GirlTREK

Day 20 The Address: 16th Street Baptist Church The Story: Their names were Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins. They were on their way to a basement assembly hall for closing prayers on a Sunday morning. The explosion occurred around 10:20 a.m. It destroyed the rear end of the building. It injured 20 people, and it killed the four little girls. The attack was meant to disrupt Black community activists who had been demonstrating for weeks for an end to segregation in the city. The public funeral for three of the girls attracted over eight thousand people, but not one city or state official attended. The Birmingham Post-Herald reported a month later that in the aftermath of the bombing, no one had been arrested for the incident itself, but 23 Black people had been arrested for charges ranging from disorderly conduct to "being drunk and loitering," mostly in the vicinity of the church. One black youth was gunned down by police after he threw rocks at passing cars with white passengers. The four men responsible for the murders were not charged until 45 years later. But as Dr. King said during the eulogy, "They did not die in vain." They did not die in vain. The hate that took their lives did not triumph. Today we tell the story of 16th Street Baptist Church and the faithfulness of the Birmingham community.

Day 19 “The first time I met the blues The Address: 229 Highway 8, Cleveland, Mississippi. The Story: It’s called Dockery Farms. “Farms” is a rebrand. It was a back-breaking plantation in a small town in Mississippi. It’s walking distance from where Fannie Lou Hamer picked cotton. It's a stone’s throw from “the crossroads,” where a young Robert Johnson was rumored to have sold his soul for an unearthly cool. There, as the sun kissed the dusty sky goodbye, guitars played, feet stomped, and hips swayed. The long days of work were made magic by the masters of a new American art form called the Blues. Just one generation after Dockery Farms, hundreds of blues men and women amplified the stories of our people and became the soundtrack of struggle. That real pain was carried in the Great Migration to the blighted streets of the industrial north. Today, let’s shine a light on the founders of the Blues. Many of them met on this very plantation: Charley Patton, Howlin’ Wolf, and even “Pops” Staples of The Staple Singers worked there. But this is Black history, and it didn’t just start on this farm. The truth is that the Blues was born in the hearts of the people of Africa. The Blues is their story and rhythms as they were brought to Mississippi. The Blues was therapy for their children on Beale Street in Memphis, and it brought laughter and reprieve to the hike joints of Kansas City, St. Louis, and Chicago. The Blues brought truth to the world. This episode will be electrifying as we walk and talk about the function of Blues music for Black people.

Day 18 The Address: Congo Square, New Orleans Come to Congo Square with us. Come catch the fire. Come learn of the drums that reverberated through the square, calling for protection from the ancestors and the one’s left back home. Come learn of the worship that took place here. Come learn about this place so full of magic -  not at all dark. Come hear about the celebrations, the dance, the music, the food that united Africans from across the continent in this new place called New Orleans.

Day 16 The Address: 110 Calhoun Street, Charleston, South Carolina The Story: Mother Emanuel AME Church is one of the oldest Black churches in the United States, and for 200 years, it functioned as the center for organizing for civil rights. Its name says it all. Emanuel "God with us." And God has been constant. Because there’s never been a church that has withstood the reign of terrorism so bravely. Today, we will explore The Why. Why was this church targeted? Why was it necessary? What kind of spiritual courage was being borne there? Well, that courage has a name: Denmark Vesey Today, we learn his story. The true story of Mother Emanuel’s bravest son. Don’t miss this ah-ha of history.

Day 13 “We are each other's harvest; we are each other's business; we are each other's magnitude and bond.” - Gwendolyn Brooks The Address: Rosenwald Apartments, 4648 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL, Bronzeville The Story: They came fleeing the terrors of Jim Crow. They came in search of freedom. Still tethered to their southern roots and values, they brought an electrifying energy that would give rise to Black Arts movements, create gospel, and establish a Black mecca known as Bronzeville, the only neighborhood in the country that could rival Harlem as the cultural center of African America. Home to the greats - Gwendolyn Brooks, Richard Wright, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Coleman, Ida B. Wells, and many more. We will start today’s exploration of Bronzeville on S. Michigan Ave at the storied Rosenwald Apartments, once managed by Quincy Jones' mother. From here, we will take a stroll down “The Stroll”, a section of State Street that was the place to see and be seen, and the heartbeat of Black Chicago. Along the way we will talk about how the people in this community influenced and changed the world, from politics to social activism.

Day 11 Before T.I., before Jeezy, and before Lil Baby… For a city that thrives on “started from the bottom now I’m here” storylines, it makes sense that Atlanta’s first Black millionaire was a barber named Alonzo. He didn’t have a Morehouse degree, or an Alpha Phi Alpha pedigree like Sweet Auburn Avenue's favorite son, Martin Luther King Jr. What Alonzo lacked in formality, he made up for with a hustler’s spirit. This is the story you didn’t know. The story of the real A. The Story of Auburn Ave. The story of Alonzo who left his small town in Georgia on foot with $11 of savings and about a year of schooling. He emerged to help make Sweet Auburn Avenue “the richest Negro Street in the world.”

