A Day In Black History
In the early 1960s, two Chicago men by the names of Jeff Fort and Eugene Hairston, also known as Angel and The Black Prince respectively, began an organization called the Blackstone Rangers. They were originated at the St. Charles Institution for Troubled Youth in the Woodlawn area of south Chicago, with a group of kids […]
Benjamin Turner served as a U.S. representative from Alabama during the Reconstruction period in the late 19th century. Born as a slave, he never officially attended school, but received his education on the plantation with his mother. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/22366
James McCune Smith was the first African-American to earn a medical degree and to open his own pharmacy in the United States. An author and abolitionist, he was a close friend of Frederick Douglass, writing a part of his first autobiography. It was Smith’s mission to publicly measure race as something social, not biological. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/22339
Henry Johnson was a former Harlem Hellfighter of the 369th Regiment, World War I. The story of his fight in France earned him the rank of war hero, but, like most black soldiers, his fame quickly dissolved.  http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/22313
At 24 years old, Vernice Armour, a.k.a. Flygirl, set out to make a difference. She began with making history at home by becoming the first African-American woman on the Nashville Police Department’s motorcycle squad. Looking for more challenges, she signed up with the military and chose flying as her instrument of change. Armour became the […]
American Beach, located on Amelia Island, Florida, was founded in 1935 by black businessman Abraham Lewis as a place for blacks to seek out summer vacations during segregation. Through research, it was also found to be the headquarters for an illegal slave trade in the early 19th century. Since its purchase, there have been many […]
The case of Shelley vs. Kraemer dates back to 1945, when the family of J.D. Shelley purchased a home in a St. Louis neighborhood that had apparently been under a restrictive covenant. This meant that white families in the area had a clause in their real estate contracts stating that no family with “Negro or […]
Hubert Julian, also known as The Black Eagle or The Black Lindbergh, became the first black man to fly coast-to-coast over the U.S. in 1931. At the same time, he broke the world record for flying, with a non-stop non-refueling flight of 84 hours and 33 minutes. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/22119
Robert Reed Church Sr. was a man of great stature in Memphis, Tennessee. He is known for financing and creating the first major black-owned urban recreational area in America. But his efforts did not come without great physical sacrifice. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/22016
The name Richard Poplar resonates largely with the people of Petersburg, Virginia, especially on Sept. 18th, when the town will celebrate its 7th annual Richard Poplar Day. Private Richard “Dick” Poplar was a 19th century African-American Confederate soldier who was held captive as a P.O.W. in July 1863 during the battle at Gettysburg. It was […]
This past Friday, longtime political activist and beloved college professor Dr. Ronald Walters died of lung cancer. In his hometown of Wichita, Kansas, Walters led one of the nation’s first lunch counter sit-in protests of the civil rights movement. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/21887
The Negro Motorist Green Book was a publication released in 1936 that served as a guide for African-American travelers. Because of the racist conditions that existed from segregation, blacks needed a reference manual to guide them to integrated or black-friendly establishments. That’s when they turned to “The Negro Motorist Green Book: http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/21801
