Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

0 “So Good They Can’t Ignore You,” A Book Review

“So Good They Can’t Ignore You,” A Book Review

“Follow your passion” is not good advice, according to author/academic Cal Newport, yet this simple phrase has become the go-to career advice given to those trying to figure out what to do with their life. In ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You love,’ Newport lays out a solid plan for achieving real satisfaction from and passion for the work that you do.


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0 Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation Scholarship Opportunity – Please Hurry

Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation Scholarship Opportunity – Please Hurry

Think what you will of Jay Z, but he is providing a wonderful service for deserving students all over America. Please share this information with everyone you know, as you never know who you may be helping. Some of the lost in our society discussed so much on this blog are some of the very ones who can benefit from this information.


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61 You Think You Had it Rough?! Check Out This WWII Swirl Couple

You Think You Had it Rough?! Check Out This WWII Swirl Couple

After reading this, no should should be complaining about how hard it is to swirl…


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11 Blerds Gather Round: Come Hither The Nation’s First African American Newspaper

Blerds Gather Round: Come Hither The Nation’s First African American Newspaper

Y’all are working my pleasant attitude and so I do to you what I do to humans when I need to pretend that you aren’t here.


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25 Swirling in History Special – Colonial Swirl on Canvas!

Swirling in History Special – Colonial Swirl on Canvas!

It is no secret that black women have always been desired for marriage by men of all races for centuries. I am always looking for images whether photographs or oil canvas like these Casta paintings. These are gems of black women of various shades with white males. I only found a few of these fascinting art and history collections. So if you know of any more, please add the links. I have included credits when available as these portraits all came from the Internet. My focus is black woman interracial unions, not the names of the offspring they produced. By today’s standards the children of such unions would simply be biracial or multiracial, not assigned to some one drop, racist label.


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8 Swirling in History Part Nine: Anna Kingsley

Swirling in History Part Nine: Anna Kingsley

Anta Majigeen Ndiaye or Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley was not always the free Senegalese woman who eventually became a plantation and slave owner. At 18 years old, her owner Zephaniah Kingsley, one of the most powerful men in Florida freed the 18 year-old woman mother of his 3 children and married her. As Florida was under Spanish colonial rule where manumission laws were more liberal than American. Her husband saw slavery as a temporary condition related to economics more than race. Anna learned to operate the plantations as effective as Zephaniah.


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28 Swirling in History Oscar Night!

Swirling in History Oscar Night!

Eletha Finch was so gracious and humble accepting her late husband, Peter Finch’s Oscar. It is logical that the widow of an actor should accept any award in honor of her husband (or vice versa). But in 1977, race definitely was a factor in Eletha NOT being asked to accept the award on her husband’s behalf.


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21 Swirling in History Part Seven: Mahala Lynch Davis

Swirling in History Part Seven: Mahala Lynch Davis

Mahala Lynch Davis, married her former slave owner Isaac P. Davis in 1857. On the right is their daughter Martha Davis Wilson (b. 1848) holding her baby Julia Wilson (Car). Davis freed Mahala and then married her moving from his former Virginia plantation to Chilicothe, southern Ohio.


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15 Monogamy Isn’t A Condom: What You Don’t Know <em>Can</em> Hurt You!

Monogamy Isn’t A Condom: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You!

It isn’t enough to pretend that your being with one guy is enough to save your life and your womb. Because it’s not. Get tested often, and always use protection. Monogamy isn’t a condom.


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19 Swirling and History Part Six: Lucy Parsons

Swirling and History Part Six: Lucy Parsons

Albert (1858-1887) and Lucy Parsons (1853-1942 were from Texas where Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons was born into slavery in Texas. She met Albert and they married. They moved to Chicago due to threats from the KKK during Reconstruction.


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40 Swirling in History Part Four: Ada Copeland King

Swirling in History Part Four: Ada Copeland King

Can you imagine? A white man passed for black so he could marry the love of his life.


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7 Swirling in History Part Three:  Lucinda and George Stevens

Swirling in History Part Three: Lucinda and George Stevens

This union happened BEFORE interracial marriage was outlawed in Utah.


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36 Swirling in History Part Two: Mattie Bell Castner and Mattie Byers Novotny Welch

Swirling in History Part Two: Mattie Bell Castner and Mattie Byers Novotny Welch

This is the second and third stories of former slaves who moved to and married interracially in Montana. Mattie Bell Castner is the called “The Mother of Belt, Montana.”


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27 Heard of  Dorothy Counts? Talk about Epic School Bullying!

Heard of Dorothy Counts? Talk about Epic School Bullying!

Dorothy Counts was one of 4 black students selected to integrate all white schools in Charlotte, North Carolina.


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14 Who Came Before Rosa Parks?

Who Came Before Rosa Parks?

Elizabeth Jenkins found herself running late for church. Making to the corner of Pearl and Chatham Streets, Elizabeth hailed a horse-drawn streetcar. She didn’t notice if it said “Negroes Allowed In This Car” or not. She was the church organist and had to get to church. She and her companion Sarah Adams were ordered off the car. Miss Adams deboarded but Elizabeth Jennings refused and sparked a series of events that got her thrown off the car tearing and soiling her dress and bonnet. This was actually the second time she had been ordered off of a street car because she was black, so Elizabeth Jennings decided to fight back through the courts.


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