#Black History

[readyforevolution]

(1868) LETTER FROM FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO HARRIET TUBMAN

Rochester, August 29, 1868

Dear Harriet: I am glad to know that the story of your eventful life has been written by a kind lady, and that the same is soon to be published. You ask for what you do not need when you call upon me for a word of commendation. I need such words from you far more than you can need them from me, especially where your superior labors and devotion to the cause of the lately enslaved of our land are known as I know them.

The difference between us is very marked. Most that I have done and suffered in the service of our cause has been in public, and I have received much encouragement at every step of the way. You, on the other hand, have labored in a private way. I have wrought in the day – you in the night. I have had the applause of the crowd and the satisfaction that comes of being approved by the multitude, while the most that you have done has been witnessed by a few trembling, scarred, and foot-sore bondmen and women, whom you have led out of the house of bondage, and whose heartfelt, “God bless you,” has been your only reward.

The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism. Excepting John Brown – of sacred memory – I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than you have. Much that you have done would seem improbable to those who do not know you as I know you. It is to me a great pleasure and a great privilege to bear testimony for your character and your works, and to say to those to whom you may come, that I regard you in every way truthful and trustworthy.

Your friend,

Frederick Douglass

#blacktumblr #black history #black liberation #african history #frederick douglass #harriet tubman

[road-whose-artist-better]

#tattoo flash #black history #avatar the way of water #darling in the franxx #sapphic nsft #studyinspo #sissy fendom #nietzsche #tw edd #lokius

[old-look]

#Greek Mythology #emo music #tattoo flash #jennette mccurdy #black history #avatar the way of water #darling in the franxx #sapphic nsft #studyinspo #nietzsche #lokius #house

[odinsblog]

It wasn't a place that we felt like we belonged.

All of this beauty and energy and environment just stuck to me.

I saw thousands of Black cowboys and they were doing the Cupid Shuffle in the desert and they were cooking turkey legs. And there were Black folks dressed like traditional cowboys. There were also Black folks riding their horses in Jordans and women riding with their braids blowing behind them and their hands with long acrylic nails clutching the reins.

There are Black cowboys pretty much everywhere. I mean, there are Black cowboys here in Portland, Oregon, where I live, which I think is the last place that I would have expected to find them.

I went all the way to Oklahoma to realize that there were cowboys up the road from me who have been there for four generations ... You'd be hard pressed to find a part of America where there wasn't at least some some portion of this culture.

Up until a few years ago, I really thought that term cowboy was a joke when applied to a Black person.

But ultimately, cowboy became a shorthand for our noblest ideals.

A lot of these things our popular culture is hesitant to attribute to a Black person. So I think to have a cowboy rushing in, saving the day with a Black face just didn't jibe with the stories that Hollywood was trying to tell. I think it's erasure. I think it's at best, laziness, at worst, very intentional and malicious. But I'm excited to see that transforming before my eyes.

—Ivan McClellan

#cowboys #black cowboys #black culture #black history #ivan mcclellan #photography #photojournalism #american history

[mimi-0007]

Jack Trice: Jack Trice Stadium

African American players were often forced to endure unusually rough play. One of the best known examples of this, Jack Trice, was the first African American to play football at Iowa State University (then Iowa State College). Trice joined the team in 1923. Iowa State’s first three opponents that year refused to play the game if Trice was on the field and so he sat out these games. Trice’s first game was against the University of Minnesota and he died as a result of injuries sustained in that game. The stadium at Iowa State was named in Trice’s honor in 1997, 74 years after his death.

Trice was born in Hiram, Ohio in 1902, the son of a former slave and Buffalo Soldier, Green Trice. As a child, Trice was active in sports and demonstrated outstanding athletic skills. In 1918, Trice’s mother sent him to Cleveland, Ohio to live with an uncle. Trice attended East Technical High School where he played football. In 1922, Trice followed five of his teammates, as well as his former high school coach, Sam Willaman, to Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa.

