Independent Historian

Multiple business owner Euell Dixon (formerly Nielsen) was born on November 3, 1973, in Sewell, New Jersey. The youngest daughter of scientist and author Eustace A. Dixon II and Travel Agent Eleanor Forman, Euell was an early reader and began tutoring at The Verbena Ferguson Tutoring Center for Adults at the age of 13. She has owned and operated five different companies in the past 20 years including Show and Touch, Stitch This, Get Twisted, Dimaje Photography, and Island Treazures.

Euell is a Veteran of the U.S. Army (Reserves) and a member of the Order of Eastern Star, House of Zeresh #103. She is also the 3rd Historian for First African Presbyterian Church, the nation’s oldest African American Presbyterian church, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Additionally, Euell is also a photographer, storyteller, fiber artist, and a historical re-enactor, portraying the lives of Patriot Hannah Till, Elizabeth Gloucester, and Henrietta Duterte. Euell has been writing for Blackpast.org since 2014 and was given an award from the site in 2016 for being the only African American female who had almost 100 entries at the time. Since then, she has written over 300 entries. Euell currently lives in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Richard Ishmael McKinney (1906-2005)

African American philosopher and minister Richard Ishmael McKinney was born on August 8, 1906, in Live Oak, Florida. He began his formal education at a local school, the Florida Institute, co-founded by his father, George McKinney, a Baptist Minister. Due to financial difficulties, McKinney stayed … Read MoreRichard Ishmael McKinney (1906-2005)

Daisy Lee Gatson Bates (1914-1999)

Newspaper publisher and civil rights activist Daisy Lee Gatson Bates was influential in the integration of the Little Rock Nine into Little Rock, Arkansas’s Central High School in 1957.  She was born Daisy Lee Gatson on November 11, 1914, in Huttih, Arkansas. Her mother, Millie … Read MoreDaisy Lee Gatson Bates (1914-1999)

The Phoenix Thanksgiving Day Riot (1942)

The events of the Phoenix Thanksgiving Day Riot began on Thanksgiving, November 27, 1942. An off-duty soldier from the all-black 364th Negro Infantry Regiment became drunk at the Alhambra Bar, located at the corner of 12th & Washington Streets in Phoenix. A black female patron … Read MoreThe Phoenix Thanksgiving Day Riot (1942)