Category: African American History
-
Meet Bessie Coleman, The First African American Woman To Become An International Pilot In 1921
Bessie Coleman became the first black woman to obtain an international pilot’s license in 1921. After studying French, she enrolled in the prestigious Ecole d’Aviation des Frères Caudron in Northern France. No school in America would educate a black student. Her brother John, who served in France during World War I, inspired her to fly […]
-
Meet Charles Brooks, Inventor Of The Self-Propelled Street Sweeper & The Ticket Punch Design
Charles Brooks, a resident of Newark, New Jersey, is credited with inventing the street sweeping trucks on March 17, 1896. He also designed and patented a chad collection system for use with ticket punches. Aside from the fact that he was a Black man, we know very little about his life. In Brooks’ era, sweeping […]
-
Meet The Black Patrolman Who Saved Martin Luther King’s Life In 1958
The time was around 2:00 on a Saturday in September of 1958. Al Howard, a police officer in Harlem, and Philip Romano, a new recruit, were sharing a patrol car. In his position as an officer, Howard, age 31, had already logged three years of service. That was the first time he’d ever met the […]
-
Meet Robert F. Flemming Jr, The Black Inventor Of The Louder Guitar Called “Euphonica”
Robert Francis Flemming Jr. (July 1839 – February 23, 1919) was an African-American inventor and Civil War Union sailor. He was the first member of the USS Housatonic’s crew to spot the H.L. Hunley before it sank the USS Housatonic. The sinking of the USS Housatonic is remembered as the first time a submarine sank […]
-
How Formerly Enslaved Man Made A Fortune In The Coal Business By Beating The White Merchants – Robert Gordon
He was a former slave turned coal magnate, churchman turned philanthropist, and wealthy Ohioan. In fact, at the time of his death, Robert Gordon was described as Ohio’s wealthiest Black man, having left a $200,000 estate (equivalent to nearly $5.7 million today). A Cincinnati Black businessman, he amassed his fortune during slavery by dealing in […]
-
John Albert Burr: Black Inventor Who Designed And Patented The Improved Rotary Blade Lawnmower
If you have a manual push mower today, it most likely incorporates design elements from black American inventor John Albert Burr’s patented rotary blade lawnmower from the nineteenth century. John Albert Burr patented an improved rotary blade lawnmower on May 9, 1899. Burr created a lawnmower with traction wheels and a rotary blade that was […]
-
Meet Joseph Jackson; Black Man Who Invented The TV Remote, The Programmable VCR, DVR, and TIVO
His device is widely used at home to improve the viewing experience of television, and while many people may not be familiar with Dr. Joseph N. Jackson, he is a big deal. Prior to the invention of the TV remote, viewers had to manually turn a knob to change channels that required movement. However, viewers […]
-
The Heroics Of Aunt Polly Jackson Who Fought Off White Enslavers And Protected Runaways In The Mid-1800s
Slave rebellions and protests were not assisting enslaved Africans in America in gaining their freedom, so they devised more forceful methods of obtaining their freedom. It didn’t take long after several attempts and ideas for the Underground Railroad System to be established between the mid-18th and early 19th centuries. Secret escape routes were developed with […]
-
George Washington And How He Tried To Recapture Ona Judge, His Slave Who Got Away
In 1796, Ona Judge, a 22-year-old slave woman, fled President George Washington’s household for a life of liberty in New Hampshire. George Washington inherited 10 slaves from his father’s estate when he was only 11 years old. He would acquire many more over the years, whether through the deaths of other family members or through […]
-
The American League Of Colored Laborers Was The First Black Labor Union, Founded In 1850
The American League of Colored Laborers (ALCL) was the first black labor union in the United States. It was founded in 1850 in New York City as a collective for competent free craftsmen with the goal of developing agricultural and industrial arts abilities among its members and encouraging African American entrepreneurship. In response to the […]
-
The First Black-Owned Insurance Company: The African Insurance Company, Founded In 1810
The African Insurance Company was founded in 1810, with headquarters at 159 Lombard Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the country’s first African American-owned insurance company. Joseph Randolph was the first president, with Cyrus Porter as treasurer and William Coleman as secretary. African Americans founded an insurance firm as a natural progression from the beneficent […]
-
Meet Anthony Johnson, The First Black Landowner In America In 1651
The first significant black landowner in the English colonies was Anthony Johnson. Johnson landed on board the a ship named ‘James’ in Virginia in 1621. Early records refer to Johnson as “Antonio, a Negro,” but it is unclear if they refer to him as a slave or an indentured servant. Johnson was forced to work as […]
-
The Dangerous Trip By Frederick Douglass To The White House In 1863 That Changed U.S. History
Frederick Douglass, a well-known abolitionist, and preacher known for his command of language and prose, remains a towering figure in the annals of history for his long-standing fight against the practice of slavery in America. Douglass was in bondage prior to his anti-slavery campaign and fight for African American equality. Before gaining his freedom in 1838, […]
-
Meet Physicist, Arthur B.C. Walker Jr. Who Co-Invented First X-Ray Telescopes To Take Images Of The Sun’s Corona
