Ohio’s first African American Congressman, Louis C. Stokes was born to Charles and Lois Stokes on February 23, 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended its public schools before joining the United States Army in 1943. Stokes served in the army for three years and … Read MoreLouis C. Stokes (1925-2015)
Lincoln Alexander, prominent attorney and politician, was born on January 21, 1922 in Toronto, Ontario, the son of West Indian immigrants. His mother was a maid, and his father a carpenter by training. In Canada, however, he had to work as a railway porter, which in … Read MoreLincoln MacCauley Alexander (1922-2012)
Born on March 5, 1925 in Chicago, Illinois, George Washington Collins graduated from Waller High School and immediately joined the United States Army in 1943 at the age of 18. He rose to the rank of sergeant and was discharged in 1946. Collins attended the … Read MoreGeorge Washington Collins (1925-1972)
Charles Diggs was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1922. His father was Charles Coles Diggs and his mother was Mayme Jones Diggs. Young Diggs had an upper middle class background; his father, a prominent mortician and real estate developer, served in the Michigan State Senate. … Read MoreCharles Diggs (1922-1998)
Parren James Mitchell was a civil rights activist, the first African American elected to Congress from the South since 1898, and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Born in 1922, Mitchell grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended public schools there. His father … Read MoreParren James Mitchell (1922-2007)
On July 10, 1964, a group of African American men in Jonesboro, Louisiana led by Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas and Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick founded the group known as The Deacons for Defense and Justice to protect members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) against … Read MoreDeacons for Defense and Justice
Seattle-based civil rights activist, labor leader, and lay Catholic leader Walter Hubbard envisioned a church and world without racism and worked his entire life to achieve that vision. Hubbard was born in New Orleans in 1924. He received little formal education but acquired extensive knowledge … Read MoreWalter Hubbard Jr. (1924-2007)
With the beginning of World War II African Americans would get their chance to be in “the toughest outfit going,” the previously all-white Marine Corps. The first recruits reported to Montford Point, a small section of land on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on August 26, 1942. By October, only 600 recruits had … Read MoreMontford Point Marines (1942-1949)
Wilfred Augustus Low — or “Gus,” as he was universally known to friends and colleagues — was born to a sharecropping family in the Delta country of Mississippi on May 17, 1916. When Low was a teenager, his family relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, which … Read MoreW. Augustus Low (1916-1988)
On August 14, 1944, African American soldiers “rioted” against Italian prisoners of war (POW) at Seattle’s Fort Lawton, an Army staging area for combat in the Pacific. American officers and POW’s under their guard were severely beaten. The next morning, one of the POW’s, Guglielmo … Read MoreFort Lawton (Seattle) “Riot” and POW Lynching, 1944
