Era Bell Thompson was an author, editor and a pioneering female African American journalist. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa. When she was eight years old her family moved to North Dakota. Her father worked various jobs including farmer, messenger to the governor and … Read MoreEra Bell Thompson (1906-1986)
Glenn C. Loury was the first African American Professor to earn tenure at Harvard. He also achieved prominence as a public intellectual, first as a conservative and then as a more liberal commentator. Born in 1948, Loury grew up on Chicago, Illinois’ South Side. His … Read MoreGlenn C. Loury (1948- )
The Congress of Racial Equality pioneered direct nonviolent action in the 1940s before playing a major part in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Founded by an interracial group of pacifists at the University of Chicago in 1942, CORE used nonviolent tactics … Read MoreCongress of Racial Equality (1942)
Victoria Earle Smith was an accomplished journalist, author, lecturer, clubwoman, social worker, and missionary. She was born on May 27, 1861 in Fort Valley, Georgia, to Caroline Smith, a slave, and a man who was believed to be the family’s master. Caroline fled the plantation … Read MoreVictoria Earle Matthews (1861-1907)
Robert Carlos DeLarge was born a slave in Aiken, South Carolina on March 15, 1842. Rare for that period, DeLarge graduated from Wood High School in Charleston and worked as a tailor and farmer before becoming involved in politics. He served as an agent for … Read MoreRobert Carlos DeLarge (1842-1874)
Image Ownership: Public Domain The third of ten children, Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi on September 13, 1964, to Joyce Marie and Emory G. Smiley. At the age of two, he and his family moved to Indiana when his father, an Air Force non-commissioned … Read MoreTavis Smiley (1964- )
The son of Asa and Ruth Sheffey who named him Asa Bundy at birth, poet Robert Hayden was born in Detroit, Michigan and reared in “Paradise Valley,” an inner city ghetto. Adoptive parents, William and Sue Ellen Westerfield Hayden, gave him the name by which … Read MoreEarl Robert Hayden (1913-1980)
Robert Smalls was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, on April 5, 1839 and worked as a house slave until the age of 12. At that point his owner, John K. McKee, sent him to Charleston to work as a waiter, ship rigger, and sailor, with … Read MoreRobert Smalls (1839 -1915)
The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was the first Northern black volunteer regiment enlisted to fight in the Civil War. Its accomplished combat record led to the general recruitment of African-Americans as soldiers. They ultimately comprised ten percent of Union Army and Navy. The Fifty-fourth’s successful … Read More54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (1863-1865)
Democratic representative Katie Hall was elected to the United States Congress in 1983. Born in Mound Bayou, Bolivar County, Mississippi in 1938, she attended Mississippi Valley State University and Indiana University before teaching in the public schools of Gary Indiana. Hall was elected to the … Read MoreKatie Beatrice Hall (1938-2012)
