Image Ownership: Public Domain Between 1860 and 1900, Portland, Oregon‘s African American population increased from sixteen to 775, still small, but large enough to support two churches, a few businesses, and The New Age, a black paper established in 1896 by Adolphus D. Griffin, former … Read MoreThe New Age, Portland, Oregon (1896-1907)
Peter Lester moved with his wife Nancy and five children to San Francisco from Philadelphia in 1850, where he was appalled to find that slavery was still a fact of life in the free state of California. In an attempt to do something about this, … Read MorePeter Lester (1814- ? )
Politician and educator, Thomas E. Miller was born in Ferrebeeville, Beaufort County, South Carolina on June 17, 1849. Miller was the son of free black parents, and moved with them to Charleston, South Carolina in 1851 where he attended the all-black schools in the city. … Read MoreThomas E. Miller (1849-1938)
Sojourner Truth, an abolitionist, women’s rights activist, emancipated slave and itinerant evangelist, became arguably the most well-known nineteenth century African American woman. Born around 1797, Isabella (her birth name) was the daughter of James and Betsey, slaves of Colonel Ardinburgh Hurley, Ulster County, New York. … Read MoreSojourner Truth (ca. 1797-1883)
A gospel singer and arranger, Sallie Martin was born near Atlanta, Georgia. In her early twenties she began singing in a church choir in Cleveland, and, by 1929, had moved to Chicago and joined a chorus directed by Thomas Dorsey, later known as the Father … Read MoreSallie Martin (1895-1988)
Norris Wright Cuney, politician, the fourth of eight children born to a white planter, Philip Minor Cuney and a slave mother, Adeline Stuart, was born on May 12, 1846, near Hempstead, Texas. Cuney studied law and by July 18, 1871, was appointed president of the … Read MoreNorris Wright Cuney (1846-1898)
Home to the largest African American congregation in the state of Washington, Mount Zion Baptist Church was organized in Seattle on February 18, 1894. Led by Reverend Hesekiah C. Rice, eight founding members initially met in a rented hall on the campus of the University of … Read MoreMount Zion Baptist Church, Seattle, Washington (1890- )
Born in Orangeburg, South Carolina on July 11, 1877, McCants Stewart, the eldest son of the southern black leader, T. McCants Stewart, was molded from childhood by his father for leadership in both his family and in the African American community. McCants spent his formative … Read MoreMcCants Stewart (1877-1919)
Dr. Matthew Oliver Ricketts was the generally acknowledged political leader of Omaha’s African Americans at the turn of the 20th century. Ricketts was born to an enslaved couple near New Castle, Kentucky in 1858. He later received a degree from Lincoln Institute at Jefferson City, … Read MoreMatthew Oliver Ricketts (1853-1917)
Born enslaved in Tennessee, this girl came west with Ursuline nuns after being freed. Not known for her quiet temperament, she left the convent in her teens and became, in time, a restaurant owner in several towns in Montana, Wyoming and Alberta and Saskatachewan, Canada, … Read MoreMary Fields (1832-1914)
