Born into poverty on April 8, 1937, in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Robert L. Woodson Sr. is often described as the “godfather” of the movement to empower community-based organizations to help themselves. Widely known as a leading black conservative, Woodson rose from liberal-oriented neighborhood civil rights … Read MoreRobert L. Woodson Sr. (1937– )
Early 20th Century East San Francisco (California) Bay civic leader and activist, Fannie Franklin Wall, was born in Gallatin, Tennessee, in 1860 She married Archy H. Wall, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army who also later worked for the San Francisco Post Office. They … Read MoreFannie Franklin Wall (c. 1860-1944)
Ambassador Richard Kenneth Fox served as U.S. Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago during the Jimmy Carter Administration. Fox was born on October 22, 1925 in Cincinnati, Ohio. After a stint in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946, he enrolled at Indiana University and received … Read MoreRichard K. Fox (1925- )
“Image Courtesy of the Randolph Carter Family” Civil rights leader and political activist Randolph Warren “Randy” Carter of Seattle, Washington, was born November 15, 1913 in Riverside, California to Charles and Hettie Carter, the youngest son of four boys. Carter was a track star in … Read MoreRandolph Warren Carter (1913-1970)
Dr. Emory Hestus Holmes, World War II veteran, social scientist, professor, and California civil rights leader, was born on November 17, 1924 in Birmingham, Alabama to David H. and Dora Catherine Holmes. He attended segregated schools in Alabama and, at the age of 17, joined … Read MoreEmory Hestus Holmes (1924-1995)
In 1943 Gordon Alexander McHenry became the first African American engineer hired by the Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington. He was later promoted to Boeing Executive management (1955). Prior to 1943 Boeing labor unions had hindered the hiring of African American engineers. During his forty-year … Read MoreGordon Alexander McHenry (1921-2001)
Ambassador William Beverly Carter is the first Ambassador-at-Large, and the second African American, to be appointed an ambassador by three Presidents. In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon appointed him ambassador to Tanzania. Four years later, President Gerald R. Ford named him ambassador to Liberia. In … Read MoreW. Beverly Carter (1921-1982)
In the extended article that appears below historians Daudi Abe and Quintard Taylor explore the history of African Americans in King County from 1858 to 2014. They analyze the forces which encouraged people of African ancestry to settle in the county and discuss the rapid … Read MoreFrom Memphis and Mogadishu: The History of African Americans in King County, Washington, 1858-2014
Henry G. Parks, Jr., is best known as the founder of H.G. Parks, Inc., the first black corporation to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He was born Henry Faris Parks in Atlanta, Georgia on September 29, 1916 to Henry Green Parks Sr., … Read MoreHenry Green Parks, Jr. (1916-1989)
The Philadelphia Plan was a federal affirmative action program established in 1967 to racially integrate the building construction trade unions through mandatory goals for nonwhite hiring on federal construction contracts. Declared illegal in 1968, a revised version was successfully defended by the Nixon Administration and … Read MoreThe Philadelphia Plan (1967-1970)
