Ganolife Salutes Black History

Thomas Jennings Born: 1791 Invention: Dry Scouring. This was a dry cleaning press. Thomas Jennings was the first African American to receive a patent, on March 3, 1821 (U.S. patent 3306x). Thomas Jennings' patent was for a dry-cleaning process called "dry scouring". The first money Thomas Jennings earned from his patent was spent on the legal fees (my polite way of saying enough money to purchase) necessary to liberate his family out of slavery and support the abolitionist cause. Under the United States patent laws of 1793 and 1836, both slaves and freedman could patent their inventions. However, in 1857, a slave-owner named Oscar Stuart patented a "double cotton scraper" that was invented by his slave. Historical records only show the real inventor's name as being Ned. Stuart's reasoning for his actions was that, "the master is the owner of the fruits of the labor of the slave both manual and intellectual". In 1858, the U.S. patent office changed the patent laws, in response to the Oscar Stuart vs Ned case, in favor of Oscar Stuart. Their reasoning was that slaves were not citizens, and could not be granted patents. But surprising in 1861, the Confederate States of America passed a law granting patent rights to slaves. In 1870, the U.S.government passed a patent law giving all American men including blacks the rights to their inventions. Thomas Jennings was born in 1791. He was 30 years old when he was granted a patent for a dry cleaning process. Thomas Jennings was a free tradesman and operated a dry cleaning business in New York City. His income went mostly to his abolitionist activities. In 1831, Thomas Jennings became assistant secretary for the First Annual Convention of the People of Color in Philadelphia, PA.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

Sarah Boone. Invention: Ironing Board. African American, Sarah Boone, patented an improvement to the ironing board. African American, Sarah Boone, patented an improvement to the ironing board (U.S. Patent #473,653) on April 26, 1892. Sarah Boone's ironing board was designed to be effective in ironing the sleeves and bodies of ladies' garments. As you can see from the patent drawing below, Sarah Boone's board was very narrow and curved, the size and fit of a sleeve, and it was reversible, making it easy to iron both sides of a sleeve.

Ganoliofe Salutes Black History

Phil Brooks. Invention: Disposable Syringe. Made syringes safer by being able to disregard the old syringe and proceed with a new one. This saved companies lots of money.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

Marie Van Brittan Brown. Born: Queens, NY. Oct 30, 1922 - Feb 22, 1999 Invention: Closed Circuit Television Security System. The system used a motorized camera which slid up and down looking through a set of 4 peep holes. Anything the camera picked up was shown on a monitor. An electrical switch allowed the occupant to unlatch the door by remote control. Back in 1966 the idea for a home surveillance device seemed almost unthinkable. A resident of Jamaica, Queens, New York City, she applied for a patent with Albert Brown in 1966 for a closed circuit television security system. The system used a motorized camera which slid up and down looking through a set of 4 peep holes. Anything the camera picked up was shown on a monitor. An electrical switch allowed the occupant to unlatch the door by remote control. Back in 1966 the idea for a home surveillance device seemed almost unthinkable.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

John Albert Burr Invention: Improved Rotary Blade Lawn Mow. On May 9, 1899, John Albert Burr patented an improved rotary blade lawn mower. Burr designed a lawn mower with traction wheels and a rotary blade that was designed to not easily get plugged up from lawn clippings. John Albert Burr also improved the design of lawn mowers by making it possible to mow closer to building and wall edges. You can view U.S. patent 624,749 issued to John Albert Burr.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

Joseph A. Smith Invention: Lawn Sprinkler. It’s springtime and it’s that season when the flowers bloom, the grass is refreshed and gardens grow. What would life be like if gardeners had to drag long hoses across enormous lawns and sit for hours to make sure the grass was evenly watered? Thanks to African American scientist and inventor, Joseph H. Smith, most people do not have to do that. On May 4, 1897, Smith patented the lawn sprinkler, and later patented an improvement of the original design.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

