For Black History Month

January was a month. February is our month. Not only February, but especially February.

Every day of Black History Month this year, I'm rocking, reading, watching, attending, and most importantly enjoying something that celebrates Black history, Black culture, or Black folks.

I’ll post about what I’m doing, wearing, listening to, recommending, learning here on the blog daily. 

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Feb. 1 -  Kicking off the month with this super cute, handpainted shirt from artist Cynthia Vaughn @iamcjgallery on IG

Feb. 2 - Caught a replay of “We Knew What We Had” (PBS) a doc about the history of jazz in Pittsburgh, highlights the talents of George Benson, Art Blakey, Mary Lou Williams and other greats — all from Pittsburgh.

Feb. 3 - Watched several eps from Crash Course - Black American History (YouTube) hosted by Clint Smith. The 51-episode series discusses the experience of Black people in America, from the arrival of the first enslaved Black people who arrived at Jamestown to the Black Lives Matter movement. I’ve seen most of this series already, but watched one of the stories I somehow missed: Maria Stewart, abolitionist and orator.

Feb. 4 - Watched episode 2 of Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ The Great Migration: “Streets Paved in Gold" about the second wave of the Great Migration when Northern and Western Black communities matured through migration and transformed the cultural and political power of Black America.

Feb. 5 - Top from Kayammah. 

Feb. 6 - Rereading Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi.

Feb. 7 - Began binge-watching “A Different World” (Netflix). I tried to start at season 1 but decided to exercise my DNF rights, and jumped to season 2, which is when the great Debbie Allen took over the series. That stepping episode definitely marks the official glow up.

Feb. 8 - Read a manuscript about a 1940s artist who pioneered a musical genre. Can’t share more because it’s a work in progress (and not my work) but I learned a lot. 

Feb. 9 - Reminisced a bit and watched “Black Twitter” on Hulu. I remember when Ronnie DeVoe, my celeb crush for decades, started following me and I swore I’d be on Twitter forever. Sigh. 

Feb. 10 - While I don’t claim slavery as Black history, as a Jersey girl I needed to watch “The Price of Silence: The Forgotten Story of New Jersey’s Enslaved People.” (YouTube) 

Feb. 11 - What was it like for Black folks in the 1980s? Pretty good for me, but I was a just a kid. This ep of Lexual Does The 80s, (a YouTube fave!) dives deeper. Mike & Pepsi, advocacy for MLK Day, the MOVE bombing (which I knew nothing about until 10 years ago) and more. Watch it here

Feb. 12 -  It’s been on my radar for a while. Decided to finally check out Black History Year, a series of very short segments that “connect you to the history, thinkers, and activists that are left out of the mainstream conversations.” First listen was about Faith Ringgold, whose work I do know. However this particular story was new to me. Listen on Spotify

Feb. 13 - Questlove's new documentary, "Sly Lives! (AKA The Burden Of Black Genius)," about Sly Stone and his band, Sly and the Family Stone began streaming on Hulu. Love how he’s approaching the storytelling and the greats he enlisted to speak on Sly and Black geniuses as a whole. (Andre 3000 and D’Angelo to name a few)

Feb. 14 - A bit of history on the sign for Black (vs black).

 ❤And a bonus for Valentine’s Day: the 50 Greatest Hip Hop love songs, according to Rock the Bells. 

Feb. 15 - I love that there are so many creative and fun Black history celebrations this year, like this daily crossword puzzle on IG.

Feb. 16 - Supreme Models (Netflix) is a six-series doc that celebrates Black trailblazers in modeling, such as Donyale Kuna, the first Black supermodel; 60's icon Pat Cleveland and more household names like Iman, Beverly Johnson, and Naomi Campbell. It also highlights moments and movements that I was totally unfamiliar with, like The Black Girls Coalition, a group started by Bethann Hardison and Iman to push for more diverse representation in the industry.

Feb. 17 - Eleven years ago, at a Black History Month event hosted by Rutgers University, I heard one of the most inspiring  and actionable talks ever. It was by Diane Nash, who as a student at Fisk led a student org in helping desegregate lunch counters in Little Rock (and later helped found SNCC). She said “My contemporaries had you in mind when we acted. Even though we had not met you, we loved you.” That stuck with me. And I’ve been coming back to her words a lot recently. 

Learn more about Diane Nash and her impact. 

Feb. 18 - It’s Toni Morrison’s birthday! Get into this tee (from Music Sermon) based on the joyous image of Toni dancing at a New York City party in 1974. 

