H. Claude Hudson was an important civil rights and business leader in two different cities: Shreveport, Louisiana, and Los Angeles. Hudson was born in Louisiana in 1886. He studied at Wiley College, in Marshall, Texas, and earned a degree from the dentistry school at Howard … Read MoreH. Claude Hudson (1886-1989)
E. Burton Ceruti was a prominent attorney and one of the founders of the Los Angeles branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Ceruti was born on August 14, 1875, in Nassau, the Bahamas. He moved to the United States when … Read MoreE. Burton Ceruti (1875-1927)
Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, attorney Oliver White Hill spent more than 60 years in a practice devoted to civil rights causes. He was in the forefront of the legal effort to desegregate public schools, participating in the … Read MoreOliver W. Hill (1907-2007)
Dr. Willie W. Herenton was born on April 23, 1941 in Memphis, Tennessee and served as the first African American mayor of that city. Dr. Herenton is a graduate of LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis and the University of Memphis. At a young age, Herenton demonstrated … Read MoreWillie W. Herenton (1941- )
One of the most visible advocates of nonviolence and direct action as methods of social change, Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. As the grandson of the Rev. A.D. Williams, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist church and a founder … Read MoreMartin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
Richard Arrington, the first African American mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, was born in Livingston, Alabama on October 19, 1934 to sharecroppers. He received a Bachelor’s degree from Miles College (Alabama), a M.A. in Biology from the University of Detroit in Michigan, and a Ph.D. in … Read MoreRichard Arrington (1934- )
Clifford L. Alexander Jr. was an adviser to presidents, the first African-American secretary of the Army, and a former chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Born in New York City on September 21, 1933, he was the son of Clifford L. and Edith … Read MoreClifford L. Alexander, Jr. (1933-2022)
Richard Henry Austin was born on May 6, 1913 in Stouts Mountain, Alabama, the son of Richard H. and Leila (Hill) Austin. Austin shined and sold shoes while studying at the Detroit Institute of Technology at night. After graduating from the Institute in 1937, he … Read MoreRichard Henry Austin (1913-2001)
Born in Richmond, Virginia on January 17, 1931, Lawrence Douglas Wilder was the first African American to be elected governor in the United States of America. For four years Wilder served as the governor of Virginia (1990-1994) after previously serving as Lt. Governor of the … Read MoreLawrence Douglas Wilder (1931- )
Although he has served as a public school teacher, attorney, and Michigan State Supreme Court Justice, Dennis Archer is best know as the Mayor of Detroit and the first African American to become president of the American Bar Association. Born on January 1, 1942 in … Read MoreDennis Archer (1942- )
