With the fervor around Royal Family’s recent announcement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s engagement to one another, the historic moment overshadowed another that occurred over the summer. Major Nana Kofi “T.A.” Twumasi-Ankrah was named as the first Black equerry, a special assistant to Queen Elizabeth, in British History. Major Twumasi-Ankrah was born in 1979 […]
Colonel Charles Young was a highly-decorated member of the U.S. Army that went on to achieve a number of firsts. Despite enduring extreme racism as a student at the West Point Military Academy, Young became the first Black man to achieve the rank of colonel and was also the first Black military attaché for Liberia. […]
Thanksgiving is a time-honored tradition among American families that was once used to celebrate the nation’s victory over the British in Saratoga during the Revolutionary War in 1777. Across the 13 colonies, enslaved Blacks also joined in celebration by expressing their thankfulness for the victory at their churches. In October 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed […]
Priscillah Mabelane knew when she was a teenager in South Africa that she wanted to be a chartered accountant, a career path her father didn’t understand. She’s achieved her goal and then some, after being named South Africa BP’s first female CEO becoming the first woman to do so in South Africa’s oil industry. Mabelane […]
Dr. Louis T. Wright was a surgeon, medical researcher, and NAACP chairman who wrote notable scientific papers and developed necessary medical techniques. He attended HBCU Clark Atlanta University and Harvard Medical School, carrying on an educational and medical legacy. Wright was born July 23, 1891 in LaGrange, Georgia. His father was born as slave, eventually […]
Eddie C. Brown is one of the top African-American financial minds in America today, and his rags-to-riches story is nothing short of inspiring. With his Baltimore-based Brown Capital Management firm amassing over $8 billion over the past three decades, Brown has used his massive wealth to give back to inner-city youth via a variety of […]
Bernard Tyson, the current CEO of Kaiser Permanente, is the first Black person to hold the position for the company. For the past three decades, Tyson has held several key positions with Kaiser, emerging as a prominent voice regarding social issues of the day as well. Born January 20, 1959 and raised in Vallejo, California, […]
Elston Howard broke the color lines of the New York Yankees in 1955, some deeming him the Jackie Robinson of the pinstripes. Howard’s stellar MLB career had many highs, and perhaps the biggest was him becoming the American League’s first Black MVP player on this day in 1963. Howard was born February 23, 1929 in […]
Sharon Pratt made history on this day in 1990 when she was elected as mayor in Washington, D.C. She was the city’s first woman to hold the seat, adding to a number of achievements in her career. Born Sharon Pratt on January 30, 1944, the Washington native attended Howard University as an undergraduate student. She […]
Angel Rich has made quite the splash in both the tech and finance world, using her vast knowledge to help others gain financial literacy. By way of her app Credit Stacker, the Hampton University graduate has been hailed as the “next Steve Jobs” by Forbes and has plans for much more. Rich, a Washington, D.C. […]
Chief U. Renee Hall is the first woman to lead the Dallas Police Department in its 136-year history. Undertaking the role last month, she is one of three minority women who hold top law enforcement posts in Dallas County. Chief Hall’s path to police work was met with some hesitation from her mother. When Hall […]
The Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, better known as the Freedman’s Savings Bank, was a corporation established by the U.S. Congress for newly freed Blacks to gain financial footing. The bank, while successful in its early days, ran afoul of corruption and mismanagement before it was shut down for good, but not without some lasting […]
