Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 new paid subscribers for each of the three days per week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

I am a retired educator of all grades from Pre-K through university level, and I primarily taught English, government, and history. However, not only did I not learn about the Black Seminoles in school, but I also did not teach them, because I did not know about them.

I hope this post will help you learn about this important topic in American history.

John Horse stands as one of the most remarkable yet often overlooked figures in American military history—a man who led warriors across continents, commanded respect from diverse peoples, and fought tirelessly for freedom against overwhelming odds.

John Horse, also known as Juan Caballo, Juan Cavallo, John Cowaya, and Gopher John, was a man of mixed African and Seminole ancestry who fought alongside the Seminoles in the Second Seminole War in Florida. His surname “Horse” is believed to have been a translation of Cavallo (or Caballo, the Spanish word for horse).

Born around 1812 in Florida to a Black Seminole family, John Horse would become a legendary military strategist whose influence extended far beyond the borders of the United States. He rose to prominence in the third year of a seven-year war when the first generation of Black Seminole leaders was largely decimated, and the charismatic Seminole war leader Osceola was taken prisoner by the American military commander.

In 1818, the American General Andrew Jackson invaded the area, scattering the tribal peoples and their Black allies in the region. Jackson also destroyed settlements and seized Blacks from among the Seminole for removal to the north and returned to plantation slavery.

During the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), John Horse emerged as a principal leader of the Black Seminoles, a distinct community of African Americans who had found refuge among the Seminole Nation. Unlike many enslaved African Americans of his era, Horse lived as a free man within Seminole society, where Black Seminoles held a unique status—neither fully enslaved nor fully free, but occupying a space that allowed greater autonomy than available elsewhere in the American South.

Horse learned to read and write and acquired linguistic skills in English, Spanish, and the Hitchiti tongue spoken by the Oconee and many other Seminole bands. He was one of Osceola’s main translators when dealing with the Americans.

Horse’s military genius became evident in his strategic planning and tactical innovations. He worked alongside Osceola, the renowned Seminole resistance leader, coordinating military operations against superior U.S. forces.

What set Horse apart was his ability to organize and inspire fighters across racial and ethnic lines. He successfully unified Black Seminoles and Native Seminoles under a common cause, demonstrating leadership qualities that transcended the racial divisions so prevalent in nineteenth-century America. His understanding of guerrilla warfare and his deep knowledge of Florida’s terrain proved invaluable in frustrating American military campaigns.

When the U.S. government began enforcing Indian Removal policies designed to force southeastern tribes westward along the tragic Trail of Tears, John Horse recognized the existential threat to his people.

Despite their remarkable resistance, the Seminoles faced an enemy with seemingly unlimited resources. After years of brutal conflict and broken treaties, John Horse made the difficult decision to lead his people west.

In 1838-1839, he guided approximately 1,500 Black Seminoles on a forced march to Oklahoma, enduring disease, starvation, and violence along the way. Many perished during this journey, which ranks among the most harrowing chapters of American Indian removal history.

However, Horse’s story did not end in Oklahoma. Recognizing that even Indian Territory offered limited safety for his people, he embarked on an even more ambitious undertaking. In 1849-1850, he led a group of Black Seminoles south across Texas toward Mexico, seeking sanctuary in a foreign land.

This remarkable migration involved dangerous river crossings and navigation through hostile territory, yet Horse successfully brought his followers to Mexico, where they established settlements and found the freedom that the United States had denied them.

In Mexico, John Horse continued his military service, eventually joining the Mexican army and rising to the rank of Colonel. He established a settlement called Nacimiento de los Negros and became a trusted military advisor, continuing to lead warriors in defense of Mexican territories against Apache and Comanche raids. His reputation as a brilliant military strategist earned him respect throughout the region.

John Horse’s legacy exemplifies the courage and ingenuity of Black Seminoles, who created and defended their own autonomous space within American history despite systemic oppression.

Today In Black History

• In 1924, South Africa passed the Industrial Conciliation Act No. 11 to provide for job reservation for whites only, exclude Blacks from membership in registered trade unions, and prohibit the registration of Black trade unions.

• In 1953, Jomo Kenyatta, the founding father of the African nation of Kenya, was convicted of involvement with the Mau Mau rebellion and sentenced to 7 years in jail.

• In 1960, the U.S. Senate passed a Civil Rights bill that included measures against discriminatory voting practices.

• In 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s major league record.

• In 1975, baseball outfielder Frank Robinson was named manager of the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first Black manager in Major League Baseball history.

  ---

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 new paid subscribers for each of the three days per week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

AI-generated graphic illustrating all-white sundown towns with no Black residents after dark.

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 new paid subscribers for each of the three days per week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

I am a child of the 1950s and 1960s, so I certainly remember overt racism, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights movement.

As a matter of fact, the only reason I was born and raised in Detroit is that my late father, an infectious diseases specialist like Dr. Fauci, could not get hired in St. Louis, where my parents met and planned to live after they got married.

One of my father’s childhood friends from Arkansas, where they were born and raised, was already living in Detroit and told my father that Detroit was hiring “colored people.” So my Dad applied to the Detroit Health Department, was hired, and worked there at Herman Kiefer Hospital his whole medical career.

Many of the members of both my parents’ families moved North during the “Great Migration,” but many others stayed in the South. Traveling from South to North or North to South for vacations or visiting family was rife with covert and overt dangers for “colored people” in those days. We weren’t allowed to stay in most hotels or patronize restaurants.

We cooked food ahead of time and ate at isolated picnic tables along the way. I remember my mother filling a Thermos with hot coffee for my father to drink while he was driving.

In the late 1950s, my father learned about a Black man who had purchased a group of eight cabins on a lake outside Mackinaw City in northern the lower peninsula of Michigan. For about seven or eight years, members of our family would travel from all over the country, including Los Angeles, to stay in the cabins we rented for one or two weeks. My uncle, who was a doctor in Tyler, Texas, packed his family into their Cadillac (did I mention that he was a doctor?) and drove straight through to “Mackinaw,” as we fondly called it.

At a time when Black people weren’t allowed in swimming pools or at beaches in the United States, our family swam, fished, played cards and other board games, and listened to the radio (there were no TVs at the cabins). We didn’t have to worry about racism or violence during those weeks, although we certainly knew what was going on.

Our family members had to travel to Mackinaw to get away from it all, the way they did, because across America, in addition to avoiding hotels and restaurants, there was a troubling chapter of history that many people know little about: sundown towns. These were communities that basically said “no Black people allowed”—some spelled it out in the law, others enforced it through intimidation and violence. The name comes from an unspoken but deadly serious rule: African Americans had to leave town before the sun went down, or face serious consequences. It’s a key part of understanding why our neighborhoods look so divided today.

These towns really took off in the late 1800s and early 1900s, right when millions of Black Americans were heading north looking for better lives and escape from Jim Crow laws down South. White communities saw this as a threat and decided to stop it. Some towns passed laws banning Black residents outright. Others used intimidation and violence instead. That warning—”don’t let the sun set on you in this town”—wasn’t just words; it was a deadly threat that everybody understood.

You’d find sundown towns all over the Midwest—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan (the Detroit suburb of Livonia in Wayne County is a famous example), and many other places nationwide. Historian James Loewen documented hundreds of them in his book Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. His research showed these weren’t random acts; they were systematic features built into American geography through real estate rules, property deed restrictions, and police enforcement.

These towns used many different tricks to keep themselves all-white. Some put it in writing—property deeds had clauses saying you couldn’t sell to Black families. Towns would put sundown ordinances on the books, even if they rarely needed to enforce them officially; the threat alone did the job. The real enforcement came from the threat of violence and police looking the other way when mobs attacked. Black families trying to move in faced burned homes, violence, and intimidation.

Here’s something that might surprise you: sundown towns were mostly a Northern and Midwest problem, not just a Southern one. Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana had some of the most deliberately segregated towns in America. Nobody talks about it as much because it wasn’t written into law the way Jim Crow was in the South—but it was just as real and just as damaging. These towns blocked Black families from buying homes in neighborhoods where property values were going up, cutting them off from one of the biggest ways ordinary people build wealth.

The old sundown laws are technically off the books now, and you can’t enforce those property deed restrictions anymore. But here’s the thing—the legacy is still very much alive. A lot of these old sundown towns are still almost completely white today. Property values are higher, schools are better funded, and neighboring Black communities stayed poor. Real estate agents still steer people of color away from certain neighborhoods. Banks still discriminate in mortgages. The barriers are just less obvious now, but they’re still working.

Modern exclusion works differently than it did a hundred years ago—you don’t see the violence anymore. Instead, it’s more subtle: really expensive houses, strict zoning laws, barely any affordable housing. These mechanisms still keep people of color out. Some communities look exactly like they did during the sundown town era, which raises the question: Did anything actually change, or did discrimination just get quieter?

Sundown towns are a hidden but crucial part of American racism. They show us that segregation wasn’t accidental or inevitable—it was deliberately built and deliberately maintained through laws, violence, and social pressure. Even though the era of explicit sundown towns is over, the damage lives on in neighborhoods, property values, school quality, and wealth gaps that persist today. Understanding this history is key to fixing the residential segregation we see now and all its ripple effects on Black families’ wealth, health, education, and opportunities.

Today In Black History

• In 1909, Black arctic explorer Matthew A. Henson, an ancestor of award-winning actress Taraji P. Henson, became the first non-Inuit person (ahead of Robert Peary) to reach the North Pole.

• In 1931, the trial began for the nine “Scottsboro Boys” who were falsely accused of raping two white women.

• In 1941, Italian forces holding the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, surrendered to the Ethiopian army.

• In 1968, Oakland, CA, police killed Black Panther Bobby Hutton, but another Black Panther member, Eldridge Cleaver, was charged with attempted murder for his participation in the shootout.

• In 1987, LA Dodgers General Manager Al Campanis appeared on ABC News’ “Nightline” and said he believed Blacks were “not equipped” for baseball management.

  ---

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 new paid subscribers for each of the three days per week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 new paid subscribers for each of the three days per week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

The Origins and Evolution of “Uncle Ben’s” and “Aunt Jemima”

The brands formerly known as “Uncle Ben’s” and “Aunt Jemima” are among the most recognizable food labels in American history. Yet their origins are deeply intertwined with 19th-century racial stereotypes rooted in slavery and minstrel culture. Over more than a century, both brands evolved—first attempting to soften their imagery, and eventually abandoning their original identities altogether.

