Learning Resources:
Celebrating Black History Everyday
Highlighting the achievements of Black people in local, national, and global history #CelebratingBlackHistoryEveryday
Curated by Jordin Harris
Anna Lee Patterson Long, born August 29, 1878, to Edward L. and Anna M. Robinson Patterson, was a Black woman and educator who carried forward the legacy of Christiansburg Industrial Institute (CII). As the second oldest child of her family, Anna began her education in Montgomery County, Alabama, before continuing her studies at Tuskegee Institute, where she graduated with the class of 1895.
Then just two years later in 1897, she, alongside Tuskegee classmates Edgar A. Long and Charles Marshall, were recruited by Booker T Washington to serve at Christiansburg Industrial Institute as leaders and educators. Embracing the technical education she received at Tuskegee, Anna Lee Patterson Long led the sewing program at CII, transforming it into an instrumental site of skill-building, economic possibility, and empowerment. Her work did more than teach a trade, it cultivated entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency among Black students who were navigating a society tangled with the implications of emancipation, the constraints of Jim Crow, and the ongoing debate of Black advancement.
When her husband Edgar A. Long, who had served as principal of CII since 1906, passed in 1924, Anna became the interim principal for the remainder of the year- marking the only time a woman served as principal in CII’s history. She continued to teach at the school until 1942, dedicating decades of service to the school and its students.
So, Anna Lee Patterson Long was foundational in the growth and expansion of the Christiansburg Industrial Institute. Through her instruction, leadership, and commitment to industrial education, she ensured that the future of the Black community was equipped not only with the means to survive but also to thrive. Her work reflects a broader tradition of Black women whose labor not only sustained institutions but also shaped generations of possibility, resilience, and self-determination.
Born JoAnne Deborah Byron (July 16,1947), Shakur emerged as a powerful and polarizing figure in the struggle for Black liberation, whose life invites us to grapple with questions of resistance, justice, and the meaning of freedom.
In her early years, Assata Shakur spent time between the North and the South, more specifically New York and North Carolina. Her education can be acknowledged as one that was complete through formal schooling, but also by lived experiences, community, and political awakening. From a young age, Assata had the power to name injustice and understand struggle, however, her own vision for Black advancement and liberation was yet to be fully grounded until she attended Manhattan Community College and then City College of New York. Through exposure to many different ideological groups from socialists, Garveyites, to the Golden Drums (the group she chose to participate within), the ideas and frameworks that she had been taught began to be consistently challenged in a significant way. These experiences expanded her knowledge, deepened her commitment to activism, and strengthened her connection to community and self. This is the era in her life that she would then change her name to Assata “She who struggles” Olugbala “Love for the people” Shakur “Thankful.”
Assata joined the Black Panther Party in 1970, an organized militant coalition that saw that Black power came from global revolution and included actions of confronting existing political institutions and actors, challenging the police force, and protecting the Black community through “survival programs.” Shortly after joining, Shakur did step away from the Party and subsequently sought membership with the Black Liberation Army (she would be named as a leader of the organization by government forces). From 1971-1973, Assata was charged with multiple crimes amongst other members which included bank robberies, kidnappings, and murder.
On May 3, 1973, Assata Shakur among Zayd Malik Shakur and Sundiata Acoli were pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike for “a faulty tail light:” a tactic of pulling over Black revolutionary leaders for minor traffic violations was followed closely in COINTELPRO operations. Gunfire would then ensue leading to the deaths of Zayd Malik Shakur and Trooper Werner Foerster. Shakur suffered from gunshot wounds and would be arrested and charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and various counts of assault and battery. Upon arrest, Assata was indicted ten times for previous charges to which she would go to trial for resulting in acquittals, dismissals, a mistrial, and a hung jury. In 1977, Assata was convicted on all eight counts: both murder charges and six assault charges. Two years later in 1979, members of the Black Liberation Army plotted and aided the escape of Shakur from Clinton Correctional Facility. She would then later be granted political asylum in Cuba granted by Fidel Castro.
Assata Shakur’s life and legacy continue to challenge, inspire, and provoke critical reflection on the nature of resistance and justice.
