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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1912-1995 Oliver Wendell Harrington was one of America’s most talented and influential political cartoonists in the decades between the Great Depression and the end of the Cold War. After leaving the United States during the McCarthy era, he became a key member of the African American expatriate community in Paris, and lived out his final
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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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c.1814-c.1879 Joseph Cinqué led an 1839 mutiny on board the Cuban schooner Amistad, initiating the first slave rebellion in history to be successfully defended in American courts. Captured off Long Island and nearly prosecuted on charges of murder, Cinqué and his fellow Amistad rebels were eventually set free following a Supreme Court decision that opposed
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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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1898-1989 Sadie Mossell Alexander distinguished herself as a civil rights leader, accomplished lawyer, and political activist through academic excellence and personal endurance. She became the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in the United States, and helped create opportunities for underprivileged Blacks during the Civil Rights Movement. A Scholar and Lawyer Alexander was
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1846-1910 A dentist by trade, Dr. George F. Grant also distinguished himself as an educator, scholar, and inventor. Grant earned acclaim as both an innovator in dental practice and as a frequent and vocal commentator on the development of dentistry. Even at leisure, his active mind never stopped working overtime: he filed the first U.S.
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1926-1990 Ralph David Abernathy was an inspirational church pastor and an important activist in the struggle for civil rights. His leadership role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and his alliance with Martin Luther King, Jr., helped spur desegregation and create a more promising future for African Americans in the United States. An Ambitious Beginning Abernathy
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