Little Known Black History Facts

Toni “Tomboy” Stone was the first woman to play for a men’s professional baseball league. Although she was signed to save a lagging Negro League team’s ticket sales, she proved to be far more than just a novelty player. LIKE US ON FACEBOOK. FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE. Marcenia Lyle Stone was born July 17, […]

Little Known Black History Facts

Mae Mallory as an activist and freedom fighter who was at the forefront of some of the civil rights movement’s major events. Mallory was a founder of the Harlem Nine who railed against New York’s segregated school system and was a supporter of Black radical Robert F. Williams. Born June 9, 1927 in Macon, Georgia, […]

Little Known Black History Facts

Some historians consider the Elaine Race Riots of 1919, also known as the Elaine Massacre, as the deadliest racial conflict in America. The centennial of the event has dredged up memories and renewed investigations of the riots, which left hundreds of Black people dead. The root cause of the conflict in Phillips County, Ark. has […]

Little Known Black History Facts

Frank Snowden Jr. was a Classics professor and scholar who studied the lives of Black people during the Classical Antiquity period in Ancient Greece and Rome. During his study, Snowden suggested that Black people didn’t suffer rampant racism and slavery as they did in the United States. Snowden was born July 17, 1911 in York […]

Little Known Black History Facts

The National Black Network became the first coast-to-coast radio network fully owned by Black Americans on July 2, 1973. The NBN was the brainchild of white media executive Robert Pauley, who eventually handed over the idea to a trio of Black executives. Pauley, a president of both ABC Radio and Mutual Broadcasting System, looked for […]

Little Known Black History Facts

Thomas A. Dorsey was a thriving blues musician who was struck by tragedy in the thirties, thus inspiring him to focus primarily on religious music. Known as the “Father of Gospel Music,” the Georgia native was born on July 1st, 1899. Thomas Andrew Dorsey was born in the town of Villa Rica to a minister […]

Little Known Black History Facts

Michael Bearden made his mark in music as a keyboardist, composer and, most notably, as a musical director to the stars. Across the talented pool of entertainers he’s worked with, Bearden is perhaps best known as the final musical director for the King of Pop, the late, great Michael Jackson. Bearden was born and raised […]

Little Known Black History Facts

Frank Thomas Jr. could have played a number of sports at his strength and size, but his love of baseball drove him to pursue the game as a career. Thomas, better known as “The Big Hurt,” was born on May 27, 1968. Thomas born in Columbus, Ga., and played football, basketball, and baseball for Columbus […]

Little Known Black History Facts

Over the course of his career, the late Paul Winfield was a critically acclaimed actor who was just the third Black person nominated for an acting Oscar. The Los Angeles native was born on May 22, 1939. Winfield spent a portion of his youth in Portland, Oregon before returning to his hometown to complete high […]

Little Known Black History Facts

Dr. Carolyn L. Robertson Payton is the first woman and first Black director of the Peace Corps. As a leading psychologist and educator of her era, Dr. Payton helped give group therapy techniques wider exposure among Black clients and providers. Payton was born May 13, 1925 in Norfolk, Va. The Bennett College graduate attended the […]

Little Known Black History Facts

Liberia is home to the second-established Black American settlement in Africa, Monrovia, the nation’s capital city. It was founded on April 25, 1822 by the American Colonization Society (ACS), an organization that cleared a path for Black Americans to return to the nation of their birth, but their motives were not always benevolent. ACS members […]

Little Known Black History Facts

Minister and civil rights activist Walter Fauntroy made history on April 19, 1971 when he was officially sworn in as Washington D.C.’s first delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. Today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has fought diligently to establish D.C. statehood and for the seat to have a counting vote, holds the post. […]