Mary Jane Grant Seacole was an early nurse in the British Empire during the 19th Century. Born in Kingston, Jamaica as Mary Grant, she was the daughter of a Scottish officer and a black mother. Mary’s mother ran a hospital/boarding house in Kingston and she, … Read MoreMary Jane Seacole (1805-1881)
The Great Migration brought many African Americans to Los Angeles in the 1920s. Housing covenants and other forms of discrimination followed them and forced the creation of a black community along South Central Avenue. For decades, the most popular spot in this district (and all … Read MoreDunbar Hotel (1928- )
Barry Bonds is one of the most controversial figures in modern sports. The former major league star holds the record for career home runs (762) but that record and his other accomplishments on the field have been marred by accusations that he took performance enhancing … Read MoreBarry Bonds (1964- )
Professional basketball superstar Kobe Bryant played for the Los Angeles (California) Lakers since 1996 when he came to the team as an eighteen-year-old, the youngest player in National Basketball Association (NBA) history, until his retirement in 2016. Bryant was a long-time philanthropist, using his well-known … Read MoreKobe Bryant (1978-2020)
Earl “Fatha” Hines was one of the most influential Jazz pianists during the twentieth century. His “trumpet style” piano playing has influenced jazz pianists since the 1920s. Hines’s career as a musician and bandleader spanned from the 1920s to his death in 1983. Earl Kenneth … Read MoreEarl “Fatha” Hines (1903-1983)
The Port Chicago Mutiny involved African American enlisted men in the U.S. Navy who refused to return to loading ammunition after a disastrous explosion at Port Chicago, California on July 17, 1944 that destroyed the Liberty ship SS E.A. Bryan. Sailors and dock workers were … Read MorePort Chicago Mutiny (1944)
Jewel Plumber Cobb, a cell biologist and cancer researcher, was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 17, 1924 to Frank V. Plummer, a physician, and Carriebel (Cole) Plummer, a physical education teacher. An only child, Jewel Plummer began reading her father’s scientific journals to supplement … Read MoreJewel Plummer Cobb (1924- )
St. Andrews African Methodist Episcopal Church of Sacramento, California was founded in 1850, the same year that California was admitted to the union. It stands to this day as the oldest continuous African Methodist Episcopal (AME) congregation on the west coast. The church began humbly, … Read MoreSaint Andrews African Methodist Episcopal Church, Sacramento, California (1850- )
The African American experience in California in the years just prior to the Gold Rush included more than just overland immigrants. Allen B. Light, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, arrived in Santa Barbara, California in 1835 as a crew-member of the American ship Pilgrim. After his … Read MoreAllen B. Light (1805-?)
George Branham III is best known as the first African American to win a major Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) title and one of the very few men of color in professional bowling. Branham was born on November 21, 1962 in Detroit, Michigan. His father, George … Read MoreGeorge Branham, III (1962- )
