Black History Month 2016

Good Evening Viewers!

Black History Month in the UK is drawing to a close. So, to go out the right way I wanted to highlight BHM with a blog-post. Hopefully, you will be reminded and inspired in equal measure by some of the heroes.

Starting with two presidents of the USA (my country of origin). The first one is Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. He issued The Emancipation Proclamation, on September 22, 1862, which led to the abolition of slavery.

I am not sure if even he though could quite envision the day that America would have its' first black President. That did in fact happen on the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. Since then Barack Obama, pictured with his wife and daughters below, has even become a two term President.

Maybe an equally famous black leader as Obama is Martin Luther King, the pre-eminent Civil Rights leader. MLK is world famous for his speech I Have a Dream. It is little known that this was actually made off script as he was encouraged on stage by gospel legend Mahalia Jackson to speak about his dream at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963.

MLK was an American Baptist minister born on January 15, 1929, and assassinated on
April 4, 1968. He paid the ultimate price for what he believed in but the movement he had helped start could not be stopped. 

Pivotal in the development of the Civil Rights Movement led by MLK was a woman named Rosa Parks. The United States Congress called her "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement".

It all started on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama when Parks refused to obey a bus driver's order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger and it set in motion a wave of protests that became the basis of the ensuing Civil Rights Movement.

There were many brave people involved in the Civil Rights Movement throughout the period. Other prominent young leaders that emerged from the movement were the likes of Andrew Young and Julian Bond.

Among them was also a young Jesse Jackson, who went on to became an enduring figure on the national political stage, even running for President in the race for the Democratic party nomination twice - in 1984 and 1988.

At the same time as the wider Civil Rights movement continued, Malcolm X became a symbol of a more militant struggle for change. He became associated with the statement "By any Means Necessary." from his speech at the Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity on June 28, 1964.

Someone that all these leaders and Civil Rights proponents would hail a hero is Harriet Tubman.

Born a slave, Harriett Tubman became a famous, gained her freedom and then went back to help free hundreds more over may years as a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, smuggling slaves from the to freedom in the North and in Canada, during the 1850s. Thinking about her takes us right back to before Lincoln where we started this blog.

Moving back to the 1960's, looking at an area of black culture that flourished was Soul Music, made particularly world renowned via the Motown label, founded in Detroit, Michigan, by the legendary producer Berry Gordy. 

Below are some of its' most famous acts - Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross / The Supremes, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.

Another, more recent cultura icon is Oprah Winfrey, the first black woman billionnaire.

Oprah is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist who founded her own production company Harpo in Chicago, IL and became globally famous for her long running talk show in the 1980/90's and 2000's.

To finish, I want to share a couple of inspirational videos.

The first one is by my daughter Katina M Cotton, an author, artist and motivational speaker.

The second video is one of my favourite gospel songs Shackles (Praise you) by sister-duo Mary Mary from Los Angeles.














With that liberating message I wish you all a good end of Black History Month 2016! God Bless! We are thankful forever to those that went before us and paved the way for our freedom.

Enjoy!