Barbara Jordan was born in Houston Texas, on February 21, 1936, a Black woman destined to change the political sphere. Growing up she attended Houston public schools, graduating from Phillis Wheatley High School in 1952. Jordan, an HBCU alum at Texas Southern University earned her bachelor's degree in 1956. She then pursued her Juris Doctor at Boston University and after receiving her degree she sat for the Massachusetts and Texas bar exams where she was admitted to both and began practicing law in Houston in 1960.
At the beginning of her legal career, Black Americans were tirelessly fighting for the recognition of their civil rights within the nation’s systems and institutions. Thus, she not only took on the role as a lawyer but she also served as an emerging political activist and figure. She began working on Kennedy’s presidential campaign, organizing a substantial get-out-the-vote program that covered Houston’s 40 African-American dominant precincts. In 1962 and 1964, she took action and ran herself for the Texas House of Representatives. However, it was 1966 when she made great defining history as she became the first Black state senator since 1883 and the first Black woman to be elected to the Texas state legislature.
Jordan was then elected to serve in Congress in 1971, one of the first Black Americans to be elected to Congress from the Deep South in the twentieth century. And in the following cycles, she swept her opponent capturing 85 percent of the total vote in both general elections. The U.S. House, she had a powerful role in committee work, gave the opening remarks for impeachment per the Watergate scandal, and she championed protecting and expanding the reach of both the Civil Rights and Votings Rights Acts. In her career she also accomplished: president pro tempore of the Texas senate which when executed made her the first Black chief executive in the country, the first woman and the first Black keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention, and worked closely with Jimmy Carter who offered her a job as ambassador of the United Nations.
So, Barabara Jordan remains a towering figure in American political history whose voice, intellect, and courage shaped the possibilities of public service and the United States. Through her advocacy work, and commitment to democratic ideals, she challenged various institutions to grow in a direction that honored equality and justice. Her legacy is rooted in principled leadership, integrity, and a steadfast conviction that she and the law could serve and protect every American.
Gloria Jean Watkins, widely known as bell hooks, was born on September 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville Kentucky. Her childhood years, shaped by the forces of segregation, capitalism, and gendered violence, profoundly informed the curation of her literary voice. From being educated mostly by Black women who instilled great confidence in her to being ridiculed for “talking back,” by speaking out against various means of oppression and power structures, bell hooks’ bold defiance and resistance of silence, made her a pioneer in feminist thought.
Choosing the pen name “bell hooks” as a nod to her grandmother, a woman who she remembered as outspoken, sharp-tongued, and never afraid to “talk back,” hooks made sure to exude this “loudness” of her Black ancestors in her prolific career. Her first published book was a collection of poetry titled And there we wept, in 1978. Four years later, her most infamous piece was released– Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. This text critiqued both the Feminist and Civil Rights Movements arguing that neither liberation movement could succeed if they only address one oppressive power structure at a time and rather must look at the intersections of race, class, and gender in both of their fights or else inequality will only continue to be perpetuated. bell’s career then only expanded as she continued to publish a plethora of literature, teach at various institutions that earned her many accolades and distinguished awards, organize a group: the Sisters of the Yam, and even shift the focus of her thought in the 1990s from one that analyzed dominant systems to one that explored personal and social transformation.
Thus, hooks, who was seen as a radical even at youth, changed the landscape of how we begin to approach the action of justice. Her legacy dares us as individuals and as a collective to continue to investigate the harms of oppression in order to create a more comprehensive, equitable, and harmonious society. By making complex ideas accessible, her work continues to serve as a foundation for building a more loving world.
*Please note that bell hooks’ name is not capitalized as hooks chose not to capitalize the name herself as she hoped that this decision would lead to people focusing on her ideas rather than her name.
Booker T. Washington, a prominent Black historical figure, dedicated his life to cultivating a strong Black community in the post-Civil War United States.
His focus was primarily on the advancement of Black individuals through industrial education and a philosophy of self-sufficiency. This vision developed while he attended Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. Here he explored a higher education that was not solely academic, he also learned lessons in personal hygiene, good manners, manual labor, public speaking, and more. Once he graduated from Tuskegee, he returned to Malden where he was a student at Wayland Seminary. The strictly academic curriculum at the Seminary further reinforced his belief in the value of an industrial education and self-reliance.
