Althea Gibson Jet Magazine Cover (1958)

Althea Gibson broke the color barrier in tennis. She was the first African American athlete to win a Grand Slam title in 1956. The year 1958 saw more victories with winning both Wimbledon and the US Nationals. Gibson was making headlines in the American press and got featured in Jet. The magazine founded by John […]

Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases Pamphlet (1892)

Ida B. Wells published a pamphlet in 1892 exposing the violence of lynching. She was not only a journalist and civil rights activist , but a dedicated researcher of problems facing the African American population in the US. What she discovered in these cases of mob violence and murder was that African Americans of significant […]

Marcus Garvey : Toward Black Nationhood

Marcus Garvey was the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. His call for a unified black nation and the end of European colonial imperialism made him a popular figure in the fight for racial equality. Born in Jamaica, Marcus Garvey emigrated to the US to expand UNIA. Membership increased dramatically, but it also drew […]

The First Ferris Wheel (1893)

The Ferris Wheel is an iconic amusement park ride. American civil engineer George Washington Gale Ferris was responsible for its creation. The Ferris Wheel was built for the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition. This was a celebration that was held to mark the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival to the New World. World’s fairs become […]

Gerard Van Schagen Map (1689)

Map making can be considered an art. Artists actually were involved in their production. Gerard van Schagen was both an engraver and cartographer from the Netherlands. Based in Amsterdam, he also made reproductions of maps from other cartographers. The map depicts not only continents, but illustrations in all four corners. The top left shows a […]

Muammar Qaddafi Addresses The UN General Assembly (2009)

Libya was able to get the 1992 UN sanctions lifted, ending international isolation. Muammar Qaddafi addressed the UN General Assembly in 2009. Qaddafi in this speech makes an argument for peace and cooperation on various issues including terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and global conflict. Muammar Qaddafi also criticizes the fact the United Nations still remained superpower […]

Meeting of Heads of State From Africa, Asia, and Europe (1889)

This rare photograph captures heads of state from around the world in one setting. Although most of countries were in some form of rivalry or direct conflict, sometimes political situations make diplomacy the only option. Yohannes IV (Ethiopian Empire), Tewfik Pasha (Egypt), Sultan Abdul Hamid II ( Ottoman Empire) and Naser al-Din Shah Qajar ( […]

Portrait of an African Man (1525-1530)

This painting was the work of Jan Mostaert. He was a prominent Dutch Renaissance era painter known for mostly religious topics and detailed portraits. The Portrait of an African man ( sometimes referred to as Portrait of a Moor) generates interest, because it may have been the first known portrait to feature a specific black […]

The First He-Man Toy Commercial (1982)

Watch Here Mattel a major toy manufacturing company was seeking to make another popular product . He-Man became one the most popular toylines of the 1980s. The character first appeared as a toy and in comics. The commercial shows the He-Man and Skeletor action figures from 1982. The series based around the toys premiered in […]

Kariba Dam Newsreel (1964)

The newsreel from Pathe shows the Kariba Dam. The Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi river basin is where the dam is located. Between Zambia and Zimbabwe this project was built during the colonial era. The newsreel refers to Zimbabwe as Rhodesia. This was before independence and the overthrow of the white minority rule regime. The […]