Tag Archives: Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter: Mississippi 1955

Posted on April 22, 2026 by odeboyz

On April 5, 1955, four months before that petition was filed in Yazoo City, Mississippi Governor Hugh White signed the bill into law. It made it a crime for any white student to attend a public school alongside a Black … Continue reading →

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Black Lives Matter: Sonny Liston’s hard life

Posted on March 5, 2025 by odeboyz

“My first trouble came when I got mixed with a bad crowd. One night we wanted to do something exciting.” “We stuck up a restaurant and I wound up in jail. I didn’t mind prison. I figured I had to … Continue reading →

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Black Lives Matter: Dick Gregory

Posted on November 13, 2024 by odeboyz

“Last time I was down South, I walked into this restaurant. This white waitress came up to me and said, ‘We don’t serve colored people here.’ I said, ‘That’s all right, I don’t eat colored people. Bring me a whole … Continue reading →

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American Prison Joke

Posted on September 4, 2023 by odeboyz

Q: Why are white guys frightening?A: Because you know they’re guilty.

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Black Lives Matter: Nat ‘King’ Cole, 1956

Posted on June 22, 2023 by odeboyz

Nat King Cole was an enormously popular crooner, earning $4,500 a week1 in Las Vegas in 1956. He headlined at the whites-only Thunderbird Hotel, where he wasn’t allowed to venture beyond the showroom and the cook’s resting area behind the … Continue reading →

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Marilyn Monroe and Ella Fitzgerald

Posted on May 18, 2023 by odeboyz

In 1955, Marilyn Monroe learned the Mocambo, a popular Hollywood nightclub, would not book Ella Fitzgerald because she was black. Monroe phoned the manager and told him she would reserve a front row table every night Ella performed there, knowing … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Percival Everett ~ The Trees (2022)

Posted on May 4, 2023 by odeboyz

Background The 1955 depraved murder of Emmett Till, aged 14, by racists in Mississippi was shocking but not freakishly so.1 What was unique was his mother allowing mourners to see his mutilated body in an open casket. The outrage became … Continue reading →

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A modern Girl Guide

Posted on December 1, 2022 by odeboyz
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Black History Month, 2022: Lyrics of ‘I wish’

Posted on October 6, 2022 by odeboyz

I wish I knew howIt would feel to be freeI wish I could breakAll the chains holding meI wish I could sayAll the things that I should saySay ’em loud say ’em clearFor the whole round world to hear I … Continue reading →

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Miles Davis on racism in classical music, 1940s

Posted on September 26, 2022 by odeboyz

“…I knew that no white symphony orchestra was going to hire a little black motherfucker like me, no matter how good I was.” Note Miles attended the Julliard School of Music, which is world renowned and for a black student … Continue reading →

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