People, Locations, Episodes

Phillip “Daddy” Reid, Businessman born

*Phillip “Daddy” Reid was born on this date in 1854.  He was a Black businessman, baseball administrator, and manager. Phillip Edward Reid was from in Frankfort, Kentucky. Not much is known about his childhood other than he grew up in a slave-holding state and would have been very young at the end of the American […]

Nat Love, Cowboy born

*The birth of Nat Love in 1854 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American Pullman porter, and cowboy.

Born on his master’s plantation in Davidson County in Tennessee, Love was raised out of an old log cabin. His master Robert Love, an extensive planter and the owner of many slaves owned his father and mother. Love’s father was a foreman of the slaves on the plantation, and his mother worked the kitchen at the master’s big house waiting tables, milking the cows, running the loom and weaving clothing for the other slaves.

Moses Fleetwood Walker, Baseball Player born

*Moses Fleetwood Walker was born on this date in 1856.  He was a Black professional baseball player.  Moses Fleetwood Walker was born in Mount Pleasant, Ohio.  Walker’s parents were Moses W. Walker and Caroline O’ Harra.    When Walker was three years old, the family moved 20 miles northeast to Steubenville where his father became one of the first Black […]

Oliver Lewis, Horse Jockey born

*The birth of Oliver Lewis is celebrated on this date in 1856.  He was a Black horse jockey in thoroughbred racing. Lewis was born in Fayette County, Kentucky.  On May 17, 1875, at the age of 19, Lewis won the very first Kentucky Derby aboard Aristides. The pair won by a reported two lengths, setting […]

Tom Bass, Horse Trainer born

*Tom Bass was born on this date in 1859. He was a Black Saddlebred horse trainer and businessman. Tom Bass was born a slave on the Hayden plantation in Boone County, Missouri. His mother, Cornelia Gray, was also a slave, and his father, William Bass, was the son of the plantation owner, Eli Bass. He […]

William White, Baseball player born

*The birth of William White is celebrated on this date 1860.  He was a 19th-century Black baseball player.   William Edward White was the son of a plantation owner from Milner, Georgia, Andrew Jackson White, and his Black slave, Hannah. Brown University records give Milner as the student’s birthplace, and the only person of his name listed in the 1870 census was […]

Isaac Burns Murphy, Horse Jockey born

This date marks the birth of Isaac Burns Murphy in 1861. He was a Black jockey and Horse Racing legend.

Murphy was part of the superabundance of Black jockeys in the history of horse racing. African American jockeys rode fourteen of the fifteen horses in the first Kentucky Derby. The horse racing sport was built with the talents of Black people whose jobs typically included trainer, jockey, and owner. One extraordinary jockey in this history was Issac Burns Murphy. Murphy was born in 1861 in Fayette County.

Peter Jackson, Boxer born

On this date in 1861, Peter Jackson was born. He was an African American boxer.

The Negro Baseball League is Founded

*This date marks the anniversary of the Negro Baseball League. In 1886, the Southern League of Colored Base Ballists became the first Negro league.

Matthew Henson, Explorer born

*Matthew Henson was born on this date in 1866. He was an African American explorer and member of the 1909 expedition with American explorer Robert Peary that is credited with discovering the North Pole.

Kenesaw Landis, Baseball Administrator born

*Kenesaw Landis was born on this date in 1866.  He was a white-American federal judge and the first Commissioner of Baseball.    Kenesaw Mountain Landis was born in Millville, Ohio. His name was a spelling variation on the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in the American Civil War, where his father was wounded in 1864. Landis […]

Black History, and American Professional Football, a story

*African American contributions in professional American football are many. We show a lengthy legacy directly reflecting United States society.

Willie Simms, Horse Jockey born

Willie Simms was born on this date in 1870. He was an African American horse jockey.

Born near Augusta, GA, Simms began racing in 1887, and was one of the most successful to use the short stirrup that gave the rider a crouching posture. En route to winning the United States riding title in 1893 and 1894, Simms won back-to-back Belmont Stakes. The following year, he raced in England where he became the first American jockey to win with an American horse in that country. In America, Simms won the 1896 Kentucky Derby in its first time as a one and a quarter mile race.

George Jewett Jr. born

*George Jewett Jr. was born on this date in 1870.  He was a Black doctor, businessman and one of the first Black collegiate football lettermen.   George Jewett Jr. grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, his father was George Jewett, a blacksmith was born in Kentucky and his mother was Letty Jewett, was born in Michigan. He had an […]

African Americans and golf, a brief history

*With the week of the Masters Golf Tournament underway, African American history in American golf is remembered on this date. Beginning with Reconstruction, African Americans and golf have a long, rich history.