The U.S. Navy will honor World War II hero Charles Jackson French, a Black cook aboard the USS Gregory during the Battle of Guadalcanal, by naming a new Arleigh Burke-class…
Category: Historical Figures
Booker T. Spicely, A Victim of Jim Crow Violence
In 1944, Booker T. Spicely, a Black Army private stationed at Camp Butner, clashed with a white bus driver, Herman Council, over seating segregation. The confrontation ended when Council shot…
Blind Tom Wigging, Musical Prodigy Who Suffered Exploitation At The Hands Of Those Who Enslaved Him
Thomas Greene Wiggins, known as “Blind Tom,” was a musical prodigy born into slavery. Despite his blindness and autism, his musical talent was revealed early, as he echoed sounds and…
George Latimer and The Fugitive Slave Act
George Latimer was born into slavery in Virginia, but he managed to escape to Massachusetts in 1842. However, in 1848, he was recaptured in Boston. Latimer was faced with the…
Remembering Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells, a remarkable figure in American history, was born during slavery in 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Wells’ parents and one brother succumbed to yellow fever. After these…
Joseph Hayne Rainey, First African American to serve in the United States House of Representatives.
Joseph Hayne Rainey was born into slavery on June 1832 in Georgetown, South Carolina. After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, Joseph Rainey, like many other enslaved individuals, saw…
The Harlem Renaissance Illuminated the richness of the human experience.
A remarkable period in African American History was known as the Harlem Renaissance. This cultural movement, which took place in the 1920s, was a vibrant and transformative period in African…
Thaddeus Stevens, Advocate for Abolitionism and Racial Equality
Thaddeus Stevens (1792 to 1868), a Pennsylvania native, rose from modest beginnings to become a lawyer and a prominent advocate for abolitionism and racial equality. As a member of the…
Fredrick Douglas Patterson: First African American Automotive Manufacturer
Frederick Douglas Patterson, born in 1871, was a prominent figure in African American history, known for his significant contributions in the field of transportation. He holds the distinction of being…
The 1920 Ocoee Massacre, a stark reminder of the deep-seated racism that plagued American society.
In 1920, during the height of racial tension and discrimination in the United States, a courageous African American named Mose Norman dared to challenge the deeply ingrained prejudices of his…