From Upworthy -
Cellist performs a piece for 12 cellos all by himself and it's absolutely stunning
Saturday, January 29, 2022
A Legacy Unveiled
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
An old Virginia plantation, a new owner and a family legacy unveiled
By Joe Heim
 |
| Sharswood in Gretna, Va., was built in the middle of the 19th century and at one point was the hub of a sprawling plantation. The Pittsylvania County property now consists of 10½ acres. Out of the frame behind the large tree at right is a cabin that may have been used by enslaved people as a kitchen and laundry for the main house as well as a residence. (Heather Rousseau for The Washington Post) |
GRETNA, Va. — There was so much Fredrick Miller didn’t know about the handsome house here on Riceville Road.
He grew up just a half-mile away and rode past it on his school bus every day. It was hard to miss. The home’s Gothic revival gables, six chimneys, diamond-paned windows and sweeping lawn were as distinctive a sight as was to be seen in this rural southern Virginia community. But Miller, 56, an Air Force veteran who now lives in California, didn’t give it much thought. He didn’t know it had once been a plantation or that 58 people had once been enslaved there. He never considered that its past had anything to do with him.
Two years ago, when his sister called to say the estate was for sale, he jumped on it. He’d been looking, pulled home to the place he left at 18. His roots were deep in this part of Pittsylvania County, and he wanted a place where his vast extended family, many of whom still live nearby, could gather.
The handsome house set on a rise had a name, it turned out. Sharswood. And Sharswood had a history. And its history had everything to do with Miller.
Slavery wasn’t something people talked much about in this part of Virginia when Miller was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. And other than a few brief mentions in school, it wasn’t taught much, either.
The only time he remembers the subject coming up was when Alex Haley’s miniseries, “Roots,” was broadcast in 1977.
“For a lot of us, that was our first experience with what really happened during slavery,” he said. “It just wasn’t discussed.”
Miller assumed his ancestors had been enslaved. But where and when and by whom were questions that were left unasked and unanswered.
“People didn’t want to talk about this stuff because it was too painful,” said Dexter Miller, 60, a cousin of Fredrick’s who lives in Java. “They would say, ‘This is grown folks’ business.’ And that’s how some of the history was lost.”
Another cousin, Marian Keyes, who taught first in segregated schools and later in integrated schools from 1959 to 1990, said that for a long time there was little teaching about slavery in Pittsylvania County.
“We weren’t really allowed to even talk about it back then,” said Keyes, who turns 90 this year and lives in Chatham. “We weren’t even allowed to do much about the Civil War and all of that kind of stuff, really.”
Even outside of school, when she was growing up, Keyes said, the subject of slavery was avoided.
“I just thought everything was normal,” she said, “because that was the way of life.”
But the unspoken history left a gulf.
It wasn’t until after Fredrick Miller bought Sharswood in May 2020 that its past started coming into focus. That’s when his sister, Karen Dixon-Rexroth and their cousins Sonya Womack-Miranda and Dexter Miller doubled down on researching their family history.
What neither Fredrick Miller nor his sister knew at the time was that the property had once been a 2,000-acre plantation, whose owners before and during the Civil War were Charles Edwin Miller and Nathaniel Crenshaw Miller.
Miller.
Fredrick Miller and so many members of his extended family were born and grew up in the shadow of Sharswood — and perhaps it was a clue to a deeper connection. It wasn’t uncommon after emancipation for formerly enslaved people to take the last names of their enslavers. But establishing the link required more research.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/01/22/virginia-plantation-slavery-owners-history/
Congratulations Dr. Overbey!
An excerpt from the Elk Grove Tribune -
Dr. Jennifer Overbey Named Physician Of The Year For Methodist Hospital
Posted by Dr. Jacqueline "Jax" Cheung | Jan 21, 2022 | Community & Events
 |
| Dr. Jennifer Overbey |
Physician of the Year
Methodist Hospital recently announced that Dr. Jennifer Overbey, the Chairperson of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has been awarded Physician of the Year of Methodist Hospital. In the history of Methodist Hospital, Dr. Overbey is the first woman and African American to receive this award. Congratulations Dr. Overbey!
https://elkgrovetribune.com/dr-jennifer-overbey-named-physician-of-the-year-for-methodist-hospital/
Bath & Body Works Celebrate Black History Month
An excerpt from Stylecaster -
Bath & Body Works Is Launching Its First Black History Month Collection — With a Huge Donation
by ELIZABETH DENTON
 |
| Photo: BATH & BODY WORKS. |
When I hear a popular brand is launching a collection for Black History Month (or Pride, or Women’s History Month, etc.) I’m a little cynical. Before supporting, I need to make sure the brand is actually giving back to the community in some way, whether in terms of employment (such as when Target hired LGBTQ+ designers for its Pride tees) or a monetary donation of some sort. With Bath & Body Works’ first-ever Black History Month collection, I don’t have to worry. Not only is this collection really, really cute, but the brand is also making a $500,000 donation.
