Robert “Whirlwind” Johnson
Robert “Whirlwind” Johnson is considered the Godfather of Black Tennis. The Lynchburg, Virginia physician was a tennis master who taught black tennis champions. Johnson’s sports...
Author : samepassage
Walter Moses Burton
01935
Walter Moses Burton holds the distinction of being the first black elected sheriff in the United States. Burton was also a State Senator in Texas....
William Harvey Carney
01714
William Harvey Carney was born on February 29, 1840, in Norfolk, Virginia, as a slave. He learned to read and write secretly from a local...
The Freedmen’s Bureau
01660
The Freedmen’s Bureau, formally known as the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, was a groundbreaking federal agency established in the aftermath of the...
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry
01620
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry was the first Northern black volunteer regiment enlisted to fight in the Civil War. Its accomplished combat record led to the general...
Langston University
01411
In March 1897, the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature created a land grant college to train African American teachers, calling it the Colored Agricultural and Normal University. ...
John Mercer Langston
01543
John Mercer Langston, the youngest of four children, was born a free black in Louisa County, Virginia in 1829. Langston gained distinction as an abolitionist,...
Matthias de Sousa
01124
Matthias de Sousa, an indentured servant, was the only black person to serve in the colonial Maryland legislature. As such he is the first African...
Rosewood riot of 1923
01753
Though it was originally settled in 1845 by both Black and white people, black codes and Jim Crow laws in the years after the Civil...
Harry “Bucky” Lew
02434
Harry “Bucky” Lew is best known for becoming the first African-American professional basketball player when he joined the New England League in 1902. Born in...