african american

African American History Month

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The United States was built on the backs of African Americans, Mexican Americans and Asian Americans. That is why I love Black History Month. It tells the stories I never got to hear in school. It reminds me that my people are not shiftless and lazy.  They have great minds and hearts contributing to society.

It reminds me that you can come from nothing and add something significant to life.  In my Queens project, the women I chose made a contribution to society that changed the fabric of it. Ordinary women did extraordinary things.

For this project, I chose women from all walks of life. I will share some of the photos I have taken, thus far. These are my Queens of Freedom.

Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues

Betsy Ross, mother of the American Flag

Madam CJ Walker, first African American Millionaire

Delores Hueta, Labor Leader and civil rights worker

Rosa Parks, civil rights activist or the mother of the freedom movement

Sacagawea, lead Lewis and Clark across North America

Shirley Chisholm, first African American woman elected to Congress

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Connections

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Sandy wanted to slap him, but was afraid he would shoot her. Michael Singh was their leader at the moment. He kept them alive when killers were searching for them. She was attracted to him, but he was very annoying. This adventure was turning out to be more than she could handle.

Connections

She and her best friend found missing relatives, spied on cheating spouses and caught a few bail jumpers. This private investigator never imagined the bad guys would chase her.
Running for her life, Sandy Herrick discovered that God was the only one with her who wasn’t talking smack, trying to kill her or get into her pants. As she and her friends try to figure out who framed them, they all discover that there was more to each other than they thought they knew.
As evil forces closed in on them, they have to determine who they trust and what they believe about each other. Would this be enough to save them?

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Tell Their Stories

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I love that there are months to celebrate African American History and Women’s History. It is the opportunity to tell the stories of people like you and me who accomplished things that moved us further along on life’s journey.

My current photo project is inspired by a group of women who changed life for the people around them. These women taught us about freedom, self worth and beauty. They walked us to freedom through dark woods in the dead of night. They built fortunes washing clothes and combing hair. They leave a legacy that the impossible can be done.

I call them Queens because these women led when it wasn’t easy. Anyone can do it when it is easy, but these women did it when there was nothing in it for them.  When all of the odds where against them. They made a difference.

Because of women like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, Betsy Ross we are free. We are not restricted by someone who owns us. Because of women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton we can own property and manage our own lives.  We can be lawyers, architects or millionaires. We can be what God created us to be and not limited by what man thinks we should be.

Bessie Smith was raised during a difficult time in our country’s history in 1892. She lived in the segregated South. Her parents died when she was young, so she and her brother would dance and sing on the streets of Chattanooga, Tennessee to earn money.  In 1912 she started her career as a dancer traveling with a troupe. She would later get a job as a singer, which would lead to better paying jobs.

By the 1920s and 1930s, Smith was known as the Empress of the Blues. She would headline shows and traveled around in her own custom made rail car. What was more important is she gave voice to a style of music that got its roots in America. Bessie Smith understood the blues, it was her life. She poured everything she had into it until it consumed her.

If we don’t tell these stories who will tell them? Young girls need to know you can climb out of hard times if you have perseverance and a dream.

 

Connections

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Sandy was a private investigator trying to make ends meet. She worked with all kinds of people, but only offered a few select services.  Photographing cheating spouses was one of those things. She had someone else doing the printing…

Stink was a 35-year-old Latin American man who had a variety of professions. She never questioned him on them, because she was afraid of what he would say. She had never had to post bail for him, so whatever he did he was good at it. She didn’t know his real name; she had met him through an acquaintance.

Stink handed her a manila nine by eleven envelope with stains from his morning coffee on it.

“Your girl was a freak.”

“Stink man, if I see these pictures on the internet I am going to lose my hand gun license the hard way.”

“Sand, would I do that?” He flashed a grin he used on many other women.

“Yeah, and you need to know that I will shoot you,” she said looking him in the eye.

She walked off looking tough, but the only thing she had shot lately was a target at the gun range. She knew to get her bluff in early, a trick she learned in parenting. But now it was time to deliver the bad news.

Connections is the story of a Sandy and her best friend as they find missing relatives, spy on cheating spouses and catch a few bail jumpers. This private investigator never imagined the bad guys would chase her.
Running for her life, Sandy Herrick discovered that God was the only one with her who wasn’t talking smack, trying to kill her or get into her pants. As she and her friends try to figure out who framed them, they all discover that there was more to each other than they thought they knew.
As evil forces closed in on them, they have to determine who they trust and what they believe about each other. Would this be enough to save them?

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Connections

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This mess had turned into a hot mess and she needed time to figure out how to get out of it. Everyday things got worse.

CONNECTIONS, a christian novel

She and her best friend found missing relatives, spied on cheating spouses and caught a few bail jumpers. This private investigator never imagined the bad guys would chase her.
Running for her life, Sandy Herrick discovered that God was the only one with her who wasn’t talking smack, trying to kill her or get into her pants. As she and her friends try to figure out who framed them, they all discover that there was more to each other than they thought they knew.
As evil forces closed in on them, they have to determine who they trust and what they believe about each other. Would this be enough to save them?

