Although many twenty-first century readers are aware of his work only through his introduction to Frederick Douglass’s My Bondage and My Freedom, Dr. James McCune Smith was one of the most broadly accomplished black intellectuals and activists in antebellum America. Born in New York on … Read MoreJames McCune Smith (1813-1865)
The New York Slave Conspiracy of 1741 is an extraordinarily complex story. Some historians have dismissed the idea that slaves actually conspired to overthrow chattel bondage and gain their freedom, while others have argued that the events in New York were part of a mixed … Read MoreNew York Slave Conspiracy (1741)
Between twenty-five and fifty blacks congregated at midnight in New York City, New York on April 6, 1712. With guns, swords and knives in hand, the slaves first set fire to an outhouse then fired shots at several white slave owners, who had raced to … Read MoreNew York City Slave Uprising (1712)
A leading intellectual and activist of the post-WWII period, Alphaeus Hunton Jr. was the executive director of the Council on African Affairs (CAA) and editor of the CAA’s publication, New Africa, from 1943 through the organization’s dissolution in 1955. In this capacity, Hunton did more … Read MoreWilliam Alphaeus Hunton Jr. (1903-1970)
Frank Garvin Yerby was born in Augusta, Georgia on September 5, 1916. His parents were Wilhelmina and Rufus Yerby, both of whom were of mixed race. Although his parent’s exact ancestries are unknown, DNA testing would later reveal that Frank Yerby was Black, White, and … Read MoreFrank G. Yerby (1916-1991)
Fisk University Franklin Library’s Special Collections A[lrutheus] A[mbush] Taylor, historian, was born in Washington D.C. where he also went through the public school system. He earned a B.A. degree from the University of Michigan in 1916 and taught at the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) … Read MoreAlrutheus Ambush Taylor (1893-1955)
The fourth of seven children in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel, April 27, 1945 to an African American mother and a German immigrant father. By the time he was five, his parents divorced. His mother remarried in the late 1950s … Read MoreAugust Wilson (1945-2005)
A native of Guayama, Puerto Rico, Pedro Barbosa III is a distinguished entomologist (a scientist who studies insects) who has taught at the University of Maryland since 1979. Born on September 6, 1944, he acquired his bachelor’s degree at the City College of New York … Read MorePedro Barbosa, III (1966- )
The eighth child of a cotton farmer, O’Neil Ray Collins, born March 9, 1931 in Opelousas, Louisiana, rose to become one of the most distinguished African American botanists, a world renowned expert on slime-mold genetics. Upon completing his bachelor’s degree in botany at Southern University … Read MoreO’Neil R. Collins (1931-1989)
It would be difficult to find a more formidable and respected African American scholar who has had so little visibility among African American intellectuals as Nathan Alexander Scott, Jr. Born in Cleveland, Ohio on April 24, 1925, Scott finished his B.A. at the University of … Read MoreNathan A. Scott (1925-2006)
