Unblock History

“You cannot change history, but knowing your history will change you.” —Unblock History

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

Below: A rare, original Civil Rights era flyer/poster from the Black Panthers, offering free hot breakfast for black children every school morning in Berkeley, California.

In the same time period, in Washington, D.C., a high-ranking law enforcement official described the Panthers as the "greatest thre@t" to the country.

In using the phrase the "greatest thre@t," was Director J. Edgar Hoover, who is on record detesting the Panthers and what they stood for, referring to the media image of the Panthers with we@pons, or a concern that educated, healthy black boys would one day become educated, healthy black men?

There are no other copies of this approximately five decades old flyer known to exist.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

@ShebaTurk @MasterPMiller @BETAwards https://t.co/41zJjeLg9g

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

https://t.co/gXeMJZkR0Q

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

@ShebaTurk @MasterPMiller @BETAwards Favorite New Orleans rapper. Favorite New Orleans reporter/anchor.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

Visitors to https://t.co/FWXl1Zb9ct automatically go to all of @ShebaTurk’s most recent “Stay Lit” episodes along with past episodes, as well as her book reviews when she was full time in New Orleans. It’s worth checking out if you are a fan of her anchor work on CBS Los Angeles or WWL-TV in New Orleans.

[Sheba Turk @ShebaTurk]

What is “Stay Lit with Sheba?”

It’s my new project born out of my love of books 📚 📖

Watch the full versions on my YouTube Channel and click SUBSCRIBE
https://t.co/WfUcDIO90M

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

PRESERVED: 2 original, vintage, mint condition Sade subway posters from the early 1980’s advertising her debut album “Diamond Life.” The album went multi-platinum.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

You’re welcome, @PatHarveyNews. Your journey is inspirational. And your helping tell others’ journeys in an honest, classy way on your talk show https://t.co/lA3iFHwTOk and nightly @CBSLosAngeles is a refreshing and appreciated break from the empty, soulless attempts at conversation and news telling that seems to be what is being pushed on audiences that yearn for the type of authenticity you have been providing L.A. for nearly 40 years.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

L.A. somehow gets blessed with long term broadcast legends like Chick Hearn, Jerry Dunphy, Hal Fishman, Jim Hill and Vin Scully. Pat Harvey belongs in the same conversation.

Before all of the journalism accolades, community service recognition and respect that Pat Harvey built up over nearly 40 years as a news anchor at CBS News Los Angeles, she began her news journey @WNEMTV5news in 1979 in Michigan.

Since arriving in L.A. in 1989, she has never left @CBSLosAngeles or the communities she serves; she still appears on-air nightly; and has gone on to become the longest-running news anchor in prime time at one station in Los Angeles history (36 years and counting), a feat that may never be duplicated. And she’s not even done.

I wonder: When she was growing up in Detroit, Michigan, thousands of miles away from Los Angeles, if she had any idea of what she would end up accomplishing, and the profound effect she would have on so many people.

The vintage piece is an original 1981 print advertisement, featuring the future queen of prime-time L.A. news, Pat Harvey, in the first anchor position of her career.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

Thank you @PatHarveyNews @CBSLosAngeles anchor for reporting on history, making history yourself, and helping preserve history.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

@ShebTurk I also made the link to encourage you to post more episodes. There's an audience for smart, fun and informative commentary and interviews around books and their authors. You knowing there's a link dedicated to promoting that can be incentive to upload your videos more often. Make it easy for people to engage with your passion project; consider putting the link in your social media bios and when you send out posts mentioning when you drop new episodes. Your skill and talent make you an ideal advertisement for the importance of reading. https://t.co/FWXl1Zb9ct

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

@ShebaTurk https://t.co/FWXl1Zb9ct This new website currently automatically forwards visitors directly to the list of videos for your “Stay Lit with Sheba” author interview series & your book reviews; it’s a single click & easier to remember than a long web address.

@PatHarveyNews Similarly, the new website https://t.co/lA3iFHwTOk takes visitors to a playlist of your talk show videos with one click. Congrats on the recent one year anniversary of the show.