In 1881, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, was established. Armstrong, who was a pivotal figure to Washington during his attendance at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, recommended Washington as principal of the school. Washington worked relentlessly to build the school, recruit students, and gain support for the institution. Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute offered courses of skilled trades, personal hygiene, manners, and character building, in addition many of them worked on the campus which contributed to its growth.
His work in prioritizing industrial education was not exclusive to Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. Washington also had a role at Christiansburg Industrial Institute. He became a supervisor for the school in 1896 and aided in the expansion of the curriculum which implemented practices from the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. Furthermore, he participated amongst national platforms where he shared his ideas such as the infamous “Atlanta Compromise” speech at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895.
In all, we see his lifetime dedicated to the principles of building the Black community from within. His revolutionary thought centered on education, economic empowerment, and institutional development, did not remain abstract. We can see these ideals materialize through Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute and Christiansburg Industrial Institute. These institutions are an embodiment of his focus on resilience, self-determination, and collective uplift.
Ella Fitzgerald born April 25, 1917 in Newport News, Virginia, would be recognized as “The First Lady of Song.” Shortly after her birth, Ella’s mother moved them to Yonkers, New York where she immersed herself in dancing, singing, and the theater. However, in her early teenage years Fitzgerald went through a difficult time with the loss of her mother and stepfather. She was sent to a reform school as her grades continued to decline, but due to the abuse she endured there from the caretakers, she escaped. At 15, she was on her own during the Great Depression.
Two years later in 1934, Ella Fitzgerald would get her defining moment. Her name was drawn in the weekly draw at the Apollo Theater to perform in Amateur Night. She originally planned to dance but after watching the Edwards Sisters' dance act before her, she decided to sing Hoagy Carmichael's “Judy.” The audience greeted her with hostility at first but once they heard her voice they demanded an encore. Benny Carter, who was in the band that night and would become a lifelong friend of Fitzgerald, was so deeply impressed that he began to introduce her to individuals who would help launch her career forward.
Ella began entering every contest she could to perform which led to her being hired by Chick Webb in 1935. Her career took off: by mid-1936, she recorded "Love and Kisses,” began to master scat singing—turning it into a form of art—and sold one million copies of the album “A Tisket, A-Tasket” in 1938. Soon after, she became bandleader after the passing of her mentor Chick Webb. Then, Fitzgerald joined the Philharmonic tour and began producing her songbook series recording covers of other musicians’ albums from 1956-1964: Ira Gershwin even remarked, “I never knew how good our songs were until I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing them.”
In 1991, Ella Fitzgerald performed her last concert in Carnegie Hall, but her name had been cemented forever. By this time she had been inducted into the Down Beat magazine Hall of Fame, received Kennedy Center Honors, awarded the National Medal of Arts by Ronald Reagan, granted the Commander of Arts and Letters award from France, and bestowed several honorary doctorates from institutions such as Yale and Dartmouth. She recorded over 200 albums, accumulated 13 Grammy awards, and sold over 40 million albums. Her story reminds us that, legacy is shaped by resilience, transformation, and triumph. From a young girl navigating loss and instability, a teenager navigating the Great Depression, and always existing as a Black woman navigating discrimination, her voice reshaped the possibilities of power. Fitzgerald’s brilliance transcended barriers that sought to confine her and shows us that there are no limits that define us.
Gordon Parks was more than a pioneer behind the lens: he was a storyteller, activist, and visionary who transformed photography into a tool for justice. Born in Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1912, Parks grew up navigating the harsh realities of segregation and poverty. Yet, those early experiences would later shape the powerful perspective he brought to his work, capturing the dignity, struggle, and resilience of Black life in America.
After buying a camera from a pawnshop, teaching himself how to photograph, and taking inspiration from photographs of migrant workers taken by the Farm Security Administration (FSA), 1937 was the year that Parks became a photographer. By 1942, though without professional training, Gordon earned the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship which led to him gaining a position with the photography section of the FSA and the Office of War Information (OWI). The work that these agencies performed and the environmental exposure set the theme and style of Parks’ photography. He would become a celebrated photographer due to his exploration of social and economic issues through images such as poverty and racism.
