Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history.

The story of Black History Month begins in 1915, half a century after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.

That September, the Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and the prominent minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), an organization dedicated to researching and promoting achievements by Black Americans and other peoples of African descent.

Known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the group sponsored a national Negro History week in 1926, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event inspired schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures.

In the decades that followed, mayors of cities across the country began issuing yearly proclamations recognizing Negro History Week. By the late 1960s, thanks in part to the civil rights movement and a growing awareness of Black identity, Negro History Week had evolved into Black History Month on many college campuses.

President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976, calling upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

hello everyone - happy Black history month 🌌 here's a massive archive list of Black and Marxist writing and film (with downloads!) to check out xoxo

by @777


The State and Revolution :flag-su:

:lenin-shining: :unity: :kropotkin-shining:
The Conquest of Bread :ancom:

Remember, sort by new you :LIB:

Yesterday’s megathread :sad-boi:

Follow the ChapoChat twitter account :comrade-birdie:

THEORY; it’s good for what ails you (all kinds of tendencies inside!) :RIchard-D-Wolff:

COMMUNITY CALENDAR - AN EXPERIMENT IN PROMOTING USER ORGANIZING EFFORTS :af:

Join the fresh and beautiful batch of new comms:

!finance@hexbear.net :deng-salute:

!agitprop@hexbear.net :allende-rhetoric:

!recovery@hexbear.net :left-unity-2:

!neurodiverse@hexbear.net :Care-Comrade:

by the way starting with tomorrow im gonna change username to @thelastaxolotl, i just like that name more

February Megathreads Teaser :sicko-flipped:

Stalingrad :stalin-fancy:

Rosa Parks :rose-fist:

Kropotkin :kropotkin-shining:

Islamic Golden Era :inshallah:

Huey Newton :huey-wut:

Deng Xiaoping :deng-salute:

Communist manifesto :marx: no engels emoji :angry-hex:

Cuauhtémoc :hisssssss:

  • Woly [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Reason why renting is a fuck #472738584

    All improvements to your living space can only be semi-permanent. I put up some nice shelves in my bathroom, and when I move out I'm going to have to rip them out of the wall and spackle over the holes so that it looks like nothing was ever there, even though I'm sure that any tenant after me would appreciate them.

    • danksobotka [they/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Not to mention rent goes up each year for literally no fucking reason, no improvements being made to justify it.

      • Woly [any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I cannot stress enough how much of an absolute scam this is. Literally just a loophole written by landlords to get around rent stabilization laws.

        • Shinji_Ikari [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          I had a place try to tell me they were giving me a deal by asking me to renew for 250 more a month, for a longer lease and I laughed in their face.

        • danksobotka [they/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          My rent went up $90 the first year then $55 second year, set to renew in March. I’m interested to see what it’s gonna be this year... I’m gonna try to negotiate because literally the same apartment as I’m in just a few floors up is renting for fucking 80% of what I’m paying and they’re also offering 2 months free rent, which makes it effectively 65% of what I’m paying. idk how successful it’ll be tho since the landlord is a company (ugh) that owns several other properties in the area so I’m probably chump change and insignificant to them...

    • Woly [any]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      Imagine a system where moving was completely voluntary. If you decided you wanted to move, you'd put your apartment up on a list for other people to come look at. You'd meet them, tell them what it was like living here, show them the things you'd done and talk about whether they wanted to live there or not. You could even leave all your furniture there, and look for another apartment where someone was leaving their furniture.

      Instead of being a bunch of empty sterile rooms, apartments could have character given to them by all the tenants who'd lived there previously. This couch is two tenants old, this cabinet was me, these shelves were three tenants ago, etc. Some old dude hung this painting on the wall 20 years ago and no one's taken it down since.

