What do Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra, Bill Bojangles Robinson and Danny Thomas all have in common besides being famous entertainers? Each one of these celebrities hired an African American architect to design and build their homes. His name was Paul Revere Williams who became the first African American member of the American Institute of Architects…

Can you imagine going to college at 13? Well that’s exactly what J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr. did when he entered the University of Chicago in 1937 as one of the youngest students to ever attend this distinguished institution. What makes him even more unique is that Wilkins was an African American. He went on to…

We have hidden figures in many aspects of African American history including a pair of sisters who excelled in the sport of tennis back in the 1940’s, well before Venus and Serena Williams came on the scene.  Margaret and Matilda Roumania Peters learned the sport as very young girls and grew up to become champions…

AUTHOR: SUE STAUFFACHER ILLUSTRATOR: GREG COUCH DESCRIPTION: The amazing story of challenge and triumph for a wild, tomboy who broke the color barrier in the elite and segregated world of tennis. WHY I LIKE THIS BOOK: My introduction to Althea Gibson covered her meteoric rise in the world of professional tennis as she traveled the…

A sister act on and off the court is a fitting title for siblings Serena and Venus Williams. These renown tennis champions have been queens of the court since they burst on the scene as young girls and fought their way into tennis history. The sisters most recently battled it out in the finals of…

As we enter the first official day of celebrating Black History Month I want to give a shout out to all the gifted people connected to the production of the movie Hidden Figures which I recently had the pleasure to view. This powerful story of women, many of whom were African American responsible for the…