In the summer of 1908, Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln’s hometown, erupted in a violent two-day race riot fueled by racial hatred. Angry white mobs attacked Black residents, burned their businesses, and lynched those who dared to stand their ground....
Thomas Leyland was a British slave trader, banker, and politician whose wealth and influence in 18th-century Liverpool were largely built on the back of the transatlantic slave trade. His journey to immense wealth began with a stroke of luck...
Antonio Ruiz, known as Falucho, was an Afro-Argentine soldier who rose from slavery to become a national hero in Argentina’s fight for independence. Serving under General José de San Martín, he is remembered for choosing death over betrayal of...
Nathan “Nearest” Green is one of the most influential, yet long-overlooked, figures in the history of American whiskey. Born into slavery in the early 19th century, Green’s extraordinary skill as a distiller became the cornerstone of what would grow...
In the early 1900s, a time when Black kids in the American South were more likely to inherit oppression than opportunity, the story of one little girl stunned the nation. Sarah Rector, born in 1902 in Indian Territory (now...
On July 24, 1919, in the quiet town of Newberry, South Carolina, Elisha Harper, a 25-year-old African American world war I veteran found himself at the center of a mob’s rage. A simple accusation, that he had insulted a...
Paul Robeson was a celebrated African American singer, actor, and activist whose outspoken criticism of racism and support for socialism led to him being blacklisted and ostracized by the US in 1950.
Paul Robeson was born on April 9, 1898,...
The transatlantic slave trade, one of history’s darkest chapters, was marked not only by brutality and dehumanization but also by resistance, which was often sparked by the terrifying unknowns that Africans faced once captured and placed aboard European slave...
In the late 19th century, as European powers carved up Africa during the Scramble for Africa, many African leaders rose to resist colonial oppression. One such hero was Mangi Meli of the Chagga people in present-day Tanzania. His courageous...
Elizabeth Greenfield, known as “The Black Swan,” was one of the most remarkable vocalists of the 19th century. Born into slavery in Natchez, Mississippi, sometime between 1808 and 1826, she overcame immense racial and social barriers to become the...
