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THE JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

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Events

Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.

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MY'STORY

The MOVE Fire

This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at the MOVE house, city officials approved dropping an explosive device on the roof, the resulting fire was allowed to burn, 11 people—including five children—died, and 61 homes were destroyed. Philadelphia City Council later called it a “brutal attack carried out by the City of Philadelphia on its own citizens” and acknowledged that no individual faced criminal consequences for the bombing. One timeline correction worth preserving for the BHP record: the major previous MOVE-police confrontation was August 8, 1978, about seven years before the bombing, not a year or two earlier. Officer James Ramp was killed, other police and firefighters were wounded, nine MOVE members were later convicted, and television cameras recorded police beating Delbert Africa during his arrest. The 1985 MOVE Commission later specifically criticized city planners for failing to adequately use lessons from that 1978 confrontation. And that actually strengthens the point you’re making: 1985 did not happen without precedent or institutional memory. There had already been a deadly confrontation with MOVE, years of conflict, negotiations and police involvement before Osage Avenue.

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BLACK FACTS
The Truths They Never Taught You...

The Violence That Helped Spark the NAACP

In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.

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BHP gathered finds from its connected research sources. Showing the 4 strongest Black History matches.
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NMAAHC

Kanga with portraits of Barack Obama and American flags

Date
2008
Description
Kanga by African Pride Textile Mills Ltd. in red, white, and blue featuring portraits of Barack Obama and American flags. The cloth has a wide red border and a dark blue interior ground. At the center are four (4) American flags arranged diagonally to create an empty diamond space in the middle. Inside this space are three (3) of the same portrait of Obama, placed in a diagonal and slightly overlapping, with Obama looking upward to the left. They are printed with the middle of the three in red and the outer two in blue. In each corner of the interior section the "O" rising sun logo of the Obama campaign is printed in red, white, and blue, arranged so that the red and white striped portion is facing into the point of the corner. A white rectangle with blue text reading "YES WE CAN - OBAMA" is printed at the bottom center interior section. A thin border surrounds the interior with thick white lines around it and a row of closely spaced five-pointed stars in white inside the lines. In the wide red outer border the year "2008" is printed in white repeatedly and closely spaced. The "O" rising sun logo is again printed in each corner of the outer border, also arranged with the red and white striped section pointing toward the point of the corner. Manufacturer's information is printed vertically along the right side edge that reads "SOMO MOTO, HISTORI-KALI AFRICAN PRIDE TEXTILE MILLS LTD. [star] LESSO [star] PRINTED TANZANIA KHANGA DES NO. 9116".
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National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
Classification
Textiles and Quilts
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Catherine E. McKinley
Data Source
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Object number
2017.16.15
Type
textiles
portraits
Restrictions & Rights
Unknown - Restrictions Possible
Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Medium
cotton
Dimensions
H x W: 43 5/16 × 70 1/16 in. (110 × 178 cm)
Title
Object Name • Kanga with portraits of Barack Obama and American flags
Record ID
nmaahc_2017.16.15
Museum
NMAAHC
Title Sort
KANGA WITH PORTRAITS OF BARACK OBAMA AND AMERICAN FLAGS
Source
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Metadata Usage
CC0
Date
2000s
Geo Location
City • Dar es Salaam • Country • Tanzania • Continent • Africa
Online Media Rights
Unknown - Restrictions Possible

Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Rights and restrictions shown above are supplied by the Smithsonian record.

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NMAAHC

Kanga with portrait of Barack Obama and African continent

Date: Date

Description

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NMAAHC

Pinback button promoting the Sixth Pan African Congress

Date: Date

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NMAAHC

Kanga with portraits of Barack Obama and American flags

Date: Date

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NMAAHC

United States Department of State Distinguished Honor Award

Date: Date

Description

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TOPIC OF THE DAY

Greenwood / Black Wall Street

Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY

Who was the first African-American woman millionaire in the United States?

Madam C.J. Walker