Statement by the Prime Minister on Black History Month

February 1, 2022 -- Ottawa, Ontario -- Source -- https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/state...-black-history-month

Guyana should celebrate black history month. Every black history month I go down to my local Jamaica Association and knock down a plate of curry goat and dall puri.then wash it down further with a can of Grace guava juice.

So that is the only time you does be aware of blacks and their history? Wuh happen you can't eat goat an drink guave juice the other months or you celebrate a different group each month?

@Ali Khan Azad the old Goat posted:

Guyana should celebrate black history month. Every black history month I go down to my local Jamaica Association and knock down a plate of curry goat and dall puri.then wash it down further with a can of Grace guava juice.

You are what you eat.

@Ali Khan Azad posted:

Guyana should celebrate black history month. Every black history month I go down to my local Jamaica Association and knock down a plate of curry goat and dall puri.then wash it down further with a can of Grace guava juice.

@Mitwah posted:

You are what you eat.

Eh-eh Mitwah ...

So you are saying that the esteemed one is a goat.

The road to school desegregation

For years, many public schools separated children based on their race. Here’s how that changed so that kids of all races could go to school together.

Six-year-old Ruby Bridges is protected by U.S. deputy marshals as she ends her school day at the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in November 1960.

Photograph by ASSOCIATED PRESS

Six-year-old Ruby Bridges walked up the steps to her new school on November 14, 1960. It was her first day at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ruby’s mother had walked with her, but they weren’t alone

But “separate but equal" wasn’t truly equal—conditions in places meant for Black people were usually much worse than those for white people. For instance, Black schools often had leaking roofs, sagging floors, and windows without glass. They were also overcrowded, with too many students per teacher and not enough desks or books. If books were available, they were old, outdated ones from white schools.

Black families knew that if they wanted their children to have an equal education that these laws needed to change. And the only way to do that was through the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hope for equality

In 1951, eight-year-old Linda Brown was not allowed to attend an all-white elementary school in Topeka, Kansas. Her father, Oliver Brown, did not think this was fair and filed a lawsuit against the Topeka Board of Education.

Around the same time, four other lawsuits challenging school segregation had been filed, so in 1952, the Supreme Court combined all of them into one. The justices would decide once and for all if schools could separate students based on the color of their skin.

Thurgood Marshall—who would later become the first African American Supreme Court justice—represented the five children and their families in a case called Brown vs. Board of Education. He argued that segregation was not equal and was actually harmful to children. The court agreed. On May 17, 1954, every single justice decided that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional, which meant that separating children in public schools by race went against what had been outlined in the U.S. Constitution.

School segregation was now against the law. States were ordered to begin desegregating their public schools. But changes were slow to come.

The Little Rock Nine

Some school districts defied the 1954 order by not integrating immediately or simply doing nothing. Other school boards purposefully delayed integration by years by integrating only one grade each year. Other white parents refused to send their children to integrated schools or held angry protests that were sometimes violent to prevent Black children from registering.

To help move integration along, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) decided to recruit a group of nine Black students to integrate Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The teenagers gathered on September 4, 1957, to enter the school. But the governor had called in the Arkansas National Guard, which blocked them from entering the building.

The story made headlines across America, and many people were outraged that Southern states were still defying the Supreme Court ruling. A few weeks later, on September 25, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered federal troops to escort the students—now known as the Little Rock Nine—into the school. This time the students' integration efforts were successful.

The fight continues

After the Little Rock Nine, more and more Black families courageously started sending their children to all-white schools. It wasn’t an easy decision for parents to make, since kids often faced bullying and loneliness. For instance, Ruby Bridges often sat in class with only her teacher because white parents didn’t want their children in school with a Black student. Even Vice President Kamala Harris was part of a program in 1970 to bus children far from their neighborhoods to integrate schools in Berkeley, California.

Racial inequalities in the nation’s school system still exist today, more than 65 years after the Brown decision. Schools in wealthier, mostly white neighborhoods sometimes have better technology, higher-quality books, and smaller class sizes; schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods with more people of color sometimes have older or broken computers, overcrowded classes, and buildings in need of repair.

But people continue to speak out against these inequalities and fight for equal education for all students. As former President Barack Obama said, “In the years to come, we must continue striving toward equal opportunities for all our children. … Because when children learn and play together, they grow, build, and thrive together.”

Black History Month Series: Guyana Writers of African Ancestry, part one

There are as many ways to celebrate as there are appropriate ways to celebrate. The tenor of Black History Month should be celebrated with books. Here’s a short (but by no way a comprehensive) list of Guyanese works and their authors which could be used to commemorate the above.

Ivan Van Sertima

‘They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America’, written by Ivan Van Sertima, published 1977, was one of those controversial books that stabbed at misconceptions about Africans. Van Sertima knew what he was doing when he set out on that scholarship ‘many people feel a certain kind of happiness when they read my book. A certain kind of shadow lifts. The psyche of blacks is raised. No man who believes his history began with slavery can be a healthy man. If you lift that shadow, you help repair that damage’.
Educator, researcher, critic, writer, poet, Ivan Van Sertima was born in 1935, in Kitty Village, British Guiana. He competed his early schooling in Guyana and entered the world of work as a Press and Broadcasting Officer, Government Information Office. For higher education, Van Sertima attended the London School of Oriental and African Studies, London, England, where he studied African languages and literature and during which time he also he learned to speak Swahili and Hungarian fluently.

Norman E. Cameron

Educationist, mathematician, historian, poet, dramatist, sportsman, cultural activist and social reformer, Norman Eustace Cameron was born in New Amsterdam, Berbice, in 1903, not far from the birthplaces of Edgar Mittleholzer and Wilson Harris. Although Cameron was blessed with a ‘light but pleasant tenor voice’, he was a trailblazer, pioneer and pacesetter. All of this due in no small way to the fact that his father’s great thirst for knowledge rubbed off on him and his mother’s wonderful organising ability grounded in religious tenets was foisted on him.
As a trailblazer, pioneer and pacesetter, Cameron did what had to be done, filling the lacuna in many areas. His magnum opus The Evolution of the Negro a subject shunned by thinkers on the British colonial portion of the world, published while yet in his 20s was one such significant feature of his contribution to society.

Jan Carew

‘The Gentle Revolutionary: Essays in Honour of Jan Carew’ edited by Joy Gleason Carew and Hazel Waters is the book paying tribute to a man who lived and worked in many places, with the singular fixation to right wrongs of discrimination, marginalisation and even gender inequity, fighting the ‘same cause’ by re-writing and righting history.
Carew is best known for his novel ‘Black Midas’, first published 1958. As a cultural historian, he wrote ‘Rape of Paradise’, ‘Moscow is not my Mecca’, ‘Ghosts in my Blood’, ‘Grenada, the Hour will Strike Again’ and ‘Fulcrums of Change’; setting history right, contrary to Euro-centric bias designs previously forced upon us.

O. R. Dathorne

Dathorne is better known for his novels ‘Dumplings in the Soup’, and ‘The Scholar-Man’, describing the academic world in Africa but he also published academic works including the following:

‘The Black Mind: A History of African Literature’, University of Minnesota Press, 1974.
‘African Literature in the Twentieth Century’, University of Minnesota Press, 1976.
‘Dark Ancestor: The Literature of the Black Man in the Caribbean’, Louisiana State University Press, 1981.

Beryl Gilroy
Writer and educator, Beryl Gilroy was born in 1924, in Springlands, Berbice, Guyana, later becoming the first black head teacher in Britain.
Beryl Gilroy who gained her doctorate in counselling and ethno-psychology wrote two historical fiction books ‘Steadman and Joanna’(1991) explored the history of the Caribbean and the African Diaspora in the period of slavery and ‘Inkle and Yarico’ 1996. Gilroy is better known for her novel, ‘Black Teacher’.

In part two, we would take a look at the works of contemporary Guyanese writers of African ancestry who are still at work.

Black History Month Series: Guyanese Writers of African Ancestry, part two

February 22, 2019 TIMES INT'  - Source -- Guyana Times International https://www.guyanatimesinterna...n-ancestry-part-two/

(Part one featured Ivan Van Sertima, N. E. Cameron, Jan Carew, O. R. Dathorne and Beryl Gilroy. Part two features another five names.)

There are as many ways to celebrate as there are appropriate ways to celebrate. The tenor of Black History Month should be celebrated with books. Here’s a short (but in no way a comprehensive) list of Guyanese works and their authors which could be used to commemorate the above.

Egbert Martin
Egbert Martin was a remarkable writer on many fronts. His was a short life of less than thirty years, most of it lived from a sick bed, but he managed to write and publish a significant amount of poetry, songs and some short stories.
His first poems were published when he was only nineteen. His first collection of poems, Leo’s Poetical Works, was published in 1883, when he was only twenty two.
His second collection of poems, Leo’s Local Lyrics, was published in 1886, laying claim to the honour as the first collection of poems to be published locally by a Guyanese writer. Another first for Martin was that he was the first Guyanese to publish a collection of short stories. That collection, Scriptology, was published in 1885. That collection was lost but recently recovered, credit going to Manu Chander who is in Guyana at the moment and David Dabydeen.

