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 […]
Like the song says, yes, Salt N Pepa’s here. They are the top-selling female hip-hop act in rap history. Their five studio albums have all gone gold or platinum, and they were the first female rap act with a platinum CD. The group has a Grammy under their belt and are three-time MTV Award winners. […]
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 […]
Like the song says, yes, Salt N Pepa’s here. They are the top-selling female hip-hop act in rap history. Their five studio albums have all gone gold or platinum and they were the first female rap act with a platinum CD. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/entertainment/blak_music_month/23300
Soledad O’Brien has become a rarity in TV news – that one voice of reason in a sea of strident, divisive pundits opining on everything but lacking credibility. Over the years, the CNN correspondent has logged impressive mileage covering news from the world’s hot zones of disaster. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/entertainment/gossip/23266
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
Lola Shirley Graham DuBois was not only the second wife of W.E.B. DuBois, but she was an activist, musicologist and playwright. In the early years of 1909, when she was only 13, Graham wrote to the local Indianapolis newspaper that she had been denied the right to swim in a local YWCA pool because of […]
He may not have been born a legend, but once he acquired the name, the artist formerly known as John Stephens has done his best to live up to the name. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/entertainment/blak_music_month/23210
Jarm Logue was a runaway slave from Tennessee who became a lead and well-known conductor of the Underground Railroad. Born to his white owner, David Logue, and his enslaved mother named Cherry, he stole his master’s horse at age 21 and escaped to Canada, where he would change his name. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/23204
James Winkfield was a black thoroughbred jockey and horse trainer who was the last known African-American to ride a winner in the Kentucky Derby. The youngest child with 17 siblings, Winkfield’s chores including tending the farm and assisting in the downtown thoroughbred races. In 1898, he would ride his first race. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/23175
