Stephanie Christensen

Student Historian

Stephanie Christensen is an undergraduate at the University of Washington majoring in History. She will graduate in June 2008, and plans on beginning law school in Fall 2008.

Women’s Political Council of Montgomery

The Women’s Political Council (WPC) of Montgomery, Alabama was founded in 1946 by scholar and Alabama State College professor Mary Fair Burks. The Council was a political organization meant to fight the institutionalized racism of Montgomery, Alabama, and an organization that provided leadership opportunities for … Read MoreWomen’s Political Council of Montgomery

Rodney King (1965-2012)

Rodney King, a Los Angeles taxicab driver, became the catalyst for the second major urban uprising in the city in the 20th Century. On March 3, 1991 King was the victim of a brutal police beating that occurred in the San Fernando Valley of Los … Read MoreRodney King (1965-2012)

Juanita Millender-McDonald (1938-2007)

Born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1938, Juanita Millender McDonald was an educator and member of the United States House of Representatives. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Redlands and a master’s degree from California State University at Los Angeles. Millender-McDonald taught in … Read MoreJuanita Millender-McDonald (1938-2007)

Tulsa Race Massacre (1921)

The Tulsa, Oklahoma Race Massacre was one of the worst urban racial conflicts in United States history. Two days of violence by whites against blacks left an estimated 50 people dead, hundreds injured, and more than 1,000 black-owned homes and businesses destroyed. The riot, which … Read MoreTulsa Race Massacre (1921)

H. Ford Douglas (1831-1865)

Captain Hezekiah Ford Douglas was born in Virginia in 1831 to a white man named William Douglas, and an enslaved mother named Mary. He escaped from slavery sometime after his fifteenth birthday, and moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Working as a barber, the self-educated Douglas was … Read MoreH. Ford Douglas (1831-1865)

Eartha Mae Kitt (1928-2008)

Eartha Mae Kitt was born on January 26, 1928, in the city of North in South Carolina. Her sharecropper parents abandoned Kitt and her half-sister as young children, forcing them to live with a foster family until they moved to New York City, New York … Read MoreEartha Mae Kitt (1928-2008)

Niagara Movement (1905-1909)

The Niagara Movement was a civil rights group organized by W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter in 1905. After being denied admittance to hotels in Buffalo, New York, the group of twenty-nine business owners, teachers, and clergy who comprised the initial meeting gathered at … Read MoreNiagara Movement (1905-1909)

Oscar W. Holden, Sr. (1886-1969)

Oscar Holden, often called the patriarch of Seattle jazz, was one of the earliest of Seattle, Washington’s influential jazz musicians. Holden was born in Nashville, Tennessee on April 11, 1886 to parents John Wesley Holden and Ann West Holden. He was the fourth child of … Read MoreOscar W. Holden, Sr. (1886-1969)

Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity)

Operation PUSH was founded by Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1971 to improve the economic status of African Americans in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to founding PUSH, Jackson was head of the Southern Leadership Conference’s Operation Breadbasket in Chicago. Through Breadbasket, Jackson succeeded in persuading many corporations … Read MoreOperation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity)

The Great Migration (1915-1960)

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)