When Booker T. Washington stepped to the podium at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895 to give a speech on race relations, two things happened. First, many fellow Black Americans, including W.E.B. Du Bois, derided his speech as “The Atlanta Compromise,” because Washington called the agitation for social equality “the extremest folly,” advocating instead slow, steady, […]
Washington, D.C.– The National Museum of African American History and Culture director faces numerous challenges in creating the official African-American Smithsonian Exhibit. Among the biggest, of course, is: What story will it tell? As part of the Smithsonian, the museum bears the burden of being the “official” — that is, the government’s — version of […]
In his seminal work, Race Matters, Dr. Cornel West questions matters of economics and politics, as well as addressing the crisis in Black leadership. The book was written in 1993, but many of its themes are salient today. His scholarship has come to be recognized globally and West, himself, is known for his combination of […]
PHILADELPHIA – A new outdoor exhibit is opening in the city’s historic district after years of protests, research and debate about how to balance the stories of the nation’s battle for independence with its history of slavery.
NELSON MANDELA, seeing the consummation of the cause for which he sacrificed 27 years of his life, joined F W de Klerk and 19 other South African leaders Last night at a ceremony to ratify the country’s first democratic constitution. Breaking with 45 years of apartheid and three centuries of colonial injustice, the constitution starts […]
99 years ago, the Fraternity Omega Psi Phi was founded by Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman, students at Howard University on November, 17th 1911. Several prominent African Americans have joined the ranks of Omega Psi Phi, including adviser to Bill Clinton, Vernon Jordan, political activist, Jesse Jackson, basketball players Shaquille O’Neal […]
Jefferson Thomas, who as a teenager was among nine black students to integrate a Little Rock high school in the nation’s first major battle over school segregation, has died.
You can't think of Ohio, without thinking of the famous track and field athlete, Jesse Owens.
Born on this day in Helena Arkansas was the gospel legend, Roberta Martin.
Nelson Mandela's greatest pleasure, his most private moment, is watching the sun set with the music of Handel or Tchaikovsky playing. Locked up in his cell during daylight hours, deprived of music, both these simple pleasures were denied him for decades.
New Orleans has played a major role in Black history and Black people have played a major role in the history of New Orleans.
