People, Locations, Episodes

Thomas Askew, Photographer born

*On this date in 1847, the birth of Thomas E. Askew was celebrated. He was a Black photographer. He was born a slave in Atlanta, GA, and began his photography career after the American Civil War. In 1868, Askew married Mary E. Askew, and to their union were born Minnie N., Arthur C., Clarence E.J., Walter […]

George F. Grant, Dentist, and Inventor born

*George Grant was born on this date in 1847. He was a Black inventor, dentist, and the first Black professor at Harvard. George Franklin Grant was born in Oswego, New York, to Phillis Pitt and Tudor Elanor Grant.  Grant entered the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in 1868 and graduated in 1870. He then took […]

The New York Age Newspaper is Published

*On this date, in 1887, The New York Age began publication.  This black newspaper was produced from 1887 to 1960 and was one of the most influential nonwhite newspapers of its time.   The paper originated as the weekly New York Globe, another black newspaper published weekly from 1880 to November 8, 1884. Co-founded by editor Timothy Thomas Fortune, it became the New York Freeman from […]

The North Star Newspaper is Published

*On this date in 1847, The North Star newspaper began publication.  This was a nineteenth-century anti-slavery newspaper published by abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The North Star’s slogan was “Right is of no Sex, Truth is of no Color. God is the Father of us all, and all we are Brethren.”  Douglass was first inspired to publish […]

The Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter Newspaper is Published

*The Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter newspaper, published on this date in 1847, was an abolitionist and women’s rights newspaper printed in Pittsburgh.   Jane Swisshelm edited the paper, and Robert M. Riddle printed it. Swisshelm funded the work through money in her estate; at the time, the abolitionist newspaper in Pittsburgh had closed. Crowds were waiting in the […]

John Q. Adams, News Publisher born

*John Quincy Adams was born on this date in 1848. He was a Black businessman and newspaper publisher.

Adams was one of four children of the Reverend Henry Adams, minister of the Fifth Street Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky, and Margaret Priscilla Corbin of Chillicothe, Ohio. He received his elementary and secondary education in private schools at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and Yellow Springs, Ohio, later graduating from Oberlin College in Ohio. Upon graduation he returned to Louisville where he began teaching in his father’s school and in other parts of the state.

John A. Burr, Inventor born

*The birth of John Burr is celebrated on this date in 1848. He was a Black inventor.  Born in Maryland, John Albert Burr’s parents, John T. and Anna Wanger Burr, were slaves, but they were freed. Young Burr was a teenager during the American Civil War and worked as a fieldhand. His inventive talent was […]

Lloyd G. Wheeler, Businessman born

*Lloyd Wheeler, born on this date in 1848, was a Black attorney, businessman, philanthropist, and political leader.   Lloyd Garrison Wheeler was born in Mansfield, Ohio. His father was active in the Underground Railroad movement, providing secret accommodations for escaping slaves from the South en route to freedom in Canada. Due to the illegal status […]

Andrew J. Beard, Farmer, and Inventor born

*The birth of Andrew Beard in 1849 is celebrated on this date. He was a black farmer and inventor.

Wewoka, Oklahoma is Founded

*Wewoka, Oklahoma, is celebrated on this date in 1849. This city in Seminole County, Oklahoma, was founded by a Black Seminole, John Horse. In the spring of 1849, Horse and a group of Black Seminoles founded a settlement near modern-day Wewoka. Seeking safety and autonomy from the Creek Nation, they established a community at the falls […]

William Washington Browne, Businessman, and Minister born

*William Washington Browne was born on this date in1849. He was a Black teacher, minister and businessman.

William Bonga, Fur Trader and Interpreter born

*The birth of William Bonga is celebrated on this date in 1850. He was a Black Ojibwe trader and interpreter. William Bonga grew up near the government establishment at Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota. His father, George Bonga, was superintendent of the government farm. He attended school there with his younger sister, Susie, while his older brother, James, […]

Cornelius Ford, Agribusiness Buyer born

*Cornelius Ford was born on this date in 1870. He was a Black Agribusiness buyer and community advocate.  Cornelius Evarts Ford was born in Jonesboro, Tennessee; his parents were Mark and Angeline Ford. He attended Warner Institute, an American Missionary School in Jonesboro. He paid for his schooling at Warner by caring for the buildings […]

Amanda Lyles, Businesswoman, and Socialite born

*Amanda Lyles’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1850. She was a Black socialite and businesswoman.   From Illinois, Amanda Lyles was one of the first women entrepreneurs in Minnesota. Around 1870, she met and married her husband, Thomas H. Lyles. They were involved in real estate, construction companies, loan agencies, and funeral parlors. […]

Sarah Goode, Inventor born

*Sarah Goode in 1850 is celebrated on this date.   She was a Black entrepreneur and inventor. She was born Sarah Elisabeth Jacobs in Toledo, Ohio, the same year as the Fugitive Slave Act was enacted.  She was the second of seven children of Oliver and Harriet Jacobs, both described in public records as Mulattos. Oliver Jacobs, a native of Indiana, was a […]