Bunny Wailer, born Neville O’Riley Livingston, died on March 2nd. He was an original member of The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, and a lifelong standard-bearer of reggae music.
“The Wailers are to reggae what the Beatles are to rock ‘n roll and pop music,” according to Jamaican music-business veteran Copeland Forbes.
This collection is devoted to the work of The Wailers, and the solo work of Rita Marley, Peter Tosh, and of Bunny Wailer himself.
In the 1960s The Wailers hit their initial stride with Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One label, often called Jamaica’s Motown. They recorded for several producers, including Leslie Kong and, most notably, Lee “Scratch” Perry.
I’ve included several of those songs, and ones The Wailers went on to release on their own Wail ‘N Soul ‘M and Tuff Gong labels.
By 1974, Tosh and Wailer both would leave the group for solo careers. Bob Marley would use The Wailers name for his backup band.
Hope you enjoy this collection of music by greats artist done together and separately.
Stay stay, sane, and kind, you all. Until such time.
Columnist and former NBA All-Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will be executive producing Fight the Power: The Protests That Changed America with Deborah Morales for the A+E Networks History Channel, according to deadline.com.
The one-hour documentary will examine the effect key protests have had over time on the evolution of America to explore the question: Does the arc of the moral universe bend toward justice when pressure is applied?
This collaboration is the second between the NBA legend and the History Channel, having previously paired up on 2020’s one-hour documentary Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution.
Fight the Power is produced by Six West Media with Abdul-Jabbar and Morales exec producing via Iconomy Multi-Media & Entertainment.
“The history of protest in America is also the history of social progress,” Abdul-Jabbar said.
Vernon Jordan, a civil rights movement activist and leader, former National Urban League president and adviser to former President Bill Clinton, died yesterday evening according to CNN. He was 85. His cause of death has not yet been released.
Born on August 15, 1935, Jordan grew up in the segregated South and graduated from DePauw University in Indiana in 1957, the only Black student in his class.
He then studied law at Howard University and began his career fighting segregation, starting with a lawsuit against University of Georgia‘s integration policy in 1961 on the behalf of two Black students, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter. Jordan accompanied the two students to the UGA admissions office that year through an angry mob of White students.
He worked as a field director for the NAACP and as a director of the Southern Regional Council for the Voter Education Project before he became president of the National Urban League. In 1980, he survived an assassination attempt on his life.
“Today, the world lost an influential figure in the fight for civil rights and American politics, Vernon Jordan. An icon to the world and a lifelong friend to the NAACP, his contribution to moving our society toward justice is unparalleled,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement Tuesday. “In 2001, Jordan received the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal for a lifetime of social justice activism. His exemplary life will shine as a guiding light for all that seek truth and justice for all people.”
This is Fannie Lou Hamer. A Mississippi plantation worker turned activist in the 1960s, who, from her own personal desire to claim her constitutional right to vote, was fired from her job, threatened by white supremacists and beaten while in police custody.
Hamer never stopped – she worked with other activists in her church and volunteers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and traveled county to county to register other Black people to vote.
Hamer formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and demanded to represent her state at the 1964 Democratic Convention.
Hamer fought for voting rights, education rights, economic rights (she formed the Freedom Farm Collective to fight for redistribution of wealth from usurious sharecropping) and even ran for Senate.
She was not rich or traditionally educated or well-connected — Fannie was a person who saw injustice, got active and got involved. Among other microcosms of actionable wisdom, she is famous for the quotes, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired” and “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free” – the latter of which I proudly wear on my Fannie Lou Hamer T-shirt.
Hamer passed in 1977 after years of dealing with serious health issues, but her legacy as an outspoken and effective activist, organizer and champion for equal rights will never be forgotten.
In fact, it was announced a few days ago that rapper and activist Common is producing a biographical movie on Hamer based on her 1967 autobiography To Praise Our Bridges and the book God’s Long Summerby Charles Marsh, which chronicles of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
This is Ida B. Wells. Best known for being a late 19th/early 20th-century journalist, anti-lynching crusader and women’s rights advocate. In 2020, Wells received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for journalism, and her face honored the centennial of the U.S. Suffragist Movement in a mosaic art installation in Washington D.C.’s Union Station.
Wells is a helluva historical figure who still far too few people know about. Her whole life is fascinating, so I’ll try to keep it short and focussed on her work. If you don’t have time for it now, right below is a great quote summing up Wells’ importance in the fight for equality and justice from the New York Times review of the 1999 biography on Wells:
“Linda O. McMurry‘s important new biography, To Keep the Waters Troubled, tells the story of an extraordinary American who would have been at the very summit of our national pantheon except for two things: her sex and her race. But then again, being born into a society that promised individual freedom and personal power — just not to blacks, not to women and above all not to black women — was the source of Ida B. Wells’s remarkable story.”