While attending Iowa State, Trice participated in track and football (primarily as a tackle). He majored in animal husbandry, with the desire to go to the South after graduation, and use his knowledge to help African-American farmers. His dream job was to eventually teach Southern black farmers about modern farming. In the summer after his freshman year at the age of 20, Trice married Cora Mae Starland, who was only 15. They both found jobs in order to support themselves through school. Trice also was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and initiated through the Alpha Nu chapter (Drake & Iowa State University).

On October 5, 1923, the night before his second college football game, Trice wrote the following in a letter on stationery at a racially segregated hotel in Minneapolis/St. Paul (the letter was later found in Trice's suit just before his funeral): Trice died due to injuries suffered during a college football game against the University of Minnesota on October 6, 1923.

(Letter)

"My thoughts just before the first real college game of my life: The honor of my race, family & self is at stake. Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will. My whole body and soul are to be thrown recklessly about the field tomorrow. Every time the ball is snapped, I will be trying to do more than my part. On all defensive plays I must break through the opponents' line and stop the play in their territory. Beware of mass interference. Fight low, with your eyes open and toward the play. Watch out for crossbucks and reverse end runs. Be on your toes every minute if you expect to make good. Jack "

Jack Trice in Iowa State uniform in 1923 ~Courtesy of Special Collections at Iowa State University

#black tumblr #black literature #black history #black excellence #black community #civil rights #black history is american history #blackexcellence365

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

#talkin #tik tok #lonnie johnson #black history #black people

[saydesole]

Happy Black History 🤎

#black girl aesthetic #black girl blogger #black girls of tumblr #pinterest #black girl joy #black girl magic #soft life #black boy aesthetic #cottage core black #black business man #black girl moodboard #black history #black actors #black actresses #black activism #freedom

[luckydiorxoxo]

Quinta Brunson just became the second Black actress in Emmys history to win Lead in the Comedy category, 42 years after Isabel Sanford won for The Jefferson.

#quinta brunson #abbott elementary #lead actress in a comedy #emmys 2024 #black history #black actresses #isabel sanford

[longliveblackness]

Congo is silently going through a silent genocide. Millions of people are being killed so that the western world can benefit from its natural resources.

More than 60% of the world's cobalt reserves are found in Congo, used in the production of smartphones.

Western countries are providing financial military aid to invade regions filled with reserves and in the process millions are getting killed and millions homeless.

Multinational mining companies are enslaving people especially children to mine.

•••

La República Democrática del Congo vive un genocidio silencioso. Millones de personas están siendo asesinadas para que la parte occidental del mundo pueda beneficiarse de sus recursos naturales.

Más del 60% de las reservas mundiales de cobalto se encuentran en el Congo, y se utiliza en la producción de teléfonos inteligentes.

Los países occidentales están proporcionando asistencia financiera militar para invadir regiones llenas de reservas y en el proceso millones de personas mueren y millones se quedan sin hogar.

Las empresas mineras multinacionales están esclavizando a la gente, especialmente a los niños, para trabajar en las minas.

Street Art and Photo by Artist Eduardo Relero

(https://eduardorelero.com)

#blacklivesmatter #blacklivesalwaysmatter #english #spanish #blackhistory #history #share #blackhistorymonth #blackpeoplematter #black history matters #black history 2023 #black history is everybody's history #historyfacts #black history is world history #black history is american history #african history #black history #black history month #modern slavery #knowyourhistory #congo genocide #dr congo #blackbloggers #like #blackhistoryyear #follow #cobalt #blackownedandoperated #culture #art

[blackexcellence]

Happy Juneteenth Tumblr✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼

#juneteenth celebration #juneteenth #black excellence #black culture #black tumblr #black history #black lives matter #black excellence 365

[mrsoulstice]

Did you know-Lonnie Johnson, the man who invented the “Super Soaker” was awarded $72.8M in a Hasbro Settlement for unpaid royalties. The super soaker was the world’s best selling toy.✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

#black history month #black history #super soaker #black excellence #Lonnie Johnson #black men

[readyforevolution]

#james baldwin #blacktumblr #black history #black liberation #african history

[blackcentric]

#blackgirlmagic #black history #black excellence #black lives matter #black queen #Blackstrength #afrocentric #black power #segregation #civil rights #black education #ruby bridges

[creatingblackcharacters]

“That One Hairstyle? RETIRE IT!” Black Hair is an Art (pt.1)

(This is part one of two lessons, with this one focusing on how our hair itself! The next lesson will encompass how to incorporate its existence into your writing. It'd be a massively long post otherwise.)

