The 2nd Cavalry Division was unique the U.S. Army in World II in that it was composed of Black and White troops as early as 1941, at a time when the rest of the Army was racially segregated. The 2nd Cavalry Division was activated in April 1941 at Camp Funston, Kansas. In the early 1940s, the Army wanted to increase […]

Author, playwright, poet, academic, and feminist Ama Ata Aidoo, a towering figure in African Literature, was born Christina Ama Ata Aidoo on March 23, 1942, in Abeadzi Kyiakor, Gold Coast, now Ghana, to Nana Yaw Fama, chief of Abeadzi Kyiakor, and Maame Abasema. She had a twin brother, Kwame Ata. She grew up in the Fanti tribe, and married in […]

Martine Watkins, born in June 1980, became the first biracial mayor of Santa Cruz City, California, in 2020 and served a four-year term. Watkins grew up in Santa Cruz and is the daughter of two educators, Michael Watkins, the former Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools and the first African American elected to that position in the State of California, […]

James W. Holley III was the first African American mayor of his hometown, Portsmouth, Virginia. He was born in Portsmouth on November 26, 1926. His parents were Laura and James W. Holley, Jr. James Holley attended local schools in Portsmouth and graduated from I. C. Norcom High School in 1944. After high school he joined the U.S. Army. After completing […]

Lincoln I. Mulkey and Dorothy J. Mulkey were the challengers in a major lawsuit, Reitman v. Mulkey, that reestablished housing discrimination laws in the state of California. Lincoln I. Mulkey was born in Guadalupe County, Texas, to Wardie Daniel Mulkey and Edna Mae Randolph. He joined the US Navy and was honorably discharged in 1962. Dorothy J. Mulkey was born […]

The first African American major of Atlantic City, James Leroy Usry, was born February 2, 1922, in Athens, Georgia. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey where Usry attended local schools. In 1939 he graduated from Atlantic City High School. After high school Usry joined the U.S. Army and served in the segregated 92nd Infantry […]

The Berkley Square Housing Project, opened in 1953 in Las Vegas, Nevada, was a historically significant project for African Americans because of its unique design and financing. Berkley Square is named after its primary financier, Thomas Lucius Berkley, of Oakland, California, a prominent civil rights advocate. Berkley was born on August 9, 1915, in DuQuoin, Illinois, and reared in the […]

Alvin A. Brown, the first African American mayor of Jacksonville, Florida was born on December 15, 1961, in Beaufort, South Carolina and was reared with his four siblings by his mother and grandmother. His formative years were spent at St. Helena Junior High School, and he later graduated from Beaufort High School, where he actively participated in basketball. Brown moved […]

William A. Johnson Jr., the first African American mayor of Rochester, New York, was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on August 22, 1942. He attended Howard University from 1961 to 1967, completing Bachelors and Master’s degrees in Political Science and Government in 1967. This education laid a strong foundation for his future, allowing him to explore policy, social justice, and governance […]

Alvin Austin Attles Jr. was a basketball player for the National Basketball Association (NBA) who played his entire career with the Golden State (California) Warriors and later became one of the first African American coaches in the NBA, where he coached the Warriors to their first NBA championship in 1975. Attles was born on November 7, 1936, to Alvin Attles […]