OK MyQnA, I'm beginning the "directive".


Benjamin Banneker: Developed the First Functional Clock
Benjamin Banneker (November 9, 1731–October 9, 1806) was a free African American astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, almanac author and farmer.
Using as a model a pocke****ch that he had borrowed from a merchant or traveler, Banneker carved wooden replicas of each piece and used the parts to make a clock that struck hourly. He completed the clock in 1753, at the age of 21. The clock continued to wor****il his death.


On February 15, 1980, the United States Postal Service issued a 15 cent stamp that illustrated a portrait of Banneker. An image of Banneker standing behind a short telescope mounted on a tripod is superimposed upon the portrait. The stamp is part of the Postal Service's Black Heritage stamp series.


Does anyone else have any Black History Month Facts?

OHHH, I have one more: Who is the YOUNGEST (WINNING) Super Bowl Coach in the History of the game?

Weekend News Wrap-Up Sunday, February 1, 2009

Senate Set to Confirm Holder as Attorney General on Monday By Dorothy Rowley AFRO Staff Writer   (February 1, 2009) - Senate leaders have scheduled a vote Monday for the certain confirmation of Eric Holder as the nation's first African-American attorney general.   The vote will take place in the early evening, according to the Associated Press. Democrats and Republicans in the Judiciary Committee agreed Wednesday in a 17-2 vote to recommend confirmation. Republicans have objected to Holder's support for controversial pardons and commutation of sentences during Bill Clinton's administration. The Republicans are certain to raise those issues again in the Senate debate, but most plan to vote for Holder despite those concerns.  Read more...

Steele Becomes First Black GOP Chair By Alan King AFRO Staff Writer (January 30, 2009) - Defeating the incumbent party chief and three other challengers after six rounds of balloting, Michael Steele was elected Friday to chair the Republican National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead the GOP.   Steele takes over a beleaguered GOP as Republicans seek to rebound from back-to-back defeats in national elections that gave Democrats control of Congress and the White House. With the historic election of President Barack Obama serving as the first Black president in America, the Los Angeles Times called Steele's election "an interesting play to corral minority voters who will be crucial to a Republican comeback."  Continued...

I guess both of these will be a first in the history books to come.


Danielle

Heyyyy, these are HOT...that's 2 days worth of stuff! LOL

Since I missed yesterday but I really enjoyed the reading.

this is my fave:  In 1872 Elijah McCoy invented a lubrication system for steam engine trains (he invented a cup to feed lubricant to the engines parts).  Despite applying for and receiving his patent, his invention was copied (badly) many times over.   Getting a genuine engine lubricator at the time was also known as a having "the real McCoy" so i guess you could say he's the invention of that phrase too.

Imma say that more, "It's the Real McCoy" instaed of "It's the Real Deal"...so what if somebody say's I'm country, I'll use that as an Educational Opportunity!

Marcus Mosiah Garvey

"Up! You mighty race, you can accomplish what you will."
--Marcus Mosiah Garvey

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, one of the greatest leaders African people have produced, was born August 17, 1887 in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, and spent his entire life in the service of his people--African people. He was bold; he was uncompromising and he was one of the most powerful orators on record. He could literally bring his audiences to a state of mass hysteria. Garvey emphasized racial pride. His goal was nothing less that the total and complete redemption and liberation of African people around the planet. His dream was the galvanization of Black people into an unrelenting steamroller that could never be defeated. I consider myself, along with many others, as one of Garvey's children.

As a young man of fourteen, Garvey left school and worked as a printer's apprentice. He participated in Jamaica's earliest nationalist organizations, traveled throughout Central America, and spent time in London, England, where he worked with the Sudanese-Egyptian nationalist Duse Mohamed Ali. In 1916 Garvey was invited by Booker T. Washington to come to the United States in the hopes of establishing an industrial training school, but arrived just after Washington died. In March 1916, shortly after landing in America, Garvey embarked upon an extended period of travel. When he finally settled down, he organized a chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. The UNIA & ACL had been formed in Jamaica in 1914.  Its motto was "One God, One Aim, One Destiny," and pledged itself to the redemption of Africa and the uplift of Black people everywhere. It aimed at race pride, self-reliance and economic independence.

Within a few years Garvey had become the best-known and most dynamic African leader in the Western Hemisphere and perhaps the entire world. In 1919 Mr. Garvey created an international shipping company called the Black Star Line. By 1920 the UNIA had hundreds of divisions. It hosted elaborate international conventions and published a weekly newspaper entitled the Negro World.

No other organization in modern times has had the prestige and the impact as the UNIA & ACL. During the 1920s UNIA divisions existed throughout North, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and Australia.

In 1940, Booker T. Washington became the first black American to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp issue.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington

I love this post.  It will be fun to watch it all month long. Although, February is considered Black History Month,  please remember that we are 365 Black and to teach your children and/or yourself new facts about African American History and the up and coming Afican American history makers every day of the year. 



Dr. Mae Jemison was the first African American woman to travel outerspace.  Here is the link for her complete bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Jemison

She was my childhood hero growing up.  Dr Mae Jemison is one of the main reasons I went into healthcare.