Bleeding Kansas was a series of violent clashes between supporters and opponents of slavery over control of the new territory of Kansas. It is also known as “Bloody Kansas” and the Border War. The conflict intensified the ongoing debate over the future of slavery in … Read MoreBleeding Kansas (1854-1861)
The four century (1460-1860) transatlantic slave trade is responsible for the involuntary migration of 388,000 enslaved Africans to the United States according to historians’ best estimates. However, the U.S. has witnessed a much larger influx of voluntary African migration since the 1960s. Whether it was … Read MoreAfrican Immigration to the United States (1965- )
Founded in Philadelphia in 1869, the Knights of Labor (KOL) was the largest, most important labor union in the 19th century United States. Unlike most unions (and predominantly white institutions) then, the KOL opened its membership to African Americans and women workers. Prior to the … Read MoreAfrican Americans and the Knights of Labor (1869-1949)
Anna R. Woodbey, an early suffragist and minister, was the first known African American woman to be nominated on a state ticket by a political party. Born in Pennsylvania in February of 1855, little is known of Woodbey’s parents other than her mother was born … Read MoreAnna R. Woodbey (1855-1901)
William Augustus Hinton was an American bacteriologist and the first Black Professor at Harvard University. Hinton was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 15, 1883, to former slaves Maria Clark and Augustus Hinton. He spent his formative years in Kansas City, Missouri, and attended the … Read MoreWilliam Augustus Hinton (1883-1959)
Historian, political activist, and educator Clarence Albert Bacote was born on February 24, 1906, in Kansas City, Missouri. His parents were Samuel William Bacote from Society Hill, South Carolina, a graduate of Richmond Theological Seminary (now Virginia Union University) and pastor at Second Baptist Church … Read MoreClarence Albert Bacote (1906-1981)
Composer, librettist, and pianist Michael D. Raphael was born January 12, 1952, in Norfolk, Virginia, to Latham Hill, Sr., a factory worker, and Lillian Walton Hill, a trained social worker. His name at birth was Michael Hill. He grew up in the mostly Black town … Read MoreMichael Raphael (1952-2015)
Doxey Alphonso Lewis Alexander Wilkerson, communist, Marxist, professor, author, editor, and union leader, was born April 24, 1905 in Excelsior Springs, Missouri to Mattie L. Wilkerson of Kentucky (1884-1955) and Methodist minister Alphonso Wilkerson. A 1921 graduate of Sumner High School in Kansas City, Kansas, … Read MoreDoxey Wilkerson (1905-1993)
June Bacon-Bercey is best known for being the first on-air African American female meteorologist. Bacon-Bercey was also instrumental in making the atmospheric sciences more accessible to minorities and women. Born June Ester Griffin on October 23, 1928, Bacon-Bercey was raised in Wichita, Kansas by her … Read MoreJune Bacon-Bercey (1928-2019)
On July 28, 1866, the Thirty-Ninth Congress passed the Act to increase and fix the Military Peace Establishment of the United States; thus the federal government created six all-Colored Army Regiments. The units identified as the 9th and 10th Colored Cavalry Regiments and the 38th, … Read MoreFormation of the Buffalo Soldiers, 1866
