Little Known Black History Facts
Many people assume that blacks who fought in the Civil War were all slaves that may have been forced into battle. However, a new exhibit at the African-American Museum in L.A. tells many sides of the black soldier through photographs. The exhibit is called “African-American Military Portraits from the American Civil War." It includes photos […]
Molly Williams was the first recorded woman firefighter in the country. Williams worked as a cook in the Oceanus Engine Company firehouse in 1815. She was a slave owned by a New York merchant and was known for years as Volunteer Number 11 at the firehouse. She did back breaking work, showing as much strength […]
Until 1964, the South Carolina State Fair was a ‘whites only’ event. As a result, the black community took part in the South Carolina Colored State Fair one week later. The ‘colored’ event was sponsored by the Colored State Fair Association.The segregated fair was in existence from 1908 to 1964, which marked the legal ban […]
In 1992, father and son team Donald and Neil Levine set out to launch the Kenya doll, a historic brand of African-American dolls. The Kenya doll was one of the first dolls in major American release that was designed to reflect the appearance of black girls. In 1996, due to failed licensing, the Kenya brand […]
Vice Admiral Michelle Howard has become the first black woman in the U.S. armed forces to reach the rank of a three-star officer. Howard is based in Norfolk, Virginia and graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis. In 1999, Vice Admiral Howard became the first black woman to command an American warship. She is also […]
Khaya Mthethwa is the first black winner of South African Idol. After seven seasons of the show, there has never been a black winner. Raised by pastors, Mthethwa was always surrounded by strangers and church. His family started their practice in their living room and often took in people who needed a place to stay. […]
Countee Cullen was a black writer and translator who won more major literary prizes than any other black writer of the 1920’s. Cullen began winning poetry contests as a teenager. His first three poems in the 1920’s were: Color, Copper Sun, and The Ballad of the Brown Girl. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from New […]
Horace Ove’ is the first black British filmmaker to direct a full feature-length film. The film was called “Pressure” and was released in 1975. “Pressure” presented racism and a brutal truth that the British film industry had never seen. As a result, Ove’s film was banned for two years after its release by the British […]
Hale Woodruff was an African-American artist and one of the first college professors of studio art in Georgia. Woodruff moved to Paris in the 1920’s, where he joined the “Negro Colony” of artists like poet Claude McKay, sculptor Augusta Savage, philosopher Alain Locke and international performer, Josephine Baker. Woodruff returned to the U.S. four years […]
The next time you use a food processor or a bread maker, think of the name Joseph Lee. In the late 1890’s this African-American inventor made the first food processor. Lee was a restaurant owner who was tired of throwing away day-old bread and looked for a simpler way to recycle it. So he invented […]
Horace King was an Alabama slave and architect who built the biggest American bridges in the mid 1800’s. His work is still present in the amazing spiraling staircases of the Alabama State Capital. King built a number of massive bridges crossing the Chattahoochee River Valley. King was African & Native American. He was purchased by […]
The Black Boy Inn is a hotel located in Caernarfon, which is in the Royal Borough of North Wales in England. The inn was built in 1522 and is one of the few remaining public houses owned by an independent family business in the U.K. There are theories behind the naming of the hotel, including […]
