Admiring Nycole

I grew up living with my grandmother and aunt. My aunt was more like a sister to me. She was a provider for me in every way possible. She loved and protected me like I was her child. We argued, fought, laughed, cried and everything in between. For those reasons and more is why I admire my aunt.

Growing up whenever I needed anything she made sure I had it. If I needed someone to talk to about anything, she was my go to person. When I found out I was pregnant and scared to tell my mother or grandmother, I told my aunt. She told me not to worry and that she would help me with anything I needed help with. My grandmother would have advised I get rid of my child… something I didn’t want to do. When I was upset about something and didn’t have anyone to take my frustration out on, because I’m the only child, she was the only person I had to argue with. If I was hungry she cooked, I needed personals, clothes, and shoes etc. she brought them. She made sure I didn’t want or need for anything. She was my provider and everything to me all in one.

Even though she isn’t my biological mother she cared for me like she was. Something dealing with school that required a parent being present, she was the parent that came to the school. Telling me the ways of life and what to expect as an adult, she did that as well. She kept me from the wrong people, so I wouldn’t go down the wrong paths. In high school, I was arrested and given a ten day suspension for fighting with a classmate. She always told me “the people you think is your friend are not.” I found that to be true after that incident. I think naturally a person would have a mother’s instinct after caring and being around someone from birth until adulthood.

After her passing, I didn’t realize the impact she had on my life. I have never worked as hard or been as independent as I am now. I learned not to hold grudges. For instance, the day before she passed I was mad at her, and I went to her house cursed her out and left… That night she was rushed to the hospital and died at 9:38 pm, which was too soon for me to apologize, because now she’s gone. When she passed a big part of me left as well. As much as she got on my nerves when she was living it wrecking my nerves when she passed.

She provided for me. She showed me a mother’s love and taught me how to love someone else. For those reasons and more is why I admire my aunt. She was a very free hearted person. After her departure, I realized that you really never know what you have until it’s gone.

Shanell

When I Choose a Husband

When I choose a husband, he would have to meet certain criteria. First, he would need to be good looking. He would have to have a good job, and he has to be able to accept my kids into his life too, not just me because we come as package. Also, he is going to have a good personality, he has to be patient and kind and interesting to talk to. He will like going places as a family and doing things with us, like going to meet each other’s family and things like that. I want a fun husband. He will have to like to go out to eat and go to amusement parks together and just do things as a family.

Takeya

Mr. Henten

I admire Mr. Henten. He is a pastor of a big church in Chicago. When someone is concerned about the well being of others he/she is very special person. He knows that there are many people in need, and he said if there’s anything he could do for them, God would bless him for whatever he could help with. Mr. Henten is someone who many people would like to know. He gets information from different organizations to give people that need help. Whatever he can do, he will. He believes that people will not have money all the time, and he will not either. He likes to make people laugh too; he makes funny, but clean jokes. I admire Mr. Henten because he is patient with people, caring, and funny.

Mr. Henten is a very patient person. When going to different churches he does not mind waiting. When someone wants to talk about something, he listens to make sure he understands. He waits until they finish. He doesn’t mind waiting for people that has to go to the doctors’ office. I admire Mr. Henten, because his patience encourages me to be more patient.                            

Mr. Henten is a very caring person. He is caring because he helps people in need of different kinds of services, people who do not have any one else to help them. Like people who need food to feed their families. He cares about people who need housing. He helps with finding them a place to live. I admire Mr. Henten because he cares about other people having the things they really need.  

Mr. Henten is a very funny person. He likes to tell funny, but clean jokes to make his friends laugh. He twists his words around to see if his friends understand. He also likes to surprise them with funny gifts. He thinks the funny gifts will make then happy. Mr. Henten encourages me to want to laugh more often by the way he treats his friends.                                                                                                           

I admire Mr. Henten because he is a patient, caring, and very funny person. When dealing with other people he is special. He goes out of his way for them. He says that God will bless him for the things he does for others. I will always admire.

Annie

The History of Shauntrell

January 22, 2007 was the day I found out that you would be a part of my life. I had no clue if you were a boy or girl. I was feeling all types of emotions in one. To my surprise, you were a baby boy. I came to the realization that you were a blessing. Nine months later… September 4, 2007, you were born at 8:38 pm. I didn’t have a clue of how to be a mother, let alone a good one. Every day I would ask you and God to “bear with me” and give me the patience and strength to get to know you and the ability to be the best mother I can.

You started walking, then talking. The first time I heard you say “mommy,” I knew then my prayers were answered. When I heard the words, “I Love You,” come from a person so small, I felt so proud of myself to have accomplished being a mother. Not knowing anything about you and learning everything about you. Even still you said those three words, “I Love You”.

Now it’s time to prepare you for the world outside of “Mommy”. I enrolled you in school. You weren’t ready for that, but I had faith in you. You cried your eyes out. I knew that was going to be temporary because you had never left my side before. Now you have grown into a smart, energetic, responsible, outspoken little boy whom I love more than life itself. Ironically, I was given the privilege of you being mine.

Shanell

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was hailed as a global renaissance woman. She was a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. She was born on April 4, 1928 in St Louis, Missouri. She grew up in Stamps, Arkansas. Maya Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination. She also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African American family community and culture as a teenager.

Dr. Angelou loved arts.  So, she won her scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco.  As a  laborer, at 14, she dropped out to become San Francisco’s first African American female cable car conductor.  A few weeks after graduation, she finished high school giving birth to her son Guy.  As a young single mother she supported her son by working as a waitress and cook. However, her passion for music, dance, performance, and poetry would soon take center stage. 

