Sheila Crump Johnson, entrepreneur and sports team owner, was born January 25, 1949 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania to George P. Crump and Marie Iris Crump. Her father’s job as a neurosurgeon for the Veteran’s Administration caused the family to move often during Johnson’s childhood. They eventually … Read MoreSheila Crump Johnson (1949- )
Dr. Matilda Arabelle Evans, black healthcare advocate, was born in Aiken, South Carolina in 1866. The oldest of three, born to Anderson and Harriet Evans, she spent much of the beginning of her life working in the fields with her family. Martha Shoefield, a white … Read MoreMatilda A. Evans (1866-1935)
On May 17, 1838, abolitionist Sara T. Smith addresses the second Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women which was originally scheduled to be held in Pennsylvania Hall. The meeting however was moved when anti-abolitionist mobs, upon learning of the Convention, burned the hall to the ground. … Read More(1838) Sara T. Smith, “Loosening the Bonds of Prejudice”
Image Ownership: Public Domain The Constitutional Convention in 1787 debated the institution of slavery. In the speech below Gouverneur Morris, a Pennsylvania delegate, described the negative impact of the institution on both North and South and in doing so made public at the highest level … Read More(1787) Gouverneur Morris, “The Curse of Slavery”
Born May 31, 1918 in Philadelphia, Lloyd Albert Quarterman, a chemist, was one of the few African American scientists and technicians to work on the Manhattan Project, the top secret effort to design and build the atomic bomb during World War II. Quarterman developed an interest in … Read MoreLloyd Albert Quarterman (1918-1982)
Willard Carroll Smith, Jr., better known as Will Smith, actor, rap and recording artist, was born in Wynnefield, Pennsylvania on September 25, 1968. His father, Willard Carroll Smith, is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a refrigerator engineer, and his mother, Caroline Bright … Read MoreWill Smith/Willard Carroll Smith II (1968- )
Charles Alfred Anderson, often called the “Father of Black Aviation” because he trained and mentored of hundreds of African American pilots, was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb, on February 9, 1907. His parents were Janie and Iverson Anderson. Charles Anderson earned the … Read MoreCharles A. “Chief” Anderson (1907-1996)
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 24, 1919, Harold Delaney was one of several African American scientists to work on the Manhattan Project in World War II. The eldest child of William and Henriette Delaney, Harold had four sisters, Mildred, Gertrude, Laura, and Ethel, and a … Read MoreHarold Delaney (1919-1994)
The Port Royal Experiment, the first major attempt by Northerners to reconstruct the Southern political and economic system, began only seven months after the firing on Fort Sumter. On November 7, 1861 the Union Army occupied South Carolina’s Sea Islands, freeing approximately 10,000 slaves. As … Read MorePort Royal Experiment (1862-1865)
Richard Robert Wright Sr., college founder and banker, was born into slavery on May 16, 1855, near Dalton, Georgia. After the Civil War ended Wright’s mother moved with her son to Atlanta, Georgia where he attended the Storrs School, an institution founded by the American … Read MoreRichard R. Wright, Sr. (1855-1947)