Walter MacArthur Lawrence
He gave us ‘Oh, Beautiful Guyana’, and ‘My Guyana, El Dorado’ among other significant patriotic songs. In 1920, the Daily Chronicle published his first poem, commemorating the arrival in the colony of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales.
In 1929, he published ‘Meditations’ with a subtitle ‘Thoughts in the Silence’, solidifying his position on the landscape of Guyanese literature.
Two years later, in 1931, Lawrence produced ‘Threnody’, a song of lamentation for his dead son, exploring trauma as part of his heritage – a healing poem. The following year, 1932, his ‘delightfully nostalgic’ poem ‘Unreclaimed’ was published in the Chronicle Christmas Annual.
The 1930s was definitely the most notable of Lawrence’s short life. During this period, his poetic output was remarkable – long sentences and very long poems in Greek and Latin traditions, examples in titles of poems like ‘Threnody’, and ‘Meromi’. In ‘Meromi’, Lawrence displayed an uncommon gift of telling a story in verse, matching Keats’ ‘Isabella’, Tennyson’s ‘Princess’ and Egbert Martin’s ‘Ruth’. Also in ‘Meromi’, he employed a technique that has become quite useful in Caribbean poetry – borrowing and modifying; he transposed a local heroine into the Garden of Eden.

Eric Walrond
Eric Walrond was expected to write the Great Negro Book – a grave responsibility. How come a black person in the early 20th century from a little known country was strapped with such a responsibility? Walrond’s life was one of paradoxes engendered by his writings. He gravitated to the editorship of ‘New World’ after he won a fiction contest sponsored by Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (U. N. I. A.) for his piece, ‘A Senator’s Memoirs’. Later he fell from grace when he penned, ‘Imperator Africanus, Marcus Garvey: Menace or Promise?’
But it was the publication in 1926 of his short story collection, ‘Tropic Death’, which brought him to prominence. ‘Tropic Death’ was valued alongside ‘The Quest of the Silver Fleece’ by W. E. B. Du Bois, ‘The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man’ by James W. Johnson and ‘Harlem Shadow’ by Claude McKay. The other notable writers at that time supporting the Harlem Resistance included Marcus Garvey, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Zora Neale Hurston, W. E. B. Du Bois.

E. R. Braithwaite
As it was in the novel, ‘To Sir With Love’ (1959), so it was in the novels, ‘Paid Servant’ (1962), ‘A Kind of Homecoming’ (1962), ‘A Choice of Straws’ (1965), ‘Reluctant Neighbours’ (1972), and ‘Honorary White’ (1975) – E. R. Braithwaite’s poignant exploration of all forms of discrimination especially social conditions of and racial discrimination against Black people. Braithwaite’s frank and crisp use of language endeared the reader to the issues, catapulting many persons to action, improving their condition, righting wrongs. Some responses to his writing were, however, distasteful especially the ban of his books in apartheid South Africa.

Denis Williams
Artist, art historian, archaeologist, anthropologist, biographer and novelist, Denis Williams was born in 1923 in the capital city of Guyana. He lived on three continents at crucial times – times of intellectual upsurge, times of political ferment and times of creativity in arts. Williams was caught up in the action wherever he went, sharpening his perception of the living and the past as reflected in the innovations found in his art, craft and writing – ‘Other Leopards’ and ‘The Third temptation’.

9 ways to celebrate Black History Month in 2022

Black culture is woven through American history in music, literature, food, politics and more. Find new ways to honor Black history this month.

February is Black History Month, a time to honor the essential contributions of Black people in the story of America. National and local events and online celebrations will take place throughout the month to focus attention on Black people's achievements and history.

Since 1976, the US has officially marked the contributions of Black people and celebrated the history and culture of the Black experience in America every February. Read on to learn more about Black History Month and how you can participate.

The story of Black History Month

Born as a sharecropper in 1875, Carter G. Woodson went on to become a teacher and the second African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard. He founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in 1915 and was eventually known as the "father of Black history."

On Feb. 7, 1926, Woodson announced the creation of "Negro History Week" to encourage and expand the teaching of Black history in schools. He selected February because the month marks the birthday of the two most famous abolitionists of the time -- Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Feb. 1 is also National Freedom Day, a celebration of the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the US.

By the 1940s, schools in Woodson's home state of West Virginia had begun expanding the celebration to a month, and by the 1960s, demands for proper Black history education spread across the country. Kent State's Black United Students proposed the idea of a Black History month in 1969 and celebrated the first event in February 1970. President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976 during the US bicentennial.

The excellent history site BlackPast has a full biography of Carter Woodson and the origins of Black History Month.

Visit a Black or African American history museum

Almost every state in the US has a Black history museum or African American heritage site. The country's first and oldest is the Hampton University Museum in Hampton, Virginia. Like many other museums, it offers a virtual tour and online exhibits.

One of the most famous of these museums is the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. The museum, which is located steps away from where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, allows you to sit with Rosa Parks on the bus that inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, among many other powerful exhibits.

African-American heritage sites include historic parks and other significant locations and monuments in Black history. Some of the most popular include Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, the epicenter of US school desegregation. You could also consider visiting the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta.

If there's no museum or heritage site near you, keep an eye out for the Black History Mobile Museum, which traverses the country all February and through early summer.

Learn about Black music history by listening online

From spirituals and blues to the rise of jazz, R&B and hip hop, Black music has been entwined with American culture for centuries.

There are lots of ways to learn about and experience the power of Black American music online. One of the most extensive and free resources is the Black Music History Library, created by Jenzia Burgos. The compendium includes an array of Black music sources, with links to music samples, full recordings and interviews, as well as books and articles.

Another remarkable Black music website is the #312 Soul project. Originally launched as a month-long series on Chicago's Black music from 1955 to 1990, the site adds original stories from Chicago residents about their personal experiences creating and enjoying Black music.

For snapshots of Black music between 1982 and 1999, check out the Hip Hop Radio Archive, a collection of radio show recordings from commercial, college and independent hip-hop stations. Of particular note are classic radio shows from New York City's WBLS, featuring Rap Attack with Marley Marl and Mr. Magic.

Online streaming music services also curate collections for Black History Month -- Spotify has an extensive collection of Black music in its Black History is Now collection. Tidal and Amazon Music also include special Black music collections on their services.

Support Black-owned businesses and restaurants

Becoming a customer of local Black businesses helps protect livelihoods and supports Black entrepreneurs.

If you aren't sure which businesses in your area are owned and operated by your Black neighbors, several resources can help. Start off by learning how to find Black-owned restaurants where you live.

Several directories have now been created to highlight and promote Black businesses. Official Black Wall Street is one of the original services that list businesses owned by members of the Black community.

Support Black Owned uses a simple search tool to help you find Black businesses, Shop Black Owned is an open-source tool operating in eight US cities, and EatOkra specifically helps people find Black-owned restaurants. Also, We Buy Black offers an online marketplace for Black businesses.

The online boutique Etsy highlights Black-owned vendors on its website -- many of these shop owners are women selling jewelry and unique art pieces. And if you're searching for make-up or hair products, check CNET's own list of Black-owned beauty brands.

Donate to Black organizations and charities

Donating money to a charity is an important way to support a movement or group, and your monetary contribution can help fund programs and pay for legal costs and salaries that keep an organization afloat. Your employer may agree to match employee donations, which would double the size of your contribution -- ask your HR department.

Nonprofit organizations require reliable, year-round funding to do their work. Rather than a lump sum, consider a monthly donation. Even if the amount seems small, your donation combined with others can help provide a steady stream of funds that allows programs to operate.

Here are some non-profit organizations advancing Black rights and equal justice and supporting Black youth:

Attend local Black History Month events

Many cities, schools, and local organizations will host events celebrating Black History Month in February 2022.  Check your local newspaper or city website to see what events are happening in your area -- for example, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Baltimore, Seattle and Louisville, Kentucky, have extensive events planned this month.

If you can't find anything in your area or don't want to attend events in person, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, is offering online Black History Month events nearly every day in February.

Watch Black history documentaries and movies

You can find movies and documentaries exploring the Black experience right now on Netflix, Disney Plus and other streaming services.

The CNET staff has compiled a selection of feature films and documentaries for Black History Month 2022, including the wonderful Summer of Soul and Black is King. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu all have special collections of streaming movies and shows for Black History Month.

PBS also offers several free video documentary collections, which include smaller chunks of Black history for all ages. The collections include subjects like the Freedom Riders, the 1963 March on Washington and the Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.

Find Black authors and stories for yourself and your children

There are so many great books to read in Black History Month, but where to start? Try your local library. Many will have Black History Month collections for both adults and kids.

Libraries will also often have Black History Month book recommendations by age. The San Diego Public Library, the Detroit Public Library and DC Public Library, for example, have programs and collections to browse for adults and children.

Next try Black booksellers. The No Name Book Club, dedicated to amplifying diverse voices, has compiled a list of Black-owned bookshops across the US. The club also highlights two books a month by writers of color -- this February's selections are Salvation by bell hooks and The Nation On No Map by William C. Anderson.

Dive deeper into Black history with online resources

You can find remarkable Black history collections on government, educational and media sites. One of the best is the aforementioned BlackPast, which hosts a large collection of primary documents from African American history, dating back to 1724.

The National Archives also hosts a large collection of records, photos, news articles and videos documenting Black heritage in America. The expansive National Museum of African American History & Culture's Black History Month collection is likewise full of unique articles, videos and learning materials.

Ms. Magazine has honored the 200th birthday of Harriet Tubman with a compilation of articles, verse, photos and other educational resources related to the freedom fighter who became a national icon. Curated by University of Albany professor Janell Hobson, the site will continue to add new material throughout February.

