Did You Know That A Black Man Invented The Fire Escape Ladder?

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Did You Know That A Black Man Invented The Fire Escape Ladder?

Joseph Winters was important to the safety of people who live in cities. On May 7, 1878, the fire escape ladder was patented by Joseph Winters. Joseph Winters invented a wagon-mounted fire escape ladder for the city of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Joseph Winters was born in 1816 in Virginia to an African-American brick maker and a Shawnee […]

Source: Black Then

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(1797) Abraham Johnstone, “Address To The People Of Color”

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Gratz et al v. Bollinger et al (2003)

No. 02-516. Argued April 1, 2003--Decided June 23, 2003

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1st Rhode Island Regiment

The 1st Rhode Island Regiment was a Continental Army regiment during the American Revolutionary War. The 1st Rhode Island Regiment became known as the Black Regiment due to its allowing the recruitment of African Americans in 1778. This decision, designed to help fill dwindling ranks among the

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Source: Black Past

Pollard, Fritz (1894-1986)

Fredrick Douglas “Fritz” Pollard, born in 1894, was raised in Chicago, Illinois. In high school he was an all-around athlete excelling as a running back, a three-time Cook County track champion, and a talented baseball player. Upon graduation, for a short time, he played football for

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Source: Black Past

Saddler, Joseph/Grandmaster Flash (1958 - )

Although he will more than likely be remembered best for releasing “The Message,” the first rap song to delve into social commentary about the plight of African Americans in the inner-city, Grandmaster Flash was also the original technological virtuoso of the early hip-hop movement to

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Source: Black Past

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama was born on January 17, 1964. Brought up in Chicago, Illinois, she comes from a multiracial family. She started her school life in Chicago, more specifically in Whitney Young High School and was on the honor roll for four years as well as serving as treasurer for

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Source: Black History Resources

Coleman, John A.(1852- ? )

John A. Coleman was born a slave in 1852 in Talladega County, Alabama. After he received his freedom at the end of the Civil War, Coleman attended the newly established Talladega College for three years. He worked on a Mississippi River steamboat and then migrated to New York

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Source: Black Past

Kerr, Peter “Black Pete” (1810?-1840?)

Peter Kerr was a freed slave, originally owned by iron worker John Kerr of Fallowfield, Pennsylvania. By the late 1820s Peter Kerr, after gaining his freedom, moved west. He is believed to be the earliest known black person to have joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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Source: Black Past

U.S. Department of State Background Note

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Hampton University (1868-- )

Hampton University, located on the shore of Chesapeake Bay in Hampton, Virginia, was founded in 1868 by Samuel Chapman Armstrong, the son of a prominent missionary family that settled in Hawaii in the early 1800s. Armstrong was enrolled at Williams College in Massachusetts when the Civil War

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Source: Black Past

Race, Gender, Jazz & Local 493: Black Women Musicians in Seattle: 1920-1955

During its brief and rocky tenure from 1918 to 1924, pianist Gertrude Harvey Wright was one of four women in Seattle’s first black musicians’ union, the American Federation of Musicians’ Local 458. Wright, Virginia Hughes, a “Mrs. Austin,” and (Edythe) “Turnham,” all

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Source: Black Past

BlackPast.org - To Understand the Present, You Must Enter the Past

BlackPast.org is a one-stop shop for everything you want to know about African-American history. Chock full of robust, easy to use features and one of a kind facts and information, everyone will find something of value in this amazing website. Watch this brief video to learn more. Visit the

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(1901) Congressman George H. White's Farewell Address To Congress

In January 1901, at the beginning of a new century, George H. White was ending his term as a Congressman from North Carolina’s Second Congressional District. Realizing that he was bringing to a close a thirty two year period when nearly forty Southern African Americans sat in Congress, White used

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Grambling State University (1901-- )

Grambling State University was founded in 1901 in Grambling, Louisiana. In the post- Civil War effort to build schools for former African American slaves, several colleges were established in Louisiana. All of them were concentrated in the more populous southern portion of the state including

