Although George L. Brown was born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, he played a significant roll in Colorado politics for nearly twenty-five years. Following his graduation from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism in 1950, Brown moved to Denver where he worked … Read MoreGeorge L. Brown (1926-2005)
The self-trained historian and journalist Drusilla Dunjee Houston was born in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia in 1876. Her parents were Rev. John William and Lydia Taylor Dunjee. Drusilla’s younger brother Roscoe was a journalist and Civil Rights activist in Oklahoma City. In 1915 he founded … Read MoreDrusilla Dunjee Houston (1876-1941)
Lerone Bennett Jr., historian of African America, has authored articles, poems, short stories, and over nine books on African American history. Bennett was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi the son of Lerone Bennett Sr. and Alma Reed. He and his family moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where … Read MoreLerone Bennett (1928-2018)
Vincent Lushington “Roi” Ottley was born in Harlem in 1906 to parents Jerome P. and Beatrice (Brisbane) Ottley who were immigrants from Grenada. Ottley attended New York City public schools where he became known as an exceptional athlete in basketball, baseball and track. Ottley won … Read MoreVincent Lushington (“Roi”) Ottley
Roy Wilkins, one of the leading US civil rights activists of the twentieth century, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Wilkins’ mother died of tuberculosis when he was four; he and his siblings were then raised by an aunt and uncle in a poor but … Read MoreRoy Wilkins (1901-1981)
John Seamon Cotter, Jr., a talented playwright, journalist, and poet, was born and reared in Louisville, Kentucky. The son of journalist, playwright, poet, teacher and community developer Joseph Seamon Cotter, Sr., the younger Cotter’s education began with his sister Florence Olivia teaching him to read. … Read MoreJoseph Seamon Cotter Jr. (1895-1919)
A journalist, radical activist, and theoretician, George Padmore did more than perhaps any other single individual to shape the theory and discourse of Pan-African anti-imperialism in the first half of the twentieth century. Born Malcolm Nurse in Trinidad in 1901, Padmore moved to the United … Read MoreGeorge Padmore (1901-1959)
