Welcome to the second week of our BHM A Century of Commemorations reflection series. As always, you can subscribe for yourself to get the most out of this month with me. I am only highlighting certain points from the issues.
February 8th 2026: Lift Every Voice and Sing
– Brothers James and John Johnson collaborated to write a song in 1899 that would first be performed publicly at Stanton School in Florida (where James was principal) to celebrate Abe Lincoln’s bday in 1900.
– After moving away, the bros had no idea their song would then be passed on from class to class, school to school, state to state, until it was adopted in 1919 by the NAACP as their official anthem.
– The song’s popularity organically led it to become considered the “Black National Anthem”
– During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the song found renewed purpose.
– The NFL began playing it before games in 2021. Here’s Coco Jones singing it at the Super Bowl this past weekend.
Reflection Questions
1. The Johnson brothers created “Lift Every Voice and Sing” for a specific school celebration, yet it spread organically through communities over decades. Can you think of other songs that have quickly spread like this?
It’s hard to ignore DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS these days. Bad Bunny obviously made the song and put it out there for everyone to hear, but the album is a love letter to Puerto Rico. Even so, he won album of the year, reached the number one spot on Apple Music in China, and has transcended the musical stage. For being entirely in Spanish, it has risen beyond language. Also recently my grandmother brought up Woody Guthrie. His song, “This Land is Your Land,” was one I remember signing in school and everyone just knowing it. However, it was originally titled, “God Blessed America for Me,” and it had lines we never learned in school talking about how there’s no private property and that poor Americans often wonder if this land really is made for them. Interesting to consider how the meaning changed over time in a white-washed, cookie-cutter, ra-ra way. Whereas Lift Every Voice and Sing gained acclaim and meaning to truly lift every voice.
2. The popularity of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was sparked in classrooms. In which other ways do schools move digital, justice and representation forward for marginalized communities?
I will admit, the wording and structure of this sentence confused me. Are we talking about digital justice and representation, or justice, representation, and something digital? I am not sure. Let’s chat about it anyway. I am not really connected to classrooms these days, but I hear that kids receive tablets, laptops, and the like in classrooms and that they can take home. I think this is both good and bad. Bad for the kids who now can’t write, but good for helping those who don’t have access to the technology at home. However, if Abbott Elementary is accurate, then these are not even distributions and access across school districts. A cool thing though is that teachers and educators do have access to the internet as well, and can learn to promote more inclusive language, topics, and ideas in the classroom. This also comes with an asterisk because somehow classrooms are monitored for what is appropriate and matches the curriculum and what the board and parents want to hear. Again, this is all second and third hand information, but it feels right. I think technology has helped students with disabilities feel more included though with captions and screen readers and the like so they don;t fall behind due to a lack of resources. I think with this information age though it can become overwhelming for kids with so much access to news and “justice” and can feel like nothing will matter. We gotta keep lifting their spirits and their hearts when we can.
3. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” served as a source of inspiration when Black Americans were excluded from many aspects of public life. What songs give you hope, or make you feel a sense of togetherness and belonging?
Songs that give me hope and a sense of belonging and togetherness: DtMF – Bad Bunny, What a Life – Rachel Chinouriri, Heaven Passing Through – Turnpike Troubadours, SUPERBLOOM – MisterWives, Pink Pony Club – Chappel Roan, GOOD TIMES – Jungle, Witchoo – Durand Jones & The Indications and Aaron Frazer, and I’m sure there’s more I can’t think of right now.
February 9th 2026: Rosa Parks Day
– December 1, 1955.
– Montgomery city ordinance allowed bus drivers to assign seating, but technically did not permit them to demand that passengers give up their seats. Bus drivers did this anyway.
– When the driver, James Blake, asked Parks to give up her seat for a white passenger, she refused.
– 1992 “I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was 42. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
– Just four days before the incident, Parks attended a meeting where she learned that the men who murdered 14-year-old Emmett Till were acquitted.
– They created the Montgomery Bus Boycott as a day-long protest to coincide with Parks’ trial.
