KRLemmons Women's History Month

Day 14 Woman of the Day: Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler, the award-winning science fiction author, is Day 14 Woman of the Day.  Read more about this phenomenal woman below.

Website: http://oOctaviaButlerctaviabutler.org/

Biography: http://www.biography.com/people/octavia-e-butler-38207#synopsis

NPR: http://www.npr.org/2014/07/10/320746103/an-unexpected-treat-for-octavia-e-butler-fans

Democracy Now: http://www.democracynow.org/2005/11/11/science_fiction_writer_octavia_butler_on

Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources on “Kindred”: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/butler.html

KRLemmons African American History

March 14 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – March 14 *

1794 – Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin, making it possible to clean
50 pounds of cotton a day, compared to a pound a day before the
invention. This will make cotton king and increase the demand
for slave labor.

1829 – African American editor John Russworm writes an editorial in
“Freedom’s Journal” supporting the colonization of Africa by
African Americans.

1889 – Menelik becomes ruler of Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Menelik II will
be the Ethiopian emperor (1889-1909) during the frantic race
for African protectorates by European countries. He will
transform the country from a collection of semi-independent
states into a united nation. As ruler of the kingdom of Shoa,
in central Ethiopia, he will conquer the Oromo people to the
south and annex their land. During Menelik’s reign he
suppressed the Ethiopian slave trade, curbed the feudal
nobility, and founded the city of Addis Ababa.

1917 – The first training camp for “colored” officers is established
by the U.S. Army in Des Moines, Iowa, after a long lobbying
effort by the NAACP, led by Joel E. Spingarn and James Weldon
Johnson. The camp will issue 678 officer commissions to
African Americans, compared to 380,000 African American
enlisted men mobilized in World War l.

1933 – Quincy Delight Jones is born in Chicago, Illinois. A trumpeter
and record producer, he will collaborate with many major
American and French recording artists, including Michael
Jackson on the latter’s “Thriller” and “Bad” albums, two of
the most successful records during the 1980’s. A musical
innovator, in 1991, Jones will receive two Grammy awards for
producer of the year and album of the year for “Back on the
Block.” To date, he will accumulate over 25 Grammy awards,
Grammy’s Trustees Award in 1989, and the Grammy’s Legends
Award in 1990. He will also be Musical Director for Mercury
Records, then Vice President. He will also establish Qwest
Records.

1934 – Shirley Scott is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She will
become an accomplished jazz organist, with a blues orientation
to most of her presentations. She started her career playing
with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis in 1956 and continued until 1960.
She will record most of her work with her ex-husband, Stanley
Turrentine from 1961 to 1970. She will join the ancestors on
March 10, 2002, succumbing to heart failure. Her heart failure
will be hastened by the diet drug fen-phen. She will win an
$8 million settlement in February, 2000 against American Home
Products, the manufacturers of the drug cocktail.

1946 – Wes Unseld is born in Louisville, Kentucky. His early career
plans will include becoming a teacher, but that thought will
be put on hold when he becomes the second overall pick in the
1968 draft by the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets. In 1969, Unseld’s
debut will be memorable. He becomes only the second NBA
player besides Wilt Chamberlain to be named Rookie of the Year
and MVP in the same season. During a solid 13-year NBA career,
spent entirely with the Bullets organization, Unseld will
become a superb position rebounder and retire as the NBA’s
seventh all-time leading rebounder with 13,769 boards, a 14.0
per game average. Unseld, who will play in five NBA All-Star
games, ranks as the Bullets all-time leader in minutes played
(35,832) and rebounds. He is only one of 20 players in NBA
history to score more than 10,000 points (10,624) and grab more
than 10,000 rebounds. The pinnacle of Unseld’s career will
come in 1978, when he and fellow Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes lead
Washington past Seattle for the NBA championship. For his
efforts, Unseld will be named MVP of the championship series.
After his retirement from the NBA, he will become the coach of
the Bullets.

1947 – William J. Jefferson is born in Lake Providence, Louisiana. He
will become a Louisiana state senator in 1979 and, in 1990,
the first African American congressman elected from the state
since Charles Edmund Nash left office in 1876. On November 13,
2009, he will be sentenced to thirteen years in federal prison
for bribery after a corruption investigation, the longest
sentence ever handed down to a congressman for bribery or any
other crime. He will begin serving that sentence in May, 2012 at
a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Beaumont, Texas.

