History in the Now!

Okay I may be exploiting my age a little bit.  But I find it very interesting events which happened the year I was born is now history. 

I was searching for a quote I remembered from a long time ago when I was a very avid reader.  I was thinking it was a quote by Mary Bethune.  So I searched the internet in pursuit of the exact verbiage.  Unfortunately, I was not able to find the exact quote I was looking for.  The quote I was looking for was in regards teachers performance being based on the grades of the student.  There are so many modern day appeals for merit based pay it will probably be hard to locate the quote I was looking for.

My search took me to looking it up under Google Ebooks because of course someone of known stature should definitely have some type of autobiography.  Well to my surprise I discovered there are not even autobiographies but magazine articles on some of the later achievements and accolades by people since the year I was born.

One of the most impressive at a glance was the March 1963 Jet Magazine which covered an article on the inauguration of John F. Kennedy.  In the same year there was a picture of Nat King Cole on stage rehearsing with some other well know musical giants.

Wow was I impressed.  It seems so surreal to me to be able to pull up a magazine article from the year I was born from a magazine which is still currently in print.  I am very grateful the magazine is still in print because I have always liked the stories it has covered. 

How wonderful to be able to look up history from the convenience of your computer and be able to view the resource real time. 

Technology, you just have to love it!  Thanks Jet and Google!  I will be browsing some of the greats of my time right online for Black History month. 

February is Black History Month!

In honor of Black History Month I would like to give honor to one of the black history figures I find most inspirational, Harriet Tubman. She was only 5 feet tall and led the underground railroad. When you stand up for what's right, it's about the heights you reach.

I've always learned many things during the month of Black History.  The history I learned prior to college was not all-inclusive.  It was when I attended Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi when I really felt first hand the impact the achievements of Blacks made to America and to the world. 

Black history month is a great time to explore and recognize the accolades and achievements Blacks have made to America and to the world.  It provides the opportunity to show how people of different backgrounds, ages, lifestyles all played a role in making the world what it is today.

The first person I would like to acknowledge is Harriett Tubman.  The thing which inspires and impresses me most is how she was able to orchestrate an underground railroad to lead people to freedoms they had not known.  The ingenuity is astounding.

I think I appreciate her efforts more especially now how it seems people who are endowed with millions of dollars still cost the taxpayers millions more when trying to get a rail underway.  Too bad we don't have a Harriet Tubman in Norfolk.  A person who probably had to make a way out of no way.  It just seems so much wasteful to see how much the city is expending on light rail, millions of dollars, and still can't get it right.

I don't have the answers.  But I imagine if they were to employ some of the same old school tactics we would see a change.

She helped people to freedom across state lines.  Can you imagine what kind of budget she must have been working with?  What if Harriet Tubman could have had a blog?  Makes you wonder why in current times people don't use the resources like technology to make things more effective.  Why don't we have a blog for transparency for major projects and issues, especially locally?

Lord I will be eternally thankful and grateful for all the blessings small and large bestowed upon me in this lifetime.