Click the buttons below to share this article to your social networks: | |
|
The Transformative Justice Coalition and the Voting Rights Alliance, in honor of Black History Month, are reviving the daily special series devoted to sharing the legacies and stories of the sheroes, heroes, and events in the fight for Black suffrage. This series was created in 2017 and will add several NEW articles this year. In addition to these daily newsletters all February long, this series also incorporates daily social media posts; an interactive calendar; and, website blog posts to spread the word broadly.
Feel free to publish on your social media outlets, with credit given to the Transformative Justice Coalition.
In light of the recent attempts to ban Black History, we are even more pleased to share these stories this year. We encourage everyone in the 18 states that are banning Black History to share these stories broadly!
We encourage everyone to share this series to your networks and on social media under the hashtag #VRABlackHistory. You can also tweet us @TJC_DC to share your own facts.
Others can sign up for the daily articles or view more Black History articles at VotingRightsAlliance.org.
| |
|
Reporting by Caitlyn Cobb.
Happy Valentine's Day! Today, February 14th, 2023, we honor Ella Baker, one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. (Story continued below gold highlighted articles.)
| |
|
Do you want to make a difference like those honored during this series?
The deadline to apply for the next Gen Z and Millennial Votes Matter Leadership Training is February 28th, 2023!
|  |  |
Houston 2023 Gen Z and Millennial Votes Matter Training Application - The Voting Rights Alliance | The Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC) is hosting a non-partisan interactive virtual Gen Z and Millennial Votes Matter Leadership Training Event to be held March 29-April 2, 2023. This is a paid training opportunity with a $500 stipend and round-trip all expenses paid, including meals and ground transportation to Houston, Texas, for the entire event. The stipend is for your attendance and completion of a work plan. Unlike prior program, this training will interact with the 2nd Year of the HBCU ALL-Stars Game Week being held during NCAA Basketball Championships. We will attend the HBCU All Stars Civil Rights and Social Justice Panel and tickets and transportation will be provided to the game on Sunday, April 2nd. There will also be assigned homework prior to the event. To receive the stipend, you must attend all sessions every day, be punctual, uphold a code of conduct, and complete all assignments. The deadline to apply is February 28th, 2023 and all applicants must be able to provide proof of full vaccinations (both shots) and at least one booster shot. | | | |  |
In order to have room for new stories every year, we have to replace old Black History articles we've done in the past. Take a look at 3 such articles below: |
Today We Honor the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. #VRABlackHistory | Today we honor the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. "The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr., founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, is one of America's foremost civil rights, religious and political figures. Over the past forty years, he has played a pivotal role in virtually every movement for empowerment, peace, civil rights, gender equality, and economic and social justice." | | |
Today We Honor Anna Julia Cooper #VRABlackHistory | Today, we honor Anna Julia Cooper, who "was an American educator, writer, and scholar remembered for her pioneering crusade for the upliftment of African-American women.” Cooper is most remarkable for the amount and significance of her accomplishments over the course of her lifetime, as well as the dedication and perseverance she exhibited while fighting tirelessly for what she thought was just. | | |
Today, we remember The Fight for the Federal Elections Bill #VRABlackHistory | It is almost eerie how the fight over this bill reveals issues mirroring those of today in the 1800's, including but not limited to: priorities of political parties shifting; Congressional gridlock; immigration; public shame tactics; the mistreatment of Native Americans and Chinese immigrants; Georgia majorly suppressing votes of Black people; and, the battle between doing what is good for the economy and one group, and doing what is best for the social good, especially when benefits aren't immediate. | | | | |
|
View as Webpage
"Born in Norfolk, Virginia, on 13 December 1903, Baker was raised on the same land her grandparents had worked as slaves. Baker’s childhood was marked early on by the activist spirit of her mother, a member of the local missionary association, who called on women to act as agents of social change in their communities.
[Ella Baker's] political activism began in Harlem in the 1930s. She worked with the cooperative movement during the Great Depression; supported the campaign against Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia; and opposed the racist conviction of the famed Scottsboro boys.
Baker was a field secretary and director of branches for the N.A.A.C.P. in the 1940s, and she traveled throughout the Jim Crow South, organizing against discrimination and recruiting people to the Civil Rights Movement. She worked alongside King and others in the Southern Christian Leadership Council in the 1950s and was a mentor to the young activists who founded the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in 1960. S.N.C.C. went on to lead the 'Freedom Rides,' in which participants risked life and limb to desegregate interstate transportation, and then to organize 'Freedom Summer,' a massive voter registration drive targeting disenfranchised black southern voters.
In addition to continuing her involvement as an advisor to SNCC, Baker served as a consultant to the Southern Conference Education Fund throughout the mid-1960s and helped organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She returned to New York in the late 1960s and remained active in the civil rights struggle until her death in 1986."(Ransby, B., 2020)
| |
Fun Facts:
-
"Gov. Roy Cooper issued a proclamation declaring April 15 as Ella Baker Day in North Carolina. Previous declarations were made by the town of Littleton, Warren and Halifax counties" (Weldon, L., 2018).
- "'Fundi,' a Swhali word, was Baker's nickname, meaning a person who passes down their craft to the next generation" (Herriot, A., 2020)
Recommended Reading:
| |
| One Person, One Vote: The Legacy of SNCC and... | | One Person, One Vote: the Legacy of SNCC and the Fight for Voting Rights shows how SNCC united with local people to build a grassroots movement for change. | | | |
Did you miss any of the #VRABlackHistory series articles?
Don't forget to tell your friends!
| |
Click the buttons below to share this article to your social networks: | |
~References~
Ella Baker, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left. , None. [Between 1942 and 1946] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/94504496/
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. (2020). One Person One Vote. Duke University and The SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) Legacy Project. Retrieved from: http://onevotesncc.org/
| | | | |
