Dr. Matilda Arabelle Evans, black healthcare advocate, was born in Aiken, South Carolina in 1866. The oldest of three, born to Anderson and Harriet Evans, she spent much of the beginning of her life working in the fields with her family. Martha Shoefield, a white … Read MoreMatilda A. Evans (1866-1935)
One of Booker T. Washington’s closest confidants, Charles William Anderson’s personal and professional relationship with African America’s most prominent educational leader spanned more than 20 years and helped influence Anderson’s political views and determine his public offices. Anderson, a Republican, was known primarily for his … Read MoreCharles William Anderson (1866-1938)
Today the phrase “Uncle Tom” evokes a powerfully negative image in American society. It depicts a weak, subservient, cringing black man who betrays his race and its struggle for liberation. David Reynolds, an English professor in the Graduate School of the City University of New … Read MoreUncle Tom Revisited: Rescuing the Real Character from the Caricature
In 1909 Gilbert Haven Jones became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from a German university. After completing his doctoral studies in philosophy, Jones returned to the United States to take up teaching and administrative positions, primarily at Wilberforce University. Jones was also … Read MoreGilbert Haven Jones (1881-1966)
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– )
Image Ownership: All-Pro Reels (CC BY-SA 2.0) National Basketball Association star player Walt “Clyde” Frazier Jr., was born the oldest of nine children in Atlanta, Georgia on March 29, 1945. While attending the segregated Howard High School in Atlanta, Frazier excelled in football, baseball, and … Read MoreWalt Frazier (1945- )
Henry Lee Moon helped to define the civil rights agenda of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during the post-World War II era. The son of Roddy Moon, a prominent NAACP branch president in Cleveland, and Leah Moon, Henry Lee Moon … Read MoreHenry Lee Moon (1901-1985)
Noted historian Charles Harris Wesley was born in Louisville, Kentucky on December 2, 1891, and attended local schools as a boy. He graduated from Fisk University in 1911 and, in 1913, earned a Master’s degree from Yale University. In 1925, Wesley became the third African … Read MoreCharles H. Wesley (1891-1987)
In 1998 Dr. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was elected the first African American President of the National League of Women Voters. She became the 15th President of the League in its 78-year history. After joining the League in 1982, she served as a … Read MoreCarolyn Jefferson-Jenkins (1952- )
The California Fair Housing Act of 1963, better known as the Rumford Act (AB 1240) because of its sponsor, Assemblyman William Byron Rumford, was one of the most significant and sweeping laws protecting the rights of blacks and other people of color to purchase housing … Read MoreThe California Fair Housing Act [The Rumford Act] (1963-1968)
