Black

The Polynesians burned coconuts to produce their pigment. Good-quality black dyes were not known until the middle of the 14th century. The most common early dyes were made from bark, roots or fruits of different trees; usually the walnut , chestnut , or certain oak trees. The blacks produced were often more gray, brown or bluish. The cloth had to be dyed several times to darken the color. One solution used by dyers was add to the dye some iron filings, rich in iron oxide, which gave a deeper black.

Another was to first dye the fabric dark blue, and then to dye it black. A much richer and deeper black dye was eventually found made from the Oak apple or gall-nut. The gall-nut is a small round tumor which grows on oak and other varieties of trees. The gall-nuts which made the best dye came from Poland , eastern Europe, the near east and North Africa. Beginning in about the 14th century, dye from gall-nuts was used for clothes of the kings and princes of Europe.

Another important source of natural black dyes from the 17th century onwards was the logwood tree , or Haematoxylum campechianum , which also produced reddish and bluish dyes. It is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae , that is native to southern Mexico and northern Central America. Since the midth century, synthetic black dyes have largely replaced natural dyes. One of the important synthetic blacks is Nigrosin , a mixture of synthetic black dyes CI , Solvent black 5 made by heating a mixture of nitrobenzene , aniline and aniline hydrochloride in the presence of a copper or iron catalyst.

Its main industrial uses are as a colorant for lacquers and varnishes and in marker-pen inks. The first known inks were made by the Chinese, and date back to the 23rd century B. They used natural plant dyes and minerals such as graphite ground with water and applied with an ink brush. Early Chinese inks similar to the modern inkstick have been found dating to about BC at the end of the Warring States period. They were produced from soot , usually produced by burning pine wood, mixed with animal glue.

To make ink from an inkstick, the stick is continuously ground against an inkstone with a small quantity of water to produce a dark liquid which is then applied with an ink brush. Artists and calligraphists could vary the thickness of the resulting ink by reducing or increasing the intensity and time of ink grinding.

These inks produced the delicate shading and subtle or dramatic effects of Chinese brush painting. India ink or Indian ink in British English is a black ink once widely used for writing and printing and now more commonly used for drawing , especially when inking comic books and comic strips. The technique of making it probably came from China.

India ink has been in use in India since at least the 4th century BC, where it was called masi. In India, the black color of the ink came from bone char , tar , pitch and other substances. The Ancient Romans had a black writing ink they called atramentum librarium. This was the same root as the English word atrocious.

It was usually made, like India ink, from soot , although one variety, called atramentum elephantinum , was made by burning the ivory of elephants. Gall-nuts were also used for making fine black writing ink. Iron gall ink also known as iron gall nut ink or oak gall ink was a purple-black or brown-black ink made from iron salts and tannic acids from gall nut.

It was the standard writing and drawing ink in Europe , from about the 12th century to the 19th century, and remained in use well into the 20th century.

The Black Institute

Sticks of vine charcoal and compressed charcoal. Charcoal, along with red and yellow ochre, was one of the first pigments used by Paleolithic man.

A Chinese inkstick , in the form of lotus flowers and blossoms. Inksticks are used in Chinese calligraphy and brush painting. Ivory black or bone char , a natural black pigment made by burning animal bones. The logwood tree from Central America produced dyes beginning in the 17th century. The nation of Belize began as a British colony producing logwood. The oak apple or gall-nut, a tumor growing on oak trees, was the main source of black dye and black writing ink from the 14th century until the 19th century.

The industrial production of lamp black , made by producing, collecting and refining soot , in An illustration of Olbers' paradox see below. The fact that outer space is black is sometimes called Olbers' paradox. In theory, because the universe is full of stars, and is believed to be infinitely large, it would be expected that the light of an infinite number of stars would be enough to brilliantly light the whole universe all the time. However, the background color of outer space is black. This contradiction was first noted in by German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers , who posed the question of why the night sky was black.

The current accepted answer is that, although the universe is infinitely large, it is not infinitely old. It is thought to be about Light from stars farther away has not reached Earth, and cannot contribute to making the sky bright. Furthermore, as the universe is expanding, many stars are moving away from Earth. As they move, the wavelength of their light becomes longer, through the Doppler effect , and shifts toward red, or even becomes invisible.

As a result of these two phenomena, there is not enough starlight to make space anything but black. The daytime sky on Earth is blue because light from the Sun strikes molecules in Earth's atmosphere scattering light in all directions. Blue light is scattered more than other colors, and reaches the eye in greater quantities, making the daytime sky appear blue.

This is known as Rayleigh scattering. The nighttime sky on Earth is black because the part of Earth experiencing night is facing away from the Sun, the light of the Sun is blocked by Earth itself, and there is no other bright nighttime source of light in the vicinity.

