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Ebony Fashion Fair and Eunice Johnson
An exhibit was held at the Chicago History Museum. Eunice Johnson (1916-2010) and her husband, John H. Johnson (1918-2005) created a publishing empire that included the highly successful Ebony and Jet...
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Gordon Parks, Extraordinary Photojournalist
Gordon Parks, best-remembered as a gifted photojournalist, was also an author, composer and film director, achieving remarkable success in each field. His journalistic platform in Life magazine...
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Marie Van Brittan Brown: Home Security System Inventor
Marie Van Brittan Brown and her husband, Albert, created an early closed-circuit television system to be used for home monitoring. That security system was the forerunner of all advanced home security...
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Marshall Major Taylor: Champion Cyclist
Marshall “Major” Taylor (1878-1932) was a champion cyclist who set numerous world records and was the first African-American cyclist to become an international sports star. At the time Taylor raced,...
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Black America: An 1895 Stage Extravaganza for the North
Black America was the brainchild of Nate Salsbury (1846-1902), the man who was also behind the very successful, long-running Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. In 1894 Salsbury found Brooklyn’s Ambrose...
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Dorothy Dandridge, First African-American Nominated for a Best-Actress Oscar
Dorothy Dandridge (1922-1965) was a successful actress and singer. She started performing as a child in local variety shows, and then eventually made a career for herself in films. Her portrayal of the...
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Matthew Henson, Co-Discoverer of the North Pole
Matthew Henson (1866-1955) was hired by explorer Robert Peary (1856-1920) to be his valet; Peary saw in the young man the potential to be an asset on future expeditions. Henson proved his worth as...
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James Reese Europe: Bandleader Who Popularized Jazz and Ragtime
James Reese Europe (1880-1919) was a gifted musician who achieved numerous firsts in bringing African-American musicians and music into the mainstream. As a conductor and composer, he is credited with...
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Why Emancipation Day is Held April 16 in Washington, D.C.
Slaveholding was still a way of life for some residents of Washington, D.C. even after the Civil War began. But in 1862 that changed. The D.C. Emancipation Act was signed by President Abraham Lincoln...
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Harlem Hellfighter Receives Congressional Medal of Honor Posthumously
Henry Lincoln Johnson (1897-1929), who served valiantly as part of the 369th regiment (known as the Harlem Hellfighters) received the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously in a ceremony at the...
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Martin Luther King Jr. on The Declaration of Independence
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. left us with many inspirational thoughts, so it is never easy to pick just one. However, recently, I came upon part of a sermon he gave at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta,...
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Septima Clark Founded Citizenship Schools
Septima Clark (1898-1987) was an educator and civil rights activist. She established Citizenship Schools that transformed the South by increasing the number of African Americans who could vote. Her...
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Kenny Washington: Broke Color Line in NFL
Kenny Washington (1918-1971) was the first African American to sign with an NFL team after a 13-year unspoken pact among owners to bar black football players from teams. Kenny Washington signed with...
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Black Jockey Hall of Famer Isaac Burns Murphy
Isaac Burns Murphy (1861-1896) is considered one of the all-time great jockeys in Thoroughbred racing. He was the first black jockey to be inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame....
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Bessie Blount Griffin, Physical Therapist and Inventor
Bessie Blount (1914-2009) was a physical therapist who found herself working with injured soldiers during World War II. She recognized their need and desire to do more on their own, and she invented an...
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Ophelia DeVore-Mitchell: Fashion Model, Entrepreneur, Publisher
Ophelia DeVore (1921-2014) began her modeling career in 1938 when she was only 16. This gave her an early understanding of how difficult it was for non-whites to be selected for fashion photography or...
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The Triple Nickles: Army’s First Black Paratroopers
The Triple Nickles, as the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion was known, were a remarkable, highly-disciplined company of African American paratroopers who paved the way for integration in the...
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Grace Wisher, African American Helped Make Star Spangled Banner
Grace Wisher, age 13, was an indentured servant in the home of flag maker Mary Pickersgill of Baltimore. Pickersgill, who had taken over the business her mother started, was well known and highly...
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Escaped Slave Arthur Crumpler Took Pride in Learning
Sketch of Arthur Crumpler, Boston Daily Globe from 1898 Arthur Crumpler escaped slavery and overcame the fact that slaves were prevented from learning to read or write; he attended night school when he...
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Dr. May Chinn, Harlem Physician and Cancer Researcher
May Edward Chinn made significant contributions to medicine in both cancer diagnosis and as the only woman doctor in Harlem in the 1920s. Early Life May Chinn (1896-1980) was born in Great Barrington,...
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