Moddie Daniel Taylor, a chemist by training, was a member of the small, elite group of African American scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, the code name for the top-secret effort to create an atomic bomb during World War II. Taylor was born in … Read MoreModdie Daniel Taylor (1912-1976)
In the following account writer Irene Brown recalls through her father’s photo the visit of Ada Wright, mother to Roy and Andy Wright, two of the nine Scottsboro Boys accused of rape in 1931. Her account appears below. Memories. That’s all that’s left when someone … Read MoreDistant Whistles, Muted Flutes: Ada Wright in Glasgow, 1932
Educator and civil rights advocate John A. Davis Sr. began his career in activism in the 1930s as leader of the New Negro Alliance, which pressured businesses to hire black employees. Two decades later he assisted with the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court … Read MoreJohn Aubrey Davis Sr. (1912-2002)
In 1909 Gilbert Haven Jones became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from a German university. After completing his doctoral studies in philosophy, Jones returned to the United States to take up teaching and administrative positions, primarily at Wilberforce University. Jones was also … Read MoreGilbert Haven Jones (1881-1966)
Forest Whitaker at the San Diego Comic-Con International, 2017 Image Ownership: Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 3.0) Forest Steven Whitaker, actor, producer, and director, was born in Longview, Texas, July 15, 1961, but was raised in South Central Los Angeles, where his parents moved when he … Read MoreForest Whitaker (1961 — )
Canadian entrepreneur Viola Desmond was arrested in 1946 for refusing to leave a segregated section of a Nova Scotia movie theatre. She was physically injured by police in the incident but was convicted and fined by local courts. She was posthumously pardoned in 2010. Born … Read MoreViola Davis Desmond (1914-1965)
We Charge Genocide: The Historic Petition to the United Nations for Relief From a Crime of The United States Government Against the Negro People (1951) Introduction: Out of the inhuman black ghettos of American cities, out of the cotton plantations of the South, comes this … Read More(1951) We Charge Genocide
In the following article University of Oregon historian Daniel Pope briefly outlines the history of African Americans in the Advertising Industry since the beginning of the 20th Century. Paul Kinsey, a young white copywriter at a prominent advertising agency in 1961 dates an African American … Read More“Mad Men” in Black: African Americans in the Twentieth Century U.S. Advertising Industry
James Edwards was one of the most successful African American homesteaders in the state of Wyoming. Born in Ohio on February 14, 1871, local tradition in Wyoming suggests that prior to venturing west, Edwards had served in an African American cavalry unit in Cuba, though … Read MoreJames Edwards (1871-1951)
Leslie Uggams, actress, singer, entertainer, and recording artist, was born in New York City, May 25, 1943 and grew up in a four-room house in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. Her father, Harold C. Uggams, worked as a train porter, elevator operator, and professional … Read MoreLeslie Uggams (1943- )