Dr. Daniel H. Williams Born: Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania 1856 Invention: Performed First Open Heart Surgery. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was an African American physician who made history by performing the first successful open heart surgery operation. Daniel Hale Williams was born in 1856 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, the fifth of eight children. His father was a barber who died when Daniel was only nine. His mother was unable to provide for all the children on her own, so she moved the family to Baltimore, Maryland to stay with relatives. An apprenticeship with a shoemaker was found for Daniel; he remained there as a shoemaker's apprentice for three years while he was still a young child. As a teenager, he learned to cut hair and became a barber, living and working with a family who owned a barber shop in Janesville, Wisconsin. In Janesville Daniel began to attend high school. He graduated from Hare's Classical Academy in 1877. While working as a barber, he met Dr. Henry Palmer, a leading surgeon, who became the Surgeon General of Wisconsin. Dr. Palmer took Daniel on as a medical apprentice; he had two other apprentices at the time. Dr. Palmer helped the three apprentices apply for admission to a top medical school, the Chicago Medical School, which was affiliated with Northwestern University. All three were accepted and began their studies in 1880. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams graduated with his medical degree in 1883.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

Henry Blair Born: Montgomery Coun, Maryland 1807 - 1860 Invention: Seed Planter. Henry Blair was the only inventor to be identified in the Patent Office records as "a colored man." Blair was born in Montgomery County, Maryland around 1807. He received a patent on October 14, 1834 for a seed planter and a patent in 1836 for a cotton planter. Henry Blair was the second black inventor to receive a patent the first was Thomas Jennings who received a patent in 1821 for a dry cleaning process. Henry Blair signed his patents with an "x" because he could not write. Henry Blair died in 1860. What we know about early black inventors comes mostly from the work of Henry Baker. He was an assistant patent examiner at the U.S. Patent Office who was dedicated to uncovering and publicizing the contributions of Black inventors. Around 1900, the Patent Office conducted a survey to gather information about black inventors and their inventions. Letters were sent to patent attorneys, company presidents, newspaper editors, and prominent African Americans. Henry Baker recorded the replies and followed-up on leads. Baker’s research also provided the information used to select Black inventions exhibited at the Cotton Centennial in New Orleans, the World’s Fair in Chicago, and the Southern Exposition in Atlanta. By the time of his death, Henry Baker had compiled four massive volumes.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

George "Speck" Crum Born: , 1822-1914 Invention: The Potato Chip. According to one story, on August 24, 1853, a customer complained that Crum's french fries were "too thick". The angered cook was frustrated by this remark, so he decided to give the maximal opposite of what the client was complaining about: he sliced potatoes paper-thin, overfried them to a crisp, and seasoned them with an excess of salt. When the crisps were prepared, he gave them to the customer, expecting him to be dissatisfied. However, the customer loved them. The chips became popular, and became known as Saratoga chips. Crum was able to open his own restaurant in 1860 with the profits he made selling his new chips. They remained a local delicacy until the Prohibition era, when an enterprising salesman named Herman Lay popularized the product throughout the Southeast United States. According to urban legend, the hard-to-please customer in Saratoga Springs was none other than railroad magnate Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, but more than likely it was a much more obscure customer.[3] An early source for the story identifies Vanderbilt as a regular customer, but not as the unintentional co-originator of the famous snack.[4][5] However, a recipe for fried potato "shavings" had been printed in the U.S. in 1832, in a book explicitly derived from an even earlier English collection. “Claims that the product originated in Saratoga, NY, in 1853 may be looked at with appropriate skepticism.” [6] It is curious that a biography commissioned by Crum himself in 1893 did not mention his famous invention.[7] It is possible that Crum's sister, Katie Speck Wicks, either made the first discovery herself or in conjunction with Crum.[8] A contemporary source even gives credit to Cary Moon's wife Harriet, stating that she developed the side dish over time.[9] Despite all the stories about the invention of the potato chip by George (Speck) Crum and/or his sister Katie Speck Wicks, it would seem that all of this is rendered moot if one only consults cookbooks extant at the time. William Kitchiner's [10] The Cook's Oracle includes a recipe for what can only be described as a potato chip, even though it is not called such in this cookbook. Equally so, one must acknowledge that N.K.M. Lee's cookbook [11] which seemingly at the very least plagiarized Kitchiner, for her cookbook has virtually the same recipe for potato chips as Kitchiner. Whether one called it a potato chip or not, it would seem that a thinly sliced potato cooked in hot oil and served sprinkled with salt existed before either George Crum or his sister Katie Speck Wicks 'invented' the potato chip.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

