Roberta Cleopatra Flack was born on February 10, 1937 in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Her father Laron Flack was a self-taught jazz pianist and her mother, Irene Flack, was church pianist. At the age of nine her family moved to Arlington, Virginia. There she began … Read MoreRoberta Flack (1937- )
Kenneth C. Frazier is the first African American President of Merck & Co., a major pharmaceutical corporation. Frazier was elected by the Board of Directors to be the next CEO on May 1, 2010, and assumed the post on January 1, 2011. Kenneth Frazier was … Read MoreKenneth C. Frazier (1954- )
The Black Belt Republic was a proposed black autonomous state in the American Deep South proposed by African American communists and for a time endorsed by the Soviet Union and the international communist community. The Black Belt itself is a crescent shaped band of predominately … Read MoreBlack Belt Republic (1928-1934)
Buckroe Beach is one of the oldest recreational regions in Virginia. In 1619, the “Buck Roe” plantation was designated for public use for the newly arrived English settlers sent by the Virginia Company of London. By 1637, however, the plantation was converted into a commercial … Read MoreBuckroe Beach, Hampton, Virginia (1890- )
First Baptist Church of Petersburg, Virginia, originally known as the First African Baptist Church, is the oldest continuously operating black church in the state and is the mother church of numerous Baptist congregations in Virginia. The evangelical anti-slavery message of the equality of all men who were … Read MoreFirst Baptist Church, Petersburg, Virginia (1756- )
Act of August 30, 1890, ch. 841, 26 Stat. 417, 7 U.S.C. 322 et seq. Chap. 841.–AN ACT To apply a portion of the proceeds of the public lands to the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of agriculture and … Read More(1890) Second Morrill Act
In the account below historian Lorraine McConaghy uses the story of black sailor Robert Shorter to indicate that while the Civil War freed nearly four million slaves, it also set in motion the status decline of antebellum African American seamen. The eleven years Robert Shorter … Read MoreEleven Years in the U.S. Navy: The Strange Saga of Robert Shorter
Larry Everston Brownlee, Jr., one of six children, was born on November 24, 1972 in Youngstown, Ohio. His father, a General Motors plant worker who was also choir director at Phillips Chapel Church of God in Christ, commanded his son to perform so often that … Read MoreLawrence E. Brownlee Jr. (1972- )
Harriet Robinson Scott was an enslaved person who is best remembered for being the second wife of Dred Scott. Harriet was born a slave on a Virginia plantation around 1820. From a young age she was a servant to Lawrence Taliaferro, a US Indian Agent. … Read MoreHarriet Robinson Scott (ca. 1820-1876)
William Henry Johnson served as the personal valet to Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was born around 1835; however, his exact date of birth, parentage, and birthplace remain unknown. He began working for the Lincoln family in Springfield, Illinois as a barber and valet in 1860 and accompanied Lincoln … Read MoreWilliam Henry Johnson (ca. 1835-1864)
