NATIONWIDE (April 7, 2022) – On February 25, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the 116th Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Because of her diverse and broad public service, Judge Jackson has a unique appreciation of how critical it is for the justice system to be fair…
The Beatles’ Paul McCartney wrote the song “Blackbird” to acknowledge what he witnessed during a visit to America and watched on television in his home country of England. Paul McCartney was visiting America when it is said that he heard a woman screaming. He looked out to see a Black woman surrounded by policemen. They…
Submitted by, Beck Cultural Exchange Center February 13, 2022 The opening pages of a presentation or ceremonial bible have pages reserved to record the recipient’s immediate family tree and from where they hailed. Priceless information to tracing one’s ancestry. A Presentation Bible was once a traditional gift for momentous occasions such as marriage and the…
DAY 1: The Knoxville Negro was a 1929 publication of some of Knoxville’s Most Prominent (African-American) Negroes The Knoxville Negro was a 100-page book of biographies of some of Knoxville’s influential Black men and women, business owners, physicians, attorneys, educators, socialities, and more. It was published by Bartow G. Wilson, former editor of the Knoxville…
December 26, 1966, the first Kwanzaa holiday (December 26 to January 1st) was celebrated. Kwanzaa was introduced to African-Americans in 1966, by Dr. Maulana Karenga to promote, teach and connect African-Americans with their African heritage of seven foundational principles practiced throughout the African Diaspora. the celebration of Kwanzaa is celebrated in many African-American communities nationwide….
The Kwanzaa holiday was established in America in 1965, by activist and educator Dr. Maulana Karenga. His intent was to educate generations of indoctrinated peoples of their African culture and traditions as a means of self-empowerment. Karenga taught principles and traditions inherent in Africa to African-Americans in an effort to instill purpose and self-worth. Explorers…
December 14, 1926: Singing tenor, Roland Hayes performed at the Lyric Theater to a mixed-race audience at the invitation of the Knoxville Altruistic Club, a Black organization. His performance earned top reviews. December 16, 1943: Knoxville College went from a “B” to an “A” rating from the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (SACSC) for the…
East Tennesseans looked forward to the Knoxville College Coleridge-Taylor Chorus December performance of “Messiah” that became an annual tradition. By Patricia Williams, East Tennessee Enlightener KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (December 2021) – On December 17, 1933, the Coleridge-Taylor Chorus of Knoxville College invited the community to join them on the campus to enjoy a Christmas concert at McMillan…
By Kristine Froeba, The Military Times Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2021 Republished, December 7, 2021 – Louisiana’s Lawrence Brooks, aged 112, smiled as his daughter, Vanessa, tenderly placed his new garrison cap on his head in the ICU bed. She says it’s what her father, the world’s oldest living World War II veteran, wanted most — a…
December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Black citizens banned together and initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott protest against racial segregation on public transit, which was foundational in the Civil Rights Movement. December 2, 1969: Marie Van…
The community is encouraged to attend a send-off for members of “The Oak Ridge 85” traveling to Washington D.C. to be honored. OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (Nov. 28, 2021) – There are only 30 known remaining members of the Scarboro Oak Ridge 85 who attended Robertsville Middle and Oak Ridge High schools 66 years ago to…
The Harlem Hellfighters: The Incredible Story Behind the Most Decorated United States Military Regiment in World War I First posted on Thursday, February 4, 2021 President Calvin Coolidge paid tribute to African Americans who fought in World War I in his June 1924 Commencement address at Howard University in Washington, D.C.: “The colored people have…
November 1, 1945: Ebony Magazine was published with an initial press run of 25,000 copies. November 1, 1951: Jet Magazine was released. November 2, 1986: President Ronald Reagan signed into law, the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday to be recognized annually on the third Monday of January. November 3, 1896: J.H. Hunter, a Black American inventor, patented…
“A Delicate Balance: African American Women and Suffrage in Knoxville” KNOXVILLE, TN (September 2021) – National celebrations of the 2020 centennial anniversary of women gaining the right to vote were sidelined by an ongoing international pandemic. This year, the East Tennessee History Center is taking extra precautions by offering a Brown Bag lecture with options…
The BECK RACIAL JUSTICE TOWNHALL Series XIV at 4 pm, Friday, August 27, via ZOOM, will be on the nation’s Red Summer and the 2-days of racial violence that erupted in Knoxville on August 30, 1919. KNOXVILLE, TN (August 25, 2021) – In Knoxville, the events of Red Summer came under the guise of…
BlackNews.com – (August 2, 2021) – Meet Charlie Rose whose new book Why Cops Kill and How to Stop Them reveals his personal story as a police officer many years ago in the Greenwood area of Tulsa, Oklahoma (formerly known as Black Wall Street). He also shares his keen viewpoints on why he believes that police violence is at an all-time…
“What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us (slaves)?… What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all…
It’s official! As of June 16, 2021, the Juneteenth Flag has a national holiday to be recognized, celebrated and flown. An additional red, white, and blue flag could be flown over the National and state capitol buildings beginning next year. NATIONWIDE (June 2021) – For two decades, communities around the country have held flag-raising…
Selma, AL (March 2021) – Over a half-century and 10 days have passed since peaceful marchers were met with brutal police violence On March 7, 1965, on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The nation then and to the present day, was forced to face the ugliness of its actions to continue the oppression…
This is one of those rare opportunities to learn of a historic event from someone who was there over 65 years ago! OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (April 25, 2021) – Ernestine Avery was just 14 years old when she was sent to attend then segregated Oak Ridge High School. Avery was one of the Oak Ridge…
Haines Morris Endowment Roundtable is a free virtual event that is open to the public, Wednesday, April 14, 5:30-7:30 pm. Registration required using the link provided below. The Black Lives Matter uprising and COVID-19 have laid bare the structural racism and political, economic, and health crises that shape American social life. By bringing together regional…
Auburn University’s Passion Project chronicles the significance of ‘Selma’s Bloody Sunday’ in an effort to; name the brave nameless participants, share the experience of marchers on their way to the bridge and the aftermath that immediately followed the widely publicized police brutality inflicted on the peaceful marchers in their attempt to cross the bridge to…
KNOXVILLE, TN (March 2021) – Theotis Robinson didn’t want the admissions office to know he was Black. So after graduating from Knoxville’s Austin High School, he left off the school’s name when he submitted his application to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1960. They found out anyway. Robinson fought for the right to attend…
Free registration is open for the 2021 virtual Historic 56th Annual Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee. Themed “Beyond the Bridge: People Power, Political Power, Economic Power” is planned to be global, and historic. Honored guests include civil rights icons Ambassador Andrew Young and Labor Leader Dolores Huerta with more guests of distinction. Selma, AL — Two…
Oak Ridge, Tn – Willie Charles Booker passed aws on January 22, 2021. He was one of 85 students assigned to be among the first black students to integrate Oak Ridge School sustem. Those students are known as the Oak Ridge 85, sent from the black Scarboro School that would be closed, to integrate Robertsville…