The Wichita NAACP to launch a new "Black History is American History" initiative

Weekly Black History Presentations dealing with various under-reported areas of American History will be Free and open to the Public

Last Friday marked 47 years since the infamous "stand in the schoolhouse door" of then Governor George Wallace. He had pledged to fight any effort to integrate the University of Alabama, even if that meant that he'd have to stand and block the doorway. June 11th, 1963, was that day. Two young African Americans, James Hood and Vivian Malone, were set to enroll... Governor Wallace called up the State Troopers and had them provide a perimeter to keep the Black students out. President Kennedy responded by federalizing the Alabama National Guard to provide security and to escort the two young students; thus staging the only stand-off of American Forces outside of the Civil War. 

Here was the President of the United States and the Governor of a large State squaring off, each under arms with their own branch of law enforcement, wrestling over the implementation of a Supreme Court Decision. By ANY objective measure, this was a pivotal moment in our Democracy. Yet, this, and a thousand other moments that deal with our Nation's troubled history on Race are largely omitted from public school history/social studies curricula. You see, Vivian Malone and James Hood were both Black, therefore this isn't "History", this is "Black History" - relegated to a special "Black History Quiz" question in February, or a 'Saturday school', or church play...

We say NO MORE...

Beginning July 1st and running every Thursday evening through August 26th, the Wichita Branch NAACP and the Wichita NAACP Youth Council will host a series of weekly presentations on Black History. These presentations are intended to shed light on critical and pivitol moments in history and also to clearly demonstrate that "Black History" IS "American History".

Presenters will come from various fields and areas of expertise, each detailing the history, role, or siginificance of our History-makers or institutions.

Want to learn more about the Dockum Sit-In? Or maybe learn more about the history of Blacks and Education here in Kansas? Or perhaps you'd be interested in hearing more about the founding of the Divine 9 Black sororities and fraternities? Or maybe you'd like to learn more about Tulsa, or Tuskegee, or Nicodemus... Whatever your curiosity, this summer initiative is designed to educate and inspire.

So please come out and join us, beginning July 1st as we unveil our newest initiative. We welcome and encourage participants of all ages to come, learn, and dialolgue with us...

We are also accepting proposals for new presentations as well. If you have a piece of History you'd like to share, please Click HERE to contact us...

This initiative is a companion project to a full length presentation of the same name, currently being developed by the Wichita Branch NAACP Youth Council, to challenge school social studies curriculums to teach the fullness of our history in a comprehensive and chronological manner. So fasten you seatbelts... it's going to get exciting!

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Remembering our fallen and departed this Memorial Day

Memorial Day is the time when we celebrate the lives and sacrifices of those who have given their lives in service to this nation. First celebrated on May 1st, 1865 by African Americans commemorating those who had given their lives in the Civil War, it became a National observance in 1868 when the Grand Army of the Republic (a society of Civil War Veterans) called for its observance by all National posts.

But as we pause to remember those who gave their time, their youth, and their lives, to building a better nation through military service, let us also remember those who struggled here at home. For there is no national holiday or observance set forth for the remembrance of those who fought the nation's war against its own incivility. The war known only as 'the movement'. Our longest war; waged to rescue the nation from ignorance, hatred, violence, and oppression. Let us also remember those veterans as well.

As you place those steaks on the grill, carve out a moment to pay tribute and honor to our fallen and departed. Veterans like Ida B Wells, Carter G Woodson, Dr. Benjamin Hooks, Mary McCleod Bethune, Martin King, Malcolm X, Dorothy Height, Enolia McMillan, Queen Mother Moore, John Hope Franklin, John Henrik Clark, Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, Fannie Lou Hamer, Charles Hamilton Houston, Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, Coretta Scott King, Betty Shabazz, Medgar Evers, Vivian Jones, Marcus Garvey, WEB Dubois, Booker T Washington and countless others.

Let us bring forth the memories and call out the names of those veterans who have given and struggled within our local communities as well. Veterans like Chester I Lewis, Alphonso Harrell, and Jihad Muqtasid of Wichita, and Omar Ali-Bey of my hometown of Cleveland.

But most of all, let us remember this day, the nameless and faceless thousands who fought for us, and prayed for us, and sacrificed for us, and struggled for us, though they did not know our names. Let us remember all of those who braved pick-axes, billy clubs, fire hoses, and police dogs. Let us celebrate those who conquered their own fears and marched, chanted, protested, demonstrated, and faced down the powers that be demanding that this nation honor its own creed.