The New York Times' 1619 Project tracks the history of Black Americans from the first arrival of enslaved people in Virginia. The Pulitzer Center hosts the full issue of The 1619 Project as a PDF file on its 1619 Education site, which also offers reading guides, activity lessons and reporting related to the project.

You can buy The 1619 Project and the children's picture book version -- The 1619 Project: Born on the Water -- as printed books or donate a copy of The 1619 Project to a school or organization.

Photo: Dudley M. Brooks/The The Washington Post via Getty Images

In 1955, a Black woman refused to yield her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was removed from the bus and arrested, her ordeal sparking legal action that led to the end of Alabama's segregated bus laws and enabled a widespread civil rights movement to pick up steam.

You may think you know the story, but this one isn't about Rosa Parks — it's about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old who made a stand against entrenched segregation nine months before Parks did, but saw her shining moment eclipsed as other narratives of the era took root in the public consciousness.

Colvin sought to counter racial injustice at an early age

Born in September 1939, Colvin was raised by her great-aunt and uncle in rural Pine Level, Alabama, before moving to Montgomery at age 8.

A bright, inquisitive child, she quickly caught on to the racial divisions that were more glaring than they had been in close-knit Pine Level, with the visual and verbal cues apparent throughout the bustling city serving to keep Blacks in their lane.

That didn't mean she was willing to go along with the status quo, however. Colvin was angered by the case of Jeremiah Reeves, an older classmate at Booker T. Washington High School who was indicted in 1952 — and later executed — for allegedly raping a white woman.

Colvin went on to join the NAACP Youth Council and took to flaunting her natural hair in defiance of the pressures to have it straightened. And after getting a lesson on Black heroes like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth in the early weeks of 1955, she was more than ready to make her own mark on history.

She was arrested on the way home from school

On March 2, Colvin was riding the bus home from school when the familiar order came from the driver to vacate a row of seats to accommodate a white woman.

Three of her classmates got up but Colvin didn't budge, informing the two officers who soon boarded that she knew her constitutional rights. They responded by roughly yanking the teen off the bus and handcuffing her in the back of a squad car, subjecting her to lewd comments as they made their way to the city jail.

The urgency of the situation sank in with the heavy sound of her cell door being locked, and Colvin sat alone in her cramped space, crying and praying until her mother and the family pastor arrived to bail her out a few hours later.

Colvin wasn't considered a proper symbol for a city-wide boycott

Colvin's plight caught the attention of local Black leaders, who helped secure the legal representation that led to most of the charges being dropped.

The leaders considered using her example as justification for a city-wide bus boycott, but something wasn't right — she was too young and "emotional" to serve as the rallying figure for what was certain to be a turbulent movement. When it was revealed that Colvin had been impregnated by an older man later that summer, it seemingly confirmed the sentiment that she was the wrong person for the moment.

The "right" person arrived when Parks, a 42-year-old seamstress and NAACP secretary, made headlines for her arrest on December 1, prompting the launch of the Montgomery bus boycott the following day and the national rise of its charismatic leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Claudette Colvin in 2020 -- Photo: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Tory Burch Foundation

She became a plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle

Largely left to handle the fallout of her actions alone in a community that viewed her as a troublemaker, Colvin was pulled back into the fray in early 1956 alongside three other women — Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald and Mary Louise Smith — who experienced similar mistreatment on a bus.

The four were named plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, a federal lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of Montgomery's segregation laws. A three-judge panel ruled in their favor in June, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision in November, a ruling that gave legal teeth to the resistance and ultimately rendered the boycott a success.

Despite her immeasurable contributions to the cause, Colvin continued to find life in Alabama difficult in the years after her fateful bus ride. She moved to New York at the end of the decade and decided to remain there for good after King's assassination in 1968.

Colvin's story remained mostly unknown for decades

An anonymous figure in the massive melting pot of New York City, Colvin worked in a Manhattan nursing home until her retirement in 2004, her neighbors and co-workers mostly oblivious to her history.

That history eventually came out in bits and pieces; New York Governor Mario Cuomo awarded her the MLK Jr. Medal of Freedom in 1990, and in 2009, she was the subject of Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, which won a National Book Award.

Colvin has since told reporters that she understands the politics that made Parks the face of the boycott, though she wonders why more attention hasn't been paid to Browder v. Gayle, the landmark case that set the tone for many of the battles that followed.

With March 2 now known as Claudette Colvin Day in Montgomery, and the city unveiling granite markers to commemorate Colvin and her three co-plaintiffs in late 2019, it seems more recognition is finally coming for the overlooked hero who helped set the wheels of a new era in motion.

Shirley Chisholm

Father from Guyana  -- Mother from Barbados.

============================

Shirley Chisholm

Source -- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shirley-Chisholm

Born:

November 30, 1924 New York City New York

Died:

January 1, 2005 (aged 80) Ormond Beach Florida

Title / Office:

House of Representatives (1969-1983), United States

Founder:

National Women’s Political Caucus

Political Affiliation:

Democratic Party

Shirley Chisholm, née Shirley Anita St. Hill, (born November 30, 1924, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died January 1, 2005, Ormond Beach, Florida), American politician, the first African American woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

Shirley St. Hill was the daughter of immigrants; her father was from British Guiana (now Guyana) and her mother from Barbados. She grew up in Barbados and in her native Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Brooklyn College (B.A., 1946). While teaching nursery school and serving as director of the Friends Day Nursery in Brooklyn, she studied elementary education at Columbia University (M.A., 1952) and married Conrad Q. Chisholm in 1949 (divorced 1977). An education consultant for New York City’s day-care division, she was also active with community and political groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and her district’s Unity Democratic Club. In 1964–68 she represented her Brooklyn district in the New York state legislature.

In 1968 Chisholm was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating the civil rights leader James Farmer. In Congress she quickly became known as a strong liberal who opposed weapons development and the war in Vietnam and favoured full-employment proposals. As a candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president in 1972, she won 152 delegates before withdrawing from the race.

Shirley Chisholm, 1972. -- Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Chisholm, a founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus, supported the Equal Rights Amendment and legalized abortions throughout her congressional career, which lasted from 1969 to 1983. She wrote the autobiographical works Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).

After her retirement from Congress, Chisholm remained active on the lecture circuit. She held the position of Purington Professor at Mount Holyoke College (1983–87) and was a visiting scholar at Spelman College (1985). In 1993 she was invited by President Bill Clinton to serve as ambassador to Jamaica but declined because of poor health. Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.

29 notable African Americans who helped change the world

Black History Month

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) --

Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest interviewed Cicely Tyson about her new memoir, one day before her death.

From activists to entertainers to record-breaking athletes to a postal worker, 6abc shines a spotlight on the contributions of 29 influential African Americans in Philadelphia and beyond as we celebrate Black History Month.

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander | Writer | 1898-1989
A native Philadelphian, Alexander was the first Black woman to receive a Ph.D. in economics in the United States, the first Black woman student to graduate with a law degree from Penn Law School, and the first African-American woman to practice law in Pennsylvania. Alexander's work and views are recorded in speeches kept in the Penn archives. The Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander University of Pennsylvania Partnership School ("Penn Alexander") in West Philly is named after her.

Richard Allen | Minister | 1760-1831
A minister, educator and writer, this Philadelphia native founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first independent Black denomination in the United States. He opened the first AME church in Philly in 1794. Born into slavery, he bought his freedom in the 1780s and joined St. George's Church. Because of seating restrictions placed on Blacks to be confined to the gallery, he left to form his own church. In 1787 he turned an old Blacksmith shop into the first church for Blacks in the United States.

Maya Angelou received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama in 2010. --AP Images

Maya Angelou | Poet | 1928-2014
Angelou was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist with a colorful and troubling past highlighted in her most famous autobiography, "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings". She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies and television shows spanning over 50 years. Her works have been considered a defense and celebration of Black culture.


Arthur Ashe | Tennis Player | 1943-1993
Ashe's resume includes three Grand Slam titles and the title of the first Black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only Black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. In July 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack while holding a tennis clinic in New York. His high profile drew attention to his condition, specifically to the hereditary aspect of heart disease. In 1992, Ashe was diagnosed with HIV; he and his doctors believed he contracted the virus from blood transfusions he received during his second heart surgery. After Ashe went public with his illness, he founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS, working to raise awareness about the disease and advocated teaching safe sex education. On June 20, 1993, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

James Baldwin | American novelist | 1924-1987
Baldwin was an American novelist, playwright and activist, most notably known for "Notes of a Native Son", "The Fire Next Time" and "The Devil Find's Work". One of his novels, If Beale Street Could Talk, was adapted into an Academy Award-winning dramatic film in 2018.
"It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have."

U.S. Deputy Marshals escort Ruby Bridges from William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, La. -- AP Images

Ruby Bridges | Civil Rights Activist | 1954-present
At age 6, Bridges embarked on a historic walk to school as the first African American student to integrate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana. She ate lunch alone and sometimes played with her teacher at recess, but she never missed a day of school that year. In 1999, she established The Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance and create change through education. In 2000, she was made an honorary deputy marshal in a ceremony in Washington, DC.

Kobe Bryant | NBA star, humanitarian| 1978-2020
Drafted right out of Lower Merion High School at the age of 17, Bryant won five titles as one of the marquee players in the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. He was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. men's basketball teams at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2012 London Olympic Games. In 2015 Bryant wrote the poem "Dear Basketball," which served as the basis for a short film of the same name he narrated. The work won an Academy Award for best animated short film. A vocal advocate for the homeless Bryant and his wife, Vanessa started the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation aimed to reduce the number of homeless in Los Angeles. Bryant, his daughter Gigi, and seven other passengers died in a helicopter crash in late January.

