Alan Gilbert, University of Denver political scientist and anti-racist activist, is the author of Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence, one of the few works that examines the free and enslaved blacks who joined the American Patriots and the … Read MoreFighting for Freedom on Both Sides of the American Revolution
In the account below, attorney and historian James H. Johnston describes six generations of descendants of Yarrow Mamout, a Muslim slave made famous by Charles Willson Peale’s 1819 painting of him in Georgetown in the District of Columbia. Johnston’s discussion of the evolution of his … Read MoreAn American Family’s Multigenerational Rise from Slavery to Harvard University
Clifton R. Wharton, one of the first African-Americans to hold a professional position in the U.S. State Department, was born in 1899 in Baltimore, Maryland. Described as a “scholastic marvel,” Wharton attended English High School in Boston, Massachusetts, skipped college and was accepted to Boston … Read MoreClifton Reginald Wharton, Sr. (1899-1990)
Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., has combined careers in business, higher education, foreign economic development, and philanthropy. The son of Clifton Wharton, Sr. who served 40 years in the U. S. Foreign Service, Wharton began school in the Canary Islands while his father was a diplomat … Read MoreClifton Reginald Wharton Jr. (1926- )
Reginald McKnight is a novelist, short story writer, and educator born on February 26, 1956 in Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany to Frank and Pearl McKnight. Reginald’s father Frank was a career Air Force sergeant, causing the family to be frequently relocated during Reginald’s childhood. Before age 16 … Read MoreReginald McKnight (1956- )
John E. Jacob, civil rights leader, former president of the National Urban League, business executive, and administrator, was born to Claudia and Emory Jacob in Trout, Louisiana on December 16, 1934. Jacob’s father, Emory Jacob, was an impoverished Baptist minister who moved his wife and … Read MoreJohn Edward Jacob (1934- )
Arthur Allen Fletcher is known to many as the father of affirmative action. In the following account historian David Hamilton Golland describes the career of Fletcher, a Republican civil rights activist during the last half of the 20th Century. Arthur Allen Fletcher, known to many as … Read MoreArthur Allen Fletcher, “The Father of Affirmative Action”
Mayfield Webb, a lawyer, civil rights leader, and social activist was born on November 10, 1927 in Baltimore, Maryland. As a member of the U.S. Army, he served during the Korean War. Upon his return, he eventually attended Morgan State University in Maryland and Howard … Read MoreMayfield Kelvin Webb (1927-1996)
Groove Phi Groove Social Fellowship, Incorporated, is a predominately African-American social fellowship similar to a Greek-letter fraternity, but different in its socio-historical and sub-cultural foundations. Groove was founded on October 12, 1962 on the campus of Morgan State College (now Morgan State University), a historically-black … Read MoreGroove Phi Groove Social Fellowship (1962- )
Born on July 3, 1919 in North Little Rock, Arkansas, Samuel Proctor Massie was as one of the few African American scientists to work on the Manhattan Project during World War II. He later became a distinguished professor of chemistry. Massie graduated from Dunbar High … Read MoreSamuel P. Massie (1919-2005)
