Somehow, some way, those of us who care need to find a way to breathe new life into potential voters in the upcoming mid-term elections. Two years ago, as we approached the November 2008 election, you couldn’t go a day without being inundated with information on the importance of registering and voting. In fact, if […]
In 1933 a number of African Americans banded together to form an organization that would fight against civil injustice in the workplace and local establishments in Washington D.C. They were called the New Negro Alliance and they became known for a string of successful court cases and protests, beginning with a number of boycotts to […]
I have always taken great pride in the fact that I made it on my own after college, moving away from friends and family back home in St. Louis to a city in which I knew only one person. Being physically alone without family is always a scary situation, but I haven’t turned back after […]
Born in 1896, Evelyn Preer was one of the first African American actresses to transition into Hollywood films with sound. In her time, she had been called the hardest-working woman in show business. After convincing her sternly religious mother to let her study acting, Evelyn Preer was discovered by the “Father of Black Film,” Oscar […]
Is it fall yet? In some parts of the country, it feels like summer has extended for a while. Temperature extremes have played havoc with folks who are used to a gradual cooldown, while, in some places, rain has made an appearance for the first time in months. But despite the temperatures, we know its […]
Peggy Llewellyn is the first black woman in the world to win a professional motorsports event. She finished in the 2007 Powerade Top Five standings where she recorded her post-career best time and speed. At 5-foot-2 and 115 pounds, the San Antonio native was introduced to two-wheel motorsports by her father, Eugene, who owns a […]
Will Downing is the man with the golden voice. In his lengthy career, which began in the late 80’s, there have been few peers and even fewer imitators, as some gifts are too powerful to be copied. Downing’s silky baritone and jazzy soulful music have made him a favorite of lovers everywhere. http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/entertainment/blak_music_month/22419
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
Life is not always a smoothly-paved road. Sometimes it’s pretty damn rough – in disrepair – rocky from heartbreak, marked by potholes overflowing with disappointment and often impassable from loss, grief and misunderstanding. But even in the worst of times, I can still throw my hands up and scream, “I’M STILL HERE!” http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=blog_inner/22326/6546626/Nikki_Woods
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
Anthony Anderson was always a husky guy, but that never stopped the actor from getting great roles in movies like “Two Can Play That Game” and TV shows like “Law and Order.” But Anderson’s greatest role may be as a spokesperson for Eli Lilly’s F.A.C.E. campaign, which helps African-Americans who are dealing with diabetes. Anderson […]
