Relatives and Cultural Information.

There has been the recent passing of my 4th cousin's husband whose name is Juan Bosco Lascano. He lived from October 3, 1956, to February 24, 2025. He lived in Suffolk, Virginia before his passing at the age of 68 years old. He loved his family and community.  His parents were Rafael Armando Lascano and Herenia Balbina Vogel. His brother was Cesear Lascano. His wife is my 4th cousin Darlene Byrd Lascano of Suffolk, Virginia. My 4th cousin Darlene Byrd Lascano and I are related to my 5th great-grandfather Zilphy Claud (1820-1893). The children of my 4th cousin Darlene Byrd Lascano and Juan Bosco Lascano are Juan Lascano Jr. (b. 1990) and Bianca Lascano (b. 1991), who are my 5th cousins. My 5th cousin Juan Lascano Jr. is married to Jasmine Lascano and their children are Luca Jay Bosco Lascano (b. 2020) and Lenix Lascano. Juan Lascano Jr. and Jasmine Lascano live in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bianca Lascano was born on August 4, 1991, in Portsmouth, Virginia, and she is married to Jonathan R. Nixon. Bianca Lascano and Jonathan R. Nixon live in Salisbury, Maryland. Juan Bosco Lascano Sr.'s living siblings are: Sandra Wood of Chesapeake, Virginia, Gloria Lascano of Panama City, Panama, Armando Lascano of Panama City, Panama, Mirella Lascano Newball of Panama City, Panama, Osvaldo Lascano (Marisol) of Woodbridge, Virginia, Jacqueline Orrock (Darren) of Chesapeake, Virginia and Martín Lascano (Vielka) of Panama City; his sisters-in-law, Zenova Hodge (Marc) of Woodbridge and Charlene Motley of Richmond; and his goddaughters, LaShawndra Walker of Chesterfield, Charmine Walker of Suffolk and Charrie Pomier of Henrico County. He is also survived by nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, and lifelong friends. The parents of Darlene Byrd Lascano were Ronald Daniels Byrd (1933-1987) and Pearly Dimples Williams (1934-1990). The parents of Pearly Dimples Williams were Luther Williams (1910-2003) and Vernie Britt Wynn (1913-1985). The parents of Luther Williams were James Edward Williams (1877-1950) and Miranda Williams (1880-1964). The parents of James Edward Williams were Nottoway descendant John Henry Williams (1857-1921) and Adaline Hill (1862-1930). The parents of Adaline Hill were Tom Hill (1838-1915) and Sarah Claud (1842-1892). The mother of my 4th great-grandmother Sarah Claud was my 5th great-grandmother Zilphy Claud (1820-1893). 

 

The culture of Texas is much more diverse than people think. It has been influenced by massive migration from the North, West, East, and the Deep South. It has been a mixture of diverse cultures from African Americans, Native Americans, Tejanos, Cajuns, Irish people, German Texans, people of British heritage, etc. To understand Texas culture, you have to know the different regions of Texas. Texas has five major regions. they are East Texas, Central Texas, North Texas, South Texas, and West Teas. These regions  are defined by urban centers and varying cultural characteristics. The Texas Triangle, formed by Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio, is an interstate corridor between the three major Texan cities closest to the geographic center, each representing distinct cultural areas. Texas is bordered by the western prairies, the Deep South, and Mexico, incorporating Hispanic, African, and Anglo traditions. Texas also includes communities with origins in Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Mexico, Southern African American and White Southern populations, as well as Native Americans. Texas is placed in the Southern United States by the United States Census Bureau. Texas culture is heavily influenced by agriculture as Texas has the most farms and highest acreage in America.  The state is ranked No. 1 for revenue generated from total livestock and livestock products. It is ranked No. 2 for total agricultural revenue, behind California. At $7.4 billion or 56.7 percent of Texas's annual agricultural cash receipts, beef cattle production represents the largest single segment of Texas agriculture. This is followed by cotton at $1.9 billion (14.6 percent), greenhouse/nursery at $1.5 billion (11.4 percent), broiler chickens at $1.3 billion (10 percent), and dairy products at $947 million (7.3 percent).

