Clayton D. Russell was an important religious and political leader in the African American community in Los Angeles in the middle of the twentieth century. For much of his life Russell was associated with the People’s Independent Church of Christ, one of the largest congregations … Read MoreClayton D. Russell (1910-1981)
Active from 1942 to 1970, the Christian Friends for Racial Equality (CFRE) was a locally founded leader in the Seattle civil rights movement. CFRE’s non-confrontational social methods for improving race relations made it Seattle’s largest civil rights organization in 1956, with 1,000 members by 1959. … Read MoreChristian Friends for Racial Equality
Chester Himes was an important writer of fiction and autobiography. Although Himes’s most widely read novels were detective stories set in Harlem, his first two published novels reflected his experiences in Los Angeles, where he lived from 1940 until 1944. Himes was born in Jefferson … Read MoreChester Himes (1909-1984)
Charlotte L. Brown is best known as a civil rights activist in San Francisco, California in the 1860s. Brown was the daughter of James E. and Charlotte Brown and sister to Margaret Ann. James Brown was also a well regarded civil rights activist in Gold Rush Era … Read MoreCharlotte L. Brown (?-?)
Charles Moorehead Stokes, one of three sons of Rev. Norris Jefferson Stokes and Myrtle Garner Stokes, was born on February 1, 1903 in Pratt, Kansas. He graduated from the University of Kansas Law School in 1931 and soon after opened his law practice in Pratt … Read MoreCharles Moorehead Stokes (1903-1996)
Charles Bellinger, a businessman and political leader, was born in Caldwell County, Texas on April 15, 1875. From his youth on a farm he moved to Lockhart and worked in a saloon. With his savings as well as loans, he opened a saloon in San … Read MoreCharles Bellinger (1875-1937)
Located in southwest Washington, the town of Centralia was founded by George Washington, an African American who came west in 1850 to escape discrimination. Washington first settled in Oregon Territory, but was barred from owning land there, so he moved north and eventually obtained a … Read MoreCentralia, Washington (1875– )
Carl Sims was born in Bremond, Texas. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1927. Not long after migrating to Phoenix, he became a gardener and a painting contractor. Despite having only an eighth grade education, Sims would eventually work for the (Arizona) Maricopa Country Highway … Read MoreCarl Sims (1911-1974)
Despite its charm, Hawaii was a peculiar setting for a young black woman from Brooklyn, New York in the late nineteenth century. The third child of T. McCants Stewart and Charlotte Pearl Harris, Carlotta Stewart was born in 1881 in Brooklyn, New York, where she … Read MoreCarlotta Stewart Lai (1881-1952)
William Dominick Matthews was a Civil War officer in the Union Army and is best known for leading the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry. Matthews was born a free man in October 25, 1827, on the eastern shore of Maryland. His father Joseph was a … Read MoreWilliam Dominick Matthews (1827-1906)
