Innholdsfortegnelse for Fall 2022 i BAVUAL, The African Heritage Magazine

There are three basic ways to learn: formal education through schooling, knowledge acquired through reading books and other printed matter, and life experience through apprenticeship and “the street.” I utilized all three ways, but if I have to be honest, the best way for me to learn was through reading, a trait that I developed at a very young age. Thanks to two loving parents who tried to provide me with all the best advantages that were available in my time and place—the working-class suburbs of southern Long Island in the 1960s and 1970s—I had and fully used many opportunities to learn. When I was 4, I began to read the Sunday New York Times, in those days a thick paper chock-full of diverse information about the world. I soaked…

During times of great upheaval in the United States, Thurgood Marshall, L. Douglas Wilder and Edward W. Brooke—three black men with differing backgrounds and politics—became symbols of highly significant change in the nation. Other black leaders who have gone on to achieve great things in politics and government after them, can attribute a large part of their success to the doors opened by these three important pioneers. The Right Man for the Court On Oct. 2, 1967, Chief Justice Earl Warren swore in Thurgood Marshall as the first black justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Marshall, who was confirmed in a 69-11 floor vote by the U.S. Senate to join the Court, had previously been confirmed by the Senate as a federal judge in the Kennedy administration and then as…

PREAMBLE Any nation is always much more than the sum of its leader; however, there is no dispute that the quality of leadership can make a huge difference in shaping the greatness of a nation. This is no less true for the United States of America, a nation that has been led by 45 men over its 246 years as a democratic republic. Throughout this period, a defining aspect of their presidencies has been how they dealt with those Africans who were brought to America 403 years ago in bondage, those who were brought here since, and their descendants who have struggled for freedom and equality ever since. The times in which they lived often dictated their response to the plight of African Americans, but other factors, including the personality…

WHY DID HOWARD UNIVERSITY ELIMINATE ITS CLASSICS DEPARTMENT? Howard University in Washington, D.C., was the nation’s only historically black university with a classics department, and the school provoked criticism in April 2021 when it was reported that school officials had decided to eliminate the department, which did not offer a major. Despite efforts to save the department, it was eliminated and the study of classic works of Greek, Latin and Anglo antiquity was absorbed by other departments. The move was no doubt a part of an ongoing effort to replace what some academicians consider “dead” history with thinkers of more contemporary appeal, such as minority writers. Many, including black scholars such as Cornel West, didn’t agree with the decision. (West called it a “spiritual catastrophe.”) Anika Prather, an adjunct professor…

Test your knowledge of those who flaunt it if they have it. And remember: Don’t hate the player, hate the game. PEOPLE 1 James Brown was a spokesman for and owner of which well-known product beginning in 1966? 2 Was Cleopatra a black African woman? 3 Who is the richest black kid? 4 What are the top five most expensive cars purchased by famous African politicians? 5 Why did Mr. T (aka Laurence Tureaud) wear up to 40 pounds of gold jewelry around his neck? 6 Who is the highest paid black entertainer in Las Vegas? PLACES 1 As of 2015, who was the richest black pastor in the world? 2 What was the name of beauty millionaire Madam C.J. Walker’s elegant mansion, and where was it located? 3 What…

Bill Russell (1934-2022) Basketball star / USA If there is one player who popularized the sport of basketball for Americans and set a career path for young black males, it is Bill Russell, who played center for the NBA’s Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1969. Born William Felton Russell in Monroe, Louisiana, he stood 6 feet 10 inches tall and had a 7-foot-4-inch arm span. These traits enabled him to stand out on the University of San Francisco Dons, which he led to two consecutive NCAA championships; captain the gold medal-winning U.S. national basketball team at the 1956 Summer Olympics; and power the Celtics to a record-setting 11 NBA championships. A five-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) and a 12-time NBA All-Star, Russell (along with rival Wilt Chamberlain) is one…

