Celebrate African American History Month

Celebrate African American History Month

“America’s Story from America’s Library”

Exploring and celebrating African American History is easy with the computer age. BristowEnews.com has visited some of the vast collections and 500 miles of book shelves found at the Library of Congress without leaving Bristow!  Check out their new “Kid and Family” web site, and bookmark the section called “America’s Story from America’s Library.”  The web site address is:  http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi  

 

At this great site you can “Meet Amazing Americans;” “Jump Back in Time;” “Explore the States;” “Join America at Play;” and “See, Hear and Sing.”  The Library of Congress collections are open only to researchers, so this is one way for young Americans to see and experience on a small scale the various collections housed at the Library of Congress.

BristowEnews.com searched a local favorite in African American History, Duke Ellington. He was born in Washington, DC on April 29, 1899 and at the age of seven, was inspired by a piece of music called “The Rosary,” which was written by Robert Rogers and composed by Georgia Welles.  He worked at a soda fountain at age 15 and wrote his first music piece called “Soda Fountain Rag” because it was composed during Ragtime Era when musical rhythms were written off beat.  He later formed the Ellington Orchestra and performed at the Cotton Club in New York City.  His band recorded 60 songs between 1923 and 1927 and Ellington is considered to be one of the founding fathers of jazz.  He died on May 24, 1974.

For more information about the Library of Congress visit their web site:  http://www.loc.gov

 

Date Published: 2008-01-30 06:02:50

Section: Holidays 2008,