The New York City Draft Riots remain today the single largest urban civilian insurrection in United States history. By the start of the Civil War in April 1861, New York City, New York Mayor Fernando Wood called for the city to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy, but the … Read MoreThe New York City Draft Riots (1863)
Vasco De Gama Hale, educator, blinded veterans’ association organizer, and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) official, was born in Crawford, Mississippi, to Brotop and Jane Hale on February 16, 1915. His father, Brotop, toiled as a sharecropper for a short time … Read MoreVasco De Gama Hale (1915-2002)
Image Ownership: Meridian-Lauderdale County Public Library The 13th Street (St.) Colored Branch was a segregated public library established by the city of Meridian, Mississippi, in 1912 and opened in March 1913. It was one of the first free public libraries for African Americans in the state … Read MoreThe 13th Street Colored Branch Library, Meridian, Mississippi (1913-1974)
The Mississippi River “Great Flood of 1927” inundated large areas in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. However, it was in Mississippi where the embankments overflowed, drowning hundreds, perhaps a thousand people, and became one of the largest natural disasters in US history in terms of loss … Read MoreThe Mississippi River Great Flood of 1927
The Jackson State Killings took place at Jackson State College (now Jackson State University) on May 15, 1970, in Jackson, Mississippi. Around midnight on May 14, city and state police confronted a group of students and opened fire on them, killing two students and injuring … Read MoreThe Jackson State Killings, 1970
Margaret Lawrence, the first African American psychoanalyst and the first pediatric psychiatrist in the United States, is author of Young Inner City Families: Development of Ego Strength under Stress (New York, Behavioral Publications, 1975) and The Mental Health Team in the Schools (New York: Behavioral Publications, … Read MoreMargaret Cornelia Morgan Lawrence (1914-2019)
Emmett Hercules Holmes was one of Spokane, Washington’s first African American residents, as well as an important politician in the young city. Holmes was born on July 7, 1872, near Vicksburg, Mississippi. By the summer of 1888, his mother was interested in moving to the … Read MoreEmmett Hercules Holmes (1872-1948)
Lamar Smith, a voting rights activist and veteran, was a martyr in the fight for civil rights. Smith was born in March 1892 to Levi Smith and Harriet Humphrey in Lincoln County, Mississippi; however, there is little information concerning his early life. Smith served in … Read MoreLamar Smith (1892-1955)
Naomi Ruth Sims is widely credited as the first African-American supermodel. A businesswoman and author, Sims was the first African-American model to appear on the cover of Ladies’ Home Journal. Sims was born in Oxford, Mississippi, the youngest of three daughters, to John and Elizabeth … Read MoreNaomi Ruth Sims (1948-2009)
Image Ownership: Public domain Bernice Mathews is a small business owner and the director of the nursing program at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada. She is best known as a former Democratic member of the Nevada State Senate. Mathews was born on November … Read MoreBernice Mathews (1933- )
