WBLK is celebrating those making black history in Western New York. Submit your nomination for the community member making a difference in today’s Buffalo!
This Black History Month, the New York State Assembly is making a little history of it's own. First by electing the first African American Speaker and now Buffalo's own Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes is tapped to add an impressive title to her resume. Details inside.
The American Negro Exhibit was created by W.E.B. Dubois and first appeared in the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, where it received seventeen awards. It presented a collection of materials to illustrate the progress of the Negro race in the United States since emancipation from slavery in 1863.
The Darkest Africa exhibit at Buffalo’s 1901 Pan American Exposition consisted of 62 people representing a variety of African tribes. They were transported to Buffalo to demonstrate weaponry, handicrafts, songs, and dances.
From 1915 onward, large numbers of African-Americans left agriculture areas in the South to seek better paying jobs in the industrial cities of the North. The industrial boom stimulated by World War 1 and the steel plant in Lackawanna drew African-Americans to Western New York in large numbers.
On September 6, 1901, James B. Parker, a waiter at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, stood in line to shake President William McKinley’s hand. He emerged from this event as a hero when he tackled the anarchist Leon Czolgosz after the assassin shot the president twice in the stomach.
I remember this time last year we had a conversation that took place on the Know Thyself Community Wednesday (that will return to the air soon by the way) as to the relevancy of Black History Month and the responses were quite interesting to say the least. Anyone who feels that African history in no longer important is completely out of their mind!
Black History Month the month which we bear witness to the progress, richness and achievement of African Americans in history. This month we pay tribute to those who have paved the way for generations to come. Have you ever considered why a history of a people that started mankind is only celebrated nationally during the shortest month of the year? Why couldn’t be celebrated in June during the S