Black History 365 | 217 Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka, formally known as Everett LeRoi Jones is best known as a literary genius whose works challenged the status quo, European beauty standards, the insidiousness of the US government, and not only that. Baraka was a leading force in the arts movement of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1963 he published Blues People: Negro Music in White America, Ryan Cooler references this book as one he studied for his recent film Sinners, you’ll find it published under Leroi Jones. Nikki Giovanni speaks about him candidly for they are peers. That book was known as the first major history of black music to be written by an African American. A year later he published a collection of poetry titled The Dead Lecturer and won an Obie Award for his play, Dutchman. After the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965 he moved to Harlem and founded the Black Arts Repertory Theater. In the late 1960s, Baraka moved back to his hometown of Newark and began focusing more on political organizing, prompting the FBI to identify him as "the person who will probably emerge as the leader of the pan-African movement in the United States." Baraka continued writing and performing poetry up until his hospitalization, leaving behind a body of work that greatly influenced a younger generation of hip-hop artists and slam poets.

Black History 365 | # 216 Cathay Williams

If you don’t know Cathay Williams, that’s probably by design. She is a true bad*ss. One of over 400 hundred women to serve in the Civil War posing as male soldiers. Williams was the first African American woman to enlist and the only documented woman to serve in the United States Army, while disguised as a man, during the Indian Wars. Despite the prohibition against women serving in the military, Williams enlisted in the U.S. Regular Army under the false name of "William Cathay" on November 15, 1866. She enlisted for a three-year engagement, passing herself off as a man. Williams was assigned to the 38th U.S. Infantry Regiment after she passed the cursory medical examination. Though this exam should have outed her as a woman, the Army did not require full medical exams at this time. Due to contracting smallpox she was frequently hospitalized, the post surgeon discovered she was a woman and informed the post commander. She was honorably discharged by her commanding officer, Captain Charles E. Clarke on October 14, 1868. Though her disability discharge meant the end of her tenure with the Army. She signed up with an emerging all-black regiment that would eventually become part of the legendary Buffalo Soldiers. Her life and military service narrative was published in the St. Louis Daily Times on January 2, 1876. Around 1889 or 1890, Williams entered a local hospital and applied for a disability pension based on her military service. Though there was a precedent for granting pension to female soldiers, (Deborah Sampson,  Anna Maria Lane and Molly Williams disguised themselves as men in the Revolutionary War), Williams request was denied. In September 1893, a doctor examined Williams. She suffered from neuralgia and diabetes, and had all her toes amputated and walked with a crutch. The doctor decided that she did not qualify for disability payments.The exact date of her death is unknown, but it is believed she died shortly after she was denied. Woy.

Black History 365 | # 215 Martin Delany

Martin R. Delany was an African American abolitionist, writer, editor, doctor, and politician. Born in Charles Town in what is now West Virginia, he was the first Black field officer in the United States Army, serving as a major during and after the American Civil War (1861–1865), and was among the first Black nationalists. A fiercely independent thinker and wide-ranging writer, he coedited with Frederick Douglass the abolitionist newspaper North Star and later penned a manifesto calling for Black emigration from the United States to Central America. He also authored Blake; or, The Huts of America, a serial publication about a fugitive enslaved man who, in the tradition of Nat Turner, organizes insurrection. In his later life, Delany was a judge and an unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor of South Carolina. Despite this, he remains relatively unknown. “His was a magnificent life,” W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in 1936, “and yet, how many of us have heard of him?” Historians have tended to pigeonhole Delany’s contributions, emphasizing his more radical views (which were celebrated in the 1970s), while giving less attention to the extraordinary complexity of his career.

Black History 365 | # 214 Ronald E. McNair

After earning a B.S. degree in physics, Ronald E. McNair completed a Ph.D. at MIT in 1977 and conducted research on electro-optic laser modulation for satellite space communications before applying to become an astronaut. In January 1978, he was selected as part of NASA’s eighth astronaut class, one of the first three African Americans selected. He became NASA’s second Black American to go to space in February 1984 with STS-41B. On January 28, 1986, he was one of seven astronauts who died on Space Shuttle Challenger. He and his six STS-51L crew mates died when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after launch. Rest in peace, safe travels.

Black History 365 | # 213 Zeb Powell

Zeb Powell is too cold widdit, pun intended. Not to mention, he is the first black snowboarder to win a gold medal at the X Games in 2020. Residing from North Carolina, he developed a love for snowboarding through skateboarding. Once the skatepark shut down he leaned into snowboarding seasonally at a place called Catalucci. The rest is history. Zeb Powell is the most creative snowboarder ever. He credits it to his ADD. Highly advise that you watch him in action. Truly art in motion. The attention from his X Games victory put a spotlight on how few Black athletes are represented in professional snowboarding, and it lit a fire inside him to start initiatives like the Slide-In Tour and Culture Shifters to help change the face of the sport. It's working, fast. PEACE! @zebpowelll