Saturday, January 26, 2008

Black History Month is here!











































How would you like to have some nice historical photos like the ones above to illustrate your web site or presentation.

These days many institutions are digitizing their collections and making them available on line. I found those above at The Online Archive of California. http://www.oac.cdlib.org/search.image.html

They have many dozens of photos on site and I was able to find these and more by doing keyword searches like African, panther, colored, segregation, Watts, you get the idea. Many have copyright but allow fair use. That is they may be used for non-commercial purposes.
Many of the older ones are by unknown photographers, many also come with info about who the photographer was along with a brief  summary of the photograph. From an historical viewpoint there are photos of notable people from the Black community such as Black Panther Huey Newton, Marcus Garvey, Booker T washington, Mohammed Ali and many more. Even if you're not a  history buff you'll really enjoy the photos or you can use some of them for a project. Go and dig around, you never know what you might find. 

black looks

black looks - looks good. This blog is another African grassroots site, that concentrates on rights, dignity and quality of life. A quick glance a their categories index (just below) should give you an idea of the content. This blog leans towards women's issues but still covers many general topics that we are all concerned with. The archives go back to June 2004 so we are also able to get a nice perspective of their subject matter.

Podcast (rss) (4)
Poetry (rss) (59)
Poverty (rss) (9)
Quick Links (rss) (4)
Racism (rss) (120)
Refugees (rss) (19)
Religion (rss) (4)
Rice Watch (rss) (8)

I'm mainly interested in the podcasts which I give top marks for subject matter and quality sound. There is also a page of embedded videos that you should check out.
I'm sure there will be more coming. :-)

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Monday, January 21, 2008

In Black America Podcast

In Black America Podcast with host John L. Hanson Jr., IMO, is one of the top podcasts about Black Texan Americans today . Hanson's interviews and interviewees bring African Americans that "yes we can and we're doing it" attitude that we all absolutely need to hear sometime or other, lest we become overwhelmed by the constant bombardment of negative news and views of mass media. 

His interviewees come from diverse fields such as social work, government, entertainment, public service, business, communication and more.  All are very well spoken, experienced and interesting. This is an informative and entertaining program. Don't miss it.
 

Hanson is a seasoned journalist and executive at KUT Radio. I am always anxiously awaiting his next podcast. 

Africa! Africa!

Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin

"Bodies are flying through the air as if the laws of gravity do not apply to them, while a contortionist is slipping through a tennis racket, making us forget that the human body has a skeleton. Breathtaking acrobatics, mind-boggling juggling and dare-devil human pyramids. André Heller has managed to put up a show which is the antipode of what we usually learn about Africa."

Kleine Zeitung

"If the African artistes were to choose a motto for their show like their Chinese colleagues, it would surely be: May the show elate everybody! This became evident on the occasion of the first night premiere without having been vocalised. Format Currently, the most successful show worldwide.“

Europe is being treated to a spectacular show out of Africa called AFRICA! AFRICA!. It's gotten rave reviews everywhere. I hope some day it will find it's way to North America, we need a good injection of  African culture from the motherland.

For now we'll have to get a taste from YouTube





Sunday, January 20, 2008

Black Media Archive

Black History Month is coming up soon  and this site is a natural. You must check out this group of sites.
The Black Media Archive podcast is a collection of multimedia, audio,
video, text and image files. The site is updated regularly and contains a broad range of material including speeches, old movies, interviews with Black historical figures, as well as presentations of historical Black events. This site is a excellent place to gather material for the education and inspiration of Black children. I want to say that if you've been sent to the wrong place that BMA is now on iTunes and the above link has been repaired.

The opening videomix "Awakening" on the BMA web site is an inspirational work of art, don't skip it.

There is also a BMA Blog, at http://thebma.blogspot.com/ where you can read  commentary on each episode of the podcast and comment on them if you choose.