Ada Beatrice Queen Victoria Louise Virginia Smith (“Bricktop”), vaudevillian actress, singer, nightclub owner, and international celebrity host, was born August 14, 1894 in Alderson, West Virginia, to Thomas and Hattie Thompson Smith. Her father passed away in 1898 and Mrs. Smith moved Ada and her … Read MoreAda “Bricktop” Smith (1894-1984)
Actor Laurence Fishburne III was born on July 30, 1961 in Augusta, Georgia to parents Laurence Jr. and Hattie, a corrections officer and a schoolteacher. After the couple separated Hattie moved young Fishburne to Brooklyn, New York where the two lived with her mother. Fishburne’s … Read MoreLaurence Fishburne (1961- )
Image Ownership: John Matthew Smith (CC BY-SA 2.0) Actress Phylicia Rashad was born June 19, 1948 in Houston, Texas to Andrew Allen, a dentist, and Vivian Ayers, a Pulitzer Prize nominated poet and playwright. Rashad’s siblings are also entertainers; her brother “Tex” Arthur Allen Jr. … Read MorePhylicia Rashad (1948- )
On June 2, 1863, Harriet Tubman led 150 black Union soldiers, who were part of the U.S. 2nd South Carolina Volunteers, in the Combahee River Raid and liberated more than 700 enslaved people. Tubman, often referred to as “the Moses of her people,” was a … Read MoreCombahee River Raid (June 2, 1863)
Image Courtesy of the San Francisco Public Library San Francisco civil rights activist Tracy Sims, now Tamam Tracy Moncur, was born in 1945 in Oakland, California. Sims moved to San Francisco with her mother and brothers when she was in high school. She later married … Read MoreTracy Sims (1945- )
Former Washington State Legislator and current internet business entrepreneur, Jesse Calvin Wineberry was born in 1955 in Sedro Woolley, Washington, and adopted by parents Peter and Mary Wineberry. Wineberry grew up in Seattle’s Central District and attended Queen Anne High School. He earned a degree … Read MoreJesse Calvin Wineberry (1955- )
In the article below Seattle historian Carver Clark Gayton describes his most prominent ancestor, Lewis G. Clarke, who is widely considered to be the model for one of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s main characters in her novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Here Gayton describes Clarke’s evolving relationship … Read MoreLewis G. Clarke: Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Forgotten Hero
Terrycina “Terri” Sewell, the current U.S. Representative for Alabama’s 7th district, was born January 1, 1965 in Huntsville, Alabama to Andrew and Nancy Sewell. Sewell grew up in Selma, Alabama where both of her parents were employed by the local school district. Her father, Andrew, … Read MoreTerri Sewell (1965- )
Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD), founded in 1986 in New York City, is one of the oldest organizations working toward the welfare of black gay men in the United States. They began offering services for persons with AIDS toward the beginning of the US … Read MoreGay Men of African Descent (GMAD) (1986- )
Jazz pianist, Willie “the Lion” Smith was born William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff on November 25, 1897. Smith was born to parents Ida Oliver and Frank Bertholoff in Goshen, New York. Bertholoff passed away in 1901, and Oliver married mechanic John Smith. The two raised … Read MoreWilliam [Willie “the Lion”] Smith (1897-1973)
