Difference Makers

Nydia Velázquez

September 11, 2021

Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez is well acquainted with making history. She became the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992. Later in 1998, she became the first Hispanic woman to serve as a ranking member of a full house committee when she was selected to sit on the Small […]

Difference Makers

William Washington Browne

September 11, 2021

He was born a slave in Georgia in 1849 and later sold to a plantation owner in Tennessee. Young William would stop at nothing to be free. At age 15 he ran away with the Union Army to become an officer’s servant and later joined the ranks of the Union Army. He retuned to the […]

Difference Makers

Crispus Attucks

September 11, 2021

They were fearless, proud and determined. They were the 369th Infantry Regiment known as The Harlem Hellfighters, Born around 1723 near Framingham, Massachusetts, Crispus Attucks was the mulatto son of an African-American father and Native-American mother. He heroically led a small group of men against British Soldiers during a confrontation on March 5th, 1770. Armed […]

Difference Makers

Sergeant William H. Carney

September 11, 2021

The 54th Massachusetts Regiment When the idea was launched to form an all Black regiment following the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, the goal was to organize the men for tasks requiring manual labor. However, following a fight with confederate troops known as the Battle of Grimball’s Landing, the Fighting 54th demonstrated they were well trained […]

Difference Makers

The Harlem Hellfighters

September 11, 2021

They were fearless, proud and determined. They were the 369th Infantry Regiment known as The Harlem Hellfighters, reported named so by the Germans for their bravery and fighting spirit during WWI. The men were welcomed home from the war with a parade in New York City. Despite their selfless acts of patriotism, they were subjected […]

Difference Makers

William Alexander Leidesdorff

September 11, 2021

William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr., was born October 23, 1810 in the Virgin Islands. His mother, Anna Marie Sparks, was reportedly of African and Spanish decent. His father, Wilhelm Leidesdorff, Sr., a sugar planter, was reportedly of Danish and Jewish decent. Young William arrived in California in 1841 and is credited as one of the founders […]