This is Raymond Lee Washington, best known as the founder of The Crips. Washington was born August 14, 1953 in Los Angeles to Violet Samuel and Reginald Washington. He had three older brothers from his mother’s first marriage and one younger half-brother from his mother’s second marriage. Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1950s Washington came to be known for getting into fights. His penchant for fighting led to his being routinely expelled from school for fighting and later being sent to Juvenile Detention Camps. In the late 1960s, Washington, now a teenager, admired the Black Panthers and their attempt to bring social change through their militant positions. Washington sought to emulate these tactics, eventually joining the Avenues street gang led by Craig Munson. However, Washington got in a fight with Munson’s brother, and afterwards decided to leave the gang to start his own group known as the Baby Avenues. The youthful aspect of the gang’s membership then led to their adopting the name the Avenue Cribs, which finally became the Crips. On August 9, 1979 Washington was shot by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in LA. Though he was taken to a nearby hospital, the gunshot proved fatal. He died five days before his 26th birthday. Washington’ death marked the end of the unification of the Crips as the various branches began fighting one another and also the end of hand to hand combat, disputes began to be held with guns.
Black History 365 | # 76 Stanley "Tookie" Williams
This is Stanley Tookie Williams III, best known as the founder of The Crips. Williams and his mother moved to Los Angeles, California in 1959. Williams spent his early-middle adolescence wandering the streets fighting, and ended up making a name for himself doing just that. He did not attend school and instead engaged in petty theft and occasional robbery. Eventually meeting Raymond Washington who had a similar lifestyle, the teenagers started the crips. It eventually evolved into one of the largest street gangs in California.
Black History 365 | # 92 Carter G. Woodson
We’ve reached the end of Black History Month! Did you know this is the person responsible for Black History Month? In February 1926, Carter G Woodson sent out a press release announcing the first Negro History Week. As early as the 1940s, efforts began to expand the week of public celebration of African American heritage and achievements into a longer event. With the rise of the civil rights and Black Power movements in the 1960s, black students on college campuses were becoming increasingly conscious of the historic dimension of their experience. Since then, every U.S. president has issued a proclamation honoring the spirit of Black History Month. From Gerald Ford to Obama. Reagan even said “Understanding the history of Black Americans is a key to understanding the strength of our nation.” Your existence is revolutionary. And everyday is a chance to make our ancestors proud. Keep making history.
Black History 365 | # 101 Fannie Lou Hamer
Did you know In 1961 Hamer was given a hysterectomy without her consent and was made sterile and was not able to give birth? This was the catalyst that set her on the path to the forefront of the Mississippi Civil Rights movement. Up until 1963 while demonstrating a sit-in at a whites only lunch counter she and several others were arrested and beaten. Hamer’s eyes, legs, and kidneys received damage that affected her for the rest of her life. In the following months she increased her public profile. She was slowly becoming known as one of the most powerful speakers in the civil rights era. I’m 1964 she spoke at the public congress which broadcasted her powerful testimony. She spent the remainder of the 1960s balancing national activism with her local work in Mississippi. In 1977 she died from complications associated with heart disease and cancer. Respect to her life and her legacy.
Black History 365 | # 100 Billie Holiday
This is Billie Holiday. Aside from being an amazing singer did you know in March 1939 at 23 years old she sang a cover of the song “Strange Fruit” to an unenthused crowd at West 4th’s Cafe Society? She became determined to sing that song for the next 20 years of her career until her life came to an early end at age 44. While on her hospital bed suffering from heart and lung problems and cirrhosis of the liver from years of drug and alcohol abuse, a Federal Bureau of Narcotics commissioner Harry Anslinger had his men handcuff her to her bed. While she showed signs of recovery his men denied doctors of treating her. She died within days. No good deed goes unpunished. Respect to her legacy and using your gift to speak the truth about what was happening to black bodies in America so frequently.