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Artists who have produced creative work in the areas of visual art, graphic art and design, photography, architecture, culinary arts, creative writing and poetry, spoken word performance, documentary film, dance and theater.

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The Nation's Largest African American Video Oral History Collection

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Amanda Gorman reads a poem at inauguration

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AFP/Pool

Amanda Gorman became the youngest person to deliver a poem at a U.S. presidential inauguration, with the 22-year-old reciting her poem "The Hill We Climb" after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as president and vice president.

Gorman spoke for nearly six minutes.

Read a transcript of her remarks below:
When day comes we ask ourselves,-Updated on Jan. 21 at 7:01 a.m.
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We've braved the belly of the beast
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn't always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn't broken
but simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn't mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we'll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we're to live up to our own time
Then victory won't lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we've made
That is the promised glade
The hill we climb
If only we dare
It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it's the past we step into
and how we repair it
We've seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded
But while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated
In this truth
in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future
history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children's birthright
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked south
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we're brave enough to see it
If only we're brave enough to be it
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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READ: Transcript of Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem

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Amanda Gorman became the youngest person to deliver a poem at a U.S. presidential inauguration, with the 22-year-old reciting her poem "The Hill We Climb" after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as president and vice president. Gorman spoke for nearly six minutes. Read a transcript of her remarks below: When day comes...

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Amanda Gordon's first children's book released January 2021!

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Change Sings by Amanda Gorman: 9780593203224 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

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A lyrical picture book debut from inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman and #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long "I can hear change humming In its loudest, proudest song....

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Amanda Gorman: Meet The First African-American Youth Poet Laureate | TODAY

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Amanda Gorman: Meet The First African-American Youth Poet Laureate | TODAY

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Amanda Gorman: Meet The First African-American Youth Poet Laureate | TODAY

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Arthur Schomburg and the Harlem Renaissance

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Arthur Schomburg and the Harlem Renaissance

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In recognition of the 146th born day anniversary of renowned researcher Arthur Alfonso Schomburg we take a look at his involvement in the reinvigorating Harlem Renaissance occurring during the "Roaring Twenties."

Born Jan. 24, 1874, in Santurce, Puerto Rico to Mary Josephina, a Black Cruzan mother, and Carlos Federico Schomburg, a Puerto Rican father, he devoted his life to uncovering Africa's glorious heritage after a fifth-grade teacher told him "Black people have no history, no heroes, no great moments."

After studying African literature and commercial printing in the Caribbean, Schomburg migrated to Harlem on April 17, 1891. In 1898, he co-founded the Negro Society for Historical Research and served as leader of the American Negro Academy. His family relocated to 105 Kosciusko St. in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, in 1918, yet still maintained their Harlem home.

He mingled among exiled Cuban and Puerto Rican nationalists and intellectuals in NYC.

"With Harlem came the courage to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame," Langston Hughes indicated.

The artistic, intellectual and social boom occurring in Harlem, beginning in 1918, was initially called the "New Negro Movement," and incorporated primarily African Americans who had recently relocated during the Great Migration from the rural South. Countee Cullen, Claude McKay and John E. Bruce were among them.

However, many Afro-Caribbeans like Hubert Harrison, Marcus Garvey and Schomburg also participated. Once they began communicating together, they realized that the same oppressive system affected them all.

By this time Schomburg had redefined himself as an "Afro Borinqueño," an "African Puerto Rican," and he had learned to write English. He scribed articles for several progressive Black periodicals including The Crisis and Opportunity magazines, Negro World, and the New York Amsterdam News newspapers. During March 1925 he self-published his inspirational essay, "The Negro Digs Up His Past," which master teacher Dr. John Henrik Clarke credited as sparking him as a teen.

The self-taught bibliophile had amassed a vast collection of rare African artifacts accumulated throughout his global travels, and in 1926 the New York Public Library purchased his trove for $10,000 and displayed them at their 135th St. branch, naming it the Arthur A. Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and Art. Several of his contemporaries--namely Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston--utilized it as a valuable resource center. In 1973, it was renamed the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

In 1932, the astute bibliographer and historian served as curator of his collection.

Following dental surgery at Brooklyn's Madison Park Hospital, he became ill and transitioned June 8, 1938. His body was interred at Brooklyn's Cypress Hills National Cemetery.

"Schomburg was the preeminent researcher and conscious figure that pointed the right path for all of us Afro descendants to follow," notes Dr. Georgina Falu, former director of CCNY's Afro-Latino Studies. "His contribution to the Harlem Renaissance can never be accurately described because there remains years, centuries, of the work he started. We should be attempting to increase that collection of our experiences throughout the diaspora so that everyone will know what we contributed to world history."

To support the co-naming of the intersection of Nostrand Avenue and Kosciusko Street "Arthur Schomburg Place," contact facebook.com/arthur.schomburg.

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Arthur Schomburg and the Harlem Renaissance - New York Amsterdam News

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In recognition of the 146th born day anniversary of renowned researcher Arthur Alfonso Schomburg we take a look at his involvement in the reinvigorating Harlem Renaissance occurring during the "Roaring Twenties."

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Founded in 1925 as the Negro Literature, History and Prints Division Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the leading cultural institutions in the world devoted to the preservation of materials focused on African-American, African Diaspora, and African experiences

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Poet Amanda Gorman On Using Her Art As A Tool For Activism

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Poet Amanda Gorman On Using Her Art As A Tool For Activism

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Poet Amanda Gorman On Using Her Art As A Tool For Activism

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We revisit a conversation Here & Now's Tonya Mosely had with Gorman last October about her poetry as a tool for activism.

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Poet Amanda Gorman On Activism And Art In Times Of Darkness

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Poet Amanda Gorman On Activism And Art In Times Of Darkness

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In the midst of the pandemic and calls for racial justice, many artists are using their energies to help advocate for transformative change.

Amanda Gorman, the nation's first Youth Poet Laureate, is among them. The 22-year-old graduated from Harvard earlier this year and is using her talent to offer words of hope and understanding.

Here & Now's Tonya Mosley speaks with Gorman about poetry as a tool for activism.
An Erasure Poem of Thomas Jefferson's "Notes on the State of Virginia" By Amanda Gorman
Notes on the state

I find

uttered a

thought

the level of

Plain

; never

painting or sculpture.

Music gifted.

whites

have been found capable

of imagining.

Whether they will be

the composition

of a more extensive

or

complicated harmony,

is yet to be proved.

Misery is often.

poetry is misery enough

God knows poetry.

Love is peculiar

of the poet. ardent,

but it

kindles only

the imagination.

Religion indeed;

a Phyllis

could produce

published

under her name

the dignity of
By Amanda Gorman
The word 'race' first arose
In the English language in 1508. Of course,
It appeared where all
words are born:
a poem. when
A Scottish writer
Spoke of a long line of kings,
And the dancing deadly sin of envy.
So what is a poem, if not a beginning?
An announcement that heralds itself?
Moments of air molded like melted wax.

I always thought language was
Akin to the body,
Padlocked oh so delicately to a pulse.
It tells you in the beginning was the word.
This was before 1619, before Trayvon, before Till,
Before Malcolm and Martin and Michael went still.
Before the echo that is breath's
Pilgrimage to the start of the sound.
Before the inception of a new poem,
When I am bent and gasping,
Stripped skinny, thatched thin,
A wild note waiting to be sung.
I am braced against beginnings
I cannot name, my breath wheezing
So hard as to stain the haze of night.
My teeth are bared,
My tongue a rare thing, flared and forked.
I'm the damsel. The dragon. The dork.
A furious flower--
I dare you: bury me, wilting, under your feet.
For what is stepped on cannot be stepped over.

So I'm still not sure if words
Are something the page pulls from me,
Or the page pulls me from.
All the same, I am parcel to a we
That is enviously gibbous, glamorous.
Letters clamorous in the damp dip of the tongue.
Think: if sorrow made slaves sing,
Bronze faces polished with light,
Might we write a hymn
That fills the mouth tight with wind.
Maybe we can dream of lettering a lyric
Loud enough to crack the lung.

I want to speak a blackness that
Is something to celebrate
And something to shovel;
The soil from which all of us start.
Buried deep down within me,

Under the skin, like a secret skeleton.
The shell that keeps us standing.
Let our verses grab the globe by the ear,
Like a black grandma tugging a toddler straight.
Let us arrive on the backs of words
That give air its meanings,
So that the next time historians speak of race,
A long line of kings,
They'll see us,
our crescent smiles naked and nascent,
Shining so bright they make others black with envy.
We tell the kingdom we are deadly,
And dancing, too. The heralds announce that
Our race has just arisen
From the flowerbeds
where our seeds have always been.
We grin,
Recognizing our reign isn't words,
But the world words begin.

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Poet Amanda Gorman On Activism And Art In Times Of Darkness

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In the midst of the pandemic and calls for racial justice, many artists are using their energies to help advocate for transformative change. Amanda Gorman , the nation's first Youth Poet Laureate, is among them. The 22-year-old graduated from Harvard earlier this year and is using her talent to offer words of hope and understanding.

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US Secretary of Defense
From Wikipedia

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The secretary of defense ( SecDef) is the leader and chief executive officer of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the Armed Forces of the U.S. The secretary of defense's position of command and authority over the U.S. military is second only to that of the president. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a defense minister in many other countries. The secretary of defense is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, and is by custom a member of the Cabinet and by law a member of the National Security Council.

The secretary of defense is a statutory office, and the general provision in 10 U.S.C. § 113 provides that "subject to the direction of the President", its occupant has "authority, direction and control over the Department of Defense". The same statute further designates the secretary as "the principal assistant to the President in all matters relating to the Department of Defense". To ensure civilian control of the military, no one may be appointed as the secretary of defense within seven years of serving as a commissioned officer of a regular (i.e., non- reserve) component of an armed force.

Subject only to the orders of the president, the secretary of defense is in the chain of command and exercises command and control, for both operational and administrative purposes, over all Department of Defense forces - the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Space Force - as well as the U.S. Coast Guard when its command and control is transferred to the Department of Defense. Only the secretary of defense (or the president or Congress) can authorize the transfer of operational control of forces between the three military departments (the departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force) and the 10 Combatant Commands ( Africa Command, Central Command, European Command, Indo-Pacific Command, Northern Command, Southern Command, Cyber Command, Special Operations Command, Strategic Command, Transportation Command). Because the Office of Secretary of Defense is vested with legal powers that exceed those of any commissioned officer, and is second only to the president in the military hierarchy, its incumbent has sometimes unofficially been referred to as a "deputy commander-in-chief". The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the principal military adviser to the secretary of defense and the president; while the chairman may assist the secretary and president in their command functions, the chairman is not in the chain of command.

The secretary of the treasury, the secretary of state, the attorney general, and the secretary of defense are generally regarded as the four most important cabinet officials because of the size and importance of their respective departments.

On November 9, 2020, President Trump tweeted that Christopher C. Miller would be the acting secretary of defense, effective immediately, bypassing Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist, who is in line to fill the position under the Vacancies Reform Act.

An Army, Navy, and Marine Corps were established in 1775, in concurrence with the American Revolution. The War Department, headed by the secretary of war, was created by Act of Congress in 1789 and was responsible for both the Army and Navy until the founding of a separate Department of the Navy in 1798.

Based on the experiences of World War II, proposals were soon made on how to more effectively manage the large combined military establishment. The Army generally favored centralization while the Navy had institutional preferences for decentralization and the status quo. The resulting National Security Act of 1947 was largely a compromise between these divergent viewpoints. It renamed the Department of War the Department of the Army, and added both it and the Department of the Navy to a newly established National Military Establishment (NME). The Act also separated the Army Air Forces from the Army to become its own branch of service, the United States Air Force.

A new title was coined by the Act for the head of the NME: Secretary of Defense. At first, each of the service secretaries maintained cabinet status. The first secretary of defense, James Forrestal, who in his previous capacity as the secretary of the Navy had opposed creation of the new position, found it difficult to exercise authority over the other branches with the limited powers his office had at the time. To address this and other problems, the National Security Act was amended in 1949 to further consolidate the national defense structure in order to reduce interservice rivalry, directly subordinate the secretaries of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force to the secretary of defense in the chain of command, and rename the National Military Establishment as the Department of Defense, making it one Executive Department. The position of the deputy secretary of defense, the number two position in the department, was also created at this time.

The general trend since 1949 has been to further centralize management in the Department of Defense, elevating the status and authorities of civilian OSD appointees and defense-wide organizations at the expense of the military departments and the services within them. The last major revision of the statutory framework concerning the position was done in the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. In particular, it elevated the status of joint service for commissioned officers, making it in practice a requirement before appointments to general officer and flag officer grades could be made.

Powers and functions

The secretary of defense, appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, is by federal law ( 10 U.S.C. § 113) the head of the Department of Defense, "the principal assistant to the President in all matters relating to Department of Defense", and has "authority, direction and control over the Department of Defense". Because the Constitution vests all military authority in Congress and the president, the statutory authority of the secretary of defense is derived from their constitutional authorities. Since it is impractical for either Congress or the president to participate in every piece of Department of Defense affairs, the secretary of defense, and the secretary's subordinate officials generally exercise military authority.

As the head of DoD, all officials, employees and service members are "under" the secretary of defense. Some of those high-ranking officials, civil and military (outside of OSD and the Joint Staff) are: the secretary of the Army, secretary of the Navy, and secretary of the Air Force, Army chief of staff, commandant of the Marine Corps, chief of naval operations, Air Force chief of staff, chief of space operations, and chief of the National Guard Bureau and the combatant commanders of the Combatant Commands. All of these high-ranking positions, civil and military, require Senate confirmation.

The Department of Defense is composed of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the Joint Staff (JS), Office of the Inspector General (DODIG), the Combatant Commands, the Military Departments ( Department of the Army (DA), Department of the Navy (DON) & Department of the Air Force (DAF)), the Defense Agencies and DoD Field Activities, the National Guard Bureau (NGB), and such other offices, agencies, activities, organizations, and commands established or designated by law, or by the president or by the secretary of defense.

Department of Defense Directive 5100.01 describes the organizational relationships within the Department, and is the foundational issuance for delineating the major functions of the Department. The latest version, signed by former secretary of defense Robert Gates in December 2010, is the first major re-write since 1987.

Office of the Secretary of Defense

The secretary's principally civilian staff element is called the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and is composed of the deputy secretary of defense (DEPSECDEF) and five under secretaries of defense in the fields of acquisition, technology & logistics, comptroller/chief financial officer, intelligence, personnel & readiness, and policy; several assistant secretaries of defense; other directors and the staffs under them.

The name of the principally military staff organization, organized under the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the Joint Staff (JS).

Awards and decorations

The Defense Distinguished Service Medal (DDSM), the Defense Superior Service Medal (DSSM), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM), the Joint Service Commendation Medal (JSCM) and the Joint Service Achievement Medal (JSAM) are awarded, to military personnel for service in joint duty assignments, in the name of the secretary of defense. In addition, there is the Joint Meritorious Unit Award (JMUA), which is the only ribbon (as in non-medal) and unit award issued to joint DoD activities, also issued in the name of the secretary of defense.

The DDSM is analogous to the distinguished services medals issued by the military departments (i.e. Army Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal & Air Force Distinguished Service Medal), the DSSM corresponds to the Legion of Merit, the DMSM to the Meritorious Service Medal, the JSCM to the service commendation medals, and the JSAM to the achievement medals issued by the services. While the approval authority for DSSM, DMSM, JSCM, JSAM and JMUA is delegated to inferior DoD officials: the DDSM can only be awarded by the secretary of defense.

Recommendations for the Medal of Honor (MOH), formally endorsed in writing by the secretary of the military department concerned and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are processed through the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and such recommendations be must approved by the secretary of defense before it can be handed over to the president, who is the final approval authority for the MOH, although it is awarded in the name of Congress.

The secretary of defense, with the concurrence of the secretary of state, is the approval authority for the acceptance and wear of NATO medals issued by the secretary general of NATO and offered to the U.S. permanent representative to NATO in recognition of U.S. servicemembers who meet the eligibility criteria specified by NATO.

Congressional committees

As the head of the department, the secretary of defense is the chief witness for the congressional committees with oversight responsibilities over the Department of Defense. The most important committees, with respect to the entire department, are the two authorizing committees, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), and the two appropriations committees, the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee.

For the DoD intelligence programs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have the principal oversight role.

National Security Council

The secretary of defense is a statutory member of the National Security Council. As one of the principals, the secretary along with the vice president, secretary of state and the assistant to the president for national security affairs participates in biweekly Principals Committee (PC) meetings, preparing and coordinating issues before they are brought before full NSC sessions chaired by the president.