Octavius V. Catto | Civil Rights Activist | 1839-1871
Known as one of the most influential civil rights' activists in Philadelphia during the 19th century, Catto fought for the abolition of slavery and the implementation of civil rights for all. He was prominent in the actions that successfully desegregated Philadelphia's public trolleys and played a major role in the ratification of the 15th amendment, baring voter discrimination on the basis of race. Catto was only 32 when he was shot and killed outside of his home on South Street in1871, the first Election Day that African Americans were allowed to vote. In 2017, a monument to Catto was unveiled at Philadelphia's City Hall.

Philly unveils first statue dedicated to African-American. Vernon Odom reports during Action News at Noon on September 26, 2017.

Bessie Coleman | Civil Aviator | 1892-1926
Coleman was the first Black woman to fly an airplane. When American flying schools denied her entrance due to her race, she taught herself French and moved to France, earning her license from Caudron Brother's School in just seven months. She specialized in stunt flying and performing aerial tricks. Reading stories of World War I pilots sparked her interest in aviation.

Claudette Colvin | Civil Rights Pioneer | 1939-present
Colvin was arrested at the age of 15 for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman, nine months before Rosa Parks' more famous protest. Because of her age, the NAACP chose not to use her case to challenge segregation laws. Despite a number of personal challenges, Colvin became one of the four plaintiffs in the Browder v. Gayle case. The decision in the 1956 case ruled that Montgomery's segregated bus system was unconstitutional.


Medgar Evers | Civil Rights Activist | 1925-1963
Evers was an American civil rights activist in Mississippi, the state's field secretary for the NAACP, and a World War II veteran serving in the United States Army. After graduating from college with a BA in business administration, he worked to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi after Brown v. Board ruled public school segregation was unconstitutional. Evers was assassinated by a white supremacist in 1963, inspiring numerous civil rights protests which sprouted countless works of art, music and film. Because of his veteran status, he was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.


Mary Fields | Mail carrier |1832-1914
Known as "Stagecoach Mary", Fields was the first African-American to work for the U.S. postal service. Born a slave, she was freed when slavery was outlawed in 1865. At age 63, Fields was hired as a mail carrier because she was the fastest applicant to hitch a team of six horses. She never missed a day, and her reliability earned her the nickname "Stagecoach". If the snow was too deep for her horses, Fields delivered the mail on snowshoes, carrying the sacks on her shoulders.

Rudolph Fisher | Physician | 1897-1934
Fisher was an African-American physician, radiologist, novelist, short story writer, dramatist, musician, and orator. In addition to publishing scientific articles, he had a love of music. He played piano, wrote musical scores and toured with Paul Robeson, playing jazz. He wrote multiple short stories, two novels and contributed his articles to the NAACP all before his death at the age of 37.

James Forten | Abolitionist |1766-1842
Forten was an African-American abolitionist and wealthy businessman in Philadelphia. Born free in the city, he became a sailmaker after the American Revolutionary War. Following an apprenticeship, he became the foreman and bought the sail loft when his boss retired. Based on equipment he developed, he established a highly profitable business on the busy waterfront of the Delaware River, in what's now Penn's Landing. Having become well established, in his 40s Forten devoted both time and money to working for the national abolition of slavery and gaining civil rights for Blacks. By the 1830s, his was one of the most powerful African-American voices in the city.

Robert Guillaume claimed the 1979 Emmy for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Soap". -- AP Images

Robert Guillaume | Actor | 1927-2017
Robert was raised by his grandmother in the segregated south but moved to New York to escape racial injustice. There, he performed in theatre for 19 years, gaining momentum and a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. In 1976, he landed his infamous role as Benson on Soap which won him an Emmy and his spin-off, Benson for which he won another Emmy. He returned to the stage in 1990, playing the role of the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera at the infamous Ahmanson Theatre. He voiced one of Disney's most beloved animated characters, Rafiki, and can still be heard as the narrator for the animated series, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child.

Francis Harper | poet | 1825-1911 (died in Philadelphia)
Born free in Baltimore, Harper was an abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer. She helped slaves make their way along the Underground Railroad to Canada. In 1894, she co-founded the National Associated of Colored Women, an organization dedicated to highlighting extraordinary efforts and progress made by Black women. She served as vice president.

Langston Hughes was instrumental figure in the Harlem Renaissance and jazz poetry.  --  AP Images

Langston Hughes | Poet | 1902-1967
Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. Born in Missouri, he moved to New York at an early age becoming one of the earliest innovators of a new art form, jazz poetry. In the early 1920's, his first book of poetry was published and he wrote an in-depth weekly column for The Chicago Defender, highlighting the civil rights movement. His ashes are interred beneath a floor medallion in the middle of the foyer in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, the entrance to an auditorium named for him.

Zora Neale Hurston | American author | 1891-1960
Hurston became an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker but as a child she was unable to attend school after her father stopped paying her school fees. In 1917 she opted to attend a public school but had to lie about her age in order to qualify for a free education. She studied hoodoo, the American version of voodoo, and found her way to Hollywood by working as a story consultant. One of her most notable works, Their Eyes Were Watching God was turned into a film in 2005.

Nipsey Hussle | Rapper, entrepreneur | 1985-2019
Born Ermias Joseph Asghedom, Hussle, was an American activist, entrepreneur, and Grammy Award winning rapper. Raised in South Central, he joined gangs to survive before eventually attaining success in the music industry. Hussle focused on "giving solutions and inspiration" to young Black men like him, denouncing gun violence through his music, influence and community work, while speaking openly about his experiences with gang culture. Hussle was shot and killed a day before he was to meet with LAPD officials to address gang violence in South Los Angeles.

If you stop and look around near the intersection of Grand and Ellita Avenues, a brightly-colored mural of Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle is sure to catch your eye.

Harriet Jacobs | Writer | 1813-1897
Born a slave, her mother died when she was 6. She moved in with her late mother's slave owner who taught her to sew and read. In 1842 she got a chance to escape to Philadelphia, aided by activists of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee. She took it and worked as a nanny in New York. Her former owners hunted for her until her freedom was finally bought in 1852. She secretly began to write an autobiography which was published in the U.S. in 1860 and England in 1861. She lived the rest of her life as an abolitionist, dedicated to helping escaped slaves and eventually freedmen.

Cecil B. Moore | Lawyer |1915-1979
Moore was a Philadelphia lawyer and civil rights activist who led the fight to and successfully integrate Girard College. He served as a marine in WWII and after his honorary discharge, he moved to Philadelphia to study law at Temple University. He quickly earned a reputation as a no-nonsense lawyer who fought on behalf of his mostly poor, African-American clients concentrated in North Philadelphia. From 1963 to 1967, he served as president of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP and served on the Philadelphia City Council. Moore is cited as a pivotal figure in the fields of social justice and race relations. He has an entire neighborhood named after him in the North Philadelphia area.

Bayard Rustin | Civil Rights Activist | 1912-1987 (Born in West Chester, PA)
Bayard Rustin was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. He was a key adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. Rustin has local ties as he was born in West Chester and attended Cheney University of Pennsylvania, a Historically Black College. A gay man, he adopted his partner to protect their rights and legacy.


Nina Simone | Musician | 1933-2003
Born Eunice Waymon in Troy North Carolina, Simone was an American singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music crossed all genres from classical, jazz, blues and folk to R&B, gospel, and pop. She learned to play the piano as a toddler and played in church where her father was a preacher. She would cross tracks to the white side of town to study classical piano with a German teacher and was later accepted into The Juilliard School. She went on to record more than 40 albums and in 2003 just days before her death, the Curtis Institute awarded her an honorary degree.

Big Mama Thornton | Singer | 1926-1984
Thornton is best known for her gutsy 1952 R&B recording of "Hound Dog," later covered by Elvis Presley, and her original song "Ball and Chain," made famous by Janis Joplin. Affectionately called "Big Mama" for both her size and her powerful voice, she grew up singing in church and eventually caught the ear of an Atlanta music promoter while cleaning and subbing for the regular singer at a saloon. An openly gay woman, she joined the Hot Harlem Revue and danced and sang her way through the southeastern United States. She played at the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theatre and continued performing sporadically into the late 70's.

Sojourner Truth | Abolitionist |1797-1883
Truth was born into slavery but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. She then sued and won the return of her 5-year-old son who was illegally sold into slavery. In 1851, Truth began a lecture tour that included a women's rights conference where she delivered her famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech, challenging prevailing notions of racial and gender inferiority and inequality. She collected thousands of signatures petitioning to provide former slaves with land.

Denmark Vesey | Carpenter | 1767-1822
Vesey was born a slave but won a lottery which allowed him to purchase his freedom. Unable to buy his wife and children their freedom, he became active in the church. In 1816, he became one of the founders of an independent African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and recruited more 1,800 members to become the second largest "Bethel Circuit" church in the country after Mother Bethel in Philadelphia. In 1822, Vesey was alleged to be the leader of a planned slave revolt. He and five others were rapidly found guilty and executed.


