Milton Crenchaw was a flight instructor and one of the original Tuskegee Airman. He was the first African American from Arkansas to receive training from the federal government to become a civilian licensed pilot. Milton Pitts Crenchaw was born on January 13, 1919, in Little … Read MoreMilton Pitts Crenchaw (1919-2015)
The first African American Postmaster of a major postal facility, Henry W. McGee, Sr. was born in Hillsboro, Texas, in 1910, and moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1927. McGee was the first person to rise from the ranks of letter carriers to achieve the status … Read MoreHenry Wadsworth McGee, Sr. (1910-2000)
In the article below Bruce Mouser, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, discusses his new book, For Labor, Race, and Liberty: George Edwin Taylor, His Historic Run for the White House, and the Making of Independent Black Politics which describes his efforts … Read MoreRunning for President: George Edwin Taylor, 1904
The Underground Railroad which fugitive slaves followed from the antebellum South to Canada is now a well-known story. But what of those who returned? In his ongoing research, University of Texas at El Paso historian Adam Arenson explores this little-known aspect of nineteenth- century African … Read MoreAfter the Underground Railroad: Finding the African North Americans who Returned from Canada
Isom Dart, born enslaved in Arkansas in 1849, and originally known as Ned Huddleston, gained a reputation as a late 19th Century Wyoming Territory outlaw. He had many aliases including “Black Fox,” “Tan Mex,” and “Calico Cowboy”. At the age of twelve Huddleston accompanied his … Read MoreIsom Dart (1849-1900)
In September 1957 Arkansas Democratic Governor Orval E. Faubus became the national symbol of racial segregation when he used Arkansas National Guardsmen to block the enrollment of nine black students who had been ordered by a federal judge to desegregate Little Rock’s Central High School. … Read More(1958) Orval E. Faubus, “Speech on School Integration”
Political activist Kathryn Magnolia Johnson was born on December 15, 1878 in Darke County, Ohio. She was the daughter of Walter and Lucinda Jane McCown Johnson. Kathryn Johnson graduated at the top of her high school class in New Paris, Ohio in 1895 and worked … Read MoreKathryn Magnolia Johnson (1878-1955)
Franklin D. Burgess’s remarkable life as a star basketball player at Gonzaga University and a Federal Judge in Western Washington earned him the description “a legend on two courts.” Franklin Burgess was born on March 9, 1935 in Eudora, Arkansas. Raised with seven siblings, he … Read MoreFranklin D. Burgess (1935-2010)
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff was created by the Arkansas Legislative Act of 1873. The University was established for the “convenience and well-being of the poorer classes” which meant African Americans in the state. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is the … Read MoreUniversity of Arkansas Pine Bluff (1873- )
