Black History & Heritage

Still Relevant: Contemplating the importance of Black History Month in today’s society

Still Relevant: Contemplating the importance of Black History Month in today’s society – By Rob Montana editor@ithacatimes.com While the origins of Black History Month date back to 1926 — when historian Carter G. Woodson announced the second week of February […]

Stephen Colbert’s radical vulnerability: Talking frankly about race could be a game-changer for his moderate white audience

This article can be read before watching the video from “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” listed on the Inclusive Community Video list. VIDEO Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert interview with DeRay McKesson, Black Lives Matter Activist – January […]

Blacks’ Exodus Reshapes Cities

Blacks’ Exodus Reshapes Cities By Judy Keen, USA TODAY CHICAGO — Kendall Taylor grew up on this city’s tough South Side and is a pastor at Lodebar Church and Ministries in his old neighborhood. But he lives 35 miles away, […]

TRAYVON MARTIN, OSCAR GRANT, JOHN CRAWFORD III, MICHAEL BROWN, JR., ERIC GARNER, AND TAMIR RICE

TRAYVON MARTIN, OSCAR GRANT, JOHN CRAWFORD III, MICHAEL BROWN, JR., ERIC GARNER, AND TAMIR RICE A document from “The Racial Divide in the United States: A Reflection for the World Day of Peace.” “God gave Noah the rainbow sign. No […]

Ashanti Prayer for Blessing

Let us remember That we are in the Holy presence of God   O Lord, O God, creator Of Our land, our earth, the trees, the animals and humans, all is for your honor The drums beat it out, and […]

Kikuyu Peace Prayer

Let us remember That we are in the Holy presence of God   Praise ye Lord, Peace be with us. Say that the elders may have wisdom and speak with one voice. Peace be with us. Say that the country […]

Pygmy Prayer

A prayer Christian done by Pygmy people in Africa. ______________________________________ Let us remember That we are in the holy presence of God   In the beginning was God, Today is God, Tomorrow will be God. Who can make an image […]

A Prayer for Black History Month and Support for Hope

Let us remember That we are in the Holy presence of God   Loving God, who reigns on Earth as it is in Heaven Father God Whom the prophet Isaiah called the Mother of Zion, We come to you with […]

Paul Laurence Dunbar: “A Prayer”

The son of ex-slaves and a classmate of aviation pioneer Orville Wright, Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African American to gain widespread fame as a poet. His ability to use different conversational dialects made his works accessible to a […]

Frederick Douglass: “In Search of Freedom”

Through prayer and introspection, Frederick Douglass tried to make sense of his enslavement on a Maryland plantation. This piece, calling out to God for deliverance, was taken from his riveting autobiography published seven years after his escape to freedom. __________________________________ […]

Mary McLeod Bethune: “Symphony of Life”

Born into a family of seventeen children whose parents had once been slaves, Mary McLeod Bethune became one of the most indefatigable voices for global equality and understanding in the immediate years before and after World War II. She was […]

Malcolm X: “Prayer to Allah”

  This prayer, which stems from the teachings of the Koran, has had some significance in recent U.S. history. To Malcolm X, who was an avowed racist for a good portion of his adult life, it became the catalyst for […]

W.E.B DuBois: “Give Us Grace”

Let us remember That we are in the Holy presence of God   W.E.B DuBois: “Give Us Grace” Educator and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois became the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard. An […]

Sojourner Truth: “Do For Me God”

Let us remember That we are in the Holy presence of God   Sojourner Truth: “Do For Me God” The indefatigable Sojourner Truth, the former slave who became outspoken in her defense of human dignity, often spoke to God in […]

Prayer for Black History Month

Prayer for Black History Month Written by Fr. Clarence Williams, CPPS Let us remember That we are in the Holy presence of God Father of creation Whose Son Jesus incarnated in time And whose Spirit enlivens our lives today May […]

Martin Delany

Martin Robison Delany was an African-American abolitionist, journalist, physician and writer. He was born free in Charles Town, W.Va. (then part of Virginia, a slave state). Delany was an outspoken Black nationalist, arguably the first; and is considered by some to be the […]

Matthew Henson

Born to sharecroppers on a farm in Nanjemoy, Md., Matthew Alexander Henson became the first African-American Arctic explorer, and is credited by many as the first man to reach the North Pole, in 1909. Henson was an associate of the American explorer Robert Peary on seven voyages over […]

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 […]

Dr. Alexa Canady

In 1981, Alexa Canady became the first female African-American neurosurgeon in the United States. Dr. Alexa Canady was born on November 7, 1950, in Lansing, Michigan. While she was in college, a summer program inspired her to pursue a medical […]

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa in 1994, serving until 1999. A symbol of global peacemaking, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in Mveso, Transkei, South […]

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist, and playwright whose African-American themes made him a primary contributor to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. He published his first poem […]

Mae C. Jemison

Mae C. Jemison is the first African-American female astronaut. In 1992, she flew into space aboard the Endeavour, becoming the first African-American woman in space. Mae C. Jemison was born on October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama. On June 4, […]

Oprah Winfrey

Media giant Oprah Winfrey was born in the rural town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, on January 29, 1954. In 1976, Winfrey moved to Baltimore, where she hosted a hit television chat show, People Are Talking. Afterward, she was recruited by a […]

Berry Gordy

Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records, the most successful black owned music company in the history of the United States. Born in 1929 in Detroit, Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records in 1959. The 1960s and ’70s saw popular artists […]

Ruby Bridges

Born on September 8, 1954, in Tylertown, Mississippi, Ruby Bridges was 6 when she became the first African-American child to integrate a white Southern elementary school, having to be escorted to class by her mother and U.S. marshals due to […]