Do You Know What This Is? This Is The Heart From Auschwitz.

Do you know what this is? This is The Heart from Auschwitz.

An act of defiance. A statement of hope. A crime punishable by death.

On December 12, 1944, locked inside Auschwitz, Polish teenager Fania turned twenty. After spending a year in a concentration camp, Fania didn’t expect her birthday to even be remembered - but her best friend, Zlatka, risked everything to make her a birthday present, a paper heart. 

Simply making the heart - or carrying it - could get either of them killed.

The heart was signed by many of their friends, bearing notes in Polish, German, French, and Hebrew that announced "When you get old, put your glasses on your nose, take this album in your hand and read my signature again,“ and “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” It was an act of great sacrifice and love for a friend.

Less than 40 days later, they began the Death March from Auschwitz to Ravensbruck, and from Ravensbruck to freedom. Fania carried the heart under her arm the whole time. And survived.

Fania donated the heart to the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Center in 1988, where it is a featured piece of their exhibit. You can read more about the story of Fania and Zlatka Meg Wiviott’s Paper Hearts, coming September 2015.

Meet queer pioneer Stormé Delarverie! As a biracial woman born in New Orleans, Delarvarie made her way to New York City where she performed as a singer, often in drag, and would come to be known as the “Rosa Parks” of NYC’s LGBTQ+ community.

Identifying as a lesbian, Delarverie was on the forefront of “butch” fashion culture in the ‘40s and '50s, blurring the lines between a masculine and feminine appearance, and often performing on stage as a man.

While there are conflicting accounts as to who sparked the Stonewall uprising, some believe DeLarverie’s arrest and a subsequent scuffle with police ignited the action. She referred to the event not as a riot, but as “a rebellion, an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience.” She would serve as a bouncer at many lesbian bars, and as a member of the Stonewall Veterans’ Association, being known as a rough-and-tumble protector and guardian of the local LGBTQ+ community.

Melanated Female Inventors. Ten inventions that happened because of Black Women.

Meet Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the black woman who invented that rock and roll sound 

You know what’s sad, before I even read this article I was ready to refute this because I grew up believing Chuck Berry created Rock and roll. It’s said how so many knew of this great woman yet none spoke on her greatness.

I also discovered Big Mama Thornton, who’s another hugely influential early inventor of rock and roll — I’m pretty sure Hound Dog was originally popularized by her, before Elvis stole it.

Love Sister Rosetta Tharpe! #BlackGirlMagic

A few of her performances:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeaBNAXfHfQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9bX5mzdihs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR2gR6SZC2M

Also I heard she was bisexual…

Happy Black History Month! 

Story of my life people. You know what’s real ? The struggle.

Happy Pride Month ♥