Search | Page 6 | AmericansAll

Lucian Adams Texas (October 26, 1922 - March 31, 2003) Medal of Honor Recipient, World War II, Veteran, Hispanic

Lucian Adams, Medal of Honor recipient and son of Lucian Adams, Sr., and Rosa (Ramírez) Adams, was born in Port Arthur, Texas, on October 26, 1922. The Adams family consisted of nine brothers and three sisters. Eight of his brothers served in World War II, and all returned home safe after the war. Lucian attended schools in Port Arthur . . . but dropped out of high school to help support his family.

Mollie Arline Kirkland Bailey Texas (November 1844 - October 2, 1918) Circus Musician, Singer, War-Time Nurse, Philanthropist

Mollie Bailey, "Circus Queen of the Southwest," the daughter of William and Mary Arline Kirkland, was born on a plantation near Mobile, Alabama. Sources differ regarding her birthdate. As a young woman, she eloped with James A. (Gus) Bailey, who played the cornet in his father's circus band and was married in March 1858. With Mollie's sister Fanny and Gus's brother Alfred, the young couple formed the Bailey Family Troupe . . .

Ida B. Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 - March 25, 1931) African American, author, civil rights advocate, feminist, journalist, leader of the anti-lynching crusade

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was an African American woman of striking courage and conviction. A civil rights advocate, journalist and feminist, she achieved nationwide attention as a leader of the anti-lynching crusade. She was born a slave on the Bolling Farm near Holly Springs, Mississippi on July 16,1862, the oldest daughter of James Madison and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Wells (Warrenton). James had been taken by his father . . .

Frank Blaichman New York (December 11, 1922 - December 27, 2018) Poland, Jewish Partisan Platoon Commander, World War II, Author, JPEF

Born in the small town of Kamionka, Poland, on December 11, 1922, Frank Blaichman was sixteen years old when the German army invaded his country in September 1939. The several hundred Jews of Kamionka had lived a peaceful life prior to the invasion, experiencing few incidents of antisemitism. Frank’s grandmother owned a grocery store, and his father made a living buying grain from farmers in the area, selling it in nearby towns and in the city of Lublin.

Timeline of the Women's Suffrage Movement: 1937-1981 Maryland (January 1, 1937 - December 31, 1981) Birth-Control, Candidate, Civil Rights, Commission, Congress, ERA, FDA, Female, Frist, Miscegenation, Navy, NOW, Supreme-Court, Voting, WAC, WAVE, Women’s Rights

The word “suffrage” means “voting as a right rather than a privilege,” and has been in the English language since the Middle Ages. Suffrages originally were prayers. Then the meaning was extended to requests for assistance, then the assistance provided by a supporting vote, and finally the vote itself. Therefore, in 1787 the Constitution used suffrage to mean “an inalienable right to vote.”

Emma Tenayuca Texas (December 21, 1916 - July 23, 1999) Hispanic, Mexican-Comanche, Civil Rights Activist, Labor Organizer, Educator, Communist, Pecan Strike

Emma Tenayuca was born in San Antonio, Texas, one of 11 children, and lived with her grandmother to ease the burden on her family. While attending Brackenridge High School, she was struck by the differences between what she read about life and the realities she witnessed around her every day.

Sonia "Sarah" Shainwald Orbuch California (May 24, 1927 - September 30, 2018) Jewish, Poland, JPEF, Soviet Partisan Fighter, World War II

Sonia Shainwald Orbuch (born Sarah) grew up in Luboml, a small market town 200 miles from Warsaw, Poland, with a thriving population of about 8,000, two-thirds of whom were Jewish. Her family lived near the center of the town on #37 Chelmska Street, near her many friends and relatives. Inside their modest home, Sonia grew up under the caring watch of her tightly-knit family. “My older brother, Shneyer, used to take care of me all the time . . . ”

Emma Beatrice Tenayuca Texas (December 21, 1916 - July 23, 1999) Hispanic, Mexican-Comanche, Civil Rights Activist, Labor Organizer, Educator, Communist, Pecan Strike

Emma Beatrice Tenayuca, Mexican American labor organizer, civil rights activist, and educator was a central figure in the radical labor movement in Texas during the 1930s and a leading member of the Workers Alliance of America and Communist Party of Texas. She is perhaps best remembered for her role in organizing the largest strike in San Antonio history, the Pecan-Shellers’ Strike of 1938.

Bayard Rustin New Jersey (March 17, 1912 - August 24, 1987) Activist, African American, Athlete, Black, Civil Rights, Desegregation, Economic Justice, Freedom Ride, Gay, Globalist, Jim Crow, March on Washington, Musician, Nonviolence, Pacifist, Prejudice, Quaker, Radical, Socialist, Strategist, Voting Rights

For more than 50 years, Bayard Rustin was a nonviolent activist and leading strategist in the struggle for human rights and economic justice. As a gay man with radical politics, he was often marginalized despite his major contributions to the struggle for African-American civil rights and his work for peace and disarmament. He was born in West Chester, PA . . .

Gertrude "Gertie" Boyarski New York (October 1, 1922 - September 19, 2012) Poland, Jewish Partisan, Holocaust Survivor, Order of Lenin, JPEF, World War II

“Was it possible that I lived through that?” asks Gertrude Boyarski, referring to her experiences during World War II. “Sometimes I say, ‘Was it only a nightmare, or was it true?’” Her family’s hardships began in 1939 when war came to Poland. Gertrude was sixteen years old when her country was attacked from the west by Germany, and then from the east by the Soviet Union. Her hometown of Derechin . . .