2018 NAACP Image Awards Set For MLK Jr. Day

The NAACP will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day next year by holding its 49th annual Image Awards on the holiday. The group said today that its trophy show will be held January 15, airing live on TV One.

It will mark the first time since 1994 that the Image Awards will be handed out in January, with the show being staged in during Black History Month in February eight of the past nine years. The two-hour special also will include a live pre-show from the red carpet.

“The NAACP is proud to air our 49th Image Awards live telecast on the nation’s most significant civil rights day of the year celebrating the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” said Leon W. Russell, chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors. “In alignment with the National Martin Luther King Day of Service, we are encouraging our nominees, celebrity presenters and performers, network representatives, staff, directors, trustees, sponsors, and branches and units in all 50 states to join us in a day of citizen action volunteer service in honor of Dr. King. As the nation commemorates the 50th anniversary of his assassination on April 4, 1968, we are reminded of the ageless principles of non-violence, truth and justice, humility, and service that he taught all Americans.”

The Image Awards celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film, and also honors individuals or groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors. Nominations will be announced during the week of November 13, when final voting will open.

[SOURCE: DEADLINE]

Black WWII veteran receives 6 long-overdue medals

A World War II veteran who is the last-known living Buffalo-area resident to have served in a segregated unit has received six long-overdue medals.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and Rep. Brian Higgins, a Buffalo Democrat, presented George Watts with the medals during a ceremony Wednesday at a city fire station.

Watts was a sergeant assigned to an all-black Army engineer unit that served in the Philippines campaign. He was honorably discharged in 1946. Two years later President Harry Truman integrated the U.S. military.

Among the belated decorations Watts received was the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory medal.

Schumer and Higgins say racism likely kept Watts and many other black soldiers from receiving the military honors they earned with their service during the war.

[SOURCE: http://www.syracuse.com]

Black History Month: Clarence Sumner Greene, first black neurosurgeon

Before there was Ben Carson, there was Clarence Sumner Greene.

In 1936, Greene received his medical degree from the Howard University College of Medicine. He spent seven years training in general surgery and received certification from the American Board of Surgery. After serving for four years as a professor of surgery at Howard University, Dr. Greene trained in neurosurgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute. Dr. Greene became the first black neurologist on October 22, 1953, when he was certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He returned to Howard University, where he served as chair of neurosurgery until his sudden death in 1957.

Black History Month: Gwendolyn Brooks award winning writer

Gwendolyn Brooks was an award winning writer who went on to become the first African American to win a certain literary award.

Learn more about Gwendolyn Brooks here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/gwendolyn-brooks

Why Black History Month is important to Black children.

By George L. Cook III African American Reports

His this is George l. Cook III of African American Reports and I would like you to watch my short 58 second video titled why Black History Month is important to black children. Near the end of the video a box will appear in the upper left hand corner titled Black History Month. Click that box to check out a series of 35 second videos on great men and women in Black history.

Trump did not rename black history month, Obama used African American History Month also

In this era of fake news many web sites are posting stories about Donald Trump changing the name of Black History Month to African American History Month. The sites base this fake news on the title of Trump's proclamation. The title is President Donald J. Trump Proclaims February As National African American History Month

There's just one problem with their story, President Obama also used the same phraseology in a 2013 Black History Month proclamation. Read that proclamation below.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

January 31, 2013

Presidential Proclamation: National African American History Month, 2013

By The President of The United States of America

A Proclamation

In America, we share a dream that lies at the heart of our founding:  that no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, no matter how modest your beginnings or the circumstances of your birth, you can make it if you try.  Yet, for many and for much of our Nation's history, that dream has gone unfulfilled. For African Americans, it was a dream denied until 150 years ago, when a great emancipator called for the end of slavery. It was a dream deferred less than 50 years ago, when a preacher spoke of justice and brotherhood from Lincoln's memorial.  This dream of equality and fairness has never come easily -- but it has always been sustained by the belief that in America, change is possible.

Today, because of that hope, coupled with the hard and painstaking labor of Americans sung and unsung, we live in a moment when the dream of equal opportunity is within reach for people of every color and creed.  National African American History Month is a time to tell those stories of freedom won and honor the individuals who wrote them.  We look back to the men and women who helped raise the pillars of democracy, even when the halls they built were not theirs to occupy.  We trace generations of African Americans, free and slave, who risked everything to realize their God-given rights.  We listen to the echoes of speeches and struggle that made our Nation stronger, and we hear again the thousands who sat in, stood up, and called out for equal treatment under the law.  And we see yesterday's visionaries in tomorrow's leaders, reminding us that while we have yet to reach the mountaintop, we cannot stop climbing.