Thus, there is not enough light to undergo Rayleigh scattering and make the sky blue. On the Moon, on the other hand, because there is no atmosphere to scatter the light, the sky is black both day and night. This phenomenon also holds true for other locations without an atmosphere. The black mamba of Africa is one of the most venomous snakes, as well as the fastest-moving snake in the world.

The only black part of the snake is the inside of the mouth, which it exposes in a threat display when alarmed. The black widow spider, or lactrodectus , The females frequently eat their male partners after mating. The female's venom is at least three times more potent than that of the males, making a male's self-defense bite ineffective.

A black panther is actually a melanistic leopard or jaguar , the result of an excess of melanin in their skin caused by a recessive gene. The American crow is one of the most intelligent of all animals. In China, the color black is associated with water, one of the five fundamental elements believed to compose all things; and with winter, cold, and the direction north, usually symbolized by a black tortoise. It is also associated with disorder, including the positive disorder which leads to change and new life. When the first Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang seized power from the Zhou Dynasty , he changed the Imperial color from red to black, saying that black extinguished red.

Only when the Han Dynasty appeared in BC was red restored as the imperial color. The Chinese and Japanese character for black kuro in Japanese , can, depending upon the context, also mean dark or evil. In Japan, black is associated with mystery, the night, the unknown, the supernatural, the invisible and death. Combined with white, it can symbolize intuition. In Japan in the 10th and 11th century, it was believed that wearing black could bring misfortune. It was worn at court by those who wanted to set themselves apart from the established powers or who had renounced material possessions.

The black belt in martial arts symbolizes experience, while a white belt is worn by novices. In Indonesia black is associated with depth, the subterranean world, demons, disaster, and the left hand. When black is combined with white, however, it symbolizes harmony and equilibrium. The first Chinese Emperor, Qin Shi Huang , made black his imperial color, saying that black extinguished red, the old dynastic color.

Anarchism is a political philosophy, most popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which holds that governments and capitalism are harmful and undesirable. The symbols of anarchism was usually either a black flag or a black letter A. More recently it is usually represented with a bisected red and black flag, to emphasise the movement's socialist roots in the First International.

There were also small but influential movements in the United States and Russia.

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In the latter, the movement initially allied itself with the Bolsheviks. The Black Army was a collection of anarchist military units which fought in the Russian Civil War , sometimes on the side of the Bolshevik Red Army , and sometimes for the opposing White Army. It was officially known as the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine , and it was under the command of the famous anarchist Nestor Makhno.

Inspired by the black uniforms of the Arditi , Italy's elite storm troops of World War I, the Fascist Blackshirts were organized by Benito Mussolini as the military tool of his political movement. The emblem of the Italian fascists was a black flag with fasces , an axe in a bundle of sticks, an ancient Roman symbol of authority. Mussolini came to power in through his March on Rome with the blackshirts. Black was also adopted by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in Germany.

Red, white and black were the colors of the flag of the German Empire from to In Mein Kampf , Hitler explained that they were "revered colors expressive of our homage to the glorious past. The Nazis used a black triangle to symbolize anti-social elements. The symbol originates from Nazi concentration camps , where every prisoner had to wear one of the Nazi concentration camp badges on their jacket, the color of which categorized them according to "their kind.

The homeless were also included, as were alcoholics, the Romani people , the habitually "work-shy," prostitutes, draft dodgers and pacifists. In the students began to carry a red, black and gold flag, which they believed incorrectly had been the colors of the Holy Roman Empire the imperial flag had actually been gold and black. In , this banner became the flag of the German confederation. In , Prussia unified Germany under its rule, and imposed the red, white and black of its own flag, which remained the colors of the German flag until the end of the Second World War.

In the Federal Republic of Germany returned to the original flag and colors of the students and professors of , which is the flag of Germany today. It says, "Power begets parasites. Benito Mussolini and his blackshirt followers during his March on Rome in The banner of the Holy Roman Emperor — featured a black eagle, an old Roman emblem and a symbol of power. One head represented the church, the other the state. Flag of Belgium The black came from the banner of the Duchy of Brabant , founded in the 12th century. The flag used the colors of the failed Brabant Revolution of —90 against the Habsburg Monarchy.

Black was taken from the Black Standard of Muhammad. The black in the modern flag of Germany dates back to the flag of the Holy Roman Empire , the 19th-century flag of the German Confederation , the flag of Prussia , and the flag of the Weimar Republic. Flag of Estonia Black was said to symbolize the dark time of occupation, and white the bright future of independence. Flag of Egypt The colors were taken from the Flag of the Arab Revolt, which was the banner of the Egyptian Revolution of The black came from the Black Standard of Muhammad.

