Kwanzaa, December 26th, 2022-January 1st, 2023

Kwanzaa begins December 26th, 2022 – January 1st, 2023. An African American Cultural Holiday that celebrates Community, Culture, and Family, Dedicated to reflection and recommitment to the seven principles.

Establish in 1966 by professor Dr. Maulana Karenga. Dr. Maulana Karenga combined aspects of several different harvest celebrations, such as those of the Ashanti and those of the Zulu, to form the basis of Kwanzaa.

The seven principles of Kwanzaa are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity), and Imani (faith). 

World AIDS Day, December 1st, 2022

December 1st, 2022 marks the 34th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Each year on 1 December, the world commemorates World AIDS Day. People around the world unite to show support for people living with HIV and to remember those who have died from AIDS-related illnesses. Founded in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first-ever international day for global health. Many people will wear a red ribbon, the universal symbol of awareness of, support, and solidarity with people living with HIV.   

The Theme for World AIDS 2022: Equalize

CELEBRATING BLACK CULTURE/HARLEM WEEK

It’s that time again when Harlem celebrates Black Culture, Music, History, and the Arts, during the month of August. Go to harlemweek.com for the schedule of events and activities happening during the month of August.

June is:

“Big L” Honored

The Family of Lamont “Big L” Coleman invites you to a renaming celebration @ 140th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard AKA Lenox Avenue in Central Harlem, NYC, to honor and celebrate “BIG L” Lendandary Hip-Hop Artist.

Finally

Speak to All (STA) for the last 2.5 years maybe 3, but who’s counting, had to take a break, a long break however we are back and bringing you all the updates, and the latest news on hip-hop, black news, what’s happening, and all things black. Stay tuned.

February Is Black History Month

Mapping courage in the Seventh Ward

Philadelphia’s famous Mural Mile. The larger-than-life figure depicted on the left in this mural is W.E.B. Du Bois, trailblazing scholar, sociologist, author, and co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In Philadelphia’s Seventh Ward neighborhood during the late 1890s, W.E.B Du Bois conducted a comprehensive study of an African American community. He used methodologies—including detailed data visualizations—that mapped out every household and documented the challenges that residents encountered as they tried to achieve success and happiness in the decades after Reconstruction and the beginning of the Jim Crow era.

The results of W.E.B Du Bois’ study, ‘The Philadelphia Negro,’ now considered a classic in social science literature. Look closely at the mural and you’ll see Du Bois again as a younger man standing among residents at the former home of Engine #11, Philadelphia’s first African American firehouse. The mural is just one of dozens of public art projects that Philadelphia Mural Arts produces each year.

February is Black History Month

Although Black History is celebrated every day amongst African Americans.  In 6 more days African Americans will celebrate, honor, remember and connect with their heritage throughout the month of February, in a very special way.  Who would not want to be apart of such a rich, vibrant, unique, culture?  FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH.  Let us celebrate our culture with others and SPEAK TO ALL.

1619 – 2019 = 400 Years

The year 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the first Africans’ arrival in what is now the United States. All over the United States, African Americans are observing and paying tribute to perseverance and resilience. The country Ghana (part of the Continent of Africa) proclaiming 2019 as the “Year of Return” by paying tribute to African Americans Commemorating the quarter centenary of the arrival of Africans to the United States.

In the year of 1619 400 years ago, a ship arrived in Virginia, bearing human cargo, 20 enslaved Africans.  The year 1619 has been called the beginning of Slavery in the United States.

So the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans to what is now the United States is a celebration, commemoration, and reflection on the History of Slavery and African Americans in the United States.

Stonewall 50 yrs

The Stonewall riots also referred to as the Stonewall uprising or the Stonewall rebellion were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village.  The Stonewall riots are widely considered the most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.

2019-worldpride-stonewall50.nycpride.org

JUNE Is PRIDE

June is PRIDE, and Pride is celebrated in June.  The month of June was chosen for the LGBT community to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June in 1969.  Many Pride events are held all over the world to recognize the impact the LGBT community have had in the world.  NYC will celebrate Pride through-out the month, however, the largest pride celebration will be held Sunday, June 30th, 2019 at 12 noon.  Visit the website at https://2019-worldpride-stonewall50.nycpride.org for more details, as NYC host world pride-stonewall50 2019.

 

Christopher Wallace AKA Notorious B.I.G

Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), known as The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or Biggie, an American rapper and songwriter. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest rappers of all time.

February is Black History Month: Slavery

 

Slavery in the United States was the legal institution of human enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, that existed in the United States of America in the 16th-19th centuries. Slavery had been practiced from the early colonial days, which began in 1619 when 20 Africans landed in the English Colony of Virginia. These individuals were not slaves but indentured servants. By the 1660s large numbers of Africans were being brought to the English Colonies.  In 1790 blacks numbered almost 760,000 and made up nearly one-fifth of the population of the United States.

With the increasing profitability of slavery and the slave trade, some Africans themselves sold captives to the European traders. The captured Africans were generally marched in chains to the coast and crowded into the holds of slave ships for the dreaded Middle Passage across the Atlantic Ocean.

An estimated 10 million Africans brought to the Americas by the Slave Trade, about 430,000 came to the territory of what is now the United States. The overwhelming majority were taken from the area of Western Africa stretching from present-day Senegal to Angola.

The 13th Amendment, adopted on December 18, 1865, officially abolished slavery, but freed blacks’ status in the post-war South remained precarious, and significant challenges awaited during the Reconstruction period.

February is Black History Month: Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was a political organization founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in October 1966.  The party was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982, with international chapters operating in the United Kingdom and Algeria.  

At its inception on October 15, 1966, the Black Panther Party’s core practice was its armed citizens’ patrols to monitor the behavior of officers of the Oakland Police Department and challenge police brutality.  In 1969, community social programs became a core activity of party members.  The Black Panther Party instituted a variety of community social programs, most extensively the Free Breakfast for Children Programs, and Community Health Clinics.  The party enrolled the most members and made the greatest impact in the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago Seattle, and Philadelphia. 

The New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (NBPP) is a U.S.-based black nationalist organization founded in Dallas, Texas, in 1989. Despite its name, the NBPP is not an official successor to the Black Panther Party.  Members of the original Black Panther Party have insisted that the newer party is illegitimate and they have firmly declared, “There is no new Black Panther Party”.  

 

 

February is Black History Month: HBCU

 Black colleges have played an important role in the education, empowerment, and success of African-American students, from the missionaries that taught runaway slaves to the trade schools that were founded in the early 20th century. Some HBCUs, (HIstorically Black Colleges and Universities) however, have more history than others: there are over 100 HBCU in the United States, and many of those institutions have served African-American students for more than one-hundred years. Learn more at https://hbculifestyle.com 

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania: The First HBCU In The United States

Richard Humphreys, a Quaker philanthropist, arrived in Philadelphia in 1764. Humphreys knew that African-Americans needed trade schools that would prepare them for the job market, so he dedicated one-tenth of his estate to the creation of a new kind of institution. Cheyney University of Pennsylvania (which was originally called the Institute for Colored Youth) was founded in 1837, and it is currently recognized as the oldest HBCU in the United States.