Occupation-Sailor
Lope Martin (1520?-?)
In 1564 Lope Martin, an Afro-Portuguese mariner, navigated the first round-trip voyage in the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to the...
Jacob Vanderpool (1820-188?)
Jacob Vanderpool was the only person known to have been legally expelled from Oregon on the basis of its anti-Black...
William B. Tillman (a.k.a. William Tilghman, 1834?-1880?)
The violent, heroic actions of an illiterate Black sailor threatened with enslavement enthralled newspaper and magazine readers during the tense early...
Mathieu Da Costa (17th Century?)
Mathieu Da Costa, a free black seaman, is believed to be the first person of African ancestry to reach Canada...
William “Bill” Pinkney (1935-2023)
William “Bill” Deltoris Pinkney III was known as the second African American to solo-circumnavigate the globe by boat and the...
