Environmental and social justice activist Freweyni Asress of Gondar, Ethiopia runs the Instagram account @ZeroWasteHabesha, with which she documents her progress toward a zero-waste lifestyle, alongside encouraging and facilitating conversations on topics such as Black ecology, race, and colonization. Defined by academics J.T. Roane and … Read MoreFreweyni Asress (?- )
Legendary rapper, composer, actor, and activist Kurtis Blow was born on August 9, 1959, in Harlem, New York, as Kurt Walker. His mother was a dancer in Harlem during the Renaissance at the Savoy and the Cotton Club. At the age of seven, Blow’s mother … Read MoreKurtis Blow/Kurt Walker (1959- )
Founded in 1779, Warren County, North Carolina, is the birthplace of the environmental racism movement. In 1982 members of the predominantly Black population of Warren County, situated on the North Carolina border with Virginia, began protesting the decision by the State of North Carolina to … Read More9) Warren County, North Carolina (1779- )
Human rights activist Sonia Pierre was born in Villa Altagracia, San Cristobal, Dominican Republic on July 4, 1963, and she died at forty-eight years old of a heart attack on December 4, 2011. Sonia was one of the most internationally-recognized activists working on behalf of … Read MoreSonia Pierre (1963-2011)
Mabel Byrd, a life-long educator, researcher, and civil rights activist, was the first African American to attend the University of Oregon. Born in Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1895, Byrd was the youngest daughter of Robert Byrd, a bricklayer, and Jennie Byrd. She moved with … Read MoreMabel Janet Byrd (1895-1988)
Louise Alone Thompson Patterson, civil rights activist, communist, and educator, was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 9, 1901 to Lulu (Louise) F. Brown Toles and William J. Toles. After her parents 1904 separation, Thompson lived in Seattle, Washington as well as Utah, Nevada, Idaho, … Read MoreLouise Thompson Patterson (1901-1999)
Daisy Nelson Moore was a teacher and civil rights activist in Arizona best known for her legal fight to teach in integrated classrooms before the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. Moore was born on December 7, 1910 in Barthsville, Oklahoma to … Read MoreDaisy Nelson Moore (1910-1985)
Dr. Vera Mae (Berry) Pigee was a significant civil rights organizer and activist in the Mississippi Delta. She a co-founder of the Council of Federated Organizations and participated in a demonstration that ultimately desegregated the Greyhound bus terminal in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Vera Mae Berry was … Read MoreVera Pigee (1924-2007)
Beulah Mae (Gregory) Donald is best known for filing a civil lawsuit against the United Klans of America after Donald’s youngest child Michael Donald was found hanging from a tree in Mobile, Alabama on March 21, 1981. Henry Hays (26 years old at the time) … Read MoreBeulah Mae Donald (1919-1988)
The Spingarn Medal is the highest honor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Since 1915, it has been awarded annually for the highest achievement of a living African American in the preceding year or years. The twofold purpose of the … Read MoreThe Spingarn Medal (1915- )
