Named Career Ambassador, a title equivalent to a four-star general, U.S. ambassador to six different countries, Terence A. Todman was an outstanding diplomat in the service of the United States. He challenged the racial prejudice he encountered at the State Department, paving the way for … Read MoreTerence A. Todman (1926-2014)
Longtime civil rights organizer and later U.S. Ambassador, Franklin Hall Williams was born on October 22, 1917, in Flushing, New York. His mother died in 1919. Williams was raised by his maternal grandparents. He graduated from Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1941. After … Read MoreFranklin Hall Williams (1917-1990)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Black Power advocate Nathan Wright, Jr. was born on August 5, 1923 in Shreveport, Louisiana. He and his brother and sisters grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. Wright attended St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1941 and 1942 and then … Read MoreNathan Wright Jr. (1923-2005)
John Hanks Alexander is best known as the second African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point after Henry Ossian Flipper. Alexander was born on January 6, 1864 in Helena, Arkansas, to James and Fannie Alexander, who were both born … Read MoreJohn Hanks Alexander (1864-1894)
Charles “Chuck” Stone, Jr., pioneering African American newspaper columnist, editor, author, and professor was born on July 21, 1924 to Charles and Madeline Stone in St. Louis, Missouri. Soon after, the family moved to Connecticut where Stone’s mother worked for the Hartford Board of Education … Read MoreCharles Sumner “Chuck” Stone, Jr. (1924-2014)
Preston Daniels, the first African American elected Mayor of Des Moines, Iowa, was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1945. Shortly afterwards his parents moved to Des Moines and he grew up in the Chesterfield section of southeast Des Moines, a working-class area also known as … Read MorePreston A. Daniels (1945- )
Often referred to as “Mr. Jazz Himself,” Lieutenant James Tim Brymn was a conductor, a musical director of several George Walker and Bert Williams Shows, and bandleader of the all African American 350th Field Artillery Regiment Band during World War I. The band was also … Read MoreJames Tim Brymn (1881-1946)
(Image Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley) Nathaniel Sextus Colley, the first African American attorney in Sacramento, California, was born on November 21, 1918 in Carlowsville, Alabama. The youngest of six brothers, Colley grew up in Snow Hill, Alabama, and graduated from … Read MoreNathaniel Sextus Colley (1918-1992)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Clarence Everett Lightner, the first popularly elected mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina and the first African American elected mayor of a metropolitan Southern city, was born on August 15, 1921 to Mammie Blackmon and Calvin E. Lightner in Raleigh. His father, … Read MoreClarence Everett Lightner (1921-2002)
“Image Ownership: Presbyterian Historical Society” Reverend Gayraud Stephen Wilmore was an American pastor, educator, historian, and theologian. Born on December 20, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wilmore attended Central High School where he was active in the drama club, wrote for the student newspaper and, for … Read MoreGayraud Stephen Wilmore (1921-2020)
