Latest news with #BlackHistorymonth
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Northwestern State faculty call on President Jimmy Genovese to apologize for racial joke
James Genovese will be the next president of Northwestern State University (Chris Reich/Courtesy of Northwestern State University) The Northwestern State University Faculty Senate is calling on President Jimmy Genovese to apologize for racially insensitive remarks he made to Natchitoches Mayor Ronnie Williams at a Black History month event. Genovese told Williams, who is Black, 'he ought to be ashamed' to take a front-row seat at the event 'with white people being present,' according to Crystal Ellis Luter, who said she sat next to Genovese at the event. The Feb. 17 event was a ceremonial swearing-in of U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, a Baton Rouge Democrat whose congressional district includes Natchitoches. Fields officially took office in early January. Luter, a local nonprofit executive, who is also Black, shared details of the exchange between Genovese and Williams on her Facebook page. After receiving numerous reports about Genovese's comments, the NSU Faculty Senate met Tuesday and unanimously approved sending a letter to the president, calling on him to make a public statement accepting responsibility for any damage his comments have done to the university's reputation and his resolve to speak with more care. 'We are disappointed that your remarks have normalized this behavior as part of our campus culture, disconnecting us from the values of integrity that we exemplify as educators, professionals, scholars, and students,' the letter reads. In a statement to the Illuminator, Faculty Senate President Frank Serio said he believed the comments were intended and received as a joke. 'I do understand that does not absolve him of responsibility for how his words were perceived by others who heard them, but I do think the intent matters,' Serio said. Genovese did not respond to a phone call seeking comment, and Northwestern State spokeswoman Leah Jackson did not reply to an email request for the president. Williams also has not responded to requests for comment. According to the letter, Genovese's comments have impacted recruitment efforts, which he has said is among his main goals as president. Luter wrote in her post that even if Genovese's remarks were truly a joke that didn't land well, it was still a racist joke. 'A racist joke comfortably and confidently told to a Black man in a room full of Black people,' Luter wrote. Genovese clinched the job last year after Marcus Jones, the university's first Black president, abruptly left the job. Shortly after, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry endorsed Genovese for the position. Jones has declined to comment on his reasons for leaving. Genovese is paid substantially more than Jones was, despite having no higher education experience. Before taking the job, Genovese was a state Supreme Court Justice. His seat has now been filled by Cade Cole. While Genovese started the role amid intense faculty skepticism as a result of the political maneuvering surrounding his appointment, he reportedly had begun to win over faculty and students as he settled into the job. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Little Rock church holds Black History month program Saturday morning
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A church in the East End neighborhood in Little Rock held a special program for Black History month Saturday morning. Members of Saint John Missionary Baptist Church and guests shared their stories of African Americans who has served in the U.S. military throughout the history of the country. Little Rock students celebrate Black History Month with special speaker The documentary 'Buffalo Soldiers: A Quest For Freedom,' was also shown. 'We are educating all of our members about the past,' pastor Earnest C. Merritt said. 'If we don't know our past, how can we move toward our future, and that's what we want to do here at St John.' Black History Month explained: Its origins, celebrations and myths Saint John Missionary Baptist Church is located on East 6th Street in Little Rock. Representatives from the , including the club president, took part in the event. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Their Relatives Were Black Heroes. They Fear the Military Won't Celebrate Their Stories Anymore.
