Hannibal's African American Notables

Breaking Barriers

Our Notables display highlights just a fraction of Hannibal's outstanding African American citizens who impacted the community and played a key role in making Hannibal a better place to live and raise a family. These are ordinary folks who did extraordinary things.

Here are some of the stories of former slaves and children of slaves who gained national recognition, such as George Coleman Poage, our first Black to medal in the U.S. Olympics; Lena Mason, accomplished poet and evangelist; Arizona Cleaver Stemmons, Founder of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.; and Father Augustine Tolton, the first African American priest--to name a few.

There are also photos of generations of Hannibal's black children who attended segregated Douglass School and received the skills to make their way in a white-run world that refused to invest in their future and had such low expectations of them. The medals, honors, and clippings showing their achievements line the walls and fill up the display cases. Many students and descendants of students who attended Douglass School became dedicated teachers, doctors, dentists, and lawyers; talented musicians and athletes; successful business professionals; and committed public servants-such as Joe Miller, who would serve as a member of the Hannibal Board of Education; Hiawatha Crow, a member of Hannibal's City Council; George Hannibal Wright, editor and publisher of Hannibal's longest-running Negro newspaper; and Joseph Pelham, first Negro Hannibal Public Schools Administrator.

WE HOPE OTHERS WILL BE INSPIRED BY THEIR LEADERSHIP, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND DEDICATION TO THE INDEPENDENCE AND EQUALITY OF ALL.

Named Douglasville in his honor, it included about eighty families, as well as Hannibal's oldest African American church and schools. Over the ensuing decades, the neighborhood became the center of the Black community, home to some of the most prominent African American business owners and citizens in Hannibal. By 1927, Marion County had more than 4,000 African American inhabitants, 65% of whom owned or were buying homes.

In the more than seventy years he lived in Hannibal, he married twice and raised a step-son. His death certificate indicates that Douglas lived to be 102 years old.

TYPICAL DOUGLASVILLE HOME

Bruce was elected as a Republican to the Senate in 1874, he has the distinction of being the only former slave and first African American senator in the state of Mississippi to preside over the national Senate, which he did on February 14, 1879. In 1881, President Garfield appointed Bruce as the first African American Register of the Treasury, which also made him the first African American with a signature on U.S. paper currency. In 1897, President McKinley reappointed Bruce as Register of the Treasury, where he served until his death in 1898.

Blanche Kelso Bruce lived a life devoted to the betterment of his race. Bruce's advocacy for African Americans was most evident in issues affecting black Civil War veterans. Notably, he worked to secure Civil War pensions for African American veterans and their heirs. In 1879, he also submitted a Bill to distribute money unclaimed by black Civil War soldiers to five African American colleges. Bruce supported similar equal rights for Chinese workers and Native Americans.

Sources: Henry Clay Bruce: A New Man 29 Years a Slave 29 years a Free Man, 1879. http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/bruce/bruce.html, KingMaker Foundation Issue #10 Fall 2008

Pelham was also a solid business professional, owning property as well as a real estate office where he helped former slaves become homeowners and offered financial advice. Ultimately Pelham became U.S. Pension Agent where he successfully garnered pensions for local Civil War veterans and widows. Mr. Pelham was very active in various civic and fraternal organizations, he rose to the highest ranks of the Missouri Prince Hall Masons, becoming Grand Wizard representing Missouri for several years.

He retired after 32 years here in Hannibal and returned to Detroit, the home of his childhood and the place where his wife and daughter were buried.

In 1919 George returned to Hannibal and, armed with new skills, opened a print shop and began publishing The Hannibal Register a newspaper for the growing African American community. He owned and operated Hannibal's longest running African American newspaper, from 1919 until 1941. George amassed a large advertising clientele, including 40% of Hannibal's white store keepers and business owners. He located his business at The Wedge, raised his eleven children in Douglasville, assumed a leadership role in the NAACP, and was overall a solid addition to Hannibal's thriving post-slavery Negro community, often campaigning on behalf of African Americans in his editorial column.

Having two sons in World War II, Mr. Wright was anxious for a role in the war effort. He recruited schools and community groups to pool their efforts in raising money for war bonds and stamps, he raised thousands causing him to be heralded by the U.S. Treasury Department.

George ran the family-operated business Hannibal Register here for 23 years, prompted by his wife's desire "to go home," they moved back to Michigan in1941. They enjoyed forty years of successful service to this community as he continued to campaign on behalf of African Americans in Detroit. His Michigan descendants continue to be involved in the printing business.

She was under the leadership of Martin Lewis, who also attended Howard University. The English teacher, Noreen Slaughter, was also a Howard University graduate and possibly a Zeta. Cleaver left Hannibal for Philadelphia where she met and married James Stemons in 1928. She spent the bulk of her life living and working in Philadelphia, always in the service of other children and adults struggling to survive. Her personal motto was "give the world the best you have."

Arizona Cleaver-Stemons was the first president of the Alpha chapter and the first national president of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. She completed her graduate and post-graduate studies in the field of social work and was responsible for chartering numerous undergraduate and graduate chapters throughout the United States. The organization has been innovative, chronicling a number of firsts: it was the first National Pan-Hellenic Council organization to centralize its operations in a national headquarters, first to charter a chapter in Africa, first to form auxiliary groups, and first to be constitutionally bound to a fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. The sorority takes pride in its continued participation in transforming communities through volunteer services from members and its auxiliaries. Zeta Phi Beta has chartered hundreds of chapters worldwide and has a membership of 100,000+.