March 27, 1946, Argued June 3, 1946, Decided MR. JUSTICE REED delivered the opinion of the Court. This appeal brings to this Court the question of the constitutionality of an act of Virginia, which requires all passenger motor vehicle carriers, both interstate and intrastate, to … Read More(1946) Morgan v. The Commonwealth of Virginia
Joseph D.D. Rivers’ name appeared on the second page of The Colorado Statesman (1895–1961), a respected African American weekly newspaper, as editor and publisher for nearly forty years. Rivers started the paper in 1895 and worked diligently to print news from around the country as … Read MoreJoseph D.D. Rivers (ca. 1856-1937)
John Grant Pegg was born around 1869 in Virginia. He began his career in about 1890 as a Pullman porter, working out of Chicago. It was there that he met Mary Charlotte Page of Kansas, a seamstress. After their marriage they moved to Omaha, Nebraska … Read MoreJohn Grant Pegg (1869-1916)
If any man of any color attained the ranks of legendary in the American West, it was James Beckwourth (also: Beckwith, Beckwoth). If any attest to his fame is necessary, one only needs to read the description under the accompanying lithograph and note that even … Read MoreJames Pierson Beckwourth (c. 1805 – 1866)
Born in Virginia in 1854, Olivia A. Davidson, the daughter of an ex-slave and freeborn mother, was the seventh of ten children. The family moved from Virginia to southern Ohio in 1857, then moved to the northern part of the state in Albany and Athens … Read MoreOlivia A. Davidson (1854-1889)
In the late 1930s psychologist and educator Kenneth B. Clark and his wife and collaborator, Mamie Phipps Clark, began to study the self-image of black children. The Clarks were among the first to describe the “harm and benefit” thesis in the area of civil rights … Read MoreKenneth B. Clark (1914-2005)
Lester Blackwell Granger was a social worker and civil rights and labor rights activist best known for leading the National Urban League (NUL) from 1941 to 1961. Granger was born on September 16, 1896, in Newport News, Virginia, to William “Ran” Randolph and Mary Louise … Read MoreLester Blackwell Granger (1896-1976)
John Campbell Dancy, Jr. headed the Detroit Urban League through the tumultuous years of the Great Migration, Great Depression, and World War II. He was born into a prominent family in North Carolina who steered him to the north to obtain degrees from Phillips-Exeter Academy … Read MoreJohn Campbell Dancy Jr. (1888-1968)
George Lewis Ruffin was born December 16, 1834 in Richmond, Virginia, the son of free blacks. He was educated in Boston, Massachusetts and soon became a force in the city’s civic leadership. After marrying Josephine St. Pierre, Mr. Ruffin supported his family by working as … Read MoreGeorge Lewis Ruffin (1834-1886)
The daguerreotypist James Presley (J.P.) Ball was born in 1825 in Virginia, probably a freeman. As a young man he learned daguerreotyping and opened his first studio in Cincinnati, Ohio at age twenty. The city was a center for anti-slavery activity as well as the … Read MoreJames Presley Ball (1825-1904)
