When Madam C.J. Walker first rolled into Irvington, New York, in her high-powered motorcar, the 49-year-old beauty magnate caused tongues to wag. “Impossible,” the Hudson River town’s residents told the New York Times when they heard this black woman was building an Italianate manse right on the main road. “No woman of her race could […]
Category: Black History Month 2017
Posted inInstantArticles
Group Seeks to Showcase Frederick Md. County’s Black History
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — A Frederick judge in 1913 struck down Maryland’s “grandfather clause” as unconstitutional. Maryland was one of a number of states with constitutions that exempted white voters from poll tests and taxes as long as they could prove their grandfathers were registered to vote before 1869 and owned at least $500 worth […]
Posted inBaltimore News, Black History Month 2017, InstantArticles
Old Western Maryland Farmstead’s Black History Runs from John Brown to James Brown
DARGAN, Md. (AP) — From John Brown’s raid to James Brown’s wail, a stream of hot-blooded American history runs through a 19th-century farmstead in the Appalachian foothills of western Maryland. The John Brown connection is well known. The restored log farmhouse near Dargan is where the abolitionist launched his ill-fated, 1859 seizure of a federal […]
Posted inInstantArticles
Spotlight on Black Educators: Bowie State University President Mickey Burnim
Even though Mickey Burnim will soon relinquish his position as president of Bowie State University (BSU), his passion and work for Black higher education will not cease. He said he will still keep fighting for HBCUs and continue educating African Americans and others who seek their campuses. Transitioning Bowie State University President Mickey Burnim said […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
D. C. Black History Month Celebrations Focus on Progress
The retiring head of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and Human Rights called for a new effort to stop the Trump administration from reversing decades of progress made by people of color at a Masonic Black History Program in the District of Columbia. Wade Henderson spoke at a Masonic Grand Lodge celebration about the […]
Posted inNational News
AFRO Honors Black Leadership in Education
On Feb. 23, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, the AFRO will host an event to celebrate leaders in education in the Maryland/D.C. area making a positive impact on the community. The theme for this year’s Black History Month, by the Association […]
Posted inBaltimore News, Black History Month 2017, InstantArticles
Spotlight on Black Educators: Maria Thompson, President of Coppin State University
For Dr. Maria Thompson, president of Coppin State University, education is a family business. Dr. Maria Thompson, president of Coppin State University, said the university creates opportunities for “underrepresented” and “differently prepared populations.” Her paternal grandmother, both of her parents, and her two older sisters were all educators, so it seemed only right that she […]
Posted inCommentary
A Lesson from Black History for 2017
In asking America to focus upon the significance to African Americans of gaining an empowering public education, both historically and today, The Association for the Study of African-American Life and History has done our nation another important service. As the ASALH points out, the barriers and accomplishments that have defined our educational struggles call upon […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Coretta Scott King’s ‘My Life, My Love, My Legacy’
The spouses of revolutionary leaders, celebrities, and famous athletes, tend to get overlooked. It’s rare that we get a vivid description of what life was like for the spouse. It’s even rarer that we get notable memoirs. My Life, My Love, My Legacy, by the late Coretta Scott King, wife of Dr. Martin Luther King […]
Posted inNational News
African-American GIs of WWII: Fighting for Democracy Abroad and at Home
Until the last decade, the contributions of African-American soldiers in World War II barely registered in America’s collective memory of that war. The “tan soldiers,” as the Black press affectionately called them, were also for the most part left out of the triumphant narrative of America’s “Greatest Generation.” In order to tell their story of […]
Posted inNational News
Lynch Trial Begins
Carolyn Bryant, the woman who’s accusation against Emmett Till lead to his brutal lynching, recently recanted her allegations. The following article from 1955 details the beginning of the trial against J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant for Till’s murder. Milam and Bryant were ultimately found not guilty although they confessed their crimes several years later. Mother […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Spotlight on Black Educators: Baltimore County Superintendent of BCPS’s S. Dallas Dance
Baltimore County Schools Superintendent S. Dallas Dance didn’t plan on being an educator. S. Dallas Dance, Baltimore County Superintendent, says he is racing to better prepare public school students for the challenges of the future. (Courtesy photo) He went to college planning to study law, but once he discovered his talent tutoring other students, he […]