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African American Heritage Week: Matthew Henson
EnglishMajorLeagues
Trekking further into lesser known African American figures, let's explore the life of Matthew Henson, the Arctic explorer. Henson was born in 1866 in Maryland to freed sharecropper parents. When his father died when Henson was seven years old, he was uprooted and sent to Washington, D.C. to live with his uncle, who paid for some education, but soon passed away. Henson attended a black public ... ...more
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African American Heritage Week: Bass Reeves
Are you a fan of 'The Lone Ranger?' It might surprise you to learn that the inspiration for the character may not have been white at all, but an African American deputy named Bass Reeves. Reeves was born into slavery in 1838, in Arkansas. Not much is known concretely about his life and whereabouts, but we do know that the man who owned Reeves as a slave, Colonel George R. Reeves, took him ... ...more
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African American Heritage Week: Claudette Colvin
The story of Rosa Parks' famous refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott, is widely known. However, lesser known is the story of Claudette Colvin, the first to stand up against bus segregation-- by sitting down. Colvin was born in 1939, but was raised by a great aunt and uncle in a poor district of Montgomery, Alabama. She attended Booker T. ... ...more
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African American Heritage Week: Why is Poverty Part of the Story?
I've been writing about influential African American figures all week, and I received a question in an email about my work. It reads thus: "Why did so many of the people you wrote about grow up poor? Not every black person is poor!" This is actually an excellent question. Why do so many influential black figures begin life in poverty? I'd like to say that this is a historical footnote that can ... ...more
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African American Heritage Week: Soul Food
I firmly believe that food unites peoples from all backgrounds. The best example that I can think of is what many in the American South (and across the nation, or even world) have come to know as 'soul food.' But what is it? Who came up with cornbread, hushpuppies, fried okra, and jambalaya? We have the heritage of the African American community to thank. That's not to say that African ... ...more
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African American Heritage Week: All That Jazz
Some of the better known African American artists that I (and many others) could name dedicate their work to the genre of jazz music. Why is jazz important to American history? Where did it come from? As usual, we can thank the black community for this uniquely American treasure. Jazz music is based in the traditions of ragtime and blues, taking influence from the brass of marching and ... ...more
