By Be Woke Presents...
Black History in Two Minutes (or so) has been officially a TWO TIMES 2020 Webby Award winner. Voted by People's Voice as Best in the Podcast: Documentary Category. Honoring The Best Of The Internet Since 1997.
Black History in Two Minutes (or so) has been officially a 2020 Webby Award winner in the Social: Education & Discovery (Video) Category. As selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences. Honoring The Best Of The Internet...
Jack Johnson entered the world ready to fight in the most non-conventional way. As the son of slaves, he worked many unskilled jobs, before transitioning into his career as a boxer. He would later transcend the sport and shake up...
While history celebrates the explorations of many white voyagers, there are multiple black people who successfully explored sea, land, and space, and in many instances, are often overlooked.
Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. makes a personal plea for you to please cast your vote for Black History in Two Minutes (or so) today! Black History in Two Minutes (or so) is nominated for a Webby Award in the...
Be Woke Presents: Black History in Two Minutes (or so) — has been recognized with TWO nominations in the 24th Annual Webby Awards. We have been nominated in the Podcast: Documentary and the Social: Education & Discovery categories.
Black innovators and creators have a long history of studying the framework and exploring new ways of advancing modern technology. Take Lewis Latimer and Sarah Boone, for example. They are two inventors who mastered their craft and elevated their industry.
Religion as we know it infiltrated the black community during slavery. While the objective leaned on pacifying slaves, black people rose against the negative narrative and invested in a community that would be known as the black church.
Opportunities for freed black children to further their educational journey after high school were limited. As a direct response to minimal options, black people began to seek multiple opportunities on their own in the name of higher education.
Many people recognize the passage of the 13th Amendment as an end to slavery in the south. However, slavery was commonplace in all 13 colonies. Mum Bett, the slave of a Massachusetts judge, learned about the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution.
Born into slavery as Frederick Douglass in 1818, this renowned lecturer and author would become one of the greatest public speakers of his time. After escaping slavery in 1838, Douglass joined the abolitionist movement. As a paid traveling lecturer, people...
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Katherine Johnson is a powerhouse unlike any other. Entering college at the tender age of 15, Johnson’s advanced mathematical skill-set forced her environment to make room for her.
In February 1951, a young African-American woman by the name of Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cervical cancer. Unbeknownst to her, cells from her specific cancer were extracted and sent to a lab to be studied.
After graduating from Shaw University, Ella Baker moved to New York City and began her career as a grassroots organizer. Joining the NAACP in 1940, the Virginia native assisted in developing some of the brightest minds in the Civil Rights...
Black women and their commitment to freedom and equality has often been minimized in history books. However, with black women standing at the front of each decade, the intersectionality of gender, sexual orientation, and class has become a point of...
After years of requesting an all-black unit in the National Guard, the governor of New York finally put the order into place. In January 1918, the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment, which would later become known as the Harlem Hellfighters, landed...
In 1965, one of the last traceable remnants of Jim Crow ideology were thought to be taken off the books with the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Despite the implementation of the legislation, racial tension remained. Less than a...
The civil rights movement was an organized effort where African-Americans united and rallied to put black progressiveness at the forefront of a nation that sought to minimize and revoke rights.
In 1932 the United States Public Health Service commissioned a study on the effects of untreated syphilis. 600 poor black men from Alabama were selected to be a part of the study and were told that they were being reviewed...
With a Jim Crow south alive and well, many black Americans migrated north. This migration resulted in the formation of a creative urban hub in Harlem, New York, and the Harlem Renaissance became a time where black Americans flourished creatively.
President Lyndon B. Johnson made it clear that a shift was greatly needed in America. No longer could we preach about a land of opportunity, when minorities didn’t have the same foundation or access to educational institutions. Thus, Affirmative Action...
Born in the heart of New Orleans, Louisiana, jazz made its way onto the scene. With African-Americans at the helm, the red-light district housed this new genre of music and talented artists during what is now known as a monumental...
The Double V Campaign was launched by a prominent black newspaper, the Pittsburgh Courier, in 1942. The campaign came in response to buzz generated from a letter written by a young black man, James G. Thompson. His article, entitled, “Should...
In 1983, Reverend Jesse Jackson launched his bid for president of the United States. This announcement sparked excitement from people who had grown to adore the Civil Rights leader. While he wasn’t the first African-American candidate, his presence and decision...
Electrified by the rhetoric of Malcolm X, founding members Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale created an organization aimed at protecting the Black community from racism and violence. And thus, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in Oakland,...
Despite footage of police officers beating the late Rodney King in 1991, justice, for many in South Central Los Angeles, was not served. The acquittal of four white Los Angeles Police Department officers would be the catalyst of the the...
While Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s influence was large, perhaps his greatest legacy came when he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963.
After joining the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X became known as a human rights activist whose teachings led the charge of black progression during the latter parts of the 1960s.
In 1872, Booker T. Washington traveled 500 miles on foot to the Hampton Institute in Virginia. That journey, in turn, laid the foundation — not only for his own education — but his life’s mission to empower and compel black...
Shirley Chisholm is a political icon who paved the way for politics as we know it today. As an active participant for women’s rights and the Civil Rights Movement, her presence and experience would prepare her for a stage unseen...
Robert Smalls was born into slavery and pushed into fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War. However, at the age of 23, he took a chance to not only free him and his family, but those who vowed to...
In 1865, after the north won the Civil War, the government opened the Freedman’s Bank. This institution was geared towards nearly four million, newly freed black people. The objective was clear: provide a federally protected place for black workers to...
Isabella Baumfree was born into slavery in the late 18th century. Despite this, she’d go on to prove that enslavement was only a state of mind. She escaped slavery and landed in New York, where she changed her name to...
Harriet Tubman is one of the greatest freedom fighters to exist. Enslaved and enraged, Tubman committed to not only freeing herself, but she created a system that would revolutionize slavery and the people who benefited from it most.
Born into slavery as Ida B. Wells in 1862, she was a pioneer of modern investigative journalism during the Reconstruction Era. Wells called attention to the horrific treatment of black people through her investigative report, entitled Southern Horrors: Lynch Law...
Fresh off an oil-boom, the black residents of Greenwood, Okla. built a booming community known as The Negro Wall Street. But in May of 1921, that all changed. Word spread that a lynch mob of white people were heading to...
Fisk University was founded in Nashville, Tenn. in 1866. As an institution for African-American students, their first years of inception were pivotal. In 1871, while facing serious financial concerns, the school’s treasurer and music teacher decided to create a tour...
In June of 1882, a 30-year-old shoemaker by the name of Homer Plessy of New Orleans led a revolution that aimed to overturn Jim Crow segregation laws.
Maya Angelou, who was born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist.
One of the pioneers of the hair care industry is an African-American woman named Sarah Breedlove. After becoming a widow at the age of 20, the pressures in her day-to-day life as a single mother led to a bad bout...
Although the 13th Amendment passed the Senate in 1864 and the House in 1865, the loopholes that exist continue to wreak havoc on the African-American population. To ensure the cotton industry would remain unaffected once the slaves were freed, convict...
After the Civil War, the Reconstruction era brought about hope and change in the form of citizenship and equality in America. Black men were given the right to vote, and in 1870, Hiram Revels became the first African American in...