Black History Month: February 2022
To recall and celebrate the positive contributions to our nation made by people of African descent, American historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Week beginning on Feb. 12, 1926. In 1976, as part of the nation's bicentennial, the week was expanded into Black History Month.
TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT ON
HALLE BERRY
Oscar-winning actress, producer, and beauty icon Halle Berry was the first African-American woman to win a Best Actress Academy Award, for the 2001 film Monster's Ball. She also earned a Golden Globe award in 2000 for her work in HBO's The Dorothy Dandridge Story, which she also produced. A former Miss Ohio, Berry got her break in Spike Lee's 1991 Jungle Fever, playing a crack addict. She starred opposite Eddie Murphy in Boomerang, Warren Beatty in Bulworth, John Travolta in Swordfish, and played Storm in two blockbuster X-Men films. She commanded $4 million for her role in the 2002 James Bond Die Another Day. The longtime Revlon spokesmodel has been divorced three times, from baseball player David Justice in 1996 and from R&B singer Eric Benet in late 2003 and Olivier Martinez in 2016. She is reportedly worth $90 million.
HALLE BERRY TRIVIA:
- Born: August 14, 1966 in Cleveland Ohio
- Is 5 feet 7 inches tall.
- Nickname: Hannah Little
- Is diabetic.
- Was then raised by her mom. Halle's parents, Judith & Jerome Berry, divorced when she was 4 years old.
- Named Miss USA; first runner-up in 1986.
- Named Miss Ohio USA in 1986.
- Named Miss Teen All American in 1985.
- Attended Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio.
- Turned down the role of Annie in Speed (1994).
- Was named after the grand old Halle Building in Cleveland, Ohio, which originally housed the Halle Brothers department store. The building is now an office building and the fictional setting for the Winfred-Louder department store on “The Drew Carey Show”.
- Was an honor society member, editor of the school paper, class president, and crowned prom queen in high school.
- Lost some hearing in one of her ears due to a physical encounter with a boyfriend in the early 90s.
- Attended Heskett Middle School in Bedford, Ohio.
- Has an estranged sister named Heidi.
- Graduate of Bedford High School, Bedford, Ohio.
- First black American in the Miss World Competition. She didn't win a prize but her dress did.
- Her dress for the 2002 Oscars ceremony was voted the most popular from the first 75 years.
- Broke her arm on the set of Gothika while filming in Montreal in May 2003.
- Half British on her mother's side.
- The first actress to star and portray two different comic book characters for two different comic book companies (Storm) for Marvel's X-Men & X2 & (Catwoman) for DC Comics.
- Was in a relationship with Michael Ealy for over a year.
- Is married to actor Olivier Martinez.
- Was in a custody battle with ex Gabriel Aubry over their four-year-old daughter Nahla.
HALLE BERRY SOUND
Halle accepts the Best Actress Oscar for Monster's Ball at the 2002 Academy Awards:
“Oh my God! (sobs) This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. It's for the women that stand beside me: Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox, and it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because a door tonight has been opened!”
Halle on dealing with adversity:
- “I believe that we're here for a reason. We deal with the downs because they're obstacles that are put in our way to force us to grow, and without those, we never can really, feel joy fully if we haven't really been sort of to those valleys.”
HALLE BERRY QUOTES:
- Berry on her award-winning portrayal of singer/actress Dorothy Dandridge: “…You have to find a way to be sad on every day, in every scene, in every moment. And always try to hide the sadness. And (then) you'll get the essence of who she was.”
- Berry's Oscar acceptance speech: “This moment is so much bigger than me, This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll… It's for the women that stand beside me, Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox… and it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance, because the door tonight has been opened.”
- Berry on choosing both serious and popcorn-movie roles: “There's art and there's commerce. You have to find a way to mesh the two. It's important to do the little movies just for the love of the art. But it's those big movies that take you around the world and make you globally famous.”
(Source: imbd.com)
TODAY IN BLACK HISTORY:
- In 1839, Inventor Edmond Berger patented the spark plug.
- In 1862, The District Of Columbia abolished slavery.
- In 1897, Alfred L. Cralle invented the ice cream scooper, patent Number 576,395.
- In 1912, Herbert Mills, of the original Mills Brothers Quartet, was born in Piqua, Ohio. The highly successful group was known for their smooth harmonies.
- In 1914, William Ellisworth Artis was born in Washington, D.C. Educated at Syracuse University and a student of Augusta Savage, his works were exhibited at Atlanta University, the Whitney Museum, the Two Centuries Of Black American Art exhibit, and collected by Fisk University, Hampton University, the North Carolina Museum Of Art, and private collectors.
- In 1915, Biologist Ernest E. Just received the Spingarn medal for his pioneering work in cell division and fertilization.
- In 1947, actress Farrah Fawcett was born in Corpus Cristi, TX. She died on June 25th, 2009.
- In 1948, President Truman sent Congress a special message urging adoption of a civil rights program, including a fair employment practices commission and anti-lynching and anti-poll tax measures.
- In 1962, Seven whites and four blacks were arrested after an all-night sit-in at the Englewood, New Jersey, City Hall, while four black mothers were arrested after a sit-in at a Chicago elementary school. The mothers later got suspended $50 fines. Protests, picketing, and demonstrations continued for several weeks against de facto segregation, double shifts, and mobile classrooms.
- In 2009, Eric Holder was sworn in as the first black Attorney General.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH QUESTION OF THE DAY:
- Who was the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize?
A) Gwendolyn Brooks
B) Langston Hughes
C) Alice Walker
The answer is A: Gwendolyn Brooks. She won the prize in 1950 for her poem “Annie Allen.” Walker won the prize in 1983 for her novel, The Color Purple.
(Source: infoplease.com)
BLACK HISTORY MONTH FACT OF THE DAY:
Van Jones is an award-winning social entrepreneur. As an advisor to the Obama administration, Jones helped oversee the process of green economic recovery spending, and is an expert in promoting human rights and clean energy economics. He is also a Yale educated attorney who holds a joint appointment at Princeton University as a visiting fellow at the Center for African-American Studies and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
In 2009, Time Magazine named Jones one of the most influential people in the world. The best-selling author is also the co-founder of three successful nonprofit organizations: the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, and Green For All.
Last year, Jones launched the group Rebuild A Dream — which is seen as a liberal counter to the Tea Party movement. Through the group, he hopes to create jobs and fix the American economy.