1960 – Kirby Puckett is born in Chicago, Illinois. He will become a
major league baseball outfielder. He will be selected by the
Minnesota Twins in the first round (third overall) of the
January 1982 free-agent draft and will spend his entire 14-year
professional career in the Twins organization. Not only will
he become a 10-time All-Star, in 1993 he will become the first
Twins player ever to win the All-Star Game MVP Award. He will
be the Twins’ all-time leader in hits, runs, doubles and total
bases. He will retire on July 12, 1996, after losing vision in
his right eye due to glaucoma, and will become the Twins’
executive vice president of baseball. He will join the
ancestors in Phoenix, AZ, on March 6, 2006 after succumbing to
a stroke.

1967 – In the first NFL-AFL common draft, the Baltimore Colts pick
Bubba Smith as the first pick.

1985 – Bill Cosby captures four of the People’s Choice Awards for “The
Cosby Show.” The awards were earned from results of a
nationwide Gallup Poll.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Mr. Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons Women's History Month

Day 13 Woman of the Day: Renita Weems

Renita Weems, a bible scholar and ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, is Day 13 Woman of the day.  Read about this powerful woman below:

RenitaWeemsBiography: http://www.somethingwithin.com/biography.html

Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3431000061.html

Youtube videos: “Just in Case” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gM5bhqpPxY, “The Gospel of Mary” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLlHsPqqNz8, “Trayvon Martin” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gPB-w2XP5Y

Books by Renita Weems on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Renita-J.-Weems/e/B000APSONU

KRLemmons African American History

March 13 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – March 13 *

1779 – Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, an explorer of African descent,
from Santo Domingo (Haiti), builds the first permanent
settlement at the mouth of the river, just east of the present
Michigan Avenue Bridge on the north bank, of what is now the
city of Chicago, Illinois.

1861 – Jefferson Davis signs a bill authorizing the use of slaves as
soldiers in the Confederate army.

1862 – Congress forbids Union officers and soldiers from aiding in the
capture and return of fugitive slaves, ending what one
historian called the “military slave hunt.”

1869 – Arkansas legislature passes anti-Ku Klux Klan legislation.

1914 – James Reese Europe explains the significance of his Clef Club
Symphony Orchestra, consisting of the best African American
musicians in New York City: “… we colored people have our
own music that is a part of us. It’s the product of our
souls; it’s been created by the sufferings and miseries of our
race.”

1918 – John Rhoden is born in Birmingham, Alabama. An art student who
will study with Richmond Barthe’ and at Talledega College,
Rhoden’s sculptures will have strong romantic and classical
elements. He will receive commissions for Harlem Hospital and
Metropolitan Hospital in New York City, exhibit his work at
the Atlanta University annuals, the Art Institute of Chicago,
and the Whitney Museum and be represented in museums in the
United States and Europe. Among his major works will be
“Safari,” “Eve,” and “Quarter Horse.” He will join the ancestors
on January 4, 2001.

1930 – Richard Allen “Blue” Mitchell is born in Miami, Florida. The
trumpeter will make his name as a member of Horace Silver’s
Quintet. From 1974, he will play as a soloist or as an
accompanist for Tony Bennett and Lena Horne. He will join the
ancestors on May 21, 1979 succumbing to cancer.

1932 – The “Atlanta World” becomes the first African American daily
newspaper in modern times, when it begins daily publication.
It was founded on August 3, 1928, by William A. Scott, III
and became a bi-weekly in 1930.

1943 – Frank Dixon becomes the first great African American miler in
track as he wins the Columbian Mile in New York City. Dixon
runs the mile in the record time of 4 minutes, 9.6 seconds.

1946 – Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African
American to command an United States Air Force base, when he
assumes command of Lockbourne Air Force Base in Ohio.

1961 – Floyd Patterson knocks out Ingemar Johannson to retain the
heavyweight boxing championship.

1984 – James L. Usry is elected the first African American mayor of
Atlantic City, New Jersey. He will serve as mayor until 1990.
A former member of the Harlem Globetrotters, he became an
educator before entering politics.

1999 – Evander Holyfield, the WBA and IBF champion, and Lennox Lewis,
the WBC champion, keep their respective titles after fighting
to a controversial draw in New York.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Mr. Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons Women's History Month

Day 12 Woman of the Day: Nancy Wilson

Vocalist Nancy Wilson is Day 12 Woman of the day.  Read about this multitalented woman below.

nancywilsonBiography: http://www.biography.com/people/nancy-wilson-21442799

All Music: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/nancy-wilson-mn0000368367/biography

NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95307007, http://www.npr.org/people/2101390/nancy-wilson

Kennedy Center: http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=3495&source_type=A

Youtube videos: “Guess Who I Saw Today” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wPKzLvqKDg. “How Glad I Am” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHVZ51o6ZNE

KRLemmons African American History

March 12 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – March 12 *

1791 – Benjamin Banneker and Pierre Charles L’Enfant are commissioned
to plan and develop Washington, DC.

