*Isaac Woodard Jr. was born on this date in 1919. He was a decorated African American World War IIveteran and hate crime victim. Woodard was born in Fairfield County, South Carolina, and grew up in Goldsboro, North Carolina. He attended local segregated schools, often underfunded for blacks during the Jim Crow years. On October 14, 1942, the 23-year-old Woodard enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Jackson in Columbia, […]
learn more*On this date in 1949, the episode and legal case “Groveland Four” began. This was a wrongful arrest, murder and conviction of four young African American men. The episode played out when Norma Padgett, a 17-year-old white woman, and her husband Willie, said that onthat date,they had been attacked by four young black men in Groveland, Florida; who […]
learn more*On this date in 2018, the Texas Board of Education voted to change the way its students learn about the Civil War. Beginning in the 2019-2020 school year, students will be taught that slavery played a “central role” in the war. The state’s previous social studies standards listed three causes for the Civil War: sectionalism, states’ […]
learn more*On this date in 1893, the renowned Czech composer Antonín Dvořák debuted the performance of his most famous symphony, This classic recognized the significance of American Negro spirituals and their contributions to the culture of the United States. Dvořák came to America at the invitation of music patron and entrepreneur Jeanette Meyers Thurber in 1892. […]
learn more*Thanksgiving, 1777 and African American history is briefly address on this date. That year, the turning point of America’s Revolutionary War occurred with victory over the British at Saratoga. In response the Continental Congress then delivered a decree for the 13 colonies to give thanks. Black slaves also took part in the celebration throughout the […]
learn more*On this date in 2018, colleagues of Alabama State University (ASU) came to pay their respects to soldiers who died one hundred years ago. They Gathered at Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery, Ala. More than 350,000 African Americans served in segregated units during World War I. They were fighting for rights they didn’t have in America […]
learn more*On this date in 2016, the funeral of Martha Peterson a black woman took place at Saint Mark’s African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens. This episode was unique because Peterson was born in the 19thcentury. On Oct. 4, 2011, construction workers were using a backhoe to clear soil from an […]
learn more*On this date in 2017,’ five African American cheerleaders at Kennesaw State University knelt during the national anthem. Located in Georgia, Kennesaw State University cheerleader Shlondra Young told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution they would kneel until the US flag “represents what it should,” another cheerleader, Michaelyn Wright, said of their protest, “It was the scariest thing I’ve ever […]
learn more*On this date in 2018, Ethiopia elected the country’s first female president. Sahle-Work Zewde, a seasoned diplomat assumed the largely ceremonial post, many celebrated Africa’s only current female head of state. The continent’s first female president, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, left office this year. “In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a […]
learn more*On this date in 1873, Brooklyn, Illinois was incorporated. Itis one of the oldest towns incorporated by African Americans in the United States. The States name “Illinois” comes from a Native American word meaning “tribe of superior men.” Illinois became a state on December 3, 1818. Also known as Lovejoy it is located two miles north of East St. Louis, Illinois and three […]
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