A new anti-racism T-shirt is gaining popularity with a message that some African-Americans feel is disrespectful to those who fought on the front lines of the civil rights movement under Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s method of non-violent resistance. The shirt, from a company called Thrift Element, reads: “Dear Racism, I am not my grandparents. Sincerely, […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A veteran producer is the newly elected chief executive of the Television Academy and the first African-American to hold the post in the organization’s 70 years. The academy said Thursday its board of governors elected Hayma “Screech” Washington as chairman and CEO. Washington, an award-winning producer, has served as co-governor of […]
Mary Munson Runge was the first woman, African-American and employee community pharmacist to become president of the American Pharmacy Association, ending a 126-year run of white men in the role. Mrs. Runge’s commitment to increasing diversity in membership ranks was fueled by her father’s devotion to the poor and disenfranchised. Runge was born in […]
Modjeska Monteith Simkins left her mark in the history books of Columbia, South Carolina by fighting for public health reform for Black families and aligning herself with the civil rights movement. Simkins emerged as a leader at a time where women were largely ignored for their efforts. Born December 5, 1899 as the first […]
Octavius V. Catto was a prominent civil rights activist and educator in Philadelphia who tragically lost his life on Election Day in 1871 while exercising his right to vote. Catto, like many Blacks at the time, was a supporter of the Republican Party and met the violent opposition of Irish immigrants who supported the […]
Black circus performers have found varying levels of fame over the years, but little is known about the stars of Europe. Olga Kaira, better known as Miss LaLa, dazzled audiences across the continent and was the subject of one of the art world’s most prized works. Anna Olga Albertina Brown was born April 21, 1858 […]
Like many cities outside of the Deep South, Duluth, Minnesota was a haven for Blacks looking for better opportunities. However, three Black men who were making their way in Duluth were lynched in 1920 after they were falsely accused of sexually assaulting a white woman and robbing her boyfriend. Issac McGhie, Elmer Jackson, and […]
William Peyton Hubbard, the first notable Black elected official in Toronto, and will be honored this weekend with the unveiling of a park in his name. Hubbard, the son of slaves, came to politics when he was in his fifties. Hubbard was born in 1842 in an area just outside of Toronto known as “The […]
The town of Lyles Station, Indiana was one of the early farming settlements for free Blacks in the North, and remains the only such community of its sort today. The community was featured at the recently opened Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Named after Black farmer Joshua Lyles, the town was […]
Comedian and author Dick Gregory has been active since the ’60’s and is showing no signs of slowing down. Gregory turns 84 today and the activist remains fiery and opinionated as ever. Richard Claxton Gregory was born in 1932 in St. Louis. A star track and field athlete, Gregory ran for two years as a […]
On Tuesday, vice-presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence squared off in the small Virginia town of Farmville. While the debate between the party rivals was the centerpiece, the town itself was home to an incident some consider to be one of the earliest protests that helped focus the Civil Rights Movement. On April 23, […]
The nation’s first Black-owned television station, WGPR, officially debuted on this day in 1975 in Detroit, Mich.. The station was the brainchild of William V. Banks, a son of a Kentucky sharecropper who also created Detroit’s first Black-owned radio station bearing the same call letters. William Venoid Banks was a Detroit attorney and leader of […]
