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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.

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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...

Ruler of the Mali Empire in the 14th century

Mansa Musa was the ruler of the Mali Empire in West Africa. Details recorded here should be sourced; unknown information is left blank.

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

Side cap

A side cap is a military cap that can be folded flat when not being worn. It is also known as a garrison cap or flight cap in the United States, a wedge cap in Canada, or a field service cap in the United Kingdom. In form the side cap is comparable to the glengarry, a folding version of the Scottish military bonnet. It has been associated with various military forces since the middle of the 19th century, as well as various civilian organizations.

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Wikipedia

Peaked cap

A peaked cap, peaked hat, service cap, barracks cover, forage cap, or combination cap is a form of headgear worn by the armed forces of many nations, as well as many uniformed civilian organisations such as law enforcement agencies and fire departments. It derives its name from its short visor, or peak, which was historically made of polished leather but increasingly is made of a cheaper synthetic substitute. The term forage cap is also used, although that also applies to the "field service cap" or the side cap. Other principal components are the crown, band, and insignia, typically a cap badge and embroidery in proportion to rank. Piping is also often used, typically in contrast to the crown colour, which is usually white for navy, blue for air force, and green for army. The band is typically a dark, contrasting colour, often black, but may be patterned or striped. In the British Army, each regiment and corps has a different badge. In the United States Armed Forces, the cap device is uniform throughout every service branch, although different variants are used by different rank classes.

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Wikipedia

Titovka (cap)

The Titovka (Cyrillic: Титовка) was a style of side cap characteristic of the anti-fascist Yugoslav Partisans during World War II, and later the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), hence known as the JNA cap. It was based on the Russian pilotka, usually made out of khaki or blue wool and often had the red star badge on the front, either made out of red felt or embroidery, or an enamelled red star with hammer and sickle. It was named after Josip Broz Tito, the Partisan leader (and later President of Yugoslavia), by the Union of Pioneers of Yugoslavia.

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Wikipedia

Phrygian cap

The Phrygian cap ( ), also known as Thracian cap and liberty cap, is a soft conical cap with the apex bent over, associated in antiquity with several peoples in Eastern Europe, Anatolia, and Asia. The Phrygian cap was worn by Thracians, Dacians, Persians, Medes, Scythians, Trojans and Phrygians after whom it is named. The oldest known depiction of the Phrygian cap is from Persepolis in Iran. Although Phrygian caps did not originally function as liberty caps, they came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty first in the American Revolution and then in the French Revolution, particularly as a symbol of Jacobinism (in which context it has been also called a Jacobin cap). The original cap of liberty was the Roman pileus, the felt cap of emancipated slaves of ancient Rome, which was an attribute of Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty. In the 16th century, the Roman iconography of liberty was revived in emblem books and numismatic handbooks where the figure of Libertas is usually depicted with a pileus. The most extensive use of this headgear as a modern symbol of freedom in the first two centuries after the revival of Roman iconography occurred in the Netherlands, where it became a popular headdress. In the 18th century, the traditional liberty cap was widely used in English prints, and from 1789 also in French prints; by the early 1790s, it was regularly used in the Phrygian form. It was adopted in place of a crown on the coats of arms of the Argentina, Cuba, and Nicaragua republics as a symbol of their struggle for liberation and independence. It thus came to be identified as a symbol of republican government. A number of national personifications, including France's Marianne and the United States' Columbia are commonly depicted wearing the Phrygian cap.

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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 heavyweight champion was known as the “Brown Bomber”?

Joe Louis.