Day 10 Of all the Black towns started in the West during Reconstruction, only one still exists… Do you know where it is? Y’all I tried to Google it. … an address for you. But ain’t no addresses. It’s just… Nicodemus, Kansas 67625 NicoDEMus!!! I first saw the name in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. It was a beautiful way sign pointing to the famous township. Somehow, this sign was miraculously recovered through post-Reconstruction terror, the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, AND the Great Depression. There it was - a beautiful relic of Black history (so grateful for archeologists). You see, I was born in Kansas, plus “Nicodemus” sounded Black as H, so I was pumped to learn more. I googled the population today. 14 people. Wait...14? In 2020, it was 54. One chart says 5. Who are these people holding down our history? What are their names? What are their mama’s names? How many generations have their families lived there? Do they have a post office? I can’t wait to tell you the story and circumstances of this beautiful town. The history will give you a deeper understanding of the founding of all Black towns in the West.

Day 6 The Address:  312 Azusa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90011 The Story: Have you ever heard someone speak in tongues? If you don’t know exactly what I mean, tune in today. If you know…you know. Goosebumps. This emoji 👀. The organists and choir stop. Vrrooop. God takes center stage. Skeptics look away. Believers take note. During a revival on Azusa Street it happened in a public venue on American soil, journalists came. “Weird Babel of Tongues” …was the headline. On April 18, 1906, The Los Angeles Times printed: “Breathing strange utterances and mouthing a creed which it would seem no sane mortal could understand, the newest religious sect has started in Los Angeles. Meetings are held in a tumbledown shack on Azusa Street near San Pedro Street, and the devotees of the weird doctrine practice the most fanatical rites, preach the wildest theories and work themselves into a state of mad excitement in their peculiar zeal. Colored people and a sprinkling of whites compose the congregation, and night is made hideous in the neighborhood by the howling of the worshipers swaying back and forth in an attitude of prayer and supplication.” This was The Azusa Street Revival. It lasted three years. How could those journalists, with their poorly veiled racism, possibly understand. It was a spiritual breakthrough. A rallying call for the newly freed. The reclaiming of African know-how …on American soil. 312 Azusa Street, Los Angelos, California was the official birthplace of the Black Pentecostal Movement, the fastest growing religious movement in American history. For every Black girl who played the tambourine and knows the response to lyrics “This joy that I have…” …this is your history. Our history. Black history. And if you KNOW God has brought us through!!! You better shout! Somebody ought to dance.

Day 4 “You can pray until you faint, but unless you get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.” - Fannie Lou Hamer The Address: 40 Acres, Ruleville, Mississippi The Story: Raise your hand if you knew that Fannie Lou Hamer started a 600- Acre Farm to feed The People!! Shut the front door!!! What! For real? For real. Fannie was trying to save actual lives up in here. Today, we finna learn y’all. But before we travel back in history to Ruleville, Mississippi, let’s start here… What did you eat for breakfast this morning? Where did the food come from? Is it organic or GMO? Was it grown on US soil? Did a Black farmers hands touch it? Let’s talk about it. For Fannie. We already know that YOU know that Fannie Lou Hamer sang This Little Light of Mine. You can see in your head the Fannie Lou who put her purse on the table at the DNC as she talked about being beaten for registering Black voters across Mississippi. But Farmer Fannie!? Let’s turnip (you see what i did there??)! Ha. I can’t wait to tell you about her radical work that never gets discussed. Fannie Lou Hamer understood that the most intractable problem facing people in the American South was poverty. She said “I know what the pain of hunger is all about.” So, with a $10,000 grant, she bought 40 acres of land and created Freedom Farm Cooperative. When it succeeded, she bought an additional 640 acres. Somebody make me a T-shirt that says “Fannie Fed the People!” Today, her farm is no longer there. Let’s talk about why… In her honor, we pledge to eat better and do better. (Shoot, someone may quit their job, buy some overalls, and move to Ruleville. Hope so.)

Day 2 “I’m kicking new flava in ya ear!” - Craig Mack The Address: Do you know what happened at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in The Bronx, New York? The Story: Somebody’s uncle, with a good government job, signed the purchase order to put electrical outlets in light posts in Black neighborhoods across America. He’s a hero. Some say, that tiny detail, the ability to plug in amps and turntables outside on the corner is responsible for the birth of Hip Hop! It’s a cute idea. …and maybe there’s an ounce of credence there but here’s the TRUTH. There is no hip hop without Cindy Campell and her big brother Clive who lived at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, New York. Their basement apartment is known around the world as the birthplace of Hip Hop!!! The rest is history: I said-a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie, to the hip hip hop-a you don't stop the rock It to the bang-bang boogie, say up jump the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.  Now what you hear is not a test….