Black History Month

[superlion]

February is Black History Month (at least in the US), so I thought we should do something for it. I have always enjoyed Black History Month, and I'm sorry for all of you who have to write an extra paper for it in school or anything you might find painful like that. There's so much to learn, and having a month set aside for it to me is a very good idea I can already hear someone saying "so why don't we have an Asian history month or a white history month then?". Well, someone got the idea to do a black history month first, once you have that you learn from it what you're interested in learning more about, so you can study the rest on your own Plus, at least as far as "white history" that seems to be what most of the textbooks focus on as well. (the above two sentences are my opinion anyway). So let's use this month to get a fresh perspective on history... to me history isn't just events and numbers and dates, but culture and people and technology. I'll be sure to let you guys at some information for numbers and dates because I know many people want to hear them, and they are handy for discussions. But we'll also have plenty of the culture and people and technology because if we didn't I would be bored very quickly!

To start us off, I would like to start with a poem by Langston Hughes in 1951:

Harlem

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore -
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over -
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

[Jay]

I suspect there will be a better overview of this person later, but I tremendously admire George Washington Carver. He was born into slavery but rose to fame as a botanist, agronomist, "cookstove chemist", educator, artist, humanitarian, and pioneer conservationist. He had many discoveries, including new uses for Alabama clay, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and cotton. He encouraged farmers to move from "old stye" cotton farms to "new stye" soybean and peanut farms. He was always busy doing or researching something. He believed there were ways to use peanuts for virtually everything, not only for food, but for medicines, cleaning products, and other areas. At the time, many thought his claims were exaggerated. But he was not a person to just make claims. He would clearly say which were just conceptual ideas and which could be proven scientifically (which was most of his ideas). He truly understood the "scientific method" before the phrase "scientific method" even came into popularity.

For those that would like to see some of his accomplishments and are ever in the Joplin, Missouri area, I recommend stopping at the George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, Missouri.

[superlion]

Sorry I've been super busy...

George Washington Carver was indeed amazing. I wouldn't think of doing this without a nod in his direction. So I found a site with some short biographical information about him. Check it out!

My favorite part:

His research developed 325 products from peanuts, 108 applications for sweet potatoes, and 75 products derived from pecans. He moved to Tuskegee, Alabama in 1896 to accept a position as an instructor at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute and remained on the faculty until his death in 1943. His work in developing industrial applications from agricultural products derived 118 products, including a rubber substitute and over 500 dyes and pigments, from 28 different plants. He was responsible for the invention in 1927 of a process for producing paints and stains from soybeans, for which three separate patents were issued.

Nowadays huge teams of scientists work for decades and don't invent that much!

And a little more on George Washington Carver

Here is something I didn't even know about before researching for this Black History Month. The Tuskegee Syphillis Experiment