Little Known Black History Facts
The shot that killed Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968 was presumably fired from Jim’s Grill, a café on ground floor of a rooming house. James Earl Ray, King’s assassin, was staying there. But in 1993 Loyd Jowers, who ran Jim’s Grill, told ABC that he had received $100,000 from a man named […]
In 1962, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital opened its doors in Memphis, Tennessee. It was the first hospital in Memphis in which black and white children could be treated together. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital focuses on the catastrophic diseases of children. What makes the hospital unique is that no child receiving care at St. […]
During the Jim Crow era, African-American athletes and fans had limited choices when it came to large gatherings for sports tournaments and special events. With the development of the Negro League baseball teams, the need was amplified as teams traveled the country to play against one another. On Saturday, September 17, 1932, Hinchcliffe Stadium in […]
In 1966, Black players took part in the Men’s Division I NCAA Basketball Championship for the first time. Although the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision banned discrimination in public schools, most the of the Southern athletic teams remained all-white. But a pioneering team was on the brink of changing the unwritten rules of […]
Joanne Berger-Sweeney, PhD, has been appointed the first African-American and first female president of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Berger-Sweeney will be the school’s 22nd president. She currently serves as Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Berger-Sweeney holds a doctorate in neurotoxicology from the Johns Hopkins School […]
William Horatio Butler, Jr. was a welterweight boxer from Bimini, Bahamas. Standing at 5”9, 175 lbs., the young boxer started his career with a form of street boxing called battle royals. Popular in the 1940’s, battle royals was a game in which six or more boys would box one another blindfolded until there was one […]
There has never been a black thespian on Broadway playing the role of the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical Phantom of the Opera. Until now. Actor Norm Lewis, a Black Tony Award nominee, is now the lead of the longest running plays in theater history. Although he’s been a longtime Broadway actor, most folks […]
Robert “Whirlwind” Johnson is considered the Godfather of Black Tennis. The Lynchburg, Virginia physician was a tennis master who taught black tennis champions. Johnson’s sports career began at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where he was an All-American running back. It was at Lincoln that he earned the nickname “Whirlwind” for his speed on the field. […]
William E. Kennard landed in the history books by becoming the first African-American chairperson for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The Yale Law School graduate served as the FCC’s general counsel from 1993 to 1997 before President Bill Clinton appointed him to the chairman post in 1997. Kennard was born in 1957 in Los Angeles. […]
“Smokey Joe” or “Cyclone Joe” Williams was an African-American/Native American baseball pitcher from Texas who spent his entire career in the Negro Leagues. He’s been called the “greatest pitcher of all time” known for his monumental fastball. Williams stood 6 foot 4 inches tall and played over 20 years, well into his 40’s. In 1909, […]
On May 17, 1882, Albert Jackson became the first black postman in Toronto, Canada. In 1858, the runaway slave fought through the Underground Railroad and through the racist southern lands to get to Canada. Jackson, his mother and sibling escaped with the help of William Still. Still helped the family flee to Philadelphia, then to Canada. Once […]
First Army Lt. Dina Elosiebo has become the first African-American female pilot for the D.C. National Guard. She earned her wings last month after completing the Initial Entry Rotary Wing Flight School at Fort Rucker, Alabama. “This is an extraordinary, historical event for us,” said Maj. Gen. Errol R. Schwartz, commanding general of the D.C. […]