Wells was one of the first African-American female journalists to run her own newspaper, was an outspoken feminist, suffragist, an international figure and speaker, and early leader in the Civil Rights Movement who helped found the NAACP with W.E.B. DuBois and others, and helped women get and consolidate their power around voting in Illinois when they won the right.
But what fascinates me the most is her near one-woman crusade against lynching, and how she used her investigative, reporting, and oratory skills not only to document lynchings in the 1890s, but also to disprove the lie that Black men were raping white women or committing crimes that justified their mob hangings.
Wells offered real proof that lynching was being used in the South as a way to control or punish Black people who competed with whites. Even after the offices of her newspaper, Free Speech and Headlight, were burned down and she had to relocate from Memphis to Chicago to escape death threats, Wells persisted with her work.
Although there was major resistance in the U.S., Wells garnered support from the British, who after reading her work and hearing her speeches (they also witnessed her being dragged unfairly in the American press), offered monetary support and formed the British Anti-Lynching Committee, which included prominent members such as the Duke of Argyll, the Archbishop of Canterbury, members of Parliament, and the editors of The Manchester Guardian, who put international pressure on the U.S. to address these horrific crimes against Black Americans.
Wells’ crusade against lynching started in 1889, when her friend Thomas Moss opened the Peoples Grocery in the “Curve,” a Black neighborhood just outside Memphis city limits. It did well and competed with a white-owned grocery store across the street.
In 1892, while Wells was out of town, a white mob invaded her friends’ store. During the altercation, three white men were shot and injured. Moss and two other black men were arrested and jailed pending trial. A white lynch mob stormed the jail and killed the three men.
After the lynching of her friends, Wells wrote an editorial and became an ersatz civil rights leader and firebrand, urging Blacks to leave Memphis altogether. More than 6,000 black people did leave Memphis; others organized boycotts of white-owned businesses. After being threatened with violence, Wells bought a pistol. She later wrote, “They had made me an exile and threatened my life for hinting at the truth.”
Wells began her investigation by looking at the charges given for her friends’ murders, which officially started her anti-lynching campaign. She spoke at various Black women’s clubs, and raised more than $500 to investigate lynchings and publish her findings. Wells found that Blacks were lynched primarily for social control reasons such as failing to pay debts, not appearing to give way to whites, competing with whites economically, or being drunk in public.
She found little basis for the frequent claim that Black men were lynched because they had sexually abused or attacked white women. This alibi seemed to have partly accounted for white America’s collective acceptance or silence on lynching, as well as its acceptance by many in the educated African-American community.
Wells published her findings in a pamphlet called Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases. She followed it with an editorial that said, unlike the myth that white women were sexually at risk of attacks by Black men, most liaisons between Black men and white women were consensual.
Her editorial enraged white men in Memphis. On May 27, 1892, while she was away in Philadelphia, a white mob destroyed the offices of the Free Speech and Headlight.
To quote again from the 1999 New York Times Review:
“Wells exposed as false the most common justification for these lynchings: that they were necessitated by sexual ”outrages” committed by Black men against white women. Perhaps only a woman could have spoken out effectively against these charges, but doing so exposed Wells to attacks against her sexual character. Her willingness to talk openly about rape and interracial sex kept her from succeeding the aging Frederick Douglass as ”leader of the Afro-American race,” the most respected Negro in the United States among whites. This role went instead to a man and a nonmilitant, Booker T. Washington.”
In continued efforts to raise awareness and opposition to lynching, Wells spoke to groups in New York City, where her audiences included many leading African-American women.
On October 5, 1892, a testimonial dinner held at Lyric Hall, organized by political activists and clubwomen, Victoria Earle Matthews and Maritcha Remond Lyons, raised significant funds for Wells’ anti-lynching campaign. The Women’s Loyal Union of New York and Brooklyn was formed to organize Black women as an interest group who could act politically.
Wells toured Europe in her campaign for justice, but the first tour in 1893 didn’t go so well. Wells went to Great Britain at the invitation of Catherine Impey, a British Quaker. An opponent of imperialism and proponent of racial equality, Impey wanted to ensure that the British public learned about the problem of lynching in the U.S.
Wells accompanied her speeches with a photograph of a white mob and grinning white children posing near a hanged Black man; her talks created a sensation, but some in the audiences remained doubtful of her accounts. Wells intended to raise money and expose the U.S. lynching violence, but received so little funds that she had difficulty covering her travel expenses.
Before her second visit to Britain in 1894, the enterprising Wells worked to get some backing. Wells called on William Penn Nixon, editor of Daily Inter-Ocean, a Republican newspaper in Chicago, the only major white paper that persistently denounced lynching.
After Wells told Nixon about her planned tour, he asked her to write for the newspaper while in England, making her the first African-American woman to be a paid correspondent for a mainstream white newspaper. This time, Wells was highly effective in speaking to European audiences, who were shocked to learn about the rate of violence against Black people in the U.S.
