Hannah Diggs was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on November 1, 1923. Several of her relatives were teachers, and her parents instilled in her a love of reading and an appreciation for education. She became the valedictorian of her high school class before enrolling at … Read MoreHannah Diggs Atkins (1923-2010)
Born enslaved on January 6, 1828, on the Jordan Flake Plantation in Anson County, North Carolina, Green Flake was given to his owner’s son, James Madison Flake, when he married Agnes Love in 1838. Later, the couple moved to Mississippi with their three-year-old son, Green, … Read MoreGreen Flake (1828-1903)
In the early 1990s Bertram Oliver Fraser-Reid was being touted as the first person of African descent to have a serious chance at winning the Nobel Prize in a branch of science. In fact, this native of Coleyville, Jamaica, born February 23, 1934, was nominated … Read MoreBertram O. Fraser-Reid (1934-2020)
Born in 1837 in North Carolina, Sara G. Stanley was a member of a free, educated and economically secure family. She attended Oberlin College and later moved to Delaware after her family immigrated there. Following the tradition of other free black women Sara joined the … Read MoreSara G. Stanley (1837-1918)
Louis Abdul Farrakhan was born on May 11, 1933 in Bronx, New York as Louis Eugene Walcott. Walcott, who grew up in Roxbury, Massachusetts, excelled as a musician, singer and track star. He attended a Boston-area school for gifted children and was given national exposure … Read MoreLouis Abdul Farrakhan (1933- )
In 1853, the Lumbee Indians, a triracial people who are descendants of several southeastern Indian tribes, whites, and African Americans, named themselves after the Lumber River, which flows through their homeland in North Carolina. According to the Lumbee historian Adolph Dial, they are also descended … Read MoreHenry Berry Lowry (ca. 1846-1872)
George H. White served as a member of the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth United States Congresses (March 4, 1897-March 3, 1901) from North Carolina’s Second Congressional District during what historian Rayford Logan has termed the nadir in race relations for the post-Reconstruction South. Born in Rosindale, … Read MoreGeorge Henry White (1852-1918)
The fiery-militant David Walker was born on September 28, 1785, in Wilmington, North Carolina. His father was an enslaved African who died a few months before his son’s birth, and his mother was a free woman of African ancestry. Walker grew up to despise the … Read MoreDavid Walker (1785-1830)
The African American-manned 95th Engineer Battalion (General Service) was formed in April 1941 at Fort Belvoir, Virginia as part of the U.S. Army buildup preceding World War II. Unlike many construction units, the 95th received considerable training, participating in the Carolina Maneuvers and receiving practical … Read More95th Engineer Regiment
Booker T. Washington is one of the most controversial and dominant figures in African American history. According to his autobiography Up From Slavery (1901), he did not know the exact year, date, and place of his birth or his father’s name. Yet, it is widely … Read MoreBooker T. Washington (1856-1915)
