Celebrating Black History Month: "Lift Every Voice and Sing" Black National Anthem

Lift Every Voice and Sing was written in 1900 by lyricist James Weldon Johnson and set to music by his brother J. Rosamond Johnson.  The song is a prayer of thanksgiving to God and a prayer for faithfulness and freedom.  

After its premiere in 1900, the hymn was sung within Black American communities and the NAACP began to promote it as a "Negro national anthem" in 1919. 

In 1923, the Manhattan Harmony Four, a male gospel group, recorded Lift Every Voice and Sing.  Their performance was added to the National Recording Registry in 2016.

In 2021, Representative Jim Clyburn sponsored a bill which proposed that Lift Every Voice and Sing be designated as the "national hymn" of the US, although other songs have been proposed to become the national hymn.  The Star Spangled-Banner will remain as the national anthem.

Lift Every Voice and Sing was sung on September 24, 2016 at the opening ceremonies of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where President Obama gave the keynote address.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Clarence "Taffy" Abel, first Native American to play in the NHL

Clarence "Taffy" Abel, born May 28, 1900 in Sault St. Marie, Michigan, has achieved a lot of firsts for Native Americans.  His wikipedia page says he is was a member of the Ojibwe tribe, but the video below says he was from the Sioux tribe of the Chippewas.  

He was the first Native American to be a US Olympic flag bearer for the US at the 1924 Winter Olympics where he was a silver medalist in ice hockey.  In 1926 he signed with the New York Rangers, becoming the first Native American to play in the National Hockey League.  He was part of the team when they won the Stanley Cup in the 1927-1928 season.

He went to the Chicago Black Hawks and helped them win the Stanley Cup in the 1933-1934 season.  He retired afterwards.

He passed away in August 1964. 

Agnes Moorehead born 1900

One of the most talented actresses ever, Agnes Moorehead, born December 6, 1900, was nominated for four Oscars, all for Best Supporting Actress but never took home the statue.  Their loss because she was fantastic.  She died of uterine cancer, a consequence of filming The Conqueror in Nevada in 1954 close to where the US Government was conducting nuclear tests.  The radiation fallout also resulted in the deaths of John Wayne, Susan Hayward and Dick Powell.

She did win two Golden Globes, one for her role in Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte! for which she SHOULD have won the Oscar.

Another of my favorite performances, besides Endora on Bewitched, was her Twilight Zone episode, The Invaders.  In this performance, she does not utter a single word throughout the entire episode.  Now that's awesome acting!


Be warned:  This clip contains spoilers!

Book review - "Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larsen

Today marks the anniversary of one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes to hit the U.S.  A Category 4 slammed into Galveston in 1900 killing over 6000 people and destroying any chanced the city had of becoming a major player in Texas’ economy as a sea port and resort.

Erik Larsen wrote a fascinating non-fiction book, Isaac’s Storm, following Isaac Cline, the director of the Weather Bureau in Galveston.  He stitches together a minute-by-minute time line of the storm as it approached the island and then passed over the city.  Larsen chronicled several families as their situation deteriorated with the rising waters from reviewing hundreds of eyewitness accounts.  Some houses weathered the storm so well on the leeward side of the island, the people inside were shocked to see so many other buildings destroyed.

I’ve read Larsen’s book three times and used it for the basis of my Louisiana Psionic Officer series Scorpion Nest.  Every time I read Isaac’s Storm, I still find something new that I didn’t notice before.