By Garry Blanson As I look around Monroe, Louisiana, I can’t help but notice that not much FAN-FARE or ACCOLADES is given to the Black Funeral Home Establishments located in our Black Communities. Collectively, I would say that Black Funeral…
Category: Opinions
Our Rich Black Heritage: Bridget “Biddy” Mason
By Garry Blanson It’s really mind-blowing thinking about how even though Black People had their wives “raped” by their slaveowners, had their children “sold” out from under them, and were constantly “whipped and beaten” by their slaveowners, they still found…
Our Rich Black Heritage: Eddie Robinson, Sr.
What a glorious night it was at The Cotton Bowl back in 1985 when Coach Eddie G. Robinson’s Grambling State University Tigers Team beat Prairie View A&M 27-7 before an almost entirely Black crowd of 36,652. On that night Coach…
Our Rich Black Heritage: Maggie Few L. Walker
By Garry Blanson The next time you visit a bank, think of Maggie Few L. WALKER. In 1903, she became the “First African -American woman to found & charter a bank, and the first African -American woman to serve as…
Our Rich Black Heritage: William G. Head
By Garry Blanson It’s strange how Black People Will travel all the way to Tennessee, Atlanta, and other states to visit Historic places when there are so many of them right here in the Monroe / West Monroe area. One…
Our Rich Black Heritage: Sarah Elizabeth Goode
By Garry Blanson So, whose name comes to mind when you think about who was the first Black female inventor to receive a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office? Well, her name was Sarah Elizabeth Goode. Around 1870,…
Our Rich Black Heritage: Edward C. Berry
By Garry Blanson Let me tell you about the Negro Businessman who opened a hotel that served White People and Black People. His name was “Edward C. Berry.” He was born in Oberlin, Ohio, in 1854. When his father died…