Texas produces the most cattle, horses, sheep, goats, wool, mohair, and hay in the United States. Texas produces the most cotton in America, which is the number one crop grown in the state in terms of value. The state grows a lot of cereal crops and produces a lot of food. There is obviously a ranch and cowboy culture in Texas. Ranching has been part of Texas culture for years and centuries. Cowboys back in the day would guard farms, be sheriffs, and act in many ways. Cowboys back then and now include people of every color and sex. The rodeo culture is prominent today. Texas is regularly identified as one major aspect of Westerns and country western music. Texas has been promoted by numerous shows, including the TV series Dallas and Walker, Ranger, offering a diverse range of content from oil tycoons to moral lessons. The annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the world's largest known rodeo. It is held over 20 days, from late February through early March. The event begins with trail rides that originate from several points throughout the state, all of which convene at NRG Park for a barbecue cook-off. The rodeo includes typical rodeo events, as well as, concert performances from major artists, and carnival rides. The Fort Worth Livestock Show and Rodeo lasts three weeks in late January and early February. It has many traditional rodeos, but also a cowboy rodeo and a Mexican rodeo in recent years, which both have large fan bases. Many state fairs exist, and college football games are staples of Texas culture (like the University of Texas Longhorns, etc.). Many state and national holidays are found in Texas, like Juneteenth, Texas Independence Day, Lyndon Baines Johnson Day, and San Jacinto Day (for the celebrate the defeat of Mexico for Independence). The Dallas Cowboys is one of the most popular football teams in the world, too. 

There are tons of art and architecture in Texas, from the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial Plaza to the Mustangs of Las Colinas. The music of Texas is dominated by many forms of music, like country music, R&B, hip hop, jazz, rock, etc. There is a live music scene in Austin, Texas. Austin, Texas, is the city with the most music venues per capita of any other U.S. city. That is why Austin is called The Live Music Capital of the World. There are Austin nightclubs on 6th Street with the music and multimedia festival called South by Southwest. The longest-running concert music program on American television, Austin City Limits, was videotaped at the University of Texas at Austin campus. Austin City Limits and Waterloo Records run the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual music and art festival held at Zilker Park in Austin.

In Houston, the annual Free Press Summer Fest is a major draw as well as the entertainment lineups at the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Notable music venues for Houston are Fitzgerald's, Warehouse Live, and Walter's among others. Many renowned musicians' origins are in Houston including Lyle Lovett, Beyoncé, Clint Black, The Crusaders, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Kenny Rogers as well as groups including D.R.I., Helstar, La Mafia, the Geto Boys, and ZZ Top. The Houston Symphony and Houston Grand Opera are both attractions of the Houston Theater District. San Antonio has deep Mexican American roots with Tejano and conjunto music. There is music from the Panhandle and West Texas with artists like Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison. Dallas, meanwhile, boasts a thriving blues and jazz scene, historically rooted in Deep Ellum, a neighborhood once frequented by legends like Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker. Together, these cities illustrate the incredible diversity and influence of Texas’s music landscape. Literature, Japanese anime, and other forms of culture is popular in Texas. Basketball is another popular sport in Texas. The state has three NBA teams, the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and Dallas Mavericks, which have all won league titles. Fishing, marching bands and auto racing are also found in Texas. The Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth is a large motorsport track, hosting both domestic and international events. People eat Texas barbecue, Tex-Mex cuisine like sizzling fajitas, cheesy enchiladas, and crispy nachos with bold spices.  Texas culture has a long history filled with power and inspiration indeed. 

 

When did hockey begin historically? Nothing is new under the sun. There have been games played with curved sticks and a gall found in the histories of numerous cultures.  In Egypt, 4000-year-old carvings feature teams with sticks and a projectile, hurling dates to before 1272 BC in Ireland, and there is a depiction from approximately 600 BC in Ancient Greece, where the game may have been called kerētízein (κερητίζειν) because it was played with a horn or horn-like stick (kéras, κέρας). In Inner Mongolia, the Daur people have been playing beikou, a game similar to modern field hockey, for about 1,000 years. Most evidence of hockey-like games during the Middle Ages is found in legislation concerning sports and games. The Galway Statute enacted in Ireland in 1527, banned certain types of ball games, including games using "hooked" (written "hockie", similar to "hooky") sticks. By the 19th century, the various forms and divisions of historic games began to differentiate and coalesce into the individual sports defined today. Organizations dedicated to the codification of rules and regulations began to form, and national and international bodies sprang up to manage domestic and international competition. 

