Little is known about Reverend D. A. Graham, the A.M.E. minister who delivered the speech that appears below. However the minister’s words were recorded as part of a nationwide protest in 1899 against lynchings of African Americans across the nation. In May of 1899 the … Read More(1899) Rev. D. A. Graham, “Some Facts About Southern Lynchings”
Forrest Oran Wiggins was born in 1907 to Charles and Cora Cosby Wiggins. A native of Vincennes, Indiana, Wiggins attended public schools in Vincennes and Indianapolis. In 1928 Wiggins received his B.A. from Butler University and in the following year earned a certificate in French … Read MoreForrest Oran Wiggins (1907-1982)
Mathematician Charles Bernard Bell, Jr., one of the leading African American mathematicians of the twentieth century, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in August 20, 1928. At age 19 he graduated from Xavier University in 1947 and earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Notre Dame … Read MoreCharles B. Bell, Jr. (1928-2010)
Barack Obama was the 44th President of the United States and the first African American to occupy the White House. Obama was born August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was a Kenyan graduate student studying in the United States, and … Read MoreBarack Obama Jr. (1961- )
Born John Linwood Fox on April 2, 1907 in Indianapolis, Indiana (some say Minnesota), Fox earned the moniker “Tiger Jack” early in his career and boxed under the name Tiger Jack Fox. He claimed that he got his start in boxing when he was picked … Read MoreTiger Jack Fox (1907-1954)
THE BLACK AGENDA The Gary Declaration: Black Politics at the Crossroads Introduction The Black Agenda is addressed primarily to Black people in America. It rises naturally out of the bloody decades and centuries of our people’s struggle on these shores. It flows from the most … Read More(1972) Gary Declaration, National Black Political Convention
Oscar Charleston was born October 14, 1896, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Growing up as a batboy for the local Indianapolis ABC’s, Charleston was a runaway who joined the Army at age 15. Stationed in the Philippines, Charleston was given the opportunity to play baseball and run … Read MoreOscar Charleston (1896-1954)
James Baskett, the first male African American to win an Academy Award, was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on February 16, 1904. After high school Baskett planned to study pharmacy, but after he was offered a small part in a show in Chicago, Illinois his career … Read MoreJames Baskett (1904-1948)
