29 July 1968 & taquiena boston: i am beautiful because i am black

#OTD-ish 29 July 1968 Five days ago, on 24 July 1968, Taquiena Boston, 14 years old, wrote this in her diary:

"I am beautiful because I am black. July 24th 1968. This wasn't a special day. I wrote a letter to my girlfriends. I also talked to Esther and Donna about yesterday's shows. We talked about our race and our school. The Czechs have won and they can go their way in governmental affairs. Now I am no longer a Negro. I am a black American. I still hold true to my heritage. But I am to be judged as me not as Negro, nigger, girl or mulatto. I am me. Me first. Black American second. And then what follows. The gun control it on its way with the prohibiting of mail order sales. There was a civil disorder in Cleveland. I drew groovy pictures."

Listen to Taquiena read from her 24 July 1968 diary entry in 2017:

I particularly love this entry from Taquiena's diary because it marks the moment when she claimed her blackness and her beauty. It marks that it was a moment that grew out of conversations with friends who were all undoubtedly in conversation with what they were hearing and reading from others.

Photo source: Courtesy © The King Center North & South: Southern Christian Leadership Conference Staff News October 1967. Author claims fair use.
Diary source: Courtesy of Taquiena Boston. A big thank you to Taquiena for sharing her incredible diary.