The Katz Drug Store Sit-Ins (1958)
The Katz Drug Store Sit-Ins occurred from August 19 to August 20, 1958, at the Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma…
The Dockum Drug Store Sit-Ins (1958)
The Dockum Drug Store Sit-Ins occurred in Wichita, Kansas, between July 19 and August 11, 1958. Ronald W. Walters, a…
Janie Porter Barrett (1865-1948)
Educator Janie Porter Barrett was the founder of the first Black Settlement House in Virginia, the State Federation of Colored…
Lewis A. Jackson (1912-1994)
Lewis A. Jackson was a Black aviator, Tuskegee Airman Instructor, and later an HCBU president. Jackson was born on December…
Sam Taylor (1896-1973)
The founder and long-time owner of Taylor Electric Company, Samuel “Sam” Taylor, was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 9,…
Edward Lee “Too Tall” Jones (1951- )
Edward Lee “Too Tall” Jones, is a former professional football player best known for playing for the Dallas Cowboys his…
Lorraine Graves (1957-2024)
Choreographer, dancer, and teacher Lorraine Graves was born Lorraine Elizabeth Graves on October 5, 1957, in Norfolk, Virginia, to Tommy…
Joseph Elsberry (1921-1985)
U.S. Army Air Force World War II veteran Joseph Dubois Elsberry was the first Black fighter pilot to shoot down…
Edward Toppins (1915-1946)
U.S. Army Air Force World War II veteran Edward Lucien Toppins was a fighter pilot credited with shooting down four…
Roscoe C. Brown, Jr. (1922-2016)
Tuskegee Airman and later College President Roscoe Conkling Brown, Jr., was born March 9, 1922, in Washington, DC, to Roscoe…
Charles V. Brantley (1920-1970)
Charles V. Brantley, who was trained for aerial combat as a Tuskegee Airman, was born Charles Vernon Brantley in St.…
Edward Creston Gleed (1916-1990)
Tuskegee Airman Edward Creston Gleed, World War II combat fighter pilot, was born on November 5, 1916, in Lawrence, Kansas,…
Earl Roscoe Lane (1920-1990)
Tuskegee Airman Earl Roscoe Lane was born in the rural all-Black town of Red Bird, Oklahoma, on July 22, 1920…
The Charleston Cigar Factory Strike (1945-1946)
The Charleston Cigar Factory Strike was a labor strike that involved workers at the Charleston Cigar Factory in Charleston, South…
Malika Evans (1983- )
Healthcare management executive, strategic planner, and project manager Malika Evans was born Malika Romona Barker in 1983 and grew up…
Beny Jene Primm (1928-2015)
Beny Jene Primm, a pioneer in HIV/AIDS research and treatment and an anesthesiologist, was born on May 28, 1928, in…
Johnie Driver (?-?)
Johnie Driver is one of the few non-violent civil rights activists to emerge in Utah in the 1960s. Yet, even…
Louis Gossett Jr. (1936-2024)
Louis Cameron Gossett Jr., one of the most commanding American actors in television and film, as well as a producer,…
Maceo Snipes (1909-1946)
US Army World War II veteran Maceo Snipes was killed in 1946 in Taylor County, Georgia because he voted. Snipes…
Margaret Vernell James Strickland Collins (1922-1996)
Margaret Vernell James Strickland was a leading scientist on termite diversity and a Civil Rights activist. She was the first…
Alonzo Mitz (1963- )
Alonzo Logwone Mitz was a National Football League (NFL) defensive end who played professionally for the Seattle Seahawks and the…
Paul Ernest Butler (1969- )
Expert business developer, entertainment legal advisor, and strategist Paul Ernest Butler was born on March 31, 1969, and has lived…
John Henry Hale (1878-1944)
Surgeon, professor, and philanthropist John Henry Hale was born on June 5, 1878, in Estill Springs, Tennessee, to Aaron Hale…
Paul Ernest Butler (1969- )
Expert business developer, entertainment legal advisor, and strategist Paul Ernest Butler was born on March 31, 1969, and has lived…
Lee Roy Young Jr. (1947- )
In 1988, Lee Roy Young Jr. became the first Black Texas Ranger. Rangers are a branch of the Texas Department…
Nashville Operation Open City Movement (1961-1964)
The Nashville Operation Open City Movement was a civil rights campaign in Nashville, Tennessee, between 1961 and 1964. This three-year…
UCLA Shootout between the Panthers and US (1969)
The University of Los Angeles (UCLA) shootout between the Southern California chapter of the Black Panther Party (BBP) and the…
