Alexander Thomas Augusta was the highest-ranking black officer in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was also the first African American head of a hospital (Freedmen’s Hospital) and the first black professor of medicine (Howard University in Washington, D.C.). Augusta was born in … Read MoreAlexander T. Augusta (1825-1890)
Jefferson Lewis Edmonds was a prominent newspaper editor and political activist in late 19th Century Los Angeles. Edmonds was born a slave and worked for 20 years in tobacco and cotton fields in antebellum Virginia. Once freed in 1865 Edmonds relocated to Crawfordsville, Mississippi in … Read MoreJefferson L. Edmonds (1845-1914)
The National Baptist Convention, USA, Incorporated (NBCUSA) is made up of approximately 7.5 million African American Baptists, making it the largest African-American organization in the country. It was founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1895 when the leaders of the American National Baptist Convention, the Baptist … Read MoreNational Baptist Convention (1895- )
Osborne Perry Anderson was one of the five African American men to accompany John Brown in the raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) in October 1859. Anderson was a free-born abolitionist, born in West Fallow Field, Pennsylvania on July … Read MoreOsborne P. Anderson (1830-1872)
John Anthony Copeland Jr. was born free in Raleigh, North Carolina on August 15, 1834, to John Anthony Copeland Sr., a slave, and Delilah Evans, a free woman. Copeland spent much of his early life in Ohio and attended Oberlin College. While residing in Oberlin, Ohio, Copeland … Read MoreJohn Anthony Copeland Jr. (1836-1859)
Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford was a West African barrister, author, and political leader who dedicated his life to helping improve conditions for the people of West Africa. Casely Hayford was born on September 3, 1866, the youngest of three sons to parents Reverend John de … Read MoreJoseph Ephraim Casely Hayford (1866-1930)
Mary Eliza Mahoney, America’s first black graduate nurse, was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts on May 7, 1845. Originally from North Carolina, her parents were among the southern free blacks who moved north prior to the Civil War seeking a less racially discriminatory environment. The eldest … Read MoreMary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1926)
Lacey Kirk Williams was the President of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., from 1922 to 1940 and Vice President of the World Baptist Alliance between 1928 and 1940. He also succeeded in creating an interracial alliance which he called a “cooperative” between the wealthy … Read MoreLacey Kirk Williams (1871-1940)
Alonzo “Lonnie” Clayton reached stardom at the age of fifteen, when he became the youngest rider to win the Kentucky Derby. He was born on March 27, 1876, in Kansas City, Missouri to Robert and Evaline Clayton. Alonzo Clayton moved with his parents and eight … Read MoreAlonzo Clayton (1876-1917)
George B. “Spider” Anderson is considered one of the greatest African American jockeys in horse racing history. There are no details available on George Anderson’s early life, not even the place or date of his birth. Anderson achieved his greatest accomplishment by being the first … Read MoreGeorge B. Anderson (?-?)
