Rev. Peter Barrow moved his family from Mississippi to Spokane, Washington in 1889. Almost immediately upon arriving, he began to involve himself politically and religiously in the city’s early life. According to Union Army Pension Records, Barrow was born into slavery in 1840 near Petersburg, … Read MorePeter Barrow (1840-1906)
Considered by many as the dean of African American composers, William Grant Still, the son of educators, was born in Woodville, Mississippi on May 11, 1895. His father, a musician who once taught music at Alabama A&M College, died when he was an infant; his … Read MoreWilliam Grant Still (1895-1978)
Odessa Brown, for whom the Children’s Clinic in Seattle is named, was born April 30, 1920, in Des Arc, Arkansas. She moved to Seattle in 1963 after receiving training as a licensed beautician at the C. J. Walker Beauty School in Chicago. A mother of … Read MoreOdessa Brown (1920-1969)
Dr. Lincoln J. Ragsdale, Sr. was a leading activist in the battle for civil rights in Arizona. After graduating from Tuskegee flying school in Alabama in 1945, he relocated to Luke Air Field in Litchfield Park, Arizona, becoming one of the first black pilots to … Read MoreLincoln J. Ragsdale Sr. (1926-1995)
The painter and sculptor James Washington, Jr. was a leading member of the Northwest School, a group of artists, writers, and sculptors who became internationally prominent in the mid-20th Century. Washington was born on November 10, 1908 and raised in Gloster, Mississippi, one of six … Read MoreJames Washington, Jr. (1908-2000)
William Dominick Matthews was a Civil War officer in the Union Army and is best known for leading the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry. Matthews was born a free man in October 25, 1827, on the eastern shore of Maryland. His father Joseph was a … Read MoreWilliam Dominick Matthews (1827-1906)
