born August 4, 1961 is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a…
(November 24, 1920 – December 26, 2009) was a prominent black American political and business leader. A civil-rights activist and lawyer, he was also a Freedom Rider and the legal representative for Malcolm X. He was the highest-ranking African-American elected official in New York City when he was Manhattan boroughpresident from 1966 to 1977, the…
Thurgood Marshall, 1908–93, U.S. lawyer and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1967–91), b. Baltimore. He received his law degree from Howard Univ. in 1933. In 1936 he joined the legal staff of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. As its chief counsel (1938–61), he argued more than 30 cases before…
(October 23, 1810 – May 18, 1848) was one of the earliest mixed-race U.S. citizens in California and a highly successful, enterprising businessman. He was a West Indian immigrant of African Cuban, possibly Carib, Danish and Jewish ancestry. William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr. became a United States citizen in New Orleans in 1834. He migrated to…
George Washington Carver (January 1864[1][2] – January 5, 1943), was an American scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor. The exact day and year of his birth are unknown; he is believed to have been born into slavery in Missouri in January 1864.[1] Carver’s reputation is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to…
(1759-1817) Entrepreneur, sea captain, social activist, philanthropist, colonizationist and leader who fought for the empowerment of African Americans. By Vanessa Julye The 1842 seal of Captain Paul Cuffe, showing his brig Traveler in which he provided passage for freed slaves to Sierra Leone (photo courtesy New Bedford Whaling Museum).Paul Cuffe was born in Cuttyhunk,…
Born Sarah Breedlove on December 23, 1867 on a Delta, Louisiana plantation, this daughter of former slaves transformed herself from an uneducated farm laborer and laundress into one of the twentieth century’s most successful, self-made women entrepreneurs. Orphaned at age seven, she often said, “I got my start by giving myself a start.” She and…
Carter Godwin Woodson (December 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950)[1] was an African-American historian, author, journalist and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Woodson was one of the first scholars to study African American history. A founder of Journal of Negro History (now titled The Journal of…
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915. Representative of the last generation of black American leaders born in slavery, he spoke on behalf of the large…
Birmingham entrepreneur and businessman A. G. Gaston (1892-1996), was one of the most successful African American business owners in Alabama. Gaston overcame humble beginnings and racial discrimination to build a $40 million business empire, which included a savings and loan bank, business college, construction company, motel, real estate business, burial insurance company, two cemeteries, and…
