“We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward, and we can understand why and how we came to be who we are today.”
-Sankofa
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The Inventor known as “Black Edison”
“I believe I can do anything if I just try.” -Granville T. Woods Granville Thomas Woods was known as the “Black Edison.” He was the first Black American mechanical and electrical engineer after the Civil War and invented over 60 patents in the United States. Woods dedicated his life to developing a variety of inventions […]
How Harriet Tubman used “Wade in the Water” to help slaves escape
Singing as a form of communication is deeply rooted in the Black culture. Negro Spirituals are considered the first distinctive music genre of African people in the American diaspora. However, It started with the slaves from Africa who were kidnapped and violently put on ships across the Atlantic during the Middle Passage. Slaves from different […]
A Brief History behind Black History Month
February is known as the black history month where African Americans get embraced. Important figures in African American history made America what it is today. As you celebrate this month, are you aware of where it all began or the reason? Apparently, black people had no place in society. The founding father of black history […]
20 Interesting Facts about Jesse Owens
“Find the good. It’s all around you. Find it, showcase it and you’ll start believing in it.” – Jesse Owens Jesse Owens was an all-star American track and field athlete. He is best remembered for his performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. By displaying his resilience and overcoming obstacles in the face of racism, […]
Ida B. Wells Impact on Black History
By Nonso Nwagbo “I felt that one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or rat in a trap” – Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells was one of the earlier African-American activists long before Dr. Martin Luther King. She was born a slave on July 16, 1862, the eldest […]
Barack Obama’s Contributions to the Black Community
By Nonso Nwagbo “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” – Barack Obama Former President Barack Obama was born in 1961, two years before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s vibrant and iconic […]
16 Interesting Facts about Bessie Coleman
Coleman’s contribution Bessie Coleman was the first Black female pilot to earn a pilot’s license. She became famous for her flying stunts and aerial tricks. Her legacy in Black History is solidified as she was one of the first to break through racial barriers and glass ceilings. Key Facts & Information: Early Life Bessie Coleman […]
Why Martin Luther King Jr Is Significant To Black History
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” MLK Jr. By Nonso Nwagbo It’s been more than 50 years since the champion of civil rights and equality Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was murdered on his hotel room balcony. Yet the issues that he fought to correct still very much linger in our great nation […]
“Watch Night” -History, Tradition, and Facts
The Black abolitionist journalist William Cooper Nell described New Year’sYear’s Day, January 1 in black history, to be widely known as “Hiring Day” or Heartbreak Day.” On this day, enslaved people spent New Year’sYear’s Eve waiting, wondering if their owners were going to rent them out to someone else, which would include the possibility of splitting up […]
Jingle Bells and How It May Be Racist
Christmas is incomplete without the melody of the Jingle Bells song. For children around the globe, it has become a tradition to hear the famous during Christmas. These lads do not care about the origin of this song. They will give anything for the magical feeling it’s melody brings. However, it is a different ball […]
How Slaves Spent Christmas
Christmas has been called the most wonderful time of the year. It is a time for family to come together and create magical memories. Memories that are full of fun, food, and festivities that are often passed down through generations. While this time of the year is marked with joy, love, and filled with lots of […]
Are Black Friday Slavery Rumors based on a portion of truth?
Consumerism is certainly one hell of a drug. Every year people all across the country research, plan, and prepare to line up for the hottest sales only to scramble, fall over themselves and other patrons in a fight for only one of a few units of an item. Black Friday has become a holiday tradition […]
Thanksgiving Day for Slaves
By Nelly Clarkson Thanksgiving has been a time-honored tradition by many American families. Every year many American families, including African Americans, gather around dinner tables to feast and give thanks. African Americans have long embraced the tradition of thanksgiving, even during slavery. In 1777 when the Continental Congress made a decree for the 13 colonies […]
Adella Hunt Logan, Educator and Leader of the Women’s Suffurage
This year marked the centennial of the Women’s Suffragette movement with the ratification of the 19th amendment that prohibited both state and federal government from denying the right to vote based on an individual’s sex. Names such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are often celebrated as many reflect on the indelible contributions […]
100th Year Anniversary of the Ocoee Massacre: Their Right to Vote!
