Dr. Thomas Elkins, an inventor, abolitionist, and trained medical professional, was a key supporter of the Underground Railroad in Albany, New York, during the 1840s and 1850s. During the latter part of his life, he also made significant contributions to the development of refrigeration techniques and patented several inventions for other household furniture items. Elkins, […]

Brown University commissioned a study of its own historical connection to the Atlantic slave trade a few years ago. According to the report, the Brown family, the wealthy Rhode Island merchants who named the university, were “not major slave traders, but they were not strangers to the business either.” So you’d think Brown — or […]

Between 1515 and the mid-nineteenth century, more than 12 million Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic to work as slaves. On their way to the Americas, two million enslaved men, women, and children died. It was the beginning of several hours of work on large plantations with little food and never having to forget […]

Her parents were a free white woman and an enslaved Black man. Jenny Slew was thus raised free and lived her entire life as a free woman; however, in 1762, when she was in her forties, she was kidnapped and enslaved by John Whipple. She consulted the courts. Her birth in Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts […]

Frederick Jones Invented the Refrigerator, Worldwide: The story of Frederick Jones is one that inspires anyone who comes across it to strive to achieve more, and also evokes pride, especially for Black people. His achievements in the field of science and technology are so outstanding, that you might be tempted to name him the Black […]

For over three centuries, violence and white supremacy have coexisted in the United States. This was how whites maintained economic, social, and political dominance over blacks in particular. Though emancipation resulted in the abolition of chattel slavery, blacks were no fewer victims of racism’s oppression. It could be argued that relations worsened during the early […]

The date was April 17, 1878. A jury of 12 white men arrived in an Ohio federal courthouse to deliver the verdict in a slavery lawsuit. Formerly enslaved Henrietta Henrietta Wood had sued Zebulon Ward, a white man who had kidnapped and enslaved her some 25 years ago. She was seeking $20,000 in damages. Arthur, her […]

When the city of Miami was created in 1896, historians estimate that 367 individuals voted to make it a city. There were 162 Black residents among them. The first name on the municipal charter was that of a Black man named Silas Austin. In reality, Bahamians, Haitians, the Caribbean Diaspora, and African Americans all contributed […]

The Watts Truce was a peace deal reached between the Blood and Crips street gangs in Los Angeles, California, mostly in the Watts district. The Watts Truce took place just a few days before the Rodney King Riots. This truce played an important role in the reduction in street violence in Los Angeles following the 1990s. […]

It is heartbreaking to realize that the system of secret-killing and lynching of Black people in America, which existed for over 400 years of slavery and 100 years after slavery, is still in place today. It is safe to say that there has never been a time in American history when Caucasians did not lynch […]

On March 21, 1981, Michael Donald, the 19-year-old son of Beulah Mae Donald, was kidnapped, assaulted, and lynched by members of the United Klans of America in Mobile, Alabama (an Alabama faction of the KKK). At the time, the United Klans of America was one of the country’s largest and most dangerous organizations. The horrific […]

For a long time, the black community has been marching, protesting, and demanding justice. For a long time, we have been killed by the police. The heavy question which lays on our hearts with the weight of a mountain is: When will all stop? When will the spilling of Black blood in America stop? On […]

Before slavery was abolished, in the 1800s, owning a barbershop was a popular economic venture for Black men looking to become wealthy. According to the Cut, one in eight Black males who were regarded as wealthy owned a barbershop with a net worth greater than $2,000 (more than $55,000 now). Some slaves acquired their barbering skills […]

When the history of medicine and science is told in the world, the prowess and achievements of Black people are so numerous. Being descendants of the first humans on earth, the average Black man has the mental ability to be an inventor in many fields. In light of the above, Dr. Samuel Lee Kountz’s achievements […]