*The Freedman’s Saving and Trust Company opened on this date in 1865. Known as the Freedman’s Savings Bank, it was a private savings bank chartered by the U.S. Congress to collect deposits from the newly emancipated communities. At the end of the American Civil War, the poor economic conditions of the formerly enslaved freedmen were […]
learn moreDr. Peter Rachleff is a labor historian, author, professor, and library administrator. In this segment, he shares his research findings, which show Black women’s value in nurturing families and directing American political progress in the 19th and 20th centuries.
learn more*Black history and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) is affirmed on this date in 1900. The ILGWU, whose members were in the women’s clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membership and influence in the […]
learn more*Hans Jonatan was born on this date in 1784. He was a Black slave, soldier, farmer, and trader. Also known as Hans Jónatan and Hans Jonathan) he was born on the plantation of Constitution Hill on the island of St Croix in the Danish West Indies, a Danish colony in 1733 when purchased by the […]
learn more*The birth of George Osodiis is celebrated on this date in 1974. He is a Black African photographer. George Osodi is from Lagos, Nigeria, and works there. He studied Business Administration at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos before working as a photojournalist for the Comet Newspaper in Lagos from 1999- 2001. He joined the Associated […]
learn more*Morris Karnofsky was born on this date in 1895. He was a Jewish American tailor, coal and junk owner, and record store owner. He was born in Lithuania. His family, Jewish immigrants, had roots in New Orleans, LA. This was near Girod and Franklin Streets, a few blocks from where the family of Louis Armstrong lived. When […]
learn more*R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr. was born on this date in 1944. He was a Black administration activist and author. From Chattanooga, TN, Rufus Roosevelt Thomas, Jr. attended Chattanooga Public Schools and was a 1962 honor graduate of Howard High School. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in Math from Morehouse College. Thomas Jr. received an […]
learn more*On this date, 1600, the East India Company (EIC) was founded. This Slave labor business was an English, and later British, joint-stock company. The East India Company was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies and later with East Asia. The company gained control of large parts of the […]
learn more*On this date in 1502, the island of Saint Helena was discovered. Founded by the Portuguese Armada, it is a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,165 miles west of mainland Africa. Geographically, Angola and Namibia are the closest nations. Between January and May […]
learn more*The birth of Willie McGee is celebrated on this date in c. 1916. He was a Black laborer who was executed in 1951 after being controversially convicted for the rape of a white woman during the Jim Crow Era. Early life Willie McGee was born in Pachuta, Mississippi, to Bessie and Jasper McGee Sr. at […]
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