How an African Slave in Boston Helped Save Generations from Smallpox In the early 1700s, Onesimus shared a revolutionary way to prevent smallpox. Image: A Boston advertisement for a cargo of about 250 slaves recently arrived from Africa circa 1700, particularly stressing that the slaves are free of smallpox, having been quarantined on their [...]
Newly Found Letters Show How Texas Longhorns Delayed Integration Photo: The University of Texas football program has a storied history. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) (WBUR) Asher Price was one of approximately 97,000 fans in the stadium when the University of Texas played Kansas in October of last year. "The crowd was overflowing with burnt orange [...]
One of my fondest memories from childhood is Saturday morning cartoons. That was the only time of the week I gladly woke up at 7 a.m. I remember rushing in my pajamas to that big(?) 19” TV to watch Bugs Bunny and Super Friends. Sometimes my mother would sit with me. But I remember [...]
How Martin Luther King Jr. and Motown Saved the Sound of the Civil Rights Movement Photo: Martin Luther King, Jr. with Berry Gordy, actress Lena Horne, and musician Billy Taylor, in August 1963 at a Southern Christian Leadership Conference benefit program in Atlanta, Georgia. (Courtesy Motown Museum) (Time.com) You know Martin Luther King Jr.’s [...]
Descendants -- A Washington Post original series Image: “The Principal Varieties of Mankind,” drawn by British artist John Emslie in the mid-19th century. (Science Museum Group Collection) (The Washington Post) For many Americans, blended ancestry is an integral part of their identity. The mosaic of hyphenated heritages preserves cultural connections beyond the United States, [...]
So, impeachment has come and gone. Bernie Sanders is still a democratic socialist and no one will let Michael Bloomberg forget “stop and frisk.” The political season is in full bloom and for the next ten months or so we’re going to be inundated with political punditry and opinions about what will happen if [...]
Save the date, call for presentations! 2020 Aya Symposium at PVAMU K-12 Texas educators attending the event will receive 7 CPE credits! Following on the success of last year's event, the 2020 Aya Symposium, in association with the Texas Purple Hull Pea Festival, is set for Friday, June 5, at Prairie View A&M University. [...]
The importance of black history and why it should be celebrated beyond February Photo: Visitors tour the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images, FILE) (ABC News) In 1925, Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson, known as the "Father of Black History," had a bold idea. That year, he announced "Negro History [...]
An enslaved man was crucial to the Lewis and Clark expedition’s success. Clark refused to free him afterward. Photo: Ed Hamilton's York statue on Riverfront Plaza in Louisville. (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images) (Washington Post) York had done his job superbly. Whether the enslaved, 30-something black man wanted to participate in Lewis and Clark’s expedition to [...]
How Harry S. Truman went from being a racist to desegregating the military Photo: U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Edward Williams, right, shakes hands with President Harry S. Truman at a casual meeting during the president’s morning walk. (Harry S. Truman Library and Museum) (The Washington Post) Harry S. Truman didn’t start out as [...]
