Civil rights activist, ambassador of interracial goodwill, editor and publisher of the (Portland) Advocate, Oregon’s first African American female to practice law — Beatrice Morrow Cannady spent nearly 25 years working for equal rights for Oregon’s two thousand black citizens. Born in 1889 in Littig, … Read MoreBeatrice Hulon Morrow Cannady (1889-1974)
Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, the first African American Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, was organized in January 1866 by formerly enslaved people. These individuals were assisted by white missionaries from the First Baptist Church and the German Baptist Church. Antioch’s members worshiped at the two … Read MoreAntioch Missionary Baptist Church, Houston, Texas (1866- )
Richard Harvey Cain was born a free black in Greenbrier County, Virginia on April 12, 1825. In 1831 his parents moved to Gallipolis, Ohio where he attended school. Seventeen years later, in 1848, he joined the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and became a minister … Read MoreRichard H. Cain (1825-1887)
Addison Jones’s birthplace is of uncertain origin, but he was likely born in Gonzales or Hays County, Texas. His cowboy skills led to his recognition in western Texas and eastern New Mexico as “the most noted Negro cowboy that ever ‘topped off’ a horse.” Addison, … Read MoreAddison Jones (ca. 1845-1926)
Andrew Rube Foster was born in Calvert, Texas, on September 17, 1879. The son of Andrew and Sarah Foster, Rube started a baseball tradition that would be followed by his brother Willie Bill Foster. Rube quit school after the eighth grade, barnstorming with the Waco … Read MoreAndrew “Rube” Foster (1879-1930)
Although he was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in a field of the biological sciences, Alfred Oscar Coffin ended his career as Professor of Romance Languages at Langston University in Oklahoma. Born in Pontotoc, Mississippi on May 14, 1861, Coffin earned his … Read MoreAlfred O. Coffin (1861-?)
