#blackhistorymonth

Is Hollywood's approach to race-swapping a leap towards diversity or a misguided attempt at inclusivity? Join us, Azarie, Zeref, Iceenotes, and Snow the protagonist, as we dissect the intricacies of this complex issue. From the authenticity of reimagining beloved characters to the creation of original roles, we examine specific castings like  The Little Mermaid, and debate whether these decisions truly serve the communities they intend to represent or if they're simply a consolation prize.

The capes and cowls of superhero films have become a battleground for representation, and we're here to unravel why. Delve into the contrasting public reception of Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie and Anthony Mackie's Captain America, as we explore the challenge these diverse casting choices pose to traditional American identity. The episode peels back the layers on the historical and changing portrayal of Black heroes in the media, inviting you to consider whether criticism against such representation overlooks their deep comic book roots.

Finally, this episode doesn't shy away from confronting the stubborn myth that minority-led ensembles won't perform at the box office. Our conversation challenges the repetitive nature of 'cookie-cutter' productions and the rarity of original characters in major franchises. We don't just stop at the 'too woke' criticism either, emphasizing the importance of involving communities for authentic stories and the necessity of carving out inclusive spaces in media. Tune in as we navigate the complexities of representation and advocate for an industry that's educated and open-minded.

Getting a job is proving difficult for many who have immigrated to Canada, even for those professionally qualified. More needs to be done to ensure that new and immigrant professionals are given a platform to earn their keep, and the more diverse, equitable, and inclusive those environments are, the better!

In observation of Black History Month, and to help us dive deeper into this topic, we are joined by Nketti Johnston-Taylor for our new podcast episode of Leader Talks with Anne-Marie Pham. Nketti is the executive director of the Calgary Region Immigrant Employment Council (CRIEC), an organization that connects newcomer professionals to strategies that will lead to successful employment outcomes. After taking a brief look at the history of her home city of Calgary, we learn about her immigration story, how it ties into her professional background, and everything there is to know about CRIEC and the work that they do.

We discuss Nketti’s mindset during the early years of her immigration and her assessment of the cultural barriers that prevent immigrants from finding work in Canada. She also shares her advice for employers to create more hospitable workplaces, as well as some tips for international professionals on how to find work in a new country. Tune in for all this and more!

A huge 'thank you!' to Reliance Home Comfort for sponsoring this episode!

Key Points From This Episode:

• A brief look at the cultural history of Calgary.
• Dr. Nketti Johnston-Taylor's background and immigration story.
• Her mindset during her first few years of assimilating into Canadian culture.
• Why she struggled to find a sense of belonging when she first moved to Calgary. 
• The systemic and cultural barriers that prevent qualified immigrants from finding work. 
• What Canada can do to better support newcomers and internationally-trained professionals.
• Insight into CRIEC and its various initiatives. 
• Tips for international professionals who are struggling to find work in Canada.
• Advice for employers to create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Nketti Johnston-Taylor on LinkedIn
• Nketti Johnston-Taylor on X
• Nketti Johnston-Taylor on Instagram
• CRIEC
• Making Changes
• Prairie Centre for Excellence in Mentoring
• Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion
• Leader Talks with Anne-Marie Pham

This episode celebrates Black History Month and focuses on diversity in our profession, allyship, history, and change.

1. The Mosaic of Differences Among Us: Interview with Donna Davis, Director of the Benny Agosto Center for Diversity at STCL-Houston. Ms Davis addresses the importance of understanding the mosaic of differences among us not only in legal education but in practice as we deal with clients and colleagues from diverse backgrounds and different generations. She also provides practical tips for firms for meeting all of the expectations of their teams so that they can retain a diverse and productive workforce.

2. Strengthening the Law School Applicant Pool: Interview with Mariesha Keys, Director of UHLC's Pre-Law Pipeline Programs. Ms. Keys, who is interviewed by BTL-Interviewer Rachael Thompson, discusses the goals, logistics, and benefits of the UHLC Pre-Law Pipeline Programs, as well as why these programs are beneficial to first-generation students who are trying to navigate the law-school admission process. Ms. Keys also talks about  how members of the legal community can get involved in these important initiative.

3.  Navigating the Unique Challenges of an HBCU: Interview with Dean Crystal Ridgley, Associate Dean of Admission, TSU-TMSL. Dean Ridgley, who is interviewed by BTL-Interviewer Anietie Akpan, discusses TMSL's rich 70-year history as an accredited law school that has empowered the disenfranchised and underserved; she also talks about unique considerations in admissions as a HBCU, what's happening with legal education throughout the nation, and how the Houston legal community can assist with the school's effort to reinvest in pipeline and pathway programs.