George E. Alcorn Jr.Born:  March 22, 1940 Invention:Radio Frequency Mass Spectrome

An x-ray spectrometer assists scientists in identifying a material by producing an x-ray spectrum of it, allowing it to be examined visually. This is especially advantageous when the material is not able to be broken down physically.
George Edward Alcorn, Jr. was born on March 22, 1940, to George and Arletta Dixon Alcorn. His father was an auto mechanic who sacrificed so Alcorn and his brother could get an education. Alcorn attended Occidental College in Pasadena, California, where he maintained an excellent academic record while earning eight letters in baseball and football. Alcorn graduated with a B.A. in physics in 1962, and in 1963 he completed a master's degree in nuclear physics from Howard University. During the summers of 1962 and 1963, Alcorn worked as a research engineer for the Space Division of North American Rockwell, computing trajectories and orbital mechanics for missiles. A NASA grant supported Alcorn's research on negative ion formation during the summers of 1965 and 1966. In 1967 he earned his doctorate from Howard University in atomic and molecular physics. After earning his Ph.D., Alcorn spent twelve years in industry. He was senior scientist at Philco-Ford, senior physicist at Perker-Elmer, and advisory engineer at IBM Corporation. In 1973, Alcorn was chosen to be IBM Visiting Professor in Electrical Engineering at Howard University, and he has held positions at that university ever since, rising to the rank of full professor. Alcorn is also a full professor in the department of electrical engineering at the University of the District of Columbia, where he has taught courses ranging from advanced engineering mathematics to microelectronics.

GANOLIFE SALUTES BLACK HISTORY

Lonnie Johnson (born October 6, 1949) is best known as the inventor of the Super Soaker water gun. The top selling toy in the United States in 1991 and 1992, over 40 million Super Soakers have generated over $200 million in sales since 1990. Today, many websites are devoted to them. Johnson is president and founder of Johnson Research and Development Co., Inc., a technology development company, and its spin off companies, Excellatron Solid State, LLC; Johnson Electro-Mechanical Systems, LLC; and Johnson Real Estate Investments, LLC. Articles on Lonnie Johnson have appeared in numerous publications including Time Magazine, the New York Times, and Inventor’s Digest. Johnson serves on the Board of Directors of the Georgia Alliance for Children, an organization which serves as an informed and influential voice to protect the rights and interests of Georgia’s less fortunate children. He is a Board member of the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth National Bank. In his hometown of Marietta, Georgia, February 25, 1994 was declared "Lonnie G. Johnson Day" in his honor.

GANOLIFE SALUTES BLACK HISTORY

Mark Dean Born: Jefferson City, Tennessee March 2, 1957 Invention: Microcomputer System With Bus Mark Dean and his co-inventor Dennis Moeller created a microcomputer system with bus control means for peripheral processing devices. Their invention paved the way for the growth in the information technology industry. We can plug into our computers peripherals like disk drives, video gear, speakers, and scanners. Dean was born in Jefferson City, Tennessee, on March 2, 1957. He received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee, his MSEE from Florida Atlantic University, and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Early in his career at IBM, Dean was chief engineer working with IBM personal computers. The IBM PS/2 Models 70 and 80 and the Color Graphic Adapter are among his early work. He holds three of IBM’s original nine PC patents. Currently, Dean is vice president of performance for the RS/6000 Division. He was named an IBM fellow in 1996 and in 1997, received the Black Engineer of the Year President’s Award. Dean holds more than 20 patents. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1997.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