The Flag of South Africa Black has been a traditional color of cavalry and armoured or mechanized troops. German armoured troops Panzerwaffe traditionally wore black uniforms, and even in others, a black beret is common. In Finland, black is the symbolic color for both armoured troops and combat engineers, and military units of these specialities have black flags and unit insignia.

The black beret and the color black is also a symbol of special forces in many countries. A black beret is also worn by military police in the Canadian, Czech, Croatian, Portuguese, Spanish and Serbian armies. The silver-on-black skull and crossbones symbol or Totenkopf and a black uniform were used by Hussars and Black Brunswickers , the German Panzerwaffe and the Nazi Schutzstaffel , and U. In Christianity, the devil is often called the "prince of darkness. It is an English translation of the Latin phrase princeps tenebrarum , which occurs in the Acts of Pilate , written in the fourth century, in the 11th-century hymn Rhythmus de die mortis by Pietro Damiani , [65] and in a sermon by Bernard of Clairvaux [66] from the 12th century.

The phrase also occurs in King Lear by William Shakespeare c. Priests and pastors of the Roman Catholic , Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches commonly wear black, as do monks of the Benedictine Order , who consider it the color of humility and penitence. In Europe and America, black is the color most commonly associated with mourning and bereavement.

In some traditional societies, for example in Greece and Italy, some widows wear black for the rest of their lives. In contrast, across much of Africa and parts of Asia like Vietnam, white is a color of mourning and is worn during funerals. In Victorian England, the colors and fabrics of mourning were specified in an unofficial dress code: Paramatta was a fabric of combined silk and wool or cotton; crape was a harsh black silk fabric with a crimped appearance produced by heat.

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Widows were allowed to change into the colors of half-mourning, such as gray and lavender, black and white, for the final six months. A "black day" or week or month usually refers to tragic date. The Romans marked fasti days with white stones and nefasti days with black. The term is often used to remember massacres. Black months include the Black September in Jordan , when large numbers of Palestinians were killed, and Black July in Sri Lanka , the killing of members of the Tamil population by the Sinhalese government.

In the financial world, the term often refers to a dramatic drop in the stock market. For example, the Wall Street Crash of , the stock market crash on October 29, , which marked the start of the Great Depression , is nicknamed Black Tuesday, and was preceded by Black Thursday, a downturn on October 24 the previous week.

The dowager Electress of Palatine in mourning Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and his sisters wearing mourning clothes due to their father's death Queen Victoria wore black in mourning for her husband Prince Albert In western popular culture, black has long been associated with evil and darkness.

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It is the traditional color of witchcraft and black magic. The horseman representing famine rides a black horse. The vampire of literature and films, such as Count Dracula of the Bram Stoker novel, dressed in black, and could only move at night. The Wicked Witch of the West in the film The Wizard of Oz became the archetype of witches for generations of children.

Whereas witches and sorcerers inspired real fear in the 17th century, in the 21st century children and adults dressed as witches for Halloween parties and parades. The biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse , including famine riding a black horse painting by Viktor Vasnetsov , Count Dracula as portrayed by Bela Lugosi in the film version.

Black is frequently used as a color of power, law and authority. In many countries judges and magistrates wear black robes. That custom began in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. Jurists, magistrates and certain other court officials in France began to wear long black robes during the reign of Philip IV of France — , and in England from the time of Edward I — The custom spread to the cities of Italy at about the same time, between and The robes of judges resembled those worn by the clergy, and represented the law and authority of the King, while those of the clergy represented the law of God and authority of the church.

Until the 20th century most police uniforms were black, until they were largely replaced by a less menacing blue in France, the U. In the United States, police cars are frequently Black and white. The riot control units of the Basque Autonomous Police in Spain are known as beltzak "blacks" after their uniform. Black today is the most common color for limousines and the official cars of government officials. Black evening dress is still worn at many solemn occasions or ceremonies, from graduations to formal balls.

Black (singer)

Graduation gowns are copied from the gowns worn by university professors in the Middle Ages, which in turn were copied from the robes worn by judges and priests, who often taught at the early universities. The mortarboard hat worn by graduates is adapted from a square cap called a biretta worn by Medieval professors and clerics.

The United States Supreme Court Judges at the International Court of Justice in the Hague. A police car of the Los Angeles Police Department. In the 19th and 20th centuries, many machines and devices, large and small, were painted black, to stress their functionality. These included telephones, sewing machines, steamships, railroad locomotives, and automobiles. The Ford Model T , the first mass-produced car, was available only in black from to Of means of transportation, only airplanes were rarely ever painted black.