4. Impact of Allyship: Brenda Adimora. Ms. Adimora addresses why it is important for allies to step up for and support lawyers of color, especially in the wake of policy changes related to DEI initiatives that are being made in the wake of Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard.

5. Soldiers in Houston: Race, History, and Change. Gary Alfred discusses the Houston Riot of 1917, how the Black soldiers involved were convicted without Due Process, and the recent overturning of these convictions.  He then discusses the Veteran’s Legal Initiative in Houston and other ways Houston lawyers can use our law training to help those less fortunate.

6. Impact of Allyship: Alvin Adjei. Mr. Adjei addresses how allyship has impacted his career and discusses why having leaders in the firm or agency who understand and support you is important.

7. BLSA in Houston: Finding a Community and Preparing for Practice. Featuring Malik Wilson (STCL), Jeremiah Sowell (TMSL), and Erica Wheeler (UHLC), all presidents of the BLSA chapters at their law schools. BTL-Interviewer Anietie Akpan talks with these students about what they are doing to foster a sense of community for Black students in their law schools.

8. HYLA Allyship Committee: Reading, Learning, Listening, and Acting as Allies. Featuring Lena Silva and Cassie Maneen, Co-Chairs of the Committee.  This discussion focuses on the purposes of the committee and also provides substantive information on civil rights cases and issues that have been discussed in the books they have read for Allyship Book Club.

For full speaker bios, visit The Houston Lawyer (hba.org). To read The Houston Lawyer magazine, visit The Houston Lawyer_home. For more information about the Houston Bar Association, visit Houston Bar Association (hba.org).
*The views expressed in this episode do not necessarily reflect the views of The Houston Lawyer Editorial Board or the Houston Bar Association.

We're going for the deep topics today; Racism in America. 

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for July 5.

Frederick Douglass gave his speech "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?".

He was an African American abolitionist, orator, newspaper publisher, and author. He became the first Black U.S. marshal.

Douglass was born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Talbot County, Maryland. When he was seven years old, he was sent to his master, Captain Aaron Anthony, at a nearby plantation.

On September 3, 1838, Douglass escaped from slavery. With identification borrowed from a free Black seaman, he traveled to New York City.

He remained an avid reader throughout his adult life. In 1847, he began publishing his own abolitionist newsletter, the North Star. 

He became a powerful orator, often traveling six months out of the year to give lectures on abolition. 

When radical abolitionists, under the motto "No Union with Slaveholders", criticized Douglass's willingness to engage in dialogue with slave owners, he replied: "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."

In July 5, 1852, he  delivered his speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, held at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York.

The speech explores the constitutional and values-based arguments against the continued existence of Slavery in the United States.

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for July 4.

Marian Anderson and Ralph Bunche receive the first Medals of Freedom.

She was an American singer, and an important figure in the struggle for African-American artists to overcome racial prejudice.

Bunche was an American political scientist, diplomat, member of the United Nations for more than two decades, activist of the US civil rights movement, and the first African American and first person of African descent to be awarded a Nobel Prize.

In 1955, Anderson became the first African American singer to perform as a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Bunche was one of the leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for more than 20 years.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal are the highest civilian awards of the United States.

It was established in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy, superseding the Medal of Freedom that was established by President Harry S. Truman in 1945 to honor civilian service during World War II.

JFK’s assassination in November meant that he was not alive to present the awards at the  ceremony that December. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, presented them in his place. 

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for July 3.

Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

He was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era.

After demonstrating exceptional athletic ability during high school and junior college, he excelled at baseball, football, basketball, and track at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

He left UCLA in 1941 and briefly played professional football before being drafted into the U.S. Army. During his service, he refused to sit at the back of a bus and was threatened with a court-martial, but the charges were dropped and he was given an honorable discharge in 1945.

Robinson made his major league debut in April 1947. The chief problem he had to overcome was controlling his fiery temper in the face of continual racial slurs from the crowds and other ballplayers, including some of his own teammates.

After retiring from baseball early in 1957, Robinson engaged in business and in civil rights activism. He was a spokesperson for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and made appearances with Martin Luther King, Jr.

Robinson's major league debut brought an end to approximately sixty years of segregation in professional baseball, known as the baseball color line.

Robinson's character, his use of nonviolence, and his talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation that had then marked many other aspects of American life.

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for July 2.

Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.

In the landmark 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional.

The 10 years that followed saw great strides for the African American civil rights movement, as non-violent demonstrations won thousands of supporters to the cause.  Led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights movement had been gathering force.

John F. Kennedy made passage of a new civil rights bill one of the platforms of his successful 1960 presidential campaign.

