Alice Coachman Davis was an athlete who specialized in the high jump. She was the first black woman selected for the U.S. Olympic team and went on to become the first black woman of any nationality to win a gold medal at the Olympics...

When Ian Manuel was 13 years old, he was directed by some older juvenile boys to participate in an armed robbery. During the botched robbery attempt, a Tampa, FL woman (Debbie Baigrie) suffered a nonfatal gunshot wound. When Ian later...

HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) have the prestigious honor of always being committed to the mission of educating everyone regardless of race, but Evelyn and Hallease both attended a PWI (Predominately White...

Leslie T. Fenwick, PhD, is a nationally-known education policy and leadership studies scholar who served as Dean of the Howard University School of Education for nearly a decade. A former Visiting Scholar and Visiting Fellow at Harvard...

An African slave recounts how he was shackled and had to walk for two weeks till they reached a stone fort on the coast

An African slave describes the slave market in the Americas and how slaves were prepared for sale to make them look healthier and more attractive to prospective buyers

The Junkanoo parade starts on Boxing Day (December 26th) in the Bahamas. The colorful festival celebrates life and freedom and is thought to be named after John Canoe, a West African prince who was enslaved in the Bahamas. Learn more...

Did you know that the practice of inoculation was brought to the West by enslaved Africans? Was the Lone Ranger a Black man? This video is a series of fast facts you may not know about many genres of Black history.

George W. McLaurin provided the Oklahoma civil rights case that damaged the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson “separate but equal” legal position beyond repair. He held a master’s degree from the University of Kansas and taught at the all-black...

Cathay Williams was an African-American soldier, recognized as the first Black woman to enlist, and the only documented woman to serve in the United States Army posing as a man during the American Indian Wars. Notably, she was...

Dr. Eliza Ann Grier believed she could be most helpful to other African Americans by getting medical education. Despite being an emancipated slave, she enrolled in a leading medical school. Finally, in 1897, she became the first African...

What's in a name? Sometimes it's just our imagination, and other times it's an attempt at a political statement. Black names have been satirized and stereotyped for a long time, but they have a unique and downright surprising history....

Bill Richmond was born into slavery on Staten Island, New York, which was then an outpost for the British colonies. When Richmond was 14, a British soldier named Hugh Percy arranged his freedom and brought him to England where Richmond...

Elizabeth Eckford, one of the nine Black students who enrolled in Dunbar high school in Arkansas in 1957, reflects on the mob and violence that met her on the first day of that school year. It would take a few days and the interference...

Septima Poinsette Clark was an African American educator and civil rights activist. Clark developed the literacy and citizenship workshops that played an important role in the drive for voting rights and civil rights for African...

Do you know the slave king Takyi?⁠
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Takyi was a Fanti King from Gold Coast, now Ghana. Research shows he might have been the ruler of a settlement in Komenda or Koromantse in the Central region of Ghana. History revealed he...

Lena Baker a Black mother of three, was an African American maid in Cuthbert, Georgia, United States. She was convicted for the fatal shooting of E. B. Knight, a white-Georgia mill operator she was hired to care for after he broke...

Chevalier de Saint-Georges, born Joseph Bologne, was widely considered to be one of the most accomplished men in Europe during his lifetime, with a laundry list of talents, ranging from genius violinist to Europe’s greatest swordsman. He...

Vivien Thomas was born on August 29, 1910, in New Iberia, Louisiana. He was the son of a carpenter and grandson of an enslaved man. He was a skilled carpenter who saved for seven years to pay for his education but lost it all...

Christel Temple is Chair, Associate Professor of Africana Studies

Associate and Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. She earned a BA, History, The College of William and Mary; MA, African American Studies,...

Born on the 23rd of march, 1914. He was an African American sportswriter and editor. Credited with the recommendation of Jackie Robinson to Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers.



He died of Pancreatic Cancer at the age of 58...

Born on the 21st October 1929, in South Carolina, United States, George was a 14 year old African American boy who was convicted of murdering two white girls on the 22nd March 1944. On the day prior to their death, they had ridden past...

The Notting Hill Carnival is a vibrant and lively event that takes place in London on the August bank holiday. It was founded to overcome racial tensions and has grown into a celebration of cultural diversity. With colorful costumes,...

The Birmingham Children’s crusade of 1963, or the Children's March, was a march of school students aged 7 to 18 in Birmingham, Alabama that started on May 2, 1963.



The purpose of the March was to walk downtown to talk to...