Reading time: 4 – 7 minutes When most people think of Las Vegas, Nevada, two images quickly come to mind, casinos and deserts. Seldom are images of African-Americans or black culture associated with this gaming mecca located in one of the fastest growing states in the nation. In fact, when it comes to African-Americans, the first thing you hear is about the long history of segregation and racism that kept black tourists out of the ...
Reading time: 6 – 9 minutes Many African Americans moved to Oklahoma in the years before and after 1907, which is the year when Oklahoma became a state. Oklahoma represented change and provided a chance for African Americans to get away from slavery and the harsh racism of their previous homes.Most of them traveled from the states in the south where racism was very prevalent, and Oklahoma offered hope and provided all people with a ...
Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes An African American barber and entrepreneur, Alonzo Herndon was founder and president of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, one of the most successful black-owned insurance businesses in the nation. At the time of his death in 1927, he was also Atlanta’s wealthiest black citizen, owning more property than any other African American. Admired and respected by many, he was noted for his involvement in and support of local institutions ...
Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes By the 1960s, Arthur G. Gaston was probably the richest black man in America. He was the leading employer of blacks in Alabama and directly and indirectly gave substantial aid and comfort to the civil rights movement. In the decade after the Montgomery bus boycott, Martin Luther King Jr. and his allies used the A. G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham, Alabama, as a safe refuge to plan their activities. ...
Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes Matthew Cherry developed two devices that would one day evolve into very useful items for transportation. The first device was called a velocipede and consisted of a metal frame upon which were attached two or three wheels. Someone sitting on the seat of the apparatus could propel themselves forward at considerable speeds by moving their feet along the ground in a fast walking or running motion. Cherry’s model, which ...
Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes Born George Speck in 1822 in Saratoga Lake, New York, Crum was the son of an African American father and Native American mother, a member of the Huron tribe. He professionally adopted the name “Crum” as it was the name his father used in his career as a jockey. As a young man Crum worked as a guide in the Adirondack Mountains and as an Indian trader. Eventually he ...
Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes Inventor who originated a respiratory protective hood (similar to the modern gas masks), invented a hair-straightening preparation, and patented a type of traffic signal. He is renowned for a heroic rescue in which he used his hood to save workers trapped in a tunnel system filled with fumes. He is credited as the first African-American in Cleveland to own an automobile. At the age of fourteen, Morgan moved north ...
Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes When Patricia Era Bath was born on November 4, 1942, she could have succumbed to the pressures and stresses associated with growing up in Harlem, New York. With the uncertainty present because of World War II and the challenges for members of Black communities in the 1940′s, one might little expect that a top flight scientist would emerge from their midst. Patricia Bath, however, saw only excitement and opportunity ...
Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes Chester Arthur Franklin (1880-1955) founded The Call newspaper in May 1919. It was owned and operated by him until his death on May 7, 1955. Born on June 7, 1880, Chester Franklin was the only child of George F. Franklin, a barber, and Clara Belle Williams Franklin, a teacher. He was born at the time when African Americans were moving out of Texas in search of better educational opportunities ...
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