In a well-meaning but ultimately flawed attempt to assimilate Native Americans, President Grover Cleveland signs an act to end tribal control of reservations and divide their land into individual holdings. Named for its chief author, Senator Henry Laurens Dawes from …read more
the awful image above is from a WP site
On the night of February 8, 1968, police officers in Orangeburg, South Carolina open fire on a crowd of young people during a protest against racial segregation, killing three and wounding around 30 others. The killing of three young African Americans by state officials, four years after racial discrimination had been outlawed by federal law, has gone down in history as the Orangeburg Massacre.
After decades of protests across the country, segregation was abolished in the United States by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While its passage was a major victory, many racists throughout the South simply refused to obey it, knowing local police would not care to enforce. In early February of 1968, a group of activists in Orangeburg tried to convince one such man, Harry Floyd, to desegregate his bowling alley, but he refused. Several days of expanding protests followed, during which protesters damaged a window of the bowling alley, police responded with arrests and beatings, and unrest spread to the nearby campus of South Carolina State University, a historically Black college.
Three protestors die in the Orangeburg Massacre
HISTORY
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/three-protestors-die-in-the-orangeburg-massacre
February 7, 2023
A&E Television Networks
January 11, 2023
Like CAP Action on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!
Among the many important reasons to raise the minimum wage to $10.10, the issue is a matter of racial justice. Take a look at the graphic below from the Center for American Progress outlining how much racial groups would benefit if we raise the wage to $10.10 per hour:
People of color are far more likely to work minimum wage jobs: they represent 42 percent of those earners even though they make up just 32 percent of the workforce. And people of color who earn minimum wage are far more likely to live in poverty than average. A 2013 study found that three and a half million people of color would be lifted out of poverty if Congress passes a law raising the minimum wage to $10.10 — out of the six million total. That is 60 percent.
As we have mentioned before, raising the minimum wage has numerous positive economic effects for all Americans, like taking a step to reduce income inequality. It would also reduce government spending, providing an estimated savings from food stamps of $46 billion over ten years as fewer people with jobs need to rely on the program.
BOTTOM LINE: Low-wage jobs have dominated job growth since the end of the Great Recession, and these jobs are done disproportionately by people of color. New data shows yet another reason to raise the minimum wage to $10.10: it would provide a $16.1 billion boost to people of color and go a long way toward making sure that Americans working a full-time job don’t have to live in poverty.
Founded in 1965, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History has for over half a century been a leading institution dedicated to the African American experience.
Our mission is to open minds and change lives through the exploration and celebration of African American history and culture. Our vision is of a world in which the adversity and achievement of African American history inspire everyone toward greater understanding, acceptance and unity!
The Wright Museum houses over 35,000 artifacts and archival materials and is home to the Blanche Coggin Underground Railroad Collection, Harriet Tubman Museum Collection, Coleman A. Young Collection and the Sheffield Collection, a repository of documents of the labor movement in Detroit. The museum also features:
• And Still We Rise: Our Journey Through African American History and Culture, the museum’s 22,000 square foot, interactive core exhibit, which is the largest single exhibition on African American history in existence
• The Ford Freedom Rotunda and its 95-foot wide by 65-foot high glass dome; this architectural wonder is more than twice the width of the State Capitol dome and just one foot shy of the width of the U.S. Capitol dome
• Ring of Genealogy, a 37-foot terrazzo tile creation by artist Hubert Massey surrounded by bronze nameplates of prominent African Americans in history
• Inspiring Minds: African Americans in Science and Technology, a permanent exhibition focused on S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) concepts for children
• The Louise Lovett Wright Library and Robert L. Hurst Research Center
• The General Motors Theater, a 317-seat facility for live performances, film, presentations and more
• Over 300 public events annually including concert performances, theatrical productions, film screenings, lectures, and family and children’s programming. The museum also serves as a facility for countless private functions including weddings, anniversaries, corporate meetings and conferences, memorial services, and community events. All told, The Wright serves over half a million people annually through its exhibitions, programs, and events such as African World Festival.
History
“My legacy was my job. Everything I did was what I was supposed to do. I worked with untold numbers of mothers to deliver 7,000 babies in Detroit, partnered with Margaret Burroughs, founder of the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, to form the African American Museums Association… I was committed to what I defined as ‘one of the most important tasks of our times,’ ensuring that generations, especially young African Americans, are made aware of and take pride in the history of their forbears and their remarkable struggle for freedom. An idea came to me that African Americans needed a museum to collect and preserve our history and culture. And, with the help of many minds and hands, that idea came to fruition.” ~ Dr. Charles H. Wright
Dr. Charles Wright, an obstetrician and gynecologist, envisioned an institution to preserve Black history after visiting a memorial to Danish World War II heroes in Denmark. As a result of this visit, he was convinced that African Americans needed a similar resource center to document, preserve and educate the public on their history, life and culture. On March 10, 1965, Dr. Wright, in partnership with a racially integrated group of 33 community members, established Detroit’s first International Afro-American Museum. The Museum, known by the acronym I AM, opened on January 30, 1966 at 1549 West Grand Boulevard with dozens of exhibits showcasing such items as African masks from Nigeria and Ghana and the inventions of Elijah McCoy. Also in 1966, the I AM traveling museum, housed in a converted mobile home, began touring the state and spreading information about the contributions of African Americans.
In the fall of 1978, the City of Detroit agreed to lease the Museum a plot of land between John R and Brush Streets to build a facility five times larger than its predecessor. In order to raise funds, Detroit Public School students participated in a “Buy a Brick” campaign, raising $80,000 for the new facility. Following the students’ initiative, a group of adults started the Million Dollar Club in which each member pledged at least $1,000. This major fundraiser earned $300,000. In 1985, the Afro-American Museum and the City of Detroit formed a partnership to build a new facility in the city’s University Cultural Center, securing the funding to complete the $3.5 million facility. The name of the International Afro-American Museum was changed to the Museum of African American History and ground was broken for a new facility on May 21, 1985. Two years later, on May 8, 1987, the doors of the Museum of African American History were reopened to the public at 301 Frederick Douglass. The new 28,000-square-foot structure accommodated a range of offerings. Featuring a series of exhibits, lectures, concerts, cultural celebrations, festivals and programs designed especially for children, it preserved the past and strengthened the future.
Once again the museum outgrew its facility and grander ideas for a new museum took shape. In 1992, Detroit voters authorized the City of Detroit to sell construction bonds to finance a larger building and ground was broken for the third generation of the Museum in August of 1993. On April 12, 1997, a 125,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility opened, making it the largest African American historical museum in the world. On March 30, 1998, the museum was renamed the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in honor of its founder. After a half century of service and with generous support from individuals, foundations, corporations, and government sources, The Wright Museum continues to be a cultural icon in the city of Detroit and throughout the world.
Be a Seed for Change 
You must be logged in to post a comment.