Dorothy Butler Gilliam is a journalist, editor, media educator, feminist, author, and former president of the National Association of Black Journalists. She was the first African American female reporter hired by The Washington Post. Born in the Dixie Homes Project in Memphis, Tennessee, Gilliam was … Read MoreDorothy Butler Gilliam (1936- )
Jay T. Harris is best known as the late 20th century black newspaper executive who led a major daily newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News. Born December 3, 1948 in Washington, D.C., Harris is the son of World War II veteran and IBM employee Richard … Read MoreJay T. Harris, (1948- )
MOVE is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based black liberation group, whose foundation was built on philosophies of black nationalism and anarcho-primitivism, as well as animal rights. The group was founded in 1972 by Vincent Leaphart, a native of West Philadelphia, who could not read or write. He … Read MoreMOVE (1972- )
Alton Parker Hornsby, Jr., author, historian and professor, was born on September 3, 1940 in Atlanta, Georgia to Lillie Mae Newton Hornsby, an entrepreneur and voting rights activist, and Alton P. Hornsby, an automobile painter. Hornsby was one of six children whose parents briefly owned … Read MoreAlton Hornsby, Jr. (1940-2017)
Magazine editor Susan L. Taylor was born in Harlem, New York on January 23, 1946. Her parents, Lawrence, from St. Kitts, and Violet, from Trinidad, came to New York in the 1920s and owned a clothing store for thirty years until it closed in the … Read MoreSusan L. Taylor (1946- )
Clarence Lee Major is a distinguished poet, novelist, painter, anthologist, lexicographer, memoirist, and teacher. His creative output encompasses a wide range of artistic and intellectual endeavors across six decades, producing works that have often defied expectations, provoked controversy, and revealed new ways of seeing. Major was born December 31, 1936, … Read MoreClarence Major (1936- )
Samuel R. Lowery was the first black lawyer to argue a case before the United States Supreme Court. He was born on December 8, 1830 or 1832 in Davidson Country, Tennessee to his black slave father Peter Lowery and free Cherokee mother Ruth Mitchell. His mother died when … Read MoreSamuel R. Lowery (1830 or 1832-1900)
Joseph L. White, known as the “Father of Black Psychology,” for exposing the implicit whiteness in the field of psychology, including education, research, and professional training, was a clinical psychologist, professor, and researcher who challenged the American Psychological Association (APA) by helping to found the Association of … Read MoreJoseph L. White (1932-2017)
Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes was a prominent editor, author, and civil rights activist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known for his work in Plessy v. Ferguson, the most important civil rights case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 19th Century, and a … Read MoreRodolphe Lucien Desdunes (1849-1928)
Henry Lee Moon helped to define the civil rights agenda of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during the post-World War II era. The son of Roddy Moon, a prominent NAACP branch president in Cleveland, and Leah Moon, Henry Lee Moon … Read MoreHenry Lee Moon (1901-1985)