There are many different types of hockey. We know of field hockey being played by people globally. It can be played in single sex sides and mixed sex sides too. The governing body is the 126-member International Hockey Federation (FIH). Men's field hockey has been played at every Summer Olympic Games since 1908 except for 1912 and 1924, while women's field hockey has been played at the Summer Olympic Games since 1980. Modern field hockey sticks are constructed of a composite of wood, glass fibre or carbon fibre (sometimes both) and are J-shaped, with a curved hook at the playing end, a flat surface on the playing side and a curved surface on the rear side. All sticks are right-handed – left-handed sticks are not permitted. While field hockey in its current form appeared in mid-18th century England, primarily in schools, it was not until the first half of the 19th century that it became firmly established. The first club was created in 1849 at Blackheath in south-east London. Field hockey is the national sport of Pakistan. It was the national sport of India until the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports declared in August 2012 that India has no national sport. Bandy is a type of hocky played in a certainly facility too. There is ice hockey too. The contemporary sport developed in Canada from European and native influences. These included various stick and ball games similar to field hockey, bandy and other games where two teams push a ball or object back and forth with sticks. These were played outdoors on ice under the name "hockey" in England throughout the 19th century, and even earlier under various other names. In Canada, there are 24 reports of hockey-like games in the 19th century before 1875 (five of them using the name "hockey"). The first organized and recorded game of ice hockey was played indoors in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on March 3, 1875, and featured several McGill University students. Ice hockey sticks are long L-shaped sticks made of wood, graphite, or composites with a blade at the bottom that can lie flat on the playing surface when the stick is held upright and can legally curve either way, for left- or right-handed players. There is para ice hockey, inline sledge hockey, air hockey, street hockey, ball hockey, and roller hockey including more styles of the sport of hockey.  

 

It is important to remember the Haitian Revolution. It lasted from 1791 to 1804. It was an era when the French imperialists harmed the black population in Haiti. Native Americans in Haiti were previously mostly exterminated by the imperialists, too. The Haitian Revolution involved thousands of black people who fought for freedom. Many alliances existed at that time. It was complex, as it was a slave revolt and a class struggle at the same time. French, British, and Spanish military forces were involved. There were white landowners, non-landowners, and free black landowners in that time period. There were many black leaders of the Haitian Revolution, like the former slave Toussaint Louverture. He was inspired by the American Revolution and wanted equality for black people. He wanted the Enlightenment principles to spread. Toussaint Louverture would pass away before an independent Haiti would be formed, but he set the stage for much of the Haitian Revolution. Haitian slaves were forced to work in large plantations where they generated cash crops of sugar, coffee, and cotton against their will. Haiti was called Saint Domingue by the French imperialists. 

The French Revolution motivated black people to stand up for their rights. After the March 1793 French assembly gave full rights and French citizenship to free black people and biracial people, the white planter class in Haiti opposed this act. The French sent military forces and a new governor to enact these measures. Spain signed a peace treaty with France and left the conflict. British forces sent troops to the island of Haiti. Great Britain allied with the white planter class. Louverture captured Haiti and abolished slavery over the island by 1801. Napoleon sent his brother-in-law Charles Leclerc to fight to conquer Haiti with 35,000 soldiers. Louverture wants a truce, but the French imperialists trick him, capture him, imprison him, and force him to die in prison in France. France wants to re-implement slavery, and Haitians like General Jean-Jacques Dessalines fight back. Leclerc died of yellow fever. Napoleon sent troops to Haiti to force slavery. These forces fail. President Thomas Jefferson wanted to oppose the Haitian Revolution, but President John Adams supported the Haitian Revolution as a means to end slavery in Haiti. By 1804, Haitian leader Dessalines officially declared independence on January 1, 1804, making Haiti the first black Republic in the Americas in world history. 

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has been around for 100 years, and that is a blessing. Today, it is a research library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide. Located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) between West 135th and 136th Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, it has, almost from its inception, been an integral part of the Harlem community. It is named for Afro-Puerto Rican scholar Arturo Alfonso Schomburg. The resources of the center are broken up into five divisions: the Art and Artifacts Division, the Jean Blackwell Hutson General Research and Reference Division, the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, and the Photographs and Prints Division. In addition to research services, the center hosts readings, discussions, art exhibitions, and theatrical events. It is open to the general public. In 1901, Andrew Carnegie tentatively agreed to donate $5.2 million (equivalent to $196,539,200 in 2024) to construct 65 branch libraries in New York City, with the requirement that the city provide the land and maintain the buildings once construction was complete. Later in 1901, Carnegie formally signed a contract with the City of New York to transfer his donation to the city to then allow it to justify purchasing the land to house the libraries. McKim, Mead & White were chosen as the architects, and Charles Follen McKim designed the three-story library building at 103 West 135th Street in the Italian Renaissance Palazzo style. At its opening on July 14, 1905, the library had 10,000 books, and the librarian in charge was Gertrude Cohen. In 1920, Ernestine Rose, a white woman born in Bridgehampton in 1880, was the branch librarian. She quickly integrated the all-white library staff. Catherine Allen Latimer, the first African-American librarian hired by the NYPL, was sent to work with Rose as was Roberta Bosely months later. Sometime later, Sadie Peterson Delaney became employed at the branch. Together, they created a plan to assist in integrating reading into the lives of the library attendees and cooperated with schools and social organizations in the community.

