Goodbye

 

O Fate, don't stare – I need some air,
I'll call for Luck, who's never there!
But Hope, I hope, might turn up soon -
Though that I doubt – there's no Blue Moon.

So Faith perhaps, the final straw
Might rescue me from Reaper's door!
My visage worn, I've one last sigh –
For now He calls for me…

Goodbye.



Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2009

Mark R Slaughter

Black Histroy Month (February and October)

Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month in America, is an annual observance in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom for remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the United States^[1] and Canada^[2] in February and the United Kingdom^[3] in October.

Contents

• 1 History
  • 1.1 Negro History Week (1926)
  • 1.2 Black History Month (1976)
  • 1.3 United Kingdom (1987)
  • 1.4 Canada (1995)
• 2 Criticism
• 3 See also
• 4 Footnotes
• 5 Further reading
• 6 External links

History

Carter G. Woodson

 

 

 

Negro History Week (1926)

The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be "Negro History Week."^[1] This week was chosen because it marked the birthday of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.^[1]
From the event's initial phase, primary emphasis was placed on encouraging the coordinated teaching of the history of American blacks in the nation's public schools. The first Negro History Week was met with a lukewarm response, gaining the cooperation of the Departments of Education of the states of North Carolina, Delaware, and West Virginia as well as the city school administrations of Baltimore and Washington, D.C..^[4] Despite this far from universal acceptance, the event was nevertheless regarded by Woodson as "one of the most fortunate steps ever taken by the Association," and plans for a repeat of the event on an annual basis continued apace.^[4]
At the time of Negro History Week's launch Woodson contended that the teaching of black history was essential to ensure the physical and intellectual survival of the race within broader society:

"If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated. The American Indian left no continuous record. He did not appreciate the value of tradition; and where is he today? The Hebrew keenly appreciated the value of tradition, as is attested by the Bible itself. In spite of worldwide persecution, therefore, he is a great factor in our civilization."^[5]

By 1929 The Journal of Negro History was able to note that with only two exceptions officials with the State Departments of Educations of "every state with considerable Negro population" had made the event known to that state's teachers and distributed official literature associated with the event."^[6] Churches also played a significant role in the distribution of literature in association with Negro History Week during this initial interval, with the pages of the mainstream and black press aiding in the publicity effort.^[7]
Negro History Week was met with enthusiastic response; it prompted the creation of black history clubs, an increase in interest among teachers, and interest from progressive whites. Negro History Week grew in popularity throughout the following decades, with mayors across the United States endorsing it as a holiday.^[1]

Black History Month (1976)

The expansion of Black History Week to Black History Month was first proposed by the leaders of the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969. The first celebration of the Black History Month took place at Kent State one year later, in February 1970.^[8]
In 1976 as part of the United States Bicentennial, the informal expansion of Negro History Week to Black History Month was officially recognized by the U.S. government. President Gerald Ford spoke in regards to this, urging Americans to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."^[9]

United Kingdom (1987)

Black History Month was first celebrated in the United Kingdom in 1987. This establishment of Black History Month is generally attributed to the work of Ghanaian analyst Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, as well as the Greater London Council.^[3]

Canada (1995)

In 1995, after a motion by politician Jean Augustine, Canada's House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month and honor Black Canadians . In 2008, Senator Donald Oliver moved to have the Senate officially recognize Black History Month, which was unanimously approve

google.com

How to Survive a Marriage By Wikipedia

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2012)

How to Survive a Marriage
Format	soap opera
Created by	Anne Howard Bailey
Developed by	Lin Bolen
Starring	Rosemary Prinz, et al.
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	335
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	January 7, 1974 – April 17, 1975

How to Survive a Marriage is an American soap opera which aired on the NBC television network from January 7, 1974 to April 17, 1975. The serial was created by Anne Howard Bailey, with much input from then-NBC Vice President Lin Bolen. The show's working title was From This Moment and was an in-house NBC production.

Contents

• 1 Synopsis
• 2 Cast
• 3 Awards and nominations
• 4 External links

Synopsis

Attempting to tell life from the point of view of women in a changing world, the show stirred controversy when the 90-minute opener had the first "nude" scene on American network television (the nudity was only implied, as both of the bodies were under bedsheets) between Larry Kirby and his mistress, Sandra. Larry and his wife Christine (nicknamed "Chris," played by Jennifer Harmon) soon divorced and while battling for custody of their daughter Lori, Chris entered the workforce. On Valentine's Day 1975, Chris and Larry remarried, and she then battled alcoholism.
Initially, the show featured veteran soap actress Rosemary Prinz in the role of Dr. Julie Franklin, a staunch feminist who counseled her friends on the joys of being an independent woman, only to decide that her life was truly complete by marrying a man. Prinz only agreed to stay on the show for a short time (as she had with All My Children several years earlier), and earned top billing, a three-day work week, and supposedly $1,000 a week, which was a big salary for a soap actress to earn in the 1970s. After six months Julie left town to marry Dr. Tony DeAngelo.
Another major story centered around Fran Bachman (Fran Brill) coping with sudden widowhood. Brill received over a thousand letters of condolence from viewers.
The show did not profit from the large lead-in that the high-rated Another World provided, mostly due to its many attempts to be socially relevant, which usually took the place of traditional storytelling to which American soap viewers at the time were acclimated. How to Survive a Marriage ran a distant third in the 3:30 PM timeslot, behind Match Game on CBS (daytime TV's highest-rated program) and One Life to Live on ABC; a move to 1:30 PM on January 6, 1975 (to enable AW to expand to an hour) only brought worse ratings. Despite its high hopes, NBC pulled the plug on the show after only sixteen months. The Monday after Survive ended, Days of our Lives expanded to an hour and assumed the vacant half-hour left in NBC's daytime schedule. The program thus holds a rather dubious distinction as the victim of not only the first expansion of a soap opera to a full hour, but the first two (CBS did not expand any of its shows until December, and ABC did not until 1977).

 

 

Cast

Famous alumni, besides Fran Brill, who was (and still is) best known as a muppeteer on Sesame Street; included Dallas star Ken Kercheval (Larry Kirby #2), Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham (Joshua Browne), film actor Armand Assante (Johnny McGhee), and the late film actor Brad Davis (Alexander Kronos).

Awards and nominations

The serial won Best Sequence at the third annual Afternoon TV Writers & Editors Awards, for "The Death of David Bachman." Fran Brill also won an award from the Afternoon TV Writers & Editors for her portrayal of Fran Bachman during the same award-winning sequence.

google.com