To you, the UNIA, SNCC, US, the Panthers, the Future Outlook Leagues, to all of you who history never recorded though your very lives shaped history... Today I say thank you... To all of you who cared enough to challenge the schools when they were being unfair to our babies, today I say thank you... To all of you who signed the petitions, carried the signs, or prayed for our deliverance, today I say thank you... To all of you who labored in the background, preparing the meals, setting up the chairs, doing the leg work, and making sure the venues were prepared, today I say thank you... Know that you are not forgotten... your sacrifices are remembered and appreciated... Thank you for your struggles, your battles, your successes, and your setbacks... In large part, it is to you that we owe our freedoms on this day; and for that we are eternally grateful...

Ashe

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"Institutionalizing Ignorance": NAACP President Ben Jealous and Fmr Education Secretary Rod Paige speak out on the Texas Textbook fiasco

This week the State Board of Education is voting on whether to rewrite the history taught in Texas textbooks. Among the most disturbing aspects of the proposed changes which are based on ideology is their potential to handicap nearly 10 percent of the nation's students who are educated in Texas and affect what students across the country learn about American history.

Texans must compete for college seats and jobs with students from other states, who will arrive equipped with a more complete and mainstream education. Advanced Placement exams, which let students earn college credit while in high school, are not tailored to any particular state's ideology. Similarly, International Baccalaureate exams are benchmarked to world-class university standards. Students taking either exam will be expected to grasp concepts such as capitalism, a word which, under the proposed changes, would be stripped from the state curriculum. By narrowing students' exposure, we cut them off from opportunities for accelerated learning, and free college credits that will be recognized around the country and the world. Without exposure to a range of views and information considered standard in the rest of the country, graduates of high schools using Texas textbooks will lack a solid foundation in general knowledge.

Whether a student attends college or not, he or she will still need a strong and comprehensive foundation in American history and government to perform the duties of informed citizenship. Every voter on a referendum should know how our Constitution and laws have evolved to expand civil rights to all citizens.

Yet the Texas board's proposals would minimize those brave men and women's contributions to our national story. To make informed decisions about the limits of government power, students must know about its past abuses, such as those perpetrated by Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Yet the proposed standards would gloss over such injustices. Students who have studied poll taxes and their abolition will have a better perspective on when taxation is used inappropriately. Our future voters need a strong grounding in our nation's full history.

We are — and have always been — a nation of immigrants. It is vital for citizens who will work alongside diverse peers to have an accurate understanding of colleagues' background and culture. Minimizing or misrepresenting African American and Latino culture and history can lead to distorted beliefs regarding our fellow Americans. And it can lead students from those ethnic groups to have a skewed picture of themselves and their place in the world. Studies of high school dropout rates have shown that students became disengaged with classes because what they were learning didn't seem relevant to their lives. In a 2006 national study, more students cited disengagement and disinterest in their lessons as a factor in leaving school than those who reported serious academic challenges. With 50 percent dropout rates in some cities, can we really afford to drive any more young people from the schoolhouse door? If learning about César Chávez or Thurgood Marshall will inspire a student to study government or law, we cannot afford to pass up that opportunity.

When the board convenes today, we will raise our voices for accuracy and fairness. Our children are entitled to broad exposure to all the facts of American history, government and economic theory. No one expects a representative board of regular folks to manage the curriculum to that level of detail. Instead, we urge the board to vote down these proposed changes, take some more time to set out broad guidelines ensuring all students are equipped to compete and thrive, then follow the thoughtful recommendations of their fellow Texans who are educators, economists and historians.

Our future is at stake. Will we prepare our youth for success in the 21st century or let nostalgia for the 19th century hobble graduates and leave many students behind? Will Texas prioritize ideology over our children or give students the world-class education they deserve.

Rewriting history is not promoting patriotism; it is institutionalizing ignorance.

Benjamin Todd Jealous is President and CEO of the NAACP. Rod Paige is senior advisor to the Madison Education Group and former U.S. Secretary of Education (2001-2005).

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Sign the petition to STOP the re-imagining of American History

With the Texas State Board of Education scheduled to vote THIS WEEK on the final adoption of Texas' new, politically motivated social studies textbook standards, board member Don McLeroy has proposed some more last minute bits of revisionist history. The changes take clear aim at the separation of church and state and characterize the Progressive Era as a negative influence on America.

