Black History Month: Malcolm X and Sojourner Truth

Last weekend we began to watch Spike Lee's Malcolm X - we are watching it in episodes as the film is really quite long. Still the boys liked what they saw so far. Dion thinks Malcolm Little's hairstyle in the beginning of the film was very wrong and didn't understand why he and his friend walked the way they used to.

We also watched Alice Walker's reading of "Ain't I a Woman?" by Sojourner Truth.



We learnt that her name used to be Isabella Baumfree and that she chose to change her name when she was freed as a slave. We also learnt that Sojourner was still actively campaigning against racism well into her 80s. We think she was an impressive woman.

We were inspired to think about the discrimination children face - which Dion summed up in the statement: "Ain't I a person?"

Right Hand Lead

A Review of "When We Were Kings"

I thought James Brown looked really weird.
I think Muhammad Ali was trying to convince everybody that he was going to win.
I liked it.
It's more like a history film. There could have been more of a storyline.

- - -

When We Were Kings (You Tube)

Black History Month: Barack Obama & Muhammad Ali

What do Barack Obama and Muhammad Ali have in common?

Today, they were both featured personalities in the letydiboys focus on Black History Month (February in the States and in Germany - at least in Hamburg and Heidelberg).

We watched the music video below (see post on Wednesday, February 6th 2008) and found out (long live Wikipedia) that:

• he shares Grandmaa Flo's birthday - August 4th
• he was born in 1961
• his dad was a Black Kenyan and his mum was a white US person
• his stepdad was from Indonesia
• he spent most of his childhood in Hawaii, but lived in Indonesia for some time too
• he studied law

(I didn't read the bit about smoking, drinking & cocaine out loud to them - plenty of time for them to learn all about that...)

We then talked about Muhammad Ali - the logical link from one to the other escapes me now - in any case on Thursday we will watch "When we were Kings" (tomorrow Dion is with Jonas). This evening we watched a small clip:




I hope to be able to persuade the boys to blog about BHM themselves this month.
For today, I console myself with the fact that Lewis finally learnt how to say "Muhammad Ali" (he kept saying Mudamed or something similar) and that he fell asleep singing "Lewis Buma Ye! Lewis Buma Ye!"

Me & my goddaughter Jonna!

Look! I've got stripy stockings too! And my slippers are pinker & furrier than yours...

Looks like I still get the thumbs up...!

This is great... I cross my fingers for Obama and the United States...

Uncle G and his nephews

During our surprise visit to London in January. Am not sure why Lewis is making that weird face...