Way Black When

1965: Constance Baker Motley is elected Manhattan Borough president, the highest elective office held by a Black woman in a major American city.

Want to know the way to gauge how great a show is? Break it down by episodes. Take The Cosby Show for instance: For those who watched the series through it’s eight seasons, the debate is never whether or not the show was good, it’s which episode was the best. Ask as many people possible […]

1989: DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince win the first Rap Grammy for the hit single “Parents Just Don’t Understand.”

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If there is one person from history whose impact on the Black woman’s self-image rivals that of Oprah Winfrey, it is the hair mogul Madame C.J. Walker. Walker was the first successful Black female entrepreneur. Her insistence on involvement in both the business world and civic affairs predates Oprah’s story, and to the extent that […]

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On February 21, 1965, former Nation of Islam leader and influential Black Civil Rights activist Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City.

Despite the rough nature of his sport, Muhammad Ali was one of the smoothest persons ever to walk the Earth. His poetic verse and well-considered metaphors came out a time during the 1960s when boxers were better known for punching than speaking. But Muhammad Ali did speak, and spoke intelligently – in a loud, boisterous […]

1940: Soul singer William “Smokey” Robinson born in Detroit, Michigan. Smokey was an original member of Motown’s first vocal group, The Miracles.

Before Barack Obama became the first African-American President (sorry, Bill Clinton does NOT count) the only time we saw a Commander-in-Chief of color was in the movies.  Sometimes the portrayals were dignified (Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact) other times they were not (Terry Crews in Idiocracy), but nine times out of ten the world was […]

Led Zeppelin is considered by many to be one of the greatest bands in the history of rock music, but their roots clearly lie in the tradition of the blues. Their blues influences got the best of them on a few occasions during their run in the late 60s and 70s. In 1972, the band […]

On this day, Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio in 1931. She went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for her novel “Beloved.”