Muddy Waters | Singer | 1913-1983
An American blues singer-songwriter and musician who is often lauded as the "father of modern Chicago blues", Waters grew up on a plantation in Mississippi and by the age of 17 was playing the guitar and the harmonica. In 1941, he moved to Chicago to become a fulltime musician, working in a factory by day and performing at night. In 1958, he toured in England, reviving the interest of Blues and introducing the sound of the electric slide guitar playing there. His performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960 was recorded and released as his first live album, At Newport 1960. In 1972, he won his first Grammy Award for "They Call Me Muddy Waters", and another in 1975 for "The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album".

Phillis Wheatley| Poet |1753-1784
Born in West Africa and sold into slavery, she learned to read and write by the age of 9 and became the first African American woman to publish a book of poetry. In addition to having to prove she had indeed written the poetry, no one in America would publish her work. She was forced to go to England where the pieces were published in London in 1773. Years later, she sent one of her poems to George Washington who requested and received a meeting with her at his headquarters in Cambridge in 1776.

Serena Williams is arguably the greatest women's tennis player of all time, with 73 singles titles and an overall record of 831-142.  -- AP Images --

Serena Jameka Williams |Tennis Player |1981-present
Williams emerged straight outta the streets of Compton to become the world's No. 1 player. She has won 23 major singles titles, the most by any man or woman in the Open Era. The Women's Tennis Association ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She has competed at three Olympics and won four gold medals.

Political trailblazer Lincoln Alexander would have turned 100 Friday and is still touching hearts

Hamilton historian remembers Canada's 1st Black MP as an inspiring leader — and good singer

Lincoln Alexander was Canada’s first black member of Parliament, but those who met him also remember the late politician as a proud Hamiltonian, a music fan and a proponent of education. Here, Alexander rides in a 1986 parade as Ontario’s lieutenant-governor. (Gary Hershorn/Reuters)

Lincoln Alexander is remembered as Canada's first Black member of Parliament and federal cabinet minister, and Ontario's first Black lieutenant-governor.

But to those whose lives he touched, Alexander, who would have turned 100 Friday, he's much more.

Evelyn Auchinvole remembers how Alexander helped Hamilton's first Black church with its first constitution, getting it a charitable tax number, and his singing.

"I grew up in Stewart Memorial Church with him singing in the church choir carrying the bass notes with his big, deep voice," said Auchinvole, a church historian and archivist.

"As he progressed into public life, we felt that same, I'll say, lifting up by association."

Alexander was born Jan. 21, 1922, in Toronto, but spent much of his life in Hamilton. He represented Hamilton West in the House of Commons as a Conservative MP for 12 years beginning in 1968. He was appointed minister of labour in 1979, and in 1985 was sworn in as Ontario's lieutenant-governor and served in the role until 1991.

Although he died Oct. 12, 2012, in Hamilton, he's still touching lives.

"In my travels across the province, I am often stopped by individuals who recall vividly what it was like as a young person to have Lincoln Alexander pause to shake their hands, look them in the eye, and celebrate their potential," Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Ontario's current lieutenant-governor, said in a statement Thursday.

WATCH | Lincoln Alexander reflects on his first year as an MP:

Alexander's parents immigrated to Canada from the West Indies. He moved to Hamilton after serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War, and attended McMaster University in Hamilton and Osgoode Hall law school in Toronto.

During his political career, Auchinvole said, Alexander "brought to the table a diverse voice that had been missing in Canadian politics."

In 1992, Alexander was also appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada and to the Order of Ontario.

He's been honoured in other ways. Several elementary schools, a parkway in Hamilton and a law school in Toronto bear his name. The Ontario government also recognizes Lincoln Alexander Day on Jan. 21.

A role model for Black community

As a Black woman and now as a student at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law at Ryerson University, Safia Thompson said she could feel the limitations society places on individuals similar to herself.

"I didn't really understand what it meant to take up space in places like law school or the legal profession, and I always had to search for that prototype, and Lincoln Alexander is exactly that ... he kind of shows us ... being a racialized individual and greatness are not mutually exclusive concepts," Thompson said.

Toronto university student Safia Thompson says Alexander helped inspire her to pursue law school. (Submitted by Safia Thompson)

Thompson moderated a virtual Lincoln Alexander Day event that was hosted by the law school Friday and included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alexander's granddaughter, Erika.

"Hearing about Mr. Alexander and the work he did and being the first at many things, occupying roles and being the first person from the Black community, is what inspired me to want to do the same," said Thompson.

"His focus wasn't just on helping the Black community, but his focus was on fighting for racial justice and racial equity for all individuals."

WATCH | Alexander as Canada's first black lieutenant-governor:

Hazel McCallion will be 101 on the 14th. The presence of 101 Dalmatian Dogs will be in attendance.

Ella Baker

Source - https://www.americanswhotellth...portraits/ella-baker

Robert Shetterly/Americans Who Tell The Truth

Biography

HMCS William Hall

DND -- Petty Officer (PO) William Hall VC

GIBBS, MIFFLIN WISTAR

Source -- http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio...flin_wistar_14E.html

Source -- https://wams.nyhistory.org/con...mary-mcleod-bethune/

Frances E.W. Harper

Source -- https://www.britannica.com/bio...y/Frances-E-W-Harper

Frances E.W. Harper

Born:

September 24, 1825 Baltimore Maryland

Died:

February 22, 1911 (aged 85) Philadelphia Pennsylvania (Anniversary in 2 days)

Notable Works:

“Iola Leroy; or, Shadows Uplifted” “Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects” “Sketches of Southern Life” “The Two Offers”

In August 1854 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Watkins delivered a public address on “Education and the Elevation of the Colored Race.” Her success there led to a two-year lecture tour in Maine for the state Anti-Slavery Society, and from 1856 to 1860 she spoke throughout the East and Midwest. In addition to her antislavery lecturing, she read frequently from her second book, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1854), which was quite successful and was several times enlarged and reissued. It addressed the subjects of motherhood, separation, and death and contained the antislavery poem “Bury Me in a Free Land.” Generally written in conventional rhymed quatrains, her poetry was noted for its simple rhythm and biblical imagery. Its narrative voice reflected the storytelling style of the oral tradition. She also contributed to various periodicals; her story “The Two Offers” in the Anglo-African Magazine in September–October 1859 was said to be the first published by an African American author.

In 1860 Frances Watkins married Fenton Harper. When he died in 1864, she returned to the lecture platform. After the Civil War, Harper made several lecture tours of the South with addresses on education, temperance, and other topics, and in 1872 she published Sketches of Southern Life, a series of poems told in black vernacular. From 1883 to 1890 she was in charge of activities among blacks for the national Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. She became a director of the American Association of Education of Colored Youth in 1894, and in 1896 she helped organize the National Association of Colored Women, of which she was elected a vice president in 1897.

Her novel Iola Leroy; or, Shadows Uplifted was published in 1892. She also wrote three novels serialized in The Christian Recorder, a religious periodical: Minnie’s Sacrifice, Sowing and Reaping, and Trial and Triumph, all of which were published in book form in 1994. Harper’s works were collected in Complete Poems of Frances E.W. Harper (1988) and A Brighter Coming Day: A Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Reader (1990).

Cuffy, also spelled as Kofi or Koffi (died in 1763), was an Akan man who was captured in his native West Africa and stolen for slavery to work on the plantations of the Dutch colony of Berbice in present-day Guyana. He became famous because in 1763 he led a revolt of more than 2,500 slaves against the colony regime. Today, he is a national hero in Guyana.^[1]

^{1763 Monument on Square of the Revolution in Georgetown, Guyana, designed by Guyanese artist Philip Moore}

The Berbice slave uprising[edit]

Coffy lived in Lilienburg, a plantation on the Berbice River, as a house-slave for a cooper (barrel maker). He was owned by the widow Berkey.^[2] On 23 February 1763, slaves on plantation Magdalenenberg on the Canje River rebelled, protesting harsh and inhumane treatment. They torched the plantation house,^[3] and made for the Courantyne River where Caribs and troops commanded by Governor Wigbold Crommelin [nl] of Suriname attacked, and killed them.^[4] On 27 February 1763, a revolt took place on the Hollandia plantation next to Lilienburg.^[4] Coffy is said to have organized the slaves into a military unit, after which the revolt spread to neighbouring plantations.^[5] When Dutch Governor Wolfert Simon Van Hoogenheim sent military assistance to the region, the rebellion had reached the Berbice River and was moving steadily towards the Berbice capital, Fort Nassau. They took gunpowder and guns from the attacked plantations.^[6]

By 3 March, the rebels were 600 in number. Led by Cossala,^[7] they tried to take the brick house of Peerenboom.^[6] They agreed to allow the whites to leave the brick house, but as soon they left, the rebels killed many and took several prisoners, among them Sara George, the 19-year-old daughter of the Peerenboom Plantation owner,^[8] whom Coffy kept as his wife.^[9]

Coffy was soon accepted by the rebels as their leader and declared himself Governor of Berbice. Doing so he named Captain Accara as his deputy in charge of military affairs, and tried to establish discipline over the troops.^[10] Accara was skilful in military discipline. They organized the farms in order to provide food supplies.^[11]

Defeat of the rebellion[edit]

Wolfert Simon van Hoogenheim committed himself to retake the colony. Accara attacked the whites three times without permission from Coffy, and eventually the colonists were driven back.^[6] Thus began a dispute among the two rebels. On 2 April 1763, Coffy wrote to Van Hoogenheim saying that he did not want a war against the whites and proposed a partition of Berbice with the whites occupying the coastal areas and the blacks the interior.^[12][13][14] Van Hoogenheim delayed his decision replying that the Society of Berbice in Amsterdam had to make that decision and that it would take three to four months.^[15] He was waiting for support from neighboring colonies; a ship from Suriname had already arrived,^[6] and reinforcements from Barbados and Sint Eustatius soon followed.^[11] Coffy then ordered his forces to attack the whites in May 1763,^[16] but in so doing had many losses. The defeat opened a division among the rebels and weakened their organization. Accara became the leader of a new faction opposed to Coffy and led to a civil war among themselves. On 19 October 1763, it was reported to the governor that Captains Atta had revolted against Coffy, and that Coffy had committed suicide.^[6][17] In the meantime, the colonists had already been strengthened by the arrival of soldiers. On 15 April 1764 Captain Accabre, the last of the insurgents, was captured.^[6]

National hero[edit]

The anniversary of the Coffy slave rebellion, 23 February, has been Republic Day in Guyana since 1970. Coffy is commemorated in the 1763 Monument in the Square of the Revolution in the capital Georgetown.^[1]

^Source:

Blood on the River:Uncovering a forgotten slave rebellion

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas...-rebellion-1.6271053

Blood on the River:Uncovering a forgotten slave rebellion.

