“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Pierre-Richard Prosper is an attorney and diplomat who turned his passion for the rule of law into a global pursuit for justice for victims of the worst crimes of humanity, and accountability for the perpetrators of those crimes. Born in Denver, … Read MorePierre-Richard Prosper (1963– )
Louisa “Lulu” Matilda Jacobs, teacher, equal rights activist, and entrepreneur, was born a slave in Edenton, North Carolina, on October 19, 1833. She was the daughter of congressman and newspaper editor Samuel Tredwell Sawyer and his mixed-race enslaved mistress Harriet Jacobs. Louisa Jacobs was educated … Read MoreLouisa Matilda Jacobs (1833-1917)
In the article below, Syracuse University historian Herbert Ruffin explores the rapid rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2013 as the most recent development in the ongoing struggle for racial and social justice in the United States. In the summer of 2013, three … Read MoreBlack Lives Matter: The Growth of a New Social Justice Movement
George Shirley is an educator, lecturer, and internationally acclaimed tenor whose leading roles in 28 operas with the Metropolitan Opera (“Met”) for 11 seasons helped push open doors on operatic stages for many African American tenors. In 1956 Shirley became the first African American member … Read MoreGeorge Irving Shirley (1934- )
Camille J. Billops, artist, filmmaker, archivist, and professor, was born on August 12, 1933, in Los Angeles. Her parents were Alma Gilmore and Lucius Billops, and she has one sister, Billie. She married James V. Hatch, a professor of theater at the University of California, … Read MoreCamille Billops (1933-2019)
“Image Ownership: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times” Leo Antony “Tony” Gleaton was an African American photographer, scholar, and artist who is best known for his photographic images capturing and documenting the African influence in the American West and Central and South America. Gleaton, the youngest son … Read MoreTony Gleaton (1948-2015)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Twenty-two-year-old Kenia Martinez was crowned Miss Universe Honduras on July 8, 2010. She went on to compete in the Miss Universe Pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, in August of the same year. Kenia was the second black woman to win … Read MoreKenia Martinez (1988– )
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Thomas J. Bowers, businessman, pianist, and activist, was best known as an African American opera singer, who was compared favorably with the leading world tenors of the mid-nineteenth century. Bowers was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1823, one of John C. … Read MoreThomas J. Bowers (1823-1885)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Owned by a prestigious African American couple, Elizabeth and Rev. James Gloucester, Remsen House was an upscale boarding establishment situated in the heart of Brooklyn Heights, New York. Located at 144 Remsen Street on the corner of Remsen and Clinton Streets … Read MoreRemsen House (ca. 1830-1936)
Elizabeth A. Parkhill Gloucester, the wife of the Rev. Dr. James Gloucester, was an abolitionist, a supporter of the Underground Railroad, business owner, and considered one of the wealthiest women of her race at the time of her death in 1883. Born in Virginia to … Read MoreElizabeth A. Parkhill Gloucester (1817-1883)
