Clarence Wesley Wigington, architect, was born April 21, 1883 in Lawrence, Kansas to Wesley Wigington and Jennie Mary Roberts. He was the fourth of twelve children. Between 1884 and 1908 the family moved seven times finally settling in Omaha, Nebraska where young Wigington was raised … Read MoreClarence Wesley Wigington (1883-1967)
Charles “Chuck” Stone, Jr., pioneering African American newspaper columnist, editor, author, and professor was born on July 21, 1924 to Charles and Madeline Stone in St. Louis, Missouri. Soon after, the family moved to Connecticut where Stone’s mother worked for the Hartford Board of Education … Read MoreCharles Sumner “Chuck” Stone, Jr. (1924-2014)
Preston Daniels, the first African American elected Mayor of Des Moines, Iowa, was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1945. Shortly afterwards his parents moved to Des Moines and he grew up in the Chesterfield section of southeast Des Moines, a working-class area also known as … Read MorePreston A. Daniels (1945- )
Mary Cardwell Dawson established the National Negro Opera Company (NNOC) in 1941 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Born in North Carolina, Dawson graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1925, the only African American in her class. Facing discrimination in her aspiration for a career … Read MoreNational Negro Opera Company (1941-1962)
Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens in Chicago, Illinois on March 23, 1953, eldest of Charles Stevens’ and Sandra Coleman’s five children. As a teenager growing up on Chicago’s South Side community, the presence of the Black Panther Party had an influence on Stevens. … Read MoreChaka Khan (1953- )
Don Thompson, president and Corporate Executive Officer of McDonald’s Corporation, was born near the Cabrini-Green Housing Project on Chicago, Illinois’s Near North Side. Little is known about his childhood except that he was raised by his grandmother. Thompson was a bright student who entered the … Read MoreDon Thompson (1963- )
Richard Durham’s Destination Freedom radio program, which aired on WMAQ in Chicago, Illinois from June 27, 1948 until its cancellation in August of 1950, was unlike anything else being broadcast over the airwaves. For over two years audiences tuned in every Sunday morning and were … Read MoreRichard Durham (1917-1984)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, located in Brooklyn, St. Clair County, Illinois, is one of the oldest still-operating historically African American church in the state of Illinois. Many of the details surrounding Quinn Chapel’s history are uncertain and contradictory. … Read MoreQuinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church (c. 1830- )
The Black Arts Movement was the name given to a group of politically motivated black poets, artists, dramatists, musicians, and writers who emerged in the wake of the Black Power Movement. The poet Imamu Amiri Baraka is widely considered to be the father of the … Read MoreThe Black Arts Movement (1965-1975)
John Roxborough is best known as the manager of Joe Louis, the heavyweight champion of the world from 1937 to 1949. For more than two decades Roxborough served as Louis’ partner, adviser, and mentor. Roxborough, a former basketball player turned professional gambler, often helped youth … Read MoreJohn W. Roxborough (1892-1975)