Bessie Blount Born: Hickory, Virginia 1914 Invention: portable receptacle support. The electrical device allowed a tube to deliver one mouthful of food at a time to a patient in a wheelchair or in a bed whenever he or she bit down on the tube. Bessie Blount, was a physical therapist who worked with soldiers injured in W.W.II. Bessie Blount's war service inspired her to patent a device, in 1951, that allowed amputees to feed themselves. The electrical device allowed a tube to deliver one mouthful of food at a time to a patient in a wheelchair or in a bed whenever he or she bit down on the tube. She later invented a portable receptacle support that was a simpler and smaller version of the same, designed to be worn around a patient's neck. Bessie Griffin - Bessie Blount Bessie Blount was born in Hickory, Virginia in 1914. She moved from Virginia to New Jersey where she studied to be a physical therapist at the Panzar College of Physical Education and at Union Junior College and then furthered her training as a physical therapist in Chicago. In 1951, Bessie Blount started teaching Physical Therapy at the Bronx Hospital in New York. She was unable to successfully market her valuable inventions and found no support from United States Veteran's Administration, so she gave the patent rights to the French government in 1952. The French government put the device to good use helping to make life better for many war vets. "a black woman can invent something for the benefit of humankind" - Bessie Blount.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

Jack Johnson Born: Galveston, Texas March 31, 1878-1946 Invention: Wrench The wrench was used to tighten and loosen nuts and bolts. Jack Johnson was born John Arthur Johnson on March 31, 1878, in Galveston, Texas. Johnson boxed professionally from 1897 to 1928, and boxed in exhibition matches until 1945. During his boxing career, Jack Johnson fought 114 fights, winning 80 matches, 45 by knockouts. He first won the heavyweight title by knocking out champion Tommy Burns in 1908, and held on that title until April 5, 1915. Johnson was knocked out by Jess Willard in the 26th round during the World Championship fight in Havana. Jack Johnson received bad publicity by the press for his two marriages, both to Caucasian women. Due to the racist attitudes of the times, interracial marriages were prohibited in most of America. Johnson was convicted in 1912 of violating the Mann Act by transporting his wife across state lines before their marriage and was sentenced to a year in prison. While out on appeal Jack Johnson escaped fearing for his safety. Posing as a member of a black baseball team, he fled to Canada and later Europe. Jack Johnson remained a fugitive for seven years. Johnson defended his heavyweight championship three times in Paris before his fight to Jess Willard. In 1920, Jack Johnson decided to return to the United States to serve his sentence. After his release from prison, Jack Johnson's boxing career declined. To make ends meet, Johnson worked in vaudeville even appearing with a trained flea act.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

Maretta L. Johnson Born: Canton, Georgia Oct 17,1967 - Current Invention: Total Travel Baby It is the first diaper bag with a built-in bottle warmer (battery powered & car adapter), storage cooler, garment bag conversion, back pack conversion and plastic storage pouch for soiled items. This is an all-in-one travel bag for parents. Maretta L. Johnson of Canton, Georgia, born in Mitchell County, Georgia on October 17, 1967, was raised in the small town of Pelham' Georgia (approximate population 4,400). Her parents are Cynthia and Preston Thomas, who still live in Pelham. Her mother worked for many years with Coats & Clark. Maretta's father is employed by Allied Barton. Maretta has one sibling, Wanda Thomas Heath of McDonough, Georgia. Wanda is a graduate of Georgia Southern University and works as a legal contractor. Upon graduation from Pelham High School, Maretta attended West Georgia College in Carrollton, Georgia where she met and married, Jacques T. Johnson. She went on to receive a Paralegal Certification and her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Marketing from DeVry University. Maretta has many years of experience as a Paralegal specializing in workers’ compensation, personal injury, and employment/labor law. Maretta is a survivor. In 1992 after suffering the loss of her daughter, Jazmine Shardae Johnson, as the result of a tragic accident, Maretta encourages other parents who have suffered the loss of a child. Maretta and Jacques now have two other children, Jacques T. Johnson II (JT) and Jarrett Dominic Johnson. Her company, Jaz Innovations, Inc. is named for their first born. Maretta recently received her patent for the Total Travel Baby Bag. (Patent No:US D614,867S ) It is the first diaper bag with a built-in bottle warmer (battery powered & car adapter), storage cooler, garment bag conversion, back pack conversion and plastic storage pouch for soiled items. This is an all-in-one travel bag for parents. Necessity is definitely the mother of inventions, because Maretta was motivated to create such a travel bag while preparing for a road trip with her newborn son, Jarrett. After her road trip, she saw the Oprah Winfrey show which featured mom inventors and she was encouraged to get started on her idea. Now that the patent has been received, her company, along with her dynamic manufacture, Vesture Corporation, has brought the product to life. They have secured major retailers and are negotiating with other major local and international retailers. You may purchase the bag at Buy Buy Baby, Right Start, Sears.com, through Independent Order Agents, and www.totaltravelbag.com . Jaz Innovation is currently working on the development of a line of Total Travel Baby products and also the development of the foundation, Jazmine's Angels. Jazmine’s Angels, will be established to assist parents who have suffered the death of a child with funeral expenses and counseling them through the initial grief process. Maretta's goal is to continue to be innovative while helping others through her testimonies, seminars, products, and foundation. " Families Helping Families."

