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Entry bubble Celebrating African-American History Month: Hometown Heroes

By: Jake | February 11, 2008 | Category: General

 Richmond Skyline

February is African-American History Month and I thought in order to celebrate I would list some famous African-Americans from my hometown of Richmond, VA. Feel free to list who you think are important African-Americans from your hometown in the comments.

  • Maggie Walker became the first woman to charter a bank in the United States when she chartered St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in 1903 and ran it until 1929. The Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site at her former Jackson Ward home is operated by the National Park Service.
  • Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was a legendary tap dancer who, despite racial tensions, earned top dollar on the vaudeville circuit in the early 1900's and crossed over to the silver screen to star beside Shirley Temple in the 30's. A statue of him stands in Richmond where in 1933 he saw two children scurry across a busy highway and donated money to the city to install its first traffic light.
  • Arthur Ashe became the first African-American male tennis player to win a Grand Slam tournament. Ashe also championed the cause to end apartheid in South Africa and raised awareness about AIDS in an unfortunate way- after contracting the disease from a blood transfusion during heart surgery. A statue of Ashe was erected on Richmond's Monument Avenue in his honor.

| View Comments [3] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: black   history   jake   month  

Comments (3):

blue comment bubble Posted by Citizen Jmaximus on February 11, 2008 at 07:10 AM EST

All this time I thought Mr Bojangles was just a song by Sammy Davis Jr., another great american entertainer.

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blue comment bubble Posted by mbc on February 11, 2008 at 01:09 PM EST

Great post!

Here's a prominent African-American inventor who most people might not know about: <a href="http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/lewistemple.html">
Lewis Temple</a>, of New Bedford, MA, who invented the toggle-headed whale harpoon in 1848. Temple's toggle harpoon is said to be "the single most important invention in the whole history of whaling." Old-time Yankee whaling has gone the way of most industries of the 1800s, but Temple did much to boost the economy of South Coast Mass. in his lifetime. There's a statue of him that stands on the grounds of the New Bedford Public Library.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Jake on February 11, 2008 at 01:31 PM EST

Thanks mbc! Citizen Jmaximus I understand how you feel. I remember seeing that statue when I was younger and always wondered why they would have a statue for a guy in a song. I don't remember who told me about Mr. Robinson, but I felt a little silly after finding out. :)

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