Clara Luper

Clara Luper, mother of the Civil Rights Movement in Oklahoma, passed away yesterday at the age of 88. She marched with Martin Luther King, led sit-ins at the Katz Drugstore in Oklahoma City and was instrumental in forming the Youth Chapter of the Oklahoma City NAACP.


Members of the Paris NAACP were fortunate to hear her speak several years ago at a banquet benefitting the Community Center in Hugo. She vividly described what must have been going through Dred Scott's mind awaiting the U. S. Supreme Court decision that could tell him "You are Somebody" only to hear "You are Nobody", followed by a reminder to the audience each one is, indeed, Somebody.

Please read this Daily Oklahoman obituary and these articles by Doug Loudenback and Stories in America about Mrs. Luper's fight for justice.

Cecil Williams

Featured in The Pursuit of Happyness, Glide Memorial UMC in San Francisco has been served by Rev. Williams for almost 50 years, first as pastor and now as Minister of Liberation since his denominational retirement in 2000.

Rev. Williams was born in San Angelo on September 22, 1929, the same year that construction on Glide Memorial began. He graduated from Huston-Tillotson University with a degree in sociology and from Perkins School of Theology at SMU where he was one of the first five African American graduates.

"The true church stays on the edge of life, where the real moans and groans are. Most church folks settle in, get comfortable and build doctrinal walls to protect themselves from anyone who thinks or looks differently than they do." ~ Rev. Cecil Williams, quoted in PBS series This Far By Faith [a great read about Rev. Williams' call to ministry and his outreach in San Francisco]

Paul Quinn College

Founded in 1872 by the African Methodist Episcopal Church and named after the fourth AME bishop, Paul Quinn College is the oldest historically black liberal arts college in Texas. Originally in Austin, it relocated to Waco in 1877 and then to its current home in Dallas in 1990.

Last year, PQC's unused football field was turned into a community farm in partnership with Pepsico's Food For Good initiative. The college was named HBCU of the Year for 2011 by the Center for HBCU Media Advocacy Inc., and Michael J Sorrell was among the nominees for President of the Year.

Barbara Jordan

I can imagine the cadences of her eloquence echoing at the speed of light past orbiting planets and pulsars, past black holes and white dwarfs and hundreds of millions of sun-like stars, until the whole cosmic spectrum stretching out to the far fringes of space towards the very origins of time resonates to her presence. ~ Bill Moyers


Barbara Jordan was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after reconstruction and the first Southern black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Born in Houston on February 21, 1936, she was a graduate of Texas Southern University in Houston (where the Barbara Jordan Institute For Policy Research is named in her honor) and the Boston University School of Law, and a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

Ms. Jordan first came into the national spotlight during the Nixon impeachment hearings in 1974, and she later gave the keynote address at the 1976 Democratic National Convention. She passed away on January 17, 1996 after a long battle with Multiple Sclerosis.

Estevanico

"The first known person born in North Africa to have arrived
in the present-day continental United States."

Also known as Esteban, Stephen the Moor, and other variants, Estevanico was one of four survivors of the Spanish Narvaez expedition led by Cabeza de Vaca which landed in Florida in 1528 and then sailed westward only to be shipwrecked near Galveston Bay. They made their way to the interior of Texas through present-day San Antonio and Pecos. Coming across a Spanish slaving expedition, the groups joined forces and headed northward in search of the legendary Seven Cities of Gold. Estevanico, serving as a scout, went ahead of the party, and was killed upon attempting to enter the village of Hawikuh near Zuni Pueblo in northwestern New Mexico.

Blind Willie Johnson

Making himself a cigar box guitar at the age of 5, Johnson spent his life singing gospel music and preaching on street corners for tips. He was born in 1897 near Brenham and was blinded by lye thrown in his face when he was 7. Discovered by Columbia records, he recorded 30 songs in the late 1920's. His work has been covered by many artists, including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, the Grateful Dead and the Staple Singers. He died in Beaumont in 1945 where, after a house fire, he lived in the remains of his home, contracting malaria.

Dr. Lawrence A Nixon

Making early challenges to the white primaries introduced in 1923,  Dr. Nixon twice won favorable decisions before the U. S. Supreme Court which were circumvented by the state Democratic party making procedural changes to deny African Americans the vote. It was not until 1944 in Smith v. Allwright, brought to the Supreme Court by Thurgood Marshall, that the white primaries were overturned.

Dr. Nixon, a Marshall native and graduate of Wiley College and Meharry Medical College, was a founding member of the El Paso NAACP, the first chapter in the state. In 1955 he was the first African American admitted to the Texas State Medical Society.