News & Events
By: Lubay Lancelot Instagram:@allotroqy Website: https://allotroqy.com
Black History Month 2022
We are grateful for this interactive calendar created by the Racial Justice Working Group
under the Justice Committee, JPIC
Sisters of St. Joseph Brentwood, New York
Click the links in the right-hand column to learn more about each of these people.
| Week 1 | ||||
| February 1 |
Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) |
Born in Africa, sold into slavery at 7, bought by Wheatleys in Boston who taught her to read/ write, emancipated after publication of her book of poetry |
“Why weeps americus why weeps my Child?” (poem “America”)
|
Read the poetry of Phillis Wheatley |
| February 2 |
Wilton Daniel Gregory (1947- ) |
Catholic Priest/First African American Cardinal in the United States/ Archbishop of Washington, DC |
“Like any other spiritual transformation or renewal, conversion must begin with an honest and a sincere admission that we need God’s transformative power in our lives to achieve any real change, no matter the perspective from which we might begin.” | Learn about the connection between the Catholic Church’s Doctirne of Discovery and Slavery |
| February 3 |
Virgil Abloh (1980-2021 ) |
American designer, DJ, entrepreneur, artistic director of Louis Vuitton | “When creativity melds together with global issues, I believe that you can bring the world together.” |
Read the obituary Watch Vimeo recording of HR meeting around diversity at Louis Vuitton |
| February 4 |
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) |
Painter/best known works, The Migration Series which depicts the migration of African-Americans from the rural south to the urban north. | “…We don’t have a physical slavery, but an economic slavery. If these people, who were so much worse off than the people today, could conquer their slavery, we can certainly do the same thing….I am not a politician. I’m an artist, just trying to do my part to bring this thing about.” | Watch this video with Bryan Stevenson discussing Lawrence’s Great Migration series |
| February 5 |
Katherine Johnson (1918-2020) |
NASA Mathematician/ provided calculations of orbital mechanics for first US space flights/Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom |
“Everything is physics and math.” |
Donate to Fossi, a program to support students pursuing STEM majors at HBCUs
|
| February 6 |
Bryan Massingale (1957- ) |
Catholic priest/author/ activist/ theologian |
“For the beneficiaries of white privilege lament involves the difficult task of acknowledging their individual and communal complicity in past and present racial injustices” |
Read The assumptions of white privilege and what we can do about it | National Catholic Reporter
|
| February 7 |
Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) |
Journalist/ Anti-lynching activist/Women’s Suffragist | “I am only a mouthpiece through which to tell the story of lynching and I have told it so often that I know it by heart. I do not have to embellish; it makes its own way.” | |
| Week 1 | ||||
| February 1 |
Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) |
Born in Africa, sold into slavery at 7, bought by Wheatleys in Boston who taught her to read/ write, emancipated after publication of her book of poetry |
“Why weeps americus why weeps my Child?” (poem “America”)
|
Read the poetry of Phillis Wheatley |
| February 2 |
Wilton Daniel Gregory (1947- ) |
Catholic Priest/First African American Cardinal in the United States/ Archbishop of Washington, DC |
“Like any other spiritual transformation or renewal, conversion must begin with an honest and a sincere admission that we need God’s trans-formative power in our lives to achieve any real change, no matter the perspective from which we might begin.” | Learn about the connection between the Catholic Church’s Doctirne of Discovery and Slavery |
| February 3 |
Virgil Abloh (1980-2021 ) |
American designer, DJ, entrepreneur, artistic director of Louis Vuitton | “When creativity melds together with global issues, I believe that you can bring the world together.” |
Read the obituary Watch Vimeo recording of HR meeting around diversity at Louis Vuitton |
| February 4 |
Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) |
Painter/best-known works, The Migration Series which depicts the migration of African-Americans from the rural south to the urban north. | “…We don’t have a physical slavery, but an economic slavery. If these people, who were so much worse off than the people today, could conquer their slavery, we can certainly do the same thing….I am not a politician. I’m an artist, just trying to do my part to bring this thing about.” | Watch this video with Bryan Stevenson discussing Lawrence’s Great Migration series |
| February 5 |
Katherine Johnson (1918-2020) |
NASA Mathematician/ provided calculations of orbital mechanics for first US space flights/Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom |
“Everything is physics and math.” |
Donate to Fossi, a program to support students pursuing STEM majors at HBCUs
|
| February 6 |
Bryan Massingale (1957- ) |
Catholic priest/author/ activist/ theologian |
“For the beneficiaries of white privilege lament involves the difficult task of acknowledging their individual and communal complicity in past and present racial injustices” |
Read The assumptions of white privilege and what we can do about it | National Catholic Reporter
|
| February 7 |
Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) |
Journalist/ Anti-lynching activist/Women’s Suffragist | “I am only a mouthpiece through which to tell the story of lynching and I have told it so often that I know it by heart. I do not have to embellish; it makes its own way.” | |
| Week 2 | ||||
| February 8 |
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) |
Jazz Singer & Musician /Trumpeter//born New Orleans, settled in Queens (raised Baptist, wore Star of David, to honor foster parents, baptized Catholic) |
“Louis Armstrong is jazz. He represents what the music is all about.” – Wynton Marsalis
|
Listen to Louis Armstrong “Greatest Hits” album
|
| February 9 |
Marie Van Brittan Brown (1922-1999) |
Nurse/Inventor/invented closed-circuit TV initially for home security/Jamaica, Queens native | “Since 1993 property crime has fallen in the US by 69% thanks to the pioneering work of one woman: Marie Van Brittan Brown” UntoldEdu | Read story in the New York Times,” New York Times, December 6, 1969 (“Audio-Viewer Screens Calls) p.55, con’t p.59, col.2 |
| February 10 |
John Lewis (1940-2020) |
Politician/Civil Rights Activist | “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” |
In his own words, listen to |
| February 11 |
Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994) |
Polio survivor/ gold medal Olympian/ coach/ activist | Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us. | Read bio from National Women’s History Museum https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/wilma-rudolph |
| February 12 |
Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) |
Lawyer/activist/ argued Brown v Board of Education/ first Black Supreme Court Justice | “None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps… – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.” |
Read MLK’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”.
