Blog Posts | Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 26, 2018 Biographies

Cleon Osborne Service was a real estate agent whose family started the first African American real estate company in Buffalo. A native of Springfield, Massachusetts, Service came to Buffalo with his f...

Business MA Springfield United States

Erna Louise Service Clark

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 25, 2018 Biographies

Erna Louise Service Clark was born in Cohasset, Massachusetts. She came to Buffalo when she was in eighth grade, as her father was a real estate agent in the area. She attended Hutchinson-Central High...

Cohasset Community MA United States

Thyra Merriweather Charles

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 24, 2018 Biographies

Thyra Merriweather Charles was born in Houston, Texas on June 16, 1919. She was the third of four children born to Frank E. Merriweather, Sr. and Carmelita Mitchell Merriweather. Thyra moved to Buffal...

Houston TX United States

Otis Davenport Jackson

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 24, 2018 Biographies

Otis Jackson came to Buffalo in 1923 because her husband, William, was recruited to start the first YMCA for African Americans in the city. Mrs. Jackson, the daughter of Virgil and Hattie Davenport wa...

AL Community Troy United States

Clarence Grinage

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 24, 2018 Biographies

Clarence Grinage was acknowledged as one of the pillars of Buffalo's "Negro political machine." Grinage was active as a political and civil rights activist, working as early as 1925 to improve conditi...

Buffalo NY Politics United States

Dorothy Butler McGuire

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 24, 2018 Biographies

A native of Buffalo, New York, Dorothy Butler McGuire was the daughter of Gaske and Hattie Mae Butler. She was born circa 1902. She was a graduate of Buffalo Public Schools, Fosdick Masten High School...

Buffalo Community NY United States

Dr. Myron St. Clair McGuire DDS

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 24, 2018 Biographies

Dr. McGuire was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, sixty miles from Buffalo, New York. He lived in the city's Ellicott District since he came to Buffalo, at the young age of eight. He graduated from Publ...

Bradford Healthcare PA United States

Florence Randolph Jackson Lee

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 22, 2018 Biographies

Florence Randolph Jackson was born in 1884 in Jersey City, New Jersey, and is the daughter of Charles Kersey Jackson and Mary Luvisa Bruce. She graduated from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York...

Community Jersey City NJ United States

Jesse L. Taylor

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 20, 2018 Biographies

Jesse Taylor is a little known but pivotal leader in the social justice movement of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. He was a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, the son of Charles and Fanny Hughes Taylor. In the...

AK Community Little Rock United States

Edward McCurry

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 13, 2018 Biographies

Edward McCurry was a native of Memphis, Tennessee was born April 5, 1878. He was the father of Mary Hackney and Alma McCurry Brooks, two Uncrowned Queens who were extensively involved in Buffalo's Bla...

Community Memphis TN United States

Alma McCurry Brooks

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 12, 2018 Biographies

Alma Brooks was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Her mother's name was Hallie Bibbins, and her father was Edward McCurry. She was the younger of two daughters. Her sister was Mary McCurry Hackney. She came...

Community Memphis TN United States

Mary McCurry Hackney

by Uncrowned Queens Institute, Inc.

Feb 12, 2018 Biographies

Mrs. Mary J. Hackney was a survivor. She lived through the Great Depression on Buffalo's east side by knowing how to sew, grow food in her garden, and smile. Daughter of the late Edward and Hattie McC...

Community Memphis TN United States