Nettie J. Craig Asberry was a suffragist, clubwoman, and music educator who helped found the Tacoma Chapter of the NAACP and the Washington State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. Born on July 15, 1865 in Leavenworth, Kansas, Asberry was the youngest of six children born … Read MoreNettie J. Craig Asberry (1865-1968)
Tuskegee Airman Rudolph “Val” Archer was born in Woodlawn, a South Side neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois on April 13, 1929 to Osborn Archer, railroad laborer, and artist and homemaker Ruth Luella Seay. Ruth Archer passed away when Rudolph was twelve, and he began to deliver … Read MoreRudolph “Val” Archer (1929-2020)
Benjamin Harrison Hill was a legislator, teacher, and African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister born in Sidney, Nova Scotia, Canada on November 1, 1903 to Joseph L. Hill, a laborer in the steel mill industry and Anna E. Hill, a servant for a private family. Hill … Read MoreBenjamin Harrison Hill (1903-1971)
For over thirty years Sylvia Luz del Villard Güilbert gave global lectures and performances on the African influence in Puerto Rico (PR) as an activist, actress, artist, ballerina, choreographer, coloratura, dancer, declamadora, folklorist, lecturer, orator, painter, teacher, singer, and writer. Reared by Paula Moreno Herrera, … Read MoreSylvia del Villard (1927-1990)
Garlin Gilchrist is a politician, entrepreneur, and activist serving as the 64th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan. Gilchrist was born September 25, 1982, in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Farmington High School, in Farmington, Michigan. He then attended University of Michigan College of Engineering, graduating with … Read MoreGarlin Gilchrist (1982- )
Lillie May Carroll Jackson was a civil rights organizer in Baltimore and longtime leader of the city’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Known as the “Mother of Freedom,” Jackson was credited with pioneering the tactic of non-violent resistance … Read MoreLillie M. Carroll Jackson (1889-1975)
Gilbert Edward Noble was a pianist, producer, professor, news anchor, television host, and documentarian. His entry into media was largely due to the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. Born in Harlem, New York on February 22, 1932 to Jamaican parents Iris Villiers Noble, a … Read MoreGil Noble (1932-2012)
Dubbed the “Queen of Creole Cuisine” for her culinary genius, Leah Chase was an American chef, author, and TV personality who advanced the Civil Rights Movement as a celebrity chef. Chase was born on January 6, 1923 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Catholic Creole parents. … Read MoreLeah “Dooky” Chase (1923-2019)
Lemuel Augustus Penn Sr. was the assistant superintendent of the District of Columbia (D.C.) public schools, a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army, and a decorated veteran of World War II. He was born in Washington, D.C. on September 19, 1915, to Henry Penn, … Read MoreLemuel Augustus Penn Sr. (1915-1964)
Julia de Burgos was a celebrated literary icon of the Americas whose themes of Blackness, feminism, love, migration, nationalism, and nature helped birth the 1960s Nuyorican movement. Julia Constanza Burgos García, teacher, activist, journalist, and poet, was born February 17, 1914 in Santa Cruz, Carolina, … Read MoreJulia de Burgos (1914-1953)
