Richard Howell Gleaves
Richard Howell Gleaves

Richard Howell Gleaves, son of a Haitian father who immigrated to America after the Haitian Revolution and an English mother, was one of the highest-elected Black Americans during the Reconstruction Era. 

Born free in Philadelphia, he was educated there and in New Orleans. He then worked as a steward on Mississippi River steamboats, moved around, then became an active Prince Hall Freemasons. After the Civil War, Gleaves moved to Beaufort, South Carolina in 1866. He went into business with Robert Smalls, a former slave who had captained a ship that he took from the Confederates during the war. Gleaves purchased property in the town, including land now known as the Sons of Beaufort Lodge. 

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Ralph Delly is an award-winning music and entertainment journalist with extensive experience covering the Haitian Music Industry and the Haitian-American community. He has worked in Haiti and the United States at such media organizations as Radio Metropole, WNWK/107.5 FM, Radio Soleil d’Haïti and The Haitian Time – where he penned the popular “The Delly Dish” gossip column. Dellys has worked with numerous artists in the HMI, including Zin, Lakol, Phantoms, Zenglen, Sokute, Jam, See Well and 509 – to name a few. Delly graduated from Carlos Albizu University of Miami and City College of New York (CUNY)