Saturday, February 17, 2024

History lessons easy to take

 Black History in Two Minutes...a series written and narrated by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.

This week on The Open Culture Email I read about this:

"We’re nearly halfway through February, which the United States of America also knows as Black History Month. Perhaps there are relevant subjects on which you’ve been meaning to catch up, but you haven’t quite got around to it yet. If so, never fear: in the next couple of weeks, you’ll have plenty of time to binge-watch the Youtube series Black History in Two Minutes.... it has so far covered everything from Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth to the Civil War and emancipation to the civil rights movement and school integration.

Those of us who went to school in the US — and especially those of us who did so after the institution of Black History Month, in 1970 — will remember those subjects having been discussed in the classroom. But even within the brief confines of two minutes (sometimes sprawling out to three minutes and change), Gates introduces facts most of us will never have heard."



 There were over 90 short YouTubes listed when I checked it. Seems like a great opportunity to enhance my education (before 1970 - before integration even!!) about Black History. 



Screen shot from number 90 "Elite Black High Schools"


I've noticed many times a day - watching TV shows or even streaming movies, playing solitaire games, there are lulls of 30 seconds at a time for advertising. So I thought, what if I accumulated all those lulls in my entertainment into learning time...I could see several of those YouTube videos each day!


Sharing with Sepia Saturday...which is all about history!


Today's quote:

I believe that the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his own powers. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful. -John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer (8 Feb 1819-1900)



13 comments:

  1. ...too many want to turn their backs on history.

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    1. Well, there are all these different views on each turning point in history, and as they say, only the winners write the history books. Unfortunately that leaves a lot of people's lives ignored completely, or they are just shoved into the category "loosers."

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  2. I am amazed at the people who want to rewrite the history books, or remove them from the schools.
    Take care, have a great weekend.

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    1. The amount of honest facts in history is perhaps colored by those who write them...always have been.

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  3. Only by studying the true past can we learn from our mistakes and move forward in better ways!

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  4. Thank you! When back home I pop in! I learned so much on history via fellow bloggers!
    If I was young and chose maybe to be a teacher I would end each lesson with a snippet like these!
    History was mainly about that little, Austrian man trying to take over the world. Especially American and Canadian history I learned through our community here!

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    1. I learned almost nothing about Canadian history in schools, so have enjoyed when bloggers tell me things I didn't know before.

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  5. Thank you for promoting these two-minute videos for Black History Month. And you're right about fitting these in amidst the other programs we watch. Great idea for boosting knowledge!

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  6. I've watched several of those mini-documentary and they are excellent examples of how to make difficult history understandable and relevant.

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  7. A very thoughtful. Post and thank you for educating me on Black History,Month (from Scotsmen);

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