In 1861, soon after the Civil War began, Union forces took over the coastal areas of Georgia and South Carolina. Confederate plantation owners fled the area leaving behind people they had enslaved, plus hundreds of acres of land and crops that needed to be harvested. The federal government issued an order that those freed by the Union Army would be resettled on those abandoned farms and would, for the first time, be paid to harvest the crops. Enslaved Americans were not able to go to school so many of the emancipated men in women were not able to read and write. They needed assistance makin ..read more

In August 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed a voting rights act into law. The law, The Voting Rights Act of 1965 “outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.” Today, more than 50 years later, some states are still making it more difficult to vote, particularly in predominately Black communities. I live in Delaware and recently voted in a local election. The turnout for that election was an abysmal 10%. Allowing 10% of the population to select those who will be making decisions that ..read more

Banker and Community Leader in Jackson Ward, the First Black Wall Street NMAH Archives Center Scurlock Studio Records 0618 Box 1.1.A4/Folder W Maggie L. Walker protrait, 3/4 front view with face turned to camera, faded effect at bottom. In the early 1900s, and after being disenfranchised by Virginia’s new constitution, Black citizens of Richmond Virginia, with little political power, created a bustling business district in the Jackson Ward section of Richmond. That area was the first to be called “Black Wall Street.” Jackson Ward was home to several thriving Black-owned businesses including St ..read more

Black Americans have been celebrating Juneteenth since 1866. What is Juneteenth? What is the history behind the holiday? When the 1860 census was recorded, there were four million people held in slavery in southern states, including Maryland and Delaware. White farmers depended on that free labor to grow and harvest their crops. Abraham Lincoln, who was a candidate for president in 1860, was morally opposed to slavery. White southerners feared he would abolish slavery if he became president of the United States. One month after Lincoln was elected southern states began seceding from the U ..read more

This is part six of a 7 part blog post series, taken from Joyce Burges’s book, “Teach Me How To Teach My Child”, available on Amazon. Teach Your Children That Learning Is a Process Much of learning is a basic process, however, we add to our learning daily (for good or for bad). Learning is meant to be incremental; a process that is increased by a series of changes.  Children are like sponges soaking in everything.  Make sure you watch what you place before them.  You begin to recognize this around the age of two.  So, beware, that you teach them the good things and fix limi ..read more

John S Rock was born to free parents in Salem, New Jersey on October 13, 1825. Education was very important to the family, and though not wealthy, his parents were able to provide enough so he wouldn’t have to start working at a young age. With his parents’ support Rock was able to continue his education until he was nineteen. Rock loved reading and educating himself. Throughout his life he had several professions. His first was teaching. From 1844 to 1848 he taught in a one-room school in New Jersey. Though already in a noble and respectable profession, Rock dreamed of becoming a doctor. Whi ..read more

She was an educator, biochemist, researcher, science pioneer, and the first African American woman in America to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry. She was committed to improving heart health and determining factors that led to heart attacks. Additionally, with the lack of diversity in the study of the sciences, she was committed to developing programs that increased the enrollment of African Americans in medical school and in graduate science programs. Marie Maynard Daly was born in 1921 in Corona, Queens, New York. She loved reading and was particularly fond of books written by scientists. Her fa ..read more

When Carter G Woodson was working on his doctorate at Harvard University it became apparent that Black history was not a logical topic for research. There was a scarcity of data and facts on Black Americans. The study of Black life and culture was limited to slavery. Moreover, the public was not aware of the contributions and achievements of Black Americans. Woodson realized Black history was a “negligible factor” in American history.” In 1915 he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, which is now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASA ..read more

In 1951 a Black woman went to Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment for stomach pain. She was diagnosed with an advanced stage of cervical cancer. The woman died nine months later. Before she died, and without the knowledge of her family, a surgeon took a sample of her cells. Scientists had been trying, for decades, to keep human cells alive outside the human body. The cells always died but not this time. The cells taken from that woman were the first to survive outside a human body and reproduce in a laboratory. Those cells, according to science writer Rebecca Skloot “launched a medical revolu ..read more

YES, Black History is Important! Several years ago, when I lived in Paterson, New Jersey, I received a grant to document the history of African Americans in the city. That is when I became keenly aware of the contributions Black Americans made to the development of this nation, and how lacking my education had been. Black Americans are an integral part of the fabric of America. We have a rich history of great achievements and accomplishments. Scores of things that all Americans enjoy today would not be possible without Black Americans. That history needs to be told and it is important that i ..read more