When Tarence Bailey Sr. received a formal memo from the Maryland National Guard declining to support a celebration for Frederick Douglass on Saturday, it felt personal. Not only because Bailey is a descendant of the famous abolitionist, but he is also a veteran who served for 10 years as an enlisted Guardsman with the same reserve component. Douglass' importance to the civil rights movement is well known, but he was also one of the military's most prominent recruiters, helping to grow the ranks of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was one of the first Black units to fight in the Civil War. The Maryland National Guard, along with an honorary living history unit from that same Massachusetts regiment rallied by Douglass more than 160 years ago, were ultimately barred earlier this month from participating in the famous orator's birthday. Pentagon guidance under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth -- and President Donald Trump -- now orders that the military "must decline events" that celebrate "individuals based all or in part on immutable characteristics." Read Next: USS Truman Commander Fired After Collision with Merchant Ship near Suez Canal "For them to say, you know, we're not celebrating that pretty much because he's Black, and it's Black History month -- he's a patriot," Bailey told in an interview. "He's a patriot first, and his whole family are patriots first." Bailey's frustrations aren't unique. Those concerns have grown and are now shared by several relatives of famous Black military figures who spoke with in interviews. They fear that, due to Hegseth's directions under the guidance of Trump's executive orders, their personal family histories and their sacrifices and contributions may be taken out of public view and praise. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to restore the names of military bases back to those of Confederate generals. Hegseth signed a memo reverting Fort Liberty to the name of Fort Bragg. While originally named for Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, the defense secretary instead named it for a service member with the same last name. Trump promised to rid the military of what he deemed "woke" policies, which led Hegseth to issue the memo declaring celebrations of identity months -- such as Black History month in February -- as "dead." Early into his tenure, Hegseth, after ordering a review of any material that may have promoted diversity, paused lessons related to the historic Tuskegee Airmen. Following public outcry, including from Republican lawmakers, the defense secretary reversed course and made sure the lessons remained, although reportedly not all of the curriculum was added back. Relatives of Black historic figures said the Defense Department's present efforts are aiming to sideline many of those past stories they grew up hearing about their loved ones, and they fear that it will be the military itself that will ultimately suffer by hiding those accomplishments. Bailey was not the first Frederick Douglass relative to serve his country. Douglass' sons enlisted in the regiment that the famous orator recruited for, and one, Lewis Henry Douglass, became one of the first Black sergeants major. As the Guard rejects participating in the Douglass celebration, the new administration has also stepped back from events aimed at recruiting Black Americans. reported that several services, including the Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Force, pulled out of recruiting at a Black engineering event in Baltimore earlier this month despite a yearslong relationship. Hegseth and other supporters railing against diversity efforts say such policies are divisive and detract from the uniformity of the military. The defense secretary recently said "the single dumbest phrase in military history is 'our diversity is our strength." Bailey said he doesn't understand the Pentagon's logic when it comes to the decision not to celebrate Frederick Douglass. "It's only divisive to racists because, because only racists have a problem with Black people and people of color having any type of pride or celebrating their contributions to a nation that we all enjoy," Bailey told Black Americans, Hispanics and other ethnic groups make up a large part of the military's ranks. In 2024, for example, non-white demographics made up 59.5% of the regular Army. Bailey said events like the Frederick Douglass Birthday Celebration planned for Saturday are opportunities for the military to be present in the community and inspire those who may be inclined to military service. "The whole thing is asinine, because these are recruiting tools,' Bailey said. 