Little Known Black History Facts

One of the most harrowing events to occur during the civil rights movement took place on this day in 1964. Three activists connected with the CORE organization were arrested and later killed in what has been alleged as a planned attack by the Ku Klux Klan. The brave young activists from the Congress of Racial […]

Tera Poole, a student at the University of Maryland’s School of Dentistry, made a historic mark earlier this month among her graduating class. She became the school’s first Black valedictorian in its entire existence. Poole, who delivered the school’s commencement speech, knew that she was among the top students of her class but did not […]

  The city of Memphis was gathered in mourning as attendees for the home-going service for Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles took place over the weekend. Rev. Kyles, who is perhaps best known as one of the men gathered on the Lorraine Motel balcony the day of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, died last week […]

  The legend of the invention of the potato chip largely points to a Black and Native American man by the name of George Speck. While details surrounding “Saratoga Chips” continue to be a point of debate, what seems to be clear is that it was either Speck or his sister that helped to create […]

Jane Bolin was the first African-American woman to earn a degree from the prestigious Yale Law School on her way to becoming the nation’s first woman to serve as a judge. For 40 years, Judge Bolin presided over what is now known today in New York as the Family Court. Jane Matilda Bolin was born […]

Lieutenant Colonel Merryl Tengesdal dreamed when she was a girl growing up in the Bronx that one day she would be an astronaut. Today, she owns the honor of being the first and only Black woman to have flown the U-2 spy aircraft and has logged significant flying and combat hours. Tengesdal survived the temptations […]

Civil rights leader, former politician and educator and Julian Bond passed this weekend at the age of 75. Bond became known as a champion of justice not only for African-Americans, but for all of humanity. Horace Julian Bond was born January 14, 1940 in Nashville, Tenn. His father, Horace Mann Bond, was the first African-American […]

Fritz Pollard was an early pioneer of professional football and was one of the first two Black players in the NFL. Among Pollard’s achievements, his most notable is the distinction he owns as the league’s first Black coach. Born Fredrick Douglass Pollard on January 27, 1894 in Chicago, Ill., Pollard grew up in the German-Immigrant […]

  Nile Rodgers is best known today as the founder of the 70’s group Chic and a Grammy Award-winning guitarist/producer who has worked with everyone from Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Madonna and countless other stars. What some may not know is that as a teenager, Rodgers was part of the The Black Panther Party For […]

  Boxing fans might be aware that fighter Joe Gans was the first African-American to win a world boxing championship in 1902, years before Jack Johnson became the first African-American heavyweight champion. However, a Canadian fighter named George Dixon was actually the first Black world boxing champion and reportedly the first Black champion in any […]

  Before Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj, funk singer Betty Davis was at the forefront of displaying unfiltered sexuality in a genre dominated by men. In her short career, Davis influenced the careers and lives of a handful of musical legends in their own right, becoming something of an cult icon herself. Davis was born […]

  Colorado’s Lu Vason, the creator of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, passed last Sunday of a heart condition. Vason, a fixture in the Greater Denver community, used his rodeo events to preserve the legacy of Black cowboys and their rightful place in the history of rodeo. Vason held the first of his invitational events […]