Elijah J. McCoy, born May 2, 1844, was a Black Canadian–American inventor and engineer. McCoy was born to George and Mildred McCoy who had escaped from Kentucky to Canada via the Underground Railroad. In 1847, the family returned to the U.S., settling in Ypsilanti, Michigan. At age 15, McCoy traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland for an […]
Matthew Alexander Henson was the first African-American Arctic explorer, an associate of Robert Peary on seven voyages over a period of nearly twenty-three years. At the age of twelve, Henson made his way to Baltimore, Maryland, where he went to sea as a cabin boy on a merchant ship named Katie Hines. Henson sailed around […]
Pearl Mae Bailey was an American singer and actress. She is probably most remembered for her role as matchmaker “Dolly Gallagher Levi” in David Merrick’s production of Hello Dolly!—a part first created on Broadway by Carol Channing. The all-black version of Hello Dolly! played on Broadway from 1967 to 1969, and garnered Bailey the theater’s […]