'When you have a parade, when the National Guard or big Army or the Marines or the Air Force or the Navy or even the Space Force don their uniforms and go out into the community, there's always going to be a young kid that's going to get inspired and is going to say, 'I want to do that when I get grown.'" The descendant of Douglass, one of the nation's most prolific recruiters, fears the military will lose out on some of the best and brightest as a result of that decision. "What they're doing is destroying our military," Bailey said. "They will make us soft, as soft as baby sh--." Marilyn Beecham's mother frequently showed her pictures of his father, as well as his service medals, in hopes of keeping his memory alive. Her father, 1st Lt. Newman Camay Golden, was a Tuskegee Airman who was killed in action when she was just nine years old. Golden had graduated from flight school in 1944, according to an Air Force news release about his life, and he flew the P-51 Mustang during World War II. In March 1945, during an operation, he had to eject from his plane due to a mechanical issue and was captured as a prisoner of war until the American and Allied victory. He rejoined the fight and was ultimately shot down on Oct. 17, 1951, during the Korean War; he was officially presumed dead several years later. When Beecham was informed about the initial Pentagon efforts to pause teaching the Tuskegee Airmen's history at Air Force boot camp, the Gold Star daughter was shocked. She's dedicated her life to telling her father's story and said she would be heartbroken if people didn't get to hear of his sacrifice. "I'm very disappointed in that, because I have been active in trying to let people know who the Tuskegee Airmen were," Beecham told "I would like that legacy to continue, not just in my family, but throughout the United States, so people would be aware of what our parents did, because they celebrated themselves by being true to the country and continuing to want to fight for this country. My dad was one of them." Tuskegee Airmen, like Golden, were Black fighter and bomber pilots, as well as support crews, who fought in World War II. Between 1941 and 1949, upward of 16,000 Black servicemen and women participated in training aircrew members, according to the Tuskegee Airmen Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to education about the group. Beecham hopes that the stories of the Tuskegee Airmen, including her father, will always be remembered. She said she hopes that's true for anyone who died in battle. "He was killed in the Korean War for this country and, if anybody should be celebrated, it's the men and women who have given their life to this country," Beecham told Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg's retirement ceremony in 1981 took place at the then-Fort Lee Officer's Club in Virginia. He hadn't forgotten that, just three decades prior, he wasn't even allowed inside the establishment due to segregation. But in 2023, Gregg became the first living person in recent memory to have an Army installation bear his name, according to the Army. Fort Lee, once named for infamous Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, was renamed in Gregg's honor as well as that of former Lt. Col. Charity Adams. She was the first Black officer in what would later become the Women's Army Corps; she died in 2002. Gregg, who died on Aug. 22, was the first Black brigadier general in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, as well as the first Black lieutenant general in the Army. His daughter, Alicia Collier, told in an interview that the commemoration of Fort Gregg-Adams in Virginia was an important moment not just for her father but, in her eyes, the nation as a whole -- especially because the decision came after a lengthy review by a commission that evaluated the accomplishments of her father and Adams. "When they named the base after him and Charity Adams, it's a great sense of pride, and it was huge for my dad because he was the first living person to have received that honor," Collier told "It did represent a color-blind review, and the decision to name it after him, to me, was an indication that our country had made some strides." But Collier and a relative of Adams both told they fear that the base could be renamed under the new Defense Department. Stanley Earley, Adams' son, told that a decision to change Fort Gregg-Adams back to Lee would not only neglect his mother's accomplishments, it would be "incredibly divisive" after the lengthy review process. "To do it now, it means a conscious decision to -- well into the 21st century, to go back and name facilities after the commanders of the Confederacy is sending an incredible message," Early said. "To do such a thing, I'm hoping that they won't seriously consider doing that. It would be very sad if that's the case." Related: Air Force Groups that Advocated for Beard Policies, Better Body Armor Are Gutted by Trump Directive
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Florida Highwaymen: Segregation causes black artists to sell work from cars
EDITOR'S NOTE: To celebrate Black History month, we will be reposting our series on African Americans who had a major impact on Florida. This story originally published in 2020. FORT PIERCE — Harold Newton did something that took guts. An African American artist from Georgia, Newton in 1955 walked through the front door of a well-known white artist's home in Fort Pierce, Florida, to ask A. E. Backus for advice. 'Backus had a reputation here in town for being inclusive and open to people no matter their gender, no matter their beliefs, no matter their race,' said J. Marshall Adams, Executive Director of the A.E. Backus Museum and Gallery in Fort Pierce. 'Backus was very encouraging of his work, gave him critiques, gave him demonstrations, gave him art supplies to help encourage him.' Newton soaked up everything Backus taught him. But Newton had one more hurdle to overcome if he wanted to sell his own landscape paintings. 