Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington when over 200,000 people heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message. Many are familiar with…
The late Mayme Agnew Clayton was a librarian and historian who founded the Western States Black Research and Education Center, which bills itself as the largest collection of African-American historical items in the world. Dr. Agnew’s collection, which was amassed over four decades, is housed in the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum in […]
Ricky Harris and his 20-year plus career had its shares of ups and downs, but the comedian and actor’s comic timing was a notable fixture on the small and big screen. Harris passed away this week at the age of 54, rocking the entertainment world and those who worked alongside him. Harris was born January […]
Dr. Robert C. Weaver worked many years on the state, local and federal level as a quiet cog in the civil rights machine behind the scenes. In 1966, he became the first Black person to be appointed to a presidential cabinet position and the first secretary of the Housing and Urban Development. Weaver was born […]
Alphonse Mouzon was one of the early leaders of the Jazz Fusion movement of the late ’60’s and early ’70’s. Mouzon was a versatile drummer who influenced other musicians beyond his spaces of jazz and R&B. He passed earlier this week after a battle with a rare form of cancer. Mouzon was born November 21, […]
The first intercollegiate football contest between Black colleges took place on this day in 1892. Biddle College, now Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., and Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C., played against one another on Livingstone’s snowy front lawn and gave way to a bowl game that celebrates HBCU football’s excellance. According to historians of […]
The Birmingham Bus Boycotts in Alabama took place on this day in 1956, led by the efforts of late minister and civil rights figure Dr. Fred Shuttlesworth. The boycott lasted until 1958 and while it wasn’t as effective as other such protests across the Deep South, the movement laid plenty of necessary groundwork and bolstered the […]
Fans of the long-running Star Trek franchise will be witness to a new era next year. A new spin-off series, Star Trek: Discovery, features a historic first as Sonequa Martin-Green will become the first Black female lead character of the show. Mrs. Martin-Green will be familiar to fans of AMC’s zombie apocalypse smash hit, The […]
Viola Irene Desmond became a part of Canadian history for her defiant act in 1946 against a racist movie theater’s seating policy. While Desmond never saw justice during her lifetime, the country will honor her by making the late hairdresser and civil rights figure the face of its $10 bill. Desmond was born July 6, […]
Over the course of its history, The Negro Leagues spawned a series of baseball legends with many going on to dominate in the formerly all-White Major League Baseball organization. Catcher Josh Gibson, the home run king of the Negro League, never got a chance to go to the big show, but was properly recognized […]
Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong is currently the Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Since 1970, Judge Armstrong has made epic strides in her career both as a policewoman and as an attorney with a couple of historic achievements along the way. Mrs. Armstrong was born in 1947 […]
Richard Pryor is, without doubt, one of the most influential stand-up comics of all time and was an inspiration to Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Mike Epps and others. Pryor would have been 76 today after his life was cut tragically short in 2005. Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was born in Peoria, Ill. and raised […]
