Alvin Finkel is professor emeritus of history at Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada. A longtime specialist in labor history, he has written a number of books including History of the Canadian Peoples. His latest book, which is the subject of the Perspectives article below, is titled Humans: The 300,000 Year Struggle for Equality. Here Finkel challenges the traditional idea that […]

Since its inception in 1848, The Christian Recorder, initially known as The Christian Herald, has served as an essential faith-based informational resource advocating for morality, science, and literature. Founded by the General Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this notable publication has consistently represented the voices of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church across the United States. As the oldest periodical still […]

The Safe Bus Company was a Black-owned transportation company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, operating from 1926 to 1972. It was founded to provide transportation for African American workers and to serve the city’s underserved Black neighborhoods. Prior to its establishment, public transportation did not reach the areas of Winston-Salem where most African Americans lived. On April 24, 1926, Clarence […]

Nathaniel “Nate” Archibald is a former National Basketball Association (NBA) player who spent 14 seasons as a point guard with the Cincinnati Royals (later the Kansas City-Omaha/Kansas City Kings, now the Sacramento Kings), the New York Nets (now the Brooklyn Nets), the Boston Celtics, and the Milwaukee Bucks. Archibald was born on September 2, 1948, to Julia Archibald and an […]

Michael Spinks is a former professional boxer and Olympic gold medalist. He was born on November 3, 1956, to Leon Spinks Jr. and Kay Francis Spinks in St. Louis, Missouri. He is the younger brother of Leon Spinks, the professional boxer best known for defeating Muhammad Ali for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship in 1978. Spinks attended Vashon High School in […]

Tuskegee Airman 2nd Lt. Carroll Napier Langston, Jr. was born on September 25, 1917, in a modest household in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the only child of Carroll N. Langston, Sr., a respected figure in the local community, and Vivien Cashin, from Montgomery, Alabama. The family later relocated to Chicago, where Langston grew up and where he attended Hyde […]

Originally developed as a tool to help Black children attend better schools, school voucher programs now serve a different purpose. Drazen via Getty Images School voucher programs that allow families to use public funds to pay tuition to attend private schools have become increasingly popular. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia currently operate voucher programs. In addition, 15 states […]

The Negro Boys Industrial School Fire, also known as the Wrightsville Fire, occurred on March 5, 1959, at the Negro Boys Industrial School (NBIS), a juvenile correctional facility for Black male youth located near Wrightsville, Arkansas. On that tragic day, twenty-one African American boys died in a dormitory fire at the facility. The NBIS was originally established to house juvenile […]

Nyjah Imani Huston is an American professional skateboarder. He was born on November 30, 1994, to Adeyemi Huston and Kelle Huston in Davis, California. Huston and his siblings were raised in a strict Rastafarian lifestyle: they were vegans, and their mother homeschooled them. Huston began skateboarding at the age of five, introduced to the sport by his father, who was […]

Milton Lee Olive III was a United States Army soldier and the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor for his service in the Vietnam War. At just 18 years old, he heroically sacrificed his life by falling on a grenade to save the lives of his fellow soldiers on October 22, 1965, an act of extraordinary bravery […]