FEBRUARY BLACK HISTORY MONTH TULSA PUBLIC SCHOOLS -Diversity and Equity Office “IT doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph.

Diversity & Equity Department

FEBRUARY BLACK HISTORY MONTH

TULSA PUBLIC SCHOOLS -Diversity and Equity Office

“IT doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.” Oprah Winfrey


PURPOSE:

To focus the nation’s attention on the

history and contributions made by Black

Americans to our country.


Tulsa Public School’s Black Student Representation

2007-2008 Tulsa Public Schools Minority Population

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Elementary Middle High

African American

Minority


TULSA SCHOOLSNAMED FOR BLACK LEADERS

ECDC Bunche – Named for Ralph Johnson

Bunche - Negro statesman, diplomat

Anderson Elementary – Named for Maria

Anderson- Legendary contralto


TULSA SCHOOLSNAMED FOR BLACK LEADERS

John & Thurgood Marshall – Named for

Thurgood Marshall-Supreme Court Justice

Woods – Named for Ellis Walker Woods

noted educator; first Principal of Booker T.

Washington High School


RUDISILL LIBRARY

Library service in north Tulsa dates back to 1924 and the Greenwood Branch. In 1932 the North Boston Branch opened and later replaced by the Apache Circle Branch in 1963. Both Apache Circle and Greenwood closed when Seminole Hills opened in 1967.

In 1976 the staff and the collection from Seminole Hills opened the North Regional Library. Upon the death of Mrs. Rudisill in 1979, the library’s name was changed to honor her.


RUDISILL LIBRARY

For the computer user, Rudisill offers 40 computers, including special software for the Family Learning Center, Children's area and African-American Resource Center. Also, classes are offered in a 12 station computer lab which can be booked by community organizations.

Two auditoriums seat 200 & 300. There are 3 meeting rooms with capacities of 20 to 55 - depending on the room. Kitchen facilities are available for meeting room users.


BLACK TRAITS/PERSONALITIES

Research studies have found that blackstudents are: proficient in non-verbal communication work better in collaboration with other students visual/kinesthetic, right-brain learners family oriented with extended ties religious oriented.


CULTURAL AWARENESS

Culture is a largepart of our everydaylives. It is our beliefs,values, behaviors, andmaterial objects thatcreate our way of life.


High School History Bowl

Saturday, Feb. 28 • 10 a.m.-5 p.m.The bowl challenges high school teams over topics relating to African\

American history. First, second, and third-place winners will receive a

trophy. All student team members will receive a certificate for

participation. For all ages. Sponsored by the Friends of the Rudisill

Regional Library, Tulsa Library Trust and African-American Resource

Center.

RUDISILL REGIONAL LIBRARY 2009 African-American Heritage


Sankofa

A symbol of wisdom and learning from the past to build for the future(Literal meaning: Go Back to Fetch It)

Sankofa means "go back to the past in order to build for the future," or weshould not forget our past when moving ahead. We should learn from thepast and move forward into the future. Sankofa is a realization of self and spirit. Itrepresents the concepts of self-identity, redefinition and vision. It symbolizes anunderstanding of one's destiny and collective identity of the larger cultural group.

Sankofa is symbolic of the spiritual mind-set and cultural awakening African peoplewere experiencing in the decades after independence on the African continent. TheSankofa bird is used to represent Sankofa. The symbol is of a bird turning its headbackward and its long beak is turned in the direction of its tail.

(sang-ko-fah)


January 1 - On this first day of January 1863,

President Abraham Lincoln signed the

Emancipation Proclamation. The document

declared that slaves in states that had rebelled

against the Union were "then, thenceforward,

and forever free," and provided for African

American soldiers to enlist in the Union Army

and Navy during the Civil War

BLACK HISTORY EVERY DAY WITHOUT EXCEPTION


BLACK HISTORY

February 23 - On this day in 1868, William Edward BurghardtDuBois was born in Barrington, Massachusetts. DuBois was aleading figure in African American protest for most of his adult life.He emerged at the turn of the century as an opposing voice toBooker T. Washington, who appeared to have acceptedsegregation, or-in DuBois's eyes-defeat. His book Souls of BlackFolk, written in 1903, presented an alternative to Booker T.Washington's "accommodation" platform and is considered aclassic work of the civil rights movement.