Today, Dr. King, President Lincoln, and other shapers of our American story proudly watch over our National Mall.  But as we memorialize their extraordinary acts in statues and stone, let us not lose sight of the enduring truth that they were citizens first.  They spoke and marched and toiled and bled shoulder-to-shoulder with ordinary people who burned with the same hope for a brighter day.  That legacy is shared; that spirit is American.  And just as it guided us forward 150 years ago and 50 years ago, it guides us forward today.  So let us honor those who came before by striving toward their example, and let us follow in their footsteps toward the better future that is ours to claim.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 2013 as National African American History Month.  I call upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.

BARACK OBAMA

Rosa Parks archive fully digitized by Library of Congress, now available online.

Rosa Parks’ archive of letters, writings, personal notes and photographs has been fully digitized by the Library of Congress and is now available online.

The library announced Wednesday the collection of 10,000 items belonging to Parks is available to the public.

Her collection was kept from the public for years because of a legal battle between her heirs and friends. But in 2014, philanthropist Howard Buffett bought the collection and placed it on long-term loan at the national library.

The library now holds about 7,500 manuscript items and 2,500 photographs from Parks, including the Bible she kept in her pocket, letters from admirers and her Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Read Rosa Park's archive here: ROSA PARK PAPERS

Channing Dungey: First African-American to head a broadcast TV network

The president of the ABC Entertainment Group is departing amid low ratings, to be replaced by the first African-American to head a broadcast TV network.

Paul Lee's successor is Channing Dungey, who has been ABC's executive vice-president for drama development, movies and miniseries, the Walt Disney Co.-owned network said Wednesday. Dungey shepherded ABC hits including "Scandal," ''How to Get Away with Murder" and "Quantico."

Dungey is both the first black network programming chief and a rare female executive. Change has come faster for women than minorities in the TV executive ranks, with Jennifer Salke serving as NBC's entertainment president and, at Fox Television Group, Dana Walden sharing chair and CEO duties with Gary Newman.

Dungey, a graduate of UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, has been with ABC since 2004, starting with ABC Studios. Previously, she worked at production companies and as a production executive at Warner Bros., handling films including "Bridges of Madison County" and "The Matrix."

[SOURCE]

WGPR: First Black Owned TV Station

WGPR-TV (Where God’s Presence Radiates) was the first television station in the United States owned and operated by African Americans. The station, located in Detroit, Michigan, was founded by William Venoid Banks. WGPR-TV marketed toward the urban audience in Detroit, Michigan, which in that market meant programming for the African American community.

WGPR-TV first aired on September 29, 1975 on channel 62 in Detroit, Michigan. Station founder William Venoid Banks was a Detroit attorney, minister and prominent member of the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons, an organization he founded in 1950. The Masons owned the majority of stock in WGPR-TV. The station initially broadcast religious shows, R&B music shows, off-network dramas, syndicated shows and older cartoons.

It was Banks’ vision that WGPR-TV provide African Americans with crucial training and experience in the television industry, allowing many local blacks the opportunity to work "behind the camera" in producing, directing and other roles which placed content on air. The station aired some locally-produced programming including Big City News, The Scene, and Arab Voice of Detroit.

Big City News was a Monday through Friday newscast that aimed to focus on community activities from the African American perspective, showcasing positive “success stories.” It was discontinued in 1992. The Scene, a nightly dance show that offered young Detroiters an opportunity to display their musical and dance talents, ran from 1975 to 1987. It still enjoys a cult following of viewers and former dancers. Arab Voice of Detroit was a public affairs show directed toward the significant Arab American population in Detroit and its suburbs.

Whatever its popularity among blacks in the television industry, WGPR-TV failed to attract a large audience outside the African American community. Even within that community, it competed with larger stations that after 1975 offered more programs directed toward African Americans. After 1980, the station faced its most powerful competition in the Black Entertainment Television (BET). Moreover with its 800,000 watt signal compared with 2 million watts for major Detroit TV stations, WGPR-TV never reached an audience beyond the city of Detroit. By the 1990s WGPR aired primarily reruns and infomercials.

On July 25, 1995, WGPR-TV was sold to CBS amid controversy from the black community, which felt that the station should remain under African American management. The Masons in particular were criticized for selling the station to a mainstream network. Two months later, CBS changed the television station name to WWJ-TV and targeted its programming for a general audience.

[SOURCE]

Joseph Hayne Rainey: First African American to serve in the United States House of Representatives

Joseph Hayne Rainey (June 21, 1832 – August 1, 1887) was an American politician. He was the first African American to serve in the United States House of Representatives, the second black person to serve in the United States Congress (U.S. Senator Hiram Revels was the first), and the first black presiding officer of the House of Representatives. Born into slavery in South Carolina, he was freed in the 1840s by his father purchasing the freedom of his entire family and himself. Revels and Rainey were both members of the Republican Party.

