People and society itself refer to me–to us–as a hopeless case. Someone who doesn’t fit in, someone who can’t be heard, and someone who no one sees but a mere shadow. It seems like the only option is to give up, but I will never give up my American dream. Last year I applied for DACA, and I went back to college, hoping to become a doctor someday. That hope is at hold until our leaders in Washington decide. Now, I am coming out from the shadows and I am unafraid. Unafraid to be heard, unafraid to be seen.
I graduated from elementary school and middle school without having any idea of being undocumented. Then, my high school years began. During those years, my school decided to enroll some students to take college classes at a nearby college. I was one of those students. I remember how, in the application, there was a part where we had to fill in our social security number. I didn’t know whether or not I had one, until my older sister informed me. Even though I didn’t have a social security number, I never considered myself to be undocumented…until I realized I couldn’t do certain things my other friends where doing, like travel. I couldn’t go visit my grandparents, couldn’t drive, couldn’t get financial aid for college.
Be sure what you want and be sure about yourself. Fashion is not just beauty, it’s about good attitude. You have to believe in yourself and be strong @_rosebud_420 . . . . . . #420nurses #420 #cannabiscommunity #cannabis #thc #weed #420girls #marijuana #cannabisculture #kush #420nursesboutique #420fashionshow #prop215 #weedstagram #ganja #hightimes #the420fashionshow #mmj #justaplant #cannabisbirthright #420life #highsociety #cannabispatient #civilrights #weedporn #indica #sativa #legalizeforreal #savethecure #ganjagirls (at 420Nurses Boutique) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpAhHozlf7U/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1imxjlrkf16fr
#OTD in 1974, Hank Aaron (who died in January 2021) hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s legendary record before a crowd of 53,775 people, the largest in the history of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. This achievement was bittersweet; at each step of his historic rise, he faced systemic and extreme racism that included hate mail and death threats. He described the effects of this vitriol on his family and his heart:
“It really made me see for the first time a clear picture of what this country is about. My kids had to live like they were in prison because of kidnap threats, and I had to live like a pig in a slaughter camp. I had to duck. I had to go out the back door of the ball parks. I had to have a police escort with me all the time. I was getting threatening letters every single day. All of these things have put a bad taste in my mouth, and it won’t go away. They carved a piece of my heart away.” NYT interview.
Aaron saved many of those letters and even the death threats.
“To remind myself that we are not that far removed from when I was chasing the record. If you think that, you are fooling yourself. A lot of things have happened in this country, but we have so far to go. There’s not a whole lot that has changed.” USA Today interview.
Such hatred didn’t stop him. Instead, Aaron seized the opportunity for greatness and advancement on the field and beyond (from here): :
“In playing ball, and in life, a person occasionally gets the opportunity to do something great. When that time comes, only two things matter: being prepared to seize the moment and having the courage to take your best swing.” - Hank Aaron
President Carter welcomes Hank Aaron to the White House, 8/15/1978, Carter Library, NARA IDs 180805 and180806.
“A breaker of records and racial barriers, his remarkable legacy will continue to inspire countless athletes and admirers for generations to come.” –President Carter
President George W. Bush Presents Presidential Medal of Freedom to Hank Aaron, 7/9/2002, George W. Bush Library, NARA ID 6734115.
Day 20 of Black History Month and I’m honoring Bayard Rustin. He was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. Rustin worked with A. Philip Randolph on the March on Washington Movement, in 1941, to press for an end to racial discrimination in employment.
Day 19 of Black History Month and I’m honoring Yolanda King. She was an African American activist and first-born child of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. She was also known for her artistic and entertainment endeavors and public speaking. Her childhood experience was greatly influenced by her father’s highly public and influential activism.
Baby Esther Lee Jones (aka Betty Boop) originally billed (Lil’ Little Esther) was a child entertainer who lived in Chicago, Illinois. Esther was a trained dancer who used to perform at nightclubs in Harlem in the 1920s. In her act Baby Esther would dance, make funny faces, roll her eyes and interpolated words such as “Boo-Boo-Boo”, “Wha-Da-Da”,“Doo-Doo-Doo” & “Do-Do-De-Do-Ho-De-Wa-Da-De-Da,” “Boo-Did-Do-Doo,” “Lo-Di-De-Do,” and would finish off her routine with a “De-Do -
be a better activist and learn your rights, make sure your friends know. So much cool info here. Be ready! Open the discussion with your parents. Look for hints what to do if police stop you. If trans, carry matching ID if you have it, and know if you can’t march then find other ways to help.Hand out water, sandwiches, make encouraging posts. etc etc
there’s a lot of greatness in this pic, but we gon focus on ms. fannie lou hammer (she’s in the center). #fannielouhammer was a tireless civil rights activist, community advocate, and philanthropist. 2 of her famous quotes include: “nobody’s free til everybody’s free” and “there is one thing you have got to learn about our movement. three people are better than no people.” sometimes it feels like you can’t do much. but if you help one person understand their worth.. if you only help one person gain knowledge of self.. then you helped one more person get free. be as powerful as fannie lou! #bhm #queen #civilrights #mississippi #kwameture #ellabaker #elanorholmes #emoryharris #samblock #kiq
@FaithRinggold’s epic update of Guernica for the Civil Rights movement, “American People Series #20: "Die,” 1967, oil on canvas. Recently acquired by @themuseumofmodernart and now on view on 4th-floor landing. #FaithRinggold #ContemporaryHistoryPainting #CivilRights (at MoMA The Museum of Modern Art)
#wepost from @embracingblackculture Well Bree Newsome couldn’t wait any longer. So, she took matters into her own hands, literally. She stood up for what she believed in (even if the plight seemed miniscule to others) and took down the flag. She ended up getting arrested, but was clearly proud of her actions, as are we. Doesn’t sound much different from someone else we know #RosaParks Everyone please take note, this is history happening right in front of us. Welcome to the history books Bree, you have joined the ranks of the many Black women who have fought and sacrificed for our rights, and we stand with you sister. #FreeBree #BreeNewsome #SouthCarolina #confederate #confederateflag #TheFlagIsDown #CivilRights #civilrightsmovement #civilrightsactivist #blackwomenhistory #blackwomen #Black
Women of Fauberg Treme, New Orleans and their dog. Faubourg Tremé is the oldest black neighborhood in America, and the origin of the southern civil rights movement and the birthplace of jazz.
