In 2019, researchers were able to properly authenticate the last known slave ship to enter the United States illegally. That ship, The Clotida, was found in the Mobile River in Southern Alabama.

Black History in Two Minutes

The Clotilda

The lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 became a pivotal point for race relations in the United States. Instead of sitting by silently, his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, opted to utilize the media in a way it had not been used before.

Mamie Till Mobley

Well before formal legislation was passed, promising freed slaves certain land rights, Black farmers traveled west, exploring, and developing heavily forested land. With tons of experience in their pockets, migrating west made sense and allowed Black farmers and their families a safe place to live and grow.

The History of Black Farmers

The 15th Amendment was a monumental piece of legislation that gave Black men the right to vote. As a result of it, over 2,000 African-American men would be elected to office at various levels of government.

The 15th Amendment

Black soldiers have been an instrumental part of the armed forces since the Civil War. They put their lives on their line for their country and entered war to protect the very land that didn’t promise to protect them.

The History of the Black Soldier

Transitioning from job to job as a teenager, Oscar Micheaux was able to write a story that was inspired by his experience on a farm. The novel, entitled The Homesteader, was published and later adapted into a silent motion picture. With this project, he became the first black filmmaker to independently produce and direct his own feature films.

Oscar Micheaux: The First Black Indie Filmmaker

At the turn of the twentieth century, W. E. B. Du Bois curated an exhibit at the Paris Exposition in France entitled “The Exhibit of American Negroes.” The exhibition used photographs to disrupt the negative imagery that was used to depict black Americans at the time.

W.E.B. Du Bois: The New Negro at The 1900 Paris Exposition

The landmark case Brown v. Board of Education declared that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. However, for most black and white families, the decision was met with resistance and a court mandate didn’t mean things were going to change.

School Integration

With the formal ending of slavery in place, many freed black people saw this as an opportunity to start anew. But, for those in the south, things didn’t seem much different. The southern black experience saw more aggression, lynchings and segregation. As a result, the time to move was imminent.

Migrations: From Exodusters to Great Migrations

The Underground Railroad for many of us symbolizes the journey African slaves went on in the name of freedom. But, contrary to popular belief, the first path wasn’t south to north. Instead, it was north to south.

The First Underground Railroad

As the United States began to expand, the demand for cotton led to an increase of slave trades in the country. Eager to capitalize, slave owners sold slaves into the deep south and west in the name of expanding the economy.

The Second Middle Passage

In the early 1500s, the transatlantic slave trade commenced. Europeans invaded west and central Africa, capturing free people, enslaving them, and placing them on ships as cargo. Conditions aboard these slave ships were horrendous, and the voyage was long and brutal.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade

In 1973, DJ Kool Herc set up his turntables and introduced a technique at a South Bronx house party that would change music as many people knew it. His ability to switch from record to record — as well as isolate and repeat music breaks — led to the discovery of the hip hop genre.

The Birth of Hip Hop

During the 2004 Democratic National Convention, a first-term senator named Barack Obama from Illinois delivered a speech that exuded excitement, charisma and spark. Four years later, he found himself on that same platform as he launched his campaign to become the president of the United States.

Barack Obama’s 2008 Election

Marcus Garvey was born in Jamaica and experienced the impacts of colonization at the hands of the British. As a result, he developed a passion for improving race relations and launched a Black Nationalism movement that would seek to elevate black people throughout the world.

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Black History in Two Minutes

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