William King

Smith, Bessie (1894-1937)

Along with Ma Rainey and Mamie Smith, singer Bessie Smith helped pioneer the genre of blues music and propel it into popular culture. Her early death at the age of 43 cut short a career that influenced the direction of American music and contributed to the success of African Americans in the

fave

Source: Black Past

Sep

26

1937

Caver, Vivian Leona (1928 - )

Vivian Leona Caver is a civil rights activist in Seattle, Washington. She directed the Seattle Human Rights Commission between 1975 and 1981, and served briefly in the Washington State Legislature in 1994. Caver was born Vivian Leona Mead in 1928, in Jackson, Tennessee. Her mother Christine was

fave

Source: Black Past

Mitchell, Arthur Wergs (1883-1968)

In 1934, Arthur Wergs Mitchell became the first African American Democrat elected to Congress from any state. Mitchell served four terms as a Representative in Congress for the state of Illinois (1935-1943). Mitchell was born near Lafayette Alabama on December 22, 1883 and was educated at

fave

Source: Black Past

Dec

22

1883

BIKO INTERVIEW: Glovo Chief: How I Packaged My Success

Glovo Chief: How I Packaged My Success

fave

Source: Business Daily

Jessye, Eva (1895-1992)

Eva Jessye was a pioneer in the world of African American music and is recognized as the first black woman to receive international distinction as a choral director. She was born in Coffeyville, Kansas on January 20, 1895 to Albert and Julia Jessye, but was raised by various relatives after her

fave

Source: Black Past

Oct

1

1978

Photographs of the 369th Infantry and African Americans during World War I | National Archives

While the Great War raged in Europe for three long years, America steadfastly clung to neutrality. It was not until April 2, 1917, that President Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany. The world, he said, must be made safe for democracy. Quickly, Americans swung into action to

fave

Source: Archives Library Information Center (ALIC)

Apr

2

1917

Holder, Eric H. (1951- )

Eric H. Holder, Jr., U.S. Attorney General since 2009, was born on January 21, 1951 in the Bronx, New York to parents of Barbadian descent, Eric, a real estate agent and Miriam Holder, a telephone operator. Holder was raised in East Elmhurst, Queens, a community which included a number of famous

fave

Source: Black Past

Wheatley, Phillis

Wheatley, Phillis, 1753?–1784, American poet, considered the first important black writer in the United States. Brought from Africa in 1761, she became a house slave for the Boston merchant John Wheatley and his wife Susanna, who, recognizing her intelligence and wit, educated her and encouraged

fave

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Morocco

Morocco, about one-tenth larger than California, lies across the Strait of Gibraltar on the Mediterranean and looks out on the Atlantic from the northwest shoulder of Africa. Algeria is to the east and Mauritania to the south. On the Atlantic coast there is a fertile plain. The Mediterranean coast

fave

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

May

16

2003

A Fairytale Graduation Gift

NORFOLK

fave

Source: The New Journal and Guide

Top college coaches form group to address minority hires

A group of prominent black coaches headlined by Tubby Smith and Shaka Smart are forming an organization to address the dwindling numbers of minority head coaches in college

fave

Source: Savoy Network

Still, William Grant (1895-1978)

Considered by many as the dean of African American composers,William Grant Still, the son of educators, was born in Woodville, Mississippi onMay 11, 1895. His father, a musician whoonce taught music at Alabama A&M College,died when he was an infant; his mother, a schoolteacher, moved to Little

fave

Source: Black Past

Oct

28

1931

Micheaux, Oscar (1884–1951)

Oscar Micheaux was the quintessential self-made man. Novelist, film-maker and relentless self-promoter, Micheaux was born on a farm near Murphysboro, Illinois. He worked briefly as a Pullman porter and then in 1904 homesteaded nearly 500 acres of land near the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in

fave

Source: Black Past

Coltrane, John

Coltrane, John kōltrān´, kōl´trān [key], 1926–67, American jazz musician, b. Hamlet, N.C. He began playing tenor saxophone as an adolescent. Coltrane worked with numerous big bands before emerging in the mid-1950s as a major stylist while playing as a sideman with Miles Davis . Originally

fave

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

William ("Bill") Henry Cosby was born on this day.

