Follow movements, public leaders and campaigns for rights, citizenship and representation.
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1832–1883
William G. Brown (August 12, 1832 – May 14, 1883) was an American educator, editor, and the first African American to serve as Louisiana State Superintendent of Education from 1872 to 1876. Brown was one of only four African Americans elected to the office…
1908–1986
William Byron Rumford (February 2, 1908 – June 12, 1986) was an American pharmacist and politician. He was the first African American elected to a state public office in Northern California.
Loading image…1880–1961
William Clarence Hueston Sr. (September 24, 1880 – November 25, 1961) was an American lawyer, magistrate, and community leader. Hueston was the first African-American graduate from the University of Chicago Law School.
Loading image…1877–1928
William Clarence Matthews (January 7, 1877 – April 9, 1928) was an early 20th-century African-American pioneer in athletics, politics and law. Born in Selma, Alabama, Matthews was enrolled at the Tuskegee Institute and, with the help of Booker T.…
1917–1989
William Coffee (1917–1989) was an American cryptographer. He received the Commendation for Meritorious Civilian Service in April 1946 for his role in recruiting and leading a group of African-American cryptographers in the United States Army's Signals…
Loading image…Biography
William Costin (c. 1780 - May 31, 1842) was a free African-American activist and scholar who successfully challenged District of Columbia slave codes in the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia.
Loading image…1857–1925
William David Chappelle (November 16, 1857 – June 15, 1925) was an American educationalist and bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Chappelle served as president of Allen University, a historically Black university in Columbia, South Carolina,…
Loading image…1842–1908
William David Coleman (July 18, 1842 – July 12, 1908) was an Americo-Liberian politician. A True Whig Party member, he served as the 13th president of Liberia from 1896 to 1900. Born in Fayette County, Kentucky, United States, he emigrated to Liberia in 1853.
Dates not recorded
William D. Gaskin was a state legislator in Alabama during the Reconstruction era. He represented Lowndes County in the Alabama House of Representatives. He was documented as living in an area served by the Manack, Alabama post office. He served as an…
Loading image…1853–1893
William D. McCoy (November 17, 1853 – May 14, 1893) was the United States Ambassador to Liberia from 1892 to 1893.
1938–1998
William David Chappelle III (December 16, 1938 – July 29, 1998) was an American professor of music and a civil rights organizer in Ohio. He spent much of his career at Antioch College, where he served as dean of students.
1858–1925
William Dorsey Swann (November 4, 1860 – c. December 23, 1925) was an American activist. An African-American born into slavery, Swann was the first person in the United States to lead a gay resistance group and the first known person to self-identify as a…
1826–1890
William A. Driffle (February 20, 1826 - June 9, 1890) was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era, representing Colleton County. He is buried in Walterboro's Live Oak Cemetery.
Loading image…1838–1899
William E. Johnston (1838–1899) was a state legislator who served during the Reconstruction era in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1868 to 1869 and the South Carolina State Senate from 1869 to 1877.
1885–1967
William E. King (May 12, 1885 – October 1, 1967) was an American lawyer and politician in Illinois. He served as a state legislator in the Illinois House of Representatives for eight years, followed by a full term as a state senator. He represented…
Loading image…1845–1894
William E. Matthews (July 1845 - May 2, 1894) was an African-American lawyer, financier, and civil rights activist in Baltimore, Maryland and Washington DC. He was active in promoting education for freedmen during and after the Civil War. He was very…
1947–2007
William Eugene McAnulty Jr. (October 9, 1947 – August 23, 2007) was an American attorney and judge in Louisville, Kentucky who became the first African American justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court. He served on every level court in Kentucky.
Loading image…1949–
William E. "Kip" Ward (born 3 June 1949) is a retired United States Army general officer who served as the inaugural Commander of United States Africa Command from 1 October 2007 to 8 March 2011. During his long career in public service, he has taught…
Loading image…1861–1936
William Edgar Easton (March 19, 1861 – January 10, 1936) was an American playwright, journalist, and political activist. He wrote two plays about the Haitian Revolution and its aftermath: Dessalines (1893), a historical drama about Jean-Jacques Dessalines;…
August 1961
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGThis black-and-white photograph depicts an African American man with his baby daughter in a stroller on the left. He holds a sign that says "DADDY, I WANT TO BE FREE." On the right, a Memphis police cruiser sits by the curb as the white police officers…
Biography
William Frank Boyland was a New York Assemblyman from 1982 to 2003. In January 2003, he resigned his seat, and his son William Boyland, Jr. was elected to fill the vacancy.
Dates not recorded
William F. Butler was an American politician and African American leader born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States who became president of the Negro Republican Party formed after the American Civil War. Speaking in Louisville, Kentucky in 1867,…
1852–
William F. Thompson (1852 – ?) was a lawyer, law school teacher, justice of the peace, tax assessor, state legislator, and delegate to Florida's 1885 Constitutional Convention.
1844–1924
William Francis Yardley (January 8, 1844 – May 20, 1924) was an American attorney, politician and civil rights advocate, operating primarily out of Knoxville, Tennessee, in the late 19th century. He was Tennessee's first African-American gubernatorial…
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