The Ellis County African American Hall of Fame Museum and Library was established to recognize and tell the stories of African Americans with ties to the city of Waxahachie, Texas. [1] The museum and library are housed in a historic fraternal building in Waxahachie, Texas. The building was built in 1926 and housed a lodge of the Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The building was listed as endangered before being restored and receiving funding for roof work. [2]
The museum and library, which opened in 2016, are at 441 East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. [3] [4] Jamal Rasheed, CEO and President of the Hall of Fame, has spoken about the area’s Prince Hall Cemetery, efforts to preserve it and the veterans buried there. [5]
In 2022 a ceremony was planned to induct new wall of fame honorees. Carl O. Sherman Sr. was the keynote speaker. The organization also maintains monuments in the area. [6]
Jamal Rasheed advocated to have a section of highway named for aviator Bessie Coleman honored. An overpass where her home was located was renamed for her. [7]
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the artists, producers, engineers, and other notable figures and personnel who have influenced its development.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and preserving the history of basketball. Dedicated to Canadian-American physician James Naismith, who invented the sport in Springfield, the Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1959, before opening its first facility on February 17, 1968.
Ellis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2020, its population was estimated to be 192,455. The county seat is Waxahachie. The county was founded in 1849 and organized the next year. It is named for Richard Ellis, president of the convention that produced the Texas Declaration of Independence. Ellis County is included in the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area.
Midlothian is a city in northwest Ellis County, Texas, United States. The city is 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Dallas. It is the hub for the cement industry in North Texas, as it is the home to three separate cement production facilities, as well as a steel mill. The population of Midlothian grew by 121% between 2000 and 2010, to a population of 18,037.
Waxahachie is the county seat of Ellis County, Texas, United States. Its population was 41,140 in 2020.
Ovilla is a city in Dallas and Ellis Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 4,304 at the 2020 census.
The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a private, non-profit institution established in 1979 and currently located in Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. It honors soccer achievements in the United States. Induction is the highest honor in American soccer.
Bessie Coleman was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and Native American to hold a pilot license. and is the earliest known Black person to earn an international pilot's license. She earned her license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921,
Louis Stokes was an American attorney, civil rights pioneer and politician. He served 15 terms in the United States House of Representatives – representing the east side of Cleveland – and was the first African American congressman elected in the state of Ohio. He was one of the Cold War-era chairmen of the House Intelligence Committee, headed the Congressional Black Caucus, and was the first African American on the House Appropriations Committee.
Navarro College is a public community college in Texas with its main campus in Corsicana and branches in Mexia, Midlothian, and Waxahachie. The college has an annual student enrollment of more than 9,000 students.
Gretchen Kunigk Fraser was an American alpine ski racer and nurse. She was the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in skiing, as well as the first American to win an Olympic silver medal in skiing. She was also the skiing stand-in for ice skater Sonja Henie in the movies Thin Ice (1937) and Sun Valley Serenade (1941). Fraser was revered in her time for her contributions to American athletics, receiving ticker-tape parades and brand sponsorships upon her return to the United States following her Olympic win.
African Cemetery No. 2, also known as The Cemetery of the Union Benevolent Society No. 2, is a historic burial site located in Lexington, Kentucky, United States.
Rockett is an unincorporated community in Ellis County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Rockett is located on FM 813, approximately five miles northeast of Waxahachie.
A Mississippi Landmark is a building officially nominated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and approved by each county's chancery clerk. The Mississippi Landmark designation is the highest form of recognition bestowed on properties by the state of Mississippi, and designated properties are protected from changes that may alter the property's historic character. Currently there are 890 designated landmarks in the state. Mississippi Landmarks are spread out between eighty-one of Mississippi's eighty-two counties; only Issaquena County has no such landmarks.
Isaac Daniel (Dan) Hornsby was an American singer-songwriter, musician, recording artist, producer and arranger, studio engineer, band leader, artists and repertoire (A&R) man with Columbia Records, and radio personality.
Richard William Luther was an American football player and coach at Western Reserve University, known today as Case Western Reserve University. He was later inducted into the school's varsity hall of fame on April 18, 1980. During World War II, Luther attended Midshipmen's school at the University of Notre Dame, ranking as a Lt. Senior Grade while in the United States Navy.
The Americus movement was a civil rights protest that began in Americus, Georgia, United States, in 1963 and lasted until 1965. It was organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee along with the NAACP. Its main goals were voter registration and a citizenship education plan.
Carl O. Sherman Sr. is an American politician who has represented District 109 in the Texas House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 20th mayor of DeSoto, Texas from 2010 to 2016.
South-View Cemetery is a historic African-American-founded cemetery located approximately 15 minutes from downtown Atlanta, Georgia. An active operational cemetery on over 100 acres of land, it is the oldest African-American cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia and the oldest African-American “non eleemosynary” corporation in the country. Founded in 1886, it has since served as the burial place for many leaders in the civil rights movement including Julian Bond and John Lewis. Martin Luther King Jr. was originally buried here but was later moved to the King National Historic Park in Atlanta.