“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church began its ministry to the black community of Tucson, Arizona in 1900 when Baptist missionary Rev. John B. Bell arrived, conducted services, and with ten other devoted men and women organized the Baptist Mission. Rev. Bell … Read MoreMt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, Tucson, Arizona (1900- )
Tanner Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Phoenix is the oldest African American Church in the State of Arizona. Tanner Chapel was founded by African American settlers who came to Arizona Territory to escape racism, oppression, and violence in the post-Reconstruction South. They also came … Read MoreTanner Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church (1887- )
Radmilla Cody, GRAMMY-nominated Navajo recording artist, was born on the Navajo Nation and grew up in Grand Falls, Arizona. Cody is of the Tlaa’shchii (Red Bottom People) clan and is also part Naahilii (African American). She was the 46th Miss Navajo Nation, the first bi-racial pageant … Read MoreRadmilla Cody (1975- )
When Doug Williams took the field for the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXII, it marked the first time in National Football League (NFL) history that an African American quarterback played in a Super Bowl. Douglas Lee “Doug” Williams was born August 9, 1955 in … Read MoreDoug Williams (1955- )
Image Ownership: G.D. Hackett/Pictorial Parade (Fair Use) Ulysses Simpson Kay, Jr., was one of the leading black composers in the classical music industry in the 20th Century. Born in Tucson, Arizona, Kay grew up in a musically talented family. His mother, Elizabeth Kay, was a … Read MoreUlysses S. Kay (1917-1995)
In the article below historian Robin Dearmon Muhammad discusses the growth of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) or the Garvey Movement in the American West, with particular emphasis on its influence in black working-class organizing in the San Francisco Bay Area after World War … Read MoreGarveyism Looks Toward the Pacific: The UNIA and Black Workers in the American West
Arthur Allen Fletcher is known to many as the father of affirmative action. In the following account historian David Hamilton Golland describes the career of Fletcher, a Republican civil rights activist during the last half of the 20th Century. Arthur Allen Fletcher, known to many as … Read MoreArthur Allen Fletcher, “The Father of Affirmative Action”
When the U.S. Army was reorganized on July 28, 1866, for peacetime service after the American Civil War, six regiments were set aside for Black enlisted men. These included four infantry regiments, numbered 38th through 41st. The 24th Infantry was organized during a reduction in … Read More24th Infantry Regiment (1866-1951)
The first African American Postmaster of a major postal facility, Henry W. McGee, Sr. was born in Hillsboro, Texas, in 1910, and moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1927. McGee was the first person to rise from the ranks of letter carriers to achieve the status … Read MoreHenry Wadsworth McGee, Sr. (1910-2000)
Physician and businessman Dr. Midian Othello Bousfield was a leader in Chicago’s insurance industry. His diverse career included work in medicine and in the military, advocating for African American health care and for the training of black medical personnel. He was the first black person … Read MoreMidian Othello Bousfield (1885–1948)