1868 – Great Britain gives Basutoland, the status of protectorate at
the request of King Moshweshwe. The request of protection was
to prevent attacks by the Cape Colony.

1877 – The British annex Walvis Bay, an important deep water port in
South West Africa.

1888 – Hall Johnson is born in Athens, Georgia. As a boy, he will teach
himself to play the violin after hearing a violin recital given
by Joseph Henry Douglass, grandson of Frederick Douglass. He
will go on to play the violin and viola professionally,
including in the orchestra for the 1921 musical, “Shuffle Along.”
In 1925, he will organize and direct the Hall Johnson Choir as
well as have significant success as an arranger. One of his
early stage successes will be as choral director for the 1930
Broadway play “The Green Pastures” and the 1933 play, “Run
Little Chillun,” for which he will write the book and music. He
and his choir will move to Hollywood in 1936 to make the film
version of “The Green Pastures.” He will become fluent in both
German and French. Among the singers he coaches will be Marian
Anderson, Robert McFerrin and Shirley Verrett. His arrangements
of the spirituals have been recorded by some of the world’s
finest artists. He will join the ancestors after succumbing
during a fire at his New York apartment, on April 30, 1970. In
1975, he will be posthumously honored for his work in films by
being elected to the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

1926 – The Savoy Ballroom, nicknamed the “Home of Happy Feet,” opens
in New York City.

1932 – Andrew Young is born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will become
a minister, influential leader in the civil rights movement,
first African American ambassador to the United Nations, and
mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.

1934 – Virginia Hamilton is born in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She will
become an award-winning author of juvenile fiction including
“House of Dies Drear” and “Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush.” She
will write 41 books, including “M. C. Higgins, the Great” (1974),
for which she will win the U.S. National Book Award in the
Children’s Books category and the Newbery Medal in 1975. For
lifetime achievement she will win the international Hans
Christian Andersen Award for writing children’s literature in
1992 and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for her contributions to
American children’s literature in 1995. She will join the
ancestors on February 19, 2002.

1940 – Alwyn Lopez “Al” Jarreau is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He
will become a singer and will be known for his recording of
the theme for the television show, “Moonlighting”. Al Jarreau
will become the first vocalist in musical history to win
Grammy Awards in three different categories (Rhythm & Blues,
Jazz, and Pop).

1945 – New York becomes the first state to prohibit discrimination by
race and creed in employment.

1955 – Charlie Parker joins the ancestors in New York City at the age
of 34. He had been one of the founders of the modern jazz
movement.

1962 – Darryl Strawberry is born in Los Angeles, California. He will
become a professional baseball player and will play right field
for the New York Mets, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San
Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees. He will set the
New York Mets all-time records for most runs (662), most RBIs
(733) and most home runs (252). He will be a member of the
winning World Series championship teams in 1986 and 1996.

1964 – Malcolm X resigns from the Nation of Islam.

1982 – Charles Fuller wins the Pulitzer Prize for “A Soldier’s Play.”

2003 – Lynne Thigpen, actress, joins the ancestors at age 54 after
succumbing to complications from an enlarged heart. She played
“the chief” on “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Mr. Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons African American History

March 11 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – March 11 *

1861 – The Confederate Congress, meeting in Montgomery, Alabama,
adopts a constitution which declares that the passage of any
“law denying or impairing the right of property in Negro
slaves is prohibited.”

1870 – Moshweshwe, King of Basutoland (Lesotho) joins the ancestors.
Moshweshwe was the founder of Lesotho in the 1820’s. Lesotho
was landlocked by the Cape Colony (now South Africa). He was
able to develop a strong tribal organization from his mix of
peoples. He appeased the Zulu and Ndebele, led cattle raids
on surrounding people, defeated the British in 1852 and
conducted frequent wars with the Orange Free State. Because
of repeated attacks by the Cape Colony, Moshweshwe asked the
British for protection and Lesotho will become a protectorate
in 1868. Upon his death, the country was annexed to Cape
Colony, but was returned to the status of British protectorate
in 1884. When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910,
the British honored the desire of Lesotho (“Basutoland”) to
remain independent. A protectorate continued until 1968,
protecting Lesotho from incursions from South Africa.

1874 – Frederick Douglass is named president of the failing Freedmen’s
Bank.