In 1921, the library hosted the first exhibition of African-American art in Harlem; it became an annual event. The library became a focal point to the burgeoning Harlem Renaissance. In 1923, the 135th Street branch was the only branch in New York City employing black Americans as librarians, and consequently, when Regina M. Anderson was hired by the NYPL, she was sent to work at the 135th Street branch. Rose issued a report to the American Library Association in 1923, which stated that requests for books about black people or written by black people had been increasing, and that the demand for professionally trained colored librarians was also. In late 1924, Rose called a meeting, with attendees including Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, James Weldon Johnson, Hubert Harrison, that decided to focus on preserving rare books and solicit donations to enhance its African-American collection. On May 8, 1925, it began operating as the Division of Negro Literature, History, and Prints, a division of the NYPL. In 1926, Schomburg was interested in selling his collection of African-American literature because he wanted it to be available to the general public, but he wanted the collection to stay in Harlem. Rose and the National Urban League convinced the Carnegie Foundation to pay $10,000 to Schomburg and then donate the books to the library. In 1926, the center's collection won acclaim with the addition of Schomburg's personal collection. By donating his collection, Schomburg sought to show that black people had a history and a culture and thus were not inferior to other races. About 5,000 objects in Schomburg's collection were donated.

In 1929, Anderson was desirous of a promotion and enlisted the help of W. E. B. Du Bois and Walter Francis White when she was being discriminated against by not being promoted. After letters of intervention on her behalf by Du Bois and White, and a boycott of the library by White, Anderson was promoted and transferred to the Rivington Street branch of the NYPL. By 1930, the center had 18,000 volumes. In 1932, Schomburg became the first curator of his collection until he died in 1938. In 1935, the Center developed a project to deliver books once a week to those handicapped severely enough that they could not make it to the library. Dr. Lawrence D. Reddick became the second curator of the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature. At the behest of Reddick, in October 1940, the entire Division of Negro History, Literature, and Prints was renamed the Schomburg Collection of Negro History and Literature. In 1942, Rose retired after an extension was built onto the rear of the building, at a time when the library had 40,000 books. Dorothy Robinson Homer replaced her as Branch Librarian, after the Citizen's Committee of the 135th Street Branch Library specifically requested a black person to replace Rose.

Later, there was the Countee Cullen branch built. Homer created a room of books just for young adults and created the American Negro Theatre in the basement that spawned the play Anna Lucasta, which was moved to Broadway. She kept the emphasis on building a community center for art, music, and drama. She put on art exhibits that favored unknown, young artists of all races. After the outbreak of WWII, Homer started a program of monthly concert recitals in the auditorium to enhance public spirit, but the demand by performers and audience members to continue the practice made it permanent. The center was directed by Jean Blackwell. The Schomburg Center grew, and by 1972, it was designated as one of NYPL's research libraries. In 1978, the building on 135th Street between Lenox and 7th Avenues was entered into the National Register of Historic Places. In 1979, it was formally listed in the NRHP. In 1980, a new Schomburg Center was founded at 515 Lenox Avenue. In 1981, the original building on West 135th Street which held the Schomburg Collection, was designated a New York City Landmark. In 2016, both the original and current buildings, now joined by a connector, were designated a National Historic Landmark. The Roger Furman Theatre is located within the building. Many people were directors of the center like Khalil Gibran Muhammad, the great-grandson of Elijah Muhammad and professor of history at Indiana University (from 2011-2016). In the summer of 2011, Muhammad became the fifth director of the Schomburg. His stated goals were for the Schomburg to be a focal point for young adults and to collaborate with the local community, to not only reinforce its pride, but also for the center to be a gateway for revealing the history of Black people worldwide. In July, the center began an exhibit of Malcolm X footage and prints entitled Malcolm X: The Search for Truth. 