Feb. 19 - Opening night celebration for Black Art Unveiled, a collection that highlights stories, experiences, and heritages of the Black community. All of the art is by local Black artists. Check it out at the Pierro Gallery in South Orange, NJ. The exhibit runs through March 28. A few of my favorite pieces below. (by Glendora Simonson, Malik Whitaker, Joseph Zoboi)

Feb. 20 - It’s easy to forget how much history there is in photos. Social media can make them feel mundane but those images hold stories. While going through some photos, I traveled back to some impactful moments in the journey of my parents’ publishing company, Just Us Books, which is celebrating 36 years in business. That is Black history. Check out the highlights here.

Feb. 21 - There was a time when I found myself choosing between going to church and watching tv. It sounds trifling but the tv I needed to see was Like It Is, a Black public affairs show produced and hosted by Gil Noble. It debuted on ABC in NYC in 1968 amid the racial and political turmoil of the era and shared untold stories of Black American history. I didn’t find it until the early 2000s, when it was airing sporadically, often on Sundays at midday. I was immediately captured because it highlighted perspectives I’d never heard before, like Dr. Joy DeGruy’s concept of post traumatic slave syndrome. I only recently learned this was a local show only available in the NYC metro area. Too many people missed out. Learn more about the history of Like It Is in this interview with Gil Noble.

Feb. 22 - On my grandmother’s 93rd birthday nine years ago today, my Uncle Curt wrote this tribute celebrating the tremendous life she lived and foundation she laid for her family. My earliest lessons on giving — that you don’t have to have a lot in the way of material things to help someone — came from MaDear. As we learn about Black folks who’ve forged new paths and achieved firsts, it’s essential to count in that celebration those who may not have made the news or history books but absolutely made a way and a difference. Just MaDear did.

Left: Me, Dad and the Just Us Books table at New Hope Baptist Church’s Black Expo, @justusbooks 
Right: Tesha Gary, artist and creator of all the puzzles pictured here, @anxietymyway 

Feb. 23 - It was a Black Expo weekend. On Saturday, I went to Black Wall Street at the Newark Public Library, where I bought a super cute, handmade puzzle from a local artist. Today, the church I grew up in, New Hope Baptist of East Orange, hosted a mini marketplace and invited us to bring Just Us Books’ titles. The pastor, Rev. Thurselle Williams, shared an inspiring sermon about the importance of continuing to live out our God-given purpose and invest in our future. “We are our own DEI!”

Feb. 24 - The memoir might be my favorite book genre. Here are several I’ve read and highly recommend: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South by Wade Hudson, Yellow Black by Haki Madhubuti, The Last Holiday by Gil Scott-Heron

Feb. 25 - The upcoming economic blackout has more of us  talking about the power of boycotts. While the Montgomery bus boycott is what we hear about most, this Black History Month’s theme (labor) is spotlighting other powerful resistance movements and leaders, such as Hattie Canty. A native of Alabama, she moved to Las Vegas for better job opportunities but by 1975, she was a widow raising eight children on a room attendant’s wages. She joined the Culinary Workers Union, learned about labor law and organizing, and went on to become president of the Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas. There, she led historic strikes including a 75-day walkout against  casinos that won better health benefits for culinary workers, and the longest successful hotel strike in US history – which resulted in increased wages and preserved benefits. Learn more about Hattie here.

Feb. 26 - Many of us know about Carter G. Woodson, founder of Black History Month. But how much do we know about the organization that’s continuing his important work? Founded by Dr. Woodson in 1915, The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History created research and publication outlets for Black scholars, such as the Journal of Negro History and the Negro History Bulletin. Today, under its new name, The Association for the Study of African American Life and History, it creates and disseminates knowledge about Black history. This includes establishing a theme for each Black History Month. I will admit I didn’t even know BHM had themes until a few years ago. Thankfully, ASALH has a record dating back to 1928. Take a look back.

Feb. 27 - There’s lots of conversation these days about resistance and what counts as real action: letter writing, protests, boycotts? What I hadn’t heard mentioned was a side-eye. Until today. Iconic Side Eye Moments from Black History

Feb. 28 - On this last day of Black History Month, I’m sitting with complex feelings and this call to action from Dr. Kimberleé Crenshaw’s AAPF webinar this week:  “Use every platform you have to tell the truth about who we are.” - Kaye Wise Whitehead