*The Black Bottom community is celebrated on this date in 1827. This was a predominantly Black neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Although the name “Black Bottom” is often reference to the African American community that developed in the twentieth century, the neighborhood was actually named by early white-French colonial settlers. Historically, this area […]
learn more*This date in 1758 celebrates the “Hill District” a grouping of historically African American neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, PA. Locally, following the rebellion by slaves and gaining of independence of Haiti in 1804, the free Black community of the Hill District was called “Little Haiti.” The early residents of the Hill District were middle-class free […]
learn more*The birth of Joseph Louis Cook is celebrated on this date in c 1737. He was a Black African Native American (Mohawk). Joseph Louis Cook or Akiatonharónkwen was born in Quebec, Canada. He was the son of an African father and an Abenaki mother. He and his mother moved to a Mohawk village in […]
learn more*The Xhosa people are celebrated on this date in 1000. They are a Bantu ethnic group from Southern Africa whose homeland is primarily within the modern-day Eastern Cape. There is a small but significant Xhosa-speaking community in Zimbabwe, and their language, isiXhosa, is recognized as a national language. The Xhosa people consist of several tribes with related yet distinct heritages. The main tribes are the amaGcaleka, amaRharhabe, imiDange, imiDushane, […]
learn more*On this date in 1862, Freedmen’s Towns are celebrated. Freedmen’s Towns were Black municipalities built by former slaves who were emancipated during and after the American Civil War. These towns emerged in a number of states, most notably Texas. The Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment brought over 4 million people out of slavery from the Confederate States of America. Many were faced with […]
learn more*The Sandy Ground community is celebrated on this date in 1828. Founded by free Blacks prior to the American Civil War, it is located in Staten Island, New York. The first documented land purchase was by a Black man named Captain John Jackson on this date, just months after the abolition of slavery in New […]
learn moreTitilayo Bideako, educator and administrator shares perspectives on why knowledge of self is important
learn more*The Taíno people are celebrated on this date in 1492. They are the indigenous people of all of the Caribbean that were the first to encounter white-Europeans during the Middle Passage. At the time of European contact in the late fifteenth century, they were the primary peoples of of Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and the northern Lesser Antilles. The Taíno […]
learn more*Afro-Cubans are celebrated on this date in 1492. Afro-Cubans are of Black African ancestry, mostly West African because of the Middle Passage. The term Afro-Cuban can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural elements found in Cuban society […]
learn more*Afro-Puerto Ricans are celebrated on this date in 1873. Afro-Puerto Ricans are Puerto Ricans who are predominantly of Black African descent. The history of Puerto Ricans of African descent begins with African men, known as libertos, who traveled with the Spanish Conquistadors in the invasion of the island during the Middle Passage. The Spaniards […]
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