Jacksonville's First Sit-In
Aug. 13, 1960. Press talking with Alton Yates (left), first vice president of Jacksonville, Fla.'s NAACP Youth Council, and Rodney Hurst, 16-year-old president of the Youth Council. After two weeks of demonstrating, youth council members were attacked on Aug. 27 by about 200 white males wielding ax handles and baseball bats in an underreported event called "Ax Handle Saturday."
Early Beginnings in Germany
The Root's national sales manager, Michael Clark, and his parents Pauline and Roosevelt Clark in Munich, Germany, in 1970.
The Uncles
Four generations of family!
Remember Shankleville, Texas
This photograph was taken at McBride Normal College in Shankleville, Texas (Newton County) circa 1905. Stephen McBride was co-founder of Shankleville and the founder of McBride Normal College.
Black and on Skis
Says reader Milton Brooks (shown): "I was so unusual at the Virginia ski slopes in the mid-'70s; the lift operators didn't even check my lift pass. BTW, Vermont was no better. On a family trip to Killington, we only saw five or six other black people."
Cell Phones and Dinosaurs
Sister and brother at Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Higher Achievement
Retired Colorado State Representative Wilma J. Webb (l) and Colorado Senator Michael Bennet (r) shown with educator Marie L. Greenwood, 97 (center). Greenwood received the Trailblazer award at a Martin Luther King Jr. 25th anniversary business luncheon in January 2010 in Denver. Greenwood is the author of Every Child Can Learn and the upcoming autobiography, By The Grace Of God.
Presenting Briana Clark
Gregory Clark with daughter, Briana, at the Rose Court debutante ball in Maryland.
Wedding Bells Will Be Ringing
Dolores Aziz sends this image of her nephew's wedding.
Celebrating Family Life
The Root's national sales manager (center, in green) shares this image of his Grandma Carrie's 90th birthday celebration in Chicago.
Middletown Roots
This photo was taken in the 1950s—and most of the children grew up to be "activists" of one kind or another—despite racial discrimination, injustices and political corruption.
Roy Wilkins and Me
NAACP executive director Roy Wilkins (left) and Rodney Hurst (right) at a 1960 NAACP mass meeting in Jacksonville, Florida.
A Holy Communion
Gabrielle (right), with her godfather, Michael Clark (center), at her first Holy Communion, wearing the gown her mother wore 30 years ago.
Sing a Song
Opera singer Lawanda Spicer.
We Are Family
The Root's managing editor, Joel Dreyfuss, found this picture of his Uncle Ferdinand.
Paging Dr. Jordan
Dr. John H. Jordan, the first black doctor in Coweta County, Ga., and valedictorian of Meharry Medical College's Class of 1896, is pictured in this 1910 photo with his wife, Mollie, and son, Edward.
(Black) American Pride
Patricia Barbee wants the world to know that this is, "My dad, Herman C. Williams, U.S. Army-proud, during WWII in the U.S."
Beauty and Class
Kyra Carr shares this photo of her grandmother's graduating class from a beauty school.
George and Emma White
Says contributor to The Root Jack White: "These are my dad's parents, George and Emma White, at their farm in Florida in the early 1900s. George, who was born in slavery and did not learn to write until he was in his teens, became a mathematics teacher and farmer who shipped tomatoes and other fresh produce to the north. Emma raised 16 children, who became school principals, dentists and doctors. Because of them, I know anything is possible."
Paging Dr. Hilton
Dr. George R. Hilton, Philadelphia 1918. According to Byron Scott, in 1893, George Hilton became one of the first black graduates of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. Hilton was one of the founders of Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School in Philadelphia. The L.J. Simms referred in the photo was Louis Joseph Simms, Scott's great-grandfather.
A Father's Love
Awww.
Rites of Passage
A kufika ceremony for Daysha Fontenette (seated).
Coretta and Me
Rapping with Coretta Scott King (right) back in the day!
The Wedding
In front of a Bronx church, awaiting the bride's arrival, in 2002.
Catherine Wingfield Dorsey
Says Luckie Daniels with pride: "Our family matriarch Catherine Wingfield Dorsey, my fourth-great-grandmother, was born into slavery in Georgia in 1850. She was brought to Washington-Wilkes from Warren County, by James Madison Dickey, a Methodist minister assigned to pastor the Smyrna Church. Catie survived two husbands: James Wingfield, my fourth-great-grandfather, lynched in Wilkes County in 1885; and Joe Dorsey."
Luana Knighten
The lone female in this Cambridge School of Broadacasting graduating class of 1955 is Luana Knighten. She went on to appear in movies and a leading role on Broadway. Her life story is told in the play "Tuskegee Love Letters."
Let's Read, Read, Read
The ladies of the Black Pearls Keepin It R.E.A.L. Book Club, founded Aug. 25, 2000.
Adrian Loving
International multimedia artist and DJ Adrian Loving posing for the camera.
Henry Garner
Says the contributor of this photo says, "My 6th great grandfather, Henry Garner, was born around 1789, a free man of color in Virginia. His mother was African-American and his father was an overseer by the name of Mordecai Garner.