BLACK HISTORY

March 15 - An angry President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress after voting rights demonstrations in Selma, Alabama, resulted in police-led violence. President Johnson took advantage of his prestige and position to drum up support for the Voting Rights Act 1965. The president titled his speech "We Shall Overcome


April 4 - In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shotoutside of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis,Tennessee. King's assassination precipitated marchesand rallies across America and riots erupted in over100 cities. In the melee, 46 people were killed and20,000 arrested. From April 5 - 11, there were 50,000federal and state troops called in to keep order.President Lyndon B. Johnson declared April 7 anofficial day of mourning. King was 38 years old at thetime of his death.

BLACK HISTORY


BLACK HISTORY

May 4 - Thirteen members of the Congress of Racial Equality(CORE) set off on a bus ride from Washington D.C. to NewOrleans on this day in1961. These civil rights activist were testinga1960 Supreme Court ruling that expanded anti discriminationlaws covering interstate travel to include facilities used bytravelers. The Freedom Riders bravely entered segregatedterminals, waiting rooms, restrooms and restaurants. They weremet with harassment, violence, and even arrest.


BLACK HISTORY

June 30 - On this day in 1917, the woman who has often been called "the most beautiful woman in the world" was born in Brooklyn, New York. Lena Horne began her career at the age of 16 as a chorus girl at the whites-only Cotton Club in Harlem. She then toured with Noble Sissle's orchestra and later became the first African-American to front a white band when she sang with Charlie Barnet's Orchestra. Her hit tunes included, Stormy Weather," "Blues in the Night," "The Lady Is a Tramp," and "Mad About the Boy."


July 21 - On this day in 1896, at the 19th Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., the National Association of Color Women was formed by a merger of the National Federation of Afro-American Women and the Colored Women's League. Mary Church Terrell, a D.C. school board member at the time, was elected its first president, and the organization adopted the slogan, "Lift As We Climb.”

BLACK HISTORY


BLACK HISTORY

August 3,1936, at the Olympic Games in

Berlin, Germany, Jesse Owens won the

100-meter sprint, capturing his first of four

gold medals. Over the next six days,

Owens won Olympic gold in the 200-meter

dash, the broad jump, and the 400-meter

relay.


BLACK HISTORY

September 18 - Today in 1895, Booker T.

Washington delivered his famous speech at the

Cotton States and International Exposition in

Atlanta, Georgia. Known as the Atlanta

Compromise, he proposed vocational

education as opposed to academics as the way

forward for African-Americans.


BLACK HISTORY

October 30 - Today in 1974, fifty million people

across the world watched as Muhammad Ali

regained the heavyweight boxing title from the

current world champion George Foreman


November 1 - On this day in 1900, brothers

James Weldon Johnson, author, educator and

general secretary of the NAACP (1920-1930),

and John Rosamond Johnson composed the

song "Lift Every Voice and Sing", commonly referred

to as the black national anthem.

BLACK HISTORY


December 1 - On this day in 1955 in Montgomery,Alabama, after a long day of work as aseamstress, Rosa Parks refused to relinquish herbus seat to a white man. This was in defiance of alocal Jim Crow law, which allowed blackpassengers to sit only if no whites had to stand.Parks said, "My only concern was to get homeafter a hard day's work," but she set off a 381-daybus boycott, led by young and relatively unknownpreacher named Martin Luther King, Jr.

BLACK HISTORY


Historic All Black Towns of Oklahoma:

BoleyClearviewGraysonLangston

LincolnRedbirdRentiesvilleTaft

TatumsTullahasseeVernonWewoka


Greenwood Cultural Center

The Greenwood Cultural Center dedicated on October 22, 1995 was created as a tribute to Greenwood’s history and as a symbol of hope for the community’s future.

The center has a museum, an African American art gallery, a large banquet hall, and also the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. The total cost of the center was almost $3 million.

The cultural center is a very important part of the reconstruction and unity of the Greenwood Historical District.