New Book on the Berbice Slave Rebellion.

THIS month, the USA and Canada observe Black History Month in recognition of the contributions of people of colour to the history of those countries.

Although it is not an official observance in other parts of the African Diaspora, it has, over time, become informally accepted as such. Beginning as Negro History Week in 1925, as the initiative of African-American historian and scholar, Carter G Woodson, it evolved to become Black History Month in the post-Civil Rights era in the late 1960s. In 1976, the US Government formally designated it as such.

From 1976 to the present, African-Americans and Blacks in the diaspora have become more and more part of the so-called mainstream of the societies they inhabit. Despite continuing challenges, the group has made significant strides in our Caribbean.

The crowning achievement was the rise of Barack Obama to the US presidency in 2008. That moment marked a more than symbolic achievement for Blacks; it was, for African-Americans, a tremendous blow struck for inclusion in formal structures — a signal that real socio-racial equality was possible.

But for all the strides made, Blacks all over the world continue to suffer from the scars of a history of bondage. It is for that reason that Black History Month continues to have great relevance. It is a reminder to Blacks and the rest of humanity that emancipation and independence do not necessarily mean freedom; that the formal end of oppression is not logically followed by the end of the system that birthed that oppression.

What does Black History Month mean for us in Guyana? In our ethnically-divided country, any reference to race is generally viewed with suspicion and open condemnation. Ethnic and racial identities are contested, and are often derided as false consciousness. In such an environment, Black History Month elicits a polite nod from high and low.

The notion of Black History flies in the face of a denial of ethno-racial identity. After all, Black History arises out of the recognition of blackness as a marker of identity. A proper discourse on, and celebration of, our ethnic diversity yet beckons; for it is only within the context of an acceptance of that diversity would we be able to respectfully observe the significance of Black History to all of Guyana.

Black History is pregnant with the inhumanity of slavery and the noble resistance that ensued. It is a pivotal period in Guyanese history and has had a defining influence on our nation. It was the unravelling of slavery that led to a new migration to the then colonial outpost in the form of indentureship. The colonial regime which succeeded slavery really evolved as slavery without slaves, and, in the end, consumed all ethnic groups. The Black Village Movement was pivotal to the development of independent freedom spaces and organised communities, which we celebrate today as Local Government.

For the African Guyanese community, Black History Month could be a time for sober reflection on the state of the community. This is, of course, not a new call; it is repeated at every moment of Black observance. But it continues to be a necessary one. Some African Guyanese leaders and organisations have been making this call for some time now. They have pointed to the drift in the community, and have argued for a repair job to be undertaken by the group.

The very notion of learning Black History could be a starting point. All Guyanese should learn Black History; it should find its place in our school curriculum. One remembers two books for children written by the esteemed historian, Dr. Walter Rodney — Kofi Baadu out of Africa, and Lakshmi out of India — and ask why those books are not required reading in our schools. African Guyanese, however, have a particular responsibility to lead the way in becoming steeped in Black History.

Celebrating Black History

Richard Pierpoint, Soldier born

Thu, 09.17.1744

Source -- https://aaregistry.org/story/richard-pierpoint-born/

Richard Pierpoint plaque

*The birth of Richard Pierpoint is celebrated on this date in c. 1744.

Also known as Black Dick, Captain Dick, Captain Pierpoint, was a Black British soldier. Richard Pierpoint was born in Bundu, what is now Senegal.  When he was about sixteen, he was captured and sold as a slave. He survived the crossing of the Atlantic and was sold to a British officer named Pierpoint in one of the northern British colonies, he took his surname and became his personal servant.  

In 1776, with the outbreak of the American Revolution, many Black slaves were offered freedom if they fought for the British. By at least 1780 Pierpoint was one of about a dozen Black Africans fighting with the Butler's Rangers regiment. The enlisted Blacks were only non-combatant laborers or sappers.  Following the British defeat, the Rangers settled in Niagara.  Among the Loyalists who came to Upper Canada (where they were given the name United Empire Loyalists) were several hundred Blacks (the "Black Loyalists"). Blacks represented about 10% of the total Loyalist emigration during that time.  Communities such as the Pierpoint Settlement and the Queen's Bush Settlement were examples of how Blacks created communities and helped develop many of the communities in Southern Ontario.

Blacks were entitled to the same proportion of land as their fellow white Loyalists.  The City of St. Catharines was first settled by Loyalists in the 1780s.  In 1788 Pierpoint was located on 200 acres of land near present-day St. Catharines.  Early histories credit some of Butler's Rangers, among the first to come to the area taking up their Crown Patents where Dick's Creek and 12 Mile Creek merge, now the city center of St. Catharines. Although never documented, some local St. Catharines' historians speculate Dick's Creek was named after Richard Pierpoint, a Black Loyalist.  There is some evidence that Pierpoint did not arrive alone, but his participation in the Petition of Free Negroes and subsequent sale or abandonment of his grant suggests he may have been single, at least by 1794.

In 1794 Pierpont signed the Petition of Free Negroes to Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe requesting that freed Blacks who had served as soldiers be given land grants adjacent to each other so that the former comrades could help each other with land clearing as many lacked the large families necessary to clear the land on their own.  The Petition was read by the Executive Council of Upper Canada Government on July 8, 1794 and dismissed.  Pierpoint subsequently abandoned or sold his grant and supported himself as a laborer.

Following the outbreak of the War of 1812, Pierpoint proposed to organize a Corps of Men of Color on the Niagara frontier. His offer was refused, but a small Black corps was raised locally by a white officer, Jordan tavern-owner Robert Runchey. Pierpoint volunteered immediately for Captain Runchey's Company of Colored Men even though he was in his sixties. The corps served with distinction at the Battle of Queenston Heights, the siege of Fort George and the Battle of Lundy's Lane as well as other engagements. They were also instrumental in the construction of Fort Mississauga. For the remainder of the war the corps was used for labor and garrison duty.  Pierpoint's unit was honorably disbanded in 1815.

As a veteran, Pierpoint was entitled to a 100-acre grant of old growth forest. In his late 70s, in 1821 Pierpoint petitioned Lieutenant Governor Maitland for passage back to his homeland in Senegal instead of the land grant.  His request was denied and instead Pierpoint and several other Colored Corps veterans, were given land grants in Garafraxa, just outside present-day Fergus.  A "land ticket" was issued to him on July 30, 1822. Pierpoint would only get full ownership of the plot once he had cleared at least 5 acres of trees, cleared a road to the plot and built a house:  Location Ticket grant on fulfillment of settling duties required by Order in Council of 20 Oct. 1818: to clear and fence 5 acres for every 100 acres granted; to erect a dwelling house of 16 by 20 feet (6.1 m); to clear one half of the Road in front of each lot. The whole to be performed within two years from the date of the ticket.

The farm was probably a settlement for a number of Black Canadian settlers, but the exact number is unknown. Very few records were left, and even orally transmitted history is limited.  Richard Pierpoint died sometime before September 1838, leaving no family or heirs.  It is not known where he was buried. His will left the Garafraxa property to Lemuel Brown. Brown, who lived in the Guelph area at the time of Pierpoint's death, sold the land to the neighboring farmer.

Jack Gladstone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia --Source -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Gladstone

Jack Gladstone was an enslaved Guianese man who led the Demerara rebellion of 1823, one of the large slave rebellions in the British Empire. He was captured and tried after the rebellion, and deported.