Arthur Bertram Cuthbert Walker II, also known as Art Walker to close friends, was born on August 24, 1936, in Cleveland, the only child of Cuthbert and Hilda Walker. Walker had a lifelong interest in the sciences, which his parents encouraged. Walker’s family relocated to New York City in 1941, and he attended the Bronx […]
-
Meet Dr. Patricia Bath, Who Invented The Laserphaco Probe Used In The Treatment Of Cataracts
Patricia Bath was the first African American woman to complete an ophthalmology residency and the first African American female doctor to be granted a medical patent. In 1986, she developed the Laserphaco Probe for cataract treatment. Patricia Bath: Who Was She? Patricia Bath was the first African American to complete an ophthalmology residency in 1973. […]
-
How Bobby Grier Sr. Destroyed Racial Barriers To Be First Black To Play In Sugar Bowl 66 Years Ago
Jim Crow laws in the South barred Blacks from participating in overall integration activities, including college athletics, at the time Robert “Bobby” Grier Sr. made history in the Sugar Bowl. Despite the fact that integrated teams had previously been invited to the bowl game, no Black player had participated in the event since it began […]
-
Meet The Man Behind The Historic Green Book That Guided Black Travelers Through A Segregated U.S
Sundown towns existed across the United States in the years following Jim Crow. They were all-white communities or counties that purposefully excluded Black people and other minorities through discriminatory legislation, intimidation, harassment, or violence. Sundown towns were named for the fact that Black people were permitted to enter these all-white neighborhoods during the day to […]
-
A Black Woman Expresses Her Annoyance Seeing White Women On Cornrows – Does Anyone Own The Cornrow?
There is no denying the fact that Cornrows hold great cultural and symbolic value to Black people worldwide, especially in the United States, where it has become a supreme culture. The story of cornrows is woven into the very fabric of black history, slavery, suppression, and the recent/current prejudice black people face for their hairstyle, […]
-
Revisiting The 1860 Crittenden Compromise That Proposed To Make Slavery Permanent In The United States
After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, 11 southern states seceded from the Union. During his campaign, he stated that he would not abolish slavery where it already existed, but would work to prevent it from spreading. To address secession difficulties and prevent civil war between the North and South, Kentucky Senator John J. […]
-
How Police Shot & Killed Black Students With Battle Tank And Guns, For Protesting Inequality In Southern University, Louisiana, In 1972
Southern University, located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is the country’s biggest historically Black college. Over 10,000 Black students attended the university in 1970. Despite the fact that the school president and the majority of the administration were Black, the university was controlled by the Louisiana State Legislature. The state of Louisiana spent half as much […]
-
Never Forget That Black Babies Were Used as Alligator Bait During Slavery In The United States
Alligator bait, also called gator bait, was the evil practice of using infant African children as bait to lure alligators. This practice was popular in Louisiana and Florida, and other parts of America’s south. During that era, there was high demand for alligator skin, which was used in the production of leather shoes, jackets, belts, […]
-
Meet Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, Who Fought Slavery In U.S. & Became 1st Black Person To Hold Public Office In 19th-Century British Columbia, Canada
The first Black settlers arrived in British Columbia in April 1858, 24 years after the Abolition of Slavery Act, according to history; however, Black Canadian history dates back to the 1600s. Many immigrants would come from all over the world to prosper in British Columbia, Canada. One of them was Mifflin Wistar Gibbs. After aiding […]
-
Remembering The Chilling Murder Of Bill Cosby’s Only Son, Ennis, By Mikhail In 1997
Ennis Cosby, Bill Cosby’s only son, was killed on Interstate 405 in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles, California, twenty-five years ago. Interstate 405 is believed to be one of the busiest highways. In 1997, Ennis Cosby flew to Los Angeles to meet friends. Ennis Cosby, 27, a dyslexic graduate student in special education at […]
-
The Sad End Of Butterfly Mcqueen, The ‘Gone With The Wind’ Star Who Couldn’t Attend Film’s Premiere For Being Black
Thelma “Butterfly” McQueen had planned to become a nurse, but a teacher encouraged her to try dancing instead, which she finally accomplished. McQueen was born on January 8, 1911, in Tampa, Florida, and relocated to Harlem, New York, where she joined a Harlem theater group after studying nursing in the Bronx. She appeared in the […]
-
The Story Of Robert ‘Free Bob’ Vernon, Former Slave Who Founded Vernon Town In Louisiana
In the town of Amite, Louisiana, a family-owned funeral parlor has serviced the Black community for generations, preserving decades of information in funeral program records. “One day I got down and started looking at them, and I said, ‘Oh, look at the history I didn’t know about the Amite colored school,’” she said. “The Black […]
-
A Detailed List And History Of Lynching Of Black People In America
It’s been widely accepted that lynching was a systematic method of social and racial weapon intended to instil terror and fear into the psyche of the average black American, forcing them into submission and helping to cement their place in the lower rung of the inglorious racial caste system. The ignoble practice became widely predominant […]
-
The Powerful Frederick Douglass Speech – What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?
