The following are short descriptions of the women and men who have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
Ambassador Harold E. Doley, Jr is the founder of Doley Securities, LLC, the oldest African American owned investment banking firm in the nation. Doley is the only African American to have owned a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Born on March 8, 1947 … Read MoreHarold Doley, Jr. (1947- )
Theophilus Augustus Thompson was one of the first notable African American chess players. Thompson was born into slavery in Frederick, Maryland on April 21, 1855. Freed after the Civil War, he worked as a house servant in Carroll County, Maryland from 1868 to 1870. Returning … Read MoreTheophilus Thompson (1855-?)
Horace Waymon Bivins, a Buffalo Soldier, was born on May 8, 1862, in Accomack County, Virginia. His father Severn S. Bivins and his mother Elizabeth Bivins were free black farmers on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. His parents taught Bivins to farm, and at the age of … Read MoreHorace W. Bivins (1862-1937)
On July 11, 2000, journalist and clergywoman Vashti Murphy McKenzie became the first female bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. In 2005 she became the denomination’s first woman to serve as Titular Head. Her commitment to community development is evident in her work … Read MoreVashti Murphy McKenzie (1947- )
Inventor, entrepreneur, and publisher Garrett A. Morgan Sr. received patents for a three-position traffic signal and a safety hood that was designed to aid breathing in smoke-filled areas. He gained national attention when he utilized his mask to rescue men trapped during a tunnel explosion … Read MoreGarrett A. Morgan, Sr. (ca. 1877-1963)
John Elliott Churchville is a civil rights activist and black nationalist who founded Philadelphia’s Freedom Library Community Project, which would become the Freedom Library Day School. Born in Philadelphia in 1941, Churchville attended Simon Gratz High School, and, on graduation, began studying music education at … Read MoreJohn Churchville (1941- )
Maxwell Curtis Stanford, Jr., known since 1970 as Muhammad Ahmad, is a civil rights activist and was a founder of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), a black power organization active during the 1960s. Born on July 31, 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he graduated from West … Read MoreMaxwell Curtis Stanford Jr. (a.k.a. Muhammad Ahmad) (1941- )
Physician and businessman Dr. Midian Othello Bousfield was a leader in Chicago’s insurance industry. His diverse career included work in medicine and in the military, advocating for African American health care and for the training of black medical personnel. He was the first black person … Read MoreMidian Othello Bousfield (1885–1948)
Viola Mitchell Turner, an early black executive with North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, was born in Macon, Georgia, in 1900. The only child of poor, impoverished, teenage African American parents she would succeed in becoming the first female African American member of the North … Read MoreViola Mitchell Turner (1900-1988)
Bessie Smith was a jazz and blues vocalist whose powerful, soulful voice won her countless fans and earned her the title “Empress of the Blues.” Smith’s songs stressed classic blues subjects: poverty and oppression; love and betrayal; independence, sexual freedom, and stoic acceptance of defeat … Read MoreBessie Smith (1894-1937)