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Source: Black Past

Grant Chapel AME Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico (1883- )

GrantChapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church was the first black church in NewMexico and was organized during the state’s territorial period. Although New Mexico Territory had a few slavesbefore the Civil War, African Americans began arriving in the region insignificant numbers after

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Source: Black Past

Muhammad, Khalid Abdul (1948-2001)

Khalid Abdul Muhammad was an African-American activist, a one-time member of the Nation of Islam and national chairman of the New Black Panther Party. Muhammad was born Harold Moore Jr. on January 12, 1948, to Harold Moore Sr and Lottie B. Moore in Houston, Texas. Moore’s Aunt, Carrie Moore

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Thurgood Marshall

Born: 7/2/908 Baltimore, MarylandDied: /24/993 Bethesda, MarylandThurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from October 967 until October 99. Marshall was the Courts 96th justice and its first African-American justice.Business

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Daniel McCree recognized the safety benefits enjoyed by hotels, apartment buildings and office buildings and decided to extend that safety to homeowners. Basing his model on fire escapes being used by bigger buildings, McCree created a portable version made of wood that could be attached to the

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Source: Black History Resources

(1901) William Hannibal Thomas on the American Negro

Nineteenth Century black conservative William Hannibal Thomas was a Civil War veteran, Reconstruction era South Carolina politician, and U.S. counsel to Portuguese Southwest Africa (Angola). He is most famous however as the author of the 1901 book, The American Negro: What He Was, What He Is, and

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Saint James AME Church, Helena, Montana (1888- )

When African American citizens founded the St. James African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Helena, Montana, in 1888, their population topped 250 people in a city of roughly 12,000 souls. Located in Helena’s eastside residential district on 114 N. Hoback, the church building rested on

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12 Must See Black History Movies

Decades of struggle and hardship paid off when United States elected a black president. It is still too early to say that discrimination has been completely abolished from U.S as different races are being targeted instead of blacks. The blacks who used to be traded to western countries and kept as

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Source: Famous African Americans

David Crosthwait Jr.

Born: 5/27/1827 Nashville, TennesseeDied: 2/25/1976 West Lafayette, IndianaDavid Crosthwait Jr. was an African-American mechanical and electrical engineer, inventor, and writer. He was born in the city of Nashville, Tennessee. He grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. Once he completed high school he

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Highland Beach, Maryland (1893- )

Highland Beach, Maryland, the oldest of the major black resort towns, was founded along the western shore of Chesapeake Bay in 1893 by Charles and Laura Douglass. Charles Douglass was the son of prominent abolitionist and 19th century civil rights activist Frederick Douglass. Major Charles

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In 1991, a multiracial forum led by de Klerk and Mandela, the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), began working on a new constitution. In 1993, an interim constitution was passed, which dismantled apartheid and provided for a multiracial democracy with majority rule. The peaceful

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The History of Black History Month

In the following article Daryl Michael Scott, Professor of History at Howard University and Vice President of Program for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, describes the history of the Black History Month

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Source: Black Past

(1905) Roscoe Conkling Bruce, “Freedom Through Education”

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Delaware State University [Dover] (1891-- )

Delaware State University is a public historically black university with its main campus in Dover and two other campuses in Wilmington and Georgetown. The school was established in 1891 as State College for Colored Students after passage of the Morrill Act of 1890 which gave land-grants to

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Source: Black Past

Dr. Charles Drew is the father of the modern blood bank. In 1940 he published a paper showing that when plasma is separated from the rest of human blood, it can be stored for much longer periods of time. This discovery allowed the creation of blood banks, where donated plasma could be kept until

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Hendrix, Jimi (James Marshall Hendrix), 1942–70, African-American rock guitarist, b. Seattle, Wash. Hendrix, in his short musical career, was known for an innovative and extremely influential guitar style that involved the explosive, yet often sensitively nuanced, use of feedback, distortion, and

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(1837) Theodore S. Wright, “Prejudice Against the Colored Man”

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