Student Historian

Jonathan Bradley is a Master of Letters student with the U.S. Studies Centre at the University of Sydney in Australia. His academic career has been an effort to knit together his twin interests in American politics and American culture, particularly popular culture, and he has written on subjects including the presentation of biracialism in the television series “The Boondocks” and the similarities between the treatment of the everyman in country and hip-hop music.

In 2010, he traveled to the United States on the Marion Macaulay Bequest Scholarship, where he interned with the House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, and attended the University of Washington as an exchange student. Jonathan is a journalist and blogger, who has been published in the Sydney Morning Herald, the LA Weekly and Stylus Magazine. His undergraduate degree, from the University of Newcastle, was in Communication, majoring in Journalism.

John Churchville (1941- )

John Elliott Churchville is a civil rights activist and black nationalist who founded Philadelphia’s Freedom Library Community Project, which would become the Freedom Library Day School. Born in Philadelphia in 1941, Churchville attended Simon Gratz High School, and, on graduation, began studying music education at … Read MoreJohn Churchville (1941- )

Maxwell Curtis Stanford Jr. (a.k.a. Muhammad Ahmad) (1941- )

Maxwell Curtis Stanford, Jr., known since 1970 as Muhammad Ahmad, is a civil rights activist and was a founder of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), a black power organization active during the 1960s. Born on July 31, 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he graduated from West … Read MoreMaxwell Curtis Stanford Jr. (a.k.a. Muhammad Ahmad) (1941- )

American League of Colored Laborers (1850-?)

The American League of Colored Laborers (ALCL) was the first black American labor union. It was formed in New York City in 1850 as a collective for skilled free craftsmen, and sought to develop agricultural and industrial arts skills among its members, and to encourage … Read MoreAmerican League of Colored Laborers (1850-?)

Joshua Johnston (ca. 1763-1832)

Joshua Johnston, also known as Joshua Johnson, was a portraitist active in Baltimore, Maryland between 1790 and 1825, and the first African American to gain recognition as an artist. Primarily a painter of members of the slave-holding aristocracy, he was rediscovered by Baltimore genealogist and … Read MoreJoshua Johnston (ca. 1763-1832)