who was william ferguson and why is he an important african american?
106115
WILLIAM FERGUSON\n\nBorn in 1857 the son of one of Detroit's earliest African American doctors, William Ferguson attended Detroit public schools and successfully pursued careers in printing, real estate and the law. After being kicked out of a Detroit restaurant for refusing to sit in the "colored" section, Ferguson filed a discrimination suit. He lost, but appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court. In 1890 the court ruled segregation by race in public facilities was illegal. A few years later, Ferguson won election to the Michigan House of Representatives—the first African American to serve in the state legislature. A Republican, Ferguson was reelected to a second term where he was instrumental in having legislation adopted that made discrimination in selling life insurance illegal.
114689
Phillis Wheatley\nFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia\n \n \nPhillis WheatleyPhillis Wheatley (1753 - December 5, 1784), was the second American woman and the second African American writer to be published in the United States. Her book Poems on Various Subjects was published in 1773, three years before the American Revolution began, and is seen as one of the first examples of African American literature.\n\nhope that helps
913667
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredrick_Douglas#Abolitionist_Activities
185968
OK, see the confusion begins...!\n\nFirst of all, there is no such place as "Africa America".  \n\nSecondly, Black people were given the "politically correct" name "AfricaN AmericaN" by Jesse Jackson less than (or about) 20 years ago.  Non-Black people (especially those in high positions) and some Black people, prefer it because the word "black" was given negative perceptions ("Black" is bad, based on the meanings of certain words, like "black-listed", "black-balled", "blackmailed"...).  I have even heard of some silly Black people saying "Well coal is BLACK. So since I'm not that color, I can't be "Black".)  Crazy.\n\nWhat you teacher probably said was "African American" (listen in class!).  It is seen as OK, because Black people in american can find their origins in Africa, for the most part (some, from the Carribean).  Like "Arab-american", or "Irish-american", and so on and so forth.\n\nToo much denial for ME.  I prefer to be called what we have always been: BLACK.\n\nLM
819422
People like Al Sharpton gain their powerbase and fame from crying racism every chance they can.  It's a power trip.  It doesn't make the problems less real, just more difficult to judge if they are truly promoting racial harmony or their own agenda.
446499
I am Muslim but I still think Dr. Martin Luther King was a more effective leader.  He had a mission and that was getting equality and right to vote for people of all races in the United States through peaceful means.  Peaceful means is always more effective than violence. He could have been a better political leader for blacks than Jesse Jackson if he was alive.  Look at Mandela and Gandhi.  The Palestinians could learn a few lessons.  Sucide bombers is not the answer.\n\nMalcolm X had more anger and hatred in him and got pulled into a racist movement which was the "Nation of Islam".  He wanted to highlight the plight of blacks in America and bring in the notion of black superiority.  Later on in his life he went to hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca and embrased true Islam and its unversalist concepts, by then he was assasinated.
277535
i know that he was a black man that did alot of good for his black people and gave all the rest of us a holiday!!!
297064
Is seen by many blacks, particularly Rastafarian's as a deity.  He was one of the first black rulers of Africa in the 20th century.  He is seen as taking back his country from European domination (Italy).  A brave and educated man who truly loved his country and people.  He fought side by side with them to obtain his country's freedom and was recognized as royalty by European and African powers of the day (1920's - to his death in the 1960's or 70's).
1143849
I've always wondered that too. I think that Washington and Lincoln are more important than MLK to American History. I think that MLK was a great man and did great things, but he didn't go nearly as much as our early presidents did.
119032
Ida B Wells was a crusader to stop lynchings and bring civil rights.\n\nCarl Rowan was a black journalist and worked hard at getting blacks to go to college.
135893
Harriet Tubman (born 1820 or 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland, died March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York), also known as Black Moses, Grandma Moses, or Moses of Her People, was an African-American freedom fighter. An escaped slave, she worked as a lumberjack, laundress, nurse, and cook. As an abolitionist, she acted as intelligence gatherer, refugee organizer, raid leader, nurse, and fundraiser, all as part of the struggle for liberation from slavery and racism.\n\nFearing sale into the Deep South, Tubman took her emancipation into her own hands. Sometime in the fall of 1849 she escaped northward, leaving behind her free husband who did not want to follow. On her way she was assisted by sympathetic Quakers and other members of the Abolitionist movement, both black and white, who were instrumental in maintaining the Underground Railroad. She was called "Moses" by those she helped escape on the Underground Railroad. She made many trips to Maryland to help other slaves escape. According to her own estimates and those of her close associates, Tubman personally guided around 70 slaves to freedom in about 13 expeditions. She was never captured and, in her own words, "never lost a passenger."
1090973
African American Engineer in Colonial times\n\nBanneker's life is inspirational. Despite the popular prejudices of his times, the man was quite unwilling to let his race or his age hinder in any way his thirst for intellectual development.\n\nA positive role model for anyone struggling against discrimination in the present day.
271095
THE PLAIN STEEL marker on Sleepy Hole Road in Suffolk pings in the winter wind. It says that James Bowser was the only Negro from Nansemond County to fight in the American Revolution. \n\nread more about it on the website...\n\nit is a college with significant ties to the black community, so there is no suprise in a building being named after him.
994493
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://scholar.google.com/scholar%3Fq%3Dfirst+Black+men+to+be+known+as+The+Generals+President+in+the+USA%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26oi%3Dscholart&sa=X&oi=scholar&ct=title
1025202
As an African American, I'd like to quote an ex-slave named Frederick Douglass.  He made a speech which in part said:\n\n"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour."
352882
I don't know, but MLK's death was a travesty for the Black population.  He was truly a man of peace and honor.
411975
The only Black man who could have won the election for president.  He is a man of integrity and honor which is why he didn't run.\n\nBesides, he didn't want to get shot.