Saturday, November 25, 2006
Change.
-- Jesse Jackson, minister and activist
Today in Black History

National Negro Medical Association founded.
Great African Americans

Seale joined the African American Association in college and this is said to have inspired him to start the Black Panthers, which at one point had over 2000 members. Seale went on to become the chairman of the party and underwent FBI surveillance as part of its COINTELPRO program. He was one of the original Chicago Eight defendants charged with conspiracy and inciting to riot, in the wake of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, in Chicago. Judge Julius Hoffman sentenced him to four years of imprisonment for contempt of court because of his outbursts, and eventually ordered Seale severed from the case, hence the "Chicago Seven." During one of the court trials Bobby Seale's many outbursts led the judge to have him bound and gagged, as commemorated in the song Chicago written by Graham Nash.
Seale was also tried in 1970 in the New Haven Black Panther trials for the murder of Alex Rackley and acquitted by a hung jury. The trials were widely decried as an example of political repression by such relative moderates as Yale University president Kingman Brewster, Jr., and were accompanied by a large demonstration in New Haven, Connecticut, on May Day, 1970, which coincided with the beginning of the US college student strike of May, 1970.
In 2002, he began dedicating his time to Reach!, a group that focuses on youth education programs.
Today Bobby Seale is popularly known for marketing a line of barbecue products.
Moments in Black History
Hoover's involvement with the Black Panther Party came as the party began to gain prominence during 1967 & 68. As COINTELPRO had been established in 1956 to police "political radicals" within the United States, focus and pressure now came onto the Black Panther Party. On June 15, 1969, J. Edgar Hoover declared, "the Black Panther Party, without question, represents the greatest threat to internal security of the country"; he pledged that 1969 would be the last year of the Party's existence.
As Roger states in the film (A Huey P. Newton Story), "if you read the FBI files you will see that even Mr. J. Edgar Hoover himself had to say that it was not the guns that were the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States of America; it was not the guns, it was the Free Children's Breakfast Program that was the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States of America. Grits. Now why was it the Free Children's Breakfast Program? It was the Free Children's Breakfast Program because the Free Children's Breakfast Program engendered a certain following on the Black community's part, a certain respect on the Black community's part. I mean, nobody can argue with free grits. So Hoover saw it as a kind of, he saw the Free Children's Breakfast Program as a kind of, what's the word he used? He said it was a kind of, look in the file, you'll see, he said it was a kind of infiltration. That's ridiculous isn't it? Infiltration? How are Black people, who are born and raised in the Black community, who live and work in the Black community, going to infiltrate their own Black community? If anybody's infiltrating I think its J. Edgar Hoover.
Source
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
KKKramer!
One of the worst sites on the internet
www.blackpeopleloveus.com/
Now normally I wouldn't want to link my page to something like this but I have to put it out there. This is one of the worst sites I have come across. It is not funny, in fact I am slightly offended (I say slightly because being completely offended would mean that I cared about this site). View it if you would like to see what is not appropriate.
A Great People
Today in Black History

1855
A Convention of California Blacks meet in Sacramento.
1865
Shaw University founded in Raleigh NC.
1893
Granville T. Woods patents an electric railway conduit.
1904
Tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins is born in St. Joseph, MO, he will record "Body and Soul"
1944
Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, who will be noted for his electrifying basketball style, is born in Philadelphia, PA. He will be selected by the Baltimore Bullets in the first round of the 1967 NBA Draft and traded to the New York Knicks in 1971.
1962
Bowler George Branham, who will be the first Black to win the Professional Bowlers Association title, is born in Detroit.
Monday, November 20, 2006
They are thinking about it?!?
British Government thinks about saying slavery was regretable
Press Association
Friday September 22, 2006
The Guardian
The government is considering issuing a statement of regret for the slave trade on the 200th anniversary of its abolition. Commemorations are to be held across the UK on March 25, two centuries after the passing of an 1807 parliamentary bill outlawing the trade in the British empire. The deputy prime minister, John Prescott, ruled out a formal apology for Britain's part in slavery earlier this year. But he will chair a meeting next month of the advisory committee overseeing preparations for the commemoration, at which proposals for a statement of regret are expected to be discussed.http://www.guardian.co.uk/humanrigh...1878270,00.html
Our Certain Unalienable Rights
Today In Black History

November 20
1923
Garrett Morgan invented and patented the traffic signal,
Garrett Augustus Morgan (March 4, 1877, Paris, Kentucky - August 27, 1963, Cleveland, Ohio) was an African American inventor who originated a respiratory protective hood (although many people said it is a myth), invented a hair-straightening preparation and patented a type of traffic signal. He is renowned for a heroic rescue in which he used his hood to save workers trapped in a tunnel system filled with fumes.
1865
Howard University founded in Washington DC