Dwayne Mack, Author at • Page 4 of 5

Academic Historian

Dwayne Mack is Associate Professor of history and affiliated faculty with African/African American Studies at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky where he holds the Carter G. Woodson Chair in African American History. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, attended college in North Carolina, and received his Ph.D. in American history at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, where he served as coordinator of the Talmadge Anderson Heritage House, the campus African American Cultural Center. He is the lead editor of Mentoring Faculty of Color: Essays on Professional Development and Advancement in Colleges and Universities (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2013). He is also the author of several peer reviewed articles and book chapters on the African American experience in the West and South. His work in progress includes a book manuscript, “We Have a Story to Tell: The African American Community in Spokane, Washington, 1945-1990.”

Adam Clayton Powell Sr. (1865-1953)

Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. was born on May 5, 1865, in Franklin County, Virginia to former slaves of African American, Native American, and German ancestry. He was raised in a family of seventeen children. During his youth, Powell lived a reckless life filled with gambling. … Read MoreAdam Clayton Powell Sr. (1865-1953)

Ronald Cordell Sims (1948- )

On May 8, 2009, Ronald Cordell Sims became the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sims now second-in-command of the federal agency will oversee day-to-day operations of the Department which has an annual budget of $39 billion and some 8,500 employees. … Read MoreRonald Cordell Sims (1948- )

James & Lydia Sims

During World War II, Lydia Sims moved from Newark, New Jersey, to Spokane with her husband, James Sims, an Army Air Force soldier stationed at Geiger Airfield. At the end of the war, the Sims family decided to remain in Spokane. For 10 years they … Read MoreJames & Lydia Sims

Norm Rice (1943- )

Future mayor of Seattle, Norman B. Rice was born in Denver, Colorado. He migrated to Seattle in 1970 to attend college. In 1972 he earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and two years later a master’s degree in public administration both from the University of … Read MoreNorm Rice (1943- )

Freedom Rides (1961)

Following the momentum of student-led sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennesssee in early 1960, an interracial group of activists, led by Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Executive Director James Farmer, decided to continue to challenge Jim Crow segregation in the South by organizing … Read MoreFreedom Rides (1961)

Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee (1898-1980)

Physician, educator, and social activist Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee led efforts to improve the health care of African Americans. As a member of several civic organizations, she fought to lower the mortality rate among African Americans in southern rural communities. She also used these organizations … Read MoreDorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee (1898-1980)

Howard Beach Incident (1986)

In the 1980s, several racially motivated attacks dominated the headlines of New York City newspapers. On September 15, 1983, artist and model Michael Stewart died on a lower Manhattan subway platform from a chokehold and beating he received from several police officers. A year later, … Read MoreHoward Beach Incident (1986)

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

Born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928, she received the nickname “Maya” from her brother Baldwin. At the age of four Maya and her brother were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. A couple of years later they moved back … Read MoreMaya Angelou (1928-2014)

William Edward Burghardt DuBois (1868-1963)

Educator, essayist, journalist, scholar, social critic, and activist W.E.B. DuBois, was born to Mary Sylvina Burghardt and Alfred Dubois on February 23, 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He excelled in the public schools of Great Barrington, graduating valedictorian from his high school in 1884. Four … Read MoreWilliam Edward Burghardt DuBois (1868-1963)

Jack Johnson (1878-1946)

Jack Johnson, the first African American and first Texan to win the heavyweight boxing championship of the world, was born the second of six children to Henry and Tiny Johnson in Galveston on March 31, 1878. His parents were former slaves. To help support his … Read MoreJack Johnson (1878-1946)