Due to his work here, opportunities endlessly emerged for Parks. In 1944, he left the OWI to work on the Standard Oil Company’s photo documentary program while also being a freelance photographer for Glamour and Ebony. Then just four years later after producing a photo essay documenting the life of Harlem gang leader which won him high acclaim, he received a position at Life Magazine, making him the first Black staff photographer for the entity. At Life, he covered an array of subjects from his focus on forms of discrimination to entertainment and fashion. His work could also be seen helping rally support for the Civil Rights Movement in which he was an advocate and documentarian. As Parks moved forward with his career would also expand the modes of his artistry to music composing, filmmaking, novel and poetry-writing, and painting. Gordon Parks directed the renowned Shaft (1971) which was a box office success and aided in launching the Blaxploitation genre of film, bringing audiences one of its first Black action heroes.
Parks famously quoted that “I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera.” His career lives on to inspire us to see art not just as expression, but as action to tell the truth boldly, challenge injustice unapologetically, and use the tools we have to shape a more equitable society.
Hiram Rhodes Revels, born September 27, 1827, would become a pioneering and transformative leader in American history. Native to Fayetteville, North Carolina, Revels was a member of a free family. In his youth, he received private school lessons from a Black woman and apprenticed as a barber alongside his brother. Revels eventually inherited and ran the barbershop left behind by his brother before leaving North Carolina to study at seminaries in Indiana and Ohio. He became a minister of the African American Methodist Episcopal Church in 1845 and went on to study theology at Knox College in Illinois.
In the years leading up to the Civil War, Hiram preached to free and enslaved men and women across various states while also aiding fugitive slaves. Soon after the War started, Revels organized regiments of Black soldiers in Maryland. He fought in the Battle of Vicksburg and then served as the Union army chaplain in Mississippi by the end of the War. By the War’s end, he had settled in Natchez, Mississippi with his wife and children where he was deemed the presiding elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
It was his time in Mississippi when his instrumental political career took shape. In 1868, he gained his first elected position as the alderman for the town of Natchez. Within the next year, he also won election to the Mississippi state senate: one of thirty-five Black individuals elected to the Mississippi state legislature that year. But it was in 1870 when a historical opportunity revealed itself. Mississippi was seeking readmission to representation in the U.S. Congress. This, along with the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment set the stage for America’s first Black Congress members to take fold. The Mississippi U.S. Senate seat was previously held by future Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Black legislators held that the seat should go to a Black member of the Republican Party and after an impressive speech they determined it should go to Revels. There was much conflict regarding whether a Black individual could serve in Congress due to issues of citizenship. Revels (and his supporters), however, persevered and on February 25, 1870 he took the oath of office becoming the first Black U.S. Senator. While in the Senate, he championed education for Black Americans, spoke out against segregation, and fought against efforts to undermine civil rights activism. Civil Rights activist Wendell Phillips acknowledged Revels as “the Fifteenth Amendment in flesh and blood.”
His term ended in 1871 and Revels, instead of going forth with reelection, returned to Mississippi where he would become the President of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, a Historically Black College and University, and an instructor in philosophy. Here, he still had the ability to directly participate in the enrichment and advancement of future generations of Black Americans. His life is to be remembered not only for the barriers he broke, but for the enduring legacy he built: one rooted in service, resilience, and an unwavering belief in the power of Black progress.
We would like to pause and honor the enduring legacy of Reverend Jesse Jackson, whose life was defined by service, courage, and a steadfast commitment to justice.
Jesse Jackson (October 8, 1941-February 17, 2026), emerged during a defining era of activism. An alumnus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, he lived as both a student and revolutionary during his time at the institution. In the summer of 1960, he began his public fight for justice as he sought to desegregate the local public library in Greenville, South Carolina. He soon became a leader of the sit-in movement and, after graduating from A&T, became a full-time organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), later a trusted lieutenant for the organization
Jackson carried, centered, and practiced the principles of the Civil Rights Movement forward throughout his life. His historical presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988 further urged American democracy to continue with a path of change and possibilities. His work here was foundational in expanding the electorate and overall political participation. He registered millions of new voters from various communities who were long excluded from power, drastically reshaping what democracy can, and should, look like.
