Black History & Heritage

Educational Amnesia

EDUCATIONAL AMNESIA by Bryan A. Brown, Ph.D. I feel like something went wrong! There was a time in the life of black families when people thought, “If I can only get my child a quality education, their life will be […]

Understanding Culture and Diversity in Building Communities

What is culture? As community builders, understanding culture is our business. Whether you live in central Kansas or New York City, whether you live in Miami, Nevada, or the Pacific Northwest, you are working with and establishing relationships with people–people […]

Why it’s important to observe Black History Month

Why it’s important to observe Black History Month By Regina Edmondson | Published February 2, 2015 In the United States, the month of February is observed as Black History Month or National African American History Month, and we use the […]

Why It’s Hard to Talk about Race

Dr. Robin DiAngelo explains why white people implode when talking about race. I am white. I have spent years studying what it means to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless, yet is deeply divided by race. This […]

Why Are People Racist?

Why are people racist? If we’re all part of the human race, why are people racist? After all, there are no biological differences between people. No race is superior or inferior to another. We’re all the same. There are many […]

Let’s talk race: a teacher tells students not to be ‘color-blind’

Let’s talk race: a teacher tells students not to be ‘color-blind’ Author: Meghan L Mills , Assistant Professor of Sociology, Birmingham-Southern College Following the recent events featured in the media such as the riots in Baltimore that came after the fatal […]

Origins of Black History Month

The story of Black History Month begins in 1915, half a century after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. That September, the Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and the prominent minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association […]

Claudette Colvin

On March 2, 1955, a full nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous arrest, Claudette Colvin was dragged from a Montgomery bus by two police officers, arrested and taken to an adult jail to be booked. She was only 15 years […]

Robert Smalls

Robert Smalls was an African-American born into slavery in Beaufort, S.C., but during and after the American Civil War, he became a ship’s pilot, sea captain, and politician.He freed himself, his crew and their families from slavery on May 13, 1862, when he led […]

Maya Angelou

Born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, writer and civil rights activist Maya Angelou is known for her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman. […]

A Politically Correct Lexicon

Your ‘how-to’ guide to avoid offending anyone By Joel Bleifuss In the late ’70s, “politically correct,” “PC” for short, entered the public lexicon. Folks on the left used the term to dismiss views that were seen as too rigid and, […]

A History of the Voting Rights Act

The Voting Rights Act is a historic civil rights law that is meant to ensure that the right to vote is not denied on account of race or color.   1866 Civil Rights Act of 1866 grants citizenship, but not […]

Deray McKesson

Black Lives Matter activist Deray Mckesson took the stage at a San Francisco gala on Saturday and opened up about the complexities of being black and gay. “I stand here as a proud black gay man,” said Mckesson, who has […]

African – American Civil Right Timeline

   African – American Civil Right Timeline   1619 Photograph of newspaper advertisement from the 1780s The first African slaves arrive in Virginia.   _____________________________ 1746 Lucy Terry, an enslaved person in 1746, becomes the earliest known black American poet […]

Stephen Colbert’s radical vulnerability

Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert interview with DeRay McKesson, Black Lives Matter Activist – January 18, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qffCO1b-7Js ____________________________________________________ Stephen Colbert’s radical vulnerability: Talking frankly about race could be a game-changer for his moderate white audience By Sonia Saraiya […]

Motown: How It All Began

Published on Jun 16, 2013 By 1959, Berry Gordy had become known for his songwriting talent, but he had his sights set on something even bigger: owning his own record company. Watch Berry describe how he turned $800 and a […]

Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson – Great Minds: Math and Science (5:05) In the early days of spaceflight, if NASA needed to plot a rocket’s path or confirm a computer’s calculations, they knew who to ask: Katherine Johnson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdr9QBRcPEk   Katherine Johnson – […]

African American Lives Series

African American Lives Series The Road Home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8byrlp98Rs The Past is Another Country: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzWnSM7TxNE We Come from People: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x5oAUTPL9M A Way Out of No Way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsvANqpGv8k  

Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Dr. Cornel West – Black History Month – February 1, 2011

Published on Nov 21, 2015 Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson 2/1/2011 Guests: Dr Cornel West, George Clinton Other: Craig celebrates the start of Black History Month with talking with Cornel West    

The Ruby Bridges Story

In 1960, a 6-year-old girl named Ruby Bridges became a powerful symbol of the Civil Rights Movement when she began attending the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. It was a turbulent time for race relations in the […]

Ten Famous African-American Politicians

    Barack Obama: President Barack Obama is obviously the most famous African-American politician. Before taking the top political job in 2009, Mr. Obama served in the Illinois senate starting in 1996 and as a US Senator from Illinois beginning in […]

Young American Black Activists

DeRay Mckesson is an American civil rights activist. He is a member of the Black Lives Matter Movement, which organizes protests that center on African-American people. Mckesson is known for his activism via social media outlets such as Twitter and […]

The Racial Divide in the United States: A Reflection for the World Day of Peace 2015

The Racial Divide in the United States: A Reflection for the World Day of Peace 2015 – By The Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D. January 1, 2015 This prologue is an invitation to imagine the country and the […]