Louise Jenkins Meriwether, a novelist, essayist, journalist and social activist, was the only daughter of Marion Lloyd Jenkins and his wife, Julia. Meriwether was born May 8, 1923 in Haverstraw, New York to parents who were from South Carolina where her father worked as a … Read MoreLouise Jenkins Meriwether (1923- )
June Meyer Jordan, writer, editor, poet, educator, environmental and social activist, was the only child of Granville Ivanhoe and Mildred Maude Fischer Jordan who were Jamaican immigrants. June was born in Harlem on July 9, 1936. June’s father worked as a night shift postal clerk … Read MoreJune Jordan (1936-2002)
California’s 18th Century history is embedded with that of settlers from many racial and cultural groups. Terms such as mestizos, mulattos, españoles, lobos, and coyotes indicated a variety of Indian, Spanish, and Mexican, white and black families who migrated into the area in the 18th … Read MoreJuan Francisco Reyes Reyes (ca. 1749-ca. 1800)
Civil Rights activists in Los Angeles, California created the United Civil Rights Committee (UCRC) in 1963 following an appearance by Martin Luther King, Jr. at Wrigley Field in that city. Members of the local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People … Read MoreLos Angeles United Civil Rights Committee (1963-ca. 1966)
John Roy Lynch, congressman, soldier, and author was born in Concordia Parish, Louisiana on September 10, 1847 to Patrick Lynch, an Irish immigrant and Catherine White, a slave. Lynch’s father died soon after his birth. Lynch and his mother were then traded to a plantation … Read MoreJohn Roy Lynch (1847-1939)
Willard Johnson, bacteriologist, science educator, and business proprietor, was born in Leavenworth Kansas, the third of the eleven children of Joseph Johnson and Hattie McClanahan. Taught by his high school’s founder, Blanche Kelso Bruce, nephew of the Reconstruction era Senator of the same name, he … Read MoreWillard Johnson Sr. (1901-1969)
Ron Oden is the first African American and the first openly gay man to hold the office of Mayor of Palm Springs, California. Born on March 21, 1950 in Detroit, Michigan, Oden attended Oakwood College (now University) in Huntsville, Alabama where he received a Bachelor … Read MoreRon Oden (1950- )
Founded in October of 1966 in Oakland, California by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the Black Panther Party for Self Defense (BPP) became the most famous black power organization of the late 1960s. Newton and Seale met in 1965 at Merritt College where they were exposed to a burgeoning wave of Black Nationalism, … Read MoreBlack Panther Party (U.S.A.)
Aaron Dixon was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 2, 1949. He moved with his family to Seattle, Washington at a young age and grew up in the city’s historically black Central District. Influenced by his parents’ commitment to social justice, Dixon became one of the leading activists in the Seattle area … Read MoreAaron Dixon (1949- )
Cynthia Ann McKinney was born on March 17, 1955 in Atlanta, Georgia to parents Billy McKinney, who was a police officer and to a mother, Leola Christion McKinney, who was a nurse. Her father was a political activist who challenged his employer, the Atlanta Police … Read MoreCynthia Ann McKinney (1955- )
