Thomas Detter, late 19th century black businessman, Methodist minister, and civil rights advocate, was one of the first black literary figures to emerge in the U.S. West. The son of a free stonemason, Detter was born near Washington, D.C. around 1830. Very little is known … Read MoreThomas Detter (ca. 1830-1891)
James Victor Scott, born July 17, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio to Arthur and Justine Stanard Scott, was a jazz vocalist known as “Little” Jimmy Scott. Due to a rare genetic condition (Kallmann’s syndrome), Scott sang with an unusually high contralto voice. The condition also stunted … Read MoreJimmy Scott (1925-2014)
Sammy Davis, Jr. was born on December 8, 1925 in Harlem, New York. His parents, Sammy Davis, Sr., an African American, and Elvera Sanchez, a Cuban American, were both vaudeville dancers. They separated when young Davis was three years old and his father took him on tour with … Read MoreSammy Davis, Jr. (1925-1990)
Judy Pace was born on June 15, 1942, in Los Angeles, California. Her father was an airplane mechanic and her mother was a dress maker. Her parents raised her and older sisters in the back of their retail shop, Kitty’s Place, said to be the largest … Read MoreJudy Lenteen Pace (1942- )
Frank “Black Caesar” Matthews was called one of the biggest heroin and cocaine traffickers in United States history by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Born on February 13, 1944 in Durham, North Carolina, he became involved in several criminal incidents from a young age. Matthews was raised by … Read MoreFrank Matthews (“Black Caesar”) (1944- ?)
Justice Michael Douglas is the first African American Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court. He was first appointed in 2004 and has twice served as Chief Justice of the court. Justice Douglas was born in Los Angeles, California and graduated from California State Long Beach in 1971 and Hastings Law School in 1974. … Read MoreMichael L. Douglas (1948- )
Image Ownership: Public domain Joseph Neal, the first African American elected to the Nevada state senate, was born in Mounds, Louisiana on July 28, 1935. He attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and graduated in 1963 with a B.A. in political science and history as well as doing postgraduate work in law. He … Read MoreJoseph (Joe) Neal (1935- )
The West Las Vegas Riot occurred on April 30, 1992 in the predominantly black Westside of Las Vegas, Nevada. The riot came a day after four Los Angeles Police Department officers were acquitted in the highly publicized beating of Rodney King the year before. The Rodney King Riots began in Los Angeles, California the … Read MoreWest Las Vegas Riot (1992)
Rayful Edmond III was born on November 26, 1964 in Washington, D.C. to Rayful Edmond, Jr. and Constance “Bootsie” Perry. Both of his parents worked for the U.S. government but were also drug dealers on the side in their Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Near Northeast. Rayful was … Read MoreRayful Edmond (1964- )
Louis Bennett Butler, Jr. became the first black justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2004 and served on the court until 2008. Butler also became Wisconsin’s first Public Defender to ever argue before the United States Supreme Court in 1988 during the trial of McCoy v. Wisconsin Court of … Read MoreLouis B. Butler, Jr. (1952- )