Role in the military justice system

The secretary is one of only five or six civilians-the others being the president, the three "service secretaries" (the secretary of the Army, secretary of the Navy, and secretary of the Air Force), and the secretary of homeland security (when the United States Coast Guard is under the United States Department of Homeland Security and has not been transferred to the Department of the Navy under the Department of Defense)-authorized to act as convening authority in the military justice system for General Courts-Martial ( 10 U.S.C. § 822: article 22, UCMJ), Special Courts-Martial ( 10 U.S.C. § 823: article 23, UCMJ), and Summary Courts-Martial ( 10 U.S.C. § 824: article 24 UCMJ).

Secretary of Defense is a Level I position of the Executive Schedule, and thus earns a salary of $210,700 per year as of January 2018.

List of secretaries of defense

The longest-serving secretary of defense is Robert McNamara, who served for a total of 7 years, 39 days. Combining his two non-sequential services as the secretary of defense, the second-longest serving is Donald Rumsfeld, who served just ten days fewer than McNamara. The second-longest unbroken tenure was Caspar Weinberger's, at 6 years, 306 days.

The shortest-serving secretary of defense is Elliot Richardson, who served 114 days and then was appointed U.S. attorney general amid the resignations of the Watergate Scandal. (This is not counting deputy secretaries of defense William P. Clements and William Howard Taft IV, who each served a few weeks as temporary/acting secretary of defense).

Denotes an Acting Secretary of Defense

Succession

Presidential succession

The secretary of defense is sixth in the presidential line of succession, following the secretary of the treasury and preceding the attorney general.

Secretary of Defense succession

In Executive Order 13533 of March 1, 2010, President Barack Obama modified the line of succession regarding who would act as the secretary of defense in the event of a vacancy or incapacitation, thus reversing the changes made by President George W. Bush in Executive Order 13394 as to the relative positions of the secretaries of the military departments. All of the officials in the line of succession are civilians appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate:

Executive Order 13533 (March 1, 2010 - present)

Executive Order 13394 (December 22, 2005 - March 1, 2010)

Living former secretaries of defense

As of November 2020, there are ten living former secretaries of defense, the oldest being William Perry (1994-1997, born 1927). The most recent secretary of defense to die was Harold Brown (1977-1981), on January 4, 2019.

References

General sources

Federal law

Directives, regulations and manuals

Further reading

Cohen, Eliot A. (2003). Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen and Leadership in Wartime. New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 978-1-4000-3404-8.

Cole, Alice C.; Goldberg, Alfred; Tucker, Samuel A.; et al., eds. (1978). The Department of Defense: Documents on Establishment and Organization 1944-1978 (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense/U.S. Government Printing Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2014.

Huntington, Samuel P. (1957). The Soldier and the State. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-81736-2.

Mahan, Erin R., and Jeffrey A. Larsen, eds. (2012). "Evolution of the Secretary of Defense in the Era of Massive Retaliation: Charles Wilson, Neil McElroy, and Thomas Gates, 1953-1961", Cold War Foreign Policy Series: Special Study 3 (September 2012), vii-41.

Stevenson, Charles A. (2006). SECDEF: The Nearly Impossible Job of Secretary of Defense. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books. ISBN 1-57488-794-7.

Trask, Roger R.; Goldberg, Alfred (1997). The Department of Defense 1997-1947: Organization and Leaders (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense/U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 0-16-049163-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2014.

Primary historical sources

Online sources

External links

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The secretary of defense ( SecDef) is the leader and chief executive officer of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the Armed Forces of the U.S. The secretary of defense's position of command and authority over the U.S. military is second only to that of the president.

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Kamala Harris has message for children during victory speech

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The political career of Kamala Harris and the impact she has had on the urgent issues of today.

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The political career of Kamala Harris and the impact she has had on the urgent issues of today.

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Create an Epic account to start reading!

This title introduces readers to the political career of Kamala Harris and the impact she has had on the urgent issues of today.

Read this Book on Epic!

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online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

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Create an Epic account to start reading! This title introduces readers to the political career of Kamala Harris and the impact she has had on the urgent issues of today. Read this Book on Epic!

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New Defense Secretary Arrives at Pentagon

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New Defense Secretary Arrives at Pentagon

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Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III arrived at the Pentagon today and hit the ground running, greeting the senior staff and then immediately heading into meetings on combating the coronavirus.

The Senate confirmed Austin at 11 a.m.; the vote was 93-2. He arrived at the Pentagon around noon and was "administratively sworn in" soon afterward.

Austin chaired a COVID-19 briefing attended by Deputy Secretary David L. Norquist, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, members of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Staff, DOD COVID-19 Coordinator Max Rose, the acting service secretaries, the service military chiefs and combatant commanders. The Senate and the House of Representatives waived the requirement that a defense secretary must have been retired seven years before assuming the position. Austin assured congressional leaders that he fully believes in civilian control of the U.S. military.

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Austin addressed this issue. "I was a general and a soldier, and I'm proud of that," he said. "But today, I appear before you as a citizen, the son of a postal worker and a homemaker from Thomasville, Georgia, and I'm proud of that, too. If you confirm me, I am prepared to serve now as a civilian, fully acknowledging the importance of this distinction."

Austin, a 1975 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., retired from the Army as the commander of U.S. Central Command in 2016.

In some of his first acts, Austin is contacting allies and partners around the world to assure them of America's security commitments. His first call to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, is proof of the importance Austin places on allies.

Conquering COVID tops the immediate list of missions, but Austin also must configure the department to face China, which he called America's "pacing threat" in his testimony. He also must consider the actions and strategy of a resurgent Russia. Iran remains a U.S. concern in the Middle East, and U.S. troops are still deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. North Korea is a wild card in the Indo-Pacific.

Threats from violent extremism remain. Although the physical caliphate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has been eliminated, remnants of the group are still dangerous, DOD officials have said. Other groups, which share the toxic ideology, exist in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Austin also must keep his eyes on the future, continuing to build a department that has the capabilities needed to deter any foe and, if deterrence fails, to defeat that threat.

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New Defense Secretary Arrives at Pentagon, Convenes COVID Meeting

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Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III arrived at the Pentagon today and hit the ground running, greeting the senior staff and then immediately heading into meetings on combating the coronavirus. The Senate confirmed Austin at 11 a.m.; the vote was 93-2. He arrived at the Pentagon around noon and was "administratively sworn in" soon afterward.

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George Washington Carver | Scientist, Inventor, and Teacher Video | PBS LearningMedia

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George Washington Carver was a world-renowned American botanist who devoted his life's work to helping farmers successfully grow their crops. A lover of nature with a keen intellect and desire to help people better their lives, Carver used his knowledge to make American farms flourish, which helped the nation as a whole.

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The woman who loved to count to the Moon and back! -Astrophysicist, Space Scientist and Mathematician

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NASA Mathematician, Recipient of Nations Highest Civilian Honor

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List of African-American inventors and scientists

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List of African-American inventors and scientists

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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This list of African Americans inventors and scientists documents many of the African-Americans who have invented a multitude of items or made discoveries in the course of their lives. These have ranged from practical everyday devices to applications and scientific discoveries in diverse fields, including physics, biology, math, plus the medical space science.

African-Americans have been the victims of oppression, discrimination and persecution throughout American history, with an impact on African-American innovation. A 2014 study by economist Lisa D. Cook linked violence towards African-Americans and lack of legal protections over the period 1870-1940 to lower innovation.

Among the earliest was George Washington Carver, whose reputation was based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, which aided in nutrition for farm families. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their way of life. The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins for farmers contained 105 food recipes using peanuts. He also developed and promoted about 100 products made from peanuts that were useful for the house and farm. He received numerous honors for his work, including the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP.

A later renowned scientist was Percy Lavon Julian, a research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. He was the first to synthesize the natural product physostigmine, and a pioneer in the industrial large-scale chemical synthesis of the human hormones, steroids, progesterone, and testosterone, from plant sterols such as stigmasterol and sitosterol. His work would lay the foundation for the steroid drug industry's production of cortisone, other corticosteroids, and birth control pills.

A contemporary example of a modern-day inventor is Lonnie George Johnson, an engineer. Johnson invented the Super Soaker water gun, which was the top-selling toy in the United States from 1991 to 1992. In 1980 Johnson formed his own law firm and licensed the Super Soaker water gun to Larami Corporation. Two years later, the Super Soaker generated over $200 million in retail sales and became the best selling toy in America. Larami Corporation was eventually purchased by Hasbro, the second largest toy manufacturer in the world. Over the years, Super Soaker sales have totaled close to one billion dollars. Johnson reinvested a majority of his earnings from the Super Soaker into research and development for his energy technology companies - "It's who I am, it's what I do." As of 2019, Johnson holds over 120 patents, with more pending, and is the author of several publications on spacecraft power systems.

Name

Years

Occupation(s)

Inventions / accomplishments

References

Banneker, Benjamin

1731-1806

Almanac author; surveyor; farmer

Constructed wooden clock; astronomer; assisted in the survey of the original boundaries of the District of Columbia; authored a series of almanacs and ephemerides; naturalist: recorded observations on emergences of periodical cicadas and on the behavior of honey bees.

Beard, Andrew

1849-1921

Janney coupler improvements; invented the car device #594,059 dated November 23, 1897; rotary engine patent #478,271 dated July 5, 1892

Bell, Earl S.

1977-

Inventor, entrepreneur, architect, industrial designer

Invented chair with sliding skin (2004) and the quantitative display apparatus (2005)

Blackwell, David

1919-2010

Mathematician, statistician

First proposed the Blackwell channel model used in coding theory and information theory; one of the eponyms of the Rao-Blackwell theorem, which is a process that significantly improves crude statistical estimators

Boahen, Kwabena

1964-

Bioengineer

Silicon retina able to process images in the same manner as a living retina

Boone, Sarah

1832-1905

Inventor

Ironing board allowing sleeves of women's garments to be ironed more easily

Bouchet, Edward

1852-1918

First African-American to receive a PhD in any subject; received physics doctorate from Yale University in 1876

Bowman, James

1923-2011

Physician

Pathologist and geneticist; Professor Emeritus Pritzker School of Medicine; first tenured African-American professor at the University of Chicago Division of Biological Sciences

Boykin, Otis

1920-1982

Inventor, engineer

Artificial heart pacemaker control unit

Brady, St. Elmo

1884-1966

Published three scholarly abstracts in Science; collaborated on a paper published in the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry

Brooks, Charles

1865- ?

Inventor

Street sweeper truck and a type of paper punch

Cannon, Thomas C.

1943-

Inventor

Led a group of engineers who developed the Tactical Optical Fiber Connector (TOFC), the first fiber optic connector deployed under battlefield conditions, and the ST Connector that helped make fiber optic communications affordable.

Cardozo, William Warrick

1905-1962

Pediatrician

Sickle cell anemia studies; in October 1937 he published "Immunologic Studies in Sickle Cell Anemia" in the Archives of Internal Medicine; many of the findings are still valid today

Chappelle, Charles W.

1872-1941

Electrician, construction, international businessman, and aviation pioneer

Designed long-distance flight airplane; the only African-American to invent and display the airplane at the 1911 First Industrial Air Show held in conjunction with the Auto Show at Grand Central Palace in Manhattan in New York City; president of the African Union Company, Inc.

Dabiri, John

1980-

Biophysicist

Expert on jellyfish hydrodynamics and designer of a vertical-axis wind farm adapted from schooling fish

Ellis, Clarence "Skip"

1943-2014

Computer scientist

First African American with a PhD in computer science; software inventor including OfficeTalk at Xerox PARC

Goode, Sarah E.

1855-1905

Inventor

Cabinet bed invention; first African-American woman to receive a patent in the United States

Gilbert, Juan E.

1969-

Computer scientist

Awarded the first Presidential Endowed Chair at Clemson University in honor of his accomplishments

Jr. Jackson, John W.

1953-2007

Co-inventor of imaging x-ray spectrometer. NASA engineer. United States of America Army Civilian Engineer.

Jackson, Dr. Shirley

1946-

Physicist

Helped develop technologies leading to the invention of the touch-tone telephone, portable fax, solar cells, fiber optic cables, and the technology enabling caller ID and call waiting.[citation needed ]

Jarvis, Erich

1965-

Neurobiologist

Duke University neuroscience bird songs studies

Johnson, Isaac

18xx- ?

Inventor

Held patent for improvements to the bicycle frame, specifically so it could be taken apart for compact storage

Johnson, Lonnie

1949-

Mechanical engineer, nuclear engineer, inventor

Invented Super Soaker while researching thermal energy transfer engines; worked with NASA; holder of over 80 patents

Kountz, Samuel L.

1930-1981

Transplant surgeon, researcher

Organ transplantation pioneer, particularly renal transplant research and surgery; author or co-author of 172 articles in scientific publications

Latimer, Lewis

1848-1928

Inventor, draftsman, expert witness

Worked as a draftsman for both Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison; became a member of Edison's Pioneers and served as an expert witness in many light bulb litigation lawsuits; said to have invented the water closet

Lee, Raphael Carl

1949-

Paul and Aileen Russell Professor, Pritzker School of Medicine; MacArthur Fellow, Searle Scholar, founder and chairman, Avocet Polymer Technologies, Inc.; founder and chairman, Renacyte BioMolecular Technologies, Inc; discovered use of surfactant copolymers as molecular chaperones to augment endogenous injury repair mechanisms of living cells; holder of many patents covering scar treatment therapies, tissue engineered ligaments, brain trauma therapies, and protective garments[citation needed ]

Mahoney, Mary

1845-1926

Nurse

First African American to study and work as a professionally trained nurse in the United States

McCoy, Elijah

1844-1929

Inventor

Invented a version of the automatic lubricator for steam engines, McCoy learned a great deal of his skills from a mechanical apprenticeship when he was age fifteen.

McWhorter, John

1965-

Specializes in the study of creole language formation

Morgan, Garrett

1877-1963

Inventor

Invented an early version of a gas mask called a smoke hood, and created the first traffic light that included a third "warning" position which is standard today. Morgan also developed a chemical that was used in hair products for hair-straightening.

Nriagu, Jerome

1944-

Geochemist

Studies toxic metals in the environment; supporter of the lead poisoning thesis of the decline of the Roman Empire

Ross, Archia

Turn of 20th century

Inventor

A runner for stoops (1896), bag closure device (1898), a wrinkle-preventing trouser stretcher (1899), a garment-hanger (1903), and a holder for brooms and like articles.

Russell, Jesse

1948-

Engineer, inventor

Wireless communications engineer

Sowell, Thomas

1930-

Economist, social scientist

Economist, social theorist and political philosopher

Tyree, G. Bernadette

19xx-

Program Director, Division of Musculoskeletal Diseases, at National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health

Walker, Arthur B. C. Jr.

1936-2001

Astronomer

Developed normal incidence multilayer XUV telescopes to photograph the solar corona

Wilkins, J. Ernest Jr.

1923-2011

Mathematician, engineer, nuclear scientist

Entered University of Chicago at age 13; PhD at 19; worked on the Manhattan Project; wrote over 100 scientific papers; helped recruit minorities into the sciences

Wright, Jane C.

1919-2013

Cancer research and surgeon

Noted for her contributions to chemotherapy and for pioneering the use of the drug methotrexate to treat breast cancer and skin cancer

Wright, Louis T.

1891-1952

Surgeon

Led team that first used Aureomycin as a treatment on humans

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List of African-American inventors and scientists - Wikipedia

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This list of African Americans inventors and scientists documents many of the African-Americans who have invented a multitude of items or made discoveries in the course of their lives. These have ranged from practical everyday devices to applications and scientific discoveries in diverse fields, including physics, biology, math, plus the medical space science.

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Maya Angelou once said, "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty ." This can be said for Black c ulture in its entirety.