His work also led him to found the National Rainbow Coalition: an organization devoted to political empowerment, education, and public policy, become Washington D.C. 's “shadow senator” in 1991, be a respected international diplomat, and a mentor for youth. In consequence, Jackson received an extensive amount of honors, awards, and more than 40 honorary doctorate degrees.
Today, we recognize Reverend Jackson as a transformative force in the ongoing fight for civil rights. His leadership has been pivotal to the growth of our nation and the establishment of equity and equality.
May he rest in power.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born on March 20, 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. Tharpe had begun playing the guitar at age 4 and is regarded as mastering the instrument by age 6. Hailing from a family of devout Evangelicals, Rosetta began her career in the religious sphere traveling to churches with her mother as a young child playing with an Evangelist troupe.
In the mid-1920’s Tharpe and her mother settled in Chicago. From her travels and time here, Sister Rosetta began merging sounds such as the Delta blues, New Orleans jazz, and gospel music to create her own distinctive sound alongside her unique voice. Then in the late 1930s, she and her mother uprooted themselves and moved to New York City where she quickly joined the Cotton Club Revue in 1938 at age 23. During the depth of her career, Sister Rosetta Tharpe pushed every boundary that she could. She created a new category of music known as pop gospel, sung about both secular and religious themes, was a female guitarist in a male-dominated space noting that “Can’t no man play like me. I play better than a man.,” was also openly queer within the music industry, collaborated with Duke Ellington, Dixie Hummingbirds, and Lucky Millinder Orchestra, and was a legend amongst Black soldiers fighting in World War II as her work with Sammy Price captured the instability the United States was facing.
Her most famous songs include “Rock Me,” “That’s All,” and “Strange Things Happening Everyday.” Her original sound went on to influence and lay the groundwork for artists such as Elvis, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, and Little Walter. At the end of her career she spent her time touring Europe building a new fanbase filled with a new generation of listeners.
Tharpe: the “Godmother of Rock n Roll,” the “Original Soul Sister,” and the one who played something that has never been played before, stands as a fearless Black woman who forged a new path. Her presence was a direct challenge to the institutions of racism and sexism, breaking down the barriers in both spaces. Through her sound, style, and unapologetic character, she not only expanded what was possible for Black women but also what was possible for the future of music.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born on March 20, 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. Tharpe had begun playing the guitar at age 4 and is regarded as mastering the instrument by age 6. Hailing from a family of devout Evangelicals, Rosetta began her career in the religious sphere traveling to churches with her mother as a young child playing with an Evangelist troupe.
In the mid-1920’s Tharpe and her mother settled in Chicago. From her travels and time here, Sister Rosetta began merging sounds such as the Delta blues, New Orleans jazz, and gospel music to create her own distinctive sound alongside her unique voice. Then in the late 1930s, she and her mother uprooted themselves and moved to New York City where she quickly joined the Cotton Club Revue in 1938 at age 23. During the depth of her career, Sister Rosetta Tharpe pushed every boundary that she could. She created a new category of music known as pop gospel, sung about both secular and religious themes, was a female guitarist in a male-dominated space noting that “Can’t no man play like me. I play better than a man.,” was also openly queer within the music industry, collaborated with Duke Ellington, Dixie Hummingbirds, and Lucky Millinder Orchestra, and was a legend amongst Black soldiers fighting in World War II as her work with Sammy Price captured the instability the United States was facing.
Her most famous songs include “Rock Me,” “That’s All,” and “Strange Things Happening Everyday.” Her original sound went on to influence and lay the groundwork for artists such as Elvis, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, and Little Walter. At the end of her career she spent her time touring Europe building a new fanbase filled with a new generation of listeners.
Tharpe: the “Godmother of Rock n Roll,” the “Original Soul Sister,” and the one who played something that has never been played before, stands as a fearless Black woman who forged a new path. Her presence was a direct challenge to the institutions of racism and sexism, breaking down the barriers in both spaces. Through her sound, style, and unapologetic character, she not only expanded what was possible for Black women but also what was possible for the future of music.