Due to its importance in portraying the plight of African Americans during the American slavery era, Frederick Douglas’ 1852 speech with the title “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” has gained notoriety in recent years. Therefore, it is impossible to debate the speech’s historical importance. The Man: Frederick Douglas Frederick Douglass, born […]
-
The Mysterious Unsolved Murder Of Clifton Walker, Black Father Of 5, On His Way Home From Work
On February 28, 1964, 37-year-old Clifton Walker worked a late shift at International Paper in Natchez and was on his way home to his wife and five kids in southwest Mississippi when he decided to take the shortcut that others had cautioned him against. It was dark and near midnight. According to a PBS story, […]
-
James Somerset, The Fugitive Slave From Virginia Who Ended Slavery In England
James Somerset (or Sommersett), a Boston slave transported to England in 1771, was apprehended after attempting to flee from his master. He was loaded onto a ship and sent to Jamaica, where he would be bought and sold. His English allies, however, used a writ of habeas corpus to take him from the ship before […]
-
How Argentina Forgot Its Black Hero Antonio Ruiz Who Laid Down His Life For The Country
He is regarded as one of the Black heroes of colonial Latin America who wanted independence and reform despite the hardship of being Black in a place where there were White people. Afro-Argentinean soldier Antonio Ruiz, often known as Falucho, sacrificed his life while serving his nation. He fought with José de San Martn’s army […]
-
The Jerry Rescue: The Historic Day Abolitionists Violently Freed Fugitive Slave William ‘Jerry’ Henry
A group of Black and White abolitionists in Syracuse, New York, broke into a public building and released William “Jerry” Henry around 171 years ago, with the help of townspeople. Jerry, 40, had escaped slavery in Mississippi 17 years before and was working as a barrel maker in Syracuse when he was caught at work […]
-
‘God Made Me A Man – Not A Slave’: When The Arrest Of Runaway Slave Anthony Burns Shook Up Boston
One of the most dramatic protests in Boston’s history, according to local media. Anthony Burns, who had fled slavery in Virginia and resettled in Boston, was apprehended for being a fugitive slave and deported back to Virginia approximately 170 years ago. Burns’ arrest infuriated abolitionists in Boston, who staged street protests to demand his release. […]
-
The Civil War Battle That Saw An Enslaved African Take His White Owner Prisoner – Milliken’s Bend
According to history, approximately 179,000 Black men served as soldiers in the Union Army by the end of the Civil War in 1865, accounting for 10% of the Union Army, while another 19,000 served in the Navy. During the war, nearly 40,000 black soldiers died. All non-combat support functions were performed by black soldiers in […]
-
After 91 Years, Youngest Person Executed In Pennsylvania Has Wrongful Murder Conviction Dismissed – Alexander McClay Williams
In 1931, an all-white jury found Black boy Alexander McClay Williams guilty of stabbing to death a white house matron at the Glen Mills School for Boys in Delaware County in barely four hours. Williams, who was 16 at the time, was hanged five months later, making him the youngest person executed in Pennsylvania history. […]
-
A New York Foundation Paid Widows Of Tuskegee Experiment $100 For Further Experiments On Their Dead Husbands’ Bodies
The Tuskegee Experiment was a 40-year study experiment that looked at the consequences of untreated syphilis. Black rural farm workers were the focus of government-sponsored research in the United States, and they were kept in the dark while they suffered. After going to the press in 1972, a whistleblower revealed the study’s unethical and morally […]
-
Meet The Datcher Family Who Have Owned & Run Their Alabama Farm Since The 1800s
The Datcher’s Harpersville farm has a long history dating back to before the Civil War. Throughout American history, it portrays the story of family and Black ownership. The farm’s trees have been there for three centuries. The Datcher family farm museum is a tiny white farmhouse with portraits of family photos adorning the walls, giving […]
-
Who Really Was John Hanson, Black Man Erroneously Called The First Black President Of U.S.?