Wells called for the formation of groups to formally protest the lynchings and helped catalyze anti-lynching groups in Europe, which tried to press the U.S. government to guarantee the safety of Black people in the South.
When she spoke at home to Black crowds, Wells was a one-woman precursor to the 1950s Deacons of Defense or the 1960s Black Panthers or even Malcolm X: she recommended that Black people arm themselves to defend against lynching:
“The lesson this teaches and which every Afro-American should ponder well, is that a Winchester rifle should have a place of honour in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give. When the white man who is always the aggressor knows he runs as great a risk of biting the dust every time his Afro-American victim does, he will have greater respect for Afro-American life. The more the Afro-American yields and cringes and begs, the more he has to do so, the more he is insulted, outraged and lynched.”
Wells subsequently published The Red Record(1895), a 100-page pamphlet describing lynching in the U.S. since the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. It also covered Black people’s struggles in the South since the Civil War. The Red Record explored the alarmingly high rates of lynching in the United States (which was at a peak from 1880 to 1930).
Wells gave 14 pages of statistics related to lynching cases committed from 1892 to 1895; she also included pages of graphic accounts detailing specific lynchings. She notes that her data was taken from articles by white correspondents, white press bureaus, and white newspapers.
The Red Record had far-reaching influence in the debate about lynching. Her accounts grabbed the attention of Northerners who knew little about lynching or accepted the common explanation that black men deserved this fate.
(Ida B. Wells in Chicago in 1909 with her children: Charles, Herman, Ida and Alfreda Archivio GBB/Redux)
During this time, Wells also had to deal with dust-ups with white women suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony and Frances Willard. Anthony was critical of Wells for getting “distracted” by her young son who she had to bring with her on occasion to speaking engagements.
Willard went out of her way to try to discredit Wells in the press after Wells called Willard out for being silent lynching and for making racist statements where she said Black people drank too much and threatened the safety of women. Wells clapped back at Willard in The Red Record with an entire chapter dedicated to discussing “Miss Willard’s Attitude.”
In 1896, Wells founded the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs and the National Afro-American Council. In Chicago, Wells also worked to improve conditions for its rapidly growing African-American population due to the Great Migration to northern industrial cities.
Wells worked on urban reform in Chicago during the last thirty years of her life. Wells began writing her autobiography, Crusade for Justice, in 1928 but never finished it; she died of uremia (kidney failure) in Chicago on March 25, 1931, at the age of 68.
In her hometown of Holly Springs, Mississippi, the Ida B.Wells-Barnett Museum acts as a cultural center of African American history. Awards have been established in Wells’s name by the National Association of Black Journalists, the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, and the New York County Lawyers Assn., among others.
This is Hazel M. Johnson. A working-class woman and mother of seven who lived in the Chicago housing project Altgeld Gardens for most of her adult life.
Because of Johnson’s grassroots efforts to combat environmental racism, she is now known as the “Mother of Environmental Justice.” In 1979, a decade after her husband died of lung cancer, Johnson saw a TV report saying South Side of Chicago residents had the highest incidences of cancer in the city. Hazel became determined to find out why.
Hazel learned that not only did the steel mills, refineries and chemical companies nearby shoot toxins into the air and dump into the local river (which locals fished in) making Altgeld Gardens a perfect storm of contamination of air, water and land which Johnson herself would later call (and coin) “the Toxic Doughnut,” but that Altgeld Gardens was originally established as a federal housing project for World War II African American veterans.
(Hazel Johnson and the ‘Toxic Doughnut’ map. Credit: PCR0
It was built atop land that had been an industrial sludge dump for the Pullman Motor Company from 1863 until the early 20th century. Altgeld Gardens, it turned out, had the highest concentration of hazardous waste sites in the nation.
Johnson went door-to-door collecting data from neighbors and started calling city and state health departments to investigate industrial pollution in her community. In 1982 Hazel founded People for Community Recovery to fight environmental racism.
Hazel Johnson working with young community organizer Barack Obama to draw attention to environmental issues in Altgeld Gardens in 1989 (source: PowerShift.org)
PCR, made up mainly of mothers and local residents who were volunteers, pushed for city and state officials to do epidemiological studies of Altgeld Gardens (there was no legislative mandate before Hazel Johnson’s activism that addressed how industrial pollution was affecting the quality of life for low-income and minority communities).
Hazel and PCR also put pressure on the Chicago Housing Authority to remove asbestos from Altgeld Gardens.
Johnson was equally instrumental in convincing city health officials to test drinking water at Maryland Manor, a South Side neighborhood dependent on well water. After tests conducted in 1984 revealed cyanide and toxins in the water (Hazel convinced city and state officials to meet her in Altgeld Gardens and took them on a “toxic tour” so they could see the problems first-hand), officials installed new water and sewer lines.
