By 1906 Mary Church Terrell of Washington, D.C., had become one of the most prominent African American women in the nation. Ten years earlier she was the first president of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and from 1895 to 1901 she was a … Read More(1906) Mary Church Terrell, “What It Means to be Colored in the Capital of the U.S.”
Born on November 24, 1943 in Washington, D.C, David Bing was a skilled point guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA). His mother was a homemaker and his father was a bricklayer who founded a construction company. Dave Bing played with the Detroit Pistons, Washington … Read MoreDavid Bing (1943- )
Born in Washington, D.C. on April 27, 1969, Cory Booker is currently the United States Senator from New Jersey. Booker was raised in Harrington Park, New Jersey, a mostly white town where his parents Cary and Carolyn Booker, former civil rights activists and pioneer black … Read MoreCory Booker (1969- )
James Finley Wilson was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1881 to Reverend James L. Wilson and Nancy Wiley Wilson. From 1922 to 1948, Wilson served consecutive terms as Grand Exalted Ruler of the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks of the World (I.B.P.O.E. of … Read MoreJames Finley Wilson (1881-1952)
Irma Jackson Cayton Wertz was a member of the first Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAACS) Officer training class commissioned at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, during World War II. Born in Brunswick, Georgia, on May 8, 1911, Jackson was the product of a military household. Her … Read MoreIrma Jackson Cayton Wertz (1911-2007)
Fredua Koranteng Adu, known to much of the world as Freddy Adu was born June 2, 1989 in the port city of Tema, Ghana. Growing up in Ghana, Freddy often received attention for his tremendous soccer skills as a youngster. Even at a young age … Read MoreFreddy Adu (1989- )
Visual artist Lois Mailou Jones was born in 1905 in Boston, Massachusetts to Thomas Vreeland and Carolyn Dorinda Jones. Her father was a superintendent of a building and later became a lawyer, her mother was a cosmetologist. Early in life Jones displayed a passion for … Read MoreLois Mailou Jones (1905-1998)
Samuel Lee Gravely Jr. was a highly decorated Navy officer who pioneered the way with a multitude of firsts for African Americans in the military. Some of his most notable achievements included being the first African American Navy Vice Admiral, the first African American to … Read MoreSamuel Lee Gravely (1922-2004)
U.S. Appeals Court Judge Damon Jerome Keith, the son of Perry A. and Annie L. (Williams) Keith, was born in Detroit, Michigan on July 4, 1922. He earned a B.S. degree at West Virginia State College in 1943, an L.L.B. from Howard University in 1949, … Read MoreDamon Jerome Keith (1922-2019)
Nineteenth Century writer Frances Anne Rollin is noted as the author of Life and Public Services of Martin R. Delany which upon appearing in 1868 became the first full-length biography written by an African American. Rollin also kept a diary in 1868, making it the … Read MoreFrances Anne Rollin (1845-1901)
