The Reverend (now Bishop) Hamel Hartford Brookins became one of the leading black ministers and civil rights activists in Los Angeles in the 1960s. Brookins arrived from Wichita, Kansas in 1960 to be the new pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in … Read MoreHamel Hartford Brookins (1926- )
Marcelino Manoel da Graca, anglicized Charles Grace, and best known as Sweet Daddy Grace, was founder of the United House of Prayer for All People. Born off the coast of West Africa on Brava, Cape Verde Islands, he was one of nine children born to … Read MoreCharles Manuel “Sweet Daddy” Grace (1881-1960)
The Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC) was formed in 1937 by young people who had attended the National Negro Congress (NNC) in Chicago, Illinois in 1936 and wanted to implement its call for action. These young leaders, including veteran activists James Jackson, Helen Gray, Esther … Read MoreSouthern Negro Youth Congress (1937-1949)
Open housing was one of the most prominent goals of the Seattle, Washington civil rights movement in the 1960s. Up to the early 1960s African Americans in Seattle were almost completely restricted to housing in the Central District of the city. Housing restrictions were not … Read MoreRev. Mance Jackson (1931-2007)
Absalom Jones was born into slavery in Sussex, Delaware in 1746. He taught himself to read in his early teens from books he purchased by saving pennies given to him by visitors to his master’s home. At the age of sixteen, Jones’ family was separated … Read MoreAbsalom Jones (1746-1818)
Charles Fuller was born on March 5, 1939 to parents Charles H. Sr. and Lillian Anderson Fuller of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fuller was the oldest of three children, but would see his parents welcome some twenty foster children into their home over the years. Fuller attended … Read MoreCharles Henry Fuller Jr. (1939- )
Born a freeman in Pennsylvania in 1827, Jonathan Gibbs was the son of Maria Jackson and the Methodist minister, Jonathan Gibbs. Gibbs was originally trained as a carpenter until in 1848. Then he became one of only two African Americans accepted at Dartmouth College in … Read MoreJonathan Gibbs (1827-1874)
Charles Sidney Gilpin, an actor, singer, and vaudevillian dancer, was the most successful African American stage performer in the early 20th Century. He is best known for his portrayal of Brutus Jones in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones. A Richmond, Virginia, native, Gilpin attended St. … Read MoreCharles Sidney Gilpin (1878-1930)
A pioneer playwright and moralistic philosopher of constructive thinking, Garland Anderson was the first African American known to have a serious full-length drama produced on Broadway in New York. Active in the theatre for over 10 years during the 1920s and 1930s, he achieved national … Read MoreGarland Anderson (1886-1939)
Born into slavery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 14, 1760, Richard Allen went on to become an educator, writer, minister and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Benjamin Chew, a Quaker lawyer, owned the Allen family, which included Richard’s parents and three other children. … Read MoreRichard Allen [Pennsylvania] (1760-1831)
