From 1974 to 1977, Elaine Brown was Chairwoman of the Black Panther Party. As a Panther, Brown also ran twice for a position on the City Council of Oakland, California. Since the 1970s she has been active in prison and education reform and juvenile justice. … Read MoreElaine Brown (1943- )
Hobart T. Taylor, Jr, a government official and lawyer, was born to Charlotte and Hobart Taylor, Sr., on December 17, 1920 in Texarkana, Texas. Taylor graduated from Prairie View College in Texas with a B.A. degree in 1937. He received an M.A. degree from Howard … Read MoreHobart T. Taylor, Jr. (1920-1981)
In 1934, Arthur Wergs Mitchell became the first African American Democrat elected to Congress from any state. Mitchell served four terms as a Representative in Congress for the state of Illinois (1935-1943). Mitchell was born near Lafayette Alabama on December 22, 1883 and was educated … Read MoreArthur Wergs Mitchell (1883-1968)
Beginning in the late 1960s, Ruby Duncan led the Welfare Rights Movement in Las Vegas, Nevada. She and her group, the Nevada Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), brought the Federal Food Stamps Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) to … Read MoreRuby Duncan (1932- )
Washington State politician George Fleming was born February 22, 1937, in Dallas, Texas, to parents A.R. and Lilla N. Fleming. He started post secondary education at the University of Washington, Seattle. While attending the University, Fleming was running back and kicker for the Washington Huskies … Read MoreGeorge Fleming (1937-2021)
On May 8, 2009, Ronald Cordell Sims became the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sims now second-in-command of the federal agency will oversee day-to-day operations of the Department which has an annual budget of $39 billion and some 8,500 employees. … Read MoreRonald Cordell Sims (1948- )
Oliver Toussaint Jackson was an example of 19th Century western African American entrepreneurship. Jackson created a restaurant, a farm and a laundry service. His most ambitious venture was the establishment of Dearfield, Colorado, an agricultural colony for African Americans about 70 miles northeast of Denver. … Read MoreOliver Toussaint Jackson (1862–1948)
Kurt L. Schmoke, born in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 1, 1949, came from a middle class background. His father, Murray, a civilian chemist for the U.S. Army, was a graduate of Morehouse College, and his mother, Irene was a social worker. Schmoke attended the city’s … Read MoreKurt L. Schmoke (1949- )
Entrepreneur, millionaire, and political activist, Hobart T. Taylor was born in 1890 in Wharton, Texas, to Millie (Wright) and Jack Taylor. Jack Taylor, a former slave, who had become an entrepreneur and landowner, had acquired 2,000 acres of farmland in Fort Bend and Wharton Counties … Read MoreHobart T. Taylor, Sr. (1890-1972)
An important force in local and state politics in the Oakland, California region, the East Bay Democratic Club (EBDC) was founded in the late 1940s to help produce black political self-determination through electoral politics by organizing grassroots coalitions of East Bay African Americans. Founded by … Read MoreEast Bay Democratic Club
