Educator and HCBU President Lionel Hodge Newsom was born on November 11, 1919 in Wichita Falls, Texas, to Lawson and Georgia (McCullough) Newsom. He attended the local school, and enrolled into Lincoln University, Missouri where he became member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Newsom graduated … Read MoreLionel Hodge Newsom (1919-1991)
The American Missionary Association (AMA) was an abolitionist group founded on Protestant beliefs. It was focused on the abolition of slavery, education for African Americans, gaining racial equality, and promoting Christian values. They were most prominent in the United States from the antebellum period through Reconstruction. The AMA was founded on … Read MoreAmerican Missionary Association (1846-1999)
Fewer than half of Cincinnati, Ohio’s Black population remained in the city after the 1829 white riots. Most had left. Many of the 1,100 who stayed were unusually poor, unable to finance emigration to safer places such as surrounding towns, farther west, or to Canada. The small black … Read MoreCincinnati Race Riots (1836)
Image Courtesy of Madeline Crowley Seattle businessman and civic activist Fordie Ross was born on April 21, 1914, in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, to Miles and Sophia Ross. He was one of six children in a family of devout Presbyterians. Ross attended Bishop College in Marshall, Texas, … Read MoreFordie Ross (1914–2014)
Organized in 1836, the Witherspoon Street Church is one of the oldest African American Presbyterian congregations in New Jersey. On March 10, 1836, 90 out of 131 former African American members of the Nassau Presbyterian Church were released from the congregation to form their own … Read MoreWitherspoon Street Church (1836- )
Georgia Montgomery Davis Powers was an American politician and activist, and in 1967 she became the first black to be elected to the senate of the state of Kentucky. Powers, a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., also worked with Rev. Jesse Jackson … Read MoreGeorgia Davis Powers (1923-2016)
John Gloucester, founder of the first African American Presbyterian Church in the United States, was born enslaved in Blount County, Tennessee, in 1776. Before gaining his freedom, his name was Jack, and as a believer he began converting slaves to Christianity at an early age. … Read MoreJohn Gloucester (1776- 1822)
First African Presbyterian Church, the nation’s oldest African American Presbyterian Church, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1807 by former Tennessee slave John Gloucester. This church is the fourth of the first five African American churches founded in the city of Philadelphia. After gaining … Read MoreFirst African Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1807- )
“Image Ownership: Presbyterian Historical Society” Reverend Gayraud Stephen Wilmore was an American pastor, educator, historian, and theologian. Born on December 20, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wilmore attended Central High School where he was active in the drama club, wrote for the student newspaper and, for … Read MoreGayraud Stephen Wilmore (1921-2020)
Dorothy Leigh Maynor was an international concert soprano, founder of the Harlem School of the Arts, the first African American to sing at an American president’s inauguration (Harry S. Truman’s, on January 20, 1949), the first African American artist to perform at Constitution Hall, the … Read MoreDorothy Leigh Maynor (1910-1996)