Ganolife Salutes Black History

Dr. James E. West Born: Prince Ewards C, Va 1931 Invention: Electret Microphone. Ninety percent of microphones used today are based on the ingenuity of James Edward West, an African-American inventor born in 1931 in Prince Edwards County, VA. If you’ve ever talked on the telephone, you’ve probably used his invention. West started at Bell labs as an intern and joined them full-time in 1957 after graduating from Temple University. As the inventor of the microphone, James West has received numerous awards and honors including a Fellow of IEEE, Industrial Research Institute's 1998 Achievement Award, 1995 Inventor of the Year from the State of New Jersey and induction in the Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999. James E. West holds 47 US patents and more than 200 foreign patents from his 40-year career with Bell Laboratories.

Ganolife Salutes Black History

Dr. Shirley Jackson Born: Washington, D.C. Invention: Portable Fax, Touch Tone Telephone, Solar Cell, And The Fiber Optic Cables. Jackson started to conduct successful experiments in theoretical physics and then started to use her knowledge in physics to start making advances in telecommunications while working at Bell Laboratories. These inventions include developments in the portable fax, touch tone telephone, solar cell, and the fiber optic cables used to provide clarity in overseas telephone calls. She has also helped make possible Caller ID and Call Waiting.

Ganolife Salutes Black History Month

Patricia Era Bath (born November 4, 1942, Harlem, New York) is an American ophthalmologist, inventor and academic. She has broken ground for women and African Americans in a number of areas. Prior to Bath, no woman had served on the staff of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, headed a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology or been elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center (an honor bestowed on her after her retirement). Before Bath, no black person had served as a resident in ophthalmology at New York University and no black woman had ever served on staff as a surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center. Bath is the first African American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical purpose. Her Laserphaco Probe is used to treat cataracts. The holder of four patents, she is also the founder of the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in Washington D.C.

