How James Meredith Was Shot By A White Snipper For His “March Against Fear” In Protest Of Racial Violence In 1966

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 … Read more

From Slave To Bank Owner: How William Washington Browne Founded The 1st Black-Owned Bank In The U.S. In 1888

From Slave To Bank Owner How William Washington Browne Founded The 1st Black Owned Bank In The US In 1888

The Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain United Order of True Reformers in Richmond, Virginia was the first Black-owned bank in the United States. Reverend William Washington Browne created the bank on March 2, 1888, and it opened its doors on April 3, 1889. The Capitol Savings Bank of Washington, D.C. was the first black-owned … Read more

How Whites Kidnapped, Tied And Drowned 15-Year Old Willie Howard For Sending A Christmas Card To A White Girl

How Whites Kidnapped Tied And Downed 15 Year Old Willie Howard For Sending A Christmas Card To A White Girl

Individuals will send unique notes to loved ones, family, and coworkers as the year draw to a close and Christmas approaches. Willie James Howard, a 15-year-old who was kidnapped by three white male adults and drowned, died as a result of such a seemingly benign act. Willie Howard was attractive, well-liked, a talented singer, and … Read more

Homer Plessy, Shoemaker Who Defied Segregation On A Louisiana Train Before Rosa Parks

Homer Plessy Black Shoemaker Who Defied Segregation On A Louisiana Train Before Rosa Parks

Homer Plessy’s one act of civil disobedience inspired the Civil Rights Movement of the twentieth century. He is most known as the plaintiff in Plessy v. Ferguson, a landmark court case opposing segregation. In 1892, as a racially mixed shoemaker, he defied Louisiana segregation laws by refusing to board a whites-only train car. He did … Read more

Black Surgeon Who Performed World’s 1st Successful Open Heart Surgery In 1893 – Dr. Daniel Hale Williams

Black Surgeon Who Performed Worlds 1st Successful Open Heart Surgery In 1893 - Dr Daniel Hale Williams

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, an African-American cardiologist, became the first surgeon in the United States to execute a successful open-heart treatment in 1893, exactly 125 years ago today. Because he was one of the few black cardiologists in the United States at the time, William’s surgery became a notable milestone in medical history and an … Read more

Reverend Who Was Bombed & Beaten For Trying To Enroll His Daughter Into All-White School – Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth

Reverend Who Was Bombed & Beaten For Trying To Enroll His Daughter Into All White School

Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth was bombed twice and imprisoned more than 35 times during his lifetime, in addition to being beaten unconscious for seeking to enroll his kids in an all-white school. Before his death in October 2011, the American preacher and civil rights leader was the last of the civil rights movement’s “Big Three.” … Read more

How African-Americans OF Harlem Fought To Save Ethiopia From Italian Dictator Mussolini

How African-Americans OF Harlem Fought To Save Ethiopia From Italian Dictator Mussolini

The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also known as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, started in 1935 and lasted seven months, culminating in the military occupation of Ethiopia. Italy attempted an invasion of Ethiopia for the second time. Ethiopia was a sovereign nation with a robust army and a strong monarchy at the time, while the rest of … Read more