What happened Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is an African American viral immunologist on the front lines of the global research for a COVID-19 vaccine. Unlike the common flu, COVID-19 has a significantly higher death rate which has caused a pandemic that has killed millions around the … Read MoreKizzmekia Corbett (1986- ) [Children’s Edition]
Nettie J. Craig Asberry was a suffragist, clubwoman, and music educator who helped found the Tacoma Chapter of the NAACP and the Washington State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. Born on July 15, 1865 in Leavenworth, Kansas, Asberry was the youngest of six children born … Read MoreNettie J. Craig Asberry (1865-1968)
Mabel Byrd, a life-long educator, researcher, and civil rights activist, was the first African American to attend the University of Oregon. Born in Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1895, Byrd was the youngest daughter of Robert Byrd, a bricklayer, and Jennie Byrd. She moved with … Read MoreMabel Janet Byrd (1895-1988)
Louise Alone Thompson Patterson, civil rights activist, communist, and educator, was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 9, 1901 to Lulu (Louise) F. Brown Toles and William J. Toles. After her parents 1904 separation, Thompson lived in Seattle, Washington as well as Utah, Nevada, Idaho, … Read MoreLouise Thompson Patterson (1901-1999)
Tuskegee Airman Rudolph “Val” Archer was born in Woodlawn, a South Side neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois on April 13, 1929 to Osborn Archer, railroad laborer, and artist and homemaker Ruth Luella Seay. Ruth Archer passed away when Rudolph was twelve, and he began to deliver … Read MoreRudolph “Val” Archer (1929-2020)
In 1941 the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the construction agent for the War Department, maintained construction battalions that were deemed less valuable than units in other Army branches. Coupling this practice with the racial beliefs dominant in the Jim Crow South, it … Read MoreThe 97th Engineering Regiment (1941-1948)
Jennie Hughes Smith was the first African American to graduate from the University of Idaho in 1899. Hughes was born on July 20, 1879 in Washington D.C. to Louisa and Alexander Hughes. Hughes spent the majority of her childhood traveling west with her mother and … Read MoreJennie Eva Hughes Smith (1879-1939)
In the following article novelist and independent historian Amy Sommers briefly outlines the experience of African Americans in Asia between World Wars I and II. She argues that African American influence in Asia was situated in four broad categories: the performing arts, international relations, faith, … Read MoreThe Black Pacific, 1919-1941: African Americans and Asia in the Interwar Period
In the following article Wyoming historian Brigida R. Blasi explores the history of now nearly forgotten Dana, a small predominately black coal mining town about 150 miles west of Cheyenne. Here is her account. The town of Dana has largely been forgotten in the history … Read MoreDana, Wyoming, A Black Town in the Coal Mining West
Jamila Taylor represents Washington State’s 30th Legislative District, which includes the cities of Federal Way, Des Moines, Auburn, Algona, Pacific, and Milton, as well as unincorporated parts of King County and a small part of Pierce County. Taylor, a Democrat, was elected to the legislature in November 2020 and took her … Read MoreJamila Taylor (1975- )
