Educator and theologian Samuel DeWitt Proctor was born in Norfolk, Virginia on July 13, 1921. Both of his grandparents had received a university education, which was considered unusual for the time. Proctor as a child attended the Congregational Church in Norfolk founded by his great-grandfather, … Read MoreSamuel DeWitt Proctor (1921-1997)
Frederick Douglass Patterson, renowned educator and founder of the United Negro College Fund, was born in Washington, D.C. on October 10, 1901. He was orphaned at the age of 2 and his older sister cared for him. Patterson attended Prairie View Normal and Industrial Institute … Read MoreFrederick D. Patterson (1901-1988)
Academic, leading educator, World War I veteran, and president of Kentucky State College for Colored Persons (later Kentucky State College for Negroes and now Kentucky State University), Rufus Ballard Atwood was born on March 15, 1897 near Hickman, Kentucky. The child of former slaves, Atwood … Read MoreRufus B. Atwood (1897-1963)
As Harper’s Ferry would prove, John Brown’s preferred method of battling slavery was to free hundreds of enslaved people at a time in a single attack. However, the week of Christmas 1858, he made an exception and successfully rescued eleven Missouri slaves, throwing the region … Read MoreJohn Brown’s Christmas Raid into Missouri 1858
In the article below Bruce Mouser, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, discusses his new book, For Labor, Race, and Liberty: George Edwin Taylor, His Historic Run for the White House, and the Making of Independent Black Politics which describes his efforts … Read MoreRunning for President: George Edwin Taylor, 1904
Vernon Baker, belated recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, was born on December 17, 1919 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. His father, Manuel Caldera, was a carpenter from New Mexico. His mother was named Beulah. At the age of four, Baker lost his parents in a … Read MoreVernon Baker (1919-2010)
Most Americans are now familiar with the contribution of nearly 300,000 black soldiers and sailors to the Union cause during the U.S. Civil War. Less well known is the role of a dedicated group of black doctors and nurses in uniform who worked diligently to … Read MoreAfrican Americans in Medicine in the Civil War Era
Political activist and educator Anna Arnold Hedgeman was the first African American woman to serve on the cabinet of a New York mayor when she worked during the term of New York City Mayor Robert Wagner from 1957-1958. Her career spanned more than six decades … Read MoreAnna Arnold Hedgeman (1899-1990)
Elizabeth Catlett Mora was a prominent black political expressionist sculptor and printmaker in the 1960s and 1970s. Catlett was born to John and Mary Catlett who were public school teachers in Washington, D.C. She was the youngest of three children. After graduating from Dunbar High … Read MoreElizabeth Catlett (1915-2012)
As a monumental figure in education and poetry, Mari Evans also played roles in shaping women’s history, politics, music, and drama. Born on July 16, 1923, in Toledo, Ohio, Evans’ mother passed away when Evans was ten. Her father immediately felt the need to encourage … Read MoreMari E. Evans (1923- )