This post is for the present, but it is also a foundation of the future. This is for our brothers and sisters that believed that they were alone in the struggle or did not know that there were others like them. For the Black scientists whose quirkiness was ridiculed not accepted. We hope that this post enables the next generation to fulfill their need to change the world. Know you are the champions of change, know that you are the gladiators of purpose, grow in confidence, and do not wane.
Ed. note: On January 26, 2021, Cell Mentor published an addendum to this list. You can read the addendum here.
Established Investigators

Azizi Seixas, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health, and Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine

Candice Price, PhD
Assistant Professor in Mathematics and Statistics, Smith College; Co-founder, Underrepresented Students in Topology and Algebra Research Symposium; and Co-creator, Mathematicallygiftedandblack.com

Dominique Carter, PhD
Agricultural Science Advisor, Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS), Office of the Secretary (OSEC), US Department of Agriculture

Genevieve Elizabeth Henry, PhD
Professor of Chemistry and Department Head of Chemistry, Susquehanna University

Jill Bargonetti, PhD
Professor of Biological Sciences, Hunter College

Juana Mendenhall, PhD
Walter E. Massey Professor of Physical Sciences and Associate Professor of Chemistry, Morehouse College

Johnna M. Frierson, PhD
Assistant Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Founding Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Pratt School of Engineering, and
Assistant Professor of the Practice of Medical Education, Duke University School of Medicine

Julian Manly Earls, PhD
First Black Section Head, First Black Office Chief, First Black Division Chief, First Black Deputy Director, Second Black Center Director, and Director, Glenn Research Center, NASA

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1,000 inspiring Black scientists in America

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Maya Angelou once said, "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty ." This can be said for Black c ulture in its entirety.  This post is for the present, but it is also a foundation of the future.

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National Geographic- George Washington Carver

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National Geographic- George Washington Carver

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Read National Geographic Readers: George Washington Carver on Epic

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Create an Epic account to start reading!

Yum! Meet the inventor of peanut butter, George Washington Carver, and learn about his important work with peanuts and other plants.

Read this Book on Epic!

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online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

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Read National Geographic Readers: George Washington Carver on Epic

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Create an Epic account to start reading! Yum! Meet the inventor of peanut butter, George Washington Carver, and learn about his important work with peanuts and other plants. Read this Book on Epic!

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Black Panther & Black Super Hereos

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Wakanda Learning Lab is this? This Learning Lab explores the importance of representation in popular media. How are people portrayed? Why are they portrayed? What does this say about a people in a...

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Analyzing Images: Everyday Essential Workers

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Analyzing Images: Everyday Essential People

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In times of crisis, who is considered an essential worker? What jobs are considered essential to keep society functioning? We have searched our collections for historical images to highlight and ce...

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Triumph and History

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NHD at NMAAHC Collection Connection Grid 2019: Triumph and Tra...

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Welcome to the National Museum of African American History and Culture's Collection Connection Grid for National History Day 2019!Below is an assortment of selected documents, images, objects and v...

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New York Public Library

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Studio portrait of Schomburg as a young child in Puerto Rico, age 4.

NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 5673918

One of the most influential forces behind the creation of The New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is the man the research center is named after, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg. Born in Puerto Rico in 1874 to a Black mother and a father of German descent, young Arturo often wondered about the lack of African history taught in his classrooms.This interest formed the cornerstone of Schomburg's eventual lifework consisting of research and preservation-work that would lead him to become one of the world's premier collectors of Black literature, slave narratives, artwork, and diasporic materials.

Schomburg's devotion to collecting precious materials focusing on the global Black experience was preceded by his allegiance to Puerto Rican and Cuban independence groups. But once the Spanish American War ended and the Cuban Revolution Party was dissolved, Schomburg refocused his efforts on bolstering Black identity and preserving its culture in New York City.

Artist Aaron Douglas (left) and Schomburg in front of Douglas's painting "Aspects of Negro Life: Song of the Towers," 1934. NYPL Digital Collections, Image ID: 1820330

During the 1920s and '30s, Schomburg traveled to Europe, Latin America, and across the United States collecting new materials that bolstered his already voluminous collection. In 1926 the Carnegie Corporation funded The New York Public Library's purchase of Schomburg's private collection for $10,000. This would mark the beginning of the 135th Street branch's transformation into the Schomburg Center.

Schomburg's curation work was so heralded that in 1929, Fisk University President Charles S. Johnson invited him to curate Fisk's library. By assisting in the architectural design of the library and focusing on providing equitable experiences for researchers, including the building of a reading room and browsing space, Schomburg helped cement Fisk's standing as one of the leading institutions on Black research and studies. By the time Schomburg ended his tenure at Fisk, the library's collection had expanded to 4,600 books from a mere 106 items.

In collaboration with Rhonda Evans, Assistant Chief Librarian of the Schomburg Center's Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, the Bronx Library Center has created a presentation highlighting Arturo Schomburg's life and legacy. We hope that you enjoy learning more about Schomburg and his commitment to uplifting and preserving Black history and culture.

Please visit our presentation about Schomburg's life and contributions below or on Instagram here.

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Arturo A. Schomburg: His Life and Legacy | The New York Public Library

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Schomburg was one of the world's premiere collectors of Black literature, slave narratives, artwork, and diasporic materials-a titan of pre...

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Features a brief synopsis of African-Americans firsts in U.S. Army

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African-Americans in Military History: Breaking Barriers

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Features a brief synopsis of African-American firsts throughout U.S. military history.

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Established to offer opportunity of higher education to blacks, they are open to all people. HBCUs during WWII also offered refuge to Jews escaping Nazi Germany. Remember Black History is American History.

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By State

Alabama
Alabama A&M University- Huntsville
Alabama State University- Montgomery
Bishop State Community College - Mobile
Concordia University-Alabama- Selma (closed 2018)
Gadsden State College- Gadsden
J.F. Drake State Technical College- Huntsville
Lawson State Community College- Birmingham
Miles College- Fairfield
Miles School of Law- Fairfield *
Oakwood University- Huntsville
Selma University- Selma
Shelton State Community College- Tuscaloosa
Stillman College- Tuscaloosa
Talladega College- Talladega
Tuskegee University- Tuskegee
H. Councill Trenholm State Community College- Montgomery

Arkansas
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff- Pine Bluff
Arkansas Baptist College- Little Rock
Philander Smith College- Little Rock
Shorter College- North Little Rock

Delaware
Delaware State University- Dover

District of Columbia
University of the District of Columbia
Howard University

Florida
Bethune Cookman University- Daytona Beach
Edward Waters University- Jacksonville
Florida A&M University- Tallahassee
Florida Memorial University- Miami Gardens

Albany State University- Albany
Carver College*- Atlanta
Clark Atlanta University- Atlanta
Fort Valley State University- Fort Valley
Interdenominational Theological Center- Atlanta
Johnson C Smith Theological Seminary*- Atlanta
Morehouse College- Atlanta
Morehouse School of Medicine- Atlanta
Morris Brown College- Atlanta
Paine College- Augusta
Savannah State University- Savannah
Spelman College- Atlanta

Kentucky
Kentucky State University- Frankfort
Simmons College of Kentucky- Louisville

Louisiana
Dillard University-New Orleans
Grambling State University- Grambling
Southern University and A&M College- Baton Rouge
Southern University New Orleans- New Orleans
Southern University-Shreveport- Shreveport
Xavier University- New Orleans

Bowie State University- Bowie
Coppin State University- Baltimore
University of Maryland- Eastern Shore- Princess Anne
Morgan State University- Baltimore

Michigan
Lewis College of Business- Detroit (Closed 2013)

Mississippi
Alcorn State University- Lorman
Coahoma Community College- Clarksdale
Hinds County Community College- Utica
Jackson State University- Jackson
Mississippi Valley State University- Itta Bena
Rust College- Holly Springs
Tougaloo College- Tougaloo

Missouri Harris-Stowe State University- St. Louis
Lincoln University- Jefferson City

North Carolina
Barber-Scotia College**- Concord
Bennett College- Greensboro
Elizabeth City State University- Elizabeth City
Fayetteville State University- Fayetteville
Hood Theological Seminary*- Salisbury
Johnson C. Smith University- Charlotte
Livingstone College- Salisbury
North Carolina Central University- Durham
North Carolina A&T State University- Greensboro
Shaw University- Raleigh
St. Augustine's University- Raleigh
Winston-Salem State University- Winston Salem

Central State University- Wilberforce
Payne Theological Seminary*- Wilberforce
Wilberforce University- Wilberforce

Oklahoma
Langston University- Langston

Pennsylvania
Cheyney University- Cheyney
The Lincoln University- Lincoln University

South Carolina
Allen University- Columbia
Benedict College- Columbia
Claflin University- Orangeburg
Clinton College- Rock Hill
Denmark Technical College- Denmark
Morris College- Sumter
South Carolina State University- Orangeburg
Voorhees University- Denmark

Tennessee
American Baptist University- Nashville
Fisk University- Nashville
Knoxville College**- Knoxville
Lane College- Jackson
LeMoyne Owen College- Memphis
Meharry Medical College
Tennessee State University- Nashville

Texas
Huston-Tillotson University- Austin
Jarvis Christian College- Hawkins
Paul Quinn College- Dallas
Prairie View A&M University- Prairie View
Southwestern Christian College- Terrell
St. Philip's College- San Antonio
Texas College- Tyler
Texas Southern University- Houston
Wiley College- Marshall

US Virgin Islands
University of the Virgin Islands- St. Thomas & St. Croix

Virginia
Hampton University- Hampton
Norfolk State University- Norfolk
Saint Paul's College- Lawrenceville (closed 2013)
Virginia State University- Petersburg
Virginia Union University- Richmond
Virginia University of Lynchburg- Lynchburg

West Virginia
Bluefield State College- Bluefield
West Virginia State University- Institute

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Listing of all Historically Black Colleges and Universities, HBCUs, including location and website

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HBCUs are a source of accomplishment and great pride for the African American community as well as the entire nation. The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines an HBCU as: "...any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation." HBCUs offer all students, regardless of race, an opportunity to develop their skills and talents. These institutions train young people who go on to serve domestically and internationally in the professions as entrepreneurs and in the public and private sectors.

Fast Facts (Source: National Center for Education Statistics)

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White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Historically Black Colleges and Universities

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HBCUs are a source of accomplishment and great pride for the African American community as well as the entire nation.

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Five Things to now about HBCUs.

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Historically black colleges and universities--commonly called "HBCUs"--are defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965 as, "...any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education]..."

History

1. The first colleges for African Americans were established largely through the efforts of black churches with the support of the American Missionary Association and the Freedmen's Bureau. The second Morrill Act of 1890 required states-especially former confederate states-to provide land-grants for institutions for black students if admission was not allowed elsewhere. As a result, many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were founded.

2. Between 1861 and 1900 more than 90 institutions of higher learning were established. Shaw University--founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1865--was the first black college organized after the Civil War. Other schools include: Talladega College, Howard University, Morehouse College and Hampton University.

Scholarship

3. Early HBCUs were established to train teachers, preachers and other community members. During the 20th century, many HBCUs shifted their focus to promote scholarship among African Americans. Academic councils, conferences and founded scholastic journals to showcase black intellectual thought. Such notable figures as W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Booker T. Washington and Martin Luther King Jr. attended a historically black college or university.

Culture

4. HBCUs opened the door of educational opportunity for many African Americans who were once legally denied an education. Additionally, these schools, provided African American students with a nurturing environment to explore their collective identities and cultures.

5. Today, HBCUs uphold a history of scholarship pursued by African Americans in the face of adversity.

Related Stories

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Historically black colleges and universities--commonly called "HBCUs"--are defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965 as, "...any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education]..."

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Historically Black Colleges and Universities

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Historically Black Colleges and Universities

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From Wikipedia

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Historically black colleges and universities ( HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Most of these institutions were founded in the years after the American Civil War and are concentrated in the Southern United States. During the period of segregation in the United States prior to the Civil Rights Act, the overwhelming majority of higher education institutions were predominantly white and completely disqualified or limited African-American enrollment. For a century after the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, most colleges and universities in the Southern United States prohibited all African Americans from attending, while institutions in other parts of the country regularly employed quotas to limit admissions of blacks. HBCU's were needed to give opportunities to African Americans especially in the South.

There are 101 HBCUs in the United States, including both public and private institutions (of 121 institutions that existed during the 1930s). Of these remaining HBCU institutions in the United States, 27 offer doctoral programs, 52 offer master's programs, 83 offer bachelor's degree programs, and 38 offer associate degrees. Among the graduates of HBCUs are civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., United States Vice President Kamala Harris, and former president of Brown University Ruth Simmons.

Most HBCUs were established in the South after the American Civil War, often with the assistance of religious missionary organizations based in the northern United States. HBCUs established prior to the American Civil War include Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1837 and Lincoln University in 1854. Wilberforce University was also established prior to the American Civil War; it was founded in 1856 via a collaboration between the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Ohio and the Methodist Episcopal Church (the latter a predominantly white denomination).

Exactly three months after the end of the Civil War, Atlanta University - now Clark Atlanta University - was founded on September 19, 1865, as the first HBCU in the Southern United States. Atlanta University was the first graduate institution to award degrees to African Americans in the nation and the first to award bachelors degrees to African Americans in the South; Clark College (1869) was the nation's first four-year liberal arts college to serve African-American students. The two consolidated in 1988 to form Clark Atlanta University. Shaw University, founded December 1, 1865, was the second HBCU to be established in the South. The year 1865 also saw the foundation of Storer College (1865-1955) in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Storer's former campus and buildings have since been incorporated into Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

In 1862, the federal government's Morrill Act provided for land grant colleges in each state. Some educational institutions established under the Morrill Act in the North and West were open to blacks. But 17 states, mostly in the South, required their systems to be segregated and generally excluded black students from their land grant colleges. In response, Congress passed the second Morrill Act of 1890, also known as the Agricultural College Act of 1890, requiring states to establish a separate land grant college for blacks if blacks were being excluded from the existing land grant college. Many of the HBCUs were founded by states to satisfy the Second Morrill Act. These land grant schools continue to receive annual federal funding for their research, extension, and outreach activities.

In the 1920s and 1930s, historically Black colleges developed a strong interest in athletics. Sports were expanding rapidly at state universities, but very few black stars were recruited there. Race newspapers hailed athletic success as a demonstration of racial progress. Black schools hired coaches, recruited and featured stellar athletes, and set up their own leagues.

In the 1930s, many Jewish intellectuals fleeing Europe after the rise of Hitler and anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany following Hitler's elevation to power emigrated to the United States and found work teaching in historically black colleges. In particular, 1933 was a challenging year for many Jewish academics who tried to escape increasingly oppressive Nazi policies, particularly after legislation was passed stripping them of their positions at universities. Jews looking outside of Germany could not find work in other European countries because of calamities like the Spanish Civil War and general antisemitism in Europe. In the US, they hoped to continue their academic careers, but barring a scant few, found little acceptance in elite institutions in Depression-era America, which also had their own undercurrent of antisemitism.

As a result of these phenomena, more than two-thirds of the faculty hired at many HBCUs from 1933 to 1945 had come to the United States to escape from Nazi Germany. HBCUs believed the Jewish professors were valuable faculty that would help strengthen their institutions' credibility.HBCUs had a firm belief in diversity and giving opportunity no matter the race, religion, or country of origin. HBCUs were open to Jews because of their ideas of equal learning spaces. They sought to create an environment where all people felt welcome to study, including women.

HBCUs made great contributions to the US war effort. One example is Tuskegee University in Alabama, where the Tuskegee Airmen trained and attended classes.

Florida's black junior colleges

After the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, the legislature of Florida, with support from various counties, started a series of eleven junior colleges serving the African-American population. The purpose was to show that separate but equal education was working in Florida. Prior to this, there had been only one junior college in Florida serving African Americans, Booker T. Washington Junior College, in Pensacola, founded in 1949. The new ones, with their year of founding, are

The new junior colleges began as extensions of black high schools; they used the same facilities and often the same faculty. Some built their own buildings after a few years. After passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandating an end to school segregation, the colleges were all abruptly closed. Only a fraction of the students and faculty were able to transfer to the previously all-white junior colleges, where they found, at best, an indifferent reception.

A reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 established a program for direct federal grants to HBCUs, to support their academic, financial, and administrative capabilities. Part B specifically provides for formula-based grants, calculated based on each institution's Pell grant eligible enrollment, graduation rate, and percentage of graduates who continue post baccalaureate education in fields where African Americans are underrepresented. Some colleges with a predominantly black student body are not classified as HBCUs because they were founded (or opened their doors to African Americans) after the implementation of the Sweatt v. Painter (1950) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954) rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court (the court decisions which outlawed racial segregation of public education facilities) and the Higher Education Act of 1965.

In 1980, Jimmy Carter signed an executive order to distribute adequate resources and funds to strengthen the nation's public and private HBCUs. His executive order created the White House Initiative on historically black colleges and universities (WHIHBCU), which is a federally funded program that operates within the U.S. Department of Education. In 1989, George H. W. Bush continued Carter's pioneering spirit by signing Executive Order 12677, which created the presidential advisory board on HBCUs, to counsel the government and the secretary on the future development of these organizations.

