Maggie Walker started a department store allowing Black customers to shop with dignity: enter through the main doors instead of a side entrance, try on clothing, to eat at lunch counters and she hired exclusively Black women to work as clerks.
She became the first Black woman to establish and become president of a bank in the United States—the Saint Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond.
@MegMRivers Megan, my condolences to you and your family at this time. The loss of your Mom is heartbreaking I know. Prayers for your comfort and strength.
On this day in 1940, Engineer and entrepreneur, Jerry Lawson, was born. He created the technology that paved the way for modern gaming.
His groundbreaking technology became the foundation for Atari, Nintendo and Sega.
For all those who love baking, but want the task to be made easy as possible. Anna M. Mangin foresaw your needs. She invented the pastry fork in 1891.
—Anna M. Mangin invented the pastry fork in 1891. The utensil was used to mix dough for pie crusts, cookies, butter and flour pastries without needing to mix the ingredients by hand. The fork was also used to beat eggs, mash potatoes, and prepare salad dressings. Mangin was awarded a patent on March 1, 1892, for the pastry fork for mixing pastry dough
Patent No. 470,005, dated March 1, 1892.
With this invention, Mangin paved the way for future cooking gadgets to shorten cooking durations and alleviate the physical strain of kneading, mixing, and mashing by hand.
In 1893, Mangin's Pastry Fork displayed the ingenuity of African American inventors and the tenacity of African American women at the World's Columbian Exposition. Held in Chicago, Illinois, people of color and women were initially denied opportunities to participate in exhibits.
After repeated demands for inclusion a limited number of non-white exhibits including
Mangin's Pastry Fork were allowed. Although her invention occupied only a small corner on the second floor, a writer on female inventions noticed the kitchen wonder and called it "the only thing of its kind at the patent's office."
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In 1847, Missouri banned education for black people.
John Berry Meachum went ahead and equipped a steamboat with a library, desks, chairs and opened a 'Floating Freedom School'.
A THREAD!
I am nominated for Grammy for BEST SPOKEN WORD POETRY ALBUM. I am crying A LOT because of that, and because I got news while visiting friend who is dying. Grammy nomination is for him. GROCERY SHOPPING WITH MY MOTHER is my album, streaming EVERYWHERE. Pray for my friend, please.
“I don’t know who this lady is but if you know her tell her she’s awesome.
Isaiah walked up to this lady at our last home game two weeks ago. He sat on her lap and they were talking like they knew each other. It lasted no more than 20 mins.
However, she left right after halftime to meet up with her little girl.
Fast forward to tonight…not long after we sat down at the game Isaiah spotted her. She waved at him and he made his way up to her.
I thought their interaction would be the same as last time but I was wrong. Isaiah walked right up to her smiling, crawled in her lap and laid his head down on her shoulder. She welcomed him with open arms.
This lady patted and rocked Isaiah to sleep like she had given birth to him. It was the sweetest!!
We asked her if she wanted us to get him but she kept telling us she (and he) was fine!! Isaiah and this lady has NEVER met before other than those 20 mins at a game 2 weeks ago. I told her tonight that I am so sorry and
I don’t know why he keeps bothering her.
She replied he’s no bother and to not say that again.
She said he was her new friend.
She then went on to say she only has one child who is 15 and moments like this are priceless!!!
With all of the racial tension that’s going on I’m glad to see the pictures like these because it goes to show color don’t matter to a lot of people. It really don’t!!
Arguing over stuff as such makes us miss the simple pleasures in life. I hate I didn’t get her name but I will next game because I’m sure Isaiah will make his way back to her. I love her and don’t know her!
Update: We found out who she is. Her name is Mrs. Angela. She’s such a sweet lady y’all! It’s awesome how God connects people together for whatever reason!!”
Credit: Star Balloon-Bradley
In 1959, police were called to a segregated library when a Black 9-year-old boy trying to check out books refused to leave, after being told the library was not for Black people.
The boy, Ronald McNair, went on to became an astronaut. The library is also now named after him.
Happy Birthay to Ronald! He would’ve been 73 today!
Ronald McNair was 9 when a South Carolina librarian told him he could not check out books from a segregated library in 1959. Refusing to leave, a determined McNair sat on the counter while the librarian called the police, as well McNair's mother. The police arrived, told the librarian to let the young boy have his books, and McNair walked out alongside his mother and brother.
McNair went on to earn his Ph.D. in physics at MIT and became one of the first African Americans selected as astronauts by NASA, alongside Guion S. Bluford, Jr. and Frederick Gregory.
McNair's first spaceflight was the STS-41B mission, aboard the "Challenger" shuttle. He successfully maneuvered the robotic arm, which allowed astronaut Bruce McCandless to perform the first space walk without being tethered to the spacecraft.
The second space flight for McNair would be his last. He, along with six other NASA astronauts, were aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger when it exploded 73 seconds after takeoff in 1986. Everyone on board the shuttle was killed.
Today, the library in South Carolina where McNair was refused books is named after the heroic boy determined to make a difference.
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“Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.”
― Langston Hughes