Anita Hill is a professor of law, social policy and management and women’s studies at Brandeis University. She was born in Lone Tree, Oklahoma on July 30, 1956. A bright student, she graduated as the valedictorian of her high school class and then earned a … Read MoreAnita Faye Hill (1956- )
At the beginning of the 20th Century most African American voters in Seattle were Republican. Despite their loyalty to the GOP, many of these black Republicans claimed the Party would not address the needs of African-Americans. The King County Colored Republican Club (KCCRC) was founded … Read MoreKing County Colored Republican Club (1915-1945)
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Maryland politician Wayne Keith Curry’s father, Eugene, was a schoolteacher and his mother, Juliette, was a homemaker and later a secretary. When the family moved to Cheverly, Maryland in the 1960s, they encountered various forms of discrimination, including exclusion from … Read MoreWayne Keith Curry (1951-2014)
The Great Migration was the mass movement of about five million southern blacks to the north and west between 1915 and 1960. During the initial wave the majority of migrants moved to major northern cities such as Chicago, Illiniois, Detroit, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and New … Read MoreThe Great Migration (1915-1960)
The March on Washington Movement (MOWM) was the most militant and important force in African American politics in the early 1940s, formed in order to protest segregation in the armed forces. The hypocrisy behind calls to “defending democracy” from Hitler was clear to African Americans … Read MoreMarch on Washington Movement (1941-1947)
Huddie Ledbetter was born January 15, 1888, on the Jeter Plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana. He was an only child who quickly became interested in music when he received his first instrument (an accordion) from his uncle Terrell. In 1903at the age of 15, Ledbetter he … Read MoreHuddie (Leadbelly) Ledbetter (1888-1949)
Blind Lemon Jefferson was born in Couchman, Texas, sometime around the 1890s although the exact date is not known and several are claimed. He was the youngest of seven children and the only one of them born blind. The details of his birth and young … Read MoreBlind Lemon Jefferson (ca. 1890-1929)
Hand-picked by his American Express predecessor, CEO Harvey Golub, to lead the company upon Golub’s retirement, Kenneth Chenault is an attorney and the CEO and chairman of American Express. Named one of the fifty most powerful African American executives by Fortune magazine in 2001, Chenault … Read MoreKenneth Irvine Chenault (1951- )
Best known as the inspiration for Toni Morrison’s award winning novel, Beloved, The Margaret Garner Incident of 1856 contains one of the most ground breaking fugitive slave trials of the pre-Civil War era. Margaret Garner was born into slavery on June 4, 1834 on Maplewood … Read MoreMargaret Garner Incident (1856)
The Black and Tan Club was a leading jazz nightclub located in Seattle, Washington, operating from 1922 until 1966. The nightclub flourished and was known as the most famous nightclub in Seattle at the onset of World War II. It derived its name from the … Read MoreThe Black and Tan Club (1922-1966)
