1928-1998 A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., was an influential judge, legal scholar, and university professor He was a leader in the fight for civil rights and the author of important studies on the sociology of race. Tough Climb Higginbotham was born in Trenton, New Jersey, on February 25, 1928, to Aloysius Leon Higginbotham, Sr., a factory
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1825-1866  John Swett Rock was a pioneer African American leader and orator in the years leading up to and during the Civil War. One of America’s first black physicians and lawyers and a dedicated advocate of civil rights and self improvement, he made history as the first African American to be admitted to practice before
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1891-1964  Nella Larsen, an acclaimed novelist of the Harlem Renaissance, became the first African American woman to win a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. Most famous for her two books, Passing and Quicksand, she disappeared from the public eye after a plagiarism accusation and a high-profile divorce. She spent the last 30 years of her life in
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1859-1930  Pauline E. Hopkins was a talented and politically motivated writer of fiction, essays, and biographies. Her early publishing efforts, and her direct approach to race and black empowerment, were seminal elements in African American literature. An Expressive Family Hopkins was born on August 13, 1859, in Portland, Maine. Her parents, Northrup Hopkins and Sarah
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1880-1958  Angelina Weld Grimké was a poet and educator from a prominent, multiracial family. Her published works include passionate protests against racism and eloquent portrayals of the issues faced by black Americans in the early 20th century. Famous Family Grimké was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 27, 1880. Her mother, Sarah E. Stanley, was
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1856-1928  T. Thomas Fortune was an influential publisher, writer, and organizer at the turn of the 20th century. Closely associated with prominent educator and activist Booker T. Washington for a decade, he set standards for integrity and professionalism in African American journalism. Printer’s Assistant to Publisher Fortune was born in Marianna, Florida, on October 3,
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1880-1969  Charlotta Bass used her influence as the publisher of a newspaper to uncover injustice and fight for civil rights. She campaigned for vice president of the United States and used the resulting media coverage to call attention to such issues. Climbing the Ladder Bass was born Charlotta Amanda Spears in October of 1880 in
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1848-1933  John Robert Clifford published the leading African American newspaper of its era, and as the first black attorney admitted to the West Virginia state bar, he won a trailblazing victory in Williams v. Board of Education that found discriminatory practices in public education illegal. Studies in Chicago Clifford was born in Williamsport, Virginia, in
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1899-1990  Clifton Reginald Wharton was the first African American to enter the U.S. Foreign Service under the State Department’s merit system. In 1958, after decades of service in traditionally black posts such as Liberia and the Canary Islands, he broke the department’s color barrier by becoming the first black diplomat to be named ambassador to
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1895-1950  Charles Hamilton Houston was an attorney, a professor, and a law school dean. He devised and implemented the legal strategy that set the stage for the unanimous 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed segregation in public schools. Early Resolve Houston was born in Washington, DC, just a few
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