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Showing posts with label black history month. Show all posts
Showing posts with label black history month. Show all posts

Friday, February 8, 2019

Footage of Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma #BlackHistoryMonth

[VIDEO] If I had known the success and unfortunate tragedy of Tulsa, Oklahoma's "Black Wall Street" who knows if I would've appreciated knowing this history. It's great to see this wonderful colorized footage of Tulsa's Greenwood community during the course of the 1920s.

And thanks to the late pastor Solomon Sir Jones who shot his film with the then new 16-mm cameras. Most of those films were shot in black & white - although what you see above is colorized. It definitely shows what any Black community anywhere could become. Perhaps an early version of the "Wakanda" we could create.

Anyway while this footage aired on the Smithsonian channel the prints are actually owned by the Yale University Library. And his films - 29 of them over 355 minutes of footage - were selected by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". So aside from what you see above feel free to gain access to these films and see some aspects of Black history come alive.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Pullman to become a national monument

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Via The Chicago Neighborhoods
Great news for the south side, hopefully the surrounding areas will reap the benefits. And just in time for Black History Month, we also learn the pivotal role of Pullman for Black history via Chicago Tribune. Especially since Pullman's main employer was a manufacturer of rail cars that had been staffed with blacks once these cars were on the rails.

Of course let's not forget labor history. Pullman was a site of a major strike once that saw federal troops intervene. Also the mainly Black Pullman porters agitated successfully for a union even if most of them didn't call Pullman home.

I forgot to note that next week, Pullman will be declared a national monument. I'd be excited to see what this development will bring! :)