Carrie Saxon Perry is the first Black woman mayor of a major New England city, achieving the historic mark in 1987 at the age of 56. The former Howard University and community activist used the largely ceremonial role as Hartford’s mayor to address issues such as crime, racial tension, and more. Perry was born in […]
During the opening ceremonies Monday at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, First Lady Michelle Obama mentioned in her speech that the White House was built by slaves. A growing number of skeptics attempted to discredit Mrs. Obama’s remarks, but the story has been verified several times over by historians in recent times. According to […]
Simone Biles became just the second woman in 40 years to win four consecutive national U.S. gymnastics titles, setting the stage for a potential gold medal haul at this year’s Summer Olympics. All eyes will be on Biles as she takes to the world stage in Rio, with some experts saying she could walk away […]
Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, addressed the NAACP on this day in 1947. President Truman was the first sitting president to address the organization and is viewed as the nation’s first civil rights president. Truman’s speech to the NAACP was aired publicly on radio and took place at the Lincoln […]
Jack Daniels, the top-selling American whiskey brand in the world, has long said that a white moonshine maker was responsible for creating the popular bourbon. But this summer, the company that a slave might have been the actual mastermind behind the popular brown liquor. The original story is that preacher and moonshine man Dan Call […]
Bernie Worrell, an influential keyboardist who forged his sound while playing with George Clinton’s Parliament and Funkadelic bands, passed last Friday after battling stage four cancer. Mr. Worrell not only played with the legendary funk bands but toured with rock acts and more. Worrell was born April 19, 1944 in Long Branch, New Jersey. A […]
Dr. Adrienne Washington recently became the first Black woman at the University of Pittsburgh to earn a Ph.D. in linguistics. When Dr. Washington read that the University offered studies in the Gullah language, she decided to study it and determine how language is used among Black people all around the world. Washington has had a […]
The matches between American boxer Joe “The Brown Bomber” Louis and German Max “Black Uhlan of the Rhine” Schmeling defined the era of early 20th Century boxing. On this day in 1938, Louis defeated Schmeling and became the first Black heavyweight boxer of his rank to score a first-round knockout. Louis and Schmeling previously met […]
The Howard University Men’s Soccer team is currently the only men’s squad that plays in the MEAC conference. Through its ups and downs, the team’s legacy remains stellar after it became the first team from a HBCU to win a NCAA division I championship. In 1971, the Bisons won their first title after defeating the […]
The story of Will and William Tell, two unrelated Black men who were prisoners at Kansas’ Leavenworth Penitentiary, has become a legendary tale in forensics science lore. The two men looked nearly identical and because of it, they ultimately caused the prison industry to shift from an outdated facial recognition system to using fingerprints to […]
Today marks Youth Day across South Africa, which is meant to observe the start of the Soweto Uprising. Hector Pieterson, a youth shot and killed during the protests in 1976, was the centerpiece of one of the uprising’s most iconic images and helped to rally the world against the country’s racist Apartheid rule. The uprising […]
Ho Chi Minh, the famed Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader was instrumental in leading North Vietnam to eventual independence from French colonizers. According to historians, Ho was influenced partly by the teachings of Marcus Garvey during a stay in America. Ho Chi Minh was born Nguyễn Sinh Cung on May 19, 1890. Much of Ho’s early […]