19th-Century Origins: Language, Stereotypes, and Minstrelsy

The terms “Aunt” and “Uncle,” when applied to Black Americans in the 19th and early 20th centuries, were not neutral honorifics. They emerged from a racist social system in which white Americans avoided using respectful titles like “Mr.” or “Mrs.” for Black adults. Instead, Black men and women were often addressed as “uncle,” “auntie,” or by their first names—terms that implied familiarity while reinforcing social inferiority.

These naming conventions overlapped with popular entertainment of the time, particularly minstrel shows. These performances featured white actors in blackface portraying caricatured Black characters. One of the most enduring stereotypes was the “mammy” figure: a loyal, cheerful Black woman devoted to serving white families. The name “Aunt Jemima” itself came from a minstrel song from the 1870s, embedding the brand in this tradition from its inception.

Similarly, the “Uncle” figure reflected a paternal, non-threatening Black male archetype—often older, subservient, and detached from authority or independence. These caricatures were widely used in advertising during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to evoke nostalgia for the antebellum South.

The Creation of “Aunt Jemima”

The Aunt Jemima brand began in 1888–1889 as one of the first ready-made pancake mixes. From the start, it relied on the mammy stereotype as its central marketing image.

Nancy Green, a formerly enslaved woman, was hired to portray Aunt Jemima at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Her performance helped popularize the brand nationwide.

The character was depicted as a smiling, headscarf-wearing cook—an image designed to evoke the romanticized idea of enslaved Black women happily serving white households. Over time, this portrayal became one of the most enduring examples of racial stereotyping in American advertising.

Throughout the 20th century, the company made periodic updates to the character—removing the headscarf, modernizing her appearance, and softening overtly stereotypical features. However, critics argued that these changes did little to address the brand’s underlying origins.

The Creation of “Uncle Ben’s”

The Uncle Ben’s brand emerged in the mid-20th century, introduced by Mars, Inc. Its name and imagery followed a similar pattern of racialized representation. The term “Uncle” echoed the same historical practice of addressing Black men without formal respect, while the brand’s logo featured an elderly Black man dressed in formal attire.

The character was reportedly inspired in part by a real Chicago maître d’ named Frank Brown, though the branding itself was fictionalized and detached from any authentic biography.

Like Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben’s relied on a reassuring, service-oriented Black persona—one that suggested warmth and trustworthiness while remaining rooted in a history of racial hierarchy. Critics have described this imagery as a “happy servant” trope, reinforcing outdated and harmful stereotypes.

Gradual Evolution and Mounting Criticism

By the late 20th century, both brands faced increasing scrutiny. Civil rights movements and academic scholarship highlighted how such imagery perpetuated distorted narratives of Black life and history.

Companies responded incrementally. Aunt Jemima’s appearance was modernized, and Uncle Ben’s image was refined to appear more dignified—sometimes even portrayed in corporate settings. Yet these changes were widely seen as cosmetic rather than substantive. The core issue—the names and their historical connotations—remained unaddressed.

The 2020 Turning Point

The turning point came in 2020, amid widespread protests following the killing of George Floyd and a broader reckoning with systemic racism in the United States. Corporations faced renewed pressure to examine their branding practices.

Quaker Oats acknowledged that Aunt Jemima was “based on a racial stereotype” and announced that the brand would be retired.

Mars, the parent company of Uncle Ben’s, is similarly committed to “evolving” its brand identity.

These decisions marked a significant departure from earlier efforts. Instead of updating imagery, companies chose to remove the names and characters entirely.

Rebranding and Erasure of Origins

The Aunt Jemima brand was officially renamed Pearl Milling Company in 2021, referencing the original mill that produced the pancake mix in the 19th century.

Uncle Ben’s was rebranded as Ben’s Original, dropping both the “Uncle” honorific and the portrait of the Black man from its packaging.

These changes did more than alter logos—they effectively severed the brands from their historical identities. The new branding emphasizes neutrality, inclusivity, and product quality rather than character-driven storytelling.

The removal of these names and images raises complex questions. On one hand, the rebrands represent a clear acknowledgment that the original imagery was rooted in racism. On the other hand, critics argue that erasing these symbols risks obscuring the historical realities they reflect.

Yet even as the names and images disappear, the history behind them remains essential. Understanding that history is key not only to evaluating these brands, but also to recognizing how cultural narratives are constructed—and, eventually, transformed.

Today In Black History

• In 1866, the U.S. Congress rejected a presidential veto that would have given all people equal rights in the United States.

• In 1868, Hampton University, previously known as Hampton Institute, was founded by Samuel Chapman Armstrong as a school for Black students in Hampton, Virginia. The undergraduate school is still called Hampton Institute.

• In 1924, Northern Rhodesia became a protectorate of the UK and was appointed as governor.

• In 1929, the Atlanta University Affiliation was established between Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Atlanta University.

• In 1949, “Happy Pappy,” the first Black variety talent show series with an all-Black cast, aired on WENR-TV with Ray Grant as the host.

• In 1966, the first World Festival of Negro Arts began in Dakar, Senegal.

• In 1989, six-time all-star first baseman Bill White was elected as the first Black president of the National Baseball League.

• In 1991, the U.S.Supreme Court ruled that jurors cannot be barred from serving due to race.

  ---

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 new paid subscribers for each of the three days per week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 new paid subscribers for each of the three days per week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

Ethiopian Empress Taytu Betul stands as one of Africa’s most influential and formidable women, whose strategic intellect and military prowess shaped the destiny of her nation during a critical period of colonial expansion. Born in 1840, Taytu ultimately became empress from 1889 to 1913, and one of the key architects of Ethiopia’s resistance against European imperialism.

As the third wife of Emperor Menelik II, who was her fourth husband, Taytu wielded considerable influence over state affairs at a time when few women held any political power. She was also a military strategist, a political advisor, and a fierce patriot who actively participated in governance decisions. During the Italo-Ethiopian War (1895-1896), Taytu, meaning “sun” in Amharic, proved instrumental in mobilizing support for the Ethiopian cause.

Taytu’s influence also strengthened the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s role in national life and promoted education. She was known for her intelligence, her command of multiple languages, and her diplomatic acumen. Just as her husband, Emperor Menelik II, was about to sign an “understanding” to set up Ethiopia as a “protectorate” of Italy, Taytu grabbed the documents, written in Italian and Amharic, and tore them up because she saw them for what they really were: an attempt by Italy to colonize Ethiopia.

Taytu’s most celebrated achievement was her pivotal role at the Battle of Adwa on March 1, 1896. This decisive victory against the Italian army not only secured Ethiopian independence but also became a symbol of African resistance against colonialism. Taytu personally led troops into battle, and her actions during that time demonstrated that gender was no barrier to leadership during moments requiring the nation’s defense.

The Ethiopian victory at Adwa stands out globally as one of the few instances where an African nation successfully repelled a European colonial power, earning Taytu a place among history’s greatest military leaders. Ethiopia is the only African nation that was never colonized by Europe.

Taytu Betul also founded Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s current capital city.

Taytu’s legacy symbolized the potential for women’s leadership and agency during an era when such visibility was extraordinary. She challenged prevailing assumptions about women’s capabilities and demonstrated that history’s crucial turning points can pivot on the decisions and actions of women. Her example inspired subsequent generations of African women to claim space in public and political life.

Taytu Betul’s life reminds us that history’s great movements are often shaped by the contributions of women whose names deserve to be remembered alongside the most celebrated figures of their era. Today, Taytu Betul is honored as a national hero in Ethiopia, a symbol of resistance, courage, and the indomitable spirit that preserved African independence.

Today In Black History

• In 1870, the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving Black men the right to vote.

• In 1912, the French protectorate in Morocco was established.

• In 1941, the National Urban League presented a one-hour program over a national radio network, urging equal protection for Blacks in the national defense program.

• In 1960, 18 Southern University students were suspended for their involvement in lunch counter sit-ins and anti-segregation rallies.

• In 1963, Captain Edward J. Dwight, Jr. became the first Black candidate for astronaut training.

• In 2013, Kenya’s Supreme Court declared Uhuru Kenyatta the rightful winner of the Kenyan presidential election.

  ---

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 new paid subscribers for each of the three days per week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Photo Credit: PBS

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 new paid subscribers for each of the three days per week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

I admit that I am not much of a movie-goer. In 2025, I saw only two movies at the theater: “Avatar Fire and Ash” and “Sinners.” The cinematography for both films was outstanding, but “Sinners” stood above and beyond and quite rightfully won the top Oscar for its cinematographer, Autumn Arkapaw.

Autumn Cheyenne Durald Arkapaw stands as one of the most accomplished cinematographers in contemporary cinema, breaking barriers and setting new standards in a field that has historically been dominated by men. Her innovative visual storytelling and technical mastery have earned her recognition on the highest stages of the film industry, including Academy Award wins that cement her legacy as a groundbreaking artist and visionary.

She was born on December 14, 1979, into a family that valued creativity and artistic expression. She is of Filipino descent on her mother’s side (with roots in Pampanga) and Black Creole descent on her father’s side. She has described her maternal grandfather, Guillermo Pagan Bautista of Pampanga, who was a resistance fighter during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and a survivor of the Bataan Death March, “the most important man in my life” and “one of the biggest influences on my childhood and my family”.

Arkapaw developed an early fascination with how light, shadow, and composition could convey emotion and meaning. She pursued formal training in cinematography, where she distinguished herself through a distinctive visual language and an ability to interpret directors’ visions while adding her own artistic perspective. Her education and early experiences shaped her philosophy that cinematography is far more than technical expertise—it is a storytelling medium in its own right.

Throughout her career, Arkapaw has collaborated with some of the most respected filmmakers in the world, bringing her signature style to films that span multiple genres. Her work is characterized by a deep understanding of color theory, lighting design, and camera movement that serve the narrative.

Her breakthrough came with a series of critically acclaimed films that showcased her ability to create visually stunning worlds while maintaining intimate connections to her characters’ emotional journeys. These early successes established her reputation as a cinematographer who could enhance any director’s vision while bringing her own artistic sensibility to the screen. Critics praised her work for its beauty, intentionality, and profound understanding of visual language.

Photo Credit: IndieWire

Arkapaw shot the 2025 film Sinners on 65 mm film using a combination of IMAX 15-perf and Ultra Panavision 70 cameras, which made her the first female director of photography to shoot any movie on large-format IMAX film. For her work on Sinners, she became the first woman of color to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, becoming the first female cinematographer, first black person, and first Filipino to win in the category.

Autumn Durald Arkapaw also served as the Director of Photography for Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). She used her high-contrast, emotionally charged, large-format visual style to explore the themes of grief and strength following Chadwick Boseman’s death. She was recommended for the project by Rachel Morrison, the cinematographer for the first Black Panther film.