In early 1964, House supporters overcame the Rules Committee obstacle by threatening to send the bill to the floor without committee approval. 

Passage of the act was not easy. House opposition bottled up the bill in the House Rules Committee. In the Senate, Southern Democratic opponents attempted to talk the bill to death. The act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. 

It banned discriminatory practices in employment and ended segregation in public places such as swimming pools, libraries, and public schools.

This document was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for July 1st.

Roland Hayes named soloist with Boston Symphony Orchestra.

He was the first African American singer to achieve success on the classical concert stage.

Hayes was born in Curryville, Georgia, to Fanny and William Hayes, who were former slaves. He wanted an education, but he had to drop out of school to help support his family and worked at many jobs.

He moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he found a job singing at a silent movie theater. He had to sing offstage so that people could hear his voice but not see his skin color.

To earn money he went on a tour of black churches and colleges in the South. In 1917 he announced his second concert, which would be held in Boston's Symphony Hall. 

In 1920 Hayes performed his first European concert in London, England. While in London he received a message from King George and Queen Mary of England, requesting that he perform for them. 

He toured Europe several more times, singing in seven different languages, and by the late 1920s he had become the highest-paid tenor in the world.

After the 1930s, Hayes stopped touring in Europe because the change in politics made it 

unfavorable to African Americans.

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 30.

Lena Horne was born.

She was an African-American dancer, actress, Grammy-winning singer, and civil rights activist.

Horne left school at age 16 to help support her ailing mother and became a dancer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City.  She was discovered by producer John Hammond, and soon after she performed in a solo show at Carnegie Hall.

A remarkably charismatic entertainer, Horne was one of the most popular singers of her time. One of her albums, Lena Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria, was a longtime best seller, and her first featured performance on Broadway.

She also was noted for her work with civil rights and political organizations; as an actress, she refused to play roles that stereotyped African American women. 

In 1984 Horne received a Kennedy Center honor for lifetime contribution to the arts, and in 1989 she was given a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.

"Stormy Weather", a well-received biography of Horne's life, was published in 2009 and written by James Gavin. Horne also published her own memoir, "Lena", in 1965.

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 29.

NAACP chairman S.G. Spottswood criticize Nixon's administration.

Stephen Gill Spottswood was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He went on to Albright College, earning a B.A. in history in 1917; Gordon Divinity School; and Yale Divinity School, where he earned his doctorate.

He joined the NAACP in 1919 and was an active voice for racial equality throughout his adult life.

He became president of the NAACP's Washington branch in 1947 and was elected to the national board of the NAACP in 1955, vice-president in 1959, and finally chairman in 1961, a post he held until 1975.

Spottswood earned a reputation as an outspoken critic of racial injustice and several times  attracted press coverage for his political censures.

His most prominent criticism was directed at Richard Nixon and his administration's treatment of African-Americans, calling it "anti-Negro".  At the following year's convention, Spottswood used his keynote address to soften the NAACP's stance on Nixon.

Newly unearthed recordings show former President Richard Nixon mentioned racist language in conversations with his close associates.

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 28.

The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the use of racial quotas for university applications. 

The medical school at the University of California, as part of the university’s affirmative action program, had reserved 16 percent of its admission places for minority applicants.

Allan Bakke, a white California man who had twice unsuccessfully applied for admission to the medical school, filed suit against the university.

Citing evidence that his grades and test scores surpassed those of many minority students who had been accepted for admission, Bakke charged that he had suffered unfair “reverse discrimination” on the basis of race.

The Supreme Court, agreed that the university’s use of strict racial quotas was unconstitutional and ordered that the medical school admit Bakke.

Although the ruling legalized the use of affirmative action, in subsequent decisions during the next several decades the court limited the scope of such programs, and several U.S. states prohibited affirmative action programs based on race.

Regents of University of California v. Bakke established a pragmatic means of reconciling well-intentioned quota and affirmative action programs with the Constitution's zealous protection of equality. 

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 27.

Frederick Jones invents the ticket dispensing machine.

He was an U.S. inventor credited with more than 60 patents.

After a challenging childhood, Jones taught himself mechanical and electrical engineering, inventing a range of devices relating to refrigeration, sound, and automobiles.

In the late 1920s, Jones designed a series of devices for the developing movie industry, which adapted silent movie projectors to use talking movie stock. He also developed an apparatus for the movie box office that delivers tickets and returns change to customers. 

In 1935, he invented the first automatic refrigeration system for long-haul trucks and railroad cars. This system eliminated the risk of food spoilage during long-distance shipping trips.

His invention radically altered American consumer's eating habits; now people could eat fresh produce across the United States during the middle of summer or winter. 