Maya Angelou read and she also studied and mastered French, Spanish, Italian and Arabic.  While in Ghana, she met Malcolm X.   In 1964, she returned to American to help Malcolm X build his new organization of African American unity.  After she arrived in the United States, Malcolm X was assassinated and his organization dissolved. 

Maya Angelou served as northern coordinator for the southern Christian leadership conference.  Maya began on her book that would become I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, which was published in 1970.  Also, it  was published to  international acclaim.  Maya appeared on television and films, including the landmark television adaption of Alex Haley's Roots.  President Clinton requested Maya to compose a poem to read at his inauguration in 1933.  Maya Angelou read her poem “On the Pulse of the Morning”.  It was broadcast live around the world.  Maya also won awards of arts in 2000 and the Lincoln medal in 2008.

Takeya

Who Is Barack H. Obama?

Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Barack’s first name means “Blessed’’ in Swahili, an African language. Barack was his father’s name too, but neither of the baby’s parents called him Barack he was always “Barry”. Barry’s father was from Kenya, a country in Africa. His mother’s name was Stanley Ann Dunham, but she was known as Ann to her friends. Barry was an outsider for most of his life because he didn’t have a lot of money.

In 1992, he married Michelle and eventually had two beautiful daughters. Their names are Malia and Natasha (Sasha). Barry accomplished many things like writing a book titled The Audacity of Hope, being sworn as an Illinois senator, and being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Barack H. Obama became our 44^th president of the United States on January 20, 2009!

Nichole

My New Husband

If you were choosing a new husband, wife, or partner, what criteria would you have?

Meeting my new husband will be the best thing ever! My husband and I will both have finished school, working to earn money and have a big beautiful home with a car. The criteria of my new husband are he must be very strong and in good health as well as me and of course very handsome. My husband must have patience with children. Going to church every Sunday is a constant thing for me, so therefore my husband must be willing to go to service with me without it being a problem.

A Direct Message

Have you ever been given credit for something you didn’t do? How did you feel? What happen? There was a time in 5^th grade when I was acknowledged for writing a story that wasn’t mine. I felt bad because the story wasn’t mine and I got credit for someone else’s work. The teacher came into the room, read the story to the class and when he finished he told the class he had expected for everyone’s story to be similar to the one he read. There was a beginning, middle and end. The writer was very specific about things that went on in the story. The spelling and grammar were perfect. After the teacher finished reading the story, I spoke with the teacher and told him it wasn’t my story, but I help my friend create it. So the credit shouldn’t only be given to me, but to my friend as well.

Harriet Tubman

Name: Harriet Tubman

Occupation: Civil rights activist

Birthday: 1820

Death day: March 10, 1913

Place of birth: Dorchester County, Maryland

Place of death: Auburn, New York

Originally: Armanda Harriet Ross

Nicknames: Minty, Moses, General Tubman

Harriet Tubman escaped slavery to become a leading abolitionist. She led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom along the route of the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman was an American bond woman who escaped from slavery in the south to become a leading abolitionist before the American Civil war. In 1861, The Civil war broke out between the northern and the southern States. John Andrew the governor of Massachusetts asked Harriet Tubman to work for the union army. John Andrew knew about Harriet Tubman as a slave. Before Harriet Tubman’s death she knew she wasn’t going to get well because of the pneumonia she had.   

  

Madam CJ Walker

Madam CJ Walker was born near Delta, Louisiana on December 23, 1867. Her birth name was Sarah Breedlove. Her parent’s Owen and Minerva were freed slaves and died from unknown causes. Sarah was the 5^th child and was the first in her family to be free born. Sarah became an orphan at the age of 7 when her parents died. She was sent to live with her sister Louivina and her brother in law. They all moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1877 where she picked cotton and was likely employed doing house hold work. 

Sarah got married to a man name Moses McWilliam and gave birth to a daughter name A’Lei, Moses died 2 years later. Madam and her daughter moved to St. Louis where Sarah her brothers were established as barbers. There Sarah had found work as a washerwoman earning $1.50 a day, enough to send her daughter to a city public school. While in St. Louis, Sarah met her second husband Charles J. Walker, who was known as a big time advertiser. He helped Sarah promote her hair products.

In 1890’s Sarah developed a scalp disorder that caused her to loose much of her hair and she began to experiment with both home and store bought remedies. In 1905, Madam was hired as a commission agent by Annie Turbine Malone (a successful, black hair care product entrepreneur) and moved to Denver, Colorado. Charles j Walker helped her create advertisement for hair care products use for African Americans. Charles J.  Walker  encourage  Sarah to use the more recognizable name Madam CJ Walker by which she was there after known as. In 1907, Walker and her husband traveled around the south and the southeast promoting her products and giving lectures demonstrations on her, involving her own formula for pomade brushing and the use of heated combs. In 1908, Walker opened a factory and a beauty school in Pittsburg. In 1910, Walker transferred her business operation to Indianapolis. The Madam CJ. Walker Manufacturing Company had become wildly successful with profits that were modern day. The company also trained sales beauticians.

The Walker agents became well known throughout the black communities of the United States, they promoted Walker philosophy of “cleanliness and loveliness” as a mean of advancing the status of African Americans. In 1919, Madam CJ Walker died in Irvington, Houston. Madam CJ Walker was best known for her hair care products and the straitening comb (hot comb). 

Monique