-15-year-old Claudette Colvin had also been arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat. However, these leaders determined that Parks, a light-skinned, respected NAACP secretary with an unblemished record, would be a more compelling face of the movement.
– The leaders decided to make it a long-term boycott and founded the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) as an organized body to make demands.
– November 1956, the Supreme Court ruled in Browder v. Gayle that the segregated but privately owned bus system in Montgomery violated the Equal Protection Clause, effectively ending the boycott after 381 days.
– Representatives Terri A. Sewell, Joyce M. Beatty, and Shomari C. Figures introduced the Rosa Parks Day Act in February 2025 to make December 1 a national holiday. If established, Rosa Parks Day would become the first federal holiday to honor a woman.
Reflection Questions
1. A boycott is a powerful form of protest. What other boycotts can you think of throughout history? Have you ever participated in a boycott before?
I was heavily invested in the BDS movement in 2023 and honestly still am. That is what they call better later than never, as this movement has been around since the early 2000’s. We boycotted the other week in protest of ICE in Minneapolis, although that one I didn’t fully commit to because a lot of the people that was intended to help could not afford to skip work, so I turned it into a cash only day for me and supported local immigrant businesses. I’ve been boycotting Chic-Fil-A since I was born. I’ll boycott artists who say and do wild and inappropriate and harmful things. If I could somehow boycott war I would. PRetty sure the family boycotted SeaWorld one year and just stuck to Schlitterbahn.
2. The article mentions that the fight for just and accessible public transportation isn’t over yet. What transportation equity issues exist in your community today?
From what I have experienced the Denver Public Transportation is easy, vast, and accessible. There is a “fee” to ride, but on the RTD that’s not real unless you are going to the airport. I have yet to take the bus, but it’s on my New Years Resolutions list. If I remember correctly they allow kids and military vets to ride for free. Downtown there is also a free bus that runs along 16th – 19th street, or something like that. I’m sure its not fair and safe for people who don’t look like me, and that’s not fair. I have also heard that there are issues with Persons with Disabilities on ticket pricing and accessible hours. I also have heard of route closures and changes which I am betting impact lower income neighborhoods. It’s not bad, but it’s no Luxembourg.
February 10th 2026: Black August
– In 1960, George Jackson was arrested after being accused of stealing $70 at a gas station. He was convicted and given one year to life in prison. By 1970, Jackson had spent a decade at California’s Soledad and San Quentin prisons.
– He became a Field Marshal of the Black Panther Party from inside San Quentin and forned the prison’s Black Panther chapter.
– When it was clear that George Jackson would likely never be released from prison, his younger brother, Jonathan Jackson, decided to seek justice in his own way. On August 7, 1970, Jonathan Jackson raided the Marin County Courthouse, released three prisoners, took several courthouse staff hostage, and demanded the Soledad Brothers be released.
– Jonathan and two of the three freed inmates—James McClain and William Christmas—were killed in a resulting shootout.
– This day was the inspiration for Black August; a day of resistance and direct action to protest unjust systems.
– Just over a year after his brother’s death, on August 21, 1971, George Jackson allegedly led a desperate prison break and was shot and killed while escaping.
– Jackson’s influence had already made its way across the country, and imprisoned people were organizing everywhere to demand better living conditions, equitable treatment by guards, access to education, and adequate medical care.
– 1979, “study, fast, train, fight!”
– Let each August be an invitation to learn more about the fight for abolition, the importance of protecting political protest, and to take direct action against injustice.
Reflection Questions
1. Black August emphasizes the principle “study, fast, train, fight” as forms of direct action and discipline. Which of these practices could you incorporate into your own life to deepen your commitment to justice? How might doing so change your approach to activism?
