Rickey Smiley Morning Show

The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio are quickly approaching, and the racial diversity of the Games has improved greatly over the years. Just over 90 years ago, DeHart Hubbard made a significant dent in history by becoming the first Black person to win individual Olympic gold at the Summer Games. Born William DeHart Hubbard on […]

Rickey Smiley Morning Show

While many know the incredible story of Henry ‘Box’ Brown who escaped slavery by shipping himself from Virginia to Pennsylvania, Lear Green’s story has been somewhat lost to history. Greer was an enslaved woman who made a daring escape in order to marry the man of her choice and bear free children. Green was able to […]

Rickey Smiley Morning Show

Rev. David E. Gay Jr., the pastor of Beulah Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, Ala., was the a social and mental health worker prior to his life in ministry. In 2000, he became the first Black director of Bryce Hospital, the largest psychiatric facility in the state. Rev. Gay’s journey began after graduating Druid High School […]

Rickey Smiley Morning Show

Samuel Sharpe was a Jamaican preacher who led a 10-day slave revolt on the island nation that moved the British Empire to end slavery in 1833. The so-called “Baptist War” because of the denomination of many involved, or the “Christmas Rebellion of 1831,” left over several hundred slaves dead. Sharpe was born around 1801, according […]

Rickey Smiley Morning Show

P.B.S. Pinchback was the first African-American governor of the United States, and was nearly a U.S. Senator before the racist power structure kept him from…

Rickey Smiley Morning Show

Moneeta Sleet Jr. spent over four decades shooting some of Black America’s most lasting images for EBONY magazine. He is the first African-American to be…

Rickey Smiley Morning Show

Eugene Antonio Marino became the first Black Archbishop of the United States on this day in 1988. Although Archbishop Marino’s appointment in the post ended…

Rickey Smiley Morning Show

Dr. Homer E. Harris Jr. made history twice – as the first Black football captain of his high school team in Seattle, Washington, and later…

National

Akilah Johnson is the first African-American artist to win the national competition, proving that Black art also matters.

Seventy-five years ago, a group of men made history. Those men were the Tuskegee Airmen. Today, they are being celebrated for their achievements in a…

National

In an effort to end a decades-long frozen relationship between the U.S. and Cuba, President Barack Obama made history when he became the first president in nearly 90 years to visit the island siloed from the rest of the world since the Cold War conflict on Sunday.

Rickey Smiley Morning Show

Lt. Commander John W. Lee Jr. was the first Black commissioned Navy officer, achieving the historic feat on this day in 1947. The late Navy…