Memorial Day, an American national holiday dedicated to the memory of fallen US soldiers, is celebrated on the last Monday of May. Its beginnings however, started on the first day of May in 1865, when by a group of newly liberated Blacks in Charleston, South Carolina placed flowers on the unmarked graves of captured Union soldiers and held a parade to honor the dead. To learn more about what was originally known as "Decoration Day", check out the links to sources below:https://www.history.com/news/memorial-day-civil-war-slavery-charlestonhttps://www.lx.com/black-legacy/dont-overlook-memorial-days-black-southern-roots/53453/https://www.live5news.com/2020/02/18/charleston-claims-first-memorial-day-celebration-with-african-americans-playing-significant-role/https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2022/05/28/freed-slaves-started-first-memorial-day-in-the-us/https://aaregistry.org/story/the-first-american-memorial-day-is-commemorated/If you like these Daily Drops, follow us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.
Born in 1879, Mary Eliza Mahoney worked hard for nearly two decades to earn her nursing license, overcoming discrimination to become the first African American person to do so in the United States. To learn more about Boston-born and based Mahoney, read Mary Eliza Mahoney and the Legacy of African-American Nurses, watch a short bio on YouTube or check out the links to more sources below.Sources:https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mary-mahoneyhttps://www.essence.com/black-history-month-2019/mary-eliza-mahoney-the-first-black-nurse/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/19/obituaries/mary-eliza-mahoney-overlooked.htmlhttps://nursing-theory.org/famous-nurses/Mary-Mahoney.phphttps://www.biography.com/activist/mary-mahoneyhttp://ojin.nursingworld.org/FunctionalMenuCategories/AboutANA/Honoring-Nurses/NationalAwardsProgram/HallofFame/19761982/mahome5552.htmlIf you like these Daily Drops, follow us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend. For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.
The first African American woman to earn a doctorate at M.I.T., Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson is responsible for the major advances in telecommunications research that led to the invention of the touch-tone phone, portable fax, fiber optic cables, solar cells, call waiting and caller ID. To learn more about the current president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest technological research university in the U.S., check out the links to sources below:Strong Force: The Story of Physicist Shirley Ann Jackson https://president.rpi.edu/president-biographyhttps://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/shirley-ann-jackson/https://www.news10.com/news/local-news/dr-shirley-ann-jackson-a-lifetime-shattering-glass-ceilings-in-math-and-science-for-black-women/https://youtu.be/mKAgAdHaJw0 (National Medal of Science bio)https://youtu.be/0CYQAQ1EPSo (Storied Women of MIT)https://youtu.be/ATcTENr07U8 (An evening with Dr. Jackson NSTMF)https://youtu.be/xvGPPE-09OE (Brown University Department of Physics bio) If you like these Daily Drops, follow us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.
Jockey Oliver Lewis won the inaugural Kentucky Derby atop the colt Aristides on May 17, 1875. Lewis was one of thirteen Black jockeys in the fifteen-strong field. But even though Blacks dominated horseracing in the late 1800s, by the early 1900s, they’d been pushed out of the sport, with James Winkfield being the last to win in 1902. After an almost 80 year drought, in 2000, Marlon St. Julien was the next Black jockey to compete.To learn more about Oliver Lewis and the long history of African American people in horse racing, check out the sources below.Sources:https://www.britannica.com/topic/African-Americans-and-Horse-Racing-1984952https://kchr.ky.gov/Hall-of-Fame/Pages/Oliver-Lewis.aspxhttps://www.derbymuseum.org/Exhibits/Detail/12/Black-Heritage-in-Racinghttps://madamenoire.com/1314353/a-group-of-black-women-horse-owners-make-history-after-winning-their-first-kentucky-oaks-day-race/https://biography.jrank.org/pages/2969/Lewis-Oliver.htmlhttps://www.americasbestracing.net/videos/2022-celebrate-black-history-month-jockey-oliver-lewishttps://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=151711493456737https://youtu.be/6kXTvHErwm8 (Kentucky Derby video on Black Jockeys)If you like these Daily Drops, follow us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.
On Mother's Day 2022, we offer a quote from three-time Olympic gold medalist and international track star Wilma Rudolph on when you have a choice, always choose to believe your mother.To learn more about Wilma Rudolph, read her 1977 autobiography Wilma: The Story of Wilma Rudolph, Wilma Rudolph: A Biography from 2006, the children’s book Wilma Rudolph: Athlete and Educator by Alice K. Flanagan, or watch the 1977 movie Wilma starring Cicely Tyson, Shirley Jo Finney and Denzel Washington on Vudu.Sources:https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/wilma-rudolphhttps://olympics.com/en/athletes/wilma-rudolphhttps://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016444.htmlhttps://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/wilma-rudolphhttps://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/13/obituaries/wilma-rudolph-star-of-the-1960-olympics-dies-at-54.htmlhttps://youtu.be/BYQXYVwa4YE (biography mini bio)https://youtu.be/FPVdpJZJi-o (epic Olympic moments)https://youtu.be/Xnr0hu1skVY (interview)