Over the course of his career, Jones received more than 60 patents. While the majority pertained to refrigeration technologies, others related to X-ray machines, engines and sound equipment.

He became the first African American elected to the American Society of Refrigeration Engineers. 

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 26.

Sit-in demonstrations and passive resistance began in Cairo, Illinois.

Despite Illinois’s relatively liberal reputation, Cairo, a small city far south from Chicago, was thoroughly segregated and violently racist.

Local youths formed the Cairo Nonviolent Freedom Committee (CNVFC) and invited Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to go to the small city to initiate protests.

Soon after, CNVFC launched “Operation Open City,” with an eleven-point plan to segregate all areas of civic life, including schools, housing, and employment opportunities.

But most of its energy focused on desegregating public accommodations, including several local restaurants, the public swimming pool, and a roller skating rink. Their efforts met fierce white resistance.

By August, the young activists had successfully integrated most of the city’s restaurants, though proprietors continued to harass Black patrons in other ways, like overcharging and providing poor service. 

Illinois Governor, Otto Kerner, Jr., ordered the city to desegregate in accordance with state law.

The violence signaled the end of segregated public accommodations in Cairo. Economic and political discrimination continued, however. 

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 25.

Sonia Sotomayor was born.

She is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,  the first woman of color, first Hispanic, and first Latina member of the Court.

Sotomayor was raised in a housing project in the Bronx.

After the death of her father, her mother worked long hours as a nurse to support the family.

She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University before attending Yale Law School on a scholarship. In 1979, Sotomayor was awarded a Juris Doctor. She was admitted to the New York Bar the following year.

When President Bill Clinton nominated Sotomayor to be a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1997, Republican senators delayed her appointment for more than a year because of their concerns that the position might lead to a Supreme Court nomination. 

In May 2009 Pres. Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor to the Supreme Court in order to fill the vacancy left by departing justice David Souter.

Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2009 went smoothly, and the following month she was confirmed (68–31) by the Senate.

During her tenure on the Supreme Court, Sotomayor has been identified with concern for the rights of defendants, calls for reform of the criminal justice system, and making impassioned dissents on issues of race, gender and ethnic identity.

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 24.

John R. Lynch became first African-American to preside over deliberations of a national political party.

Born into slavery in Louisiana, he became free in 1863 under the Emancipation Proclamation. 

He became active in the Republican Party by the age of 20. Although too young to participate as a delegate, he attended the state's constitutional convention of 1867, studying its developments closely. 

At the age of 26 in 1872, Lynch was elected as the youngest member of the US Congress from Mississippi's 6th congressional district, as part of the first generation of African-American Congressmen. 

Lynch introduced many bills and argued on their behalf. Perhaps his greatest effort was in the long debate supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1875 to ban discrimination in public accommodations. 

He was one of seven African-American Congressmen present, who all testified in 1874 as to personal and known experience of the effects of discrimination in this area.

In 1884, Lynch became the first African American to chair a political party's National Convention. 

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 23.

Wilma Rudolph was born.

She was an American sprinter, the first American woman to win three track-and-field gold medals in a single Olympics.

Physically disabled for much of her early life, Rudolph wore a leg brace until she was twelve years old.

Because there was little medical care available to African American residents of Clarksville in the 1940s, Rudolph's parents sought treatment for her at the historically black Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, about 50 miles away.

She attended Tennessee State University from 1957 to 1961. At age 16 she competed in the 1956 Olympic Games at Melbourne, Australia, winning a bronze medal in the 4 × 100-metre relay race. 

At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, Rudolph competed in three events on a cinder track in Rome's Stadio Olimpico: the 100- and 200-meter sprints, as well as the 4 × 100-meter relays. She won a gold medal in each of these events.

These games launched Rudolph into the public spotlight and the media cast her as America's athletic "leading lady" and a "queen," with praises of her athletic accomplishments.

Her strikingly fluid style made Rudolph a particular favorite with spectators and journalists. 

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 22.

Arthur Ashe leads UCLA to the NCAA tennis championship.

Ashe was coached and mentored by Robert Walter Johnson at his tennis summer-camp home in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Johnson helped fine-tune Ashe's game and taught him the importance of racial socialization through sportsmanship, etiquette and the composure that would later become an Ashe hallmark. 

In 1958, Ashe became the first African American to play in the Maryland boys' championships. It was also his first integrated tennis competition.

In 1963, he became the first black player ever selected for the United States Davis Cup team. 

In 1965, ranked the number 3 player in the United States, Ashe won both the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) singles title and the doubles title (with Ian Crookenden of New Zealand), helping UCLA win the team NCAA tennis championship.