Years before the internet, the claim that John Hanson was the first Black president of the United States spread. In recent years, social media has promoted that false claim. In 2020, some social media posts proclaimed Hanson as the first Black president of the United States, rather than Barack Obama. In the posts, there is […]
-
Meet 19th-Century Black Dentist Who Invented The Oblate Palate And Golf Tee – Dr. George Franklin Grant
Butler R. Wilson, a Boston civil rights attorney, called him “one of the most skilled and well-known dentists among the younger members of the profession.” Dr. George Franklin Grant, a black dentist, was not just a successful dentist, but also an inventor. He invented and patented the oblate palate, a prosthetic device that allows people […]
-
How The Multimillion-Dollar Vanilla Industry Was Created By Enslaved African Child, Edmond Albius
Vanilla is a widely used spice around the world. The pricey ingredient is the main flavoring in ice creams and cola drinks, and it’s also found in some of the world’s finest perfumes and delicacies. In the mid-nineteenth century, before the vanilla revolution, the world, and Mexico in particular, were generating only a few thousand […]
-
The Rise And Fall Of Dearfield, A Colony For Black People Built By Man Named After Haitian General, Toussaint
Toussaint Jackson Oliver When he created Dearfield in the high plains of Colorado, had a dream: to build a self-sustaining village free of racism for Black people and their children. Jackson was able to persuade Black families in Denver, where the majority of the state’s Black population lived, to migrate to Dearfield in the 1910s, at a […]
-
How Renowned Activist Angela Davis Narrowly Escaped The Death Penalty In 1972
Angela Davis, an American political activist, was arrested in October 1970 after a warrant was issued for her arrest on allegations of aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder in connection with the death of Judge Harold Haley. On June 4, 1972, an all-white jury acquitted her of all charges after 16 months in prison and four […]
-
Meet Charles Hamilton Houston: The Man Who Killed Jim Crow In The United States
He was a brave man who, in the face of racial prejudice and bigotry, utilized the law to alter the path of American history. Charles Hamilton Houston is remembered for his courtroom prowess, as well as his contributions to the development of policies and regulations that have benefited citizens to this day. Houston, in particular, […]
-
Black Man In Brazil Gassed To Death By Police In Car Trunk Causes Public Outrage & Calls For Justice
Brazilians are outraged at the death of a mentally ill Black man, who was bundled in the trunk of a squad car before a gas grenade was fired into the vehicle, according to a video. According to The Guardian, the event occurred on May 25 after federal highway police in the South American country pulled […]
-
Did You Know The Mayans Were Partly Black? Here Is A Brief History
Around the sixth century A.D., the Maya Empire, located in the tropical lowlands of what is now Guatemala, achieved its pinnacle of power and influence. Agriculture, pottery, hieroglyphic writing, calendar-making, and mathematics were among the Maya’s many talents, and they left behind an incredible amount of spectacular buildings and symbolic artwork. However, by A.D. 900, […]
-
How Joel Woodson Was Lynched By White Mob For Shooting Two Bullies Who Slapped Him In 1918
On December 10, 1918, at the Union Pacific Railroad yard in Green River, Wyoming, a mob lynched Joel Woodson of Omaha, Nebraska. He’d moved to Green River three months before for employment, leaving his wife and family behind in Omaha. Woodson, an African American janitor at the Union Pacific Social Hall, had ordered breakfast at […]
-
Meet Mary Mcleod Bethune, Without Who the Historic Tuskegee Airmen May Not Have Existed
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American aviators in America, serving during a time when the American Army was segregated. Despite encountering discrimination both inside and outside the service, the 332nd Fighter Group and the 99th Pursuit Squadron were regarded as highly successful during World War II. During World War II, they flew over 15,000 […]
-
How Sarah Rector Became The Richest Black Girl In America At 11-Years-Old In 1913
The amazing story of Sarah Rector is that of a girl that was born to freed slaves in 1902 and climbed the financial ladder to become the wealthiest Black girl in America when she was only 11. She lived with her family in Taft, a Black town in Oklahoma. Her family were members of the […]
-
Emmett Till’s Family Asks Authorities To Use 1955 Kidnapping Warrant To Arrest Woman Who Wrongly Accused The Chicago Teen
The white woman who claimed Emmett Till flirted with her, an act that led to his savage death in the 1950s, may have an open warrant for his kidnapping issued before the teen’s body was discovered. Till’s family wants her to be held accountable for his death by all means. Carolyn Bryant Donham’s then-husband, brother-in-law, […]
-
The Moore’s Ford Lynching – Murder Of Four African American Sharecroppers Known As The Last Mass Lynching In America In 1946
Four African American sharecroppers were killed near Moore’s Ford, Georgia, on July 14, 1946, in what is now known as the “last mass lynching in America.” The murderers of George Dorsey, Mae Murray Dorsey, Roger Malcolm, and Dorothy Malcolm, however, were never apprehended. The event’s violence and public uproar mirrored growing African American resistance to […]
-
Meet Clarence Sumner Greene, The Iconic Neurosurgeon Who Came Before Ben Carson
Ben Carson’s inspirational life story of how he rose from obscurity to graduate first in his class is a best-seller among African Americans and millions of Africans worldwide. He achieved cult status in the African-American community by becoming the first Black neurosurgeon to successfully separate a pair of Siamese twins who were conjoined at the […]
-
Meet D.A. Dorsey, Miami’s 1st Black Millionaire Who Owned Fisher Island, A Wealthy Community In U.S.
