Black Heritage Cache

Lobby Cards from Black films (referred to as Race Films during the time) from the 1920s & 1930s:

Lying Lips, 1939
Temptation, 1935
Life Goes On, 1938
Straight to Heaven, 1939

Zora Neale Hurston's Short Story: "SWEAT" “Sweat stood out both for its artistic accomplishment and its exploration of rural Southern Black life, introducing themes of marital conflict and spiritual consciousness that animate Hurston’s mature fiction”

Looking for some Black literature for your Sunday read?

Read Zora Neale Hurston's short story "Sweat" --

Browse through the pages of an original Negro Motorist #GreenBook from 1946. Just imagine how many people who found protection in these pages because of the Black businesses, schools, restaurants, and lodging recorded during travel.

An advertisement from the 1972 Black Community Survival Conference

Source: NMAAHC

Between 1894 and 1900, Black men regained political influence in North Carolina when Populists & Republicans formed the integrated Fusionist coalition. It led to the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, the only successful coup of an elected government in U.S. history.

American Coup: Wilmington 1898

The Shearer Cottage was the oldest Black-owned inn on the island. The Shearers operated the twelve-room seasonal inn, creating a space of belonging and fellowship for multiple generations of the Black community of Martha's Vineyard.

Ralp Lauren's A Portrait of the American Dream: Oak Bluffs (2025)

The production competed directly with the most popular and well-funded Broadway shows of its time. We could see ourselves on stage and contribute to its success. Its lasting legacy would build the careers of millions of Black performers and crew members, & foster imaginations through representations

A 16-year-old Josephine Baker also made history as a performer on the first all-female chorus line on Broadway, through her role in the original run of the musical. This musical helped launch the careers of legends like Hal Johnson, William Grant Still, Florence Mills, Paul Robeson, & Bessie Allison

Black Love had finally been portrayed on the stage. The production desegregated Broadway audiences. Diverse audiences surged into theaters. The set was minimal, the costumes were hand-me-downs, and it even portrayed negative stereotypes alongside its positive depiction of our community.

Black Broadway was the catalyst for one of the most historically significant and defining eras in Black creativity. Written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyle, with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, Shuffle Along debuted on May 23, 1921, at the 63rd Street Music Hall.

It’s exciting to see the past and the present connect. While we’re holding companies accountable for their DEI dissolutions, Ruggles would boycotted the sale of food products made without slave labor through the Quakers' Free Produce Movement at his grocery store in the 1800s

The destruction of the bookstore wouldn’t stop Ruggles or weaken his role in the antislavery movement. It actually pushed him in further. His writing and publishing continued and he used his home as a station on the early days of the Underground Railroad. He even helped Frederick Douglass escape!

David Ruggles opened the 1st Black-owned bookstore in America 191 years ago. This entrepreneur carried abolitionist books & pamphlets, in addition to printing and selling his own. He later added a reading room & a lending library. A mob would destroy the bookstore the following year by arson fire.

Swarthmore College’s Black Studies Program in 1969

Archibald Motley (1891-1981) painting Chicago’s Black culture and nightlife during the 1930s & 1940s. You’ll see that Motley incorporates the different skin tones in his artwork to show that all shades of Black makeup our community.

Group portraits of the ancestors at the Emancipation Day Celebration on June 19, 1900, held in "East Woods" on East 24th Street in Austin, Texas. #Juneteenth

🗃️ Austin History Center

Lena Horne and her father, Teddy Horne in 1944

Completely Random #BlackHistory Fact: Crispus Attucks was 6’2, mulatto, and had knock knees.

We must document our own stories to see past the spectrum of triumph and defeat.

Between 1924 and 1928, Rev. Solomon Sir Jones carried a 16mm camera in his hand, capturing the daily life and experience of over 30 Black towns in Oklahoma. When exploring history, we often focus on historical events and overlook the everyday lives of our ancestors.

RIP the innovating and majestic funk-rock pioneer Sylvester Stewart b.k.a Sly Stone, co-founder and frontman of Sly and the Family Stone. 🕊️

Happy Easter!

📷 Charles" Teenie" Harris
🗃️ Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

89 of those African American medical officers went and served in France during the war.

These HBCUs were actively recruiting alumni to volunteer their medical services. Because of segregation, a new Medical Officers Training Camp needed to be created specifically for us out in Des Moines, Iowa.

Of the 104 African American medical officers serving in WWI, 60% came from medical schools at 3 HBCUs: Meharry Medical College (34), Howard University Medical School (16), and Leonard Medical School (13). #BlackHistory

In the Fall of 1917, months after the US entered WWI, the army had 639 combat officers, 104 medical officers, and 12 dental officers.

Army officers of African American descent were almost non-existent in the regular army until WWI, even though we’ve participated in every major American war since the 1700s.

Gateway to Freedom International Memorial to the Underground Railroad

Gateway to Freedom International Memorial to the Underground Railroad facing Canada

Detroit's Gateway to Freedom International Memorial to the Underground Railroad

Often described as the “Doorway to Freedom,” the city of Detroit was an active destination for those seeking easy transport to Canada, located just across the mile-wide river. The town was a beacon of hope for many, representing the last hurdle before reaching true freedom.

Second Baptist Church

Secret basement of the Second Baptist Church, serving as the infamous "last" station before Canada

Current photo of Second Baptist Church

Detroit's Second Baptist Church, founded by 13 formerly enslaved people (1836), was also an active underground railroad station utilized by the group. The church offered food, clothing, and shelter to over 5,000 runaways, serving as the last station of the #undergroundrailroad before entry to Canada

Seymour Finney's Brick Barn behind his hotel in Detroit

Finney Barn

Dray wagon with a false bottom

Conductors traveled South to transport fugitive slaves to Detroit stations, using large dray wagons with false bottoms, boats hidden under docks, and employing secret passwords. The society allied with white abolitionists like John Brown & Seymour Finney, who used his hotel’s barn for sheltering.