William Decker Johnson was the 42nd Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and founder of Johnson Home Industrial College in Archery, Georgia. Born November 15th, 1869 in Glasgow, Thomas County, Georgia to Reverend Andrew Jackson Johnson and Mattie McCullough. Both parents were former … Read MoreWilliam Decker Johnson (1869-1936)
Vernon African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church is located at 311 North Greenwood Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Vernon is the only remaining edifice from the worst race massacre in American history in 1921 and the only black-owned structure from the Historic Black Wall Street era. It … Read MoreVernon African Methodist Episcopal Church (1905- )
Alice Sampson Presto, suffragist and clubwoman, became the first African American woman to run for public office in Washington state. Presto was born around 1879 in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Franklin and Martha A. Sampson. Few records exist of her early life except that she had … Read MoreAlice S. Presto (ca. 1879- ?)
Black Bottom was a neighborhood near what is now downtown Nashville where African Americans once resided. The area got its name from the periodic floods of the Cumberland River that left muddy residue on the streets. Black Bottom came into existence around 1832 as a … Read MoreBlack Bottom (Nashville) (1832-1950)
In October, 1834 riots broke out in New York City spurred by a confluence of events: the fiery oratory of abolitionist Protestant ministers (many of whom were also nativist and anti-Catholics); the growing social assertiveness of former enslaved people and of free-born African-Americans in the … Read MoreThe Anti-Abolition Riots (1834)
Lyman S. Parks was the first African American mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan, serving in the role from 1971 to 1976. Lyman S. Parks was born in 1917, although the details of his birth and childhood are unknown. He grew up in southern Indiana and … Read MoreLyman S. Parks (1917-2009)
James Amos Porter was the first African American art historian. Born on December 22, 1905 in Baltimore, Maryland, he was the son of Lydia and John Porter, a prominent minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Porter graduated cum laude in 1927 with a Bachelor of Science in art from Howard University. … Read MoreJames Amos Porter (1905-1970)
Charlotte Maxeke (maiden name Manye) was a South African woman who broke societal barriers throughout her life. She was born in South Africa on April 7, 1874 and in the early 1880s attended secondary school at Edwards Memorial School. Upon her graduation, with a missionary education in 1885, Manye … Read MoreCharlotte Maxeke (Manye) (1874-1939)
When African American citizens founded the St. James African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Helena, Montana, in 1888, their population topped 250 people in a city of roughly 12,000 souls. Located in Helena’s eastside residential district on 114 N. Hoback, the church building rested on … Read MoreSaint James African Methodist Episcopal Church, Helena, Montana (1888- )
Born Dovey Mae Johnson on April 17, 1914, in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dovey Johnson Roundtree was an African American civil rights activist, attorney, and ordained minister who won the 1955 Interstate Commerce Commission case on segregated bus terminals. She was the second oldest of four children born to James Elliot Johnson, a printer … Read MoreDovey Johnson Roundtree (1914–2018)
