Howard Drew at the 1912 Olympics Image Ownership: Bain News Service (Fair Use) Howard P. Drew, schoolboy Olympian, original “World’s Fastest Human,” scholar, soldier, lawyer, first African American judge in Connecticut, was born to David and May Drew in Lexington, Virginia on June 28, 1890. … Read MoreHoward Porter Drew (1890–1957)
Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 3.0) Civic leader, activist and journalist Benjamin Jealous is the seventeenth president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). With his appointment to the position in 2008, 35-yar-old Jealous became the youngest person to … Read MoreBenjamin Todd Jealous (1973- )
Educator, newspaper publisher and politician John Quincy Adams is best known as the editor of the Western Appeal/The Appeal of St. Paul, Minnesota. He held the position from 1886 to 1922. John Quincy Adams was born free in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 4, 1848, to … Read MoreJohn Quincy [“J. Q.”] Adams (1848-1922)
Lonnie Smith was a well-known dentist in Houston, Texas, an officer in the Houston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and a civil rights activist. He is best known for his role in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case … Read MoreLonnie E. Smith (1901-1971)
Whitney Houston, singer and actress, sold close to 100 million albums worldwide during her lifetime. Her recognitions include two Emmy Awards, five Grammy Awards, 19 American Music Awards, five People’s Choice Awards, five Soul Train Awards, and seven NAACP Image Awards. Houston was born in … Read MoreWhitney Houston (1964-2012)
Dentist, community leader, and civil rights activist Henry Boyd Hall was born September 12, 1899 in Palestine, Texas, Hall attended Palestine’s Lincoln High School, and later Tennessee State University and Meharry Medical College where he graduated as a Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1923. After … Read MoreHenry Boyd Hall (1899-1974)
Mayfield Webb, a lawyer, civil rights leader, and social activist was born on November 10, 1927 in Baltimore, Maryland. As a member of the U.S. Army, he served during the Korean War. Upon his return, he eventually attended Morgan State University in Maryland and Howard … Read MoreMayfield Kelvin Webb (1927-1996)
Born May 31, 1918 in Philadelphia, Lloyd Albert Quarterman, a chemist, was one of the few African American scientists and technicians to work on the Manhattan Project, the top secret effort to design and build the atomic bomb during World War II. Quarterman developed an interest in … Read MoreLloyd Albert Quarterman (1918-1982)
In the article below, Kimberley Mangun, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at The University of Utah, describes how she “discovered” Beatrice Morrow Cannady, an editor who spent nearly 25 years advocating civil rights in Oregon. Cannady used her Portland-based newspaper, The Advocate, … Read MoreBeatrice Morrow Cannady and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Oregon, 1912-1936
Educator and civil rights advocate John A. Davis Sr. began his career in activism in the 1930s as leader of the New Negro Alliance, which pressured businesses to hire black employees. Two decades later he assisted with the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court … Read MoreJohn Aubrey Davis Sr. (1912-2002)
