The NNPA Fund’s Black Press Day 2026 at Howard University brought together journalists, students and supporters to honor the legacy and future of the Black Press. The event featured discussions on innovation, including AI in newsrooms, ongoing digitization efforts, and the importance of intergenerational leadership, while also enshrining the late publisher Bernal E. Smith II for his lasting contributions to Black journalism.
Tag: Frederick Douglass
Posted inBlack History
D.C. Mayor Bowser, National Capital Parks – East and Congress honor ‘The Lion of Anacostia’
Frederick Douglass, the most important leader in the struggle for Black civil rights in the 19th century, was honored in Washington, D.C. with the groundbreaking of a new community center in his name, the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, and the renaming of the U.S. House press gallery.
Posted inBlack Press
Black Press Week to kick off with annual Sunday service
Black Press Sunday is celebrated annually to honor the 199th anniversary of the Black Press in America and the heroic Black leaders who founded it, with the goal of promoting the importance of Black media and journalists.
Posted inCommentary
Commentary: As the Old Guard of civil rights finish their march, ours must continue
By Steven Ragsdale This past weekend, thousands gathered in Alabama for the annual Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee Celebration, retracing the famous steps across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where civil rights marchers once faced violence for demanding the right to vote. As the nation reflected on that history, many of today’s and yesterday’s activists also mourned […]
Posted inBlack History
Woman’s search for family’s roots leads to ancestor John T. Ward – a successful entrepreneur and conductor on the Underground Railroad
After more than a decade researching her ancestry, Shanna Ward published a book about her forefather John T. Ward, a formerly enslaved man who became an Underground Railroad conductor, abolitionist and founder of one of the nation’s oldest Black-owned businesses. Her work highlights the power of genealogy to reclaim lost histories and honor the resilience of enslaved Africans and their descendants.
Posted inDMV News
Upcoming Black History Month events in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area
This Black Month History, the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area is full of events for the entire family. Take a look at this month’s community calendar to get an idea of happenings in your area.
Posted inBlack History
Dr. Carter G. Woodson: The man who shaped Black History Month
Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the founder of Negro History Week, Black History Month, and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, is remembered for his dedication to preserving and promoting the accomplishments of African Americans.
Posted inOPINION
Black History Month 2026: We proclaim it!
By Dr. Kaye Whitehead In 1926, during the nadir of Black history, Dr. Carter G. Woodson—the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the son of formerly enslaved parents, a former sharecropper and miner, and the second Black person to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University—launched the first […]
Posted inWord In Black
What’s in a coin?
By Dr. Frances ‘Toni’ DraperWord in Black More than metal. More than money. More than nostalgia. A coin is a declaration — of who a nation chooses to honor, what it chooses to remember and what it is willing to erase. That is why what happened at the U.S. Mint should unsettle anyone who cares […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
‘Black Diary 1887’ expands to D.C. with GPS walking tours
Black Diary 1887 is a revolutionary, GPS-enabled mobile app that connects users with overlooked narratives from the African Diaspora through interactive maps and audio storytelling, and is now available in 30 US cities, including Washington, D.C.
Posted inWashington D.C. News
‘Black Diary 1887’ expands to D.C. with GPS walking tours
By Yolanda Young and Thomas Bowen Black Diary 1887, the revolutionary, GPS-enabled mobile app reimagining cultural tourism through a Black lens, is officially launching its Washington, D.C. edition. Originally launched in Paris, with nearly 1,000 entries featuring people, places and events, Black Diary 1887 is now available in 30 U.S. cities, with the D.C. edition […]
Posted inOpinion
Independence Interrupted: What Fort Gregg-Adams teaches us this Fourth of July
The renaming of Fort Lee back to Fort Gregg-Adams, and the reversal of progress for Black women in the military and media, are part of a larger pattern of erasing Black history and undermining equity, and must be resisted in order to ensure that freedom fully includes Black Americans.