1884 – William Edouard Scott is born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He will
study with Henry O. Tanner at the Art Institute of Chicago.
He later will go to Paris, France and study at the Julien and
Colarossi academies. He will also study under Tanner again in
Paris (Tanner had emigrated there) and become best known for
his portrait studies of Haitians, rural life, and landscapes.
Many of his murals are on the walls of public buildings in
Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, and New York (135th Street
YMCA). In 1943, he will be the only African American artist
chosen to create a mural for the Recorder of Deeds Building in
Washington, D.C. By the end of his life, he will create over
seventy-five murals celebrating black history and culture. In
2007, the Indiana State Museum will organize the traveling
retrospective: “Our Own Artist: Paintings by Indiana’s William
Edouard Scott, 1884-1964.” He will join the ancestors in 1964.

1919 – Mercer Ellington is born in Washington, DC, the only child of
Edward “Duke” Ellington and his wife, Edna. He will become
“the keeper of the flame,” the charge his father will give him
and one he will readily accept. In doing so, he will lead the
Duke Ellington Orchestra for over twenty years after replacing
his father. In the early 1980s, he will become the first
conductor for a Broadway musical of his father’s music,
“Sophisticated Ladies.” His “Digital Duke” will win the 1988
Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. He will join
the ancestors on February 8, 1996 in Copenhagen, Denmark, after
succumbing to a heart attack.

1926 – Ralph David Abernathy is born in Linden, Alabama. He will
become a famed minister, civil rights advocate, and confidant
of Martin Luther King, Jr. After King’s assassination, he
will become the president of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference and write an autobiography that will attract
widespread criticism for his comments on King’s alleged
womanizing. He will join the ancestors on April 17, 1990.

1935 – “The Conjure Man Dies,” a play by Rudolph Fisher, premieres on
Broadway at the Lafayette Theatre. Fisher, who had joined the
ancestors over a year before the play’s premiere, had adapted
the play from his 1932 short story “The Conjure-Man Dies: A
Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem,” considered the first detective
fiction by an African American.

1948 – Reginald Weir becomes the first African American to play in the
U.S. Indoor Lawn Tennis Association Championship. He will win
his first match, but will be eliminated on March 13.

1950 – Robert “Bobby” McFerrin is born in New York City. He will be
known for his versatile and innovative a cappella jazz vocals
and for his hit song “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” which will sell
over ten million copies and earn him three Grammy awards in
1989 in addition to a Grammy for best jazz vocalist.

1956 – A manifesto denouncing the Supreme Court ruling on segregation
in public schools, is issued by one hundred southern senators
and representatives.

1959 – “A Raisin in the Sun” becomes the first play written by an
African American woman, Lorraine Hansberry, to open on
Broadway. The play will run for 19 months at the Ethel
Barrymore Theatre, and be named “Best Play” by the New York
Drama Critics Circle, and bring Lloyd Richards to Broadway as
the first African American director in modern times.

1965 – After civil rights demonstrations in Selma, Alabama, the
Reverend James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, dies,
succumbing to his beating by segregationist whites.

1968 – Otis Redding posthumously receives a gold record for the single
“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.”

1971 – Whitney M. Young, Jr., executive director of the National Urban
League, joins the ancestors after drowning while swimming
during a visit to Lagos, Nigeria.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Mr. Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons Women's History Month

Day 10 Woman of the Day: Charlotta Spears Bass

Bass-CharlottaCharlotta Spears Bass was a newspaper publisher-editor and civil rights activist.  She was also the first African American woman to run for the U.S. Vice President under the Progressive Party ticket.  Read more about this revolutionary woman below.

PBS: http://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/bass.html

Women of the West: http://theautry.org/explore/exhibits/suffrage/bass_full.html

Black Past.org: http://www.blackpast.org/aaw/bass-charlotta-1879-1969

Black History Now: http://blackhistorynow.com/charlotta-bass/

Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2874200015.html

KRLemmons Uncategorized

Libros Latin@s: Talking with Mother Earth / Hablando con Madre Tierra

missdguzman's avatarLatinxs in Kid Lit

By Marianne Snow

349744DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK (from Goodreads): Tetl’s skin is brown, his eyes are black, and his hair is long. He’s different from the other children, whose taunts wound him deeply, leaving him confused and afraid. But Tetl’s grandmother knows the ancient teachings of their Aztec ancestors, and how they viewed the earth as alive with sacred meaning. With her help, he learns to listen to the mountains, wind, corn, and stones. Tetl’s journey from self-doubt to proud acceptance of his Nahuatl heritage is told in a series of powerful poems, beautifully expressed in both English and Spanish. Vivid illustrations celebrate nature’s redemptive powers, offering a perfect complement to the poignant story.

MY TWO CENTS: History books and other nonfiction texts often speak of the Americas’ original inhabitants in the past tense, as if they completely disappeared after Europeans swept across the land. For example, I remember learning…

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