In 1972, Gary, Indiana hosted the National Black Political Convention, the largest independent black political gathering in U.S. history, with over 10,000 attendees. The convention aimed to create a cohesive political strategy to advance black civil rights, resulting in the publication of a “National Black Agenda” on May 19, 1972. Continue reading Revisit: THE NATIONAL BLACK POLITICAL CONVENTION, GARY INDIANA (1972)
John Africa founded the MOVE organization in Philadelphia in 1972, addressing racial and environmental injustice through protests. In 1985, a police standoff led to a C-4 bomb being dropped on their home, resulting in 11 deaths and 65 nearby homes destroyed. The incident has been the subject of books and documentaries, and a historical marker now stands at the site. Continue reading Revisit: MOVE BOMBING (1985)
Following the momentum of student-led sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennesssee in early 1960, an interracial group of activists, led by Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Executive Director James Farmer, decided to continue to challenge Jim Crow segregation in the South by organizing “freedom rides” through the region. They used as their model CORE’s 1946 “Journey of Reconciliation” where an interracial group rode interstate buses to test the enforcement of the … Continue reading FREEDOM RIDES (1961)
It is ironic that the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France was instigated by one of the few successful slave rebellions. Toussaint L’Overture on St. Dominique (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) so bedeviled the French that Napoleon decided to sell the Louisiana Territory to the US. This doubled the size of the infant United States and has been heralded as crucial to the American path to becoming the world superpower. It also had profound … Continue reading LOUISIANA PURCHASE AND AFRICAN AMERICANS (1803)
Black Art Story 