President Joe Biden’s nationally televised speech in early September warning Americans of a rising tide of “semi-fascism” is appropriate and long overdue except for one thing—I would have dropped the “semi.” Ever since Donald Trump came down those golden escalator stairs in 2015, I recognized his candidacy for what it was: a demagogic attempt at white nationalism of the ugliest kind, the one that conjures up the worst of U.S. and world history[RB1] like Woodrow Wilson’s racist presidency; the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and the America First Movement of the 1930s and 1940s; the ascent of fascism (Mussolini) in Italy and Nazism (Hitler) in Germany; McCarthy’s witch hunts in the 1950s; J. Edgar Hoover’s attacks on the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panthers in…

The 2020 presidential electoral cycle was one of the most contentious in American history. Until Donald J. Trump, never had a sitting president refused to acknowledge the lawful election of his successor. The lack of acknowledgment is one thing, but to take action to contravene the electoral process and certification at the state and federal level is quite another. Determined to hold on to the reins of power, former President Trump and his acolytes exerted pressure on the secretaries of state in mostly Republican states to either declare large numbers of absentee ballots as fraudulent or to refuse to certify the results. When these efforts failed in battleground states, Trump supporters, encouraged by a raucous speech by Trump at Washington, D.C.’s Ellipse park, stormed the United States Capitol on January…

PURPOSE OF THE GUIDE As a service to its readers, BAVUAL presents its first annual Fall Guide to undergraduate education in the U.S. A college degree has long been considered the surest route to the American Dream, and, for most black Americans, it is virtually the only route. Of the nation’s approximately 5,300 colleges and universities, only 101 are designated as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This guide will explore the significance of these HBCUs and how prospective students can gain access to them. Is a College Education Still Necessary? For centuries, the path to upward mobility began at the halls of academe. After the Civil War, newly free African Americans, especially those in the South who were denied admission to white colleges and universities, took advantage of the…

Rising from middle-class Chicago, Ill., to the lap of luxury in Beverly Hills, Calif., would seem like an impossible dream for most people, but for rapper, music producer, fashion designer and influencer Kanye West, it was a reality. Although the 45-year-old star quickly rose to near-unimaginable heights, recent controversies have even more quickly brought him down, costing him heavily both socially and financially. According to Forbes magazine, West, whose previous net worth was in the billions, is a “billionaire no more.” So, what happened? What led to this giant star’s epic fall? The Beginning Born in Atlanta, Ga., in 1977, West moved to Chicago at the age of 3 with his mother, Donda West, after she divorced his father. They then briefly lived overseas when his mother taught in China.…

Adebayo, a graduate of Cambridge University in the UK, is a communications consultant and freelance journalist. She recently led a national campaign calling for an end to racism in independent schools. This letter on her alma mater was published on the inews.co.uk website on August 13, 2020. It can apply to any black person in any non-African country. When Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton took the knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement ahead of the recent Styrian Grand Prix, he was met with a series of comments questioning his right to protest because of his millionaire status. “I had no idea that the multi-millionaire driver had suffered so much. Puts my troubles into perspective,” complained one fan in the comments of a news article covering the event.…

Jasmine Tookes Age 31 One of the highest paid Supermodels in the world, this Victoria’s Secret Angel has been gracing fashion show runways and fashion magazine covers for years. Tyra Banks Age 48 An icon in the fashion world, Banks created and hosts the hit television show America’s Next Top Model and was the first black Model to make the cover of GQ Magazine She Was also an original Victoria’s Secret Angel. Naomi Campbell Age 52 A legend among supermodels, Campbell was the first black model to appear in Time magazine and has modeled for over 500 publication covers around the world. Winnie Harlow Age 28 Harlow’s rise to fame from a contestant on America’s Next Top Model to world-class supermodel carries a unique story: she has vitiligo, a rare skin…

Life for an enslaved black woman in the early 19th century South was especially harsh. It was typically so for Mary, who was born in 1832 of an enslaved black woman and her enslaver and then sold into slavery herself at the age of 8 to a brutal man, Robert Lumpkin, who turned out to be a rapist. He forced five or more children upon her, the first of whom was born when she was only 13. When Lumpkin bought a slave jail in Richmond, Va., in 1844, Mary was forced to work in it—an awful task, as it turned out. Lumpkin’s Jail, or the “Devil’s Half Acre” as it became known, was a place of unspeakable cruelty. It was a place of torture on a daily basis for enslaved…