Michael Stewart was a New York City graffiti artist who died following an incident with the city’s transit police. Although not much is known about his early life, Stewart’s death entered the media on September 15, 1983 at 2:00 a.m. He was accused of writing … Read MoreMichael Stewart (1958-1983)
June Bacon-Bercey is best known for being the first on-air African American female meteorologist. Bacon-Bercey was also instrumental in making the atmospheric sciences more accessible to minorities and women. Born June Ester Griffin on October 23, 1928, Bacon-Bercey was raised in Wichita, Kansas by her … Read MoreJune Bacon-Bercey (1928-2019)
Anna Mangin is best known for inventing the pastry fork, a precursor of many modern electric mixing inventions. Born in Louisiana in October of 1854, little is known about Mangin’s childhood and adolescence. In 1877, she married A.F Mangin, a coal dealer from New York, … Read MoreAnna Mangin (1854- ?)
Robert George ‘Bob’ Stanton is a retired career civil-service employee of the National Park Service. On August 4, 1997, he was sworn in as the agency’s 15th director. He made history as the first African American director and the first director to go through the … Read MoreRobert G. Stanton (1940- )
Belle da Costa Greene was one of the most prominent librarians in American history. She was born Belle Marion Greener to African American parents Richard Theodore Greener and Genevieve Ida Fleet Greener, in Washington, D.C., on November 26, 1879. Her parents separated in her childhood. … Read MoreBelle da Costa Greene (1883-1950)
Jonathan T. Capehart is a journalist and television anchor. He was born in Newark, New Jersey on July 2, 1967. Capehart graduated from Saint Benedict’s Preparatory School, located in Newark, 1985, and then attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, earning his B.A. in political science … Read MoreJonathan Capehart (1967- )
The Spingarn Medal is the highest honor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Since 1915, it has been awarded annually for the highest achievement of a living African American in the preceding year or years. The twofold purpose of the … Read MoreThe Spingarn Medal (1915- )
Clarence Burgess Owens is one of only two African American Republicans currently serving as a congressional representative in the U.S. Congress (along with Byron Donalds, R-FL), and the only African American Republican in the Utah congressional delegation. Born on August 2, 1951, in Columbus, Ohio, … Read MoreBurgess Owens (1951- )
On July 28, 1866, the Thirty-Ninth Congress passed the Act to increase and fix the Military Peace Establishment of the United States; thus the federal government created six all-Colored Army Regiments. The units identified as the 9th and 10th Colored Cavalry Regiments and the 38th, … Read MoreFormation of the Buffalo Soldiers, 1866
Ruben Rivers was a United States Army staff sergeant who served as a tank company platoon leader during World War II. Rivers was born in 1921 to Willie and Lillian Rivers in Tecumseh, Oklahoma. He grew up nearby Hotulka, Oklahoma where he and his eleven … Read MoreRuben Rivers (1921-1944)
