Black Facts: Unlocked

Some of Erie’s most important Black stories were never given the spotlight they deserved. That’s why facts like this matter. Our latest Erie Facts You Should Know shines a light on how much Black history in Erie went under-documented for generations, and why reclaiming those stories is so important right now. This isn’t just about the past, it’s about making sure the culture, the struggle, and the...

One of the better-known residents of Erie in the nineteenth century was Albert Vosburgh, a prominent barber, businessman, and savvy real estate investor. Samuel P. Bates, in his 1884 book History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, described Vosburgh as an unmarried man of "ample means" who was a "zealous" political advocate, uninterested in running for office but deeply interested in expanding civil ri...

Jacqueline Yvonne Ratcliff Brown (1950–2022) was a trailblazing Erie, PA native and the first African American and first female Deputy Chief of Detectives for the  Erie Bureau of Police . Serving for 31 years (1974–2005), she broke significant racial and gender barriers, retiring as the highest-ranking African American and female officer in the department's history.  Key Historical Highlights: Ear...

The Colfax massacre occurred on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873, in Colfax, Louisiana, when a white mob—including former Confederate soldiers and KKK members—murdered an estimated 62–153 black men, many of whom were surrendering. The violent attack followed a disputed Louisiana governor election and aimed to suppress Republican political power. Wikipedia +1 Key Facts About the Colfax Massacre: Locat...

Approximately 12% to 25% of Oliver Hazard Perry’s crew during the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie were Black sailors, playing a critical role in the victory. Despite initially expressing reservations, Perry praised their fearlessness under fire. Notable Black crew members included  Cyrus Tiffany , who protected Perry during his transfer to the USS Niagara.  Key details regarding Black crew members in Per...

Black Seminole Indians. Black Seminole Indians, sometimes known as American Indian Blacks, Black Muscogulges, or Seminole freedmen, emerged as a distinct ethnic group in seventeenth-century Florida. During the early part of that century, the Spanish crown, which controlled Florida, granted land to a group of Lower Creeks, hoping to form a buffer zone between them and English settlers in Georgia an...

Atty. Larry Meredith, a beloved community leader, advocate, and the first Black Erie City Councilman and first Black Erie City Council President. Atty. Meredith served as the Deputy Director of the John F. Kennedy Center, the Personnel Director for the County of Erie, the Solicitor for the City of Erie, the Director of Intercultural Relations for Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, which is now P...

Black women at NASA, known as "human computers," were pivotal to the success of early U.S. spaceflight, overcoming racial and gender barriers to calculate trajectories for  Alan Shepard’s 1961 flight ,  John Glenn’s orbit , and the  Apollo 11 moon mission . Leaders like  Katherine Johnson ,  Dorothy Vaughan , and  Mary Jackson  pioneered aerospace mathematics, engineering, and computing, fundament...

An Erie Black History moment in 1966 with the late Rev. Paul P. Martin, a trailblazer for Social Justice, an Entrepreneur in his time, President of the Erie Branch NAACP, served as board chair of the Erie Human Relations Commission, and was a former Pastor of ST. James A.M.E. and last but not least, the Founder of the Erie Opportunities Industrialization Center (O.I.C), a personal friend and colle...

Mary Ellen Pleasant  was an American  entrepreneur , financier, real estate magnate, and abolitionist . She was arguably the first self-made millionaire of  African-American  heritage, decades before  Madam C. J. Walker . She identified herself as "a capitalist by profession" in the  1890 United States census . Her aim was to earn as much money as she could and help as many people as she could. Wi...

Bill Cole former Chair of Erie County Democratic Party. Bill was the first African American to Chair any of Pennsylvania’s 67 Counties.

Daughter of Earl Lawrence and granddaughter of Emma Gertrude Lawrence, Ada Louise Lawrence was hired in 1946 as the first full-time African American teacher in Erie public schools. Having graduated from historically black Cheney State Teachers College and with previous teaching experience in a segregated district in Maryland, her Erie appointment at McKinley Elementary School represented a breakth...