Black History Facts

Black History Facts:


  1. A Boston slave whose master named Onesimus was responsible for introducing the practice of inoculation (vaccination). When Boston was a victim of smallpox, because of Onesimus, over 240 people were vaccinated!


  1. During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, more than 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World. Of those 12.5 million, less than 388,000 arrived! Wow!


  1. In 1995, Mississippi became the last state to ratify the 13th Amendment. (The amendment abolishing slavery.) Yes, 1995!


  1. Though the 15th Amendment passed in 1870, giving Black men the right to vote, many Black people weren't able to vote due to Voter Suppression. This is the act of trying to prevent people from voting despite their constitutional rights and it still goes on in less apparent ways today. Today, Voter Suppression may show up in ways like limiting the number of polls in majority African American areas or not providing early voting opportunities in these areas. People may also require an address to register, preventing the homeless from voting, as they are also frequent victims of Voter Suppression.


  1. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President was working to abolish slavery, but he was still racist and did not believe that Black people deserved equal rights.


Segregation Era Facts:


  1. Before slavery ended, the Republican Party was the political party working to abolish slavery while Democrats wanted to keep slavery. In the 1900s, the parties practically flipped in terms of views on racial issues


  1. During segregation, Homer Plessy who was 7/8 white was arrested for sitting in a white-only train car


  1. Vagrancy Laws made it possible and easy to arrest Black men who were idle. Basically meaning, if you were Black and you were standing somewhere, not doing anything, you could be arrested.


  1. The Justice system became "white-washed" meaning that all juries, judges, and officers were white. In this time period, this made it so that if a Black person was on trial whether innocent or not, they almost always were arrested.


  1. Dr. King improvised the most famous part of his "I Have a Dream" speech. The part that made it his "I Have a Dream" speech. (Were you as shocked as I was when I first found out?!)


Today's Facts:


  1. Black people make up only 13.4% of America's population today.


  1. Detroit, Michigan is the American city that has the highest percentage of Black residents, with 82.7% of the population being African American.

  2. The red, black, and green flag is known as the African American flag, Pan-African flag, Black liberation flag, and variations of such. The red represents the blood that was shed by Africans and African Americans fighting for liberation, the black represents Black people, and the green represents the natural wealth and beauty of Africa.