I can surely continue to study. There is so much history in this country that I still do not know. School certainly didn’t teach me everything, and it will be a constant part of my life that I spend studying. Fast I will say I can apply to boycotting certain food establishments when needed and called to do. Train, well I certainly could train better but I am not too out of physical shape just yet. Certainly can make it more of a habit. Fight I would say is just being loud and confident with my voice when I can, resisting the easy way out, and being there to support those who need it. I am not sure this will change my current approach to activism, but it will definitely influence it and help me stay focused rather than getting overwhelmed with “there’s too much to worry about and do” doubts.
2. The article traces resistance from 1619 through 2018, showing how August has repeatedly been a month of uprising and sacrifice. What current struggles for justice do you see as connected to this legacy?
I have volunteered a number of times with Breakthrough here in CO. They have a program that incarcerated persons can sign up for and participate in to learn Entrepreneurial skills and mindsets to both improve their time while incarcerated or help reduce the chance of recidivism. Equality and justice in this country are still abysmal when it comes to incarceration and just decency in every day life. I think this Non-Profit, and many like it, are certainly connected to the struggles for justice. My own friend is working as a public defender and she tells us tales of injustice on the regular. The BLM movement that has had big impact moments but is something to constantly be considering and fighting for is another. Similarly the ICE protests are also fighting for justice in an unjust system. Too many to count, really…
February 11th 2026: The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
– In 1901, Andrew Carnegie donated $5.2 million to build 65 branch libraries across New York City. Among these was a three-story building at 103 West 135th Street in Harlem.
– By 1920, the Black population in Harlem grew to approximately 175,000 people, roughly 32% of Harlem’s population, up from under 10% in 1910.
– The library hired Catherine Allen Latimer, the first African-American librarian hired by the New York Public Library system.
– 135th Street branch became a gathering place for leaders of the Harlem Renaissance and curated events that centered the Black community.
– The “Citizens Committee of the 135th Street Branch Library,” including James Weldon Johnson and a man named Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, collectively decided to designate the library as the city’s Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints.
– Schomburg was born in Puerto Rico in 1874 to a Puerto Rican father and an Afro-Caribbean mother, and immigrated to New York at seventeen years of age.
– By the time he connected with the library, he had independently collected roughly 5,000 items, including original essays written by Frederick Douglass, poems by Phillis Wheatley, correspondence from Toussaint Louverture, and countless other materials from African Americans and the African diaspora. He agreed to sell it to the library with a guarantee that it always stay in Harlem.
– When he passed away in 1938, Dr. Lawrence D. Reddick succeeded him as curator. He renamed it the Schomburg Collection of Negro History and Literature in 1940, and then the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in 1972.
– As of 2010, it proudly hosts over 10 million objects that reflect the brilliance of Black history.
Reflection Questions
1. Much of the library’s focus was shaped by the community. How does your community inspire change for the public institutions where you live?
Your community is the epicenter of your life. If you don’t take notice of it, it will change around you. If you don’t have a voice, it will change around you. Unfortunately, if you aren’t heard or too noticeable, it can also change around you. I honestly have not been as involved in my community’s public institutions like I should be. I think since I just got a Colorado License for the first time, and was always moving around the city, that I didn’t really feel like I had a certain community in this public space. I do think it is important though, when entering any new community, to take note of who lives there, and who may not be as seen as others. No one wants some white woman coming around and acting like they are the Columbus. I think there is plenty of change that we can inspire, in a meaningful and impactful way.
2. Today, many of the artifacts that reflect our culture are on the internet. How do you archive things that you enjoy? Is it online or off?
I think it’s a mix. I have a couple bulletin boards in my room, I’ve got a memory box for probably every few years, I buy copies of books I enjoy, but then I also have this blog, I have music streaming online, I have a digital camera that I upload my photos to my laptop. I really should get my record player fixed so I can play and acquire records. I am adding journals to my bags so I can try and jot things down on paper instead of in my notes app. I think it’s a good mix of online and offline for me these days.
3. Ernestine Rose, a white librarian, made the strategic decision to integrate her staff and build partnerships with the Black community in 1920s Harlem. How can people in positions of power use their influence to demand change?
