Scholar's Tower by Julie Dillon Art

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Samuel L. Gravely Jr. was the Navy's first black admiral and the first African-American to serve as a fleet commander. (AAG)

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Zewditu I was Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930. The first female head of an internationally recognized state in Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries, her reign was noted for the reforms of Tafari Makonnen (later Emperor Haile Selassie I) and for her strong religious devotion.

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Born today, Gordon Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006), the self-taught African-American photographer, filmmaker, poet, novelist, and composer. He was stillborn -- no heartbeat, declared dead by the family doctor, and put aside for later burial...

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Hazel Scott was one of the most prominent African Americans of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. One of the premier pianists of her time, she traveled the world playing classical and jazz music.

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On March 2, 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white bus rider, a 15-year old Montgomery, Alabama schoolgirl named Claudette Colvin was arrested for doing the same thing. Yet few people know her story. (AAG)

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Memorial Day was started by former slaves on May, 1, 1865 in Charleston, SC to honor 257 dead Union Soldiers who had been buried in a mass grave in a Confederate prison camp.

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Clementine Hunter (pronounced Clementeen) (1887 – 1988) was a self-taught African-American folk artist from the Cane River region in Louisiana. She was born on a plantation said to be the inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin worked as a farm hand, never learning to read or write. (AAG)

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Mother of Pearl by Will Wilson

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Howard University students c. 1950

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Do You Dig by Paul Davey

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Bessie Coleman was awarded her pilot’s license in 1921 by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. She trained in France because no American flight school would accept her as a student.

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Ghana: A young King Otumfuo Osei Agyeman Prempeh II King of Asante. In 1931, the year of his installation, he imme­diately began to work for the restoration of Asante Confederacy - which was accomplished by 1935. Accordingly his status was raised from that of Kumasihene to Asantehene.

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General Daniel Chappie James, Jr., Tuskegee Airman and the first African American four-star general

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Young Elf, by KiraTheArtist

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Untitled by Pedro Mota Gomes aka Pedraw

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Eugene Jacques Bullard (9 October 1894 – 12 October 1961) was one of the only two black military pilots in World War I and warded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor.

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'Stand Your Ground' Comparison: George Zimmerman & Marissa Alexander

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Seneca Village, a long-forgotten community of African Americans who lived in the area from 82nd to 89th streets, between 7th and 8th avenues before Central Park ever existed. They had three churches, a school, and 5 cemeteries. They were New York's first significant group of Black property owners.

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Stevie Wonder, Bisti Badlands

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21 Things To Know About Haitian Warrior Toussaint L'Ouverture

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75 Million in annual sales & 100% Black-owned (info in comments)

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In a period spanning fewer than 12 hours, a once thriving Black business district in northern Tulsa lay smoldering - a model community destroyed and a major African-American economic movement resoundingly defused.

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If you know your African American history, you might find it eerie and perhaps even coincidental that on Aug. 14, 106 years ago, another midwestern city experienced major unrest in its African American community, resulting in what is known today as the Springfield Race Riot of 1908.

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Grace Jones turns 65 today! In this 1989 photo by Roxanne Lowit, she is with the late great fashion designer, Patrick Kelly and legendary models Iman and Naomi Campbell. (source: VBG)

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Crystal Bird Fauset, the first African-American female state legislator in the United States, was born on June 27, 1894 in Princess Anne, Maryland to parents Benjamin Oliver Bird and Portia E. (Lovett) Bird.

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Black Wall Street had... (more in comments)

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This Day in History, 1968: Eartha Kitt spoke the truth at a White House luncheon meeting on crime and juvenile delinquency. Kitt was asked her opinion and she stated that it was not an issue of delinquency, instead young Americans were angry because their parents are angry...

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Black History Month Children's Photo Tribute: Frederick Douglass

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Postcard of the 1920 Duluth, Minnesota lynching of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie, Black circus workers accused of robbery and rape (of which a physician found no evidence). An estimates 1,000-10,000 people were in the mob that stormed the jail, took the men to be beaten and killed.

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And The Jorney Continues by Chantal EY Bethel

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Ruby by David Giraud

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Robert Earl Jones, father of the actor James Earl Jones. [b. 1910 - d. 2006] The senior Mr. Jones made his Broadway debut in 1945 in “The Hasty Heart.” (source: AHC)

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Robert Smalls (1839-1915) was originally known as a daring hero during the Civil War. In 1862, he delivered the Planter, a transport steamer, to Union soldiers and by April 1863, he was pilot of the ironclad USS Keokuk. (BIB)

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When Shaquille O'neal was drafted into the NBA, he spent the first million that he earned within 30 minutes. O'neal then received a phone call from his banker, who scolded him, and told him that he would end up joining the list of former athletes who ended up broke if the current trend continued.

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Lewis Cousins, age 15, standing alone as the first black student in the newly de-segregated Maury High School. Norfolk, VA. 1959

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Afrika actually enriches Europe: but Afrika is made to believe that it needs Europe to rescue it from poverty... - Ngugi wa Thiong'o

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The first Black woman PhD holder in the US: Sadie Tanner Mossel Alexander (Source: Jadili Africa)

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A young Denzel Washington and his mom

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The trial of Dr. Ossian Sweet along with ten family members and friends for murder after a mob attacked his Detroit home caught the nation’s attention in 1925-1926. (source: AHC)

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'Reflection' artist unnamed

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September 14, 2013

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Title might be something along the lines of Black Power but I can't be sure. Artist unnamed.

