Black History Facts

For years, Johnnie R. Turner worked as hard as she could to help contribute to making sure for all people gained civil rights. She toiled selflessly for decades, helping to ensure the rights of all people, putting herself in...
Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum Director Elaine Turner has issued an invitation to come see why MSN.Com has listed the historic site as one of the best places to visit in the United States during Black History Month. Slave Haven...
With Black History Month just around the corner, the University of Memphis Black Student Association has big plans to commemorate the special month in February. The opening ceremony certainly will not disappoint on Friday night. Johnnie R. Turner, a former...
By Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, West Virginia University I'll never forget a student's response when I asked during a middle school social studies class what they knew about black history: "Martin Luther King freed the slaves." Martin Luther King Jr. was born...
By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press The first black woman named to lead Philadelphia's troubled police department pledged to be a "conduit" between the community and police and to address the racist and sexist tensions dividing the force. Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney...
by Dr. L. LaSimba M. Gray Jr. In spite of the pathos of segregation, there were some benefits for African Americans. Segregation created the “crucible of necessity.” A crucible – in its classic sense – is a vessel used to melt...
Many know Perry Eugene Wallace Jr. as the first African American to play basketball on scholarship in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). For me, he was a bigger-than-life extension of my family tree. Those two facts recently contributed to me being...
By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press BUFFALO, N.Y.  — The promise of reparations to atone for historical ties to slavery has opened new territory in a reckoning at U.S. colleges, which until now have responded with monuments, building name changes and...
She’s just eleven years old and just made history. Charlotte Nebres is starring as Marie, the young heroine of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, which opened Friday at New York City Ballet. She’s the first black ballerina to be cast in...
By MARTHA WAGGONER, Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The state of North Carolina is moving away from using the phrase "race riot" to describe the violent overthrow of the Wilmington government in 1898 and is instead using the word...