Decided March 9, 1841 MR. JUSTICE STORY delivered the opinion of the Court. This is the case of an appeal from the decree of the Circuit Court of the District of Connecticut, sitting in admiralty. The leading facts, as they appear upon the transcript of … Read More(1841) United States v. The Amistad
Jacob Dodson accompanied John C. Fremont on three expeditions to explore the Western frontier. Dodson was a free born African American whose family worked in the service of Fremont’s father-in-law, Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton. In 1843, Dodson was 18 years old when he left … Read MoreJacob Dodson (1825-?)
Peter Salem was a Patriot of the American Revolutionary War who participated in the first major engagement of that conflict, the Battle of Breed’s Hill, erroneously called the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. Salem was already a veteran soldier, having spent two … Read MorePeter Salem (ca.1750 -1816)
Pauli Murray was born on November 20, 1910 in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Agnes and William Murray. Her father, a Howard University graduate, taught in the Baltimore public schools. Both of Murray’s parents died when she was a child. Her mother suffered from a … Read MorePauli Murray (1910-1985)
In the late 1920s, Ophelia Settle Egypt conducted some of the first and finest interviews with former slaves, setting the stage for the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) massive project ten years later. Born Ophelia Settle in 1903, she was a graduate of the University of … Read MoreOphelia Settle Egypt (1903-1984)
Mary Church Terrell, a writer, suffragist, educator, and activist, co-founded the National Association of Colored Women and served as the organization’s first president. Known as “Mollie” to her family, Church, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee on September 23, 1863, lived a life of privilege … Read MoreMary Church Terrell (1863-1954)
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)
Kelly Miller, mathematician, intellectual, and political activist, was born on July 18, 1863 in Winnsboro, South Carolina to Kelly and Elizabeth Miller. Like many African Americans who took advantage of increased educational opportunities after the civil war, Miller attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. He … Read MoreKelly Miller (1863-1939)
An outstanding educator and academic leader, Inman Edward Page was born in Warrenton, Virginia, on December 29, 1853. On the plantation where he and his parents were enslaved, Page was a houseboy. When he was about ten years old the Civil War brought Union and … Read MoreInman Edward Page (1853-1936)
George Jordan, buffalo soldier and Medal of Honor recipient, hailed from rural Williamson County in central Tennessee. Enlisting in the 38th Infantry Regiment on 25 December 1866, the short and illiterate Jordan proved a good soldier. In January 1870, he transferred to the 9th Cavalry’s … Read MoreGeorge Jordan (ca. 1849-1904)
