Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #pushblack
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Scientists predict this year’s hurricane season is going to be pretty bad – and it already has been. But one group of Black people is often overlooked when we talk about natural disasters: people trapped in prisons when disaster strikes. #PushBlack #BlackHistory 🌀 
Prisons already create life-threatening living conditions as it is – but they really show their true colors when they leave us to die during natural disasters. It wasn’t just Katrina, either.
In 2005, the Orleans Parish Prison forced incarcerated people to stay in prisons during Hurricane Katrina. As prison staff escaped, the water flooded cells, leaving people to starve and drown for DAYS.
The woman looked down at the squirming pink child hungrily suckling at her breast. Although she couldn’t stand the horrible little thing, she knew her life depended on it. She closed her eyes and thought of her own baby – hungry and alone. #PushBlack #BlackHistory 👇🏿
During enslavement, Black women of childbearing age were extremely valuable. Of course, they could help increase the population of enslaved people – but enslavers and their families had another idea of something they could provide.
Breast milk. Shortly after giving birth, enslaved mothers would frequently be forced to breastfeed white women’s babies instead of their own. Enslaved mothers could sometimes only see their own babies every few weeks! This had horrible consequences.
He knew he was taking a risk when he raised his violin bow – but risk-taking ran in his family. What would this racist audience do when they realized that his music was more beautiful than they could have ever imagined? #PushBlack #BlackHistory 🎻
When the spotlight landed on him, he carefully poised his violin bow. He was confident in his ability – but unsure what this white audience would make of a Black virtuoso. Would they be angry? Amazed? He was about to find out.
Joseph Douglass’ debut at the 1893 Chicago’s World’s Fair could change perceptions of Black people, his grandfather told him. But would it really? And did it matter?
Racism is so much a part of American culture that it was featured in everyday household objects. These items were found in countless white households – and you might be surprised by how blatantly racist they were. #PushBlack #BlackHistory 👇🏿
#1: Toys
“Chopped Up Niggers” was a puzzle game featuring our people. Images of us were meant to be chopped up and put back together! The puzzle placed Black bodies at the mercy of the puzzle players. This normalized violence against our people in real life.
“Chopped Up Niggers” was a puzzle game featuring our people. Images of us were meant to be chopped up and put back together! The puzzle placed Black bodies at the mercy of the puzzle players. This normalized violence against our people in real life.
#2: Soap
Nigger Head Tar Soap was often used to soothe scalp issues such as psoriasis, dandruff, and skin allergies. These soaps all featured caricatures of Black faces with big bug eyes and gargantuan red lips.
Nigger Head Tar Soap was often used to soothe scalp issues such as psoriasis, dandruff, and skin allergies. These soaps all featured caricatures of Black faces with big bug eyes and gargantuan red lips.
⚠️ The following story contains graphic imagery displaying anti-Black violence that some may find triggering or disturbing. #PushBlack #BlackHistory ⛓
All you can smell is blood. All you can hear is the clanking of chains, shrieking men, and the chanting:
All you can smell is blood. All you can hear is the clanking of chains, shrieking men, and the chanting:
“Kill niggers, kill all you can. For they don’t have the right to live like men!”
Brutality had been brewing in Attica Prison for months, until violence boiled to the surface on September 9, 1971 and the prison became the site of a massive revolt.
The hot frying oil sizzled as the fallen potato slice hardened. Her heart tightened in her chest – this mistake could cost them their jobs! Instead, what happened next spawned an industry that impacted the world. So why don’t we know their names? #PushBlack #BlackHistory 🥔
Kate Wicks shrieked as the thin potato slices accidentally fell into the frying oil. They could be fired if anyone found out about their mistake! Not only that, an angry customer had sent back his order, saying his fries were too thick! What should they do?
She and her brother, George Crum, had no choice but to serve the accidentally-thin, crisp slices of fried potatoes to the customer. That mistake would end up having monumental consequences.
This sea captain was the first to voluntarily sail a group of eager Black folks back to Africa. But in a matter of months, the dream would die – and so would he. #PushBlack #BlackHistory ⚓️
Massachusetts sea captain Paul Cuffee confronted problems head-on.
In 1812, he was accused of violating a trade embargo with Great Britain and their new colony Sierra Leone. When his ship was seized, he took the matter up with President James Madison himself.
In 1812, he was accused of violating a trade embargo with Great Britain and their new colony Sierra Leone. When his ship was seized, he took the matter up with President James Madison himself.
Madison returned Cuffee’s property, but was captivated by one particular radical idea. Cuffee planned to sail to and resettle free Black folks in Sierra Leone, a country already populated by Black Revolutionary War veterans.
