Elwood Watson, a professor of history at East Tennessee State University, is one of the few African American cultural historians to focus his research on the Miss America pageant. In the article below he examines the success of eight black women in winning the pageant … Read MoreThe Racial Politics of Miss America
Minister and civil rights activist Robert W. Bagnall served as Director of Branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during the organization’s first significant period of growth in the early 20th century. A graduate of Bishop Payne Divinity School in … Read MoreRobert W. Bagnall Jr.(1883-1943)
Virginia Union University, a historically black university located in Richmond, Virginia, traces its roots back to the Wayland Seminary, founded in 1865 by the American Baptist Home Missionary Society (ABHMS). The institution, however, is the result of the merger of four institutions: Wayland Seminary, Richmond … Read MoreVirginia Union University (1865- )
Virginia State University is a public, historically black college located in Petersburg, Virginia. The university is the first fully supported, four year institution for African Americans in the United States and is one of two land-grant colleges in the State of Virginia. The university was … Read MoreVirginia State University (1882- )
Educator, civil rights activist, writer, suffragist, and political organizer, Addie Waites Hunton was born in Norfolk, Virginia on June 11, 1866, to Jesse and Adeline Waites. After her mother died when she was very young, she moved to Boston, Massachusetts to live with her maternal … Read MoreAddie Waites Hunton (1866-1943)
Grant Reynolds was a civic leader, civil rights activist, World War II chaplain, attorney, and educator. He was best known as a leading force in ending segregation in the United States Armed Forces. Reynolds was born July 29, 1908 in Key West, Florida to Emma … Read MoreGrant Reynolds (1908-2004)
John Chilembwe was a Baptist educator and political leader who organized an uprising against British colonial rule in Nyasaland (today Malawi). Though details about Chilembwe’s early life are largely undocumented, it is believed that he was born in the Chiradzulu region of Nyasaland sometime around … Read MoreJohn Chilembwe (ca. 1871-1915)
Haki R. Madhubuti is a poet, professor, and founder of Third World Press, the nation’s oldest publisher of Black thought and literature. Madhubuti was born Don L. Lee in Little Rock, Arkansas, on February 23, 1942. After a move to Detroit, his father abandoned the … Read MoreHaki R. Madhubuti (Don L. Lee) (1942- )
Percy Sutton, attorney, politician, civil rights activist, and businessman, was born on November 24, 1920, in San Antonio, Texas to school teachers Samuel and Lillian Sutton. Percy Sutton attended Prairie View A&M University, Tuskegee Institute, and Hampton Institute. In 1942, Sutton joined the military. He … Read MorePercy Sutton (1920-2009)
Wyatt Tee Walker, civil rights leader, pastor, and theologian, was born on August 16, 1928, in Brockton, Massachusetts to John Wise and Maude Pinn Walker. Wyatt attended elementary and high school in Merchantville, New Jersey. He earned a B.S. in chemistry and physics from Virginia … Read MoreWyatt Tee Walker (1928-2018)