The universe’s desire to honor Shirley Chisholm continues! Yesterday, Good Black News posted a Black History Month tribute to Chisholm, the first Black woman to be elected to U.S. Congress and a one-time candidate for U.S. President.
Today, Variety.com reported Regina King will produce and star in a new biographical feature on Chisholm, to be written and directed by John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, All is By My Side):
“Regina’s passion for bringing a complete and very human portrait of Shirley to life has been evident since literally the day we first met,” Ridley said. “I’m very thankful to both Regina and Reina trusting me to partner in telling the story of this truly remarkable individual.”
The film is being produced based on the life story rights through an exclusive agreement with the Chisholm Estate.
Ridley and King previously worked together on the ABC anthology series American Crime, for which King garnered two Emmys as Best Supporing Actress in a Limited Series.
This is Shirley Chisholm. Best known as the first Black woman elected to U.S. Congress who also ran for the Democratic nomination for President in 1972.
“Fighting Shirley” — as she was known by many in Washington D.C. and her hometown district of Brooklyn, NY — was the oldest daughter of immigrant parents from Guyana and Barbados.
Chisholm worked as a nursery school teacher, got a degree in Child Education from Columbia University and by 1960, was a consultant to the New York City Division of Day Care.
Always aware of racial and gender inequality, Chisholm soon ventured into social justice work and politics by joining local chapters of the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, the Urban League, as well as the Democratic Party club in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
In 1964, Chisholm ran for and became the 2nd African American in the New York State Legislature. After court-ordered redistricting in her neighborhood occurred to counter years of gerrymandering, in 1968 Chisholm ran for and won her congressional district seat.
While in the House of Representatives “Fighting Shirley” introduced more than 50 pieces of legislation, fought for racial and gender equality, the economically oppressed, and to end the Vietnam War.
Chisholm also fought against “old men that make up the Southern oligarchy” from Day One. She complained about her assignment to the Agricultural Committee — what did agriculture have to do with her constituents in Bedford-Stuyvesant, she argued — and won reassignment even though most Congressional freshmen never questioned their committee placements.
Chisholm was subsequently placed on the Veterans Affairs Committee and the Education and Labor Committee, where she was able to work on initiatives such as the Nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
She was also a co-founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971, and in 1977 became the first Black woman and 2nd woman ever to serve on the powerful House Rules Committee.
Chisholm’s quest for the 1972 Democratic Party presidential nomination was thwarted at every turn. Chisholm was blocked from participating in televised primary debates, and only after taking legal action, was she permitted to make just one speech.
Still, many faithful followed the “Chisholm Trail” as she entered 12 primaries and garnered 152 of the delegates’ votes (10% of the total)—despite an under-financed and under-reported campaign.
This is Harriet Tubman in her later years. She lived into her early 90s and of course is best known for leading over 400 enslaved people to freedom as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.
What is less well known is that during the Civil War she worked as a scout and spy for the Union Army, and was the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war by guiding the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 slaves.
So GBN honors this Veteran on Veteran’s Day (observed), her grit, her bravery, her purpose. A true American hero who should be on our $20 already!! #patriot#americanhero#veteransday
As this nation continues to reckon with so much of its unexamined history, it is heartening to report that according to The Washington Post, Harriet Tubman has been inducted into the Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame.
The conceptual design of a new $20 note produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing during the Obama Administration depicting Harriet Tubman.
This week, Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D) and Ben Sasse (R) in a show of bipartisanship sent a letter to current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to make the case that America’s currency should reflect the diversity of the nation.
No date for the issue of the Tubman $20 has been released as of this publication. Update to come.
Most museums with a national profile are created and built by cities, states or institutions that work with curators and major funding.
There are also, however, a select few museums of renown that are built up from a grassroots level by community members determined to inform and educate future generations about history and culture from an authentic and engaging perspective.
Sociologist Dr. Elmer Martin and his wife, Dr. Joanna Martin, were most definitely among those select few.
Drs. Joanna and Elmer Martin, co-founders of The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum (photo: wernercoach.com)
The Martins wanted to teach Black history in a way that would grab the attention of school children —so they did it with wax.
The Martins had wax heads made in the likenesses of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Mary McLeod Bethune and Nat Turner, then used department store mannequins for the bodies.
They originally presented the figures at schools and community centers in Baltimore, Maryland, but after garnering donations and grants, the figures were permanently installed at the Great Blacks in Wax Museum in 1983.
Just over two decades later, in 2004, the Great Blacks in Wax Museum was recognized by the United States Congress and was designated The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum.
She found little basis for the frequent claim that Black men were lynched because they had sexually abused or attacked white women. This alibi seemed to have partly accounted for white America’s collective acceptance or silence on lynching, as well as its acceptance by many in the educated African-American community.
by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (
