Across the country, there are many museums promoting, preserving, and honoring the history and culture of African-Americans. With a focus on art, music, technology, history, and even firefighters, here are ten amazing places to check out if you want a little more culture in your life.

African-American Museum, Dallas, TX
As one of the only museums of its kind in the Southwestern United States, the African-American Museum in Dallas was founded in 1974 at Bishop College, a HBCU that closed in 1988. It ran independently starting in 1979, constructed a new facility that opened in, and houses one of the largest African-American Folk Art collections in the US.

Photo courtesy of freerangephotos.com

Since our country’s inception, black women have been instrumental in shaping the law of the land. They overcame racial and gender barriers to become lawyers and judges, while using their influence to enact laws for the greater good of society. One legal eagle – a former slave – never went to law school, but possessed the innate ability to present oral arguments before the Supreme Court. These trailblazers reshaped the legal landscape in their pursuit of liberty and justice for all.

Charlotte Ray

Charlotte Ray has the distinction of being the first black female lawyer in the United States. In 1869, she applied for admission to Howard University’s Law School under the name “C.E. Ray” since the university discouraged women from applying to law school.  When Ray graduated from Howard in 1872 with a degree in commercial law, she was the first black woman – and only the third female in the United States – to receive a law degree. That same year, she also became the first woman admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia.

Every February, in recognition of Black History Month, we’re reintroduced to influential people in our history who have left marks in their respective industries. These people were great. Their courage surpassed their fear and they held steadfast in their fight for justice and equality for the human race. Yet, while we’re constantly reminded of the Dr. Martin Luther Kings, Harriet Tubmans, Malcolms, and Rosa Parks of the past, there are many other black leaders that often go unrecognized. Their paths were just as difficult and their fights just as courageous.

So as Black History Month gets ready to come to a close, we would like to acknowledge seven of the least recognized women in black history. Some you may be familiar with by name, but not aware of their stories. Others you will be introduced to for the first time. These women paved the way for other women and blacks in general.

Check out our list of influential black women who may have missed the mainstream recognition, but nevertheless played a pivotal role in our history.

photo courtesy of zinnedproject.org

Ella Baker

While we’re constantly reminded of the civil rights leaders who worked in front, those who were behind the scenes often go unrecognized. Ella Baker is one of those people. An active civil rights leader in the 1930s, Ms. Baker fought for civil rights for five decades, working alongside W.E.B Dubois, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King, Jr. She even mentored well-known civil rights activist, Rosa Parks.

Ella Baker is quoted as saying, “You didn’t see me on television; you didn’t see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is, strong people don’t need strong leaders.”

The Tennessee tea party wants to move “incidents” like slavery and genocide out of the history textbooks. Why? Because they are afraid that these “incidents” would tarnish the image of the founding fathers of the U.S.

Yes, you are reading this right. They want to erase history and the fact that our country was founded on both slavery and the wipe out of the native’s population.

On January 11, members of the Tennessee tea party presented this idea to their state legislatures, with five priorities of action to change the state’s history curriculum and supposedly to educate students on “the truth” about America.

Some of the changes presented that they’re hoping for include the following: to reference the slave trade as the “Atlantic Triangular Trade,” to have the first black President to be announced as “Barack Hussein Obama,” (how convenient) and to state that the Constitution created a Republic and not a Democracy.

Salon reports that the tea party also doesn’t want their kids to learn that many of the founding fathers owned slaves.

Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another.”

Overall it would push for a more biased and skewed version of history, one that is completely false and untrue. It is bad enough that the educational system doesn’t teach our full American history or that of other individuals of color who helped build this country. Unfortunately, American history equals white history and the occasional lessons of slavery, the civil rights movement, and if you’re lucky (as hell) the Harlem Renaissance. But now people are trying to rub out the little acknowledgement of our struggles and history that we get?

This is a complete white wash of history at its finest. Will they actually get to change the curriculum? Most likely not, but it’s scary to think there are people out there are who are trying very hard to paint a false picture of our country’s history and founding fathers as clean as a whistle for the most random and useless of purposes. Go get a hobby.

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“If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in 1 week?” Those are the types of ridiculous math problems students at Beaver Ridge Elementary School in Norcross, GA, are being asked to solve and their parents are not happy about it to say the least.

Gwinnett County school district officials said the principal at Beaver Ridge will personally work with teachers to come up with more appropriate lessons and will offer more opportunities for staff development following the backlash over the worksheet which also included questions such as: “Each tree had 56 oranges. If 8 slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?” But parents say that’s not enough. They’re demanding an apology from the school and diversity training for the teachers and district officials.

“That’s how people learn from one another and that’s how we all grow,” says Jennifer Falk, a community activist who recently had two children graduate from Gwinnett high schools. “Intentionally or not, this was inappropriate.”

So how does something like this even happen? School district officials said teachers were attempting to incorporate history into their third-grade math lessons.

“Clearly, they did not do as good of a job as they should have done,” district spokeswoman Sloan Roach said. “It was just a poorly written question.” That’s one way to look at it.

Under district policy, the worksheet should have been reviewed before being handed out to students, but for some reason that protocol wasn’t followed in this situation. The most recent accountability report for Beaver Ridge, which has an enrollment of about 1,200 students, shows that 62% of its students are Latino, 24% are black, and 5% are white. The school was recently recognized as a Georgia Title I Distinguished School for achieving adequate yearly progress for six straight years. Something tells me they won’t earn that title for the seventh year.

Can you believe this?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Knox and her husband, Gene.

