The Birmingham Black Barons was a professional baseball team active in the Negro Leagues from 1920 to 1960. They played their home games at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The team had its greatest success in the 1940s, winning three Negro National League pennants (1943, … Read MoreBirmingham Black Barons
The first person of African descent, male or female, to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics was Vonetta Flowers when she won gold in the women’s bobsled event in 2002 at Salt Lake City. Born October 29, 1973, in Birmingham, Alabama, to Jimmie … Read MoreVonetta Flowers (1973- )
Florence Cole-Talbert was an African American soprano singer. Cole-Talbert was born in Detroit, Michigan on June 17, 1890 as one of two daughters to parents Thomas A. Cole and Sadie (Chandler) Cole. She was born into a family of musicians and began to learn and … Read MoreFlorence Cole-Talbert (1890-1961)
The Knights of Peter Claver organization was founded in 1909 in Mobile, Alabama. It is the largest African American Catholic lay organization in the United States. The organization was founded by the Josephites, a Catholic order whose mission was to serve Catholic African Americans. Josephite … Read MoreKnights of St. Peter Claver (1909- )
Charles Wade Barkley, born on February 20, 1963 in Leeds, Alabama will always be known for his excellent performance on the basketball court, but he is also trying to become known as a politician. In 2014, Barkley will run as the Independent candidate for Governor … Read MoreCharles Wade Barkley (1963- )
Ruby Doris Smith Robinson, born in Atlanta, Georgia on April 25, 1942, was a civil rights leader. Robinson, the second oldest of seven children born to Alice and John T. Smith, was raised in Atlanta’s black middleclass neighborhood of Summerhill. She graduated from Price High … Read MoreRuby Doris Smith Robinson (1942-1967)
On June 1, 1956, all NAACP offices in Alabama were forced to close, as a result of Attorney General John Patterson’s nine-year injunction against the civil rights organization. This left a void in local civil rights leadership and a desperate need for a new group … Read MoreAlabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR)
The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church was built in 1883 on the corner of Dexter Avenue and Decatur Street in Montgomery, Alabama. The church served as a meeting place and planning hub for some of the most influential actions of the Civil Rights movement throughout the … Read MoreDexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama (1883- )
The 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing took place on September, 15 1963, just 19 days after Dr. Martin Luther King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech at the March on Washington, in Washington, D.C. Four young girls, Denise McNair, age 11, and Cynthia Wesley, … Read MoreBirmingham 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (1963)
Attorney, civil rights and human rights activist, Fred D. Gray was born on December 14, 1930, in Montgomery, Alabama to Nancy and Abraham Gray. The youngest of five children, he and his siblings were raised in a shotgun house in a segregated black section of … Read MoreFred D. Gray (1930- )