So! Black hair. Black hair is a CENTRAL, ESSENTIAL part of our culture and identity. Writing and drawing it means understanding the vulnerability and trust that comes with access to it, and yes, it is racist to suggest that ‘it’s just hair’ when our hair serves such an important role in our history and art. I already wrote a mini-lesson and ask on the topic, but being aware of what our hair looks like, and what means to us, will help you to understand why we care that you put in the effort to get it right.

Hair Textures

We are not a genetic monolith! However, for the sake of this series, we are focusing on 3C-4C, because 1) it's most likely to be seen in life and 2) least likely to be seen in popular art! When you are creating your characters, consider the style and care for THESE textures. I will get more into this next lesson.

Let's get into SOME of the hairstyles!

Afros (36 Afro Hairstyles)

“So, what’s the phenomenon behind the Afro? Well, it’s our hair in its most natural form, but that’s only part of the phenomenon. It’s a way to fight the status quo without saying a word.”

-Ebony Magazine, The History of the Afro

When nonBlack society hears ‘afro’, they think completely picked out, Black power imagery, political statement. And it was, and is! But in actuality, afros are just the natural hair growing out of a Black person's head. The same way your hair grows out of your head. Our texture. Even my hair is not allowed to be ‘hair’, it has to ‘assign’ my Blackness; my distance from whiteness. Imagine, the hair growing out of your head being automatically associated with how you should be perceived. Just by existing, it is making a statement in a Eurocentric society.

Braids (31 Braid Styles)

There are SO MANY TYPES of braids and ways to wear them. If you can imagine a design, I bet there's a Black braider that can do it!

CORNROWS ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY BRAIDS! Internalize this! They may be used in the same style, but they are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE TERMS!

Braids are considered a protective style; that is, a hairstyle designed to let our hair 'rest' and grow without having to manipulate it. If you have a Black character that's constantly on the go and/or doesn't have time to focus on their hair, and you want an accurate, more true-to-life experience for them, braids can be a crucial part of character design.

Locs

(Yes, while that link has plenty of examples, it was also self-indulgent. Locs are gorgeous, Black men with locs are gorgeous!)

"Locs vs Dreads": As someone in the loc community, there’s been a push to refer to the style as ‘locs’, rather than ‘dreadlocks’. Some people with the style will not care, but others take it very seriously, so it’s something to keep in mind. There’s a societal stigma behind having locs, that they’re ‘dirty’ or ‘unkempt’ or ‘lazy’ and that is NOT true. Locs are beautiful, and they take far more effort than people seem to want to believe lmao.

Locs, though there is currently a positive revival, are still highly discriminated against. Kids have been expelled from school and even have had their hair forcibly cut off to be allowed to participate in sports. Many places won't hire you if they think your hair is 'unprofessional' or 'dirty', especially if you're a Black woman. To consider yet another example of the hair that grows out of my head 'dirty' is extremely racist.

LOCS ARE NOT BRAIDS!!!!

Locs are also a protective style, albeit a much more permanent one, and one that comes with a long history and culture behind it. Many Black people consider the biblical story of Samson to be a man with locs, and that our locs hold power within them. That not just anyone should be allowed to touch your locs. So, if you're interested in mythology and powers, that might be an intriguing way to go, that would be possible if you had a Black character with locs!