I’m sure you’ve had many career advisers tell you time and time again to watch the pictures you post on Facebook. Why? Because employers often use Facebook to check up on you in the hiring process. We all know ratchetness on Facebook could possibly keep you from getting a job, but it sucks to know that the opinions you share–and display on the site–could possibly cost you your job as well.

A teacher in New Jersey named Viki Knox is in the center of the debate on free speech on through social media, as many are calling for her job after she posted anti-gay comments on her Facebook page. Knox has been put on paid administrative leave while the matter is investigated (and has been since the beginning of the month), but during a school board meeting yesterday, protesters were in full force for both sides of the matter. On one side, individuals were holding up posters that said, “No Hate in Our State,” while on the other side, a large group of people standing by the teacher held up smaller signs that said, “Don’t Bully Viki.” Many argue that a woman who teaches around young people of all different backgrounds and orientations, and is open about her disapproval of the gay lifestyle, shouldn’t get to keep working in the school. However, others are saying that firing a person because of what they believe in based on their religious teachings would be a violation of their free speech and religious freedoms.

I know what you’re thinking: if she was just speaking her mind on her Facebook page on her own time, what’s the issue? Well, according to the Los Angeles Times, Knox, 49, was commenting on the school’s recognition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender History Month. The special education teacher wrote that being of the LGBT community was a “sin” a sin that in her mind, “breeds like cancer.” She made it clear that celebrating the month in the school is like parading “unnatural, immoral behavior before the rest of us.”

Many gay advocates say that her opinions could cause her to not keep an eye out for those bullying students of the LGBT community, and that she may not fully enforce new anti-bullying legislation passed in New Jersey last spring. Not really sure how I feel about this one, because I think it’s sad that people’s religious opinions, which are expressed outside of school halls, can still get them axed. However, some people commenting on this story did bring up a really good point: remember the story we posted about the white supremacist principal in the Bronx who was fired after it came out that he wrote a string of books about minority inferiority? Well…this is somewhat similar. Not fully though, because racism isn’t something commonly taught (at least not out in the open), while Knox’s beliefs are a common view held by some Christians due to their personal interpretations of the Bible. But still, her known beliefs could possibly play a part in how she treats her students, or even worse, how they feel about being around her. As if there wasn’t enough as an adolescent teen to be uncomfortable about in school…But what do you think?

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People can change, right? Is this the motto you live by when dealing with a man who has a not-so-ideal dating history?  While it’s true that people can change, it’s also true that you can tell a lot about a person through their past relationships.

If none of his relationships have lasted over a year, it could suggest he gets bored easily. Will you be that one interesting girl that can hold his attention? Do you even want to take that chance? Most importantly, if every relationship he’s been in has ended in a domestic dispute, chances are he’s initiated at least one and you could potentially be the next victim. A person’s dating history provides us with a glimpse of who a person really is, or at least who they were. Does his history matter to you?

By Alexis Garrett Stodghill

A new museum is in the works that will celebrate the contributions blacks have made to popular music: The National Museum of African American Music, which will be in Nashville, Tennessee. A city that is  well-known for its rich musical history, this new museum will fulfill a desire for greater diversity in the locale’s offerings that has been expressed by many tourists. Board chairman for the project Henry Hicks told ABC News: “With the focus on music and the more than 40 genres of music that African Americans contributed to in a meaningful way, it really becomes a museum of American music and allows us to tell the story of American music.” This will be the first museum to focus specifically on the music history of African-Americans — but it is not the only one that preserves the legacy of our greats. Here are more important repositories of our rich past that offer (or will when completed) a wonderful window on black achievement. Keep these destinations in mind for future educational adventures.

The National Museum of African American Music
Nashville, TN
Estimated Date of Opening: 2013

The National Museum of African American Music will be the first museum of its kind dedicated to the historical contributions of blacks in the United States to popular music. At a cost of $47.5 million, the museum intends to bring together the many artists, companies, styles and cultural movements that have both influenced and been influenced by black music.

Anytime you put several people in the same room together for any extended period of time, drama is bound to ensue. While you might think coming from the same blood line would alleviate some of the drama it can actually enhance it. No one knows how to push your buttons like your family members. But at the end of the day, they’re your family and for better or worse you love them. If you have a reunion or gathering of some type coming up in the near future here are some coping mechanisms so your reunion doesn’t end up looking like a boxing match.

By Charlotte Young

Yes it’s true; students aren’t getting a substantial dose of minority history. In fact in some states, it’s practically banned in schools. But a recent nationwide test released Tuesday reveals that American students can’t even master the traditional American history taught in schools and show less ability in American history than any other subject.

The New York Times reports on the National Assessment of Educational Progress which was administered last spring to 7,000 fourth graders, 11,800 eighth graders and 12,400 12th graders nationwide. History was one of eight subjects tested. The test also covered math, reading, science, writing, civics, geography and economics.

According to the test, the average fourth grader probably can’t tell you why Abraham Lincoln was important, and high school seniors have very little knowledge about the alliances key to the Korean War.

Education historian Diane Ravitch was one of those who reviewed the results. She was particularly disturbed that only two percent of 12th graders were able to correctly answer a question on Brown vs. Board of Education. The decision she says, was “likely the most important decision” made by the US Supreme Court in the past seven decades.

Needless to say this is a problem.

Advocates blame the No Child Left Behind policy, since it required schools to raise math and science scores while practically disregarding the other subjects.

Linda K. Salvucci, a history professor in San Antonio, also blames teacher-education programs that encourage teachers-to-be to get certified in social studies rather than history. The versatility supposedly gained with this subject leaves teachers rather unprepared to teach history.

The good news is that the test showed high school seniors have improved in economics. Students may not know where they come from, but hopefully they’ll be able to manage money.