George Cadle Price, PC, OCC was a Belizean statesman who served twice as head of government of Belize, from 1961 to 1984 and 1989 to 1993. He served as First Minister and Prime Minister under British rule until independence in 1981 and was the country’s … Read MoreGeorge Cadle Price (1919–2011)
The Biloxi Wade-In civil rights protests were conducted by local African Americans on the beaches of Biloxi, Mississippi between 1959 and 1963. Physician Gilbert R. Mason Sr. led the demonstrations to desegregate beaches on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Biloxi Wade-Ins was the first major … Read MoreBiloxi Wade-Ins (1959-1963)
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, established 1864, was the first African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E. church) in the state of Mississippi and the site for T.W. Stringer Grand Lodge of Freemasonry for the State of Mississippi in Vicksburg founded by Rev. T.W. Stinger in 1867, as … Read MoreBethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (1864- )
In 1816, Rocky Fork near Godfrey, Illinois, was established by four free African American families who purchased five adjacent parcels of land and built homes and a church that soon became a large-scale secret Underground Railroad station for escaped enslaved people fleeing to safety from … Read MoreRocky Fork Underground Railroad Community (1816- )
World-renowned artist Sam Gilliam was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on November 30, 1933, to Sam Gilliam, Sr., a railroad worker, and Estery Gilliam, a homemaker. They had eight children, and Sam, Jr was the seventh. When the parents moved to Louisville, Kentucky, all of the … Read MoreSam Gilliam (1933- )
Martha White, leader of the Baton Rouge sit-in of 1953, was born in Woodville, Wilkinson County, Mississippi, on April 2, 1922, to sharecroppers Ephraim White and Viola White. She had seven siblings. White moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana as a teenager after the death of … Read MoreMartha White (1922-2021)
Abraham Galloway, freedom-fighter, spy, abolitionist, and politician, in an unsung hero of American history. Galloway was born a slave on February 8, 1837 in Smithville (now Southport) North Carolina the son of a slave and a white boatman. Little is known about his youth, but … Read MoreAbraham Galloway (1837-1870)
The “March Against Fear” began on June 5, 1966, and was initiated by civil rights activist James Meredith. Four years earlier he had become the first African American student to integrate the University of Mississippi by enrolling there in 1962. Meredith decided to protest the … Read MoreJames Meredith’s March Against Fear (1966)
The forced removal of Native Americans from the southeastern United States beginning in the 1830s to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River is known as the Trail of Tears. Under British colonial rule and continuing during the first decades of American independence, Indians were … Read MoreTrail of Tears (1831-1850)
Rhythm and Blues singer Anita Ward was born on December 20, 1956, in Memphis, Tennessee, to James L. Ward, and Juanita Ward. The oldest child, Anita, had four siblings, Cassandra Ward Hibbler, Michael Ward, Entrée Ward, and James L. Ward, Jr. Ward began singing early … Read MoreAnita Ward (1956- )
