Black History Month-Malcolm X

1925-1965)

Black Nationalist
Malcolm X was one of the most fiery and controversial people of the 20th century.

Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 1925, Malcolm was the son of a Baptist minister, who was an avid supporter of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association. While living in Omaha, the family was often harassed — at one point the family's house was set afire. In 1929 the family moved to Lansing, Michigan. While in Michigan, Malcolm's father was killed; his body severed in two by a streetcar and his head smashed. In his autobiography, written with Alex Haley, Malcolm asserted that his father may have been killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. His mother, stricken by the death of her husband and the demands of providing for the family, was committed to a mental institution.

Leaving school after the eighth grade, Malcolm made his way to New York, working for a time as a waiter at Smalls Paradise in Harlem. Malcolm began selling and using drugs, turned to burglary, and, in 1946, was sentenced to a ten-year prison term on burglary charges.

While in prison Malcolm became acquainted with the Black Muslim sect, headed by Elijah Muhammad, and was quickly converted. Following his parole in 1952, he soon became an outspoken defender of Muslim doctrines, accepting the basic argument that evil was an inherent characteristic of the "white man's Christian world."

Unlike Muhammad, Malcolm sought publicity, making provocative and inflammatory statements to predominantly white civic groups and college campus audiences. Branding white people "devils," he spoke bitterly of a philosophy of vengeance and "an eye for an eye." When, in 1963, he characterized the Kennedy assassination as a case of "chickens coming home to roost," he was suspended from the Black Muslim movement by Elijah Muhammad.

Disillusioned with Elijah Muhammad's teachings, Malcolm formed his own organizations, the Organization of Afro-American Unity and the Muslim Mosque Inc. In 1964 he made a pilgrimage to Islam's holy city, Mecca, and adopted the name El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz. He also adopted views that were not popular with other black nationalists, including the idea that not all whites were evil and that blacks could make gains by working through established channels.

As a result of Malcolm's new views, he became the victim of death threats. On February 14, 1965, his home was firebombed; his wife and children escaped unharmed. A week later, on the 21st, Malcolm was shot and killed at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, while preparing to speak. Three of the men arrested were later identified as members of the Nation of Islam.

Malcolm X had a profound influence on both blacks and whites. Many blacks responded to a feeling that he was a man of the people, experienced in the ways of the street rather than the pulpit or the college campus, which traditionally had provided the preponderance of black leaders. Many young whites responded to Malcolm's blunt, colorful language and unwillingness to retreat in the face of hostility.

The memory and image of Malcolm X has changed as much after his death as his own philosophies changed during his life. At first thought to be a violent fanatic, he is now understood as an advocate of self-help, self-defense, and education; as a philosopher and pedagogue, he succeeded in integrating history, religion, and mythology to establish a framework for his ultimate belief in world brotherhood and in human justice. Faith, in his view, was a prelude to action; ideas were feckless without policy. At least three books published since his death effectively present his most enduring thoughts. In 1992, a monumental film by Spike Lee based on his autobiography, renewed interest and understanding in the meaning of the life

Black History Month- James Earl Jones

He has one of the most recognizable voices in the entertainment business and it all began with a grapefruit and a dedicated teacher. James Earl Jones was born in Mississippi in 1931. His parents separated before his birth and his grandparents raised him. When Jones was five, his family moved to Michigan and settled in the small town of Dublin, in Manistee County.

The trauma of his young life left Jones with a serious - almost incapacitating - stuttering problem. For years, he refused to speak more than a few words-even to his family. In school, Jones pretended to be mute and communicated by writing. That was until Donald Crouch, a Manistee High School English teacher, helped him overcome his debilitating problem. Crouch challenged his students to write a poem. Jones wrote his "Ode to Grapefruit" in the epic meter of Henry Longfellow's "Hiawatha." Crouch then challenged Jones to read the poem before his classmates. He read it flawlessly. With Crouch's encouragement, Jones competed in debates and oratorical contests. As a senior, he won a public-speaking contest and earned a scholarship to the University of Michigan.

Jones planned to study medicine, but he was attracted to the theatre. After graduating in 1953 with a degree in drama, he arrived in New York City to pursue an acting career. It wasn't easy. Jones scrubbed floors, lived on $19 a month and sought the few opportunities available to black actors.

After a series of lesser roles, Jones won acclaim in the mid-1960s for his lead role in Shakespeare's Othello. In 1964, director Stanley Kubrick cast Jones in Dr. Strangelove, his first movie. In 1968, Jones won a Tony award for his Broadway performance of The Great White Hope, a story based on Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion. Two years later, the film version won Jones an Oscar nomination.

Jones has appeared in more than fifty films, returns regularly to the live theatre and provided the voice of villain Darth Vader in Star Wars and Mufasa in The Lion King. Today, James Earl Jones is one of Hollywood's most versatile actors and one of its most distinctive voices.

