This afternoon the session of the Gabfest Club (Dnipro, Ukraine) was dedicated to the Black History Month. This year the theme of the Month is “African Americans in Times of War”.
The group was introduced to several unknown facts from the US military history.
The first facts were about the Buffalo soldiers. The "Buffalo Soldiers" were established by Congress as the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U.S. Army. They served on the western frontier, battling Indians and protecting settlers.
The second fact was about the 15th New York National Guard Regiment. It was an infantry regiment of the New York Army National Guard during World War I. The regiment was nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, the Black Rattlers, and the Men of Bronze, which was given to the regiment by the French. The nickname "Hell Fighters" was given to them by the Germans due to their toughness and that they never lost a man through capture, lost a trench or a foot of ground to the enemy.
Both facts were illustrated with the History channel videos that gave us the insight into the US military history and the role of African Americans in it.
The session was educational for all generations of Club members.
Participants number – 58 persons.
Have a look at more pictures, please
The information-resource center "Window on America" Dnipro presented to its patrons the book display "February – the Black History Month in the US".
The display highlights the materials about Martin Luther King – the outstanding fighter for civil rights of the black population in the United States in 1950-1960.
The display showcases the American writers’ books that tell about the hard life of African -Americans. The display introduces such terms as "segregation," "discrimination," "racism," "civil rights movement" and others.
Martin Luther King dreamed of equality of all American citizens irrespective of their skin color, about civil rights for everyone. He urged to respect each other because all men are created equal by God.
The highlight of the display is the text of the Martin Luther King’s speech during the march on Washington known as “I have a dream… ".
The displayed books were donated to the DOUNB library by the US Embassy in Ukraine and the US charity foundation "Sabre-Light" within the period of 25 years since diplomatic relations between Ukraine and the USA were established.
Today’s session of the Gabfest English-speaking Club at the "Window on America" Dnipropetrovsk was dedicated to the conversation on Black History Month. This year’s theme for the Month is «A Century of Black Life, History and Culture». In 1915 the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) was founded. At that time few could have imagined that African Americans in music, art, and literature would become appreciated by the global community. A century later, few can deny the centrality of African Americans in the making of American history.
The complicated topic was introduced to the audience with the basics. The “slave trade triangle” and “the middle passage” terms were presented, explained and illustrated with the relevant videos. Another challenging activity offered to the group was to name the people from the poster with the portraits of famous African Americans. We managed to name only MLK. But today’s guest, the Fulbright exchange lecturer Mr. Brian Chung, helped us with more portraits and introduced several personalities to the group.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the internal events. We watched and discussed the video about the recent visit of US State Secretary Mr. Kerry to Ukraine and his meeting with the Ukraine’s President. But the most exciting video and discussion was about the arrival of the US humanitarian aid to the hospitals in Dnipropetrovsk. The aid worth half a million US $ was collected by Ukrainian community in the USA and arrived yesterday.
The club members expressed their gratitude to the American Ukrainian community and the US volunteers who brought it to the city.
Number of participants – 35 persons.
The Window on America center in Dnipropetrovsk presented a book display «Black History Month». This annual observance in the United States is also known as African-American History Month. February is time for remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. The books presented in the display open up the scope of information about the contribution of the African American to the U.S. history and art. Among them one can find the books on Martin Luther King and civil rights struggle. Sociology books explain the problems of racism in the American society. The fiction by Afro-American authors is also presented. The WOA’s DVD collection can boast several Oscar nominated movies about the life of black Americans. The books about world famous jazz musicians and sportsmen are also presented.
The highlight of the display are the books by US President Barak Obama: his memories about his family and philosophical essays about American dream.
