We all know Jamie Foxx as an accomplished comedian and singer and you’ve more than likely even heard about his humble beginnings in Terrell, Texas. But have you heard about the time he threw parties in his house and made all his guests perform? Those parties introduced him to an undiscovered Jay Z, Pharrell and Kanye […]
The prestigious grounds of the United States Military Academy at West Point, better known simply as West Point, recently honored one of its most accomplished, if controversial, graduates by naming a cadet barracks after him. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was the school’s first Black cadet in the 20th Century, and though he faced a […]
Samuel “Sam” Jones is the first Black mayor of Mobile, Ala. After years of serving in a smaller public office role, Jones took the city’s top job in 2005 before losing an reelection bid in 2013. Jones, a native of the city, gradated from Central High School. He attended college in Jacksonville, Fla., graduating […]
Labor Day is a highly anticipated holiday across the nation, and a time where many working families take a day to relax and reflect. The holiday, established in 1887, was to honor the American Labor Movement. Unions and labor organizing is a hallmark of the American landscape, and African-American unions began to flourish in the […]
In elementary school, where many of us are just hoping to make it to the next grade, Cortlan Wickliff had already drafted a plan for his career. Wickliff’s achieved an academic feat by becoming the second-youngest person to graduate from Harvard Law School and was at one point the youngest Black engineer in the country. […]
On this day in 2007, Anthony “Tony” Reed completed an amazing achievement. The Dallas-based project manager and executive became the first Black person to complete a marathon race on all seven continents of the world. Reed, a St. Louis native, was born on July 22, 1955. At the age of eight, he was diagnosed with […]
Henrietta Bradberry, a Chicago housewife, didn’t sit idle as she minded the affairs of she and her husband’s home. On May 25, 1943, one of Mrs. Bradberry’s inventions, an innovative “bed rack,” would pass through the U.S. Patent Office. Bradberry’s bed rack was an attachment that could be applied to the end of a bed […]
Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was the first Black general of the United States Air Force, following in the similar footsteps to his father, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., who was the first Black general of the United States Army. Davis was born on December 18, 1912, in Washington, D.C., the second of three children born to […]
On May 17, 1882, Albert Jackson became the first black postman in Toronto, Canada. In 1858, the runaway slave fought through the Underground Railroad and through the racist southern lands to get to Canada. Jackson, his mother and sibling escaped with the help of William Still. Still helped the family flee to Philadelphia, then to Canada. Once […]
Apartheid ended in 1994 but Cape Town, South Africa is still segregated. Many beaches in the ‘Mother City’ remain predominately white and it’s the only province of South Africa not run by the African National Congress. Most Cape Town Blacks live in shacks outside of the city – the so-called Cape Town flats. If you’re poor, […]
On the night of February 26, 2012, 17-year old Trayvon Martin, a hoodie-wearing high school junior, was walking through a neighborhood in Sanford, Florida when a night watchman, George Zimmerman confronted him. Zimmerman shot and killed the unarmed teen, claiming self-defense. After a controversial trial, Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter. His defense […]
Harvard University just announced the launch of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Within the new 15 million dollar center, there will be the Afro-Latin American Research Institute, the History Design Studio, the Program for the Study of Race and Gender in Science and Medicine, and the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African […]