Ganolife Salutes Black History Month

Madam C. J. Walker From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sarah Breedlove (December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919), known as Madam C. J. Walker, was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, regarded as the first female self-made millionaire in America. She made her fortune by developing and marketing a successful line of beauty and hair products for black women under the company she founded, Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. Early life: Sarah Breedlove was born on December 23, 1867 in Delta, Louisiana to Owen and Minerva Breedlove. She was one of six children; she had a sister Louvenia and four brothers: Alexander, James, Solomon, and Owen Jr. Her parents and elder siblings were slaves on Madison Parish plantation owned by Robert W. Burney. She was the first child in her family born into freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Her mother died, possibly from cholera, in 1872. Her father remarried and died shortly afterward. Sarah moved in with her older sister and brother-in-law, Willie Powell. At the age of 14, she married Moses McWilliams to escape Powell's mistreatment and three years later her daughter, Lelia McWilliams (A'Lelia Walker) was born. When Sarah was 20, her husband died, and Lelia was just 2 years old. Shortly afterward she moved to St. Louis where three of her brothers lived. They were all barbers at a local barbershop. In 1906 she married Charles Joseph Walker, a newspaper advertising salesman. Career: Sarah, now known as Madam C. J. Walker, was selling her products throughout the United States. While her daughter Lelia (later known as A'Lelia Walker) ran a mail order business from Denver, Madam Walker and her husband traveled throughout the southern and eastern states. They settled in Pittsburgh in 1908 and opened Lelia College to Dedrick Miller train "hair culturists." In 1910 Walker moved to Indianapolis, Indiana where she established her headquarters and built a factory. She began to teach and train other black women in order to help them build their own businesses. She also gave other lectures on the political, economic and social issues at conventions sponsored by powerful black institutions. After the East St. Louis Race Riot, she joined leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in their efforts to support legislation to make lynching a federal crime. In 1918 at the biennial convention of the National Association Of Colored Woman (NACW) she was acknowledged for making the largest contribution to save the Anacostia (Washington, DC) house of abolitionist Frederick Douglass. She continued to donate money throughout her career to the NAACP, the YMCA, and to black schools, organizations, individuals, orphanages, and retirement homes. The latter years of Madam C. J. Walker: In 1917, she moved to her Irvington-on-Hudson, New York estate, Villa Lewaro, which had been designed by Vertner Tandy, the first licensed black architect in New York State and a founding member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. The house cost $250,000 to build. Madam C. J. Walker died at Villa Lewaro on Sunday, May 25, 1919 from complications of hypertension. She was 51. At her death she was considered to be the wealthiest African-American woman in America and known to be the first self-made female American millionaire. Her daughter, A'Lelia Walker, became the president of the Madam C.J Walker Manufacturing Company. Madam Walker was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago in 1990, the National Women's Hall of Fame, in Seneca Falls, New York, the National Cosmetology Hall of Fame and the National Direct Sales Hall of Fame. On January 28, 1998, the USPS, as part of its Black Heritage Series, issued the Madam C. J. Walker Commemorative stamp. On March 16, 2010, Congressman Charles Rangel introduced HJ81, a Congressional House Joint Resolution, honoring Madam C. J. Walker. In December 2010, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill designating the block of 136th Street between Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) and Seventh Avenue as Madam Walker and A'Lelia Walker Place. While according to Walker's New York Times obituary, "she said herself two years ago [in 1917] that she was not yet a millionaire, but hoped to be some time," the Guinness Book of Records named Walker as the first woman to become a millionaire by her own achievements.

Ganolife Applauds The Annual Prayer Breakfast

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden attended the 62nd annual prayer breakfast Thursday morning in Washington. Every president since Dwight Eisenhower has joined the gathering, traditionally hosted the first Thursday in February at the Washington Hilton (also where President Ronald Reagan was shot and where the annual White House Correspondents dinner is held). This year, the focus was bipartisanship at home and ending extreme poverty abroad. Here’s what you missed. Prayers Prayed. Lots. It is a prayer breakfast after all. Unity Displayed. Rep. Janice Hahn (D-Calif.) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) co-chaired this year’s breakfast. It’s about the only thing they agree on, and as Gohmert pointed out, it was probably the only time you will ever see Hahn to his right on anything—because that’s where she was seated. Foreign Dignitaries Present. President of Albania Bujar Nishani and President of Haiti Michel Martelly. Martelly has a bilateral meeting with Obama in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon. Scripture Read. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) read the famous “for everything there is a season, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh…a time to love, a time to hate” passage from the Hebrew text of Ecclesiastes. Bethany Hamilton, an evangelical surfer who lost her left arm to a shark, read the Good Samaritan passage from the gospel of Luke and Paul’s letter to the Ephesians about how wide and long and deep and high the love of Christ is. Best lines: Ray LaHood, Obama’s former Secretary of Transportation, got the first giant smile from the president with his crack, “Louie Gohmert has been transformed…let’s hope this miracle continues beyond the 9:30 hour.” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), noted how it is much easier to overcome partisan fights in Congress when you are holding hands praying and singing. Keynote speaker Rajiv Shah, the USAID Administrator, told of how his car got stuck in the mud when he was visiting Ethiopia with Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.). The senator, Shah said, suggested that “everyone under 70 should get out and push,” leaving Shah “covered in mud again because of Congress.” Most Poignant Moment. Shah sobered up the house with a story of his trip to a Somali refugee camp with Jill Biden two years ago. They met a mother who, desperate to escape the famine, alternated carrying each of her two children until they all became so weak and she knew she could only carry one. “She looked down at her two children and she said a prayer—then she made the excruciating decision to leave one of them behind so she could save the other,” he recalled. “Were they somehow lesser than our sons and daughters? Did their fathers love them less? Did their mothers? Did God?” Let that one sink in. Noticeably Absent. Talk of immigration reform. Health care. Little Sisters of the Poor. Immigration reform. Health care. Hobby Lobby. Name Dropped. By the president: Kenneth Bae, American missionary held captive in North Korea since October, and US pastor Saeed Abedini, Idaho pastor imprissoned in Iran for 18 months. By Shah: Pope Francis, for shining a “bright light” on poverty. Mystery Policy. Obama’s “men of color” mentorship initiative line from the State of the Union popped up again. Noted. Obama wanted to clarify that his surfing is not very good. Body surfing, he explained, was more his specialty. Over and out until next year. Elizabeth Dias @elizabethjdias Elizabeth is a writer-reporter in TIME's Washington bureau. Follow her on Twitter @elizabethjdias.

