As Langston Hughes, the influential Harlem Renaissance poet, playwright and social activist, once wrote: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” This poignant question is echoed in the title of the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s recently released Dreams Delayed report, which shines a spotlight on how systemic racism has continued to […]

Marshall Pitts, Jr. was the first African American mayor of Fayetteville, North Carolina, serving two terms from December 2001 to December 2005. As a child, Pitts moved to Fayetteville with his parents, Marshall Sr. and Carol, from Carrollton, Georgia. He attended local schools and graduated from Westover High School, where he was recognized as a track and field All-American and […]

Thomas Allen Moorehead, born on April 21, 1944, in Monroe, Louisiana, is a pioneering entrepreneur, philanthropist, and leader in the luxury automobile industry. Raised by his mother, Minnie Mae Thomas, he is the eldest of five siblings. Moorehead’s early life in the segregated South shaped his ambition and resilience, traits that would guide his remarkable journey from humble beginnings to […]

Tyre Deandre Nichols was a 29-year-old African American man who died on January 10, 2023, after being severely beaten by five Black officers from the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit. The incident occurred three days earlier on January 7, 2023, in Memphis, Tennessee, and became a significant moment in the ongoing national conversation about police violence against unarmed Black individuals. […]

Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old African American woman was shot and killed in her home in Woodside Township by Sean Grayson, a white deputy of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, Sangamon County, Illinois on July 6, 2024. The killing contributed to the ongoing issue of unarmed African Americans being killed by the police. Massey was born on February 12, 1988. Much […]

James Townsend was an English Whig politician who served as Lord Mayor of London from 1772 to 1773. He also served as a member of Parliament. Townsend is thought to be the first Lord Mayor and first member of Parliament with Black African ancestry. Townsend’s birthdate was not recorded but he was baptized as a child on February 8, 1737. […]

King Ezana of Axum, the monarch of the Kingdom of Aksum (Now Ethiopia) from 320’s-360 CE, was credited with embracing Christianity and making it the official state religion. With that decision, Aksum/ Ethiopia became the oldest continuously Christian state in the world. Ezana’s birth date and early life are unknown. His parents, however, were Ella Amida (King Ousanas), who was […]

Francis Sumner, a scientist, professor, and Sergeant in the United States Army, 808th Pioneers in World War I, was the first Black American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology in 1920, graduating from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. By 1928, Sumner had joined the faculty and served as chair of the psychology department at Howard University in Washington, DC, where […]

Anthony William Hall, Jr., a distinguished former national president of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, the Boulé, serving from 1996 to 1998, and a licensed commercial-rated pilot, was born on September 16, 1944, in Houston, Texas, to Anthony William Hall, Sr. and Quintana Wilson Hall Alliniece, a mathematics teacher. His education began in the racially segregated Sunnyside Elementary School and William […]

Wilbur Clarence Gordon was a distinguished physician and real estate developer, born in Ironton, Ohio, on May 9, 1879. He was the son of John Calvin Gordon, originally from Virginia, and Arabelle Finley, who hailed from Ironton. In 1903, Gordon earned a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, […]