Elijah McCoy: “The Real McCoy”
Elijah McCoy was a pioneering Black Canadian‑American mechanical engineer and inventor whose automatic lubricator transformed steam power and became synonymous with the idea of “the...
Tag : African-American
Hubert Henry Harrison: Father of Harlem Radicalism
Hubert Henry Harrison (1883–1927) was a towering Caribbean-born intellectual, agitator, and educator whose life forces us to rethink the origins of Harlem radicalism, the New...
A Free Black Man in Captivity: Reflections of Mumia Abu-Jamal
“I am a thinker, writer, activist, creative being, man, dad, husband, grandpop, and son. But just to keep it simple: I’m a free Black man living in...
Mary Annette Anderson: The first African American woman elected to Phi Beta Kappa
“The sunshine of her life she gives, To everything around her, Though brief the season that she lives Nor lost is her endeavor. She is...
There It Is by Jayne Cortez
My friendthey don’t careif you’re an individualista leftist a rightista shithead or a snakeThey will try to exploit youabsorb you confine youdisconnect you isolate youor...
Gwendolyn B. Bennett: The Harlem Renaissance Writer and Painter
Gwendolyn B. Bennett was an African-American poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. Although she never published her own volume of poetry, she was one of...
Marie Couvent: A Controversial African-American Philanthropist
“Marie Couvent was the first [Black] woman to set the example of an enlightened charity, and that for a long time she was the only...
Zelda Wynn Valdes: The Creator of the Playboy Bunny Costume
“I just had a God-given talent for making people beautiful…” Zelda Wynn Valdes was a fashion legend who was the first African-American designer to open...
Lucille Clifton: The Award-winning Poet
“I write to celebrate life.” “I would like to be seen as a woman whose roots go back to Africa, who tried to honor being...
Thomas Peters: One of the Black Loyalist Founders of Sierra Leone
In 1999, Thomas Peters, one of the founding fathers of Sierra Leone, was honoured by the Sierra Leone government with inclusion in a movie celebrating...