Nineteenth-century lecturer and educator William G. Allen endured physical violence and barely escaped murder when he proposed marriage to the daughter of a white minister in upstate New York. Their relationship later was the inspiration for a story about interracial love by author Louisa May … Read MoreWilliam G. Allen (1820-?)
In choosing librarianship over teaching or social work, Effie Lee Morris combined her desire to help people with a personal passion for education. In doing so she became one of America’s leading advocates for services to children, minorities, and the visually-impaired. Born in Richmond, Virginia … Read MoreEffie Lee Morris (1921-2009)
Michael Steele is a Republican political leader from Maryland who was Lieutenant Governor of that state from 2003 through 2007. In January of 2009 he became the first African American elected to chair the National Republican Party. Born at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince … Read MoreMichael S. Steele (1958- )
Charles Sherrod was a key civil rights leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) whose leadership led to the Albany Movement in southwest Georgia. Born in extreme poverty to his fourteen-year old mother in 1937 in Surry, Virginia, he worked to help support six … Read MoreCharles Sherrod (1937 – 2022)
David Nelson Crosthwait, Jr., was an African American inventor who is known for creating the heating system for Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York. Crosthwait was born on May 27th 1898 in Nashville, Tennessee. He grew up in Kansas City, Kansas … Read MoreDavid Nelson Crosthwait, Jr. (1898-1976)
Compared at the time to his more famous colleague, Paul Robeson, and heralded by major publicity outlets of his day as one of black America’s most exceptional baritone vocalists, singer-actor Kenneth Spencer was one of the most prominent black artists of the early 20th Century. … Read MoreKenneth Spencer (1913-1964)
Mary Burnett Talbert, clubwoman and civil rights leader, was born on September 18, 1866, to Cornelius and Caroline Nicholls Burnett in Oberlin, Ohio. Mary Burnett graduated from Oberlin High School at the age of sixteen and in 1886 graduated from Oberlin College with a literary … Read MoreMary B. Talbert (1866-1923)
In the article below social commentator John H. McWhorter challenges the nation to think differently about Black History Month. He argues that the emphasis on black “heroes” negates the tens of thousands of stories of ordinary African Americans who have overcome or outmaneuvered racism and … Read MoreJohn McWhorter, “Celebrate the Triumph of Ordinary Black Americans”
John Carlos is best known for his black-gloved fist salute on the winner’s podium (with Tommie Smith) at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Born on June 5, 1945, in Harlem, New York, Carlos was a promising student-athlete in high school. Following graduation, attended … Read MoreJohn Carlos (1945- )
John Hope Franklin, one of the nation’s leading historians, is the only African American who has served as president of both the American Historical Association (AHA) and the Organization of American Historians (OAH). Franklin was born in Rentiesville, Oklahoma on January 2, 1915 to parents … Read MoreJohn Hope Franklin (1915-2009)