“This Black History Month, Bath & Body Works is proud to continue its longstanding commitment to the Columbus and National Urban Leagues through a $500,000 donation,” Ronak Fields, community relations and philanthropy, said in a statement. “These funds will support underserved communities with workforce development and economic empowerment programs throughout America. I am grateful for the opportunity to work at Bath & Body Works and side-by-side with passionate associates who are committed to uplifting our neighbors.”
https://stylecaster.com/beauty/bath-body-works-black-history-month/
Fall Asleep in 2 Minutes!
@justin_agustin Technique to falling asleep in 2 minutes! Insp. AsapSCIENCE on YT #sleep #fallasleep #insomnia #insomniac #learnontiktok #howto ♬ You - Petit Biscuit
Monday, January 17, 2022
Restoring a Refuge For Black Travelers
An excerpt from Fast Company -
On Route 66, a family is restoring the only gas station built for Black travelers
The Threatt Filling Station offered refuge for Black travelers driving through Oklahoma. Now, the Threatt family hopes to turn it into a historical center.
BY KRISTI EATON
 |
| [Photo: courtesy of the Threatt family, National Register of Historic Places/ NPS, Rhys Martin/courtesy Oklahoma Route 66 Association] |
If you were to travel on Route 66 in the early 1900s, you probably passed the Threatt Filling Station, a family-owned gas station for Black travelers traversing the famous route from Chicago to Southern California.
But after closing in the 1970s, the station eventually fell into disrepair. Now the Threatt family is looking to revitalize and preserve it.
“It’s a part of Black history within the state of Oklahoma,” Ed Threatt said. “For him to acquire 160 acres of land in the Jim Crow era, that’s no small feat.”
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Don't Pet!
An excerpt from Reader's Digest -
If You See a Dog with a Red Collar, This Is What It Means
By Wendy Rose Gould
 |
| TOM MEAKER/GETTY IMAGES |
Red is the universal sign for “stop.” We see it on stop signs and stoplights around the world. It’s a prominent color for police sirens and fire trucks, and we even use the color when talking about “red flags.” Red gives us reason to pause and be cautious, and it’s why some pups wear red dog collars or bandanas or use red leashes.
“Red is the signal that this pet is aggressive and needs space from both people and other animals,” explains Dr. Brian Evans, veterinarian and medical director of virtual vet care company Dutch. “These are pets that have been known to snap or bite at passersby, attack other dogs, or lunge at people. These pets may be perfectly fine at home with their owner but become overly protective of them when they are out.”
In some cases, red dog collars might also be worn by service or working dogs that shouldn’t be pet. Usually, they’ll have on a vest that says “service dog” or “emotional support,” which is often accompanied by a phrase like “Do not pet.”
SSSS Code on Your Boarding Pass
An excerpt from Conde Nest Traveler -
What to Know If An SSSS Code Shows Up on Your Boarding Pass
The mysterious code means a passenger is flagged for additional—and sometimes invasive—TSA screening.
BY ASHLEA HALPERN
For travelers lucky enough not to know, SSSS stands for Secondary Security Screening Selection. It’s the Transportation Security Administration’s way of flagging airline passengers for “enhanced” screening. An SSSS code stamped on your boarding pass overrides pre-approval through a Trusted Traveler Program such as TSA PreCheck and can add 15 to 45 minutes (or more) to your boarding process.
Unfortunately, there are many groups of travelers who are no strangers to being flagged repeatedly for invasive TSA screenings. But for fliers privileged enough to have a usually smooth process through security, the SSSS codes can come as a shock.
https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-to-know-if-an-ssss-code-shows-up-on-your-boarding-pass
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Traveling by Train
From Newsbreak -
I spent over 160 hours traveling to major US cities by train for $299. Here are 10 things that surprised me
By Kaitlyn Cheung
 | ||
| A few things surprised me about traveling by train. | Kaitlyn Cheung |
WOW!