If you want, I will transfer you the website names. I don’t want any payment for them; the only cost would likely just be to your domain registry and hosting service. Or we can leave it as it is now and then if you have ideas or thoughts about the sites’ growth or direction, please DM me and we can collaborate. My goal here is to support you both. Sheba’s obvious passion for reading books is something people can latch onto; and that passion and drive, in my opinion, should be given as much shine as possible with a hope that it will help inspire others to pick up and read books.

Reading books, most notably the Bible, is the way out. I went to a gang-ridden high school. I kept my head down, read prolifically, graduated college and am successful. Reading physical books—not just scrolling on a phone—opens doors that non-book readers have no idea even exist.

Pat Harvey taking the time on her talk show to sit down and talk with people for an extended duration—where the goal is to conversate and communicate and not probe for sound bites as others might—is refreshing and necessary. And I support it.

You both are busy. We all are, but when we as a community can help each other, we should try. So I created these easy to remember links to try and help you deliver your messages about the positive impact—and the joy—that comes with reading books and sitting down and really talking to each other.

The CBS Los Angeles saying “We are yours” should go both ways: You are there for the community and hopefully you see that same sentiment being reflected right back at you and your news colleagues. At the end of the day, we are in this together.

Feel free to share the links. They’re yours.

-CT

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

Misty Copeland, a black woman, was told that she would “ruin the aesthetic” of the corps de ballet (a group of dancers who were presumably all white) in a production of “Swan Lake.”

The revelation is from a @SoledadOBrien interview with her: https://t.co/0rS5yXFQHH

Misty Copeland went on to become one of the most successful ballerinas/dancers of all time.

Pictured below: two girls waking to see Misty Copeland dance as the lead in “Firebird.” Misty Copeland was the first black woman at the American Ballet Theatre ever given that that role.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

Sade vintage backstage passes collection.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

PICTURED: Vintage Los Angeles Lakers 1985 Showtime Starter brand jacket

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

PICTURED: Rick Fox’s signed playoff worn shoes used in the Lakers 2001 NBA Championship run. The “15” written on them represents the number of playoff wins the Lakers had that year, which at the time was the best postseason record in NBA history.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

@ShebaTurk A heads up: https://t.co/5umRXSgOk5 (last name included) is also active along with https://t.co/7zjRiCKXN5.

[Shay O'Connor @SHAYOCONNORNEWS]

Thank you so much NOFD for the opportunity to interview Captain Bianca Jones! NOFD’s first African American female fire captain and a fellow @McMainMustangs !🖤 💛 I cannot wait for yall to see this very inspiring interview on #SEAUXNewOrleans!⚜️⚜️

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

@WWLTV https://t.co/lqNHA7uRlh

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

@WWLTV https://t.co/lqNHA7uRlh

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

https://t.co/ia5cYtN9BS

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

Up until recently, Tom Bradley was the only black mayor of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is 176 years old.

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

On this day in 1973, Thomas Bradley was elected the first Black mayor of Los Angeles, serving five terms and advancing civil rights and urban development.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

@ShebaTurk, a respectful heads-up: when people click on “@cbsla” in your posts it does not go to the station.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

@lbjnola @djariespins @ShebaTurk (A potential great thrift store find and southern art thread continued from above) Ruth Owens’ “Best Birthday” “girl in kitchen” and “Schwanda” (images cropped)

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

Does this work have Southern/New Orleans roots? Pictured: an orginal, signed, museum-quality piece scooped up from a second-hand store for less than $10.

Per an AI analysis of the piece: "Based on the signature 'Owens' and the themes described, it is likely that the artwork was created by Ruth Owens, a New Orleans-based painter and video artist. Owens' work often explores her mixed-race identity, family dynamics, and African heritage, blending personal narratives with broader cultural themes. Owens graduated with an MFA from the University of New Orleans in 2018 after a 25-year medical career. Her exhibitions, such as "Identity Theft" at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, showcase figurative and narrative canvases that delve into the complexities of racial identity and family history."

