This month the Kirtland Public Library recognizes Black History Month. Here we feature short biographies of famous African Americans, which are also part of the second children’s scavenger hunt for February. If you are interested in reading more about the people featured in these short biographies ask a librarian for help in locating more information about them.
Black History Month is an annual celebration of the
contributions African Americans have made to American history, culture,
science, and literature and their central role in U.S. history. Black History Month grew out Black History
Week, which was first celebrated in 1915 by Carter G. Woodson, a
Harvard-trained historian, and other prominent blacks. It was celebrated in February to coincide
with the week between Abraham Lincoln’s and Frederick Douglass’ birthdays. By the 1960s, thanks to the Civil Rights
movement and a greater awareness of black contributions to the U.S., Black
History Month was celebrated on many college campuses. In 1976 Gerald Ford was the first President
to officially recognize Black History Month, and since then every President has
recognized February as Black History Month.
W.E.B. Dubois (1868-1963): A
well-known sociologist, historian, and civil rights leader, Dubois was the
first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University. During his lifetime Dubois published several
works that are still widely-read today, such as The Souls of Black Folk and Black Reconstruction. Dubois died in 1963
at the age of 97 in the African country of Ghana.
Colin Powell (b. 1937): Powell, born the son of Jamaican
immigrants, in Harlem, New York City. He was raised in the South Bronx. During a 35 year career in the United States
Army, Powell rose from the rank of Second Lieutenant to General. He ended his career as the 12th
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which made him the youngest officer, at
52, to hold that position, the first African-American of Caribbean descent, and
the first to receive his commission through the ROTC program.
Toussaint Louverture (1739?-1803): “I was born a slave, but nature gave me
the soul of a free man.” Loverture
was born on the island of Saint-Domingue sometime between 1739 and 1746. He was a leader in the Haitian Revolution
(1791-1804). Inspired by the French Revolution, the slaves of Saint-Domingue
rebelled against their masters. The
Haitian Revolution led to the end of slavery on Saint-Domingue and the
establishment of the Republic of Haiti, and it was the most successful slave
rebellion in the Americas.
Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993): Marshall served at the 96th
justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and was the court’s first African
American justice. He is perhaps best
known for arguing the landmark desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1967 President Lyndon Johnson named him to
the Supreme Court, on which he served until his retirement in 1991.
Rosa Parks (1913-2005): Rosa Parks was an African American civil
rights activist.. On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on
a bus for a white man after the white section filled up. Her act of civil disobedience helped ignite
the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which would last for 381 days and would lead to the
desegregation of the Montgomery buses.
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895): Born a slave in Talbot County,
Maryland, Frederick Douglass was a prominent abolitionist, social reformer, and
writer. During his life he fought for
the abolition of slavery and woman’s right to vote.
Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993): A
famed jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Gillespie is best known for his trademarked
trumpet, which featured the horn bent up at a 45 degree angle.
George Washington Carver (1860-1943): Born into slavery in
Missouri, Carver is best known as a botanist and inventor. He advocated growing alternative crops, such
as peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes, as ways to improve the health and
well-being of farmers and their families.
Harriet Tubman (1822-1913): African American abolitionist,
humanitarian, and during the Civil War, a spy.
She is perhaps the best known “conductor” on the Underground Railroad –
a series of safe houses which helped runaway slave escape to freedom in the
northern states and Canada. Later in life Tubman promoted the cause of women’s
suffrage, or the right to vote.
George Crum (1828-1914) George Crum is a mixed African
American/Native American cook and restaurant owner. He started off as a cook in Saratoga Springs,
New York, but by 1860 he owned and operated his own restaurant in Malta, New
York. Legend has it that he invented the
potato chip after a difficult customer kept sending back French fries claiming
they were cut too thickly and not cooked enough.
