When in June 1928, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chose to hold its 19th annual conference in Los Angeles, California, it was the first time the Association’s meeting was held in the West. W.E.B. DuBois was the major speaker. He … Read More(1928) Beatrice Morrow Cannady Speaks to the NAACP
In 1990, more than thirty years after moving west with her family from rural Alabama, Hattie Canty was elected president of the Las Vegas Hotel and Culinary Workers Union Local 226, a position that enabled her to significantly improve the standard of living for tens … Read MoreHattie Canty (1934- )
Octavia was born in Pasadena California to Laurice and Octavia Butler. Her father passed away when she was a baby, so she was raised by her grandmother and her mother. As a girl, she was known as Junie, derived from “Junior” since her mother was … Read MoreOctavia E. “Junie” Butler (1947-2006)
Corrine Brown is a former politician and now convicted felon who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida from 1993 to 2017. Brown was born on November 11, 1946 in Jacksonville, Florida. She attended the local schools and then enrolled … Read MoreCorrine Brown (1946- )
Born on October 5, 1929 in Shiloh, Alabama, Autherine Lucy was one of ten children in a family of farmers. Despite this modest background, Lucy would impact history as the first African American to integrate the University of Alabama. Lucy will also be remembered as … Read MoreAutherine Juanita Lucy Foster (1929-2022)
Gwendolynne Moore is the first African American member of Congress from Wisconsin where she represents the state’s Fourth Congressional District. Moore, a community leader and lifelong civil rights and human rights advocate, is the first woman to represent the Fourth Congressional District. She is only … Read MoreGwendolynne S. “Gwen” Moore (1951- )
California Congresswoman Barbara Jean Lee, a self-described “Army brat,” has consistently been one of the most outspoken critics of the Iraq War. She has also called for the creation of a Department of Peace as a cabinet level agency in the federal government. Barbara Jean … Read MoreBarbara J. Lee (1946- )
Actor and playwright Charlayne Woodard was born on December 29, 1955 in Albany, New York. She graduated from the Goodman School of Theatre of DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois with an MFA in 1977, and promptly set off for New York City. Within two weeks … Read MoreCharlayne Woodard (1955- )
Stephanie Tubbs Jones was a Democratic Representative of the state of Ohio. She was born on September 10, 1949 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio and attended the county’s public schools before getting her bachelor’s degree in social work from Case Western Reserve University in 1971. … Read MoreStephanie Tubbs Jones (1949-2008)
Sheila Jackson-Lee was born on January 12, 1950 in Queens, New York. She graduated from Jamaica High School in Queens, New York in 1968. She then graduated from Yale University in Connecticut with a B.A. in political science in 1972 followed in 1975 by a … Read MoreSheila Jackson-Lee (1950- )
