William E. B. Du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was the best known spokesperson for African-American rights during the first half of the 20th century. In 1895, he became...
Category : Biographies
Althea Gibson: Queen of Tennis
“I Always Wanted to Be Somebody.” Althea Gibson was the first African American tennis player to win a Grand Slam title (the French Open). In...
Joseph Douglass: The Black concert violinist
Joseph Douglass (1871–1935) was a groundbreaking African-American concert violinist. He was the grandson of abolitionist Frederick Douglas; and was widely viewed as Douglass’s favorite grandchild....
Arthur B. C. Walker, Jr.: The African American physicist who helped develop solar telescopes
[dropcap size=small]A[/dropcap]rthur Bertram Cuthbert Walker, Jr. was an African American physicist and educator who helped develop solar telescopes used in 1987 to capture the first...
Charles Ball: “Time Did Not Reconcile Me To My Chains”
Charles Ball was an enslaved African-American from Maryland, best known for his account as a fugitive, The Life and Adventures of Charles Ball (1837). Ball...
Asa Hilliard, III: The Pan-Africanist educator
“To know Dr. Hilliard was in some respects to know Africa.” Asa Hilliard, III was a world renowned Pan-Africanist educator who worked on indigenous ancient...
The Eliza Winston Case
On August 21, 1860, enslaved African American Eliza Winston was freed from her Mississippi enslaver in a Minneapolis court. After being granted legal freedom, however,...
Muhammad ibn Tumart: The First Leader of the Almohads
[dropcap size=small]M[/dropcap]uhammad ibn Tumart (ca. 1080-1130) was a North African religious reformer who founded the Almohad movement in North Africa. His organization of Berber warriors...
George Bonga: African American fur trader
George Bonga was a fur trader of African-American and Native American heritage, and one of the first African Americans born in what is now Minnesota....
Mary Ellen Pleasant : The Mother of California’s early civil rights movement
[dropcap size=small]M[/dropcap]ary Ellen Pleasant was a 19th-century African American entrepreneur who used her fortune to further the abolitionist movement. She worked on the Underground Railroad...