People, Locations, Episodes

Charlotte L. Brown, Teacher and Activist born

*Charlotte L. Brown’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1839. She was a Black educator and activist. She was born in Maryland, the daughter of James E. Brown, a slave, and Charlotte Brown, a free seamstress. Her mother purchased her father’s freedom, and in 1850, they were living as Free people of color in […]

Rosetta Douglass-Sprague, Educator, and Activist born

*Rosetta Douglass-Sprague was born on this date in 1839. She was a Black teacher and activist. She was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to Anna Murray-Douglass and Frederick Douglass. When she was five, she moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, with her parents. She was the eldest of five children. Like her father, she was a critical thinker but struggled […]

Mary Jane Patterson, Educator born

The birth of Mary Jane Patterson in 1840 is celebrated on this date. She was a Black teacher.

William Crogman, Educator born

*The birth of Professor William H. Crogman in 1841 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American educator.

Born in the West Indies in 1841, he was orphaned at twelve years of age. For ten years he followed the sea. Then, encouraged by a shipmate, he entered school in Massachusetts. He passed every one of the hundreds of students in learning, accuracy, and scholarship. He accomplished as much in one quarter as the average student did in two, mastering both mathematical and linguistic requirements.

George Ruby, Politician, and Teacher born

*The birth of George Ruby is celebrated on this date in 1841. He was a Black teacher, journalist, and politician. George Thompson Ruby was born in New York City. His parents were the Rev. Ebenezer Ruby and Jemima Ruby, though their son would claim that his father was an aristocratic white man. He was mulatto. Ruby […]

Allen Allensworth, Municipal Administrator born

*On this date in 1842, Allen Allensworth was born. He was a Black minister, administrator and educator.

From Louisville, KY, born to slave parents, Phyllis and Levi Allensworth, Allen escaped from slavery at the age of twenty. During the Civil War, he became a civilian nurse in the 44th Infantry’s hospital corps serving in the Nashville campaign. A year later he joined the Navy serving on gunboat in the Ohio River. By 1865, he became a chief petty officer. Allensworth then returned to Louisville, where he converted to the Baptist faith in their Fifth Street Church.

Julia Bullard Nelson, Educator, and Activist born

*Julia Bullard Nelson was born on this date in 1842. She was a white-American educator and activist for inclusive education and a woman’s right to vote. Born in High Ridge, Connecticut, Bullard moved to Minnesota with her family in 1857. Around 1862, she earned a teaching degree at Hamline University and then relocated to Red […]

Annie Ford, Slave Teacher born

*Annie Ford’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1842. She was a Black slave and homemaker.  Born Annie Helm, she was from Owensboro, Kentucky, and was one of two daughters of an African slave woman and her white-American master. As a child, she worked in her master’s house, mainly taking care of his only […]

Lewis Adams, Tuskegee Institute Founder born

*Lewis Adams was born on this date in 1842. He was a Black businessman, educator and public policy administrator.

Richard Greener, Legal, and Political Advisor born

*Richard Theodore Greener was born on this date in 1844. He was an African American administrator, politician, lawyer, and educator.

From Philadelphia, when Greener was about nine, his father left the family to pursue mining opportunities in California. Tragically, his father was presumed dead after efforts to locate him failed. His mother moved the family to Boston, then to Cambridge in search of educational opportunities for her son. Greener received his early education at the Broadway Grammar School until he was about 14, when he quit to support his mother.

The Union Literary Institute (Ohio), Opens

*The Union Literary Institute opened its doors on this date in 1846.  This was an early American establishment of formal education for Blacks in a non-slaveholding state.   The Union Literary Institute was a unique school conceived during racial prejudice and strife.  Anti-slavery Quakers founded the Institute with free Blacks who lived near the Greenville […]

The American Missionary Association is Founded

*On this date in 1846 the American Missionary Association (AMA) was founded. The AMA trained and educated slaves, it was the first such organization to teach southern slaves in a creditable and organized manner.

John Wesley Cromwell, Lawyer and Teacher born

*John Wesley Cromwell was born on this date in 1846. He was a Black lawyer, teacher, civil servant, journalist, historian, and activist. John Wesley Cromwell was born into slavery in Portsmouth, Virginia, the youngest of twelve children. His parents were Willis H. and Elizabeth (Carney) Cromwell. Cromwell’s father worked as a ferryman on the Elizabeth […]

James Storum, Educator born

*On this date in 1847, James Storum was born. He was a Black educator and Professor.  From Buffalo, New York, his mother, Mary Canady, was from Sussex County, and his grandfather, Charles Storum, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Storum’s mother was a woman who was profoundly religious and full of energy and enterprise. […]

Maritcha Remond Lyons, Suffragist born

*Maritcha Remond Lyons was born on this date in 1848. She was a Black educator, civic leader, suffragist, and public speaker in New York City and Brooklyn, New York. She taught in public schools in Brooklyn and was the second black woman to serve as an assistant principal in their system.   She was born at 144 Centre Street in New York […]