Perhaps one of cinema’s biggest triumphs is in providing a platform where Black artists can address the many misconceptions about their histories that have been fuelled by slavery and colonialism.
August is Black Business Month, a time meant to celebrate the creativity, resilience, and brilliance of Black entrepreneurs. However, for me, it’s also a moment to be honest about what running a business really looks like, especially when you’re still juggling school, work, and the everyday realities of life.
Nearly 70 students graduated from The Samuel Staten Sr. Pre-Apprenticeship Program (SSSPAP) recently at its Second Annual Graduation Ceremony at the Sheet Metal Workers’ Union Hall in Philadelphia. The program is one of the region’s top emerging, comprehensive programs providing opportunities for pre- training and other career pathways.
In an attention economy that rewards spectacle, many Black inventors tackling unglamorous, structural problems such as clean water, grid reliability, accessible health care, and safer buildings, often go unrecognized, even when their work is patented, piloted, or deployed in the field.
Philadelphia, a city with a rich Black history, is home to different entrepreneurs, but the road to starting a business is far from palatable. From hidden paperwork to delays, entrepreneurs, especially immigrants and first-generation Americans, face all sorts of hurdles before they can even get their businesses off the ground.
In 1886, William Leonard Hunt, a Canadian showman better known by his stage name “The Guillermo Farini”, published a sensational travelogue claiming he had stumbled upon strange stone ruins deep in the Kalahari Desert. Newspapers of the time seized upon his story, dubbing it the “Lost City of the Kalahari.”
Despite decades of expanded historical scholarship, key facts about Black Americans’ role in U.S. history remain unknown to students. A 2021 study found that only 8% of high school seniors could name slavery as the Civil War’s central cause, and 68% had never heard of the Black Codes. These gaps underscore the ongoing erasure of Black Americans’ contributions from classroom curricula, museum exhibits, and public memory.
Here’s the thing about African higher education right now, it’s having a serious moment. For African students looking beyond the typical study abroad destinations, 2025 might just be the perfect time to consider the continent where it all began.
With a history of many firsts and a tradition of producing world leaders, Lincoln University has long functioned as a transatlantic bridge between Africa and the United States. It is little wonder that a building on campus is named after two distinguished alumni from Africa, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. The Azikiwe-Nkrumah Hall currently houses the Division of Institutional Advancement offices.
On July 30, 2025, City Hall honored Dr. Sadie T.M. Alexander—America’s first Black woman economist and lawyer—with a statue unveiling led by sculptor Vinnie Bagwell, Mayor Cherelle Parker, and Dr. Rae Alexander-Minter. The tribute highlights her legacy, Black excellence, and cultural memory in Philadelphia.
