Brash, bold, provocative, and edgy. These are just some of the many words that were used to describe the poet and performer Essex Hemphill who was known for his outspoken, direct, and often confrontational poems and articles. Hemphill was also unapologetic about his open homosexuality. … Read MoreEssex Hemphill (1957-1995)
Image Ownership: Public Domain In July 1995, President Bill Clinton delivered a major speech at the White House in defense of Affirmative Action programs across the nation at a time when many critics were calling for their repeal. He argued that such programs were still needed … Read More(1995) William Jefferson Clinton, “the Job of Ending Discrimination in This Country is Not Over”
Pioneering African-American Aviators Featuring the Tuskegee Airmen of Arkansas is a study of little known black women and men who participated in the first four decades of U.S. aviation history. The book began originally in 2006 as a biography of Milton Pitts Crenchaw, a native … Read MoreArkansas Pioneers in Flight: African Americans in Aviation from the Natural State, 1932 to 1953.
Roger Sauvage was one the few pilots of African descent to fly in both the French and Russian Air Forces in World War II. Sauvage was born in Paris on March 26, 1917, the son of a white Frenchwoman, Marie Sauvage, and a black soldier … Read MoreRoger Sauvage (1917-1977)
Celia Cruz, the “Queen of Salsa,” was one of the most notable 20th Century ambassadors of Cuban culture. Cruz was born “Ursula Hilaria Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso” to working-class parents in Havana, Cuba. Her father, Simon Cruz, was a railroad stoker, and her mother, Catalina … Read MoreCelia Cruz (1925-2003)
Guinn v. United States (1915) held the “grandfather clause” enacted by the Oklahoma State Legislature invalid because it violated the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Fifteenth Amendment, the last of three post-Civil War Amendments ratified to end slavery, endowed the rights of … Read MoreGuinn v. United States (1915)
The Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill (hereinafter “Dyer Bill”) refers to a 1922 Congressional effort to pass federal legislation to address and otherwise provide federal prosecution of nationwide lynchings, particularly those in the southern states. The bill was first introduced by Missouri Congressman Leonidas C. Dyer in … Read MoreDyer Anti-Lynching Bill (1922)
Dorothy Leigh Maynor was an international concert soprano, founder of the Harlem School of the Arts, the first African American to sing at an American president’s inauguration (Harry S. Truman’s, on January 20, 1949), the first African American artist to perform at Constitution Hall, the … Read MoreDorothy Leigh Maynor (1910-1996)
Wade Hampton McCree, Jr. was a noted American attorney, jurist, and law professor. Born to middle class parents in Des Moines, Iowa, his father, Wade Hampton McCree, Sr., was an alumnus of Fisk University and had a respected career as a pharmacist and later as … Read MoreWade Hampton McCree Jr. (1920-1987)
In June 1981, Audre Lorde gave the keynote presentation at the National Women’s Studies Association Conference, Storrs, Connecticut. Her presentation appears below. Racism. The belief in the inherent superiority of one race over all others and thereby the right to dominance, manifest and implied. Women … Read More(1981) Audre Lorde, “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism”
