In 1938 Frances Mary Albrier became the first woman elected to the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. She also founded the East Bay Women’s Welfare Club whose goal was to get black teachers hired in the Berkeley schools. This campaign saw success with the […] … Read MoreFrances Mary Albrier (1898-1987)
[…] 2017, he became the first anesthesiologist to hold the position of surgeon general. Adams was born on September 22, 1974, in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. He grew up on the family farm in Mechanicsville, Maryland where his parents, Richard and Edrena Adams, were teachers. […] … Read MoreJerome M. Adams (1974- )
[…] registry of nuptials for St. Peters Church in New York City lists an entry for August 5, 1811 for Pierre Toussaint to Mary-Rose Juliette Noel. The bride and groom were former slaves, brought to the United States by their slave owners who were themselves […] … Read MoreMary-Rose Juliette Toussaint (? -1851)
Few lives in African American history are surrounded by more myth and misinformation than the life of Marie Laveaux. Although she is best known today as the “legendary Creole voodoo priestess of New Orleans,” Laveaux was in fact a 19th century hairdresser, confidant, and community … Read More … Read MoreMarie Laveaux (1801-1881)
Mary Lucinda Cardwell Dawson was a leader in the campaign to promote African American participation in and appreciation of opera. Cardwell was born in 1896 in Madison, North Carolina, the second of six children. In the early 1900s, her family became part of […] … Read MoreMary Lucinda Dawson (1894-1962)
Legendary Composer, singer, lyricist Mary Wells was born Mary Esther Wells on May 13, 1943, in Detroit, Michigan to Arthur Wells and Geneva Campbell Wells. Her brothers were Thomas and Fletcher. When she was two years old, Wells was diagnosed with spinal meningitis and […] … Read MoreMary Wells (1943-1992)
Mary Turner was a young African American woman whose 1918 lynching in Lowndes County, Georgia, prompted National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) officials to ask Missouri Congressman Leonidas Dyer to craft the 1922 Dyer Anti Lynching Bill. The bill passed […] … Read MoreMary Turner (1899-1918)
Mary Elizabeth Williams, soprano opera singer, was born on January 7, 1977 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother Mary Lynn Williams is a retired high school English teacher and her father James Emuel Williams worked in human resources management for several companies such as Bell of Pennsylvania […] … Read MoreMary Elizabeth Williams (1977- )
In 1878 soprano Marie Selika Williams, known as the “queen of staccato,” became the first black artist to perform at the White House. Marie Selika was born c. 1849 in Natchez, Mississippi. Shortly after her birth, Selika’s family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where, as a … Read More … Read MoreMarie Selika Williams (ca. 1849-1937)
Mary Hatwood Futrell was an educator, who is best known as being the fourth person of color to become President of the National Education Association when she was elected to that post in 1983. Mary Alice Franklin Hatwood Futrell was born in Altavista, […] … Read MoreMary Hatwood Futrell (1940 – )
