People, Locations, Episodes

The Wolof Language, a story

*The Wolof language is celebrated on this date in 1000. Wolof is a black African language of Senegal, Mauritania, and the Gambia and the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighboring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Senegambian branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Unlike most other languages of the Niger-Congo family, Wolof is not […]

Black History and Double Dutch (Jumprope), a story

An outline of Double Dutch is celebrated on this date’s Registry. Double Dutch is historically a jump rope game played originally by Black children (mainly girls) in rural and urban areas in America.

Black History, and American Art, a story

On this date, the Registry examines African American art—-painting, carving, graphic arts, and crafts created by people of African descent in the United States and influenced by African and African American culture.

Lucy Terry Prince, Poet, and Orator born

The birth of Lucy Terry, Black abolitionist, poet, and skilled orator, in 1730 is celebrated on this date. Although she was not a lawyer, she argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court and won.

Terry was born in Africa, enslaved and stolen from there as an infant, and sold to Ebenezer Wells of Deerfield, MA. She was baptized at 19 in June 1735, during the Great Awakening, and at the age of 20, she was “admitted to the fellowship of the church.” In 1756, Terry married Abijah Prince, a prosperous free black man who purchased her freedom.

William A. Brown, Playwright born

*This date in 1790 is celebrated as the birth date of William A. Brown, a Black playwright and theatrical producer.   William Alexander Brown, also known as William Henry Brown, was born in the West Indies. After he retired from working at sea, he had been a ship’s steward; he settled in a community of […]

Lewis Temple, Inventor born

This date marks the birth of Lewis Temple, a Black inventor, in 1800.

He was the creator of a whaling harpoon, known as “Temple’s Toggle” and “Temple’s Iron” that became the standard harpoon of the whaling industry in the middle of the 19th century. Lewis Temple was a skilled blacksmith, not a whaler. He was born a slave in Richmond, VA, and went to New Bedford, MA, in 1829. By 1836, Temple was one of the 315,000 free black people in the United States and a successful businessman who operated a whale craft shop on the New Bedford waterfront.

Dr. Nathan Thomas, Abolitionist born

*Nathan M. Thomas was born on this date in 1803.  He was a white-American doctor and abolitionist.  He was born in Mount Pleasant, Jefferson Co., Ohio, the son of Jesse and Avis (Stanton) Thomas, both devout Quakers. He studied medicine with local practitioners and at the Medical College of Ohio in Cincinnati. In June 1830, […]

Mary Dickerson, Businesswoman, and Club Woman born

*Mary Dickerson was born on this date in 1830. She was a Black businesswoman and clubwoman. Mary H. Dickerson was born in Haddam, Connecticut, and grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. Around 1865, Dickerson and her husband, Silas, moved to Newport, Rhode Island. In the early 1870s, she opened a dressmaking shop on Bellevue Avenue. […]

Prince Romerson, Civil War Officer born

*The birth of Prince Romerson is celebrated on this date in c. 1840. He was a Native Hawaiian Union Army soldier. Living in the American Northeast before the war, Romerson enlisted in the Union Navy in 1863 as part of the Blockading Squadrons responsible for maintaining the blockade of the ports of the Confederacy. After […]

Johanna July, Cowgirl born

*The birth of Johanna July is celebrated on this date in 1850.   She was a Black Seminole cowgirl.  From northern Mexico, July was the daughter of a Seminole Native American and a Black African slave.   Her family had left Florida and settled in northern Mexico after the Seminole War ended in 1842.  Around 1871, they […]

Ernest A. Lyon, Minister, and Diplomat born

*Ernest Lyon was born on this date in 1860. He was a Black minister, educator, and diplomat. Ernest A. Lyon was born on the coast of Belize, British Honduras, to Emmanuel Lyon and Ann F. Bending. As a child, Lyon attended an English school in Belize. His father died when he was young; Lyon “became a Christian […]

A. D. Williams, Minister born

*On this date, in 1863, A. D. Williams was born.  He was a Black minister and civil rights, activist.  From Greene County, Georgia, Adam Daniel Williams was the son of a slave preacher Willis and his wife, Lucretia Williams. He celebrated his birthday the day after the effective date of the Emancipation Proclamation. He spent […]

The American Redeemers, a story

*On this date in 1870, we affirm the American Redeemers.  They were a white political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction Era that followed the American Civil War. Redeemers were the Southern wing of the Democratic Party. They sought to regain their political power and enforce white supremacy. Their policy of Redemption […]

Martha Franklin, Nursing Pioneer born

*Martha Franklin was born on this date in 1870.  She was a Black nurse and activist.   Martha Minerva Franklin was born in New Milford, Connecticut, to Mary E. Gauson and Henry J. Franklin.  Her father was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War.   She graduated from Meriden Public High School in 1890 as the only Black student in her class. In […]

Williana Burroughs, Educator, and Activist born

*Williana Burroughs was born on this date in 1882.  She was a Black teacher, communist political activist, and politician.  Williana “Liana” Jones Burroughs was born in Petersburg, Virginia.  Her mother was a slave; her father died when Williana was four. Her widowed mother left Virginia for New York City, bringing Williana with a sister and a brother, where she worked as a cook.  Her mother could not […]