Welcome To Black Mail! Where we bring you Black History, Special Delivery. We close out Black History Month with a quote from the Father of Black History Month, Dr. Carter G. Woodson. “We have a wonderful history behind us…and it is going to inspire us to greater achievements.” -Dr. Carter G. Woodson Dr. Woodson is so right! Our history is rich and wonderful, and it will propel present and future generations to higher heights and greater achievements. Thank you for rocking with Black Mail for another month of Black History….Special Delivery! But, y’all know one month can’t hold our history ..read more

Welcome To Black Mail! Where we bring you Black History, Special Delivery. “Good things don’t come to those who wait. They come to those who agitate!” -Julian Boyd. What a powerful quote by civil rights activist, politician, and educator Julian Bond. Bond was born in 1940 in Nashville, Tennesse. He met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr while attending Morehouse College. While at Morehouse, Bond worked with other students to desegregate lunch counters in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1960, he helped establish the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which mobilized students in the fight for civi ..read more

Welcome To Black Mail! Where we bring you Black History, Special Delivery. On March 12, 1956, the House Rules Committee chairman, Howard Smith, announced the Southern Manifesto in a speech on the House Floor. The document’s formal name was the “Declaration of Constitutional Principles, ” Seventy-seven representatives signed it, and 19 Senators, totaling approximately one-fifth of the membership of Congress, and all from Confederate states. Brought forth as an act of defiance, the Manifesto challenged the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, which outlawed separate school facil ..read more

Welcome To Black Mail! Where we bring you Black History, Special Delivery. Scientist and inventor Dasia Taylor was born on April 6, 2004, in Chicago, Illinois. Taylor graduated from Iowa City West High School in Iowa City, Iowa, in 2021.  In 2019, at age fifteen, Taylor conducted an experiment with beets. She discovered that dye from beets applied to surgical sutures would change color at a perfect pH point, revealing if a wound was healing properly. When healing correctly, the suture thread (containing beet juice) would change from bright red to dark purple. Cesarean infections were of ..read more

Welcome To Black Mail! Where we bring you Black History, Special Delivery. Steve Henson (1918-2007) created ranch dressing to compliment the dishes he was serving to his work crews while working as a plumber in Alaska. Upon retirement, Henson and his wife Gayle bought the large 120-acre Sweet Water Ranch in Santa Barbara, California, in 1954. They soon changed the name to Hidden Valley Ranch. Henson brought his recipe, now called “ranch dressing,” to California. He would serve the tangy blend for guests visiting his ranch. They loved it and often requested bottles to take home. He introduced ..read more

Welcome To Black Mail! Where we bring you Black History, Special Delivery. Haben Girma was born in Oakland, California, on July 28, 1988. She was born deafblind. Her mother is originally from Eritrea and came to the United States as a refugee in 1983 to escape the Eritrea War of Independence against Ethiopia. Girma’s father is of Ethiopian descent. Her early education took place in Oakland Public Schools. The 1990 passing of the Americans With Disabilities Act supported Girma in receiving an inclusive education. The Americans With Disabilities Act outlawed discrimination based on disability ..read more

Welcome To Black Mail! Where we bring you Black History, Special Delivery. On February 20, 1900, Black inventor John F. Pickering (1892-1940) of Gonaives, Haiti, was granted a patent for the “Air Ship. ” (Patent 643,975). Pickering was not the original inventor of the blimp but made some significant improvements to the original design. The first blimp was invented by Henry Giffard in 1852. Pickering’s design was the first blimp with directional controls. It was also powered by an electric motor. In modern times blimps were used for research, tourism, surveying, advertising, freight transporta ..read more

Welcome To Black Mail! Where we bring you Black History, Special Delivery. In 1880 Black inventor Powell Johnson patented “eye protectors.” Johnson designed the eyewear for various professions, including furnacemen, ironworkers, firefighters, and other workers exposed to glare and bright lights. The eye protectors had two frames with cloth disks inserted to shield the eyes from bright light. This type of design was the first of its kind. Johnson’s design improved upon previous inventions and helped pave the way for modern protective eyewear. Little is known about Johnson’s life. He is credit ..read more

Delegates agreed upon the Three-Fifths Compromise during the 1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention. The Convention decided that three out of every five enslaved persons would be counted to determine a state’s total population for legislative representation and taxation before the Civil War. This gave disproportionate representation to southern slave-holding states in the House of Representatives. The issue of how to calculate population totals was of significant concern. The United States was deeply divided on the abolishment of slavery, with some delegates from Northern states seeking to have ..read more

Welcome To Black Mail! Where we bring you Black History, Special Delivery. African American scientist Dennis Weatherby is responsible for the Cascade dish detergent chemical formula. He was born in Brighton, Alabama, on December 4, 1959. Weatherby developed a love for science as a child. Following high school he attended Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, on a football scholarship. He graduated with a bachelor of arts in chemistry in 1982. Following graduation, Weatherby was employed by Proctor and Gamble as a process engineer. Within two years, he led a consumer products team fo ..read more