November: 

Imagine living in a world where one simply couldn't register to vote solely because of the color of their skin. Imagine finally earning your right to vote and having to experience wrongful measures to do so including intimidation by local officials and having to take an impossible test. These are hurdles many Black Americans had to cross prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law outlawed these discriminatory practices that were adopted by many southern states after the civil war.

It's not just the Voting Rights Act that changed the way voices were able to be heard. Many people of color and African Americans as it relates to American history have had to fight and make hard choices that have led to many of the measures we have in place today.

With Election Week just around the corner, please keep in mind the individuals behind the fight for voter rights and read up on each candidate prior to going to the polls to vote.

Following Sweet Blackberry's mission, to to share lesser known triumphs by African Americans throughout history, check out this month's activity highlighting the men and woman who became the "first" of many to hold public office at the local, state and national levels.

Remembering Ntozake Shange

"Sing a black girl's song/bring her out/to know herself/to know you..."

When the first trailer for the Tyler Perry's directed film For Colored Girls (2010) came out, news of the original choreopoem (1975), For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1976), turned off-Broadway play circulated. It wasn't the first time the the words of Ntozake Shange were brought to life but it showed that her timeless masterpiece showcasing the stories of the Ladies in Red, Blue, Purple, Yellow, Brown, Green and Orange still had meaning and could still make its mark on Black women, regardless of their age. It could bond family members regardless of generations

Last week, we learned of the passing of Shange and with this news, many began to reflect on how her work has affected their lives its impact on Black womanhood. 

While Shange is best known for For Colored Girls, her life and life's work is profound. She authored several novels including Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982), Liliane (1994) and Betsey Brown (1985). She achieved a wide range of honors and awards including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund as well as a Pushcart Prize. Growing up, Shange's family had a strong interest for the arts with the likes of Miles Davis, Chuck Berry and W.E.B. Du Bois known to be guests in her family's home. 

Sweet Blackberry would like to extend its condolences to the loved ones of Ntozake Shange. May her words continue to enlighten and her path continue to inspire generations to come.  

Who is Stacey Abrams? 

It's hard to believe that America has yet to have a Black woman governor. There's a chance Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will change that.  

The second of six children, Abrams grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi. Her mother was a school librarian and her father was a shipyard worker. Her family later moved to Atlanta where Abrams went on to graduate as valedictorian of her class at Spelman. 

Abrams, a notable story teller, shared that she found her footing in working in community oriented affairs after the Rodney King verdict sparked violent protests in Black communities across the country. Mother Jones reported that Abrams grew angry with how the media characterized young people in the streets as "angry vandals rather than complex human beings who had seen in a single verdict an indictment of our humanity." She called local news stations to complain about their coverage and eventually went on to earn her master's degree from the University of Texas and her law degree from Yale. In 2003, at 29 years old, Abrams was appointed Atlanta's deputy city attorney, she was elected to the state Assembly in 2006 and became Georgia's House first African American minority leader in 2010. 

While Abrams' run is indeed historic, Sweet Blackberry encourages you to read up on all candidate information prior to making any decision in the voting booth. Be sure to exercise your right to vote this upcoming Election Tuesday. 

Daily Mail -Voting in the 'black belt': How African American activists are utilizing technology to create a 'voting wave' that will propel the Democrats into power in Southern states

The Undefeated -A radical idea to solve the lack of African-American players in baseball

Variety - Steve McQueen's 'Widows,' Barry Jenkins' 'Beale Street' Highlight Smithsonian African American Film Festival

PBS Newshour - Georgia election fight shows that black voter suppression, a southern tradition, still flourishes

The Washington Post - Trump declares his first national monument, honoring African American troops

An elderly African American woman, en route to vote, remembers her family's tumultuous voting history in this picture book publishing in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

As Lillian, a one-hundred-year-old African American woman, makes a "long haul up a steep hill" to her polling place, she sees more than trees and sky-she sees her family's history. She sees the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment and her great-grandfather voting for the first time. She sees her parents trying to register to vote. And she sees herself marching in a protest from Selma to Montgomery. Veteran bestselling picture-book author Jonah Winter and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Shane W. Evans vividly recall America's battle for civil rights in this lyrical, poignant account of one woman's fierce determination to make it up the hill and make her voice heard.

Find the book on Amazon Smile, here.