It’s been 100 years. One hundred years since Black-Americans attempted to exercise their right to vote. One hundred years since an entire town was eviscerated and an unknown number of Black Americans were murdered. Those who survived fled, never to be seen or heard from again. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre is the largest act of […]
The History of Black Voting Rights in America
By Kymberlya Voting rights have long been a contentious issue in this country for Black-Americans. While the Reconstruction Era gave the newly freed slaves citizenship, equal protection, and the right to vote; it also gave way to extreme voter suppression tactics. By the 20th century many states had implemented measures that disproportionately impacted Black-Americans. It […]
The 19th Amendment Didn’t Allow All Black Women the Right to Vote.
The 19th Amendment Over a hundred years ago, on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution became official when Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed a proclamation certifying its ratification. The Amendment promised women that their right to vote would not be denied based on sex. However, this is a myth that all women were granted the right […]
This Race Riot was Omitted but Now Rarely Mentioned in Our History Books
The Tulsa Race Massacre, also known as the Tulsa Race Riot remains one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history, and one that is not told in our history books. With Tulsa being segregated by the north and south, there was only one place to go if you were black and wanted […]
The Woman Who Could Cure Cancer Using Laser Technology
Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green had made history when she became the first person to cure cancer in mice using laser technology-activated nanoparticles successfully. This unique nanoparticle technology was found to cure cancer after testing on mice successfully for 15 days. It does not require chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery. The laser technology-activated nanoparticles is an innovative cancer treatment […]
The Racial Disparities of the Spanish Flu to COVID-19
It’s worth examining the social dynamics of 1918 Spanish flu compared to COVID-19 today in 2020. Until today, the 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus, with genes of avian origin. Mortality was high in people younger than five years old, 20-40 years old, and […]
Lila Fenwick became the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School.
In 1956, Lila Fenwick became the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School. Fenwick later led the United Nations’ Human Rights Division. She attended Harvard in 1954 when the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education came down, joining only a handful of women and the only black woman a one year before Ruth Bader Ginsburg started as a first-year student at the school.
The History Behind Black History Month
Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February in the United States as National Black History Month. Other countries around the world, such as Canada (1995), United Kingdom (1987), and Ireland (2010), also devoted a month to celebrate black history. Dr. Carter G Woodson In 1916 Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the […]
The First Black-American To Earn A Bachelor’s Degree From An American College
Alexander Lucius Twilight was the first Black-American known to have earned a bachelor’s degree from an American college or university. He was also the first Black-American elected as a state legislator, serving in the Vermont House of Representatives, and the only Black-American ever elected to a state legislature before the Civil War. Early Life Born […]
Six Unknown Facts About Kwanzaa
In 1966, Maulana Karenga, author, and activist who was involved with the Black Power movement in the 1960s and 1970s, founded Kwanzaa. His goal was to create the first Black holiday. He said he wanted to “give Blacks an alternative to the existing holiday to allow Blacks to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply […]
Gertrude Jeannette-First Woman Cabdriver Who Turned Broadway Actor
Gertrude Hadley Jeannette became the first woman in New York City licensed to drive a motorcycle. She was the first woman licensed to drive a cab. She became the first black actor to appear on National Television. Playwright, producer, director, and actress of the stage and screen, Gertrude Hadley Jeannette, was born in Urbana, Arkansas, on November 28, 1914, to Willis […]
Honoring our Veterans: Forgotten History
In history, black veterans have been a threat to Jim Crow and racial subordination. Thousands of black veterans were assaulted, threatened, abused, or lynched following military service. Black veterans who fought for our country often lost their lives after returning home by those they risked their lives to protect. The GI Bill helped foster a […]
The First Black woman to receive a patent and Trademark.
