursue the killers as nine of their vehicles got away. Arrests occurred only…

Destroying Stereotypes of the African American Mother

Roy and Burton (2007) indicated that some Black single mothers in their sample desired traditional, mainstream gender roles for their ideal families, despite the reality that their male partners were not meeting mainstream standards for masculinity. These studies provide only limited and indirect instruction about mothers’ goals and expectations for their sons and daughters. In…