Jack and his father, Quamina, an African-born enslaved carpenter, lived and worked on the "Success" plantation in Demerara.^[1] He is surnamed Gladstone, as the enslaved adopted surnames of their masters by convention. Sir John Gladstone, who had never set foot on his plantation, had acquired half share in the plantation in 1812 through mortgage default; he acquired the remaining half four years later.^[2] Until 1828, the estate was entrusted to Frederick Cort, who was fired for being "an idler and a deceiver" who had mismanaged one estate after another.^[2]

Jack was a cooper on the plantation. As a slave who did not work under a driver, he enjoyed considerable freedom to roam about.^[3] He was a free spirit, and passionate man who despised limitations on his freedom; he was aware of the debate about slavery in Britain, and was made extremely listless by rumours of emancipation papers arriving from London.^[3] Jack was tall and debonair, and possessed "European features" — he stood at six feet two inches, was intelligent, and had a reputation as a "wild fellow". Jack had been baptised, was occasionally a "teacher", but was not a regular churchgoer because he was too restless to follow church rules.^[4] He had taken Susanna, a slave on "Le Resouvenir" who was on Rev. Smith's congregation, to his wife. However, in April 1812, Quamina had found out that she had become the mistress of John Hamilton, the manager at 'Le Resouvenir'.^[5] Rev. Smith reacted angrily, and she was expelled her from the flock by unanimous vote when she had refused to terminate the relationship.^[5] When Susanna left, Jack married a slave on Chateau Margo plantation, but would continue to have relations with several other women on the same plantation, to the disdain of both the owner of Margo and the manager at Success.^[4]

Da Costa puts Jack's age at around 30 at the time of the rebellion.^[4] Following the arrival of news from Britain that measures aimed at improving the treatment of slaves in the colonies had been passed, Jack had heard a rumour that their masters had received instructions to set them free but were refusing to do so. He wrote a letter (signing his father's name) to the members of the chapel informing them of the "new law".^[6] Meanwhile, his father Quamina supported the idea of a peaceful strike, and made the fellow slaves promise not to use violence. Jack led tens of thousands of slaves to raise up against their masters. The very low number of white deaths is proof that the uprising was largely peaceful – Plantation owners, managers and their families were locked up and not harmed.^[6] After the slaves' defeat in a major battle at "Bachelor's Adventure", Jack fled into the woods. A "handsome reward"^[7] of one thousand guilder was offered for his capture.^[4] Jack and Quamina remained at large until Jack and his wife were captured by Capt. McTurk at "Chateau Margo". Leading up to it, McTurk had received information on 6 September from a slave about Jack's whereabouts; there was a three-hour standoff.^[8] Quamina evaded capture for several days longer. At its end, and the slaves' defeat, hundreds of slaves were executed as ringleaders, including Quamina. Jack Gladstone was sold and deported to Saint Lucia. His legacy was to help bring attention to the plight of sugar plantation slaves, accelerating the abolition of slavery.^[2]

Ram John Holder

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -- Source -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_John_Holder

John Wesley Holder CBE (born 1934), known professionally as Ram John Holder, is a Guyanese-British actor and musician, who began his professional career as a singer in New York City, before moving to England in 1962. He has performed on stage, in both film and television and, is best known for playing Augustus "Porkpie" Grant in the British television series Desmond's.

Background

Holder's parents were devout members of the USA-based Pilgrim Holiness Church. He grew up in Georgetown, Guyana, during the 1940s and 1950s. Influenced by the church and the musical talents of his parents, he became quite accomplished playing the guitar. During the early '50s, the strict, strait-laced church membership was scandalised when he broke away and changed his name to "Ram" John. Holder began to perform as a folk singer in New York City.^[1]

Acting career

In 1962, Holder arrived in London and worked with Pearl Connor's Negro Theatre Workshop initially as a musician, and later as an actor.^[2] Holder performed at several London theatres including the National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse and Bristol Old Vic.

His first major film role was as the effeminate dancer Marcus in Ted Kotcheff's film Two Gentlemen Sharing (1969), which told the story of interracial relations in swinging London.^[3] John Boorman then cast him as the black preacher in the comedy film Leo the Last (1970), also about race relations, which was set in a Notting Hill slum in West London. Holder also sang the songs in the film. He again played a preacher in the Horace Ové-directed film Pressure (1975), made a cameo performance in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) as a poet, and appeared in Sankofa Film and Video's debut feature The Passion of Remembrance (1986).^[2] His other film roles included appearances in Britannia Hospital (1982), Half Moon Street (1986), Playing Away (1987), Virtual Sexuality (1999), Lucky Break (2001) and as a Jamaican barber in The Calcium Kid (2004).

Holder played the role of Augustus "Porkpie" Grant in the situation comedy Desmond's, which was written by Trix Worrell, and broadcast on Channel 4 from 1989 until 1994. He later had his own short-lived spin-off series Porkpie.^[4] Porkpie was considered one of the most popular characters in Desmond's, and although the spinoff series was short-lived, it was credited with extending the black British presence in the comedy genre.^[5]

Holder joined the cast of EastEnders in late September 2006, playing Cedric Lucas. His last stage performance to date was as Slow Drag in the 2006 revival of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.^[6] In 2017, he appeared in an episode of Death in Paradise as Nelson Myers, the estranged father of main character PC Dwayne Myers (played by Danny John-Jules). Holder reprised his role for three episodes the following year.

He has also appeared as 'Flying' Freddie Mercer in episodes of the BBC Television children's programme The Story of Tracy Beaker. In May 2008 he appeared in an episode of the BBC drama The Invisibles. He is seen in an ensemble part in Song for Marion, a feature film from Paul Andrew Williams, the director of London to Brighton, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp.

Music career

Holder has continued his dual career as a musician.^[7] He has recorded the albums Black London Blues (1969), Bootleg Blues (1971), You Simply Are... (1975)^[1][8] and Ram Blues & Soul,^[9] as well as various singles and contributed to soundtracks for film and television. He contributed three songs for the film adaptation of Take a Girl Like You (1970).^[10]

Honours

Holder was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to drama and music.^[11]

Personal life

Ram John Holder is the cousin of the jazz vocalist Frank Holder.^{[citation needed]}

Discography

Albums

• Blues+Gospel+Soul (Melodisc Records, 1963)
• Black London Blues (Beacon Records, 1969)
• Bootleg Blues (Beacon Records, 1971)
• You Simply Are... (Fresh Air, 1975)

Singles

• "I Need Somebody" (B Side: "She's Alright"), Columbia, 1967
• "My Friend Jones" (B Side: "It Won't Be Long Before I Love You"), Columbia, 1967
• "I Just Came To Get My Baby" (B Side: "Yes I Do"), Beacon, 1968
• "Goodwill To All Mankind" (B Side: "Goodwill Sermon"), Upfront, 1969
• "Battering Ram, The People's Man" (B Side: "A London Ghetto"), Fresh Air, 1973
• "Battering Ram" (B Side: "London Ghetto"), Fresh Air, 1975

Quamina

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -- Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quamina

Image set in dome in the GBTI building in Guyana

Quamina Gladstone (1778 – 16 September 1823), most often referred to simply as Quamina, was a Guyanese slave from Africa and father of Jack Gladstone. He and his son were involved in the Demerara rebellion of 1823, one of the largest slave revolts in the British colonies before slavery was abolished.

He was a carpenter by trade, and worked on an estate owned by Sir John Gladstone. Quamina was implicated in the revolt by the colonial authorities, apprehended and executed on 16 September 1823. He is considered a national hero in Guyana, and there are streets in the capital Georgetown and the village of Beterverwagting on the East Coast Demerara named after him.^[3]

Biography

Quamina^[4] was a carpenter who lived and worked on the "Success" plantation in Demerara.^[5][6] According to da Costa, Quamina was African-born (originated from the Akan ethnic group in modern-day Ghana). He and his mother were sold into slavery when he was a child. His mother died on a plantation in 1817.^[6][7] In some source material, he is surnamed Gladstone, as the enslaved adopted surnames of their masters by convention. Sir John Gladstone, who had never set foot on his plantation, had acquired half share in the plantation in 1812 through mortgage default; he acquired the remaining half four years later.^[8]

He attended services at the Bethel Chapel of the London Missionary Society on neighbouring Le Resouvenir plantation when the chapel opened in 1808.^[6] Under the guidance of Reverend John Wray,^[9] he learned to read and write.^[10][11] As was witnessed in a letter he wrote to the LMS, he was persuaded to attend the recently opened church by the person who he served as apprentice.^[6] Wray noticed positive changes after he became Christian.^[10] Quamina was proud and hardworking, and was baptised on 26 December 1808.^[6] On being assessed for fitness to become a member, Quamina declared that when he was young, he had been a houseboy and had to "fetch" girls to entertain the estate's managers.^[10] When Wray was sent to nearby Berbice in 1816,^[9] his replacement John Smith was equally impressed by Quamina's qualities.^[5] He took an interest in others, and had become widely respected by slaves and free blacks throughout the colony.^[10][12] One of five slaves elected deacon by the congregation in 1817,^[13] Quamina became Smith's personal favourite, and was highly trusted by John Smith and his wife, Jane.^[12][13] According to da Costa, he was a "loyal, well-behaved, trustworthy and pious deacon." He brought news of the congregation members on a day-to-day basis, and was always consulted about the affairs of any member.^[12][13]

Quamina had many wives, but he cohabited for twenty years with Peggy, a free woman. As was common with other slaves, he had been harshly treated and humiliated by his masters and once was beaten badly and incapacitated for six weeks. He was frequently forced to work, thus missing religious services.^[10] In 1822,^[10] when Peggy was taken seriously ill, he was forced to work all day, every day, and was not allowed any time off to look after her. One evening, he returned to find her dead.^[5]

