Little Known Black History Facts
Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. was founded in 1827 by a group of blacks who desired an integrated church environment. It is the oldest black church in the city. The congregation was originally on Capitol Hill, but the white members kept themselves segregated. When the church opened its doors in 1897, it marked […]
When people think of the March on Washington, the first person who comes to mind is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But volunteers of the historical event also attribute the success of that day to Bayard Rustin – a.k.a. “Mr. March on Washington.” Bayard Rustin was the lead organizer of the August 28th march and […]
Bill Richmond, a.k.a. the “Black Terror”, was the first African-American to be labeled an international “prizefighter.” Born a slave in the area that is now called Richmondtown in Staten Island, Richmond also served as a hangman during the Revolutionary War. His most famous hanging was Nathaniel Hale, the first American to be labeled a spy. […]
Ben Tucker was a well-known musician in Savannah, Georgia who stood tall with his bass he named “Bertha”, an instrument Tucker claims to be 240 years old. He arrived in Savannah in the 1970’s and played with legends like Quincy Jones, Peggy Lee, Dexter Gordon and Buddy Rich. One of Tucker’s biggest hits as a […]
Cathay Williams was the first African American woman to enlist and be documented as a soldier in the U.S. Army. Williams posed as a man named William Cathay, knowing that the army would not check her gender and assume she was a man. Williams was born a slave in Independence, MO. She was raised on […]
Bisa French was a single mother who became a cop at age 22. After years of struggling to provide her son with a good life, she is now the first African-American woman captain in the Richmond Police Department in Richmond, California and the youngest captain of any gender or ethnicity. On June 2, the 37-year-old […]
Ruby McCollum was the richest black woman in Live Oak, Florida, in the 1940’s. She was married to known racketeer, “Bolita” Sam. In 1952, McCollum, a mother of four, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to the electric chair for the murder of white Senator and Dr. LeRoy Adams. McCollum and Dr. Adams had […]
Ruth Lucas was the first African-American woman to be promoted to colonel in the U.S Air Force. She joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942 after graduating from Tuskegee Institute with a degree in education and sociology. Soon after, she became one of the first African-American women to attend the Joint Forces Staff College. […]
John Shippen was the first black person to play professional golf. Shippen, who was half black and Indian, lived on the reservation with others in the Shinnecock Hills. He was originally hired to help clear out the space for the new golf course and, before long, was giving lessons to the white players. In one […]
King Alfonso I, also referred to as “the Apostle of the Kongo,” served as King of the Kongo in Africa from the early part of the 1500’s through 1542. He was the first of the Portuguese Kings to rule in the Kongo. He left a legacy as the king who worked to spread Catholicism throughout […]
Artist John Biggers has been called, “a canvas master of the human condition.” He was born to a poor family of nine in Gastonia, North Carolina. By age 13, Biggers had lost both his father and sister to diabetes. As the youngest, Biggers and his brother were sent away to study at Lincoln Academy to […]
NOTE: This topic was submitted by (Ret.)Sergeant First Class Timothy McCoy. The 2nd Ranger Infantry Company (Airborne) was the first and only all-black Ranger unit in the U.S. Army. The black soldiers were part of a historical 10-month journey that led them to the winter fields of the Korean War. The men were a unit […]
