James Edward O’Hara (1844-1905)

James Edward O’Hara (1844-1905)

North Carolina congressman James O’Hara was born a free person in New York City to an Irish merchant and West Indian mother. While growing up he worked as a deckhand on ships that sailed between New York and the West Indies.  When he was eighteen O’Hara settled...
Elliot C. Van Zandt (1915-1959)

Elliot C. Van Zandt (1915-1959)

Elliot C. van Zandt had a major impact on the development of Italian sports from 1947 to 1959. Born in Arkansas in 1915, van Zandt lost his father at a very early age. Census records indicate that Elliot’s widowed mother, a seamstress, probably left him with relatives...
Dearfield, Colorado

Dearfield, Colorado

On May 5, 1910 after four years of searching for a location that would accommodate two hundred families, Oliver Toussaint Jackson established Dearfield, a black agricultural colony on the arid high plains of Colorado.  Jackson managed to gain the support of the...
Scott Joplin (1867-1917)

Scott Joplin (1867-1917)

Scott Joplin, a musician and composer of ragtime music, was born in 1867 to ex-slave parents who worked as laborers on a Texas farm. At an early age they moved to Texarkana, on the Texas-Arkansas border, and it was here, following his mother as she cleaned the houses...
Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)

Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)

Ella Fitzgerald was a female jazz singer considered without equal at the height of the jazz era.  Her voice had an amazing and vibrant range that allowed her to sing nearly every jazz style.  Ella was also an accomplished composer and bandleader who performed into the...