Librarian, author, and storyteller Augusta Braxston Baker was the first African American woman to hold an administrative position with the New York Public Library (NYPL). She was a pioneering advocate of the positive portrayal of blacks in children’s literature, and beginning in the 1930s removed … Read More … Read MoreAugusta Braxston Baker (1911-1998)
During his life historian Lawrence Dunbar Reddick used his scholarly expertise to fight for civil rights. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 3, 1910, Reddick received his Bachelor’s and Master’s in history from Fisk University in 1932 and 1933, respectively. He went to the University … Read More … Read MoreLawrence Dunbar Reddick (1910-1995)
[…] events Capitalize the names of widely recognized epochs in anthropology, archaeology, geology, and history. Example: the Bronze Age, the Dark Ages, the Renaissance Also capitalize widely recognized popular names for periods and events. Examples: the Boston Tea Party, the Civil War, the Great Depression […] … Read MoreBlackPast Style Guide
[…] off subversives lists, the organization could no longer provide legal aid for the poor and working class organizations. The Guild experienced a renaissance in the 1960s as the civil rights movement brought to prominence a new generation of lawyers. In 1961 the Guild adopted […] … Read MoreNational Lawyers Guild (1937- )
Salome Bey was an American-born, Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and actress who, after emigrating to Toronto, became known as “Canada’s first lady of the blues.” Salome Wideman was born in Newark, New Jersey, on October 10, 1933, to Andrew and Victoria Wideman. Her father was a … Read More … Read MoreSalome Bey (1933-2020)
[…] works were The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality (1974); The Cultural Unity of Black Africa (1978), and Towards the African Renaissance: Essays in African Culture and Development, 1946-1960 (1978). Diop received the highest award for scientific research from the Institut Cultural Africain […] … Read MoreCheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986)
John Francis Wheaton was a late 19th Century and early 20th Century lawyer and a politician. Wheaton ran for elective office in three states and was the first African American to serve in the Minnesota House of Representatives. John Francis Wheaton was born on May … Read More … Read MoreJohn Francis Wheaton (1866-1922)
Stage performer Richard B. Harrison found his passion for acting as a child. He devoted his life to pursuing this passion in the face of Jim Crow, finally becoming nationally acclaimed in the last years of that life. Harrison was born on September 28, 1864 in … Read More … Read MoreRichard B. Harrison (1864-1935)
As one of the country’s most notorious gangsters and drug kingpins, Frank Lucas led a very public life, even having his story depicted in the film American Gangster. Lucas was born to Mahalee Jones Lucas and Fred Lucas, on September 9, 1930 in La Grange, North Carolina. … Read More … Read MoreFrank Lucas (1930-2019)
The Black Arts Movement was the name given to a group of politically motivated black poets, artists, dramatists, musicians, and writers who emerged in the wake of the Black Power Movement. The poet Imamu Amiri Baraka is widely considered to be the father of the … Read More … Read MoreThe Black Arts Movement (1965-1975)
