DID YOU KNOW…….Cornrows were used to help enslaved Africans or enslaved people escape slavery?….enslaved Africans or enslaved people used cornrows to transfer information and create maps to the north……since enslaved Africans or enslaved people were not allowed to read or write……they had to pass information through cornrows…..it is believed to have originated in Colombia, South America, where Benkos Bioho……in the late 1500’s came up with the idea to have women create maps and deliver messages through their cornrows…..they were also called “canerows” to represent the sugarcane fields that slaves worked in…..one style had curved braids…..tightly braided on their heads…..the curved braids would represent the roads they would use to escape……also, in their braids, they kept gold and hid seeds…..which helped them survive after they escaped…..they would use the seeds to plant crops once they were liberated…..Cornrows was the best way to not give back any suspicion to the owner…..he would never figure out such a hairstyle would mean they would escape or the route they would take.

GERMANY…..Has over 1,500 different types of beer…..brewed by more than 1,300 breweries……beer is also legally considered food in Bavaria…..this dates back to a law from the 1500’s…..Germany also has over 1,500 different types of sausages…..that means if you tried a new one every day…..it would take you over four years….to taste them all.

A CITY BUILT DURING THE ICE AGE?…….Could a lost civilization have built a city during the Ice Age…..long before the glaciers melted?…..this is the surprising conclusion some researchers have drawn after analyzing the semi-submerged ruins of Nan Madol…..often called the “Venice of the Pacific”….but how did they reach this conclusion?…..Nan Madol, much like Venice, was constructed on a network of over 100 small islets…..located in the Pacific Ocean near the island of Temwen…..it lies over 1,000 kilometers from the nearest major coastline….early investigations attributed its construction to the Saudeleur dynasty roughly 800 years ago…..but more recent studies suggest a much earlier origin……why the discrepancy?….today, much of Nan Madol lies underwater with only a few ruins rising above the surface…..some of its massive walls, built with basalt blocks weighing up to 40 tons, appear to rise from below sea level…..this raises a critical question….how could such immense structures have been built beneath the sea?…..he answer lies in the sea level itself……geologists have ruled out the possibility of the islets sinking due to geological phenomena like bradyseism…..instead, they believe it was the ocean that rose, flooding the city…..when did this happen?….the last significant rise in global sea levels occurred approximately 14,000 years ago after the Ice Age…..during this period, massive ice sheets covering much of North America and Northern Europe melted…..causing the oceans to rise by more than 100 meters…..if Nan Madol predates this event…..it would mean the city was originally built on dry land….potentially placing its construction during or even before the Ice Age…..this tantalizing possibility challenges conventional timelines and suggests that Nan Madol may be the legacy of a lost and highly advanced civilization.

THE WORD “CHECKMATE”…..comes from the Persian phrase “shah mat”…..meaning the “The King is dead.”

CHERYL WHITE……Was the first black female jockey in the United States…..she made her mark while riding her mother’s horse, Ace Reward…..though she finished last in her first race, she made her winning mark in countless races to come……White’s father, Raymond White, was a noted owner and trainer at the tracks in Ohio and Kentucky…..with two Kentucky Derby’s in his career…..her mother, Doris, owned several horses…..including the one White would win five races with in a one-month period…..she brought her mother’s horses back to wins after a long losing streak…..her success as a jockey was preserved on the July 29, 1971 cover of Jet Magazine…..it was tough for a female jockey, and White was a triple threat as a black woman and a young girl…..that didn’t stop history…..on Oct. 19, 1983, she became the first female jockey to win five thoroughbred races in one day at a major track……White’s success won an invitation to the Boots and Bows Handicap…..and all ladies’ race in Atlantic City in 1972…..she won the race…..a white female jockey, Mary Bacon, accused her of misconduct on the track, but the accusation didn’t stick……in her 21 years of racing, White would win 750 races…..at one point, she held a five-time winning streak at Appaloosa…..in 1990, she was presented an Award of Merit by the African American Sports Hall of Fame……but White’s story is not without tragedy…..later, her license was suspended after it was discovered that she had made a $2 bet while working as an official…..she attended Gamblers Anonymous and exercised horses to support herself during her suspension…..in Baltimore (year unknown)…..White was among eight history-making female jockeys who crossed the finish line in a legends race…..White now works as an official of horse racing…..in addition, Lexington, Kentucky is constructing a new park to honor African-Americans in racing and will include her in the historical presentation.

BENJAMIN F. HARDY……Was an African-American custom motorcycle builder who made the Captain America and Billy choppers for the 1969 Peter Fonda road movie Easy Rider…..the Captain America bike….made from a then 20-year-old, heavily customized Harley-Davidson panhead…..is considered one of the most iconic motorcycles ever built…..working with another Black motorcycle builder…..coordinator Cliff Vaughn and Hardy built two “Billy” bikes and three “Captain Americas”…..one of which was destroyed in the making of the movie….the rest of which were stolen…..each bike had a backup to make sure that shooting could continue in case one of the old machines failed or got wrecked accidentally….. “The ‘Billy” bike was typical of the custom motorcycles Black bikers were riding at the time……Hardy and Vaughn remained largely unknown and uncredited for 25 years…..as they were not accepted due to being African-Americans……and were not welcomed into the mainstream motorcycle world in the USA….known locally as “Benny” and “King of Bikes”…..Ben Hardy’s Motorcycle Service was located at 1168 E. Florence in Los Angeles…..he was a mentor to many of the local motorcyclists in South Central, Los Angeles……his work was featured in the “Black Chrome” exhibition at the California African American Museum.