Rev. Samuel Johnson was a nineteenth-century Anglican priest and historian of the Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria. Samuel Johnson is most noted for his manuscript The History of the Yorubas, which was posthumously published in 1921. Born to Henry and Sarah Johnson, in Hasting, Freetown, … Read MoreSamuel Johnson (1846-1901)
Eric Walrond was an Afro–Caribbean-American fiction writer and journalist of the Harlem Renaissance era. Born December 18, 1898, in Georgetown, British Guyana, Walrond would write short stories with the interwoven themes of immigration, racial pride, and discrimination as he captured the early urban experience of … Read MoreEric Walrond (1898-1966)
Labor union organizer and leader Bill Lucy was born on November 26, 1933, to Joseph and Susie Lucy in Memphis, Tennessee. Raised in Richmond, California, Lucy studied civil engineering at the University of California at Berkeley in the 1950s. He then joined the U.S. Navy … Read MoreWilliam “Bill” Lucy (1933- )
Bluefield State College is one of the first historically black colleges (HCBUs) to become a predominantly white institution. The college was opened in 1895 as the Bluefield Colored Institute after the expansion of the Morrill Act in 1890 to provide funding for African American colleges … Read MoreBluefield State College (1895- )
The Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project was located in the predominantly African American and economically depressed Desoto-Carr neighborhood just north-west of downtown St Louis, Missouri. By 1956, the project totaled 33 high-rise buildings that consisted of the Wendell Oliver Pruitt Homes (1,736 units) and the William L. … Read MorePruitt-Igoe Housing Project, St. Louis, Missouri (1956–1976)
Fayetteville State University is a historically black institution of the University of North Carolina system located in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It is the second oldest higher education institution in North Carolina and was founded in 1867 as Howard School in honor of General Oliver Otis … Read MoreFayetteville State University (1867- )
Cudjo Lewis is considered the last survivor of the last slave ship to enter the United States. Born around 1841 to a Yoruba family in the Banté region of Dahomey (today Benin), he was given the name Oluale Kossola (Kazoola). At age fourteen, Kossola began … Read MoreKossola Cudjo Lewis (ca. 1841-1935)
The schooner Clotilda is the last known United States slave ship to bring enslaved people from Africa to the United States. Constructed in 1855 by the Mobile, Alabama captain and shipbuilder William Foster, the Clotilda was originally intended for the “Texas trade.” It was eighty-six … Read MoreClotilda (Slave Ship)
Georgia E. Lee Patton, physician and missionary, was born a slave in Grundy County, Tennessee. Her father died before her birth, leaving her mother to care for Patton and her siblings. After moving to Coffee County, Tennessee in 1866, her mother supported the family by … Read MoreGeorgia E.L. Patton (1864-1900)
The Robert R. Taylor Homes in Chicago, Illinois were named after Robert Rochon Taylor, a black architect and civic leader who became the Chicago Housing Authority’s first African American chairman in 1942. Construction of the Robert R. Taylor Homes began in 1959 and was completed … Read MoreRobert R. Taylor Homes, Chicago, Illinois (1959-2005)