In Professional Media

The lack of awareness and concern about our hair isn't just a fan or amateur creator experience. It is ubiquitous in the professional media world. Black actors, actresses, and models have discussed having to do their own hair when working, because no one would properly care for it on set if it wasn't familiarly white. It’s admittedly grown better- however! After decades of not having options other than ‘stereotypical afro’, ‘box cut’, and ‘white people hair’, it is LONG PAST TIME to stop settling for the bare minimum in Black character design. We can tell when "one of us" (with some sense, at least) wasn't in the room to make decisions in popular media.

If you were curious about the lesson title, here's a current example of what I'm talking about in video games. Tell me if you see a pattern:

This style? The Killmonger? We seent it!!!! It has become the “hairstyle to show I understand the exaggerated swagger of a young Black teen” option, the "I know the Black people!" go-to, and frankly, we are all tired of it. Okay it was cute on Ekko. The Black Delegation DEMANDS the professional video game industry pick something else! We have SO MANY DIFFERENT HAIRSTYLES!

I'll give you an example on the other end (not trying at all; refer to Lesson 1) from one of my favorite games, Hades:

This is my blorbo. My favoritest guy. I’ll fight for Patroclus being Black til the day I die. While I begrudgingly settled in my excitement, I can tell you no one Black with any voting power was in the room at Supergiant when they approved this design. Why? His texture! Locs were such an easy option if they wanted long hair! Locs existed BEFORE Ancient Greece! The man did not have a flat iron while fighting in a war! A good Black designer would have considered that!

To give him a more accurate design, some artists (myself included) lean into giving him locs (one of my favorites is @karshmallow 's Pat; a phenomenal example in caring about your Black characters). It’s something Black fans find themselves doing- redesigning Black characters. That's not something we should have to do at all, especially in media we pay for!

But if you REALLY want your Black character to have straight hair, that leads into the last style of this lesson:

Straight Hair

We do have straight hair. But it’s not straight because it grew out that way! It will still look and be thicker! It might be a wig or a sew-in (human or synthetic), it might be flat-ironed (while relaxed? While natural?) It takes effort to get and maintain straight hair.

'I think it looks better good this way!'

If you catch yourself thinking this, this is a racist statement. Whether you’re aware of it our not, there is a bias towards Eurocentric/white features in our society, and that includes in our media. When you think “I only drew [this Eurocentric hair texture and style] because I think it looks good on them!” I want you to PAUSE and think about the WHY. WHY do you think that this Black person’s natural features are unattractive in comparison to the white hair texture you gave them? And how hurt might a Black peer of yours would feel hearing that you find their natural features not worth drawing because they’re “not attractive”. It requires approaching your own internal biases, recognizing them, and then working to unlearn them. And that means practice! Using references to draw our hair and styles, and growing used to using OUR features on US!

Doing it in Art

Me personally, I think if you think drawing thinner hair textures is easy, thicker hair textures should be a BREEZE. I was curious, so I challenged myself and-

(it took me about thirteen minutes total to do ol boy's hair and it's still not right. I'm sick fr y'all don't even know 🤢)

@ackee has a really good art lesson on the how-tos of drawing Black hairstyles. I highly recommend checking it out, as well as following and supporting a fellow Black artist (who is far better than I!)

Hair Brushes

Finally, an option you can use for painting is downloading Black hair brushes! Vegalia has an amazing array of brushes with different types of curls, locs, and braids at her Etsy store! You can also follow her on social media to see how she applies them, and support yet another amazing Black creative!

I know this was a long one, but you made it! Just keep going. Remember, it's the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

#creatingblackcharacters #black art #black characters #character design #black hair #black history #black culture

[tygerland]

Marsha P. Johnson, co-founder of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, at a gay rights demonstration in Albany, New York, March 14, 1971. Photo by Diana Davies.

#1970s #community #people #blm #culture #street #society #queer #trans #pride #gender #activism #black history #lgbtqia #humanity #queer history #marsha p johnson #70s #transgender #politics #counterculture #🌈

[iridessence]

Lloyd Yearwood, Photograph of a drag club in Harlem, 1960s

#black history #queer history #lgbt history #vintage drag #drag queens #Harlem history #black and white photography #black femininity #vintage aesthetic #mine #as in my upload