Black History: Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Since his mainstream debut in 2012 with Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, Lamar has been regarded as one of the most influential artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers and lyricists of all time.
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Black History: Black Commemorated On Post Stamps
The first U.S. stamp to honor an African American was the ten-cent Booker T. Washington stamp, issued in 1940. In 1978, the Postal Service initiated the Black Heritage stamp series, to recognize the achievements of individual African Americans. Below is a list of stamps issued in honor of African Americans and their contributions. Stamps on which African Americans are part …
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Black History: Antislavery Laws
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights says in Article 8: No one shall be held in slavery; slavery and the slave-trade in all their forms shall be prohibited. No one shall be held in servitude. No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labor.
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Black History: Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson was one of the first black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam title. In the early 1960s she also became the first Black player to compete on the Women’s Professional Golf Tour.
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Black History: Yvonne Brathwaite
Yvonne Brathwaite Burke was the first African-American woman elected to the state assembly. She represented the West Coast in Congress. In 1973, she became the first member of the U.S. Congress to give birth while in office, and she was the first person to be granted maternity leave by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Black History: Joseph A. Johnson
The Bishop Johnson History Project is dedicated to celebrating the remarkable life of Bishop Joseph Andrew Johnson, Jr, the first African American to graduate from Vanderbilt University (B.D., 1954), to receive a PhD from the University (1958), and to become a full member of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust. The Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt University …
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Black History: Zinora M. Mitchell-Rankin
Zinora M. Mitchell-Rankin was born in the District of Columbia and was educated at Spelman College in Atlanta Georgia, where she graduated summa cum laude and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1976, and at George Washington University’s National Law Center in Washington, D.C. where she received her Juris Doctorate degree in May 1979. Judge Mitchell-Rankin …
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Black History: Minnie Joycelyn Elders
Minnie Joycelyn Elders was the first African American to serve as Surgeon General. She was also the first woman and first African American to hold the position of Arkansas health director.
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Black History: Clara Leach Adams-Ender
Clara Leach Adams-Ender was the 1st black woman and nurse to receive a master’s degree from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. She was also the 1st woman to be awarded the Expert Field Medical Badge, the 1st black Army Nurse Corps officer to graduate from the Army War College, the 1st black nurse appointed chief of nursing …
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Black History: Rebecca Lee Crumpler
Rebecca Lee Crumpler challenged the prejudice that prevented African Americans from pursuing careers in medicine to became the first African American woman in the United States to earn an M.D. degree, a distinction formerly credited to Rebecca Cole. Although little has survived to tell the story of Crumpler’s life, she has secured her place in the historical record with her …
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