A Brief History On September 29, 1975, the first Black owned television station in the United States opened for business as WGPR of Detroit, Michigan. As we all know, various regions of the United States and sub-cultures speak their own brand of what we call the English Language, and by 1973 Robert Williams and Ernie Smith came up with the term “Ebonics” (Ebony + Phonics) to describe the form of English spoken by descendants of Black African slaves in the New World. By 1996 the use of Ebonics by the Oakland, California school board set off a tidal wave of…
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A Brief History Just as they have in the past, with a nod to Delphine LaLaurie of season 3 and the freaks featured in season 4, as well as season 5’s tribute to the Cecil Hotel, American Horror Story leans heavily on basing their current season (season 6) on the mystery of the Roanoke Colony and throwing in a real life pair of serial killers, Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Wood, who are depicted in the second episode of the season in their nurse outfits murdering an old woman and painting a letter “M” on the wall, just as the real…
A Brief History On September 27, 1956, US Air Force test pilot, Capt. Milburn Apt, flew into history when he piloted his Bell X-2 rocket powered experimental airplane to a speed of 2094 mph, the first man to fly at or over Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound). Digging Deeper Capt. Apt would not live to enjoy his record flight of Mach 3.2, as moments later the rocket plane tumbled out of control, causing Apt to eject. Ejection took place with the pilot inside his encapsulated cockpit, and it was necessary for the pilot to leave the capsule…
A Brief History On Monday, September 26, 2016, former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will square off against Billionaire businessman Donald Trump in the first Presidential debate of the 2016 election between the two major parties’ nominees. Digging Deeper Could one of these people on the podium have been you? NO! At least not unless you are descended from serious money or have a pedigree that includes English royalty, and for the most part, have attended an Ivy League school or military service academy. The fact is, and you may be surprised, that every single one…
A Brief History On September 25, 1996, the last of the Magdalene asylums for prostitutes closed. Named after Mary Magdalene, a former prostitute who had repented her sins upon meeting Jesus, these asylums housed ” fallen” and wayward women. Digging Deeper After the first Magdalene asylum founded in Whitechapel, England in 1758, the concept quickly spread across Europe and to the United States, with the first American Magdalene asylum there being the Magdalen (sic.) Society of Philadelphia founded in 1800. For over for 200 years, these asylums, or laundries as they were also called because the women were often kept busy…