 

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Destiny’s Dilemma

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Zo had a life before she came back to Fort Worth. She covered news stories for real newspapers.

Her news story ran in several newspapers across the country under her press name: Z.F. Hughes. She showed her mother the news clippings.

Hattie rubbed the clippings between her fingers and smiles. She was too tired to read them, but she was proud all the same. She laid them on the pillow next to herself.

“You have always been a smart child. Jesus knew what he was doing when he made you.” Then Hattie started humming her favorite hymn, Jesus Loves Me, and fell asleep.

 

Destiny’s Dilemma is available:

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For This I Give You Praise

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My habits are not true to form of the Seven Habits because over time I have tweeked them to match my needs. The next area is Spiritual.  This is your soul, spirit and the things that make you you.

When I think of spiritual, I think of my relationship with God.  He created us in His image and I believe our spirit is what connects us. The more time I spend with God, the better I understand me. The more time I spend with God, the more I love Him.

I mean when you move in with someone you like to get to know them. If you are going to spend an eternity with someone, you want to know something about them. So I spend my spiritual time getting to know God better through bible study and prayer.

I was not one of those kids raised in church so the process was foreign to me.  I was in my late 20’s before I understood that God still communicates with his people. Once I discovered that, it was game on.  I began to understand how He speaks to me and what He wants me to do.  It all started with a wonderful bible study titled, Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. Changed. My. Life.

The most important thing I learned was all I have to be is who He made me.  Not everyone likes or agrees with who I am, but the One I have to answer to does. We get off center when we try to be other people or what other people want us to be. But if you are close to God, He will keep you centered. You ought to stay with Him just for that.

He has a plan for each of our lives. We have to trust His plan. When the children of Israel were in the desert, the Lord reminded them that they were His people. He reminded them that He was with them. As long as He is with us, there is no drought that can over take us or enemy that can over come us.

I praise Him because He taught me that He fights my battles for me. He runs my enemies out of business. He destroys them in ways I can’t imagine. As I learned in the study of Revelation this week, it is to bring them to repentance.

Spending time with God builds up your spiritual muscles, strengthens your faith and teaches you a praise dance.

 

Destiny’s Dilemma

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THUMBNAIL_IMAGE

She had heard that there was a black man who was the leader of the Republican Party in Fort Worth, but could hardly believe it.

“He knows how to talk to some white folks. He don’t get off the sidewalk when they walk up. You know he leads the Republican party in these parts. I think they call him the…the wha cha it?

“A delegate?”

“He’s the top dog.”

“A Negro is the top dog in the Republican party here?” she asked in disbelief.

“Chairman!” he said snapping his fingers. “He’s the chairman of the party. He helps people get good jobs after the election.”

Zo looked at Drew as if he had just spoken a foreign language to her.

 

Destiny’s Dilemma is available on:

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Destiny’s Dilemma

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THUMBNAIL_IMAGE

It was tough pretending not to be smart, but it was difficult pretending they were smart. Years as a journalist had taught her how to find out background information on just about anyone.  The truth was that the women were common and stupid, but still they had the power to destroy lives. She would have to watch herself around them.

 

 

An African American woman moved home to take care of her dying mother giving up the opportunity to experience a world beyond segregation. Zoraida Hughes Williams finds that some things have changed about her hometown of Fort Worth, Texas while some have stayed the same, like Hell’s Half Acre, an area where saloons, prostitution and gambling runs wild. Like most of the residents, she wants to keep her head down and stay away from trouble, but it comes in the unlikely form of an Anglo Baptist preacher. He messes up everything and almost gets them killed.

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We really have come a long way, Baby.

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Spoiler Alert:

SW-THE-FORCE-AWAKENS

Movies and books are some of the things I love. When I was a kid, I used to catch the bus and go to Seminary South to the General Cinema theater to watch movies. It was the coolest thing to me and these movies had an impact on how I saw the world. Most of the movies I saw had men leads, and most of which were Anglo.

When the first Star Wars movie debuted in 1977, I was too young to ride the bus by myself.  But I fell in love with the Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and was excited that Billy Dee Williams was one of the cast.  As an actor is was good to see someone who looked like me in a popular film that was good to boot. It gave hope that African American actors would not be typecast as the bad guys, the stupid guys or “you don’t have a purpose” guys.

I don’t have adequate words to explain my feelings as I watched the recent installment of the Star Wars franchise. I was like, “Wow!”

As I sat in the movie theater 38 years after the first movie, I can see a difference in who we are as story tellers. As a country we have grown some and it is nice to see it reflected in a major franchise movie. It is nice to see actors who look like me get roles that might have been cast other ways.

I love that one of the main characters was African American and another was female.  The story-line had nothing to do with their race or gender, it allowed two actors to do what they do best. ACT. Yet their presence spoke volumes. It takes Star Wars to whole new level with me. It was a great movie experience. We have truly come a long way.

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