The Chicago Defender was founded in 1905 by Robert Sengstacke Abbott. Abbott published the first issue, a run of 300 copies, on May 6, 1905. The Defender began as a four-page weekly handbill filled with local news and reproductions of clippings from other newspapers. Abbott … Read MoreChicago Defender (1905- )
Born into poverty and racial segregation in Meridian, Mississippi in 1912, Ted Watkins became a civil rights and union activist and led an anti-poverty agency in Los Angeles, the Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC). Watkins left Mississippi as a young man to avoid a … Read MoreTed Watkins (1912-1993)
Economic opportunity motivated millions of early 20th Century African Americans to leave the segregated South. Most of the people of the Great Migration found better jobs and better pay in northern factories in World War I and western defense industries in World War II. However, … Read MoreWorking the Quincy Mill: African American Lumber Mill Workers in Northern California, 1926-1955
Born on January 20, 1903 in Pender, Nebraska to John Miller, a former slave, and Nora Herbaugh, a white Midwesterner, Miller was, at his death in 1967, considered one of the leading civil rights attorneys in the United States, particularly in the field of housing … Read MoreLoren Miller (1903-1967)
Born on February 21, 1945 in Seattle, Washington to parents, Nelmon and Johnnie Carter Gossett, Larry Gossett has been a dedicated public servant for over 40 years. After graduating from Franklin High School, he was a VISTA volunteer in Harlem (1966-1967). Gossett attended the University … Read MoreLarry Gossett (1945- )
Howard Thurman was one of the most influential theologians of the 20th Century. Born on November 18, 1900 in Daytona Beach, Florida, Howard Thurman was raised by his grandmother who had been a slave. Thurman completed high school in Jacksonville, Florida and entered Morehouse College. … Read MoreHoward Thurman (1900-1981)
Born on February 6, 1898 in Moberly, Missouri, Melvin Beaunorus Tolson is known as one of the most significant African American modernist poets of his time. In addition, Tolson’s work as an educator led Langston Hughes to declare him “the most famous Negro Professor in … Read MoreMelvin B. Tolson (1898-1966)
Born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1938, Juanita Millender McDonald was an educator and member of the United States House of Representatives. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Redlands and a master’s degree from California State University at Los Angeles. Millender-McDonald taught in … Read MoreJuanita Millender-McDonald (1938-2007)
Frances Mary McHie Rains, an African American community worker, educator, businesswoman, and nurse, was born on January 29, 1911 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Inspired by local black activist and businesswoman W. Gertrude Brown, McHie decided to become a social worker. After graduating from high school she … Read MoreFrances Rains (1911-2006)
The Tulsa, Oklahoma Race Massacre was one of the worst urban racial conflicts in United States history. Two days of violence by whites against Blacks left an estimated 50 people dead, hundreds injured, and more than 1,000 Black-owned homes and businesses destroyed. The riot, which … Read MoreTulsa Race Massacre (1921)