I think just like they say in this issue and question, you have to look at your community, be it social or business. If you are in a position of power, but you don’t see anyone that looks different from you, maybe demand change. Or you don’t see anyone that looks like you at all, demand change. We all should get a chance to be “in the room where it happens,” especially on matters that concern the public or community. Use your power to support and uplift others to make a change. If people trust you, they will trust the people you present. You hold influence so use that. Kind of a vague answer but not sure I have been in a position of power. Well actually, when I was in Global Shapers, before I became arcane to them, something interesting was brewing across the hubs. The powers of the WEF were attending the annual meeting / summit and some presentations didn’t sit right with Pro-Palestine movement and supporters. They were talking about standing up and demanding action. I don’t know exactly what is happening, but that is a great example of using your power/influence to demand change.
February 12th 2026: Homecoming
– Before the Civil War, most African Americans in the United States were enslaved. Getting an education was nearly impossible, especially in the South. In many places, it was actually illegal for Black people to learn to read and write. In response, Black communities partnered with religious missionary organizations and the Freedman’s Bureau to open their own, but these were limited.
– The Morrill Land-Grant Act was passed in1862. This gave states funding to open educational institutions.
– A second act, added in 1890, was aimed at Confederate states, which were still actively discriminating against their Black residents despite efforts during Reconstruction. These states were required to show that race wasn’t considered as part of admission, or they’d have to create a separate school for Black people. Fearful of integration, Southern states chose the latter and moved to open schools for predominantly Black students. These historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) flourished, and by 1900, more than 90 institutions had been established.
– HBCUs shaped the Black intellectual movement by creating space for prominent leaders to learn from educators and one another. Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Dr. Joseph Lowery, and Diane Nash all attended HBCUs.
– HBCUs were also at the center of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Students would galvanize their campuses for change. A famous example was on February 1, 1960, when four freshmen from North Carolina A&T State University sat down at a “whites only” lunch counter in Greensboro. When they were refused service and asked to leave, they stayed in their seats. Now known as the Greensboro sit-in, this peaceful protest sparked a series of nonviolent protests against Jim Crow that spread across the South.
– Above all else, HBCUs gave Black people a safer space to gather, connect, ideate, and rest with one another during the violence of Jim Crow. Celebrations on campus became not just social outings, but a form of resistance; a reclamation of joy and togetherness in a world intent on destroying and ostracizing them.
– One of these is homecoming, an annual tradition that has come to define not just HBCU life, but Black culture altogether.
– There are conflicting accounts of which school started homecoming first, but they quickly became a common practice at universities–HBCUs and otherwise–in the early 1900s.
– HBCUs have remained historically underfunded. All HBCUs combined receive less federal research funding than a single large predominantly white institution (PWI).
Reflections
1. The piece describes HBCU homecomings and campus life as “a form of resistance.” What are some current examples of communities creating spaces of celebration and connection in the face of ongoing challenges?
I think schools at all levels are doing this, considering the disparages and lack of funding for many schools across the country. Additionally, I know of a great community here in Denver called Cocina Libre. Cocina Libre is a “social enterprise” built upon uplifting immigrant stories to foster a community for everyone. They create books, documentaries, have a podcast, and put on events and keynotes where people connect over immigrant-made dishes and personal stories. Their money is used to provide immigrant chefs with professional culinary training and licensing. In the wave of uncertainty and fear revolving around immigrants (in a county built on the backs of immigrants), it’s beautiful to see their voices and stories and creations proclaimed in Denver.
2. What other organizations can you think of today are driving social change through college chapters?
Oh this one I’m not too sure about really. I’m too out of the loop with college life. I do know my friend works for a company called the Posse Foundation that helps high school students get involved and engaged with a “posse” and assists with college pursuits. It’s more intricate than that but they have partner universities and it seems like a great way to help students who may not have had the resources or confidence or general understanding of the college system itself, to go to college on their own.
3. How do you find time to be around people that reflect your identities? To which extent do public spaces, like schools, libraries, etc. help you achieve that?
