The Clark Doll Experiment

The Clark Doll Experiment (1939) was an experiment done by Dr Kenneth Clark and his wife Mamie where they asked black children to choose between a black doll and a white doll. The dolls were the same except for their skin colour but most thought the white doll was nicer. In 1954 in Brown v […]

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Black Barbie dolls

Black Barbie dolls (1967- ) are dolls of apparent African descent made by Mattel as part of its Barbie line. Some notable Black Barbies: 1967: Colored Francie. Yes, that was her name. She did not sell well. By 1967 “coloured” was becoming outdated, she was a brown-skinned Caucasian, and, probably worst of all in the […]

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How young is too young to teach kids about race?

“How young is too young to teach kids about race?” (November 4th 2021) is a news article put out by the US television network CBS. It tweeted it with the picture above along with this blurb: “A culture war has erupted over critical race theory and how schools should grapple with the history of race […]

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Meet Addy

“Meet Addy” (1993) by Connie Porter is a book about Addy Walker, a fictional nine-year-old girl living in the US in 1864. It is the first of a series of books about her pre-teen experiences under slavery and freedom, during the American Civil War and after. American Girl: Addy is an American Girl, with a […]

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Black Americans: a brief history

Some posts I have done or want to do: Black American history in 200 words or less 1600 1600s: Racism in the 1600s, plantation 1610s: Juan Rodriguez, 1619, Angela of Jamestown, Mbundu, tobacco, American slavery 1620s: Simon Congo 1630s: 1640s: 1650s: slave auction, Free Blacks 1660s: How Africans became Black, Royal African Company, slave trade, […]

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Black History posts

For the rest of 2019 every month will Black History Month, one century a month. I am getting a late start, but it will go roughly like this: 1200s: May 1300s: June 1400s: July 1500s: August 1600s: September 1700s: October 1800s: November 1900s: December I say “roughly” because by the end of August I want to […]

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Brown v Board

Oliver Brown, et al. v Board of Education of Topeka, et al. (1954) was the Supreme Court case in the US that overturned Plessy v Ferguson (1896), the bedrock of Jim Crow (US apartheid). It paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement to bring an end to openly racist laws in the 1960s. Linda Brown, […]

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cracker

Cracker (1766- ), or cracka, is an American term for a white person. Uses: Standard American English – an offensive term for a poor white person. Black American English – mildly derogatory term for any white person. It can be used as mere description – as when Trayvon Martin called George Zimmerman a “creepy-ass cracker”. […]

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being universal

“Being universal” is the idea that there is a way of being human that is beyond culture and ethnicity, that one can transcend race. Like wanting to be known as a writer, not as a “black writer”. There is no such thing as being universal. You cannot be human without practising a particular culture. To […]

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Why are black and beautiful still contradictions?

The following is based mainly on chapter four of “Brainwashed” (2010) by Tom Burrell: Despite the idea of “black is beautiful” back in the 1960s and 1970s, blacks in America still have a whitened idea of beauty: light skin, long, flowing hair, thin lips, thin nose, etc. When Kiri Davis carried out the famous Clark […]

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Index

Every single post on this blog written on or before May 20th 2013 is listed below in alphabetical order. The 30 newest posts are listed from newest to oldest on the right side of the page under “New Stuff”. Enjoy, index lovers! 000s 1 Corinthians 2: as blog post 1 Corinthians 2: my rewrite 100th […]

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Robert Kennedy after the Baldwin-Kennedy meeting

On May 24th 1963 Robert Kennedy met with James Baldwin to discuss race in the US. I already did a post on the meeting itself. This one is mainly about what Kennedy and those who knew him said about it afterwards. Baldwin brought at least 15 people. Among them were Lorraine Hansberry, Lena Horne, Harry […]

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Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), a Jamaican printer, founded and led UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association), the largest Black mass movement of the 1900s in the US. It reached its height in the early 1920s. The FBI broke its back, but Garveyism would go on to shape the thinking of Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam, Rastafarians, […]

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The top posts of 2013

Above are the most requested images for 2013. Posts that got the most hits in 2013: Transatlantic accent (2009) The ten most gorgeous East Asian men in the world (2010) The most gorgeous black man in the world (2011) Sandra Laing: a black girl born to white parents (2009) big bottom girls (2008) The most beautiful black women according to white people (2008) The most beautiful black women (2007) […]

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The Baldwin-Kennedy meeting

The Baldwin-Kennedy meeting (May 24th 1963) was when Robert Kennedy met James Baldwin to talk at length about race in America. Dramatis Personae: Robert Kennedy – president’s brother, Attorney General. He brought: Burke Marshall – the government’s top civil rights person. Also: Ed Guthman, press aide. James Baldwin – writer. He brought: Lorraine Hansberry – playwright; […]

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