'He couldn't set up his own gallery, his own space in those segregated times and attract white clientele to a black studio so he had to figure out a way to get his art to his clients, to his customers,' Adams said. Newton's solution: sell his paintings out of his car along U.S. 1. That method spread and was adopted by more than two dozen artists in the area, leading to more than 200,000 paintings and a vibrant African American art scene up and down the Treasure Coast. The artists were later given the name: Highwaymen. One of the artists considered to be the scene's leader was Alfred Hair. When Hair was 14 years old, he, like Newton, fell into Backus' orbit. Hair went to the nearby segregated school in Fort Pierce — Lincoln Park Academy. It was Hair's teacher who suggested Backus take him under his wing. Backus taught Hair how to paint landscapes and how to make frames. Hair started to believe he could turn painting into a career, something unheard of for blacks of the time. "The only jobs you could get was working in the fields, that was your job, in the orange groves," said Hair's widow, Doretha Hair Truesdell. "Alfred didn't see himself doing that. He said painting is what I'm going to do. This is my job. This is my employment." As Hair grew in the industry, he knew he would have to do things differently from his white mentor, who could set up in galleries and share his paintings with mass audiences. So Hair came up with his own business model. 'What he could do is lean into his talents, and one of those talents was painting fast,' Adams said. 'If he could learn how to paint faster and paint more volume he would have more to sell — he would sell them for a less expensive price point than an established artist — but at the end of the day make as much money.' Soon, Hair took a page from Newton's playbook. He began driving up and down the highway selling his paintings. It worked. During the early part of the 1960s Hair, and many other artists with a similar painting style, thrived. 'On Oct. 16, 1965, we moved into our house that we had built from those paintings,' said Hair Truesdell. 'When we moved into that house that's when we really exploded. We could produce about 20 paintings a day. We hired salespeople. Some of the people that are Highwaymen now were our salespeople. They sold for us, so we were really making a lot of money for that time.' Hair and Newton's practice of selling art out of their cars came to be used by many African American artists along the U.S. 1 corridor on Florida's Treasure Coast. Many found success. However, in 1970, the African American art scene lost its charismatic leader when Hair was gunned down in a bar. He was only 29. 'Overnight, everything dies," said Hair's widow. "Nothing is left.' Many of the African American landscape artists continued to paint, but waning interest after Hair's death coupled with new tastes and styles in the 1970s and 1980s saw much of the success fade away. 'We survived it all,' Hair Truesdell said. 'We're still living. Still standing and still we have the memory and we will always have the memory of Alfred, of his vision.' In the mid-1990s Jim Fitch, a Florida art historian, discussed the African American painting movement of the 1960s in the St. Petersburg Times, using a label to describe their art. 'That term is 'The Highwaymen,'' Adams said. 'The name came from the artery of U.S. 1 being the chief way to go up and down and sell your works of art. So it's easy for us to, now that we have a term, to describe these artists.' This created a new interest in their art, which is estimated to include 200,000 paintings. One of the distinctive things that make the Highwaymen art unique is the frames and vibrant colors of the landscapes. Especially early on, because they lacked the resources and supplies, Hair and others would paint on upson board. They framed paintings with crown molding and brushed them with gold or silver to give them a rustic look. 'I really think the board that we painted on, I just think it gave it vibrancy that you don't get from canvas,' Hair Truesdell said. 'Also, we shellacked our board, and then we put a sealant on the board, and then the paint just adhered to that sealant and I just think that it gave it life.' The true number of Highwaymen artists has been debated, with some being considered second or third generation Highwaymen. However, in 2004, the number of identified Highwaymen was set at 26 when they were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. They include: Curtis Arnett, Hezekiah Baker, Al "Blood" Black, brothers Ellis Buckner and George Buckner, Robert Butler, Mary Ann Carroll, brothers Johnny Daniels and Willie Daniels, Rodney Demps, James Gibson, Alfred Hair, Isaac Knight, Robert Lewis, John Maynor, Roy McLendon, Alfonso "Pancho" Moran, brothers Sam Newton, Lemuel Newton and Harold Newton, Willie Reagan, Livingston "Castro" Roberts, Cornell "Pete" Smith, Charles Walker, Sylvester Wells and Charles "Chico" Wheeler. 'Even though they might be painting similar subjects in a similar manner they each have their own individual viewpoints,' Adams said. 