Learn how entrepreneurs and institutions built livelihoods, opportunities and communities.
4,830 matching cards · 24 cards per page
1838–1914
William B. Purvis (12 August 1838 – 10 August 1914) was an African-American inventor and businessman who received multiple patents in the late 19th-century. His inventions included improvements on paper bags, an updated fountain pen design, improvement to…
Biography
William Bennett Scott Sr. (died 1885) was a pioneering newspaper founder and publisher, mayor, and civil rights campaigner who helped found Freedman’s Normal Institute in Maryville, Tennessee. He was the first African American to run a newspaper in…
1806–1873
William C. Goodridge (1806 – January 1, 1873) was an American businessman in York, Pennsylvania, in the mid-1800s. He was multiracial and a Black abolitionist and a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Born enslaved, Goodridge and his wife, Evalina…
1948–
William Chester Jordan (born April 7, 1948) is an American medievalist who serves as the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton University; he is a recipient of the Haskins Medal for his work concerning the Great Famine of 1315–1317. He is also…
Loading image…1882–1971
William Chester Ruth (July 19, 1882 – April 3, 1971) was an African American machinist, business owner, and patented inventor who lived in Chester County and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission dedicated a…
Loading image…1816–1874
William Cooper Nell (December 16, 1816 – May 25, 1874) was an American abolitionist, journalist, publisher, author, and civil servant of Boston, Massachusetts, who worked for the integration of schools and public facilities in the state. Writing for…
1944–
William Donald Bradford (born June 19, 1944) is an American economist who is Professor Emeritus of Finance and former Dean of the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. He is a former president of the National Economic Association and…
Loading image…1873–1915
William E. Benson (1873–1915), commonly known as Will Benson, was an American educator, real estate developer, and businessman. He was known for founding the Kowaliga Academic and Industrial Institute, and the Dixie Industrial Company in Kowaliga, Alabama.
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…
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…
Biography
William Ellison Jr. (April 1790 – December 5, 1861), born April Ellison, was an African-American cotton gin maker, blacksmith and slave owner in South Carolina, and former slave who achieved considerable success as a slaveowner before the American Civil…
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…
Biography
William Flora (fl. 1775–1820) was a free-born African American from Virginia who served as a soldier on the Patriot side in the American Revolutionary War. He fought under Colonel William Woodford in the Battle of Great Bridge in December 1775, where he is…
1924–2018
William Garfield Dabney (June 24, 1924 – December 12, 2018) was an African-American resident of Roanoke, Virginia, who served in World War II. He was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his actions during the invasion of Normandy. Notably, Dabney — one…
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William Grandstaff (~1830s or 1840s – 1901) was an American cowboy and frontiersman who lived in Ohio before settling in Utah Territory and Colorado. Born into slavery, verified information about Grandstaff's life is sporadic, but he's believed to have…
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William Grose (sometimes spelled Gross) (c. 1835 – July 27, 1898) was an African-American pioneer of Seattle. He was that city's second black resident, and the wealthiest nineteenth-century member of Seattle's black community.
1844–1909
William A. Guilford (5 February 1844 – c. October 1909) was a businessman and state legislator from Upson County, Georgia. Guilford was a representative to Georgia's constitutional congress in 1868 and was an elected representative in Georgia's assembly…
1923–2011
William "Bill" H. Haithco Sr. (February 7, 1923 – March 17, 2011) was an African American businessman and community leader from Saginaw County, Michigan.
1936–2019
William H. Lee (May 29, 1936 – September 22, 2019) was an American newspaper publisher and founder of The Sacramento Observer. Lee was born to Charles R. Lee and Carrie Lee in Austin, Texas, on May 29, 1936. The Lee family moved to San Francisco, then to…
1910–1952
William Henry Dean Jr. (1910–1952) was an American economic geographer. He was the second African American to gain a PhD in economics from Harvard University.
Loading image…1864–1923
William Henry Ellis (also known as Guillermo Enrique Eliseo; June 15, 1864 – September 24, 1923) was an American businessman.
1864–1933
William Henry Twine (December 10, 1864 – October 8, 1933) was an African-American lawyer and newspaper publisher who settled in Oklahoma. Twine is noted for having published the Muskogee Cimeter in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He was among the earliest…
Loading image…Biography
William Huston is an American investor, businessman, and founder of Bay Street Hospitality, an institutional investment platform focused on global hospitality assets. He is known for developing a proprietary quantamental investment framework applied to the…
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William T. Johnson (c. 1809 – June 17, 1851) was a free African American barber of biracial parentage, who lived in Natchez, Mississippi. He was born into slavery but his owner, also named William Johnson and thought to be his father, emancipated him in 1820.
Biographies, museum objects and archive records are distinct card types. Every card links to its historical source.