In 1870, Rainey was elected to the State Senate of South Carolina and became chair of the Finance Committee. He served only a short time as that year he won a special election as a Republican to fill a vacancy in the Forty-first Congress of the United States. This vacancy had been created when the House refused to seat Benjamin F. Whittemore, the incumbent. He had been censured by the House for corruption but re-elected.

Rainey was seated December 12, 1870 and was re-elected to Congress, serving a total of four terms. Serving until March 3, 1879, he established a record of length of service for a black Congressman that was not surpassed until that of William L. Dawson of Chicago in the 1950s. He supported legislation that became known as the Enforcement Acts, to suppress the violent activities of the Ku Klux Klan.

Don't miss the ESPN Black History Month Special : Rise UP 02/14/2016

The centerpiece of ESPN’s Black History Month programming, Rise Up: A SportsCenter Special, airs Sunday, Feb. 14, at 5 p.m.(EST) on ESPN. In the one-hour program, four segments will feature prominent African-Americans in a direct and intimate conversation sharing firsthand accounts of the events in the news cycle that impacted their lives. The topics include Taj Gibson of the Chicago Bulls on rising up against gun violence; Missouri football captain Ian Simon on rising up against authority; former pro tennis player James Blake on rising up against racial profiling; and ballet star Misty Copeland on rising up against prejudice. Following each segment, a brief discussion of the significance of the subject will be held among reporters, analysts and editors from ESPN and other media outlets. The panelists include Scoop Jackson, ESPN.com/ESPN the Magazine and LZ Grandersen, ESPN/ABC (Gibson); William Rhoden, New York Times and Maria Taylor, SEC Network (Missouri football); Howard Bryant, ESPN.com/ESPN the Magazine and Chris Haynes, Cleveland.com (Blake); and Alison Overholt, ESPN the Magazine/espnW and Kelley Carter, The Undefeated (Copeland).

2016 ESPN Black History Month Special: Rise Up: A SportsCenter Special from ESPNFrontRow on Vimeo.

George Edwin Taylor: First African American to run for President of the U.S.

Taylor and other independent-minded African Americans in 1904 jonied the first national political party created exclusively for and by blacks, the National Liberty Party (NLP). The Party met at its national convention in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904 with delegates from thirty-six states. When the Party's candidate for president ended up in an Illinois jail, the NLP Executive Committee approached Taylor, asking him to be the party's candidate.

While Taylor’s campaign attracted little attention, the Party's platform had a national agenda: universal suffrage regardless of race; Federal protection of the rights of all citizens; Federal anti-lynching laws; additional black regiments in the U.S. Army; Federal pensions for all former slaves; government ownership and control of all public carriers to ensure equal accommodations for all citizens; and home rule for the District of Columbia. Taylor’s presidential race was quixotic.

In an interview published in The Sun (New York, November 20, 1904), he observed that while he knew whites thought his candidacy was a “joke,” he believed that an independent political party that could mobilize the African American vote was the only practical way that blacks could exercise political influence. On election day, Taylor received a scattering of votes.

The 1904 campaign was Taylor's last foray into politics. He remained in Iowa until 1910 when he moved to Jacksonville. There he edited a succession of newspapers and was director of the African American branch of the local YMCA. He was married three times but had no children. George Edwin Taylor died in Jacksonville on December 23, 1925.

Did you know that William Henry Hastie was the first black federal judge?

Hastie received a BA from Amherst, where he finished first in his class, and then received a law degree (1930) from Harvard, becoming the second African American to serve on the Harvard Law Review. He then taught at Howard University Law School, where he worked with his friend, Charles Hamilton Houston, and his student, Thurgood Marshall, among others, to develop legal challenges to segregation. In private practice, as part of the law firm Houston, Houston, and Hastie, he argued a number of civil rights cases.

In 1933, Hastie was appointed Assistant Solicitor in the Department of the Interior by President Franklin Roosevelt, and in 1937 Roosevelt appointed him judge of the Federal District Court in the Virgin Islands, making him the country's first African-American federal magistrate. He left that position in 1939 to become Dean of Howard Law School. In 1941 Hastie became an aide to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and worked to reform the military's segregationist policies. But Hastie resigned from that position in 1943 to protest the military's entrenched “reactionary policies and discriminatory practices.” That year he was awarded the Springarn Medal “for his distinguished career as jurist and as an uncompromising champion of equal justice.”

In 1946, Hastie became the first African-American governor of the Virgin Islands, and in 1949 President Truman appointed him judge of the Third United States Circuit Court of Appeals, making him the first African American to be appointed as a federal circuit judge.

