*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*Rupert’s Valley is affirmed on this date in 1573. It is a village on the island of Saint Helena, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the South Atlantic Ocean. Many Africans of the Middle Passage were quarantined in St. Helena’s Rupert’s Valley. Thousands died of dehydration, dysentery, smallpox, and malnutrition. Some of those who survived […]
learn more*On this date in 1825, Haiti signed the Ordinance of King Charles X. Often called the Haiti Indemnity, this was a controversial agreement between Haiti and France where France demanded an indemnity of 150 million francs from Haiti in claims over property, including Haitian slaves. 1791, France lost colonial control of the island through the […]
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 […]
learn more*On this date in 1863, African and Native Americans intersected on the upper Mississippi River, witnessing the final chapters of American chattel slavery and “Indian removal” in Minnesota. On May 4, the steamboat Northerner pushed up the Mississippi River from St. Louis, bound for Fort Snelling, a military outpost north of St. Paul, Minnesota. Captained by […]
learn more*On this date in 1943, the Detroit race riot took place. This was a two-day racial unrest episode in Michigan’s largest city. Background By 1920, Detroit had become the fourth-largest city in the United States, with an industrial and population boom driven by the rapid expansion of the automobile industry. In this era of continuing […]
learn more*On this date in 1961, Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia. Eritrea is in East Africa. It is bordered to the northeast and east by the Red Sea, Sudan to the west, Ethiopia to the south, and Djibouti to the southeast. Eritrea lies between latitudes 12° and 18°N and longitudes 36° and 44°E. A branch of the […]
learn more*The Crownsville Hospital Center opened on this date in 1911. This was a psychiatric hospital for Blacks located in Crownsville, Maryland. The first group of 12 patients arrived and lived in a work camp in a willow curing house adjacent to one of the willow ponds. Staff worked with them to prepare roads and to […]
learn more*Black history and modern colonialism are affirmed on this date in 1415. The Ancient historical phenomenon of colonization stretches around the globe and across time. The Phoenicians, Greeks, Turks, and Arabs practiced age-old and medieval colonialism. Colonialism, in the modern sense, began in the 15th century with the “Age of Discovery.” The Portuguese were expansionists […]
learn more*Melrose Plantation is celebrated on this date in 1832. Also known as Yucca Plantation, the “Big House” is a plantation in the unincorporated community of Melrose in Natchitoches Parish in north central Louisiana. This is one of the largest plantations in the United States, built by and for free blacks. The plantation land was granted to Louis […]
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