In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a ruling that changed the law regarding interracial marriage in the United States. In Loving vs. Virginia, Mildred Jeter, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, left Virginia to marry in Washington D.C., where interracial marriage was legal. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/37113
Patricia Stephens Due was a civil rights activist who was known to start the “jail-in” protest method. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/37015
The Rufus Buck Gang was a group of black and Creek Indian outlaws who ran through Oklahoma in 1895. The leader of the group, a man named Rufus Buck, had a deep-rooted hatred for white men. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/36972
Daisy Bates is synonymous with the legacy of Arkansas’ Little Rock Nine. One of only three women to later speak at the March on Washington, Bates was the chief advisor and spokesperson for the students who integrated Little Rock’s Central High School. Her city called her the “Lena Horne of Little Rock” because of her […]
Jourdan Anderson was a slave who was freed under the Emancipation Proclamation. Under gunfire, he and his wife, Amanda McGregor, escaped Colonel P.H. Anderson’s home in Tennessee and started a family in Ohio. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/36854
It wasn’t called rap back in the 1960s when Pigmeat Markham stepped up to the microphone and, with a rhythmic beat, delivered the phrase “Here come the judge.” But the singer-actor-comedian was a forerunner in African-American entertainment – breaking barriers and charting new routes as he climbed in popularity over a career that spanned more […]
In preparation for this Sunday’s Super Bowl, take a look at the two-hour-long documentary, “Third and Long,” which details the desegregation of professional football. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/moving_america_news/36818
In March 1966, Donyale Luna became the first black model to grace the cover of British Vogue. Supermodel Beverly Johnson holds the history of being the first black woman on the U.S. edition of Vogue, but that was eight years after Luna’s photos were published. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/36816
Joe Louis Reliford, the “other Joe Louis,” was the youngest baseball player to appear with a white minor league baseball team in 1952. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/36609
Jazz musician John Levy, a National Endowment for the Arts jazz master, was the first black personal manager of major black jazz artists dating back to the 1950s. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/36566
In 1958, a landmark civil rights case involving nine-year-old James Hanover Thompson and seven-year-old David “Fuzzy” Ezzelle Simpson sparked international outrage. The two boys from Monroe, North Carolina were accused of rape after being kissed on the cheek by a white girl in an innocent schoolyard game. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/36528
October 16, 2011 marked the historic dedication of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. The event marked the first time a non-president and African-American leader was honored with a monument at the National Mall. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/36240
