Mary Lucinda Cardwell Dawson was a leader in the campaign to promote African American participation in and appreciation of opera. Cardwell was born in 1896 in Madison, North Carolina, the second of six children. In the early 1900s, her family became part of the African … Read MoreMary Lucinda Dawson (1894-1962)
Mary Lou Williams was an African American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger who wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded over one hundred records. Williams was born as Mary Elfireda Scruggs on May 8, 1910 in Atlanta, Georgia, but grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. … Read MoreMary Lou Williams (1910-1981)
After more than a decade of organized abolition among northern free blacks, a group of prominent free African American men organized the National Negro Convention Movement. The convention movement among northern free blacks symbolized the growth of a black activist network by the mid-nineteenth century. … Read MoreNational Negro Convention Movement (1831-1864)
Mabel Keaton Staupers, R.N., was instrumental in ending the United States Army’s policy of excluding African American nurses from its ranks in World War II. In 1948 Staupers also successfully lobbied for full integration of the American Nurses Association. Mabel Keaton Staupers (née Doyle) was … Read MoreMabel Keaton Staupers (1890-1989)
Image Ownership: Fair Use Twentieth century artist John Thomas Biggers was an educator, painter and muralist. His travels in Africa in the 1950s influenced the depiction of social and cultural themes in his work. John Thomas Biggers was born in Gastonia, North Carolina in 1924. … Read MoreJohn Thomas Biggers (1924-2001)
Judith Ann Jamison is among the most influential African American dance figures of the late 20th century. She began her dance career at the age of ten and served as the Artistic Director at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1989 to 2011. Her … Read MoreJudith Ann Jamison (1943- )
Juanita Long Hall, a 20th Century actor and singer, was born in Keyport, New Jersey on Nov. 6, 1901 to an African-American father, Abram Long, and an Irish American mother, Mary Richardson. Raised by maternal grandparents, Long attended New York City, New York’s Juilliard School … Read MoreJuanita Hall (1901-1968)
Earl “Fatha” Hines was one of the most influential Jazz pianists during the twentieth century. His “trumpet style” piano playing has influenced jazz pianists since the 1920s. Hines’s career as a musician and bandleader spanned from the 1920s to his death in 1983. Earl Kenneth … Read MoreEarl “Fatha” Hines (1903-1983)
Everett Frederic Morrow, the son of John Eugene Morrow, a library custodian who became an ordained Methodist minister in 1912 and Mary Ann Hayes, a former farm worker and maid, was born on April 9, 1909 in Hackensack, New Jersey. He graduated from Hackensack High … Read MoreEverett Frederic Morrow (1909-1994)
Robert Holland Jr. was an African American businessman who served as the first black Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ben and Jerry’s, the ice cream manufacturer. Holland was born in April 1940 in Albion, Michigan to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Holland, Sr., the third of … Read MoreRobert Holland, Jr. (1940- )
