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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – February is Black History Month, a celebration acknowledging the achievements of Black Americans and how they have uniquely shaped the nation’s history.
Celebrating the contributions to our nation made by people of African descent goes back to 1915, half a century after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.
The effort began with the advocacy of Harvard-trained American historian Carter G. Woodson and the prominent minister Jesse E. Moorland., who sought to recognize the heritage and achievement of Black Americans.
The event was first celebrated during the second week of February 1926, selected because it coincides with the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) and abolitionist/writer Frederick Douglass (Feb. 14). That 1926 event was sponsored by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
That first celebration inspired schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures.
In 1975, President Gerald Ford issued a message on the observance of Black History Week urging all Americans to "recognize the important contribution made to our nation's life and culture by black citizens."
Since 1976, February has been officially designated as Black History Month.
That week would continue to be set aside for the event until 1976 when, as part of the nation’s bicentennial, it was expanded to a month. Since then, U.S. presidents have proclaimed February as National African American History Month.
Earlier this month, the Board of Supervisors and the Clearlake City Council presented proclamations in honor of Black History Month.
The city of Clearlake’s proclamation notes that, “while the history of Black Americans is also the story of countless nameless heroes brought to our shores who endured lives of bondage and oppression, the deprivation of their civil rights, and ravages of bigotry and racism, it is a history for which most of the chapters have yet to be written as Black Americans contribute to the American promise.”
The proclamation also notes that, “for generations, African Americans have strengthened our Nation by urging reforms, overcoming obstacles, and breaking down barriers,” and cites the contributions of individuals including Martin Luther King Jr., Elijah Cummings, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, Cicely Tyson, Hank Aaron, Kamala Harris and Rev. Rafael Warnock.
Mendocino College also is celebrating Black History Month.
“As we continue to face a global pandemic, allow the celebration of Black History Month to serve as a reminder of the multiple contributions made by Black Americans and other ethnic communities,” says Mendocino College President Tim Karas. “We commemorate Black History Month by continuing the essential work of self-reflection and strengthening our resolve to stay engaged in equity work in our district and to work harder against racism (overt and structural) and toward social justice.”
On Feb. 24, a webinar titled “You Don’t Know Who We Be: A Conversation about the Pre-enslavement & Pre-Colonial History of Africans in America” will be hosted by BCC Speaker Series with Dr. Edward Bush, President of Cosumnes River College. Register for this webinar here.
The Mendocino College librarians have also put together a LibGuide for Black History Month and the Black Lives Matter movement specifically. View the page here.
More information about the celebration of Black Americans can be found here: https://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/?loclr=ealn.
The following facts come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s surveys.
Did you know?
48.2 million
The Black population, either alone or in combination with one or more races, in the United States in 2019.
1,916
Total population of Lake County residents identifying as Black.
87.9%
The percentage of African Americans age 25 and older with a high school diploma or higher in 2019.
30.7%
The percentage of the employed Black population age 16 and older working in management, business, science and arts occupations in 2019.
124,004
The number of Black-owned employer businesses in the United States in 2017.
2.1 million
The number of Black military veterans in the United States nationwide in 2019.
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Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) will hold a virtual press conference at noon Pacific Time on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
This event will be held over Zoom and interested participants must email Thompson’s office at
The event will also be streamed on Facebook Live via Thompson’s page.
During the event, Thompson will highlight the importance of the state and local funding that was included in the American Rescue Plan.
Thompson will be joined by leaders from across the Fifth Congressional District that support this legislation.
The Fifth Congressional District includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
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- Written by: Jennifer Wollock, Texas A&M University
Valentine’s Day annoys many people.
For many in a relationship, the pressure to impress a partner can weigh heavily, and expensive gifts serve as a reminder of the relentless commercialization of the holiday. Meanwhile those still looking for love approach the day with trepidation – another reminder of their single status and the pressure to find a partner.
As a chivalric literary historian who has studied the origins of the holiday, I find this a shame. When the notion of Valentine’s Day as a day for romance emerged in the 1380s it was all about love as a natural life force – birds choosing their mates, the freedom to choose or refuse love and the arrival of springtime. But even then many people did not understand or value these things. In fact, that is why it was invented.
Odes to love
The first to write of Valentine’s Day – a feast day with ancient pagan roots – as a holiday celebrating love and lovers were the 14th-century English squire Geoffrey Chaucer and his friend, the internationally admired knight and poet Oton III de Granson, from Savoy in modern-day France. Both poets were recognized in their own time as chivalrous advocates for human rights. And in tandem, they seem to have concocted Valentine’s Day as a day for lovers.
Their work supported principles still important for us today, notably the right to free choice in love and the right to refuse romantic advances.
Chaucer and Granson encountered one another in the service of Richard II of England and admired one another’s poetry. Their poems about Valentine’s Day show them operating as an international chivalric team to address pressing issues in the theory and practice of love, then and now.
In the poem “The Parliament of Fowls,” Chaucer presents Valentine’s Day as a day when birds gather to choose their mates under the supervision of nature. In the poem, presented as a dream, three rival eagles each express a lifelong commitment to a single female. Birds of lower social status and different temperament, waiting in line, quarrel about how to resolve the impasse so they, too, can select their mates.
In the scenario, two of the eagles must be disappointed – Valentine’s Day is no guarantee that all will find love. But in the end the wise female eagle obtains from the figure of Nature the right to take her time in deciding her mate. She chooses not to choose. It is a story of waiting to recognize one’s true love, knowing your own heart and having the right to choose your partner yourself.
Chaucer’s tale relates to an actual courtship that included three suitors and ended in the wedding of two 15-year-olds: Richard II and the princess Anne of Bohemia, in 1382.
Meanwhile, Granson promoted Valentine’s Day in his French poems as a day for human lovers to choose one another and pledge their love, as do the birds. Granson pledges his own undying love to a mysterious lady in his “Complaint to Saint Valentine.” There was no merchandise involved and no gifts were expected.
Free love
Chaucer and Granson’s celebration of love as a relationship between partners, a union of souls grounded in respect and the freedom of choice, contrasts with many of the traditions of the age in which they lived.
Throughout the Middle Ages, most marriages were arranged and often forced, usually in childhood – as many still are today – with the full support of tradition and the law. Saints’ lives and legal documents describe parents coercing children to marry by brute force. Chaucer’s own father was kidnapped at age 12 by his aunt in an attempt to force him to marry her daughter in order to gain control over his inheritance.
In this context, Chaucer and Granson reimagined the already existing Valentine’s Day festival to celebrate the potential beauty of love itself. In a world where forced and child marriages are still all too common, it is important to reflect on Chaucer and Granson’s visions. Their reinvention of the day opened the eyes of poets, knights, ladies and just plain folk to the need for respect and self-respect in courtship – and the value of partnerships entered into for love, not just for lust, power or money.
Servants of love, these two knightly poets shaped Valentine’s Day as a gift for future generations. Their chivalrous enterprise deserves to be celebrated as we pursue our own happiness.
Jennifer Wollock, Professor of English, Texas A&M University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of pit bull and Rottweiler.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm for information on visiting or adopting.
‘Jack’
“Jack” is a young male Rottweiler mix.
He has a short red and black coat and a docked tail.
He is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 14328.
Male pit bull terrier
This male pit bull terrier has a short brindle and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. 14339.
‘Sargent Chunk’
“Sargent Chunk” is a young male Rottweiler with a short red and black coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. 14303.
Male pit bull terrier
This male pit bull terrier mix has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 30, ID No. 14338.
Email Elizabeth Larson at