Today, the Girls Scouts organization is made up of young girls from all races learning valuable life lessons, but that wasn’t always the case. The organization was desegregated via the efforts of Sarah Randolph Bailey, who began her mission in the mid ’30’s. Bailey, born 1885 in Macon, Ga., was a longtime educator and missionary […]
Matthew James Perry Jr. first made history by becoming the first federally-appointed judge from the Deep South in 1976. Three years later, he was appointed South Carolina’s first African-American federal judge. Perry was born August 3, 1921, although some records and accounts show August 4 as his birthday. Perry was raised in Columbia, S.C., and […]
Robert Smalls first made history by escaping slavery by pretending to be a white ship’s captain, and sailing a boat to freedom during the American Civil War. Smalls was born April 5, 1839 to his white slave owner father, Henry McKee, and his mother Lydia Polite, a slave McKee owned who was also a member […]
June Bacon-Bercey was a pioneer in the field of meteorology, becoming the first Black woman to earn a degree in the science in the ’50s. She was also an internationally recognized expert in aviation and weather, and is the first woman and African-American woman to win the American Meteorological Society’s “seal of approval” honor for […]
Dr. Lori S. White is breaking a tradition that’s been long-held at DePauw University when she was announced as the first non-white, non-male president in the school’s 183-year history earlier this month. LIKE US ON FACEBOOK. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE. https://twitter.com/DePauwU/status/1235231230360195073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1235231230360195073&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmadamenoire.com%2F1138889%2Fdr-lori-s-white-to-become-depauw-universitys-first-black-woman-president%2F “Eighty percent of college presidents are white men,” White said in an […]
Although the film Everest, the fictionalized version of the 1996 Everest season that resulted in the deaths of 13 people, features leading men Jake Glyllenhal and Josh Brolin, Hollywood producers should consider putting Sophia Danenberg’s story on the big screen. Danenberg is the first Black woman to climb atop Mount Everest and just the second person […]
Janet Bragg made history in 1942 by becoming the first Black woman to earn her commercial pilot’s license in the United States. Bessie Coleman, another pioneering aviator whose exploits predated Bragg, was forced to earn her pilot’s license in France, becoming the first African-American, first woman and first American to earn an international pilot’s license. […]
The late Ann Petry holds the distinction of being the first Black woman writer to sell over 1 million copies of a book. Her 1946 bestseller, The Street, focused on a single mother living on 116th Street in Harlem and was inspired by her time living in the famed New York borough. Petry was born Anna […]
In 1988, the Washington Washington Football Team and the Denver Broncos clashed in San Diego, Calif. for Super Bowl XXII. Quarterback Doug Williams led the Skins to victory, becoming the first Black starting quarterback to play in the big game and the first Black quarterback to be named Super Bowl MVP. SIGN UP FOR OUR […]
Jeremiah G. Hamilton, the so-called “Prince of Darkness,” was a powerful Wall Street broker and considered its first Black millionaire. Hamilton used questionable tactics to amass his considerable wealth and was reportedly despised by both Black and White businessmen. SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER: Hamilton was born either in the Caribbean Islands or Richmond, Va. […]
Reuben V. Anderson made history this month in 1985 when he was sworn is as the first Black Supreme Court Justice in Mississippi. Born in 1942, Anderson was raised in the city of Jackson. As a young man, he befriended the son of NAACP lawyer Jack H. Young. SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER: Young, who […]
PARIS (AP) — American director Spike Lee will lead the jury of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the first black person to hold the post in the event’s 73-year history. Festival organizers hope Lee will “shake things up” among the world’s cinema elite at the festival which runs May 12-23. And anti-racism campaigners hope Lee’s […]
