People, Locations, Episodes

James K. Hilyard, Businessman born

*James Hilyard was born on this date in 1830.  He was a Black businessman and activist.  From Lancaster, PA, at an early age, James Kidd Hilyard worked on the steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.   Records show that in 1845 he lived in Philadelphia, and while working in 1856, he arrived in St. Paul, […]

Louis Southworth, Oregon Farmer born

The birth of Louis A. Southworth in 1830 is marked on this date. He was an Black blacksmith, fiddler, and farmer.

Mary Dickerson, Businesswoman, and Club Woman born

*Mary Dickerson was born on this date in 1830. She was a Black businesswoman and club woman. Mary H. Dickerson was born in Haddam, Connecticut. She grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. Dickerson and her husband, Silas, moved to Newport, Rhode Island, around 1865. She opened a dressmaking shop in the early 1870s. She was […]

Edward P. Duplex, Barber born

*Edward P. Duplex was born on this date in 1831.  He was a Black barber and pioneer of California.   Edward Park Duplex, born in New Haven, Connecticut, was the oldest son of Prince Jr. and Adaline Duplex. His father died in 1832, leaving Adaline, a dressmaker, to support the three Duplex children. Edward and […]

Elizabeth Bowser, Artisan born

*Elizabeth Bowser was born on this date in 1831. She was a Black seamstress, artisan, businesswoman, and philanthropist. Born Elizabeth (Lizzie) Harriet Stevens, she lived in Philadelphia’s Twelfth Ward with her husband, David Bustill Bowser, who ran a successful business. The couple manufactured memorabilia, regalia, and decorative objects for the many voluntary associations in the […]

Sarah Boone, Inventor born

*Sarah Boone was born on this date in 1832.  She was a Black seamstress and inventor.   Sarah Marshall was born a slave in Craven County, North Carolina, near the town of New Bern.  On November 25, 1847, she married James Boone in New Bern; they had eight children.  The Boone family left North Carolina for New Haven, Connecticut, before the outbreak of the American Civil War; they settled into […]

Paul Brock, Broadcast Journalist born

*Paul Brock was born on this date in 1932.   He was a Black broadcast journalist and community activist.  From Washington, D.C., an only child, after attending Howard University, Brock spent eighteen years as a radio journalist before moving into television producing and reporting at WBNB in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. From there, Brock became news […]

Mary Fields, Montana Stagecoach Driver born

Mary Fields was born a slave on this date in 1832. She was a Black entrepreneur and stagecoach driver.

Fields was born a slave in Tennessee; she grew up an orphan, never married, and had no children. Fields lived by her wits and her strength. She traveled north to Ohio, settled in Toledo, and worked for the Catholic convent where she formed a strong bond with Mother Amadeus. The nuns of her early life were her family. When the nuns moved to Montana and Mary learned of Mother Amadeus’ failing health, she went west to help out.

Tippu Tip, Slave Trader born

*This date marks Independence Day for the African Country Zanzibar in 1961. We chose this date to affirm the birth of Tippu Tip circa 1832.  He was a Swahili Zanzibar slave owner and slave trader to European colonists.   It is believed that Tippu Tip was born in Zanzibar; his birth name was Hamad bin Muhammad bin […]

Charles R. Patterson, Early Automotive Inventor, and Designer born

*Charles Richard Patterson’s birth in 1833 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black slave who gained his own freedom and became an inventor and carriage company entrepreneur.

Nancy Green, The Original ‘Aunt Jemima’ born

On this date we celebrate the birth of Nancy Green in 1834. She was a Black storyteller and one of the first black corporate models in the United States.

The world knew her as “Aunt Jemima,” but her given name was Nancy Green. The famous Aunt Jemima recipe was not her recipe but she became the advertising world’s first living trademark.

Isaac Myers, Labor Union Administrator born

*Isaac Myers was born on this date in 1835. He was a pioneering Black trade unionist, a cooperative organizer, and a caulker. Myers was born free in Baltimore, though Maryland was a slave state. Since the state of Maryland did not offer public education for Black youth, Myers had to acquire his early education from […]

Black History And The American Labor Movement, a story

*Black history and the American labor movement are affirmed on this date in 1835. This article coincides with the Washington Navy Yard labor strike of 1835, the first strike of federal civilian employees. The strike ended on August 15, 1835. In the early nineteenth century, blacks played a dominant role in the caulking trade, and […]

Frederick Loudin, Choral Conductor, and Businessman born

*Frederick Loudin was born on this date in c.1836.  He was a Black vocalist and choral director.  Frederick Jeremiah Loudin was born to free parents in Charlestown, Ohio.  His family moved to rural Ohio from Burlington, VT, to be farmers, but when they learned that, although they had made regular financial contributions to Hiram College, […]

John Conna, Soldier and Realestate Broker born

 *The birth of John Conna is celebrated on this date in 1836. He was a Black soldier, real estate agent, and head of the first Black family in Tacoma, WA. Born in San Augustine, Texas, John Newington Conna fought in the American Civil War as part of the 1st Louisiana Native Guards. On May 4, 1865, a […]