On August 1, 2016, the New York Public Library announced that poet and academic Kevin Young would begin as director of the Schomburg in the late fall of 2016. During Young's four-year tenure, attendance increased by 40%, to 300,000 visitors per year. He is credited with raising more than $10 million in grants and donations, and securing several high-profile acquisitions, including the papers of James Baldwin; Harry Belafonte; and the couple Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. A $22.3 million renovation of the Schomburg Center buildings was completed in 2017. The project included new gallery and research areas; upgrades to the Langston Hughes Auditorium; a two-story annex; and upgrades to the second-floor Rare Books Reading Room. Young stepped down at the end of 2020 to assume a new position as director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. In 2021, Joy Bivins was appointed as the director of the Schomburg Center. The next year, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York provided $8 million for a renovation of the Schomburg Center buildings. The work included energy-efficiency and safety upgrades, in addition to a replacement of existing windows and roof. Now, the Schomburg collection has tons of items relating to black history and culture. As of 2010, the Collection stood at 10 million objects. The center contains a signed first edition of a book of poems by Phillis Wheatley, archival material of Melville J. Herskovits, John Henrik Clarke, Lorraine Hansberry, Malcolm X, and Nat King Cole. The collection includes the files, or papers of the International Labor Defense, the Civil Rights Congress, the Symphony of the New World, the National Negro Congress, and the files of the South African Dennis Brutus Defense Committee (restricted). It also includes the papers of Lawrence Brown (1893–1973), Melva L. Price, Ralph Bunche, Léon Damas, Thomas Henderson Kerr Jr., William Pickens, Hiram Rhodes Revels, Clarence Cameron White. The collection also includes manuscripts of Alexander Crummell and John Edward Bruce, manuscripts of Slavery, Abolitionism and on the West Indies, and letters and unpublished manuscripts of Langston Hughes. It includes some papers from Christian Fleetwood, Paul Robeson (restricted), Booker T. Washington, and Schomburg himself. It includes musical recordings, black and jazz periodicals, rare books and pamphlets, and tens of thousands of art objects. The center's collection includes documents signed by Toussaint Louverture and a rare recording of a speech by Marcus Garvey. The Claude McKay Estate is represented by the Faith Childs Literary Agency. In the past, the center had acted as the literary representative of the heirs of Claude McKay. The NYPL hosted various events in 2025 to celebrate the Schomburg Collection's 100th anniversary.

This year has tons of anniversaries. One great anniversary is the 80th year anniversary of Ebony Magazine. Ebony has been a staple in black American culture for decades. Many of us African Americans back in the day had covers of Ebony magazines in our homes as part of our family tradition. Every month, a new Ebony magazine represented our stories, our music, and our culture in general being shown. Ebony is more digitalized now, but it still shows the lives, accomplishments of not just influential or famous black people. It shows stories of unsung black people, too. It deals with people, fashion, politics, music, athletics, literature, and the diversity of Blackness. Blackness is very diverse, not monolithic. Some folks need to realize that. Ebony magazine was born in Chicago. Chicago is one major mecca of black culture. The Chicago Renaissance came from Chicago, Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Chicago, Lorraine Hansberry was raised in Chicago, Common was born in Chicago, Fred Hampton led his Black Panther movement in Chicago, almost 800,000 black people live in Chicago, and the founder of Chicago (who was Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable) has some black African descent. 

The founder of Ebony was a black businessman named John H. Johnson on November 1, 1945. The magazine was named after his wife, Eunice Walker Johnson. He patterned it after Life magazine, but it grew with its own style. It had a press run at first of 25,000 copies, and it sold out completely. Ebony's earlier content dealt with African American sports and entertainment people. It also included black achievers and celebrities of many different professions. They increasingly covered the Civil Rights Movement by the 1960s. Ebony had artists who dealt with activism, the Black Power Movement, and wanted social mobility for African Americans. By 1965, executive editor Lerone Bennett Jr. wrote a recurring column entitled "Black Power" that had an in-depth profile of Kwame Ture in 1966. Ebony commemorated historical events like the September 1963 issue that honored the 100th year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. It dealt with more political issues from 1969 to 1985. Essence had a friendly competition with Ebony, so Ebony had to fulfill its obligation to provide truth to the people. Ebony had massive popularity from 1985 to 2005. By the 1980s, over 40 percent of African American adults had access to Ebony magazine. It had a circulation of 1.7 million in November 1985. By the 21st century, Ebony became more digitized. In 2024, Ebony returned to Chicago for its Juneteenth celebration at Soho House.

By Timothy