Memorial to James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church “Image Ownership: Public Domain” On June 15, 2014, as part of the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Mississippi Freedom Summer, Rita Bender returned to Mt. Zion United Methodist … Read More(2014) Rita Bender, “Thoughts for the People of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church”
Before the Civil Rights Movement in America, African American models were visible in Black magazines such as Jet and Ebony, but non-white models were never seen on the covers of Western fashion magazines, on the runway, or in advertising. With that movement, and especially the … Read MoreDonyale Luna (1945-1979)
Rhythm and Blues singer Carla Thomas is best known for a series of hit records in the 1960s which garnered for her the title, the Queen of Memphis Soul. Carla Venita Thomas was born on December 1, 1942, in the Foote Homes Housing Project in … Read MoreCarla Thomas (1942- )
Sarah Forbes Bonetta, a princess of the Egbado clan of the Yoruba people, is best known as the goddaughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain. Bonetta was born in 1843 in what is now southwest Nigeria. Her parents’ names are unknown as are the names … Read MoreSarah Forbes Bonetta (1843-1880)
Dido Elizabeth Belle is best known for the 1779 painting of her alongside her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray, the great-niece of William Murray, The First Earl of Mansfield. The Earl, also known as Lord Mansfield, was at the time the Lord Chief Justice of England … Read MoreDido Elizabeth Belle (1761-1804)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Historians rarely compare the mostly working-class and poor Korean population in Japan and African Americans seeking economic justice in the United States. Japanese scholar Kazuyo Tsuchiya of Kanagawa University takes on that task in her new book, Reinventing Citizenship: Black Los … Read MoreThe TransPacific Struggle over Citizenship: Seeking Welfare Rights in Kawasaki City, Japan and Los Angeles, California,1962-1982
“Image Ownership: Texas State Historical Association” Thelma Adele Patten was the first African American female physician to practice medicine in Houston, Texas, and one of the first female obstetricians in the state. Dr. Patten was one of four children, born to Mason Barnett Patten and … Read MoreThelma Patten Law (1900-1968)
Efunporoye Osuntinubu Olumosa (often shortened to Efunroye Tinubu) was a shrewd and ambitious Nigerian business tycoon who wielded enormous economic power across Western Africa and political power in Abeokuta and Lagos. She was born around 1805 in the Yoruba town of Abeokuta in Western Nigeria. … Read MoreMadam Efunroye Tinubu (ca. 1805-1887)
Tituba was a slave in Salem, Massachusetts and was one of the first people persecuted in the Salem Witch Trials between 1691 and 1692. Many specifics about her life are unknown, and the historical accounts about her are often contradictory. She is believed to have … Read MoreTituba
Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens in Chicago, Illinois on March 23, 1953, eldest of Charles Stevens’ and Sandra Coleman’s five children. As a teenager growing up on Chicago’s South Side community, the presence of the Black Panther Party had an influence on Stevens. … Read MoreChaka Khan (1953- )
