Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, The Boulé: A Brief Overview (1904- )
Montage of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity FoundersFair use imageIn the article below, Rodney J. Reed, former Grand Sire Archon of…
Black Labor Fight Against the Hughes Tool Company (1964)
Sharp-Hughes Tool Company, later renamed just Hughes Tool Company, at its manufacturing building at the intersection of Second and Girard…
María Remedios del Valle (?–1847)
María Remedios del Valle RosasPhoto by Javier Calcaterra (CC BY-SA 4.0)María Remedios del Valle, also known as the “Madre de…
The Desegregation of Local 53 in New Orleans (1969)
Louisiana ParishesImage courtesy WaterproofPaper.comOn December 15, 1966, the United States Justice Department filed suit against Local 53 of the International…
Bob Dockery Jr.
Bob DockeryCourtesy of Bob DockeryBob Dockery Jr. is a radio and television producer, playwright, and former advertising executive. He was…
Black Longshoremen and Civil Rights Activism in Brownsville, Texas (1964)
Texas countiesImage courtesy WaterproofPaper.comWaves of racial tension began to form at the port of Brownsville almost immediately after the erection…
Quintard Taylor, Jr. (1948-2025)
Quintard Taylor delivering the 2016 Denny Lecture at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle, WA. Photo by Joe…
America’s Black Ambassadors: A Historical Snapshot
U.S. EmbassyUpdated: November 1, 2015In the article below, Carlton McLellan, PhD, Founding Director of The American Ambassadors Project and Senior…
Why Honest Museums Make a Stronger America
The exterior of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., on February 27, 2020, as…
Brown Chapel A.M.E Church (1866- )
Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma, Alabama. Built in 1908. A starting point for the Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights…
Zoë Saldaña (1978- )
Zoë Saldaña is an accomplished actress and dancer known for her roles in four of the six highest-grossing films produced…
The Webster Telephone Exchange Building (1906- )
Located at 2213 Lake Street in North Omaha, Nebraska, the Webster Telephone Exchange Building is an important Black heritage site…
Elbert Frank Cox (1895-1969)
Elbert Frank Cox, who perhaps most famous for exploring and expanding the Boole summation formula based on the work of…
Thomas Bailey Shropshire (1925-2003)
Thomas Bailey Shropshire, a Past Grand Sire Archon of the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity (The Boulé), was a transformative figure…
Michigan Street Baptist Church, Buffalo, New York (1836-1962)
In 1836, 27 years before President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, a group of literate African American…
George W. Draper III (1953- )
The Honorable George W. Draper, the first African American to serve as Chief Judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals,…
Huel Davis Perkins (1924-2013)
Huel Davis Perkins, a distinguished composer, pianist, professor, administrator, and orator, was born on December 27, 1924, in Baton Rouge,…
Robert Vernon Franklin, Jr. (1926-2011)
Robert Vernon Franklin, Jr. was a retired Lucas County Common Pleas Court judge who presided over trials and hearings in…
Glenn Cunningham (1943-2004)
Glenn Dale Cunningham was the first African American mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey. He was born in Jersey City…
Charles H. Calloway (1878-1943)
Attorney Charles H. Calloway was born in Bradley County, Tennessee, on June 16, 1878. He graduated from the public school…
Herbert T. Miller (1900-1976)
Herbert T. Miller, a distinguished social services and religious leader, organizer, and fundraiser, was born Herbert Tise Miller on July…
William Conan Davis (1926-2022)
Scientist, inventor, and activist William Conan Davis, the first African American to earn a doctorate from the University of Idaho,…
Maria Louise Baldwin (1856-1922)
Maria Louise Baldwin, a pioneering educator, made history in 1881 by becoming a teacher at the Louis Agassiz School, an…
Emmanuel W. Onunwor (1954- )
Emmanuel W. Onunwor, was the first African-born American politician to be elected mayor of an American city when he in…
Martin G. “Marty” Barnes (1948-2012)
Martin G. “Marty” Barnes, the first African American mayor of Paterson, New Jersey, was born on March 15, 1948, and…
Alyia Gaskins (1989- )
Alyia Gaskins, born May 1, 1989, is an American public health professional, urban planner, and politician who assumed office as…
Brownsville, in Brooklyn, New York (1858- )
Brownsville, established in 1858 and named after its developer, Charles S. Brown, is known for its vibrant street art scene.…
Joseph Wiley (“Jefferson Street Joe”) Gilliam Jr. (1950-2000)
Joseph Wiley Gilliam Jr. was a professional football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). Gilliam was born on December…
Tyrone Anthony Garner (1969- )
Tyrone Anthony Garner, born in February 1969, is the first Black Mayor of Kansas City, Kansas. He is also the…