There's a good chance the new standards could be adopted this Friday. The People for the American Way have started a petition to the major textbook publishers, urging them to keep Texas's controversial standards out of textbooks sold nationally.  To maximize its impact, we need another 10,000 signatures this week.

Please make sure you are part of this important effort by adding your name now. Then, make sure to spread the word on Facebook and by forwarding this message.

Texas is now seeking to add even more changes school textbooks to:

• Maintain that separation of church and state was not the intent of the Founders.This despite the fact that the phrase "separation of church and state" came from Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Dansbury Baptists where he specifically explained the intent and proper interpretation of the 1st Amendment.
  
• Strike from a high school U.S. history course a 1948 court decision, Delgado v. Bastrop ISD, which barred segregation of students of Mexican descent in Texas public schools, and replace it with a case decided last year by the Roberts Court making it harder for local governments to encourage a diverse workforce (Ricci v. DeStefano). Ricci v. DeStefano was a case where instead of remanding the case back to the City of New Haven and having them follow the existing law and process by "validating" their test, Justices on the Supreme Court who are hostile to Civil Rights used the 'unvalidated' test results to craft a decision that created an entirely new legal standard. They used the Equal Protection provisions of the 4th Amendment to attack the Disparate Outcome protections of the Civil Rights Act. (Justice Scalia even remarked that he wished he could review the Civil Rights Act itself)
  
• Minimize the positive impact of Progressive Era reforms and suggest that the work of the era's reformers like Upton Sinclair, Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells and W.E.B. DuBois created a negative portrayal of America. In so doing they attack the foundations of the Women's Suffrage, Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Organized Labor movements.These movements did more than 'criticize' America, they challenged America to look at herself 'Critically' and to become better. We know that a caricatured 'Pollyanna' type portrayal of America the perfect serves no one! If we can not acknowledge out shortcomings and mis-steps, then we can not correct them. These social movements offered the promise of equality and fair treatment to all of our citizens and helped make America a beacon of hope to people around the world and we must not stand by silently and see them mis-characterized or diminished... 
  

McLeroy even wants to feed paranoid conspiracy theories about "one world government" by adding a standard to high school U.S. history requiring students to "evaluate efforts by global organizations to undermine U.S. sovereignty."

This is nothing short of a naked attempt by politicians to brainwash a generation of American students at the expense of a sound education.

It's not too late to speak up now by signing the PFAW petition to make sure that in the event these new standards make it into Texas textbooks, they don't make it into textbooks elsewhere.

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Governor Bob McDonnell rejoins Virginians to celebrate the "Shared History" of the Confederacy

Just yesterday, an article was posted on Salon.com that talked about the hundreds of missing graves, and many more unmarked, incorrectly marked, or group marked graves of Black Civil War era Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. Just last month, the Texas Department of Education approved a new set of Social Studies Standards which minimize the role and significance of the civil rights movement, relegate celebrated African American historical figures like WEB DuBois and Ida B Wells to "Muckracker" status, and distort through omission America's real and sordid history on Race. So I guess it is only fitting that now Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has declared April to be Confederate History Month.

His proclamation stated in part:

"it is important for all Virginians to reflect upon our Commonwealth’s shared history, to understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War, and to recognize how our history has led to our present"

Yet, Governor McDonnell did not see fit to even mention the whole Slavery thingy that was kinda at the center of the whole damn thing. When asked why he would issue a proclaimation that talked about honoring our "shared history" while at the same time neglecting to mention anything about the 'Peculiar Institution' of Slavery, Governor McDonnell stated that in his proclamation he chose to focus on the issues that he thought were "significant for Virginia".

Significant huh? Well, how about this for significance...

The Confederate Army fought, bled, and died, to defend what they believed to be their God-given right to keep my Grandmother's Grandmother locked in chains. Imprisoned against her will; to be raped, tortured, burned, or whipped, to have her children torn away and sold, or worse... Confederate Soldiers fought, bled, and died, to defend what they believed to be their God-given right, to take men like my Grandfather's Grandfather and work them in hot fields like beasts of burden, starve them, whip them, maim them, destroy their families, rape their wives and their children, and even kill them with absolute impunity. Millions of Africans; worked for generations without pay, forbidden to learn to read or write, forbidden to practice their own religions, forbidden to speak their own languages, transmit their own culture, forbidden even to pass on their own names. Now we walk around as Johnson's, Washington's, Smith's, Davis's, and even Myles's, named for the very people and families responsible...And the Confederate Army went to War to declare that within their States, they should be allowed to do this to my Grandmother's Grandparents, and that the Federal Government should simply mind it's own business.  - Well -

For what its worth: Governor Bob McDonnell can go to Hell... For this detestable "celebration" of hatred, evil, and ignorance, I have nothing but contempt.

