Carter W. Wesley, newspaperman and political activist, was born in Houston, Texas, on April 29, 1892, to Mable (Green) and Harry Wesley. He graduated from the public schools of the city and earned a B.A. degree at Fisk University in Nashville in 1917. Shortly thereafter, … Read MoreCarter W. Wesley (1892-1969)
Cloves Campbell, Sr. was born in Elizabeth, Louisiana in 1931. He moved to Arizona in 1945 with his family and earned a B.A. in Education from Arizona State University. Campbell was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 1962, and after two terms he … Read MoreCloves Campbell, Sr. (1931-2004)
Born in Pennsylvania, little is known about Anderson before he arrived in California at the end of the California Gold Rush. In 1854, Anderson established a tailor shop in San Francisco and plunged into the city’s small but energetic African American community, participating in California … Read MorePeter Anderson (ca. 1822-1879)
Valmo Bellinger, a businessman and political leader, was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Charles Bellinger. As a young man, Valmo established and published the San Antonio Register beginning in 1931 after G.W. Bouldin, publisher of the only black newspaper, the Inquirer, rejected … Read MoreValmo Bellinger (?-1994)
Roscoe Dunjee was a prolific journalist and civil rights activist. He was the son of Rev. John William Dunjee, a Baptist minister, and Lydia Ann Dunjee. Although his father was born in Jefferson County, West Virginia, Roscoe worked for various African American newspapers in Oklahoma … Read MoreRoscoe Dunjee (1883-1965)
Born in 1892 in post-Reconstruction Marshall, Texas, activist-journalist Clifton Richardson, Sr., founded two newspapers and advanced the “New Negro” philosophy. The son of former slaves, Richardson studied at Bishop College in Marshall. Richardson and his wife, Ruby, whom he married in 1909, moved from Marshall … Read MoreClifton Richardson Sr. (1892-1939)
Charlotta Bass was a feminist, a crusading journalist, and a major African American activist on the West Coast through the first half of the twentieth century. Born Charlotta Amanda Spears in Sumter, South Carolina in 1879 or 1880, she migrated first to Rhode Island, and … Read MoreCharlotta Bass (1879-1969)
Born on December 24, 1870 to formerly enslaved parents in St. Simons, Georgia, Robert Sengstacke Abbott attended Hampton Institute in Virginia and then went on to graduate from Kent Law School (now Chicago-Kent College of Law in Illinois) in 1899. In May 1905 he started … Read MoreRobert Sengstacke Abbott (1870-1940)
Joseph D.D. Rivers’ name appeared on the second page of The Colorado Statesman (1895–1961), a respected African American weekly newspaper, as editor and publisher for nearly forty years. Rivers started the paper in 1895 and worked diligently to print news from around the country as … Read MoreJoseph D.D. Rivers (ca. 1856-1937)
Born in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1863, Joseph Blackburn Bass made his mark in the newspaper business in Kansas, Montana, and California. After teaching school during the 1890s, Bass took over ownership of the Topeka Call in 1896, where he had worked for two years … Read MoreJoseph Blackburn Bass (1863-1934)
