Charles Bennett Ray journalist, clergyman, and abolitionist was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts on December 25, 1807. He attended school in his hometown, and then in the 1830s he was given the opportunity by abolitionists to attend Wesleyan Seminary in Wilbraham, Massachusetts to study theology. He … Read MoreCharles B. Ray (1807-1886)
Henry Francis Downing was an author, playwright, consul and sailor. He was born in New York City in 1846, the son of Henry and Nancy Downing. His family maintained an oyster business that had been owned by his grandfather, Thomas Downing, a well known freeman. … Read MoreHenry Francis Downing (1846-1928)
Author, educator and organizer George Edmund Haynes was a social scientist, religious leader and pioneer in social work education for African Americans. Born in 1880 to Louis and Mattie Haynes in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, George Haynes was the oldest of two children of a domestic … Read MoreGeorge Edmund Haynes (1880-1960)
Born Joseph Williams in Sequin, Texas on April 6, 1886, “Smokey” Joe Williams (also known as “Cyclone” Joe Williams) is regarded as one of the greatest of the black baseball pitchers. In 1952, when the Pittsburgh Courier asked a panel of veterans and sports writers … Read More“Smokey” Joe Williams (1886-1946)
Johnson Chesnutt Whittaker was the second black cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York. He was born in South Carolina to an enslaved mother, Maria J. Whitaker, and her free husband, James Whitaker, in 1858. (Later in life, he … Read MoreJohnson C. Whittaker (1858-1931)
Composer, actor, and pioneer in his field, John Rosamond Johnson was one of the most successful of the early African American composers. Born on August 11, 1873 in Jacksonville, Florida, Johnson was the younger brother of prominent composer and civil rights leader James Weldon Johnson. … Read MoreJ. Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954)
Born John W. Jackson, in Fort Plain, New York, on March 16, 1858, Fowler spent much of his boyhood in Cooperstown, N.Y. where organized baseball maintains its Hall of Fame and museum. Coincidentally Fowler is argued to be one of the first professional black baseball … Read MoreJohn W. “Bud” Fowler (1858-1913)
Calloway Jr. and Martha Eulalia Reed in Rochester, New York. Calloway was raised in Baltimore, Maryland and in high school he sung with a group called the Baltimore Melody Boys. Calloway attended Crane College in Chicago for pre-law but soon abandoned his studies for a … Read MoreCab Calloway (1907-1994)
Augustus Granville Dill, sociologist, business manager, musician, and colleague of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) co-founder W.E.B. Du Bois, is best known for his work overseeing the publication of Du Bois’s journal, The Crisis, between 1913 and 1928. He also helped … Read MoreAugustus Granville Dill (1881-1956)
John W. Cooper was an African American ventriloquist, born in Brooklyn, New York in 1873. After losing both of his parents at a very young age, Cooper received his education at Professor Dorsey’s Institute in Brooklyn. There he developed into a budding entertainer and took … Read MoreJohn W. Cooper (1873-1966)
