William Henry Hastie Jr., attorney and diplomat, was born on November 17, 1904 in Knoxville, Tennessee to parents William Henry Hastie Sr. and Roberta Childs. He spent his childhood in Tennessee until his family moved to Washington, D.C. Hastie graduated from Dunbar High School in Washington, … Read MoreWilliam Henry Hastie (1904-1976)
Unita Blackwell, a civil rights activist and the first black female mayor in the state of Mississippi, was born the daughter of sharecropping parents in Coahoma County, Mississippi on March 18, 1933. She worked throughout the civil rights era urging and recruiting blacks to register … Read MoreUnita Blackwell (1933-2019)
Alexander Crummell, an Episcopalian priest, missionary, scholar and teacher, was born in New York City in 1819 to free black parents. He spent much of his life addressing the conditions of African Americans, urging an educated black elite to aspire to the highest intellectual attainments … Read MoreAlexander Crummell (1819-1898)
Philadelphia Dentist John S. Rock would eventually become a medical doctor and attorney who in 1865 would become the first African American lawyer to argue a case before the United States Supreme Court. In 1850, however, he was also an abolitionist and civil rights activist. … Read More(1850) John S. Rock, “Address to the Citizens of New Jersey”
David N. Dinkins is best known as the first and, so far, only black mayor of New York City. In November 1989, he defeated his challenger, former federal prosecutor Rudolph (Rudy) Giuliani, to become the first African American mayor of New York City. Giuliani. in … Read MoreDavid N. Dinkins (1927-2020)
Kenneth Allen Gibson, the first African American mayor of Newark, New Jersey, was born in 1931 in the town of Enterprise, Alabama. He graduated from high school in Enterprise in 1950 and joined the U.S. Army as a civil engineer. He remained in the Army … Read MoreKenneth A. Gibson (1931- )
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) was founded on April 26, 1964 as part of a voter registration project for African Americans in the state. For over half a century Mississippi blacks had attempted to attend regular Democratic Party meetings and conventions but were continually … Read MoreMississippi Freedom Democratic Party
John S. Rock was born to free black parents in Salem, New Jersey in 1825. He attended public schools in New Jersey until he was 19 and then worked as a teacher between 1844 and 1848. During this period Rock began his medical studies with … Read MoreJohn S. Rock (1825-1866)
The first and only woman to hold the position of U.S. Secretary of Energy, Hazel Rollins Reid was born May 17, 1937 in Newport News, Virginia. During this time of public school segregation, Reid’s parents, hoping for better schooling opportunities, sent their daughter to live … Read MoreHazel Rollins Reid O’Leary (1937- )
Betsey Stockton was born into slavery in Princeton, New Jersey in 1798. She belonged to Robert Stockton, a local attorney. Presented to Stockton’s daughter and son-in-law, the Rev. Ashbel Green, then President of Princeton College, as a gift, Betsy Stockton was now in a household … Read MoreBetsey Stockton (1798-1865)
