Astrophysicist Arthur Bertram Cuthbert Walker was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 24, 1936, the only child of Cuthbert Walker, an attorney and native of Barbados, and the former Hilda Forte, a social worker. His mother fought to facilitate his early exposure to science at his … Read MoreArthur B. C. Walker, Jr. (1936-2001)
Novelist and short story writer Terry McMillan was born on October 18, 1951 in Port Huron, Michigan to Edward and Madeline McMillan. During her childhood her father spent much of his time confined to his home due to tuberculosis, forcing her mother to support the family by working … Read MoreTerry McMillan (1951- )
Eula Mae Love’s tragic death made history on the evening of January 3rd, 1979, in the front yard of her home, in the West Athens area of South Los Angeles, California. She died at the hands of two Los Angeles Police Department officers, Lloyd O’Callaghan (white) and Edward … Read MoreEula Mae Love (1939-1979)
The violent, heroic actions of an illiterate black sailor threatened with enslavement enthralled newspaper and magazine readers during the tense early phase of the American Civil War. Born free in Milford, Delaware—a state that permitted slavery but had a relatively small slave population—William B. Tillman found opportunity as a … Read MoreWilliam B. Tillman (a.k.a. William Tilghman, 1834?-1880?)
De Arthur Woodrow Miller or “Woody,” as he was most popularly known, was a trailblazer in the African American community of Fresno, California. He was the first African American to own a radio station in California’s Central Valley and was a leader of the local the civil rights movement. De Arthur Woodrow Miller … Read MoreDe Arthur Woodrow ‘Woody’ Miller (1927-2017)
Michelle J. Howard is the first African American woman to command a Navy ship and the first woman of any race to be attain the rank of admiral. Born in Riverside, California on April 30, 1960, Howard was one of four children of Air Force Master … Read MoreMichelle Janine Howard (1960- )
David L. Lewis is a twice Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. He was born on May 25, 1936 in Little Rock, Arkansas to John Henry Lewis, Sr., a Yale Divinity School graduate and college president, and the former Alice Urnestine Bell, a public school math teacher. He … Read MoreDavid Levering Lewis (1936- )
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)
Police official, business leader, and civil rights advocate Elbert T. Hudson was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on November 16, 1920. Three years later, his family moved to Los Angeles, California. In 1924, his father, H. Claude Hudson, became president of the local chapter of the … Read MoreElbert T. Hudson (1920-2017)
In the article below retired California State University, Fresno historian Robert Mikell explores the history of the only all-black town created in the Golden State. He traces that history including the role of its principal founder, Colonel Allen Allensworth, from 1908. Allensworth, the first town … Read MoreThe History of Allensworth, California (1908- )
