National Geographic Museum Blog

Are you worried that you wont be able to make it to the Museum in time to see the America I am exhibit? That’s okay, you can view information about the online exhibit here!

http://www.americaiam.org/_layouts/aiam/exhibit/index.html

Today (141 years ago), Thomas Mundy Peterson became the first African American to vote in an election. He later went on to become Perth Amboy, New Jersey’s first elected black official. The 15th Amendment, which granted voting rights to all men regardless of race, had been ratified on February 3, 1870.

Word Bank:

Rosa Parks, born Rosa Louise McCauley (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was a pivotal figure in the fight for ______________________. She protested segregation laws in the USA. Her actions led to major reforms (changes), including a Supreme ______________________ ruling against segregation.

On December 1, 1955, a Montgomery, ______________________, bus driver ordered Mrs. Parks to give up her ___________________ seat to a white _________________. When she refused, she was ______________________ and fined.

Mrs. Parks’ arrest resulted in thousands of leaflets being distributed, calling for a ______________________ of city buses on Monday, December 5, _________________. Mrs. Parks was convicted of violating local segregation ____________________, and the bus boycott was extended. The boycott eventually lasted for over a year. Dr. Martin Luther ______________________ Jr. and 89 others were arrested, tried, and convicted for conspiring to conduct the bus boycott.

After Mrs. Parks underwent a a court trial and a long series of appeals, the Supreme Court ruled (on November 13, 1956) that ______________________ on city buses is ______________________. Mrs. Parks and the others were represented by Thurgood ______________________ (who later became the first ______________________ on the Supreme Court) and other lawyers. The Supreme Court’s decision resulted in the desegregation of buses. Mrs. Parks had ___________________.

From: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/aframer/parks/cloze.shtml

Want a fun way to teach your children about African American history? Try this coloring book, your kids will just think they are having play time when they are actually learning about significant African American historical figures! This coloring book, which you can print out online, is a great way to familiarize your kids with some of the most important people in all facets of black history. http://www.teachervision.fen.com/slideshow/african-american-history/58754.html

Today (88 years ago), Zeta Phi Beta is incorporated in Washington, D.C. and “dared to depart from the traditional coalitions for black women and sought to establish a new organization predicated on the precepts of Scholarship, Service, Sisterly Love and Finer Womanhood.” It was founded in 1920, shortly after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. The sorority’s founders were five African American students at Howard University. One of the founders, Viola Tyler declared, “there is a Zeta in a girl regardless of race, creed, or color, who has high standards and principles, a good scholarly average and an active interest in all things that she undertakes to accomplish.”

Test your African American history knowledge as well as your puzzle solving skills! Click the link below for a great Black history month crossword puzzle, and pass it on to your friends!
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Today (4 years ago), Tuskegee Airmen receive the Congressional Gold Medal 60 years after they completed their mission during World War II. The Tuskegee Airmen were a segregated unit created by President Roosevelt in 1941. Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the House, stated, “the Tuskegee Airmen left a segregated country to fight a war, and unfortunately returned to one that was still segregated….though Hitler was defeated, prejudice was not….today we are trying to right that wrong.”

Today (72 years ago), the Harlem Renaissance become the first all-black professional basketball team to win a world championship. The team was formed 5 years before the Harlem globetrotters, and traveled around the country competing against black and white teams. In 1934, the Rens, as they were often referred to, won 88 consecutive games, and between 1932 and 1936 they won 473 games and lost just 49. In 1969, the entire team was inducted into the Professional Basketball Hall of Fame.

Today (77 years ago), Arthur Mitchell, the first African American principal of the New York City Ballet Company and founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem is born in New York City. He described himself as a “political activist through dance.” As a teenager, he received a scholarship for New York’s High School of Performing Arts, followed by another scholarship to study at the New York City Ballet. Mitchell explained that “the myth was that because you were black that you could not do classical dance. I proved that to be wrong.” He said he decided “to do in dance what Jackie Robinson did in baseball.” After finding success with the New York City Ballet Company for 15 years, Mitchell founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969. In 1989, the New York Times explained that “the Dance Theater of Harlem, under Mr. Mitchell’s guidance, has demonstrated that the peaceful means of dance has not only helped dispel prejudice on an international level but has produced an all-black ballet company of stature and integrity.”