WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says the U.S. is safer and its people resilient on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama laid a wreath at the Pentagon, one of several official observances marking the suicide hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001.
Posts published in “History”
Frederick Douglass (file photo)
The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday night approved a resolution that will move the bust of Frederick Douglass to the Capitol, making him only the third African-American to be so honored. The other two: Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sojourner Truth. There are 180 busts on display at the Capitol.
Sir Paul McCartney performs during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on July 27, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
DETROIT (AP) — A damaged 1877 Steinway grand piano used by Motown artists during the record label’s “Hitsville USA” heyday has been restored, thanks to a little help from Paul McCartney, and he’s set to play it when it’s unveiled next month.
GBN Quote Of The Day: “When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from his “I Have A Dream” speech
Far off from the public eye, the Brooklyn Navy Yard looms over the Brooklyn waterfront, quiet and unassuming as a warehouse. From its outside, you’d never guess this industrial landmass serves as a safe haven for businesspeople, photographers, media, and artists alike.
On a cool August morning, someone from the latter category stands right before the entrance. Clad in a green worksuit with blue and white splotches, Charlotta Janssen looks more like a hired house painter than a creative one. That perception changes once you enter her studio on the 8thfloor and give your head the 360 degree treatment. To your immediate left hangs pictures of a naked couple presumably after sexual intercourse, to the right, a man with a half-smile, half-scowl on his face.
The main part of the room, however, is where your eyes stay focused: A picture of young Black children at a 1920s Harlem pool lines the upper right (in tribute to Harlem Renaissance man James Van Der Zee). A side painting of Trinidadian activist Stokely Carmichael lies mere feet away. Civil rights staples Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks sit nearby with stern looks at the camera.
These three paintings make up part of Jennsen’s “Freedom Riders” exhibit. Currently on display at Philadelphia’s African-American Museum through September 30th, the collection of oil canvas mugshots of those who participated in the 20th century Freedom Bus Rides for integrated public transit is juxtaposed with ID cards, secretly handwritten notes, and any other written documents Janssen could find.
Far off from the public eye, the Brooklyn Navy Yard looms over the Brooklyn waterfront, quiet and unassuming as a warehouse. From its outside, you’d never guess this industrial landmass serves as a safe haven for businesspeople, photographers, media, and artists alike.
On a cool August morning, someone from the latter category stands right before the entrance. Clad in a green worksuit with blue and white splotches, Charlotta Janssen looks more like a hired house painter than a creative one. That perception changes once you enter her studio on the 8thfloor and give your head the 360 degree treatment. To your immediate left hangs pictures of a naked couple presumably after sexual intercourse, to the right, a man with a half-smile, half-scowl on his face.
The main part of the room, however, is where your eyes stay focused: A picture of young Black children at a 1920s Harlem pool lines the upper right (in tribute to Harlem Renaissance man James Van Der Zee). A side painting of Trinidadian activist Stokely Carmichael lies mere feet away. Civil rights staples Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks sit nearby with stern looks at the camera.
These three paintings make up part of Jennsen’s “Freedom Riders” exhibit. Currently on display at Philadelphia’s African-American Museum through September 30th, the collection of oil canvas mugshots of those who participated in the 20th century Freedom Bus Rides for integrated public transit is juxtaposed with ID cards, secretly handwritten notes, and any other written documents Janssen could find.
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — A U.S. man says he has discovered the audio tape of a forgotten interview with civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that was never published.
Stephon Tull says he recently found the nearly pristine reel-to-reel recording in his father’s attic in Tennessee. His father interviewed King in 1960 for a never-written memoir.
The tape captures King talking about the civil rights movement and relations with Africa. New York collector Keya Morgan authenticated the tape and is arranging a private sale.
Raymond Winbush of the Institute for Urban Research says there are few recordings of King speaking about the civil rights movement’s global impact.
On tape, King says of the struggle, “… historians will have to record this movement as one of the greatest epics of our heritage.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
via New Martin Luther King Jr audio found | theGrio.
Augustus Washington (1820–1875)
Unidentified woman, probably a member of the Urias McGill family, daguerreotype, sixth plate, 1855, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, LZ-USZC4-3937.
article via blog.charlesguice.com
Twelve years ago, Reflections in Black became the largest exhibition ever conceived to explore the breadth and history of work by black photographers.
It is unlikely that many people would be familiar with the name Jules Lion. A free man of color, Lion established the first daguerrean studio in New Orleans and, in doing so, became somewhat of a local celebrity. Alone, his accomplishments might have been of little interest. But the fact that he did this in the early spring of 1840, soon after the announcement of the daguerreotype process, is worthy of special attention. Moreover, there is evidence that Lion may have immigrated from France with knowledge of the process. For historian Deborah Willis, Lion’s achievements mark not only the beginning of photography in the U.S., but the pioneering involvement of blacks in the medium. As a result, Lion is included in the landmark exhibition,Reflections in Black: Smithsonian African American Photography.
Pioneering sculptor Isaac Scott Hathaway (pictured) was chosen as the first African American to design a U.S. Mint coin on this day 66 years ago. Then-President Harry S. Truman authorized a commission for the Mint to jump
start the design of a new 50-cent piece. Hathaway received the clearance to design the coin, which featured educator and author Booker T. Washington (pictured right) who was chosen as the coin’s face because Truman wanted “to commemorate the life and perpetuate the ideas and teachings of Booker T. Washington.”
“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
–Rosa Parks, seamstress, writer and civil rights activist