Arkapaw’s Oscar wins represent significant milestones not just for her personally, but for the broader film community. Her recognition by the Academy has inspired countless aspiring cinematographers, particularly those from underrepresented communities, to pursue their artistic visions and believe that their voices matter in cinema.

Beyond her work as a cinematographer, Arkapaw has become an advocate for diversity and inclusion within the film industry. She has spoken openly about her experiences and the barriers she has faced, while also mentoring emerging cinematographers and working to create more opportunities for underrepresented artists.

Her technical innovations have also influenced how contemporary cinematography is taught and practiced. Other cinematographers study her work to understand how she achieves her effects and how she makes artistic choices that serve each specific story.

From intimate dramas to large-scale productions, she adapts her visual language to serve the story while maintaining the distinctive qualities that make her work recognizable and respected.

Autumn Cheyenne Durald married Australian cinematographer Adam Arkapaw in 2015. They have one child.

Today, we celebrate the achievements of Autumn Arkapaw and acknowledge not only her extraordinary contributions to cinema but also her role in paving the way for future generations of cinematographers. Arkapaw exemplifies the power of artistic excellence combined with a commitment to community—a true testament to her status as one of cinema’s most important contemporary artists.

Today In Black History

• In 1807, the British Parliament abolished the slave trade throughout the British Empire.

• In 1895, Italian troops invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) but failed to colonize the African nation.

• In 1910, the Liberian Commission recommended financial aid and the establishment of a U.S. Navy coaling station in Liberia.

• In 1931, the Scottsboro Boys, nine young African-American males, were falsely arrested and charged with raping two white women and collectively served over 100 years in prison. This case also finally established African Americans’ right to serve on juries.

• In 1958, Black boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson became the first boxer to win a world championship five times.

• In 1965, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., along with thousands of other civil rights leaders and supporters, completed the Selma to Montgomery March, which took four days, despite attacks on many marchers.

• In 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the “poll tax” was unconstitutional.

• In 1975, Salem Poor, who, along with Peter Salem, fought in the American Revolutionary War with other Black soldiers at the Battle of Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill, was commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp.

• In 1991, future EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) winner Whoopi Goldberg won an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role in the movie “Ghost.” She was the second Black woman to win this award after Hattie McDaniel for “Gone with the Wind.”

  ---

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 new paid subscribers for each of the three days per week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

Philippa Schuyler was born on August 2, 1931, to an extraordinary and unconventional family. Her father, George Schuyler, was a renowned and influential Black journalist and social commentator. Her mother, Josephine Cogdell, was a blond, blue-eyed Texan heiress who broke racial barriers through her marriage to George. Josephine was an intellectual trailblazer who believed strongly in the potential of interracial unions and was convinced that cultural and genetic diversity could strengthen society.

Her mother subscribed to unconventional nutritional practices, believing that raw foods—including uncooked meat—preserved vital vitamins and nutrients. While these parenting methods were certainly unusual by mid-20th century standards, the Schuyler household was a place where ideas were debated, music filled the air, and excellence was expected.

Philippa’s upbringing followed the recommendation of the behavioral psychologist John B. Watson that a child should never be hugged or kissed, and her mother’s journals contain numerous references to beating, whipping, and slapping. The approach may have been unconventional, but the results were spectacular. When Philippa was not yet three, she had a 500-word reading and writing vocabulary, and when she was 5, her IQ was measured at 180. She displayed musical talent at a very early age and made her first public broadcast appearance as a pianist at the age of four. Shortly before her fifth birthday, she entered her first musical competition and, in addition to playing four set pieces, performed six of her own compositions, winning a gold seal certificate.

By her teenage years, she had earned recognition from some of the most respected figures in American music. Legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein and renowned composer Virgil Thomson both recognized her exceptional abilities. She performed with five leading American orchestras while still in her teens and made her debut with the New York Philharmonic at 16 years old.

Her compositions and performances were favorably compared to those of American masters such as Aaron Copland and Marc Blitzstein. As a pianist, she demonstrated technical mastery and emotional depth that captivated audiences. Her future in music seemed limitless, and the classical music establishment appeared ready to embrace her as a major talent.

Yet despite her remarkable achievements, Philippa’s life was marked by profound contradictions and challenges. As the daughter of a Black man and a white woman at a time when interracial marriage was illegal in many American states, she navigated a deeply segregated society. She was often treated as an outsider in different circles—never fully accepted by either Black or white audiences due to her mixed heritage. This position on the margins of society, while providing a unique perspective, also subjected her to discrimination and prejudice.

In the mid-1940s, it became clear that Philippa’s color was an insurmountable barrier to her career as a soloist in America, so she switched her focus to composing. Her Manhattan Nocturne was performed and broadcast in April 1945 at a New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concert, and this marked the emergence of Philippa Schuyler, the composer. Twelve months later, she made her debut in the dual role of pianist and composer with the New York Philharmonic at Lewisholm Stadium.

As a woman in a male-dominated classical music world, Philippa faced gender-based expectations and limitations. She was talented and ambitious, but the institutions of her era were not structured to support women composers and conductors. This profoundly shaped her worldview.

Despite a limited number of high-profile concerts for white audiences, Philippa’s appeal remained largely confined to the African American community. In a Look Magazine profile, she was described as “The Shirley Temple of American negroes” and her appearance with Arthur Fiedler in Boston was in the ghetto of the “Colored American night at the Pops”. Philippa later wrote that it was in the late 1940s that she became intellectually aware of America’s racial prejudice. Her insecurity was further fueled by the increasing realization that her mother viewed her simply as a genetic and behavioral experiment whose success was due to nutrition and training rather than natural talent.

Her European debut was made with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1953, and during her visit to England, she formed a lasting friendship with the Black Guyanese conductor Rudolph Dunbar, while the African American Everett Lee conducted several of the orchestras that accompanied her on her tours.

As Philippa matured, she became increasingly conscious of the systemic injustices she experienced and witnessed. Rather than remain in the classical music establishment that had lauded her talents, she made the bold decision to pursue journalism—a field that allowed her to address social and political issues directly.

Her Black father had made the extraordinary political journey from moderate left to the extreme right. In his later years, George Schuyler was described by a Harlem friend as politically to the right of Barry Goldwater, and he finally fell from grace after writing a front-page article for an ultra-conservative newspaper condemning the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Martin Luther King.

In 1959, Philippa started to experiment with her ambiguous ethnicity by describing herself as ‘white’ on visa applications. This allowed her to travel to South Africa, which was then in the grip of apartheid, and during her brief visit, she was championed by white residents.

Philippa discovered the vocation of political journalism when she found herself in the Congo in 1960, as the country lurched towards independence. As well as a journalist, she was a prolific author whose output included a semi-apocryphal autobiography, two novels, non-fiction books on the Congo and Vietnam, and a feminist tract. Her new career as a journalist was confirmed when she returned to the Congo to report with a United Press International accreditation.

She became an accomplished journalist and writer, using her voice to report on important issues and give a voice to the voiceless. Her transition from concert pianist to investigative journalist reflected her deepening commitment to social justice and her refusal to be confined by expectations or tradition. She brought the same intellectual rigor and passion to her journalism as to her music.

On May 9, 1967, she was traveling on a US military helicopter to Da Nang, en route to America for a recital at New York’s Town Hall. When it was ten miles from its destination, the Lycoming UH-1D crashed into Da Nang Bay, and Philippa and two others were killed. Two years later, her mother, Josephine Schuyler, hung herself.

Philippa Schuyler refused to be defined by a single role or achievement and instead pursued truth and justice wherever her conscience led her.

Much of the information in this article came from an article, “On an Overgrown Path.”

Today In Black History

• In 1956, the African nation of Sudan declared its independence from a joint British/Egyptian ruling coalition. South Sudan became an independent country on July 9, 2011.

• In 1971, Rev. Walter Fauntroy became the first nonvoting congressional delegate from the District of Columbia since Reconstruction.

• In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the ACA (Affordable Care Act) into law.

  ---

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Betty Reid Soskin was born on February 6, 1921, in my hometown of Detroit, Michigan. Her parents, natives of Louisiana, were of Creole and Cajun heritage, and her great-grandmother had been born into slavery in 1846.

After spending her early childhood in New Orleans, Betty’s family relocated to Oakland, California, in 1927, following the destruction of their home and business by a hurricane and flood.

During World War II, she made history as one of the first African American women to serve in the United States military, joining the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in the Navy. Her service challenged the systemic racism that defined the era. She worked as a file clerk for the all-Black union auxiliary of the Boilermakers Union A-36, filing change-of-address cards for workers who moved frequently.

In June 1945, Betty and her then-husband, Mel Reid, founded Reid’s Records in Berkeley, California, specializing in gospel music. The family endured significant racism and was subject to death threats after they built a home in a white suburb.

In the 1960s, Betty Reid became well-known as a songwriter for the civil rights movement. Betty divorced her husband, Mel Reid, in 1972 and subsequently married William Soskin, a psychology professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

After Mel Reid’s health began to decline, Betty took over the management of the music store and became a prominent community activist. The record store closed in 2019.

Betty later served as a field representative for California State Assemblywomen Dion Aroner and Loni Hancock, and became actively involved in the early planning stages and development of a park to memorialize the role of women on the home front during World War II. Those efforts came to fruition when Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park was established in 2000, to provide a site where future generations could remember the contributions women made to the war effort.

During the building planning sessions for the Historical Park, Betty said that, often, she “was the only person in the room who had any reason to remember that ... what gets remembered is a function of who’s in the room doing the remembering.”

In 2003, she left her state job and became a consultant at the park she helped create, then, at age 85, became a National Park Service ranger at the Rosie the Riveter Park in 2007.

Soskin’s duties included conducting park tours and serving as an interpreter, explaining the park’s purpose, history, various sites, and museum collections to park visitors.

For nearly two decades, she served as a docent and guide, sharing her firsthand knowledge of the home front experience during the Second World War. But more significantly, she became an ardent advocate for preserving and telling the stories of African American women who contributed to the war effort—stories that had been systematically erased from mainstream historical narratives.

Betty Reid Soskin released her memoir, Sign My Name to Freedom, in February 2018. A feature-length documentary about her involvement with music, also titled Sign My Name to Freedom, began filming in 2016.

Beyond her official duties, Betty Reid Soskin had been a powerful voice for truth-telling in American history. She consistently emphasized the importance of including diverse perspectives in historical accounts, particularly those of Black Americans whose contributions have been marginalized or completely omitted.

