Black History Month

See It

You know what Black History Month means, lots of tv specials: 2012 TV schedule
Have you never seen an Oscar Micheaux film or more than a clip of Josephine Baker? Check out Turner Classic Movies.

Support It

If you know of a current archival project dedicated to preserving black history, do consider donating some money or time to the cause. Here is one of the projects I support.

The Untitled Black Lesbian Elder Project (UBLEP) – a feature-length documentary that will highlight interviews with black lesbian elders in their 60s, 70s and 80s from across the United States and situate them in a range of black historical movements, spanning the decades between the 1930s and 1980s. Here is a video describing the project from their 2011 fundraising campaign.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtUH5Pf1O6I%5D

To see a recap of their travels/interviews from 2011 and keep up to date, visit their site: http://ubleproject.tumblr.com/

What I Learned This Week – A Different Point Of View…

This week, I realized that all of the books/films I’ve encountered about missionaries have come from a missionary’s point of view. So, I asked The Horde* for books/stories written from the point of view of the people who missionaries (colonizers??) came to save.

Here are the recommendations I received:
Nervous Condition by Tsitsi Dangerembga
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Early books by Ngugi Wa Thiongo: A Grain of Wheat, Weep Not Child, I’ll Marry When I Want

I got some reading to do.

*The Horde = the good folks who hang out at Ta-Nehisi Coates’ blog at the Atlantic.

What I Learned This Week – Augusta Chiwy

Augusta Chiwy

Lady Agusta Chiwy
Nurse who tended to American GIs and other casualties in the encircled town of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

Born in the Belgian Congo, nurse Augusta Chiwy was visiting Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944 when she volunteered to help at an American aid station. For years, it was mistakenly thought that she died when the Germans bombed Bastogne on Christmas Eve.  So, it was quite a pleasant surprise when  British author/military historian Martin King decided to research her story–and found her alive in a Belgium nursing home.

2011 was a big year for her. In June, King Albert II of Belgium made her a Knight of the Order Of The Crown; she became Lady Augusta Chiwy. The US Army awarded her the Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service in December.

Learn more about Lady Augusta Chiwy: African nurse saved GIs at Battle of Bulge | Belgian Nurse Honored For WWII Bravery
See her describe the Christmas Eve bombing.

How I found out: I was reading  Um So Why Am I Supposed to go See “Red Tails”? Are There Any Black Women in this Movie? at What About Our Daughters and someone mentioned Lady Augusta Chiwy in the comments.