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Co-founder Nashville Conference on African American History & Culture, TSU Alumna. Pub. Admin, Editor, Author, Preservationist, Pub. Historian & former history & public administration prof at Fisk Univ. #DST #HBCUAdvocate
Remembering Sojourner Truth born Isabella Bomefree, an abolitionist and activist for African American civil rights, women's rights, and alcohol temperance, who joined the elders #onthisday November 26, 1883.
November 26, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Oscar Palmer Robertson, a native of Charlotte, Tennessee, was born #onthisday November 24, 1938. Nicknamed "the Big O," Robertson is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA)
November 24, 2025 at 1:27 PM
"Starving a child is violence. Suppressing a culture is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her child is violence.
November 23, 2025 at 3:50 PM
#Onthisday November 20, 1920, Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license, departed for France to begin her flight training, as she could not attend aviation school in the United States.
November 20, 2025 at 1:30 PM
#Onthisday November 17, 1991, over 1,600 African American women placed an ad in the New York Times in response to the treatment of Anita Hill, during the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
November 17, 2025 at 2:01 PM
#Onthisday November 17, 1972, Barbara Jordan of Houston and Andrew Young of Atlanta, become the first African Americans from the south elected to Congress since Reconstruction.
November 17, 2025 at 1:51 PM
#Onthisday November 13, 1951,ballerina Janet Collins made history as the first African American dancer to perform with the Metropolitan Opera Company. Before this, she performed with the acclaimed African American dance troupe directed by Katherine Dunham.
November 13, 2025 at 1:33 PM
#Onthisday November 10, 1891, Granville T Woods patented the electric railway.
November 10, 2025 at 1:18 PM
“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” ― James Baldwin, No Name in the Street
October 25, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Lorraine Hansberry, author of the acclaimed play, "A Raisin in the Sun," was the first black woman to write a play performed on Broadway in 1959.
October 24, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Remembering Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, an American civil rights activist, best known for her refusal to move from her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in defiance of Jim Crow racial segregation laws, who joined the elders #onthisday October 24, 2005.
October 23, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Remembering that #onthisday October 7, 1993, Author Toni Morrison made history when she became the first African American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
October 8, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Remembering Civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, a passionate voice against racial oppression, born #onthisday October 6, 1917, in Mississippi.

“There is one thing you have got to learn about our movement. Three people are better than no people.” – Fannie Lou Hamer
October 6, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Remembering Bobby Cain, one of the Clinton 12 (TN) joined the elders on Sept. 22, 2025. Unlike the Little Rock Nine, the Clinton 12 students were not hand-picked and trained for the job of desegregation. Bobby Cain was the first African American student to graduate from a southern high school.
September 25, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Remembering the Little Rock Nine, who made history #onthisday September 24, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to take the students, who were desegregating Central High School,
September 25, 2025 at 12:08 AM
#Onthisday September 18, 1992, Dr. Mae Jemison made history by becoming the first African American woman to travel to space.
September 18, 2025 at 12:27 PM
#Onthidday September 18, 1895, Booker T. Washington delivered his influential "Atlanta Compromise" speech at the Cotton States and International Exposition, advocating for Black economic self-sufficiency within a segregated South.
September 18, 2025 at 12:22 PM
#Onthisday September 17, 1968, Diahann Carroll became the star of the NBC television series Julia, the first modern TV show to feature an African American woman in the lead role since the 1950s.
September 17, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Remembering Riley B. King, born #onthisday September 16, 1925. Known as B. B. King, he was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. B.B. King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and earned the nickname "The King of the Blues."
September 16, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Remembering Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Cynthia Wesley (14) killed #onthisday September 15, 1963, when the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the largest African American church in Birmingham, Alabama. More than 20 others were injured.
September 15, 2025 at 12:36 PM
She was a law clerk to Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Motley aided Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the Brown v. Board of Education case.
September 14, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Remembering Constance Baker Motley born #onthisday September 14, 1921. A key strategist of the civil rights movement, She was the first Black woman to argue at the Supreme Court and argued 10 landmark civil rights cases, winning nine.
September 14, 2025 at 11:25 PM
“If we desire a society of peace, then we cannot achieve such a society through violence.” Bayard Rustin
September 14, 2025 at 11:09 PM
#Onthisday September 9, 1934, acclaimed poet, playwright, and activist Sonia Sanchez was born. She became a significant figure in the Black Arts Movement and later joining the English faculty at Temple University.
September 9, 2025 at 12:51 PM
#Onthisday September 9, 1957, during the Eisenhower administration, the U.S. Congress passed the first civil rights bill since reconstruction, which he signed #onthisday.
September 9, 2025 at 12:47 PM