African American History

Tonya and David Thomas are the award-winning chefs of the Baltimore based H3irloom Food Group. Photo by Miki Hellerbach.

WYPR News

On and beyond Juneteenth, H3irloom Food Group uses history to elevate flavor

Miki Hellerbach

Award-winning married Baltimore chef duo David and Tonya Thomas use African American food history to free Black chefs from confined European culinary standards.

Juanita Jackson Mitchell was the first Black woman to practice law in Maryland and the first Black female graduate of the University of Maryland's Carey School of Law. The building housing the late jurist's original office on Druid Hill Avenue in Upton is being restored and converted into a legal and social services center for the local community. The Beloved Community Services Corporation, a non-profit development group directed by Alvin Hathaway, purchased the property and is overseeing the renovation. The group recently received a $1.75 million US congressional grant to support the project. (photo courtesy Sen. Michael Mitchell)

Programs

Honoring MD's first Black woman lawyer, Juanita Jackson Mitchell

Tom Hall

The former office of the pioneering Black jurist is to be restored as a legal and social services hub for Baltimore's Marble Hill community. Her son, former state senator Michael B. Mitchell, discusses his mother's legacy.

"Jacob Gruber"

Ric Cottom

Tensions rise on the Maryland-Pennsylvania border after Pennsylvania abolishes slavery and fugitives escape north to freedom.

Photo from "The reliable book of outdoor games. Containing official rules for playing base ball, foot ball, cricket, lacrosse, tennis, croquet, etc" (1893) Internet Book Archive /flickr/creative commons

Programs

"Ten Bears"

Ric Cottom

Morgan State Lacrosse stuns Washington & Lee!

Photo: Harriet Tubman. Credit: Harvey B Lindsey/LOC/Flickr/Creative Commons

Programs

"Moses"

Ric Cottom

Harriet Tubman and her work to free enslaved people on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Mr. Louis Diggs, a historian of Baltimore County’s Black communities, attends a ceremony to commemorate the Howard Cooper Marker at 220 Courthouse Court in Towson. Credit: Anthony DePanise, GovPics

Programs

Remembering Louis Diggs, who chronicled Baltimore County’s Black communities

We’ll go On the Record to recall the man who illuminated the history of African Americans in Baltimore County. We hear the late Louis S. Diggs tell how he started chronicling the Black experience in 40 communities, as well as Blacks in Maryland’s military.

Ben Todd Jealous, former president of the NAACP and a 2018 Democratic candidate for Maryland governor, is one of the nation's leading civil rights activists. He's also an educator, business investor and author, and in November 2022, he became the executive director of the Sierra Club, one of the nation's oldest and most influential environmental organizations. (photo credit Christopher Jason Studios/cover art courtesy Harper Collins)

Programs

From Ben Jealous, a new memoir about family, race, national unity

Tom Hall

In a new collection of personal essays, the bi-racial civil rights activist, author, executive and educator opens up about his family's unique heritage and his hopes for a just, equitable American democracy.

Everett J. Waring became the first Black man admitted to the bar of the Supreme Bench bar in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 10, 1885. The University of Baltimore School of Law is presenting a symposium on February 16, from 6-9pm, in which a panel of jurists and legal scholars will spotlight Maryland's early Black lawyers and the challenges they faced in gaining admission to the bar, as well as obstacles still in existence for Black lawyers seeking bar admission and judgeships. (image courtesy Library of Congress)

Programs

Blazing the Trail: Remembering Maryland's first Black lawyers

Tom Hall

Two lawyers taking part in an upcoming University of Baltimore School of Law symposium on Maryland's first Black jurists join us to remember the contributions of these little-known legal pioneers.

A student in a Black Studies class in a Cook County, Chicago, public high school in 1973. There is a growing movement in the United States, led by conservative governors, lawmakers and educators, to ban or restrict the teaching of Black Studies programs in our public schools. Critics of the movement say it is driven by a white nationalist ideology that seeks to erase the troubling facts of America's racial history. (Photo credit John H. White/National Archives)

Programs

Three Black educators discuss the assault on Afro-American studies

Tom Hall

As right-wing lawmakers and conservative educators across the nation move to ban or restrict the teaching of Black studies in our public schools, we talk with three Black educators about how they're responding to these challenges to free thought and historical truth.

Attendees at the 3rd Annual Collegiate 100 Conference held last October in Atlanta, Georgia, which drew Black collegians from across America for workshops on Overcoming Limitiations, Surpassing Goals and Achieving Greatness. The gathering was organized by 100 Black Men of America, an Atlanta-based group devoted to mentoring and inspiring young Black men to succeed. Thomas W. Dortch, jr. is the group's board chairman. (photo credit:100 Black Men of America, used with permission_

Programs

A New Deal summit for Black men?

Tom Hall

Three prominent Black thinkers discuss a proposal to convene a summit of elected leaders to address the unique challenges confronting African American men.