Black Intellectual: Cornell West

How Cornel West Grew Up

Sarah Palin's Daughter

Sarah Palin's freak daughter is gettin $30,000 a speech to talk about being a single parent..WTF?! maaan how many single parents out there don't get a dime for talkin about their situation? The media is glorifying a drunken whore. Only in America..smh
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/bristol-palin-speech-30000_n_579545.html

Aren't You Black?

Lets talk BLACK talk. No not African Vernacular, but rather something deeper. How many unemployed BLACKS do you know? How many BLACK OWNED businesses do you frequent? How many people know of a BLACK television network controlled by a BLACK person? How many negroes live in an all BLACK community that aint a "project"? How many secondary schools do you know that teach a consistent BLACK history or Africana studies course? How many BLACK people you know long to be like their white counterparts? How many understand that 96 percent of our jails are filled with BLACK men? How many understand that welfare is a part of a vicious BLACK economic cycle? How many know that 97 percent of black families have been here longer than their caucasian counterparts? How many realize that BLACKS control 2 percent of the nations wealth? How many BLACK people can count back more than five generations and name what they have inherited? How many BLACK people are ready for change?

See our culture is a great one, rich in history taught more so through life lessons and public humilations than BLACK oration. We spend more time feuding with one another than any other group of people. A wise man once said there is no such thing as a black racist because in order to be a racist there must be one group opposing another, there have never been enough of us on one accord to accomplish any major acquisition of land, money, or substantial commodities, but this country was built off our backs! Can u feel what i'm gettin at? Same ol' two step u hear every Feb. i know, but have u ever wondered why we got the shortest month out of the year? I mean as a whole there are positives I mean our president has a darker complexion than those around him so yeah we are gettin somewhere but what color is most of his staff and most of the higher ups pulling the strings in the WHITE house? C'mon now, I know i'm on a soapbox right now but this is really something we need to address and change. We as Black people need a strong black community base to uplift our Black leaders and we need to stand behind our black owned businesses. Don't be complacent, we need to hold each other to a higher standard of expectation no matter what socioeconomic standings we may be in or come from.

The African American Seamstress

Many African women and men brought to America during the 17th 18th and 19th centuries were accustomed to making clothing because in many of the Western African tribes they came from they often made the garments worn by their tribes. Tradtionally, village women spun cloth, dyed fabrics and produced garmets. Weaving was done by both men and women with gender specific looms. Upon arrival to the "New" world (southern plantations) children were responsible for spinning and carding cotton. Patterns and sewing needles were given to them by their owners and enslaved women made garments for owners and slaves alike. However instead of their traditional African styles of clothing, European style clothing became the norm of the newly arrived slaves. This led to the emergence of early Black female fashion designers such as Elizabeth Keckly. She supported herself and family through her dressmaking skills. She bought her freedom, moved to Washington D.C. there she became famous for the inaugural gown she designed for Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. She was also a well respected business woman and worked towards the abolition of slavery through her affluent well-connected white clients. And so it began..Blacks' contributions to western culture through fashion