Black history is Buffalo's history, because all sources indicate that the first permanent, non-Indian settler in what is now Buffalo, circa 1771, was Joe Hodges, a trader, interpretor, and fugitive from slavery. Our city has always been a multicultural place. To trace Buffalo's Black history since Hodges, the following websites are well worth visiting.

http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny.html
African American History of Western New York
This website, by the Circle Association, presents "an ongoing project to study the historical presence of Blacks in Buffalo, Rochester, Jamestown, Syracuse, Geneva, Ithaca, Corning, Niagara Falls, Canandaigua, Fredonia, and, in general, western New York State from 1700 to 2000." The Circle Association is "a group of African American men practicing, and dedicated to, the quality of life, successful manhood and parenting, economic growth and development, and the pursuit of excellence and spiritual development."

The site is divided into six chronological periods, each with longs lists of short paragraphs about people, places, and events, occasionally illustrated with pictures. Most entries have links to websites with more in-depth information or links that direct you to offline sources, such as books or newspaper articles.

For example, I learned that in 1850 a meeting of colored citizens of Buffalo took place in opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act, which was signed in to law by Buffalo's own Millard Fillmore.

"Pursuant to public notice, a mass meeting of the colored citizens of Buffalo was held at Clinton Hall on Thursday evening...for the purpose of considering in relation to the Fugitive Bill. At an early hour the house was crowded with out citizens, both white and colored..."

To learn the outcome of this meeting, visit this thorough and well-documented website. NOTE: when you type in the address, the character after the ~sww/ and before history is a zero, not the letter O.

http://wings.buffalo.edu/uncrownedqueens/
Uncrowned Queens: African American Community Builders of Western New York
Inspired by the centennial of the Pan-American Exposition and the condescending portrayals of people of color at the 1901 fair, Dr. Barbara Seals Nevergold and Dr. Peggy Brooks-Bertram co-chaired a team that created the Uncrowned Queens Project with the goal of honoring the achievements of living and deceased African American women in the Buffalo area. The result is a well-organized and handsome website.

Click on "Biographies" and you will find about 150 profiles and portraits of activists and community leaders, clergymembers and church leaders, physicians and nurses, musicians and singers, elected officials and civil servants, judges and attorneys, artists and writers, educators, business owners, scientists, athletes, librarians, historians, and social workers.

My only suggestion is to add occupational descriptors to the links to the women's profiles, so that a reader unfamiliar with these names but interested in, say, women in the arts, would not have to read each biography to find them.

A special feature here is the interactive list of Buffalo-area Black women's organizations, describing their missions, accomplishments, amd members.

Uncrowned Queens is more than a website; the founders have active outreach efforts, including speaking engagements and workshops, which are listed under Events.

While preparing this column, I skimmed every biography currently online and by the end was tingling with pride at the drive and talent shown here. If you know an accomplished Black woman in Western New York who isn't already included, nominations are continually accepted.