Biography – US Represented

To Till a Field or Write a Poem? Booker T. Washington’s Legacy

Dana Zimbleman — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 12:03:56 +0000

In Honor of Black History Month Twenty-eight years ago, I landed my first full-time college teaching position at Tuskegee University in Alabama. Originally known as Tuskegee Institute, the school was founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881 to provide vocational education for southern blacks in the years after Reconstruction. Washington, born a slave in 1856, would overcome enormous odds to become the most influential African American in the United States

James Weldon Johnson and the Promise of America

a featured contributor — Sun, 19 Feb 2023 02:03:07 +0000

A Clarence Page article from February 18, 2023 discusses the current MAGA reaction to the performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at the Super Bowl pregame. Claiming that it is the Negro National Anthem and further divides our country disregards the facts. Here’s how it all began. In 1900 James Weldon Johnson—citizen of Jacksonville, Florida, and principal of Stanton Elementary School, got some exciting news. Booker T. Washington, founder

Endometriosis Echoes: Does Anyone Listen?

DeLyn Winters — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 15:35:51 +0000

I’m awake, again. The bedside clock reads 2:14 a.m. and I can’t get back to sleep. The two ibuprofen I took at bedtime have worn off, and the deep, aching pelvic pain I’ve been experiencing for the last three days, which was only dulled by the painkillers, has now crept across my lower back and down the insides of my thighs. The heating pad I fell asleep with has fallen

Pioneer Profiles: Alice Bemis Taylor

DeLyn Winters — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 08:36:36 +0000

Alice Bemis Taylor was a pioneer of arts and social programs in Colorado Springs. Although she preferred a quiet, humble lifestyle, her legacy has been the foundation of many familiar landmarks of Colorado Springs. In 1881, Alice Bemis was four years old when her family to Colorado Springs for her mother’s health. This was a common reason for relocation for many people at the time. Alice had a typical childhood, playing

Pioneer Profiles: Laura Bell McDaniel

DeLyn Winters — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 07:05:27 +0000

Laura Bell McDaniel, known as the “Queen of the Colorado City Tenderloin,” was a pioneer not just because she was an early resident of Colorado City, but because, as the city’s premier madam, she was an anomaly among the soiled doves. She used her given name, she kept in close contact with her family, and she conducted business with some of the most respected people in Colorado Springs. Born in

Pioneer Profiles: Emma Langdon

DeLyn Winters — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 17:07:56 +0000

Emma Langdon is not like other women who are profiled as “pioneers.” Others were involved in women’s rights, suffrage, or independence, but Langdon wasn’t a pioneer for any of those reasons. She simply believed that gender was not a barrier to what a person could do. It wasn’t about “equal rights for women,” it was about everyone doing what they were capable of, gender notwithstanding. Her focus was more on