Explore people and objects across Black history. Start anywhere, or follow the collection by date.
115,761 matching cards · 24 cards per page
1941–2002
William R. Davis (December 4, 1941 – March 17, 2002) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at South Carolina State University, Savannah State University, Tennessee State University, and Johnson C. Smith University. Davis won…
Loading image…1916–1996
William Ballard Doggett (February 16, 1916 – November 13, 1996) was an American pianist and organist. He began his career playing swing music before transitioning into rhythm and blues. Best known for his instrumental compositions "Honky Tonk" and "Hippy…
1923–1994
William Douglass (February 28, 1923 – December 19, 1994) was an American jazz drummer born in Sherman, Texas. Douglass relocated to Los Angeles when he was six months old, becoming in his adulthood a popular Los Angeles musician who worked shows and…
1932–2017
Bill Dowdy (August 15, 1932 – May 12, 2017) was an American jazz musician and teacher. He was the drummer with the jazz trio, The Three Sounds. The Three Sounds recorded over ten jazz albums from the 1950s through the early 1970s and played with Lester…
Loading image…1943–
William Henry Duke Jr. (born February 26, 1943) is an American actor and director. He is known for his work in action and crime drama, often as a character related to law enforcement.
1946–
Bill Easley (born January 13, 1946) is an American jazz musician who plays saxophone, flute, and clarinet.
1932–2002
William Leo Epton Jr. (January 17, 1932 – January 23, 2002) was an American political activist. A Maoist, he was a founding member of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP), serving as vice-chairman of the Harlem branch. In 1964, he was arrested and convicted…
1904–1978
William Hendrick Foster (June 12, 1904 – September 16, 1978) was an American left-handed pitcher in baseball's Negro leagues in the 1920s and 1930s. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. Foster was the much-younger half-brother of…
Loading image…1953–
Bill Gaskins (born May 25, 1953) is an American photographer and academic. His work explores the intersection of black hair and critical analysis of the portraiture in the 21st century. In his book Good And Bad Hair: Photographs, Gaskins discusses the role…
Loading image…1924–
William Henry Greason (born September 3, 1924) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who years later became a Baptist minister in Birmingham, Alabama. Greason played for the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro leagues from 1948 to 1951 and…
1934–1989
William Harrison Gunn (July 15, 1934 – April 5, 1989) was an American playwright, novelist, actor and film director. His 1973 cult classic horror film Ganja & Hess was chosen as one of ten best American films of the decade at the Cannes Film Festival,…
Loading image…1979–
William Leonard Hall (born December 28, 1979) is an American former professional baseball utility player. He played in Major League Baseball for the Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants, and Baltimore…
Loading image…1990–
Abdul Bilal "Bill" Hamid ( hə-MEED; born November 25, 1990) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for USL League One club Corpus Christi FC. Born in Annandale, Virginia, Hamid was the first D.C. United Academy player to sign…
1908–1989
David William Harvey (March 23, 1908 – March 3, 1989) was an American Negro league baseball pitcher in the 1930s and 1940s. A native of Clarksdale, Mississippi, Harvey made his Negro leagues debut with the Memphis Red Sox in 1931. He went on to play for…
Loading image…1943–
William Hayes (born June 1, 1943) is an American former football coach and college athletics administrator. He retired as the athletic director at Winston-Salem State University in 2014. Hayes served as the head football coach at Winston-Salem State from…
1942–1975
William Lowell Howell (September 12, 1942 – July 25, 1975) was a graphic designer, painter, illustrator, set designer and photographer. He was an early member of the Weusi Artist Collective, a group of artists who helped birth the Black Arts Movement in…
Loading image…1936–2022
William R. Hutson (September 6, 1936 – September 21, 2022) was an African-American abstract painter. Active since the early 1960s, he began his career in San Francisco, moving between Europe, Africa, and the US before settling in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
1945–2019
William Carter Jenkins (July 26, 1945 – February 17, 2019) was an American public health researcher and academic. Jenkins worked as a statistician at the United States Public Health Service in the 1960s, and is best known for trying to halt the Tuskegee…
1929–2004
William Keith (January 20, 1929 – September 1, 2004) was an American artist who began his artistic life as a painter, but moved into photography and visual poetry. His visual poetry ran a full gamut from calligrams inspired by Apollinaire and other early…
1966–
William Gene "Bill" or "Billy" Kennedy (born November 10, 1966) is an American professional basketball referee for the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 2015, he became the league's second openly gay official.
1928–2023
William James Edwards Lee III (July 23, 1928 – May 24, 2023) was an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin, his compositions for jazz percussionist Max Roach, and his session work as a…
Biography
Roy C. "Bill" Lewellen (c. 1952 – 21 March 2023) was an American politician and lawyer. He was the second African-American to serve in the Arkansas Senate during the 20th century. Lewellen was one of two African-American lawyers in Lee County, Arkansas,…
Loading image…1978–
Billy Wayne Lewis Jr. (known professionally as Bill Lewis) (born 1978) is an American lawyer who serves as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama since 2025. He briefly served as an associate…
Loading image…1962–
William A. "Bill" Lowry (born October 21, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer. He is a member of the Democratic Party and currently serves as a commissioner for the 3rd district of Cook County. Lowry is also the president of Nyhan, Bambrick, Kinzie…
Biographies, museum objects and archive records are distinct card types. Every card links to its historical source.
