Black History in Real Time
The Encyclopedia
Full biographical profiles of the people and events that shaped Black history. Every entry connects to the larger story.
February 1 · Foundations & Education
Carter G. Woodson
1875 — 1950
The Father of Black History, who created what became Black History Month in 1926 to correct the systematic erasure of Black Americans from textbooks.
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February 2 · Politics & Government
Shirley Chisholm
1924 — 2005
First Black woman elected to Congress and first Black woman to run for President of the United States, in 1972. She ran to win.
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February 3 · Innovation & Invention
Garrett Morgan
1877 — 1963
Inventor of the three-position traffic signal and an early gas mask — and then companies stopped buying his mask when they found out a Black man made it.
People
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February 4 · African History & Wealth
Mansa Musa
c. 1280 — c. 1337
Emperor of the Mali Empire and the wealthiest person in recorded human history, estimated at $400 billion in modern terms.
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February 5 · Civil Rights Law
Brown v. Board of Education
1954
The Supreme Court ruling that struck down school segregation, argued by Thurgood Marshall and named for a 7-year-old girl in Topeka, Kansas.
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February 6 · Medicine & Science
Daniel Hale Williams
1856 — 1931
Performed the world's first documented successful open-heart surgery in 1893 — without anesthesia, antibiotics, or X-rays. The patient lived another 50 years.
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February 7 · Erasure & Violence
Tulsa Race Massacre
May 31 — June 1, 1921
The destruction of Black Wall Street in Greenwood, Tulsa — the most prosperous Black community in America, burned to the ground in one night.
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February 8 · Government & Resistance
COINTELPRO
1956 — 1971
The FBI's covert program to expose, disrupt, and destroy Black political organizations — confirmed by Senate investigation, not conspiracy theory.
Systems
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February 9 · Erasure & Violence
The Rosewood Massacre
January 1923
A white mob burned the thriving all-Black town of Rosewood, Florida to the ground after a false accusation. The town was never rebuilt.
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February 10 · Military History
The Tuskegee Airmen
1941 — 1946
The all-Black fighter group that flew 15,000+ combat sorties and never lost a bomber to enemy aircraft — then came home to segregated diners.
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February 11 · Music & Culture
The Blues
Late 1800s — Present
The root of rock, jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and country — born in the Mississippi Delta from the field hollers and spirituals of enslaved people.
Culture
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February 12 · Economic Policy
Redlining
1930s — 1968
The federal government's policy of marking Black neighborhoods as "hazardous" and using those maps to deny mortgages — engineering the racial wealth gap.
Systems
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February 13 · Labor & Economics
Enslaved Labor & American Infrastructure
1793 — 1865
The U.S. Capitol, the White House, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton — all built or funded by enslaved Black people who never saw a wage.
Systems
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February 14 · Civil Rights Law
Loving v. Virginia
1967
Mildred and Richard Loving were arrested in their bedroom for being married. Their Supreme Court case struck down all bans on interracial marriage in 1967.
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February 15 · Language & Culture
AAVE & Linguistic Culture
Origins in slavery — Present
African American Vernacular English is a fully systematic dialect — not broken English — and the source of words now used globally.
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February 16 · Culture & Commerce
Black Fashion & Cultural Appropriation
Ongoing
Cornrows, hoop earrings, baggy clothes — mocked on Black people, criminalized, then repackaged and celebrated when adopted by others.
Culture
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February 17 · Film & Arts
Melvin Van Peebles
1932 — 2021
Made Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song outside Hollywood for $150K, grossed $15M, and proved a Black audience existed that the industry had been ignoring.
People
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February 18 · Dance & Movement
Black Dance Culture
Ongoing
From New Orleans Bounce to the griddy to the running man — the origin stories of America's most viral dances trace back to Black communities that rarely got credit.
Culture
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February 19 · Food & Culture
Black Culinary History
Late 1800s — Present
Soul food, Southern food, and Cajun cuisine all share the same roots — created by enslaved people who turned limited ingredients into the foundation of American cooking.
Culture
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February 20 · Technology & Innovation
Black Tech Pioneers
1969 — Present
Clarence Ellis, Mark Dean, Katherine Johnson — the Black scientists and engineers whose work made modern computing possible, and whose names most people don't know.
People
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February 21 · Sports History
Sports Integration Beyond Jackie Robinson
1950s — 1960s
Chuck Cooper, Althea Gibson, and the athletes who integrated every other American sport — at enormous personal cost the celebration usually skips over.
