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THE JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

Explore Black History

Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.

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Civil Rights

Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.

⚙️

Black Inventors

Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.

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Sports

Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.

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People

Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.

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Places

Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.

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Events

Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.

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MY'STORY

The MOVE Fire

This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at the MOVE house, city officials approved dropping an explosive device on the roof, the resulting fire was allowed to burn, 11 people—including five children—died, and 61 homes were destroyed. Philadelphia City Council later called it a “brutal attack carried out by the City of Philadelphia on its own citizens” and acknowledged that no individual faced criminal consequences for the bombing. One timeline correction worth preserving for the BHP record: the major previous MOVE-police confrontation was August 8, 1978, about seven years before the bombing, not a year or two earlier. Officer James Ramp was killed, other police and firefighters were wounded, nine MOVE members were later convicted, and television cameras recorded police beating Delbert Africa during his arrest. The 1985 MOVE Commission later specifically criticized city planners for failing to adequately use lessons from that 1978 confrontation. And that actually strengthens the point you’re making: 1985 did not happen without precedent or institutional memory. There had already been a deadly confrontation with MOVE, years of conflict, negotiations and police involvement before Osage Avenue.

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BLACK FACTS
The Truths They Never Taught You...

Shirley Chisholm — Unbought and Unbossed

In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.

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BHP gathered finds from its connected research sources. Showing the 4 strongest Black History matches.
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Wikipedia

Creative writing

Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character development, literary tropes, genre, and poetics. Both fictional and non-fictional works fall into this category, including such forms as novels, biographies, short stories, poems, and even some forms of journalism. Writing for the screen and stage—screenwriting and playwriting—are often taught separately, but fit under the creative writing category as well.

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Wikipedia

UEA Creative Writing Course

The University of East Anglia's Creative Writing Course was founded by Sir Malcolm Bradbury and Sir Angus Wilson in 1970. The M.A. has been regarded among the most prestigious in the United Kingdom. The course allows specialisation in the following strands: prose, creative non-fiction, poetry, scriptwriting (which is Skillset accredited) and crime fiction. In 2024, a new strand, MA Creative Writing, which allows students to work across different literary forms, was launched. Each strand results in an M.A. qualification upon successful completion of the course. Course Directors have included Andrew Cowan, Tessa McWatt, Tiffany Atkinson, Steve Waters, Kathryn Hughes, Lavinia Greenlaw, and Henry Sutton. Writers teaching on the course in recent years have included Amit Chaudhuri, Trezza Azzopardi, Giles Foden, Tobias Jones, James Lasdun, Jean McNeil and George Szirtes. Writers such as Margaret Atwood, Angela Carter, Rose Tremain, Andrew Motion, W. G. Sebald, Michèle Roberts and Patricia Duncker have also taught on the course. Writers-in-residence have included Alan Burns and Margaret Atwood. Ali Smith has been a Writing Fellow and Visiting Professor on the programme. From 2021 to 2022, Tsitsi Dangarembga was the inaugural International Chair of Creative Writing.

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Wikipedia

National Novel Writing Month

National Novel Writing Month, often shortened to NaNoWriMo ( NAN-oh-RY-moh), was an annual creative writing challenge that took place in November of each year. Participants were tasked with writing a 50,000-word novel draft by the end of the month, aiming for an average of 1,667 words each day. Writers were instructed to prioritize speed and quantity over quality, with the 50,000 word count being the primary goal (although writers are free to edit their drafts after the competition). The U.S. based nonprofit organization that founded the project closed in 2025 due to scandals and financial issues, but the spirit of the event lives on through community-led initiatives and alternative platforms. The project began in July 1999 in San Francisco with 21 participants. It snowballed over the next two decades, with over 400,000 people participating in 2022. In March 2025, the organization announced it was shutting down, with interim executive director Kilby Blades publishing a YouTube video citing financial struggles and "community vitriol" as the reasons for closure. During the 25 years of the organization's existence, its website provided participants—called "Wrimos"—with an online community of support, information about local meetups, and tips for writer's block. Writers wishing to participate first registered on the project's website, where they could post profiles and information about their novels, including synopses and excerpts, and give each other feedback. Well-known authors wrote "pep talks" to motivate participants throughout the month. Regional volunteers, called "Municipal Liaisons," provided networking and advice, and organized in-person and virtual writing events for local writers.

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Wikipedia

Bunny (novel)

Bunny is a black comedy campus novel by Mona Awad, published in Canada in 2019 by Hamish Hamilton. The story follows Samantha, a creative writing student at a prestigious New England university who is slowly drawn into a tight-knit quartet of friends nicknamed "the Bunnies". It is the author's second novel, published three years after her first book, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl. The film rights were optioned by Bad Robot Productions. A sequel, titled We Love You, Bunny, was published on September 23, 2025.

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TOPIC OF THE DAY

Greenwood / Black Wall Street

Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY

Which Supreme Court case ruled state-sponsored public-school segregation unconstitutional?

Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.