I think I’ve created a space and community in my daily life that reflects my identities for the most part. Maggie and I are trying to do more with the local libraries as of late. I think the parks around Denver are also great for finding people to connect with that are in your same community. Even locally owned spots are good for this. Seeing people on the regular that you know live in the neighborhood, reading the bulletin boards with local events, etc.
February 13th 2026: Bud Billiken Parade
– There’s a celebration on the South Side of Chicago every second Saturday of August. The Bud Billiken Parade, an annual tradition since 1929, is the largest African American parade in the country and viewed and attended by over one million people each year. This celebration started with a modest gesture to honor newspaper carriers and became a cultural institution.
– The parade was started by Robert Sengstacke Abbott, who founded the African American newspaper, the Chicago Defender. Born in Georgia in 1868 to parents who had once been enslaved, Abbott moved to Chicago after completing his education at Hampton Institute.
– He launched the Chicago Defender in 1905. Within two decades, the newspaper became the most influential Black publication in America, with over 200,000 readers in Chicago and beyond. The Defender played a critical role in the Great Migration by connecting Southern Black communities with opportunities in the North.
– “American Race Prejudice Must Be Destroyed.”
– In 1923 a Billiken figurine caught Abbott’s eye. These small, mischievous-looking statues were thought to represent good luck. Inspired by this symbol, Abbott launched Chicago Defender Jr., a page in the paper that was “written” by fictional, 10-year-old editor named “Bud Billiken.” He also created the “Bud Billiken Club,” where kids could apply to be members and would receive a little badge.
– David Kellum, who helped start the Bud Billiken Club, had the idea of organizing a parade. He wanted to create something that could celebrate the paper’s newsboys who, without fail, distributed hundreds of thousands of newspapers every day. He also thought it would be a special day for the children who read the newspaper to connect in real life. From its first day on August 11, 1929, until now, the parade has run annually except in 2020.
Reflections
1. What does it say about a community that creates a tradition specifically to celebrate its children? How might this have shaped young people’s sense of self-worth in Chicago over the decades?
It says everything to celebrate children. It shows them that someone cares about their well-being, cares about their future, and cares about what they care about. It also shows that children are meant to be there, not an accident or afterthought or nuisance. We all know “children are the future,” yet sometimes it feels like that is forgotten. Especially in POC spaces and communities. Children are taught different normals growing up. To have a space to celebrate who they are, in a world so bent on tearing them down speaks volumes. To know that you are dancing in a parade that your grandparents danced in shows resilience and proves that you are supposed to be here.
2. The parade began as a way to recognize newspaper carriers doing hard work. What does this tell us about whose contributions get celebrated, and how might that shape what a community values?
Particularly this specific form of hard wok, I feel it may be lost on the new generations that someone had to bring you the news. It wasn’t always 24 hours of on the ground coverage right at our fingertips. Someone spent countless hours, daily, getting the news and information printed and into your hands. I honestly might not even be answering the question, whoops. But to celebrate young people, to celebrate hard working people that are often unsung heroes, shows everyone in the community that they matter. The ones that perform the work feel appreciated, and the ones that receive the work take a moment to reflect and appreciate something they always assumed just happened. Who and what you value will reflect back onto you. Kind of like karma. In a world that often values the wrong (my opinion) kind of hard work, we see those haggard reflections looking back at us more often than not. Hope this makes sense.
3. Why is it significant that families pass down the tradition of attending this parade across generations? What gets preserved when these kinds of rituals continue?
Traditions are so important. Legacy of Black joy, Black voice, Black youth, and Black freedom, are being passed down. Freedom to work, freedom to play, freedom to speak about what matters, freedom to be young and wild. Freedom to remember your past and to see a future.
February 14th 2026: Mary McLeod Bethune
– Mary McLeod Bethune was a world-renowned educator, civil rights leader, women’s rights activist, presidential advisor, and public servant who dedicated her life to uplifting Black Americans.
– Mary Jane McLeod was born on July 10, 1875, in Mayesville, South Carolina, as the fifteenth of seventeen children. Her parents, Samuel and Patsy McLeod, had been enslaved but by the time Mary was born, they were freed and owned a small farm.