Starting in 2001, directors of libraries of several HBCUs began discussions about ways to pool their resources and work collaboratively. In 2003, this partnership was formalized as the HBCU Library Alliance, "a consortium that supports the collaboration of information professionals dedicated to providing an array of resources designed to strengthen historically black colleges and Universities and their constituents."

In 2015, the Bipartisan Congressional Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Caucus was established by U.S. Representatives Alma S. Adams and Bradley Byrne. The caucus advocates for HBCUs on Capitol Hill. As of September 2019, there are 94 elected politicians as members of the caucus.

Every year, the U.S. Department of Education deems one week in the fall as "National HBCU Week". During this week, several conferences and events are held in Washington, D.C. discussing and celebrating HBCUs, as well as recognize select scholars and alumni from the HBCU community.

In 2015, the share of black students attending HBCUs had dropped to 9% of the total number of black students enrolled in degree-granting institutions nationwide. This figure is a decline from the 13% of black students that enrolled in an HBCU in the year 2000 and the 17% that enrolled in 1980. This is a result of desegregation, rising incomes and increased access to financial aid, which has created more college options for black students.

The percentages of bachelor's and master's degrees awarded to black students by HBCUs has decreased over time. HBCUs awarded 35% of the bachelor's degrees and 21% of the master's degrees earned by blacks in 1976-77, compared with the 14% and 6% respectively of bachelor's and master's degrees earned by blacks in 2014-15. Additionally, the percentage of black doctoral degree recipients who received their degrees from HBCUs was lower in 2014-15 (12%) than in 1976-77 (14%).

The number of total students enrolled at an HBCU rose by 32% between 1976 and 2015, from 223,000 to 293,000. In comparison, total enrollment in degree-granting institutions nationwide increased by 81%, from 11 million to 20 million, during the same period.

Although HBCUs were originally founded to educate black students, their diversity has increased over time. In 2015, students who were either white, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, or Native American made up 22% of total enrollment at HBCUs, compared with 15% in 1976.

In 2007, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund published a study of minority recruiting practices by Fortune 400 companies and by government agencies that found that 13% of minority college graduates were recruited from HBCUs while 87% of minority college students were recruited from non-HBCU institutions.

In 2006, the National Center for Education Statistics released a study showing that HBCUs had a $10.2 billion positive impact on the nation's economy with 35% coming from the multiplier effect.

There are also developments in how African Americans may choose or not choose an HBCU. The most critical resource of any institution of higher learning is its human capital, and HBCUs are at risk of losing that as well. The current admission policies of predominately White institutions (PWIs) ensure that qualified applicants of any color are accepted and most top institutions actively recruit minority students. Well qualified minority students are often the target of frenzied competition (Cross, 2007). This competition is reflected in the inducements offered by PWIs to qualified Black applicants, most notably monetary incentives, which many students and their parents find too attractive to pass up. For this reason and others, fewer Black undergraduates are choosing to attend HBCUs, this figure has gradually declined to 22% as of 2002 (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). This dwindling percentage, coupled with opportunities at PWIs, have led some to speculate whether the HBCU has outlived it purpose and lost its relevance for Black youth (Lemelle, 2002; Sowell 1993; Suggs, 1997b).

Following the enactment of Civil Rights laws in the 1960s, many educational institutions in the United States that receive federal funding have undertaken affirmative action to increase their racial diversity. Some historically black colleges and universities now have non-black majorities, including West Virginia State University and Bluefield State College, whose student bodies have had large white majorities since the mid-1960s.

Because many HBCUs have made a concerted effort to maintain enrollment levels and because they often offer relatively affordable tuition, the percentage of non-African-American enrollment has risen. The following table highlights HBCUs with high non-African American enrollments:

Other HBCUs with relatively high non-African American student populations

The percentage of white student populations currently attending historically black colleges and universities according to statistical profiles compiled by the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2011 edition are Langston University (12%); Shaw University (12%); Tennessee State University (12%); University of Maryland Eastern Shore (12%); and North Carolina Central University (10%). The U.S. News & World Report's statistical profiles indicate that several other HBCUs have relatively significant percentages of non-African American student populations consisting of Asian, Hispanic, international, and white American students.

HBCU libraries have formed the HBCU Library Alliance. That alliance, together with Cornell University, have a joint program to digitize HBCU collections. The project is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Additionally, more historically black colleges and universities are offering online education programs. As of November 23, 2010, nineteen historically black colleges and universities offer online degree programs. The growth in these programs is driven by partnerships with online educational entrepreneurs like Ezell Brown.

NCAA Division I has two historically black athletic conferences: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference. The top football teams from the conferences have played each other in postseason bowl games: the Pelican Bowl (1970s), the Heritage Bowl (1990s), and the Celebration Bowl (2010s). These conferences are home to all Division I HBCUs except for Hampton University and Tennessee State University. Tennessee State has been a member of the Ohio Valley Conference since 1986, while Hampton left the MEAC in 2018 for the Big South Conference. In 2021, North Carolina A&T State University will make the same conference move that Hampton made three years earlier (MEAC to Big South).

The mostly HBCU Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference are part of the NCAA Division II, whereas the HBCU Gulf Coast Athletic Conference is part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

HBCUs have a rich legacy of matriculating many leaders in the fields of business, law, science, education, military service, entertainment, art, and sports. This list of alumni includes people such as Martin Luther King Jr., who began his studies at Morehouse College, following in the footsteps of his father, Martin Luther King, Sr. Oprah Winfrey attended Tennessee State University to pursue a broadcasting career. W. E. B. Du Bois, relying on money donated by neighbors, attended Fisk University, from 1885 to 1888. After Dubois earned his doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology, and economics at Clark Atlanta University, between 1897 and 1910. Althea Gibson entered Florida A&M University on a full athletic scholarship. Michael Strahan played one season of high school football, which was enough for him to get a scholarship offer from Texas Southern University. Thurgood Marshall attended Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore and was placed in classes with the best students. He later went on to graduate from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and Howard University School of Law. In 1933, he graduated first in his law class at Howard. Roscoe Lee Browne also attended Lincoln University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree, in 1946. Browne also occasionally returned to Lincoln, between 1946 and 1952, to teach English, French and comparative literature. Spike Lee enrolled in Morehouse College, where he made his first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn. He took film courses at Clark Atlanta University and graduated with a BA in mass communication from Morehouse. Kamala Harris, the first black Vice President, received her bachelor's degree from Howard University. Rod Paige earned a bachelor's degree from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. Anika Noni Rose attended Florida A&M University where she earned a bachelor's degree in theater. The Tuskegee Airmen were educated at Tuskegee University. Douglas Wilder received his bachelor's degree from Virginia Union University and his law degree from Howard University School of Law. Astronaut Dr. Ronald McNair graduated from North Carolina A&T State University. NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, and Leon H. Sullivan, developer of the Sullivan Principles used to end apartheid in South Africa, attended West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University). Ruth Simmons is a Dillard University graduate who became the first black president of an Ivy League institution ( Brown University).

Government funding has increased in recent years, with the Obama administration setting a six-year record in 2016 by expanding support to HBCUs by $17 million under the Higher Education Act. According to U.S. Department of Education records, the Trump administration has provided the most funding to historically black colleges and universities in the nation's history for both undergraduate and graduate studies, with in excess of US$360 million recorded in 2018.

HBCU Buzz is a news platform of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Its coverage focuses on telling the stories of HBCU community across the US, highlighting achievements of the blacks and Black millennial visionaries. Established in 2011, HBCU Buzz serves as a resource tool for prospective students and alumni of HBCU. HBCU Buzz organizes annual HBCU Top 30 Under 30, to recognize the achievements of alumni of HBCU in various fields of endeavors such as politics, public service, technology, entertainment, entrepreneurship, fashion, health, education and money.

Arnold, Bruce Makoto; Mitchell, Roland; Arnold, Noelle W. (2015). "Massified Illusions of Difference: Photography and the Mystique of the American Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)". Journal of American Studies of Turkey. 41: 69-94.

Brooks, F. Erik; Starks, Glenn L. (2011). Historically Black colleges and universities : an encyclopedia. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0313394164.

Cohen, Rodney T. (2000). The Black Colleges of Atlanta (College History Series). Arcadia Pub. ISBN 978-0738505541. Archived from the original on May 22, 2009.

Favors, Jelani M. (2019). Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

Mays, Benjamin E. (1960). "The Significance of the Negro Private and Church-Related College". The Journal of Negro Education. 29 (3): 245-51. doi:10.2307/2293639. ISSN 0022-2984. JSTOR 2293639.

Minor, James T. (2008). "A Contemporary Perspective on the Role of Public HBCUs: Perspicacity from Mississippi". The Journal of Negro Education. 77 (4): 323-35. ISSN 0022-2984. JSTOR 25608702.

Stephen, Provasnik; Shafer, Linda L. (2004). "Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1976 to 2001". Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1976 to 2001 (NCES 2004-062). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

Roebuck, Julian B.; Murty, Komanduri Srinivasa (1993). [978-0275942670 Historically black colleges and universities : their place in American higher education]. Praeger. ISBN 0275942678.

Wright, Stephanie R. (2008). "Self-Determination, Politics, and Gender on Georgia's Black College Campuses, 1875-1900". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 92 (1): 93-119. ISSN 0016-8297. JSTOR 40585040.

Reflections of an HBCU Alumnus (Howard University)

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Historically black colleges and universities

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Historically black colleges and universities ( HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Most of these institutions were founded in the years after the American Civil War and are concentrated in the Southern United States.

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African American Heroism in the Military

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African American Heroism in the Military

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Transcript of Breaking Barriers

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See also: African-American Contributions in the Military.

Dating all the way back to the American Revolution, African-Americans have played key roles in the history (and success) of the U.S. military. Profiled below are some notable African-Americans and their achievements, as well as milestones in the integration of African-Americans in the U.S. military.

Crispus Attucks, First African-American Casualty of the American Revolution

Amid rising tensions between colonists and British soldiers, on March 5, 1770, a crowd of colonists confronted a sentry who had chastised a boy for complaining that an officer did not pay a barber bill. Both townspeople and a company of British soldiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot gathered. The colonists threw snowballs and debris at the soldiers and the soldiers opened fire on the crowd. Five colonists were killed and six were wounded. Attucks took two ricocheted bullets in the chest and was believed to be the first to die.

Buffalo Soldiers

Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This nickname was given to the Negro Cavalry by Native American tribes who fought in the Indian Wars.

Although Native Americans bestowed the name upon the troopers, there are three major theories surrounding the origin of the name. One suggests the name was acquired during the 1871 campaign against the Comanches, when Indians referred to the cavalrymen as "Buffalo Soldiers" because of their rugged and tireless marching. Other accounts state that Native Americans bestowed the nickname on the black troopers because they believed the hair of the black cavalrymen resembled the hair of the buffalo. Another suggests that the name was given because of the buffalo-hide coats worn by the soldiers in cold weather.

On September 6, 2005, Mark Matthews, the last living Buffalo Soldier, died at the age of 111. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

369th Infantry Harlem Hell Fighters

Among the first U.S. regiments to arrive in France for World War I, and among the most highly-decorated when it returned, was the 369th Infantry (formerly the 15th Regiment New York Guard), more gallantly known as the "Harlem Hellfighters." The 369th was an all-black regiment under the command of mostly white officers, including commander Colonel William Hayward.

General John J. Pershing assigned the 369th to the 16th Division of the French Army, where they helped repel the German offensive and launched a counteroffensive. The Harlem Hellfighters fought at Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood, with a total of 191 days in combat-- longer than any other American unit in the war.

"My men never retire, they go forward or they die," said Colonel Hayward. Indeed, the 369th was the first Allied unit to reach the Rhine.

The extraordinary valor of the 369th earned them fame in Europe and America. Newspapers headlined the feats of Corporal Henry Johnson and Private Needham Roberts. In May 1918 they were defending an isolated lookout post on the Western Front, when they were attacked by a German unit. Though wounded, they refused to surrender, fighting on with whatever weapons were at hand. They were the first Americans awarded the Croix de Guerre, and they were not the only Harlem Hellfighters to win awards; 171 of its officers and men received individual medals and the unit received a Croix de Guerre for taking Sechault.
Untold Stories of the Harlem Hellfighters African-Americans in World War I
Doris "Dorie" Miller, WWII Navy Cross Recipient

Doris Miller, who went by "Dorie," was one of the first heroes of World War II and was awarded the Navy Cross for actions during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. His face was even used on a recruitment poster.

Miller was presented with the Navy Cross by Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet, in a ceremony on the aircraft carrier Enterprise. Miller's bravery was cited as follows:

While at the side of his Captain on the bridge, Miller, despite enemy strafing and bombing and in the face of a serious fire, assisted in moving his Captain, who had been mortally wounded, to a place of greater safety, and later manned and operated a machine gun directed at enemy Japanese attacking aircraft until ordered to leave the bridge. Miller was killed in action two years later when his ship, the USS Liscome Bay, a Casablanca-class escort carrier, took a Japanese torpedo.
Video: Remembering Dorie Miller
Benjamin O Davis Sr., first African American General

On Oct. 25, 1940, Benjamin O. Davis Sr. became the first African-American to hold star rank in the U.S. Army and in the armed forces. He was promoted to brigadier general, temporary -- a situation with which he was all too familiar, as his promotions to major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel had all originally been "temporary." Such was the situation for black officers in Davis's day -- all two or three of them.

Davis's service as an officer with the famed "Buffalo Soldiers" regiment in the Philippines and on the Mexican border was exemplary, yet his subsequent assignments as a college ROTC instructor and as a National Guard advisor were far from the front lines. All of his postings, including duty as the military attache to Liberia, were designed to avoid putting Davis in command of white troops or officers.

As an advisor on race relations in the European theater during World War II, Davis, as his Distinguished Service Medal citation relates, showed "initiative, intelligence and sympathetic understanding" while conducting investigations, bringing about "a fair and equitable solution to problems which have since become the basis of far-reaching War Department policy."

Davis's slow, steady, and determined rise in the Army paved the way for countless minority men and women -- including his son, Benjamin O. Davis Jr.
Full Profile: Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.
Benjamin O Davis Jr., Commander of the famous TuskEgee Airmen

Benjamin O Davis Jr, Commander of the Tuskegee Airmen (pictured on the right).

On Dec. 9, 1998, an Air Force general was awarded his fourth star, making him a member of that service's small circle of highest-ranking officers. However, as the first African-American officer to receive this honor in retirement, Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. is a member of an even smaller group. Founder and commander of the Tuskegee Airmen, 33-year veteran of three wars, and son of the Army's first black general, Davis is "a great warrior, a great officer, and a great American," as Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen said when Davis received his fourth star.

Davis Jr. was determined to fly, but after four years of being "shunned" (spoken to only for official reasons) as West Point's only black cadet, he found that even his standing as 35th in the 276-member Class of 1936 could not convince the Army Air Corps to allow him to enter flight training.

However, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt promoted the elder Davis to brigadier general, he ordered the Army Air Corps to create a flying organization for colored troops. Davis Jr., the only living black West Point graduate, was ordered from Ft. Benning, Ga., to Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama.

Although critics and early reviews reported that "the Negro type has not the proper reflexes to make a first-class fighter pilot," Davis used a combination of political diplomacy and professional action to convince detractors that his men were more qualified than some and braver than most. Their March 24, 1945, escort mission to Berlin, resulting in three direct kills and no loss of friendly bombers, is legendary.
Full Profile: Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.
President Harry Truman's Executive Order 9981

Executive Order 9981 was an executive order issued on July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman. It abolished racial discrimination in the United States Armed Forces, and eventually led to the end of segregation in the services.

President Truman's Executive Order 9981 and desegregation in the military.

Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. 1st African American Admiral in the Navy

Vice Adm. Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr. enlisted in the Navy Reserves on Sept. 15, 1942 and was trained as a fireman apprentice. In 1943 he participated in a Navy program (V-12) designed to select and train highly qualified men for commissioning as officers in the Navy.

As a newly commissioned ensign, his first duty assignment was at Camp Robert Smalls as the assistant battalion commander for new recruits. Following that, he began his seagoing career as a sailor aboard the PC 1264, a submarine chaser that was one of only two World War II ships with a largely African American crew.