The AI's assessment of the work's origin, though promising, is far from conclusive (and the signatures of Owens' known works are not a definitive match); but in any case, the analysis, at the least, introduced me to an intriguing Southern/New Orleans artist I otherwise would not have known about or thought to share: https://t.co/yWuwelV0Nd.

And that's part of the excitement of the experience of thrifting: You never know what revelations, discoveries—and mysteries—you will find at your local thrift store.

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

@HesOurGuy @lbjnola @queenie4rmnola @djariespins @SHAYOCONNORWDSU @ShebaTurk @FerraraShowman This kind of flippant response—"Ew black ppl"—is exactly why black art matters. It challenges people to look deeper, reflect harder, and confront their biases. Pictured is NOLA artist Ruth Owens' piece "Lesson's Lost"

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

@nischelleturner https://t.co/IB6ofIvQoL

[Unblock History @UnblockHistory]

Those who were copied above probably already know this, but for the general public’s information: While Nichelle Nichols was being a trailblazer in entertainment on Star Trek, there was only a handful of black women in TV news. Belva Davis and Melba Tolliver are two of the very few from that era, and their stories—what they had to endure to tell folks the news—need to be told.

Lousiana native Belva Davis was the first black woman to be hired as a television journalist on the West Coast. She also did radio.

During an interview, she recalled the treatment she and others, including her radio news director, Louis Freeman, received while covering the convention at San Francisco’s Cow Palace, where Barry Goldwater was nominated for president. They were denied press passes. “We were in the rafters, sitting quietly, trying to make sure nobody found us,” she recalled. When Davis and Freeman were discovered, convention attendees yelled, “‘What are you n-ggers doing in here anyway?’,” Davis recalled. “We were driven out of that hall as people threw debris at my news director and I.” (KQED)

From her book “Never in My Wildest Dreams”:

I could feel the hair rising on the back of my neck as I looked into faces turned scarlet and sweaty by heat and hostility. Louis, in suit and tie and perpetually dignified, turned to me and said with all the nonchalance he could muster, “Well, I think that’s enough for today.”

Methodically we began wrapping up the cords to our bulky tape recorder and packing it and the rest of our equipment into suitcases. As we began our descent down the ramps of the Cow Palace, a self-appointed posse dangled over the railings, taunting. “N-ggers!” “Get out of here, boy!” “You too, n-gger b-tch.” “Go on, get out!” “I’m gonna k-ll your ass.”

I stared straight ahead, putting one foot in front of the other like a soldier who would not be deterred from a mission. The throng began tossing garbage at us: wadded up convention programs, mustard-soaked hot dogs, half-eaten Snickers bars. My goal was to appear deceptively serene, mastering the mask of dispassion I had perfected since childhood to steel myself against any insults the outside world hurled my way. Then a glass soda bottle whizzed within inches of my skull. I heard it whack against the concrete and shatter. I didn’t look back, but I glanced sideways at Louis and felt my lower lip begin to quiver. He was determined we would give our tormentors no satisfaction.

“If you start to cry,” he muttered, “I’ll break your leg.”

- - -

Melba Tolliver, as quoted in the New York Times, 2/18/1973:

“The day before I was supposed to cover Tricia Nixon's wedding at the White House, I got my hair changed to a natural—previously, I'd been having it straightened—and can you believe they actually told me I couldn't appear live in the studio unless I changed my hair back to the way it used to look? They said I looked less attractive—less feminine. But it was their standard of femininity, not mine.”

She refused to straighten her hair and she was told she could not sit in the studio behind the long table (with others) to do a wrap‐up of the weekend wedding. “They didn't want me to appear on the tape either,” Melba recalls, “but it couldn't be avoided. I wasn't about to go back to straightening my hair…” (New York Times)

“Afrogate” was only 55 years ago—Sadly, some of you just as recently as a few years ago have been called ugly by viewers for wearing your hair in a natural. And now you are dominating in a top DMA.

Naturally, of course.