Here are just a few of the awards and commemorations Betty Reid Soskin received:

• She attended President Obama’s Inauguration in 2009 as a guest of Rep. George Miller.

• She received an Honorary Doctorate from California College of the Arts in 2011.

• She was recognized in the Congressional Record in 2016.

• She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts and Letters from Mills College in 2017.

In celebration of her 100th birthday on September 22, 2021, the West Contra Costa Unified School District renamed Juan Crespí Middle School to Betty Reid Soskin Middle School.

A stage musical based on her life, Sign My Name to Freedom by Michael Gene Sullivan, with songs by Soskin, premiered by the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company in March 2024.

She had a stroke while working at the park in September 2019; yet she returned to work in a limited, informal capacity in January 2020. She retired from the National Park Service on March 31, 2022, as the oldest serving park ranger.

Soskin died at her home on December 21, 2025, at the age of 104.

Today In Black History

• In 1865, the Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourned for the last time.

• In 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Frederick Douglass as marshal of the District of Columbia.

• In 1895, 200 African Americans left Savannah, Georgia, for Liberia.

• In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9102, which created the War Relocation Authority that was charged with overseeing the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

• In 1972, the USS Jesse L. Brown, the first U.S. naval ship to be named after an African American naval officer, was launched.

• In 2002, Black Grammy Award-winning songwriter and singer Isaac Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

  ---

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

Barbara Johns: The Teenage Activist Who Challenged Segregation in School Facilities

On April 23, 1951, a sixteen-year-old girl named Barbara Johns organized a student strike at Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia, over unequal conditions in her Black school.

Barbara Ceppage Johns was born on March 6, 1935, in New York, but her family moved to Farmville, Virginia, when she was young. Black and white students attended separate schools with vastly unequal resources, including Moton High School, where Barbara was a junior.

The school was severely overcrowded and decrepit. Built to hold 180 students, it housed over 450. The building lacked proper heating in winter and cooling in summer. There were no cafeteria facilities, no gymnasium, and no adequate laboratory space for science classes. Meanwhile, the white high school in the same county had modern facilities and well-maintained buildings. The disparity was impossible to ignore for Barbara.

By the spring of 1951, frustration had reached a breaking point among Moton’s students. When the principal announced that construction on a new, still-inadequate building would take years to complete, Barbara and a group of student leaders decided to act. They devised a plan to stage a walkout—a student strike demanding equal educational facilities.

They convinced over 450 students to walk out of classes, accounting for nearly the entire student body. The strike lasted for two weeks, drawing attention from local and national media.

While the immediate strike didn’t secure better facilities at Moton, it caught the NAACP’s attention. Civil rights lawyers, including the legendary Thurgood Marshall, decided to use the Moton strike as a vehicle for challenging the constitutionality of segregation itself. What began as a student protest for better school conditions evolved into Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County—one of five cases consolidated under the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.

Barbara Johns’ name became synonymous with student activism and civil rights. Though she was not the plaintiff in the case (her uncle, Oliver Brown, lent his name to the consolidated case, though this case actually refers to the Davis case), her role as the instigator of the strike was crucial. The Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education declared that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional—a decision that overturned decades of segregationist doctrine.

After the strike, Barbara faced significant backlash in Farmville. Her family, concerned for her safety and future, sent her to live with relatives in Philadelphia so she could continue her education. She graduated from high school there and later attended Drexel Institute of Technology. Barbara went on to become a teacher, a choice that reflected her commitment to education and youth empowerment.

Barbara Johns’ courage in organizing the Moton High School strike demonstrated that age is no barrier to activism and moral leadership.

Barbara Johns received a degree in library science from Drexel University. She married William Powell, raised five children, and lived in Philadelphia. Her commitment to education moved her to become a librarian for the Philadelphia school system. She served in this profession until her death from bone cancer in 1991.

Today In Black History

• In 1792, Denmark became the first country to ban the transatlantic slave trade, although the ban did not take effect until 1803. An estimated 120,000 enslaved Africans were transported to the West Indies aboard ships flying the Danish flag.

• In 1827, “Freedom’s Journal,” the first Black newspaper, published its first issue.

• In 1836, the Constitution of the Republic of Texas was approved, legalizing slavery.

• In 1870, Hiram R. Revels gave the first speech by a Black person before the U.S. Senate, opposing the readmission of Georgia to the Union without adequate safeguards for Black citizens.

• In 1903, Rev. Ernest Lyon was appointed as the Minister to Liberia.

• In 1922, Egypt gained its independence from Great Britain.

• In 1940, Frederick McKinley Jones was awarded a patent for his mobile refrigeration system for long-haul trucks. He co-founded the Thermo King Corporation and had several other inventions.

• In 1962, the University of the Virgin Islands was founded, becoming the first HBCU outside of the mainland United States.

  ---

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support! We appreciate your financial support!

Become a PAID subscriber!

In an era before “fake news” became a household term, Marion Stokes was already fighting to protect the truth. Armed with VCRs and an unwavering commitment to historical preservation, this Philadelphia-born activist spent 35 years recording television broadcasts 24 hours a day, creating what many consider the most comprehensive personal archive of television history ever assembled.

Marion Marguerite Stokes was born on November 25, 1929, in Germantown, Philadelphia. Raised as an orphan, she developed an early passion for information and access, eventually training as a librarian. In the 1940s through early 1960s, she worked at the Free Library of Philadelphia, where her progressive political beliefs and civil rights activism eventually led to her dismissal—a casualty of Cold War-era political persecution.

But Stokes refused to be silenced. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she became deeply involved in social justice movements. She helped organize buses to the 1963 March on Washington, served as a founding board member of the National Organization for Women, and championed the integration of Girard College. She also co-produced Input, a Sunday morning public-access television show focused on social justice and community dialogue. These experiences taught that those in power control the narrative, and without documentation, history could be rewritten or erased entirely.

In 1975, Stokes purchased a Betamax magnetic videotape recorder. But it wasn’t until November 4, 1979—the day the Iranian Hostage Crisis began—that she truly “hit record and never stopped,” as her son Michael Metelits would later describe it. The crisis coincided with the dawn of the 24-hour news cycle, and Stokes recognized something profound: television was becoming the primary medium through which Americans understood their world, yet networks routinely discarded their archives.

What began as a single VCR evolved into an obsessive, round-the-clock operation. By 1980, when CNN launched, Stokes was running multiple machines simultaneously. She invested in Apple stock early, using her wealth to buy countless VCRs, tapes, and, eventually, nine apartments to house her growing collection. Family dinners were cut short when the tapes needed to be changed. Vacations were planned around recording schedules. Her life became entirely organized around the rhythm of preservation.

Over 35 years, Marion Stokes recorded approximately 840,000 hours of television across 71,000 VHS and Betamax tapes. She captured revolutions and wars, political speeches and sitcoms, breaking news and commercials. Her archive included coverage of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, presidential addresses, and countless hours of news from nine different stations.

Stokes understood media theory decades before it became a mainstream discussion. She recognized how narratives were constructed, how information was suppressed or emphasized, and how television could be weaponized to manipulate public opinion. Her project was simultaneously an act of activism and an act of love—a gift to future generations who would need to understand how their present was mediated and constructed.

Initially, no institution wanted her tapes. But in 2013, the Internet Archive recognized its historical significance and began the painstaking process of digitization. Today, her collection is freely available online, searchable, and accessible to researchers, historians, and anyone seeking to understand how television shaped American history.

In 2019, filmmaker Matt Wolf released “Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project,” a documentary that brought her remarkable story to wider audiences. Marion Stokes proved that one person’s obsession could become humanity’s treasure—a testament to the power of persistence, vision, and an unshakeable belief that truth, once preserved, can never be entirely erased.

Marion Stokes died on December 14, 2012, at age 83. Interestingly, her final recordings captured the breaking news of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Her VCRs were switched off only when she took her last breath.

Today In Black History

• In 1789, Black astronomer, mathematician, and almanac author Benjamin Banneker began to lay out the street design of the District of Columbia, along with French architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant.

• In 1824, the U.S. Department of War created the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

• In 1874, Frederick A. Douglass was elected president of Freedmen’s Bank and Trust.

• In 1959, “A Raisin in the Sun,” by Lorraine Hansberry, opened at the Barrymore Theater in New York City and became the first play written by a Black woman performed on Broadway.

• In 1963, the African nation of Somalia dropped diplomatic relations with Great Britain.

  ---

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Queen Califa first appeared in Spanish literature in the early 16th century. She appeared in “Las Sergas de Esplandián” (The Exploits of Esplandián), a chivalric romance written by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo around 1510. In this fantastical tale, Califa ruled over an island called California, a place of extraordinary wealth and natural beauty. The novel described her kingdom as an earthly paradise, populated by griffins and other mythical creatures, with mountains of gold and precious stones scattered throughout the landscape.

The character of Queen Califa was not merely a fictional creation for entertainment; she represented the dreams and aspirations of the Spanish conquistadors and explorers of her era. During an age of discovery and expansion, the legend of Califa embodied the promise of untold riches and undiscovered lands waiting beyond the horizon.

When Spanish explorers reached the Baja California Peninsula in the 16th century, they believed they had discovered the legendary island kingdom described in Montalvo’s novel. Consequently, they named the region “California” in honor of the mythical queen. The name eventually extended northward to encompass the entire territory that would become the modern state of California.

The early 16th century saw the publication of numerous tales of the Spanish Golden Age that often featured idealized rulers, magical kingdoms, and quests for glory and fortune.

The character of Califa herself was notable for her time. As a female ruler depicted as powerful, intelligent, and commanding, she represented a departure from many contemporary portrayals of women in literature. Though ultimately a fictional creation, her characterization suggested that women could possess authority and wisdom equal to their male counterparts—a progressive notion for the era.

In contemporary times, Queen Califa appears in various cultural works, from literature to art installations, often celebrated as a symbol of California’s unique heritage and the state’s connection to Spanish colonial history.

Today In Black History

• In 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court freed Joseph Cinque and the 35 surviving Mende people of the Amistad Mutiny in the case of United States v. The Amistad. Former president John Quincy Adams represented the Africans in court. The ruling determined that the men had been illegally kidnapped by Portuguese slave traders from the African nation now known as Sierra Leone, and private donations paid for their return to their homeland.

• In 1891, North Carolina A&T University was founded in Greensboro, N.C.

• In 1931, Walter White was named Executive Secretary of the NAACP.

• In 1961, Clifton Wharton, Sr. Was sworn in as the first Black Ambassador to Norway.