William (Bill) Henry Cosby was born on this day.

fave

Source: Blackfacts.com

Jul

12

1937

Julius Erving

Name at birth: Julius Winfield Erving II

fave

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Lena Horne

Lena Horne was notable twentieth century woman associated with American entertainment industry and Civil Rights Movement. Before moving to Hollywood she became a nightclub performer at the age of sixteen. She was once blacklisted for her politically controversial role in the Red

fave

Source: Black History Resources

Jun

30

1917

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (1816- )

Emanuel A.M.E. Church is the oldest black A.M.E. Church in the South and contains the oldest black congregation south of Baltimore, Maryland. The church’s early roots emerged out of slavery in a shared legacy with Charleston (South Carolina) Methodist Episcopal Church in 1791. Due to disputes over

fave

Source: Black Past

Jun

17

2015

King, Martin Luther, Jr. (1929-1968)

One of the most visible advocates of nonviolence and direct action as methods of social change, Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. As the grandson of the Rev. A.D. Williams, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist church and a founder of Atlantas NAACP chapter, and the son

fave

Source: Black Past

South africa

Jan Christiaan Smuts brought the nation into World War II on the Allied side against Nationalist opposition, and South Africa became a charter member of the United Nations in 1945, but he refused to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Apartheid—racial separation—dominated domestic

fave

Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Risking It All For A Fade: Barbers Are Providing “Underground Cuts” Due To COVID-19 Shutdown

Source: Corey Jenkins / Getty

fave

Source: Cassius | born unapologetic | News, Style, Culture

Earl Whaley Band

Earl Whaley was an alto-saxophone player and bandleader from the San Francisco Bay Area. He moved to Seattle and led one of the first swing bands on the West Coast, The Red Hot Syncopators, who started performing successfully around Seattle at the Broadway and Finnish Halls in 1932. The band never

fave

Source: Black Past

Bill Cosby

Born William Henry “Bill Cosby” Jr. on July 12, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he describes himself mostly as a “class clown” during his school years. He was class president as well as captain of the basketball team at school. He acted in a number of school plays and in

fave

Source: Black History Resources

Jul

12

1937

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was an African American poet and author born on June 27, 1872. His parents had been slaves during the American Civil War but had been freed by the time of his birth. Dunbar was born in Ohio, and his parents separated shortly after his birth. Dunbar began writing poetry as early

fave

Source: Black History Resources

Feb

9

1906

Mt. Olive Baptist Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico (1899- )

Arriving in Albuquerque, New Mexico Territory, in 1898, Mrs. Tabytha Watson began the organization of a Baptist church with prayer meetings which included her two children, in her home. By the following year the church was named Mt. Olive Baptist and members raised $135 to purchase a lot at 510

fave

Source: Black Past

Elijah Muhammad

Elijah Muhammad was an African American religious leader of the Nation of Islam, a religious movement based on the principles of Islam, focused specifically on black Muslims. His birth name was Elijah Robert Poole and he was the seventh of thirteen children born to William and Mariah Poole. His

fave

Source: Black History Resources

Feb

25

1975

How an African-American led a campaign to have 176-year-old slave auction block removed

Eventually, the block which sat at the corner of William and Charles streets with a small, ground level, bronze plaque reading: “AUCTION BLOCK, Fredericksburg’s Principal Auction Site in Pre-Civil War Days for Slaves and Property,” was removed by the City of Fredericksburg on Friday, June

fave

Source: Face2Face Africa - The Premier Pan-African Voice

(1994) General Colin Powell Urges African American Students to Reject Racial Hatred

By 1994 Colin Powell, the son of a Jamaica-born Harlem merchant, had already served as National Security Adviser to President George Herbert Walker Bush and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Persian Gulf War. He would become the first African American Secretary of State in 2001 under

fave

Source: Black Past

May

14

1994

Ball, Jr. Joseph T. (1804-1861)

Joseph T. Ball, Jr. was born Feb. 21, 1804 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His mother Mary Montgomery Drew of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was white while his father was Jamaican-born Joseph T. Ball, Sr who came to Massachusetts in 1790. The elder Ball founded a society to help African American widows

fave

Source: Black Past

Hayden, Earl Robert (1913-1980)

The son of Asa and Ruth Sheffey who named him Asa Bundy at birth, poet Robert Hayden was born in Detroit, Michigan and reared in “Paradise Valley,” an inner city ghetto. Adoptive parents, William and Sue Ellen Westerfield Hayden, gave him the name by which he is known. A graduate of

fave

Source: Black Past

BlackFacts Details

William King

African American Facts

Education Facts

Women Facts

Science Facts

Arts Facts

Literature Facts