His criticism of South African apartheid racial policy led to denial of permission to play in that country’s open tournament, and, as a consequence, on March 23, 1970, South Africa was excluded from Davis Cup competition.

He was the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open.

After his retirement, Ashe took on many roles, including writing for Time magazine and The Washington Post, commentating for ABC Sports and HBO from the early 1980s.

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com

JUNETEENTH - A Celebration of Freedom.

Juneteenth (a portmanteau of June and nineteenth) is also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day.

It is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. It is now celebrated annually on the 19th of June throughout the United States.

HISTORY

During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. It became effective on January 1, 1863.

This Proclamation declared that all enslaved persons in the Confederate States of America in rebellion and not in Union hands were freed.

More isolated geographically, planters and other slaveholders had migrated into Texas from eastern states to escape the fighting, and many brought enslaved people with them.

Although most lived in rural areas, more than 1,000 resided in both Galveston and Houston by 1860. By 1865, there were an estimated 250,000 enslaved people in Texas.

Despite the surrender of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, the western Army of the Trans-Mississippi did not surrender until June 2.

On Monday, June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived to Galveston, Texas, to enforce the emancipation of its slaves and oversee a peaceful transition of power.

The Texas Historical Commission and Galveston Historical Foundation report that Granger’s men marched

Throughout Galveston reading General Order No 3:

              “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute... 

              ...equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes...

              ...that between employer and hired labour. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not...

              ...be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

It was from that moment that Juneteenth would be born.

EARLY CELEBRATIONS

Formerly enslaved people in Galveston celebrated after the announcement. The following year, freedmen in Texas organized the first of what became the annual celebration of "Jubilee Day."

On January 2, 1866, a Galveston newspaper, reported on an Emancipation Celebration:

“The colored people of Galveston celebrated their emancipation from slavery yesterday by a procession.

Notwithstanding the storm some eight hundred or a thousand men, women and children took part in the demonstration.”

Flake’s Bulletin, 2 January 1866.

Early celebrations were used as political rallies to give voting instructions to newly freed slaves. Early independence celebrations often occurred on January 1 or 4.

OFFICIAL RECOGNITION

In the late 1970s the Texas Legislature declared Juneteenth a “holiday of significance, particularly to the blacks of Texas", becoming the first state to establish Juneteenth as a state holiday.

The bill passed through the Texas Legislature in 1979 and was officially made a state holiday on January 1, 1980.

Recognition of Juneteenth varies across the United States. It is not officially recognized by the federal government, although the Senate unanimously passed...

...a simple resolution in 2018 in honour of the day, and legislation has been introduced in Congress to make it either a "national day of observance" or a full-scale federal holiday.

The only three states yet to legally recognize Juneteenth as either a state or ceremonial holiday are Hawaii, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

In 2020, Juneteenth was formally recognized by New York City (as an annual official city holiday and public school holiday, starting in 2021)

CELEBRATIONS

The holiday is considered the "longest-running African-American holiday" and has been called "America’s second Independence Day".

Juneteenth is usually celebrated on the third Saturday in June. It was common for former slaves and their descendants to make a pilgrimage to Galveston.

Observance today is primarily in local celebrations. In many places Juneteenth has become a multicultural holiday, Including lectures and exhibitions on African-American culture.

Traditions include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs and reading of works by noted African-American writers.

Celebrations include picnics, rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties, historical reenactments, blues festivals and Miss Juneteenth contests.

Historian Mitch Kachun considers that celebrations of the end of slavery have three goals: "to Celebrate, to Educate, and to Agitate."

To learn more about black history visit www.blackfacts.com.

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 21.

Painter Henry Ossawa Tanner was born.

He was an American artist and the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim.

After a childhood spent largely in Philadelphia, Tanner began an art career in earnest in 1876,painting harbour scenes, landscapes, and animals from the Philadelphia Zoo.

Although many artists refused to accept an African-American apprentice, in 1879 Tanner enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, becoming the only black student.

In 1891 he traveled to Paris, France, to study at the Académie Julian. He also joined the American Art Students Club. Paris was a welcome escape for Tanner; within French art circles the issue of race mattered little. 

In 1893 on a short return visit to the United States, Tanner painted his most famous work, The Banjo Lesson, while in Philadelphia.

Tanner was not limited to one specific approach to painting and drawing. His works reflect at times meticulous attention to detail and loose, expressive brushstrokes in others. 

Tanner's Sand Dunes at Sunset hangs in the Green Room at the White House; it is the first painting by an African-American artist to have been purchased for the permanent collection of the White House.

Learn black history, teach black history at blackfacts.com