Hercules Washington was the enslaved head cook at George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation home where he prepared meals for decades for the Washington family and the guests who visit the mansion. Hercules was most likely born in 1755 somewhere in Virginia although the exact place … Read MoreHercules Washington (Enslaved Cook of George Washington) (ca. 1755-?)
Francisca da Silva de Oliveira, better known as Chica da Silva (or spelled Xica da Silva), was a Brazilian woman born into slavery, who went on to gain her freedom and become a powerful and well-known member of Brazilian society. Silva was born between the … Read MoreChica da Silva (1731/1735-1796)
Image Ownership: Public domain Bernice Mathews is a small business owner and the director of the nursing program at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada. She is best known as a former Democratic member of the Nevada State Senate. Mathews was born on November … Read MoreBernice Mathews (1933- )
Hannah Archer Till, a former enslaved African American, served as the personal cook for General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. Born in Kent County, Delaware, on November 25, 1721, she was originally named Long Point by her father, an Oneida Indian. Her mother … Read MoreHannah Archer Till (1721-1826)
Ayuba Suleiman Diallo is best known for his memoirs as a Muslim who had to endure the Atlantic slave trade and enslavement in colonial America. His personal history was published in 1734 by Thomas Bluett as Some Memories of the Life of Job. To this … Read MoreAyuba Suleiman Diallo (1701–1773)
Ambassador Charles A. James was born in 1922 in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he attended public schools. After high school, James enrolled at Westchester State Teachers College in Pennsylvania (now Westchester University) where he studied for one year before enlisting … Read MoreCharles A. James (1922- )
“Image Courtesy of The Black Heritage Society of Washington” Dr. William Henry Calhoun, a prominent early 20th century Seattle, Washington physician, was born on December 29, 1890 in Jackson, Tennessee. Little is known about his parents or his childhood. Calhoun attended Meharry Medical School located … Read MoreWilliam Henry Calhoun (1890–1967)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Historians rarely compare the mostly working-class and poor Korean population in Japan and African Americans seeking economic justice in the United States. Japanese scholar Kazuyo Tsuchiya of Kanagawa University takes on that task in her new book, Reinventing Citizenship: Black Los … Read MoreThe TransPacific Struggle over Citizenship: Seeking Welfare Rights in Kawasaki City, Japan and Los Angeles, California,1962-1982
Actor Samuel Leroy Jackson was born on December 21, 1948 in Washington, D.C. to factory worker Elizabeth Jackson. His father abandoned his mother shortly after Jackson’s birth and then died of alcoholism. Jackson and his mother moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they lived with her … Read MoreSamuel L. Jackson (1948- )
Francis Johnson, musician, composer, and bandmaster, was born in 1792 in Martinique in the West Indies and emigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1809 at the age of 17. By that point he had already mastered the keyed bugle and the violin. By his early 20s … Read MoreFrancis Johnson (1792-1844)
