John Armstrong Howard: The First Black Canadian Olympic Athlete
John Armstrong Howard was the first Black Olympic athlete from Canada, competing in the 1912 Summer Olympics. The Winnipeg-raised First World War veteran dominated Canadian...
Category : History Makers
Fannie Lou Hamer: Civil Rights Heroine
“One day I know the struggle will change. There’s got to be a change—not only for Mississippi, not only for the people in the United...
Lonnie Johnson: Inventor of the Super Soaker water gun
Lonnie George Johnson is an African American inventor and engineer who holds more than 80 patents. Johnson is best known for inventing the Super Soaker...
Thomas Mundy Peterson: The first African American voter
Thomas Mundy Peterson (October 6, 1824 – February 4, 1904), a school custodian from Perth Amboy, New Jersey was the first African American to vote...
Sanité Bélair: The Tigress of Haiti
Sanité Bélair (born Suzanne Bélair), was a Haitian freedom fighter and revolutionary during the Haitian Revolution. Sanité, whom Dessalines described as “a tigress,” is formally...
David Pitt: Founder of Britain’s first civil rights organization
David Thomas Pitt, Baron Pitt of Hampstead, was a Black British politician, general practitioner and political activist, who was the longest serving Black Parliamentarian in...
Nat Turner: African-American Hero of the Maafa
Nathanial “Nat” Turner was the leader of a powerful Maafa (slavery) revolt in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831. Nat Turner’s Rebellion was one of the...
Alonso de Illescas: Afro-Ecuadorian Revolutionary Leader
Alonso de Illescas was an Afro‑Ecuadorian leader and an icon for people of African descent in Ecuador. A symbol of struggle, resistance, and intelligence, Illescas was...
George Robert Carruthers: Inventor of the far-ultraviolet camera and spectrograph
George Robert Carruthers was an African American space physicist and engineer, and a pioneer in ultraviolet astronomy. His invention was first flown on sounding rockets...
Harry Winston Jerome: “Never Give Up”
Harry Jerome was one of the fastest men in the world for nearly a decade. He equaled and set numerous Canadian sprint records, as well as...