Black History Month- Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier, (born February 20, 1927) is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.

In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor, for his role inLilies of the Field. The significance of this achievement was later bolstered in 1967 when he starred in three well-received films—To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner—making him the top box office star of that year.]In 1999, the American Film Institute named Poitier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking 22nd on the list of 25.

Poitier has directed a number of popular movies such as A Piece of the Action; Uptown Saturday Night, and Let's Do It Again (with friend Bill Cosby), and Stir Crazy (starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder). In 2002, 38 years after receiving the Best Actor Award, Poitier was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorary Award, designated "To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being. Since 1997 he has been the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. On August 12, 2009, Sidney Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.

Black History Month

This Month is African American Month, each day, I will be posting a famous African American, paying homage, to his her contribution, in the civil rights movement, of the 1960's. In the fields of Politics, Arts, Entertainment and Technology. Lets take the time to recognize these great people, and the scarifices they made, paving the way for us today.....

New Superhero In Town...... Super Artistic Man (S.A.M) ....by Wade Cameron

 (Alex Turner) aka ..S.A.M is not your average day citizen, that one day discovers, he has the power to change the world, through his creative powers. Born in New York, he was raised in the suburbs of New York by a single mother and his brother and two sisters. In high school, Alex was very studious person, who stayed alone for the most part, is viewed as strange by his peers.  He later on, pursues a degree in communication at Columbia University, where he discovered his love for the arts. Alex one day, while working in the Television studio on Campus, found a mysterious briefcase, that was left by stranger, many years ago, that he later found out was an Alumni of the school.  After stumbling upon the briefcase, he discovered a  Brush Pen, Markers, Colored Pencils, Paintbrush, Digital Camera, Microphone, Sketch Book and Magical Gloves, after deeply analyzing the materials, he found it it gave him magically powers beyond his wildness dreams. After putting these innovative ideas to work, his imagination becomes more indepth, as he creates and captures images, by the stretch of the imagination. Knowing his capabilty to do good, he develops his private studio, where he creates his alter ego. (S.A.M) Super Artistic man. Realizing the world is filled with problems, he takes his artistic capabilities around the world, coming up with creative ways, to defend evil and clean up environmental problems.The only scenario, he brings about  a new villains, that are driven by greed and lust, to threaten the world make it more confused..... His tough challenge yet, Dr. Greed...... That tries to corrupt humankind with his own philosophy and ideas.. Character sketch coming soon......

New hybrid airships prepare to take flight

The 21 century is beginning to taking of in more ways than one, when it comes to hybrid airships. This new idea combines airplane with the airship, creating a hybrid. This is leading to new ways for creating environmental solutions, to get rid of the pollution, special projects for the army, and feeding the hungry. The only concern at the moment, is finding the financial backing to take on such a huge project, that can be a way of helping with humanitarian missions. The benefits it presents is having the inability to future where you can easily transmit cargo to remote areas that require special missions. This can come as a huge advantage when it comes to transmitting troops that don't require roadways where you don't need roadways. These new hybrid aviation can support 150 tons. These new ideas are now being explored in Australian companies called sky lifter. As it been said, the technology always finds new innovate ways to progress humankind, but depending how you look at its views it can also spell doom for those looking at it from a personal and selfish reason, being used to for chemical and nuclear weapons to inflict harm onto other nations, but in the back of my mind, looking at it from a humanistic standpoint, where a aircraft can transmitted tons of food for nation that can feed its perople, which is always a good thing to account for.

Rest Of World Pay Attention!!

I might be taking the story to the extreme, but this is what exactly what the citizen of Cairo are doing, as people's frustration begins to brew even more. Over major economic and political reforms. People are arming them with swords and anything they can find to fight against the oppressive government that fail to comply with their citizens.Is this a way to come to a peaceful resolution?  Being born in a country, where there's no political rights for its people, I know first hand what it feels like when leaders don't want to listen and comply with concerns of its people, which is shameful, because they are there to serve the people. Are what the people are doing a act of justice?  No, but what can you do when your tired and frustrated, because for years, the interior branch of government are not listening . A decade full of silence and suppression, is now  being taken to the extreme, as people are arming themselves with swords, knives, rocks and etc, so they can simmer their broiling anger.. Not a good image for its country or its people, as police forces are fighting back, with tear gas and rifles. The rest of the world should be taking notice, because as this is could be a global revolution, if world leaders don't take these warning seriously. Many people these days are living by this theory, sometimes to get what you want, you have to stir up a dust. The rest if the world should pay attention to what is going on in Egypt, because this might be the global solution for the 21 century, if world leaders don't pay attention to its citizens.... One Love