The  Gaspar de Portolá  land expedition in 1769 resulted in the founding of Mission San Gabriel by  Catholic  missionary  Junipero Serra...

Elbie Hickambottom worked for the Pasadena Redevelopment Agency as the director of Relocation and Property Management in 1967. He oversaw...

Earl Grant moved to Pasadena in the 1920s to join his brother in the rubbish hauling business. At that time Altadena did not have a...

When asked why he was so successful, Doug Kosobayashi, (1938-present) owner/partner of the Berry and Sweeney Pharmacy on N. Fair Oaks...

Born in the military port of Loreto, Baja California, Dona Eulalia Perez de Guillen de Marine traveled to Alta California as a soldier’s...

Canuto Cimental Robledo (January 19, 1913 – November 29, 1999) better known as Canto “TNT” Robledo, was a  Mexican-American  ...

George R. Garner was a musician, singer, actor, educator and advocate for the study of African American music history.  He was born in...

Robert Owens owned the land where the Rose Bowl is today. Robert Owens was born into slavery on a cotton plantation in Texas in 1806. He...

Born in Atlanta, GA, to a father who was a slave, Mae Reese Johnson was educated in a Methodist mission school, graduated from Clark...

Born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Dr. Edna L. Griffin (1905-1992) moved to Pasadena in 1935 and became Pasadena’s first black female...

James and Annie Mae Woods opened the James Woods Funeral Parlor in 1928. Today it is one of the oldest black-owned and operated...

Octavia E. Butler was born in Pasadena in 1947 and lived in Pasadena and LA for most of her life before moving to Washington state where...

Loretta Thompson-Glickman (1945 – 2001)  became the first Black woman mayor of Pasadena in 1982, but she had a few other firsts before...

Matthew MacKenzie "Mack" Robinson  (1914 – 2000), a graduate of Muir High School, was an American  track and field  athlete best known...

Jack Roosevelt Robinson  (1919 – 1972), became the first African American to play in  Major League Baseball , breaking the  baseball...