The Unhidden Minute

Fort Mosé, established in 1738 in Spanish Florida, was the first legally sanctioned free Black settlement in what is now the United States. Located near St. Augustine, it was founded by formerly ensl…

In 1619 a woman was kidnapped from her home in the Kingdom of Ndongo, part of modern-day Angola Africa and brought to the continent of North America. She was given the name Angela. Among a group of a…

Nzinga Ana de Sousa Mbande (1583–1663) was a formidable queen of Ndongo and Matamba, in present-day Angola. A skilled diplomat and military strategist, she resisted Portuguese colonial expansion for …

Mildred Hemmons Carter (1913–2011) was a pioneering Black American aviator who defied racial and gender barriers to pursue her passion for flying. Born in Alabama, Carter faced discrimination and lim…

Delilah Leontium Beasley was a pioneering historian and journalist. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1867, Beasley began her writing career in 1883 with the Cleveland Gazette, focusing on church and soci…

Black History Month originated as Negro History Week in 1926. Founded by historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, the observance is a celebration of th…

On October 16, 1859, John Brown, an ardent abolitionist, led a group of 21 men, including both Black and white supporters, in an attempt to seize the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now We…

Thurgood Marshall was a pioneering civil rights lawyer and the first Black American Supreme Court Justice. Born in 1908, he played a crucial role in challenging racial segregation, most notably throu…

The first recorded instance of a Black person voting in a U.S. presidential election occurred on November 3, 1872.  Thomas Mundy Peterson had already gained recognition for being the first Black Ame…

Marsha P. Johnson, a Black transgender woman, played a crucial role in the Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969, in New York City's Greenwich Village. Known for her vibrant personality and activism, J…

Bronzeville, a neighborhood near the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, has a deep and rich history, significantly shaped by its Black LGBTQ+ community. Among its notable figures is Ma Rainey, often…

On June 19th, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that all enslaved people in United States were free. In accordance with the Emancipation Proclamation issue…

Decided on June 12, 1967, Loving v. Virginia, a landmark civil rights decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage. The case centered on Richard Loving, a whi…

Corporal Waverly B. Woodson Jr. was a courageous Black American U.S. Army medic who served with the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only all-black unit to land on Omaha Beach during D-Day on Jun…

The 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion was a pioneering Black American unit in World War II, notable for its critical role during the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. This battalion was tasked with deplo…

Give me a minute and let me thank you for your time. Over the last several weeks you’ve listened along to this daily series of stories that detail the often-hidden legacy of Black American history. T…

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) was a Baptist minister and civil rights leader who played a central role in the American Civil Rights Movement. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, King emerged as a prom…

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States aimed at combating racial discrimination in voting practices. Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Joh…

Malcolm X (1925–1965), born Malcolm Little, was a prominent Black American Muslim minister and human rights activist. His early life was marked by poverty and crime, but while serving a prison senten…

The Black Panther Party was a revolutionary organization founded in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California. Born out of the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panthers aimed to c…