Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Bethel A.M.E.), Baltimore lays claim to the designation as the oldest independent continuously operating African American church in the state of Maryland tracing its origins back to 1785 when a group of African Americans met at the Strawberry Alley meetinghouse. This is one of … Read MoreBethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Maryland (1785- )
In the extended article that appears below historians Daudi Abe and Quintard Taylor explore the history of African Americans in King County from 1858 to 2014. They analyze the forces which encouraged people of African ancestry to settle in the county and discuss the rapid … Read MoreFrom Memphis and Mogadishu: The History of African Americans in King County, Washington, 1858-2014
“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)
COINTELPRO was a counterintelligence program run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from roughly 1956 to 1976. It combined the efforts of the Bureau and local police forces to track, harass, discredit, infiltrate, destroy, and destabilize dissident groups in the United States. COINTELPRO targeted … Read MoreCOINTELPRO [Counterintelligence Program] (1956-1976)
The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) was an umbrella organization that united several groups involved in the civil rights campaign in Mississippi between 1963 and 1965. Serving as the organization behind the civil rights movement, COFO was involved in voter registration and public accommodations desegregation … Read MoreCouncil of Federated Organizations (1962-1965)
Moïse Kapenda Tshombe was the president of Katanga, once a secessionist state of Congo immediately after the country’s independence in 1960. Tshombe was born in 1919 in the southern region of Katanga. His father was said to be the first Congolese millionaire, amassing a fortune … Read MoreMoïse Kapenda Tshombe (1919–1969)
Wyatt Tee Walker, civil rights leader, pastor, and theologian, was born on August 16, 1928, in Brockton, Massachusetts to John Wise and Maude Pinn Walker. Wyatt attended elementary and high school in Merchantville, New Jersey. He earned a B.S. in chemistry and physics from Virginia … Read MoreWyatt Tee Walker (1928-2018)
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Zulu Chief and one of the founders of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), was born August 27, 1928 in Mahlabathinni, Natal. He was a descendent of the Zulu royal family, his mother being the granddaughter of King Cetshwayo. Buthelezi attended Impumalanga Primary School … Read MoreMangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi (1928- )
Osei Kofi Tutu, the fourth ruler of the Ashanti Empire, serving from 1701 until 1717, was also one of the most important leaders of the state that is now part of modern-day Ghana. During his childhood, Tutu was part of the royal court of Denkyira … Read MoreOsei Kofi Tutu (c. 1680-1717)
Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth was born on March 18, 1922 in Mount Meigs, Alabama to Vetta Green and Alberta Robinson. However, his mother and stepfather, William Nathan Shuttlesworth, a farmer in Oxmore, Alabama raised Fred Shuttlesworth. Shuttlesworth attended Oxmore Elementary School. He graduated from Rosedale High … Read MoreFred Shuttlesworth (1922-2011)
