Louis E. Martin Image Ownership: Jimmy Carter Library (NA 181236, Fair Use) Louis E. Martin was a newspaper editor and political activist, who served as an advisor to three American presidents. He used his political influence to secure key federal appointments for African Americans. He … Read MoreLouis E. Martin (1912 -1997)
Prominent educator and college president John Hope was born on August 2, 1868 in Augusta, Georgia to a bi-racial couple. His father, James Hope, was a Scottish immigrant and his mother, Mary Frances Butts, was a black woman, who had been free prior to the … Read MoreJohn Hope (1868-1936)
Harold M. Kingsley, Congregational minister and political activist, was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1887. The son of a wealthy white man and a poor black woman, Kingsley was raised by Baptists but sent to an Episcopal church because his family believed it was closely … Read MoreHarold M. Kingsley (1887-1970)
Image Ownership: Public Domain Educator, philosopher and theologian John Wesley Edward Bowen preached for social equality fifty years before the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. He supported black intellectualism and urged African Americans to develop self worth even in the face of white oppression. John Wesley … Read MoreJohn Wesley Edward Bowen (1855-1933)
Ted Poston, the first African American journalist to work at a mainstream newspaper, was born on July 4, 1906, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. His mother, Mollie Cox, died when he was ten and he was raised mostly by his eight older siblings, while his father, Ephraim, … Read MoreTed Poston (1906-1974)
John Wesley Work III, internationally acclaimed composer, educator, choral director, and ethnomusicologist, was born in 1901 in Tullahoma, Tennessee to musicians John Work, Jr., and Agnes Haynes. Both of Work’s parents were employed at Fisk University, his father as a professor of music and his mother … Read MoreJohn Wesley Work III (1901-1967)
Vernon Jarrett was a Chicago journalist and advocate for education. Born on June 19, 1921 in Paris, Tennessee, Jarrett received his undergraduate training from Knoxville College where he was editor of the campus newspaper. He graduated from Knoxville College in 1941 and soon afterwards joined … Read MoreVernon D. Jarrett (1918-2004)
During his life historian Lawrence Dunbar Reddick used his scholarly expertise to fight for civil rights. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 3, 1910, Reddick received his Bachelor’s and Master’s in history from Fisk University in 1932 and 1933, respectively. He went to the University … Read MoreLawrence Dunbar Reddick (1910-1995)
Image Ownership: Courtesy Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 3.0) Herman Cain, Republican Party activist and 2012 Presidential candidate was also a newspaper columnist, popular radio talk show host in Atlanta, and former chairman and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, a Pillsbury subsidiary. Cain was born on December … Read MoreHerman Cain (1945-2020)
Antonio Maceo Walker was an African American businessman and president of Universal Life Insurance Company and Tri-State Bank, both in Memphis, Tennessee. Walker was born on June 7, 1909, in Indianola, Mississippi to Joseph and Lela Walker. His father, Joseph Edison Walker, founded Universal Life … Read MoreA. Maceo Walker (1909-1994)
