People’s Baptist Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, thrived for the first half of the 20th century as the state’s first and only black congregation. It served a New England coastal community where African Americans represented 4% of the population. People’s Baptist was the spiritual home … Read MorePeople’s Baptist Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire (1873- )
John Berry Meachum was a businessman, a founder of the oldest black church in Missouri, and a pioneer in the education of blacks in that state. Meachum was born a slave in Goochland County, Virginia on May 3, 1789. His owner, Paul Meachum, moved Meachum … Read MoreJohn Berry Meachum (1789-1854)
Nicodemus Street Scene, ca. 1885 “Image Ownership: Public Domain” John W. Niles was one of the founders of Nicodemus, Kansas, the first black community on the High Plains. Niles was born into slavery in Mississippi in 1842 to a European father and a black mother … Read MoreJohn Wayne Niles (1842 — ?)
Bishop William Paul Quinn was the fourth Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. He was instrumental in establishing several AME churches in U.S. midwestern states during the pre-Civil War period. His work for the black Methodist community was highly regarded. That work included … Read MoreWilliam Paul Quinn (1788-1873)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” William Henry Twine is best known as the crusading civil rights attorney and editor of two black newspapers in Indian Territory. Twine was born in Richmond, Kentucky, on December 10, 1862 to William H. and Amanda Twine. Soon after 1865 the … Read MoreWilliam Henry Twine (1862-1933)
John Sella Martin, who eventually became an influential minister, was born enslaved in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 27, 1832, to Winnifred, a mulatto, and the nephew of her owner. At the age of six, Martin along with his mother and his sister Caroline, were … Read MoreJohn Sella Martin (1832-1876)
College founder Elizabeth Evelyn Wright was born on August 18, 1872 into a large family near Talbotton, Georgia. Her parents were Virginia Rolfe, a full-blooded Cherokee, and Wesley Wright, an African American carpenter. Both Elizabeth’s parents were former slaves. Elizabeth was raised, however, by her … Read MoreElizabeth Evelyn Wright (1872-1906)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Born free in Washington County, Pennsylvania 1826, Alexander Clark moved to Bloomington, Iowa (later known as Muscatine) at age 16. He arrived with training as a barber, a trade which allowed him into the company of Bloomington’s leading citizens. He purchased … Read MoreAlexander G. Clark (1826-1890)
Drawing of Farm House of William and Eliza Parker “Image Ownership: Public Domain” William Parker was a former slave and an abolitionist. As the principal leader in the 1851 incident in Christiana, Pennsylvania known as the Christiana Riot, Parker helped bring more attention to the … Read MoreWilliam Parker (?—–?)
Houston Negro Hospital, 2010 “Image Ownership: Ed Uthman” The Houston Negro Hospital was created in 1926 when the earlier black Union-Jeramiah Hospital was no longer capable of accommodating the rapidly growing black population of Houston, Texas. African American community leaders began a campaign to garner … Read MoreThe Houston Negro Hospital-Riverside General Hospital (1926- )