The revolt

Being very close to Jack, Quamina supported his son's aspirations to be free, by supporting the fight for the rights of slaves. But he was at the same time a rational man.^[14] He had been troubled for some time by rumours he had heard about an emancipation ordered by Britain that was being withheld by the colonists. Rev. John Smith noted in a private journal entry on 25 July that Quamina had spoken of the matter. Smith assured him that any announcement would be of measures to improve the slaves' condition, and that the rumours of anticipation were not to be believed.^[12] He urged him to tell the other slaves, particularly the Christians, not to rebel^[12] and sent Manuel and Seaton on this mission. When he knew the rebellion was imminent, he urged restraint, and made the fellow slaves promise a peaceful strike.^[15] News of the planned rebellion had leaked out, and Quamina was arrested by John Stewart, the manager at his plantation, shortly before it was due to start. And although he was set loose by fellow slaves as the rebellion was unfolding, Quamina never took up arms, and even actively prevented Stewart from coming to any harm.^[12] After the slaves' defeat in a major battle at "Bachelor's Adventure", Jack fled into the woods. A "handsome reward"^[16] of one thousand guilder was offered for the capture of Jack, Quamina and about twenty other "fugitives".^[17] Although Jack led thousands of slaves in rebellion, most of the colonists thought the reverse – that Quamina was the ultimate leader, and Jack was merely aiding and abetting it.^[12] Jack and his wife were captured by Capt. McTurk at Chateau Margo on 6 September after a three-hour standoff.^[18] Quamina remained at large until he was captured on 16 September in the fields of Chateau Margo. He was executed, and his body was hung up in chains by the side of a public road in front of "Success".^[12][19]

The very low number of white deaths is proof that the uprising was largely peaceful – plantation owners, managers and their families were locked up and not harmed.^[11] Hundreds of slaves died during the various battles and skirmishes during the revolt, or were executed as "ringleaders". Jack Gladstone was sold and deported to Saint Lucia. The rebellion helped bring attention to the plight of sugar plantation slaves, accelerating the full abolition of slavery.^[8]

Legacy

Quamina is considered a national hero in Guyana. In 1985 the post-independence Guyana renamed Murray Street in Georgetown – named for former Demerara Lieutenant Governor John Murray (1813–1824) who was in charge of the colony during the unrest and rebellion – Quamina Street in his honour.^[3] A monument to him was erected at the junction of Quamina and Carmichael Streets.^[6][20] He is equally depicted in a mural in the dome at the headquarters of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) building in Water Street, Georgetown.^[1]

See also

• Abolition of slavery timeline
• Anti-Slavery Society
• Bussa
• Cuffy (Guyanese rebel)
• List of opponents of slavery
• List of solved missing person cases
• Samuel Sharpe
• Toussaint L'ouverture
• Vincent Ogé

References

• Greaves, Stanley; Phillips, E. Anthony. "The Water St. Dome Murals". Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
• "Slave Routes". Anti-Slavery International. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
• "Historic Cummingsburg". National Trust of Guyana. Archived from the original on 30 September 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
• "Quamina" corresponds to Kwamena, a name of Ghanaian origin denoting a male born on Saturday. See Akan names.
• "Case Study 3: Demerara (1823) – Quamina and John Smith". The Abolition Project. Retrieved 21 November 2009.
• McGowan, Winston (30 August 2007). "The 1823 Demerara slave rebellion (Part 2)" Stabroek News
• da Costa (1994), p. xviii.
• Sheridan, Richard B. (2002). "The Condition of slaves on the sugar plantations of Sir John Gladstone in the colony of Demerara 1812 to 1849" (pdf). New West Indian Guide. 76 (3/4): 243–69. doi:10.1163/13822373-90002536.
• "The Anti-Slavery Movement in British Guiana". Guyana News and Information. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
• da Costa (1994), p. 181.
• "PART II Blood, sweat, tears and the struggle for basic human rights". Guyana Caribbean Network. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2009.
• McGowan, Winston (13 September 2007). "The 1823 Demerara slave rebellion (Part 3)" Stabroek News
• da Costa (1994), p. 145.
• da Costa (1994), p. 182.
• "The Demerara Slave Uprising". Guyana News and Information. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
• Bryant (1824), p. 83.
• da Costa (1994), p. 180.
• Bryant (1824), pp. 83–4.
• Bryant (1824), pp. 87–8.

"Remembering our past…forging our future Corner of Quamina and Carmichael Streets". Guyana Observer. 13 August 2009. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2009.

Letitia Wright

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -- Source -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letitia_Wright

Letitia Michelle Wright (born October 31, 1993) is a Guyanese-born British actress. She began her career with guest roles in the television series Top Boy, Coming Up, Chasing Shadows, Humans, Doctor Who and Black Mirror; for the latter, she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. She then had her breakthrough for her role in the 2015 film Urban Hymn,^[1] for which the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) named Wright among the 2015 group of BAFTA Breakthrough Brits.

In 2018, she attained global recognition for her portrayal of Shuri in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Panther, for which she won an NAACP Image Award and a SAG Award. She reprised the role in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), the latter of which became the second highest-grossing film of all time. In 2019, she received the BAFTA Rising Star Award. She also appeared in the 2020 anthology series Small Axe, which earned her a Satellite Award nomination

Early life

Letitia Michelle Wright was born on 31 October 1993 in Georgetown, Guyana. Her family moved to London, England, when she was seven years old and she attended school there.^[2]

Career

Wright performed in school plays, but she credits her desire to be a professional actress to seeing the 2006 film Akeelah and the Bee. She found Keke Palmer's performance inspiring, remarking that the role "resonated. It's one of the reasons why I'm here".^[3] She attended the Identity School of Acting, enrolling at the age of 16.^[4][5] She appeared in two episodes of Holby City and Top Boy in 2011.^[5] She had a small role in My Brother the Devil in 2012, where she was recognized by Screen International as one of its 2012 Stars of Tomorrow. Michael Caton-Jones cast Wright in her first leading role in Urban Hymn (2015),^[5] which brought her to the attention of Hollywood.^[2][6] The same year, she appeared in the Doctor Who episode 'Face the Raven', and the following year, she began a recurring role as Renie on Humans.^[5] During this time, she also appeared in the play Eclipsed (written by Danai Gurira) at London's Gate Theatre.^[7] In 2017, Wright starred in the Black Mirror episode "Black Museum"; her performance earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.^[4]

Wright co-starred in the 2018 film Black Panther, playing the role of Shuri, King T'Challa's sister and princess of Wakanda.^[8] Part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film also starred Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, and Danai Gurira.^[9][10] Wright won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Breakthrough Performance in a Motion Picture for her work in the film,^[11] and reprised the role in Avengers: Infinity War, which was released two months later.^[12] Also in 2018, Wright appeared as Reb in Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of the 2011 science-fiction novel Ready Player One.^[13] Wright features as one of the cameos in Drake's music video for "Nice for What".^[14]

In 2018 Wright was also featured in a play called The Convert, which was played at the Young Vic theatre in England/London. The play was based on an English-speaking missionary in the 19th century, where the Africans were trained to speak Victorian English and engage in Christianity. This play was set in 1895, when a Black male catholic teacher and missionary called Chilford occupies a mission house in Rhodesian Salisbury.^[15] Wright plays the character of a Jekesai, a young Rhodesia girl that is being forced into marriage by her uncle, but luckily is saved by Chilford.^[16]

In 2019, Wright won the BAFTA Rising Star Award.^[17] In April 2019, Wright appeared alongside Donald Glover and Rihanna in Guava Island, a short musical film released by Amazon Studios,^[18] before reprising her role as Shuri in Avengers: Endgame.^[19]

In November 2018 it was announced that Wright would be starring alongside John Boyega in a novel adaptation of Hold Back The Stars.^[20] Wright will appear in 2022's Death on the Nile.^[21] She was also cast in Steve McQueen's mini-series Small Axe, set in London's West Indian community between the 1960s and 1980s.^[22] In the first episode, Mangrove, which premiered on BBC One on 15 November 2020, Wright plays British Black Panther leader Altheia Jones-LeCointe, who, along with eight other Black activists, was arrested and charged with inciting a riot after a peaceful protest in 1970.^[23] Wright earned "Best Supporting Actress" nominations for this role, bringing "focussed energy and passion" to her depiction of the real-life Jones-LeCointe, as noted by The New Yorker.^[24]

In February 2020 it was announced that Wright had accepted to play twin sisters June and Jennifer Gibbons in the film The Silent Twins, based on the 1986 book of the same name by Marjorie Wallace, with shooting beginning in April.^[25] The official release date has yet to be announced.

Personal life

Wright has opened up about her struggles with depression. She told Vanity Fair in 2018 that when she first experienced depression at age twenty, she "was in the dark going through so many bad things".^[26] Wright credits her Christian faith with helping her overcome the depression, which she discovered after attending a London actors' Bible study meeting.^[26] To focus on her recovery and her faith, she turned down film roles.^[26] She later explained she "needed to take a break from acting" and "went on a journey to discover my relationship with God, and I became a Christian."^[27]

Controversy over vaccinations

In December 2020, Wright received backlash over a video she publicly shared on Twitter in which the speaker questioned the safety of taking a COVID-19 vaccine, in addition to "appear[ing] skeptical of climate change, accus[ing] China of spreading COVID-19, and mak[ing] transphobic comments";^[28] YouTube has since deleted the video for violating its terms of service.^[28] Wright later clarified that she "wasn't against vaccines but it was important to 'ask questions'" and "my intention was not to hurt anyone, my ONLY intention of posting the video was it raised my concerns with what the vaccine contains and what we are putting in our bodies".^[29][30] She subsequently quit social media.^[30]

In October 2021, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Wright had parted ways with her U.S. team of representatives due to uproar over the video and her alleged continued promotion of anti-vaccine sentiments on the set of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever during production in Atlanta.^[31]

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations