February 2018
Our Deepest Fear – is not that We are in
Adequate.
Our
deepest fear – is that We are Powerful Beyond Measure
We
ask ourselves – who am I to be Brilliant – Gorgeous – Talent and Fabulous?
Actually
who are You not to be!
It
is our light – not our Darkness that most frighten us.
You
playing small does not serve the world.
There
is nothing enlighten about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure
around you.
We
were all meant to shine as children do.
We
were born to make manifest the glory of G-d that is within us.
It’s
not just in some of us; but in every one.
And
as we let our own light shine – We unconsciously give other people, permission
to do the same.
As
we are liberated from our fear - Our presence automatically liberates others.
Note: Nelson Mandala did NOT use this
amazing and thought-provoking piece in his 1994 Inaugural Address. Although, he
has written wonderful material as such.
However,
this was written by Marianne Williamson,
from the 1992 book 'A Return To Love.'
We love you both!
February
2018
Valentine’s Day February 14th
Chinese New Year 16th
President’s Day February 19th
Child Passenger Safety Week 20- 27th
Black History Month
American Heart Month
Children’s
Dental Health Month
Valentine’s Day
February 14, 2018
Black History Month
WOMEN – AFRICAN AMERICAN Women IN HISTORY THAT HAVE CHANGED THE
WORLD
These women are just a
handful of the many who have made a huge difference to the world through their
work and hopefully they will inspire even more women to go on and do great
things.
Rosa
Parks
Best
known for her refusal to leave her seat for a white passenger on a segregated
bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks sparked a citywide boycott of buses
that led to a law desegregating buses across the nation. She was a trained
civil rights activist, who worked as the secretary to the President of the
NAACP until 1957
Marjorie
Joyner
Marjorie
was a beauty salon owner, who changed the game of hair styling when she
invented the “permanent wave machine.” Her perm machine simplified the process
of straightening and curling hair for all women; it allowed women to achieve a
long-lasting style without the hassle of heating up numerous rods in an oven.
Mary
Kenner
Mary
received five patents in her lifetime for household items including the
sanitary belt (maxi pads), the bathroom tissue holder, a back washer that
mounted on the wall of the shower and the carrier attachment on walkers for
disabled people.
Ruane
Jeter
Ruane
was most notably the inventor of the toaster, but along with the help of Sheila
Lynn Jeter, they created many items of stationery. This included sheathed
scissors, the stapler, a staple remover and many multi-purpose office supplies
Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf
Ellen
is the world’s first elected Black female President and Africa’s first female
Head of State. During her campaign for Presidency, she vowed to boost Liberia’s
economy and get rid of the corruption and civil war plaguing the country.
Coretta
Scott King
Coretta
is known as the wife of Dr Martin Luther King, but she was also a
famed activist in her own right for civil rights, women’s rights and against
war. She participated in the Montgomery bus boycott, worked to pass the Civil
Rights Act and founded the Center for Non-Violent Social Change after her
husband’s assassination. She was a talented singer and violin player with
multiple degrees, which is how she met Martin, while studying at university in
Boston.
Condoleezza
Rice
Condoleezza
was the first Black woman to serve as the US National Security Adviser and Secretary
of State. She was also the first Black female to hold the position of provost
at Stanford University, where she also worked as a professor and went back to
after her time in the White House. She has written several political books and
has broken down many typically male employment structures.
Josephine
Baker
She
also toured France and the States as a comedian and Broadway actress. She
performed in controversial, revealing outfits, such as a skirt made entirely
out of bananas, which made her memorable to French audiences. In her home
country of America, her performances were met with racist reactions and so she
tended to embrace her French audiences more.
As
a dancer and singer, Josephine was one of the most popular and highest-paid
entertainers of her time.
She
married multiple times and earned military honours for her efforts during the
French resistance. She had 12 adopted children from different ethnic
backgrounds, who she referred to as the ‘rainbow tribe’, and used as an example
of how different races can live together harmoniously.
Oprah
Winfrey
Media
mogul, Oprah Winfrey, is one of the most influential
people in the media industry and one of the few female billionaires in the
world. She is a producer, philanthropist, actress, publisher and talk show
host. She has her own television network and magazine and is one of the most
respected interviewers in the world, often getting her subjects to reveal
deeply personal stories. She has given authors a huge platform on her shows and
has written many books about her experiences.
Harriet
Tubman
Even
when a law was made allowing escaped slaves to be returned to slavery in the
North, she adjusted her plan and got them to safety in Canada. She used her
role as a cook and nurse in the Civil War to gain intel on her enemies and led
an armed expedition to liberate over 700 slaves. She was buried with military
honors in 1913 and was commemorated with many schools, museums, plaques and
statues for her efforts in the abolition of slavery.
Harriet
was a true warrior in the battle against slavery.
Ella
Baker
Ella
was a dedicated civil rights activist, who worked with the NAACP, the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee among other organizations. Spurred on by her grandmother’s tales of
slave master cruelty, Ella spent her life fighting for equal rights while
single-handedly taking care of her niece. A documentary chronicled her story in
1981 entitled ‘Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker’. ‘Fundi’ was her nickname, which
came from the Swahili word for a person who passes down her craft to the next generation.
Ella definitely left an impressive legacy behind for us to be grateful for.
