*On this date in 2021, R. Kelly was found guilty of charges including sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, racketeering, and sex trafficking involving five victims. After more than 25 years of accusations and a federal court trial in New York that lasted seven weeks, the R&B singer faced a possible sentence of 10 years […]
learn more*On this date in 2022, Fire Station #24 became a Minneapolis landmark. Chosen by the Minneapolis City Council, it was a black-run fire station operated during Jim Crow segregation. Established in 1879, the Minneapolis Fire Department (MFD) was in high demand as the city rapidly expanded, often responding to structures built before approved building codes. In 1888, John […]
learn more*On this date in 2022, The Emmett Till Antilynching Act was passed. This legislation was a landmark United States federal law that makes lynching a federal hate crime. The bill was named after 14-year-old Emmett Till, lynched in Mississippi in 1955, sparking national and international outrage. Representative Bobby Rush introduced H.R. 35 on January 3, 2019, during the […]
learn more*On this date in 2022, a 1947 Freedom Riders conviction was officially vacated. “We failed these men,” said Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour, who presided over the special session and at one point paused to gather himself after becoming emotional. “We failed their cause, and we failed to deliver justice in our community,” Baddour said. “And for […]
learn more*On this date in 2022, the first Black woman became president of an American football team. Sandra Douglass Morgan was introduced as the new team president of the Las Vegas Raiders, making her the first black woman in N.F.L. history to serve in that capacity for a franchise.
learn more*On this date in 2022, a public water health crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, began. This occurred after the Pearl River flooded due to severe storms in the state. The flooding caused the O. B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant, the city’s largest water treatment facility already running on backup pumps due to failures the month prior, […]
learn more*On this date in 2022, the South African government officially recognized Misuzulu kaZwelithini as the AmaZulu King. This was the first Zulu coronation since 1971. He has promised to unite his nation and protect tradition. KaZwelithini, 48, was crowned the king of South Africa’s largest Indigenous group in a customary celebration in August but required […]
learn more*On this date in 2023, Tyre Nichols died from injuries incurred by Memphis, TN. Police Department. Five Black police officers from the city’s Scorpion Unit severely beat 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, a Black man, during a traffic stop. The episode happened on January 7, resulting in his death three days later in the hospital. The officers […]
learn more*On this date in 2023, Super Bowl LVII marked the first time both teams started Black quarterbacks. Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles played against Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs. In 1988, Washington’s Doug Williams became the first Black quarterback to start — and win — a Super Bowl. Williams was the MVP of the game after […]
learn more*On this date in 2023, King Charles supported research into the British links with transatlantic slavery. This statement came after a document showing a predecessor’s stake in a slave-trading company emerged. Buckingham Palace released the statement after it was contacted about the extensive history of successive British monarchs’ involvement and investment in the enslavement of African […]
learn more*The Mardi Gras Indians are celebrated on this date (Fat Tuesday) in 1732. These African Americans participate as a cultural foundation of New Orleans and Mardi gras history. The Mardi Gras Indians are as much a part of that secret society as any other carnival organization. The heritage of the Mardi Gras Indians is an African based long and hard road, starting in late 1600’s with the Indian Village of Tchoutchuoma, near the north gate of the colonial place of what has become the New Orleans French Quarter.
learn more*On this date in 2016, the Bud Billiken parade will take place in Chicago. It is the largest African American Parade in the United States.
Always on the second Saturday in August, it began in 1929. The Bud Billiken parade started as a promotional idea through the Chicago Defender newspaper. The paper had a weekly column in the children’s section under the pen name “Bud Billiken.” Writer Willard Motley wrote the material and was the original “Bud Billiken.” However, Motley’s association with the name Billiken is an off-spring the true origin of the concept.
learn more*On this date in 1969, the first African American Day Parade in Harlem was held. Every September, this event celebrates with participants from at least 12 states as one of America’s largest African American parades. It begins in Harlem on West 110th Street and Lenox Avenue and goes north along Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (7th Ave.), ending at West 136th Street. […]
learn more*In honor of Martin Luther King Day which was first celebrated in 1986, we have the text of his speech I have a Dream. The Martin Luther King Day Bill was enacted in 1983. This speech by King was delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.
learn more*Black History and Cinco de Mayo are affirmed on this date in 1862. In 1860, Mexico could not pay its debts to colonial powers Spain, the United Kingdom, and France. The three sent over a naval force to collect, but Spain and the U.K. reached a compromise. France, then ruled by Emperor Napoleon III, decided […]
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