María Elena Moyano Delgado was an Afro-Peruvian community organizer and mother whose assassination by the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) sparked a public outcry bringing attention to her work and the plight of economically marginalized women. Born on November 23, 1958 in Barranco District, Lima to … Read MoreMaría Elena Moyano Delgado (1958-1992)
San Diego businessman and community leader George Ramsey was born in Pasadena, California, one of eight children of George S. Ramsey, a railroad porter and barber, and Eva M. Ramsey. Most sources say that he arrived in San Diego in 1913 as the valet of … Read MoreGeorge A. Ramsey (1889-1963)
Image Courtesy of Seattle University Gordon McHenry is a contemporary community leader in Seattle’s non-profit social services institutions. McHenry’s father, Gordon McHenry, was the first in his family to graduate from college and the first African American engineer promoted into management at the Boeing Company. … Read MoreGordon McHenry Jr. (1957- )
Tarea (Ty) Hall Pittman was a civil rights worker, social worker, and community activist. Born in Bakersfield, California in 1903, she was the second of the five children of William Hall and Susie Pinkney. Her father, a farm laborer who moved from Alabama to Bakersfield … Read MoreTarea Hall Pittman (1903-1991)
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)
Maggie Lena Mitchell was born in Richmond, Virginia on July 15, 1864. Walker’s mother, Elizabeth Draper, was an assistant cook and her father, Eccles Cuthbert, was an Irish-born newspaperman on the Van Lew estate. Her step-father, William Mitchell, was a butler on the estate. As … Read MoreMaggie Lena Walker (1864-1934)
Vivian Osborne Marsh was a community activist and government official, becoming one of the most influential African Americans in the San Francisco area. She was born in Houston, Texas, on September 5, 1897. When she applied to the University of California Berkeley, because of her … Read MoreVivian Osborne Marsh (1897-1986)
Prominent social and civic leader in African American Seattle, Washington, Meredith Mathews was born in Thomaston, Georgia on September 14, 1919. He attended public schools in Georgia and then moved to Ohio for college. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Wilberforce University in … Read MoreMeredith Mathews (1919-1992)
