“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Legal and civil rights activist Leo Branton, Jr. was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on February 17, 1922 to Leo Branton, Sr., and Pauline Wiley. His father ran a family-owned taxicab business and his mother was a school teacher. Branton received … Read MoreLeo Branton Jr. (1922-2013)
The Philadelphia Plan was a federal affirmative action program established in 1967 to racially integrate the building construction trade unions through mandatory goals for nonwhite hiring on federal construction contracts. Declared illegal in 1968, a revised version was successfully defended by the Nixon Administration and … Read MoreThe Philadelphia Plan (1967-1970)
Sports historian, educator, administrator, coach, athlete, and civil rights activist, Dr. Edwin Bancroft Henderson was a pioneer promoter of African American involvement in sports and physical education. Edwin, the son of William and Louisa Henderson, was born on November 24, 1883. His father was a … Read MoreEdwin Bancroft Henderson (1883-1977)
(Photo Courtesy of Tricia Simpson) The Trinity African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church is the oldest continuously operating black church in Utah. Trinity AME was organized in 1890 by Rev. T. Saunders when Salt Lake City was the capital of Utah Territory. The early date of … Read MoreTrinity African Methodist Episcopal Church (1890- )
In 1946, U.S. Army Sergeant Isaac Woodard challenged a Greyhound bus driver while traveling from Georgia to South Carolina after being discharged from service in World War II. Police officers, who met him at the next stop, brutally attacked him and left him permanently blind. … Read MoreIsaac Woodard (1919-1992)
The Inkwell was a popular beach for African Americans in Southern California through the middle decades of the Twentieth Century. The beach at Bay Street fanning out a block to the north and south was derogatorily called “The Inkwell” by nearby Anglos in reference to … Read MoreThe Inkwell, Santa Monica, California (1905-1964)
Image Ownership: 5of7 (CC BY-SA 2.0) Danny Lebern Glover, actor, producer, and humanitarian was born in San Francisco, California on July 22, 1946 to Carrie (nee) Hunly and James Glover. His parents, United States postal workers, fought for equal rights as members of the National … Read MoreDanny Glover (1946- )
Spottswood William Robinson III, a prominent federal judge during the Civil Rights era, was born on July 26, 1916 in Richmond, Virginia. His father was Spottswood William Robinson Jr., a lawyer and businessman, and his mother was Inez Clements. The younger Robinson attended Armstrong High … Read MoreSpottswood William Robinson (1916-1998)
Clilan (C.B.) Powell, longtime owner of the Amsterdam News, was born in 1894 to former Virginia slaves. Very little is known about his childhood. He received his medical degree in 1920 from Howard University School of Medicine and began his career specializing in x-ray technology. … Read MoreC. B. Powell (1894-1977)
Nathan Francis Mossell was an African American doctor who helped establish the first black hospital in Philadelphia. Mossell, the son of Aaron and Eliza Bowers Mossell, was born on July 27, 1856 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada but grew up in Lockport, New York where he … Read MoreNathan Francis Mossell (1856-1946)
