Black Music Matters: Why We Celebrate African-American Music Appreciation Month (Newsweek) Even Elvis Presley, who has long been revered as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, was heavily influenced by the sound and swagger of Chuck Berry, a guitarist, singer and songwriter who forged a style of rhythm and blues back in the 1950s that [...]
Houston’s Oldest Park Debuts Its $33.6 Million Renovation Although Emancipation Park informally opened at the beginning of the year, the Juneteenth Festival will mark its grand reopening. (Photo: The park's new recreation center) Emancipation Park opened in the Third Ward in 1872, on a plot of land purchased for $800 by a group of former [...]
The black history of Memorial Day has been nearly wiped from public memory — here’s the real story (Photo: 107th U.S. Colored Infantry at Fort Corcora (Library of Congress) Union General John Logan is often credited with founding Memorial Day. The commander-in-chief of a Union veterans’ organization called the Grand Army of the Republic, Logan [...]
Louisiana's Pierre Landry: first black mayor in the U.S. (WGNO) Louisiana is home to many of American history’s well-kept secrets, including the story of Pierre Landry, who became the country’s first African-American mayor in 1868. River Road African-American Museum Executive Director Kathe Hambrick wants to keep Landry’s story alive for future generations. “I didn’t know [...]
Exhibit -- "Purchased Lives: The American Slave Trade from 1808 to 1865" Touring a Bullock Texas State History Museum exhibit with experts helps explain the stories behind the stories. (Photo: Oil painting of a slave auction scene from between 1830 and 1850. Contributed by Matilda Gray Stream Collection, Everygreen Plantation) (Austin American-Statesman) If your African-American [...]
From controversy to empowerment: the history of black dolls A landmark collection of black dolls showcases troubling stereotypes but also reveals how children have seen themselves reflected in the toys they played with. From the 1890s to the 1930s in Macon, Georgia, a black handyman named Leo Moss was a pioneer of black dolls. He [...]
The Many Lives of Pauli Murray She was an architect of the civil-rights struggle, the women’s movement, and the first African-American woman vested as an Episcopal priest. Why haven’t you heard of her? (The New Yorker) The wager was ten dollars. It was 1944, and the law students of Howard University were discussing how best [...]
The Two Lives of Eugene Bullard How the first black combat pilot escaped America, became a hero in France, and ended up an elevator operator in New York. (PBS) In his own words, Eugene Bullard was the “first known Negro military pilot.” That, at least, was what was printed on his business cards. By that time, [...]
Time Magazine: 100 Photos Collection -- The stories behind 100 images that changed the world Emmett Till, 1955, photograph by David Jackson "When people saw what had happened to my son, men stood up who had never stood up before." Mamie Till-Mobley In August 1955, Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, was visiting relatives [...]
'It Was Our Theater': 40 Years After The Harlem Burned Down, Its Memory Flickers On (KUT Austin, NPR) On a vacant lot at the corner of East 12th and Salina streets, Ada Harden sees a silver screen where a fence now stands. “Can you imagine a theater sitting right here?” she asks, giggling. She certainly can. The Harlem [...]
