“Image Ownership: Luke Ford” American actor Sherman Alexander Hemsley was an Air Force veteran and postal worker before becoming a television actor. He is best known for his role as George Jefferson on the CBS television series All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and as … Read MoreSherman Alexander Hemsley (1938-2012)
Longtime civil rights organizer and later U.S. Ambassador, Franklin Hall Williams was born on October 22, 1917, in Flushing, New York. His mother died in 1919. Williams was raised by his maternal grandparents. He graduated from Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1941. After … Read MoreFranklin Hall Williams (1917-1990)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Black Power advocate Nathan Wright, Jr. was born on August 5, 1923 in Shreveport, Louisiana. He and his brother and sisters grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. Wright attended St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1941 and 1942 and then … Read MoreNathan Wright Jr. (1923-2005)
Ronald Kenneth Noble is the first African American to serve as Secretary General of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) headquartered in Lyon, France. Born in 1956 at Fort Dix, New Jersey, Noble is the son of an African American soldier and a German mother. … Read MoreRonald Noble (1956 -)
Abram Thompson Hall, Jr., a northern journalist, forced the organization of Graham County after arriving in Nicodemus, Kansas, the first all-black community on the high plains. The county’s rapidly increasing white population objected, but Kansas Governor John Pierce St. John acknowledged the validity of Hall’s … Read MoreAbram Thompson Hall Jr. (1851-1951)
Bishop William Paul Quinn was the fourth Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. He was instrumental in establishing several AME churches in U.S. midwestern states during the pre-Civil War period. His work for the Black Methodist community was highly regarded. That work included … Read MoreWilliam Paul Quinn (1788-1873)
“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Noah Webster Griffin is best known as the first director of the West Coast Regional Office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), established by the national headquarters in 1942. Griffin was born in 1896 to formerly … Read MoreNoah Webster Griffin Sr. (1896-1974)
The Philadelphia Plan was a federal affirmative action program established in 1967 to racially integrate the building construction trade unions through mandatory goals for nonwhite hiring on federal construction contracts. Declared illegal in 1968, a revised version was successfully defended by the Nixon Administration and … Read MoreThe Philadelphia Plan (1967-1970)
Charles “Chuck” Stone, Jr., pioneering African American newspaper columnist, editor, author, and professor was born on July 21, 1924 to Charles and Madeline Stone in St. Louis, Missouri. Soon after, the family moved to Connecticut where Stone’s mother worked for the Hartford Board of Education … Read MoreCharles Sumner “Chuck” Stone, Jr. (1924-2014)
Jehu Jones Jr., the first African American Lutheran pastor, was born in Charleston, South Carolina on September 4, 1786 to slave parents, Jehu Sr. and Abigail Jones. Jones’ parents were freed in 1798. The elder Jones, who had been trained as a tailor, was able … Read MoreJehu Jones Jr. (1786-1852)
