John Jones, apprentice tailor, writer, and politician was born in 1817 in Green City, North Carolina to a German father and an African American mother. Born a free man, he taught himself to read and write. Jones started his own tailoring business and eventually became … Read MoreJohn Jones (1817-1879)
In the following article, Janie L. Hendrix, President and CEO of Experience Hendrix and the younger sister of music legend Jimi Hendrix, reflects on the lives of their grandparents, Bertram Philander Ross Hendrix and Zenora Moore. Her article reminds us of the rich entertainment heritage … Read MoreThe Blood of Entertainers: The Life and Times of Jimi Hendrix’s Paternal Grandparents
Samuel Harrison, a minister, political activist, and former slave, became one of Berkshire County, Massachusetts’s most ardent abolitionists. Harrison was born enslaved in Philadelphia in 1818 but he and his mother were freed in 1821. Shortly afterwards the widowed mother and her son moved to … Read MoreSamuel Harrison (1818-1900)
In 1870 Republican Joseph Hayne Rainey became the first African American to be elected to the United States House of Representatives and take his seat. Others were elected earlier but were not seated. Rainey was born in Georgetown, South Carolina, on June 21, 1832. His … Read MoreJoseph Hayne Rainey (1832-1887)
Samuel Robert Cassius was an ordinary man who lived an extraordinary life. A former enslaved African American from Virginia, Cassius was the product of a bi-racial union, a house-slave, Jane, and probably his physician and politician owner, James W. F. Macrae, a relative of General Robert E. … Read MoreSamuel Robert Cassius (1853-1931)
Oscar James Dunn was Louisiana’s first black lieutenant governor, serving from 1868 to 1871, and one of three who held that post in the state during the Reconstruction era. Dunn was born enslaved in New Orleans in 1826 to Maria Dunn who was also enslaved … Read MoreOscar J. Dunn (ca. 1825-1871)
Caesar Carpenter “C.C.” Antoine is best known as a leading African American politician in Louisiana during Reconstruction (1863-1877). Antoine was born in New Orleans to a Black father who fought the British as an American soldier at the Battle of New Orleans (1815), and to … Read MoreCaesar Carpenter Antoine (1836-1921)
James Thomas Rapier was a Republican representative from the state of Alabama elected to the 43rd United States Congress. Rapier was born on November 13, 1837 in Florence, Alabama and attended high school in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1856 at the age of 19 he traveled … Read MoreJames Thomas Rapier (1837-1883)
Thomas Greene Wiggins was born May 25, 1849 to Mungo and Charity Wiggins, slaves on a Georgia plantation. He was blind and autistic but a musical genius with a phenomenal memory. In 1850 Tom, his parents, and two brothers were sold to James Neil Bethune, … Read MoreThomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins (1849-1908)
Marcelino Manoel da Graca, anglicized Charles Grace, and best known as Sweet Daddy Grace, was founder of the United House of Prayer for All People. Born off the coast of West Africa on Brava, Cape Verde Islands, he was one of nine children born to … Read MoreCharles Manuel “Sweet Daddy” Grace (1881-1960)
