Black Heritage

06/02/2024

Black women of the 70s 🥰🤌🏾

06/01/2024

Caption from Chicago Daily News (1952):
"Sleepy Explorers: Tuckered out alter exploring Chicago via a midnight elevated train ride, five-year-old James Davis fell asleep in a police station while his pal Ronald Sullivan, 8, kept a drowsy watch."

06/01/2024

Black women in the United States Army Nurse Corps were assigned to Tuskegee Army Air Field Hospital to assist pilots and cadets with physical and psychological problems. Part of their training included ground school instruction, but they never flew during World War II. Circa 1943.

05/31/2024

Twin sisters Paula and Pamela McGee poses for photo on USC campus(1982)🏀❤️

05/31/2024

James Bell ["Cool Papa"] (1903-1991)
James Thomas Bell was born May 17, 1903, in Starkville, Mississippi. Playing baseball as a 19 year-old rookie Bell earned the nickname “Cool Papa” after proving to his older teammates that he was not intimidated by playing professionally in front of large crowds. Signing with the St. Louis Stars in 1922, Bell entered professional baseball as a pitcher, reportedly throwing a wicked curveball and fade-away knuckleball.
The speed of Bell would become apparent when he beat the Chicago American Giants Jimmy Lyons in a race for the title of “fastest man in the league.” He immediately switched to center field, where he would play shallow and always manage to run down long hits. Bell stayed with the Stars until 1930 when the league disbanded, and led them to league titles in 1928 and 1930.
His speed would become legendary throughout his career. Bell once stole first on an infield bunt. Being timed on a wet field, Bell was recorded running the bases in a record 13.1 seconds. Bell claimed to have run it in a flat 12 seconds on a dry field, posting a time of 3.1 seconds from third to home.
His longtime teammate and Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige would tell media that Bell was so fast he could get out of bed, flip the light switch, and be under the covers before it got dark, or that he once caused an out at second by running into his own line drive. In his autobiography, Paige says that if colleges had known about Bell, “Jesse Owens would have looked like he was walking.”
During a career spanning over 20 years and numerous leagues in the United States and Latin America, Bell held well over a .300 career batting average, and batted over .400 in his first and last seasons in the American Negro Leagues. In one span of 200 games, Bell stole 175 bases. Bell retired in 1946, just one year before Jackie Robinson broke into the Major Leagues. A mentor to Robinson, Bell described it as the greatest moment of his career.
At age 44 in a 1948 all-star game, two years after his retirement and for the first time in front of a large, predominantly white audience, Bell shocked everyone by using his speed and awareness to steal home from first base on an infield bunt from Satchel Paige

05/30/2024

Tenant farmer's child. Greene County, Georgia in 1941. Photograph by Jack Delano.
The image, information in the caption, location, and date are from the Library of Congress

05/30/2024

Two great actors, Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington

05/29/2024

Born on April 6, 1937 in New York City, NY, actor, artist, singer, and writer William December "Billy Dee" Williams, Jr. is an actor and writer best known for his role as Lando Calrissian in Star Wars.
Billy Dee Williams made his film debut in the 1959 picture The Last Angry Man where he played the role of a teenage delinquent. His first big break, however, came in a television movie called Bryan’s Song. In 1972, he played opposite Diana Ross (portraying Billie Holiday) as her husband in the biopic Lady Sings the Blues. His most famous role however, was as the smooth talking smuggler in the series of Star Wars movies, namely Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. He originally auditioned for the role of Han Solo. Another memorable role of his was in the 1989 picture Batman as district attorney Harvey Dent.
Williams also appeared in several television shows, such as the short-lived Gideon’s Crossing. He also made a brief cameo on Scrubs. He received criticism for appearing in liquor commercials, which he responded by saying “I drink, you drink. Hell, if ma*****na was legal, I’d appear in a commercial for it. Billy Dee Williams also had a long-time team-up with actress Marla Gibbs as the two were paired up in three different television shows, namely The Jeffersons, 227, and The Hughleys. He also guest-starred in an episode of That '70s Show, Lost, and General Hospital.
In February 2011, Williams appeared as a guest star on USA Network's White Collar as Ford, an old friend of Neal Caffrey's landlady June, played by Diahann Carroll. In February 2012, Williams was the surprise guest during a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show spotlighting Diana Ross. Ross and Williams were reunited after having not seen each other in 29 years. In October 2012, Williams appeared as a guest star on NCIS in Season 10 Episode 5 titled "Namesake", as Gibbs' namesake and his father's former best friend, Leroy Jethro Moore. On January 9, 2013, Williams appeared as himself in a cameo role on Modern Family, Season 4 / Episode 11 "New Year's Eve".
It was announced on March 4, 2014 that Williams would be competing on the 18th season of Dancing with the Stars, partnering with professional dancer Emma Slater. The couple had to withdraw from the competition on the third week due to an injury to Williams's back.
Before he began acting, Williams attended the National Academy of Fine Arts and Design in New York. In the late 1980s, he resumed painting. Some of his work can be seen at his online gallery BDW World Art. He has had solo exhibitions in various galleries around the United States, and his work hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution and the Schomburg Museum. The covers of the Thelonious Monk Competition programs since 1990 are by him.

