Born in Brooklyn, New York, Maryland politician Wayne Keith Curry’s father, Eugene, was a schoolteacher and his mother, Juliette, was a homemaker and later a secretary. When the family moved to Cheverly, Maryland in the 1960s, they encountered various forms of discrimination, including exclusion from … Read MoreWayne Keith Curry (1951-2014)
Fannie Jackson was born a slave in Washington D.C. on October 15, 1837. She gained her freedom when her aunt was able to purchase her at the age of twelve. Through her teen years Jackson worked as a servant for the author George Henry Calvert … Read MoreFannie Jackson Coppin (1837-1913)
Following the Union Army victory at Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation. This document gave the states of the Confederacy until January 1, 1863 to lay down their arms and peaceably reenter the Union; if these states … Read MoreEmancipation Proclamation (1863)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written and published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852, was the most popular 19th century novel and, after the Bible, was the second-best-selling book of that century. Over 300,000 copies were sold in the United States in its first year alone. The … Read MoreUncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
Accomplished journalist and activist Noah Thompson became one of the most influential leaders in Los Angeles, California during the early twentieth century. Born in Baltimore, Maryland on June 9, 1878, Thompson fled Baltimore as a young adult in search of success in the United States’ … Read MoreNoah Thompson (1878-?)
Josiah Henson was born into slavery on June 15, 1789 in Charles County, Maryland. As a young boy he witnessed slavery’s cruelties inflicted on his immediate family. Young Henson watched his father receive fifty lashes for standing up to a slave owner and then witnessed … Read MoreJosiah Henson (1789-1883)
Kurt L. Schmoke, born in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 1, 1949, came from a middle class background. His father, Murray, a civilian chemist for the U.S. Army, was a graduate of Morehouse College, and his mother, Irene was a social worker. Schmoke attended the city’s … Read MoreKurt L. Schmoke (1949- )
Born into slavery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 14, 1760, Richard Allen went on to become an educator, writer, minister and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Benjamin Chew, a Quaker lawyer, owned the Allen family, which included Richard’s parents and three other children. … Read MoreRichard Allen [Pennsylvania] (1760-1831)
Andre Watts is the subject of one of the more memorable stories in American music. In 1963, the 16 year old high school student won a piano competition to play in the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concert at Lincoln Center, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. … Read MoreAndre Watts (1946- )
John Edward Bruce was born into slavery in Piscataway, Maryland in 1856. When Bruce was three years old his father was sold away to Georgia prompting young Bruce and his mother to escape to Washington, D.C. in fear of losing each other. Bruce and his … Read MoreJohn Edward Bruce (1856-1924)
