Elbert Williams is the first known member of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to be murdered for his civil rights activities. Williams was born on October 15, 1908, in rural Haywood County, Tennessee, the son of farmer, Albert Williams, and … Read MoreElbert Williams (1908-1940)
On August 11, 2014, 25-year-old Ezell Ford was shot and killed by Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas of the Los Angeles Police Department. Ford was fatally wounded west of the corner market at 65th Street and Broadway, one block from his home on 66th Street. After … Read MoreEzell Ford (1988-2014)
Johnny Robinson was a sixteen-year-old African American man who was shot and killed by Birmingham, Alabama police officer Jack Parker on September 15, 1963. Robinson’s death occurred on the same day as the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham that resulted in the deaths of four young girls earlier … Read MoreJohnny Robinson (1947-1963)
Nineteenth Century political leader George T. Downing was born on December 30, 1819 in New York, New York. The son of restaurateur Thomas Downing, he was introduced to politics at a young age. His father owned the Oyster House, which was a popular meeting place for … Read MoreGeorge T. Downing (1819-1903)
On September 16, 2016, a 43-year-old Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby shot and killed Terence Crutcher. The circumstances of the shooting would become the source of a police investigation and a separate Civil Rights investigation by the Department of Justice. A trial resulting in an acquittal for Shelby and … Read MoreTerence Crutcher (1976-2016)
Twenty-nine-year-old Alonzo Ashley was killed during a struggle with police officers at the Denver Zoo in Colorado. The Coroner ruled his death a homicide, meaning Ashley died at the hands of others. The questionable circumstances around Ashley’s death was one of numerous cases that helped inspire the national Black … Read MoreAlonzo Ashley (1982-2011)
Entertainer Robert Allen “Bob” Cole, Jr. was born on July 1, 1868 in Athens, Georgia to his parents Robert Allen Cole, Sr. and Isabella Thomas Weldon. The Coles were well known in the Athens community, which boasted a robust African American community at the time. … Read MoreRobert “Bob” Cole, Jr. (1868-1911)
Like the majority of black Americans living in the South in pre-Civil War America, Samuel and Amanda Chambers were slaves. Samuel, was born in 1831 in Pickens County, Alabama. Amanda was born in 1840 in Noxubee County, Mississippi. Samuel’s father was his owner, James Davidson. … Read MoreSamuel D. Chambers (1831-1929) and Amanda Chambers (1840-1925)
Powhatan Beaty was an American soldier and actor. He served in the Union Army’s 5th United States Colored Infantry Regiment throughout the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign during the American Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration given by the United States, when … Read MorePowhatan Beaty (1837-1916)
The Pearl Incident in 1848 was the single largest recorded escape attempt by enslaved people in United States history. On April 15, 1848, 77 slaves attempted to flee Washington, D.C. by sailing away on a schooner called The Pearl. They planned to sail south along … Read MoreThe Pearl Incident, 1848
