Welcome to A Little HerStory

A young friend, Liz, from Texas, shared this with me. I found it quite lovely and wanted to share it with you as we come to the end of celebrating Black History Month! Enjoy!!

We know her work, but do we know the talented woman who created it? Selma Burke was born on December 31, 1900, in Mooresville, North Carolina, the seventh of 10 children of Reverend Neil and Mary Elizabeth Colfield Burke. Her father was an AME Church Minister who worked on the railroads for additional income. As a child, she attended a one-room segregated schoolhouse, and often played with the riverbed clay found near her home. She would later describe the feeling of squeezin

Great recording of the song celebrating Harriet. In my opinion, the very best recording of this song that was ever made was by Bright Morning Star, with Charlie King, but they are not on Youtube. If you even have the opportunity to hear that recording do it, and the same goes for Charlie!

The Cosmic Dancer Be careful the words you use to describe who you are. Be aware of the speech you whisper deep inside yourself, like a witch casting spells. Your strength, your tenderness and hope is listening, is feeling those words. And over time, with each word, each sentence, each spell you cast into your heart, you weaken yourself from the very center. Remember that beautiful little child you were, remember that hopeful tender heart, you can come back to that place and

From Vanderbilt.edu The Black Female and the Harlem Renaissance It was during the 1920s that a "New Negro" came into being. With the end of World War I and the beginning of the roaring twenties, black Americans flocked from the rural South to the urban North in search of a better life. The capital of this new world had become Harlem, New York, and it was here that African-American life and culture experienced a rebirth during the Harlem Renaissance. The bulk of immigrants to

From the New York Times, January 2020 by Dan Barry “She endured the horrors of the African American experience - lynchings, riots, and the Klu Klux Klan - and worked to ensure that they never slipped from collective memory.” Mamie Lang Kirkland died last month at her home in upstate New York. She was the mother of nine, the matriarch of another 158, a longtime saleswoman for Avon Products, and, at the time of her death, at 111, the oldest resident of Buffalo. That only begins

Much of this information was gleaned from a tribute to her in "Black Past." Eliza Ann Grier was born enslaved in Mecklenburg, County North Carolina in 1864 but along with her parents, Emily and George Washington Grier, she was freed by the 13th Amendment to the US. Constitution in1865 when she was barely a year old. Grier eventually earned her M.D., becoming in 1898 the first African American woman to practice medicine in Georgia. Little is known of Grier’s early life beyo

Some information gained from an interview with Journalist Farai Chideya who is a former NPR news host, author of The Episodic Career, and the journalism program officer at the Ford Foundation. I have been so very inspired by this lady. I hope you enjoy a little of her story. Please, watch the clip at the end. She is a truly awesome lady. “In my younger years, I aspired to changing the world. Then reality kicked in, and I settled for 500 square feet.” Betty Reid Soskin is t

I frequently listen to a public radio station out of Denver, KVOD. They play classical music and often offer bits and pieces of musical history which I enjoy. When I first hear the music of this woman, I was stunned to learn of her background. Why had I never heard of her? The more I heard of her music the more I loved her. She was a prolific composer and quite worthy of note. I felt compelled to share her with you. Florence Beatrice Smith was born in Little Rock, Arkan

I have always been fascinated by ancient Celtic lore. My roots are showing! Imbolic for me is a joyful time, a time of hope. We celebrate the coming of spring, of planting, of life! While we are still held deeply in winter's grip, spring will come. As I write this, a beautiful beeswax candle (a gift from a very dear friend) casts a gentle light across my desk. So, light candles, celebrate and have hope. Imbolc or Imbolg, also called Brigid's Day, is a Gaelic traditional f