Little Known Black History Facts
Maggie Lena Walker was one of Richmond, Virginia’s most prominent Black businesswomen and is the first Black woman named as President of a banking institution. Along with that achievement, Ms. Walker was involved in several measures aimed at bettering the lives of African-Americans overall and women in particular. Born July 14, 1864, Walker’s mother […]
Memphis, Tennessee is in mourning after the news that native son D’Army Bailey died last Sunday after battling a long illness. Bailey was a judge, attorney, actor and author and an important champion of civil rights in the city. He was the primary force behind the campaign to create the National Civil Rights Museum in […]
Edgar “E.D.” Nixon was a central figure of the civil rights movement in Alabama and was one of the people responsible for organizing the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. While Nixon’s efforts have gone largely unheralded, his contributions stretched far beyond that moment in history. Nixon was born July 12, 1899 in rural Lowndes County, Ala. […]
At the end of each season in the modern National Basketball Association era, free agency fever sweeps through the teams and fans alike. Big stars either remain with their squad for big paydays and contract extensions, or end up taking their talents to other teams. Those players are able to expand their career options […]
Lani Guinier is best known as the first African-American woman to make tenure at the prestigious Harvard Law School. Today, Ms. Guinier is the Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at the institution, and has devoted much of her career to a variety of causes and how they relate with the laws of the land. But […]
Father Divine was a religious leader responsible for beginning the International Peace Mission movement. The controversial yet successful preacher amassed a huge multiracial following while preaching that he was the living image of God. Not much is known about Father Divine’s early life. Historians say his birth name was George Baker, although Census records […]
As the debate around the Confederate Flag rages across Southern states in America, the little-known tale of an anti-slavery and anti-Confederacy rebellion led by a white man is coming to light. Newton Knight, a farmer and former soldier, led a group of fighters in an attempt to secede from the Confederacy and went on […]
Naomi Long Madgett, a former educator and poet laureate for the city of Detroit has given voice to several African-American poets by way of her publishing company and has left a mark in the Motor City in other ways as well. Born Naomi Cornelia Long on July 5, 1923, Madgett discovered a love for reading […]
The Episcopal Church made history for the second consecutive time after it elected Bishop Michael Curry to lead its church in a landslide election that took place last weekend. Bishop Curry will be the first African-American to lead the church, this after outgoing Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori was the first woman to lead. Curry […]
The city of East St. Louis, Ill. was the site of a violent race riot on this day in 1917, just as tensions between white and Black residents were at their highest. The riot, which lasted for days, has been considered the worst labor-related riot of the 20th Century and one of the worst […]
The gospel hymn “Amazing Grace” is one of the most beloved songs of all time. It has also long been rumored to be associated with slavery in America, although many of the myths associated with the song have been debunked by historians and music professors. John Newton, a former English slave trader and clergyman, […]
Muhammad Ali and his refusal to enter the United States draft in 1966 has become part of the boxing icon’s folklore. After a 1967 conviction, Ali endured nearly four years of inactivity before the United States Supreme Court ruled in his favor in 1971. The case, “Clay v. United States,” upheld his conscientious objector […]
