1863 - 1st black Civil War regiment, South Carolina volunteers, mustered into US army
1865 - US Congress passes 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery
1876 - US orders all Native Americans to move into reservations
1950 - US President Truman publicly announces support for development of a hydrogen bomb (pictured)
1985 - South African President PW Botha offers to free Nelson Mandela if he denounces violence
2019 - Colonization of the Americas in the late 1500′s killed so many people it cooled the planet and led to a “little ice age”, according to a scientific report published in “Quarternary Science Review”
2020 - UK finally withdraws from the European Union (Brexit)
i learned that there's a Japanese beetle that when eaten by a frog will haul ass through its digestive system and escape out the back end unscathed (x)
The Italian restaurant in my mom’s hometown WAS definitely a mob front. The owner briefly served in the Italian military, immigrated to America in his twenties back in the early 70s, mysteriously had enough money to open a chain of Italian restaurants and was convicted for trafficking cocaine across the Virginia/West Virginia area and spent 15 years in prison.
My mom had worked as a waitress at the place while she was a teenager and throughout her 20s and she realized that when she was sent to the restaurant’s sister location in West Virginia in a mysteriously packed car by her mysteriously nice boss, it probably wasn’t pizza ingredients she was hauling. It was the 80s. She was a tiny, very naive, conventionally attractive church girl with no criminal record so she was the perfect unwitting drug mule.
The thing was, this restaurant and the man who operated it were locally loved. Beyond large scale organized cocaine trafficking, food was his other passion. Everyone waited anxiously for him to get out of prison and when he did this guy started a crusade against the corrupt local sheriff’s office. He started doing anti-police brutality advocacy work WHOLEHEARTEDLY. Donating to local families who had been victims and participating in local drives and awareness campaigns.
Made men usually do local charity work but the balls on this guy to take up sword and spear against shitty corrupt ineffectual law enforcement. Incredible. One thing about Appalachians is that we hate the cops and we love social agitators. This guy lived a long eventful life and died recently of natural causes and the overwhelming outpouring of love for him on Facebook was incredible, a uniting force that the town had not seen in decades, everybody was sharing their favorite stories about him and I’m sure local law enforcement was fuming.
i hope everyone knows that the last wga strike was ~100 days and it's a pretty common phenomenon for strike support to tank after a month or two when it feels like it's dragging on and some writers and talk show hosts are crossing picket lines and trying to "return" to "normal" because of people's livelihoods etc when they're really just scabs. sure hope that we keep that in mind and are prepared for the long haul and aren't just in it while it's convenient for us <3
i hate to say it, like i love watcher, but my thoughts on them leaving youtube is this is too much too soon, like the bulk of their fans are probs younger/unable to afford another subscription fee, plus youtube has always been where they've been?? it's just so stark to go from this being the site you put your content on for years and then to go full cold turkey, no more posting on youtube ever
and i'll be honest, they don't have enough content to warrant a separate site/subscription all together. dropout is able to pull it off because they have the full rotation of shows and cast as well (dnd, game changer, etc), whereas for watcher, they only have a few couple really successful shows and those are primarily only focused on ryan and shane.
and tbh, i don't think they have a big enough audience to launch it either, like their marketing team could do better on advertising their shows! like, i haven't been keeping up with their recent shows cause either i don't see it on my youtube algorithm at all or i have to go out of my way to go see it.
and i don't know this just feels like a kick to the face to their fans, like even dropout has shorts on youtube and keeps up all their content on youtube like some episodes and the entirety of season one of fantasy high, and now i'm seeing in the comments, that their international fans outside of the usa won't even able to subscribe cause of how payment works which is :///, so yeah, watcher, it's been nice knowing ya, but i don't know how this move will turn out for you, i'm sorry to say
TIL a family in Georgia claimed to have passed down a song in an unknown language from the time of their enslavement; scientists identified the song as a genuine West African funeral song in the Mende language that had survived multiple transmissions from mother to daughter over multiple centuries (x)
Hair Threading has been part of the Black hair scene for many generations. It consists of wrapping sectioned hair in thread. This method of wrapping the hair in thread strengthens the hair without excessive manipulation, which is beneficial for your strands. Not only does the style strengthen the hair, but it also promotes growth.
The style comes from Sub-Saharan African countries and grew its popularity in West Africa, particularly, South Nigeria. Learn more here
Art by Izzakko via @blacklacerabbit
Bantu Knots and Hi-Top Fades
The Zulu people of southern Africa originated Bantu knots, a hairstyle where the hair is sectioned off, twisted, and wrapped in such a way that the hair stacks upon itself to form a spiraled knot (Source). Learn the history of Bantu Knots
The hi-top fade or flattop originated in the U.S. military around the ‘40s and ‘50s. By the mid-eighties, Black barbers began to reimagine the hairstyle, and due to its resemblance to Queen Nefertiti’s Empress headpiece, some speculated the hairstyle's origin. The hairstyle grew as a trend when worn by the like of Grace Jones, Doug E. Fresh, and Salt-N-Peppa.
Art by LaQuecya Allen via @nappy-by-nature
Afro
As far as hairstyles go, there's nothing Blacker than the Afro. In the 1960s, after decades of subjecting themselves to European beauty standards, Black folks decided to take back their hair. This newfound self-acceptance was widely known as the Black Is Beautiful movement, which sprang from the Black Power movement. The 'fro was rocked by Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, and Jesse Jackson while fighting oppression; the hairstyle quickly emerged as a symbol of Black beauty, liberation, and pride.
Remember: tag your Black hair art with #BlackExcellence365 for a chance to be featured!
And keep your eyes out for next month's theme... 👀