Happy Black History Month (except for Republicans) - 1

February is Black History Month.

Well...  not for much of our new government.

Black History Month was started to showcase the contributions of Blacks in America through his. 

In school, for over 150 years, the contributions of Black Americans were purposefully ignored, except in token lessons. We learned about Harriet Tubman, who helped with the Underground Railroad. We heard of George Washington Carver, who discovered the peanut* - well, that is what we learned. We learned about Fedrick Douglas to the extent he had bushy grey hair. And we knew that there were slaves and the bad people of the South kept importing them as slaves long after it was illegal in the country.

Tada. That was it.

What we did not learn about was nearly everything else. People in much of the South (Texas and Florida - who knows where else) don't even learn about Harriet Tubman or slavery because it hurts white kid's feelings.

Tada

Now, the very idea of Black History Month is claimed as a product of DEI (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion) and something to be removed at the demands of our King of Retribution.

Prominent Black Americans - One

Langston Hughes

I first learned about Langston Hughes from reviewing plays. He was the subject of a few plays and piqued my interest. His writings are excellent, particularly his fiction writing.

Interestingly, I learned about him in Harlem with the Wisconsin Poetry Society.  Here is his poem "Daybreak in Alabama"

Daybreak in Alabama

By Langston Hughes

When I get to be a colored composer

I'm gonna write me some music about

Daybreak in Alabama

And I'm gonna put the purtiest songs in it

Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist

And falling out of heaven like soft dew

I'm gonna put some tall tall trees in it

And the scent of pine needles

And the smell of red clay after rain

And long red necks

And poppy colored faces

And big brown arms

And the field daisy eyes

Of black and white black white black people

And I'm gonna put white hands

And black hands and brown and yellow hands

And red clay earth hands in it

Touching everybody with kind fingers

Touching each other natural as dew

In that dawn of music when I

Get to be a colored composer

And write about daybreak

In Alabama.

And yes, I know George Washington Carver was an agricultural scientist, but we only learned about the peanuts in school.