Walter Arthur Gordon, attorney and civil rights activist, was born on October 10, 1894, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Henry B. and Georgia Bryant Gordon. He was the son of a Pullman porter and the grandson of slaves. His family moved to Riverside, California, in 1904. … Read MoreWalter Arthur Gordon (1894-1976)
Audley “Queen Mother” Moore, prominent Harlem civil rights activist, was born on July 27 1898, in New Iberia, Louisiana to Ella and St. Cry Moore. Moore’s parents passed away before she completed primary school. Following their deaths, she dropped out of school to earn a … Read MoreAudley Moore (1898-1997)
Sarah Massey Overton was a leading black freedom fighter and women’s rights activist in post-Gold Rush San Jose, California. Massey was born in Lennox, Massachusetts and came to California with her parent in the 1880s while she was still a young girl. The Masseys moved … Read MoreSarah Massey Overton (1850-1914)
Hugh Bernard Price, civil rights activist and president of the National Urban League, was born on November 22, 1941 in Washington, DC. Raised in a middle-class home by his parents, Charlotte Schuster and Kline Price, Price became aware of racial struggles and the importance of … Read MoreHugh Price (1941 – )
Cecil Bassett Moore was a lawyer, civil rights activist and leader of the Philadelphia National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1963 to 1967. A charismatic politician, Moore was able to mobilize large numbers of working class African Americans into direct political … Read MoreCecil Moore (1915-1979)
Fredrick McGhee, a founding member of the Niagara Movement, was born into slavery in Mississippi in 1861. He was freed in 1864 as Union forces marched through the northeastern part of the state. McGhee’s parents helped make it possible for him to attend a United … Read MoreFredrick L. McGhee (1861-1912)
Eldrewey Joseph Stearns, political activist, and student organizer was born in Galveston, Texas, on December 21, 1931, to Devona and Rudolph Stearns. He spent his formative years during the 1930s and 1940s in San Augustine, Texas, but returned to Galveston in 1945 and graduated from … Read MoreEldrewey Joseph Stearns (1931-2020)
An activist, politician, and leader of her community, Sharon Sayles Belton was the first African American and first woman mayor of the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A St. Paul native, Belton was born on May 13, 1951. For most of her life she fought for … Read MoreSharon Sayles Belton (1951- )
Civil rights leader and political activist James Forman was an instrumental leader in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), sending demonstrators to the South for the Freedom Ride protests. Forman, who was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 4th, 1928, lived with his grandmother in … Read MoreJames Forman (1928-2005)
James Weldon Johnson, composer, diplomat, social critic, and civil rights activist, was born of Bahamian immigrant parents in Jacksonville, Florida on June 17, 1871. Instilled with the value of education by his father James, a waiter, and his mother Helen, a teacher, Johnson excelled at … Read MoreJames Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)
