National Museum of African American History

- President Obama Ground Breaking at the Museum - 

The Smithsonian Institution: "Legislation was signed in 2003 establishing the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). The Museum’s building is scheduled to open on the National Mall in 2015. NMAAHC is dedicated to the collection, preservation, research, and exhibition of African American historical and cultural material reflecting the breadth and depth of the experiences of individuals of African descent living in the United States. Currently, in its pre-building phase, the museum is presenting exhibitions, producing publications, hosting public programs, and building its collections. Its growing collections include material culture, documents, and art from era of slavery, the period of Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, the civil rights movement, and more recent developments in history and culture from 1968 to the present. This is a unique opportunity for students to work with a museum-in-the-making, and to contribute to the research for its exhibitions and programs."

"The collections, exhibitions, research, publications, and educational programs serve the Museum’s basic mission: to inspire a broader understanding of African American history and culture in a national and international context. In addition to exhibitions, the Museum interprets history and culture through performances and hands on activities, as well as music from America’s past."

"The Museum's programmatic objectives are flexible enough to encourage the creation of projects tailored to students' interests and needs. The student will have opportunities to develop and engage in a variety of projects that may include oral history projects, regional history, as well as art and cultural history. Under the supervision of museum staff, there is also the opportunity to engage in curriculum development and program evaluation projects. The Museum's growing permanent collection of artifacts, archives, photographic holdings, and art offers scholars interested in African American material culture excellent opportunities for research." Smithsonian Institution, P. O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

Lonnie G. Bunch, Director

Slide show from the New York Times:   A Design for the National Museum of African American History and Culture 

"Its seven levels over more than 323,000 square feet are planned to provide a sweeping history that confronts racial oppression and highlights the achievements of the famous and the everyday life of ordinary people. Its bronze and glass facade, known as the Corona, represents traditional African architecture." http://www.floridatoday.com/usatoday/article/53199204?odyssey=mod%7cnewswell%7ctext%7cnews0302%7cs

Atlanta Journal Constitution, "New black history museum rising on National Mall" http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/new-black-history-museum-1358185.html

Department of Energy Discriminates Against Georgia Minority and Poor Communities

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During Black History month 2012 it seems a bit disingenuous that our federal government still discriminates against minority and poor people.

We have came many miles in the march toward racial and social class equality involving the laws of our nation. Unfortunately, when a comparatively small amount of money is involved with the nuclear industry involving site monitoring to protect citizens, injustice in the form of discrimination moves forward in government.

This is a reminder that racism and class discrimination are often based on financial reasons.

"ATLANTA-The Department of Energy (DOE) announced Tuesday that it does not plan to restore environmental monitoring to Georgia communities surrounding the Savannah River Site (SRS), a US nuclear weapons complex notorious for its Cold War legacy radioactive waste."

"This monitoring, which was cut in Georgia 2003, tests drinking water, rain, crops, fish, air and more near SRS in order to protect residents in poor and rural areas, including Georgia’s Burke and Screven Counties, where many people rely on water from private wells, home-grown crops and fish from the Savannah River."

"“The DOE’s obstruction to environmental monitoring in Georgia is a gross example of environmental injustice,” Bobbie Paul, Georgia WAND Executive Director said. “Radiation does not acknowledge state boundaries. The people living downwind and downstream of SRS deserve to know what’s in the water, air and food that they consume.”"
For more information on this story: http://gawand.org/2012/02/01/department-of-energy-refuses-to-restore-environmental-monitoring-to-georgia-communities-near-nuclear-site/


As one concerned citizen has stated: "Can't have any proof that the actions of [corporations] enabled by our government are killing folks, now can we?"

It seems a complaint is in order with Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. Human life and health must take precedence over department budgets.

Black History Month 2012

BLACK WOMEN IN CULTURE AND HISTORY IS THIS YEARS THEME. ( Click here to download a pdf of the summary for this year's theme. ) This year's theme honors African American women and the myriad of roles they played in the shaping of our nation. The theme, chosen by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History urges all Americans to study and reflect on the value of their contribution to the nation.  http://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/index.html 

Who founded Black History Month? The answer:  http://www.asalh.org/aboutasalhmain.html

UPDATE: Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center Black History Month Celebration.  From The Daily Sentinel, Feb 1, 2012 -  "The guest speaker for the event was Joanne Bland, the co-founder and former director of the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute in Selma. Bland was a witness and participant in the Bloody Sunday march in 1965 and the first leg of the March from Selma to Montgomery. Along the way she witnessed brutal beatings and the shootings of fellow marchers by police. "'Bloody Sunday' was by far the worst," said Bland. "I've never forgotten that day."" Daily Sentinel Link: http://thedailysentinel.com/news/article_123e0352-4d2a-11e1-9ef3-0019bb2963f4.html
(See bottom of this post for more on the "Scottsboro Boys Case.")

(Per news reports) Scottsboro Mayor Melton Potter attended as did the Chairperson of the Jackson County Commission - Ms. Sadie Bias. Scottsboro High School Choir and the Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church Choir presented the musical program for the event.

"SO MANY STARS"


"IT IS WELL"


More about the "Scottsboro Boys Case;" the case that changed American Jurisprudence. An accurate and extensive accounting of the Scottsboro Defendents case history may be found at this link: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.html

14th amendment Section 1 in Part, "...nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv   At that link one may find the rest of the 14th Amendment.

The "Scottsboro Boys Case" was a travesty of justice which must not be forgotten and which an accurate accounting of the case must be told.

The story is also one of bravery at great risk. Demonstrating a belief that American Justice can work. Such are the stories of Judge James Horton and Samuel Liebowitz.

Another part of the case involves Jackson County Sheriff Matt Wann. It is a story of an unsolved murder. Sheriff Wann stood in the door of the jail the night of the defendants arrest with a shotgun and prevented an angry mob of Klan and hate filled citizens from what some described committing "a lynching on the square." Early the next morning the National Guard arrived to provide enhanced security. Information concerning the Matt Wann case may be found at : http://scottsborostories.blogspot.com/2010/10/sheriff-matt-wann-brave-man-and-untold.html

The Supreme Court of the United States reversed 2 decisions of the Alabama Courts related to the "Scottsboro Boys" case as described below.

On Nov 7, 1932 the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7 - 2 decision ruled that the right of the defendants under the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause to competent legal counsel had been denied by the State of Alabama, Powell vs Alabama. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_powus.html

On February 15, 1935, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in the Patterson and Norris cases. Samuel Leibowitz argued that the convictions should be overturned because Alabama excluded blacks from its jury rolls in violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution. (Equal Protection Clause, 14th Amendment: http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/Equal_protection

The second U.S. Supreme Court decision, April 1, 1935 - Norris vs Alabama, unanimously held that the Alabama system of jury selection was unconstitutional and reversed the convictions of Norris and Patterson. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_norus.html

More information about the case may be found at the University of Missouri at Kansas City web site where Professor Douglas O. Linder and students have compiled one of the most definitive and extensive data bases on the "Scottsboro Boys" Trials. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scottsboro/scottsb.htm