BHM Articles 2024 PDF

# Barack Obama He has charm, charisma, and great speaking skills. Barack Obama was the first African American President of the United States. At age 47, he was the 44th President from 2009 to 2017. 2 million people watched his inauguration, the most in history. Barack Obama is a lawyer, law profess...

# Barack Obama He has charm, charisma, and great speaking skills. Barack Obama was the first African American President of the United States. At age 47, he was the 44th President from 2009 to 2017. 2 million people watched his inauguration, the most in history. Barack Obama is a lawyer, law professor, politician, and author. ## Life Story Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia. Ultimately, he was raised by his grandparents in Hawaii. Obama studied law at Harvard Law School, became a lawyer, and then taught law in Chicago from 1992 to 2004. Despite refusing Obama's requests for a dates, Michelle and Barack Obama got married in Oct 1992. They have two children - Malia and Sasha and a dog named Bo. In 1996 Obama entered into politics. In 2004, Obama was elected senator of Illinois. With only 3 years on the U.S. Senate, Obama entered and won the presidential election of 2008 over Hilary Clinton. He also won the presidential re-election in 2012 against Mitt Romney. As President, Obama enacted the Affordable Care Act (ACA) otherwise known as Obamacare. The ACA was designed to reform healthcare for Americans. During his presidency, Osama bin Laden was captured and killed in May 2011. ## Personal Characteristics Obama is considered very charismatic. His nicknames included Barry (as a child) and O'Bomer (high school). Some additional fun facts about Barack Obama: - he worked at Baskin Robbins as a teenager and has read all of the Harry Potter books. - He loves playing basketball and enjoys the Chicago Bears (football) and Chicago White Sox (baseball) teams. One of Obama's famous quotes was, “If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.” ## Fame Barack Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for his extraordinary efforts in international diplomacy and foreign policy. In addition to being known as the first African American and bi-racial president, Obama is an established author. He won a Grammy Award in 2006 for voicing Dreams From My Father. # Bessie Coleman Before Amelia Earhart, there was Bessie Coleman! Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman was the first female African and Native American aviator (pilot). She was the first African American to earn an international pilot's license. ## Life Story Coleman was the 10th of 13 children born to a family of sharecroppers in Texas in 1892. At age 6 Coleman walked 4 miles every day to her segregated, one-room school. She excelled in reading and math. After moving to Chicago in 1916 at age 24, Coleman heard stories from the pilots of World War I. This sparked her dream to become a pilot. Due to segregation in the U.S., she had to travel to Paris to learn to fly planes. Upon returning to the U.S. she became a celebrity. Unfortunately, racial discrimination prevented Coleman from becoming a commercial pilot in the U.S. With additional training in France, she opted to do stunt flying (barnstorming) performing dangerous tricks in front of a paying audience. While she was popular at aerial shows, she refused to fly in front of segregated audiences in the south. Coleman was heading to a show that required a parachute jump. She did not wear her seatbelt because she needed to look out of the plane and down to see where to land. The plane spun out of control and Coleman catapulted almost 2,000 feet to her death. ## Personal Characteristics Coleman was scrappy (resourceful) and motivated, doing what she needed so she could do what she loved. Seeing how she didn’t have the same rights as White men, she encouraged African Americans to take an aviation. She even founded her own school. ## FAME Coleman was featured on a Black Heritage stamp by the U.S. Postal Service in 1995. She was inducted to the National Women's Hall of Fame, National Aviation Hall of Fame, and International Air & Space Hall of Fame. # George Washington Carver He's not really the “Peanut Man.” George Washington Carver was known as the young "plant doctor.” Carver cared more about people than money. ## Life Story George Washington Carver was born into slavery in 1860 near Diamond Grove, Missouri. A sickly child, he wasn't able to work in the fields so he learned about plants. He earned a scholarship to Highland University in Kansas, but the school withdrew the scholarship when they saw he was African American. Carver's interest in science brought him to Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University). He was offered a faculty position after graduation, the first African American person to ever receive the honor. He now had time to work on agriculture and botany. After receiving his master's degree in agriculture, Booker T. Washington appointed Carver director of agriculture at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. He planted peas on 20 barren acres with his students because peas converted nitrogen in the air into nitrates to fertilize the soil. Carver's discoveries with soil led to farmers' abundance with peanuts (and how they rotted quickly in warehouses). Carver began experimenting with how to use peanuts productively. He found ways to use the peanut with ink, facial cream, shampoo, and soap. This led to an entire industry to find multi uses for various vegetables including sweet potatoes, pecans and more. ## Personal Characteristics Carter was an inquisitive scientist who researched and experimented to find methods that enabled farmers to prosper. ## Fame Carver is considered the most prominent African American scientist of the early 20th century. He received the Springarn Medal of the NAACP in 1923 and was awarded the Roosevelt Medal for distinguished research in agricultural chemistry in 1939. # Harriet Tubman How brave are you? Do you have what it takes to do the right thing? Harriet Tubman was a nurse and civil rights activist. ## Life Story Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross) was born into slavery around 1820. At 13 years old she changed her