Freedom Riders — Warriors in some of the Civil Rights Bloodiest Battles (originally written 11/2013, updated 02/2021)

Black History Month Lesson — The Lynching of Mr. Jesse Washington Don’t look away! This is American History not just Black History. Don’t look away! May 15th of 2016 was a special day in that history. Don’t look away! That was the 100th anniversary of the lynching of Mr. Jesse…

How To Write a Successful Query Letter First of all . . . What is a query letter? It’s a letter sent to agents letting them know about your manuscript, and asking them for representation. Nowadays almost no publisher will take a manuscript directly from a writer — they want…

Thomas “Fats” Waller — one of the funniest jazz pianists who ever lived — died this day, December 15, in 1943 at the age of 39. Born (May 21, 1904) and raised in Harlem, Fats became one of the most well paid African American entertainers of his era. He cut…

Otis Redding, “King of Soul,” dead 53 years ago today — December 10 Otis Redding, one of the most soulful singers singers who ever lived, died on this date (December 10) in 1967. …

Willie Bobo — Percussionist Extraordinaire || A LEARNING MOMENT || When most people think of the song, “Evil Ways,” they think of the legendary Latin band Santana. Not me, I think of Willie Bobo. That’s not his real name, in 1934 he was born William Correo in Spanish Harlem (which…

Emmett Till was Murdered 65 Years Ago This Weekend — And What Has Changed? We’ve been crying, marching, protesting, rioting surrounding issues of racial injustice for a very long damn time. …

“We want full manhood suffrage and we want it now…. We are men! We want to be treated as men. And we shall win.” Before there was the NAACP — before they could ever be an NAACP — there was the Niagara Movement. In fact, you could consider the Niagara…

THE NIAGARA MOVEMENT’s DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES, 1905 Progress: The members of the conference, known as the Niagara Movement, assembled in annual meeting at Buffalo, July 11th, 1905, congratulate the Negro-Americans on certain undoubted evidences of progress in the last decade, particularly the increase of intelligence, the buying of property, the…