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Black News, Opinions, Politics and Culture

Blue Voter Guide helps you make quick, informed, pro-democracy choices by showing what's on your ballot, with endorsements from trusted, forward-looking organizations.

Neither the Catt Center nor Iowa State University is affiliated with any individual in the Archives or any political party. Inclusion in the Archives is not an endorsement by the center or the university.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1993 was awarded to Toni Morrison "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality"

A decade after his death, genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves has one last trick up his sleeve with what he considered the most important event he captured on film: a 1972 party he engineered with the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. For four hours, this extraordinary group – many of whom had not seen each other in fifty years – reminisced, critiqued, argued, laughed and drank while wrestling with their place in a rapidly shifting cultural landscape. Shot on 16mm film, newly restored and now directed by Greaves’ son David, this landmark film is at once a self-exploration and an inquiry into the heart of the critical mass of energy called the Harlem Renaissance. William Greaves’ intent was not only to document these artists and intellectuals as they spoke about their lives and work but also to plumb the meaning of the extraordinary creative period in which they lived to help us better understand how culture has been passed on from one generation to another and the role that the artist plays in keeping it alive.

The New Orleans Tribune, or la Tribune de la Nouvelle Orléans, was America’s first Black daily newspaper. Created by free Black leaders, the Tribune was a formidable political tool that built a courageous campaign for social justice during the Civil…

From Black-owned financial institutions and restaurants to Ebenezer Baptist Church, the NAACP, and the legendary Royal Peacock nightclub, Atlanta’s Black history makers have always made their way to Auburn Avenue. So it should be no surprise that, tucked away in a small brick building on that iconic street, is the site of the first Black-owned radio station in the United States, WERD.

On June 30, 1967, Maj. Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., became the first African-American to be selected as an astronaut by any national space program.

On Oct. 1, 1962, federal marshals escorted James Meredith to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Earlier that year, a U.S. Appeals court ordered the University to admit him. Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, a pro-segregationist, personally blocked Merediths first two attempts to enroll. Mississippi's Lieutenant Governor stopped his third attempt. His fourth attempt sparked violent riots.

Blue Voter Guide helps you make quick, informed, pro-democracy choices by showing what's on your ballot, with endorsements from trusted, forward-looking organizations.

Black farmers were massacred in Elaine, Arkansas for their efforts to fight for better pay and higher cotton prices. A white mob shot at them, and the farmers returned fire in self-defense. Estimates range from 100-800 killed, and 67 survivors were indicted for inciting violence.

“The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge” Sir Arthur Lewis Sir William Arthur Lewis was born in St Lucia on 23rd January 1915. He found himself excelling in school at a young age and completing the entire...

Born in Wilmington, N.C. of a free African American mother and an enslaved father, David Walker (c.1798 – 1830) was considered legally free. Slavery followed the condition of the mother, not the father. Even though he was techincally free, he still observed the horrors of enslavement. As a young child, he watched as a son was forced to whip his mother.

Black News, Opinions, Politics and Culture

Everything Americans abroad need to know before requesting a Midterm ballot — including who's actually eligible to vote.

Serena Williams holds the most major singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles combined among all active tennis players.