BLACK HISTORY

Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as "Negro History Week" and later as "Black History Month." What you might not know is that black history had barely begun to be studied-or even documented-when the tradition originated. Although blacks have been in America at least as far back as colonial times, it was not until the 20th century that they gained a respectable presence in the history books.

Blacks Absent from History Books
We owe the celebration of Black History Month, and more importantly, the study of black history, to Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Born to parents who were former slaves, he spent his childhood working in the Kentucky coal mines and enrolled in high school at age twenty. He graduated within two years and later went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. The scholar was disturbed to find in his studies that history books largely ignored the black American population-and when blacks did figure into the picture, it was generally in ways that reflected the inferior social position they were assigned at the time.

Established Journal of Negro History
Woodson, always one to act on his ambitions, decided to take on the challenge of writing black Americans into the nation's history. He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) in 1915, and a year later founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History. In 1926, he launched Negro History Week as an initiative to bring national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history.

Woodson chose the second week of February for Negro History Week because it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the black American population, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. However, February has much more than Douglass and Lincoln to show for its significance in black American history. For example:


February 23, 1868:
W. E. B. DuBois, important civil rights leader and co-founder of the NAACP, was born.


February 3, 1870:
The 15th Amendment was passed, granting blacks the right to vote.


February 25, 1870:
The first black U.S. senator, Hiram R. Revels (1822-1901), took his oath of office.


February 12, 1909:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by a group of concerned black and white citizens in New York City.


February 1, 1960:
In what would become a civil-rights movement milestone, a group of black Greensboro, N.C., college students began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.


February 21, 1965:
Malcolm X, the militant leader who promoted Black Nationalism, was shot to death by three Black Muslims.

Avert.org

There is an organization that is helping with the genocide of so many Africans that is the HIV/AIDS crisis. I found this organization while doing research for my final projects and one of my blogs. I have been interested in HIV/AIDS since I was forced to take an AIDS test a few years back that was the scariest thing in my life. It started to have me wonder how many people are living with this disease. This organization helps world wide and here is a little information about them

-There website is www.avert.org
-It is an international HIV/AIDS charity based in the UK
-Has projects in countries where there is a particularly high rate of infection such as Sub Saharan Africa
has number of projects in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, and Uganda
-2 main source of funding donations, and through a private donation
-there contact info is info@avert.org
-There are many quizzes and educational material that can be downloaded for free.

This website is so nice. You can click on any country and learn about the HIV/AIDS rate and the prevention methods that are in effect for that country.

Envrionmental Issue in Africa

I went to a site called www.panda.org and I type in Uganda and found some interested information on the environmental crisis that is going on there. It an organization called WWF that goes around to different countries and continents trying to solve the environmental issues. Here is what I found for Uganda:

-A majority of Uganda's resources are reliant on natural resources to survive
-Forest provide firewood and cleared land frees soil for agriculture
-the availability of water is also a problem
endangered species such as the mountain gorilla are suffering
Lake Victoria has suffered a serious decline in water quality because of soil run off from the land

I know that the information was small but it was intresting. They also have on the website ways that people can help with their organization.

The Bleeding of the Stone

The Bleeding of the Stone, is a tale of the choices that we have to make in life. We all have crossed a bridge where we had to make choices that compromise so kind belief, moral, or religious conviction that we have. What choice do we make so we don't find our self in a struggle with our inner self.

One time I made difficult choice was concerning abortion. I got pregnant 6 years ago, and before I was pregnant I always knew that i would never get an abortion. I swore on it. Once I found out I was pregnant it seemed like everything I believed in went out the window. The only thing that I could think of being a single mother and struggling to make it through school, struggling with paying bills, just the everyday struggle. I just knew n my heart and soul that I could not have the baby. I don't know why the abortion rule just applied to everyone else except for me.

Once I sat and thought about I knew I couldn't do it. Of course I made the choice to keep my baby. At one point in time I put aside my religious convictions and my moral convictions to make a choice. I would never know how that choice will affect me in the long run, but it is a choice that many women struggle with.

Making the right choice in life i something that everyone struggles with. Whatever choice we do make in life we will always benefit from. It will makes us stronger and better in the long run.

I feel that was what The Bleeding of the Stone was about to a point. It gives us insight of how people will make the choices that they do.

Waiting for an Angel

Waiting for an Angel, was a good book. I like the way it started off in the prison scene. As a reader I assume everyone that goes to prison has did some violent crime. My mind doesn't even react to someone going to prison for being a journalist. All they are doing is writing about what is going on in their community, village. It is amazing to me that people take the risk to do something that they feel passionate about. I decided to look into the prisons in Africa. If a fictional book could display the horrors of the jail it makes you think how is it really in there for the prisoners. I got this information from www.iht.com

Lilonge, Malwai
-A man named Lackson Sikayenera has been in jail since 11-10-1999. He is accused of killing his brother.
-In the prison there are a dozen of iron roof barracks set on yellow dirt and hemmed wire
-eats one meal a day of porridge. He spends 14 hours a day in a cell with 160 other men. The water is dirty and the toilets are foul.
-The charges that are against him have not yet reached the court and probably will never reached the courts

Equatorial Guinea, Black Beach prison
-food is scarce

Congo Prison
-have housed children as young as 8 years old

Uganda's prison
-2/3 of the prisoners have not been tried yet.
-many inmates sit in cells for a lack of bail that can be less than $10 or $20

Xala

Xala was very different. It plays on the magic of some African cultures. This book was published in French in 1973. It is about a man name El Hadji who is a wealthy Muslim business man and he believes he was cursed so he couldn't perform for his wife in bed. Then it reveals the beggar put the curse on the man and to remove the curse everyone had to spit on the man twice while he stood there naked.

This book was hard for me to get into because I don't get into curses and people getting spells on them. As Muslim we don't believe in anything else but the oneness of God. To put a Muslim man as the main charchter puts culture and religion head to head.

Something I found on Western Michigan's website was a dialogue created where it was said this man was the victim of western influences this was a result of Europe coming over to Africa and made people change the way they think and to forget about their culture. I thought that was quite intresting. Overall the book was alright.

Healthy Children-Why are children still going hungry

Hungry families around the world is upsetting. We see images on tv of children that have not had enough to eat while we sit on our couches and stuff our faces. When we think about most of this society is one pay check away from being homeless. Why now is it a privilege just to feed our families? Especially in Africa and the United States. These two countries have the resources to make a difference in families lives and they don't. There are many organizations that aid in the fighting of hunger in many under developed countries. One organization is Care and Care has reached 65 million people in 71 countries. Another organization is mongabay and on their website mongabay.com there was some facts concerning the hunger rate in many poor countries:

-hunger and mal nutrition kill nearly 6 million children a year and more people are mal nourish in sub Saharan Africa this decade than in 1990.
-many children die form treatable infections diseases like diarrhea, pneumonia,malaria, and measles.
-hunger and mal nutrition root causes of poverty
-In 2004, estimated 852 million people worldwide were under nourished
-Around 75 percent of the world's hungry and poor people live in a rural areas in poor countries.

As we look around in America and how the welfare lines are getting longer and the benefits are not there for the families. The only people that are in the middle of this are the children. The can't go out and work to get food they only depend on their families. It is a sad site to see. Many images that we have seen in Africa are of the children with the big stomachs.