First African Woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize: Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)

The founder of the Green Belt Movement and the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. 

She authored four books: The Green Belt Movement; Unbowed: A Memoir; The Challenge for Africa; and Replenishing the Earth. As well as having been featured in a number of books, she and the Green Belt Movement were the subject of a documentary film, Taking Root: the Vision of Wangari Maathai (Marlboro Productions, 2008). 

1. Wangari Muta Maathai 
2. Born in Nyeri, a rural area of Kenya (Africa), in 1940. 
3. Obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964), a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1966), and pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, before obtaining a Ph.D. (1971)
4. pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, before obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi, where she also taught veterinary anatomy. 
5. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, become chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and associate professor in 1976 and 1977. 
6. Professor Maathai was active in the National Council of Women of Kenya (1976–1987) and was its chairman (1981–1987). In 1976, while she was serving in the National Council of Women, Professor Maathai 
7. Introduced the idea of community-based tree planting and the Green Belt Movement (GBM).. 
8. Was recognised for her struggle for democracy, human rights, and environmental conservation.
9. In 2006, she founded the Nobel Women’s Initiative with her sister laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams, and Mairead Corrigan.
10. In 2011, Wangari died after battling Ovarian Cancer.

*Read about Wangari.

'Back to Africa': Marcus Garvey (1887 - 1940)

Garvey was a Jamaican-born black nationalist who created a 'Back to Africa' movement in the United States. He became an inspirational figure for later civil rights activist

• Marcus Garvey. 
• Born in St Ann's Bay, Jamaica on 17 August 1887, the youngest of 11 children. 
• At the age of 14 he left school and became a printer's apprentice where he led a strike for higher wages. 
• The first voice to clearly demand Black Power, ("A race without authority and power is a race without respect.")
• He returned to Jamaica in 1914 and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). See Garveyism.
• Created Black skinned dolls.
• Garvey founded the Black Star Line, to provide transportation to Africa.
• Founded the Negro Factories Corporation to encourage black economic independence. 
• In 1922, Garvey was arrested for mail fraud in connection with the sale of stock in the Black Star Line and sent to prison and  deported to Jamaica. 
• Died on 10 June 1940, in 1964, his body was returned to Jamaica where he was declared the country's first national hero.

*Read about Marcus.

The Mother of Notting Hill Carnival: Claudia Jones

Claudia Jones was a leading figure in London's Caribbean community from 1955 until her death in 1964. She founded The West Indian Gazette, and is known as 'the Mother of the Notting Hill Carnival'.

1. Born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, in 1915. .
2. Became an active member of the American Communist Party when Black issues were still neglected in mainstream politics.
3. Jones was a talented journalist and by the late 1940s she had become the editor of 'Negro Affairs' for the party's paper, The Daily Worker. 
4. She was arrested for her political activities and sentenced to the first of four spells in prison. Jones was deported, refused entry to Trinidad in 1955, and granted asylum in England.
5. There, she helped organise campaigns against the 1962 Immigration Act. 
6. Campaigned for the release of Nelson Mandela, and spoke out against racism in the workplace.
7. Claudia Jones became a leader in the emerging Black equal rights movement in London.
8. In 1958, Jones founded the West Indian Gazette, the first newspaper printed in London for the Black community. 
9. Helped launch Notting Hill Carnival as a response to the 1958 riots, when tensions had turned violent as racist mobs attacked local Black residents. Using the West Indian tradition of carnival, the event was intended to create closer relations between all local communities. The first carnival was held in January 1959 in a local hall.
10. Jones died of a heart attack on Christmas Eve 1964, aged just 48. She was buried in Highgate cemetery next to the grave of Karl Marx.

*Read about Claudia.

The month has come...

Black History Month 2012 is here people!

EACS will be bringing you a figure a week. We've got a debate coming up - the question being considered is:

'Does Black History Month do more harm than good?'

Click the link below for more info on the event! We're going to be posting here like cray so WATCH THIS SPACE! Happy Black History Month people!

EACS x

Debate info...