Dr. Mae C. Jemison made history on this day in 1992 by becoming the first woman of color to travel to space. Dr. Jemison took her lone flight to the stars aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour before moving on to a stellar career in education. Mae Carol Jemison was born October 17, 1956 in Decatur, […]
Linda Martell was a former country and blues artist who made her mark in the industry by becoming the first African-American woman to star in the Grand Ole Opry. Martell enjoyed a brief period of success but elected to raise her family and preserve her health instead of chasing down fame as a musician. Born […]
Matthew Henson is believed to be the first African-American explorer and is credited alongside Robert Edwin Peary as one of the first two men to reach the North Pole. Henson’s contributions to Peary’s expeditions went largely unnoticed up until his death in 1955, but history reveals that he was an invaluable assistant and explorer. Henson […]
The Red Summer of 1919 refers to a series of race riots that took place in dozens of cities across the United States. On this day that year, Washington, D.C. endured an ugly race riot that left dozens dead and several more injured. As World War I was becoming a memory, many former military men, […]
The matches between American boxer Joe “The Brown Bomber” Louis and German Max “Black Uhlan of the Rhine” Schmeling defined the era of early 20th Century boxing. On this day in 1938, Louis defeated Schmeling and became the first Black heavyweight boxer of his rank to score a first-round knockout. Louis and Schmeling previously met […]
Today marks Youth Day across South Africa, which is meant to observe the start of the Soweto Uprising. Hector Pieterson, a youth shot and killed during the protests in 1976, was the centerpiece of one of the uprising’s most iconic images and helped to rally the world against the country’s racist Apartheid rule. The uprising […]
Samuel Sharpe was a Jamaican preacher who led a 10-day slave revolt on the island nation that moved the British Empire to end slavery in 1833. The so-called “Baptist War” because of the denomination of many involved, or the “Christmas Rebellion of 1831,” left over several hundred slaves dead. Sharpe was born around 1801, according […]