Hattie
McDaniel
Actress
and radio personality, Hattie McDaniel, was the first Black woman to win an
Oscar in 1940 for her role in Gone With The Wind. She was also one
of the first Black women on the radio. As one of 13 children and one of a
handful of Black children in an all-white school, Hattie used her talents of
singing and dancing to gain attention and make friends. She used these talents
to make ends meet as a Blues singer and a Broadway performer before her career
in radio and acting. In the mid-1940s Hattie was criticized by the Black
community for accepting stereotypical roles that portrayed Black people in a
negative light. This was something that plagued the rest of her career as an
actress. Since she passed away, she was given two stars on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame and she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
Maya
Angelou
Her
professional name was inspired by the surname of one of her ex-husbands
‘Angelopoulos’ and her childhood nickname ‘Maya’. She lived in Egypt and Ghana
in the 1960s, writing and working in a University. In 1993 she recited one of
her poems at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton and
won a Grammy for the audio version of that poem. She was on the bestseller’s
list for two years straight, which was the longest-running record in the
chart’s history. She was close friends with MLK and Oprah;
after Dr. King’s assassination on her birthday, she stopped celebrating it for
many years.
Maya
was a legendary poet and award-winning author. Her 1969 memoir I Know
Why The Caged Bird Sings made history as the first non-fiction
bestseller by a Black woman. She won numerous accolades for her books, poetry,
acting and essays over the years. She also worked as a dancer, actress,
director and screenwriter after a tough childhood of sexual abuse, racial
prejudice and family-member crime.
Ida
B. Wells
In
the 1890’s Ida led an anti-lynching crusade with her work as a journalist. She
wrote as a columnist for various Black publications detailing her experiences
as a Black woman in the South, before owning and publishing two magazines of
her own: ‘Memphis Free Speech and Headlight’, and ‘Free Speech’. She also
worked as a teacher and ended up losing this position for her vocal criticism
of the condition of Black schools in the city. After a few incidents of
race-related murders involving local business owners and friends of hers, she
decided to focus her writing fully on the injustice of white on Black murder,
despite receiving death threats.
She
lectured abroad to find further support from open-minded white people and took
her complaints to the White House in an effort to spark legal reform to protect
Black people from lynching. She also founded several civil rights organizations
to help women, children and people of color and continued to write and protest
until her death in 1931.
Shirley
Chisholm
Way
before Hillary Clinton had her sights set on being the first
female President of the United States, Shirley Chisholm put in a bid for the
role in 1972. She was the first Black congresswoman and the first major-party
Black candidate to run for President. Her main passions were educational reform
and social justice, which explains why she left politics in 1983 to teach.
Before
her time in Congress, she worked with organizations concerning child welfare
and education. In 1969 she was one of the founding members of the Congressional
Black Caucus. She also wrote two books in her time and was known for her caring
nature in paying attention to the needs of the individual. In 2015 she was
awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom nearly 11 years after her death.
Sojourner
Truth
Sojourner
was a true feminist and fought tirelessly for women’s rights and to abolish
slavery. After her escape from slavery with her infant daughter, Truth learned
of the illegal sale of her son into slavery and successfully took his owner to
court for his freedom. This was one of the first cases of its kind. She gave
herself the name of Sojourner Truth when she decided to fully dedicate her life
to activism and her memoirs were published in 1850.
She
regularly protested and delivered speeches about human rights. Her main
concerns included; prison reform, universal suffrage, women’s rights,
criticizing capital punishment and property rights. Her most famous speech at
the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention later entitled ‘Ain’t I A Woman’ earned her
a place in the history books, as it is still frequently referenced today. She
recruited Black troops for the Union Army during the Civil War and brought her
beliefs to President Abraham Lincoln, whom she still had issues with even after
the Emancipation Proclamation.
Diahann
Carroll
Academy Award nominee Diahann Carroll dominated
Hollywood, the Broadway stage and the silver screen in the 1960s. Her leading
role in Julia made her the first Black woman to star in her
own television series and scored her an Emmy and Golden Globe. Before becoming
a household name, Diahann was also a singer and model. She has been nominated
for an Emmy three times and married four times. In recent years she has made
some notable guest appearances on Grey’s Anatomy to prove that
once a starlet, always a starlet.
Dame Eugenia Charles
The Caribbean’s first female Prime Minister, who
held the position in Dominica for 15 years until 1995, was the longest serving
female Prime Minister in world history. Before her time working in Parliament,
she became the first Dominican woman to work as a lawyer. Not afraid to go toe
to toe with the overbearing male politicians in her cabinet, she once arrived
in a bathing suit to Parliament to make a mockery of her predecessor’s
ridiculous dress code act. Affectionately dubbed ‘Mamo’
Courtesy Data: http://thesource.com/2016/03/07/15-black-women-in-history-that-have-changed-the-world/
President’s Day
Monday February 19th
Trivia:
Can
you name the oldest living president?
The oldest living U.S. president is
George H. W. Bush, born June 12, 1924 (age 93 years). The second
oldest, Jimmy Carter, has the
distinction of having the longest post-presidency in U.S. history, currently at
37 years, 16 days.
Courtesy
data: en-Wikipedia
Questions:
1. Which president is credited with the creation
of the phrase “OK” or “Okay”?
Martin Van
Burren
John F.
Kennedy
Zachary
Taylor
James
Buchanan
2. George
Bush said that this president was “known to receive guests in his bathrobe and
slippers.”
Thomas
Jefferson
John Adams
James
Madison
Martin Van
Buren
3. Which
president was n born on July 4th?
John Quincy
Adams
Gerald Ford
Lyndon B.
Johnson
Calvin
Coolidge
4. Who was
the youngest president to be elected?
John F. Kennedy
William
Clinton
James K.
Polk
Grover
Cleveland
5. Who was
the oldest president to be elected?
Zachary
Taylor
William
Harrison
Ronald
Reagan
Gerald Ford
Answers
1.
Martin
Van Buren
He was
nicknamed “Old Kinderhook” after his hometown [in Kinderhook, NY]. This was later shortened to O.K. and the
phase “it’s OK” was born.
2.
Thomas
Jefferson
3.
Calvin Coolidge in 1872 on July 4th
4.
John
F. Kennedy
5.
Ronald
Reagan
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