Those within the Counternarratives Digital Archive (CDA) are African Americans who resided in the United States between 1800 to the present. These men and women contributed to the American historical landscape in many ways, including as part of the greater black liberation struggle, as subjects of medical experimentation, legal activists, and musicians. While these actors are associated with those promoted within the American narrative, their critical role in historical events has not yet been fully explored.
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Pierre Toussaint (1781-1853)
Famous Haitian hairdresser in New York City during the nineteenth century. -
Ella Sheppard (1851-1914)
Member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers and a social reformer in Tennessee. -
Ezekiel Gillespie (1818-1892)
Argued for Black male suffrage before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1866. -
Anarcha Jackson (1826-1869)
Enslaved whose surgeries laid the foundation for modern gynecology. -
Henry May (1816-?)
His Fugitive Slave Advertisement is one of the most famous in American History. -
"Gullah" Jack Pritchard (?-1822)
A co-conspirator in the 1822 Demark Vesey Revolt. -
Mary Lee Bendolph (1935-)
Mary Lee Bendolph resident of the Gee’s Bend quilting community. -
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899 - 1974)
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an influential big band leader. -
Elaine Riddick (1954-)
Elaine Riddick is a prominent survivor of the North Carolina Eugenics Movement. -
Hiram Revels (1827-1901)
Hiram Revels was the first African American United States Senator. -
Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993)
First African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice -
James Morris Lawson Jr. (1928-)
James Lawson was a key 20th Century African-American Labor Activist -
Fred Hampton (1948-1969)
Fred Hampton was an African-American Civil rights activist in Chicago. -
Diane Nash (1938-)
Diane Nash was a key Catholic and Female Civil Rights activist. -
Robert F. Williams (1925-1996)
Robert F. Williams was an African American civil rights leader. -
Ed Johnson (1882-1906)
Ed Johnson was a lynching victim whose case sparked a landmark legal battle. -
Jackie Robinson (1919-1972)
Jackie Robinson was one of the first Black Major League Baseball players.
As the Counternarratives Digital Archive (CDA) is a student led project, there may be mistakes in some of the entries. While all students are encouraged to correct their work following submission, some choose to not make updates to their entries. As a result, if you are conducting research on these historical actors, do not solely rely on the research of this site and please consult additional primary and secondary sources.