Black is BEautiful

The conversation that “The 72″ were having on Twitter and on Ms. Smart’s site led me to share one of my favorite past times with you guys – looking at vintage B&W photos of our people.

The ones from the album above are a few that I snatched from a thread on a message board that I frequent. I decided to make my own Picasa album and update it often. When I get a chance, I will show you guys just how snazzy my Great-Great Grandma, Grandpa, Mama, Papa and Cousin SoJo’s were. I’m sure that you guys have family albums filled with similar BEauty.

My pastime delights and saddens me simultaneously, because a quick internet search of vintage black beauty fills my screen with timeless images of love, class and honor. But another quick search of contemporary photos left me with:

One thing it does is strengthen my resolve to SHOW my students, young sorors, and other young family members how the candid duck-lipped, backshot FB and Twitpics (and even the LMAO Twitpics that we tweet and RT) will eventually do more harm than good when our descendants look back to see what we were doing in the new millennium. I’m also making a point to take more pics of myself when I’m SHARP. I often am so busy living in the moment that I forget to record those moments in time for my future bambinos. Not any more!