Rochester, August 29, 1868 Dear Harriet: I am glad to know that the story of your eventful life has been written by a kind lady, and that the same is soon to be published. You ask for what you do not need when you call … Read More(1868) Letter from Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman
James E. Walton, longtime professor of English at California State University, Fresno, was born on September 13, 1944 in Bessemer, Alabama to Willie Walton, Sr. and Mary Woods Cutts. Walton attended a two-room schoolhouse in Alabama. At age three, his grandmother taught him to read … Read MoreJames E. Walton (1944-2019)
Victorine Quille Adams was a Baltimore Public School teacher, business manager of the Charm Center, Founder of the Colored Women’s Democratic Campaign Committee, Co-Founder of Woman Power, Incorporated, and first African American Baltimore City Councilwoman. She was a native Baltimorean whose contributions sought to improve … Read MoreVictorine Quille Adams (1912-2006)
Letitia “Tish” James is a lawyer, activist, and the first African American female Attorney General of the state of New York. James was born in Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York on October 18, 1958. Her father, Robert, was a maintenance man, and her mother Nellie … Read MoreLetitia A. James (1958- )
On August 24, 2019, African American abolitionist John Pierre Burr was honored and formally acknowledged by the Aaron Burr Family Association as the son of former Vice President Aaron Burr in an unveiling of his headstone at Eden Cemetery near Philadelphia. John Pierre Burr was … Read MoreLouisa Charlotte Burr (1788-1878)
In 2018, Lauren Underwood was elected to the U.S. Congress representing the 14th Congressional district of Illinois which is suburban Chicago. She is the first African American woman to represent the district, defeating incumbent Republican Congressman Randy Hultgren. At age 32, she is also the … Read MoreLauren Underwood (1986- )
Surgeon and oncologist Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall Jr. was born on May 22, 1930 in Tallahassee, Florida to Lula Jordan and LaSalle Leffall Sr. Leffall grew up in Quincy, Florida where his father taught agriculture at Florida A&M College, a historically black college located in … Read MoreLaSalle D. Leffall Jr. (1930-2019)
Algernon Brashear Jackson was a columnist, author, physician, surgeon and one of the foundering members of Sigma Pi Phi, the oldest African-American Greek letter organization. Jackson was born on May 21, 1878 to Charles and Sarah (Brashear) Jackson in Princeton, Indiana. His father was African … Read MoreAlgernon Brashear Jackson (1878-1942)
Lizzie Koontz Weeks was an early suffragist, activist, and the first black social worker in Portland, Oregon. Weeks was possibly born in 1886 in Washington, D.C. to mixed-race parentage. Although not much is known of her early life, she moved to Portland, Oregon where she … Read MoreLizzie Koontz Weeks (ca. 1886-1976)
On June 17, 1972, Frank Wills, an African American night watchman, detected an early morning break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. The five men arrested had ties to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, igniting a political scandal … Read MoreFrank Wills (1948-2000)