The Hero Lies In You!

When I was a child, I yearned to hear it said "Angela Sales, the first Black woman to?????" As a child, my heroes were Black people who were pronounced the “first Black” to do something. When I look back on my childhood, this yearning possessed me. Even as a toddler, I would cut the cushions in chairs and carve deep scratches in furniture just to see how they were made. I would toy around with science projects, dress making, and jewelry designs made from shelled nuts and wishbones. But as I headed out to college, I realized that none of those interests would make me the "first Black woman" to do something big.After moving to New York from Alabama, I hung-out with artists until I felt, by osmosis, I was one of them. I got their attention as a quick learner with design potential in stain glass and three dimensional mirror designs. I later dabbled in architecture and furniture design. With each learning experience, I would discover - "that ain't it." I turned to physical strength and power; thinking there was room for the "first Black in something" in an art medium that would feel more natural to me. I quickly learned, "that ain't it."
In 2008, I designed the Black History Flag, inspired by the conversations and heightened hopes and dreams expressed by most African Americans during the Obama campaign. Each time I look at the flag, I experience a feeling of pride, joy, nostalgia, and an urgency to share and encourage dialogue around first-hand civil rights experiences.  Hence, the “blog.” Through this venture, it became clear to me that I have always been the "first Black” to do something great.  I am the “first Black” and only child born in the world with the genetic make-up that I carry. I will always be the “first Black” and only human to do what I do, when I do it. I am the only person who will ever be me: henceforth and throughout eternity.
I now understand the essence of the song “Hero.” The hero lies in me. Thank you, Mariah.

PLEASE VISIT www.blackhistoryflag.com 

The “N” Word: Will It Ever Go Away

I was born when the word nigger was used by most white folk and lynching was done less for fun and more to protect white supremacy. Today the word is used by too many Black folks, and Blacks killing Blacks is now a common criminal behavior.
The Black men and women that we call heroes and “sheroes” are saluted and celebrated for their leadership and bravery in fighting for change.  I witnessed Martin’s dream and Malcolm’s valor change American laws of segregation, discrimination, and lynching in Birmingham, Alabama and across the country.
As a child and young adult I listen to Black activists and parents speak out at meetings and private groups as they speculated as to how sweet little white kids, some that they had helped raise, start to use the word nigger and hate “Negroes” so much. I can still here them say, “It’s the parents feeding them hatred.”
As I listened to them grapple with the phenomenon, I wondered why White folks who were doing us so wrong weren’t called niggers too.
I learned from my mom at an early age, after calling a woman a “White nigger” who said I couldn’t drink from a fountain in a department store, that no one deserves to be called nigger. I never used it since. I don’t like to hear it in passing and I don’t like to here it in jokes.
Over 50 years later, I wonder what happened. White people are banned from using the word nigger in public or in private; and lynching has also been banned. Now day, Black people (especially the youth) use the word nigger as a term of endearment or belittlement, and they use guns to subjugate and kill Black people. More over, a growing population of Hispanics is using the word nigger and they use guns too.
What the hell happened after Martin and Malcolm?
Join my Blog with your first-hand account of the Black struggle. Don’t leave this earth without telling your first hand experiences about  the civil rights struggle.


www.blackhistoryflag.com

Till Victory is Won!

If you are waiting for others to support your business idea, it may never
happen.  Step out on faith and remember the words of our  anthem "sing a
song full of the hope that the dark path as taught us." And march on, with
courage, in the footsteps of the legends before us "till victory is won."

www.blackhistoryflag.com

Heroes

I believe that we “the people” are naturally divided into three important groups; heroes, leaders, and followers; and it takes all of us to make the world the ever-evolving planet that it is. 

Heroes are natural born leaders. They are here on earth to fulfill a divinely inspired mission of prophecy, hope, healing and change. They lead by example and inspire followers to rise up, to be productive, to acknowledge their own divine gift and to understand and value the message they were born to bring to the world. Once their work is done, they are done. They usually die far too young.

From the field of followers come leaders – people who are inspired by heroes and are driven by passion to walk in the footsteps of giants. Sojourner Truth,  Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, Shirley Chisholm, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King are all giants who inspired
Barak Obama to lead.

Own an inspiring piece carrying the Black History Flag that will daily
remind you of those who have gone before and be an inspiration for those
who will come later.  Visit BlackHistoryFlag.com

I Remember When...

There are fewer people alive today who lived through the civil rights movement and know first hand about the struggle to be treated as equal in America, about the struggle to be noted for a creative thought and contribution to the growth of America, about the struggle to create a different path to prosperity other than singing and dancing or being a jokester, about the struggle to wear hairstyles in a natural state and be accepted, and on and on....  

Today's youth doesn't have a clue about the importance of struggle, unity, and community.  Nor do they understand their role in making the world a better place.  Black Americans born before the 1960's rise up and tell the stories of your life experiences and of the heroes who struggled to make #CHANGE happen for you.  The younger generation must learn that it didn't start with Michael, Oprah, and Barack.

"WE REMEMBER WHEN" Join my Blog and write your 
"I Remember When" story.  Let's give the world historians an open diary and give our youth an appreciation for what struggle really is.  As they won't get that from the classroom, it is our social responsibility!

What I like about successful people is that they have mastered the fear of rejection and are therefore set free to be the best they can be. They have the X Factor. Every African American is born with the X Factor, a #MalcolmXFactor #Byanymeansnecessary be all you can be.

www.blackhistoryflag.com

Amazing Grace

Just watched the video featuring Wintley Phipps singing Amacing Grace at Carnegie Hall.  It was AMAZING. I have never heard it with such passion and emotion. With that same passion for remembering the souls of Black people who struggled through our history to get us to where we are today in America, I pledge allegiance to a self-created Black History Flag everyday and remember "the faith that the dark past has taught us." I believe millions will soon join me. BlackHistoryFlag.com