05/29/2024

The Legends film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor, Spike Lee; actor, director, writer, and civil rights activist, Ossie Davis, and his wife, actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist Ruby Dee. Remembering Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014).
Ruby Dee originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ - (1961). The film version was directed by Daniel Petrie and also stars Sidney Poitier as “Walter Lee Younger”; Claudia McNeil as “Lena Younger”; Diana Sands as “Beneatha Younger”; Stephen Perry as “Travis Younger”; John Fiedler as “Mark Lindner”; Ivan Dixon as “Joseph Asagai”; and Louis Gossett Jr. as “George Murchison” in his film debut.
Her other notable film roles include as “Rae Robinson” in Alfred E. Green’s biographical drama ‘The Jackie Robinson Story’ - (1950), also starring Jackie Robinson as himself and Louise Beavers as his mother; and as ‘Mother Sister’ in Spike Lee’s comedy-drama ‘Do the Right Thing’ - (1989), also starring Spike Lee as “Mookie”; Danny Aiello as “Sal”; Ossie Davis as ‘Da Mayor’; Giancarlo Esposito as ‘Buggin' Out’; and in their screen debuts, Rosie Perez as “Tina” and Martin Lawrence as “Cee”.
Ruby Dee was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Female Actor in a Supporting Role. In addition Ruby Dee was a Grammy Award, Emmy Award, Obie Award, and Drama Desk Award winner. She was also a National Medal of the Arts, Kennedy Center Honours, and Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award recipient.

05/28/2024

Lady in dance pose.
Harlem, 1939
Photo by James Van der Zee

05/27/2024

Sammy Davis, Jr. as “Sportin’ Life”, Dorothy Dandridge as “Bess”, and Brock Peters as “Crown”, in Otto Preminger’s musical movie adaptation of DuBose Heyward’s, George Gershwin’s, and Ira Gershwin’s 1935 opera ‘Porgy and Bess’ (1959), also starring, in the lead, Sidney Poitier as “Porgy”, and starring in supporting roles, Pearl Bailey as “Maria”, Diahann Carroll as “Clara”, Claude Akins as a detective, Clarence Muse as “Peter”, Joel Fluellen as “Robbins”, Ivan Dixon as “Jim”, and Nichelle Nichols in her movie debut as a dancer.
Brock Peters would go on to appear in, what is perhaps his most famous role, the wrongfully convicted “Tom Robinson” in Robert Mulligan’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize winning novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ (1962), starring Gregory Peck, and then later as “Rodriguez” in Sidney Lumet’s ‘The Pawnbroker’ (1964), starring Rod Steiger. Remembering Brock Peters (2nd July, 1927 - 23rd August, 2005).

05/27/2024

Man Earns Doctorate Degree Despite Being Bullied, Suspended and Having Learning Disabilities 🙌🏾

05/26/2024

05/25/2024

Kim Hamilton (born Dorothy Mae Aiken; September 12, 1932 – September 16, 2013) was an American film and television actress, as well as a director, writer, and artist. Her career spanned more than half a century, from the early 1950s to 2010. Hamilton's early film credits included the 1959 film noir Odds Against Tomorrow opposite Harry Belafonte and The Leech Woman in 1960.She was also one of the first African-American actors to appear on the soap opera Days of Our Lives and was the only African-American to appear in a speaking role on Leave It to Beaver.
Hamilton portrayed, in an uncredited role, Helen Robinson in the 1962 film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, based on Harper Lee's novel of the same name. She was the film's last surviving African-American adult cast member with a speaking role.

05/25/2024

A young girl posing in a photo booth during the 1930’s.

05/24/2024

The first five members of the 13 graduating class at the Tuskegee air school completed pilot training March 6, 1942 at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee Alabama. Ben Davis Jr., graduate of West Point and the son of Benjamin Davis, the first African-American to become a general in the U.S. Air Force; Lem Curtis, policeman from Hartford Connecticut; George Roberts of West Virginia,Charles H. DeBow of Indianapolis, Indiana and Mac Ross of Dayton, Ohio.