Dana Albert Dorsey began his career with a single lot on which he constructed homes, rented them, and re-invested his profits, repeating the process over and over. Dorsey, a carpenter by trade, built a real estate empire in a handful of years. Thanks to his various business activities, including banking, he would become Miami’s first […]
-
How James Meredith Was Shot By A White Snipper For His “March Against Fear” In Protest Of Racial Violence In 1966
James Meredith, a civil rights leader, organized the “March Against Fear” on June 5, 1966. He had enrolled at the University of Mississippi in 1962, four years earlier, being the first African American student to do so. Meredith chose to take a 21-day lone march from the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, to the Mississippi […]
-
400 Years After Enslavement Of Africans In America – A Timeline Of American History
In 1619, a ship carrying 20 slaves docked at Point Comfort, Virginia, kicking off the American slave trade. The arrival of 102 people on the Mayflower in 1620 is many Americans’ first introduction to American history. However, 20 enslaved Africans had been taken to the British colonies against their will a year before. A Dutch […]
-
4 Khalid Abdul Muhammad Quotes That Challenged White Supremacy & Defended Black People
As a leader of the Nation of Islam and afterward the New Black Panther Party, Khalid Abdul Muhammad rose to notoriety. Harold Moore Jr. was born in Houston, Texas, on January 12, 1948, to Harold Moore Sr. and Lottie B. Moore. Muhammad attended Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana after graduating from high school. In […]
-
Sylvia Robinson Co-Founded Sugar Hill Records And Is Hailed As The Mother Of Hip-Hop
New York City native Sylvia Vanderpool Robinson was born in 1936. Robinson would go on to work as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and executive for a record company. Robinson is well known for establishing Sugar Hill Records and serving as its CEO. She is recognized for producing two landmark hip-hop albums: the Sugar Hill […]
-
The Amazing Story Of America’s 1st Woman Undertaker Who Helped People Escape Slavery In Coffins – Henrietta Bowers Duterte
Women had been caring for the deceased for many years, cleaning and dressing bodies for home burials. Burials became a man’s work in the 1800s when the funeral home industry arose with the rise of embalming. Henrietta Bowers Duterte became America’s first female undertaker in 1858, defying gender standards at the period. In other words, […]
-
The Deacons Of Defense: The Black Armed Group Who Protected Black Civil Rights Supporters Before Black Panther
Because African-Americans were a convenient target in the 1950s and 1960s, the Ku Klux Klan — a white supremacist organization – had free rein, frightening and even murdering civil rights activists. Many civil rights workers armed themselves for self-defense as a result of the constant attacks. During the 1950s, even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s […]
-
The Georgia Infirmary Was The First Hospital Built For African Americans In The U.S.
The Georgia Infirmary was the United States’ first hospital for African Americans. The hospital was founded by the Georgia General Assembly and supported by a $10,000 donation from the estate of Thomas F. Williams, a local merchant, and pastor, and opened on December 24, 1832 “for the relief and protection of aged and ailing Africans.” […]
-
History Of The Famous ‘Black Doctor Of The Pines’, Who Was Self-Taught And Born To Formerly Enslaved Parents
James Still became a doctor at a time when many Black people in the United States were still enslaved and were forbidden from attending school, let alone medical school, due to prejudice. Despite having only three months of formal schooling, he became a self-taught doctor who used homeopathic medications to heal his patients. He became […]
-
U.S. Slave Who Escaped To Canada But Was Sent Back. He Is The Only Slave Canada Sent Back To Bondage – Nelson Hackett
“Nelson Hackett was an enslaved man whose escape to Canada and subsequent extradition sparked off an international debate that ensured Canada remained a safe haven for individuals fleeing bondage from the United States,” his proposed marker test states. Hackett battled for the right to be free. And, while he didn’t achieve it for himself, he […]
-
History Of The Casual Killing Act Of 1669 That Legalized Killing Of Slaves At Will
Many people are unaware that the intentional killing of enslaved Blacks in the United States during slavery, and even later, by white people with no repercussions is based on laws passed by white lawmakers who also happened to be plantation owners. The Casual Killing Act of 1669, for example, deemed it acceptable to murder a […]
-
How 4,000 White Mob Attacked And Burnt This Black Family’s Home, For Moving Into An All-White Neighborhood In Chicago, In 1951
In July 1951, a mob of 4,000 Whites attacked an apartment building that a Black family had just moved into in Cicero, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, resulting in one of America’s most damaging riots. Harvey Clark Jr., a World War II veteran who moved to Chicago from Mississippi, was working as a bus driver when […]
-
How White South Carolina Police Chief Attacked & Blinded Army Veteran Isaac Woodard In 1946
On February 12, 1946, while on his way to visit his wife, Army veteran Isaac Woodard was detained and assaulted to the point of being bound by police chief Linwood Shull. Woodward, who had been honorably dismissed from the army, was traveling by bus to Winnsboro, South Carolina, while still in uniform. While on his […]
