Black History

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, one of the most dynamic leaders of the civil rights movement, died yesterday at the age of 89. Shuttlesworth survived bombing attempts, beatings, and dozens of arrests in his attempts to end segregation in the South, and was key in making nonviolence a central tenet of the movement. In the early ’60s, harsh images of Shuttlesworth and other protesters being attacked in Birmingham, Alabama, by police with fire hoses, dogs, and truncheons shocked America and help spur an end to segregation.

“He was one of the most courageous men that I have ever known,” said Rev. Joseph Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Shuttlesworth and Martin Luther King Jr. “I don’t know of anyone else that could have led the movement in Birmingham.” Shuttlesworth was beaten unconscious by a Ku Klux Klan mob when he tried to enroll his children in a white school in 1957. The year before, he suffered only minor injuries when 15 sticks of dynamite exploded beneath his bedroom window on Christmas Day. “I believe I was almost at death’s door at least 20 times,” Shuttlesworth recalled in 2001. “But when the first bomb went off, it took all fear from my mind. I knew God was with me like he was with Daniel in the lions’ den.”

Via Newser

Last night, I tuned into TV One as they profiled the Ohio Players on the Unsung series.

The Ohio Players are one of my favorite bands of all time. Know why? Because when I was six-years-old, I still can remember hearing ”SkinTight” before taking to the drums that I got for Christmas.

Countless groups have stolen ideas from the Ohio Players. Earth Wind and Fire and Con-Fun Shun are just a few of the groups who were imitating the Ohio Players’ front man “Leroy Sugarfoot Bonner”. Don’t believe me? Ask Larry Blackmon.

Here’s what Rick James once told me about the Ohio Players: Continue Reading…

Former Black Panther leader Geronimo Pratt died today at the age of 63.

According to his lawyer Stuart Hanlon:

“Pratt died at his home with his family, in a small village in Tanzania.”

Back in 1972 Pratt was convicted for the murder of Caroline Olsen, but Pratt always maintained his innocence claiming he was in Oakland for Black Panther meetings on the day Olsen was murdered.You see the government fears strong black leaders who opposed their tactics and culture of of abuse and suppression within the urban communities.

In 1997 Pratt’s lawyer Johnnie Cochran got his sentenced overturned on the grounds that the prosecution had concealed evidence that might exonerated the defendant. The evidence with-held from him during phis trial, was that he had been under government surveillance for over a year prior, and including that day. That surveilence proved he was hundreds of miles away when the murder was committed, and therefore could absolutely not have been convicted by him. Continue Reading…

Benjamin Banneker developed the first clock built in the United States, studied astronomy and developed an almanac which he published for many years. Banneker also helped to create the layout of the building, streets, and monuments for the Nation’s Capitol – Washington, D.C.

Benjamin Banneker was born in 1731 just outside of Baltimore, Maryland, the son of a slave. After his father died in 1759, Banneker lived with his mother and sisters. Then in 1771, a white Quaker family, the Ellicotts, moved into the area and built mills along the Patapsco river. Banneker supplied their workers with food, and studied the mills.

In 1788 he began his more formal study of astronomy as an adult, using books and equipment that George Ellicott lent to him. The following year, he sent George Ellicott his work on the solar eclipse. In February 1791, Major Andrew Ellicott, a member of the same family, hired Banneker to assist in the initial survey of the boundaries of the 100-square-mile (260 km2) federal district (initially, the Territory of Columbia; later, the District of Columbia) that Maryland and Virginia would cede to the federal government of the United States for the nation’s capital. Continue Reading…

Mechanical engineer and inventor, Elijah McCoy (1844-1929) created high quality inventions, including the steam engine lubricator. This before being dubbed “The Real McCoy” – which nowadays means  real, authentic, or of high quality. Among many things he is remembered for his 57 U.S. patents.

After studying engineering in Edinburgh, Scotland, and returning home to Canada, he found work as a fireman and oiler at the Michigan Central Railroad. In a home-based machine shop in Ypsilanti, Michigan, McCoy invented an automatic lubricator for oiling the steam engines of locomotives and boats. For this he obtained his first patent, “Improvement in Lubricators for Steam-Engines” (U.S. Patent 129,843), on July 12, 1872.

Similar automatic oilers had been patented previously; one is the displacement lubricator which had already attained widespread use and whose technological descendants continued to be widely used into the 20th century. Lubricators were a boon for railroads, allowing trains to run faster and more profitably with less need to stop for lubrication and maintenance. Continue Reading…

A jail cell is probably the last thing you’d expect to see in a park, but that’s exactly what’s being showcased in one Philadelphia park…and there’s a man inside, doing time. But the difference between the time this man is serving and others in jail is he wants to be inside his jail cell.

Michael Ta’Bon is an ex-convict who believes that he can scare kids straight by showing them what it’s like to live in a jail cell. It took Ta’Bon 30-hours to build the jail display, which stands in the Nicetown-Tioga area of Philadelphia. It’s a display which has drawn the attention of area teachers and police, who are using the idea as an example for high risk teenagers to learn from. Once those chosen teens are brought to the park to see the tough love display, they see the 36-year-old suited up in an orange jumpsuit and unshackled handcuffs, who makes the teens repeat “Jail is for suckers.”

Here’s what Micheal Ta’Bon had to say:

Continue Reading…

There’s been loads of ass-kissing this year, and we here at HSK will not let the brown-nosers pass you by. So, we’ve created a list of people who we have deemed the top house niggas of the year. They are people who have not given back to the community…a community which supported these house niggas careers, form the start. Some of these well deserving house nigga awardees are also people who are ashamed of being black, and are yearning to be white. Here’s a countdown of your top ten house niggas for 2009…

THE NUMBER ONE House Nigga of the Year Award goes to Tiger Woods… Continue Reading…