Thomas Fountain Blue (1866-1935)
Thomas Fountain Blue, the first African American to head a public library in the United States, was also a civic, educational, and religious leader. Blue was born in Farmville, Virginia,…
Taylor Electric Company (1922- )
In the article below historian Kathleen Thompson describes Taylor Electric Company, founded in 1922 and has the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating Black-owned business in Chicago and one…
Laphonza Romanique Butler (1979- )
On October 1, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom chose well-known labor organizer and political strategist Laphonza Butler to be the next US Senator from California, following the death of long-serving…
Stokely Carmichael’s Black Power Speech (1966)
On the night of June 16, 1966, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Chair Stokely Carmichael (Later Kwame Ture) proclaimed to the crowd, “We been saying freedom for six years and…
The Greenville Library Desegregation Crisis/ The Greenville Eight (1960)
The Greenville (South Carolina) Library Desegregation Crisis involved eight African American students who protested the segregated library system in Greenville, South Carolina, from March 1, 1960, to September 9, 1960.…
Davey Yarborough (1953- )
Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic!Composer, conductor, flutist, saxophonist, and pedagogic Davey Yarborough was born in 1953 in Washington, DC. He…
Chris Brown (1989- )
Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic!R&B superstar, rapper, lyricist, actor, and dancer Chris Brown, one of the most successful contemporary artists…
The Golden 14 (1918-1919)
The Golden 14 were the first Black women to muster into the United States Navy. First recognized by scholar Kelly Miller in his 1919 book “Kelly Miller’s History of the…
The North Little Rock High School Desegregation Crisis (1957)
The North Little Rock High School Desegregation Crisis created the North Little Rock Six, a group of six African American students who attempted to desegregate North Little Rock High School…
David Ray “Doc” Roberts (1972- )
David Ray “Doc” Roberts is a baseball manager and former outfielder. Roberts was born on May 31, 1972, to Waymon Roberts, an African American United States Marine, and Eiko Roberts,…