George F. Bowles, born enslaved in 1844 in Charleston, South Carolina, was one of the most prominent figures in Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction era Mississippi. He was a lawyer, newspaper editor, politician, and businessman. His early life remains somewhat unclear, with conflicting accounts of his parent’s … Read MoreGeorge F. Bowles (1844-1899)
Prince Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori was an African prince who was captured in 1788 and sold as an enslaved man in Mississippi. He spent 40 years enslaved on a plantation in the Natchez area before he gained his freedom in 1828. Abdul Rahman was born … Read MorePrince Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori (1762-1829)
Louis Allen, an American farmer and logger, was murdered on January 31, 1964, because of his efforts to vote in Amite County, Mississippi. Allen was born on April 25, 1919, to unnamed parents in Amite County, Mississippi. He served in the United States Army during … Read MoreLouis Allen (1919-1964)
James Earl Chaney was a civil rights activist and a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). On June 21, 1964, Chaney, along with CORE members Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Chaney … Read MoreJames Earl Chaney (1943-1964)
Gospel musician, lyricist, and composer Bishop Rance Lee Allen was born on November 20, 1948, in Monroe, Michigan, to Thomas Allen from Nash County, North Carolina, and Emma Pearl Allen McKinney Mendez from Wiggins, Mississippi. Rance had six sisters, Anita Marie Allen Rocker, Judy Rocker, … Read MoreRance Lee Allen (1948-2020)
Dr. Joyce A. Ladner, activist, sociologist, educator, mentor, and author, worked fervently for equality and justice. Ladner was born Joyce Ann Ladner on October 12, 1943, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to Annie Ruth Perryman. Joyce was raised with four brothers and four sisters, one of whom … Read MoreJoyce Ladner (1943- )
Rayne Dakota (Dak) Prescott is a National Football League quarterback currently playing for the Dallas Cowboys. Prescott was born on July 29, 1993, in Sulphur, Louisiana to parents Nathaniel and Peggy Prescott. Prescott attended Haughton High School in Haughton, Louisiana and then accepted a scholarship … Read MoreRayne Dakota (Dak) Prescott (1993- )
On the night of June 16, 1966, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Chair Stokely Carmichael (Later Kwame Ture) proclaimed to the crowd, “We been saying freedom for six years and we ain’t got nothin’. What we got to start saying now is Black Power! We … Read MoreStokely Carmichael’s Black Power Speech (1966)
On October 1, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom chose well-known labor organizer and political strategist Laphonza Butler to be the next US Senator from California, following the death of long-serving Senator Dianne Feinstein on September 29, 2023. Butler, who was sworn in by Vice President … Read MoreLaphonza Romanique Butler (1979- )
The Golden 14 were the first Black women to muster into the United States Navy. First recognized by scholar Kelly Miller in his 1919 book “Kelly Miller’s History of the World War for Human Rights,” but subsequently nearly lost to history after the war, the … Read MoreThe Golden 14 (1918-1919)
