A Day In Black History
In 1860, a white family of wealthy landowners by the last name of Halstead gifted one acre of land to the blacks of Rye, New York to be used as a burial ground for black Civil-War Veterans. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/23819
Charles Alston (a.k.a. “Spinky”) of Charlotte, North Carolina was an artist who taught the best of the Harlem Renaissance. Among Alston’s students was the great painter Jacob Lawrence. To earn a living while studying his craft, Alston was an illustrator, designing album covers for Duke Ellington and Langston Hughes. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/23791
Model and designer Madame Emma Ophelia Devore, the first mixed-race supermodel in America, helped to establish The Grace Del Marco Agency, the first modeling agency for women of color in the United States. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/23595
At 33rd Street and Wabash Avenue in Chicago, the first black amusement park called Joyland brought joy to children and adults alike for years. Joyland Park was established in 1923 by W.C.S. & S Amusement Company. Joyland was designed to entertain the growing number of African-Americans in the Bronzeville neighborhood of south side Chicago. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/23558
Marian Anderson, a contralto opera singer, was the first black person to perform at the renowned Metropolitan Opera of New York in January of 1955. Her work as an accomplished singer served as a catalyst of civil rights for many musicians. She was born to a family led by a father who sold liquor for […]
Norman Seabrooks is the first African-American football player for the famous military training base, The Citadel. The road was anything but easy for Seabrooks, who joined the institution’s team in 1969. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/23445
Lobo the Cowboy was the first African-American comic superhero originated by Dell Comics in 1965. Created by writer D.J. Arneson and illustrated by Tony Tallarico, Lobo was a gun-toting, wealthy African-American cowboy in the old West. In the short-lived series of only two issues featuring Lobo, the character was known to leave his signature item. […]
At around seven years old, Jacobus Capitein of Ghana was kidnapped from his parents in sub-saharan Africa and sent to the Dutch, where he was purchased by Arnold Steenhard. Steenhard gave Capitein as a gift to Jacob Van Goch, who took him to Holland in 1728 (Goch was actually the one to give him the […]
Doris Miller was a cook, third class, in the U.S. Navy who showed amazing heroism during the attack on Pearl Harbor. His actions caused him to be the first African-American to be awarded the Navy Cross. Nicknamed the “Raging Duck,” Miller, a Waco, Texas native, was often suspended from school as a child for picking […]
Shirley Verrett, an African-American mezzo-soprano opera singer, passed away at the age of 79 Friday. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/23329
Lewis and Harriet Hayden were escaped slaves and abolitionist leaders of the early 1900s. The couple would conduct politically charged meetings in their clothing store, located on Cambridge Street in Boston, in addition to outfitting slaves. While Lewis Hayden worked the store, Harriet Hayden would run a boarding house out of their home at 66 […]
Canadian boxer Sam Langford developed a reputation of being one of the most hard-hitting and punishing boxers in history, though he never placed as a an American champion. In his first two years of professional boxing, Langford would defeat the great lightweight boxer, Joe Gans. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/23262
