In Camp Mackall, North Carolina the first all-black parachute Infantry platoon was activated on November 25,1944. They would be called the 555th Battalion, a.k.a. “The Triple Nickles.” They were called the Triple Nickles because 17 of 20 soldiers selected from the Buffalo Soldiers 92nd Infantry in Arizona made it through the test platoon at Fort […]
President Barack Obama’s family lineage has supposedly been linked to the very first slave in the United States. Ironically, the slave, John Punch, has been connected to the President’s mother, who was white. Punch was an indentured servant in Virginia and is considered the first enslaved African in the colonies that formed America. He evidently […]
On display at the convention for the United Federation of Doll Clubs this year are African-American dolls that were made between 1850-1870. Twelve hundred collectors gathered in New Orleans to view the most unique doll collections in the world, including those belonging to former slaves. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/news/little-known-black-history-fact/little-known-black-history-fact-oldest-black-dolls
Benjamin Rucker, a.k.a. “Black Herman” was a groundbreaking and prominent African-American magician in the early 1900’s. He got his start with a white magician that went by Prince Herman, and the two would peddle tonics and elixirs on the road along with performing magic hand tricks. Hence, Rucker was called Black Herman. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/news/little-known-black-history-fact/little-known-black-history-fact-black-herman
Nicodemus, Kansas is a small community in north central Kansas, named after an escaped slave who bought his way to freedom. On April 18, 1877, six freed slaves and one white man, W.R. Hill, formed the town council. They would recruit over 350 ex-slaves who came by train and foot to start the town. With […]
Ninety-year old former athlete, Herb Douglas, is the oldest living African-American olympic medalist. Douglas was part of the 1948 London Olympic Games during the Truman Administration. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/news/little-known-black-history-fact/little-known-black-history-fact-herb-douglas
The Evening and the Morning Star was the name given to an early publication of the Latter Day Saints religion in 1832. The first editions of the paper, which was founded in Independence, Missouri by William W. Phelps, ran for one year before moving to Kirtland, Ohio. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/news/little-known-black-history-fact/little-known-black-history-fact-evening-and-morning-star
Today, June 19th, marks the Juneteenth holiday, which celebrates the day in 1865 that slaves in Galveston, Texas found out that slavery had ended. President Abraham Lincoln had actually ended slavery two and a half years prior to the Texas slaves being notified. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/news/little-known-black-history-fact/little-known-black-history-fact-juneteenth-celebration
African-American author Natasha Tretheway has been named Poet Laureate of the United States. The Pulitzer-Prize winner and Professor at Emory University is the first black to hold the honor since 1993. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/news/little-known-black-history-fact/little-known-black-history-fact-natasha-tretheway
Commander Wesley Brown became the first black Naval Academy graduate on June 3, 1949. Brown, who served in WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, was admitted to the Naval Academy with five other black candidates in 1945. The Howard University Graduate attended Annapolis alongside President Jimmy Carter, who was his friend and colleague […]
Charles Adolphus Williams was not only one of the first black British professional football players but he was Britain’s first famous black stand-up comedian. Williams’ catch phrase “me old flowers” became his claim to fame when he appeared on several British television shows in the 1970’s. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/40513
The Tuskegee Syphilis study was one of the most notorious biomedical experiments in U.S. history. In 1972, forty years ago, Jean Heller of the Washington Evening Star wrote in front page news “Syphilis Patients Died Untreated” making the forty-year experiment public knowledge and bringing shame to public health for the conspiracy. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/40462