-
Meet Yoruba Enslaved Woman Who Led a Revolution In 1884 To Free Slaves In Cuba – Carlota Lucumi
The 1800s in the Americas and Europe was an interesting and busy era, which was filled with noble resistance and revolts from Back men and women all over the world. At that point in history, slavery had been abolished but was still practiced in many parts of America and Europe. Black men and women who […]
-
Louis Allen Was Killed For Witnessing A Murder Of Black Activist Lee By A Powerful White Man – His Case Is Still Unsolved Till Date
Louis Allen, a World War II soldier with a seventh-grade education who always spoke up for his rights, lived in Liberty, Mississippi. He was one of the few Black landowners in Liberty, and he owned a small wood company. Allen was noted for constantly wearing a hat, which he used to show that he was […]
-
Junius G. Groves: The Former Enslaved African Man Who Became The ‘Potato King Of The World’
Much of Junius G. Groves’ success can be traced to his commitment to agriculture. He was born into slavery and rose through the ranks to become one of the wealthiest African-Americans of the early twentieth century. Groves made a name for himself as a potato farmer, earning the title of “Potato King of the World” […]
-
In 1944 Miami’s First Black Police Officers Weren’t Allowed To Arrest White People
Five African-American men made history on September 1, 1944, when they were sworn in as the first Black police officers in the Miami Police Department. However, unlike their White counterparts, Ralph White, Moody Hall, Clyde Lee, Edward Kimball, and John Milledge were referred to as “patrolmen” rather than “officers.” They were sent to the “Central […]
-
Meet The Ghanaian Pan-Africanist Who Was First To Send A Ship To The U.S. For Blacks To Return Back To Africa – Chief Alfred Sam
After visiting the United States in 1913, gold coast merchant and Chief Alfred Sam set out on a mission to return African-Americans to their ancestral homeland. He persuaded African Americans saying that there were “diamonds laying on the ground after a rain, trees that produced bread, and sugar cane as large as stovepipes” on the property. […]
-
Garett Morgan: Black Man Who Invented the Upgraded Traffic Light, The Gas Mask, And Improved Sewing Machine
Humanity owes the Black race a lot of apologies for concealing her achievements and denying her ingenuity. As we dig more and more into Black history, we are surprised to find that the Black race has contributed immensely to the progress of humanity, far more than the caucasian world is willing to admit. Children all […]
-
How Willie Edwards Jr. Was Forced To Jump From A Bridge To His Death By Members Of The KKK In Alabama In 1957
Willie Edwards Jr. was assassinated by members of the Ku Klux Klan in Montgomery, Alabama on January 23, 1957. Edwards, 24, was taken from his delivery truck and forced to jump from a bridge to his death. It all began when Edwards received a call from his Winn-Dixie manager asking if he could cover a […]
-
How White Motel Manager Poured Acid Into Pool While Blacks Swam In Protest Of Segregation In 1964
The events of June 18th, 1964, were a pivotal but little-remembered day in American history, particularly in the civil rights struggle. A white hotel manager was photographed pouring acid into a pool where white and black protestors had joined forces to protest segregation on this day. This event at the pool in St. Augustine, Florida, […]
-
How Three White Men Shot and Killed Black Teen Jo Etha Collier on Her Graduation-Night In 1971
On the night of May 25, 1971, Jo Etha Collier was walking home after graduating from the newly integrated Drew High School in the small Mississippi Delta town of Drew when a pickup truck came by and opened fire. Around 9.45 p.m., 18-year-old Collier, who had been recognized for her school spirit and attitude and […]
-
Meet American Born Igbo Man Who Designed & Built A Car Called Ikenga GT In 1967 In United Kingdom
The ingenuity of the Black man and his contributions to the advancement of humanity has remained one of our major focuses here at ‘Liberty Writers Africa’. We take great pride in researching and teaching our family here of the great and noble achievements of their ancestors. Black people worldwide should always raise their heads high, […]
-
How Two Black Boys Were Falsely Accused Of Rape, Tortured And Imprisoned After A White Girl Kissed Them On The Cheek In 1958
James Hanover Thompson and David Simpson, two African-American children, were accused of kissing a white girl in 1958. Both children were taken to jail, and prosecutors demanded a harsh punishment, including incarceration in a reform school until they were 21 years old. The “Kissing Case” drew national media attention to Monroe, North Carolina at the […]
-
Meet Black Man Who Invented Telegraphony, Roller Coaster, Multiplex Telegraph, Air-Brake System And 60 Other Inventions – Granville T. Woods
Granville T. Woods was a black inventor who received at least 50 government patents for his numerous inventions. Over a dozen of these patents were for electric train inventions, but the majority of them were for electrical control and distribution. The induction telegraph, a technique for communication with and from moving trains, was his most […]
-
Meet Black Woman Who Took Down One Of America’s Most Notorious Mob Bosses – Eunice Hunton Carter