• In 1963, columnist and journalist Carl T. Rowan was named Ambassador to Finland.

• In 1966, Andrew F. Brimmer became the first Black governor of the Federal Reserve Board.

  ---

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Oseola McCarty was an amazing American philanthropist whose life story continues to inspire millions of people around the world. Born in 1908 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, after her mother was raped, she became a symbol of selfless giving and showed just how powerful education can be.

McCarty grew up in poverty with limited opportunities. She had to leave school in sixth grade to take care of her sick grandmother. Instead of getting her own education, she became a laundress, washing and ironing clothes for families in Hattiesburg for nearly 75 years.

McCarty was incredibly disciplined about saving money. For decades, she lived simply, walked everywhere, never owned a car, skipped unnecessary expenses, and put away every penny she could. She just kept depositing her earnings into a local bank account, watching it grow little by little over the years.

When McCarty retired in 1994 at age 86, she had saved about $250,000. But instead of finally treating herself, she donated $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi to create a scholarship fund for Black students.

This gift was huge, especially considering Mississippi’s history of racial segregation (Southern Mississippi did not integrate until the 1960s) and how hard it was for Black students to get into college. McCarty believed deeply in the power of education to change lives and break the cycle of poverty.

Her donation grabbed national attention. The media loved her story, and suddenly she was famous. She received awards and recognition from President Bill Clinton, and her example inspired many people to give back and to start real conversations about generosity and responsibility.

Since then, her scholarship fund has helped hundreds of students attend college and pursue their dreams. Many of these students have become successful and even donors themselves, carrying on the legacy McCarty started.

What really stood out about McCarty was her humility. Even after becoming famous, she kept living simply and honestly, and wasn’t comfortable with all the attention. She’d brush off compliments and say she was just doing what felt right.

McCarty died in 1999, and she proved that no matter who you are or how much money you have, you can make a real difference.

Today In Black History

• In 1837, The Weekly Advocate, the 2nd major Black newspaper, changed its name to The Colored American.

• In 1871, after winning an at-large election to the 42nd Congress, Josiah Thomas Walls became the first Black Congressman to represent an entire state (Florida).

• In 1954, James Ernest Wilkins was named Undersecretary of Labor by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

• In 1957, the Gold Coast officially changed its name to Ghana ahead of its independence.

• In 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. announced his plans for the Poor People’s Campaign. He was assassinated exactly one month later on April 4, 1968.

• In 1980, Robert Mugabe won the parliamentary election in Zimbabwe, becoming the country’s first Black prime minister.

  ---

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Dr. Auma Obama is a beacon of hope and transformation across Africa and beyond. As the half-sister of former U.S. President Barack Obama, she has carved her own remarkable path as an educator, author, and social entrepreneur dedicated to empowering young people through education and mentorship.

Born in Kenya in 1960, Auma earned her doctorate in education and has spent decades working in international development, with a particular focus on youth empowerment and educational access. Her academic background and lived experience have positioned her uniquely to understand the challenges facing young Africans and to develop practical solutions.

In 2010, Dr. Obama founded the Sauti Kuu Foundation, an organization dedicated to empowering vulnerable youth in Kenya through mentorship, education, and economic opportunity. The name “Sauti Kuu” means “big voices” in Swahili, reflecting the foundation’s mission to amplify the voices of marginalized young people. Through this organization, she has worked tirelessly to provide scholarships, vocational training, and mentorship programs to thousands of youth.

What distinguishes Dr. Obama’s work is her holistic approach to youth development. Rather than viewing education in isolation, she recognizes that young people need comprehensive support—including mental health services, leadership training, and economic empowerment—to truly transform their lives and communities. Her programs address not only academic needs but also the social and emotional dimensions of personal growth.

Beyond her foundation work, Dr. Obama is an accomplished author and speaker. She has written extensively about her family, her experiences, and her vision for Africa’s future. Her memoir, “And Then Life Happens,” offers intimate insights into her journey and her relationship with her famous brother, while also exploring broader themes of identity, belonging, and purpose. Through her writing and public speaking engagements, she has become an influential voice in conversations about education, social justice, and African development.

Dr. Obama’s commitment has consistently emphasized that young people need role models and guides who understand their contexts and can help them navigate the challenges they face. This philosophy underpins all of her work, whether through the Sauti Kuu Foundation or her various speaking and writing endeavors.

Dr. Obama has received numerous awards and accolades for her work in education and social development. However, her greatest satisfaction comes not from recognition, but from witnessing the tangible impact of her work—seeing young people graduate, secure employment, and become leaders in their own communities.

In recent years, Dr. Obama has expanded her reach, working on various international development projects and continuing to advocate for educational access and youth empowerment on a global scale. She has collaborated with organizations and governments to develop sustainable models for youth development that can be replicated across different contexts.

As Africa continues to develop and young people seek pathways to success, Dr. Obama’s contributions to education and mentorship will undoubtedly continue to shape the continent’s future for generations to come.

Today In Black History

• In 1807, the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves was passed and signed by President Thomas Jefferson, himself a slave owner. The Act was effective on January 1, 1808, and aimed to stop the importation of enslaved people from foreign countries into any port or place within U.S. jurisdiction.

• In 1865, the Freedmen’s Bureau was founded for Black education.

• In 1867, elections were ordered for constitutional conventions, and freed Black men were enfranchised.

• In 1867, Congress passed the first of a series of Reconstruction Acts, dividing the former Confederate states into five military districts under the command of army generals.

• In 1867, Howard University (HU) was founded in Washington, D.C. It was named for General Oliver Otis Howard, the head of the post-Civil War Freedmen’s Bureau, who influenced Congress to appropriate funds for the school.

• In 1888, the Capital Savings Bank of Washington, D.C., the first Black bank, opened in Washington, D.C.

• In 1917, the Jones Act created the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico and granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans.

• In 1919, Claude Albert Barnett founded the Associated Negro Press.

• In 1921, Harry Pace founded the Pace Phonograph Corporation, the first Black-owned and operated record company.

• In 1956, the African nation of Morocco became independent from France, although it had existed since 788 CE.

• In 1961, Dr. Clifton R. Wharton was sworn in as ambassador to Norway.

• In 1970, the white government of Rhodesia declared itself a republic.

• In 1972, Dr. Jerome H. Holland became the first Black person elected to the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange.

• In 1977, Rev. Joseph E. Lowery was named acting president of the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC), succeeding Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy.

• In 2021, Dr. Seuss Enterprises ceased publication of six Dr. Seuss books due to racist and insensitive imagery.

  ---

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Photo Credit: Women’s Sports Foundation

Elana Meyers Taylor stands as one of the most remarkable athletes in Winter Olympic history. At 41, competing in her fifth Olympic Games, she finally achieved what had eluded her throughout her storied career: Olympic gold. On February 16, 2026, at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, Meyers Taylor won the women’s monobob event, becoming the oldest American woman to win an individual gold medal at the Winter Games. This victory marked her sixth Olympic medal overall, making her the highest-achieving Black woman and tying her with legendary speed skater Bonnie Blair for the most Winter Olympic medals by an American woman.

Born on October 10, 1984, in Oceanside, California, Elana Alessandra Meyers was raised in Douglasville, Georgia, a suburb west of Atlanta. Her father, Eddie Meyers, was a professional football player who played running back for the Navy from 1978 to 1981, establishing a strong athletic legacy in the family. Her mother, Janet, played an instrumental role in encouraging her daughter’s athletic pursuits.

Meyers Taylor’s Olympic dream began at age 11 when she witnessed the 1996 Summer Olympics in her home state of Georgia. She initially envisioned herself as an Olympic softball player, beginning to play the sport at age nine. She attended George Washington University on a softball scholarship, where she became the program’s first-ever recruit and graduated as the all-time record holder in nearly every offensive category.

However, when a professional softball career seemed unlikely, her parents suggested she try bobsledding. In 2007, Meyers Taylor made her bobsled debut and immediately made the U.S. National Team, launching a career that would span nearly two decades.

Meyers Taylor’s path to her first Olympic gold medal was anything but straightforward. She made her Olympic debut at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, where she won bronze in the two-woman bobsled. Over the next 16 years and four Olympic Games, she accumulated five more medals: silver in the two-woman event at both the 2014 Sochi Games and the 2018 PyeongChang Games, bronze in the two-woman bobsled at the 2022 Beijing Games, and silver in her Olympic debut in the monobob event at Beijing 2022.

However, the elusive gold medal remained out of reach. In December 2025, just weeks before the Milano Cortina Games, Meyers Taylor nearly quit. While training in Norway for a World Cup bobsled weekend, she texted her husband: “I’m done. This is just impossible. It’s never going to work.” Her body was hurting, she questioned whether she was making the right decision for her two deaf children, and the racing results were disappointing.

Her husband, Nic Taylor, flew to Norway to convince her to continue. Additionally, when a San Antonio Spurs player learned of her struggles, the NBA team gifted Nic a plane ticket so he could be with his wife during this critical moment. This support proved transformative.

On February 16, 2026, Meyers Taylor delivered one of the most emotional moments of the Milano Cortina Games. Racing from second place through three runs, she edged Germany’s Laura Nolte by just 0.04 seconds to claim gold with a four-run time of 3 minutes, 57.93 seconds. As she crossed the finish line, she jumped into the air, threw her fists skyward, waved the American flag, and fell to her knees in tears. Her two young sons watched from behind the barriers as their mother made history.

Elana Meyers Taylor’s personal life is as remarkable as her athletic achievements. She married fellow bobsledder Nic Taylor on April 24, 2014, after a chance meeting in 2011. Nic, who was working with the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, called the office looking for lost paperwork and spoke with Elana, who was interning there at the time. They talked for hours before meeting in person at a training center. Nic proposed to her in January 2013 at the World Championships podium after she won a silver medal. Their wedding featured bobsledding-themed elements and innuendos, reflecting their shared passion for the sport.

Nic Taylor is a professional bobsledder, chiropractor, and conditioning coach who has been instrumental in Elana’s career. He designs her workouts, supports her competition schedule, and currently works as a performance coach with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.

The couple has two sons: Nico, born in February 2020, and Noah, born in 2022. Both children were born deaf due to a genetic mutation unrelated to Down syndrome. Additionally, though, Nico was born with Down syndrome. Nico spent his first eight days in the neonatal intensive care unit after being born three weeks early via emergency C-section.

Motherhood has profoundly transformed Meyers Taylor’s perspective on life and competition. After Nico’s birth, she and Nic learned American Sign Language to communicate with their son, and they continue to use it at home with both boys. Before the monobob final at Milano Cortina, Meyers Taylor spent time teaching her sons the signs for “bobsled,” “race,” and “champion.” When she won gold, she signed to Nico: “Mommy won.”

