color.conscious.ness

Black Europe: African Presence in the Formation of Europe  

Description: Includes descriptive metadata provided by producer in MP4 file: “Politics, Economics and Social Issues - Video - Black Europe: African Presence in the Formation of Europe.” By Vanderbilt University. Written and produced by Lyle Jackson; executive producer, Tracey Sharpley-Whiting. The video is about the 2007/2008 Fellows Program of Vanderbilt’s Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities–a seminar devoted to “Black Europe, or Diasporic Research in/on Europe.” Outside academics Trica Keaton, Jemima Pierre, Peary Brug, and Allison Blakely; visiting scholar Angela Davis; and Vanderbilt faculty members participating in the Fellows Program appear. Subject: Black Europe, or Diasporic Research in/on Europe

10 intriguing female revolutionaries that you didn’t learn about in history class August 24, 2014

We all know male revolutionaries like Che Guevara, but history often tends to gloss over the contributions of female revolutionaries that have sacrificed their time, efforts, and lives to work towards burgeoning systems and ideologies. Despite misconceptions, there are tons of women that have participated in revolutions throughout history, with many of them playing crucial roles. They may come from different points on the political spectrum, with some armed with weapons and some armed with nothing but a pen, but all fought hard for something that they believed in.

Let’s take a look at 10 of these female revolutionaries from all over the world that you probably won’t ever see plastered across a college student’s T-shirt.

Nadezhda Krupskaya Many people know Nadezhda Krupskaya simply as Vladimir Lenin’s wife, but Nadezhda was a Bolshevik revolutionary and politician in her own right. She was heavily involved in a variety of political activities, including serving as the Soviet Union’s Deputy Minister of Education from 1929 until her death in 1939, and a number of educational pursuits. Prior to the revolution, she served as secretary of the Iskra group, managing continent-wide correspondence, much of which had to be decoded. After the revolution, she dedicated her life to improving education opportunities for workers and peasants, for example by striving to make libraries available to everyone.

Constance Markievicz Constance Markievicz (née Gore-Booth) was an Anglo-Irish Countess, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil politician, revolutionary nationalist, suffragette and socialist. She participated in many Irish independence efforts, including the Easter Rising of 1916, in which she had a leadership role. During the Rising, she wounded a British sniper before being forced to retreat and surrender. After, she was the only woman out of 70 to be put into solitary confinement. She was sentenced to death, but was pardoned based on her gender. Interestingly, the prosecuting counsel claimed that she begged “I am only a woman, you cannot shoot a woman”, while court records show she said “I do wish your lot had the decency to shoot me”. Constance was one of the first women in the world to hold a cabinet position (Minister for Labour of the Irish Republic, 1919–1922), and she was also the first woman elected to the British House of Commons (December 1918)—a position which she rejected due to the Sinn Féin abstentionist policy.

Petra Herrera During the Mexican Revolution, female soldiers known as soldaderas went into combat along with the men although they often faced abuse. One of the most well-known of the soldaderas was Petra Herrera, who disguised her gender and went by the name “Pedro Herrera”. As Pedro, she established her reputation by demonstrating exemplary leadership (and blowing up bridges) and was able to reveal her gender in time. She participated in the second battle of Torreón on May 30, 1914 along with about 400 other women, even being named by some as being deserving of full credit for the battle. Unfortunately, Pancho Villa was likely unwilling to give credit to a woman and did not promote her to General. In response, Petra left Villa’s forces and formed her own all-woman brigade.

Nwanyeruwa Nwanyeruwa, an Igbo woman in Nigeria, sparked a short war that is often called the first major challenge to British authority in West Africa during the colonial period. On November 18, 1929, an argument between Nwanyeruwa and a census man named Mark Emereuwa broke out after he told her to “count her goats, sheep and people.” Understanding this to mean she would be taxed (traditionally, women were not charged taxes), she discussed the situation with the other women and protests, deemed the Women’s War, began to occur over the course of two months. About 25,000 women all over the region were involved, protesting both the looming tax changes and the unrestricted power of the Warrant Chiefs. In the end, women’s position were greatly improved, with the British dropping their tax plans, as well as the forced resignation of many Warrant Chiefs.

Lakshmi Sehgal Lakshmi Sahgal, colloquially known as “Captain Lakshmi”, was a revolutionary of the Indian independence movement, an officer of the Indian National Army, and later, the Minister of Women’s Affairs in the Azad Hind government. In the 40s, she commanded the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, an all-women regiment that aimed to overthrow British Raj in colonial India. The regiment was one of the very few all-female combat regiments of WWII on any side, and was named after another renowned female revolutionary in Indian history, Rani Lakshmibai, who was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Sophie Scholl German revolutionary Sophie Scholl was a founding member of the non-violent Nazi resistance group The White Rose, which advocated for active resistance to Hitler’s regime through an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign. In February of 1943, she and other members were arrested for handing out leaflets at the University of Munich and sentenced to death by guillotine. Copies of the leaflet, retitled The Manifesto of the Students of Munich, were smuggled out of the country and millions were air-dropped over Germany by Allied forces later that year.

