The Goddess Professor Speaks

Today and tomorrow mark a week since the Lebanon and Paris attacks , respectively. Syrian refugees have been fleeing their homeland for the better part of four years now though many people just recently started paying attention to the Syrian Refugee Crisis , and now that they are  paying attention, the idiot ideas are flying. One of the most atrocious ideas to be proposed is that we round up the Syrians and put them away in internment camps like we did Japanese-Americans during WII. The letter essentially suggests that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had it right when we did that.  I suppose this mayor of Roanoke, VA doesn't quite understand that pretty much everyone views that decision to lock up American citizens who happened to look  like the same people who attacked Pearl Harbor as a reprehensible and overall bad idea. (Granted, the idea was supported at the time, but hindsight is 20/20.) I guess he missed that day in History class. I guess the mayor and othe...

March is Women's History Month! I intend to celebrate as best I can, by doing what I do--writing and discussing. My celebration of history and knowledge began in earnest last month in my attempt to celebrate and Remember the Past in a series of blog posts about the lives and contributions of Black Americans to the growth of this nation. (Click the links to the right under February 2015 for the posts.) I intended to write a post a day, but life got in the way. As much as I wanted to write daily and share my knowledge about history, esp. Black History, there are just so many hours in the day and job, kids, husband, grading, sleeping, decompressing from life usurped my extra writing time. So, instead of attempting to blog daily, I'll just do what I can. This month I turn to women contributions. Rather than focusing solely on history, I'll focus on women in general and the stories, the history, the contributions, the issues... all of it. But also note that in light of ...

The stage after the assassination. The circles are bullet holes. Fifty years ago today, Brother Minister Malcolm X stood before a crowded room in the Audubon Theatre and Ballroom to speak. Some time after he began speaking, someone yelled, "Nigger, get your hand out my pocket." A ruckus began, the bodyguards moved towards the commotion and in the distraction and confusion, several assassins approached the podium and shot down Brother Minister Malcolm X. In my plans to blog about lesser known Black Americans and their contributions, Malcolm X doesn't quite fit squarely into that category. He's well known. People know his name even if they aren't really sure what he stood for. There's a movie about his life. He's often held up in contrast to Dr. Martin L. King. Although he's not considered a "safe negro" like the other blacks who are discussed ad naseum year after year in attempts to "honor" February and Black History Month, h...

Recently, I read an article that claimed that Alberta King (Dr. Martin Luther King's mother) was assassinated too. She was shot by a mentally unstable person while playing the organ at her church. While this information is incorrect (yes, she was murdered but not assassinated), the larger point of the article was that despite the author's parents purposely ensuring that he was well acquainted with Black Historical figures, by and large, the activists were men and the women were mostly artists--writers, poets, playwrights, singers, etc. In working on this series of Remember the Past posts, I'm recalling all sorts of history lessons I was fortunate to receive throughout my youth. As I read that article, I realized that my lessons were not painted in that way so that the activists and fighters were mostly men and the women were in essence, the artsy supporting roles. From age 6 until 15 (with a few years absence), I was fortunate enough to participate in a play at my church...

I recently watched this video of Samuel L. Jackson describing his childhood in Chattanooga, TN. In this video, Jackson recalls going to work with his grandfather as a child and his grandfather being called "boy" by the white men who worked in the real estate office his grandfather cleaned. His grandfather called them "Mr" So-and-so, but they called his grandfather "boy." His grandfather also scolded Jackson about looking the men in their eyes when he talked with them and frequently asking them questions.  Conversing with and asking questions of whites wasn't something blacks were allowed to do. Even as a child, Jackson realized there was something odd about the dynamic between the two sets of men. The white men were called "mister" by his grandfather (and other blacks) while the white men were allowed to call the black men "boy." Boy. Mister. I've heard my own tales of the word "boy" my whole life. My own fat...

Family illnesses and life falling down around me has delayed my posts. Goodness have I got to catch up!  In the meantime, allow this next Remember the Past post to introduce you to Henrietta Lacks: The Unwitting Mother of Immortal Cells Thanks to efforts of writers, some  scientists, some  doctors, and Mrs. Lacks family after  they found out, Henrietta Lacks now receives the proper acknowledgement that she deserves. In life , Lacks was sadly not much different from other people of her era--lots of siblings, married young, produced lots of babies, died of illness at a young age. However, in death , although completely unknown to her family for TWENTY years after her death, Lacks' cells (taken from her without her knowledge or permission by George Otto Gey) would become the first human immortal cell line for medical research: HeLa Cells. Lacks grew up in the shadows of slavery in Virginia. After her mother died in 1924, her father parceled Lacks and h...

Yes, I'm a day behind, but here's to it... I dedicate this post to my wonderful, brilliant niece who might  be taking a new interest in history, and that makes me even prouder on so many levels. Today, I'll introduce you to Les Gens de Couleur Libres (The Free People of Color). Free Women of Color with their Children and Servants in a Landscape Painting by Agostino Brunias Some years back, a cousin asked had I seen the film Feast of All Saints.  I had not. She proceeded to tell me of the plot of the movie wherein the Les Gens de Couleur Libres--the Free People of Color-- living in New Orleans were an entire class of people living in the slave state of Louisiana before  the Civil War ended.  My mind was blown. I'd never heard of these people. I was mad that I had not, but I instantly wanted to know all I could. Growing up, I always knew there were Blacks scattered throughout the country prior to 1863 and 1865 who were free through various means--buying t...