Sultry, soulful vocalist, lyricist, composer, actor, and activist Oleta Adams was born in Seattle, Washington, on May 4, 1953, and began piano lessons at seven. When she was 11, her family moved to Yakima, Washington, where she sang in the Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church choir, … Read MoreOleta Adams (1953- )
In the article below, historian Amy Sommers describes the February 1936 meeting of Howard Thurman in India with Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of that nation’s non-violence campaign for political independence from Great Britain. She argues that the meeting influenced Thurman’s views on the subject and … Read MoreOn the Origins of Non-Violence in the Civil Rights Movement: Howard Thurman in South Asia, 1935-1936
George Metcalfe was a civil rights leader in Natchez, Mississippi, who led one of the most successful yet little-known movements in the Deep South. Metcalfe was born on September 20, 1911, in Franklin, Louisiana, to parents Ernest Metcalfe and Alberta Simon Metcalfe. He was a … Read MoreGeorge Metcalfe (1911-1989)
Claudia Lynn Thomas is an orthopedic surgeon, civil rights activist, and change agent. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1950 and raised in Queens, New York. She studied classical ballet with Bernice Johnson at the Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center in Queens. Thomas … Read MoreClaudia Lynn Thomas (1950- )
Justin Holland, guitarist, pianist, flutist, composer, and civil-rights activist, was born on July 26, 1819, to Exum Holland, a free Black farmer in Norfolk, Virginia. He had two brothers and five sisters. He demonstrated considerable talent when he was eight by using a small book … Read MoreJustin Holland (1819-1887)
Daniel Robert Smith was the last surviving child of a formerly enslaved American. He was born on March 11, 1932, in Winsted, Connecticut, to Abram A. B. Smith and Clara Wheeler Smith, a domestic worker. Daniel was the fifth of six children. Smith was skilled … Read MoreDaniel Robert Smith (1932-2022)
Jonathan Luther Jackson is a United States congressman representing Illinois’ 1st Congressional District, elected in November 2022 and taking office in January 2023. Jackson is an advocate for civil rights, a former professor of business studies at Chicago State University, and a fervent social justice … Read MoreJonathan L. Jackson (1966 – )
Josephine Ebaugh Jones was a community activist and possibly the first Black woman in management at a Fortune 500 company. Born to sharecroppers Anna Nance and Scott Ebaugh on July 30, 1920, in Cross Hill, South Carolina, Josephine arrived in New York City in 1946 … Read MoreJosephine Ebaugh Jones (1920-2017)
Marie Walker Johnson was a Black Creole civil rights activist in Oakland, California, during the 1960s. A mother of five and a nurse, she also played a crucial role in multiple grassroots groups in the East Bay area. In these organizations, she marched, wrote letters, … Read MoreMarie Clara Delpit Walker Johnson (1921-1974)
Chokwe Lumumba was a civil rights attorney and the former mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, where he served from July 2013 until his death on February 24, 2014. He was born Edwin Finley Taliaferro in Detroit, Michigan, the second of eight children of Lucien Taliaferro, from … Read MoreChokwe Lumumba (1947-2014)