Black house paint is becoming more popular with Sherwin-Williams reporting that the color, Tricorn Black, was the 6th most popular exterior house paint color in Canada and the 12th most popular paint in the United States in Black is also commonly used as a racial description in the United Kingdom , since ethnicity was first measured in the census. The British census asked residents to describe themselves, and categories offered included Black, African, Caribbean, or Black British.

Of the total UK population in , 1. In Canada , census respondents can identify themselves as Black. In the census, 2. In Australia , the term black is not used in the census. In Brazil , the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics IBGE asks people to identify themselves as branco white , pardo brown , preto black , or amarelo yellow. Heroes in American westerns , like the Lone Ranger , traditionally wore a white hat, while the villains wore black hats. Black is the color most commonly associated with elegance in Europe and the United States, followed by silver, gold, and white.

Black first became a fashionable color for men in Europe in the 17th century, in the courts of Italy and Spain. In the 19th century, it was the fashion for men both in business and for evening wear, in the form of a black coat whose tails came down the knees. In the evening it was the custom of the men to leave the women after dinner to go to a special smoking room to enjoy cigars or cigarettes.

This meant that their tailcoats eventually smelled of tobacco. According to the legend, in Edward VII , then the Prince of Wales, had his tailor make a special short smoking jacket. The smoking jacket then evolved into the dinner jacket. Thereafter the jacket became known as a tuxedo in the U. The term "smoking" is still used today in Russia and other countries. He did so because a black tuxedo looked greenish in artificial light, while a dark blue tuxedo looked blacker than black itself. For women's fashion, the defining moment was the invention of the simple black dress by Coco Chanel in Thereafter, a long black gown was used for formal occasions, while the simple black dress could be used for everything else.

The designer Karl Lagerfeld , explaining why black was so popular, said: If you're wearing black, you're on sure ground. The fashion designer Christian Dior said, "elegance is a combination of distinction, naturalness, care and simplicity," [84] and black exemplified elegance. The expression "X is the new black" is a reference to the latest trend or fad that is considered a wardrobe basic for the duration of the trend, on the basis that black is always fashionable. Many performers of both popular and European classical music , including French singers Edith Piaf and Juliette Greco , and violinist Joshua Bell have traditionally worn black on stage during performances.

A black costume was usually chosen as part of their image or stage persona, or because it did not distract from the music, or sometimes for a political reason.



Country-western singer Johnny Cash always wore black on stage. In , Cash wrote the song " Man in Black " to explain why he dressed in that color: The Duke of Windsor was the first to wear midnight blue rather than black evening dress, which looked blacker than black in artificial light. French singer Edith Piaf always wore black on stage. Country-western singer Johnny Cash called himself "the man in black.

American violinist Joshua Bell wears black on stage. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This is the latest accepted revision , reviewed on 16 December The darkest shade, resulting from the absence or complete absorption of light. Like white and grey, it has no hue. This article is about the color. For other uses, see Black disambiguation. Rembrandt , Self-portrait Simulated view of a black hole in front of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Japanese men traditionally wear a black kimono with some white decoration on their wedding day. A Ford Model T. The first model BlackBerry Retrieved August 30, Translated in Arabic as nahr al-anhur "river of rivers. World Publishing Company Retrieved December 30, Retrieved 29 February Guerin, Paris, , p.

The New York Times. South China Morning Post — World. Retrieved 19 July Garden Insects of North America. Gravity from the ground up. Reports on Progress in Physics. Archived from the original PDF on May 10, Retrieved 6 February They trigger a full out war between them, an A brutal home-jacking by two brothers goes hopelessly wrong, and one of them goes to prison. Four years later, his brother tries to help him get his life back on track.

The Belgian prime minister is kidnapped. If he wants to be released, he must murder the American president. Germaine Debruycker is 18 when the workers at the Vieille Montagne factory, including her father, go on strike to obtain a 10 franc raise. The turbulent strike lasts for 9 weeks and changes their lives forever. Based on a true story. Marie gets to know Kevin online, the most sweetest and romantic boy she ever spoke She's already dreaming of their future together, but then he asks for nude pictures. A year-old girl in a black gang in Brussels must choose between loyalty and love when she falls for a Moroccan boy from a rival gang.

The city of Brussels, plagued by high rates of youth unemployment, is home to nearly forty street gangs, and the number of young people drawn into the city's gang culture increases each year. It's in this criminal milieu that directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah set Black, a pulse-pounding contemporary take on a Shakespearean tragedy.

Keenly aware of the consequences of getting involved with someone from another gang, they at first resist their attraction to one another, but they can only resist for so long. Just when they've started to imagine a different life for themselves, a terrifying incident reminds Mavela where she belongs - and, more Start your free trial. Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet!

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