One Mic Black History

22/12/2025

Happy birthday, Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Before galleries and auction houses, he was SAMO© the mysterious graffiti artist tagging downtown Manhattan with cryptic lines.

SAMO started as a private joke between friends, short for “Same Old Sh*t,” a phrase they used while smoking and talking about art, life, and capitalism. Adding the copyright symbol was the end was a comment on consumer culture.

Before Basquiat became a brand, he was already mocking the idea of one.

19/12/2025

Happy birthday, Carter G. Woodson.

Born in 1875, Woodson was one of the first professionally trained Black historians and the architect of Black History Month, originally launched in 1926 as Negro History Week.

18/12/2025

The Green Book was the bible of every Negro highway traveler, you didn’t dare leave home without it.”

But what if you did forget it? Then you relied on something else:

Black community knowledge.

Civil rights activist Jerome Gray once found himself stranded late at night in segregated Montgomery without this guide.

Remembering advice from his parents, he called a Black funeral home. He explained he was a Black teacher. The owner invited him to stay.

Even when the book failed, the network didn’t.

How Black businesses turned a travel guide into a nationwide safety net

08/12/2025

New Episode! "How Ebony Exposed the White Beauty Lie"

Two magazines changed the mirror. Ebony and Jet put everyday Black life on the cover, turned a touring fashion show into a cosmetics empire, and forced Madison Avenue to see—then spend. This episode shows how pictures became ...

Two magazines changed the mirror. Ebony and Jet put everyday Black life on the cover, turned a touring fashion show into a cosmetics empire, and forced Madison Aven…

25/11/2025

In the 1800s, even food was political.

Thanksgiving was viewed as a Yankee holiday, and pumpkin pie its “indispensable” Northern symbol.

So when Lincoln made Thanksgiving national in 1863, many Southerners, including Black families pushed back.

The divide grew so wide that “pumpkin eater” even became a slur for poor Black farmers.

In response, the South embraced sweet potato pie instead, creating it into its own tradition.

The Black history behind Two Thanksgiving pies

22/11/2025

Happy Birthday, Guion Bluford

Born on this day in 1942, he became the first African American to travel into space.

Before NASA, Bluford was already amazing, a Penn State–trained aerospace engineer, an Air Force officer, and a fighter pilot who flew 144 combat missions in Vietnam.

In 1978, he was selected as one of just 35 astronauts out of 10,000 applicants.

On August 30, 1983, he launched aboard Challenger on STS-8 and made history.

Bluford went on to fly four shuttle missions, work inside Spacelab, deploy satellites, and spend over 28 days in space before continuing his career in engineering and technology.

Guion Bluford is a pioneer whose legacy reaches far beyond the stars.

20/11/2025

A Freedom Library was more than a room full of books.

Created in 1964 during Freedom Summer, these spaces were built in communities where Black folks were denied access to segregated public libraries.

They became hubs for banned books, voter-registration prep, political education, and the knowledge segregation tried to keep out of reach.

That’s why it’s the perfect name for my new book club.

Come join us at the Freedom Library Book Club.

Join Us for Our New Book Club

18/11/2025

In 1952, Jet launched “Beauty of the Week” a full-page photo of an everyday Black woman, often in a swimsuit, with her name, city, job, and interests.

For a country taught to ignore Black beauty, this was a quiet shock.

But even then, people debated it. Some readers loved the spotlight on everyday Black women. Others worried it fed the male gaze or over-sexualizing them.

But how do you feel about the Jet Beauty of the Week?

12/11/2025

December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

Doris Miller, a Navy messman aboard the USS West Virginia, sprang into action.

With no combat training, he carried wounded sailors to safety, then manned an anti-aircraft gun, shooting down enemy planes.

His heroism made national headlines, but racism denied him the recognition he deserved, and he was soon sent back to serving meals.

This Veterans Day, remember Doris Miller, a Black man who defended a country that didn’t see him as equal, yet fought like a hero anyway.

11/11/2025

After fighting abroad, Black veterans came home ready to fight Jim Crow.

They had risked their lives for democracy, now they demanded to live it.

Men like Medgar and Charles Evers tried to vote in Mississippi in 1946 and were driven away at gunpoint.

Or Hilliard Brooks, a Black veteran in Montgomery, who was shot and killed in 1950 for refusing to give up his bus seat five years before Rosa Parks.

This Veterans Day, we honor those who brought the fight home proving that the struggle for rights was never separate from the fight for freedom.

10/11/2025

New Episode! "The Deal McDonald's Made With Black America"

In 1968, Chicago after Dr. King’s murder. Windows are boarded. Stores sit dark. McDonald’s needs a plan. Operation Breadbasket has one: put Black owners in Black neighborhoods. In December, Herman Petty opens the first Black ...

In 1968, Chicago after Dr. King’s murder. Windows are boarded. Stores sit dark. McDonald’s needs a plan. Operation Breadbasket has one: put Black owners in Black ne…

27/10/2025

New Episode! "Why Black Folks Put Hot Sauce on Everything"

Hot sauce isn’t just a condiment in Black kitchens, its a passport. From jars of pepper‑vinegar on the stove to a bottle parked on every table, here’s how heat became culture, comfort, and pride and why so many of us still pu...

Hot sauce isn’t just a condiment in Black kitchens, its a passport. From jars of pepper‑vinegar on the stove to a bottle parked on every table, here’s how heat beca…