black history
-
North Carolina Names Highway for Groundbreaking Black Historian and Civil Rights Advocate
A stretch of Interstate 85 in Durham, N.C., has been named for the trailblazing black historian John H. Franklin, who directly confronted America’s racist history and helped shaped the discourse around America’s legacy of slavery. The stretch of road was dedicated to the influential scholar Monday afternoon at the Hayti Heritage Center. As the Raleigh…
-
The Great Migration: National Museum of African American History and Culture Offers to Digitize Black Family Home Movies for Free
The National Museum of African American History and Culture has launched a new initiative aimed at helping black families preserve their history and analog audiovisual media with a unique digitization service, and it’s completely free! The Great Migration Home Movie Project invites people to schedule an appointment with the museum’s audiovisual conservation team and have…
-
Philadelphia Will Pay Tribute to Forgotten Black American Hero With New Monument
On Tuesday, the city of Philadelphia will resurrect the memory of one of its most influential citizens, Octavius Catto, a civil rights activist whose work was instrumental in getting black men the right to vote in 1870, and who helped desegregate the city’s transportation system. Catto’s story has been erased from history books—a story itself…
-
Democrats in Mich. House of Representatives Push to Make African-American History Required Learning After Charlottesville, Va.
Following the violence of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., Democrats in the Michigan House of Representatives are stepping up to the plate, pushing for legislation that would require African-American history to be taught in all public schools as a means to combat racism. “We all have to do a better job of getting…
-
Va. Student Becomes 1st African-American Boy to Earn Valedictorian in School’s History
Jahlil Nickens, 18, who earned the honor of becoming his class valedictorian this spring, also made history as the first African-American boy to earn that honor in Lancaster High School’s history “From the time that Jahlil was little, we could tell that he was special. He has always excelled in his studies,” his mother, Tekecia…
-
Tracing Your Roots: How Did My Ancestor Escape Slavery?
In revisiting the story of black refugees to Trinidad, we came across the tale of a foiled slave rebellion in Maryland. Dear Professor Gates: I am a Trinidadian who has been searching for information on my ancestor Henry Ransom, a black Colonial Marine who joined with the British in 1814 and was resettled in 5th…
-
Green Book Mobile App Turns the Painful History of Traveling While Black Into Tool for Learning
A new mobile tool combines the latest technology with the legacy of a forgotten past when “traveling while black” was an activity fraught with peril and danger. In a first-of-its-kind combination of history and technology, the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission has created a web-based mobile version of The Green Book—also known as…
-
Violence Is Never the Answer … for Black People
There is one universal subject that cannot be ignored when explaining history, dissecting the status of marginalized people around the world, or pursuing any understanding of society, culture or politics. It is an unavoidable component that must be factored into any academic or intellectual examination of civilization, social order or government. That subject is violence.…
-
Ohio’s 1st African-American State Trooper Dies at 85
Family, friends and dozens of local law enforcement gathered Monday to remember the life of Louis Sharp, a huge part of Ohio’s history as the state’s first African-American state trooper. According to WCMH, Sharp died last week at the age of 85. Sharp’s grandson, Justin Sharp, remembered his grandfather as a “strong” person. “I don’t…
-
Black Women in DC Bring to Life the Untold Stories of Overlooked Black Women in Civil War History
A group of black women in Washington, D.C., are part of an acting troupe that gives voice to the nameless, faceless black women of the Civil War in a different spin on re-enactment groups. Female Re-Enactors of Distinction, or FREED, was founded in 2005 in association with the African American Civil War Museum in D.C.,…