John Willis Menard, abolitionist, author, journalist and politician, was born in 1838 in Kaskaskia, Illinois, to French Creole parents. He was the first African American elected to Congress, but was not seated after a dispute over the election results. Menard attended Iberia College, an abolitionist … Read MoreJohn Willis Menard (1838-1893)
In the following account John C. Hughes, chief oral historian for the Washington State Legacy Project, discusses the life and legacy of Lillian Walker, who has been a civil rights activist in Bremerton, Washington, since World War II. Established in 2008 by Washington Secretary of … Read MoreFighting for Racial Justice in the Pacific Northwest: Lillian Walker and the Long Struggle for Civil Rights
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was created on January 10-11, 1957, when sixty black ministers and civil rights leaders met in Atlanta, Georgia in an effort to replicate the successful strategy and tactics of the recently concluded Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. Rev. Martin Luther … Read MoreSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (1957- )
Eduardo Mondlane, an educator, nationalist, and leader of the Mozambique independence movement, was born on June 20, 1920, in the Gaza District of Southern Mozambique, which at the time was under the colonial rule of the Portuguese. He was the child of a Tsonga chief, … Read MoreEduardo Chivambo Mondlane (1920-1969)
Dinah Washington, legendary singer and ‘Queen of the Blues,’ was born Ruth Lee Jones on August 29, 1924. Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama she moved with her family to Chicago as a young child. Music was in Washington’s family, her mother was a pianist in St. … Read MoreDinah Washington (Ruth Lee Jones), (1924-1963)
Koko Taylor, dubbed the “Queen of the Blues,” was one of the most revered female blues singers in history. She was born Cora Walton on September 28, 1928 in Bartlett, Tennessee to sharecropper parents who nicknamed her Koko for her love of chocolate. It was … Read MoreKoko Taylor (Cora Walton), (1928-2009)
Ralph Alexander Gardner, hard plastics pioneer and one of the scientists and technicians who worked on the Manhattan Project which developed the atomic bomb, was born December 3, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, son of Vivian and Clarence Gardner. Gardner developed an early love of chemistry, … Read MoreRalph Gardner-Chavis (1922- )
Sarah A. Campbell, one of the first non-Native women in the Black Hills of South Dakota, accompanied Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s 1874 Expedition there as a cook, prospected for gold and silver, and was co-founder of the Custer Park Mining Company. Campbell was born on … Read MoreSarah A. Campbell (1823-1888)
Marita Odette Bonner (Occomy) was an African American writer, essayist, and playwright associated with the Harlem Renaissance Era. Born on June 16, 1899 to Joseph Andrew and Anne Noel Bonner in Boston, Massachusetts, she and her three siblings grew up in Brookline, a suburb of … Read MoreMarita Odette Bonner (1899-1971)
Singer, guitarist, songwriter, and music producer Curtis Lee Mayfield was born on June 3, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. Mayfield began his career singing gospel music with the group the Northern Jubilee Singers. While with them he met Jerry Butler, another aspiring singer, and in 1957 … Read MoreCurtis Mayfield (1942-1999)
