“Every Story I Tell is true,...
...except for the parts that I make up!”
Jan Ernst Matzeliger 1852 – 1889 Who Was He? Jan Ernst Matzeliger was born in 1852 on a coffee plantation in Dutch Guiana. His father owned the land and his mother was enslaved. At the...
Dr. Inez Beverly Prosser Dr. Inez Beverly Prosser 1897? – 1934 Who Was She? Inez was born in Yoakum, TX in 1897. Her parents, Samuel and Veola had ten other children. He worked as an elevator operator, and...
William Henry Cling – 1866 – 1937 Now, before I start this, I want to be clear about something…I did not come here to throw shade. I came to talk about a barber. William Henry Cling was born in Charleston, SC right after the Civil War ended....
source Sarah Elisabeth Jacobs Goode – 1855 – 1905 What We Know For Sure Sarah was born in 1855 in Toledo, Ohio. After the Civil War ended, her parents moved her and her six siblings to Chicago, Il. There, she met and married a fellow named...
Frederick McKinley Jones Frederick McKinley Jones – 1893 – 1961 A Rough Road Right out of the shoot there is some disagreement about where Frederick was born. Most sources say it was Cincinnati, Ohio, but I found another that suggested it might have...
Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner 1912 – 2006 Who was she? Born in Monroe County, NC in 1912 Mary Davidson was born to invent things. Her first attempt was to make a self-oiling door so that when her mother went out the back door in the morning the squeaking wouldn’t wake...
Charles Richard Drew 1904 – 1950 The mister has been giving blood since he was in his twenties. These days he gives platelets. He donates at least twice a month. Sometimes, if the Red Cross is having a shortage of his blood type they call him and he makes a...
Sarah Marshall Boone 1832 – 1904 Sarah Marshall was born in 1832 in Craven County North Carolina near New Bern. She married freedman James Boone in 1847 when she was 15. Prior to the start of the Civil War, the couple moved to New Haven, Connecticut where they lived...
Archie Alexander Archibald (Archie) Alphonso Alexander (1888 – 1958) He was an engineer and mathematician. Born in Ottumwa, Iowa, He attended the University of Iowa and was the first black football player for the team. They called him Alexander the Great. The professors in the engineering program tried to...
I don’t ever remember celebrating black history month when I was in school. I don’t ever remember anybody even mentioning it. I thought it was a pretty new thing, and that was why I hadn’t heard of it when I was a kid. Maybe...