This post concludes YWM’s recognition of unique contributions to the history of the United States.
February 27
1942 - Journalist Charlayne Hunter was born this day in Due West, South Carolina.
1902 – Marian Anderson, world-renowned opera singer, is born in Philadelphia, PA.
1872 – Charlotte E. Ray graduates from Howard Law School. She is the first African American lawyer in the U.S.
1869 – Congress adopted the 15th constitutional amendment, making it illegal for the US or any single government to deny or abridge the right to vote “on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.”
1833 – Maria W. Steward delivered one of the four speeches which confirmed her place in history as the first American-born woman to give public lectures. Stewards lectures focused on encouraging African-Americans to attain education, political rights, and public recognition for their achievements. Her speech on this day was titled “On African Rights and Liberty.”
February 28
1990 – Philip Emeagwali awarded the Gordon Bell Prize (computing’s Nobel Prize) for solving one of the twenty most difficult problems in the computing field. Emeagwali is also the creator of what is now known as the Internet.
1984 – Musician and entertainer Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy Awards. His album, “Thriller”, broke all sales records to-date, and remains one of the top-grossing albums of all time.
1932 – Richard Spikes invented/patented automatic gear shift.
1879 – Southern Blacks fled political and economic exploitation in “Exodus of 1879.” This Exodus continued for several years. One of the major leaders of the Exodus movement was a former enslaved African, Benjamin (“Pap”) Singleton.
1708 – Revolt of the enslaved in Newton, Long Island (N.Y.) and seven whites were killed. As a result, two Black enslved males and an enslved Native American were hanged, and a Black woman was burned alive.
Stay tuned for the YWM Women’s History Month series and recognition.
Everyday this month, a little-known fact about history made on this date will be featured.
February 26
1964 - The Kentucky boxing champion known to all as Cassius Clay, changed his name to Muhammad Ali as he accepted Islam. “I believe in the religion of Islam. I believe in Allah and in peace…I’m not a Christian anymore.”
1933 – Godfrey Cambridge, actor and comedian is born in New York.
1928 – Singer Antoine Dominique “Fats” Domino is born.
1920 – In 1920, Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950) founded “Associated Publishers.”
1884 - Congressman James E. O’Hara of North Carolina is born.
1869 - Fifteenth Amendment guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote sent to the states for ratification.
Everyday this month, a little-known fact about history made on this date will be featured.
February 25
1999 – White supremacist John King was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the dragging death of James Byrd. He was one of three white men accused of chaining Byrd to a pickup and dragging him along a Texas road until he was decapitated.
1975 – Death of Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, in Chicago. He was succeeded by his son, Wallace D. Muhammad.
1971 – President Nixon met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and appointed a White House panel to study a list of recommendations made by the group.
1964 – Cassius Clay becomes world heavyweight boxing champion.
1948 - Martin Luther King ordained as a Baptist minister.
When I was growing up my mother was not shy about being Canadian. Even though she was a permanent resident and had lived in the United States since she was 25, she was proud of her Canadian citizenship and felt a strong tie to her country. She watched the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics a few weeks ago with a beaming smile and said, “I hope everyone finally gets to know and appreciate Canada”.
I think the world has certainly gotten a wonderful introduction to Canada and the beautiful city of Vancouver as we’ve watched the athletes compete in such dramatic and harrowing events. However beyond the Olympics I think the event gives us an opportunity to get to know our northern neighbor that often gets forgotten.
There are many reasons to celebrate Canada besides their ability to put on a good show. Compared to the United States it is a progressive country in many respects exemplified by their environmental protection laws, health care system and family-friendly policies.
Many Americans would welcome the kind of public benefits provided to Canadian families. According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, new parents in Canada can take up to 50 weeks of paid maternity or paternity leave, at up to 55 percent salary. They are also guaranteed a comparable job when they return to work at the end of the time off. To help offset the costs of raising children, the Canadian government has a variety of subsidy programs available to working parents who use day care and stay-at-home. And to top off all of these incredible work-life benefits, families receive guaranteed health care. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? No wonder my mother is proud of her Canadian citizenship.
It’s no surprise that the United States has some of the worst work-life policies in the world. A new mom is lucky to get paid time off and that’s usually using her available paid sick time. However most women must take unpaid leave and that’s only guaranteed if her employer offers protection under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which might not be the case if you work for a small employer. FMLA applies only to companies with more than 50 employees therefore about 40 percent of American workers aren’t eligible. And even if you take full FMLA, a new mother must return to work within 12 weeks or risk losing her job.
There is such fear in this country to go to the lengths that Canada has in terms of their work friendly policies mainly because of cost and scope. However when new parents cannot stay at home with their kids because of cost or lack of benefits, everyone pays as families become more stressed and detached.
While I have my doubts that this country will ever achieve the progress of our Canadian neighbor, I hope that policymakers realize the success other countries have had to support families lead a healthier, balanced life.
Everyday this month, a little-known fact about history made on this date will be featured.
February 24
1966 – Elected leader and first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, ousted in military coup while he is away on a peace mission to Vietnam.
1940 – Former world heavyweight boxing champion Jimmy Ellis was born James Albert Ellis in Louisville, Kentucky. Ellis won the World Boxing Association title after beating Jerry Quarry in April 1968.
1864 – Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes the first black woman to receive an M.D. degree. She graduated from the New England Female Medical College. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was born in 1833. She worked from 1852-1860 as a nurse in Massachusetts.
1811 – First Bishop of the AME Church, Daniel Payne, is born. He was one of the founders of Wilberforce University in Ohio. In 1863 he became its first president, and the first African-American president of a college in the United States.