The Greenwood Cultural Center sponsors and promotes education and cultural events preserving African American heritage. It also provides positive images of North Tulsa to the community attracting a wide variety of visitors not only to the center itself but also to the city of Tulsa.


Greenwood Cultural Center Tulsa, OK

The Greenwood Cultural Center was established to promoteAfrican-American heritage and cultural interaction between localcommunities. It was dedicated in 1995, and a monument waserected in front of the center in memory of the 300 people who losttheir lives in the Race Riots of 1921.

The Center houses the Goodwin-Chapelle Gallery and there is apermanent photographic exhibition of the 1921 Race Riots. TheCenter has a performing arts program featuring weekly classes in hip hop,African dance and martial arts. Its 8-week Summer Arts Program workswith at-risk children in Tulsa through classes in music, drama, and thevisual arts. The Center hosts the annual Juneteenth Jazz Festival.


Greenwood Chamber Moves Forward With A $30 Million Development For Downtown Tulsa

Tulsa, OK -- Jan. 23, 2008 -- The Greenwood Chamber of Commerce recently decided to purchase land at Archer and Elgin in downtown Tulsa for a $30 million, mixed-use development.

According to Reuben Gant, the chamber's President and CEO, the chamber will use its nonprofit entity, the Greenwood Community Development Corp., to buy the six acres at the corner of Archer Street and Elgin Avenue for $1.8 million from the Tulsa Development Authority.

The chamber named the development Franklin Square in honor of B.C. Franklin, a black lawyer who guided many residents through the aftermath of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.



The Greenwood Chamber of Commerce Inc. (GCC) was founded in1938 by a group of North Tulsa businessmen. The purpose was toprovide an effective medium for business, civic and socialexpression. The Chamber was an active force in the earlydevelopment of the Greenwood Business District, known through the30s and 40s and “Black Wall Street.” In the late 70s, the GCC led therenaissance of the Greenwood District. The rebirth brought about therenovation of ten (10) remaining historic buildings presently known asthe Greenwood Centre with the Greenwood Chamber of Commerceas the managing general partner of the Centre.



Improvements

Revitalization and preservation efforts in the 1990s and 2000s resulted in tourism initiatives and memorials. Hope Franklin Greenwood Reconciliation Park and the Greenwood Cultural Center honor the Tulsa Race Riot, although the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce plans a larger museum to be built with involvement from the national parks service.

In 2008, Tulsa announced that it sought to move the city's minor league baseball team, the Tulsa Drillers, to a new stadium to be constructed in the Greenwood District. The proposed development includes a hotel, baseball stadium, and an expanded mixed-use district. Along with the new stadium, there will be extra development for the city blocks that surround the stadium. This project will bring Greenwood Historical District out front and center and attract not only tourists but also Tulsa residents to North Tulsa.


CITY EVENTS DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

FEBRUARY 2009:

RUDISILL REGIONAL LIBRARY (continued) 2009 African-American Heritage High School History Bowl

Saturday, Feb. 28 • 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The bowl challenges high school teams over topics relating to African-American

history. First-, second- and third-place winners will receive a trophy. All student team members will receive a certificate for participation. The event is for all ages. Sponsored by the Friends of the Rudisill Regional Library, Tulsa Library Trust and African-American Resource Center.

February : NAACP Youth Helping Youth Conference - Northeast Campus - call (918) 595-7838 for more information


Maya Angelou

“I BELIEVE that each of us comes from

the Creator trailing wisps of glory”


Thank You For Your Contribution

Rudisill Regional LibraryTulsa Community College

Oklahoma State Department of EducationTulsa Public Schools

TULSA PUBLIC SCHOOLS STATEMENT OF NONDISCRIMINATION

Tulsa Public Schools is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in its educational andemployment policies and programs on the basis of race, color, sex, age, disability, or national or ethnic origin. For information, contact the Director of Compliance at (918) 746-6357

FEBRUARY BLACK HISTORY MONTH TULSA PUBLIC SCHOOLS -Diversity and Equity Office “IT doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph.

Documents

exception slide

african american history

black students

black americans

washington high school

oprah winfrey slide

kofah slide

rudisill regional library