Seattle-based civil rights activist, labor leader, and lay Catholic leader Walter Hubbard envisioned a church and world without racism and worked his entire life to achieve that vision. Hubbard was born in New Orleans in 1924. He received little formal education but acquired extensive knowledge … Read MoreWalter Hubbard Jr. (1924-2007)
Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar-Nelson was an educator, poet, activist, and playwright. Moore was born on July 19, 1875 in New Orleans, Louisiana, into a family of mixed black, white, and Indian ancestry. Her mother, Patricia Wright, was formerly enslaved, and worked as a seamstress and … Read MoreAlice Ruth Moore Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935)
Musicologist, playwright, novelist and political activist Lola Shirley Graham, born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1896, became the second wife to W.E.B. Du Bois in 1951. Lola Shirley Graham was taught at a young age to stand up to injustice. She wrote her first editorial to … Read MoreShirley Graham Du Bois (1896 – 1977)
Johnnie Cochran Jr. was born on October 2, 1937 in Shreveport, Louisiana into a family descended from slaves. His father was an insurance salesman and his mother sold Avon products. When he was a young boy, his family moved to Los Angeles, California where he … Read MoreJohnnie Cochran, Jr. (1937-2005)
Andry’s Rebellion, also known as the German Coast Uprising, was a slave revolt that occurred in the Territory of Louisiana between January 8 and 10, 1811. The revolt, the largest servile uprising in United States history, was named after the owner of the plantation, Manual … Read MoreAndry’s Rebellion (1811)
A writer, an economist and an advocate for affirmative action, Andrew Felton Brimmer is best known as the first African American to hold a governorship on the United States Federal Reserve Bank. Born in Newellton, Louisiana on September 13, 1926, Brimmer moved to Bremerton, Washington … Read MoreAndrew F. Brimmer (1926-2012)
Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis was born on October 18, 1961 in New Orleans, Louisiana to parents Ellis and Dolores Marsalis. At an early age Marsalis exhibited a passion for music. By age eight, he was already performing traditional New Orleans music in his local church … Read MoreWynton Marsalis (1961- )
Dolores Cooper was the first African American woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in pharmacology. She was also the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Purdue University. Cooper was born in 1930 in Clarksdale, Mississippi to a successful family of professionals. … Read MoreDolores Cooper Shockley (1930- )
Born a free person of color in New Orleans, Thomy Lafon was the son of a Frenchman and a free woman of Haitian descent who had been born in Louisiana to a slave mother. Lafon’s father deserted the family when Lafon was a young boy. … Read MoreThomy Lafon (1810-1893)
Born in Monroe, Louisiana on February 17, 1942, Huey P. Newton was named after the populist governor Huey Long. His parents moved to Oakland, California during World War II seeking economic opportunities. Newton attended Merritt College, where he joined Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and met … Read MoreHuey P. Newton (1942-1989)
