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
William Henry Jernagin was a Baptist minister, civil rights advocate and Organizer of the Washington Bureau of the National Fraternal Council of Negro Churches. Born on October 13, 1869 in Mashulaville, Mississippi, to Allen and Julia Ruth Jernagin. He was educated in the public schools … Read MoreWilliam Henry Jernagin (1869-1958)
James E. Walton, longtime professor of English at California State University, Fresno, was born on September 13, 1944 in Bessemer, Alabama to Willie Walton, Sr. and Mary Woods Cutts. Walton attended a two-room schoolhouse in Alabama. At age three, his grandmother taught him to read … Read MoreJames E. Walton (1944-2019)
During World War II, thirty African-American correspondents risked their lives reporting news home from the front-lines of the war. Covering the war took two forms. First, they were reporters of the combat between the Allies and the Axis. Concurrently, they reported on the treatment of … Read MoreDeton Brooks (1909-1975)
Vivian O’Dell Lee, a native of Spring, Texas, is the youngest child of Alvirita and Arthur Booker. She was born on January 28, 1938. Growing up, Lee traveled extensively with her mother and stepfather, U.S. Master Sergeant Frank Little, to Army locations in the U.S. … Read MoreVivian O. Lee (1938- )
In the article below, culinary historian Diane M. Spivey describes the centuries-old diaspora of African foods and cooking traditions in North and South America. Africa has been a major contributor to the cuisine of North and South America although this contribution has long been overlooked, … Read MoreTransAtlantic Food Migration: The African Culinary Influence on the Cuisine of the Americas
Merze Tate, a historian, political author, world traveler, and philanthropist, was the first African American to graduate from Oxford University. She was born during a terrible blizzard in rural Blanchard, Michigan on February 6, 1905 to Charles and Myrtle Tate, both farmers. Her grandparents were … Read MoreVernie Merze Tate (1905-1996)
William Jones, one of the last Buffalo Soldiers, was also a U.S. Army Master Sergeant, Prisoner of War (POW) in Korea and successful entrepreneur. Jones was born in Tamo, Arkansas to farmers Joseph and Elizabeth Jones on July 15, 1918, the youngest of seven children. Jones grew up in Kansas and attended the … Read MoreWilliam Jones (1918-2009)
In the description of his 2015 book, African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement, historian Vincent Intondi describes the long but little-known history of black Americans in the Nuclear Disarmament Movement. His essay, which appears below, tells the compelling … Read MoreFighting For Freedom, Fighting Against the Bomb: African Americans and the Campaign for a Nuclear-Free World, 1945-
Earl Grant was a popular American musician during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He is best known for his instrumental version of the song “Ebb Tide.” Grant was born in Idabel, Oklahoma on January 20, 1931. While there is not much known about his childhood, we do know … Read MoreEarl Grant (1931-1970)
