Charles Wesley Turnbull, sixth governor of the United States Virgin Islands, was born February 5, 1935, in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, the Virgin Islands of the United States, to John Wesley Turnbull and Ruth Ann Eliza Skelton Turnbull who were both immigrants from the British … Read MoreCharles Wesley Turnbull (1935- )
Irving Garland Penn was a journalist, educator, and key figure at Methodist Episcopal Church. Penn was born on October 7, 1867, in New Glasgow, Virginia, to a mulatto family, possibly of black and Native American heritage. His father Isom was a railroad brakeman, and his … Read MoreIrving Garland Penn (1867-1930)
Harry Tyson Moore was an African American civil rights leader and founder of the Brevard County, Florida chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He also served as president of the state chapter of the NAACP. On December 25, 1951, … Read MoreHarry T. Moore (1905-1951)
Johnson Chesnutt Whittaker was the second black cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York. He was born in South Carolina to an enslaved mother, Maria J. Whitaker, and her free husband, James Whitaker, in 1858. (Later in life, he … Read MoreJohnson C. Whittaker (1858-1931)
Edward Austin Johnson was a businessman, historian, educator, lawyer and politician. Born enslaved in Raleigh, N.C. on November 23, 1860, his parents Columbus and Eliza Johnson, had twelve children. He was educated by Nancy Walton, a free African American woman who also taught white children … Read MoreEdward A. Johnson (1860-1944)
Image Ownership: Public Domain David Augustus Straker, author, lawyer, and politician, was born and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, where he achieved success as a teacher and principal at St. Mary’s Public School. In 1868, he moved to Kentucky, where he taught at a freedman’s school … Read MoreDavid Augustus Straker (1842-1908)
