Lift every voice and do something
12th February 2024 · 0 Comments
Black History Month is a time for celebrating Black America’s achievements and accomplishments writ large (moral compass of this nation, seeker of justice) and Black individuals’ successes in every imaginable field.
Louisiana and New Orleans played and continue to play a significant role in civil and voting rights. As it enters its 99th year, The Louisiana Weekly faithfully documents Black History, Black History makers, and Black History as it occurs in real-time.
There is not enough space to publish the accomplishments of generations of Blacks in Louisiana and New Orleans. That is a subject for many books.
However, a visit to the Louisiana Division at the main branch of New Orleans Public Library and a search of The Louisiana Weekly and other Black newspapers on microfilm lays out these resilient people’s struggles, triumphs, and contributions that make the state and its parishes the subject, at many times, of national press stories.
Black America has come a long way with much to celebrate. Historic colleges and universities are among the best higher education institutions, and the list of celebrities from the state, especially New Orleans, is more than impressive. That list includes teachers, elected officials, judges, musicians, artists, dancers, lawyers, doctors, publishers, and small business owners, giving us much to commemorate and express pride.
Black people are making history every day. Just last week, Jeremiah Fennell, the 11-year-old journalist, drew praise and awe for his skilled interviews during the Super Bowl Opening Night event. Fennell says he started his career in sports journalism at seven when he started his YouTube Channel.
Some organizations and individuals are poised to make history soon.
The Poor People’s Campaign, co-chaired by the Rev. Dr. William Barber II and the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, is mobilizing a voter registration effort aimed at poor and low-wealth people to “change the political landscape.” The campaign will take place over 42 weeks and across 30 states.
The goal is to activate 85 million poor and low-wealth eligible voters and enlist them to directly bring the demands of 140 million poor & low-wealth people to lawmakers at their respective state capitols.
On March 2, The Poor People’s Campaign and Repairers of the Breach call for a day of nationally coordinated, simultaneous direct action nationwide and will host a Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Statehouse Assembly & Moral March on Raleigh and to the Polls!
Closer to home, six Grammy Awards at the February 4 event were bestowed upon Louisiana and New Orleans natives: Best Country Album -Lainey Wilson, Best Traditional R&B Performance – PJ Morton featuring Susan Carol, Best Regional Roots Music Album (Tie): Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. & The Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band, a collaboration featuring the Lost Bayou Ramblers & Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Best Traditional Blues Album – Bobby Rush, and Best Opera Recording: Terrence Blanchard and The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus.
Also, New Orleans songstress Ledisi can be seen and heard in the first-ever concert tribute to Curtis Mayfield, which premiered in Cologne, Germany, a few months ago.
From Black sports celebrities (too numerous to list), sports announcers Greg and Bryan Gumble, Stan Verrett, Michael Anthony Smith, II, Ro Brown, and Sharief Ishaq, visual artists and photographers, journalists, scientists, and inventors, civil rights leaders, judges and attorneys, Black New Orleanians, specifically, are also history makers who have risen to the tops of their professions.
Yet, the unsung heroes and sheroes who work tirelessly to achieve a decent quality of life while standing up and speaking truth to power to obtain justice are also history-makers. They may not be celebrities, but their contributions improve Black Americans’ lives. The essential workers, the wage increase activists, community organizers, and numerous artists in every category uplift and validate the race while achieving goals and creating historic activities.
These days, with the concerted effort by some people to whitewash American history and strip Black authors’ books from school libraries and classroom curriculums, every Black American should find ways to learn, create, preserve, and pass on Black history for posterity and future generations.
Brighter minds than we can point to many things for launching a historic event or activity. We can participate, help plan, and implement events that will become a part of your personal history and community.
Collecting books about the Black experience and having a book giveaway on your block can be historic. Starting a small group or joining a group to work for several causes is historic. Collecting family history data is historic and a wonderful gift to leave for current and future generations.
Those who are artistically inclined use their third eye for perception and awareness to create art that captures the Black experience. That could be in the form of a poem, song, performance, book, or essay.
Voter registration drive, anyone?
The point is Black History is alive and replicating itself daily in the minds of Black Americans. If it is to stay alive, creators of the Black experience must not let it die or consign it to the ashbin of American history.
This article originally published in the February 12, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