Blanca Canales Blanca Canales was a Puerto Rican Nationalist who helped organize the Daughters of Freedom, the women’s branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. She was one of the few women in history to have led a revolt against the United States, known as the Jayuya Uprising. In 1948, a severely restricting bill known as the Gag Bill, or Law 53, was introduced that made it a crime to print, publish, sell, or exhibit any material intended to paralyze or destroy the insular government. In response, the Nationalists starting planning armed revolution. On October 30, 1950, Blanca and others took up arms which she had stored in her home and marched into the town of Jayuya, taking over the police station, burning down the post office, cutting the telephone wires, and raising the Puerto Rican flag in defiance of the Gag Law. As a result, the US President declared martial law and ordered Army and Air Force attacks on the town. The Nationalists held on for awhile, but were arrested and sentenced to life in prison after 3 days. Much of Jayuya was destroyed, and the incident was not fairly covered by US media, with the US President even saying it was “an incident between Puerto Ricans.”

Celia Sanchez Most people know Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, but fewer people have heard of Celia Sanchez, the woman at the heart of the Cuban Revolution who has even been rumored to be the main decision-maker. After the March 10, 1952 coup, Celia joined the struggle against the Batista government. She was a founder of the 26th of July Movement, leader of combat squads throughout the revolution, controlled group resources, and even made the arrangements for the Granma landing, which transported 82 fighters from Mexico to Cuba in order to overthrow Batista. After the revolution, Celia remained with Castro until her death.

Kathleen Neal Cleaver Kathleen Neal Cleaver was a member of the Black Panther Party and the first female member of the Party’s decision-making body. She served as spokesperson and press secretary and organized the national campaign to free the Party’s minister of defense, Huey Newton, who had been jailed. She and other women, such as Angela Davis, made up around 2/3 of the Party at one point, despite the notion that the BPP was overwhelmingly masculine.

Asmaa Mahfouz Asmaa Mahfouz is a modern-day revolutionary who is credited with sparking the January 2011 uprising in Egypt through a video blog post encouraging others to join her in protest in Tahrir Square. She is considered one of the leaders of the Egyptian Revolution and is a prominent member of Egypt’s Coalition of the Youth of the Revolution.

These 10 women are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to female revolutionaries. Let us know who you’d like to see in a list of female revolutionaries.

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Bei Google Maps gibt es eine Deutschlandkarte mit dem Titel “Keine Asylantenheime in meiner Nachbarschaft”, in der ‘besorgte Bürger_innen’ Orte markieren können, in denen Geflüchtete untergebracht sind und zusätzlich Informationen zur Art der Unterbringung teilen (siehe Screenshots).

 Diese Karte dient rassistischen Akteur_innen zur Koordination ihrer Angriffe auf Menschen und ruft (um es mit Googles Worten zu sagen) “Zum Hass auf”. Bitte meldet diese Karte bei Google, damit sie aus dem Netz gelöscht wird. 

Today’s black history month post is about Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, a television series that had its original run from 1995-2000. The show was made for HBO Network, airing on their family channel alongside programs like Crashbox and A Little Curious.

Happily Ever After was a series aimed at retelling classic children’s tales like Jack and the Beanstalk, Pinocchio, Rumplestiltskin, Robin Hood, etc with different cultural twists on them. This often involved settings in places like Taipei, Mexico, Africa, Jamaica, the American Southwest (for Native American characters), and Japan. The series was notable for its abundant portrayal of characters of color.

The show was directed by Bruce W. Smith (you guys should be familiar with him by now), the man behind The Proud Family and the director of the film Bebe’s Kids. There is an artistic similarity between all three works to some degree or another. 

The re-tellings were very unique, and included examples like: Robinita Hood, the tale of Robin Hood where the vigilante hero is a Latina woman, Goldilocks (with golden locs) and the three bears retold in the Caribbean, an inuit retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” and more.

The stories often not only fleshed out diverse cultures with everything from the West Indies to Korea, but there was a notable focus on women in many episodes. Stories often took roles traditionally given to males and portrayed the heroes as women in the re-tellings. There were often messages of empowerment found within these.

The show was also known for its many celebrity voices. Just about every episode had several guest stars. Some guests include, but are not limited to: Harry Belafonte, Tyra Banks, James Earl Jones, Will Smith, Chris Rock, Salt-n-Pepa, David Allen Grier, Raven-Symone, Denzel Washington, Dionne Warwick, Cree Summer, and Vanessa Williams. 

While the show did finish its initial run 15 years ago, it has been running on the HBO Family Network ever since. There are only 39 episodes, so one could jump in any time and get through the whole series.

Aus dem Artikel "Einfach mal zuhören" von Marie-Sophie Adeoso (via anappleaday)

This is the face of a man who won’t take anyone’s BS. 

Kang Chun Wong is suing the NYPD for $5 million dollars after being bloodied up by officers trying to arrest him for jaywalking. Wong was walking home Jan. 27 when NYPD stopped him, took his identification card away and knocked him to the ground.