Meet Archives
Bayard Rustin, Human Rights Activist (1912 – 1987)
Bayard Rustin, Human Rights Activist (1912 - 1987)* Rustin was a key organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and was one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest advisors, especially on techniques of nonviolent resistance. Rustin was extremely active...
Jo Ann Robinson – An Unsung Hero Behind the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Born on April 17, 1912, in Culloden, Georgia, Robinson distinguished herself early as the valedictorian of her high school class, went on to become the first person in her family to graduate from college, and became a teacher. She taught in the Macon, Georgia,...
Dr. Carter G. Woodson
“Carter G. Woodson was a scholar whose dedication to celebrating the historic contributions of Black people led to the establishment of Black History Month, marked every February since 1976. Woodson fervently believed that Black people should be proud of their...
The MLK Jr. We Might Not Remember
This month, as we honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., we are quick to recall the highlights of his activist actions that are so revered today and that happened in what MLK's biographer, Jonathon Eig calls "a career that spanned a mere 13 years". The...
Robert Smalls, Little Known Self Emancipated Sailor and Hero
Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839 – February 23, 1915) was an American politician, publisher, businessman and maritime pilot. Born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina, he freed himself, his crew and their families during the American Civil War by commandeering a...
Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune was born in South Carolina, the fifteenth of seventeen children. She was the first person in her family born free and the first person in her family afforded a formal education. Ms. Bethune established a school—the Daytona Literary and...
Anna M. Rosenberg
Anna M. Rosenberg was born in Budapest in 1899 and emigrated to the United States in 1912 with her mother and sister to join their father/husband who had emigrated two years earlier. As a young woman, she became very involved with the Democratic Party machine of NYC...
Harry Belafonte
“As an artist and a human being, I cannot isolate myself from the struggles of my people” Harry Belafonte is a famous singer and film star. He is also dedicated to the struggle for civil rights. Despite the injustice of Jim Crow laws during the 1950's, he was the...
Jo Ann Robinson
While many people know Rosa Parks as the face of the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955, few recognize the name of Jo Ann Robinson, the moving force behind the organization of the boycott. Ms. Robinson was active in the Montgomery community, a member of the Dexter Avenue...
John Reed
John Reed was a fierce human and civil rights advocate who worked collaboratively with community leaders and legislators for a half century to identify and address the problems and needs of people of color and the underserved on Cape Cod. He bucked the system of...