Portal:African American

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THE AFRICAN AMERICAN PORTAL

An African American (also Afro-American and Black American) is a person in the United Stateswhose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa. Many African Americans possess European, Native Americanor Asianancestry as well. In the United States the term is generally used for those of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, and not, for example, for those of European colonial ancestry, such as Whites or White South African-European ancestry. Show new Selections

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Quotes

It all goes so fast, and character makes the difference when it's close.. Jesse Owens
(September 11, 1913– March 31, 1980)

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Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) is the first intercollegiate fraternity established by African Americans. Founded on December 4, 1906, on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York as a social fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha has initiated over 175,000 men into the organization and has been open to men of all races since 1945.

The fraternity expanded when a second chapter was chartered at Howard University in 1907. Today, there are over 700 Alpha chapters in the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the West Indies.

Alpha Phi Alpha evolved into a service organization and has provided leadership and service during the Great Depression, World Wars, Civil Rights Movements, and addresses social issues such as apartheid and urban housing, and other economic, cultural, and political issues affecting people of color. The World Policy Council and Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial are projects of Alpha Phi Alpha, and the fraternity jointly leads philanthropic programming initiatives with March of Dimes, Head Start, Boy Scouts of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

Members of Alpha Phi Alpha include Jamaican Prime Minister and Rhodes Scholar Norman Manley, Nobel Prize winner Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Olympian Jesse Owens, Justice Thurgood Marshall, United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young, and Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson.

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Did you know...

...that Marjorie Joyner, creator of the Permanent wave machine, was the first African American to graduate from A.B. Molar Beauty School?
...that Elijah McCoy invented various types of engines and automatic oilers that were used in trains and fire trucks, and that the quality and desirability of his steam engine lubricator were the origin of the phrase "the real McCoy"?
...that John Hanks Alexander was the first African American in the United States armed forces to hold a regular command position?
...that Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enacted in the Southern and border states of the United States and in force between 1876 and 1964 that required racial segregation, especially of African-Americans, in all public facilities?
...that the Communist Party USA played a significant role in defending the rights of African-Americans during the 1930s and 1940s?
...that the majority of African slaves came from Central Africa and Western Africa?
...that the Nation of Islam was founded in the U.S. in 1930 by Wallace Fard Muhammad?

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African American news

January 17, 2006 - Muhammad Ali's 65th birthday is today.

November 17, 2006 - Black leaders tout new plan to combat AIDS (Newsday) More...

November 13, 2006 - President George Bush at a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for a memorial honoring slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Associated Press) More...

October 19, 2006 - Black colleges struggle to keep students due to ageing and inferior facilities. (BlackNews) More...

August 01, 2006 - President Bush, addressing the NAACP after skipping its convention for five years, said Thursday he knows racism exists in America and that many black voters distrust his Republican Party.... (BlackNews) More...

July 29, 2006 - African-Americans who want to help develop the homeland of their ancestors -- and to strengthen cultural and social links with Africans -- have held a biannual meeting in Africa since 1991. The summit was created by the late civil rights leader Reverend Leon H. Sullivan, and this year’s meeting in Abuja, Nigeria was the second since his death in 2001... (VOANews site) More...