The Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Center opened in 1971 as a result of lobbying efforts by civil rights and antipoverty activists to bring a high quality medical facility to the primarily black residents in South Central Los Angeles. Ted Watkins, the founder of the … Read MoreMartin Luther King Jr. Medical Center/Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (1971- )
A coalition of antipoverty organizations and black nationalist groups initiated the Watts Summer Festival in 1966 as a way to focus the Watts community on celebrating black heritage and culture annually on the anniversary of the Watts riots. Although the groups involved in establishing and … Read MoreWatts Summer Festival (1966- )
George Prioleau was chaplain of the 9th Cavalry of Buffalo Soldiers in the late 19th century. After witnessing inequality and mistreatment of his men, he publicly challenged the hypocrisy and racial line being drawn against black soldiers. Born in 1856 to slave parents in Charleston, … Read MoreGeorge Prioleau (1856-1927)
In the following article, James Langford, the first black teacher in Weed, briefly describes the history of the African American community there. Langford, who graduated from California State University at San Francisco with an elementary teaching credential in the spring of 1974, began teaching at … Read MoreAfrican Americans in the Shadow of Mt. Shasta: The Black Community of Weed, California
African-American artist and art educator Hale Woodruff was born to George and Augustin Woodruff on August 26, 1900 in Cairo, Illinois. After his father died, Woodruff and his mother moved to East Nashville, Tennessee. Woodruff showed an early interest in art and was the cartoonist … Read MoreHale Aspacio Woodruff (1900-1980)
Anthony “Van” Jones is a social-environmental activist and the Obama administration’s former “Green Czar.” He was born in 1968 in Jackson, Tennessee. His mother and father were a high school teacher and junior-high principal respectively. While growing up, Jones was a stereotypical “geek,” going so … Read MoreAnthony “Van” Jones (1968- )
Professional tennis player Venus Williams was born June 17, 1980 in Lynnwood, California. She is the daughter of Richard Williams and Oracene Price. Both parents coached Venus and her younger sister, Serena, who is also a top-ranked professional tennis player. Venus Williams, the second youngest … Read MoreVenus Ebony Starr Williams (1980- )
Visual artist, storyteller and feminist activist, Faith Ringgold was born on October 8, 1930 in Harlem Hospital, New York City to Andrew Louis Jones, Sr. and Willie Edell Jones (Willi Posey), a fashion designer and dressmaker. An arts graduate from City College in New York … Read MoreFaith Ringgold (1930-2024)
In 1966, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale created the Black Panther Party for Self Defense to address police oppression of blacks in Oakland, California. Because community members also turned to the Panthers for help with economic and social problems like job discrimination and evictions, the Panthers started community services in 1969 … Read MoreBlack Panther Party’s Free Breakfast Program (1969-1980)
Writer, teacher, and cultural critic, bell hooks, was born Gloria Jean Watkins on September 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to a working-class family. Her father, Veodis Watkins, was a janitor for the local post office, and her mother, Rosa Bell Watkins, was a homemaker, raising … Read Morebell hooks/Gloria Jean Watkins (1952-2021)
