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The man behind the largest online encyclopedia for Black history
February is Black History Month, and this week, we’re bringing you stories from the largest Black online encyclopedia: BlackPast.org.
In 2004, the website was created by the late University of Washington Professor, Dr. Quintard Taylor.
It seeks to provide reliable information about Black history in the U.S. and across the world. It’s home to more than 14,000 pages of content.
“You don't have to go to an ivory tower, you don’t have to go through a paywall or a subscription, because that was one of Dr. Taylor's visions. To ensure that this information would be available to the public. So there will be no excuse for any ignorance at all about the contributions and achievements of Black people. But also it tells a story of not just resilience, but also of triumph,” said Dr. Quin'Nita Cobbins-Modica, Vice President of BlackPast’s board of directors
In September, Dr. Taylor passed away. Earlier this month, people from across the country converged together to celebrate his life at a memorial service in Kent, including Dr. Cobbins-Modica. She began working with Taylor on the project when she was one of his students.
“There's a lot of propaganda that is out there that distort, that recreate or revise history. And with BlackPast, we challenge those myths and those distortions and those lies,” Cobbins-Modica said. “And so it's a great resource for anyone who is interested in learning more about the past and particularly of African people of African descent.”
Now, Dr. Cobbins-Modica is carrying her mentor’s work forward as a professor in California.
“And when I see students coming to the classroom, and see how little they know, because what they have been taught is a very sanitized and romanticized version of history,” Cobbins-Modica said. “And when they get in my classroom, this is the first time they are hearing of these stories and these narratives.”
