Guinn v. United States (1915) held the “grandfather clause” enacted by the Oklahoma State Legislature invalid because it violated the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Fifteenth Amendment, the last of three post-Civil War Amendments ratified to end slavery, endowed the rights of … Read MoreGuinn v. United States (1915)
Few lives in African American history are surrounded by more myth and misinformation than the life of Marie Laveaux. Although she is best known today as the “legendary Creole voodoo priestess of New Orleans,” Laveaux was in fact a 19th century hairdresser, confidant, and community … Read MoreMarie Laveaux (1801-1881)
In the article below Jill L. Newmark, exhibition specialist in the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, describes thefirst hospital sponsored by the United States government specifically to meet the health care needs … Read MoreContraband Hospital, 1862-1863: Health Care For the First Freedpeople
John Van Surly DeGrasse was a commissioned physician with the Union Army during the American Civil War and was the first black to be admitted to a United states medical society. He was born in June 1825 in New York City, New York to Count … Read MoreJohn Van Surly DeGrasse (1825-1868)
William B. Powell Jr., one of the first African American physicians to receive a contract as a surgeon with the Union Army, was free born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1834. His father, William Powell Sr., also in the medical practice, was African American, and … Read MoreWilliam B. Powell Jr. (1834-1915)
Today the phrase “Uncle Tom” evokes a powerfully negative image in American society. It depicts a weak, subservient, cringing black man who betrays his race and its struggle for liberation. David Reynolds, an English professor in the Graduate School of the City University of New … Read MoreUncle Tom Revisited: Rescuing the Real Character from the Caricature
The Port Royal Experiment, the first major attempt by Northerners to reconstruct the Southern political and economic system, began only seven months after the firing on Fort Sumter. On November 7, 1861 the Union Army occupied South Carolina’s Sea Islands, freeing approximately 10,000 slaves. As … Read MorePort Royal Experiment (1862-1865)
The 1st Louisiana Native Guard (USA) was one of the first all-black regiments to fight in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The Guard originated in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1862, during its occupation by Union forces. On September 27, 1862, Major General … Read MoreUSA / Corps d’Afrique 1st Louisiana Native Guard (1862-1863)
The 1st Louisiana Native Guard was the first official black regiment in the Confederate Army. The Guard was formed when Louisiana Governor Thomas Overton Moore accepted into the state militia a regiment of approximately 1,100 free African American men. When Governor Moore called for troops … Read MoreCSA 1st Louisiana Native Guard (1861-1862)
