Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong is currently the Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Since 1970, Judge Armstrong has made epic strides in her career both as a policewoman and as an attorney with a couple of historic achievements along the way. Mrs. Armstrong was born in 1947 […]
Dr. Theodore Lawless was a pioneering dermatologist and philanthropist whose study of troubling skin diseases made him an international figure. Dr. Lawless’ used his fame and fortune to embark upon other endeavors and he became a shrewd businessman in addition to his medical practice. Theodore Kenneth Lawless was born on this day in 1892 in […]
Mary Munson Runge was the first woman, African-American and employee community pharmacist to become president of the American Pharmacy Association, ending a 126-year run of white men in the role. Mrs. Runge’s commitment to increasing diversity in membership ranks was fueled by her father’s devotion to the poor and disenfranchised. Runge was born in […]
Modjeska Monteith Simkins left her mark in the history books of Columbia, South Carolina by fighting for public health reform for Black families and aligning herself with the civil rights movement. Simkins emerged as a leader at a time where women were largely ignored for their efforts. Born December 5, 1899 as the first […]
Black circus performers have found varying levels of fame over the years, but little is known about the stars of Europe. Olga Kaira, better known as Miss LaLa, dazzled audiences across the continent and was the subject of one of the art world’s most prized works. Anna Olga Albertina Brown was born April 21, 1858 […]
William Peyton Hubbard, the first notable Black elected official in Toronto, and will be honored this weekend with the unveiling of a park in his name. Hubbard, the son of slaves, came to politics when he was in his fifties. Hubbard was born in 1842 in an area just outside of Toronto known as “The […]
The town of Lyles Station, Indiana was one of the early farming settlements for free Blacks in the North, and remains the only such community of its sort today. The community was featured at the recently opened Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Named after Black farmer Joshua Lyles, the town was […]
Comedian and author Dick Gregory has been active since the ’60’s and is showing no signs of slowing down. Gregory turns 84 today and the activist remains fiery and opinionated as ever. Richard Claxton Gregory was born in 1932 in St. Louis. A star track and field athlete, Gregory ran for two years as a […]
On Tuesday, vice-presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence squared off in the small Virginia town of Farmville. While the debate between the party rivals was the centerpiece, the town itself was home to an incident some consider to be one of the earliest protests that helped focus the Civil Rights Movement. On April 23, […]
The nation’s first Black-owned television station, WGPR, officially debuted on this day in 1975 in Detroit, Mich.. The station was the brainchild of William V. Banks, a son of a Kentucky sharecropper who also created Detroit’s first Black-owned radio station bearing the same call letters. William Venoid Banks was a Detroit attorney and leader of […]
In times past, African-Americans have pretended to pass as a white person to avoid harassment and discrimination. The reverse has happened many times as well,(think Rachel Dolezal) as in the case of Rev. L.M. Fenwick, who was a white pastor pretending to be Black. The Fenwick case is curious and not rich in detail, although historians […]
Dr. Ossain Sweet made headlines in the summer of 1925 after he successfully defended his home from an angry white mob in Detroit. The physician and ten of his brothers and friends all faced a pair of trials for killing a mob member but were acquitted by an all-white jury. Sweet was born on […]
