Makandal: The Haitian Maroon Leader
François Makandal (also spelled Mackandal) is a legendary figure in Haitian history. As a Maroon leader, he orchestrated one of the earliest and most sustained...
Category : History Makers
Daniel Hale Williams: The first African-American Cardiologist who performed the first successful open heart surgery
“A people who don’t make provision for their own sick and suffering are not worthy of civilization.” –Daniel Hale Williams Daniel Hale Williams was one...
Ona Judge: The First Lady’s personal maid who freed herself from bondage and was ‘Never Caught’
Ona Judge, known as Oney Judge Staines after marriage, was a bondwoman who worked on George Washington’s Mount Vernon labor camp/plantation, in Virginia. Beginning in...
Cudjoe Kossula Lewis: The “last African-American ancestor?”
Born in Africa as Oluale Kossula, he died in America in 1935 as Cudjoe Lewis. Ouale Kossula is widely recognised as the last known person...
Abram Petrovich Hannibal: A Nobleman of Russia
Abram Petrovich Hannibal, also known as Gannibal or Ganibal, was kidnapped from his parents in Africa and brought to Russia as a “gift” to Peter...
Paul Belloni Du Chaillu: The “African” Zoologist who became known as the first modern European to confirm the existence of gorillas
“In such a wild country as Africa one does not go far without adventures. The traveler necessarily sees what is strange and wonderful, for every...
Isaac Burns Murphy: One of the Greatest American Jockeys of All Time
Isaac Burns Murphy was an African-American Hall of Fame jockey, who is considered one of the greatest riders in American Thoroughbred horse racing history. Murphy...
Walter Tull: Black British War Hero
Walter Tull was the British Army’s first ever Black officer. Tull, who was a professional footballer at the outbreak of the first world war, gained...
Ota Benga: A Tragic Story of an African man in an American Zoo
Ota Benga was a Congolese man taken from Africa to the US, where he was featured in an anthropology exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition...
Henry Sylvester Williams: The Father of Pan-Africanism
Henry Sylvester Williams was a Trinidadian lawyer and writer who has come to be known as the Father of Pan-Africanism. Williams coined the phrase, Pan-African...