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February 22 · Law Enforcement & Justice
Slave Patrols & The Origins of American Policing
1704 — Present
America's first formal police forces were slave patrols, created in 1704. After emancipation, many became local sheriffs enforcing Black Codes. Not reorganized — rebranded.
Systems
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February 23 · Democracy & Civil Rights
Voting Rights & Suppression
1870 — Present
The 15th Amendment gave Black men the vote in 1870. Within years: poll taxes, rigged literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and violence. The toolkit never disappeared.
Systems
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February 24 · Education & Policy
Education Inequality by Design
Ongoing
There is no federal law requiring equal school funding. Schools are funded by property taxes. The ZIP code you're born into determines your educational opportunities.
Systems
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February 25 · Justice System
Mass Incarceration & the 13th Amendment
1865 — Present
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery "except as punishment for crime." That exception was immediately exploited. It still is.
Systems
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February 26 · Environment & Public Health
Environmental Racism
Ongoing
Cancer Alley, Flint, Michigan, and hundreds of communities where race is a stronger predictor of living near a polluting facility than income.
Systems
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February 27 · Current History
Modern Civil Rights Leaders
2013 — Present
Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, Bryan Stevenson, Stacey Abrams — the current leaders of a movement that is not a completed chapter.
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February 28 · Education & Philosophy
The Mis-Education of the Negro
1933 — Present
Carter G. Woodson's argument that the greatest enemy was a miseducation that taught Black people to see themselves through white eyes — and why Black History Month exists to correct it.
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February 29★ · 44th & Forever
Barack Obama
1961 — Present
The 44th President of the United States and the first Black person to hold that office — elected November 4, 2008, serving two full terms.
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March 1 · Medicine & Justice
Henrietta Lacks
1920 — 1951
Her cancer cells were taken without her consent in 1951 and became the foundation of modern medical research. She died at 31. Her family received nothing.
People
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March 2 · Journalism & Courage
Ida B. Wells
1862 — 1931
Documented lynching across the South when no newspaper would. A mob burned her press. She published from exile and never stopped.
People
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March 3 · Voting Rights
Fannie Lou Hamer
1917 — 1977
Beaten in a Mississippi jail for registering to vote. Testified before the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Carried permanent injuries for the rest of her life.
People
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March 4 · Economic Power
Madam C.J. Walker
1867 — 1919
Born to freed slaves. Widowed at 20. Built a national haircare empire and became one of the first self-made female millionaires in American history.
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March 5 · Science & Space
Mae Jemison
1956 — Present
Chemical engineer, physician, Peace Corps doctor, astronaut. In 1992 she became the first Black woman in space, carrying a photo of Bessie Coleman into orbit.
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March 6 · Hidden History
Claudette Colvin
1939 — Present
Refused her bus seat nine months before Rosa Parks. Was a plaintiff in the case that ended bus segregation. Then was quietly erased from the story.
People
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March 7 · Civil Rights
Ruby Bridges
1954 — Present
At six years old, walked through a screaming mob to integrate William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. For months, she was the only student in her class.
People
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March 8 · Education & Strategy
Septima Clark
1898 — 1987
Built citizenship schools across the South to teach Black adults the literacy skills needed to pass discriminatory voter registration tests. MLK called her the Mother of the Movement.
People
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March 9 · Resistance & Leadership
Diane Nash
1938 — Present
Co-founded SNCC. Organized the Nashville sit-ins that desegregated downtown businesses. Kept the Freedom Rides going when violence tried to stop them.
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March 10 · Hidden Wealth
Sarah Rector
1902 — 1967
At eleven years old, oil was discovered on her land and she became one of the wealthiest Black children in America. The system immediately moved to control what was hers.
People
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March 11 · Justice & Accountability
Beulah Mae Donald
1920 — 1988
Filed the lawsuit that bankrupted the United Klans of America after her son was lynched in 1981. She received the deed to their national headquarters building.
People
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March 12 · Aviation & Barrier Breaking
Bessie Coleman
1892 — 1926
Every American flight school rejected her. She learned French and earned her international pilot's license in France in 1921 — first Black woman in the world to do so.
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March 13 · Civil Rights Catalyst
Mamie Till-Mobley
1921 — 2003
Demanded an open casket for her lynched son Emmett in 1955. The photographs published in Jet magazine galvanized the entire civil rights movement.
