Academic, leading educator, World War I veteran, and president of Kentucky State College for Colored Persons (later Kentucky State College for Negroes and now Kentucky State University), Rufus Ballard Atwood was born on March 15, 1897 near Hickman, Kentucky. The child of former slaves, Atwood … Read MoreRufus B. Atwood (1897-1963)
James Lloyd Jackson was one of the little known heroes of the D-Day Landing at Normandy Beach in France in 1944. Jackson was born in Lakeland, Florida on February 25, 1920 to Essie May Holly and Amos Jackson. He graduated from Lakeland High School in … Read MoreJames Lloyd Jackson (1920-2008)
Libreville is the largest city and capital of Gabon, a small country on the western coast of Africa. In 2005 its population was 578,156. It is a tropical city that has a port on the Komo River. The city is the trading center for the … Read MoreLibreville, Gabon (1848- )
Angela Davis, activist, educator, and scholar, was born on January 26, 1944, in the “Dynamite Hill” area of Birmingham, Alabama. The area received that name because so many African American homes in this middle class neighborhood had been bombed over the years by the Ku … Read MoreAngela Davis (1944-)
Henry Johnson was a World War I hero because of his remarkable performance in France. Johnson, born in 1897 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, moved to Albany, New York with his family when he was still a child. At the age of 20, he worked as … Read MoreHenry Johnson (1897-1929)
Mathieu Da Costa, a free black seaman, is believed to be the first person of African ancestry to reach Canada and he is the first recorded black man to visit the region of Port Royal in Nova Scotia. Although little is known of his background … Read MoreMathieu Da Costa (17th Century?)
Legendary opera star Mattiwilda Dobbs, was born July 11, 1925 in Atlanta, Georgia. Although she was the fifth of six daughters and her father worked as a mail clerk, he was able to provide her and all of her sisters with a college education. Dobbs … Read MoreMattiwilda Dobbs (1925-2015)
Born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, Wilfredo Lam personally exemplified the complex multiethnic nature of Latin America: his father was Chinese while his mother boasted a combined African, Indian, and European cultural background. Utilizing some of this background, Lam, through art, would explore various African … Read MoreWilfredo Lam (1902-1982)
William DeHart Hubbard was the first African American to win a gold medal at the Olympics as an individual, placing first in the running long jump. Hubbard was born on November 25, 1903, in Cincinnati, Ohio and attended Walnut Hills High School in that city. … Read MoreWilliam DeHart Hubbard (1903-1976)
Eugene James (Jacques) Bullard, the first African American combat aviator, was known as the “black swallow of death” for his courage during missions. He led a colorful life, much of it in Europe. Bullard was born in Columbus, Georgia, on October 9, 1895, the seventh … Read MoreEugene James “Jacques” Bullard (1895-1961)