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Snoop and his daughter. (BIB)

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Alabaster Mage by Izzy Medrano

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December 13, 1918: The French government awarded the 369th Infrantry regiment (known as the Harlem Hellfighters) the Croix de Guerre with silver star for the taking of Sechault.

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One of the most important African American leaders of the twentieth century and perhaps the most influential woman in the civil rights movement, Ella Baker was an activist whose remarkable career spanned fifty years and touched thousands of lives. (AAG)

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African Elf by Tiru

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June, 1964. Black children integrate the swimming pool of the Monson Hotel. To get them out, the owner pours acid into the water.

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RIP Hugo Chavez

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Mrs. Lizzie Sheppard brought a supremacist to court, charging that a white preacher struck her with a rake when she refused to get off the sidewalk in front of his home.

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Bessie Stringfield, nicknamed The Motorcycle Queen of Miami, was the first African-American woman to ride across the United States solo, and during World War II she served as one of the few motorcycle dispatch riders for the United States military.

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Guess who! Go on, guess!

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Children on the way to PS 204, 82nd Street and 15th Avenue, passing white mothers protesting their busing. New York, by Dick DeMarsico ca. 1963 (Library of Congress).

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Dr. Olivia Hooker is a survivor of the Tulsa Oklahoma massacre of 1921. She went on to make history as the first African-American woman to enlist in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War 2.

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Clara McBride Hale, also known as Mother Hale, was an American humanitarian who founded the Hale House Center, a home for unwanted children and children who were born addicted to drugs.

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One more: Can you guess who this is?

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One hundred years ago Tuesday, 44 men reported to the New York Police Department's majestic old headquarters on Centre St. to be sworn in as rookies. Only one was black - 6'2, 240-pound Samuel Jesse Battle, who became Greater New York's first African-American cop.

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Whitebird, by Sequoia C. Versillee

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International students at Tuskeegee University. 1908

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Homeschooling Grows in the Black Community. --- Benjamin Marshall is home schooling his four kids (l to r) Benjamin, 11, Josiah, 9, Brianna, 12, and Trevaughn, 14. There is a rise in the number of African American families who are homeschooling their children.

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Stagecoach Mary

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Press release from Marissa Alexander's lawyers 8-15-2013

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My parents, circa 1979. Yeah, my Dad was a smooth operator. Check the mustache. Check the suit! Don't get me started on the hair. You can't even comprehend that level of awesomeness.

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Business as usual...

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Astronaut Mae Jemison in zero gravity on board Space Shuttle Endeavor (1992), doing space experiments like a boss. (credit: /u/ananzze, /r/blackladies)

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The Fourth of July isn’t the only Independence Day in America. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston, Texas, bringing news to the town that the Civil War had ended and that all slaves were free.

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Mental Slavery is the worst form of slavery...

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First Lady

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Dr. King on a swing with his children

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Michael Jai White

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Huey Newton’s Birthday Party, Oakland Auditorium, February 17, 1968. Huey's symbolic chair was representing him, as he was locked up waiting trail for murder.

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Chikaara - Young Witch Doctor, by Barry Arts

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Can you guess who this is?

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Aisha Mitchell. Photography by Richard Calmes (Alvin Ailey ADT)

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Orindatus Simon Bolivar Wall. A hero of African-American history whose story is forgotten because his descendants decided they were white. By Daniel J. Sharfstein (AAG)

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Nigerian artisan Ojo Obaniyi from Ibadan has applied his skill in weaving in an unusually creative way to advertise his business.

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Fighting women of the Fon (Dahomey people) and their neighbors the Ashanti. Originally retained as an elite royal guard, Dahomey amazons held semi-sacred status as celibate warrior wives of the King. (source: Pan-African Education)

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Petition to Black Media to have them recognize and remember Black Wall Street on May 31.

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Africans may have been the original Americans - Hudson Valley Press (TBU)

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We are all the same age. We are as old as the Universe.

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Henry T. Sampson

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In 1928 Oscar DePriest was elected U.S. Representative for Kansas, becoming the first African American U.S. congressman from a northern state, as well as the first black congressman in nearly thirty years.

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Ailey II in I Been 'Buked, the opening section of Revelations. Photo by Eduardo Patino, NYC

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All Star team. No, really!

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Ranavalona III, last Queen of the Kingdom of Madagascar. Reigned 1883-1897

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How Many Can You Name?

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Okay, I'm kind of having a wiggins because this is only happening on one of my computers... is this some weird late April Fool's joke, or...?

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Best (read: cheapest) Halloween Costume Evar.

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Four stages of kitten sleepitude

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Spot the celebrity!

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Hi, I'm the Project Manager. I'll be making sure stuff gets done around here.

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Innovation Centers in Africa

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Attn: New Yorkers. In the past 2 weeks I have seen 3 of the new hideous orange - sorry, Empire Gold license plates. One thing... every last one started with the letters FAP. It's probably coincidence, but just in case - does anyone work at the license plate factory and want to confess?

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