48th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party

This week is the anniversary of the formation of the Black Panther Party. That was 1966, 48 eight years ago. The original six members of the Black Panther Party are depicted in this photograph.

Standing (L-R): Elbert 'Big Man' Howard, Huey Newton, Sherwin Forte, Bobby Seale
Kneeling (L-R): Reggie Forte and Bobby Hutton

Former Black Panther Party member Eddie Conway shared his recollections of the founding of the organization.



Eddie Conway was a member of the Baltimore branch of the Black Panther Party.  He spent 44 years in prison for an alleged crime of killing a police officer, a crime that he did not commit as laid out in his book,  Marshall Law: The Life & Times of a Baltimore Black Panther.

Red Pump Project Celebrates Its First Anniversary

This blog has been a supporter of the Red Pump Project since it came to life a little over a year ago. We were pleased when the project added an element for men known as the Red Tie Project. In our view it is important that awareness of the HIV-AIDS plague in our community is the best way to eliminate the danger.

The founders of the Red Pump Project held a remarkable fashion show last month in Chicago to celebrate its first anniversary.

I wasn't able to attend ... but, I wanted to ensure that all of our blog readers knew about the event ... as well as the accomplishments achieved over the past year.

Red Pump Year In Impact

View more presentations from The Red Pump Project.

I hope that you find ways to support these efforts in the weeks and months to come. What say u?

Good News Tuesday: Fisher's Celebrate World-Record 84th Anniversary

Soulclap to NAACP Wichita Blog for sharing this Liz Bowles/Sun Journal article with us!

A Craven County couple are in the Guinness World Records book. The two did nothing outlandish such as sky-diving upside down, dancing for days, taking the longest lawn mower ride or having the most tattoos. No, Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher of the Brownsville community have been married for more than 84 years. That is a feat in itself. They have the world record of the longest marriage for a living couple.

They can thank their granddaughter Iris Godette for getting the recognition. She submitted the information to the Guinness Book of Records. The information was apparently checked by Guinness and a certificate was given to the couple.

Herbert was born June 10, 1905. His hearing is going but his mind is sharp. Zelmyra was born Dec. 10, 1907. She uses a walker to get around the house and yard. The two of them can still give their reasons for marrying on May 13, 1924.

“He was not mean; he was not a fighter,” Zelmrya said. “He was quiet and kind. He was not much to look at but he was sweet.”

Electronic Village Celebrates 2nd Anniversary

It is truly hard to believe that it has been two years since I created the Electronic Village. I must admit that I've enjoyed the evolution of this blog. We are not as successful as many others ... but, I'm having fun with this thing.

I don't know where this blog will go over the coming weeks and months. I just hope that all of you villagers will continue on the ride with me!

Happy First Anniversary Villager!

Happy Anniversary Villagers. Today is our 1-year anniversary as a blog. It has been a remarkable year in many respects. Our Electronic Village evolved in a number of ways over the past year. I didn't really have a purpose for the blog when I got started. My sister explained that I could start a blog for free. That was all the incentive that I needed to get it going on January 13, 2007. Later, I shared five reasons that I blog.

My overall goal with this blog is to provide information and discussion that is uplifting for people of African descent. Often this means sharing information through the blog that is not readily available in the mainstream media (MSM). We provided information about Blacks becoming princesses, setting world records, driving race cars and flying around the world.

We averaged more than a post per day ... 376 posts in the first year of our existence ... including a number of very popular posts judging from the comments! We noted the growth at our 100th and 200th post. However, for some reason we let the 300th post go by without any notice.

Over the course of the year we dabbled in politics on local and national level. Barack Obama is the national politician that we blog about the most since he made his Electronic Village debut in March 2007. Over the past few weeks we have blogged a bit more about presidential politics.

Our most common themes over the course of the year have been criminal justice and the Jena Six. We were one of the Black bloggers that shared information about the Jena Six well before the MSM got engaged. Jena Six caused many Black bloggers to realize that our power and influence would increase if we found ways to work together. Groups such as the Afrosphere Bloggers Association and The AfroSpear both evolved this year. My relationship with The AfroSpear led directly to invitations in November and January to participate in NPR Blogger Roundtable discussions.

Our blog has been recognized by others in a variety of ways ... some negative ... but, most have been positive. We received positive recognition here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Our metrics over the first year have been interesting to watch. We note the date (in parenthesis) when we set personal bests on the Electronic Village :

• Highest Feedburner Subscribers - 193 (1/12/08)
• BlogCatalog Ranking - 60.7 out of 100 (11/28/07)
• Highest Technorati Authority Ranking - 243 (1/8/08)
• # Blogs Between EV and #1 Blog in the World - 22,063 (1/7/08)
• # Blogs Linking to EV - 876 (1/12/08)
• # Bloggers listing us as a 'favorite' - 81 (1/13/08)
• Top Daily Visitors - 710 (11/26/07). Oddly enough, my top visitor day was result of a sponsored posting where I shared links to the best-known teacher in the Universe. It is true ... sex sells!

Finally, I would note that the most rewarding aspect of my first year as a blogger has been the creation of the Villager's Black Blog Rankings (BBR). We have been posting the Top Ten Black Blogs on a monthly basis since September 2007. Currently, there are over 660 Black blogs being tracked in the BBR. It should be interesting to see where this project takes us over the coming year.

Well, Villagers, I appreciate the encouragement and kind words that I receive from many of you. It is not easy to create posts for a blog on a regular basis. However, as more of you take time to share your village voice with COMMENTS and as more of you take advantage of the RSS option to subscribe to our blog ... we realize that our blog is read and appreciated by others in cyberspace!

What say u about our first year of blogging?