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James Van Der Zee: The Photographer of Black Possibility
Decades before “representation” became a cultu
The First Derby Was a Black Derby
On a May afternoon in 1875, the Kentucky Derby deb
James Heming: Paris Trained, Virginia Owned
James Hemings learned French technique in a city w
Unita Blackwell: The Mayor Who Built a Town Out of Nothing
In Mayersville, Mississippi, Unita Blackwell turne
Romare Bearden: Harlem, In Panels
“The Block” wasn’t just a masterpiece. It wa
Ida B. Wells: The Case Against American Innocence
Ida B. Wells documented lynching as a system of go
German Prisoner 49489
Gert Schramm was a Black German teenager the Nazis
Pelumi Nubi: London, Lagos, and the Long Way Home
Seventy-plus days, a small car, and a big idea: th
Gloria Blackwell: Miss Movement
She was a teacher, a mother, and an NAACP organize
Before Kent State, There Was Orangeburg
Two years before the nation watched white students
James Van Der Zee: The Photographer of Black Possibility
Decades before “representation” became a cultural keyword, Van Der Zee built a visual language of success, faith, and mourning that still instructs how we read the Harlem Renai
The First Derby Was a Black Derby
On a May afternoon in 1875, the Kentucky Derby debuted as a showcase of Black expertise—13 of the 15 jockeys were Black—before Jim Crow remade the sport and rewrote the memory.
James Heming: Paris Trained, Virginia Owned
James Hemings learned French technique in a city where freedom was imaginable—then returned to a country determined to deny it.
Unita Blackwell: The Mayor Who Built a Town Out of Nothing
In Mayersville, Mississippi, Unita Blackwell turned civil-rights grit into running water, paved roads, and a new idea of what power could look like in America’s rural Black South
Romare Bearden: Harlem, In Panels
“The Block” wasn’t just a masterpiece. It was a theory of community—how a city holds a people, and how an artist can make that holding visible.
Ida B. Wells: The Case Against American Innocence
Ida B. Wells documented lynching as a system of governance, then carried her indictment from Southern backroads to world stages.
German Prisoner 49489
Gert Schramm was a Black German teenager the Nazis tried to erase—first with laws, then with a camp. He survived Buchenwald, then spent the rest of his life insisting the country
Pelumi Nubi: London, Lagos, and the Long Way Home
Seventy-plus days, a small car, and a big idea: that the distance between diaspora and origin can be measured in miles, yes—but also in courage.
Gloria Blackwell: Miss Movement
She was a teacher, a mother, and an NAACP organizer in a city built to punish that combination—until she made punishment backfire.
Before Kent State, There Was Orangeburg
Two years before the nation watched white students fall, South Carolina state troopers shot Black students in the back—and history filed it away.
How New Yorker Howard Bennet fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. This ended the life of one of the 20th century’s most revered and influential figures.
How New Yorker Howard Bennet fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. This ended the life of one of the 20th century’s most revered and influential figures.
Black entpreneurs and business leaders who help shape and drive our economies.
Where the Neighborhood Reads Aloud
Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books is a Germantown storefront built like a living room—part café, part bookstore, part civic commons—where Marc Lamont Hill’s public intellectua
The Hot Dog Gospel In OKC
Monte’s Gourmet Dogs serves friendship first—and then, if you’re lucky, the best gator étouffée you didn’t know you needed.
The Crown Makers: Historic and Contemporary Black-Owned Milliners
The Crown Makers: Historic and Contemporary Black-Owned Milliners
Rooms of Our Own
Black hoteliers across the United States are quietly remaking the hospitality industry—one Brooklyn brownstone, Virginia horse farm and Mississippi inn at a time.
Brewing Black Futures: How Five Black-Owned Cafés Are Redefining American Coffee Culture
From Oakland to Chicago, these entrepreneurs are stitching community, culture and commerce into every latte — proving that for many Black business owners, a café is more than ju
Inside the Quiet Dismantling of America’s Only Minority-Business Agency — and the Entrepreneurs Left Stranded
The Quiet Dismantling of America’s Only Minority-Business Agency AND the Entrepreneurs Left Stranded Share fb tw ln pin fb tw ln pin By KOLUMN Magazine The first sign that someth
Where the Neighborhood Reads Aloud
Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books is a Germantown storefront built like a living room—part café, part bookstore, part civic commons—where Marc Lamont Hill’s public intellectua
The Hot Dog Gospel In OKC
Monte’s Gourmet Dogs serves friendship first—and then, if you’re lucky, the best gator étouffée you didn’t know you needed.
The Crown Makers: Historic and Contemporary Black-Owned Milliners
The Crown Makers: Historic and Contemporary Black-Owned Milliners
Rooms of Our Own
Black hoteliers across the United States are quietly remaking the hospitality industry—one Brooklyn brownstone, Virginia horse farm and Mississippi inn at a time.
Brewing Black Futures: How Five Black-Owned Cafés Are Redefining American Coffee Culture
From Oakland to Chicago, these entrepreneurs are stitching community, culture and commerce into every latte — proving that for many Black business owners, a café is more than ju
Inside the Quiet Dismantling of America’s Only Minority-Business Agency — and the Entrepreneurs Left Stranded
The Quiet Dismantling of America’s Only Minority-Business Agency AND the Entrepreneurs Left Stranded Share fb tw ln pin fb tw ln pin By KOLUMN Magazine The first sign that someth
This month, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery is recognizing Claudette Colvin in visual fashion through its acquisition of “Rooted”, an artistic tribute to the civil rights pioneer by Traci Mims, the talented multi-genre artist represented by Black Art in America.
