i Hi everyone ! I was kinda sorta just practicing drawing POC (specifically black hairstyles) since I feel I need to get better at that (for reference I am very, very white and want to be able to accurately and respectfully portray POC). THEN I remembered what month it was and started panicking and worried I wasn't going to be able to make something good to celebrate, so of course I scrounged this up for you guys. ii Friendly reminder to educate yourself on important current events! At the moment, people of color in America are facing terrifying times and it's important not to be running around like headless chickens. With that being said, people in power have been erasing black history all over the world for the past forever. EDUCATE YOURSELF and stand with those who need it. Recognize important black historical figures (not just Harriet Tubman and Fredrick Douglass !) and LEARN about them. Anti-intellectualism is rampant and needs to be avoided. Research things! Research activists! Research just for fun! Whether it's BHM related or not, LEARN. iii Bayard Rustin was a black man born in 1912 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. While it's easy to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X for their work in the Civil Rights movement (as it should be!), Rustin was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Rustin was not only a Civil Rights activist, but also a gay man and faced discrimination for not only his race but his sexuality. He conducted more important movements over the years, leading a student boycott of NYC public schools, becoming president of A. Philip Randolph Institute (civil rights organization), and involving himself in the gay rights movement. He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. Rustin passed away in New York August 24, 1987. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bayard-Rustin You may have heard of her story, but it's important to know her name, which I hadn't until this point. Claudette Colvin, born in 1939, chose not to sit in the back of the us in 1955, similar to the famous Rosa Parks. She, just like Parks, refused to give up her seat for a white person, arguing she'd paid her fare and had a right to sit where she was. She was dragged off the bus at 15 years old, cuffed, and arrested by two police officers for violating Montgomery segregation laws. She helped, through the class action lawsuit Browder v. Gayle, (along with Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Jeanetta Reese, and Mary Louise Smith) to make segregation on buses illegal. Colvin wasn't made a representative for the civil rights movement because of her young age, though she absolutely deserves the same attention as other members of the movement. She passed away January 13th of this year. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudette-Colvin Henrietta Lacks had her cells stolen by scientists and doctors without her knowledge before passing away from cervical cancer on October 4, 1951. Her cells were used to conduct research that helped spark medical advancements that are crucial to this day. Despite her cancer cells being very important to treating cancer patients in the present day, George Gey (who extracted Lacks' cells) had absolutely no right to do what he did, and Henrietta deserved to have her bodily autonomy preserved and maintained after death. It's devastating how she was used, however the medical advancements made deserve commemoration. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henrietta-Lacks I highly suggest checking out informational articles like these ones: ⮞ /www.rd.com/list/black-americans-you-didnt-learn-about/ ⮞ parade.com/1328166/shameikarhymes/african-american-historical-figures/ ⮞ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Greatest_African_Americans ⮞ www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/black-history-month-scientists
