Daniel T. Brown, the first African American mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee in the city’s 220-year history, was born at home in the Five Points area of Knoxville, Tennessee, on December 25, 1945. Brown’s early education began at Maynard Nursery School in the Mechanicsville section of Knoxville, then Eastport Elementary School. While at Vine Junior High School from 1957 to 1960 […]

M.W. “Teddy” Thornhill Jr., a civil rights activist and first African American mayor of Lynchburg, Virginia, was born Murrell Warren Thornhill, Jr. on March 31, 1921, to Murrell W. Thornhill, Sr. and Alease Gilbert Thornhill. He had a younger brother, Kyle Thornhill, and a sister, Yvonne Roberta Mae Thornhill Ferguson. In 1940, Thornhill graduated from Paul Laurene Dunbar High School […]

Mabel Fairbanks, known as the Grand Dame of African American figure skaters, was born on November 14, 1915, in Jacksonville, Florida. She was the 11th of 14 siblings. Her father was African American, and her mother had a Seminole background as well as English ancestry. When Fairbanks was just eight years old, her mother died, leaving her orphaned. She then […]

In the article below New Jersey historian Dr. Joseph A. LaRosa allows us a glimpse into the rarely discussed last two national conventions of the Niagara Movement that took place in 1909 and 1910, in Sea Isle City, a small oceanside community in Cape May County, near the southern tip of the Jersey shore. Dr. La Rosa describes the important […]

Rulette “Rue” Mapp, is a pioneering leader in outdoor advocacy, transforming how communities of color engage with nature. Born on October 6, 1971, in Oakland, California, she is the founder and CEO of ‘Outdoor Afro,’ a national nonprofit that reconnects Black people with the outdoors and inspires more inclusive narratives around nature. Born to a mother who struggled with mental […]

Terry Bellamy, the first African American and second woman to serve as mayor of Asheville, North Carolina, was born Terry Michelle Whitmire on July 9, 1972, to Floyd Smith, a factory worker, and Luella Whitmire, an administrative assistant. Whitmire has three siblings. She graduated from Asheville High School in 1990. Afterward, she enrolled at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte […]

Cameroonian feminist advocate, Dr Zoneziwoh Mbondgulo-Wondieh, was born March 26, 1985. After excelling in her early education, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science from the University of Buea in Cameroon. She continued her education at Buea and earned a Master of Social Sciences degree in Sex and Gender studies. She then earned a Master of Social Sciences in […]

Ron Finley is the founder and CEO of the non-profit Ron Finley Project which teaches communities how to transform food deserts into food sanctuaries. Finley grew up in an impoverished South Central Los Angeles neighborhood that would today be considered a food desert. He inspired individuals in South Central to regenerate their lands through gardening, which he argues becomes a […]

Ruth Dorothea Kennedy Ellington, the only sister of jazz composer and band leader Edward “Duke” Kennedy Ellington, is significant in her own right. In 1941, Ellington and the “Duke” established Tempo Music, Inc., and he appointed Ruth Ellington president of the company, allowing her to oversee her famous brother’s copyrights, contracts, publishing, recordings, and financial affairs. She focused on Tempo’s […]

Nancelia Elizabeth Scott Jackson was one of the early Black residents of North Cherry Creek, a suburb of Denver, Colorado. Her grandfather, William Pitts, was born into slavery in Missouri. Eventually, Pitts settled in Denver and encouraged his daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth Pitts Scott and Paris, to move from Chicago to Denver.  They had six children including Nancelia, who was […]