Gravely went from recruiting sailors to building a Navy career that lasted 38 years and included many distinguished accomplishments, including a string of impressive "firsts": the first African-American to command a U.S. Navy warship ( USS Theodore E. Chandler); the first African-American to command an American warship under combat conditions since the Civil War (USS Taussig); the first African-American to command a major naval warship (USS Jouett); the first African-American admiral; the first African-American to rise to the rank of vice admiral; and the first African-American to command a U.S. Fleet (Commander, 3rd Fleet).

Frank E. Peterson Jr. 1st African American Marine Corps Aviator and General

Peterson enlisted in the U.S. Navy in June 1950 as a seaman apprentice and served as an electronics technician. When Petersen aced the Navy's entrance exam, the recruiter told him he would make a "great steward." However, being motivated by the recent Korean War combat death of the Navy's first black aviator Jesse L. Brown in December, Petersen vowed to be a combat pilot.

In 1951, he entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. In October 1952, he completed flight training and accepted a commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. Petersen served a combat tour in the Korean War (1953) and in the Vietnam War (1968). His first tactical assignment was with Marine Fighter Squadron 212 during the Korean War. He would fly over 350 combat missions, and had over 4,000 hours in various fighter/attack aircraft. He held command positions at all levels of Marine Corps aviation, commanding a Marine Fighter Squadron, a Marine Aircraft Group and a Marine Aircraft Wing. He was also the first African-American to command a fighter squadron, a fighter air group, an air wing and a major base.

On February 23, 1979, he was promoted to brigadier general, becoming the first African-American general in the Marine Corps. In May 1983, he advanced to the rank of major general and on 12 June 1986, he was promoted to lieutenant general. Upon his retirement, he was presented the Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious service as the Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Quantico, Virginia, from June 1986 to July 1988.

On Feb 21, 2017, the keel was laid for the future guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) at Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard, Pascagoula, Mississippi.

General Peterson speaks about discrimination in the military in the following video.
In Memoriam: Gen. Frank E. Peterson Jr.
Hazel Johnson-Brown, First African-American Woman General in the US Army

Hazel Winifred Johnson-Brown was a nurse and educator who served with the U.S. Army from 1955-1983. In 1979 she became the first black female general in the United States Army and the first black chief of the United States Army Nurse Corps. She was also the Director of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing.

Hazel Johnson was born in 1927 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, one of seven children. Her application to the West Chester School of Nursing was rejected because she was black. She moved to New York City, and enrolled in the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing in 1947.

Johnson-Brown enlisted in the Army in 1955, shortly after President Harry Truman banned segregation and discrimination in the armed services. In 1960 Johnson-Brown become a first lieutenant and joined the Army's Nursing Corps. She was a staff nurse in Japan and Chief nurse in Korea. She earned her bachelor degree in nursing from Villanova University while enlisted, a master's degree in nursing education from Columbia University and a doctorate in education administration from Catholic University of America--all while serving active-duty in the Army.

In 1979 Johnson-Brown was earned the rank of brigadier general, and became the first black female general in the United States Army to hold that rank. She was also the first black chief of the Army Nurse Corps. Johnson-Brown served with distinction and stands as a testament to what grit and persistence can accomplish in the face of adversity.

Colin Powell, 1st African American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney; Gen. Colin Powell, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf

Colin Powell was the 10-year-old son of Jamaican immigrants in 1948 when President Harry S. Truman ordered the desegregation of America's armed forces. As the 10-year-old boy would say 50 years later, "This isn't ancient history; this is my generation."

Racism was far from gone by the time Powell became an Army officer. But you wouldn't have been able to tell by Powell's meteoric career. After graduating from City College of New York with an ROTC commission as an Army second lieutenant, Powell became an Airborne Ranger and served two tours in Vietnam. His commands included a battalion, a brigade, and the Army's V Corps, while his awards included two Presidential Medals of Freedom, the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (with three Oak Leaf Clusters), a Purple Heart, and numerous decorations from other countries -- even British knighthood.

From Oct. 1, 1989, to Sept. 30, 1993, the boy from the Bronx, N.Y., served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the principal military advisor to presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton. Upon retiring from active duty in 1993, Powell wrote his autobiography, "My American Journey," and began a busy lecture circuit. Powell served on the board of several organizations, including the Board of Trustees of Howard University, the United Negro College Fund, and The Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

In January 2001, when President George W. Bush took office, Colin Powell again took an oath to serve the U.S. government -- this time as the country's first African-American secretary of state.

In 2016, while not a candidate for that year's election, Powell received three electoral votes for the office of President of the United States.
Full Profile: General Colin Powell
Vernice Armour, First African-American Woman Combat Pilot

In 1998, Armour became the first African-American female to serve as a police officer in Tempe, Arizona before joining the Marines as an Officer Candidate in October 1998.

Armour was sent to flight school at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas and later Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida and earned her in July 2001. Armour was not only number one in her class of twelve, she was number one among the last two hundred graduates.

After flight school, Armour was assigned to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton near San Diego, California for training in the AH-1W SuperCobra. While at Camp Pendleton, she was named 2001 Camp Pendleton Female Athlete of the Year, twice won the Camp's annual Strongest Warrior Competition, and was a running back for the San Diego Sunfire women's football team.

In March 2003, she flew with HMLA-169 during the invasion of Iraq, becoming America's first African-American female combat pilot. She completed two combat tours in the Gulf. Afterwards, she was assigned to the Manpower and Reserve Affairs Equal Opportunity Branch as a program liaison officer.

After the Marine Corps, Armour began a career as a professional speaker and expert on creating breakthroughs in life.

In 2011, her book Zero to Breakthrough: The 7-Step, Battle-Tested Method for Accomplishing Goals that Matter was published.

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African-American Heroism in the Military

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Dating all the way back to the American Revolution, African-Americans have played key roles in the history (and success) of the U.S. military. Profiled are some notable African-Americans and their achievements, as well as milestones in the integration of African-Americans in the U.S. military.

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Composers and performers who promote music from country to classical and more!

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The Nation's Largest African American Video Oral History Collection

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People listed here are known and celebrated for their work in film and television.

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The Nation's Largest African American Video Oral History Collection

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Athletes who have outstanding athleticism, competitive skills, and focused dedication to sportsmanship in a wide range of competitions.

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The Nation's Largest African American Video Oral History Collection

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Medical professionals who have dedicated theirs lives to addressing and improving healthcare, from internal medicine and dentistry to public health and medical research.

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The Nation's Largest African American Video Oral History Collection

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From Wikipedia

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Part of the Roaring Twenties

Date

1918-mid-1930s

Location

Harlem, New York City, United States and influences from Paris, France

Also known as

New Negro Movement

Participants

Various artists and social critics

Outcome

Mainstream recognition of cultural developments and idea of New Negro

The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the " New Negro Movement", named after The New Negro, a 1925 anthology edited by Alain Locke. The movement also included the new African-American cultural expressions across the urban areas in the Northeast and Midwest United States affected by a renewed militancy in the general struggle for civil rights, combined with the Great Migration of African-American workers fleeing the racist conditions of the Jim Crow Deep South, as Harlem was the final destination of the largest number of those who migrated north.

Though it was centered in the Harlem neighborhood, many francophone black writers from African and Caribbean colonies who lived in Paris were also influenced by the movement, which spanned from about 1918 until the mid-1930s. Many of its ideas lived on much longer. The zenith of this "flowering of Negro literature", as James Weldon Johnson preferred to call the Harlem Renaissance, took place between 1924-when Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life hosted a party for black writers where many white publishers were in attendance-and 1929, the year of the stock-market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression. The Harlem Renaissance is considered to have been a rebirth of the African-American arts.

Background

Harlem in Upper Manhattan

Until the end of the Civil War, the majority of African Americans had been enslaved and lived in the South. During the Reconstruction Era, the emancipated African Americans began to strive for civic participation, political equality, and economic and cultural self-determination. Soon after the end of the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 gave rise to speeches by African-American congressmen addressing this bill. By 1875, sixteen African Americans had been elected and served in Congress and gave numerous speeches with their newfound civil empowerment.

The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 was followed by the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, part of Reconstruction legislation by Republicans. During the mid-to-late 1870s, racist whites organized in the Democratic Party launched a murderous campaign of racist terrorism to regain political power throughout the South. From 1890 to 1908, they proceeded to pass legislation that disenfranchised most African Americans and many poor whites, trapping them without representation. They established white supremacist regimes of Jim Crow segregation in the South and one-party block voting behind Southern Democrats.

Philip A. Payton Jr. founded the Afro-American Realty Company in 1903, which sought to fight housing discrimination and encourage Black migration into Harlem.[11]

Democratic Party politicians (many having been former slaveowners and political and military leaders of the Confederacy) conspired to deny African Americans their exercise of civil and political rights by terrorizing black communities with lynch mobs and other forms of vigilante violence as well as by instituting a convict labor system that forced many thousands of African Americans back into unpaid labor in mines, plantations and on public works projects such as roads and levees. Convict laborers were typically subject to brutal forms of corporal punishment, overwork and disease from unsanitary conditions. Death rates were extraordinarily high. While a small number of African Americans were able to acquire land shortly after the Civil War, most were exploited as sharecroppers. Whether sharecropping or on their own acreage, most of the black population was closely financially dependent on agriculture. This added another impetus for the Migration: The arrival of the boll weevil. The beetle eventually came to waste 8% of the country's cotton yield annually and thus disproportionately impacted this part of America's citizenry. As life in the South became increasingly difficult, African Americans began to migrate north in great numbers.

Most of the future leading lights of what was to become known as the "Harlem Renaissance" movement arose from a generation that had memories of the gains and losses of Reconstruction after the Civil War. Sometimes their parents, grandparents - or they themselves - had been slaves. Their ancestors had sometimes benefited by paternal investment in cultural capital, including better-than-average education.

Many in the Harlem Renaissance were part of the early 20th century Great Migration out of the South into the African-American neighborhoods of the Northeast and Midwest. African Americans sought a better standard of living and relief from the institutionalized racism in the South. Others were people of African descent from racially stratified communities in the Caribbean who came to the United States hoping for a better life. Uniting most of them was their convergence in Harlem.

Development

A silent short documentary on the Negro Artist. Richmond Barthé working on Kalombwan (1934)

During the early portion of the 20th century, Harlem was the destination for migrants from around the country, attracting both people from the South seeking work and an educated class who made the area a center of culture, as well as a growing "Negro" middle class. These people were looking for a fresh start in life and this was a good place to go. The district had originally been developed in the 19th century as an exclusive suburb for the white middle and upper middle classes; its affluent beginnings led to the development of stately houses, grand avenues, and world-class amenities such as the Polo Grounds and the Harlem Opera House. During the enormous influx of European immigrants in the late 19th century, the once exclusive district was abandoned by the white middle class, who moved farther north.

Harlem became an African-American neighborhood in the early 1900s. In 1910, a large block along 135th Street and Fifth Avenue was bought by various African-American realtors and a church group. Many more African Americans arrived during the First World War. Due to the war, the migration of laborers from Europe virtually ceased, while the war effort resulted in a massive demand for unskilled industrial labor. The Great Migration brought hundreds of thousands of African Americans to cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and New York.

Despite the increasing popularity of Negro culture, virulent white racism, often by more recent ethnic immigrants, continued to affect African-American communities, even in the North. After the end of World War I, many African-American soldiers-who fought in segregated units such as the Harlem Hellfighters-came home to a nation whose citizens often did not respect their accomplishments. Race riots and other civil uprisings occurred throughout the United States during the Red Summer of 1919, reflecting economic competition over jobs and housing in many cities, as well as tensions over social territories.

Mainstream recognition of Harlem culture

The first stage of the Harlem Renaissance started in the late 1910s. In 1917, the premiere of Granny Maumee, The Rider of Dreams, and Simon the Cyrenian: Plays for a Negro Theater took place. These plays, written by white playwright Ridgely Torrence, featured African-American actors conveying complex human emotions and yearnings. They rejected the stereotypes of the blackface and minstrel show traditions. In 1917, James Weldon Johnson called the premieres of these plays "the most important single event in the entire history of the Negro in the American Theater".

Another landmark came in 1919, when the communist poet Claude McKay published his militant sonnet " If We Must Die", which introduced a dramatically political dimension to the themes of African cultural inheritance and modern urban experience featured in his 1917 poems "Invocation" and "Harlem Dancer". Published under the pseudonym Eli Edwards, these were his first appearance in print in the United States after immigrating from Jamaica. Although "If We Must Die" never alluded to race, African-American readers heard its note of defiance in the face of racism and the nationwide race riots and lynchings then taking place. By the end of the First World War, the fiction of James Weldon Johnson and the poetry of Claude McKay were describing the reality of contemporary African-American life in America.

The Harlem Renaissance grew out of the changes that had taken place in the African-American community since the abolition of slavery, as the expansion of communities in the North. These accelerated as a consequence of World War I and the great social and cultural changes in the early 20th-century United States. Industrialization attracted people from rural areas to cities and gave rise to a new mass culture. Contributing factors leading to the Harlem Renaissance were the Great Migration of African Americans to Northern cities, which concentrated ambitious people in places where they could encourage each other, and the First World War, which had created new industrial work opportunities for tens of thousands of people. Factors leading to the decline of this era include the Great Depression.

Literature

In 1917, Hubert Harrison, "The Father of Harlem Radicalism", founded the Liberty League and The Voice, the first organization and the first newspaper, respectively, of the "New Negro Movement". Harrison's organization and newspaper were political but also emphasized the arts (his newspaper had "Poetry for the People" and book review sections). In 1927, in the Pittsburgh Courier, Harrison challenged the notion of the Renaissance. He argued that the "Negro Literary Renaissance" notion overlooked "the stream of literary and artistic products which had flowed uninterruptedly from Negro writers from 1850 to the present," and said the so-called "Renaissance" was largely a white invention. Alternatively, a writer like the Chicago-based author, Fenton Johnson, who began publishing in the early 1900s, is called a "forerunner" of the Harlem Renaissance, "one of the first negro revolutionary poets".

Nevertheless, with the Harlem Renaissance came a sense of acceptance for African-American writers; as Langston Hughes put it, with Harlem came the courage "to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame". Alain Locke's anthology The New Negro was considered the cornerstone of this cultural revolution. The anthology featured several African-American writers and poets, from the well-known, such as Zora Neale Hurston and communists Langston Hughes and Claude McKay, to the lesser known, like the poet Anne Spencer.

Many poets of the Harlem Renaissance were inspired to tie threads of African-American culture into their poems; as a result, jazz poetry was heavily developed during this time. " The Weary Blues" was a notable jazz poem written by Langston Hughes. Through their works of literature, black authors were able to give a voice to the African-American identity, and strived for a community of support and acceptance.

Christianity played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance. Many of the writers and social critics discussed the role of Christianity in African-American lives. For example, a famous poem by Langston Hughes, "Madam and the Minister", reflects the temperature and mood towards religion in the Harlem Renaissance. The cover story for magazine's publication in May 1936 explains how important Christianity was regarding the proposed union of the three largest Methodist churches of 1936. This article shows the controversial question of unification for these churches. The article "The Catholic Church and the Negro Priest", also published in The Crisis, January 1920, demonstrates the obstacles that African-American priests faced in the Catholic Church. The article confronts what it saw as policies based on race that excluded African Americans from higher positions in the Church.

Religion and Evolution Ad

Various forms of religious worship existed during this time of African-American intellectual reawakening.

Although there were racist attitudes within the current Abrahamic religious arenas, many African Americans continued to push towards the practice of a more inclusive doctrine. For example, George Joseph MacWilliam presents various experiences of rejection on the basis of his color and race during his pursuit towards priesthood, yet he shares his frustration in attempts to incite action on the part of The Crisis magazine community.

There were other forms of spiritualism practiced among African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance. Some of these religions and philosophies were inherited from African ancestry. For example, the religion of Islam was present in Africa as early as the 8th century through the Trans-Saharan trade. Islam came to Harlem likely through the migration of members of the Moorish Science Temple of America, which was established in 1913 in New Jersey. Various forms of Judaism were practiced, including Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism, but it was Black Hebrew Israelites that founded their religious belief system during the early 20th century in the Harlem Renaissance. Traditional forms of religion acquired from various parts of Africa were inherited and practiced during this era. Some common examples were Voodoo and Santeria.

Religious critique during this era was found in music, literature, art, theater and poetry. The Harlem Renaissance encouraged analytic dialogue that included the open critique and the adjustment of current religious ideas.

One of the major contributors to the discussion of African-American renaissance culture was Aaron Douglas, who, with his artwork, also reflected the revisions African Americans were making to the Christian dogma. Douglas uses biblical imagery as inspiration to various pieces of artwork, but with the rebellious twist of an African influence.

