Benjamin Franklin Kelly made history on September 19, 1953, when he became the first African American to play at an all-white college in Texas, San Angelo College (later Angelo State University, ASU). His San Angelo College debut came eight months before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education decision overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine. On that historic […]

Mary Smith Kelsey Peake, a pioneering educator, is one of few African American women to have a school, The Mary Peake Center of Hampton Public Schools, and a street, the Mary Peake Boulevard, named in honor due to her work as the first teacher for the newly freed slaves in Fortress Monroe, Virginia. In collaboration with the American Missionary Association […]

Joseph “Joe” Pierre Torry is an actor and comedian. He was born on September 28, 1965, to Robert Torry and Rebecca Torry in Saint Louis, Missouri. Torry attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications and Broadcast Journalism. While at Lincoln, Torry joined Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. After college, Torry […]

The Oriental Opera Company (OOC), established in 1892, was one of the nation’s first all-African American opera and classical music dramatic ensembles. It was founded by Michael Graffe, a white philanthropist from Syracuse, New York. Graffe, who financed the Opera Company for its first year, aimed to demonstrate globally that African Americans had the ability and expertise to sing, interpret, […]

On December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified by the Congress of the United States, abolishing slavery. This pivotal moment also saw the birth of Walden University, named in honor of John Morgan Walden, the thirty-fifth Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church from Lebanon, Ohio, and corresponding secretary of the Western Freedman’s Aid Commission and the Methodist Freedman’s Aid […]

John Thomas Salley is a former National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball star, television and motion picture actor, and a major figure in the emerging U.S. cannabis industry. Salley was born on May 16, 1960, to Quille Salley and Mazie Salley in Brooklyn, New York. Salley attended Canarsie High School in Brooklyn, New York, where he played for the high school […]

Edna May Griffin, often referred to as ‘the Rosa Parks of Iowa,’ was a prominent American civil rights pioneer in her state. This nickname underscores her pivotal role in civil rights campaigns in Iowa, notably the 1948 Katz Drugstore Sit-In Protests in Des Moines. Born on October 23, 1909, in Lexington, Kentucky, Griffin’s early life was marked by frequent relocations, […]

Founded as the Nashville Normal and Theological Institute and by the American Baptist Home Mission Society, a Christian missionary society from New York City, Roger Williams University (RWU) was named in honor of the abolitionists and founder of the Colony of Rhode Island. The historically Black institution in Nashville, Tennessee, began in 1866, a year after the Civil War ended, […]

First Missionary Baptist Church of Decatur was established in 1866 in northwest Alabama by 21 former slaves in the home of Ms. Jane Young under the leadership of the Rev. Alfred Peters following the Civil War and passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. In 1873, under the leadership of Rev. Crawford Peters, the church purchased its first sanctuary, […]

Educator, political campaigner, and women’s rights activist Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was born Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Olufela Folorunso Thomas on October 25, 1900, in Abeokuta, Nigeria, to prominent farmer Chief Daniel Olumeyuwa Thomas and dressmaker Lucretia Phyllis Omoyeni Adeosolu. Ransome-Kuti was one of only six girls admitted to Abeokuta Grammar School in 1914. Her education there was the springboard to an all-girls […]