Freedom's Journal: First African-American owned-and-operated newspaper

READ ABOUT OTHER BLACK FIRST BY CLICKING HERE

Freedom's Journal was the first African-American owned and operated newspaper published in the United States. Founded by Rev. Peter Williams, Jr. and other free black men in New York City, it was published weekly starting with the 16 March 1827 issue.

Freedom's Journal provided international, national, and regional information on current events. Its editorials opposed slavery and other injustices. It also discussed current issues, such as the proposal by the American Colonization Society to resettle free blacks in Liberia, a colony established for that purpose in West Africa.

The Journal published biographies of prominent blacks, and listings of the births, deaths, and marriages in the African-American community in New York, helping celebrate their achievements. It circulated in 11 states, the District of Columbia, Haiti, Europe, and Canada.

Bessie Coleman: First Black female airplane pilot

Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, and is popularly known as "Queen Bess." She was the first Black woman to become an airplane pilot, and the first American woman to hold an international pilot license.

Read more about Bessie Coleman here: http://blackhistory.com/content/61906/bessie-coleman

Did you know that Wilberforce University was the first HBCU?

READ ABOUT OTHER BLACK FIRST BY CLICKING HERE

Wilberforce University is a private, coed, liberal arts historically black university (HBCU) located in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans. It participates in the United Negro College Fund.

The founding of the college was unique as a collaboration in 1856 by the Cincinnati, Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). They planned a college to provide classical education and teacher training for black youth. Leaders of both races made up the first board members.

When the number of students fell due to the American Civil War and financial losses closed the college in 1863, the AME Church purchased the institution to ensure its survival. Its first president, AME Bishop Daniel A. Payne, was one of the original founders. Prominent supporters and the US government donated funds for rebuilding after a fire in 1865. When the college added an industrial department in the late 19th century, state legislators could sponsor scholarship students.

The college attracted the top professors of the day, including W. E. B. Du Bois. In the 19th century, it enlarged its mission to include students from South Africa. The university supports the national Association of African American Museums to broaden the reach of its programs and assist smaller museums with professional standards.

Did you know that Art Shell was the first black NFL head coach?

READ ABOUT OTHER BLACK FIRST BY CLICKING HERE

NFL Hall of Famer, Art Shell was a third-round draft pick in 1968. He played on Oakland’s special teams for two seasons and then became the team’s starting offensive left tackle. During the 1970s, Shell was a key part of the Raiders’ notoriously intimidating offense. While Shell was a player, the Raiders played in 23 post-season games, including eight AFL/AFC championships, and won the Super Bowl twice. Shell himself played in eight Pro Bowl games and was a first- or second-team All-Pro every year from 1973 to 1978.

Shell retired from football after one season in L.A. In 1989, he returned to the Raiders as a coach. He was the first black man in modern football history to become the head coach of an NFL team. In five seasons, Shell’s Raiders went 56-41. They went to the playoffs four times and to the AFC championship game once. But in the 1994 season, the team could only manage a 9-7 record, and Shell lost

Smithsonian opening African-American history museum Sept. 24, 2016

UPDATES: Grand Opening Schedule for the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Denzel Washington Event Raises Millions For African American Museum

The Smithsonian Institution will open the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Sept. 24 in Washington.

Smithsonian chief spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas said Monday that President Barack Obama, the first black U.S. president, will lead the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony.

St. Thomas says a weeklong celebration will follow, including an outdoor festival and a period in which the museum on the National Mall will be open for 24 consecutive hours.

The museum has built a collection of 11 exhibits to trace the history of slavery, segregation, civil rights and African-Americans' achievements in the arts, entertainment, sports, the military and the wider culture.

Artifacts on loan from other institutions will also be on display, such as two documents signed by President Abraham Lincoln: the 13th Amendment and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Gabrielle Union: Who is Stacey Dash?

Actress Gabrielle Union is taking aim at Stacey Dash after the Fox News contributor last week questioned the BET channel’s existence.

When asked about Dash’s comments at the Sundance Film Festival premiere of “The Birth of a Nation” on Monday, Union first replied, “Who’s that? Who’s Stacey Dash? Is she like related to Dame Dash? Was she on Roc-A-Fella (Records)?”

Union said the BET Awards remain necessary because of the lack of diversity in mainstream awards.

“The more that we focus on inclusion and a true representation of this country, I think that crazy lady will have less to say,” Union said of Dash.

Union has a TV series on BET called “Being Mary Jane.”

[SOURCE]

Earl Lloyd, first African American NBA player dies.

Earl Lloyd, the first black player in NBA history, died Thursday. He was 86.