The experience of raising two deaf children has reshaped her values. She has said that while her number one goal before having children was to win an Olympic gold medal, motherhood taught her that “your value lies in who you are as a person,” not just in accomplishments. She emphasizes to her sons the importance of perseverance and pursuing dreams regardless of obstacles or what others think.

The family lives in New Braunfels, Texas, where they have built a stable home base after more than a decade of training at Lake Placid. The Taylors travel with their sons during the bobsled season as much as possible.

Beyond her achievements on the ice, Meyers Taylor has become a powerful advocate for multiple causes. She is the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympic history, a distinction she has used to speak out against racism in sports. In June 2020, she called attention to instances of racism she had faced throughout her bobsledding career, prompting the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation to create a task force to investigate such incidents. She has also created workshops for athletes to share their experiences facing racism and to expose the biases that lead to discriminatory behavior.

In January 2019, Meyers Taylor was elected president of the Women’s Sports Foundation, a role that reflected her passion for advocating for female athletes. She has consistently fought for equality and has stated that she has “a responsibility to fight for equality for those who can’t.”

As a disability advocate, Meyers Taylor has used her platform to raise awareness about children with disabilities and families navigating deafness and Down syndrome. Her openness about her sons’ conditions has helped normalize these conversations and provided hope to other families facing similar challenges.

Meyers Taylor has played a direct role in expanding Team USA’s bobsled pipeline. She has been instrumental in recruiting talented athletes into sliding sports, including:

• Mystique Ro, a track and field athlete from Queens (Charlotte), who now competes in skeleton.

• Jadin O’Brien, a three-time NCAA champion pentathlete from Notre Dame, now competes in bobsled. O’Brien has said, “She is the reason I’m here.”

• Jasmine Jones, a track and field athlete from my alma mater, Eastern Michigan University, who now competes in bobsled.

Meyers Taylor has also been involved in training camps and clinics, where she shares her expertise in sled setup, push technique, and race-day strategy—areas in which her knowledge is widely respected.

Throughout her career, Meyers Taylor has broken numerous barriers in bobsledding:

• In November 2014, she became the first woman to win a medal in a men’s event at an international competition, racing in a mixed-gender four-person bobsled team with her husband as her brakeman.

• She was instrumental in advocating for women’s monobob to become an Olympic event, which debuted in 2022.

• She was elected by fellow Team USA athletes as an opening ceremony flag bearer for the 2022 Beijing Olympics (though she was unable to attend).

Meyers Taylor holds both a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and a master’s degree in sports management from George Washington University. She also earned an MBA in Finance from Keller Graduate School of DeVry University.

Her educational background has informed her work beyond athletics; she has worked at the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, where she focused on auditing budget requests and analyzing financial planning processes.

Additionally, Meyers Taylor has represented the USA women’s rugby sevens team, competing in tournaments in Guangzhou, China, and Amsterdam, demonstrating her versatility as an athlete.

At 41, Elana Meyers Taylor has achieved what she once thought was impossible. Her gold medal at Milano Cortina represents not just a personal triumph but a testament to resilience, determination, and the power of a strong support system. She has become a symbol of what is possible when an athlete refuses to give up, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Meyers Taylor has indicated a potential shift toward coaching, mentorship, and athlete advocacy roles. Her technical expertise, reputation for resilience, and passion for developing the next generation of bobsledders position her as a valuable asset to the sport in whatever capacity she chooses.

Elana Meyers Taylor’s impact on bobsledding and women’s sports will endure. She has proven that motherhood, disability, and age are not barriers to excellence—they are simply part of a fuller, more meaningful story of human achievement.

Today In Black History

• In 1836, showman P.T. Barnum exhibited African American slave Joice Heth, falsely claiming she was the 161-year-old nursemaid to George Washington.

• In 1837, Cheney University of Pennsylvania became the first HBCU in the United States.

• In 1870, Hiram R. Revels of Mississippi was sworn in as the first Black U.S. Senator and the first Black representative in Congress, but he was not officially seated in either office.

• In 1948, Martin Luther King, Jr. was ordained as a Baptist minister.

• In 1964, Olympic Boxing Gold Medalist Cassius Clay officially changed his name to Muhammad Ali after converting to Islam.

• In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld affirmative action by a 5-4 vote.

• In 1992, Blues musician Muddy Waters was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards.

  ---

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

I love watching both the Winter and Summer Olympics, even though I’m not good at any kind of sports. In addition to my daily yoga and Pilates workouts, I ride my bike outdoors (or my stationary bike indoors) five times a week for 10 miles each time. While all of that is great exercise, I am nowhere near an “athlete.” That’s why I love watching real athletes at their best.

I also enjoy the stories of the athletes, past and present.

Born on December 15, 1973, in Nice, France, Surya Varuna Claudine Bonaly was an orphan. At just eight months old, she was adopted by Suzanne and Georges Bonaly, a white French couple committed to simple living and self-sufficiency. Growing up in the picturesque French Riviera, Surya’s childhood was unconventional—her parents raised her as a vegetarian and instilled in her a deep commitment to discipline, athleticism, and pushing boundaries. These values would define not only her skating career but her entire life.

Surya began skating at age 12 in 1985, but her athletic foundation came from gymnastics, which gave her muscular strength and explosive power rare among figure skaters of her era. This combination of gymnastics training and skating prowess would become her signature—and her curse in a sport that valued delicate, balletic femininity above all else.

By 1989, at just 15 years old, Surya won the first of her nine consecutive French national championships. Her rise was meteoric. Throughout the 1990s, she dominated European competition, claiming five European titles between 1991 and 1995. She also earned three World Championship silver medals (1993–1995), making her one of the most decorated skaters in French history.

But Bonaly’s technical brilliance came at a cost. In an era when figure skating valued grace and artistry above all, judges and commentators criticized her as “too muscular,” “too aggressive,” and “not graceful enough,” the same criticisms faced by most Black women athletes like Simone Biles and Serena and Venus Williams. Her powerful jumps and athletic style clashed with the sport’s narrow aesthetic standards. As a Black woman competing in a predominantly white sport, Bonaly faced not only stylistic criticism but also the subtle—and sometimes overt—racism that permeated figure skating’s judging panels.

Long before quadruple jumps became commonplace in men’s figure skating, Surya Bonaly was attempting them. At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, she became the first woman ever to attempt a quadruple jump in Olympic competition. Though the jump didn’t count for scoring due to a technical ruling, it signaled her fearless approach to pushing the sport’s boundaries. It would take 30 years for another woman to successfully land a quad jump in the free skate at the Olympics.

Surya’s most iconic moment came at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. At 24, recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon and knowing her competitive career was ending, Bonaly made a decision that would echo through Olympic history.

In her free skate, with nothing left to lose, she performed a backflip—landing on a single blade. This was no ordinary backflip. The move had been banned by the International Skating Union since 1977, officially for safety reasons but also because it violated the principle of landing on one skate. Bonaly knew the judges would penalize her. She did it anyway.

The crowd erupted in a standing ovation. The judges, however, were less impressed. They deducted points for the illegal move, dropping her from sixth place to tenth overall. But Bonaly had made her statement. That backflip—now known as the “Bonaly backflip”—became one of the most iconic moments in Olympic history: a Black woman, on the world’s biggest stage, choosing defiance over compliance, artistry over acceptance.

“I wanted to do something for myself. Something that was mine,” Bonaly later reflected. “I had nothing to lose anymore. I did it because I was an athlete.”

Bonaly retired from amateur competition shortly after Nagano, but her relationship with skating was far from over. She transitioned into professional skating, touring with Champions on Ice and performing in ice shows worldwide. For roughly a decade, she thrilled audiences with her signature backflips and triple jumps, finally experiencing the creative freedom that amateur competition had denied her.

However, her post-competitive career in France proved challenging. Despite her legendary status, the French Ice Sports Federation offered her no significant coaching or administrative positions. Feeling unwelcome in her homeland, Bonaly made a pivotal decision: she moved to the United States.

In 2004, on January 5th in Las Vegas, Surya Bonaly became a U.S. citizen. The gesture went beyond paperwork—it represented a choice of belonging. She settled in the American Midwest and later in Las Vegas, where she has built a quiet life away from the spotlight that once defined her.

Today, at 52, Bonaly works as a figure skating coach in Las Vegas, teaching students ranging from ages 5 to 18. She retired from professional performing in 2015 to focus full-time on coaching. Her dedication to the sport has come at a personal cost—she has spoken openly about sacrificing the chance to have children to pursue her skating career.

Beyond coaching, Bonaly has become an advocate for diversity in figure skating. She has worked with organizations like Figure Skating in Harlem, meeting with young skaters of color and serving as a role model for the next generation. She has also been a cultural attaché for the Monaco consulate and an ambassador for organizations fighting racism in sports.

In 2022, Bonaly published “Fearless Heart: An Illustrated Biography,” a children’s book co-written with author Frank Murphy that tells her story to a new generation of young readers. She has also been the subject of a graphic novel, “Le Feu sur la glace” (Fire on Ice), which chronicles her journey from French prodigy to American resident.

For decades, Bonaly’s backflip was remembered as a rebellious stunt, a moment of defiance rather than athletic brilliance. But in 2024, the International Skating Union lifted the ban on backflips in choreographic sequences, finally legitimizing the move she had pioneered nearly three decades earlier.

When American figure skater Ilia Malinin landed a backflip at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, the internet erupted with praise—and with long-overdue recognition of Bonaly’s pioneering achievement. Bonaly herself has been gracious about Malinin’s success, calling him a “warrior” and celebrating his willingness to push boundaries.

“I broke the ice for other skaters,” Bonaly reflected. “Now everything is different. People welcome anyone as long as they are good, and that is what life is about.”

Yet Bonaly remains clear about her broader legacy. She hopes to be remembered not just for the backflip, but as an athlete who was “fully committed to pushing sports beyond the limits”—someone who challenged the sport’s narrow aesthetic standards, who refused to conform to expectations, and who paved the way for a more inclusive, athletic, and diverse figure skating world.

“I’m also something else besides the backflips,” she said. “Hopefully, people remember me for the rest of my skating.”

Surya Bonaly came too early for a sport that wasn’t ready for her. But in doing so, she changed figure skating forever.

Today In Black History

• In 1763, the first major slave rebellion in South America began with the uprising in the Dutch colony of Berbice (modern Guyana), lasting from February to December.

