Black History Month

“Something Good – Negro Kiss,” starred noted vaudeville performers Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown, who were members of The Rag-Time Four, a vaudeville quartet out of Chicago.

Why an early silent film kiss between two Black actors is so important

The 1898 silent film "Something Good - Negro Kiss" is thought to be the earliest known cinematic depiction of intimacy between Black actors.

Georgia’s 12-string master left a lasting musical legacy

Blind Willie McTell, the Georgia-born 12-string guitar bluesman, recorded dozens of songs in the 1920s and 1930s, and is a member of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

Atlanta’s Black Streaks reached top of early 20th century motorcycle racing

Atlanta's Black Streaks were Black motorcycle racers who raced the tracks at Atlanta Motordrome and Lakewood Speedway more than 100 years ago.

Hubbard Pryor posed for these photos during the Civil War in the spring of 1864 after he escaped slavery in Georgia and enlisted in the Union army's 44th Colored Infantry Regiment. Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

He escaped slavery to fight for the Union — and then he was captured

Hubbard Pryor’s harrowing journeys to freedom during and after the Civil War still resonate in Georgia today. Pryor had already survived captivity once.

SNCC: Student activists march toward civil rights

It started at lunch counters in North Carolina and Nashville....

AJC | Black History Month: "Movin' on up"

Movin’ on Up: How a TV theme song motivates black America

How a three-word phrase from a TV theme song became a powerful mantra for African Americans.

Million Man March: A day of atonement

1995 Million Man March

AJC Sepia Black History Moment | Tuskegee Experiment

At Tuskegee, U.S. experimented on Black men with syphilis for 40 years

Officially called the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” the federal government oversaw an experiment in which about 400 African-American men in the Ala...

Atlanta February 2, 2023 Actor Afemo Omilami reads a letter from former slave Jordan Anderson. In July of 1865, Jordan Anderson, an emancipated former slave, received a letter from his former master begging him to return home to help tend his dying plantation. (Tyson A. Horne/tyson.horne@ajc.com)

To My Old Master: Jordan Anderson’s letter was a biting commentary on slavery

Editor’s Note: This story is one in a series of Black History Month stories that explores the role of resistance to oppression in the Black community....

W.E.B. Du Bois: An overlooked intellectual and civil rights warrior

Black double-consciousness: Du Bois’ century-plus concept still valid

A Black History Month look at "double-consciousness," a black American struggle that W.E.B. Du Bois first wrote about in 1897 that remains relevant.

How ‘The New Negro’ started a renaissance, and not just in Harlem

"The New Negro," the 1925 anthology of black writers edited by Alain Locke, helped usher in one of the most significant periods of black expression and creativity.