Lewis Henry Douglass (1840-1908)
Lewis Henry Douglass was an Army veteran, journalist, printer, and community activist who fought against racial inequality in America. A…
Lovie Lee Smith (1958- )
Lovie Lee Smith is an American football coach for the National Football League (NFL). Smith was born on May 8,…
WROX Blues Radio Station (1944- )
WROX Blues Radio Station is a variety AM radio station in Clarksdale, Mississippi. WROX was established and started transmitting on…
Hotel Theresa (1913-1970)
Hotel Theresa, the white brick, terra cotta, 300-room, thirteen story, steel-framed hotel, was for many years the tallest building in…
Bedford Stuyvesant, New York (1636- )
Bedford Stuyvesant, New York, is the oldest Black community in Brooklyn. Established by the Dutch in 1636 as part of…
Beyoncé’s Formation Performance at the Super Bowl 50 (2016)
Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic!On February 7, 2016, musician Beyoncé…
In Defense of Black History in Hawaii: How the Dr. Martin Luther King Birthday Became a Hawaii State Holiday
In January 2025, Daphne Barbee-Wooten, a Hawaii historian and social activist attorney wrote the article below describing the campaign to…
Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950- )
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is an award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, and cultural critic. He was born on September 16,…
Amos O’Neal (1961- )
Michigan State Representative Amos O’Neal was born on July 17, 1961, in Saginaw, Michigan. He attended Saginaw Public Schools and…
Harlem, New York (1658- )
Harlem began in 1658 as a Dutch village founded by settlers who named it after the city of Haarlem, in…
Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and Cooperative Union (1886-1891)
Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic!The Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and…
George Carroll (1922-2016)
George Carroll made history in 1964, as the first African American to be elected mayor of Richmond, California which made…
Oscar DuConge (1909-1978)
Oscar DuConge, a resilient politician, overcame the odds to become Waco, Texas’s first African American mayor. Born on April 19,…
Johnny DuPree (1953- )
The first African American mayor of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Johnny DuPree was also the longest serving mayor of that city. DuPree…
William Stanford Hart Sr. (1925-1999)
Williams Stanford Hart Sr was a politician who served as mayor of East Orange, New Jersey between 1970 and 1978.…
M.W. “Teedy” Thornhill Jr. (1921-2016)
M.W. “Teddy” Thornhill Jr., a civil rights activist and first African American mayor of Lynchburg, Virginia, was born Murrell Warren…
Byron Brown (1958- )
The first African American mayor of Buffalo, New York, Byron Brown, was born on September 24, 1958 in Hollis, Queens,…
Penfield Wallace “Pen” Tate II (1931-1993)
Penfield Tate II was a politician, LGBTQ supporter, and Boulder, Colorado’s first African American mayor. Tate was born on June…
Mabel Fairbanks (1915-2001)
Mabel Fairbanks, known as the Grand Dame of African American figure skaters, was born on November 14, 1915, in Jacksonville,…
Daniel T. Brown (1945- )
Daniel T. Brown, the first African American mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee in the city’s 220-year history, was born at home…
Terry Bellamy (1972- )
Terry Bellamy, the first African American and second woman to serve as mayor of Asheville, North Carolina, was born Terry…
Sea Isle City, New Jersey, The Niagara Movement, and the Early 20th Century Struggle for Racial Justice
In the article below New Jersey historian Dr. Joseph A. LaRosa allows us a glimpse into the rarely discussed last…
Rue Mapp (1971- )
Rulette “Rue” Mapp, is a pioneering leader in outdoor advocacy, transforming how communities of color engage with nature. Born on…
Ron Finley
Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic!Ron Finley is the founder and…
Tekesha A. Martinez (1978 -)
Tekesha A. Martinez, born April 2, 1978, is an American politician who was the first Black mayor of Hagerstown, a…
Charles E. Bussey Jr. (1918-1996)
Charles E. Bussey Jr., was the first African American mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was also the first African…
Samara Joy (1999-)
Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic!Lyric Contralto Jazz artist Samara Joy…
Michael Joseph (1981- )
Civil Rights Attorney Michael Joseph, a first-generation Haïtien American and the first Black mayor to lead the city of North…
Carolyn Finney (1959-)
Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic!Carolyn M. Finney, storyteller, actress, columnist,…
Super Bowl 41 (2007)
Super Bowl 41 was the first Super Bowl contest pitting teams led by two African American coaches, Tony Dungy, of…
Dontae Payne
In November 2023 Dontae Payne was elected mayor of Olympia, Washington. He is the first African American and openly gay…