Black facts

The overwhelming success of the film Hidden Figures, starring Taraji P. Henson, highlighted three African-American women who were instrumental in propelling the U.S. space program. The state of Arkansas has a hidden figure of its own in Raye Montague, who is the first person to design a U.S. Navy ship using a computer. Montague was […]

The case of Sipuel v. The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma laid the early groundwork for other “separate but equal” cases such as the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Ada Louis Sipuel’s racial discrimination case against the school was decided on this day in 1948, making it possible for her […]

In times past, African-Americans have pretended to pass as a white person to avoid harassment and discrimination. The reverse has happened many times as well,(think Rachel Dolezal) as in the case of Rev. L.M. Fenwick, who was a white pastor pretending to be Black. The Fenwick case is curious and not rich in detail, although historians […]

The city of Dayton, Ohio is one of the most racially segregated cities in America, and a race-fueled riot that occurred on this day in 1966 only widened that divide. The senseless killing of a Black business owner and West Side Dayton resident was the tipping point for the riots, and the region has yet […]

The Cosby Show remains one of the most revolutionary television series in history and remains an inspiration for hit Black sitcoms like black-ish and others. The series made its debut on this day in 1984, but is now largely gone from the public eye due to Bill Cosby’s sexual assault allegations. The series aired on […]

Tony Dungy, one of the NFL’s class acts, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last weekend making him the first African-American coach to achieve the honor. Dungy has already etched his name in the history annals by becoming the first African-American head coach to win a Super Bowl in the NFL. Dungy, […]

The matches between American boxer Joe “The Brown Bomber” Louis and German Max “Black Uhlan of the Rhine” Schmeling defined the era of early 20th Century boxing. On this day in 1938, Louis defeated Schmeling and became the first Black heavyweight boxer of his rank to score a first-round knockout. Louis and Schmeling previously met […]

Today marks Youth Day across South Africa, which is meant to observe the start of the Soweto Uprising. Hector Pieterson, a youth shot and killed during the protests in 1976, was the centerpiece of one of the uprising’s most iconic images and helped to rally the world against the country’s racist Apartheid rule. The uprising […]

Ho Chi Minh, the famed Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader was instrumental in leading North Vietnam to eventual independence from French colonizers. According to historians, Ho was influenced partly by the teachings of Marcus Garvey during a stay in America. Ho Chi Minh was born Nguyễn Sinh Cung on May 19, 1890. Much of Ho’s early […]

Samuel Sharpe was a Jamaican preacher who led a 10-day slave revolt on the island nation that moved the British Empire to end slavery in 1833. The so-called “Baptist War” because of the denomination of many involved, or the “Christmas Rebellion of 1831,” left over several hundred slaves dead. Sharpe was born around 1801, according […]

Moneeta Sleet Jr. spent over four decades shooting some of Black America’s most lasting images for EBONY magazine. He is the first African-American to be…