by Tammy Ditmore | Feb 18, 2026 | Black History Month
When Ronald McNair was 9 years old, he tried to check out some science textbooks from the public library near his home in South Carolina. A librarian refused, telling him the library was only for white residents. Ron persisted, so the librarian called the police, but...
by Tammy Ditmore | Feb 17, 2026 | Black History Month
Scott Joplin was the “king of ragtime,” a musical genre popularized in the U.S. in the early 20th century. Born in the late 1860s somewhere around Texarkana, Joplin began playing the piano as a child and was a traveling musician by the time he was a teen. Over the...
by Tammy Ditmore | Feb 16, 2026 | Black History Month
In November 2016, I managed to get a reservation to visit the Smithsonian’s newest museum in Washington, D.C.: the National Museum of African American History and Culture. I lined up on a cold, damp day in the shadow of the Washington Monument with hundreds of others...
by Tammy Ditmore | Feb 15, 2026 | Editing
Born into poverty in 1930 in Mississippi, John M. Perkins rose to become a civil rights legend, counselor to presidents, a towering community development leader, and one of the most important voices for civil rights in the evangelical Christian community. Perkins left...
by Tammy Ditmore | Feb 14, 2026 | Editing
Frederick Douglass never knew exactly when he was born, as birthdates were rarely recorded for slaves. But he chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14 because he liked the day for its emphasis on love and because he said he last saw his mother on...
