Black women are routinely erased from public memory and historical narratives of resistance.
Black women powered the civil rights movement, but rarely became its stars. #InternationalWomensDay
A THREAD!
Aunt Polly Jackson, was an escaped slave who worked as an agent on the Underground Railroad helping others escape.
She was known for fighting off slave catchers with a butcher knife and a kettle of boiling water
Harriet Tubman, the woman who escaped slavery then fought and freed hundreds of slaves.
She reminded us that bravery and refusal to accept injustice can change history.
Sojourner Truth was an evangelist, abolitionist, women’s rights activist and author who was born into slavery before escaping to freedom in 1826. After gaining her freedom, Truth preached about abolitionism and equal rights for all
A statue of La Mûlatresse Solitude, who in 1802, helpled lead a slave revolt while EIGHT Months pregnant in Guadeloupe.
She became a martyr and symbol for all women and mothers who against all odds defended the ideals of freedom and equality.
Queen Nanny Of The Maroons: Ashanti Woman who Fought And Freed Over 1,000 Enslaved Africans In Jamaica.
By the early 70s, women made up the majority of members in the US Black Panther Party.
Mae Mallory was an activist during the Civil Rights Movement and a leader in the Black Power movement. Mallory was most-known as an advocate of following desegregation and Black armed self-defense.
Claudia Jones; Journalist and activist. Author of the seminal piece 'Ending the Neglect of Black Women' and original founder of Notting Hill Carnival. Founder of Britain's first major newsletter, the West Indian Gazette
Daisy Bates, civil rights activist and newspaper publisher. Through her newspaper, Bates documented the battle to end segregation in Arkansas
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On this day in 1962, Martin Luther king Jr. was arrested and jailed for holding a prayer vigil in Albany, Georgia.
MLK Jr. Was Arrested 29 Times For These So-Called Crimes. Here are just a few occasions when he was arrested and why,
A THREAD
His First Arrest:
January 26, 1956 — He was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama as part of a “Get Tough” campaign to intimidate the bus boycotters. Four days later, on January 30, his home was bombed.
March 22, 1956 — King, Rosa Parks and more than 100 others were arrested on charges of organizing the Montgomery Bus Boycott in protest of Parks' treatment.
Happy Birthday to Emmett Till. He would've been 83 years old today.
At just 14, two white men kidnapped and brutally murdered him through mutilation for 'whistling' at a white woman.
decades later, Carolyn Bryant admitted to lying that Emmett Till made a pass at her.
THREAD
On 28th August 1955, Emmett Till, 14, was kidnapped and brutally murdered for 'whistling' at a white woman.
His killers, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, allegedly saw Till whistle at a white women at a gas station.
On this day in 1972, Reporters exposed the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment — a secret study to examine the effects of untreated syphilis in Black men.
American medicine has been built upon the abuse of black people with no oversight.
A THREAD!
The Tuskegee syphilis Experiment: It began in 1932. In the syphilis study, doctors were trying to find out more about syphilis test subjects (impoverished African American men), and didn't treat them for syphilis even after they knew penicillin could cure the infection.
The infected men involved in the study were never made aware of their condition upon diagnosis and believed they were being treated for "bad blood".
65 years ago today, jazz musician and singer-songwriter, Billie Holiday died. Rest in Power!
Events leading up to her death.
A THREAD
In 1939, Billie Holiday recorded the first great protest song of the Civil Rights Movement, 'Strange Fruit’ The Chilling Story of Strange Fruit and Billie Holiday.
"Strange Fruit" was originally a poem written by Jewish-American writer, teacher and songwriter Abel Meeropol, under his pseudonym Lewis Allan, as a protest against lynchings and later set it to music.
In 1969, when Black Americans were prevented from swimming alongside whites, Mr. Rogers decided to invite officer Clemmons to join him and cool his feet in a pool, breaking a well known color barrier.
Breaking Color Barriers.
A THREAD!
Bill Robinson aka Bojangles wasn't allowed to hold Shirley Temple's hand while filming the stair scene in the movie, "The Little Colonel." She insisted anyway and grabbed his hand during the act becoming the first time where an integrated couple was filmed dancing together.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Elanor Roosevelt invited Marian Anderson to sing at National Mall in front of thousands and on the radio to millions of listeners after being denied a stage with the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) because she was black.
Everyone knows Lewis & Clark, but did you know that there was a black man who was also part of the expedition?
As he was enslaved by William Clark, he participated as a full member of the expedition & was present when the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean.
A THREAD
What’s the Lewis and Clark Expedition?
It was an expedition, led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark, during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, to explore the American Northwest, newly purchased from France. (Louisiana Purchase).
His name was York and thus he became the first black man to cross the North American continent.