28 Figures.

There's an old joke scoffing February as being Black History Month: It's the shortest month of the year. The way I see it is that it makes the centuries of black history all the more compact, not dimunitive. Subjects like Jazz music, Civil rights, Southern slave conscription into the Union Army, scientific discovery, athletic achievment, are towering momuments that should be thought of on every day this month.

And so I shall do so myself by writing and linking to one prominent Black contibutor to history every day for this entire month. Each day, even on my Lazy Sundays, I will write a short clip on one Black man, woman or group who contirubuted to human history in ways that benefited not just Africans or African-Americans, but human beings as a whole. For that is whom we are: human beings. Enjoy the month's writings.

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Figure #1: Muhammad Ali

Perhaps one of the most prominent living legends in Black history is Muhammad Ali. The former Heavyweight Champion of the World once said that, "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." He refused to enter the military and fight in Vietnam on the basis that to do so was against his religious belief. Ali fought the strongest of men and reagined his title. He has fought most all of his life and that includes his current battle with Parkinson's Disease. Cassius Marcellus Clay, Muhammad Ali, "The Greatest", he was, is and always be a fighter.