Esther Jones, known as Baby Ester was the first Black sex symbol in animation. Now of course everyone thinks or thought that Betty Boop was this lady:
photo credit: stylecaster.com
BUT REALLY, the real Betty Boop was this lady:
credit: nydailynews.com
Now Esther was a black jazz singer in Harlem, New York. She performed at a placed called the Cotton Club in the 1920’s singing phrases like “Boo Boo Boo” “Wha Da Da” and the infamous “Boop Boop A Doop”. A lady by the name Helen Kane tried to sue the company that introduced Baby Esther as a cartoon, but she ended up losing the case. Even after the Real Betty Boop was introduced, she was still portrayed as a white figure.
gif credit: madamenoire.com
That’s all I got for today. Check out Fact 6 tomorrow.
I am dedicating fact 4 of the month to Ms. Rosa Parks, who was born today, February 4. Everyone knows what Rosa did but just a little refresher, On December 1st, 1955, she refused to give up her seat to a white man. She was already sitting in the “colored section” but since the “whites only section” was filled, the bus driver told four black people who were sitting in the first row of their section including Rosa, to give up their seats. Well everyone gave up their seat but Rosa.
Rosa was later arrested and THAT is what initiated the Montgomery Boycott. After Martin Luther King Jr. organized the boycott having blacks walk, carpool with others and even only riding in black-operated cabs. The boycott went on for a year and the bus company suffered financially, because of the lost of business. Due to the financial lost, On December 20, 1956, the City of Montgomery had no other choice but to desegregate the laws on public buses.
In later interviews Rosa Parks said that the reason she didn’t get up , wasn’t because she was physically tired but just “tired of giving in.” With her standing her ground and being brave, she made history.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROSA PARKS, AND MAY SHE RESPECTFULLY REST IN PEACE.
Fact 4 of the month goes to Ms. Hattie McDaniel. She was the first black person and WOMAN at that, to win an Oscar Award in 1940, for her supporting role in the 1939 movie Gone With The Wind.
Hattie played a house servant in the film and was criticized for roles that she had taken playing stereotypical characters such as that. She had been attacked by the black community and even the media for accepting roles that perpetrated blacks in negative stereotype.
The topic got even more intense when the president of the NAACP at the time, Walter White, had pleaded with black actors telling them to stop accepting stereotypical roles because they are degrading the black community. Hattie spoke out saying that black people playing such character proved themselves as more than just measuring up to their employers.
photo credit: biography.com
She opened the door for black actors and actresses but even to this day SOME actors and actresses of color seem to only win Oscars for roles like a slave, servant, a dirty cop and even a poor, black, bitter, abusive mother. There are some positive roles that were recognized to get a Oscar BUT not many actors and actresses have been recognized for positive roles in movies. Check out my post are the #OscarWhiteout this year:
According to jhbe.com, on April 29, 1854 The Ashmun Institute in Oxford, Pennsylvania was the First Black college for black men, where you could earn a degree. Even though Cheyney University may have been a college established for African Americans in 1837, they weren’t a degree-granting institute. Ashmun created theological, classical and scientific training to blacks during that time.
photo credit: wikipedia.com
The institute, which is now named Lincoln University, was named after Jehudi Ashmun. Ashmun was a social reformer who helped reorganize and preserve the struggling African American Colony, which is now Liberia.
After the name change to Lincoln University in 1866, Thurgood Marshall and Langston Hughes earned a degree from the university in 1930.
Yayyyy for education!!
Be on the lookout for Fact 3 soon.
Featured image photo credit: thesophisticatedchronicles.blogspot.com
With Black History Month being here, it’s only right to pay homage to the dedicated month to African Americans who’ve changed history; even though we shouldn’t only celebrate for just one month, this month is specifically for us folks. Sooo I will be posting facts all month long, so here goes:
FACT 1:
Carter G Woodson, known as the “Father of Black History”, was the founder of Black History Month, which at the time was called “Negro History Week.” In February of 1927, Woodson observed the second week of February for African Americans, their history and events. In 1976, President Gerald Ford expanded the week, to the full month of February.
photo credit: naacp.org
The month was picked because it was the birthday month of Frederick Douglass, Abolitionist and Preacher; and Former Prez Abraham Lincoln who abolished slavery.
Woodson not only holds the title of “Father of Black History” for implementing the observance but also obtained a Masters Degree AND Doctorate degree, emphasizing in History. He gets much respect and deserved/deserves every bit of his title.
Keep looking out for more facts as the days go by in February.
Danii Gold 