Our History

Harriet Tubman (née Araminta "Minty" Ross) was an abolitionist and “conductor” of the Underground Railroad (born c. 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland; died 10 March 1913 in Auburn, New York). Tubman escaped enslavement in the southern United States and went on to become a leading aboliti...

Viola Irene Desmond (née Davis), businesswoman and civil rights activist, was born on 6 July 1914 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and died on 7 February 1965 in New York, NY. Desmond built a successful career as a beautician and established the Desmond School of Beauty Culture, mentoring young Black ...