We can not simulate freedom. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law in 1990 to protect us from discrimination based on ability, and to allow us to move through the world independently. A bill dismantling it, #HR620, sailed through the House of Representatives and will soon be on the Senate floor for a final vote. We need your help to keep our civil rights intact. Contact your senators now and urge them to stop the passage or #HR620, which would make it nearly impossible to enforce our rights under Title III of the #ADA to access public accommodations. Do not let them pass this, or any legislation like it. #HospitalGlam #Disabled #SayTheWord #SaveTheADA #StopHR620 #chronicillness #disability #civilrights #callyourreps [#imagedescription: #HospitalGlam photo in which I am reclining on a medical bed, wearing a black leather skirt and a T-shirt that reads “On ne peut pas simuler la liberté”]
While we mourn, please remember that tragedies create both physical and invisible disabilities. Those impacted by today’s events are likely to have mental health diagnoses which will complicate interactions and treatment for other, unrelated heath concerns that may arise in the future. Additionally, they will have new accessibility needs.
While you are calling to register your feelings about today’s events with your congressional representatives, please make mention of #HR620, a bill that would alter the #ADA, rolling back civil rights for disabled people, present and future. Thank you.
[#imagedescription: #hospitalglam image of me, standing between the curtain and bed in an exam room. I do not appear sick. One of the things discussed this day was the impact of #PTSD on my body.]
The A.G. Gaston Motel opened in 1954, built by prominent African American businessman and entrepreneur Arthur George Gaston. As a fixture of black businesses in Birmingham, Alabama, the motel was the choice for headquarters of the local civil rights campaign that shaped the city and the nation in 1963.
In Birmingham, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), founded by Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth in 1956, was key in organizing resistance to segregation and discrimination within the city. Encouraged by Rev. Shuttlesworth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) joined forces with other civil rights figures in Birmingham in 1962.
Leaders from the SCLC took up residence in the A.G. Gaston Motel from April through May of 1963, which became the focus of the Birmingham Campaign planning activities. The hotel was the site of constant activity associated with the campaign, and meetings and press conferences held regularly within the courtyard were extensively documented and broadcast by journalists.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and others outside Gaston Motel in 1963 (Birmingham, Ala. Police Department Surveillance Files, 1947-1980. Collection 1125, Archives Department, Birmingham Public Library).
On May 10, 1963, the A.G. Gaston Motel was the site of the announcement of a compromise between local white business owners, city officials, and civil rights leaders. The truce addressed some of the issues in the original list of demands issued by the Birmingham Campaign. Rather than the originally called for immediate desegregation of lunch counters, restrooms, fitting rooms, and other facilities such as drinking fountains, and the hiring of more black workers, the compromise established a longer timeline to desegregate the city. The negotiations were met by a series of violent attacks, including the tragic bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and Kelly Ingram Park (Historic American Buildings Survey, HABS AL-898, Library of Congress).
Nonetheless, efforts to desegregate the city continued slowly over the following months. These events in Birmingham created significant public pressure that helped lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed into law on July 2, 1964, by Lyndon Johnson.
A.G. Gaston modernized and expanded the motel in 1968, adding a supper club and other amenities. Business declined in the 1970s and in 1982 Gaston converted the motel into housing for the elderly, which functioned until 1996.
The City of Birmingham acquired the former motel in 2015 with the plan to incorporate it into the larger Birmingham Civil Rights Historic District. Today, the A.G. Gaston Motel is jointly owned by the National Park Service and the City of Birmingham and is a part of Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, created to honor the nonviolent protesters that fought against discriminatory state and local laws and practices in the 1950s and 1960s.
#MomentInBlackHistory If you guys have ever wondered who’s the man pictured in this profound photo, meet Mr. Cecil Williams. A native of Orangeburg, South Carolina, Mr. Williams was a young photographer in South Carolina during the Civil Rights and Jim Crow law era. He served as a correspondent to Jet magazine at the tender age of 15! This photo is displayed in the Richland Library in Columbia, South Carolina. Everyone I encouraged you to follow @vintageblackglamour! They have some of the most breathtaking and intriguing photos from black culture. #HBCUFASHION #vintageblackglamour #history #civilrights #south #rebel #fashion #blackfashion #style #courage #blackhistory #blackhistorymonth #Knowledge
