Poll: Happy Black History Month 2024! Doing anything special for it?

Do any Americans here care about Black History Month?

Hi. I'm not race baiting. I know I'm not the only African American who is on this site. I can't be the only person here who has any kind of interest in Black History Month.

How come no one else has responded to this thread?

As of the time of the posting of this, February isn't over. I think when I have time I'll do research on African Americans who work in the animation and comics industries.

I have heard of the following:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Norman
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Braxton

Norman was the first African American animator for Disney and Braxton was one of the first African American animators hired by both Disney and Warner Bros.

‘Bob Marley: One Love’ stars talk biopic of reggae royalty.

Bob Marley’s son Ziggy Marley and actors Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch join TODAY to talk about the biopic “Bob Marley: One Love” that focuses on a period of the reggae royalty’s life.


Published February 14, 2024

Bob Marley: One Love - Movie Trailer (2024 Movie)

The untold history of the first Black astronauts.

Former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin joins Morning Joe to discuss the new National Geographic documentary “The Space Race: The Untold Story Of The First Black Astronauts”.


Published February 5, 2024

New National Geographic documentary tells the real-life story of the first Black astronauts.

Published February 14, 2024

Vivien Thomas, from janitor to pioneer in heart surgery.

Vivien Thomas was an African-American man who went from janitor to lab technician to pioneer in heart surgery at Johns Hopkins. Racial barriers in the 1930s created huge obstacles for him, but he never gave up on his passion for medicine.


Published February 27, 2018

"Something the Lord Made" - Movie Trailer

Vivien Thomas was a carpenter that wanted to be a doctor, un able to attend college he works for a real doctor as a janitor. Realising what this young man is capable of the doctor gives him real tasks and as a team they go to conquer what other people though impossible. Based on a true story.

This article expresses what Morgan Freeman feels about Black History Month:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/18/morgan-freeman-says-the-terms-black-history-month-and-african-american-are-insults

NASA Trailblazer: Katherine Johnson | National Geographic

Born in 1918, Katherine Johnson was one of the first Black students to integrate West Virginia’s graduate schools before becoming a NASA mathematician, where she helped send astronauts into orbit around Earth and to the moon and back. She is an awardee of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the 2020 recipient of the Hubbard Medal, National Geographic’s highest honor, recognizing a lifetime achievement in research, discovery, and exploration.

Traveling with "The Green Book" during the Jim Crow era

Racism was a chilling fact of life that, in 1936, inspired "The Negro Motorist Green Book," a guide to businesses that welcomed African American travelers who faced being turned away or threatened in a time of segregation. Martha Teichner talks with cultural historian Candacy Taylor about the importance of this guide to safe travels in the Jim Crow South.

Inside the National Museum of African American History and Culture | 60 Minutes Archive.

In 2015, 60 Minutes went inside the construction of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Founding director Lonnie Bunch said the museum would allow America "to remember how much we as a country have been improved, changed, challenged, and made better by the African American experience."

From the article:

" Morgan Freeman has said commonly used terms relating to race should be taken out of the lexicon. In an interview with the Sunday Times, the actor said he was keen to “say publicly” that he objected to the terms “Black History Month” and “African American”.


Calling both an “insult”, Freeman said of the first: “You’re going to relegate my history to a month?”

Freeman said he objected to “African American” because it was inaccurate.

“I don’t subscribe to that title. Black people have had different titles all the way back to the N-word and I do not know how these things get such a grip, but everyone uses ‘African American’.

“What does it really mean? Most Black people in this part of the world are mongrels. And you say Africa as if it’s a country when it’s a continent, like Europe.”

The actor had previously spoken out against both terms to the Guardian in 2012, saying he didn’t like “African American” “because ‘Black’ is beautiful. One syllable versus seven”.

As for Black History Month, he said he objected to the ghettoisation implicit in devoting February to this topic.

“Black history is American history; they’re completely intertwined.”

Asked by the Times whether he concurred with Denzel Washington’s statement that he was “very proud to be Black, but Black is not all I am.” Freeman said: “Yes, exactly. I’m in total agreement. You can’t define me that way.”

Now 85, Freeman also reflected on his career, voicing some regret about the lack of range it had spanned in recent years. “When my career started in film I wanted to be a chameleon,” he said. “I remember De Niro early on doing very different parts. Almost unrecognisable as the same actor. I had opportunities like that. "

“But as you mature in this business, eventually you become a star. Then you’re pretty screwed in terms of referring to yourself as a character actor. You play a lot of the same type of role – people hire you and say, ‘It’s you that I want.’ And you live with it, I don’t think I’ve done much in the last 10 years that was much different. Driving Miss Daisy and Glory were different.

“Now? It’s just … me. The character will adapt itself to you rather than the other way round, so I do what piques my interest. Sometimes it’s just the money alone.”

Freeman’s latest film is Zach Braff’s A Good Person, in which he plays the future father-in-law of Florence Pugh. The actor’s career appears not to have been derailed by a 2018 report by CNN featuring testimonies by eight women alleging sexual harassment by the actor.

Freeman first issued a statement apologizing for having unintentionally made anyone feel uncomfortable; the following day, he said: “I am devastated that 80 years of my life is at risk of being undermined, in the blink of an eye.

“But I also want to be clear: I did not create unsafe work environments. I did not assault women. I did not offer employment or advancement in exchange for sex. Any suggestion that I did so is completely false.” "

David E. Harris, first Black pilot for a major US airline, dies at 89.

David E. Harris, an Air Force veteran who broke barriers in the skies when he became the first Black pilot for American Airlines in 1964, has died at 89. Harris appeared in the airline’s advertising and led the first all-Black commercial cockpit crew in 1984. Sunday TODAY’s Willie Geist remembers a life well lived.


Published March 17, 2024