Political activist and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 24, 1954. Born Wesley Cook, he took the name Mumia (“Prince”) in high school while taking a class on African cultures. In 1971, he added Abu-Jamal (“father of Jamal”) after the birth … Read More … Read MoreMumia Abu-Jamal (1954- )
[…] Davis began his music career playing guitar on some of Motown’s earliest sessions, including Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want),” and Mary Wells’s “Bye Bye Baby” for Berry Gordy’s Tamla label in 1960. He continued writing and producing records with Motown in Detroit […] … Read MoreDon Davis (1938-2014)
Alexander Louis Jackson II, historian, journalist, athlete, and one of five founders of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), was born on March 1, 1891, in Englewood, New Jersey, to Alexander Louis Jackson and Evelyn Martha Lewis Jackson. They, … Read More … Read MoreAlexander Louis Jackson, II (1891-1973)
Julia Chinn, the putative common-law wife of 9th US vice president Richard Mentor Johnson (1780-1850), was born an octoroon slave in Scott County, Kentucky. Her parents and exact date of birth are unknown, but she was raised and educated in Johnson’s household by his mother … Read More … Read MoreJulia Ann Chinn (ca.1790-1833)
[…] the Tribune marked the service of a “truly high class dinner,” a “regular southern dinner . . . with Chicken à la Maryland, boiled ham, apple dumplings, peach cobbler, and all the rest of it.” For the city’s loyalty rally in June 1918, Mrs. […] … Read MoreSecond Baptist Church (1917-ca. 1930)
[…] times: he married pianist Vivian Rivkin in 1948, and the couple had a daughter, Diane (1948-2000). He married Finnish Baroness and playwright Mary Mandelin in 1954. The couple had a daughter named Nina in 1954. He married Australian Ritha Blume in 1973. While at […] … Read MoreCharles Dean Dixon (1915-1976)
[…] minor characters (e.g. Charles Sumner), highlighting the geographic, socioeconomic, and racial tensions in the country. Two people central to this drama are Mary Todd Lincoln and her companion Elizabeth Keckley (a link to Keckley’s book can be found here) and their importance/influence in Lincoln’s […] … Read MoreLincoln: the man, the movie, the rest of us
[…] running a saloon, and sweeping floors at Cuneo Press, a magazine publisher. He also began to help his neighbor, Black electrician Robert Patterson, doing electrical work at the Pullman Company. Taylor also acquired his first potential employee in young Charles Stewart, son of Annie […] … Read MoreTaylor Electric Company (1922- )
Clarence Burgess Owens is one of only two African American Republicans currently serving as a congressional representative in the U.S. Congress (along with Byron Donalds, R-FL), and the only African American Republican in the Utah congressional delegation. Born on August 2, 1951, in Columbus, Ohio, … Read More … Read MoreBurgess Owens (1951- )