'I think it's important to honor these individual artists as well as the collective group. The collective story is really important, but it shouldn't obscure the idea that these are individuals who are looking at subjects and painting with their own style. If you look closely you can see a wide range of different perspectives of how they approached a single subject.' Highwaymen paintings can be seen at the A.E. Backus Gallery & Museum in Fort Pierce, as well as the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee. Many can be purchased at various websites in their honor. There are also some pieces on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. 'It's wonderful that these artists are being recognized today and they're continuing to be recognized,' Adams said. 'These works have a timeless beauty. They are of a certain time and there were certain social and political and cultural forces that shaped how they were made and how the people made them, were able to make them. They really speak beyond that.' Walters can be reached at twalters@ Support local journalism by becoming a subscriber. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Florida Highwaymen: Black artists find success selling work from cars
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maryland National Guard Declines to Participate in Frederick Douglass Celebration Due to Pentagon Order
Maryland National Guard officials have declined to participate in a celebration for American abolitionist Frederick Douglass' birthday, saying it violates the Defense Department's new orders to stop supporting Black History Month events. A formal memo from the Maryland National Guard's Joint Operations Center, dated Feb. 7, said the reserve component would be "unable to support the event for a flyover, band, military vehicles and troop presence." The celebration is called "Operation Frederick Douglass on the Hill" and marks the historic figure's 207th birthday. The remarks, signed by Lt. Col. Meaghan Lazak of the Maryland National Guard, began circulating online over the past week. "Since this event is organized as part of a Black History month celebration, the Maryland National Guard cannot support," the memo reads. "In accordance with the new guidance, the Maryland National Guard must decline events which celebrates [sic] individuals based all or in part on immutable characteristics." Read Next: Army Cuts Outreach at Girls School After Dropping Recruiting at Black Engineering Event Participation in public parades as well as flyovers is a regular occurrence for military units, used to attract attention and recruit future talent, and it is also seen as an important training opportunity. Douglass, born in Maryland sometime in February 1818, escaped from enslavement as a young man and rose to become one of the most important orators and abolitionists of the civil rights movement in the 19th century. Not knowing his own birthday, he ultimately selected Feb. 14. He died on Feb. 20, 1895, in Cedar Hill, Washington, D.C., according to a webpage from the National Park Service. Maj. Ben Hughes, a spokesperson for the Maryland National Guard, verified the memo as authentic to and pointed to a Jan. 31 statement from the Department of Defense as the guidance referenced for declining to participate. The guidance last month from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was titled "Identity Months Dead at DoD," which said the military "will not use official resources, to include man-hours, to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months, including National African American/Black History Month, Women's History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and National American Indian Heritage Month." Tarence Bailey Sr., a descendant of Douglass and president of the Bailey-Groce Family Foundation that organized the Feb. 22 event, told The Washington Post that he is a former member of the Maryland National Guard and was disappointed in the military's response. "Basically, what the DoD said is, 'We're not doing that. He's Black and this is February so, no,'" Bailey told The Washington Post. "You're discrediting everything -- all of the work he did for this nation not as a Black man but as an American. ... They should really be ashamed of themselves." Bailey also told The Washington Post that the Massachusetts National Guard participated in the event last year but chose not to assist this year. The memo declining participation in the Frederick Douglass celebration comes amid a flurry of decisions the military and individual service branches are taking to distance themselves from minority groups and events, such as disbanding groups in the Air Force that fought for better policies for minority and female airmen. This month, the Army and other services dropped recruiting efforts at a prestigious Black engineering awards event in Baltimore, despite a long-standing relationship, due to President Donald Trump and Hegseth's orders to eliminate programs and policies dealing with women, troops with minority backgrounds, and gay and lesbian service members. The Army Corps of Engineers also stopped outreach at an all-girls school in South Carolina that was geared toward encouraging its female students to get involved in science and engineering careers because the service believed it violated the administration's prohibition on diversity initiatives. Related: Military Drops Recruiting Efforts at Prestigious Black Engineering Awards Event
