Reverend J(esse) J(ames) Clow was a beloved minister and a prominent figure in the struggle for civil rights in Portland, Oregon. In 1936, Rev. Clow began a service of ministry at Portland’s Mt. Olivet Baptist Church. Mt. Olivet was the first African American Baptist Church … Read MoreJ.J .Clow (1893-1979)
Eugene Kinkle Jones was one of the seven founders or Jewels of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and Executive Director of the National Urban League during its early formative period. Jones was born in 1885 in Richmond, Virginia. His father Joseph was a former slave, but … Read MoreEugene Kinkle Jones (1885-1954)
In the early twentieth century Progressive era reformers largely ignored the needs of African American women. Lacking settlement houses and other resources African American reformers such as Elizabeth Ross Haynes turned to one of the few institutions available to them, the YWCA. Ross Haynes was … Read MoreElizabeth Ross Haynes (1883-1953)
E. June Smith, a prominent leader in Seattle’s civil rights movement, was born in Cairo, Illinois in 1900 and worked as a secretary in St. Louis. Smith came to Seattle with her husband Roscoe O. Smith, a railroad porter, in 1941. Soon after her arrival, … Read MoreE. June Smith (1900-1982)
Edwin Thomas Pratt had been a leader in Seattle, Washington’s civil rights movement for a decade when he was assassinated at the front door of his home on January 26, 1969. At the time, Pratt was Executive Director of the Seattle Urban League. His murder … Read MoreEdwin T. Pratt (1930-1969)
Dr. DeNorval Unthank, a civil rights advocate and a highly respected leader in the black community of Portland, Oregon, was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on December 14, 1899. After his mother died, Unthank’s father sent him to live with an aunt and uncle in Kansas … Read MoreDeNorval Unthank (1899-1977)
In the spring of 1964, before Congress passed the Economic Opportunity Act, a group of Central Area residents and friends created a comprehensive anti-poverty proposal which was presented in the autumn of 1964 at a mass meeting called by the Seattle Urban League and the … Read MoreCentral Area Motivation Program (1964- )
Bertha Pitts Campbell was an early Seattle civil rights worker, a founder of the Christian Friends for Racial Equality, and an early board member of the Seattle Urban League. She was also one of 22 young women at Howard University in 1913, who founded the … Read MoreBertha Pitts Campbell (1889-1990)
Bernard Squires was the president of the Omaha, Nebraska chapter of the Urban League from 1935 to 1939 and the Seattle chapter of the Urban League from 1939 to 1943. Squires was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1904. He graduated from high school in Toledo, … Read MoreBernard Squires (1904-1947)