Countee Cullen's poem "Heritage" expresses the inner struggle of an African American between his past African heritage and the new Christian culture. A more severe criticism of the Christian religion can be found in Langston Hughes's poem "Merry Christmas", where he exposes the irony of religion as a symbol for good and yet a force for oppression and injustice.

The multi-talented Adelaide Hall and Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson in the musical comedy Brown Buddies on Broadway, 1930

A new way of playing the piano called the Harlem Stride style was created during the Harlem Renaissance helping to blur the lines between the poor African Americans and socially elite African Americans. The traditional jazz band was composed primarily of brass instruments and was considered a symbol of the South, but the piano was considered an instrument of the wealthy. With this instrumental modification to the existing genre, the wealthy African Americans now had more access to jazz music. Its popularity soon spread throughout the country and was consequently at an all-time high.

Innovation and liveliness were important characteristics of performers in the beginnings of jazz. Jazz performers and composers at the time such as Eubie Blake, Noble Sissle, Jelly Roll Morton, Luckey Roberts, James P. Johnson, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Andy Razaf, Fats Waller, Ethel Waters, Adelaide Hall, Florence Mills and bandleaders Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson were extremely talented, skillful, competitive and inspirational. They laid great parts of the foundations for future musicians of their genre.

Duke Ellington gained popularity during the Harlem Renaissance. According to Charles Garrett, "The resulting portrait of Ellington reveals him to be not only the gifted composer, bandleader, and musician we have come to know, but also an earthly person with basic desires, weaknesses, and eccentricities." Ellington did not let his popularity get to him. He remained calm and focused on his music.

During this period, the musical style of blacks was becoming more and more attractive to whites. White novelists, dramatists and composers started to exploit the musical tendencies and themes of African Americans in their works. Composers (including William Grant Still, William L. Dawson and Florence Price) used poems written by African-American poets in their songs, and would implement the rhythms, harmonies and melodies of African-American music-such as blues, spirituals and jazz-into their concert pieces. African Americans began to merge with whites into the classical world of musical composition. The first African-American male to gain wide recognition as a concert artist in both his region and internationally was Roland Hayes. He trained with Arthur Calhoun in Chattanooga, and at Fisk University in Nashville. Later, he studied with Arthur Hubbard in Boston and with George Henschel and Amanda Ira Aldridge in London, England. Hayes began singing in public as a student, and he toured with the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1911.

Musical theatre

Poster for Run, Little Chillun

According to James Vernon Hatch and Leo Hamalian, all-black review, Run, Little Chillun, is considered one of the most successful musical dramas of the Harlem Renaissance.

During the Harlem Renaissance, the African-American clothing scene took a dramatic turn from the prim and proper many young women preferred, from short skirts and silk stockings to drop-waisted dresses and cloche hats. Women wore loose-fitted garments and accessorized with long strand pearl bead necklaces, feather boas, and cigarette holders. The fashion of the Harlem Renaissance was used to convey elegance and flamboyancy and needed to be created with the vibrant dance style of the 1920s in mind. Popular by the 1930s was a trendy, egret-trimmed beret.

Men wore loose suits that led to the later style known as the " Zoot", which consisted of wide-legged, high-waisted, peg-top trousers, and a long coat with padded shoulders and wide lapels. Men also wore wide-brimmed hats, colored socks, white gloves and velvet-collared Chesterfield coats. During this period, African Americans expressed respect for their heritage through a fad for leopard-skin coats, indicating the power of the African animal.

While performing in Paris during the height of the Renaissance, the extraordinarily successful black dancer Josephine Baker was a major fashion trendsetter for black and white women alike. Her gowns from the couturier Jean Patou were copied, especially her stage costumes, which Vogue magazine called "startling". Josephine Baker is also credited for highlighting the "art deco" fashion era after she performed the "Danse Sauvage". During this Paris performance, she adorned a skirt made of string and artificial bananas. Ethel Moses was another popular black performer. Moses starred in silent films in the 1920s and 1930s and was recognizable by her signature bob hairstyle.

Photography

James Van Der Zee's photography played an important role in shaping and documenting the cultural and social life of Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. His photographs were instrumental in shaping the image and identity of the African-American community during the Harlem Renaissance. His work documented the achievements of cultural figures and helped to challenge stereotypes and racist attitudes, which in turn promoted pride and dignity among African Americans in Harlem and beyond.

Van Der Zee's studio was not just a place for taking photographs; it was also a social and cultural hub for Harlem residents. People would come to his studio not only to have their portraits taken, but also to socialize and to participate in the community events that he hosted. Van Der Zee's studio played an important role in the cultural life of Harlem during the early 20th century, and helped to foster a sense of community and pride among its residents.

Some notable persons photographed are Marcus Garvey, the leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), a black nationalist organization that promoted Pan-Africanism and economic independence for African Americans. Other notable black persons he photographed are Countee Cullen, a poet and writer who was associated with the Harlem Renaissance; Josephine Baker, a dancer and entertainer who became famous in France and was known for her provocative performances; W. E. B. Du Bois, a sociologist, historian and civil rights activist who was a leading figure in the African-American community in the early 20th century; Langston Hughes, a poet, novelist and playwright who was one of the most important writers of the Harlem Renaissance; and Madam C.J. Walker, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who was one of the first African-American women to become a self-made millionaire, as well as her daughter, Dorthy Waring, an artist and author of 12 novels.

Van Der Zee's work gained renewed attention in the 1960s and 1970s, when interest in the Harlem Renaissance was revived. Van Der Zee's photographs have been featured in numerous exhibitions over the years. One notable exhibition was "Harlem on My Mind: Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900-1968," which was organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1969. The exhibit included over 300 photographs, many of which were by Van Der Zee, and was one of the first major exhibitions to focus on the cultural achievements of African Americans in Harlem.

Van Der Zee's work was the eyes of Harlem. His photographs are recognized as important documents of African-American life and culture during the early 20th century. They serve as a visual record of the achievements of the Harlem Renaissance. Kelli Jones called him "the official chronicler of the Harlem Renaissance." His portraits of writers, musicians, artists and other cultural figures helped to promote their work and bring attention to the vibrant creative scene known as Harlem.

Aaron Douglas, born in Kansas in 1899 and often referred to as the Father of African American Art, is one of the most affluential painters of the Harlem Renaissance. Through his paintings that utilize color, shape, and line, Douglas creates a collapsing of time as he merges the past, present, and future of American-American history. Fragmentation of the picture plane, geometry, and hard-edge abstraction are present in most of his paintings during the Harlem Renaissance. Douglas drew inspiration from both ancient Egyptian and Native American motifs.

Augusta Savage, born in Florida in 1892, was a culture, advocate, and teacher during the Harlem Renaissance who put black everyday people at the forefront of her works. In 1932, Savage founded the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts, providing free art classes in painting, printmaking, and sculpting. She secured government funding for the school to train youths and adults. Known as a leading light within the Harlem community, Savage encouraged artists to seek financial compensation for their works, which led to the start of the Harlem Artist Guild in 1935. Augusta Savage was the only African American commissioned to create an exhibit for the 1939 World Fair in New York, where she showcased her piece Lift Every Voice and Sing, which quickly became one of the most popular pieces within the fair.

Characteristics and themes

Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie is emblematic of the mixture of high class society, popular art, and virtuosity of jazz.

Characterizing the Harlem Renaissance was an overt racial pride that came to be represented in the idea of the New Negro, who through intellect and production of literature, art and music could challenge the pervading racism and stereotypes to promote progressive or socialist politics, and racial and social integration. The creation of art and literature would serve to "uplift" the race.

There would be no uniting form singularly characterizing the art that emerged from the Harlem Renaissance. Rather, it encompassed a wide variety of cultural elements and styles, including a Pan-African perspective, "high-culture" and "low-culture" or "low-life", from the traditional form of music to the blues and jazz, traditional and new experimental forms in literature such as modernism and the new form of jazz poetry. This duality meant that numerous African-American artists came into conflict with conservatives in the black intelligentsia, who took issue with certain depictions of black life.

Some common themes represented during the Harlem Renaissance were the influence of the experience of slavery and emerging African-American folk traditions on black identity, the effects of institutional racism, the dilemmas inherent in performing and writing for elite white audiences, and the question of how to convey the experience of modern black life in the urban North.

The Harlem Renaissance was one of primarily African-American involvement. It rested on a support system of black patrons and black-owned businesses and publications. However, it also depended on the patronage of white Americans, such as Carl Van Vechten and Charlotte Osgood Mason, who provided various forms of assistance, opening doors which otherwise might have remained closed to the publication of work outside the black American community. This support often took the form of patronage or publication. Carl Van Vechten was one of the most noteworthy white Americans involved with the Harlem Renaissance. He allowed for assistance to the black American community because he wanted racial sameness.

There were other whites interested in so-called " primitive" cultures, as many whites viewed black American culture at that time, and wanted to see such "primitivism" in the work coming out of the Harlem Renaissance. As with most fads, some people may have been exploited in the rush for publicity.

Interest in African-American lives also generated experimental but lasting collaborative work, such as the all-black productions of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess, and Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein's Four Saints in Three Acts. In both productions the choral conductor Eva Jessye was part of the creative team. Her choir was featured in Four Saints. The music world also found white band leaders defying racist attitudes to include the best and the brightest African-American stars of music and song in their productions.

The African Americans used art to prove their humanity and demand for equality. The Harlem Renaissance led to more opportunities for blacks to be published by mainstream houses. Many authors began to publish novels, magazines and newspapers during this time. The new fiction attracted a great amount of attention from the nation at large. Among authors who became nationally known were Jean Toomer, Jessie Fauset, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Alain Locke, Omar Al Amiri, Eric D. Walrond and Langston Hughes.

Richard Bruce Nugent (1906-1987), who wrote "Smoke, Lilies, and Jade", made an important contribution, especially in relation to experimental form and LGBT themes in the period.

The Harlem Renaissance helped lay the foundation for the post-World War II protest movement of the Civil Rights movement. Moreover, many black artists who rose to creative maturity afterward were inspired by this literary movement.

The Renaissance was more than a literary or artistic movement, as it possessed a certain sociological development-particularly through a new racial consciousness-through ethnic pride, as seen in the Back to Africa movement led by Jamaican Marcus Garvey. At the same time, a different expression of ethnic pride, promoted by W. E. B. Du Bois, introduced the notion of the " talented tenth". Du Bois wrote of the Talented Tenth:

The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the problem of developing the best of this race that they may guide the mass away from the contamination and death of the worst.

These "talented tenth" were considered the finest examples of the worth of black Americans as a response to the rampant racism of the period. No particular leadership was assigned to the talented tenth, but they were to be emulated. In both literature and popular discussion, complex ideas such as Du Bois's concept of "twoness" (dualism) were introduced (see The Souls of Black Folk; 1903). Du Bois explored a divided awareness of one's identity that was a unique critique of the social ramifications of racial consciousness. This exploration was later revived during the Black Pride movement of the early 1970s.

A new black identity

Langston Hughes, communist novelist and poet, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1936

The Harlem Renaissance was successful in that it brought the black experience clearly within the corpus of American cultural history. Not only through an explosion of culture, but on a sociological level, the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans. The migration of Southern blacks to the North changed the image of the African American from rural, undereducated peasants to one of urban, cosmopolitan sophistication. This new identity led to a greater social consciousness, and African Americans became players on the world stage, expanding intellectual and social contacts internationally.

The progress-both symbolic and real-during this period became a point of reference from which the African-American community gained a spirit of self-determination that provided a growing sense of both black urbanity and black militancy, as well as a foundation for the community to build upon for the Civil Rights struggles in the 1950s and 1960s.

The urban setting of rapidly developing Harlem provided a venue for African Americans of all backgrounds to appreciate the variety of black life and culture. Through this expression, the Harlem Renaissance encouraged the new appreciation of folk roots and culture. For instance, folk materials and spirituals provided a rich source for the artistic and intellectual imagination, which freed blacks from the establishment of past condition. Through sharing in these cultural experiences, a consciousness sprung forth in the form of a united racial identity.

However, there was some pressure within certain groups of the Harlem Renaissance to adopt sentiments of conservative white America in order to be taken seriously by the mainstream. The result being that queer culture, while far-more accepted in Harlem than most places in the country at the time, was most fully lived out in the smoky dark lights of bars, nightclubs and cabarets in the city. It was within these venues that the blues music scene boomed, and, since it had not yet gained recognition within popular culture, queer artists used it as a way to express themselves honestly.

Even though there were factions within the Renaissance that were accepting of queer culture/lifestyles, one could still be arrested for engaging in homosexual acts. Many people, including author Alice Dunbar Nelson and "The Mother of Blues" Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, had husbands but were romantically linked to other women as well.

Women and the LGBTQ community

During the Harlem Renaissance, various well-known figures, including Claude Mckay, Langston Hughes, and Ethel Waters, are believed to have had private same-gender relationships, although this aspect of their lives remained undisclosed to the public during that era.

In the Harlem music scene, places such as the Cotton Club and Rockland Palace routinely held gay drag shows in addition to straight performances. Lesbian or bisexual women performers, such as blues singers Gladys Bentley and Bessie Smith, were a part of this cultural movement, which contributed to a renewed interest in African-American culture among the black community and introduced it to a wider audience.

Although women's contributions to culture were often overlooked at the time, contemporary black feminist critics have endeavored to re-evaluate and recognize the cultural production of women during the Harlem Renaissance. Authors such as Nella Larsen and Jessie Fauset have gained renewed critical acclaim for their work from modern perspectives.

Blues singer Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was known to dress in traditionally male clothing, and her blues lyrics often reflected her sexual proclivities for women, which was extremely radical at the time. Ma Rainey was also the first person to introduce blues music into vaudeville. Rainey's protégé, Bessie Smith, was another artist who used the blues as a way to express unapologetic views on same-gender relations, with such lines as "When you see two women walking hand in hand, just look em' over and try to understand: They'll go to those parties - have the lights down low - only those parties where women can go." Rainey, Smith, and artist Lucille Bogan were collectively known as "The Big Three of the Blues."

Blues singer Gladys Bentley

Another prominent blues singer was Gladys Bentley, who was known to cross-dress. Bentley was the club owner of Clam House on 133rd Street in Harlem, which was a hub for queer patrons. The Hamilton Lodge in Harlem hosted an annual drag ball, drawing thousands of people to watch young men dance in drag. Though there were safe spaces within Harlem, there were prominent voices, such as that of Abyssinian Baptist Church's minister Adam Clayton Powell Sr., who actively opposed homosexuality.

The Harlem Renaissance was instrumental in fostering the "New Negro" movement, an endeavor by African Americans to redefine their identity free from degrading stereotypes. The Neo-New Negro movement further challenged racial definitions, stereotypes, and gender norms and roles, seeking to address normative sexuality and sexism in American society.

These ideas received some pushback, particularly regarding sexual freedom for women, which was seen as confirming the stereotype that black women were sexually uninhibited. Some members of the black bourgeoisie saw this as hindering the overall progress of the black community and fueling racist sentiments. Yet queer culture and artists defined major portions of the Harlem Renaissance; Henry Louis Gates Jr., the author of "The Black Man's Burden", wrote that the Harlem Renaissance "was surely as gay as it was black".

Criticism of the movement

Many critics point out that the Harlem Renaissance could not escape its history and culture in its attempt to create a new one, or sufficiently separate from the foundational elements of white, European culture. Often Harlem intellectuals, while proclaiming a new racial consciousness, resorted to mimicry of their white counterparts by adopting their clothing, sophisticated manners and etiquette. This "mimicry" may also be called assimilation, as that is typically what minority members of any social construct must do in order to fit social norms created by that construct's majority. This could be seen as a reason that the artistic and cultural products of the Harlem Renaissance did not overcome the presence of white-American values and did not reject these values. In this regard, the creation of the "New Negro", as the Harlem intellectuals sought, was considered a success.

The Harlem Renaissance appealed to a mixed audience. The literature appealed to the African American middle class and to whites. Magazines such as , a monthly journal of the NAACP, and Opportunity, an official publication of the National Urban League, employed Harlem Renaissance writers on their editorial staffs, published poetry and short stories by black writers, and promoted African-American literature through articles, reviews and annual literary prizes. However, as important as these literary outlets were, the Renaissance relied heavily on white publishing houses and white-owned magazines.