Sarah Elisabeth Goode Sarah E. Goode was an entrepreneur and inventor. She was the very first American woman of African heritage to receive a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office 1885 (Patent #322,17). Although there is still a debate over who is the first recipient of the patent number, some say it […]
Thomas Green Wiggins: Pianist and Composer
Thomas Green Wiggins also is known as Thomas Wiggins or “Blind Tom,” became the highest-paid pianist of the 19th century and was one of the best-known American performing pianists. Thomas also made history by becoming the first black person to perform in the White House. His repertoire included Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Bach, Chopin, Verdi, Rossini, Donitzetti, Meyerbeer, […]
Meet a substantial contributor to the study of cardiovascular disease and the first black Ph.D. in Chemistry.
Courage is like — it’s a habitus, a habit, a virtue: you get it by courageous acts. It’s like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn courage by couraging. – Marie Maynard Daly Photo Credit: STEMtrix Marie Maynard Daly was not only the first black person to receive a Ph.D. in Chemistry, but she also […]
The First Celebrity Chef in America was enslaved!
My husband and I are “foodies.” We love to try various cuisines from hidden mama and papa dives to food trucks and even fine dining. We know our Chefs, and I am a Food Network, “junkie.” However, before the time of Wolf Gang Puck, Anthony Bourdain, James Beard, Marcus Samuelsson or even B. Smith, there […]
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the inventor of Rock and Roll
Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The inventor of Rock and Roll! Our future is lost if we fail to recognize the past. I hope that generations today and the future will come to know Sister Rossetta Tharpe of her greatness and influence on rock and roll. I love all types of music, past, and present, and when […]
Unknown Hero- ENS Jesse L Brown, USN, Aviator
By David Robinson I would like to shed some light upon a hero, patriot, and pioneer who is virtually unknown with the exception of us diehard aviation buffs. Ensign Jesse Leroy Brown, USN, was the first black naval aviator in the United States Navy and flew and fought in the Korean War. Unlike the Tuskegee […]
What should we know about Independence Day?
Growing up in the suburbs in Ohio, July 4 was a massive celebration. The whole city of Columbus came together for fireworks on July 3. However, the next morning I participated in a parade where seats were reserved on lawns a week early in anticipation for the best viewing. How much do we know about […]
Dr. Sebi: The Infamous Household Name in Hip Hop and Health for Decades (That You are Probably Just Now Hearing)
Written by Desmond Alphonso Photo Credit: Wake Up World. The common idiom “you are what you eat” may tend to take on a different meaning within pop culture today. Previously, the immediate perception simply was the consumer will react according to the quality of the food, but because of the lifestyle influence of Dr. Sebi, […]
What is Juneteenth?
What is Juneteenth? Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated on June 19 for the past 150 years that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Many don’t know what it is, or how it got its name. The name Juneteenth originated from Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. This day is a combination of […]
Memorial Day was started by former slaves
Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States. The day is to remember and honor people who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. What most people do not know is that Memorial Day was started by former slaves! In his book Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American […]
Black is Beautiful’ pioneer Ophelia DeVore
Photo credit: New Pittsburgh Courier online ““I wanted America to know that beauty isn’t just white, it’s all colors. I wanted to change the way people of color were seen across the United States”” — — OPHELIA DEVORE, THE GRIO Ophelia DeVore was one of the first black models in the United States. She also […]
Wally Amos was the first black talent agent and an entrepreneur who founded Famous Amos cookies.
In 1967, he decided to leave the famous William Morris Agency in New York to move to Los Angeles to start his management company. He managed a South African trumpet player, Hugh Masakela. His first client decided to drop him from representation after Amos tried to move him and his family to California with him. […]
Every time you see an Xbox , PlayStation, Wii or DS, you should think of Jerry Lawson.
Gerald Anderson “Jerry” Lawson (December 1, 1940 – April 9, 2011) Photo credits: The Estate of Jerry Lawson (Jerry Lawson) Before Xbox, PlayStation or even Atari, you had to buy a machine for each game, but Jerry Lawson changed that and was one of the founders of the video game industry. Born December 1, 1940, […]
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