Feb
07
2018
To celebrate Black History Month, hip-hop legend, producer and entrepreneur Nas pays homage to a long tradition of Black musicians and storytellers who continue to empower us today in this compelling open letter and video.
Music has scored my life since day one.
Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 – WOW. That music really touched me. And the theme music to Marvel cartoons like the Amazing Spider Man and Iron Man – we used to sing those songs in kindergarten. Most kids have flashing memories of being served lullabies by their parents when they were shorties, and in this regard, I humbly fall, eyes closed, into that plush “most kids” box.
I was blessed to have love from both of my parents, and it just so happens that my father’s love for music took him around the globe via his own sonic excursions, both live and recorded. Pops would come back with mad loot (cash money, that is) from around the world. It was a testament to his globetrotting and a cool little nod to me that said, young blood, when you’re ready, the world is yours.
Read Nas’ full letter here.
GOOGLE’S BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION CONTINUES
“Celebrating Black History in Our Lives Today”
Blog post by Chanelle Hardy
Counsel, Strategic Outreach and Policy Partnership
February 7, 2018
Growing up, Black history lessons in school were limited to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., George Washington Carver and Harriet Tubman. It wasn’t until I found my local public library-and with guidance from friendly librarians-that I began to understand the full breadth and depth of the impact of Africans in America. As a little Black girl growing up in white suburban Maryland, these lessons at the library, reinforced by conversations with my parents, were necessary to shaping a healthy identity as a Black woman.
As I studied my history, I learned that Harriet Tubman overcame her small stature and birth into slavery as, not only a brilliant conductor on the Underground Railroad, but a strategist who led the first military maneuver executed by an American woman. I learned that Jesse Owens overcame his childhood as a sickly sharecropper’s son to become an Olympic gold medalist. I learned that Black Americans in the South left what was familiar to migrate by the millions toward opportunity in the North, Midwest and West Coast. And I fell in love with the poems of Langston Hughes, who articulated the pain and the beauty of the Black experience in words that perfectly expressed what I had-until then-only felt.
Read the full blog post here.
Beyond the Arts and Culture collection, here are a few other ways Google’s products are honoring Black history:
- In a special video series, YouTube creators talk about the individuals creating Black history today.
- Learn from your Google Assistant. Just say, “Hey Google, share a story about Black history.”
- Take a journey in VR with Black history lessons in Google Expeditions.
- Listen a YouTube playlist of iconic Motown artists curated by influencers like Lebron James, Bethann Hardison, Morgan DeBaun, Mellody Hobson, Veronica Webb and Van Jones.
- Search “Black History Month” on Google and see posts by verified organizations like the NAACP.
View the full Black History and Culture collection on Google Arts and Culture at: g.co/blackhistory.
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