      Yup, sure is great in my fantasy world that will never be real :deeper-sadness:

    • anaesidemus [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      and if you do something permanent it is now part of the property and the landlord can sue you for damages if you remove it

  • Woly [any]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago

    I got an amber lightbulb for my lamp in my living room and now it's finally dark enough for me to brood in

    :leslie-feinberg:

  • IfIDontKnowNoOneDoes [undecided,any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Redditism of the day: the word "fap". Probably my least favorite word that isn't a straight-up slur. Actually I might hate "kek" more but it's up there. Absolutely vile. Can't believe the subreddit for quitting masturbation is actually called "nofap", and the people who are active in the community call themselves "fapstronauts". What the fuck.

    • HarryLime [any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I think "fap" originated elsewhere. I don't know where, but I think I saw it on fark before reddit.

      • Woly [any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        It was on 4chan long before reddit. :kombucha-disgust:

    • vsaush [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      They do nofap for very dumb reasons like thinking it improves virility or some shit. But the cultural hegemony includes a lot of self-flagellation and guilt blasted on people day in and day out. I get why people feel like something as simple and natural as masturbation is something to be ashamed of, people aren't allowed to feel normal about their own desires.

      • EthicalHumanMeat [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        4 years ago

        I know someone who did it as a t-break like for weed. Just blissfully unaware of the baggage of the sub.

    • FidelCashflow [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      like all things on the internet the trail leads back to something awful.

    • crispyhexagon [none/use name]
      ·
      4 years ago

      fapstronaut? really?

      i feel like that word would be better suited for use in describing someone that masturbates so often theyve ejaculated themselves into space. escaped the gravity well of the planet with the power of their cum. they are a fapstronaut.

      these antimasturbation no-fap folks should pick a different name, that makes more sense. like uhh...

      antifapals (anti-fap-pals)

      anti (against) fap (masturbation) al (pertaining to)

      preedit edit: no wait, thatll get confused the antifapals (antifa-pals) the antifascist friendship group. shit. guess they should just stop existing instead oh well

  • FRIENDLY_BUTTMUNCHER [she/her]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I hate that cities in the USA are built around the cars and it is impossible to move around without one. Like, even connecting sidewalks is too hard for some fucking places.

    • crispyhexagon [none/use name]
      ·
      4 years ago

      shit, feels like youre lucky if youve got any sidewalks. a lot of places ive lived its either road and then dirt/ditch/woods, or road and then building/guardrail. and theres sure as shit no way of getting across the road

      so you end up walking across a bunch of 10000 degree parking lots, or hoping no one shoots you for trespassing in their private nature reserve of a backyard.

    • FidelCashflow [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      for real, in my city the side walk is for bikes if there is any good sidewalk aroud.

  • quartz242 [she/her]
    ·
    4 years ago

    :trans-heart: Love to all the posters, viva la hexbear :stalin-heart:

    • Nebbit [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Sending positive vibes your way friend. I know that's immaterial and "thoughts and prayers" don't necessarily mean anything at all, but I hope things work out for you. :heart-sickle:

  • Phillipkdink [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    We could use more Indiaposting right now. I would but I'm dumb and don't really understand what's happening, but it seems like there is an active communist revolt happening and our boards are pretty silent about it?

    Unless there's something I'm missing about the farmers I figured there would basically always be some post about India on the front page.

    • thelasthoxhaist [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      its not a communist revolt, its an agrarian revolt lead by Sikh farmers and heavely supported by the communist and liberal factions in india, against the Neoliberal Farm bills of the Fascist BJP

      • Phillipkdink [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Ah, ok I see. I've just seen the photos with all the communist flags and I thought the farmers were Marxists. Not so hey?

        • thelasthoxhaist [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          4 years ago

          some are communist but mostly they are against the 3 farm bills of the BJP gov

    • snott_morrison [comrade/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      Feel like it would be really good to get a comm or like a daily thread to chat more about international events. Like instead of just the usual US soc-dems and China struggle sessions.

      Although I guess we'd need to rely a lot on the people here that know a lot more about international events than most of us to fill everyone in. But would still be good to have some good faith dialetical discussions about shit in other countries, international proletarian solidarity is necessary after all.

  • Nagarjuna [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Love to bring up closeted homophobes in congress to avoid taking responsibility for straight people's role in homophobia and instead blame gay people for their own oppression