Johanna July, a black Seminole, was born around 1857 in Nacimiento de Los Negros, the settlement established in northern Mexico following the emigration of Indian and black Seminoles from the Indian Territory in 1849. By 1870, the U.S. Army, desperate for translators and scouts familiar … Read MoreJohanna July (ca. 1857-ca. 1946)
Freedman Caesar Bowlegs rose to prominence among the Seminole Indians and freedmen during the late 19th century. Born around 1843 in the Seminole Nation (present day Oklahoma), he was a slave of Eliza Bowlegs, as were both his parents. During the Civil War, Bowlegs rode … Read MoreCaesar Bowlegs (ca. 1843-1912)
In 1934, Arthur Wergs Mitchell became the first African American Democrat elected to Congress from any state. Mitchell served four terms as a Representative in Congress for the state of Illinois (1935-1943). Mitchell was born near Lafayette Alabama on December 22, 1883 and was educated … Read MoreArthur Wergs Mitchell (1883-1968)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written and published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852, was the most popular 19th century novel and, after the Bible, was the second-best-selling book of that century. Over 300,000 copies were sold in the United States in its first year alone. The … Read MoreUncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
Accomplished journalist and activist Noah Thompson became one of the most influential leaders in Los Angeles, California during the early twentieth century. Born in Baltimore, Maryland on June 9, 1878, Thompson fled Baltimore as a young adult in search of success in the United States’ … Read MoreNoah Thompson (1878-?)
Revered as one of the most influential people of the twentieth century, Rosa Parks is best known for her role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956. Parks was born on February 4, 1913, to Leona and James McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama. Leona worked as … Read MoreRosa Parks (1913-2005)
Born in Nashville, Tennessee on February 18, 1852, and educated at the law school later affiliated with Northwestern University, Ferdinand Lee Barnett was an attorney, writer, lecturer, and the editor and founder of Chicago’s first black newspaper, the Chicago Conservator. Although he is often remembered … Read MoreFerdinand Lee Barnett (1858-1936)
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 17, 1823, Mifflin Wistar Gibbs apprenticed as a carpenter. By his early 20s he was an activist in the abolition movement, sharing platforms with Frederick Douglass and helping in the Underground Railroad. Black intellectual ferment of the era gave … Read MoreMifflin Wistar Gibbs (1823-1915)
There is little known about Archy Lee’s childhood except that he was born in Mississippi in 1840, an illiterate slave owned by Charles Stovall. In 1857, Charles Stovall moved to California from Missouri taking Lee with him. While in California Stovall opened a school and … Read MoreArchy Lee Case, 1858
Born on October 2, 1939 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, George Robert Reed is a former American College football and Canadian Football League (CFL) player. Reed is considered one of the premier fullbacks to play in the CFL. Reed played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders for 13 seasons, … Read MoreGeorge Robert Reed (1939- )
