A civil rights leader, antiwar activist, and Pan-African revolutionary, Stokely Carmichael is best known for popularizing the slogan “Black Power,” which in the mid 1960s galvanized a movement toward more militant and separatist assertions of black identity, nationalism, and empowerment and away from the liberal, … Read MoreStokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) (1941-1998)
Image Ownership: Public domain Gordon Hawkins was born in Clinton, Maryland, in 1959, into a family with six older brothers and sisters. He graduated from the University of Maryland’s School of Music. He is a baritone opera singer and considered one of the very best … Read MoreGordon Hawkins (1959- )
Black Lives Matter Protesters at Bernie Sanders Rally, Seattle, August 8, 2015 “Image Ownershp: Public Domain” Black Lives Matter was created by three community organizers—Alicia Garza in Oakland, California; Patrice Cullors in Los Angeles, California; and Opal Tometi in Phoenix, Arizona—as a response to the … Read MoreBlack Lives Matter, Seattle Chapter (2014– )
The Symbionese Liberation Army Self-Portrait, 1973 "Image Ownership: Public Domain" Coming from the biological term symbiosis, meaning the interdependence of different species, the Symbionese Liberation Army was a radical leftist revolutionary organization that sought to unify all left-wing struggles under one banner. The Berkeley, California-formed … Read MoreThe Symbionese Liberation Army (1973–1975)
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" Psychiatrist and professor, Juliano Moreira was born on January 6, 1873, in the coastal city of Salvador in the state of Bahia, Brazil, an area long known for its predominantly African-descended population. Moreira was the son of a Portuguese public lighting … Read MoreJuliano Moreira (1873–1932)
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" Prominent Virginia journalist Ray Boone Sr. was born February 2, 1938, in Suffolk, Virginia. His parents, foreign-born Japanese father, Tsujiro Miyanski, and mother, Leathia M. Boone, of mixed African and Native American descent, were banned from marrying in Virginia because of … Read MoreRaymond Harold/ “Ray” Boone Sr. (1938–2014)
The Triple Nickles Before a Jump, ca. 1945 "Image Ownership: Public Domain" On August 6, 1945, Private First Class Malvin L. Brown was killed after falling one hundred and forty feet during a “let-down” from a tree while fighting a forest fire in the Umpqua … Read More555th Parachute Infantry Battalion [Triple Nickles] (1944–1947)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” In the article below, Syracuse University historian Herbert Ruffin explores the rapid rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement as the most recent development in the ongoing struggle for racial and social justice in the United States. In the summer of … Read MoreBlack Lives Matter: The Growth of a New Social Justice Movement
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" On March 12, 2015, Ariana Miyamoto became the first Miss Universe Japan of mixed-race descent. The beauty queen was born on May 12, 1994, the product of a brief marriage between an African American serviceman and a Japanese woman. Shortly after … Read MoreAriana Miyamoto (1994- )
Ambassador Charles Aaron Ray was born in Center, Texas in 1945. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1972 from Benedictine College in Atchinson, Kansas, and his Master’s of Science from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and a Master’s of Science in National … Read MoreCharles Aaron Ray (1945- )