• In 1895, William H. Heard, an AME minister and educator, was named minister to Liberia.

• In 1965, Constance Baker Motley was elected Manhattan Borough president, the highest elective office held by a Black woman in a major American city.

• In 1979, Frank E. Peterson, Jr. was named the first Black Brigadier General in the Marine Corps.

• In 1990, Black businessman Arthur A. Fletcher was named Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) by President George W. Bush.

• In 2020, Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery was shot to death after being chased by two white men in Brunswick, Georgia. A video of the killing emerged in May, and the men were arrested and tried.

  ---

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

I AM somebody! Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.

I came of age during the 1960s, a decade with four assassinations of our leaders, domestic racial strife, disputes about the war in Vietnam, and international near-disasters such as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I also went outside on July 20, 1969, to see if I could see the Apollo 11 astronauts land on the moon! All I saw was the moon—I couldn’t see the astronauts!

“Sesame Street” also premiered in 1969, and Rev. Jackson was one of its first guests.

As I have said before, my family always encouraged my political engagement and knowledge of Black History, starting with my grandmother taking 5-year-old me with her to register people in her neighborhood to vote, continuing with my father taking 12-year-old me to see and hear Dr. King at the 1963 Detroit March for Freedom, to 17-year-old me (and my boyfriend) jumping on a Greyhound bus at the Student Union to go to Indianapolis to campaign for Bobby Kennedy three days before his assassination, to adult me participating behind the scenes during local, state, and national elections and teaching ALL of my Black, white, and Asian students about Black History.

So, of course, I remember learning about Jesse Jackson when he first appeared on the national stage, fighting for civil rights in the early 1960s, and I have followed him and his accomplishments ever since.

Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, was one of the most influential civil rights leaders and activists of our time, with a career spanning more than six decades of work for social justice, economic equality, and human dignity. From his early days working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to mentoring President Barack Obama, Jackson’s life tells the story of how the civil rights movement of the 1960s evolved into modern American politics.

Rev. Jackson entered the civil rights movement in the 1960s, joining the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) under Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s guidance. As a young minister, Rev. Jackson was right there in the thick of it—participating in some of the most important moments of the civil rights movement, including the Poor People’s Campaign and voting rights marches.

Rev. Jackson, along with Rev. Ralph Abernathy, was at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968, when Dr. King was assassinated, an experience that forever shaped his commitment to carrying on King’s work. During this era, Rev. Jackson also made a name for himself through his powerful speeches, his ability to organize people, and his dedication to nonviolent protest and economic justice for African Americans and other marginalized communities.

In 1971, Rev. Jackson founded Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) in Chicago, an organization focused on economic empowerment and social justice. PUSH took on big corporations, organized boycotts, and fought to make sure African American communities got fair treatment in business and jobs.

But Rev. Jackson’s vision kept growing. In 1984, he created the Rainbow Coalition to bring together people from all racial and ethnic backgrounds around shared goals of equality and opportunity. When Rainbow merged with PUSH, it became the Rainbow PUSH Coalition—an organization that has been pushing for progressive policies, voter registration, and economic justice ever since.

Rev. Jackson’s influence wasn’t limited to the United States. He made headlines internationally for his diplomatic work in the Middle East. In 1983, he traveled to Syria and pulled off a major diplomatic win by negotiating the release of Lieutenant Robert Goodman Jr., a U.S. Navy pilot whose plane had been shot down.

In 1990, Jackson assisted in securing the release of Americans being held in Kuwait during the Gulf crisis, with freed hostages crediting his intervention. These dramatic rescues showed that Jackson could handle high-stakes negotiations and wasn’t afraid to try unconventional approaches to achieve peace. His international work demonstrated that his leadership mattered on the global stage and earned him respect as an advocate for human rights and peaceful conflict resolution.

Jackson’s runs for president in 1984 and 1988 were game-changers in American politics. His 1984 campaign didn’t win the nomination, but it energized African American voters and showed that a candidate could build a diverse coalition around progressive ideas. His 1988 campaign came even closer—he won multiple primaries and caucuses and nearly secured the Democratic nomination. While he didn’t become president, these campaigns changed American politics forever. They proved that African American candidates could run serious, competitive national campaigns and pushed the Democratic Party not to ignore Black voting power and to focus more on economic justice and civil rights.

Rev. Jackson’s greatest legacy might be his connection of the civil rights era to modern America. Having worked directly with Dr. King, Rev. Jackson carried that movement’s moral authority and vision into the 21st century. When Barack Obama became the first African American president in 2008, Rev. Jackson’s presence at that historic moment symbolized the realization of Rev. Dr. King’s dreams and Rev. Jackson’s fight to make them real.

Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson’s life is a testament to the ongoing fight for justice, equality, and human dignity. His work across multiple decades—from civil rights activism to international diplomacy to electoral politics—has left a lasting impact on American society and continues to inspire new generations of activists and leaders working toward a more just and equitable world.

@rerunproductionsClassic SNL Skit! The Reverend Jesse Jackson is reading Green Eggs and Ham on Weekend Update. This is from 1991 and Dr. Seuss passed away days before this skit aired It was a tribute to him! #fyp #saturdaynightlive #drseuss #greeneggsandham #snl

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr., died in Chicago, Illinois, on February 17, 2026, at age 84. Tributes and memories have poured in from all over the world, including from King Charles III of Great Britain. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose father traveled to southern states to march for civil rights for Black Americans, ordered the flags on the City’s properties lowered to half-mast.

Today In Black History

• In 1688, the first formal protest against slavery was made by Germantown (PA) Quakers at a monthly meeting. The attendees denounced slavery and the slave trade.

• In 1867, the predecessor to what would become Morehouse College was founded in Atlanta, Georgia.

• In 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was inaugurated in Montgomery, Alabama.

• In 1896, Black inventor H. Grenon patented a razor stropping device.

• In 1957, Kenyan freedom fighter Dedan Kimathis was hanged by the British colonial government.

• In 1965, church deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson was beaten and shot defending his mother’s life during a peaceful march in Marion, Alabama. He died 8 days later; his death inspired the Selma to Montgomery March.

• In 1965, the African nation of Gambia, the last British colony in Africa, gained independence from Great Britain.

  ---

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

If you enjoyed the Super Bowl Halftime Shows by Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny, you didn’t see or hear the person responsible for the extraordinary choreography: Charm La’Donna from Compton!

Her professional story is fascinating.

Charm La’Donna, born Charmaine La’Donna Jordan on May 14, 1988, in Compton, California, has become one of the most influential choreographers in the entertainment industry, and she’s not yet 40! Her journey from a young dancer discovering her passion at age three to an Emmy-nominated creative force demonstrates the power of dedication, artistry, and the ability to break barriers in a competitive field.

Growing up in Compton, La’Donna developed a relationship with dance early. She performed her first solo in kindergarten, setting the stage for a career that would eventually captivate audiences worldwide.

Her early exposure to movement and performance became the foundation for her distinctive creative vision—one that blends technical precision with emotional storytelling and cultural authenticity.

La’Donna’s professional breakthrough came through her mentorship under renowned choreographer Fatima Robinson, with whom she worked for approximately eight years. This apprenticeship proved invaluable, providing her with industry knowledge and professional experience.

However, La’Donna’s ambition extended beyond being an assistant. She began taking on independent projects, including her work on Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass,” which marked a turning point in her career. This project allowed her to establish herself as a creative force in her own right, rather than solely as someone’s protégé.

La’Donna began building her portfolio with high-profile artists, eventually working with some of music’s most influential voices. Her collaborations have included Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, Selena Gomez, Rosalía, Shakira, Madonna, and Pharrell Williams. Each project showcased her ability to adapt her creative vision to different artistic styles while maintaining her signature approach to movement and storytelling.

One of La’Donna’s most notable achievements is her work on Super Bowl halftime shows, which have become the pinnacle of live performance choreography. She choreographed The Weeknd’s Super Bowl LV halftime show and contributed to Beyoncé’s groundbreaking Beyoncé Bowl performance. Recently, she choreographed the halftime shows for Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny, two of the most-watched and streamed in NFL history.

These massive productions require not only exceptional choreographic skill but also the ability to manage complex logistics, coordinate large ensembles, and create moments that resonate with millions of viewers worldwide.

Beyond Super Bowl performances, La’Donna has choreographed Grammy Awards appearances, world tours, and music videos that have garnered critical acclaim. Her work on Kendrick Lamar’s “Rich Spirit” and “Not Like Us” music videos demonstrated her ability to create bold, innovative choreography that complements an artist’s vision while standing as an artistic statement in its own right. She has also expanded into creative direction, working on campaigns for major brands and contributing choreography to Netflix productions like “The Perfect Couple.”

In 2025, La’Donna’s contributions to the industry were recognized with two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality Programming, including one for her work on Beyoncé Bowl. This recognition places her among an elite group of choreographers, including legends like Debbie Allen and Chloé Arnold, who have received Emmy recognition for their work.

What sets La’Donna apart is her multifaceted approach to creativity. She doesn’t limit herself to a single title or role. She describes herself as a creative director, choreographer, dancer, and artist—refusing to be confined by traditional industry categories.

This philosophy extends to her personal artistry as well. In 2021, she released her first music project, “La’Donna,” stepping into the spotlight as a recording artist and songwriter. This move represented her desire to express herself fully as an artist, not just as someone who creates movement for others.

La’Donna also serves as an inspiration to aspiring dancers and choreographers. She has spoken about the importance of representation and ensuring that young Black girls understand their own magic and potential.

Today, the work of Charm La’Donna continues to push boundaries in dance, choreography, and creative direction, representing the evolution of commercial dance—blending technical excellence with artistic vision, cultural authenticity, and innovative storytelling.

Today In Black History

• In 1857, Frederick Douglass was elected president of the Freedman Bank and Trust.

• In 1923, Bessie Smith made her first recording, “Down Hearted Blues,” which sold 800,000 copies for Columbia Records.

• In 1951, the New York City Council passed a bill prohibiting racial discrimination in city-assisted housing developments.

  ---

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Did you know that you can listen to each “We Are Speaking” post on the Substack App? Download the app!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

This post was first published about 18 months ago, but I wanted to do a reprise because the Nicholas Brothers were just so phenomenal, and many of you may not have seen the original article here.

---

Fayard (left) and Harold Nicholas

The Nicholas Brothers were born into an entertainment industry still riddled with racism and discrimination, yet they defied the odds with their undeniable talent and perseverance. Fayard Antonio Nicholas was born on October 20, 1914, and Harold Lloyd Nicholas on March 27, 1921, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to college-educated musician parents who played in their own band at the Standard Theater. 

