Stars of Black History Shine at 85th annual ASALH Luncheon

Black historians and black history lovers converged in Washington, DC on Saturday, February 26th for the 85th annual Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the organization founded by Carter G. Woodson–the father of black history–in 1915.

Lonnie Bunch, A'LeliaBundles, Tuliza Fleming and John Fleming at the ASALH luncheon in DC (2-26-2011)

  The luncheon always brings out the stars of black history!

We saw Lonnie Bunch (founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture), Tuliza Fleming (NMAAHC curator Apollo exhibit) , John Fleming (former ASALH president/executive producer America I AM), (more…)

Cheryl Brown Henderson Champions Her Family’s Brown v. Board Legacy

A'Lelia Bundles and Cheryl Brown Henderson at the Willard Hotel 2-22-2011

My Black History Month has been brimming with living legends!

This afternoon I had the good fortune to be invited to a luncheon hosted by my homegirl Janet Langhart Cohen in honor of Cheryl Brown Henderson, whose father, Reverend Oliver Brown, and sister Linda Brown, were the named plaintiffs in the landmark  Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case.  (more…)

“Heritage of Resistance” Panel Features Descendants of Walker, Du Bois, Wells and Drew

Arthur McFarlane, Charlene Drew Jarvis, Zada Johnson, A'Lelia Bundles and Michelle Duster at the DuSable Museum in Chicago

I’m still feeling the glow of a great weekend in Chicago with old friends and new. The “Heritage of Resistance” symposium at the DuSable Museum where Michelle Duster, Charlene Drew Jarvis, Arthur McFarlane and I talked about our ancestors (Ida B. Wells, Dr. Charles Drew, W.E.B. Du Bois and Madam C. J. Walker) was amazing on so many levels.

I’m marvelling at the fewer than six degrees of separation among my fellow panelists. Madam Walker knew and interacted with Du Bois  and Wells, who were founders of the NAACP. Dr. Charles Drew was a star doctoral student at Columbia University during the 1920s (after Walker’s death) and was well-known to the older generation like Wells and Du Bois.

Many thanks to Kay McCrimon, the DuSable’s program manager, for bringing us all together.

Flier for DuSable Descendants Panel

We are ready to take this show on the road to universities, corporations and conferences!

Inside the Vaults at the National Archives

One of my favorite parts of writing a book is the research. You truly never know where a photograph, a newspaper clipping or a faded letter will lead you. When I started my research for On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker almost 40 years ago, I knew very little about Madam Walker’s childhood as Sarah Breedlove or (more…)

Serendipity: Family Photos

Walker Family Photos (A’Lelia Bundles’s Walker Family Archives)

Doing the research about the women in my family brings many incredibly serendipitous moments. Last fall out of the blue I received a call from a gentleman who had purchased these photos at an auction. My best guess is that they had been left behind in a dresser that once had belonged to my grandmother, Mae Walker Perry. I actually already had all of the photos except one, but (more…)