A major accomplishment of the Renaissance was to open the door to mainstream white periodicals and publishing houses, although the relationship between the Renaissance writers and white publishers and audiences created some controversy. W. E. B. Du Bois did not oppose the relationship between black writers and white publishers, but he was critical of works such as Claude McKay's bestselling novel Home to Harlem (1928) for appealing to the "prurient demand[s]" of white readers and publishers for portrayals of black "licentiousness".

Langston Hughes spoke for most of the writers and artists when he wrote in his essay "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" (1926) that black artists intended to express themselves freely, no matter what the black public or white public thought. Hughes in his writings also returned to the theme of racial passing, but, during the Harlem Renaissance, he began to explore the topic of homosexuality and homophobia. He began to use disruptive language in his writings. He explored this topic because it was a theme that during this time period was not discussed.

African-American musicians and writers were among mixed audiences as well, having experienced positive and negative outcomes throughout the New Negro Movement. For musicians, Harlem, New York's cabarets and nightclubs shined a light on black performers and allowed for black residents to enjoy music and dancing. However, some of the most popular clubs (that showcased black musicians) were exclusively for white audiences; one of the most famous white-only nightclubs in Harlem was the Cotton Club, where popular black musicians like Duke Ellington frequently performed. Ultimately, the black musicians who appeared at these white-only clubs became far more successful and became a part of the mainstream music scene.

Similarly, black writers were given the opportunity to shine once the New Negro Movement gained traction as short stories, novels and poems by black authors began taking form and getting into various print publications in the 1910s and 1920s. Although a seemingly good way to establish their identities and culture, many authors note how hard it was for any of their work to actually go anywhere. Writer Charles Chesnutt in 1877, for example, notes that there was no indication of his race alongside his publication in Atlantic Monthly (at the publisher's request).

A prominent factor in the New Negro's struggle was that their work had been made out to be "different" or "exotic" to white audiences, making a necessity for black writers to appeal to them and compete with each other to get their work out. Famous black author and poet Langston Hughes explained that black-authored works were placed in a similar fashion to those of oriental or foreign origin, only being used occasionally in comparison to their white-made counterparts: Once a spot for a black work was "taken", black authors had to look elsewhere to publish.

Certain aspects of the Harlem Renaissance were accepted without debate, and without scrutiny. One of these was the future of the "New Negro". Artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance echoed American progressivism in its faith in democratic reform, in its belief in art and literature as agents of change, and in its almost uncritical belief in itself and its future. This progressivist worldview rendered black intellectuals-just like their white counterparts-unprepared for the rude shock of the Great Depression, and the Harlem Renaissance ended abruptly because of naïve assumptions about the centrality of culture, unrelated to economic and social realities.

Works associated with the Harlem Renaissance

General:

Notes and references

References

Amos, Shawn, compiler. Rhapsodies in Black: Words and Music of the Harlem Renaissance. Los Angeles: Rhino Records, 2000. 4 Compact Discs.

Andrews, William L.; Frances S. Foster; Trudier Harris, eds. The Concise Oxford Companion To African American Literature. New York: Oxford Press, 2001. ISBN 1-4028-9296-9

Bean, Annemarie. A Sourcebook on African-American Performance: Plays, People, Movements. London: Routledge, 1999; pp. vii + 360.

Greaves, William documentary From These Roots.

Hicklin, Fannie Ella Frazier. "The American Negro Playwright, 1920-1964". PhD Dissertation, Department of Speech, University of Wisconsin, 1965. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms 65-6217.

Huggins, Nathan. Harlem Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. ISBN 0-19-501665-3

Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea. New York: Knopf, 1940.

Hutchinson, George. The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White. New York: Belknap Press, 1997. ISBN 0-674-37263-8

Lewis, David Levering, ed. The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. New York: Viking Penguin, 1995. ISBN 0-14-017036-7

Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem Was in Vogue. New York: Penguin, 1997. ISBN 0-14-026334-9

Ostrom, Hans. A Langston Hughes Encyclopedia. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Ostrom, Hans and J. David Macey, eds. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. 5 volumes. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2005.

Patton, Venetria K., and Maureen Honey, eds. Double-Take: A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2006.

Perry, Jeffrey B. A Hubert Harrison Reader. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.

Perry, Jeffrey B. Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.

Powell, Richard, and David A. Bailey, eds. Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.

Rampersad, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes. 2 volumes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986 and 1988.

Robertson, Stephen, et al., "Disorderly Houses: Residences, Privacy, and the Surveillance of Sexuality in 1920s Harlem", Journal of the History of Sexuality, 21 (September 2012), 443-66.

Soto, Michael, ed. Teaching The Harlem Renaissance. New York: Peter Lang, 2008.

Tracy, Steven C. Langston Hughes and the Blues. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988.

Watson, Steven. The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture, 1920-1930. New York: Pantheon Books, 1995. ISBN 0-679-75889-5

Williams, Iain Cameron. "Underneath a Harlem Moon ... The Harlem to Paris Years of Adelaide Hall". Continuum Int. Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0826458939

Wintz, Cary D. Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance. Houston: Rice University Press, 1988.

Wintz, Cary D. Harlem Speaks: A Living History of the Harlem Renaissance. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2007

Further reading

Brown, Linda Rae (1990). "William Grant Still, Florence Price, and William Dawson: Echoes of the Harlem Renaissance". In Samuel A. Floyd, Jr (ed.), Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance, Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, pp. 71-86.

Buck, Christopher (2013). Harlem Renaissance in: The American Mosaic: The African American Experience. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.

Evans, Curtis J. (2008), The Burden of Black Religion, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-532931-5

Johnson, Michael K. (2019), Can't Stand Still: Taylor Gordon and the Harlem Renaissance. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, ISBN 9781496821966 (online)

King, Shannon (2015). Whose Harlem Is This, Anyway? Community Politics and Grassroots Activism during the New Negro Era. New York University Press.

Lassieur, Alison. (2013). The Harlem Renaissance: An Interactive History Adventure, North Mankato, Minnesota: Capstone Press, ISBN 9781476536095

Murrell, Denise (2018). Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Murrell, Denise, ed. (2024). The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9781588397737

Padva, Gilad (2014). "Black Nostalgia: Poetry, Ethnicity, and Homoeroticism in Looking for Langston and Brother to Brother". In Padva, Gilad, Queer Nostalgia in Cinema and Pop Culture, pp. 199-226. Basingstoke, UK, and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Wall, Cheryl A. (2016). The Harlem Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Wintz, Cary D., and Paul Finkelman (2012). Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. London: Routledge.

External links

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Part of the Roaring Twenties Date 1918-mid-1930s Location Harlem, New York City, United States and influences from Paris, France Also known as New Negro Movement Participants Various artists and social critics Outcome Mainstream recognition of cultural developments and idea of New Negro The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s.

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A young boy grows up in a time of segregation...A dreamer is moved by destiny into leadership of the modern civil rights movement...This was Martin Luther King, Jr. Come hear his story, visit the home of his birth, and where he played as a child. Walk in his footsteps, and hear his voice in the church where he moved hearts and minds. Marvel at how he was an instrument for social change.

Experience a guided tour of the neighborhood that Martin Luther King, Jr. grew up in and a 3D tour of the church he worshipped at.

Last updated: August 23, 2023

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Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)

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A young boy grows up in a time of segregation...A dreamer is moved by destiny into leadership of the modern civil rights movement...This was Martin Luther King, Jr. Come hear his story, visit the home of his birth, and where he played as a child.

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Presents African American history and the contributions that have been made for all the world to see.

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Atlanta Off the Wall is a collection of 43 murals that shares elements of Atlanta’s civil rights and social justice journey

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Off the Wall is a city-wide public mural initiative led by the non-profit arts organization WonderRoot and the Atlanta SuperBowl Host Committee, featuring a carefully curated selection of eleven renowned artists and over 25 murals throughout the city.

Inspired by 43 Community Conversations in the summer of 2018, the Off the Wall shares elements of Atlanta's civil rights and social justice journey, elevating key stories and ideas present in our city's ongoing pursuit of a wide range of civil rights, human rights, and a more equitable future for all.

Whether you are a lifelong student and advocate for civil rights and social justice, a visitor who wants an immersive local experience; or someone who simply enjoys Atlanta's extensive commitment to public art, this tour will provide you with a unique and colorful perspective on some of the most important issues - past, present, and future - in our city, and society as a whole. We invite you to be a part of this special journey.

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"Off The Wall" Atlanta Mural Tour A Tour of Atlanta's Newly Curated Collection of Civil Rights & Social Justice Murals Off the Wall is a city-wide public mural initiative led by the non-profit arts organization WonderRoot and the Atlanta SuperBowl Host Committee, featuring a carefully curated selection of eleven renowned artists and over 25 murals ...

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National Center for Civil and Human Rights

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National Center for Civil and Human Rights

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MLK at the Center is a collection from Morehouse College housed in the Voiceless Gallery

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National Center for Civil and Human Rights

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About The Center - National Center for Civil and Human Rights

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Inspired by architecture and spaces associated with historic civil and human rights movements and events, The National Center for Civil and Human Rights creates a space for action. Conceived by award-winning architect Philip Freelon in partnership with HOK (now Perkins+Will), The Center's unique structure is designed to enhance the experience of visitors and inspire them to learn about and take action for the civil and human rights movements worldwide.

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"A More Perfect Union"

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Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union' (Full Speech)

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Social Reformer and Statesman
"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July"

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Great Speeches: What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? by Frederick Douglass

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"I Have a Dream"

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Monday marks Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Below is a transcript of his celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. NPR's Talk of the Nation aired the speech in 2010 - listen to that broadcast at the audio link above.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men - yes, Black men as well as white men - would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, when will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: for whites only.

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that, let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.

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Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech in its entirety

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Americans across the U.S. are celebrating King's legacy this weekend. One way to reflect on his life and message is by revisiting his celebrated 1963 speech delivered at the Lincoln Memorial.

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Black Voices Genre to celebtrate, engage and inspire.

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Find, shop for and buy Prime Video at Amazon.com

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Black Lives Matter a collection of films, series and documentaries.

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UNLIMITED TV SHOWS & MOVIES

There's even more to watch.

Netflix has an extensive library of feature films, documentaries, TV shows, anime, award-winning Netflix originals, and more. Watch as much as you want, anytime you want.

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UNLIMITED TV SHOWS & MOVIES Netflix has an extensive library of feature films, documentaries, TV shows, anime, award-winning Netflix originals, and more. Watch as much as you want, anytime you want.

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Celebrating Black Stories collection of Black artists, talent and voices

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A not-just-for-February collection of inspiring Black artists, talent, and voices - and the visionaries on the come up. Get into it.

Black Stories Presents: Your Attention Please

Hosted by Craig Robinson, this series introduces us to Black innovators and creators who are working to leave the world better than they found it.

Discover Black Stories on Hulu

For this month and all year round, you can enjoy Black Stories, a collection of hundreds of films and series from our library, spanning a variety of genres.

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A not-just-for-February collection of inspiring Black artists, talent, and voices - and the visionaries on the come up. Get into it. Black Stories Presents: Your Attention Please Hosted by Craig Robinson, this series introduces us to Black innovators and creators who are working to leave the world better than they found it.

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Social Reformer and Statesman
"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July"

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“What to the Slave is 4th of July?”: James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass’s Historic Speech

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In honor of Black History Month

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Black History Month on Prime Music - Amazon Prime Insider

In honor of Black History Month, our music editors curated a selection of playlists and albums from legends like Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross, all free to stream with your Prime membership.

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Black History Month on Prime Music - Amazon Prime Insider In honor of Black History Month, our music editors curated a selection of playlists and albums from legends like Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross, all free to stream with your Prime membership.

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Celebrates Black Excellence with a playlist of iconic sound.

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TIDAL is the first global music streaming service with high fidelity sound, hi-def video quality, along with expertly curated playlists and original content - making it a trusted source for music and culture.

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TIDAL is the first global music streaming service with high fidelity sound, hi-def video quality, along with expertly curated playlists and original content - making it a trusted source for music and culture.

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Acknowledging the broad influence of Black musicians and more.

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Listen to Black History Month by Apple Music on Apple Music. Stream songs including "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", "Cross Road Blues" and more.

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Phenomenal Black Music Category

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Aretha Franklin's "Respect" Gave Civil Rights Movement an Anthem | Biography

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A historic expedition to the North Pole

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Who Was the First Person to Reach the North Pole? | National Geographic

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Transcript

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"Harlem" - Checkout his most famous poem use of figurative language.

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Langston Hughes Lesson - "Harlem" by Langston Hughes - Langston Hughes Poem - Flocabulary

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Learn about Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem" with Flocabulary's educational hip-hop video and lesson resources.

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A quick tutorial that gives you the three most imporant essential qualities of creating a rap.

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Hip-Hop Fundamentals - History of Hip-Hop - Video on Hip-Hop - Flocabulary

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Learn the history of hip-hop and three tips for writing your own rhymes with this video and lesson resources from Flocabulary.

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TeenVogue provides an article on Malcom X's most famous speech and reflects on its legacy.

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Malcolm's speech conveyed the pain and rage the Black community was feeling, pairing it with an urgent warning that escalated the community's demand for enfranchisement. It wasn't just a request for justice; it was a call for revolution.

"This is why I say it's the ballot or the bullet. It's liberty or it's death. It's freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody.... A revolution is bloody, but America is in a unique position. She's the only country in history in the position actually to become involved in a bloodless revolution.... All she's got to do is give the Black man in this country everything that's due him. Everything."

In his speech, Malcolm continually stressed the importance of the 1964 election as the future of the Civil Rights Act hung in the balance between President Johnson, who eventually won the Democratic nomination, and Barry Goldwater, the Republican presidential candidate who opposed the legislation. For Black folks, the 2020 election is just as critical of a year as 1964 was, as preventing the reelection of Donald Trump and his continued dismantling of facets of that very same Civil Rights Act takes center stage.

"The whites are so evenly divided that every time they vote, the race is so close they have to go back and count the votes all over again. Which means that any bloc, any minority that has a bloc of votes that stick together, is in a strategic position. Either way you go, that's who gets it," said Malcolm.

As Malcolm stressed in his speech, the Black voting bloc is crucial. While Black voters largely railed against Trump's campaign of bigotry, Black voter turnout dropped in the 2016 presidential election from the two elections prior. Yet it was the Black vote that was largely responsible for the "blue wave" in the 2018 midterm elections that saw an influx of Democratic House candidates, with 90% of Black voters supporting the party, according to the Pew Research Center.

Oftentimes, presidential candidates, both Black and white, Democrat and Republican, can have a hard time connecting with the Black community in a substantive way. It's incredibly difficult to speak to a nonmonolithic community that spans various generations, religions, gender identities, and socioeconomic realities, but the inability of many politicians to galvanize the Black vote is both frustrating and fascinating.

In "The Ballot or the Bullet," Malcolm X intentionally appealed to the broader Black community because he knew, just as many African-Americans knew, that they were catching hell based on the color of their skin more than any other identity that defined them. The brilliance of the speech is how Malcolm managed to speak to the soul of the community in a manner that was specific enough to profoundly resonate, yet broad enough not to alienate.

Any Democratic presidential candidate hoping to engage with Black voters should understand that the feeling of being underwhelmed by the prioritization of policies that specifically help our community is as true today as it was in 1964. Today's young Black voters want immediate and significant changes, as a first-time Black voter put it to NPR last year. If that can't be delivered, the party risks alienating the 4.4 million people who backed President Barack Obama in 2012 but stayed home for the 2016 election, 36% of whom were Black, according to one analysis last year.

So why do I feel this is an instructive speech for a presidential candidate in 2020? Because not only are many of the same social ills still prevalent today but because Malcolm's greatest attribute was speaking to the rawest yearnings of the Black community. Ta-Nehisi Coates described his "abiding advocacy for blackness, not as a reason for failure, but as a mandate for personal, and ultimately collective, improvement" in a 2011 essay for The Atlantic, arguing that Malcolm's message still appeals greatly to Black conservatives, and his words of militant self-love and fearless revolution are still championed by the most liberal-minded in the Black community. That was apparent when 26-year-old Mariah Parker was sworn into public office in Georgia on a copy of Malcolm X's autobiography instead of a Bible after her election in 2018.

In many ways, 2020 is another year of "The Ballot or the Bullet," and it's the candidate who can understand the urgency, despair, hope, rage, and love of the Black community who will connect on the deepest level.

Get the Teen Vogue Take. Sign up for the Teen Vogue weekly email.

Related: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Panther Party Shared Many of the Same Ideologies

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Malcolm X's Words Still Describe the Black Political Experience

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Malcolm's speech conveyed the pain and rage the Black community was feeling, pairing it with an urgent warning that escalated the community's demand for enfranchisement. It wasn't just a request for justice; it was a call for revolution. "This is why I say it's the ballot or the bullet.