The brothers’ careers began in Philadelphia, where they performed as children in vaudeville acts, including at the legendary Cotton Club in Harlem. The Nicholas Brothers quickly became one of its most celebrated acts, sharing the stage with megastars such as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington.

Neither Fayard nor Harold had any formal dance training. Fayard taught himself to dance, sing, and perform by watching and imitating the professional entertainers on stage. Harold idolized his older brother and learned by copying his moves and distinct style.

By 1940, they had moved to Hollywood and, for several decades, divided their time between movies, nightclubs, concerts, Broadway, television, and extensive tours of Latin America, Africa, and Europe. The brothers attributed their success to their unique style of dancing - a hybrid of tap dance, ballet, and acrobatics, sometimes called "acrobatic dancing" or "flash dancing.”

Their exceptional ability to blend tap with ballet and their daring acrobatic stunts made them stand out in black-and-white films like "Stormy Weather" (1943), which featured their iconic "Jumpin' Jive" performance. This sequence is heralded as one of the greatest dance routines in film history.

Although there is a colorized version of this dance event, I am posting it in the original black-and-white.

Despite their talents, like most Black actors at that time, they were often cast in roles that did not fully utilize their capabilities or were edited out of films for white audiences.

The influence of the Nicholas Brothers is evident in the work of countless artists who followed them, including Michael Jackson and Gregory Hines, who cited them as inspirations.

During their lives, the brothers danced for nine U.S. presidents.

In 1991, the Nicholas Brothers received Kennedy Center Honors for their six decades of achievements. A year later, a documentary film, We Sing & We Dance, celebrated their careers and included tributes from Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, M.C. Hammer, and Clarke Peters. In 1994, members of the cast of Hot Shoe Shuffle also paid tribute to them.

Harold Nicholas died July 3, 2000, of a heart attack following minor surgery. Fayard Nicholas died on January 24, 2006, of pneumonia contracted after a stroke. 

Today In Black History

• In 1831, Nat Turner led the largest slave revolt to date in Southampton County, Virginia.

• In 1954, the Department of Defense eliminated all segregated regiments in the armed forces.

• In 1966, Dr. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale created the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.

• In 1974, Muhammad Ali defeated George Foreman in “The Rumble in the Jungle” in Kinshasa, Zaire, regaining the world heavyweight boxing title.

• In 1976, Rev. Joseph H. Evans was elected the first Black president of the primarily white United Church of Christ.

• In 1979, Richard Arrington was elected as the first Black mayor of Birmingham, Alabama.

• In 2023, Magic Johnson became the 4th billionaire athlete after Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Tiger Woods, according to Forbes.

  ---

You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade your Subscription to Paid!

Did you know that you can listen to each “We Are Speaking” post on the Substack App? Download the app!

Get more from Pamela Hilliard Owens in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Ben Slayton was a pioneering entrepreneur and civil rights advocate whose six-decade career has been defined by a series of historic firsts that have fundamentally transformed opportunities for African Americans in the housing industry.

Ben Slayton’s most significant achievement came in 1964 when he became the first African American member of the National Association of Realtors®. This milestone may seem routine by today’s standards, but in the segregated 1960s, it represented a monumental breakthrough. Remarkably, Slayton had to pay $5,000 to a white member willing to sponsor his membership in the industry. This obstacle fueled his determination to open doors not just for himself, but for generations of African Americans to follow.

A real estate agent is a licensed professional who is authorized by their state to help clients buy, sell, and lease residential and commercial property. Real estate agents handle all aspects of real estate transactions, including document preparation and representing clients in negotiations.

A Realtor is a licensed real estate agent who is also an active member of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), the largest trade association in the United States. In addition to holding a valid real estate license, Realtors have agreed to abide by NAR’s strict Code of Ethics and standards of practice that go beyond what is required by state law.

Following his groundbreaking entry into real estate, Slayton continued to shatter glass ceilings. He became the first African American Century 21 Real Estate franchisee broker-owner. He also developed and built the first condominium project in the San Fernando Valley. Additionally, Slayton became the first person of any race approved by Freddie Mac as a Multifamily Program Plus Seller/Servicer, and he served on both Freddie Mac’s and Fannie Mae’s inaugural Affordable Housing Advisory Councils simultaneously—a distinction no one else has achieved.

In July 2018, at 78, Slayton founded Legacy Home Loans, a mortgage lending company based in Las Vegas, specifically to address the 30% homeownership gap between African American and white Americans. While 70% of white families own their homes, only 40% of Black families do—a disparity rooted in decades of discriminatory lending practices and systemic barriers.

Homeownership is one of the most effective wealth-building tools available, yet it has been systematically denied to Black Americans. Through Legacy Home Loans, Slayton set an ambitious goal: to lend $1 billion in mortgages to African Americans and to establish branch offices in every city with a significant Black population.

Ben Slayton’s driving motivation has always been to make a tangible difference in people’s lives. Throughout his career, he has advocated for fair housing practices, pushed for insurance coverage in underserved communities, and consistently used his position and influence to advance equity.

Today In Black History

• In 1897, the British Expeditionary Force invaded, burned, and looted Benin City, ending the Nigerian Kingdom of Benin, which was formed in the 11th century.

• In 1952, the novel “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison won the National Book Award.

• In 1971, baseball legend Leroy Satchel Paige became the first Negro League player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

• In 1995, astronaut Dr. Bernard Harris Jr. became the first Black astronaut to take a spacewalk.

  ---

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade to a paid subscription

Most of us remember the single, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” but few of us know the true story of that classic “one-hit wonder” and how the original Black African songwriter was cheated out of millions of dollars in royalties and proper recognition.

One of the world’s most recognizable songs has a fascinating and complex history that begins in 1939 in South Africa. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” known in its original form as “Mbube” (Zulu for “lion”), was written and recorded by Solomon Linda, a Zulu musician who worked as a packer at the Gallo Record Company in Johannesburg.

Solomon Linda led a vocal group called the Evening Birds, which performed in the isicathamiya style—a cappella harmonies sung in Zulu. According to legend, during the third take of the recording session, Linda improvised the melody that would become iconic, singing “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.” The original lyrics were simpler: “Mbube, uyimbube” (”Lion, you’re a lion”), possibly inspired by Linda’s childhood experiences protecting his father’s cattle from lions.

The song became a massive hit in South Africa, selling over 100,000 copies and making Linda a star among Black audiences. However, Gallo Records had purchased the recording from Linda for a reported ten shillings—a pittance compared to the fortune the song would eventually generate.

In the 1950s, American folk singer Pete Seeger discovered the song and recorded a version with his group, the Weavers, titled “Wimoweh”—a mishearing of the original Zulu chorus “uyimbube.” A decade later, American lyricist George David Weiss adapted the song for the doo-wop group the Tokens, adding the now-famous English lyrics. The Tokens’ 1961 version became a number-one hit and introduced the song to audiences worldwide.

Over the decades, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” has been recorded countless times and featured in major productions, including Disney’s The Lion King. Yet Solomon Linda, who created the song that would earn an estimated $15 million in royalties, died in poverty in 1962, having received almost nothing from his creation. His story remains a poignant reminder of the exploitation that has often accompanied the global spread of music from marginalized communities.

Here is the Americanized song made famous by a group of white singers.

Today In Black History

• In 1794, France abolished slavery, but Napoleon re-established slavery in 1802 and re-instituted “Code Noir,” which prohibited Blacks, mulattoes, and other people of color from entering French colonial territory or intermarrying with whites.

• In 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected President of the Confederate States of America.

• In 1914, the U.S. Congress approved the Burnett anti-immigration law.

• In 1952, Jackie Robinson became the first African-American executive of a major U.S. TV and radio station, serving as Director of Community Activities at TV station WNBT and radio station WNBC-NY.

• In 1986, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp featuring Sojourner Truth.

• In 1997, O.J. Simpson was found civilly liable for the deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole Simpson.

  ---

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade to a paid subscription

Few holiday songs are as instantly recognizable as “Jingle Bells.” Written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title “The One Horse Open Sleigh” in 1857, the song was later renamed “Jingle Bells” and gradually became associated with Christmas festivities, despite containing no explicit references to the holiday.

James Lord Pierpont was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, and organist best known for writing “Jingle Bells.” Born into a prominent abolitionist family, he was the son of Reverend John Pierpont, a Unitarian pastor. During the American Civil War, Pierpont served as a soldier for the Confederate States. His Southern sympathies were evident in his musical compositions, as he wrote songs that contained Confederate themes. Pierpont worked as a church organist in Savannah, Georgia, during the Civil War, where he composed music that reflected the Southern perspective on the conflict.

While many people associate this tune with innocent winter fun, recent academic research has uncovered a more complex history that connects the song to problematic aspects of 19th-century American entertainment. Professor Kyna Hamill, a theater historian, has conducted extensive research into the origins of “Jingle Bells,” revealing connections to the minstrel show tradition that dominated American entertainment in the mid-1800s.

According to Hamill’s research, particularly her paper “The Story I Must Tell: ‘Jingle Bells’ in the Minstrel Repertoire,” the song was first performed in a blackface minstrel show in Boston. This performance context significantly changes how we might understand the song’s original cultural positioning. Minstrel shows emerged in the early 19th century and remained popular until the early 1900s, featuring predominantly white performers in blackface makeup who enacted exaggerated and demeaning caricatures of African Americans.

Minstrel performances served as a form of entertainment that normalized racist attitudes through music and comedy. These shows portrayed African Americans as lazy, superstitious, and comical characters, reflecting and reinforcing the prejudiced views held by many white Americans during this period.

Today, “Jingle Bells” exists primarily as a secular winter song divorced from its original performance context. For most listeners, the song evokes sleigh rides and winter festivities rather than its origins in minstrel shows.

By confronting rather than ignoring these histories, we can develop a richer and more nuanced appreciation of cultural traditions while acknowledging the painful legacies they may carry.

Today In Black History

• In 1839, Black Inventor Edmond Berger patented the spark plug.

• In 1862, the District of Columbia abolished slavery.

• In 1866, Samuel R. Lowery became the first Black lawyer to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

• In 1897, Black inventor Alfred L. Cradle invented the ice cream scooper.

• In 1971, General Idi Amin appointed himself president and dictator of Uganda.

• In 1971, the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus was organized with Rep. Charles C. Diggs of Detroit as its first chair.

• In 2009, Eric Holder was sworn in as the first Black U.S. Attorney General.

  ---

Join us in Notes!

Share We Are Speaking

Subscribe now

Upgrade to a paid subscription