Image Ownership: Public Domain Educator, philosopher and theologian John Wesley Edward Bowen preached for social equality fifty years before the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. He supported black intellectualism and urged African Americans to develop self worth even in the face of white oppression. John Wesley … Read MoreJohn Wesley Edward Bowen (1855-1933)
Sarah Massey Overton was a leading black freedom fighter and women’s rights activist in post-Gold Rush San Jose, California. Massey was born in Lennox, Massachusetts and came to California with her parent in the 1880s while she was still a young girl. The Masseys moved … Read MoreSarah Massey Overton (1850-1914)
Hugh Bernard Price, civil rights activist and president of the National Urban League, was born on November 22, 1941 in Washington, DC. Raised in a middle-class home by his parents, Charlotte Schuster and Kline Price, Price became aware of racial struggles and the importance of … Read MoreHugh Price (1941 – )
During his life historian Lawrence Dunbar Reddick used his scholarly expertise to fight for civil rights. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 3, 1910, Reddick received his Bachelor’s and Master’s in history from Fisk University in 1932 and 1933, respectively. He went to the University … Read MoreLawrence Dunbar Reddick (1910-1995)
Grace Bumbry was one of the most successful opera singers of the late 20th century. She had a long career as a performer, spanning over four decades. A Grammy-award-winning mezzo-soprano and the first Black singer to perform at the Bayreuth festival in Germany. Bumbry, along … Read MoreGrace Bumbry (1937-2023)
Image Ownership: David Shankbone (CC BY-SA 3.0) Gloria Naylor, a major 20th century writer of African American literature, was born on January 25, 1950 in New York City, New York to Roosevelt and Alberta Naylor. She was born just six weeks after her parents … Read MoreGloria Naylor (1950-2016)
Artist Edward Bannister was a painter who concentrated on pastoral landscape scenes depicting the beauty and serenity of nature. He was the first African American artist to receive a national award. Bannister was born in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada in November of 1828. Little … Read MoreEdward Mitchell Bannister (1828-1901)
The brief entry for “Dorcas the blackmore” that appears in the Records of the First Church at Dorchester in New England, 1636-1734 suggests that Dorcas may have been one of the first enslaved persons to be freed in British North America. On April 13, 1641, … Read MoreDorcas the blackmore (ca. 1620-?)
Angela Davis, activist, educator, and scholar, was born on January 26, 1944, in the “Dynamite Hill” area of Birmingham, Alabama. The area received that name because so many African American homes in this middle class neighborhood had been bombed over the years by the Ku … Read MoreAngela Davis (1944-)
Henry Johnson was a World War I hero because of his remarkable performance in France. Johnson, born in 1897 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, moved to Albany, New York with his family when he was still a child. At the age of 20, he worked as … Read MoreHenry Johnson (1897-1929)
