Little Known Black History Facts
The Rappahannock River is a watery area near Fredericksburg, VA that marked the end of the Underground Railroad for many slaves. The longest free-flowing river in the Chesapeake Bay, the Rappahannock was the river crossed in fall of 1862 when the legal end of slavery was near. During the Civil War, slaves crossed the river […]
President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary order for the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. Although by January 1st the document was signed, it was a few years before black freedom was recognized in the South. One of the first tools for change was education. Now that former slaves could be taught to read and […]
David Walker was a little known black activist who wrote an article called “Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World,” in 1829. The document promoted a rise against slavery and asked white people to repent for their “sins of bondage.” Walker openly asked free blacks to help free others and white Christians to do […]
Denmark Vesey was an 18th century slave who skillfully planned the largest slave rebellion in U.S. history. Unfortunately, he never saw the revolt because two other black men, George Wilson and Rolla Bennett, collectively revealed the plot to a white slavemaster. Regardless, Vesey was called a hero for his plan of the major Carolina rebellion. […]
James Hill was the first black vice president of University of Texas at Austin. The 84 year-old recently died of prostate cancer. Hill was a civil rights advocate who was once refused an education at the same school that made him vice president. During his tenure, Hill served on the Martin Luther King Jr. Sculpture […]
The New Orleans songwriter responsible for the song “Jock-A-Mo,” Mr. James Crawford, has passed away. The R&B singer, who was also known as “Sugar Boy”, wrote the famous Mardi Gras song “Jock-A-Mo” in 1953. The song was re-made by the Dixie Cups as “Iko-Iko” in 1965. Crawford’s song has also been re-made by Cyndi Lauper, […]
Author Claude McKay was a leading black writer in the 1920’s through the 1940’s. His 1922 collection of poetry called “Harlem Shadows” was said to have introduced the Harlem Renaissance. Prior to that, McKay introduced the protest poem “If We Must Die,” in 1919, which was quoted by Winston Churchill. McKay is believed to be […]
A new resolution called H.R. 6336 has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. The resolution will bring the Frederick Douglass historical statue to the U.S. Capitol. The statue has been sitting at One Judiciary Square (a government building) for years. The statue of Frederick Douglass will be the third African-American figure to be […]
Just North of Vicksburg, Mississippi off U.S. 61 (also known as the blues highway) lies a small homemade castle. The castle, which started as a grocery store, belonged to the Reverend Herman “Preacher” Dennis and his wife Margaret Dennis. Margaret had owned the store for than 40 years before she married Preacher Dennis in 1984. […]
General Alexandre Dumas was a mixed-race Haitian slave and swordsman who had been nearly erased from history by his jealous rival, Napoleon Bonaparte. General Dumas was born in 1762 to a slave mother and a white father in Haiti. His father was a fugitive. Though he could have taken his father’s respected last name, he […]
Regina Wilson is one of only 29 woman firefighters in New York City, which has over 10,000 firemen. Wilson, a black woman, and the members of Engine 219 were among the first responders to the September 11th attacks at the World Trade Center in New York. Only hours before the terrorist attacks, Wilson’s co-worker asked […]
In Camp Mackall, North Carolina the first all-black parachute Infantry platoon was activated on November 25,1944. They would be called the 555th Battalion, a.k.a. “The Triple Nickles.” They were called the Triple Nickles because 17 of 20 soldiers selected from the Buffalo Soldiers 92nd Infantry in Arizona made it through the test platoon at Fort […]
