" The Young Ali "

When Muhammad Ali was just Cassius Clay, the photographer Flip Schulke created a visual journal of the up-and-coming boxer. In the process he captured several sides of the young Ali in the early 1960s—a time that marked his growing confidence, humor, struggles, and endurance.

"The Mariners"

Four Coast Guardsmen--two black men and two white men--decided it was their duty to entertain in the early 1940s, and without considering the racial stereotypes that could have hindered them, broke the color line on network television.

In 1833 Ira Aldridge stepped on the stage of London’s most prestigious playhouse and played Othello. It wasn’t the first time a black man, or Aldridge, had been on a stage playing the role, but it was a barrier breaking moment. He even went on to play roles in whiteface because of his undeniable talent, and used the money he earned to help free blacks from slavery in America.