People, Locations, Episodes

A Black Man Patents an Electric Railway Conduit

On this date 1893, Granville T. Woods of Cincinnati, a Black inventor, patented the electric railway conduit.  The patent is #509065.  For a while he manufactured and sold his inventions through the Woods Electric Company, but he later sold his patent rights to the General Electric Company.

James W. Ford, Labor Activist born.

*James W. Ford was born on this date in 1893. He was a Black labor activist and a politician. Ford was born in Pratt City, Alabama. His father, a former resident of Gainesville, Georgia, had come to Alabama in the 1890s to work in the coal mines and steel mills. He worked for 35 years […]

Charles C. Diggs Sr. born

*On this date in 1894, Charles Coles Diggs Sr. was born. He was a Black politician.    Born in Tallula, Mississippi, to John Diggs and Etta Jones, Diggs moved to Detroit in 1913, where he owned a successful funeral home on the Lower East Side. A follower of Marcus Garvey during the 1920s, Diggs became involved in politics as a […]

The Butler YMCA (Atlanta) is Founded

The founding of the Butler Street YMCA in 1894 is celebrated in this date.

Located in Atlanta, this facility was informally known as The Black City Hall of Atlanta. J.S. Brandon was the original planner with a group of young people who met in the basement of the Wheat Street Baptist Church to formalize the group. Brandon was the Y’s first president and his sister-in-law, Hattie Askidge, was elected organist. The main activity during the Y’s early years was song and prayer on Sunday afternoons.

Jesse E. Wilkins Sr., Lawyer, and Labor Activist born

*Jesse Wilkins Sr. was born on this date in 1894. He was a Black lawyer and labor activist leader.  Jesse Ernest Wilkins Sr. was born into a working-class family in Farmington, Missouri. After serving and experiencing racial discrimination as a soldier in the First World War, Wilkins studied mathematics at the University of Illinois and […]

Paul Williams, Architect born

*The birth of Paul Williams in 1894 is marked on this date. He was an African American architect.

The Women’s Era Magazine Debuts

*On this date in 1894, the first issue of ‘The Woman’s Era’ was released.   In 1892, Boston activist Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, with the help of her daughter, founded the Woman’s Era Club, an advocacy group for Black women. Florida Ruffin Ridley, and educator Maria Louise Baldwin. It was the first Black women’s club in Boston and one of the first in the […]

The Seattle Republican Newspaper is Published

*On this date in 1894, The Seattle Republican was published. This was a Black weekly newspaper in Seattle from 1894 to 1913 and is considered Seattle’s first successful newspaper for Blacks.  Its founder, Horace R. Cayton Sr., was a former slave in the American South. Clayton’s wife, Susie Revels Cayton, was associate editor in 1900 and contributed articles and short stories.   The newspaper sought to portray “the […]

The Iowa Bystander Newspaper is Published

*The Iowa State Bystander was first published on this date in 1894. This was an Iowa newspaper targeted toward an African American audience. I.E. Williamson, Billy Colson, and Jack Logan founded it in Des Moines. Now part of the Des Moines Register, it is the oldest Black newspaper west of the Mississippi. The paper was […]

Provident Hospital, Baltimore Opens

*On this date in 1894, Provident Hospital opened in northwest Baltimore, Maryland.  They started as a 10-bed clinic in a private residence at 419 Orchard St to provide medical treatment and training for Black nurses and doctors. An all-Black medical facility was in need in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries due to Blacks not being allowed […]

A Black Inventor patents a Casket Lowering Device for Funerals

*On this date in 1894, Albert C. Richardson, a Black inventor, invented the casket-lowering device.  The invention’s patent number is #529311.

Morris Karnofsky, Businessman born.

*Morris Karnofsky was born on this date in 1895.  He was a white-Jewish American tailor, coal and junk owner, and record store owner. He was born in Lithuania. His family, Jewish immigrants, had roots in New Orleans, LA.  This was near Girod and Franklin Streets, a few blocks from where the family of Louis Armstrong lived. When […]

A Black Man Receives a Patent for a Dough Making Machine

*On this date in 1895, A Black man receives a patent for a valuable improvement to the dough-kneading machine; patent #524,042. Black inventor Joseph Lee was the recipient. His machine was intended for use in large houses or hotels. 

Albert I. Cassell, Architect born

*Albert I. Cassell was born on this date in 1895. He was a prominent mid-twentieth-century Black architect. Albert Irvin Cassell was born in Towson, Maryland, the third child of Albert Truman Cassell and Charlotte Cassell. His father, Albert T. Cassell, was a coal truck driver, and his mother, Charlotte Cassell, aka “Lottie,” was a laundress. […]

George P. Johnson, Media Pioneer born

*George P. Johnson was born on this date in 1885.  He was a Black businessman, journalist, and pioneer in Black cinema.  George Perry Johnson and his brother Noble Johnson were raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  George attended Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia, before moving to Oklahoma, where he worked at one of the region’s early […]