The Colored Carnegie Library was a segregated branch of the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library (later the Houston Public Library). It opened in 1913 in Houston’s Fourth Ward and was one of the first public libraries for African-Americans west of the Mississippi River. It was … Read MoreColored Carnegie Library, Houston, Texas (1913-1961)
The Cherry Street Library was a segregated branch of the Evansville Public Library (now Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library) located at 515 Cherry Street in Evansville, Indiana. It was the first free public library built north of the Ohio River exclusively for African Americans and one … Read MoreCherry Street Library, Evansville, Indiana (1914-1955)
Marie Louise Anderson Greenwood was the first African American teacher to obtain tenure in the state of Colorado. Greenwood was born in Los Angeles, California on November 24, 1912 to Joseph Anderson who worked as a railroad chef, and Sarah Garrett Anderson, a laundress. At … Read MoreMarie Louise Greenwood (1912- )
The Tougaloo Nine were nine students who, in 1961 while undergraduates at Tougaloo College, staged sit-ins at the all-white Jackson Main Library in Jackson, Mississippi. Prior to the sit-ins, African Americans were prohibited from using the city’s main library. The Nine—Meredith Coleman Anding Jr., James … Read MoreThe Tougaloo Nine (1961)
James Richardson Bacote was an artist, preservationist, historian and co-founder of the Geechee Kunda Cultural Center in Georgia. Bacote was born on December 18, 1948 in Brunswick, Georgia, to Sally and James Bacote Sr. He attended local schools on the Georgia Coast, as well as … Read MoreJames R. Bacote II (1948-2018)
Irene Amos Morgan Kirkaldy was a civil rights activist who won her 1946 U.S. Supreme Court case in Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia, which declared interstate transport racial segregation to be unconstitutional, nearly a decade before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Irene Amos was born … Read MoreIrene Morgan Kirkaldy (1917-2007)
Reby Cary, educator, community activist, politician, entrepreneur and World War II veteran, was born on September 9, 1920, in Fort Worth, Texas, to Reverend Smith and Maggie B. Cary. A graduate of I. M. Terrell High School in 1937, he received his Bachelor of Arts … Read MoreReby Cary (1920-2018)
The Clinton Desegregation Crisis of 1956 occurred at Clinton High School in Clinton Tennessee. The crisis was the result of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which called for the desegregation of public schools across the nation. In … Read MoreThe Clinton Desegregation Crisis (1956)
Hattie Mae White holds the distinction of being the first African American elected to public office in Houston, Texas in the 20th century. Born Hattie Mae Whiting, she is the daughter of David Wendell and Hattie (Gooden) Whiting, born in Huntsville, Texas on May 22, … Read MoreHattie Mae White (1916-1993)
Marion William Dial was the first African American elected to a city-wide office in Missouri. Dial was born in Chetopa, Kansas, on June 27, 1903. After receiving bachelors and master’s degrees from the Kansas State Teachers College (now Pittsburg State University), Dial embarked on a … Read MoreMarion William Dial (1903-1972)
