The Republic of New Africa (RNA) is a black nationalist organization that was created in 1969 on the premise that an independent black republic should be created out of the southern United States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, which were considered “subjugated … Read MoreRepublic of New Africa (1968- )
Jennie R. Patrick became the first African American woman to earn a PhD in chemical engineering when she completed graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1979. Patrick was born in Gadsden, Alabama on January 1, 1949. Her parents only had sixth … Read MoreJennie R. Patrick (1949- )
George Sherman Carter, research chemist, was born on May 10, 1911 in Gloucester County, Virginia. Carter, called Sherman, was one of four boys and one girl born to George Peter and Emily Maude Carter. Not much is known of Carter’s childhood or of his move … Read MoreGeorge Sherman Carter (1911-1998)
Image Ownership: Public Domain Charles Burleigh Purvis, surgeon and medical educator, was instrumental in the development of Howard University’s medical department. On July 2, 1881 Purvis was one of the attending physicians following the assassination of President James A. Garfield. Purvis was born in Philadelphia, … Read MoreCharles Burleigh Purvis (1842-1929)
In the account below Central Washington University anthropologist Mark Auslander describes why he wrote The Accidental Slaveholder, which describes the curious ways in which the legacy of slavery extend into the contemporary era. I grew up in Washington D.C. in a secular Jewish family in … Read MoreRemembrance in the Cemetery: In Search of “The Accidental Slaveowner”
Hubert Humphrey Speaking at the 1948 Democratic Convention Image: Public Domain In 1948 Hubert H. Humphrey, then Mayor of Minneapolis, was named one of the 119 members of the Platform Committee at the 1948 Democratic National Convention held in Philadelphia. Humphrey, a relatively unknown figure … Read More(1948) Hubert Humphrey, “No Compromises”
Abram Lincoln Harris, Jr., the grandson of slaves, was the first nationally recognized black economist. Harris was highly respected for his work that focused primarily on class analysis, black economic life, and labor to illustrate the structural inadequacies of race and racial ideologies. Harris’s major … Read MoreAbram Lincoln Harris Jr. (1899-1963)
Reginald McKnight is a novelist, short story writer, and educator born on February 26, 1956 in Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany to Frank and Pearl McKnight. Reginald’s father Frank was a career Air Force sergeant, causing the family to be frequently relocated during Reginald’s childhood. Before age 16 … Read MoreReginald McKnight (1956- )
Jewell Parker Rhodes is an accomplished novelist, nonfiction writer, and professor who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1954. Raised in Pittsburgh, Rhodes moved to California with relatives when she was eight but returned to her home town to begin college at 16. Her home … Read MoreJewell Parker Rhodes (1954- )
Educator, diplomat and businessman, Jerome Heartwell Holland was born on January 9, 1916 in Auburn, New York. The parents of Holland, and that of his twelve other siblings, were Robert Holland, a gardener/carpenter, and Viola Bagby Holland. For the entirety of his life, Holland maintained … Read MoreJerome Heartwell Holland (1916-1985)
