By 1854 William Lloyd Garrison was the most prominent abolitionist in the United States. Beginning with his newspaper, the Liberator, which he established in Boston in 1831, Garrison led the effort to end slavery in the nation. In this 1854 speech in Boston which appears … Read More(1854) William Lloyd Garrison, “No Compromise with the Evil of Slavery”
Image Ownership: Public Domain In February 1838, Angelina Grimke became the first woman in U.S. history to address the members of an American legislative body when she spoke to the members of the Massachusetts Legislature. Her subject was the demand for the immediate end of … Read More(1838) Angelina Grimke, “Address to the Massachusetts Legislature”
On February 27, 1833 Maria W. Stewart gave this speech before a racially integrated audience at the African Masonic Hall in Boston. AFRICAN RIGHTS and liberty is a subject that ought to fire the breast of every free man of color in these United States, … Read More(1833) Maria W. Stewart, “An Address at the African Masonic Hall”
Ewart Guinier, labor activist and political candidate, was the first chairman of Harvard University’s Afro-American Studies Department. Born in Panama in 1910, Guinier migrated to the United States in 1925 and attended high school in Boston, Massachusetts. After his acceptance into the Harvard University Class … Read MoreEwart Guinier (1910-1990)
Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts on January 5, 1904, William Knox is remembered for two achievements. He was among a handful of black scientists to work on the top secret Manhattan Project, which produced the atom bomb during World War II. Following the war, he … Read MoreWilliam Jacob Knox Jr. (1904-1995)
James Sommersett was the subject of a landmark legal case in Great Britain, which was the first major step in imposing limits on Trans-Atlantic African slavery. Sommersett entered the pages of history when in 1771, he fled his North American owner, Charles Stewart, while both … Read MoreJames Sommersett (ca. 1741-ca. 1772)
Image Ownership: Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project (Fair Use) Clergyman and civil rights activist John Hurst Adams was born November 27, 1927 in Columbia, South Carolina to Reverend E.A. Adams and homemaker Charity Nash Adams. John Adams graduated from Booker T. Washington … Read MoreJohn H. Adams (1927– )
The Port Royal Experiment, the first major attempt by Northerners to reconstruct the Southern political and economic system, began only seven months after the firing on Fort Sumter. On November 7, 1861 the Union Army occupied South Carolina’s Sea Islands, freeing approximately 10,000 slaves. As … Read MorePort Royal Experiment (1862-1865)
Lois Jean Barron White, the first African American president of the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), was born in Nashville, Tennessee on March 21, 1938. She was raised by her grandmother, Rosa Barron, as her own mother lived away in Massachusetts. White’s grandmother taught her … Read MoreLois Jean White (1938 – )
Geoffrey Canada is an educator and social activist who has dedicated much of his life to reforming the educational system in Harlem, New York in order to provide poor and disadvantaged children the skills they need to attend colleges and universities. Canada was born on … Read MoreGeoffrey Canada (1952- )
