User:Adjoajo/brath

Helene Nomsa Brathwaite was a mother, wife, community organizer, education activist, education reformer, educator, public speaker, and artist. She was married to and worked with her husband Elombe Brath for over 50 years. In the 1960s she was a Grandassa model. They were both pioneer's in Black Arts Movement and the Black is Beautiful moment in the 1960s. Nomsa was one of the founding members of the Grandassa Models.

Early life
Nomsa's birth name was Helene White. Her childhood mentor was Goldie Seifert. Goldie was a scholar and the wife of Charles Seifert. Charles was a scholar in history and specialized in African and African American history. Nomsa credits Goldie with instilling in her the love for reading, books, and independent thinking. Charles was a collector of books. The Seifer's created a library in their home to educate the Black community.

Career
In 1962 Nomsa was one of the founding members of The African Jazz Arts Society Studio (AJASS) in 1962. She appeared on the cover of Jazz albums for Lou Donaldson as a Grandassa Models. She appeared also on the cover of internally magazines. Grandassa models like Nomsa, Clara Lewis, Rose Nelms and Brenda Deaver were beauty icons represented African beauty, fashion, and natural African hair.

Asbestos Removal in Schools
Nomsa lead the struggle for the removal of asbestos from public schools. In 1985, The Journal of Law and Education highlighted her work in an article. Her efforts along with others led to the shut down of primary and grand schools in the 1970s. Twenty percent of New York City schools had high levels of asbestos.

Case of the Central Park 5
In 1989, Nomsa Brath, Elombe Brath along with many other community activists, and the African American community organized in support of the innocence of the five Black and Hispanic teenagers that were accused of a brutal attack and rape of a White female jogger. The five teenagers aged 14, 15, 16 were Yusef Salaam, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise. The case became known as the Central Park 5 case. It was also known the Central Park jogger case. Nomsa organized "Mother Love", a women's support group for the five young males that were falsely accused and imprisoned. The case was said by the then Mayor of New York City Ed Koch as being the "crime of the century". The five teenagers falsely confessed to the crime after hours of interrogation. They later recanted stating that they were manipulated to confess to crimes that they did not commit. They served from 9 to 13 year. In 2002, the Central Park Five were exonerated. . In 2012, Sarah Burns, Ken Burns, David McMahon directed and produced a documentary that examines the case of the Central Park Five. Sarah has also written a book about the case. The written in 2011 by Ms. Burn's titled “The Central Park Five: The Untold Story Behind One of New York City’s Most Infamous Crimes”.

In 2019, Ava DuVernay will be premiering a Central Park 5 (miniseries)on Netflix.