Gerard Mercator (1512–1594) was born in Flanders, now known as Belgium. The son of a shoemaker, he graduated in 1532 from the University of Louvain, where he studied astronomy, geography, and mathematics. Afterwards he worked as an engraver,…
In December 1833, a group of about sixty Black and white men met in Philadelphia and organized the American Anti-Slavery Society to seek the immediate emancipation of enslaved people. The Society viewed slavery as a violation of the principle of…
By 1775, approximately half a million enslaved Americans were living in the thirteen colonies. During the American Revolution, thousands of Black Americans participated. Some joined the British, while others fought with the Americans depending on who…
In the 17th Century, Anthony Johnson of Northampton County, was one of only a few documented Black landowners in the Virginia Colony. Anthony arrived in the Virginia Colony in 1621. He was likely from Angola and was renamed “Antonio” after he was…
Marriage licenses such as this one began to appear after Racial Integrity Act was introduced in 1924. The application for marriage shows how an individual had to indicate that he or she was not "a habitual criminal, idiot, imbecile, hereditary…
Arthur Robert Ashe was a Black tennis player and human rights activist who became one of the greatest tennis players in American history. To date he is the first and only Black man to win the singles title in three of tennis' Grand Slam events, the…
Arthur Robert Ashe was a Black tennis player and human rights activist who became one of the greatest tennis players in American history. To date he is the first and only Black man to win the singles title in three of tennis' Grand Slam events, the…
The Richmond Planet was first published in 1882, 17 years after the end of the Civil War. The founding members the newspaper met in an upper room of the Swan Tavern located near the corner of Third and Broad streets. The thirteen men (James H. Hayes,…
Black men in Virginia voted for the first time in October 1867, when they participated in the election on whether to hold a convention to rewrite the state's constitution as required by Congress after the Civil War. They also voted for delegates to…
In the summer of 1963, violence erupted in Danville, Virginia, as Danville policemen led by police chief Eugene G. McCain aggressively arrested and dispersed protestors during a series of civil rights demonstrations led by local and national black…