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March 14 · Literature & Cultural Preservation
Zora Neale Hurston
1891 — 1960
Most prolific Black woman writer of the Harlem Renaissance. Their Eyes Were Watching God is now one of the greatest American novels. She died broke and forgotten. Alice Walker brought her back.
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March 15 · Business & Cultural Power
Rihanna
1988 — Present
Wealthiest female musician in the world — but most of that wealth came from Fenty Beauty, which launched with 40 foundation shades and changed the cosmetics industry.
People
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March 16 · Civil Rights Legacy
Myrlie Evers-Williams
1933 — Present
Spent 31 years ensuring her husband Medgar's assassin was finally convicted. Then became NAACP chair and rebuilt the organization from near-bankruptcy.
People
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March 17 · Liberation & Resistance
Harriet Tubman
c. 1822 — 1913
Escaped slavery and went back 13 times to liberate approximately 70 people. Led the Combahee River Raid, freeing 700+ enslaved people — first woman to lead an armed U.S. military raid.
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March 18 · Education & Institution Building
Mary McLeod Bethune
1875 — 1955
Founded a school for Black girls with $1.50 that became Bethune-Cookman University. Founded the National Council of Negro Women. Advised four U.S. presidents.
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March 19 · Physics & Scientific Leadership
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson
1946 — Present
First Black woman to earn a PhD from MIT (1973). Her research contributed to caller ID, call waiting, fiber optic cables, and solar cell technology.
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March 20 · Political Movements & Law
Kathleen Cleaver
1945 — Present
First woman elected to the Black Panther Party Central Committee. National communications secretary at 22. Earned her law degree at Yale and became a law professor.
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March 21 · Community Organizing & Survival
Ericka Huggins
1948 — Present
Lost her husband to movement violence, jailed two years including solitary confinement on capital charges, then ran the Panthers' Oakland Community School for eight years.
People
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March 22 · NASA & Mathematics
Katherine Johnson
1918 — 2020
NASA mathematician whose calculations made the Mercury and Apollo missions possible. John Glenn refused to launch until she personally verified the computer's numbers.
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March 23 · Poetry & Cultural Voice
Gwendolyn Brooks
1917 — 2000
First Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize, for Annie Allen (1950). Later left mainstream publishing for Black-owned presses, believing Black literature should flow through Black institutions.
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March 24 · Movement Leadership & Legacy
Coretta Scott King
1927 — 2006
Spent 38 years after MLK's assassination carrying the movement forward. Lobbied 15 years for the federal holiday. Founded the King Center. Expanded the movement to include LGBTQ rights.
People
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March 25 · Civil Rights & Women's Leadership
Dorothy Height
1912 — 2010
Led the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years. Was at the March on Washington. Was not given a speaking slot. Kept working for 43 more years.
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March 26 · Sports & Integration
Althea Gibson
1927 — 2003
First Black player at Wimbledon and U.S. Nationals. Won both in 1957 and 1958. Got a ticker-tape parade, then went back to a country where she couldn't stay in most hotels. Died largely forgotten.
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March 27 · Politics & Constitutional Leadership
Barbara Jordan
1936 — 1996
First Black woman from the South in Congress. Her 1974 impeachment statement, watched by 40 million people, defined what Nixon had done to the Constitution.
People
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March 28 · LGBTQ+ Rights & Activism
Marsha P. Johnson
1945 — 1992
Present at the Stonewall uprising in 1969. Co-founded STAR and opened housing for homeless trans youth of color. Found dead in 1992 in circumstances that were never properly investigated.
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March 29 · Literature & Cultural Power
Toni Morrison
1931 — 2019
First Black American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Wrote 11 novels. Also spent 18 years as a Random House editor acquiring and publishing James Baldwin, Angela Davis, and others.
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March 30 · Medicine & Maternal Health
Dr. Helen Octavia Dickens
1909 — 2001
First Black woman admitted to the American College of Surgeons (1950). Ran maternal health clinics in underserved Philadelphia for decades. Developed early cervical cancer detection protocols.
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March 31 · Leadership & Global Influence
Michelle Obama
1964 — Present
First Black First Lady. Launched Let's Move, Joining Forces, and Let Girls Learn. Author of Becoming, the bestselling memoir in publishing history. South Side of Chicago, all the way through.
People
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