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.

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.

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.

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.

⚠️ 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: “Kill niggers, kill all you can. For they don’t have the right to live like men!”

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?

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.

Happy #WomensHistoryMonth! This March, we're excited to bring to you all "Pull Up a Chair - Black Womxn are Speaking!" a FB Live series centered around authenticity and celebration of Black womxnhood. RSVP here fb.me/e/1b4HG4mQg to join us for part one TOMORROW at 7 pm ET The event will be hosted by our amazing 2020 fellows! In true Shirley Chisholm fashion, we invite you to "pull up a chair," and experience five women that are making their table in 2021! And to follow our fellows on social media to keep up with their fantastic work 👇🏿:

Henrietta Lacks was a poor tobacco farmer from Virginia who died from aggressive cervical cancer in 1951. After her death, doctors harvested her cells at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital without her consent or her family’s knowledge.