Photo by James E. Purdy (1859 – 1933). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Object Number NPG.80.25. African American, Cultural Theory, Sociology William Edward Burghardt DuBois (1868-1963) William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was one of the most influential figures in African American studies and American history. Born and raised in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, he traveled south …
British Library digitised image from page 303 of “New York’s Chinatown. An historical presentation of its people and places … Fully illustrated from life” Beck, Louis J., 1898, Bohemia Publishing. British Library shelfmark: Digital Store 10413.d.17 Chinese American, Autoethnography Yan Phou Lee (1861-ca. 1938) Yan Phou Lee was a writer and editor who wrote the …
Photograph from Anna Julia Cooper Collection, Howard University African American, Education, Activism Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (1859-1964) Dr. Anna Julia Cooper championed education for Black women and working adults. Among the most educated women of her day, she wrote one of the first statements of Black feminist thought. Born in bondage in 1858 in Raleigh, …
Author Charles Waddell Chesnutt at the age of 40. Photo taken by Chesnutt Bros. (Cleveland, Ohio) between 1897 and 1898. From the Cleveland Public Library Image Collection African American, Literature, Folklore, Activism Charles Waddell Chesnutt (1858-1932) Charles Chesnutt was an attorney, author and activist who drew on folklore to illuminate the complexities of transitioning into …
National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. (Photograph 4504). Native American (Omaha), Ethnomusicology, Museum Work Frances La Flesche (Minxa’ska) (1857-1932) Francis La Flesche was the first Native American professional ethnologist. Working at the Smithsonian, he dedicated his scholarship to documenting Omaha and Osage tribal life and customs. Born on the Omaha reservation (in present day Nebraska) in …
Photo from the Kanaeokana Facebook page Native Hawaiian, Language, Cultural Activism, Journalism Zanea Panea (Z.P.) Kalokuokamaile (1849-1942) Z. P. Kalokuokamaile was the writer of perhaps the greatest longevity in the Hawaiian-language newspapers (nūpepa ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi). He was born in 1850 in Nāpoʻopoʻo, Kona Hema, Hawaiʻi, where he lived most of his long life. His first …
Photo circa 1904, from the Hawaii State Archives Native Hawaiian, Museum Work, Cultural and Judicial Activism Emma Ka‘ilikapuolono Nakuina (1847-1929) Emma Kaʻilikapuolono Metcalf Beckley Nakuina is recognized as Hawaiʻi’s first female judge, a folklorist, curator, writer, and scholar who preserved Hawaiian cultural rights, history, and traditions in the face of the U S colonization of …
Photo published in “Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden” by Maxi’diwiac (Buffalo Bird Woman) (ca.1839-1932) of the Hidatsa Indian Tribe; edited by Gilbert Livingstone Wilson, Ph.D (1868-1930). Originally published as “Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians: An Indian Interpretation,” Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota (Studies in the Social Sciences, #9), 1917. https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/front-page.jpg Native American (Hidatsa), Autoethnography Maxidiwiac (Buffalo …
Liliuokalani, the last sovereign of the Kamehameha dynasty that ruled the Hawaiian kingdom. ca. 1891. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. LOT 3559, LC-DIG-ppmsca-53150 Native Hawaiian, Music, Activism Queen Lili‘uokalani (Lydia Lili‘u Loloku Walania WewehiKamaka‘eha) (1838-1917) Born Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Waiania Wewehi Kamakaʻeha on the island of Oʻahu in 1838, Queen Liliʻuokalani was the …
Queen Lili‘uokalani (Lydia Lili‘u Loloku Walania Wewehi
Kamaka‘eha) Read More »
Photo by C.M. (Charles Milton) Bell (ca. 1849-1893), taken in 1893 in Washington D.C. From the New York Public Library digital collections. African American, Ethnography, Literature, Activism Charlotte Forten Grimke (1837-1914) Charlotte Louise Forten was born free and raised in the prominent Forten-Purvis abolitionist family in Philadelphia’s elite African American community. Due to segregation, she …