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.
One of Colorado Territory’s most interesting African American citizens spoke eloquently on behalf of black suffrage between 1863 and 1873, a decade of great debate on this particular subject. William Jefferson Hardin had been born to a free quadroon woman and a white father in … Read MoreWilliam Jefferson Hardin (1831-1889)
Although George L. Brown was born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, he played a significant roll in Colorado politics for nearly twenty-five years. Following his graduation from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism in 1950, Brown moved to Denver where he worked … Read MoreGeorge L. Brown (1926-2005)
Jeremiah Sanderson, born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was an abolitionist leader on both the east and west coasts. He started his work at the young age of 19 as the secretary of the New Bedford Colored Citizens. After his service in New Bedford he began … Read MoreJeremiah Sanderson (1821-1875)
Revels Cayton, born in Seattle, Washington, was the son of Horace and Susie Cayton, and the grandson of U.S. Senator Hiram Revels. As a highly respected labor leader, he served as secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco District Council of the Maritime Federation of the Pacific … Read MoreRevels Cayton (1907-1995)
Horace Roscoe Cayton spent nearly all his life combating racism. The child of a Mississippi slave, Cayton came of age during the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction eras and had already cultivated strong opinions on human, political, and civil rights by the time he settled in Seattle, … Read MoreHorace Roscoe Cayton, Sr. (1859-1940)
Dr. Lawrence Aaron Nixon was born in Marshall, Texas and graduated from Wiley College (l902) and Meharry Medical College (l906). He began his medical practice in Cameron, Texas but moved to El Paso in l909. In l9l0, he was joined in El Paso by his … Read MoreLawrence A. Nixon (1883-1966)
Born near Thomasville, Georgia on March 21, 1856, Henry O. Flipper rose to prominence as the first African American graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877. Despite being born into slavery to Festus, a shoemaker, and Isabella Flipper, Henry was … Read MoreHenry Ossian Flipper (1856-1940)
Pioneering black reporter and historian Delilah Leonium Beasley was born in Cincinnati, Ohio around 1867 in what was then a small but thriving African American community. Beasley attended the city’s segregated public schools and by her teenage years, started publishing short social reports on the … Read MoreDelilah Leonium Beaseley (ca. 1867-1934)
Born in Pennsylvania, little is known about Anderson before he arrived in California at the end of the California Gold Rush. In 1854, Anderson established a tailor shop in San Francisco and plunged into the city’s small but energetic African American community, participating in California … Read MorePeter Anderson (ca. 1822-1879)
Valmo Bellinger, a businessman and political leader, was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Charles Bellinger. As a young man, Valmo established and published the San Antonio Register beginning in 1931 after G.W. Bouldin, publisher of the only black newspaper, the Inquirer, rejected … Read MoreValmo Bellinger (?-1994)
