Madison Harvey, Jr. (August 27th, 1928 - 2013)
Born in Colbert, Oklahoma, Harvey was the youngest son of Madison Dyne and Blanche Harvey.
In 1947 he graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1947, and then enlisted in the United States Navy, serving as an electrical technician aboard the U.S.S. Eldorado.
After fighting in the Korean War, Harvey was honorably discharged and moved to Oakland, California.
Harvey attended both Contra Costa College and the University of California Berkeley. Following graduation, Harvey was employed for 14 years as a research assistant at the Chevron Research Corporation. After leaving Chevron, he worked as an insurance agent for the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company for the next 14 years.
He was an amateur historian and a passionate champion of Black history, as well as a founding member of the East Bay Negro Historical Society as well as an active member specializing in the collection and exhibition of historical materials relating to African Americans in the East Bay.
Starting in the 1980s, Harvey also published The Bokchito Herald, a monthly newsletter on Black history, which was later renamed Madison’s Monthly and The Whip-O-Will. The newsletter featured various newspaper clippings of interest, along with quotations, photographs, and obituaries all related to Black history.
