Tuskegee Institute student Samuel “Sammy” Younge‘s (pictured) death was an unfortunate first in the history books as it relates to the Civil Rights Movement. On…
Abolitionist John Brown and his attempted armed overthrow of slavery met its end after his raid on Harper’s Ferry, Va. was thwarted by enemy forces.…
In a historic, 60-page decision, Federal District Judge Catherine Blake ruled yesterday that Maryland has violated the constitutional rights of students at Maryland’s four Historically Black Institutions (HBIs), or Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), by unnecessarily duplicating their programs at nearby white institutions, a practice that begin during the era of de jure segregation. […]
In Detroit, this very day marks the beginning of a violent, race-fueled riot that lasted for days and left dozens dead and countless others injured.…
Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace (pictured) was gunned down on March 9, 1997, just two months shy of his 25th birthday. With fame and all the…
Timothy Wright was born June 17, 1947, in Brooklyn, New York, where his family attended St. John’s Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God. It was there that he began playing piano at the age of 12 and also began to compose music for the church’s choir. By 1969, he had moved on to Bishop […]
Clay Evans was once known as Jessie Jackson‘s personal pastor through a popular television commercial promoting music in the 1970’s, but gospel fans have long known him as a great traditional gospel artist who has created gospel gems such as “Room At The Cross”. Born on June 23, 1925, Brownsville, Tennessee, Evans was three years […]
Known as the Prince of Gospel, Kee picked up where Rev. James Cleveland left off when he passed away in 1991. Although there are modern elements to his music, Kee has largely kept the traditional black choir style that Cleveland popularized alive and well with such songs as “Show Up”, “New Life”, and “Wash […]
Through the 1980’s, the Clark Sisters had the most exciting and talked about stage show in the entire gospel field. There were no laser lights and no big rig props, it was just the girls and their band, and they never ceased to turn whatever church they entered inside out and upside down. As astounding […]
When Vanessa Bell Armstrong hit the music scene with “Peace Be Still” (with its sweeping notes and jazzy phrasing) in the 1980’s the black gospel world greeted her with awestruck wonder. Born October 2, 1953, in Detroit, she says her mother had a dream that Armstrong would sing for the Lord when she was still […]
In the 1950’s, the Caravans lacked the Clara Ward Singers‘ flashy costumes and stage clowning, but they more than made up for it with the quality of their many classic hits such as “Mary, Don’t You Weep,” “I Won’t Be Back,” and Sweeping Through the City.” Even more so, the group was esteemed […]
Long before there was a Be Be and CeCe Winans or Kirk Franklin, the Rance Allen Group was making decidedly urban flavored gospel music, strategically designed to appeal to an unchurched black audience back in the early 1970’s. Their songs, such as “Just My Salvation,” “Ain’t No Need of Crying,” “I Belong to You”, […]