Everyday this month, a little-known fact about history made on this date will be featured.
February 23
1979 – Frank E. Peterson Jr. is named the general in the Marine Corps. He is the first African American to hold this post. He was also the first African-American Marine Corps aviator and the first African-American Marine Corps general. Peterson retired from the Marine Corps in 1988 after 38 years of service. “At the time of his retirement he was by date of aviator designation the senior ranking aviator in the U.S. Marine Corps and the United States Navy with respective titles of “Silver Hawk” and “Gray Eagle”. His date of designation as an aviator also precedes all other aviators in the U.S. Air Force and Army.
1965 – Constance Baker Motley elected Manhattan Borough president, the highest elective office held by an African American woman in a major American city.
1929 – Baseball catcher Elston Gene Howard was born in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1965, Howard signed a $70,000 contract with the NY Yankees and became the highest paid player in the history of baseball at the time.
1925 – Louis Stokes, former mayor of Detroit, Michigan, and member of the US House of Representatives, was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Stokes was the first African American elected to the House from Ohio.
1868 - William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (W.E.B. Du Bois), educator and activist, is born in Great Barrington, Mass.
Everyday this month, a little-known fact about history made on this date will be featured.
February 20
1963 – Charles Wade Barkley, NBA player, is born Leeds, AL.
1936 – Jazz singer, actress, Nancy Wilson born in Chillicothe, Ohio.
1929 – Writer Wallace Thurman’s play Harlem opens in NYC. It is the first successful play by an African American playwright.
1927 - Actor and thespian Sidney Poitier is born.
February 21
1965 - El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (also known as Malcolm X) is assassinated in Audubon Ballroom at a rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
1961 - Otis Boykin, inventor, patented the Electrical Resistor. U.S. patent 2,972,726. He is responsible for inventing the electrical device used in all guided missiles and IBM computers, plus 26 other electronic devices including a control unit for an artificial heart stimulator (pacemaker).
1936: Barbara Jordan, the first African American woman elected to the House of Representatives, is born.
1933 – Nina Simone (Eunice Waymon) is born Tryon, NC.
February 22
1950 – Julius Winfield ( “Dr.J”) Erving, NBA legend, is born in Roosevelt, NY.
1888 – In West Chester, Pennsylvania, African American painter Horace Pippin was born. Pippin is considered one of the major American painters of his period. One of his more significant works, “John Brown Going to His Hanging,” is owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
1841 – Grafton Tyler Brown, lithographer and painter, is born.
If I surveyed my friends I bet many of them would say they don’t love their jobs, and more significantly, their careers. And undoubtedly the recession has had an impact on the job satisfaction level of the overall workforce as many people have had to stay longer in their current position because opportunity and mobility is sparse or unavailable.
Much of the focus over the past few years, and rightfully so, has been on the staggering number of people out of work and unable to find jobs. In fact, soon there could be a crisis as unemployment checks begin to expire next month and many people once considered part of the middle class drop into levels of poverty.
However another repercussion of our faltering economy has been the impact it’s had on people with jobs. Granted you might say they are lucky to have employment and a steady paycheck when so many have struggled with immense stress and instability, but there are challenges to be faced with a job as well.
A career is an ever changing evolution in one’s life however when organizations are faltering and ceasing to hire new or different employees, it makes changing jobs or figuring out a new career very difficult. Over the past two years, many people have had to resign to staying in their current job for longer than anticipated. And as a result are dealing with a growing sense of unhappiness and stress being stuck in a position they dislike.
No one likes feeling trapped in a job but prior to the recession there was a general feeling that if you felt restless, wanted a new challenge, disliked your boss or were in a terrible situation you could eventually find a new position within a reasonable timeframe. Unfortunately that has changed drastically. As a result, millions of people are settling for less opportunity, less money and less mobility because they have to accept just being lucky to have a job in the first place, and put the desire for more on the back burner.
As the recession starts to hopefully slow down, an entourage of people may be considering how they can jump ship from their current job and seek a new position. In fact, there is heightened speculation that the year ahead may bring about a renewed war for talent making the job market even more competitive and complex. Many people have waited patiently for the bad economy to subside and are anxiously ready to pounce on the few jobs that exist out there.
To gauge this impending movement in the workforce, it’s interesting to look at whether American workers love what they do or are they looking for change?
For Generation X workers, who have been working longer and are more established in their careers, many would do their career over again if given the chance. However unfortunately this economy has made changing careers even more difficult as employers can be pickier about who they hire and demand certain backgrounds to fit their needs.
Given these findings, and from my own conversations with friends, it’s clear there are a lot of restless people out there. And how that will translate into a job market on life support fighting to recuperate means that many people may not be able to have the job change they desire for even longer.
I think everyone can relate to this somehow because even if you are happy in your current position, eventually there will come a time when you want upward mobility, different responsibilities, more money or perhaps an entirely new career altogether. Unfortunately though this economy is making reaching goals even tougher, and people must exercise their creativity and test their persistence to secure the professional opportunities they desire.
1942 - Journalist Charlayne Hunter was born this day in Due West, South Carolina.
1902 – Marian Anderson, world-renowned opera singer, is born in Philadelphia, PA.
1990 – Philip Emeagwali awarded the Gordon Bell Prize (computing’s Nobel Prize) for solving one of the twenty most difficult problems in the computing field. Emeagwali is also the creator of what is now known as the Internet.
1984 – Musician and entertainer Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy Awards. His album, “Thriller”, broke all sales records to-date, and remains one of the top-grossing albums of all time.
1932 – Richard Spikes invented/patented automatic gear shift.
