Entertainment

Black History Month Feature: Willie O’Ree, First Black Player in the NHL

By Tatiana Ponil FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS William Eldon O’Ree CM ONB (born October 15, 1935) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player from Fredericton, New Brunswick. He is widely recognized for being the first black player in the National Hockey League (NHL), playing as a winger for the Boston Bruins. His accomplishment of breaking the colour barrier in the […]

Black History Month Feature: Althea Gibson, First Black Professional Tennis Player

By Tatiana Ponil FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam event (the French Open). The […]

Black History Month Feature: RB Kenny Washington, First Black in the NFL

By Tatiana Ponil   FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS   Kenneth Stanley Washington (August 31, 1918 – June 24, 1971) was an American professional football player who was the first African-American to sign a contract with a National Football League (NFL) team in the modern (post-World War II) era. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins. […]

Black History Month Feature: Earl Lloyd, first African American to play in the NBA

By Tatiana Ponil   FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS Earl Francis Lloyd (April 3, 1928 – February 26, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He was the first African American player to play a game in the National Basketball Association (NBA). An All–American player at West Virginia State University, Lloyd helped lead […]

Black History Month Feature: Cleveland Indians Baseball Hall of Fame CF, Larry Doby, the first black player in American League, second in MLB

By Tatiana Ponil FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS   Lawrence Eugene Doby (December 13, 1923 – June 18, 2003) was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who was the second black player to break baseball’s color barrier and the first black player in the American League. A native of Camden, […]

Black History Month Feature: Civil Rights Activist W.E.B. DuBois

By Tatiana Ponil FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (/duːˈbɔɪs/ doo-BOYSS; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. After completing graduate work at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin and Harvard […]

Black History Month Feature, February 2, 2025: Ebony/Jet Founder & Publisher, John H. Johnson

By Tatiana Ponil FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS John Harold Johnson (January 19, 1918 – August 8, 2005) was an American businessman and publisher. Johnson was the founder in 1942 of the Johnson Publishing Company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson’s company, with its Ebony (1945) and Jet (1951) magazines, was among the most influential African-American business in […]