...Happy Wednesday: Black History Month...

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Happy Wednesday guys!!

It is officially HUMP day which means the weekend is ALMOST here!!

So if you can make it through today you are that much closer to hopefully sleeping in and relaxing!

For those of my New Followers
(WELCOME to my blog! :-) I hope that you enjoy what i share and i hope that you will find time to come back and visit!!)

And I am not sure if everyone is aware that February = Black History Month!!

OK i know there are Latin heritage month, and other months dedicated to uplifting other cultures,

...but...i am African American so this is of course of my my FAVORITE months!!

About 5 years ago when i was in undergrad (yes i know that make me sound so old!!!)  i was bragging about black history month and a friend of mine challenged me.  He said "Stephanie, since you are so proud of black history month, tell me some Black History facts!"  Surprised...i was only able to tell him a handful of facts!! So from that day forward i made a promise to learn a NEW Black History Fact EACH day of February EVERY year. I also decided to share my knowledge with my friends, so all of my Facebook friends get a nice Black History Fact EVERYDAY during the month of February!  (If you don't believe me add me on Facebook and you can investigate my timeline activity! LoL)

I just think that it is SO important for EVERYONE to know how influential African American were to the creation of many of the things we are still able to use today!

Not to mention other influential things that African Americans were able to do while they were still slaves! I am a secret history buff so being able to research and find facts to share with everyone makes me SO  happy :-)

I know...i know...you are probably asking me "Stephanie, share some great Black History Facts with me!" Well here are just a few:

Benjamin Bradley, a slave, was employed at a printing office and later at the Annapolis Naval Academy. In the 1840s he developed a steam engine for a war ship. Unable to patent his work, he sold it and used the proceeds to purchase his freedom

In 1900, James Weldon Johnson wrote with his brother the song "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" on the occasion of Lincoln's birthday. The song became immensely popular in the black community and became known as the "Negro National Anthem.”

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was born in Pennsylvania and attended medical school in Chicago, where he received his M.D. in 1883. He founded the Provident Hospital in Chicago in 1891, the oldest free-standing Black-owned hospital in the United States. Dr. Williams was also the only African-American in a group of 100 charter members of the American College of Surgeons in 1913

A tailor in New York City, Thomas L. Jennings is credited with being the first African American to hold a U.S. patent. The patent, which was issued in 1821, was for a dry cleaning process

Garrett Augustus Morgan invented a smoke hood in 1916 that he used to rescue several men trapped by an explosion in tunnels under Lake Erie. This invention was later refined by the U.S. Army into the gas mask, which was used to protect soldiers from chlorine fumes during World War I. He also invented an early version of a traffic signal that featured automated STOP and GO signs

The media made the Black Panthers notorious for their Afros, dark apparel, and willingness for armed self-defense, but their manifesto for change launched programs that benefited black communities nationwide, like free dental care, breakfast for low-income children, even drama classes

Cathay Williams was the one and only female Buffalo Soldier, posing as a man named William Cathay to enlist in the 38th infantry in 1866. She served for two years before a doctor discovered that she was a woman, leading to her discharge

Tice Davids, a runaway slave from Kentucky, was the inspiration for the first usage of the term “Underground Railroad.” When he swam across the Ohio River to freedom, his former owner assumed he’d drowned and told the local paper if Davids had escaped, he must have traveled on "an underground railroad." (Davids actually made it alive and well.)

I hope that i was able to teach you something new today (and educate you on a some Black History Facts!)

No matter what race you are you should know some important aspects of your heritage and what your ancestors did to allow you the life you have today!

Happy Wednesday!! 

Have a HAPPY and HEALTHY day! 

:-)