05/24/2024

Cynthia Cooper, of the Houston Comets, and Clyde Drexler of the Houston Rockets, display their trophies after winning the inaugural 2-ball competition during the NBA All-Star Weekend Saturday, Feb. 7, 1998.🏀⭐️

05/23/2024

The Masqueraders were one of the longest lived yet little known groups in soul music history. Originating in Dallas in around 1958 as The Stairs, they often appeared in small towns under the guise of national chart groups, easily emulating the style of any act they so chose, as a result they officially renamed themselves the Masqueraders in 1963.
They moved to Detroit in 1965 to audition for Motown but were told that their style was too similar to that of the Temptations. They stumbled on a recording studio owned by La Beat label owner Lou Beatty, who would go on to release five singles for them. Their final recording was a self titled album released in 1980.
This stormer was released during their time with La Beat, from 1967 "I Got The Power".

05/22/2024

Born on October 26, 1911, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Charity and Johnny Jackson, Mahalia Jackson became one of gospel music’s all-time greats, known for her rich, powerful voice that cultivated a global following. The young Mahalia grew up in a Pitt Street shack and started singing at 4 years old in the Mount Moriah Baptist Church.
Brought up in a devout Christian family, Jackson still found herself influenced by the secular sounds of blues artists like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. Jackson’s sanctified style of performance would also rely upon freer movement and rhythm when contrasted to the styles seen in more conservative congregations.
After moving to Chicago as a teen with the aim of studying nursing, Mahalia Jackson joined the Greater Salem Baptist Church and soon became a member of the Johnson Gospel Singers. She performed with the group for a number of years. Jackson then started working with Thomas A. Dorsey, a gospel composer; the two performed around the U.S., further cultivating an audience for Jackson. She also took on a number of jobs --working as a laundress, beautician and flower shop owner for example -- before her musical career went into the stratosphere. She wed Isaac Hockenhull in 1936, with the two later divorcing.
While she made some recordings in the 1930s, Mahalia Jackson tasted major success with "Move On Up a Little Higher" in 1947, which sold millions of copies and became the highest selling gospel single in history. She became more in demand, making radio and television appearances and going on tour, eventually performing in Carnegie Hall on October 4, 1950 to a racially integrated audience.
Jackson also had a successful 1952 tour abroad in Europe, and she was especially popular in France and Norway. She had her own gospel program on the CBS television network in 1954 and scored a pop hit with "Rusty Old Halo."
In 1956, Jackson made her debut on The Ed Sullivan Show and in 1958 appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, performing with Duke Ellington and his band. Ellington and Jackson worked together on an album released the same year under Columbia Records titled Black, Brown and Beige. Future Columbia recordings from Jackson included The Power and the Glory (1960), Silent Night: Songs for Christmas (1962) and Mahalia (1965).
In 1959, Jackson appeared in the film Imitation of Life. By the end of the decade, much of Jackson’s work featured crossover production styles; she was an international figure, with a performance itinerary that included singing at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration.
Jackson was also an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. She sang at the March on Washington at the request of her friend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963, performing “I Been ‘Buked and I Been Scorned.” After King's death in 1968, Jackson sang at his funeral and then largely withdrew from public political activities. In 1969, she published her autobiography Movin’ On Up.
In her later years, Mahalia Jackson had several hospitalizations for severe health problems, giving her final concert in 1971 in Munich, Germany. She died of a heart attack on January 27, 1972. Jackson is remembered and loved for her impassioned delivery, her deep commitment to spirituality and her lasting inspiration to listeners of all faiths.

05/19/2024

Happy birthday to el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, born on May 19, 1925. Malcolm X was a writer, teacher, minister and human rights activist, and also a courageous advocate for the rights for blacks in all parts of the world.

05/18/2024

Norman Jesse Whitfield (May 12, 1940 – September 16, 2008) was an American songwriter and producer, who worked with Berry Gordy's Motown labels during the 1960s. He has been credited as one of the creators of the Motown Sound and of the late-1960s subgenre of psychedelic soul.

During his 25-year career, Whitfield co-wrote and produced many enduring hits for Motown artists, including "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", "(I Know) I'm Losing You", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "Cloud Nine", "I Can't Get Next to You", "War", "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)", "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)", "Smiling Faces Sometimes", and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". Whitfield worked extensively with the Temptations as a producer and songwriter, producing eight of their albums between 1969 and 1973. He then started his own label, Whitfield Records, in 1975, which yielded the Rose Royce hit "Car Wash". Alongside his Motown lyrical collaborator Barrett Strong, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004. He wrote or co-wrote 61 hits on the UK charts and 92 on the US charts. In 2024, Whitfield was posthumously selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical excellence category.

