Black History Month Facts
 

You start! :)

CT4 is the one to go to.

Okay, I have one. LadyGreek's daughter was born on Sunday, February 14. :D

Black history is a 365 day thing to me. Even worthy of a daily thread. :)

Other than that, it is often the case that the facts related to the same people are repeated over and over again. At many middle and high schools, kids still don't read about the contributions of blacks until the chapter on slavery. If there even is such a chapter. Then when black history month comes around, the teachers either ignore it or give the students something to read on Dr. King or someone just as (important but) typical.

But here goes a site where well known and supposedly little known facts can be found. A lot of them are related to athletes/entertainers rather than intellectuals and so forth. During this shortest month of the year.
http://www.biography.com/blackhistory/

IMO, Black History Month has done nothing but provide institutions with a way to gloss over their usual discriminatory practices by providing them with a vehicle for false advertising.

In other words when you see those corporations with their "celebration" ads, take them with a grain of salt. Those who really believe in diversity don't need BHN to convince anyone.

And as Chaos said, Black History should be celebrated and taught for 365 days.

The United States and Canada celebrate it in February while the United Kingdom celebrates in October.

^^^ Didn't know that!

Auto Racing
 

I'll start with Lewis Hamiton. He's the 1st black British driver to finish 2nd in points in F1 racing. He almost won the championship, but he made a few rookie mistakes which caused him to finish 2nd. He races for McLaren/Mercedes Benz

I've got some black history I want to share about Wendell Scott also. I gotta run, now though. But he was the 1st black NASCAR driver do win a NASCAR event.

Damn, PrettyBoy. You really DO love racing. +_+

I thought you were yanking our chains.

Wendell Scott
 

I'm going to try and give out as much historical info about Wendell Scott as I can.

Wendell Scott was the 1st successful black NASCAR driver in NASCAR history. Wendell Scott started his rookie year in 1961. NASCAR started it's rookie of the year program in 1957 which was given to Ken Rush, the 1st driver to receive the rookie of the year award. Wendell Scott should have received this award in 1961 with five top 10 finishes. I believe he had 23 starts in his 1st season. Well back then, racism was at a high, so the rookie award was given to Woodie Wilson who only had five starts and one top 10 that season. Wendell Scott finished 32nd in points and Woodie finished 41st.

Wendell Scott won his 1st and only race on Dec 1st 1963. He beat the runner up by two laps. The race took place in 1963, but it goes in the record books as the 1964 season. Buck Baker was originally declared the winner of the event, because NASCAR didn't want Wendell Scott in victory lane "Kissing a white woman." Back then, the winner was supposed to get a kiss from Ms NASCAR. NASCAR feared that if Wendell was kissing a white woman, it would cause some issues with the fans. (Wendell could care less.:rolleyes: He just wanted his winning money, he was married with children) Though Wendell won the event he was never given the real trophy. Instead, NASCAR awarded him the money and sent him a wooden trophy.:mad::rolleyes:

Today NASCAR has what is known as the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The 10 best drivers with the most points are put in the Chase to contend for the Championship. If Wendell Scott was racing today, with the stats he had back in his day, he would have made it into the Chase four times. Wendell crashed at Talledega in 1973. The wreck was so bad that 21 cars were taken out that day, and that was half the racing field. Wendell suffered too many injuries to return to NASCAR. He passed away in December of 1990. He's also been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Last but not least, during his racing career, he had 147 top ten finishes, 20 top five finishes, and one win. He did all this with used parts that the other drivers threw away. He would go through the garbage and take these parts and used them in his own cars. He also did all this without an actual crew, or crew chief. During pit stops, he would get out of his own car, change his own tires, fill up his own tank and make his own repairs.

Junior Johnson (the 2nd man to win the Daytona 500), a very well known stock car driver said that if he had to endure what Wendell did, he wouldn't have lasted 3 races. His words not mine.

A little NASCAR history that very few know about.:D

Well I personally am a fan of Manual-Transmission 4WD cars.

Right now, all I have is an Automatic 98 Integra LX (laaaaame :( ), but I'm trying to get either an Evo or an Impreza, because I LOOOOVE Drifting.

Ditto. My Volvo is a 6-speed with AWD. Great for Minnesota in the winter and fun in the summer.