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Harlem Renaissance Artist

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Lesson / Grade 4 / Augusta Savage - Harlem Renaissance Artist

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Graphic novelist shares his journey on how he discovered the comics and writing his award winning book New Kid

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Jerry Craft is the author of . It's a graphic novel about an African-American boy who feels out of place in his mostly white school. In 2019, New Kid became the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Medal, one of the most prestigious awards in children's literature. Craft spoke with TFK's Shay Maunz about his career, the Newbery Medal, and the upcoming sequel to New Kid.

What did you read as a kid?

I only read Marvel comics. There was no such thing for me as enjoyable book-reading. That was always a chore. In school, I felt like all the books that featured kids of color were about slavery or civil rights. And all the other books were just so far from my life. I couldn't relate to them at all.

What did you like about comic books?

It was definitely the pictures. But also, take someone like Spider-Man. I felt like I had a lot in common with Peter Parker, who is Spider-Man. At least Peter Parker was a teenager. And even though he had these superpowers, he was kind of nerdy and he had to keep his powers a secret. I related more to him than any literary characters I had ever met.

Did adults approve of your comic-book habit?

Neither of my parents ever belittled it. I know in certain schools, if they saw you reading a comic, they would confiscate it, because they thought it was rotting your brain. They didn't realize the amount of imagination and storytelling and vocabulary in those comics. With Marvel comics, for example, every title had an adjective that was a really cool word: The Spectacular Spiderman. Uncanny X-Men. The Macabre Man-Thing.

How did you start making your own comics?

I never considered myself a writer because I never considered myself a reader-how could you be one without the other? But I always loved to draw. And if I was going to draw comics, well, obviously I had to write a story to go with them. So I started making my own comic books. Then I started doing comic strips. Later I decided I wanted to do a book.

Why did you want to write a book?

One year, I went to the National Book Festival, in Washington, DC. That's where I met Raina Teglemeier [author of Guts]. She was up on stage, and I saw how her fans were just in heaven. I had never before seen a kid clutching a book like it was their favorite doll. When I was a kid, I never had a book that was so special to me that I wanted to hug it. I set out to make a book that kids of color could relate to like many kids relate to Raina's books.

What does New Kid's Newbery Medal win mean to you?

I can sum that up with a story that a woman wrote to me on Twitter. She said she was in a bookstore and a man came in with his son. The son said, "Hey, Dad, can I get a graphic novel?" And his dad said, "No, I'd rather you get a real book." Then the bookstore worker says, "Did you know that a graphic novel just won the Newbery Medal?" To which the dad says, "Oh, in that case, get whatever you want." To me, that sums it up. If I can be so bold as to say it: It's a victory for all graphic novels.

Do you think graphic novels are more respected now than when you were young?

Absolutely. Now there are so many great librarians and teachers who realize that reading is reading. It doesn't matter if it's a prose book or a graphic novel or a book of poetry.

Are you working on a new book?

I am. It's a sequel to New Kid. I'm drawing right now as we're talking [on the phone]. Graphic novels are time-consuming. I can't just say, "His teacher came to the door." I have to think about what kind of shoes the teacher wears, her blouse, how her hair looks, all of that. But it's definitely worth it. I wouldn't change a thing-except if I could clone myself so one of me could be working on this book 24/7 and the other one could be answering emails. That would be ideal. But until that happens, I'm working on it every moment I can. It comes out in October.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Jerry Craft is the author of New Kid. It's a graphic novel about an African-American boy who feels out of place in his mostly white school. In 2019, New Kid became the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Medal,...

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Collection Stories, National Museum of African American History & Culture

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Collection Stories, National Museum of African American History & Culture

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Smithsonian: National Museum of African American History & Culture

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Stories from the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

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An article that shares the accomplishments of eight extraordinary Afro-Latinx people including artists, and activists who honor the African diaspora.

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Art by Alan López for Remezcla

1

Miriam Jiménez Román

Miriam Jiménez Román's influence is expansive, but perhaps nothing is as strongly felt as her book, The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States. Jiménez leads the AfroLatin@ Forum, which is dedicated to raising the awareness of Afro Latin@s in the US. She has used her own experiences as a Black Puerto Rican to educate the world on Afro Latinidad and to bridge the gap between the presence of African-Americans and Latinos in the US.

She created spaces and outlets for Black Latinos that previously didn't exist and addressed issues that often go ignored. Along with her co-editor, Juan Flores, Román conducted informative workshops with middle school students and discovered that many had a hard time understanding Afro Latinidad.

That's why she knew crafting a book like The AfroLatin@ Reader was essential and something that should have always existed. "I said I wanted a book that addressed some of the concerns I felt when I was young," Roman told Los AfroLatinos. "This kind of book should have been around when I was a kid because Blackness was equated with being African-American. This limited view left me concerned about my Blackness because I grew up as a Black Puerto Rican, and I'm very conscious how race and ethnicity have both impacted my life."

2

Piri Thomas

Down These Mean Streets, a memoir written by author Piri Thomas, is a noteworthy work on Afro Latinidad in the United States. Discussing the racism, identity issues and poverty he experienced during his lifetime growing in Spanish Harlem in NYC, the Cuban-Puerto Rican poet created a piece of literature that shone a light on his own community.

As a darker-skinned Latino, he faced discrimination, both from his family and society as a whole. His father reportedly preferred his lighter-skinned children, according to The New York Times. During his youth he used and sold drugs and ended up in prison after he hurt a police officer. During his seven years imprisoned, he finished high school and turned to writing. The work he created was so trailblazing that his editor told him that with Down These Mean Streets, Piri created a new genre, one where " everybody speaks like themselves. "

He also became involved in his community and advocated for at-risk youth. In Carmen Dolores Hernández's Puerto Rican Voices in English: Interviews with Writers, Piri said that if people wanted to know what he had done after writing his novel, all they had to do was to "ask the communities, the schools, the universities, and colleges."

Piri is remembered as an influential voices of the Nuyorican Movement, which captured the experiences of Puerto Ricans in New York through the discrimination and marginalization they faced.

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José Celso Barbosa

Physician, sociologist and politician José Celso Barbosa was one of the first Puerto Ricans and persons of African descent to receive a medical degree in the US. But he also made history in plenty of other ways. He served in the executive cabinet under Puerto Rican Governor Charles H. Allen and joined the first Puerto Rican Senate. Barbosa, who advocated for statehood, also established El Tiempo, the island's first bilingual newspaper.

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Gwen Ifill

The late television news anchor Gwen Ifill, whose father was of Panamanian and Barbadian descent - left a mark on American media. As one of the first Black women to host a nationwide televised public affairs program in the United States, she paved the way for other journalists of color. Ifill worked for The Washington Post, The New York Times, NBC, and PBS, and became the first Black woman to moderate a vice presidential debate.

After her death in 2016, PBS published a piece titled "'Dear Gwen: Letters from female journalists of color she inspired," which showed how deep her legacy is. For Gwen, championing diversity in journalism was necessary. "Diversity is essential to the success of the news industry, and journalists must include diverse voices in their coverage in order to reach a broader audience. We have stories to tell, but many in our audience have stopped listening because they can tell that we're not talking about them," Ifill said.

In fall 2018, Simmons College is set to rename its new media arts program after the journalist, calling it the Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts, and Humanities.

5

Sylvia del Villard

Santurce, San Juan native Sylvia del Villard was no stranger to the performing arts. The actress, dancer, and activist faced discrimination as she pursued her studies at Fisk University in Tennessee.

But it's when she moved to New York City where del Villard began to take an interest in her roots, joining a ballet group called the Africa House. She also went on to establish the Afro-Boricua El Coqui Theater, which the Panamerican Association of the New World Festival named " as the most important authority of Black Puerto Rican culture."

In the 1970s, she and Carmen Bélen Richardson also spoke out about the racism faced by black artists in Puerto Rico's media. In 1971, del Villard released a press release "criticizing racist casting practices in television, the limited opportunities for black actors and actresses, and the ongoing use of blackface."

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Felipe Luciano

Felipe Luciano is the founder of the Young Lords New York Branch - a Puerto Rican activist group started in Chicago and New York City with the same missions as the revolutionary Black Panther Party. The Young Lords was " indisputably the main catalyst for the second [US-based boricua] generation's baptism into radical politics." Luciano focused on the liberation of oppressed communities.

Luciano grew up underprivileged to a single mother and even through the struggles he was determined enough to go to college and pursue an education. Getting involved in student activism on campus is what led to the creation of the Young Lords and to him joining the Original Last Poets, a coalition of African American and Afro-Puerto Rican poets.

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Julia de Burgos

Poet and journalist Julia Constanza Burgos García hailed from Carolina, Puerto Rico. From Puerto Rico to New York to Cuba, Julia de Burgos' influence is felt in many places. Her poetry addressed themes of feminism and social equality. Her dynamic poetry profoundly influenced many Afro-Caribbean writers who came after her. By age 19, she graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a teaching degree.

Joining the Daughters of Freedom and the women's branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, she remained committed to supporting feminism and the Nuyorican Movement.

De Burgos celebrated her blackness in her poem Ay, Ay, Ay de la Grifa Negra, which in part reads, "ay ay ay, que soy grifa y pura negra/grifería en mi pelo, cafrería en mis labios/y mi chata nariz mozambiquea."

As Vanessa Perez Rosario's Becoming Julia de Burgos: The Making of a Puerto Rican Icon notes, critics said she symbolized the "wounded cry of our national conscience reflecting the solitude of our darker political hour."

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Arturo Schomburg

Arturo Schomburg was a historian who raised a significant amount of awareness for the African Diaspora. Reportedly inspired by a teacher who said that African descendants had no history, he dedicated his life to showing how vital their contributions were.

After moving to New York, he became an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He also joined the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico and co-founded the Negro Society for Historical Research, which united African, Caribbean, and African-American scholars. He later served as the president of the American Negro Academy, which focuses on black history and literature.

In 1925, Schomburg found the Negro Literature, History, and Prints Division of the 135th Street Branch Library. It later became known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a "leading cultural [institution] in the world devoted to the preservations of materials focused on African-American, African Diaspora, and African experiences. Recognized for its prominence in digital humanities, scholarly research, and vast collection spanning over 10 million items, the Schomburg Center won the National Media for Museum and Library Service in 2015."

Afro-Latino

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8 Afro Latinos Who Made Important Contributions to US History

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Here are eight Afro Latinos whose important contributions should not go unrecognized.

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Learn the practical West African fun moves that have influenced modern dancing.

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West African Dance Workshop with Ms. Yvonne: Lincoln Center Pop-Up Classroom

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American Sculptor

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The Cuban-born singer known as the Queen of Salsa.

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In August of 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. America was not yet America, but this was the moment it began. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the 250 years of slavery that followed. On the 400th an…

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Over the past few weeks, all of us at Code Switch have noticed that a lot of you have children - bright young minds with boundless energy, just waiting to learn how to fight the power and advance racial justice. (Right?) But with everything that's going on, finding ways to critically engage school-age kids has been a challenge at best.

With that in mind, we've compiled a playlist tailor-made for our youngest listeners. We heard from some of y'all that you're using our episodes as a way to entertain and educate your homebound children, so we rounded up some of our most kid-friendly episodes from the archives. We were inspired by our friends at Radiolab, who launched a new podcast called "Radiolab for Kids" - make sure to check them out, too.

We've combed through the episodes to make sure they're free of profanity, graphic references and other adult content. (Although talking about race and racism is always complicated, so parents, use your judgment here.) Our episodes never have all the answers, and we're hoping these will open up space for some good old-fashioned dinner-table discussions.

Read more about some of our favorites below, and check out the full playlist of 19 episodes here.

History lessons

As the coronavirus began to spread from China to the rest of the world, Asians and Asian Americans faced xenophobic and racist harassment. In this episode from March, listeners described racist experiences they'd had during the COVID-19 outbreak, and we spoke to Professor Erika Lee about America's long history of xenophobic responses to disease outbreaks.

Why it's good for kids: A lot of the harassment we heard about took place in schools, back when they were open, or in front of parents with young children. This episode might help explain some of the racism that children are already seeing and experiencing in their own lives.

When Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest police brutality in 2016, he joined a long line of black athletes using their platform to fight for a better world for black people. In 2019, we featured an episode of NPR's Throughline podcast, which tells the stories of three black athletes who protested injustice: Jack Johnson, Wilma Rudolph and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.

Why it's good for kids: Every 9-year-old dreams of being a pro athlete, right? Well, this episode gets into some of the most influential people ever to achieve that dream. And it might shine some light on why being an athlete is so much more than just stepping onto a field and playing the game.

Learning and education

Public school educations are not created equal, thanks to a long history of segregation in schools and housing. In this episode, we look at neighboring school districts that, despite their geographic closeness, have wildly different racial demographics and school funding.

Why it's good for kids: Your observant child may have noticed that certain aspects of their education - like the quality of their buildings or textbooks - aren't the same in the schools that their friends attend. This episode explains the bigger forces behind those discrepancies in a way that will make sense to school-age children.

Middle- and high-schoolers have some of the most fascinating stories about figuring out who they want to become-so we turned over the mic to student podcasters. We highlighted some of our favorite stories from the Education Team's Student Podcast Challenge: honest conversations about periods, deaf culture, juvenile detention and being transgender.

Why it's good for kids: What better way for kids to learn about the issues affecting their peers than to hear these stories straight from kids themselves? Plus, if your child has ever thought of making a podcast of their own, this might inspire them to break out a voice recorder and start narrating your home life.

Busing and voluntary integration programs shaped the lives of many American children during the 1970s and 80s - including NPR's Audie Cornish. In 2016, she joined us on the podcast to reflect on those experiences, as well as the children in similar programs today.

Why it's good for kids: Millions of children still attend racially and economically segregated schools. This episode can help kids put themselves in the shoes of the students who attended school a generation ago, and learn what has (and hasn't) changed since the days of busing programs.

Family life

The volatility of immigration policy puts undocumented immigrants and their families under a lot of stress - particularly in "mixed status" families, in which different members may be citizens, DACA recipients or at risk of deportation. In 2019, we talked to siblings who each have different statuses, and how their lives might change based on the Supreme Court's impending DACA ruling.

Why it's good for kids: Maybe you and your child are part of a mixed-status household, or maybe that's a reality far different than your own. This episode could be a comforting reminder that other families with undocumented members experience similar anxieties, or a learning moment about what other kids' lives are like.

Most adoptive parents in the U.S. are white - and a lot of them are adopting children who aren't. We asked transracial adoptees to tell us how growing up with white parents shaped their identity, and about the things they wished their families knew.

Why it's good for kids: The episode dives into a lot of misconceptions about adoption, and lets adoptees talk about some of the things they've heard from peers and family members-which is worth a listen from both adopted and non-adopted children alike. And for white parents with children of color, it can be an entry point into a larger conversation about identity and family.

In 1992, a study introduced the idea that children who grow up in poverty hear 30-million fewer words, over time, than children who didn't. The research has influenced how a generation of poor students have been taught, but as our NPR Education colleague Anya Kamenetz explains, the original study's findings were misleading.

Why it's good for kids: If you read or talked a lot to your child when they were young, there's a good chance that your decision can be traced back to the study's findings - it was that influential. It's a good way into a larger conversation about schools, class and race, which pairs well with our other school-related episodes.

Just for fun

For the past 20 years, children have watched Dora the Explorer go on quests and solve puzzles with her animal friends, getting a bilingual education along the way. In this 2019 episode featuring our friends at Latino USA, we discuss how the television program catalyzed the creation of multicultural children's programming and pushed back on anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Why it's good for kids: Your child may be one of those millions who grew up with Dora, Diego and Boots on their television screens - or a devotee of another multicultural kids' show that sprung up in the years after. Either way, they'll learn a lot about how the show changed the whole game for the TV shows they watch.

Can dogs be bigoted against black people? In this episode, we take a look at the unusual intersections of dog ownership and race, including an explanation of how pitbulls became demonized as dangerous.

Why it's good for kids: This episode takes on a subject that just about every kid is familiar with - puppies !- and injects race into the mix. Brace yourself - it also might prompt a debate on whether your family pet needs some retraining...or whether it's time to take home an adorable, friendly, non-racist pet for the first time.

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The Very Best Code Switch Episodes For Kids

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Having trouble finding ways to critically engage your kids during pandemic homeschooling? We rounded up some of our most kid-friendly episodes from the archives to help out.