@shopping666 My baby is six years old, and he gets up at six every day to cook for himself, do housework and then go to school❤️👏👏#GEICOGiveHappy #shopping666 ♬ original sound - Smarthome shopping
Friday, December 31, 2021
Thursday, December 30, 2021
Black-Owned Small Kitchen Appliances @ Target Only
An excerpt from The Kitchn -
This New Black-Owned Small Appliance Line at Target Has Some of the Best Stuff I’ve Ever Tested — and Y’all, Lots of It Is on Sale! (Sorry folks. This was published before Christmas when the sales were happening).
By SAVANNAH WEST
 |
| Credit: CRUXGG |
For Black families, connection and community have been centered in the kitchen for centuries, especially around the holidays. Just in time for this year’s festivities, Target dropped a new collection of stylish and affordable kitchen electronics from CRUX in partnership with Ghetto Gastro, and I can’t wait to incorporate some of these pieces into my own holiday traditions.
If you haven’t heard of Ghetto Gastro, they’re a Bronx-based culinary collective comprised of chefs and food enthusiasts that formed back in 2012 and now includes members Jon Gray, Lester Walker, and Pierre Serrão. Last year, the group and CRUX co-founder Shae Hong launched a wildly popular, exclusive line of seven CRUXGG products in partnership with Williams-Sonoma. The double rotating waffle iron sold out in just 48 hours! Based on the success of that collection, Ghetto Gastro partnered with CRUX again on an even more competitively-priced line of electric countertop appliances only available at Target, and they’re flying off the shelves again.
1000 New Texans Arrive Every Day!
An excerpt from the NY Times -
1,000 New People Arrive in Texas Every Day. Half Are Newborns.
A surge in births in Texas comes amid a declining birthrate nationwide.
By Edgar Sandoval
 |
| All across Texas, the cry of newborn babies has become a common sound at hospital maternity wards. Credit...Matthew Busch for The New York Times |
SAN ANTONIO — Every three minutes, a child is born somewhere in Texas.
At one hospital in North Texas, 107 babies were delivered over 96 hours this summer, shattering local records. At a hospital in San Antonio, more than 1,200 babies have been born this year, up nearly 30 percent since 2018.
Across one of the nation’s fastest-growing states, an average 1,000 new Texans arrive every day. Half of them are newborns.
“Our population is going up. So just with that, I would expect our birthrates to increase,” said Shad Deering, a department chair with the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio. “We will become very busy.”
We spent a day last month with Dr. Deering and his staff and witnessed the arrival of several new residents to the Lone Star State.
~~~~~~~~~~
Between 2010 and 2020, the state’s population grew by four million — or the entire population of neighboring Oklahoma. Babies made up the largest number of new arrivals to Texas (about 48 percent), with migrants from other states (31 percent) and countries (21 percent) rounding out the rest.
And hospitals are trying to keep up.
“It has not slowed down,” said Michelle Stemley, vice president of patient care at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth, which broke its four-day delivery record this summer.
The surge in births comes amid a declining birthrate nationwide. Couples have waited longer to have children, a trend that continued during the coronavirus pandemic and an uncertain economy, Mr. Potter said.
But a spike in sales of pregnancy tests — a 13 percent increase since June of last year — may signal that a so-called millennial baby boom may be on the horizon, according to Nielsen’s data and Bank of America’s research.
Many longtime Texans are contributing to the uptick in tiny new residents.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/26/us/texas-newborns-birthrate.html
What Does Home Mean To You?
From the Bitter Southerner -
A Letter From Home
By President Jimmy Carter
 |
| President Jimmy Carter. Photo by Dustin Chambers |
https://bittersoutherner.com/a-letter-from-home/jimmy-carter
10 Black Women Who Made History in 2021
From mymajicdc.com -
10 Black Women Who Made History In 2021
By BreAnna Holmes
1. Michaela Coel
Source:Getty
Michaela Coel is the first Black Woman to win an Emmy for ‘Limited Series Writing’!
2. Beyoncé
Source:GettyBeyoncé Makes History As The Most Grammy Awarded Artist Ever!
https://mymajicdc.com/playlist/black-women-who-made-history-in-2021/item/2
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)