Tom Joyner is the first African American to become a syndicated radio show host. His “The Tom Joyner Show” is broadcast to over 104 radio stations in the United States. He is also a muscian, author, producer, actor, and television show host. Besides his media … Read MoreTom Joyner (1949- )
American Beach, the only beach in Florida that welcomed black Americans and offered safe, secure overnight accommodations during Jim Crow segregation, was founded in 1935 by the Afro-American Life Insurance Company (AALIC) which was established in 1901 to provide the Jacksonville, Florida black community with … Read MoreAmerican Beach, Jacksonville, Florida (1936- )
On Christmas Day, 1837, during the Second Seminole War, the Africans and Native Americans comprising Florida’s Seminole Nation defeated a superior U.S. fighting force. In more than half a century of Florida invasions, this was the worst defeat the Seminole Nation inflicted on the American … Read MoreBattle of Lake Okeechobee (1837)
Beauty pageant queen, model, and actress Denny Andreina Méndez de la Rosa was born on July 20, 1978 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Her mother, Lidia Chavez, who had divorced her biological father, met a vacationing Italian, Sergio Casabianca, who became her stepfather. At age five, … Read MoreDenny Méndez (1978- )
In the following article longtime BlackPast.org contributor and San Diego State University Librarian Robert Fikes discusses African American emigrants to and visitors in Italy. Since the 1850s, African Americans have gone to Italy as tourists, students, soldiers, writers, musicians, opera singers, social activists, and actors. … Read MoreThe African American Experience in Italy, 1852 to 2013
Marion Williams, an American gospel singer, was born in Miami, Florida on August 29, 1927. Her father, originally from Nassau, Bahamas, worked as a butcher, a barber, and a music teacher while her mother, born in South Carolina, worked as a laundress. One of 11 … Read MoreMarion Williams (1927-1994)
During the first two decades of the 19th Century, escaped American slaves formed a military cadre called Britain’s Royal Navy Corps of Colonial Marines. After the War of 1812 these former soldiers established Trinidad’s “Merikin” communities. These black marines in the British Navy were first organized in 1808 to … Read MoreBritish Corps of Colonial Marines (1808-1810, 1814-1816)
When Doug Williams took the field for the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXII, it marked the first time in National Football League (NFL) history that an African American quarterback played in a Super Bowl. Douglas Lee “Doug” Williams was born August 9, 1955 in … Read MoreDoug Williams (1955- )
In the essay below, Bruce L. Mouser, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, describes the conflicting goals of African Creoles, African Americans, and British and American colonizationists in the fate of the Rio Pongo Valley along the West Coast of Africa. … Read MoreAfricans, African Americans, Great Britain and the United States: The Curious History of the Rio Pongo in the Early 19th Century
Guadalupe Victoria Yolí Raymond, known popularly as “La Lupe,” was a Cuban and Cuban American singer and dancer. She was born in San Pedrito, a locality within Santiago de Cuba, Oriente Province, Cuba on December 23, 1936. Yolí grew up in an impoverished family. Her … Read MoreGuadalupe Victoria Yolí Raymond (1936-1992)
