The Lie of Carolyn Bryant Donham
A racially segregated courtroom in Sumner, Mississippi, two white men, J.W. Milam and his half-brother Roy Bryant—a country-store owner—were acquitted of the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black from […]
NASA Legend – Katherine Johnson
Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson (August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020) was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of […]
Carlos Marcello | The Little Man
Carlos Marcello (born Calogero Minacore; February 6, 1910 – March 2, 1993) was an American crime boss of the New Orleans crime family from 1947 until the late 1980s. G. […]
Frank “Sugar Chile” Robinson – Caldonia
Robinson was born in Detroit, Michigan. At an early age he showed unusual gifts singing the blues and accompanying himself on the piano.[2] According to contemporary newsreels, he was self-taught […]
What Ever Happened to Hazel Scott?
The Hazel Scott Show was an early American television program broadcast on the now defunct DuMont Television Network. The series, hosted by Hazel Scott, ran during the summer of 1950, […]
Destination Freedom – Arctic Biography: The Story Of Mathew Henson (August 22, 1948)
Matthew Alexander Henson (August 8, 1866 – March 9, 1955) was an American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic over a period of nearly 23 […]
Mexican American Families Start Legal Fight Against School Segregation
Brown v. Board of Education was the landmark Supreme Court case that ended racial segregation in schools in 1954. But it wasn’t the first to take on the issue. Eight […]
Bessie Coleman, June of 1921, receives international air pilot’s license
Born in Atlanta, Texas in 1892, Bessie Coleman grew up in a world of harsh poverty, discrimination and segregation. She moved to Chicago at 23 to seek her fortune, but […]
The iconic cartoon character Betty Boop was inspired by a Black jazz singer in Harlem
The iconic cartoon character Betty Boop was inspired by a Black jazz singer in Harlem. Introduced by cartoonist Max Fleischer in 1930, the caricature of the jazz age flapper was […]
Quakers, 1st group opposing human oppression and slave trade
Quakers, also known as “The Society of Friends,” have a long history of abolition. But it was four Pennsylvania Friends from Germantown who wrote the initial protest in the 17th […]
Claudette Colvin legally challenged bus segregation
Claudette Colvin (born September 5, 1939) is a retired American nurse aide who was a pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested at […]
The First Female Self-made American Millionaire – Annie Malone
Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone (August 9, 1877 – May 10, 1957) was an African-American businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist. She was one of the first African American women to become a […]
Maggie Lena Walker
Maggie Lena Walker was born on July 15, 1864, in Richmond, Virginia. She attended school and graduated in 1883, having been trained as a teacher. She married a brick contractor […]
Robert Smalls Sailed Americans to Freedom
Robert Smalls (1839-1915) was an enslaved African American assigned to steer the Confederate transport ship CSS Planter during the American Civil War. On May 13th, 1862–and while the ship’s three […]
Loyalist Fled America’s Racially Prejudiced Governance
As a result of the looming crisis in 1775, the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation that promised freedom to servants and slaved people who were able to […]
Colorado once had the 2nd largest Ku Klux Klan
From the Grand Dragon to known KKK appointees in the police, mayor and governor offices, Colorado once had the 2nd largest Ku Klux Klan membership in the United States. Discover […]
