Henry Marsh is a prominent political figure, black activist, and lawyer in Richmond, Virginia. He was born on December 10, 1933 in Richmond but when his mother died at age five, he was sent to live with relatives in rural Virginia. Marsh, who attended Moonfield … Read MoreHenry L. Marsh, III (1933- )
Alexander Thomas Augusta was the highest-ranking black officer in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was also the first African American head of a hospital (Freedmen’s Hospital) and the first black professor of medicine (Howard University in Washington, D.C.). Augusta was born in … Read MoreAlexander T. Augusta (1825-1890)
Jefferson Lewis Edmonds was a prominent newspaper editor and political activist in late 19th Century Los Angeles. Edmonds was born a slave and worked for 20 years in tobacco and cotton fields in antebellum Virginia. Once freed in 1865 Edmonds relocated to Crawfordsville, Mississippi in … Read MoreJefferson L. Edmonds (1845-1914)
Osborne Perry Anderson was one of the five African American men to accompany John Brown in the raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) in October 1859. Anderson was a free-born abolitionist, born in West Fallow Field, Pennsylvania on July … Read MoreOsborne P. Anderson (1830-1872)
The Knights of Peter Claver organization was founded in 1909 in Mobile, Alabama. It is the largest African American Catholic lay organization in the United States. The organization was founded by the Josephites, a Catholic order whose mission was to serve Catholic African Americans. Josephite … Read MoreKnights of St. Peter Claver (1909- )
Lieutenant General Frank E. Petersen Jr., the first black general in the U.S. Marine Corps, was born in 1932 in Topeka, Kansas. He earned his Bachelor of Science in 1967. He received a Master’s in International Affairs in 1973. Both degrees came from George Washington … Read MoreFrank E. Petersen Jr. (1932-2015)
John Anthony Copeland Jr. was born free in Raleigh, North Carolina on August 15, 1834, to John Anthony Copeland Sr., a slave, and Delilah Evans, a free woman. Copeland spent much of his early life in Ohio and attended Oberlin College. While residing in Oberlin, Ohio, Copeland … Read MoreJohn Anthony Copeland Jr. (1836-1859)
20th Century poet Dudley Felker Randall was born January 14, 1914 in Washington D.C. He later moved to Detroit, Michigan. Born to Clyde and Ada Viola Randall, Dudley showed an interest in poetry at age four, writing lyrics to the song “Maryland, my Maryland” which … Read MoreDudley Randall (1914-2000)
Few people identify slavery with Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. However, there were slaves in the region particularly in the decade before the Civil War. In the following article, Gregory Paynter Shine, the Chief Ranger and Historian at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, describes … Read MoreThe Manumission of Monimia Travers: A Slave Freed at Fort Vancouver
In choosing librarianship over teaching or social work, Effie Lee Morris combined her desire to help people with a personal passion for education. In doing so she became one of America’s leading advocates for services to children, minorities, and the visually-impaired. Born in Richmond, Virginia … Read MoreEffie Lee Morris (1921-2009)
