Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in the nation, was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1794 by Richard Allen, a former slave. Allen founded Mother Bethel AME after the church he had been attending, St. George’s Methodist Episcopal … Read MoreMother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church [Philadelphia] (1794- )
When the Democratic National Convention met in Philadelphia in July, 1948, Minneapolis, Minnesota’s 37 year old mayor, Hubert H. Humphrey, was a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Humphrey was chosen to give one of the speeches at the convention and used the opportunity to propose … Read More(1948) Hubert Humphrey, “Speech at the Democratic National Convention”
Educator Mary Jane Patterson is considered to be the first African American woman to receive a B.A. when she graduated from Oberlin College in 1862. A fellow Oberlin alumnus, Lucy Stanton Day Sessions, graduated twelve years earlier but was not in a program that awarded … Read MoreMary Jane Patterson (1840-1894)
Lillian E. Fishburne, the first African American woman to become a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, was born on March 25, 1949 in Patuxent River, Maryland. Fishburne was raised in Rockville, Maryland where she attended Richard Montgomery High School. In 1971, she graduated … Read MoreLillian E. Fishburne (1949- )
Cecil Francis Poole, the first African American U.S. Attorney in the continental United States and the first African American federal judge in Northern California, was born in Birmingham, Alabama on July 14, 1914, to William and Eva Poole. In 1918, the Poole family moved to … Read MoreCecil F. Poole (1914-1997)
Francis Johnson, musician, composer, and bandmaster, was born in 1792 in Martinique in the West Indies and emigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1809 at the age of 17. By that point he had already mastered the keyed bugle and the violin. By his early 20s … Read MoreFrancis Johnson (1792-1844)
Born two decades before American women won the right to vote, Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander overcame obstacles as a woman and also as an African American in the elite profession of law. In 1927 she became the first black woman to gain admission to the … Read MoreSadie T. M. Alexander (1898-1989)
Multi-talented performer Billy Eckstine, known as “Mr. B.,” was a jazz musician and balladeer who gained popularity during the post-World War II era. His good looks, fashionable style and smooth baritone vocals led to a long and successful musical career, earning a place as DOWNBEAT’s … Read MoreBilly Eckstine (1914-1993)
William ‘Willie the Pro” Thrower was the first African American to play as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). Thrower was born on March 22, 1930, in New Kensington, Pennsylvania. Although his statistics as a college and high school football player are good, … Read MoreWilliam “Willie the Pro” Thrower (1930-2002)
Milton Arthur Galamison, minister and civil rights activist, was the leader of New York City’s school integration movement in the 1960s. Born and raised in Philadelphia, where he experienced poverty and hostile racial relations that influenced his later activism, Galamison received a B.A. with honors … Read MoreMilton A. Galamison (1923-1988)
