black women's voicesmatter!

history is messy

Yep, history can be messy and painful. American history, however, is downright dirty and nasty. So what makes the history of one so different from the other? Well, I am so glad you asked that question! See, the difference is that . . .

Okay, so what is this Angry Black Woman Business?

The notion of the Angry Black Woman has been perpetrated since the beginning of time. But what does it look like? Why is the black woman always so angry? Let's discuss.

Shero of the Day!

Do you know the story of how your "title" came to be? Are you a Mrs.? Ms.? or Miss? Beieve it or not, a notable, yet forgotten, Black Woman led the charge for you to have that choice. She may have been wiped from the history books, but she's wasn't erased from black histstory. Here is HERstory.

what do you know about this day in black history...?

the "massacre" that no one talks about

Usually, when we hear the word "massacre" we think about numerous deaths. We think of bombings and church shootings. We think of a lot of people being dead, many others wounded: but in 1968, this word had a very different definition, at least for one night.

On February 6, 1968, about 200 students from the predominantly black South Carolina State College had gathered at the nearby All Star Bowling lane to protest its segregation of black patrons. There were no incidents, no riots, no drama. On February 7, 1968 many of the students returned to resume the protest but this time, police arrested fifteen of them.

On February 8, 1968 a third night of protests began and because of the previous night’s arrests, there was increased tension. This night, the students gathered on the South Carolina State University campus instead of at the bowling alley . They built a bonfire which a law enforcement officer attempted to put out. In the process he [the police officer] was injured by a piece of a banister thrown from the crowd prompting a highway patrolman to fire his gun into the air in an attempt to calm the crowd. Upon hearing the shot, other officers, thinking they were being fired upon, opened fire into the crowd of students.

By the way, many thanks to regularjane for these awesome demo photos

You should probably check out her work

On this day, in 1986, Oprah Winfrey becomes the first African-American woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show. The TV star, entrepreneur and activist overcame the greatest of odds to create an unstoppable media empire. Over the past 25 years she has entertained and motivated millions with ABC’s The Oprah Winfrey Show. She’s also helped launch the careers of several of her expert guests. Not satisfied with just her TV show, O Magazine and Harpo Radio on Sirius/XM, this trailblazing mogul launched her OWN network in January 2011. “An education is something that can’t be taken away from you,” she’s often said, and in 2007 Winfrey put her money where her mouth is by opening the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.

Also on this day, CBS News’ 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney was suspended for three months without pay for his disparaging remarks about African-Americans that were reported in a Los Angeles-based magazine. The Advocate, a bi-weekly national gay and lesbian magazine, quoted Rooney as saying that "most people are born with equal intelligence, but Blacks have watered down their genes because the less intelligent ones are the ones that have the most children. They drop out of school early, do drugs and get pregnant.”