Black History Month is a month dedicated to African American culture. According to historical reports, Black History Month was originally Negro History Week. The celebration began in 1926 by Historian Carter G Woodson. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month.
Tocsin Magazine is a representation of Black culture. We are committed to serving underprivileged communities of color by researching and exposing racist practices that continue to create barriers. Those barriers are used as roadblocks to derail and marginalize groups of people.
In the words of Maya Angelou “Still I rise”
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
And just like Maya Angelou, these Rochesterians managed to rise. Today we honor Reporter Wyoma Best, Commander Faye Towner, Former Mayor Bill Johnson, and President Sabrina LaMar for becoming the first in their chosen profession.
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