The Combahee River Collective, founded by black feminists and lesbians in Boston, Massachusetts in 1974, was best known for its Combahee River Collective Statement. This document was one of the earliest explorations of the intersection of multiple oppressions, including racism and heterosexism. For the first … Read MoreCombahee River Collective (1974-1980)
The Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco Image Courtesy: total13 (CC BY-SA 2.0) Although Third Baptist Church, the first black church of San Francisco, was established in 1852 in the Fillmore District, located west of downtown San Francisco, this historic area has been the home to a … Read MoreFillmore District, San Francisco
Ellis (Eli) Reed is a professor, author, and photographer. He is the first African American selected as a full member into the Magnum Photos agency, the elite international photojournalist collective. Having been published in close to 30 magazines, Reed is best known for his three … Read MoreEllis Reed (Eli) (1946- )
In the 1950s and 1960s during the height of the civil rights movement when African American activists articulated their grievances against American society, those outside the community often pose the question, “What do black men want?” Apparently that question was raised in the 1860s as … Read More(1865) Frederick Douglass, “What the Black Man Wants”
Pearl L. Stewart, freelance journalist and journalism educator was the first African American woman to lead a major daily newspaper when she was hired in 1992 to head the Oakland Tribune. In 2002 she founded the website Black College Wire (blackcollegewire.org), an online news service … Read MorePearl Stewart (1950- )
Image Ownership: Public Domain Frederick Douglass would eventually become one of the most skilled and powerful orators of his day. In 1841, three years after he escaped slavery and settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, 34-year-old Douglass gave a brief speech on a situation he had … Read More(1841) Frederick Douglass, “The Church and Prejudice”
Image Ownership: Public Domain One year after his Atlanta Compromise Speech 40-year-old Booker T. Washington was on his way to becoming the most influential African American in the United States. One example of that growing influence was the invitation from the Harvard Alumni to speak … Read More(1896) Booker T. Washington, “Address to the Harvard Alumni Dinner”
Image Ownership: Reuters (Fair Use) In 2004 Rev. Al Sharpton of New York City, campaigned for the Democratic nomination for President. Sharpton saw himself as the successor to Rev. Jesse Jackson who campaigned for the Presidency on behalf of the impoverished and oppressed. Although he … Read More(2004) Al Sharpton, “Speech Before the 2004 Democratic National Convention”
Clifton R. Wharton, one of the first African-Americans to hold a professional position in the U.S. State Department, was born in 1899 in Baltimore, Maryland. Described as a “scholastic marvel,” Wharton attended English High School in Boston, Massachusetts, skipped college and was accepted to Boston … Read MoreClifton Reginald Wharton, Sr. (1899-1990)
Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., has combined careers in business, higher education, foreign economic development, and philanthropy. The son of Clifton Wharton, Sr. who served 40 years in the U. S. Foreign Service, Wharton began school in the Canary Islands while his father was a diplomat … Read MoreClifton Reginald Wharton Jr. (1926- )
