Eleanor Dickey Ragsdale was one of the most distinguished activists, educators, and entrepreneurs in Arizona history. In 1947 she graduated from the historically black Cheyney University in Pennsylvania. The university’s main mission was to cultivate African American teachers, who would become leaders in their local … Read MoreEleanor Dickey Ragsdale (1926-1998)
Rebecca Howard, an outstanding hotelier and cook, was one of Olympia, Washington‘s earliest businesswomen. Born in 1827 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rebecca Groundage married Alexander Howard, a local cooper, in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1843. By 1859 Rebecca and her husband had moved to Olympia and … Read MoreRebecca Groundage Howard (1827-1881)
Marjorie Edwina Pitter King, the youngest of the Pitter sisters, was born March 8, 1921, to Edward A. Pitter and Marjorie Allen Pitter, in Seattle, Washington. When she graduated from Garfield High School, she joined her sisters at the University of Washington to study for … Read MoreMarjorie Edwina Pitter King (1921-1996)
Sarah Davis was one of the leading free African Creek merchants who lived in the Creek Agency settlement, west of present day Muskogee before (and after) the Civil War. Sarah Davis was born in the Old Creek Nation in 1799 and was formerly a slave … Read MoreSarah Davis (1799-1886)
William Nickerson, one of the founders of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co., was born in a log cabin in San Jacinto County, Texas in 1879. Nickerson was educated at Bishop College in Marshall, Texas. He worked briefly as a history teacher in public schools … Read MoreWilliam Nickerson (1879-1945)
Sarann Knight was born in Eufaula, Oklahoma on July 22, 1920, to parents of mixed African American and Native American ancestry. She migrated to Las Vegas in 1942, settling with her husband, Luther Walker, in the Westside African American community. Preddy first sought employment on … Read MoreSarann Knight-Preddy (1920-2014)
Sarah Blair was born into slavery on Christmas Day, 1855, on the Blair Plantation near Greensboro, North Carolina. After the Civil War Sarah lived with an aunt in Knoxville, Tennessee and changed her name to Gammon, the aunt’s name. In 1870, Knoxville Judge John L. … Read MoreSarah Gammon Bickford (1855-1931)
Peter Lester moved with his wife Nancy and five children to San Francisco from Philadelphia in 1850, where he was appalled to find that slavery was still a fact of life in the free state of California. In an attempt to do something about this, … Read MorePeter Lester (1814- ? )
As one of the earliest permanent American settlers on Puget Sound in 1845, George Bush played a vital role in the beginnings of Washington Territory. Bush’s story is even more remarkable because he was a man of mixed race who overcame prejudice and discrimination to … Read MoreGeorge Bush (ca. 1789-1863)
Elijah Abel, early convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), was born on July 25, 1810 in Washington County, Maryland to Andrew and Delilah Abel, likely in bondage. There is some evidence that he used the Underground Railroad to escape slavery. He eventually … Read MoreElijah Abel (1810-1884)