Eunice Hunton Carter was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to William Alphaeus Sr. and Addie Waite Hunton on July 16, 1899. The family would flee to Brooklyn, New York when Eunice was five in response to the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906. Eunice Hunton Carter graduated from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, with a B.A. and an M.A. […]
-
George Washington Carver: African-American Scientific Genius Who Was Castrated By His Enslaver
I came uncovered an unusual clip from “Hidden Colors 3,” a popular documentary. Dick Gregory, the famed comedian, writer, and activist, presented a concise evaluation of racism in America in it. He also revealed a shocking fact: George Washington Carver was a victim of castration. In the year 1864, George Washington Carver, one of America’s […]
-
How Skin Of Black People Was Used For Leather For Shoes & Other Wares In 1880s, Philadelphia
In the course of my research, oftentimes, there are stories I would stumble upon, and immediately wish I hadn’t seen them. This is one of those stories in history. And then just to make sure it’s not a made-up story, I dig deeper, only to discover renowned scholarly platforms narrating the same heartwrenching tale. Below […]
-
How Recy Taylor, A 24-Year-Old Black Mother Was Gang Raped By Six White Men In 1944 Alabama
Recy Taylor was coming home from a church revival in Abbeville, Ala., when he was approached by a green Chevrolet full of white males. She attempted to flee, but one of the men grabbed her and dragged her into the sedan. According to state records, she was driven into a grove of pine trees, where […]
-
How Detroit’s White Police Officers Brutally Beat Malice Green To Death In 1992
On November 5, 1992, when Malice Green, an unarmed Black man, was beaten to death by police, many people wondered if justice could ever be served. Malice Green was 35 years old when he was killed by police in Detroit. Plainclothes officers approached the unemployed steelworker after he had just driven his friend home and […]
-
Remembering The Historic Black Miami Community Destroyed To Build A Whites-Only School
At least 200 Black towns and communities had been formed across the United States by 1888. According to a Washington Post article, several of these towns were modeled after Black communities founded during the American Revolution and during the antebellum period, which lasted from the late 1700s until 1860. Some settlements vanished completely as time […]
-
The Muse Brothers: Two African Albinos Kidnapped And Exhibited As Freaks In U.S. Circuses In The 1900s
George and Willie Muse (The Muse Brothers), two African-American albino brothers born in Roanoke, Virginia, in the 1890s, were the grandson of former slaves and sons of tobacco sharecroppers. Their mother, Harriett, raised them in poverty. Bounty hunters kidnapped the two brothers as boys in Truevine, Virginia, in 1899 and forced them into the circus. […]
-
How Black Orphaned Children Were Used As Laborers In White Plantations In The South, From 1865 To 1930
Between 1865 and 1928, African American orphaned children and “supposed” juvenile criminals made up a major percentage of white plantation laborers in the South. Slavery continued after the Civil War in the form of convict leasing. Prisoners would be leased by southern states to private railways and big plantations. Many states benefited, but the inmates […]
-
Story Of First Civil Rights Leader That Was Assassinated, Bombed By The KKK – Harry Tyson Moore
In Brevard County, Florida, Harry Tyson Moore and his wife Harriette established the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The couple’s home in rural Mims, Florida, was bombed on Christmas Day 1951, and the two were murdered. Harriette Moore died nine days after Harry Moore died on his way to the hospital. […]
-
Marie Scott, 17-Year-Old Girl Lynched After Killing One Of Four White Men Who Raped Her, In Wagoner County, Oklahoma, In 1914
Marie Scott was a 17-year-old black girl from Wagoner County, Oklahoma, in 1914. After being violently raped by four white males who stormed into her home while she was undressing, she was lynched by a white mob. On March 31, 1914, four drunken white men drove to a black neighborhood in Wagoner County, Oklahoma, with […]
-
Meet Afro-Puerto Rican Scholar Known As ‘The Sherlock Holmes Of Black History’ – Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
After a fifth-grade teacher informed him, “Black people have no history, no heroes, no significant moments,” he was inspired to learn more about Black history. Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, also known as Arthur Schomburg, began researching Africa and the diaspora to prove his teacher and racist historians wrong, and over time, he became known as “the […]
-
Robert Charles – Black Lynching Victim Who Fought Back, Shot 27 White People And Killed 7, In 1900
Robert Charles was a Black freedom warrior during a period when newly empowered white racists believed they could treat Black people any way they pleased, and had to learn the hard way that it took some ass to get some ass. Charles, who was born in 1865 in Copiah County, Mississippi, most likely witnessed his […]
-
Raped By A Deacon At 9, She Had His Baby, Married Him At 11, And Had Six Kids By 16
When Sherry Johnson was nine years old, she was raped by the deacon of her local church. Her stepfather was the assistant pastor at an Apostolic Christian church in Tampa, Florida, and she was the daughter of the assistant “church mother.” She was sexually abused by a deacon who was 18 years old at the […]