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Remembering Selma...

"Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne.
But the scaffold sways the future and behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadows, keeping watch above His own"

45 years ago today, thousands were engaged in a 5 day and 4 night march, covering 54 miles between Selma and Montgomery Alabama. This was their third attempt. The first attempt, on March 7th, is now remembered as "Bloody Sunday", when Alabama State Troopers attacked the marchers with billy clubs and tear gas on the Edmund Pettis Bridge. The second attempt was on March 9th, but the marchers then went only as far as the Edmund Pettis Bridge where they held a prayer service before turning back. Their third attempt began on March 21st at the Brown Chapel in Selma and ended on March 25th on the steps of the State Capitol in Montgomery... Once there, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered this speech, "God's truth is marching on"...

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NAACP Launches Interactive Multimedia Timeline to Bring the Lessons of History to Life

The NAACP has launched the NAACP Interactive Historical Timeline, a multimedia web site that tells the story of the 101-year-old civil rights organization through words, pictures and video.

The Web site, www.naacphistory.org, was funded through a $500,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon. Resources from the NAACP timeline will also be made available to teachers, students and parents through Verizon Thinkfinity (www.thinkfinity.org), a free educational Web site.

“A look back at the first 100 years of the NAACP’s history shows tremendous progress that has taken place since W.E.B. Du Bois and his co-founders first formed the organization in February 1909,” said Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP. “It also shows there is still more work to be done. I encourage everyone to spend a few moments on the NAACP interactive timeline, to look around, explore, discover and learn.”

The timeline provides an easy–to-follow chronological listing of the NAACP’s role in key events in the civil rights movement, education and an array of other topics. Each point on the timeline includes a written narrative, historic video and photos as well as an audio narrative read by a celebrity such as actor, director and producer Laurence Fishburne, actress and singer Tatyana Ali, actress Tichina Arnold, actor Dennis Haysbert, actress and director Nia Long, actress Tracee Ellis Ross, actor Nate Parker, and actress and director Chandra Wilson.

“Using technology to expand educational opportunity for all is a key mission of the Verizon Foundation,” said Verizon Foundation President Patrick Gaston. “We are proud to partner with the NAACP to help bring its important lessons of the past to the students of today in a dynamic, engaging format. And we are happy to add information from the NAACP Timeline to the robust pool of teaching resources available through Verizon Thinkfinity.”

Verizon Thinkfinity is a free educational Web site that contains thousands of engaging resources that make learning fun. Lesson plans, in-class activities and homework help can be found quickly and searched by grade level, keyword or subject.

The Verizon Foundation supports the advancement of literacy and K-12 education and fosters awareness and prevention of domestic violence. In 2009, the Verizon Foundation awarded more than $67.5 million in grants to nonprofit agencies in the U.S. and abroad. It also matched the charitable donations of Verizon employees and retirees, resulting in an additional $26.1 million in combined contributions to nonprofits. Through Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation’s largest employee volunteer programs, Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered more than 5 million hours of community service since 2000. For more information on the foundation, visit www.verizonfoundation.org.

About the NAACP
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its more than half-million members and supporters throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil and human rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and advocating for equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.


About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 91 million customers nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of approximately 222,900 and last year generated consolidated revenues of more than $107 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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The Smithsonian holds public vote on designs for National Museum of African American History and Culture

The Smithsonian Institution has revealed six architectural designs vying to become the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The concepts—from boxy to spiral-shaped (like the inside of a conch shell, really), geometric to organic—certainly run the gamut. And there’s no shortage of special features, like outdoor amphitheaters, panoramic windows showcasing views of other monuments and roof gardens. The designs, photographs and models are on display at the Smithsonian Castle until April 16.

A jury, headed by the museum’s director Lonnie Bunch, will be selecting the winning design in mid-April. Construction of the museum, which will be located on a five-acre plot near the National Museum of American History and the Washington Monument, is scheduled to begin in 2012 and be completed by 2015.

CLICK HERE to review the six designs and Cast your Vote! 

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