Enlightened Free Thinking Nubian Kings And Queens

Michael Anthony Donald was a nineteen-year-old African American man who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in 1981 in Mobile, Alabama. His killing was one of the last known lynchings in the United States. Donald was born on July 24, 1961, in Mobile to Beullah Mae Donald and David Donald. He was the youngest of six children. In 1981, Josephus Anderson, an African American, was charged with the murder of a white police officer in Birmingham, Alabama while committing a robbery. Anderson’s case was moved from Birmingham to Mobile, Alabama in a change of venue. While the jury was struggling to reach a verdict on Anderson, members of the United Klan of America complained that the jury had not convicted Anderson because it had African American members.  One Klansman, Bennie Jack Hays, announced to his fellow Klan members that “if a black man can get away with killing a white man, we ought to be able to get away with killing a black man.” On March 20, 1981, a mistrial was declared in An...

Edward Gardner was born in Birmingham, Alabama in December 1898. Shortly after his birth, his family moved west and eventually settled in Seattle. Gardner returned to Alabama in 1914, to attend Tuskegee Institute, where he learned a trade as a steam engineer and became a star on the school’s track team. By 1921, Gardner was living in Seattle and began competing in the annual Ten Mile Washington State Championship, sponsored by the  Seattle Post Intelligencer .  Gardner won the race three times from 1921-1927, setting course records as he went and beating the best amateur and military runners in the Pacific Northwest.  As he trained, he adopted his trademark outfit, a white towel tied around his head, a white sleeveless shirt and white trunks.  His Seattle fans would call out “oh you Sheik.” The name stuck and Eddie Gardner became known as "the Sheik” of Seattle. In 1928, Gardner entered the first foot race across America, nicknamed the “bunion derby” (A 3,400 m...

       Born in Eufaula, Alabama, Carrie Tuggle was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and former slave. Around the turn of the century, she moved to Birmingham, Alabama in search of a career.        She became a social worker and counseled delinquent boys, often appearing with them in court. At that time juveniles were tried in the same court as adults. Mrs. Tuggle saw the injustice of this situation and was instrumental in the formation of the Jefferson County Juvenile and Domestic Court.        In 1903, she formed the Tuggle Institute in Enon Ridge as a school and residence for homeless boys. From a modest start, the Institute became an important factor in the advancement of Blacks. Outstanding graduates from Tuggle include businessman Dr. A. G. Gaston, and musicians John J.("Fess")Whatley and Erskine Hawkins.        The Birmingham Board of Education purchased Toggle Institute in 1934 and later nam...