A master of storytelling, Toni Morrison was the first Black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and legendary professor is known for the vivid black characters brought to life in her novels that recreate the Black experience. Morrison’s novels often illuminate themes of slavery, racism, and identity, but […]
Professing to be “unbossed and unbought,” Shirley Chisholm was the first black female major-party candidate for President of the United States, and the first black woman to be elected to Congress. Chisholm wasn’t intent on winning the presidency, but was steadfast on challenging conventions and showing Black America that they could aim high. She set […]
When Booker T. Washington stepped to the podium at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895 to give a speech on race relations, two things happened. First, many fellow Black Americans, including W.E.B. Du Bois, derided his speech as “The Atlanta Compromise,” because Washington called the agitation for social equality “the extremest folly,” advocating instead slow, steady, […]
Washington, D.C.– The National Museum of African American History and Culture director faces numerous challenges in creating the official African-American Smithsonian Exhibit. Among the biggest, of course, is: What story will it tell? As part of the Smithsonian, the museum bears the burden of being the “official” — that is, the government’s — version of […]
In his seminal work, Race Matters, Dr. Cornel West questions matters of economics and politics, as well as addressing the crisis in Black leadership. The book was written in 1993, but many of its themes are salient today. His scholarship has come to be recognized globally and West, himself, is known for his combination of […]
PHILADELPHIA – A new outdoor exhibit is opening in the city’s historic district after years of protests, research and debate about how to balance the stories of the nation’s battle for independence with its history of slavery.
99 years ago, the Fraternity Omega Psi Phi was founded by Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman, students at Howard University on November, 17th 1911. Several prominent African Americans have joined the ranks of Omega Psi Phi, including adviser to Bill Clinton, Vernon Jordan, political activist, Jesse Jackson, basketball players Shaquille O’Neal […]
The federal government said the names of 581 black World War I veterans are missing from bronze plaques hanging outside the courthouse in Natchez.
African Americans replace reluctant whites on the field of battle due to rising white desertions in the Continental Army (1777). Monroe Baker, a well-to-do Black businessman, named mayor of St. Martin, Louisiana (1867). He was probably the first Black to serve as mayor of a town. First Reconstruction legislature met in Richmond, Virginia (1869). Booker […]
African American abolitionist David Walker born in Wilmington, North Carolina (1785). The Opelousas Massacre occurred in Louisiana in which an estimated 200 to 300 black Americans were killed (1868). “Purlie Victorious”, a farce by playwright Ossie Davis, opens on Broadway (1961). Governor Barnett found guilty of civil contempt of the federal court. United States Court […]
