Harder They Fall cast real life figures.

A Thread!

Jonathan Majors as Nat Love

Majors leads the cast as the heroic Nat Love, who was a real cowboy born in Tennessee in 1854. Known as "Deadwood Dick"

Nate earned that nickname after winning a rodeo in South Dakota. He moved to the West when he was 16 to herd cattle. He released an autobiography in 1907 called, Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as 'Deadwood Dick,' by Himself.

One in every four cowboys was believed to be a Black man released from slavery despite the stories told in popular books and movies although the most famous cowboys of the old west were white.

THREAD Many of the enslaved african men were familiar with cattle herding from Africa.

a highlight of some famous black cowboys:

Today we honour the memories of all the lives lost on this day in 1960, when white police in apartheid South Africa killed over 80 black people and wounded 186 on what is known as the Sharpville Massacre.

-thread- The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on 21st March, 1960, in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa. It resulted in the largest number of South African deaths(up to that point) in a protest against apartheid.

On this day in 1916, Ota Benga, an African native who suffered inhumane treatment by being kept in a zoo, committed suicide.

He had been kidnapped in 1904 from Congo, and taken to America and exhibited at the Bronx Zoo with monkeys.

A THREAD! He was born around 1883, part of the Mbuti tribe who lived in the Republic of Congo. Theirs was a hunter-gatherer society, and they lived deep in the forest.

A sundown or sunset town was a town, city, or neighborhood in the US that excluded non-whites after dark.

The term sundown came from the signs that were posted stating that people of color had to leave the town by sundown.

A THREAD! In most cases, signs were placed at the town's borders which read: “Stranger/Negro, Don't Let the Sun Set On You Here." The exclusion was official town policy or through restrictive covenants agreed to by the real estate agents of the community.

32 years ago today, Latasha Harlins,15, was fatally shot by a Korean shop owner, Soon Ja Du, over a bottle of orange juice, it became a major spark for the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.

thread On March 16, 1991 Latasha Harlin’s short life came to a violent end in the midst of racial tensions in Los Angeles, California, and became a major spark for the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.

Did you know Sesame Street was originally created for black and brown inner city kids?

A THREAD Children usually spend a lot of time watching a lot tv and technically it was sort of a babysitter. It was even worse for inner city children whose parents spent endless hours at work, thus their kids were usually exposed to long hours of mindless programs.

On this day in 1913, Harriet Tubman died. The woman who escaped slavery then fought and freed thousands of slaves.

"I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves." —Harriet Tubman

Rest in Power. Harriet Tubman also had a disability, narcolepsy.

She sustained a head injury at the hands of a slave owner when she was young and that injury resulted in some life-long health problems.

“fuck it, i’ll do it!” —black women

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

Sarah Breedlove known as Madam C.J Walker was the first black woman to become a self-made millionaire. She developed a successful line of beauty and hair products for black women.

Black Women who have made their mark on History. #InternationalWomensDay

A THREAD! Sister Rosetta Tharpe is credited as the Godmother of Rock ‘N’ Roll. Before Elvis, Johnny Cash or Little Richard, there was Sister Tharpe- A Black woman who forged her own sound in a male dominated industry.
She does not get the credit she deserves.

On this day in 1959, 69 black boys were padlocked in their dormitory at school and it was then set on fire.

21 burnt to death while 48 managed to escape.

A THREAD. On March 5th, 1959, 69 African American boys, ages 13 to 17, were padlocked in their dormitory for the night at the Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville. Around 4 a.m., a fire mysteriously ignited, forcing the boys to fight and claw their way out of the burning building.

On this day in 1902, Sarah Rector was born.

Sarah became a multi-millionare oil baron and the richest black child at just 12 years old.

She was so rich that Oklahoma legislature legally declared her to be a white person.  

A THREAD! Sarah Rector was born in 1902 in Oklahoma to Joseph Rector & Rose McQueen. They were African descendants of the Creek Nation Creek Indians before the Civil war which became part of the Creek Nation after the Treaty of 1866.

Sally Hemings, the woman Thomas Jefferson enslaved.

She was called his "mistress," but how can you be a mistress when you were enslaved, a child, and could not consent? Had absolutely no choice?

A THREAD Sally Hemings was born into slavery in Virginia. After the death of their master, Hemings family was inherited by the daughter of their master, Martha, who had married Thomas Jefferson and lived in Monticello.

The 'Real Life Mulan', Cathay Williams.

Cathay had to pose as a MALE to be enlisted as a union soldier during her time. She was part of the 38 Regiment Infantry Division and was called a Buffalo Soldier!

A THREAD Cathay was born and enslaved in 1850 in Jackson County, Missouri. In September 1861 Union troops impressed Cathay and she joined the Army to work as a cook and washerwoman for Union Army officers.

100 years ago, in 1923, a lie by a white woman that she’d been sexually assaulted by a black man, led to the destruction of the predominantly African American town of Rosewood, Florida, thus the Rosewood Massacre. #BlackHistoryMonth

A THREAD Rosewood was a quiet, self-sufficient town in Florida. By 1900 the population in Rosewood had become predominantly African-American. Some people farmed or worked in local businesses, including a sawmill in nearby predominantly white town.

How Slavery continued after the 13th amendment ‘abolished slavery’

A THREAD!

In 1866, a year after the amendment was ratified, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina began to lease out convicts for labor. This made the business of arresting black people very lucrative, thus hundreds of white men were hired by these states as police officers.

Their primary responsibility being to search out and arrest black peoples who were in violation of ‘Black Codes’

James Hemings, brother to Sally Hemings was the first American to train as a chef in France. He was enslaved by Thomas Jefferson at 8.

The Chef de cuisine is the reason macaroni and cheese made it to America. #BlackHistoryMonth

A THREAD! James Hemings was born in 1765 into slavery and lived much of his life enslaved. He was among the many enslaved people who came into Thomas Jefferson's possession through his wife's inheritance.

Job Maseko, a WW2 hero, sank a NAZI ship with a bomb made from a tin can with condensed milk. He was denied the highest military decoration, due to his race. #BlackHistoryMonth

A THREAD! Job Maseko, a WW2 hero, sank a NAZI ship with a bomb made from a tin can with condensed milk. He was denied the highest military decoration, due to his race. #BlackHistoryMonth

A THREAD!

19 year old Frank Embree was tortured, castrated, skinned and then lynched in front of a cheering crowd, for a crime he didn’t commit in 1899. Though published photographs clearly depicted the faces of his assailants, no one was ever arrested. BlackHistorymonth

A THREAD! On the morning of July 22, 1899, a white mob abducted Frank from officers transporting him to stand trial. He had been arrested roughly a month earlier, accused of assaulting a young white girl.

Eatonville was the first all-Black city that was incorporated in Florida in 1887, located 6 miles north of Orlando.

It's the oldest black incorporated municipality in the U.S. It is the first town successfully established by African American freedmen. #BlackHistorymonth

THREAD! The founding of this town stands as an enormous achievement for once enslaved black men and women. Having to live life being considered inferior to the white majority, African Americans finally found some freedom for themselves in Eatonville.

Scottsboro Boys were 9 black teenagers falsely accused in 1931 of raping 2 white women on a train and an all white jury found them guilty. They collectively served more than 100 years in prison.

The right of blacks to serve on juries was established by their case.

A THREAD On March 25, 1931, nine African American teenagers were accused of raping two white women, Victoria and Ruby, aboard a Southern Railroad freight train in northern Alabama.