– Mary attended schools and institutes from 1882 – 1894. During her time at these schools, Mary developed a passion for education and wanted to provide a more culturally responsive learning experience for Black girls like her.
– After finishing her studies, Bethune returned to the South to teach. She worked at schools in Georgia and South Carolina. She started a family and they moved to Florida, where she established a missionary school. Her school grew as her marriage floundered. In 1907, hey husband abandoned the family and returned to South Carolina.
– In 1904, at just 29 years old, Mary McLeod Bethune, with only $1.50 to her name, established the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, FL. She rented a five-room cottage for $11 per month that served as both her family’s home and a school. The first class included five girls plus her five-year-old son, Albert. Each student paid fifty cents per week for tuition.
– Attendance grew. For $250, she bought land, and the first building, Faith Hall, was built.
– After nine years of enrollment she expanded again, adding an administrative building with classrooms, offices, and an auditorium.
– In 1923, Bethune’s school merged with the all-male Cookman Institute of Jacksonville to create Bethune-Cookman College. By 1931, the school became fully accredited, and Bethune made history as the first African American woman to serve as a college president.
– Today, Bethune-Cookman University enrolls over 4,000 students.
– While building her school, Bethune became involved in women’s organizations: Florida Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, Southeastern Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools, National Association of Colored Women, and more.
– In 1935, Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women. Today, the NCNW continues her work with over 4 million members.
– Bethune’s leadership caught the attention of several U.S. presidents: Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR was so impressed that in 1936, at age 61, she became Director of the Division of Negro Affairs, making her the first African American woman to head a federal agency.
– During WWII she was named honorary General of the Women’s Army for National Defense.
– After Bethune’s death on May 18, 1955, the National Council of Negro Women began working to honor her memory. In 1974, nearly two decades after her passing, on the 99th anniversary of Bethune’s birth, Dr. Dorothy I. Height and the NCNW unveiled the Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial in Lincoln Park, Washington, DC. Designed by sculptor Robert Berks, this monument made history as the first memorial to honor an African American and a woman in a public park in the nation’s capital.
– Mary McLeod Bethune’s life was a testament to her motto: “faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service.”
Reflections
1. Think about a goal or dream you have right now. What resources do you already possess—even if they seem small—that you could use to take the first step? How might starting small actually help you learn and grow along the way?
I won’t bore you all with talks of my goals and dreams, but I think they are right. I have a laptop, I have peers, I have access to libraries and the internet. I have time. I think starting small is really helpful, and also starting at all. For me at least, the daunting weight of my goal often keeps me from starting, but starting is the only way forward.
2. Bethune understood that bringing different groups together under one umbrella (like the National Council of Negro Women) created more power than working separately. What issue in your school, workplace, or community could benefit from different groups joining forces?
Right now I have a situation where people were not open from the start and then built up walls and ideas in their heads against certain people in this community that now they think it’s too late to recover. It’s always odd to me when people are against dialogue about something bothering them, but in this case, it’s almost like they don’t want to admit they made a mistake. As a third party but active member in the community it makes it difficult to step in and also I am not being told everything because they think I am too close to the other parties involved. I think everyone has unique perspective and experience that are not so far off from the other that if we worked together it would be really magical. There is a hierarchy involved though, and I think some are not happy about that. The community we impact though could greatly benefit from everyone being on the same page so I really hope this works out. Vague much?
3. In her last will and testament, Bethune left future generations intangible gifts like hope, education, faith, and responsibility to young people. If you were to write your own “will” of values and principles you want to pass on to others, what would you include?
Whoa, what an intense and awesome question! I would love to pass on a sense of self worth and pride, to stay creative, explore the depths of love and where you can find it all around you, keep asking questions and keep asking why, keep diversity in your life, and explore whenever you can. Also, do a cartwheel any time you are on grass.
That’s it for Week Two. We are exactly halfway through this series, because this month is exactly four weeks. How cool is that!
Madeline Daily 