Buffalo African American Museum - BAAM

04/19/2026

Karen S. Carter, current COO and a 32-year veteran of the company, has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer. A proud graduate of Howard University and member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., her journey started as an intern while still a student.
From joining full-time in 1994 as a Sales Specialist to holding 17 roles across the $40B organization, her rise reflects consistency, leadership, and excellence!

She officially steps into the CEO role on July 1. Congrats to Karen on this well-earned milestone.👏🏾

04/18/2026

04/09/2026

Each Buffalo Police Department holds monthly community meetings to promote transparency and communications with the residents.

Ellicott District encompasses parts of all five BPD districts. If you'd like to participate but are unsure which district you reside in, you can find maps for all five BPD districts here: https://www.bpdny.org/171/Buffalo-Police-Districts-A-E

03/29/2026

TO ALL THOSE REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMEN
CALLING THE NO KINGS DAY DEMONSTRATION
HATE AMERICA DAY: THAT WAS JAN. 6, 2021.
YOU WERE HIDING UNDER YOUR DESK, REMEMBER?



on X

03/27/2026

The United Nations has finally said what the world has always known but too many have been too cowardly to declare: the transatlantic slave trade was the gravest crime against humanity.

And yet, predictably, shamefully, and disgracefully, the United States and the United Kingdom could not bring themselves to stand on the right side of history.

Let that sink in.

The very nations that built their wealth, power, and global dominance on the backs of stolen Black bodies, on r**e, torture, forced labor, family separation, and generational dehumanization, refused to fully acknowledge the magnitude of their crimes.

The United States didn’t just participate in slavery, it perfected it. Chattel slavery in America was not incidental. It was industrial. It was theologicalized. It was codified into law and culture. It was a system so brutal, so comprehensive, that its aftershocks are still killing us today through mass incarceration, economic inequality, healthcare disparities, and state-sanctioned violence.

And the United Kingdom?

An empire that colonized the globe, trafficked millions of Africans, destabilized nations, extracted resources, and then had the audacity to “abolish” slavery, only to compensate slave owners while leaving the enslaved with nothing but trauma and poverty.

And now, when the global community dares to tell the truth, they hesitate. They abstain. They object.

Why?

Because truth demands accountability. And accountability demands repair. The United States claims it opposed the language because it fears a “hierarchy of crimes.” That’s not a serious argument, it’s a deflection. You cannot rank atrocities while standing on top of one. You cannot sanitize history while benefiting from its brutality.

You cannot rebrand slavery as “job training,” strip it from textbooks, ban its teaching in classrooms, and then pretend your objection is about fairness or intellectual integrity. This is not about language. This is about refusal.

Refusal to apologize. Refusal to repair. Refusal to reckon.

It is the same spirit that resists teaching accurate Black history. The same spirit that dismantles DEI. The same spirit that gaslights descendants of the enslaved while continuing to profit from their oppression.

This resolution was not radical, it was restrained. It was not punitive, it was truthful. And even truth was too much.

So let the record reflect:

When the world moved toward justice, the United States and the United Kingdom stood still, clutching their myths, protecting their comfort, and exposing, yet again, that their commitment to “freedom” has always been conditional.

History is watching. And so are we.

Talbert Swan

03/17/2026

At 96, Clifford “Brother” Bell has spent 70+ years shaping Buffalo’s Black history. From serving as a city council member to bringing the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to MLK Park, and now building the Buffalo African American Museum - BAAM, his impact is woven into the Queen City.

Schondra Aytch sat down with Brother Bell to hear his stories and reflections. Don’t miss the intimate Q&A in Spree's April LEGACY Issue, hitting shelves next week.

Story by Schondra Aytch
Photo by kc kratt photography

03/16/2026

1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma. Barbershops and salons served as essential community sanctuaries and social hubs, playing a crucial role in reconstruction efforts.

03/01/2025

-Richard Bowie Spikes was a prolific inventor with eight patents to his name. Primarily interested in automobile mechanics, Spikes also sought to improve the operation of items as varied as barber chairs and trolley cars.

On April 9, 1907, Spikes patented a beer-tapper. Connected to a keg, the tap used tubing to ease the release of beer from the barrel.
His next invention was for a self-locking rack for billiard cues. He received the patent on October 11, 1910. A decade later, on December 14, 1920, Spikes, he patented a “trolley pole arrester”. According to the patent application, Spikes’ device would automatically pull down the pole when the circuit is broken to prevent the breaking of the trolley wire and injury to the pole.”
Over the next forty years, Spikes would patent at least seven more items, including a break testing machine in 1921; a pantograph for conveying electrical current to trolleys’ wires in 1923; a combination milk bottle opener and cover in 1926; a device to obtain average samples and temperatures of tank liquids, for automobiles and industry in 1931; an improved gear shift transmission system in 1932; a horizontally swinging barber’s chair in 1950; and, finally, an automatic brake safety system in 1962 at the age of 84.
Of all these innovations, the best-known are those related to automotive technology. Spikes’ gear shifting device aimed to keep the gears for various speeds in constant mesh, enhancing the turn-of-the-century invention of the automatic transmission. His automatic brake safety system was also significant; according to the patent application, it provided provide a reserve braking action in case of damage to the normal braking means and is still used in some buses as a fail-safe means of stopping the vehicle.
Spikes is also widely credited with patenting an automobile signaling system (turn signal) in the early 1910s,
Richard B. Spikes died on January 22, 1963 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 84.

02/28/2025

Today during we feature the Buffalo African American Museum - BAAM. Formally established in 2012, the organization was an offshoot of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Fund. BAAM is known for its "Together As One" bus tours during Black History Month, and has created several traveling exhibits focusing on local Black history. The organization is also gathering support for a permanent museum building.

Learn more at: BfloAfricanAmericanMuseum.org

02/28/2025

NKAFC HONORS BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Elijah McCoy "The Real McCoy"
Elijah McCoy was an inventor, engineer, and the mind behind one of the most famous phrases in history—"The Real McCoy." Born in 1844 in Ontario, Canada, to formerly enslaved parents who escaped through the Underground Railroad, McCoy’s legacy would go on to revolutionize the world of mechanical engineering.
From an early age, McCoy was fascinated by machines. Despite racial discrimination in the U.S., his parents sent him to Scotland to study mechanical engineering. When he returned to the U.S., however, no company would hire a Black engineer. Instead, he took a job as a fireman and oilman on a railroad, maintaining steam engines. But McCoy was more than just a worker—he was a problem solver.
He noticed that train engines had to stop frequently for manual lubrication, slowing down transportation and causing inefficiencies. In 1872, he invented the automatic lubricating cup, which allowed machines to oil themselves while running, making steam engines and industrial machinery far more efficient. His invention was a game-changer, leading to smoother, faster, and more reliable transportation.
McCoy’s designs were so innovative and reliable that companies refused cheaper imitations, demanding "The Real McCoy"—a phrase that became synonymous with authenticity and excellence.
Throughout his lifetime, he patented over 50 inventions, improving locomotives, factory machinery, lawn sprinklers, and even oil drilling. Despite his genius, he was often denied full credit and financial success due to racism, as white-owned companies profited from his patents.
Elijah McCoy’s work transformed industry, transportation, and innovation, yet his name is rarely mentioned among great inventors. His impact lives on every time a train runs smoothly, a factory operates efficiently, or someone insists on "The Real McCoy."
This Black History Month, we honor Elijah McCoy, an engineering genius whose brilliance changed the world.