No subject

=20
classical Caesar was a particularly common slave name, bestowed, it would=20
seem,  by slaveholders with a profoundly unfunny sense of irony. And sometim=
es =20
distinctive slave names were carried out of Africa and preserved: Some Afric=
an =20
societies name children after the day of the week they were born, and "there=
=20
is  a preponderance of day names among the leaders of the very early slave=20
revolts,"  writes Joey Lee Dillard in "Black Names." From early on, then, so=
me=20
distinctive  black names were tied to black resistance against white oppress=
ion. =20
Distinctive black naming persisted through the centuries; the folklorist =20
Newbell Niles Puckett turned up thousands of such names culling records from=
 =20
1619 to the mid-1940s, names like Electa, Valantine and Zebedee. But by and=20=
=20
large, it remained a minority practice within black culture, and most black=20=
 names=20
weren't all that different from those given to whites. Then, in the 1960s, =20
something changed, resulting in an unprecedented spike in black creative nam=
es,=20
 to the point where just a few years ago, "Freakonomics" authors Steven=20
Levitt  and Stephen Dubner noted that "nearly 30 percent of the black girls=20=
are=20
given a  name that is unique among the names of every baby, white and black,=
 born=20
that  year in California." =20
What happened? The dates, of course, are suggestive. The '60s were a time of=
 =20
massive black protest from which emerged an accentuated separatist strain in=
 =20
black thought, epitomized in the Black Power movement. Blacks became =20
increasingly interested in Africa and eager to show pride in their roots.  (=
Indeed,=20
"Roots" -- Alex Haley's book as well as the TV miniseries based upon it  --=20
itself had a remarkable effect on naming practices. According to Harvard =20
sociologist Stanley Lieberson, the name Kizzy, which belonged to a "Roots" =20
character, skyrocketed from oblivion to become the 17th most popular name fo=
r  black=20
girls in Illinois in 1977.) Islam began in these years to have a clear =20
influence, too, most visibly with Cassius Clay adopting the name Muhammad Al=
i in =20
1964. Others followed suit, including two fellows named Lew Alcindor and LeR=
oi =20
Jones, whom you know as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Amiri Baraka. Around this ti=
me, =20
an American boy named Barack Hussein Obama would be born. His given names, o=
f=20
 Semitic origin, mean "blessed" and "good." Soon, out of these more politica=
l=20
 traditions grew a new one of creating names whose sounds the parents merely=
 =20
found pleasing.=20
full article --
=20
<_http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/08/25/creative_black_names/index.htm=
l_
=20
(http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/08/25/creative_black_names/index.html=
) >=20




We have it in our power to begin the world over again =E2=80=93Thomas  Paine



**************It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your trave=
l=20
deal here.     =20
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