This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Notable Black Pioneers in Politics, Arts, and Exploration
A compact sketch of figures including Pinchback, Walker, Powell, Smith, and Henson. It highlights Pinchback as America’s first African American governor, Walker’s rise in cosmetics, Powell’s Abyssinian Church leadership, Mamie Smith’s trailblazing blues, and Henson’s Arctic expeditions with Peary.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Inckney Benton Stewart
Pinchback
Louisiana Republican Party
State Senate
Louisiana
L. Douglas Wilder
Virginia
Sarah Breedlove
Walker
Irvington-on-Hudson
N.Y
Powell
Connecticut
Pennsylvania
New York City
United States
Essie Smith
Mamie
Smith
Jazz Hounds
James “Bubber
Miley
Willie “the Lion” Smith
ERT
P.B.S. Pinchback
The
Ohio Historical Society
A. Philip Randolph
National Archives
Madame C.J. Walker
Chicago Tribune
Oscar Micheaux
South Dakota
Jamaica
Russwurm
John Russwurm
Bowdoin College
Maine
Massachusetts
Samuel Cornish
Freedom's Journal
Peary
Henson
North Pole
Arctic