05/17/2024

Robert Leroy Johnson born on May 8, 1911 is considered to be one of the greatest blues performers of all time. His hits include "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" and "Sweet Home Chicago," which has become a blues standard. Part of his mythology is a story of how he gained his musical talents by making a bargain with the devil. He died at age 27 as the suspected victim of a deliberate poisoning.
During his brief career, Johnson traveled around, playing wherever he could. The acclaim for Johnson's work is based on the 29 songs that he wrote and recorded in Dallas and San Antonio from 1936 to 1937. These include "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" and "Sweet Home Chicago," which has become a blues standard. His songs have been recorded by Muddy Waters, Elmore James, the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton.
Johnson came to the attention of many musicians and won over new fans with a reissue of his work in the 1960s. Another retrospective collection of his recordings released in the 1990s sold millions of copies.
But much of Johnson's life is shrouded in mystery. Part of the lasting mythology around him is a story of how he gained his musical talents by making a bargain with the devil: Son House, a famed blues musician and a contemporary of Johnson, claimed after Johnson achieved fame that the musician had previously been a decent harmonica player, but a terrible guitarist—that is, until Johnson disappeared for a few weeks in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Legend has it that Johnson took his guitar to the crossroads of Highways 49 and 61, where he made a deal with the devil, who retuned his guitar in exchange for his soul.
Strangely enough, Johnson returned with an impressive technique and, eventually, gained renown as a master of the blues. While his reported "deal with the devil" may be unlikely, it is true that Johnson died at an early age.
Only 27, died on August 16, 1938, as the suspected victim of a deliberate poisoning. Several movies and documentaries have tried to shed light on this enigmatic blues legend, including Can't You Hear the Wind Howl? (1997) and Hellhounds on my Trail (2000).

05/17/2024

Betty Shabazz wife of Malcolm X and their daughters. 1960s.....
Attallah, born in 1958, Qubilah, born in 1960, Ilyasah, born in 1962 & Gamilah Lumumba, born in 1964…

05/16/2024

Congratulations to Tyra Randle crowned Miss Wheelchair Missouri 2024! Tyra is a beacon of resilience and advocacy. Her life was forever changed four years ago when she sustained injuries from domestic abuse. Today, she dedicates her life to empowering survivors and the disabled community.

05/16/2024

🤎Photo of Kerry Washington with her dad, Earl Washington(a real estate broker)
“My favorite picture EVER with my favorite dad EVER... the life of every party, and the king of dad jokes,” Washington wrote, “I’m so blessed to have him as my dad."
The Scandal actor may be the more recognizable member of the family. But her father garnered attention by starring in a witty Instagram video, which Washington posted to her account. Earl Washington has racked up background acting gigs in projects alongside his famous daughter. In light of the Emmy Award nods, he decided to thank the Academy for recognizing his artful performances.
“He’s the best. I have a post right now, my dad was a background actor in both Little Fires [Everywhere] and Live in Front of a Studio Audience, which have both been nominated for Emmys. So he did a post on my social thanking the Academy for celebrating his background acting in both of those shows,” explained Washington on GMA.
Kerry Washington grew up with her parents in The Bronx, New York City. Initially, her parents weren’t happy with the idea of her becoming an actress.
“She really, really wanted me to go to law school,” Washington told PEOPLE.
“Oh my God, it’s what she begged me to do. She used to say to me, ‘Closing arguments are just like monologues’,” recalls the star about her mom wanting her to become a lawyer. “She was terrified to have a starving artist of a child...But they’re grateful I’m not the starving artist they feared I would be.”
“My parents are really happy for me [now],” Washington added of her mom Valerie and dad Earl.

05/15/2024

Gloria Naylor (1950-2016) is best known for her beloved novels—The Women of Brewster Place, Linden Hills, Mama Day, Bailey’s Café, The Men of Brewster Place, and 1996—but her aesthetic and intellectual projects encompassed a range of forms. She was also an essayist, a teacher, a film producer, a screenwriter and playwright, an active correspondent, and a teacher, scholar, and archivist of twentieth-century Black life.

05/15/2024

Sister Rosetta Tharpe!
Born Rosetta Nubin, she gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, mixing spiritual lyrics and electric guitar.
With her mother's encouragement
Tharpe began playing guitar at age four and by age six was performing in a traveling evangelical troupe.
Throughout her teenage years she performed regularly and was considered a musical prodigy.
Tharpe used a
white Les Paul Custom like this one for her pioneering work in the 1960s. In 1961, Gibson redesigned the Les Paul model with a thinner, lighter body.
She did 50 years of performing and touring finally caught up with Tharpe when, in 1970, she suffered a stroke that put an end to her touring life.
March 20, 1915 - October 9, 1973

05/14/2024

Thelma Houston won a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 1978 for her hit song "Don't Leave Me This Way."

05/14/2024

James Lee Ruffin (May 7, 1936 – November 17, 2014) was an American soul singer, and elder brother of David Ruffin of the Temptations. He had several hit records between the 1960s and 1980s, the most successful being the Top 10 hits "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" and "Hold On (To My Love)".