An early career in health care led to political aspirations for Eddie Bernice Johnson, culminating in her position representing Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was an advocate for women, children, and human rights. Born in Waco, Texas, in 1935 to parents Lee Edward Johnson and Lillie Mae … Read MoreEddie Bernice Johnson (1935-2023)
Mystic cult leader, intellectual, author, and war survivor Robert T. Browne was born in a shack near LaGrange, Texas, on July 16, 1882. He was believed to be the son of illiterate former slaves who likely attended a black Methodist church in the vicinity. An exceptional student, when Browne … Read MoreRobert Tecumtha Browne (1882-1978)
Wendell Allen, a 20-year old black male, was fatally shot on March 7, 2012 by New Orleans police officer Joshua Colclough during a drug raid in that city. Officer Colclough fired a single bullet into Allen’s chest, killing him instantly. Allen was the son of Natasha Allen … Read MoreWendell James Allen (1992-2012)
On Thursday, March 3, 1910, a Dallas, Texas mob lynched Allen Brooks, a fifty-seven-year-old African American man. His murder was one of a number of lynchings in major Texas cities. Little is known about Brooks’s early life. He was born in either Maryland or Texas around 1853. By the … Read MoreAllen Brooks (ca. 1853-1910)
The first African American pilot hired by a commercial passenger airline carrier owed his achievement to Marlon D. Green who fought a six-year court battle that opened the industry to minority-race aviators. Born on June 6, 1929 in El Dorado, Arkansas, one of the five … Read MoreMarlon DeWitt Green (1929-2009)
Four-star general and precision flier Lloyd W. Newton was born December 24, 1942 in Ridgeland, South Carolina, the fourth of seven children of John H. Newton, a farmer, and Annie Newton. Finishing Jasper High School in Ridgeland, he majored in mechanical engineering at Tennessee State … Read MoreLloyd Warren Newton (1942- )
Image Ownership: Public domain Physicist and university administrator Robert Ambrose Thornton was born in Houston, Texas, on May 6, 1902 to Frank Thornton, a laborer, and the former Mary Jane Sullivan, a midwife. Thornton attended Houston Colored High School but later graduated from Los Angeles … Read MoreRobert Ambrose Thornton (1902-1982)
Dr. Donnis Hazel Thompson was an athlete, coach, University of Hawaii Women’s Athletic Director, State of Hawaii Department of Education school superintendent, Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission chair in Hawaii, and champion for Title IX women’s athletics in Hawaii. Thompson was born in Chicago, Illinois, … Read MoreDonnis Hazel Thompson (1933-2009)
Roland Sebastian Martin is a journalist, columnist, and author. Martin was on born November 14, 1968 to Emelda and Reginald Lynn Martin Sr. in Houston, Texas. His maternal great grandparents emigrated from Haiti to the United States and settled in Louisiana. Martin graduated from Yates … Read MoreRoland Sebastian Martin (1968- )
Freedmen’s Town is a nationally registered historical site. The site was originally a community located in the Fourth Ward of Houston, Texas that began in 1865 as the destination for former enslaved people from surrounding plantations in Texas and Louisiana after the Civil War. Freedmen’s … Read MoreFreedmen’s Town, Houston, Texas (1865- )
