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George McJunkin: How a Black Man’s Archaeological Discovery Changed History
Who was the first black man to make an archaeological discovery? In 1900, 1,610 African Americans lived in New Mexico, many of them former slaves drawn to the wide-open spaces that promised self-determination and a respite from the early days of Jim Crow post-Reconstruction. We can surmise that the cowboy George McJunkin, like so many…
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Who Was the 1st Black Prima Ballerina at the Met?
Who was the first black prima ballerina at the Met? “It is opening night at the Metropolitan Opera—the gala performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida. It is the first time in the history of the venerable opera house that it has a black artist on its roster. Let me tell you, my friend, I am just…
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Who Was the 1st Black Woman to Play Professional Baseball?
Who was the first black woman to play professional baseball? When Jackie Robinson stepped onto Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ first baseman broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier. Integration of the all-white MLB was seen by many as a huge step forward not just for sport, but for the nascent civil…
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Who Was the 1st Black Female Ph.D.?
Who was the first African-American woman to receive her Ph.D. degree from an American university? (Hint: Three pioneers are considered to share this distinction.) Let’s start with some numbers. In 1903 W.E.B. Du Bois published The Talented Tenth. Here he introduced the term by which he meant the “college-bred Negroes,” the race’s “exceptional men” who…
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Why White Guests Clamored to Check In to Edwin Berry's Hotel
Who was the first American businessman to furnish hotel guest rooms with amenities and toiletries? As a young man, when the circus came to town, he set up a refreshment stand outside the big top. He had one at the train station, too. The cook’s apprentice-turned-hotel owner was praised upon his death as “the leading…
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The 1st Successful American-Born Magician Was a Black Man
Who was America’s first successful stage magician? He swallowed swords and molten lead. He danced on eggs without cracking their shells. He threw knives; he threw his voice. He was Richard Potter, the first American-born stage magician and ventriloquist, black or white. Prior to Potter’s career in the early 19th century, the performance of magic…
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What a Slave-Reparations Claim Has to Do With Harvard Law School
Who was the first person to ask for reparations for slavery? In America the concept of reparations for slavery is generally thought to have originated during the Civil War era, with the failed promise of 40 acres and a mule. But it actually dates back to Revolutionary America, when a former slave named Belinda went…
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Cathay Williams: She Pretended to Be a Man to Enlist as a Buffalo Soldier
Who was the first (and only) female buffalo soldier? In November 1866, an African American named William Cathey, along with two companions, enlisted in the U.S. Army in St. Louis. Described by the recruiting officer as 5 feet 9 inches tall, with black eyes, hair and complexion, Cathey stated that he was 22 years old…
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Dorothy Dandridge: A 1st for the Academy Awards
Who was the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award in a leading role? Two black women had been honored before at the Academy Awards, both in the best supporting actress category: Hattie McDaniel, in 1939, the first African American ever to be nominated for an Oscar, and to win; and Ethel…
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Cigar-Smoking, Gun-Toting Mary Fields Carried Montana’s Mail
Who was the first African American to drive a U.S. mail coach? Cascade, Mont., was the quintessential frontier town of the Wild West, packed with saloons and home to a handful of settlers and gold seekers who built up the area after the railroad arrived. As statehood was approaching in 1889, all of Montana had…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