name to Harriet when she ran away from her master, but as a kid, her parents called her Minty. When she was 5 or 6 she was sent to take care of a baby in a different home. Harriet was whipped if the baby cried. She had a difficult childhood driving oxen, plowing fields, hauling logs, loading produce, and checking muskrat traps even when she had measles. When she was 13, a slave owner threw an iron weight at one of his slaves, but missed and hit Harriet in the head. She had dizzy spells and blackouts for the rest of her life. The northern states outlawed slavery so slaves would escape using the Underground Railroad (not a real railroad). This freedom involved "conductors” hiding slaves as they traveled north from station to station (safe homes). Harriet used the Underground Railroad to escape in 1849. Unfortunately, the Fugitive Slave Act passed in 1850 which meant free slaves could now be returned to their owners. This was the start of Harriet's journey as a conductor where she helped free 300 slaves with 19 escapes. During the Civil War, she became a scout and spay for the Union Army. ## Personal Characteristics Harriet was a very religious brave soul who did the right thing helping others. In addition to freeing slaves, she nursed soldiers in the Civil War. She helped the sick and poor and fought for equal rights for African Americans and women. ## Fame Tubman is most famous for being a leader in the Underground Railroad. Tubman was nicknamed “Moses” while she was alive. She is the icon for courage and freedom. # Jackie Robinson He's the superhero of athletes. Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play Major League Baseball. ## Life Story Jack Roosevelt Robinsons was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. The youngest of 5 children, Robinson grew up watching his older brothers excel at sports in Pasadena, California. Robinson also excelled in sports - football, basketball, track, tennis, and baseball. In college he was one of 10 students named to the Order of the Mast and Dagger. Robinson was drafted to the US Army in 1942. While he was delayed acceptance into Officer Candidate School, he became a 2nd lieutenant in 1943. His military career halted when Robinson boarded a bus and the driver order him to move to the back of the bus. Robinson refused which led to his court-martial. Later he was acquitted with the terms that he become the coach for army athletics. After his honorable discharge, Robinson played baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro American League. From there, the Brooklyn Dodgers recruited Robinson. Starting in the minor leagues, Robinson encountered racism, but he had a .349 average and the MVP award. In April 1947, Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and was named Rookie of the Year. ## Personal Characteristics Robinson was an outspoken nonviolent, talented athlete whose achievements famously altered civil rights for African Americans in baseball. ## Fame At UCLA, Robinson was the first athlete to earn varsity letters in all 4 sports - track, baseball, football, and basketball. He broke the racial divide in baseball, while being the first African American to play in the major leagues. He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom. Robinson was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. # Louis Armstrong What a wonderful world! Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential musicians in the history of jazz music. ## Life Story Louis Armstrong was a trumpeter, composer, vocalist, and actor born August 4, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His neighborhood was so poor it was nicknamed “The Battleground." Armstrong was a troublesome boy who dropped out of school at age 11. He joined a quartet of boys who sang in the street for money. When Armstrong was 12, he was arrested for playing with a gun and taken to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs. Here he started playing in the band. After his year at the boys' home Joe "King” Oliver mentored Armstrong. During the summers, Armstrong toured on the steamboats up and down the Mississippi River playing music. Armstrong was part of a jazz band in Chicago during the beginning of the Roaring 20s. He later learned the trumpet, his signature instrument, after he joined Fletcher Henderson's band in New York. By this time in the 1930s, Armstrong had a reputation as the gravelly voiced soloist with big bands. Armstrong returned to Chicago and created his own band called the All Stars. During a recording session, Armstrong dropped his lyrics on the floor and began singing in nonsense syllables. This was the beginning of "scatting” (making up words). ## Personal Characteristics Music was Armstrong's escape from a difficult childhood with no father. He was always working odd jobs and he often got in trouble. Armstrong's nicknames include Satchmo (for satchelmouth - referring to the size of his mouth), Pops, Dippermouth. ## Fame Armstrong has 11 recordings in the Grammy Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. He even had a postage stamp in his honor in 1995. # Michelle Obama Becoming the First Lady ... Michelle Obama is known as the First Lady, having been the wife to President Barack Obama from 2009-2017. She was the first African American female wife to the President of the United States. ## Life Story Michelle Obama (Michelle LaVaughn Robinson) was born on January 17, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois. Obama was reading by age 4, skipped 2nd grade, and sent to the Whitney M. Young Magnet High School because she was academically gifted. Obama graduated from both Princeton University and Harvard Law School. She worked at Sidley Austin LLP specializing in intellectual property law. This is where she met President Barack Obama. She then served as an assistant to the Chicago Mayor and later was assistant commissioner for the Chicago Department of Planning and Development. Another job of hers was associate dean of student services at the University of Chicago. In 2002, Obama worked as executive director for community affairs at the University of Chicago hospitals. She advanced to Vice President for Community and External Affairs. Obama cut her job tasks by 80 percent