Black History Month!

This Black History Month has enough first to spawn hundreds of pages of Black History Month reports without one mention of Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman, or Malcolm X! First black President of the GOP, First Black President of America, things may seemed to be better, but the power of Black History Month needs to be celebrated. So, even though it's a week late, we will celebrate all things black this month. To make up with the week we missed since Black History Month is a short ass Month, here is 7 things you may not know about Black History. 1. Black History Month originated in 1926 by Carter Godwin Woodson as Negro History Week. The month of February was chosen in honor of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, who were both born in that month.
2. Gransville T. Woods invented the "telegraphony," an invention that Alexander Graham Bell's company purchased, which lead to the invention of the telephone.
3. Andrew Jackson Beard in 1897 invented the automatic railroad car coupler (aka the Jenny Coupler). This invention allowed two railroad cars to lock automatically by bumping into each other. Prior to this invention, a railroad employee would have to drop a bin between the two connectors of the railroad cars. Often times they could not get out in time and many lost their limbs and even their lives.
4. Nancy Green (1834 – 1923) a former slave, was employed in 1893 to promote the Aunt Jemima brand by demonstrating the pancake mix at expositions and fairs. She was a popular attraction because of her friendly personality, great story-telling, and warmth. Green signed a lifetime contract with the pancake company and her image was used for packaging and billboards.
5. Beyonce Knowles (1981 - ) an award-winning singer, songwriter and actress is the first African-American woman to win the "Songwriter of the Year" award at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards in 2001 and also holds the record for the longest run on the Billboard Hot 100's number one spot in 2003 with the songs "Crazy in Love" (8 weeks) and "Baby Boy" (9 weeks). Beyonce is ranked as the second best-selling female artist of the 21st century with record sales of over 37 million dollars.
6. Lonnie G. Johnson (1949 - ), an engineer who performed spacecraft system design for NASA, invented the Super Soaker water gun - the number one selling toy in America in 1991.
7. Dr. Charles Drew (1904 - 1950) discovered techniques to store blood and developed blood banks.

Posted By: Peaches!