History

Marcus Garvey   Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). He founded the Black Star Line, part of the Back-to-Africa movement, which promoted [...]

Margaret Walker   Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander was a poet and writer. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, she wrote as Margaret Walker. Walker was a literature professor at what is today Jackson State University (1949 to 1979). In 1968, Walker founded the Institute for the Study of History, Life, and Culture of Black People (now the [...]

Audre Lorde   Audrey Geraldine Lorde was a Caribbean-American writer, poet and activist. Lorde’s poetry was published very regularly during the 1960s — in Langston Hughes‘ 1962 New Negro Poets, USA; in several foreign anthologies; and in black literary magazines. During this time, she was politically active in civil rights, anti-war, and feminist movements. Some [...]

Langston Hughes   James Mercer Langston Hughes a poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that “Harlem was in vague.” Hughes was honored [...]

Cornel West Cornel West is a philosopher, author, critic, actor, civil rights activist and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America. West is a 1973 graduate of Harvard University and today he is a Professor at Union Theological Seminary, where he will teach Religious Philosophy and Christian Practice. He currently teaches at Princeton University. [...]

Ishmael Reed Ishmael Reed is a poet, essayist, and novelist. A prominent African-American literary figure, Reed is known for his satirical works challenging American political culture, and highlighting political and cultural oppression. Reed has been described as one of the most controversial writers. While his work has often sought to represent neglected African and African-American perspectives, [...]

Nella Larsen   Nella Larsen was a novelist of the Harlem Renaissance. She published two novels and a few short stories. Though her literary output was scant, she nevertheless earned recognition by her contemporaries and by present-day critics. Some of Larsen’s works include Quicksand, Passing, Freedom, Sanctuary,and The Wrong Man.   [...]

Virginia Hamilton   Virginia Hamilton was an award-winning author of children’s books. She wrote 41 books, including M. C. Higgins, the Great, for which she won the National Book Award in 1974 and the 1975 Newbery Medal. Hamilton’s first book, as a child was “The Novel”. Then came Zeely, published in 1967, and won numerous [...]

Sterling Allen Brown   Sterling Allen Brown was a professor, author of works on folklore, poet and literary critic. Some of his works are Southern Road, Harcourt, Brace and company, and Negro Poetry. In the early 1980s his Collected Poems won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for the best book of poetry. He was interested [...]

MayaAngelo   Maya Angelou is an amazing author and poet. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly acclaimed, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her first seventeen years. It brought her international recognition, [...]

Upwards of 700 African Americans participated in the international Black Male Achievement Summit Saturday, November 12.  Inspired, directed and encouraged by Open Society Foundations’ Campaign for Black Male Achievement in New York, in partenership with organizations in 26 cities, these summits explored pressing issues of concern to Black men in America and around the globe. [...]

And we’re back! This week’s blog will be very brief; more like a remix to last year’s introduction for Black History Month. I am excited to showcase famous African Americans or Black people throughout history each day of the month of February. Each individual I’ve picked has one thing in common. I feel as if [...]