Empowering Voices: Celebrating Black History Month This February

Every month is “Black History Month” here at BlackPast.org. Nonetheless, we recognize that hundreds of thousands of our visitors specifically seek out the website for information on African American history during the month of February. We have gathered much of that data that may be helpful for teachers, students, and the general public.

Welcome to
BlackPast

BlackPast is dedicated to providing reliable information on the history of Black people across the globe, and especially in North America. Our goal is to promote greater understanding of our common human experience through knowledge of the diversity of the Black experience and the ubiquity of the global Black presence. Welcome to the largest online encyclopedia on African American and Global African history on the Internet.

Major African American Office Holders Since 1641

This October BlackPast.org salutes the hundreds of African American women and men who have held elective office including the most significant office holder, President Barack Obama, seen left, addressing a crowd of 100,000 supporters in St. Louis in October 2008. The first officeholder was Mathias de Sousa, who was elected to the Maryland Colonial Assembly in 1641, 135 years before the United States was founded. Each week we will feature other officeholders. Click on the photo and you will be taken to the officeholder’s profile. To see all of the major Black officeholders at the Federal, State, and Municipal levels, click here.