Many have heard of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery Bus, but not many people have heard of the earlier act of Claudette Colvin that would help initiate the Montgomery Bus Boycott and spark a national civil rights movement. Claudette Colvin was born Claudette Austin in […]
Clifford Alexander, Jr. was the first Black person to serve as Secretary of the United States Army. He was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 and served in the position until 1981. The Secretary of the Army is the top non-military person in the Department of Defense. As secretary Clifford was responsible for recruiting
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Mary Eliza Mahoney always wanted to be a nurse. But becoming one was not easy for a young Black girl in the late 1800s. When she was a teenager Mary went to work at the New England Hospital for Women and Children. The hospital was unique. Only women worked there. Mary worked at the hospital
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Joseph Hayne Rainey fled to Bermuda so he would not have to help the Confederate Army during the Civil War. When he returned to the United States, he went into politics. He was the first Black man to serve in the United States House of Representatives. Joseph was born into slavery in Georgetown, South Carolina
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Harriet Tubman is known for helping enslaved Black Americans escape to freedom. But she did so much more. She helped the Union army during the Civil War, She fought for voting rights for women, and she cared for the elderly. Harriet Tubman was born on a farm in Dorchester County, Maryland around 1822. People born
Charlotte Forten, teacher, abolitionist, and suffragist grew up surrounded by activism. It’s no wonder she got involved in work for civil rights and equal rights for Black Americans. In 1861, soon after the Civil War began, Union forces took over the coastal areas of Georgia and South Carolina. Confederate plantation owners fled the area leaving
When Black Union soldiers captured the city of Richmond, and took over the Confederate capital, Thomas Morris Chester was there with them reporting on their brave actions for the Philadelphia Press newspaper. Thomas was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on May 11, 1834. His mother had been enslaved. She escaped slavery, on her own, in 1825.
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Sergeant William H. Carney was the first Black soldier to earn the Medal of Honor for bravery during war. He was born into slavery on February 29, 1840 in Norfolk, Virginia. His father escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad. He then worked to save enough money to buy his family’s freedom. Once all were free
Lorraine Hanberry’s play, “A Raisin in the Sun,” was the first Broadway play written and produced by a black woman. Hansberry was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 19, 1930. She became interested in theater while in high school. After high school she attended the University of Wisconsin for two years and studied drama and
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Bernard Harris was the first Black astronaut to walk in space. He was selected by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in 1990 and became an astronaut in 1991. Harris’ first space flight was on the space shuttle Columbia where he flew a ten day mission and logged over 239 hours and 4,164,183 miles in
