Jack L. Cooper is widely acknowledged as the first African American radio broadcaster. Cooper, born in Memphis, Tennessee on September 18, 1888, was the youngest of 10 children. He was raised in a poor, single-parent home, and, at the age of 10, quit school and … Read MoreJack Leroy Cooper (1888-1970)
Ralph Johnson Bunche, American political scientist, renowned scholar, award winner, and diplomat, was one of the most prominent African Americans of his era. Bunche was born on August 7, 1903 or 1904 (there is some disagreement about the year of his birth) in Detroit, Michigan. … Read MoreRalph J. Bunche (ca. 1903-1971)
Paul Bogle led the last large scale armed Jamaican rebellion for voting rights and an end to legal discrimination and economic oppression against African Jamaicans. Because of his efforts Bogle was recognized as a national hero in Jamaica in 1969. His face appears on the … Read MorePaul Bogle (1822-1865)
Image Ownership: Library of Congress Dr. George Marion Johnson had a distinguished public and professional career that included high administrative positions at universities on two continents as well as governmental positions in agencies which protected the civil rights of all Americans. Throughout his career, he … Read MoreGeorge Marion Johnson (1900-1989)
Though born in New York City, New York’s Harlem community, Harry Keels Thomas, Jr. was raised in a middle-class neighborhood in Queens where most parents were civil servants. His mother was a social worker and his father, a World War II veteran, operated small businesses. … Read MoreHarry K. Thomas Jr. (1956- )
St. Maurice is commemorated throughout churches in modern Germany as a black African dressed as a Roman Solider. That depiction originated with the renowned statue in the Cathedral of St. Catherine and St. Maurice in Magdeburg, Germany. However, according to some historical authorities, he was … Read MoreSt. Maurice (ca. 250-ca. 287)
To escape enslavement on a plantation near Richmond, Virginia, Henry “Box” Brown in 1849 exploited maritime elements of the Underground Railroad. Brown’s moniker “Box” was a result of his squeezing himself into a box and having himself shipped 250 miles from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia, … Read MoreHenry “Box” Brown (1816-1889)
Influential educational leader Freeman A. Hrabowski III has occupied many roles in his life, as a child civil rights activist in the 1960s, as professor, as university president, as philanthropist, and as consultant. He was born on August 13, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama to parents … Read MoreFreeman A. Hrabowski III (1950- )
The son of a postal worker and stay-at-home mother, Ashley Augustus Boone Jr. was born and raised in what he described as a “lower middle class” environment in Springfield, Massachusetts. His parents, nonetheless, recognized the primacy of education and, like his brother and two sisters … Read MoreAshley A. Boone Jr. (1938-1994)
Tone Johnson, medical doctor, Vietnam hero, and civic leader was born on November 9, 1944 to Lyzer (Elizabeth) Marks Johnson and sawmill worker and farmer Henry Johnson in Plain Dealing, Louisiana. After graduating from Carrie Martin High School in Plain Dealing in 1963, he went … Read MoreTone Johnson Jr. (1944– )
