Westley “Wes” Sissel Unseld (1946-2020)

Westley Sissel Unseld, 6-7 professional basketball player and coach, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 14, 1946, to Charles Dorsey Unseld, a prizefighter, construction worker, oilman, and baseball player for the Indianapolis Clowns, and Cornelia Sissel Unseld. The family had nine children: seven brothers, … Read MoreWestley “Wes” Sissel Unseld (1946-2020)

Frederick Douglas Patterson (1871-1932)

Frederick Douglas Patterson was the first African American to build motorized cars. His father, Charles Rich Patterson, a former enslaved person, created C. R. Patterson and Sons Company, located in Greenfield, Ohio. Beginning in 1865, the company built fashionable carriages. Frederick Patterson inherited the company … Read MoreFrederick Douglas Patterson (1871-1932)

The Cleveland Buckeyes (1941-1950)

The Cleveland Buckeyes were a Negro League baseball team established initially as the Buckeyes Baseball Club, in Cincinnati, Ohio. On the eve of World War II, a white Cleveland sports promoter, Wilbur Hayes, approached Erie, Pennsylvania black businessman Ernest Wright about financially backing a Cleveland-based … Read MoreThe Cleveland Buckeyes (1941-1950)

Bill Jones (1933-2012)

Activist, existential philosopher, professor, and Unitarian Universalist minister Rev. Dr. William “Bill” Ronald Jones dedicated his career to the analysis and methods of oppression, religious humanism, and liberation theology that influenced Africana philosophers such as Anthony B. Pinn and Lewis R. Gordon.  Born July 17, … Read MoreBill Jones (1933-2012)