GaudiLab/Shutterstock Across the UK, Black students remain significantly underrepresented in doctoral programmes. This is despite years of widening participation policies and a growing awareness that the pathways into a PhD are often far harder to navigate for some groups than others. My research with colleagues shows that a different approach is possible: one that draws on long-standing African philosophies of […]

Updated: November 1, 2015 In the article below, Carlton McLellan, PhD, Founding Director of The American Ambassadors Project and Senior Fellow with the Association of Black American Ambassadors (ABAA), briefly describes the history of the more than one hundred and sixty-six black women and men who have led diplomatic delegations as U.S. Ambassadors in one hundred and eight nations around […]

Members of the Black Student Union at Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pa., march in a protest in April 2015. Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images Black student unions have been a vital part of many Black college students’ lives for more than 60 years. But since 2024, Black student unions have lost their institutional support, campus space and funding […]

María Remedios del Valle, also known as the “Madre de la Patria” (“Mother of the Homeland”), was a soldier, nurse, and military heroine during the Argentine Wars of Independence against Spain. She became a driving force in the fight for freedom and eventually rose to the rank of sergeant major of the cavalry while serving the United Provinces of the […]

Quintard Taylor Jr., historian, author, and professor, was a leading scholar in the fields of African American history and the history of the American West, as well as the visionary founder of BlackPast.org, the world’s largest online African American and Global African encyclopedia. Born in Brownsville, Tennessee, in 1948, to Quintard, Sr. and Grace Taylor, Taylor discovered his lifelong passion […]

In the article below, Rodney J. Reed, former Grand Sire Archon of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and author of A Grand Journey: The History of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, 1904-2010, briefly outlines the history of the oldest continuously existing Black Greek-letter fraternity in the United States. Founded on May 15, 1904, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, also known as the Boulé, […]

Braxton Fancourt Cann, M.D. (1900–1974) was a distinguished Bermudian physician, community leader, and advocate for civil rights. Born in Bermuda in 1900 as the eldest son of Dr. John W. Cann, he attended The Berkeley Institute and earned his Bachelor of Science from Wilberforce University in 192. He further pursued his education at McGill University for a year before entering […]

Robert Lewis Harris is a distinguished lawyer, activist, and business executive whose impactful career bridges law, civil rights, and corporate leadership. Born on March 4, 1944, in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, to Lucy and Benjamin Harris, he relocated with his family to California in 1960. After graduating from Oakland Technical High School in 1961, Harris pursued higher education at Merritt College, earning […]

James Otis Cole has spent the better part of his professional career as a “businessman” in many C-suite positions within organizations across America. He was an entrepreneur in the food service industry and a corporate attorney for Fortune 100 companies. He was born on February 6, 1941, in Florence, Alabama, and was raised by his father, Calloway Cole, and his […]

William Lee Lonesome was born on June 24, 1907, in Charleston, West Virginia, to Benjamin Lonesome and Helen Ella Thompson. He received his A.B. Degree from West Virginia State College in 1933 and a J.D. degree from Howard University in 1936. He was the recipient of many honorary degrees, including an honorary degree of doctor of laws from Wilberforce University, Edward […]