The following are short descriptions of individuals, places and events which have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
In the following article independent historian Charles Kastner describes the 1944-1945 tour of Alberta Hunter and the Rhythm Rascals who became the first black USO performing unit to Visit the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II. The China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of World War Two, was … Read MoreAlberta Hunter and the Rhythm Rascals in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II
Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi was a loyal Sahabah (companion) to the Prophet Muhammad and thus one of the earliest converts in the newly-emerging religion of Islam. He was also the first mu’azzin (prayer caller) in the Muslim faith. Rabah is the first person of known … Read MoreBilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi (580-640)
South African career trade unionist Lucy Buyaphi Mvubelo was a leading figure in the movement to improve conditions for workers in South Africa, although she saw that campaign as separate from the anti-Apartheid Movement. Lucy Mvubelo was born on January 20, 1920 in Spes Bona, … Read MoreLucy Buyaphi Mvubelo (née Twala) (1920-2000)
Francis Williams is reputed to be the first person of African ancestry to graduate from Cambridge University. Williams was born around 1702 to John and Dorothy Williams, a free African couple in Jamaica. John Williams had been manumitted by the will of his former master. … Read MoreFrancis Williams (Jamaica) (1700-1770)
In December 2009, less than one year into his first term in office, President Barack Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize, joining a only two other U.S. Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson who received the prize while in officer. Former President Jimmy Carter … Read More(2009) Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, “A Just and Lasting Peace”
Dr. Jotello Festiri Soga in 1886 became the first South African of any race to receive a degree in veterinary medicine. Born in 1865 into a distinguished Xhosa family from the Eastern Cape, his parents were Rev. Tiyo Soga, and Janet Burnside Soga, who was … Read MoreJotello Festiri Soga (1865-1906)
The Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley, South Africa, named for pioneer black journalist, author, and founding member of the African National Congress, Sol Plaatje, is a 21st century public university. Created under Section 20 of the Higher Education Act of 1997, it opened its doors … Read MoreSol Plaatje University (2014- )
In the following article, Russian DJ Ivan Tchijevsky describes exclusively for BlackPast.org the long history of black music and black musical performers in Russia. Writing from a musical festival in Odessa, Ukraine in June 2019, he outlines his views below. As I visit festivals of … Read MoreThe Afro-Beat in Russia: The Influence of Black Music on Russian Popular Culture, 1890-2002
On April 30, 1963, Bristol’s black population protested the Bristol Omnibus Company and the Transportation and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) racist employment practices. By 1963, an estimated 6,000 black people in Bristol. Unlike the hiring and visibility of black bus crews in cities such as … Read MoreThe Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963
Although persons of African ancestry had resided in Great Britain since the time of the Roman conquest, their numbers and influence increased dramatically in the years immediately after World War II. On June 22, 1948 the HMT Empire Windrush, carrying over a thousand passengers, docked … Read MoreThe Windrush Generation (1948- )
