These schools are producing a new generation of Black leaders
Video Credit: Bleacher Report AOL - Duration: 04:22s - Published
These schools are producing a new generation of Black leaders
From Martin Luther King Jr. to Stacey Abrams, historically Black colleges and universities, also known as HBCUs, have a legacy of producing graduates who go on to change America.
CNN Political Analyst Bakari Sellers asks current HBCU students how their schools are preparing them to step onto the pages of history.
This Day in History: , First African-American College Is Chartered.
April 29, 1854.
Ashmun Institute was
established in southern
Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Created by an act of the
Pennsylvania legislature, the
institution was named after Jehudi Ashman.
Ashman was the U.S. agent
who assisted in the preservation
of an African-American colony in
Africa that later became Liberia.
The institution named after
him was initially chartered to
provide theological, scientific and
classical training to African-Americans.
Under its first college
president, John Pym Carter,
Ashmun Institute opened on January 1, 1857.
It was renamed Lincoln University
in 1866 after the end of the U.S. Civil War
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 00:54Published
This Day in History: , Kendrick Lamar Becomes the
First Rapper to Win the Pulitzer Prize.
April 16, 2018.
Lamar was awarded the
Pulitzer Prize for Music for his
extraordinary 2017 album, 'DAMN.'.
It was the first time the
prestigious award had been granted
to a genre outside of classical music or jazz.
According to the Pulitzer Prize administrator,
the decision to recognize
Lamar's work was unanimous.
['DAMN' is] a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life, Pulitzer Prize
Awarding Committee.
Lamar grew up during the 1990s
in Compton, CA, surrounded by the
influence of artists like Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre.
His previous album efforts
became known for their social commentary.
A fellow nominee called Lamar
“one of the greatest living American composers, for sure.”
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 00:54Published
This Day in History:, Jackie Robinson Breaks Color Barrier.
April 15, 1947.
The 28-year-old baseball player
became the first African American
to play for Major League Baseball.
The Georgia native stepped onto the grass
of Ebbots Field in Brooklyn as a Brooklyn Dodger.
Two years later,
the star infielder was named the
National League's MVP as well as a batting champ.
He led his team to six National League
pennants and the World Series in 1955.
Robinson was subjected
to the racism of both players and
baseball fans throughout his career.
Jim Crow laws forced him to dine
at different restaurants and stay at
different hotels than the rest of his team.
Robinson was inducted into
the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
His number, 42, was the the first to be retired in 1997
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 00:58Published
Remembering Maya Angelou.
Marguerite Annie Johnson was born on
April 4, 1928, and died on May 28, 2014.
Here are five
facts in honor
of the poet.
1. Angelou was the second poet
in history to read a poem at a
presidential inauguration.
2. She worked with both
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
3. She was named Wake Forest University's first Reynolds Professor of American Studies in 1982.
4. Angelou was the
first Black woman to
conduct a streetcar
in San Francisco.
5. Prior to becoming
a poet, she was in an
opera, ‘Porgy and Bess,’
and a journalist.
Happy Birthday,
Maya Angelou!
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 00:52Published
This Day in History: , Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Is Assassinated.
April 4, 1968.
King was shot and killed
as he stood on the second-floor balcony
of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN.
The “apostle of nonviolence”
had gone to Memphis in support
of a sanitation workers' strike.
Widely recognized as the most prominent
face of the American Civil Rights Movement,
Dr. King was just 39 years old.
In a prophetic speech the night before his murder,
King stated that, “I’ve seen the promised land.
I may not get there with you.".
Petty criminal James Earl Ray was arrested
two months later and eventually
pleaded guilty to King's assassination.
After being sentenced to 99 years in prison,
Ray recanted his confession. Questions of a
conspiracy to assassinate Dr. King continue to linger.
King's death sparked riots in
more than 100 American cities.
On April 9, tens of thousands of mourners
lined the streets of Atlanta to pay their respects
on the day King was laid to rest
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 01:07Published
This Day in History:, Selma to Montgomery March Begins.
March 21, 1965.
Led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., between 3,000 and
8,000 marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge
out of Selma on their way to Montgomery.
Over the next five days, they were protected by thousands
of federalized Alabama National Guardsmen and soldiers.
Their numbers would swell to around 25,000.
At the state capitol, King would give his
famous "How Long, Not Long" speech.
The march came just days
after the passage of the civil
rights legislation known as
the Voting Rights Act.
The passage of the legislation followed two
unsuccessful attempts at the march which ended
in violence between police and the peaceful protestors.
President Lyndon Johnson cited the violence,
which had been broadcast on national television,
as a turning point in American history.
How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 01:08Published
![This Day in History: First African-American College Is Chartered [Video]](https://video.newsserve.net/300/v/20240429/1374066796-This-Day-in-History-First-African-American-College.jpg)
![This Day in History: Kendrick Lamar Wins Pulitzer Prize [Video]](https://video.newsserve.net/300/v/20240416/1372805410-This-Day-in-History-Kendrick-Lamar-Wins-Pulitzer.jpg)
![This Day in History: Jackie Robinson Breaks Color Barrier [Video]](https://video.newsserve.net/300/v/20240415/1372714964-This-Day-in-History-Jackie-Robinson-Breaks-Color.jpg)
![Remembering Maya Angelou [Video]](https://video.newsserve.net/300/v/20240404/1371804384-Remembering-Maya-Angelou.jpg)
![This Day in History: Martin Luther King Jr. Is Assassinated [Video]](https://video.newsserve.net/300/v/20240404/1371804382-This-Day-in-History-Martin-Luther-King-Jr.jpg)
![This Day in History: Selma to Montgomery March Begins [Video]](https://video.newsserve.net/300/v/20240321/1370039026-This-Day-in-History-Selma-to-Montgomery-March.jpg)