Ganolife Salutes Black History Month

Negro History Week (1926) The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be "Negro History Week." This week was chosen because it marked the birthday of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. From the event's initial phase, primary emphasis was placed on encouraging the coordinated teaching of the history of American blacks in the nation's public schools. The first Negro History Week was met with a lukewarm response, gaining the cooperation of the Departments of Education of the states of North Carolina, Delaware, and West Virginia as well as the city school administrations of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Despite this far from universal acceptance, the event was nevertheless regarded by Woodson as "one of the most fortunate steps ever taken by the Association," and plans for a repeat of the event on an annual basis continued apace. At the time of Negro History Week's launch Woodson contended that the teaching of black history was essential to ensure the physical and intellectual survival of the race within broader society: "If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated. The American Indian left no continuous record. He did not appreciate the value of tradition; and where is he today? The Hebrew keenly appreciated the value of tradition, as is attested by the Bible itself. In spite of worldwide persecution, therefore, he is a great factor in our civilization." By 1929 The Journal of Negro History was able to note that with only two exceptions officials with the State Departments of Educations of "every state with considerable Negro population" had made the event known to that state's teachers and distributed official literature associated with the event." Churches also played a significant role in the distribution of literature in association with Negro History Week during this initial interval, with the pages of the mainstream and black press aiding in the publicity effort. Negro History Week was met with enthusiastic response; it prompted the creation of black history clubs, an increase in interest among teachers, and interest from progressive whites. Negro History Week grew in popularity throughout the following decades, with mayors across the United States endorsing it as a holiday.

Ganolife Salutes Black History Month

Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month in America, is an annual observance in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom for remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the United States[1] and Canada[2] in February and the United Kingdom[3] in October.

Ganolife Ganoderma Enrich Your Life

How Does Ganoderma Enrich My Life? Gano coffee is actually a combination of the "Ganoderma - Red Reishi The King of Herbs" and fine coffee beans. In other words, any gano drink is actually a "enriched with gano" drink. NOT a pure gano drink. Ganoderma enriched drinks come in fine teas, coffee, chocolate. Ganoderma also comes in capsule supplements. Ganoderma can be added to many products, making them gano enriched. The many benefits of this mushroom have been noted on this hub. There is much ongoing scientific and medical research. This mushroom is being taken very seriously. Coffee, tea and hot chocolate are three ways to get your gano. Everyone drinks either one of these beverages. This way, you don't have to think about taking it, you just make yourself a "cup of". Some refer to this herb as their fountain of youth. There is much evidence of ganoderma's benefits because already it has been used for thousands of years in Asia. Any nutrient that helps your body remain healthy, get healthy, helps you enrich your life and live longer. Contact me at ganoforlifeusa@gmail.com, or go to www.ganoforlifeusa.com. (This article was originally published by http://bodybreak.hubpages.com/hub/Ganoderma-Lucidum-A-Powerful-Natural-Remedy, January 24, 2014)