Riley Howell

Riley Howell

On the final day of classes at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, a classroom of 60 students were gathered for final presentations in their liberal studies class. Their professor, Adam Johnson, described what happened as the first group began. “We...
Garrett Morgan

Garrett Morgan

July 24, 1916, 9:16 PM Workers are digging a tunnel beneath Lake Erie to bring fresh water to the city of Cleveland, Ohio. They are over 4 miles in when they hit a pocket of natural gas. The gas explodes, leaving a mass of twisted pipes and railroad tracks bathed in a...
Ida B. Wells

Ida B. Wells

Her newspaper office was destroyed by a mob; she was repeatedly threated, often in the news media. But Ida Wells remained undaunted in her efforts to publicize the truth about racial discrimination, particularly lynchings of innocent Black men. Born a slave in 1862,...
Jared Lloyd

Jared Lloyd

It’s a nightmare scenario for a firefighter–a wooden building rapidly engulfed in flames with over 100 people trapped inside.  This was the scene firefighter Jared Lloyd found when he responded to a call at an adult assisted living facility at 1 AM on...
Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks

67 years ago today a woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and sparked the Civil Rights movement. We all know the story: An older Black woman, coming home from a long day at work, stays in her seat on a bus because she is...
Pearl Witherington

Pearl Witherington

2 A.M. September 22, 1943 Under a pale crescent moon a British Halifax bomber drops through clouds over the countryside in occupied France.  At 900 feet, an exit panel opens and a lone parachutist prepares to jump. She smells the damp farmland below and watches faint...