|
| February 13 |
Marian Anderson (1897-1993) |
Opera contralto/ first Black to perform at Met/ diplomat/ activist | “A singer starts by having his instrument as a gift from God… When you have been given something in a moment of grace, it is sacrilegious to be greedy.” |
Listen to/watch Marian Anderson Sings at Lincoln Memorial |
| February 14 |
Colin Kaepernick (1987- ) |
Athlete/ activist/ philanthropist | “People sometimes forget that love is at the root of our resistance.” | Journal “Why kneeling is an act of love, and why it became a lightning rod for controversy.” |
| Week 3 | ||||
| February 15 |
Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) |
First Black/ Native American US female pilot/first Black international pilot/activist |
“I refused to take no for an answer.”
|
Like Bessie, didn’t take no for an answer, watch Sr. Thea Bowman speak to US bishops
|
| February 16 |
Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992) |
Gay liberation activist/ self-identified drag queen/prominent figure in Stone Wall Uprising | “I’ll always be known reaching out to young people who have no one to help them out, so I help them out with a place to stay or some food to eat or some change for their pocket.” | Consider how Stone Wall Uprising helped to transform society and affect LGBTQIA+ rights. |
| February 17 |
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) |
Abolitionist; women’s rights activist, public speaker; won case vs. white man
|
“The Spirit calls me, and I must go!”
|
Read her speech of 1851 and watch dramatization “Ain’t I a Woman?”
|
| February 18 |
Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) |
NY state politician/ educator/ author/ first Black candidate for major party nomination for President | ”If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” | Write supporting an action to address racism in housing, healthcare, or business.- How to Contact Your Elected Officials |
| February 19 |
Lewis Lattimer (1848-1928) |
Inventor and innovator; expert draftsman
|
“sadly he is not mentioned”… improved on T. Edison and A.G. Bell |
Watch “Lewis Howard Lattimer Life Story”
|
| February 20 |
Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951) |
Exploited for medical research/ “immortal cells” which have helped countless patients. | “Who is this Henrietta Lacks?!” | Watch Henrietta’s relatives talk about reclaiming their’s story & share with non-BIPOC person |
| February 21 |
Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020) |
Award-winning actor/ playwright/ played Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Thurgood Marshall, Black Panther | “The struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose.” | Watch the Black Panther and consider how Blackness can be celebrated as in this movie |
| Week 4 | ||||
| February 22 |
Audre Lorde (1934-1992) |
NYC public school librarian/ feminist writer/ civil rights activist | “Life is short and we must do what has to be done in the now.” | Reflect on one or two of her Black Unicorn poems. |
| February 23 |
Spike Lee (1957- ) |
Actor/ film director/ screenwriter/ professor | “And this city (NYC) is so vibrant; the energy is just phenomenal.” | Host a movie night with non-BIPOC friends to watch one of his movies e.g. Da 5 Bloods on Netflix |
| February 24 |
Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) |
Abolitionist/ political activist/ part of the “Underground Railroad” | “I never ran my train off the track, and never lost a passenger.” | Learn about Harriet Tubman’s home in Auburn, NY |
| February 25 |
Alexa Canady (1950- ) |
First African American woman neurosurgeon/ “retired” to be chief of pediatric neurosurgery/ Sacred Heart, Pensacola |
“If you want to be something, you have to perceive that something is possible.”
|
Watch CNBC “Black doctors push for anti-bias training in medicine” or read article |
| February 26 |
Patrice Cullors (1983- ) |
American artist/ activist/ co-founder of Black Lives Matter | “Invest in a culture of dignity and care for Black people.” | Explore Patrice’s website & pray to see where you are being called to fight for racial justice |
| February 27 |
Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) |
Dancer, choreographer, director, founder of the American Dance Theatre, activist. | “Color is not important. What is important is the quality of our work.” |
Support, donate, or buy from local Black artists in your area. e.g. Lubay Lancelot
|
| February 28 |
Martin de Porres Grey (1942- ) |
First black woman in the Sisters of Mercy; foundress of Nat. Black Sisters Conference, 1968; left religious life in 1974. | “I never allowed myself to actually experience the pain of it.” |
Be in relationship with Black brothers and sisters in your area; Pray for religious life
|