On February 12, 1865, Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, a former slave who was pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., became the first African American to speak in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. His sermon was delivered on Sunday, February 12, … Read More … Read More(1865) Henry Highland Garnet, “Let The Monster Perish”
On January 14, 1963, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel gave the speech “Religion and Race,” at a conference of the same name that assembled in Chicago, Illinois. There he met Dr. Martin Luther King and the two became friends. Rabbi Heschel marched with Dr. King at … Read More … Read More(1963) Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, “Religion and Race”
In an address to women of the graduating class of the Colored High School in Washington, D.C. on June 6th 1884, Rev. Alexander Crummell urges them to put their intellect and their education in the service of racial advancement. The address appears below. Young Ladies: … Read More … Read More(1884), Alexander Crummell, “Excellence, an End of the Trained Intellect”
Queen Amina was a warrior and ruler of Zaria, a Hausa city-state in what is now Northern Nigeria. She ruled for 34 years from 1576 until she died in 1610. Around 1533, Queen Amina was born as Aminatu, a royal family member. Her grandfather was … Read More … Read MoreQueen Amina (1533-1610)
By the early 1970s South African cleric Desmond Mpilo Tutu had not yet achieved worldwide fame as an opponent of Apartheid. Nonetheless, in a July 1973 paper delivered to the National Conference of the South African Council of Churches, Tutu explained to his audience the … Read More … Read More(1973) Desmond Tutu, “God-given Dignity and the Quest for Liberation”
Yewubdar Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou was an Ethiopian nun and musician. Her music reflected a life that experienced several unexpected moves as well as a devotional commitment to Christian orthodoxy. Yewubdar was born in Addis Ababa on December 12, 1923, to Kessaye Yelemtu, a relative of … Read More … Read MoreEmahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou (1923-2023)
H. Patrick Swygert served as 15th president of Howard University for 13 years (1995-2008). He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 17, 1943 and raised by his working-class parents, Leroy and Gustina Swygert and had a close aunt, Denise P. Swygert-Huzzy. He was the … Read More … Read MoreH. Patrick Swygert (1943- )
Chadwick Aaron Boseman was born on November 29, 1976 in Anderson, South Carolina, to Carolyn and Leroy Boseman. His mother was a nurse, and his father was a factory worker. Boseman played little league baseball and basketball in his youth and attended T.L. Hanna High … Read More … Read MoreChadwick Aaron Boseman (1976-2020)
Jacob Hudson Carruthers Jr. was a historian and educator. Carruthers was born on February 15, 1930, to unnamed parents in Dallas, Texas. The family relocated to Houston, Texas, where he attended Phyllis Wheatley High School. After graduating high school, he attended Samuel Huston College in … Read More … Read MoreJacob Hudson Carruthers Jr. (1930-2004)
Andrew Harris, (1810-1841), graduated from the University of Vermont in 1838. One year later in an address delivered to nearly five thousand abolitionists at New York City’s Broadway Tabernacle on May 7, 1839, young Harris argued that slavery in the South influenced racism in the … Read More … Read More(1839) Andrew Harris, “Slavery Presses Down Upon the Free People of Color”