Charles Drew (1904-1950)
Charles Richard Drew was a medical researcher, surgeon, and the first African American to be appointed as a medical examiner…
William Goines (1936- )
In 1962, William “Bill” Goines became the first African American Navy SEAL. Navy SEALs are the United States Navy’s elite…
Bil Moss (1932- )
Bil Moss, in 1975, was the first woman of color to win a Tacoma councilmanic primary election. Although she lost…
Emmett John Rice (1919-2011)
Economist, academic scholar, and bank executive Emmett John Rice was born on December 21, 1919, in Florence, South Carolina to…
Cheryl White (1958-2019)
Cheryl White is the nation’s first black female horse jockey. White was born on October 29, 1953, in Cleveland, Ohio.…
Reggie Fils-Aimé (1961- )
Reggie ‘The Regginator’ Fils-Aimé, who spearheaded the creation of Nintendo Direct, is a first-generation American who was born on March…
Gary Payton II (1992- )
Gary Dwayne Payton II is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association.…
Grant Green (1935-1979)
Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic!American jazz guitarist, composer, and bandleader…
The Chicago Sit-In (1943)
The Chicago Sit-In, also known as the Jack Spratt Coffee House Sit-In, occurred on May 15, 1943, in Chicago, Illinois.…
Royal Ice Cream Sit-In (1957)
The Royal Ice Cream Sit-In was a nonviolent protest that occurred on June 23, 1957, in Durham, North Carolina. The…
The First Black Power Conference (1967)
The First Black Power Conference occurred in Newark, New Jersey, from July 20 to July 23, 1967. More than 1,000…
Victoria Ann Shorey Francis (1898-1971)
Victoria Ann Shorey was one of the first African American female whalers in San Francisco, California. Shorey was born on…
Clifton Chenier (1925-1987)
Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic!King of Zydeco and Louisiana Blues…
Rayne Dakota (Dak) Prescott (1993- )
Rayne Dakota (Dak) Prescott is a National Football League quarterback currently playing for the Dallas Cowboys. Prescott was born on…
Brian Stokes Mitchell (1957- )
Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic!Since his first part in a…
Harmony In Transition: The Symbiotic Evolution of Gospel Music
The article below, written for BlackPast.org by Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., describes the role of gospel music in…
Cavalier Johnson (1986- )
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mayor Cavalier Johnson was born in the city on November 5, 1986, to Denise Hardwick-Townsend. Additional information about…
The Read Drug Store Sit-Ins (1955)
The Read Drug Store Sit-Ins, also known as the Baltimore Sit-Ins, occurred on January 20, 1955, in Baltimore, Maryland. The…
Alexandria Library Sit-In (1939)
The Alexandria Library sit-in was one of the first acts of civil disobedience of its type in United States history…
Memphis Sanitation Strike (1968)
The Memphis Sanitation Strike occurred between February 12 and April 16, 1968. The sanitation strike was called in response to…
The Charleston Hospital Strike (1969)
The Charleston Hospital Strike occurred between March 19, 1969, and June 27, 1969, in Charleston, South Carolina. The leading causes…
Kelley V. Board of Education (1955-1957)
Kelley V. Board of Education was a lawsuit filed in 1955 by several Black families to desegregate Nashville public schools.…
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,…
Taylor Electric Company (1922- )
In the article below historian Kathleen Thompson describes Taylor Electric Company, founded in 1922 and has the distinction of being…
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…
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 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,…
Davey Yarborough (1953- )
Let it play in the background as you study and immerse yourself in this topic!Composer, conductor, flutist, saxophonist, and pedagogic…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Olga (Ollie) Burgoyne (1879-1974)
Olga “Ollie” Burgoyne, also known as Ollie Burgoyne-Calloway, was a singer and dancer specializing in Russian and other ethnic dances.…