so she could devote time to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. As First Lady she visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens. Her primary objectives were Let's Move, Reach Higher, Let Girls Learn, and Join Forces. ## Personal Characteristics Obama has a strong personality that is effective in bringing about change. She insisted that Barack Obama quit smoking if he was going to run for President. Some have seen her as too harsh or sarcastic, but she was nicknamed "the closer” because she was very persuasive at times. ## Fame Obama was named Barbara Walters' Most Fascinating Person of the Year in 2009. She is known for supporting military families and trying to end childhood obesity # Misty Copeland Overcoming challenges and becoming an artist. Misty Copeland is the first African American woman promoted to principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre. ## Life Story Misty Danielle Copeland was born on September 10, 1982 in Kansas City, Missouri. Copeland's mother remarried several times, and there were frequent family moves in her childhood. In middle school she followed in her sisters footsteps joining the drill team. Her coach noticed her talent and recommended a ballet class at the local Boys & Girls Club with Cynthia Bradley. Copeland had raw natural talent so she began taking classes with Bradley at the San Pedro Ballet School. She ultimately moved in with Bradley's family to be closer to the studio In 1998 at age 15, after winning first place at the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards, she got a full scholarship into the summer intensive program at the San Francisco Ballet. While Copeland was quickly gaining recognition and skills, there was a custody battle between her mother and Bradley. Copeland was going to file emancipation papers to legally free herself from her mother, but she withdrew the request. In 2001 Copeland joined the American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet. Six years later she was promoted to soloist and in eventually earned the title of principal dancer ## Personal Characteristics Misty has done what many have said can't be done because she applies herself and works hard. She didn't let stereotypes like body size and age interfere with her goals (she didn't start ballet until age 13). ## Fame Copeland is a ballet prodigy. She was National Youth of the Year Ambassador in 2013, and named to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition in 2014. She was one of Barbara Walters' Most Fascinating People of 2015. # Muhammad Ali He floated like a butterfly, but stung like a bee. Muhammad Ali was a boxer, activist, and philanthropist who was nicknamed “The Greatest.” ## Life Story Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.) was born on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Someone stole Ali's bike when he was 12 so Ali told the police officer that he was going to beat the thief up. Joe Martin, the police officer, was a boxing coach and taught Ali how to defend himself. That was the beginning. Ali became a professional boxer after his 1960 gold medal in the Olympics. He became a Muslim and changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali. He later used his religious beliefs as a reason to not be drafted in the Vietnam War. The boxing association refused to let him fight for 3 years because of this choice. Ali earned his heavyweight champion title in 1964 when he defeated Sonny Liston by knockout because Liston wouldn't return for the 7th round. Other famous fights included the "Fight of the Century” on March 8, 1971 against Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden. It lasted all 12 rounds and was Ali's first loss (by decision). Two more memorable fights resulting in wins for Ali were The Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman and Thrilla in Manilla against Joe Frazier again. Ali's final boxing record had 56 wins, 37 knockouts, and 19 decisions. ## Personal Characteristics Ali's boxing style used quick moves, dodging the hits, quicker punches, trash talk, and dropped arms to tempt his opponents. Outside of the boxing ring, he was a musician with 2 Grammy nominations, an actor, and author. He battled Parkinson's syndrome. ## Fame Ali was the first heavyweight fighter to win the crown 3 times. He was "Sportsman of the Century” and “Sports Personality of the Century.” He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. # Shirley Chisholm “The Black man must step forward, but that doesn't mean the Black woman must step back.” Chisholm. Shirley Chisholm was a politician, author, and educator. ## Life Story Shirley Chisholm was born on November 30, 1924 in New York, New York. Chisholm grew up with her grandparents in Barbados from age 5 to age 10, earning a good education. She graduated from Brooklyn College in 1946, winning prizes in debating. While earning her master's degree in elementary education, Chisholm worked in a daycare. She ended up being the director of the daycare which sparked her interest in politics. Chisholm began her political career in the New York State Assembly. Here she argued against a mandatory literacy test in English (just because someone speaks another language, doesn't mean they are illiterate). She helped get unemployment benefits for domestic workers. She also sponsored the SEEK (Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge) program for disadvantaged students wanting to go to college. Chisholm was elected into the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968 and served for 7 terms. Upon retiring from Congress, Chisholm returned to education and taught politics and sociology at Mt. Holyoke College from 1983 to 1987. ## Personal Characteristics Chisholm wasn't always popular because she spoke her mind. She worked to improve education, health care, and social services for the under-privileged. ## Fame Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to Congress. She helped create the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Women's Caucus. She was the first African American to make a bid to run for President. She has had Black Heritage stamp in her honor and Chisholm was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.