Jessica's African-American History Blog April 2008 Archive

Early blues singers, such as Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Blake, led the way when it came to the early recordings of the country blues. It was the popularity of ... Read More

Eighteen days after the March on Washington, on the early Sunday morning of September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing four girls. Find out ... Read More

The Freedom Rides were scheduled to take just thirteen days and initially involved only thirteen Freedom Riders. By the end of the summer of 1961, over three hundred activists had ... Read More

Born prematurely and weighing only three pounds, Sidney Poitier’s chance for survival looked bleak. His father, certain that his son would not survive, obtained a shoebox in which he ... Read More

Joe Louis could not have guessed that a career in boxing would make him into national hero. As World War II loomed, Joe Louis was thrust into the political arena ... Read More

Jim Crow laws paved the way for segregation in the South. For nearly sixty years blacks lived under conditions that were separate and unequal. This summary briefly traces ... Read More

While the name Elijah McCoy may not be well-known, most have heard the popular American phrase, "Is it the real McCoy?" However, few people realize that the phrase first ... Read More

Although musical genius Ray Charles contracted glaucoma and eventually lost his sight as a child, against all odds he achieved success as a singer of numerous hit songs and a ... Read More

Playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s ability to capture human injustice and pain in her work catapulted her to instant stardom. While her life was short, her play A Raisin in the ... Read More

What had started out as a protest for the desegregation of Orangeburg’s only bowling alley, turned into what became known as the Orangeburg Massacre. When it was all over, ... Read More

Ma Rainey was an unlikely star during the classic blues era of the 1920s. She was short, heavy set, had gold-capped teeth, and was considered unattractively dark-skinned for the time. ... Read More

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett is most well-known for her crusade against lynching, but she also fought against Jim Crow Laws and for women's suffrage. Here’s a look at the life ... Read More

April 4, 2008 marks 40 years since Martin Luther King, one of America's most inspirational leaders, was shot and killed while standing outside of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee. ... Read More

To the white residents of Southampton County, it came as a surprise that a slave named Nat Turner was the leader of a slave rebellion that resulted in the deaths ... Read More