-
How Tuskegee Navy Veteran Was Shot To Death By A White Gas Station Attendant For Using A “Whites Only” Restroom In 1966 – Sammy Younge
Samuel (“Sammy”) Leamon Younge Jr. was 21 years old when he was fatally shot on January 3, 1966, at a gas station in Macon County, Alabama, while attempting to use a whites-only toilet. Younge was a navy veteran who attended Tuskegee Institute to study political science. On November 17, 1944, in Tuskegee, Alabama, the civil […]
-
When 33 Black Girls Were Locked Up For 45 Days For Trying To Buy Movie Tickets At Segregated Theater – Stolen Girls
Around 200 African American youths gathered in downtown Americus, Georgia, in July 1963 to peacefully oppose local segregation. Police rushed in to arrest the teenage protestors after sanctioning violent attacks by a white crowd. While some protestors were quickly released, 35 young African American girls were imprisoned for nearly two months in an abandoned Civil […]
-
The Unpopular Lynching Of Louis Till, Emmett Till’s Father In 1945
Emmett Till’s grisly lynching by two white men on the pretext that he flirted with one of their wives while the 14-year-old African American was just going to her shop to purchase candy is well-known. Less known is the fact that his father, an African American soldier, was lynched in Italy alongside another black man. […]
-
Eliza Ann Grier: Formerly Enslaved Woman Who Got Her M.D. And Became The First Black Woman To Practice Medicine In Georgia In 1898
Eliza Ann Grier, born enslaved in North Carolina, got her M.D. and became Georgia’s first Black woman physician in 1898. Her bachelor’s degree in education from Fisk University took her eight years to complete because she took every other year off to pick cotton and do other chores to pay for her tuition to continue […]
-
Kenyan Running Star Who Conquered The World Barefoot With Her Memorable Petticoat In The 1970s – Sabina Chebichi
Sabina Chebichi was a member of the Elgeyo ethnic group from Kenya’s western highlands. She was born in Trans Nzoia, the second oldest of nine children, and grew up in a mud hut, tending to the family’s cattle and doing other household chores. Chebichi would come from humble beginnings to achieve fame in the athletics […]
-
How Rosa Ingram And Teen Sons Were Sentenced To Death For Killing White Neighbor Who Tried To Rape Her In 1948
Rosa Lee Ingram and her two boys were sentenced to death for the murder of a white landowner, and sexual offender in rural Georgia in 1948. The case was a superb illustration of Cold War racial protest politics, and it helped to overturn Jim Crow legislation in Georgia’s southwest corner. Civil rights advocates from across the […]
-
The Brave Story Of Formerly Enslaved Grandmother Who Gave Up Freedom To Rescue Her Children From Slavery – Juliet Miles
Juliet Miles was enslaved in Kentucky in the 1800s and was eventually released, but she died in prison after being recaptured while attempting to rescue her children from slavery. This is the tale of her heroism and life. While Miles was enslaved, Reverend John Gregg Fee, one of Kentucky’s most notable abolitionists, purchased her from […]
-
Remembering The 21 Black Teens Who Died In Mysterious Fire Set To Their Dorm In 1959 In Arkansas
Was it a case of extreme negligence that resulted in the boys’ deaths, or were they deliberately burned alive? Considering circumstances before, during, and after the 1959 fatal episode at the Arkansas reform school in Wrightsville, some believe it’s the latter. Jim Crow restrictions prevented blacks from fully integrating into society in the 1950s. During […]
-
A Look At How Enslaved Africans Spent Christmas Under Harsh Enslavers In The U.S
After the Civil War, White Southerners wrote short stories, memoirs, and novels that seek to justify slavery. Slave Christmases have been made to sound beautiful in some of these novels, which describe how enslaved men and women sang, danced, and sat eating lavish meals throughout the holidays, just as their masters did. According to some […]
-
The Unsolved Murder Of Isadore Banks, One Of The Wealthiest Land Owners In Arkansas, In 1954
15th of July, 1895 Isadore Banks enlisted in the Army at the age of 22 in the latter months of World War I, but it is unclear whether he was sent overseas. On August 2, 1919, Banks received an honorable discharge. According to CNN, after returning from the army in the 1920s, he assisted in […]
-
How Bill Clinton’s 1994 Crime Bill Destroyed Black Communities; Opening An Era Of Mass Incarceration For Black & Women
Former President Bill Clinton was formerly regarded as the first Black president by the African-American community when the thought of electing a black president was still a pipe dream. During his 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns, Clinton had a solid relationship with the African-American community. Clinton won the support of the Black community, particularly southern […]
-
Remembering When Diddy Bought Kerry James Marshall Painting For $21.1m – Making It The Highest Ever Paid For A Black’s Painting
Sean “Diddy” Combs, popularly known as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, was the buyer of a Kerry James Marshall artwork that sold for $21.1 million (£15.6 million) at auction in 2018. The figure is thought to be the most ever paid for a painting by an African-American artist who is still alive. Past Times is […]